"
Mrs. Swinger, before the assailants could prevent it, unhung the rifle,
and was about to present it to her husband, when Maxwell pointed his
pistol at her, and said, "Move another inch, woman, and I will fire!"
"Look here, stranger," said Jerry, approaching the attorney, "if you
touch that trigger, I'll pull your heart out!"
Vernon saw that his time had come, and, grappling with the woodman, they
both fell upon the mud floor of the cabin.
Maxwell, his pistol still pointed at the woman, advanced a step, with
the intention of taking the rifle from her. Mrs. Swinger, perceiving his
purpose, elevated the rifle to her shoulder as gracefully as the most
accomplished Kentuckian would have done, and fired. But her aim was bad;
the ball passed through the attorney's hat. It came near enough,
however, to rouse his passion, and, without a moment's deliberation,
which might have saved him the reproach of shooting a woman, he fired.
His aim, better than his feminine opponent's had been, sent the ball
through her side, and she fell. Emily, filled with horror by the
sanguinary scene, sprung to Mrs.
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