'Before I could get upon my feet and recover my
gun, which seemed to have been struck from my
hands, I heard Morgan crying out as if in mortal
agony, and mingling with his cries were such hoarse,
savage sounds as one hears from fighting dogs.
Inexpressibly terrified, I struggled to my feet and
looked in the direction of Morgan's retreat; and may
Heaven in mercy spare me from another sight like
that! At a distance of less than thirty yards was
my friend, down upon one knee, his head thrown
back at a frightful angle, hatless, his long hair in
disorder and his whole body in violent movement
from side to side, backward and forward. His right
arm was lifted and seemed to lack the hand--at
least, I could see none. The other arm was invisible.
At times, as my memory now reports this extraordi-
nary scene, I could discern but a part of his body;
it was as if he had been partly blotted out--I can-
not otherwise express it--then a shifting of his
position would bring it all into view again.
'All this must have occurred within a few sec-
onds, yet in that time Morgan assumed all the pos-
tures of a determined wrestler vanquished by su-
perior weight and strength. I saw nothing but him,
and him not always distinctly. During the entire
incident his shouts and curses were heard, as if
through an enveloping uproar of such sounds of
rage and fury as I had never heard from the throat
of man or brute!
'For a moment only I stood irresolute, then throw-
ing down my gun I ran forward to my friend's as-
sistance.
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