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tear again, and give Sherburn another cussing. By-and-by
somebody says-
"Go for his daughter!- quick, go for his daughter; sometimes
he'll listen to her. If anybody can persuade him, she can."
So somebody started on a run. I walked down street a ways, and
stopped. In about five or ten minutes, here comes Boggs again- but
not on his horse. He was a-reeling across the street towards me,
bareheaded, with a friend on both sides of him aholt of his arms
and hurrying him along. He was quiet, and looked uneasy; and he
warn't hanging back any, but was doing some of the hurrying
himself. Somebody sings out-
"Boggs!"
I looked over to see who said it, and it was that Colonel
Sherburn. He was standing perfectly still, in the street, and had a
pistol raised in his right hand- not aiming it, but holding it out with
the barrel tilted up towards the sky. The same second I see a young
girl coming on the run, and two men with her. Boggs and the men
turned round, to see who called him, and when they see the pistol
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the men jumped to one side, and the pistol barrel come down slow
and steady to a level-both barrels cocked. Boggs throws up both of
his hands, and says, "O Lord, don't shoot!" Bang! goes the first
shot, and he staggers back clawing at the air- bang! goes the
second one, and he tumbles backwards onto the ground, heavy and
solid, with his arms spread out. That young girl screamed out, and
comes rushing, and down she throws herself on her father, crying,
and saying, "Oh, he's killed him, he's killed him!" The crowd
closed up around them, and shouldered and jammed one another,
with their necks stretched, trying to see, and people on the inside
trying to shove them back, and shouting, "Back, back! give him
air, give him air!"
Colonel Sherburn he tossed his pistol onto the ground, and
turned around on his heels and walked off.
They took Boggs to a little drug store, the crowd pressing
around, just the same, and the whole town following, and I rushed
and got a good place at the window, where I was close to him and
could see in. They laid him on the floor, and put one large Bible
under his head, and opened another one and spread it on his breast-
but they tore open his shirt first, and I seen where one of the bullets
went in. He made about a dozen long gasps, his breast lifting the
Bible up when he drawed in his breath, and letting it down again
when he breathed it out- and after that he laid still; he was dead.
Then they pulled his daughter away from him, screaming and
crying, and took her off. She was about sixteen, and very sweet
and gentle-looking, but awful pale and scared.
Well, pretty soon the whole town was there, squirming and
scrouging and pushing and shoving to get at the window and have
a look, but people that had the places wouldn't give them up, and
folks behind them was saying all the time, "Say, now, you've
looked enough, you fellows; 'taint right and 'taint fair, for you to
stay thar all the time, and never give nobody a chance; other folks
has their rights as well as you.
There was considerable jawing back, so I slid out, thinking
maybe there was going to be trouble. The streets was full, and
everybody was excited. Everybody that seen the shooting was
telling how it happened, and there was a big crowd packed around
each one of these fellows, stretching their necks and listening. One
long lanky man, with long hair and a big white fur stove-pipe hat
on the back of his head, and a crooked-handled cane, marked out
the places on the ground where Boggs stood, and where Sherburn
stood, and the people following him around from one place to
t'other and watching everything he done, and bobbing their heads
140
to show they understood, and stopping a little and resting their
hands on their thighs to watch him mark the places on the ground
with his cane; and then he stood up straight and stiff where
Sherburn had stood, frowning and having his hatbrim down over
his eyes, and sung out, "Boggs!" and then fetched his cane down
slow to a level, and says "Bang!" staggered backwards, says
"Bang!" again, and fell down flat on his back. The people that had
seen the thing said he done it perfect; said it was just exactly the
way it all happened. Then as much as a dozen people got out their
bottles and treated him.
Well, by-and-by somebody said Sherburn ought to be lynched.
In about a minute everybody was saying it; so away they went, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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