CHOKE-BORES. 295 



(for nearly all the shooting was at "travellers"), when 

 handled by a crack shot such as he, I will just add 

 that the score of the entire party, Fred included, was 

 2760. The five other guns, used by good shots too, 

 were all double-barrelled, and four of them breech- 

 loaders. Comment is unnecessary. 



All this time we had kept secret, as far as possible, 

 partly out of a sense of regard for Tonks and Schaefer, 

 and in greater part perhaps through selfishness the plan 

 upon which our guns were bored ; confiding only in a 

 few particular friends. On Fred's return from the 

 Sangamon, however, the fame of his shooting soon 

 spread, and his gun became the wonder of sportsmen 

 in that neighborhood. A man by the name of John- 

 son carried on the gunsmithing business in town at 

 that time, and Fred, as a friend, wishing to see him 

 prosper, explained to him the method by which his 

 gun was bored, and allowed him to take measure- 

 ments of its inside diameter ; so Johnson made some 

 tools, and began experimenting on some old musket- 

 barrels with the most favorable results, soon being able 

 to obtain close shooting from almost any thing in the 

 shape of a gun. He then issued circulars stating 

 what he could do to all parts of that section of the 

 country, which read as follows, and may be considered 



