fired together, Decatur's bullet struck
Barron in the hip, inflicting a severe but not mortal wound. At the
same instant Barron's bullet passed through Decatur's abdomen,
inflicting a wound necessarily fatal then, probably so, even now. As
he lay on the ground the great commodore said faintly:

"I am mortally wounded--at least, I believe so--and I wish I had fallen
in defence of my country."

He died at ten o'clock that night, regretted by all who love brave men
the world over.

IV. An Episode in the Life of James Bowie

Of a different character, but equally interesting, was an encounter in
August, 1829, which has become famous because of one of the weapons
used with deadly effect. On an island in the Mississippi River,
opposite Natchez, which was nothing but a sand bar with some
undergrowth upon it, a party of men met to witness and second a duel
between a Dr. Maddox and one Samuel Wells. The spectators were all
interested in one or the other combatant, and had taken part in a
neighborhood feud which arose out of a speculation in land.

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The two principals exchanged two shots without injury, whereupon the
seconds and spectators, unable to restrain their animosity, started a
free fight. Judge Crane, of Mississippi, was the leader on one side;
James Bowie, of Georgia, the principal man on the other. Crane was
armed with a brace of duelling pistols; Bowie had nothing but a knife.
Bowie and a friend of his, named Currey, attacked Crane after the
Maddox-Wells duel had been abandoned. Crane was wounded in the left
arm by a shot from Currey; he thereupon shot Currey dead and with his
remaining pistol he wounded Bowie in the groin. Nevertheless, Bowie
resolutely came on. Crane struck him over the head with his pistol,
felling him to the ground. Undaunted, Bowie scrambled to his feet and
made again for Crane.

Major Wright, a friend of Crane's, now interposed, and thrust at Bowie
with a sword cane. The blade tore open Bowie's breast. The terrible
Georgian, twice wounded though he was, caught Wright by the neck-cloth,
grappled with him, and threw him to the ground, falling upon him.

"Now, Major, you die," said Bowie coolly, wrenching his arm free and
plunging his knife into Wright's heart.

The knife had been made by Bowie's brother Rezin out of a blacksmith's
rasp. It was shaped in accordance with his own ideas, and James Bowie
used it with terrible effect. It was the first of the celebrated
"