WITNESS.--"Well, sir, she--that is, Jones--he sidled up and drawed his revolver and tried to shoot the top of Smith's head off, and Smith run, and Sophronia she walloped herself down in the saw-dust and screamed twice, just as loud as she could yell. I never see a poor creature in such distress--and then she sung out: 'O, H--ll's fire! What are they up to now? Ah, my poor dear mother, I shall never see you more!'--saying which, she jerked another yell and fainted away as dead as a wax figger. Thinks I to myself, I'll be danged if this ain't gettin' rather dusty, and I'll--" THE COURT.--"We have no desire to know what you thought; we only wish to know what you saw. Are you sure Mr. Jones endeavored to shoot the top of Mr. Smith's head off?" WITNESS.--"Yes, your Honor." THE COURT.--"How many times did he shoot?" WITNESS.--"Well, sir, I couldn't say exactly as to the number--but I should think--well, say seven or eight times--as many as that, anyway." THE COURT.--"Be careful now, and remember you are under oath. What kind of a pistol was it?" WITNESS.--"It was a Durringer, your Honor." THE COURT.--"A derringer! You must not trifle here, sir. A derringer only shoots once--how then could Jones have fired seven or eight times?" (The witness is evidently as stunned by that last proposition as if a brick had struck him.) WITNESS.--"Well, your Honor--he--that is, she--Jones, I mean--Soph--" THE COURT.--"Are you sure he fired more than one shot? Are you sure he fired at all?" WITNESS.--"I--I well, perhaps he didn't--and--and your Honor may be right. But you see, that girl, with her dratted yowling--altogether, it might be that he did only shoot once." LAWYER.--"And about his attempting to shoot the top of Smith's head off--didn't he aim at his body, or his legs? Come now." WITNESS.--(Entirely confused)--"Yes, sir--I think he did--I--I'm pretty certain of it. Yes, sir, he must a fired at his legs." (Nothing was elicited on the cross-examination, except that the weapon used by Mr. Jones was a bowie knife instead of a derringer, and that he made a number of desperate attempts to scalp the plaintiff instead of trying to shoot him. It also came out that Sophronia, of doubtful nativity, did not faint, and was not present during the affray, she having been discharged from her situation on the previous evening.)