In
the sight of God you are a murderer."
"You tell me to repent. I've repented many a time that I didn't take
better aim and blow his brains out; yes, and hers too. I hoped I had, till
I saw the account in the papers."
Harold's teeth and hands were tightly clenched, in an almost superhuman
effort to keep himself quiet; and the man went on without interruption.
"He'd nearly made a finish of me, but I was smart enough to escape them,
bloodhounds and all. I got over the border into Texas; had a pretty good
time there for awhile--after I recovered from that awful blood-letting;
but when secession began, I slipped off and came North. You think I'm all
bad; but I had a kind of love for the old flag, and went right into the
army. Besides, I thought it might give me a chance to put a bullet through
some o' those that had thwarted my plans, and would have had me lynched,
if they could."
Harold rose and went away, thinking that verily he had been casting his
pearls before swine.
Jackson had, indeed, thrown away his last chance; rejected the last offer
of salvation; for, ere morning, life had fled. Starved to death and gone
into eternity without God and without hope! his bitterest foe could not
have desired for him a more terrible fate.
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