but cloudless. The sentinel on the Budgrow was rising and sitting at intervals and dozing at times. There was a thick bush at the bank. From behind it, a person was closely observing some one at a distance. The observer was Pratap Roy himself.
Pratap saw that the sentinel was dozing. He, therefore, advanced and slowly got down in the river. The sentinel hearing a noise in the water, cried out, while dozing, "Who comes there?" Pratap gave no answer. The sentinel kept on dozing. Within the boat, Foster was awake and on alert. He heard the sentinel and looked around from within the Budgrow. He saw that a man had got down in the river—he thought, perhaps, to bathe.
At this moment, a report of a gun unexpectedly came from within the bush. The sentinel on the Budgrow was struck by a bullet and fell into the water. Pratap then moved to the spot, where the dark shadow of the boat had fallen and dipped himself into the water up to the chin. No sooner was the report of the gun heard, than the sepoys on the cargo boat shouted out, "What, ho!"
Those who were sleeping in the Budgrow now got up. Foster came out with his gun. He began to look around very closely. He found that the
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