Page:John Brown (1899).pdf/93

 Franklin, and that they will be here in two hours. You can see for yourselves the smoke they are making by setting fire to the houses in that town. Now is probably the last opportunity you will have of seeing a fight, so you had better do your best If they should come up and attack us, don't yell and make a great noise, but remain perfectly silent and still, wait till they get within twenty-five yards of you, get a good object, be sure you see the hind sight of your gun, then fire. A great deal of powder and lead and very precious time is wasted by shooting too high. You had better aim at their legs than at their heads. In either case, be sure of the hind sights of your guns. It is from neglect of this that I myself have so many times escaped; for, if all the bullets that have been aimed at me had hit, I should have been as full of holes as a riddle."

The Missourians made their onset. Brown commanded the Free State ad-