The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-01-30

| kin run back; Tiers plenty of road, too,
| each of you has 80 miles of straight travel
! in behind him eff he don't like the looks
| of things in front; but neither of you must
! leave the road and the seven shots in
| each of your guns must decide the affair,
] hit or miss. Mind, if these conditions are
/ broken by either man, me and DANIEL are
here to fair play, and have guns.
| and will them, too Without another
/ word we all left the store and the two
| seconds, placing the rifles on the road be
| side Crockford and myself, retired to the
j little hillock to give the signal
Il, perhaps, ought to give you a de-
scripton of my feelings. at that moment,
but really | can hardly do so, nor do L
remember any Very predominant emotion.
save that l felt sort Of stony calm, mixed
with a strong desire to draw a bead on
that figure standing quietly beside his wea
pom some 200 yards away.
"As l before told you I had laid down
my method of proceeding, and the basis of
it to remain Oh the defensive. for
felt sure that Crocktord despising my abil-
tiles with the Winchester, would advance
upon me, nor was l at all mistaken direct
y the signal was given he seized his rifle
| and almost instantly discharging shot
| which passed within foot of me- he start
| ed ZigZag run towards me. Mean
while | had gone down fiat on the road
, bringing my rifle to bear upon him, and
getting sight after he had run in perhaps
| so yards, | fired nv first shot.
| Il shot primarily to stop him, of course,
| if I could, but also with the intention Of
| throwing a thin cloud of smoke Immediately
| in front of me, beneath which / could
| again take sight. The day was STILL
| bright and warm and far away along the
| road behind Crockford a little white puff
| of dust old me that l had missed my man.
| Jerking the lever of the rifle forward and
| back to it's place again, l had my second
| shot ready for delivery This time wait
| ed judging that when he came to a stop
! either to lie down, or stand, l should have
| the best chance l likely to get but
| still my rifle muZzle followed his every
! movement On he came till less than 100
| yards separated us; dropping to his
| hands and knees he was just reaching the
| prone position, when once more, my rife
| rang out. This time l did not the puff
| of dust, betOkening a miss, but | had no
| time to speculate about results but hug
| ging the ground closely, l jerked the emp
| ty cartridge out and got another into it's
place. Zip came a bullet not three inches
| from my cheek, and again, l brought
my gun up, another struck the road almost
| straight in front of and tore it's way
| through the cloth of my coat on the arm.
This shot nearly blinded me and rendered
! it impossible for me to return the fire eff
| fectively for the dust, and SO l might say
| for the next two, both being in front
| and fortunately little to one SIDE / alb
| solutely could not see even the end of my
| own rifle. In a few seconds the dust was
| cleared sufficiently to allow dimly to
| sight my opponet. My finger had almost
pressed the trigger when somehow or an
other | seemed to feel that / need not
| shoot There motion about my
| adversary, his face visible and
| even at that distance l could see that his
| rifle was not in position, but was grasped
in his right hand wide out from his body
! l kept my rife him hesitating what tc
do He still had two shots in his maya.
| zine and l had a right to fire on him
and make certain. but still, as l say
| hesitated. As l did SO Mottram waved me
to hold my fire, and leaving their position
on the hill the two seconds ran hastily to
the silent figure in front of me- A
wave Of the hand released me from sus-
pense and informed me tina. the duel was
over. On reaching Cro2lford ] found hlrl
insensble from pain and ,oss OF blood NV
second shot had struck him lair on the left
shoulder, shatterng The bone ut The ;oint
in terrible manner and .loodilg the road
with blood. Even then the man had, he
fore insensiblity had set IN, mana sed
goodness knows how, to send those four
| bullets in rapid succession, any one OF
which, had it been three :nenes truer,
would have killed Or badly wounded me.
We got him to the store and DalZiel no
possessed some surgical skill, managed to
staunch the flowing blood, ana in a cay or
two he Was pronounced out Of any abso-
Lutte danger of his life. Recover he cid, al
| though it was three months Before he
could leave his berth. AS the ranch had
passed into my hands during that time
saw that he was properly attended to-
but when he was able to ,ravel l directed
that he be paid up all wages and an extra
$50 given him, but that ne be discharged
| from the employ. You my life felt
very unsafe while he was within 80 miles
| heard that he ultimately recovered the
use of his arm, but it was 4 long time be-
fore it was anything like sound
Little more remains to be told, except
ing that l gave Dalziel 800 for that Win.
chester as souvenir of the affair
But Mr.. Crompton,' said ]! how OF
earth did you manage to make such a goof
shot at your man on your second attempt
when, you pointed out, YOU shot Sc
badly at the box lid. Was it simply {
fluke?'
Compton looked at me rather cur;ousl,
and said:
| 11rla hut 7 !,