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men was lighting his pipe fell over the lock, I 

 enquired if the charge had yet been drawn. " Yes," 

 remarked " John," the punt-man, with the air of 

 one who thoroughly understands his business and 

 has properly performed it, "she's washed out, 

 loaded, and carefully primed ready for the 

 morning." On inspecting the lock I discovered 

 that the covering to the nipple was simply a piece 

 of brown paper such as Highlanders use for tinder, 

 and consequently extremely liable to ignite from a 

 spark, so I suggested that the gun should be placed 

 in the far corner of the room where it would still 

 be protected from the frost.* 



Nothing however would satisfy the landlady, 

 who came in at this point, but the immediate 

 removal of the dangerous weapon. I accordingly 

 ordered the men to take the gun out and draw the 

 charge. 



In less than two minutes there was a deafening 

 explosion, followed by a fearful crash ; the glass 

 was blown in, the lights blown out, the landlady 

 fainted, the lassies screamed and the dogs barked. 

 On rushing out to see what had happened I learned 

 that after cleaning out and loading the gun the men 

 had carried the rods down to the punts when they 

 had gone to see that all was snug for the night and 

 consequently had no means at hand for drawing the 

 charge ; so, placing a cap on the nipple, they had 

 steadied the butt on the bricks in the yard, and 

 holding the muzzle in the air had fired the charge 

 with the result described. On subsequent inquiry 

 I found out that " John," who had rather a spite 

 against the landlady (as that stern matron had 

 reprimanded him for some unbecoming levity she 

 had detected between him and one of the damsels 

 of her establishment) had done it in hopes of giving 



* Some gunners have an idea that it is 

 dangerous to allow the frost to get into the barrel 

 of a punt-gun. 



