HIS FAVOURITE GUN. 7 



pushed it down, would slip the last six inches, so loosely 

 fitting as to barely answer its purpose of retaining the 

 shot ; so that when cleaned out, before the smoke fouled 

 it again, he had to load with paper. This in a measure 

 anticipated the ' choke-bore,' and his gun was always 

 famous for its killing power. The varnish is worn from 

 the stock by incessant friction against his coat, showing 

 the real grain of the walnut-wood, and the trigger-guard 

 with the polish of the sleeve shines like silver. It has 

 been his companion for so many years that it is not 

 strange he should feel an affection for it ; no other ever 

 fitted the shoulder so well, or came with such delicate 

 precision to the ' present ' position. So accustomed is he 

 to its balance and ' hang ' in the hand that he never thinks 

 of aiming ; he simply looks at the object, still or moving, 

 throws the gun up from the hollow of his arm, and 

 instantly pulls the trigger, staying not a second to glance 

 along the barrel. It has become almost a portion of his 

 body, answering like a limb to the volition of will without 

 the intervention of reflection. The hammers are chased 

 and elegantly shaped — perfectly matching : when once 

 the screw came loose, and the jar of a shot jerked one off 

 among the dead leaves apparently beyond hope of recovery, 

 he never rested night or day till by continuous search and 

 sifting the artistic piece of metal was found. Nothing 

 destroys the symmetry of a gun so much as hammers 

 which are not pairs ; and well he knew that he should 



