I was supposed to be killed, but happily (happily for me at least) I was merely stunned.
I lay in a semi-unconscious state until eight o'clock that night, when I attempted to speak.

Miss Abigail, who watched by the bedside, put her ear down to my lips and was saluted with these remarkable words: "Strawberry and verneller mixed!" "Mercy on us! What is the boy saying ?" cried Miss Abigail.
"ROOTBEERSOLDHERE!" This inscription is copied from a triangular-shaped piece of slate, still preserved in the garret of the Nutter House, together with the pistol butt itself, which was subsequently dug up for a postmortem examination..