Part 3 (1/2)
SAM HOUSTON
After the reading, the deaf man waited a few seconds, as if for a reply, and then turned and was about to leave the hall, when Colonel Morton, interposed, and sternly beckoned hier obeyed, and Morton wrote: ”You were brave enough to insult o; are you brave enough now to give er penned his reply: ”I aain: ”Who will be your second?”
The stranger rejoined: ”I ae; and too brave to fear any on part of others; therefore, I never need the aid of a second”
Morton penned: ”Naer traced, without a ; place, the left bank of the Colorado, opposite Austin; weapons, rifles; and distance, a hundred yards Do not fail to be in time!”
He then took three steps across the floor, and disappeared through the , as he had entered
”What?” exclaie Webb, ”is it possible Colonel Morton, that you intend to fight that , I fear, will sadly tarnish the luster of your laurels”
”You are mistaken,” replied Morton, with a smile; ”that mute is a hero whose fame stands in the records of a dozen battles, and at least half as many bloody duels Besides, he is the favorite eood fortune to kill hiainst venturing any more on the field of honor”
”You know the ether
”Deaf Smith,” answered Morton, coolly
”Why, no; that can not be Deaf Se Webb
”There, again, your honor is mistaken,” said Morton ”The story of Sot up by Houston to save the life of his favorite froeance of certain Texans, on whose conduct he had acted as a spy I fathomed the artifice twelve months since”
”If what you say be true, you are a madman yourself!” exclaimed Webb
”Deaf Sht down ravens in their ht, and killed Camanches and Mexicans at a distance of of two hundred and fifty yards!”
”Say no more,” answered Colonel Morton, in tones of deep deterreed tobefore such a shot, and, if I succeed, lory!”
Such was the general habit of thought and feeling prevalent throughout Texas at that period
Toward evening a vast crowd asse; and so great was the popular recklessness as to affairs of the sort, that nuered on the result At length the red orb of the summer sun touched the curved riold, and filling the air with a flood of burning glory; and then the two , ponderous rifles, took their stations, back to back, and at a preconcerted signal--the waving of a white handkerchief--walked slowly and steadily off, in opposite directions, counting their steps until each had iven number about the same instant, and then they wheeled, each to aireat, both paused for soh for the beholders to flash their eyes fro contrast betwixt the; but the s On the contrary, the countenance of Deaf Smith was stern and passionless as ever A side view of his features ht have been mistaken for a profile done in cast iron The one, too, was dressed in the richest cloth; the other in smoke-tinted leather But that made no difference in Texas then; for the heirs of heroic courage were all considered peers--the class of inferiors embraced none but cowards
Presently two rifles exploded with siious bound upward, and dropped to the earth a corpse! Deaf San to reload his rifle; and then, having finished his brief task, he hastened away into the adjacent forest
Three days afterward, General Houston, accompanied by Deaf Smith and ten other men, appeared in Austin, and, without further opposition, removed the state papers
The history of the hero of the foregoing anecdote was one of the most extraordinary ever known in the West He made his advent in Texas at an early period, and continued to reside there until his death, which happened soh he had many warm personal friends, no one could ever ascertain either the land of his birth, or a single glearaphy When he was questioned on the subject, he laid his finger on his lip; and if pressed ently, his brorithed, and his dark eye seemed to shoot sparks of livid fire!
He could write with astonishi+ng correctness and facility, considering his situation; and, although denied the exquisite pleasure and priceless advantages of the sense of hearing, nature had given hi as an eagle's; and a smell, keen and incredible as that of a raven He could discover objectsmiles away in the far-off prairie, when others could perceive nothing but earth and sky; and the rangers used to declare that he could catch the scent of a Mexican or Indian at as great a distance as a buzzard could distinguish the odor of a dead carcass
It was these qualities which fitted him so well for a spy, in which capacity he rendered invaluable services to Houston's arenerally obtained the inforular
He could never be persuaded to sleep under the roof of a house, or even to use a tent-cloth Wrapped in his blanket, he loved to lie out in the open air, under the blue canopy of pure ether, and count the stars, or gaze, with a yearning look, at the uide, he subsisted by hunting, being often absent on solitary excursions for weeks and even enuine son of nature, a grown up child of the woods and prairie, which he worshi+ped with a sort of Pagan adoration Excluded by his infirmities from cordial fellowshi+p with his kind, he s of the earth his friends, and entered, by the heart's own adoption, into brotherhood with the luminaries of heaven! Wherever there was land or water, barren rocks or tangled brakes of wild, waving cane, there was Deaf Sreat cities, in all the great thoroughfares ofor craven fear, there was Deaf Se soul! he hath departed on the long journey, away aht-lamps; and he hath either solved or ceased to ponder the deep ic word, ”life”