DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5833#0251
FATAL DUEL.
225
if they had been pronounced but yesterday. This was
one of those events which never quit the mind, but
cling to the recollection like a wild untractable creeper
to the forest-tree,
From this time my unhappy friend was never easy
unless the person who had shot him was at his bed-
side. He expressed towards him the most kindly
feeling, exonerating him from all blame, and taking
the whole odium upon himself. The young Irishman
scarcely quitted him for a moment, but with a pale
countenance, and his eyes frequently suffused with
tears, that eloquently told the depth of his emotion,
administered all his medicines to the dying man;
though every pang which he witnessed thrilled through
his own frame with a sympathetic agony so fierce and
prostrating, that he could scarcely maintain his spirit
amid the frequent repetitions of the shock: I never
witnessed grief more intense.
On the second evening, I learned from the survivor
in this fatal encounter, that immediately upon reach-
ing his tent on the night he had been struck, he
sent a challenge to his aggressor, who met him the
next morning on the beach about sunrise, when three
shots were exchanged, at the desire solely of the of-
fending party, the third of which proved fatal.
To the surprise of the medical attendant, the
wounded man lingered for six days. I was with
him during his last moments. It was a sad sight;
and when my thoughts recur to it, the recol-
lection shakes me even now. He had not for one in-
stant entertained the slightest hope of recovery, and
225
if they had been pronounced but yesterday. This was
one of those events which never quit the mind, but
cling to the recollection like a wild untractable creeper
to the forest-tree,
From this time my unhappy friend was never easy
unless the person who had shot him was at his bed-
side. He expressed towards him the most kindly
feeling, exonerating him from all blame, and taking
the whole odium upon himself. The young Irishman
scarcely quitted him for a moment, but with a pale
countenance, and his eyes frequently suffused with
tears, that eloquently told the depth of his emotion,
administered all his medicines to the dying man;
though every pang which he witnessed thrilled through
his own frame with a sympathetic agony so fierce and
prostrating, that he could scarcely maintain his spirit
amid the frequent repetitions of the shock: I never
witnessed grief more intense.
On the second evening, I learned from the survivor
in this fatal encounter, that immediately upon reach-
ing his tent on the night he had been struck, he
sent a challenge to his aggressor, who met him the
next morning on the beach about sunrise, when three
shots were exchanged, at the desire solely of the of-
fending party, the third of which proved fatal.
To the surprise of the medical attendant, the
wounded man lingered for six days. I was with
him during his last moments. It was a sad sight;
and when my thoughts recur to it, the recol-
lection shakes me even now. He had not for one in-
stant entertained the slightest hope of recovery, and