David Crockett: His Life and AdventuresAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
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David Crockett: His Life and Adventures
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Crockett, Davy, 1786-1836
"So to it again we went. They were now put upon their mettle, and they
fired much better than the first time; and it was what might be called
pretty sharp shooting. When it came to my turn, I squared myself, and
turning to the prime shot, I gave him a knowing nod, by way of showing
my confidence; and says I, 'Look out for the bull's-eye, stranger.' I
blazed away, and I wish I may be shot if I didn't miss the target. They
examined it all over, and could find neither hair nor hide of my
bullet, and pronounced it a dead miss; when says I, 'Stand aside and
let me look, and I warrant you I get on the right trail of the
critter,' They stood aside, and I examined the bull's-eye pretty
particular, and at length cried out, 'Here it is; there is no snakes if
it ha'n't followed the very track of the other.' They said it was
utterly impossible, but I insisted on their searching the hole, and I
agreed to be stuck up as a mark myself, if they did not find two
bullets there. They searched for my satisfaction, and sure enough it
all come out just as I had told them; for I had picked up a bullet that
had been fired, and stuck it deep into the hole, without any one
perceiving it. They were all perfectly satisfied that fame had not made
too great a flourish of trumpets when speaking of me as a marksman: and
they all said they had enough of shooting for that day, and they moved
that we adjourn to the tavern and liquor."
The dinner consisted of bear's meat, venison, and wild turkey. They had
an "uproarious" time over their whiskey. Crockett made a coarse and
vulgar speech, which was neither creditable to his head nor his heart.
But it was received with great applause.
The next morning Crockett decided to set out to cross the country in a
southwest direction, to Fulton, on the upper waters of the Red River.
The gentlemen furnished Crockett with a fine horse, and five of them
decided to accompany him, as a mark of respect, to the River Washita,
fifty miles from Little Rock. Crockett endeavored to raise some
recruits for Texas, but was unsuccessful. When they reached the
Washita, they found a clergyman, one of those bold, hardy pioneers of
the wilderness, who through the wildest adventures were distributing
tracts and preaching the gospel in the remotest hamlets.
He was in a condition of great peril. He had attempted to ford the
river in the wrong place, and had reached a spot where he could not
advance any farther, and yet could not turn his horse round. With much
difficulty they succeeded in extricating him, and in bringing him safe
to the shore. Having bid adieu to his kind friends, who had escorted
him thus far, Crockett crossed the river, and in company with the
clergyman continued his journey, about twenty miles farther west toward
a little settlement called Greenville. He found his new friend to be a
very charming companion. In describing the ride, Crockett writes:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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