THE CALL OF THE STREET 339 



the sights were aligned on the bull's eye of the 

 target, and I was sure the white disc of the 

 marker would settle upon it, giving me five, the 

 highest count, for my first shot. But the disc 

 that was shown marked the second space and the 

 scorer recorded three for my first shot. 



"That was just an accident,' , said my friend 

 the President to the ladies with him. 'You'll 

 see a string of bull's eyes, now." 



But what they did see following my next shot 

 was the black disc for which the scorer recorded 

 two and thereafter had nothing to enter for after 

 each of my seven shots that followed, the waving 

 disc told the spectators that there was nothing 

 doing. I had a happy half hour of introductions 

 and listening to conversations that gave kindly 

 reasons for the accident of my failure or point- 

 edly ignored the subject. 



I don't know whether I felt better or worse 

 when I found that in loading a lot of cartridges 

 I had omitted the lubricating disc and the barrel 

 of my rifle had become leaded to such an extent 

 that a bullet sent through it would be delivered 



