in the woods, towards sunset, we saw two men on horseback driving an old bell-steer and four or five young cattle, all of which we easily recognized in the distance as part of my herd.  We followed the men cautiously, keeping so far in the woods that they could not see us, when they mounted a little hill, and the last rays of the setting sun striking upon them, we saw that it was Bridekirk and a neighbor who were stealing my stock.  We hid in the swamp until nine o’clock at night, and then rode to Bridekirk’s clearing.  There was a stream in a hollow below his house, but his cattle-pen was on the rising ground a little way off.  We tied our horses in the woods, and crawled up to the cow-pen.  There we found all the cattle the thieves had stolen excepting the bell-steer.  There was a fire down in the hollow by the stream, and we could see Bridekirk and the other fellow skinning my bell-steer, which they had just killed.  Said I to my friend, Now we have ’em!’ and I took aim at Bridekirk with my gun.  My friend was a law man, so he said, No, don’t shoot; there is some law left, and we have evidence now.  Let’s go and indict them.  Then if the sheriff won’t arrest them, we can find plenty of chances to pull the trigger on them.  I go in for law first, and LYNCHING afterwards.’  Well, it was a hard thing to lose such a chance when we were boiling over, but I put my gun on my shoulder, and my friend let the bars of the pen down, and we drove the other cattle out as quietly as possible into the woods.

“Next day, Bridekirk’s neighbor, who had helped kill the beef, left for parts unknown.  Why? because, when he found the bars let down, and the cattle gone, and measured our tracks, he knew who had been watching him, and he thought it safest to skedaddle.  Bridekirk then kept close in his cabin.  He knew who was on his trail this time.  We got the men indicted, and the sheriff had the order of arrest; but he held it for a week, and probably sent word to Bridekirk to keep out of the way.  So law, as usual in these parts, fizzled, and it became necessary to try something surer.

“Now I was told that one morning last week, before daybreak, Bridekirk and his hired man heard a noise in the yard that sounded as though some animal was worrying the hens.  He suspected it was somebody trying to draw him out into the yard, so he would not go, but tried to get his man to see what was up.  The man was afraid, too, for he had his suspicions.  At last the noise outside stopped, and the sun began to rise.  As nobody seemed to be about, Bridekirk stuck his head out of the door, and, not seeing anything, slowly stepped outside.  Now there were two men hidden behind a fence, with their guns pointed at the door.  As soon as that cow-thief got fairly out of his house, we—­these fellows, I mean—­pulled trigger and shot him dead.  The authorities held a sort of inquest on the case, but all that is known of the matter is that he came to his death by shots from unknown parties.”