Galloping Dick
upon the hard road, broke into a canter towards Chatham.
Dangling from the leathern strap, I was bumped from point to point along the way, which was like to be bad for my wound, as I soon discovered from the growing pain in my groin, and a further seizure of faintness. And yet it passed my wits how I was to struggle up to the body of the coach, with it in motion and my strength running out on a tide. But as the job was fairly set for me, I was not the poltroon to give in without a wrestle, and so very slowly and very feebly I hauled myself up, till my legs drew off the ground, and my hands clutched the railing of the seat. By good luck my wrists held, and though I felt the muscles shaking like jelly in my arms, I pulled myself higher still, until at last my nose rose over the level of my knuckles. And there I hung suspended for a time, with very quick breath, and a deathly sickness in my belly. But I was not yet in extremity, despite the ugly circumstances, and gathering my spirits for a final essay, I flung myself as it were forward into the air with a
166
