A Short Time After I Went Out I Heard The Report Of A Gun, And About Ten Minutes Afterwards Hepburn Called To Me In A Voice Of Great Alarm To Come Directly.

When I arrived I found poor Hood lying lifeless at the fireside, a ball having apparently entered his forehead.

I was at first horror-struck with the idea that in a fit of despondency he had hurried himself into the presence of his Almighty Judge by an act of his own hand, but the conduct of Michel soon gave rise to other thoughts, and excited suspicions which were confirmed when, upon examining the body, I discovered that the shot had entered the back part of the head and passed out at the forehead, and that the muzzle of the gun had been applied so close as to set fire to the night-cap behind. The gun, which was of the longest kind supplied to the Indians, could not have been placed in a position to inflict such a wound except by a second person. Upon inquiring of Michel how it happened he replied that Mr. Hood had sent him into the tent for the short gun and that during his absence the long gun had gone off, he did not know whether by accident or not. He held the short gun in his hand at the time he was speaking to me. Hepburn afterwards informed me that previous to the report of the gun Mr. Hood and Michel were speaking to each other in an elevated angry tone, that Mr. Hood, being seated at the fireside, was hid from him by intervening willows, but that on hearing the report he looked up and saw Michel rising up from before the tent-door, or just behind where Mr. Hood was seated, and then going into the tent.

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