lets,
staggered to his feet, an' follered along arter us, loadin' his rifle.
Then began the race for life. It seemed to me that we flew over the
ground, but the villains gained on us at every step. Just as we
reached the woods, my father called out,

"'"Down--down, every one of you! They're going to shoot again!"

"'Obeyin' that order was what saved my life. I throwed myself flat
into the bushes, an' escaped unhurt; but both my sisters were shot
dead, an' my father received another ball that brought him to the
ground. My mother, instead of thinkin' of herself, kneeled beside him,
an' supported his head in her arms. The next minute the outlaws
entered the woods, an' one passed so close to me that I could have
touched him.

"'"Wal, Bill Lawson," said a voice that I knowed belonged to Mountain
Tom, "you see I'm here again. I s'pose you kind o' thought you had
rubbed me out, didn't you?"

"'"Yes, I did," said father--an' his voice was so weak that I could
hardly hear him.

"'"You won't have a chance to draw a bead on me again, I guess. We shoot
consider'ble sharp--don't we?"

"'"I shan't live long," said father. "But, whatever you do to me, be
merciful to my wife an'--"

"'The dull thud of the tomahawk cut short my father's dying prayer, an'
his brains were spattered on the bush where I was concealed; an',
a'most at the same moment, another of the band buried his knife in my
mother's heart.'

"Old Bill could go no further. He buried his face in his hands an'
cried like a child. At length, by a strong effort, he choked down his
sobs, and went on.

"'I knew no more until I found myself lyin' in the cabin of an ole
hunter, who lived about ten miles from where we used to live. He had
been out huntin', an' had found me lyin' close beside my father an'
mother. He thought I was dead, too, at first, but he found no wounds
on me; so, arter buryin' all my relatives in one grave, he took me
home with him. In three or four days I was able to get around again;
an', beggin' a rifle an' some powder an' ball of the ole hunter, I
started out. I went straight to the grave that contained all I loved
on earth, an' there, kneelin' above their heads, I swore that my life
should be devoted to but one object--vengeance on the villains who had
robbed me of all my happiness. How well I have kept my oath the
notches on my knife will show. Seven of them have fallen by my
tomahawk; one only is left, an' that is Mountain Tom. For fifteen lo