and insulting language was indulged in by both parties; a challenge was
given and promptly accepted. They proceeded in the way I have related to
the South Carolina bank of the river, there to settle the controversy
by gunpowder logic, and shoot at each other until one or both parties
should be fully satisfied.

Having seen the duellists fairly embarked, I felt a deep interest in the
result, and eagerly watched for the return of the barges. In the course
of little more than an hour, one of the boats was seen ascending the
river, and rapidly approached the wharf. One of the principals, followed
by his friend, stepped ashore with a triumphant air, as if he had done
a noble deed, and walked up the wharf. But no satisfactory information
could be obtained respecting the result of the duel.

In about half a hour the other boat made its appearance. It moved slowly
along, propelled by only a couple of oars. The reason for this was soon
explained by the sight of a man, extended on the thwarts, and writhing
with pain. This proved to be one of the duellists, who was shot in the
groin at the second fire, and dangerously wounded. The boat reached the
landing place, and the surgeon and the second both went up the wharf in
search of some means of transporting the unfortunate man to his home.
Meanwhile he lay upon his rude couch exposed to the nearly vertical rays
of the sun; his only attendant a negro, who brushed away the flies which
annoyed him. His features were of a deadly pallor; he breathed with
difficulty, and appeared to suffer much from pain.

Some ten or fifteen minutes elapsed ere the friends of the wounded man
returned, bringing a litter, mattress, and bearers. He was too ill to
be conveyed through the streets in a coach. A mournful procession was
formed, and he was thus carried, in a bleeding and dying condition, to
his relatives, a mother and sisters, from whom he had parted a few hours
before, in all the strength and vigor of early manhood.

As I gazed upon this wounded man, the absurdity of the custom of
duelling, as practised among civilized nations, struck me in all its
force. One scene like this, taken in connection with the attendant
circumstances, is more convincing than volumes of logic, or a thousand
homilies. For a few hasty words, exchanged in a moment of anger, two
men, instructed in the precepts of the Christian religion, professing
to be guided by true principles of honesty and honor, who had ever borne