Immediately upon the word, he fired. The ball grazed
my breast, tore from my shirt-front a pin, and, glancing off, fell into
a creek which partly encircled the ground. Had he been a moment less
precipitate in his determination to ensure my death, the slight movement
I would have made in raising my arm to fire would probably have changed
my position sufficiently to have received the bullet. My shot followed
immediately upon his. He was seen to stagger, but declared himself
unhurt, and demanded a second shot. The pistols were prepared and
delivered. I noticed that Sefton received his with the left hand. We
were again placed, and just as the word were being given, he fell to the
ground. On examination it appeared that at the first fire my ball had
struck immediately in front of the arm and shattered the clavicle,
thence passing--in one of the freaks peculiar to bullets--immediately
beneath the flesh, half round the body, lodging under the opposite
shoulder. He had fainted from the wound.
Of course the duel was ended. Sefton was confined to his house for
weeks, and on recovering removed to Texas, where in a few months
afterward he died from _mania a potu_.
On returning home, I found that the tidings of my difficulty with
Sefton, and its anticipated consequences, had been communicated to my
wife.
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