watch. They were brought to
trial and, despite my efforts to clear them and fasten the guilt upon
three of the most respectable and worthy citizens of Ghost Rock,
convicted on the clearest proof. The murder would now be as wanton
and reasonless as I could wish.

"One morning I shouldered my Winchester rifle, and going over to my
uncle's house, near Nigger Head, asked my Aunt Mary, his wife, if he
were at home, adding that I had come to kill him. My aunt replied
with her peculiar smile that so many gentlemen called on that errand
and were afterward carried away without having performed it that I
must excuse her for doubting my good faith in the matter. She said I
did not look as if I would kill anybody, so, as a proof of good faith
I leveled my rifle and wounded a Chinaman who happened to be passing
the house. She said she knew whole families that could do a thing of
that kind, but Bill Ridley was a horse of another color. She said,
however, that I would find him over on the other side of the creek in
the sheep lot; and she added that she hoped the best man would win.

"My Aunt Mary was one of the most fair-minded women that I have ever
met.

"I found my uncle down on his knees engaged in skinning a sheep.
Seeing that he had neither gun nor pistol handy I had not the heart to
shoot him, so I approached him, greeted him pleasantly and struck him
a powerful blow on the head with the butt of my rifle. I have a very
good delivery and Uncle William lay down on his side, then rolled over
on his back, spread out his fingers and shivered. Before he could
recover the use of his limbs I seized the knife that he had been using
and cut his hamstrings. You know, doubtless, that when you sever the
_tendo Achillis_ the patient has no further use of his leg; it is just
the same as if he had no leg. Well, I parted them both, and when he
revived he was at my service. As soon as he comprehended the
situation, he said:

"'Samuel, you have got the drop on me and can afford to be generous.
I have only one thing to ask of you, and that is that you carry me to
the house and finish me in the bosom of my family.'

"I told him I thought that a pretty reasonable request and I would do
so if he would let me put him into a wheat sack; he would be easier to
carry that way and if we were seen by the neighbors _en route_ it
would cause less remark. He agreed to that, and going to the barn I
got a sack. This, however, did not fit him;