I throwed myself flat into the bushes, an' escaped unhurt; but both my sisters were shot dead, an' my father received another ball that brought him to the ground.

My mother, instead of thinkin' of herself, kneeled beside him, an' supported his head in her arms.

The next minute the outlaws entered the woods, an' one passed so close to me that I could have touched him.
"'"Wal, Bill Lawson," said a voice that I knowed belonged to Mountain Tom, "you see I'm here again.

I s'pose you kind o' thought you had rubbed me out, didn't you ?" "'"Yes, I did," said father--an' his voice was so weak that I could hardly hear him.
"'"You won't have a chance to draw a bead on me again, I guess.

We shoot consider'ble sharp--don't we ?" "'"I shan't live long," said father.