136 THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 



action, and after a friendly and cordial 

 greeting on both sides, the guns were 

 paraded in due form. Monsieur Lepage 

 had accompanied the backers of his guns, 

 and had brought a ream of coarse whited- 

 brown paper for us to fire at. 



It was stipulated that we were all to 

 use the same powder and the same sized 

 shot, but that each party were to load as 

 they pleased. 



Monsieur Lepage now stepped forward, 

 and requested to know the number of 

 yards at which we had agreed upon as 

 the distance. I named fifty. " Mon 

 Dieu V exclaimed the finisher of French 

 fusils; *' c'est trop loin.'' He modestly 

 asked me to try twenty-five or thirty, as 

 a fair test. I replied by inquiring, as 

 gravely as I could, whether ten would 

 not answer his purpose better. 



At length, after a great deal of good- 

 natured, playful altercation between our 



