Some Tpntmblefton "fccroes 659 



Sergeant Mcnzics, of the i Baker, of the 



Honourable Artillery Company ; and Pullman, of the 

 1st Somerset. Menzics finished with 60, Baker with 59. 

 Pullman stood at 56, with three shots to fire, and he 

 had been shooting so coolly and steadily that victory 

 seemed a certainty for him. But some ill-a< 

 friend acquainted him with his position. The news 

 did not appear to affect him. He calmly loaded, lay 

 down, fired, and scored a centre, bringing his total 

 up to 59. Someone said, " It's a hundred to one on 

 him now." Whether he heard the remark or not I 

 don't know, but certain it is that his next shot was 

 a miss. Still, he had only to get on the target anywhere 

 with his last shot to win. Amid appalling silence he 

 lay down to fire. The sudden hush must have un- 

 nerved him, for I saw the barrel of his rifle wobble as 

 he pulled the trigger. Every eye was strained towards 

 the marker's butt. But no flag appeared. Pullman's 

 last chance was gone, and Menzies was carried in 

 triumph to the Council tent on the shoulders of his 

 enthusiastic " brither Scots." 



But three years later, in 1876, Pullman, then a 

 sergeant in the South Middlesex, retrieved his 1 

 and won the Queen's Prize in gallant style. Those 

 three years had doubtless strengthened his nerve 

 though it was not put to the same severe test as in 

 1873. Since then Pullman has been four times in the 

 Queen's Hundred, but the 250 and the Gold Medal 

 have eluded him, as they have eluded every marksman 

 for the second time except the little jeweller of 

 Kingussie and the coachbuilder of Okchampton. 



