The man must have fallen very near it.

Soon we found where he had been lying and drops of fresh blood on the stubble.
"Hush," said the schoolmaster.
We listened and heard a wagon rattling at a wild pace down the road toward the river.
"There he goes," said Mr.Hacket.

"His companions have carried him away.
Ye'd be riding in that wagon now, yerself, my brave lad, if ye hadn't 'a' made a lucky hit with the flail--God bless ye!" "What would they 'a' done with me ?" I asked.
"Oh, I reckon they'd 'a' took ye off, lad, and kep' ye for a year or so until Amos was out o' danger," said Mr.Hacket.

"Maybe they'd drowned ye in the river down there an' left yer clothes on the bank to make it look like an honest drowning.

The devil knows what they'd 'a' done with ye, laddie buck.