194 THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 



some extraordinary feats performed with 

 the rifle. 



I once saw an Indian chief shoot a duck 

 through the head at a distance of eighty 

 yards, as it was floating on Lake Huron ; 

 and I could quote many similar instances 

 of the wonderful precision with which 

 this weapon is used in the back woods. 



I became so fascinated by the miracles 

 I saw accomplished by the grooved bar- 

 rels, that I took to rifle-shooting myself 

 in those days, but I never got beyond 

 hitting a bottle once out of three times, 

 at seventy-five or eighty yards, and that 

 with a rest. But this is barely the pons 

 asinorum amongst rifle-shooters, so I fear 

 I did not do my master much credit. 



My instructor in this useful branch of 

 gunnery, as it is termed by our trans- 

 Atlantic brethren, was an American — 

 one of the most patient and kind-hearted 

 of men ; and who, in addition to his un- 



