Gould, knowing that he was grievously wounded, stumbled out the door, across the courtyard and into the street. Forrest lurched back into the office and fell into one of the chairs. Forrest’s staff pulled off his coat and his vest. They pulled his shirt tail out to check the wound. In the soldier’s parlance of the day, Forrest was “gut-shot.”
Every soldier knew that an abdominal wound was routinely fatal. You might linger for a few days but, to a certainty, you were a dead man. You had time to make out your will, write a few letters home and distribute your personal items to your friends, but infection would set in quickly and kill you.
Forrest certainly knew this and he rose from his chair, his eyes blazing, and shouted, “No man kills me and lives!” With his staff trying in vain to restrain him, he struggled, with his shirt tail out, from his chair and headed in pursuit of Gould.
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Final vengeance is, I believe, one of the reasons that men carry guns for self-defense. Stopping an encounter before it starts is the best possible result, but if your luck turns bad and you catch a slug yourself, it's only human to want the bastard who put it there to go to Hell along with you. I once did a poll of my gun-owning friends and final defiance was something that they all advocated.
ReplyDeleteVengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Delete& us'ns also. :)
Did you notice the author is from Maury County, Tn.? My father and his family were from there. Two family cemeterys there also. Uncles rode with The General.
ReplyDeleteTerry
Fla.
No, I didn't and good news. Thanks.
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