Pagina 272 van 788

"Gentlemen, this bullet is not from either of your weapons; it

came from this single-barrelled Horeszko carbine." (Here he

raised an old flintlock, tied up with strings.) "But I did not

shoot it. O, how much daring was needed then! it is terrible to

remember it; my eyes grew dark! For both the young gentlemen were

running straight towards me, and behind them was the bear-just,

just above the head of the Count, the last of the Horeszkos,

though in the female line! 'Jesus Maria!' I exclaimed, and the

angels of the Lord sent to my aid the Bernardine Monk. He put us

all to shame; O, he is a glorious monk! While I trembled, while I

dared not touch the trigger, he snatched the musket from my

hands, aimed, and fired. To shoot between two heads! at a hundred

paces! and not to miss! and in the very centre of his jaw! to

knock out his teeth so!