The Wrong Man — page 48: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

«8 THE WRONG MAN. iseness and hyperbole. The fiesh-ceut bleeds freely ; while the mortal wound oftentimes oozes only slow and painful 8. re Sedley uttered the words we have recorded, he grappled the wretch round the throat with an energy that would have done credit to his better years; and so sudden and unexpected was the assault, that it well-nigh overturned the hunter from his horse. Irritated by the briskness of the onset, the latter seized the old man in his bony gripe, and o struggle ensued, which soon resulted in Sedley’s being thrown heavily to the» ground. The hunter sprung from his horse; while the other, though much hurt, yet rose to his feet with the agility of youth, and again grappled with his powerful antagonist. But, though the energy of the wronged old mn’s feelings lent vigor to his limbs, it could not render him a match for his Herculean oppo- nent, and the strife had lasted but a moment, when he was again thrown violently to the earth. The ferocious hunter now sprung upon his prostrate foe, and disappointed in the object for which he had long been plotting, and attacked with such desperate fury, his anger was kindled | to the highest pitch. Wreathing his fingers among the thin gray locks of the old man’s temples, he pressed his thamb upon the ball of sight, which in another instant, would hare been forced from its socket, when something glistened in the moon- beams ubove his head; it descended—a Joud, wild shriek burst from the lips of the hunter; he started to his fect, s red a few steps, and, with a convulsive effort to speak, which died . away in an inarticulate rattle, fetl lifeless to the ground. Y _ The old man had risen from the earth at the same moment : with the hunter, and, as he now stood bending over the corpse, : the foam still on his pale lip, and the frown on his brow, Over- ' ton’s own hunting-knife, dsphig with biood, whieh he held in his extended right hand, explained the cause of the catastrophe. i In the ation of the moment, and scarcely conscious what i he did, Sealey had drawn the weapon from the hunter's belt, and in the struggle, dealing him a violent but aimless blow, _ chance had directed the blade toa vital part. The point en- tered his neck at the junction of the vertebra with the bones of the lead, aud thus in a moment terminated the life of the __ Jawless bunter. __. For two or three minutes, Enoch Sedley stood bending over the body of the murdered wretch in an attitude of stupid hor- ror. Ilis rage died away, and feelings as deep, but widely dif ferent, »egan to take possession of mind. The face of the corpse, as feebly lighted by the moon, which had now risen above the tops of the trees and shed a thin glimmer on the road, * coer in its closed teeth, wide-staring glassy cyes, and fixed : i so a. tortion of features, a ghastly image of th iid passi ; had swelled the bosom of the hunter while living. The ‘. oy ‘ : s . “' . a oe oe eeks con * a . > - ~ : . - . , a fe ad @ '