Firecrackers banged occasinally in the wide cotton field at dusk, with shouts of young men in excitement. They sounded far. I couldn't see them. But I was wondering if I should camp in the riverside next to there.As I waited somewhile, the sound was gone. It was getting dark already. It would be difficult to look for another place for camping. The riverside was in distance from houses along the road and was ideal. I pitched my tent behind trees on the border of the cotton field. That turned out to be a mistake.
It went completely dark soon. I was using a headlight in the tent for having dinner and such. Suddenly I heard a sharp whistle somewhere close, and a shout of a young man. They were not gone yet! The whistle and the shout continued, as if he was calling his mates for the game. If? My sense told me that was 100% for sure. Others didn't seem to be around. The shout gradually went far. I had time. I hurried to strike my tent.
Just when I loaded everything back to my bicycle, whistles and shouts came back. Plural. They were getting closer. I left the place immediately without using a light, crossed the shallow river and moved away on the river bank with pushing my bike.
I could hardly see the ground and stumbled sometimes on stones and in holes. But I had to move on as the hunting sound was going on in the field. A little further, I thought. Next moment, I was sucked in the ground upside down and was severely struck on my face. It took me a while till I realized that I fell down from the bank, which looked a little higher than my height.
Luckily the ground was sandy. I didn't feel much damage on me. Still I couldn't move a while. The whistle and shout had stopped. The men must have witnessed what happened in my silhouette. They never showed up. Probably they got scared of what they might have done. Kids, after all. But I couldn't tell.
I camped on the sandy riverside that night, and checked the damage again in the morning. I got a cut between my eyes because of the glasses, and a little bruise on my neck, but neither were severe. I worried more about my bicycle. Yes, the front bag was broken. The inner steel frame was bent and the cloth was partly ripped, but that could be mended with kicks and sewing. A tough bike it is. It survived the traffic accident in the spring, and this crash while it was fully loaded.I went by a local restaurant for breakfast later in the morning. So many people gathered around my table to see the stranger, talked to me friendly, one paid for what I ate, and they all saw me off at the end with giving me a hand-writing map. I was comforted.