He felt pain, moreover, and saw blood upon his shirt underneath! He looked quickly around to ascertain who had thus rudely assailed him-- anxiously, too, for he was in some dread of seeing a savage spring from the bushes close by.

On turning, he at once beheld the missile that had rent his jacket-sleeve lying on the sand beside him.

It was no stone, but a round or slightly oval-shaped ball, as big as a ten-pound shot, of a deep-green colour, and covered all over with spurs like the skin of a hedgehog! He at once saw that it had not been thrown at him by any person; for, with the sharp, prickly protuberances thickly set all over it, no one could have laid hand upon it.

Clearly it had fallen from the tree overhead.

Helen had perceived this sooner than he; for sitting a little way off, she had seen the huge ball drop in a perpendicular direction-- though it had descended with the velocity of lightning.
Beyond doubt, it was some fruit or nut, from the tree under which they were seated.