PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE 5 



and which have long stood the test of hard, practical 

 service. For two days we haunted these famous 

 gun-makers' shops, and for two days I made a mag- 

 nificent attempt to look learnedly at things about 

 which I knew little. 



At last, after many hours of gun shopping, at- 



Practising in the Museum 



tended by the constant click of a taxicab meter, I 

 assembled such an imposing arsenal that I was 

 nervous whenever I thought about it. With such 

 a battery it was a foregone conclusion that some- 

 thing, or somebody, was likely to get hurt. I hoped 

 that it would be something, and not somebody. 



The old-time "elephant gun" which shot an enor- 

 mous ball and a staggering charge of black powder 



