| OCR Text |
Show 200 niCHAilD II URDI:S. CHAPTER X IX. THE ASSASSIN Al\'D HIS EMPLOY ER. " I've done Lhc dccd."- .Macbctlt. ) ' THE murderer of ' Villiam Jay d ose in the thicket after he had done the deed. T hat murderer was Ben P ickett, and, as the reader mny haYC divined already, his victim had perished through mistake. The fatal cause of this was in his employment of my horse, a circumstance forced upon him by the necessities of his flight. Pickett knew the horse, nnd looked no further. It was a long shot, from a ri sing-ground nboYc, where tho umbrage was t hick, and at such a distance that fea tures were not clearly distinguishable. T he d ress of ' Villiam unfor· tunately helped the delusion. It was almost entirely like mine. W c l1ad been so completely nssociated together for yenrs, that our habits and tastes in many res11eets had become assimilated. r.rhe murderer, having snt isfi ecl h imself-which he did at a glance- tlwt the horse was mine, it was the prompt conclusion of his mind that I wils the rider. Crime is seldom deliberate- the mere act, I mean-the determination may be deliberately enough made; but the blow is most usually given in haste, as if the criminal dreaded that J1e migllt sln·ink from an act already r esolved upon. Pick ett did not trust ]limsclf to look a second t ime before pulling trigger. lind he suffered tl1c rider to advance t en paces more, he would have withdrawn the sight. The courage of man is never certain but when he is doing what he feels to be right. rrhe wrong-doer may be despc· rate ~nd furious, but he has no composed bearing. Pickett was of tlus sort. He shot almost instnntly after seeing the horse. He was about to come forward when he saw the rider tumble; but the sudden approach of tl1e pursuers, whose forms had been •· 1'11~ A~ASSI N A~D 1118 E~l!'LO YER . 201 concealed hy the narrow and enclosed ''blind" t hrough which thf'y passed, compelled him to resume his position, and remain quiet. JTe saw tbem take chargf'. of the holly, l.mt h:ul li ttle idea that tbcir aim, like his own, hml Lccn yn\turons. lie saw them 1Jilsy nbont tile prey which l1is blow had struck tlown, but concluded thnt thf'y were friends seeking to sm:cor nnd to save. Under :lll)' circnmstances, l1is hope of plunder was now cut off, and h~ silently withdrew into the forest, where his horse hacl been hidden, and, hur riedly remounting, commenced h is return to Mnrengo. But an eye was upon l1im that never lost sight of him. 'J'he k een bunter that Mattl1ew \Vebber had set upon his path hacl found his track, and pursued it with the unerring scent of the bloodhound. Afore than once the pursuer coulcl have shot down the fugitiYc with a weapon as 1ittle anticipated, and as unerring-, us thnt which he himself had employed ; but he l1ad no purpose of this sort in view. He silently followed on, kee ping close ·watch upon e\·ery movement, yet never suffer ing himself to be seen. \Vhen the murderer paused by the wayside, he halted also; when he sped towurcl e,·oning, he too relaxed his reins i and he drew thf'm up f1 nally, only wl1cn he beheld the former, with an :nl(lacity which he never showed wltile 1 dwelt in Marengo, present himself at tho entrance of my father's plantation, and request to soc my brother. T ho pursuer 1!ausod also at this moment, and enter ing a. little but dense wood on one side of the road, quietly dismounted from his horse, which he fastened in the deepest thicket, and, under cover of the under-brush, crept forward as nearly as ho could, to tho place where Pickett wnited, without incurring any risk of detection. I t was not long bC'fore J ohn llunlis came to tho gato, and his coward soul made its appearance in llis face, the moment that he saw his confeclernto. H is lips grew livid and quivered, his cheek!:! were whiter than his shirt, nncl ltis voice so feeble, when he a:tcm p~ed to s!1eak, that he could only articulate at all by uttermg lumself w1th vehcmency aml haste. '' Ah, Pickett, that you 1- well ! what 1" T he mmdcrer had not alighted from his l10rse, and he now simply bent forward to the other, as he half whispered - HIt 'a nil fi xed, 'squire ! The na il's clinched! You cau 9• |
