WE PART FROM FRIENDS 



Saunders' and Wilson's incredulity prompted 

 them to step up to the tree and examine the card 

 closely. 



"Guess you must have missed the whole tree 

 that time, Bill," said the captain after scrutinizing 

 the card and tree carefully. *'The hole isn't made 

 any larger that I can see and I can't find any 

 other hole in the tree." 



"Of course not. I didn't want to spoil the card; 

 but the second bullet is in there, right on top of the 

 first one, and I'll bet a horse on it. Now, stand 

 out of the way till I show you another trick. I'm 

 going to take off the right-hand point of the dia- 

 mond this time." 



And at the crack of his pistol the right point 

 disappeared — the last hole just cutting into the 

 edge of the first one. 



"Now, look out for the left-hand point." 



And the left point was gone — all the red being 

 obliterated but a little streak above and below 

 the first hole. 



"There, Peck," he remarked regretfully as he 

 began reloading his pistol, "I had to pretty nigh 

 spoil the card to show these fellows I wasn't 

 a-faking." 



"Don't that beat the devil?" remarked Wilson, 

 looking from the target to Bill and from Bill to 

 the target in undisguised astonishment. 



"Well, I've heard of such phenomenal shoot- 

 ing," said Saunders, "but never saw the like be- 



291 



