The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-15
NEW HAVEN MORNING JOURNAL COURIER FRIDAY MAY H. 1896

suuuen something went WlSp past the
top OF my head and then close to
sounded the noisy crack of o heavy III
ile BY sort of useless instinct, the
first thing | did was to start backwards
and to duck my head; the next, to stare
wildly round me. A glance showed be-
You'd question where the bullet had
come from, Down a glade of live
oaks, not sixty yards away, a man was
busily engaged in slipping fresh cart
ridge into the breech Of rifle, which
had gray smoke-wreaths stlll crawling
slowly from it's muzzle, II was the fell
low l had exposed for cheating at
cards.
AS I gazed, he finished loading, and
sharply raised his weapon, l turned
and ran like frightened dog, zigzag-
ging in my course to confuse his aim,
and making for the magnolia tree.
There I snatched up my own rifle and
darted behind the trunk.
stopped and listened. Not q sound
was to be heard which rose above the
warm hum of the insects and the other
never ceasing noises of the forest.
| could not doubt but that the man was
watching me and waiting for his next
opportunity to pick me oft. My gorge
rose at the thought Of him. Brute! If
| he could fire sitting shot at an UNI
suspecting man, / knew what had to
| expect, and what must do if my own
| life was to be saved. had got to de-
pend on myself alone. In that solitude
the next human creature might be
| twenty miles away.
| Thud!
| A bullet had struck the tree, and the
noise of the shot came close upon its
heels. l swung out from behind the
trunk and lifted my rife, when anoth-
er shot whistled out from beneath the
live-oaks, and was poorer by the loss
| Of an lobe My own bullet ratified
harmlessly among the tree-twigs, and
I strobe back to shelter raging and
| bleeding. The passion of murder
| burned in me then like a torch. The
heat of the day seemed to have passed
completely away. The perspiration
which stood on my body turned cool as
| an ice-douche. Never before had my
thoughts gushed UP with such clear
ness and strength. 1t was duel to the
death between me and the sharper, and
he had drawn first blood, and had got
to win.
The words seemed floating in the hot
air before me-"Kill! kill! kill"
I had reloaded the Remington, and
stood with ears strained to catch the
slightest sound which told of my enc
mys moving Till that moment had
supposed that his rife was repeater.
Now another idea came to me. There
had been two reports, one short and
sharp the other heavier and more
J. noisy. OF course, the thing was clear.
He had fired revolver-shot first, to
draw me from my cover; had dropped
the smaller weapon the moment he
pulled the trigger; and had fired on me
with the rifle directly / emerged from
cover. The fiendish cunning of the
man made my hate for him glow in me
like draught of raw spirit.
All idea of fairness Gf indeed such
had ever occurred to me) was COM
p1etely swept away by that time. I
would fight him by his own methods
The only question was one of means
AS matters stood lay ensconced be-
hind the stem of the magnolia, and If
stepped out of it's shelter I should have
to take his fire before I could get in
my own AS snapshot was very
/
observation I had gained high esti-
mate of his skill.
But a brain working at the pressure
which mine was put to then yields up
unexpected fruits; and when the idea
did at last come to me, | could have
sung for very joy. But there was too
much danger In it to increase the risks
unnecessarily. I slung my rifle by it's
strap across my shoulder, and turned
round and commenced to climb the
magnolia
The stem had been split by lightning,
or I could not have got up without my
hands being seen round the sides, and
as it was, the climb to the first branch
was desperately hard; but T had the
strength of ten men in me then, and
the silent witness Of Seminole and L
gained the cover Of the foliage without
having made slip or cracked a twig.
With the caution of lynx I made
my way up the ladder of branches, go
ing higher and higher till there was
barely one layer of the dark-gre
shining leaves between me and the
burning sky above; and then l looked
about me till / found a steady seat;
and then T unslung the Remington
from my shoulders. I brushed the
rustling curtain Of leaves softly aside
with the muzzle and peered out. My
enemy was on his old ground, standing
beneath the live-oaks with his rifle at
the ready. Some indefinable suspicion
must have got hold of him, for at that
moment he looked up.
The reports of the two rifles rang up
into the heated air simultaneously-bu
mine was the better aim. His bullet
whistled through the dark green leaves
a foot from my head; mine broke his
right elbow joint.
L reloaded and hailed him. There
was pool of black water on the near
err side of the live-oaks and the snout
and eyebrows Of an alligator showed
upon the surface like two knots of
dead-wood.
Take your rife" I said, "and that
revolver, and throw them into the wa
ter"
He hesitated nursing his wounded
arm in the palm of the other, and glar-
ing at me like fiend
"Quicl" I said. eff you take time to
think twice more, I'll shoot you dead"
He picked UP the weapons one by
one, and then dropped them into the
water with sullen splashes. The rep
tile in the pool, frightened by the noise.
~ 1,1I@ yt,ny