Something thudded into my bare chest. I cried out, staggered and almost fell. It was the far bank; I’d got across the river. I gripped a shrub with my free hand; kept the axe braced on the riverbed. Breath rasped in my lungs. My body wouldn’t stop trembling. I stared up at the steep slope of tree roots and shrubs. It looked enormous; I couldn’t climb it.

My head jerked, staring upriver, then down. No sign of anybody. I was alone. I began sagging down into the water. I couldn’t climb the bank. I’d die here like a . . .

Like a coward. The word almost rang in my head.

Next second, I was throwing myself upwards, out of the water, snatching at roots and shrubs with one hand. My other arm swung the axe as if it was a toy, driving its metal head into the bank, hauling myself upwards, foot by foot.

My maimed leg sent pain hammering through me. I howled like an animal, screamed with every clutch and move. I heard my shrieks echoing all around. Grab. Haul. Swing. Grab. Haul. Swing. The agony grew. Darkness started to spread in front of my eyes. I didn’t even know if I was still moving.

I swung the axe once more. It met emptiness, flew forward out of my hand. The top half of my body collapsed across flat ground. I screamed again at the shock. I’d reached the top of the bank.

Other voices shouted. Somehow, I lifted my head. Jess and Lily were rushing towards me, eyes staring, skirts flying. Lily’s dark hair streamed behind her. Mother was struggling across the paddock as well, yards further back, hands out in front of her.

‘Duncan!’ my sister gasped. ‘What’s wrong? What happened?’ The two of them reached me where I sprawled on the ground, sodden, shaking, bleeding.

‘My leg,’ I grunted. ‘Axe—’

Lily saw. She dropped to her knees beside me, pressed her hands hard over my knotted, blood-soaked shirt. ‘Take his belt off, Jess! We’ll tie it around his thigh — make a tourniquet!’

My sister threw herself down, too. Her face was pale. She bit her lip. Next second, she’d unbuckled my belt, dragged it out of the trouser loops, and was pulling it around my leg, above the wound. The two young women dragged on it together; I felt the leather bite into my flesh.

Mother had arrived. She stood, hands pressed to her face, as Jess gasped out what had happened. She whipped the shawl from her shoulders, crouched beside me, began knotting the shawl around the sodden shirt.

‘John will be back any minute,’ she told the girls. ‘One of you run and tell him! We’ll get Duncan straight to town and the doctor.’ Jess stood, began hurrying away. ‘Bring some sheets!’ Mother called. ‘We’ll tear them up, use them for bandages.’