“I wish you could,” said Will, again.
“Do you believe what I told you up home, about meeting Isaac Naylor, and fighting with him?”
Will nodded his head.
“If I’d killed him at all, I would have killed him then, and in that struggle, wouldn’t I?”
“Yes.”
“Very good. Now, Dr. Winterapple affirmed before the magistrate that only one blow had been given, and that that blow was immediately behind and under the right ear.”
Will was looking very earnestly at Tom. “I heard his evidence before the coroner’s jury,” said he.
“Well, I’m right, ain’t I?”
“Yes.”
“Where are your wits, man? How could I strike him in the back part of the head, and under the right ear, if I struck him while he was fighting me off, as he must have been doing under the circumstances? Look here; suppose you and I are facing one another, so—I have a club in my hand to strike you with; I couldn’t possibly reach you to strike you where Isaac received the blow that finished him. If I were to strike you a blow in a moment of fury, it would be on the top or on the left side of the head. It would be impossible to strike you on the right side, without I were left handed.”