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Show 39G HICliABD IJURDTS. and such a blood-thirsty :mel unrel enting }tate, I put spurs to my l10rsc, and, with earnest efforts, endeavored to put myself between them; but my object was defeated, nnd 1 was soon 1aught to know that I requ ired nil my address to matwgc my own particular opponent. This wns tho man whom we have before seen as tho emissary of the brotherhood, at the habitation of I .. ickctt, :mel, subscqucntJy, when I ]eft the encampment, ostensibly as the spy upon Eberly. rrhis fellow seemed to understand my object, for he put ltimsclf directly in my way, and, when not three steps distnnt, discharged his pistol at my bead. llow Ito came to miss me, I know not. It would appear impossible tLnt a man, rcsoh ·cd and deliberate as he certa inl y showed himself then and elsewlterc to be, should Lave failed to shoot me at so small a. distance. But he did i and, witl10ut troubling myself at 1hnt moment to demand how or why, L was resolved not to missltim. I did not. But my bullet, though more direct titan hi s, was not fatal. hit him in tho shoulder of the right arm, from the hand of which he dropped tlte knife which he had taken from his bosom, the moment after firing ]lis pistol. My horse was upon him in another iustnnt; but, as if insensible to his wound, he grasped the bridle wi th his remaining IJ::md, and, by extending his arm to its utmost stretclt, he baffied me, for a brief space, in the effort which I was making to take a second shot. It was but a moment only, ho·wever, that IJC did so. I suffered him to turn the head of the horse, nnd deliberately t ook a second pistol from my bosom. lie sunk under the breast of the animal as he beheld it, still grasping him by the bridle, by swinging from wltich 1te wns ena Lied to avoid tbe tralllj)lings of his feet. But I was not to Lo defeated. I threw myself from the animal, uud shot the outlaw dead, before he could extricate himself from the !)Osition into which he had tlnown himself. 'rhis affair took less time to act than I now employ to narrate it. Meanwhile, the strife between Colonel Grafton and tV ebber had proceeded to a fatal issue. I ltad beheld its progress with painful apprel1ensions, beholding the danger of the noble gentleman, without the ability to servo or succor him. On CONCLUSJON. 307 their first encounter, the deliberate ntni:m calmly awaited tho bold ass:llllt of It is foe, and, pcrbaps, feeling some Uouht of his weapon, in <tinting at the smnller object, or rcsoln.'d to mnke sure of ltim though slow, he directed his pistol muzzle nt the advau cing steed, and put tho bullet into his brea st. 'J'hc animal tumbled forward, nncl \VeLber nimbly lcnp ing to one side, nvoided ltis crushinb carcass, w!tich fell over upon tho very spot where the outlaw had taken bis stn.tiou. In the fall of the bcnst, as \V cbber IHtd anticipated, Grafton became entangled. One of his legs was fastened under the animnl, and he lay prostrate and immovable for an instant, from the stunning effect of tho fnll. \Vith a g1· im smile of triumph, \Vobber al)proached ltim, and when not tltree paces distant ft·om his enemy, drew his pistol, but before he could fix the sight upon him, a fierce wild scream rang through the area, and in the next in stant, when noth ing beside could have saved Crafton, and wltcn looking fearlessly a.t his advanci11g enemy, lte momeutly expected the death which ltc felt l1imself uuaLle to avoid, he beheld, with no less satisfaction :mel surprise, the fi gme of the doubly fugitive Clifton bounding between them, to arrest tho tltreatencd shot. lie came too Jato for t.hi s, yet he balled the vengeance of the murderer. '.L'he bullet took efrect in his own bosom, and he fOil down between Grafton :md \V cltber, expiating his errors and offences, whatever may have Lcen their nature and extent, by freely yielding up his life to snve that of one, who just before, as he imagined to the la st, had sat in inflexible and hosti le judgment upon Ids own. A fi1int sm ile illuminated his countenance a moment before his death, and Ito seemed desirous to turn !tis eyes wl1ere Grafton lay, but to this task he was unequal Once or twice Ito mnde :tn effort nt speech, but his voice sunk away into a gurgling sound, and, nt length, terminated in tho choking rnttle of death. Webber, while yet the brcatl1 fluttered upon the lips of }tis victim, strode forward, with one foot upon ltis body, to repeat the assault upon Grafton, whi ch !tall been Laflled titu s, but before he could do tltis, he fell by an unseen hand. He was levelled to the eartl1, by a stroke from the butt of a rifle from behind, and despatched, in the heat of the moment, by a second blow from the hauds of the sturdy forester wbo wielded it. |