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 
