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Where
is
the
witness
upon
whom
so
much
is
supposed
to
depend
.
Where
is
Zeb
Stump
?
Five
hundred
pairs
of
eyes
turn
towards
the
prairie
,
and
scan
the
horizon
with
inquiring
gaze
.
Five
hundred
hearts
throb
with
a
mad
impatience
for
the
return
of
the
old
hunter
--
with
or
without
Cassius
Calhoun
--
with
or
without
the
Headless
Horse
,
man
--
now
no
longer
either
myth
or
mystery
,
but
a
natural
phenomenon
,
explained
and
comprehended
.
It
is
not
necessary
to
say
to
that
assemblage
,
that
the
thing
is
an
improbability
--
much
less
to
pronounce
it
impossible
.
They
are
Texans
of
the
south-west
--
denizens
of
the
high
upland
plateau
,
bordering
upon
the
"
Staked
Plain
,
"
from
which
springs
the
lovely
Leona
,
and
where
the
river
of
Nuts
heads
in
a
hundred
crystal
streams
.
They
are
dwellers
in
a
land
,
where
death
can
scarce
be
said
to
have
its
successor
in
decay
;
where
the
stag
struck
down
in
its
tracks
--
or
the
wild
steed
succumbing
to
some
hapless
chance
--
unless
by
wild
beasts
devoured
,
will
,
after
a
time
,
bid
defiance
both
to
the
laws
of
corruption
and
the
teeth
of
the
coyoté
;
where
the
corpse
of
mortal
man
himself
,
left
uncoffined
and
uncovered
,
will
,
in
the
short
period
of
eight-and-forty
hours
,
exhibit
the
signs
,
and
partake
of
the
qualities
,
of
a
mummy
freshly
exhumed
from
the
catacombs
of
Egypt
!
But
few
upon
the
ground
who
are
not
acquainted
with
this
peculiarity
of
the
Texan
climate
--
that
section
of
it
close
to
the
Sierra
Madro
--
and
more
especially
among
the
spurs
of
the
Llano
Estacado
.
Should
the
Headless
Horseman
be
led
back
under
the
live
oak
,
there
is
not
one
who
will
be
surprised
to
see
the
dead
body
of
Henry
Poindexter
scarce
showing
the
incipient
signs
of
decomposition
If
there
be
any
incredulity
about
the
story
just
told
them
,
it
is
not
on
this
account
;
and
they
stand
in
impatient
expectation
,
not
because
they
require
it
to
be
confirmed
.
Their
impatience
may
be
traced
to
a
different
cause
--
a
suspicion
,
awakened
at
an
early
period
of
the
trial
,
and
which
,
during
its
progress
,
has
been
gradually
growing
stronger
;
until
it
has
at
length
assumed
almost
the
shape
of
a
belief
.
It
is
to
confirm
,
or
dissipate
this
,
that
nearly
every
man
upon
the
ground
--
every
woman
as
well
--
chafes
at
the
absence
of
that
witness
,
whose
testimony
is
expected
to
restore
the
accused
to
his
liberty
,
or
consign
him
to
the
gallows
tree
.
