GUNS AND GUN-MAKING. l8l 



removed, when, on the top of flood, a coast-guard galley 

 ran in with a leading breeze from the westward. The 

 very elegant proportions of the boat, the happy attitude, 

 the snowy whiteness of her large lugs, as, with the 

 favourable light which a sunless but clear blue sky 

 gave, she rounded the headland, and came up like a 

 race-horse to the pier, had called our undivided attention 

 to her arrival. While conjecture was busy as to what 

 her business might be, we observed a man with his arm 

 slung in a handkerchief, and apparently in considerable 

 pain, leave her. The cause was soon ascertained, for 

 a serious accident had occurred, and we all adjourned 

 to the kitchen, where Antony was already occupied 

 with the wound. 



It appeared that a gun, with which the poor fellow 

 had been shooting rabbits, had burst and shattered his 

 hand ; and when I saw the whole of the palm sadly 

 lacerated, and the thumb attached by a small portion 

 of the muscles, I really feared to save it was a hopeless 

 task. But Antony and my kinsman thought differently. 

 The old man bound the wound up with a professional 

 neatness that I could not have expected from him ; 

 the patient was accommodated in the Lodge, and in a 

 fortnight the galley again returned, to bring him, 

 thoroughly convalescent, to his station. 



I had some curiosity to examine the unlucky gun 

 that caused the mischief. There was a longitudinal 

 rent along the barrel, of seven or eight inches, termi- 

 nating where the left hand usually grasps the stock. 

 There had, no doubt, been a deep flaw in the inside of 

 the metal ; for the wounded man declared that he had 

 not loaded the gun beyond the customary charge. 



It proved to be one of those wretched affairs which 



