CHRISTOPHER IN HIS SPORTING JACKET 



stood back at least seven inches, and unless the flint 

 was put in to a nicety, by pulling the trigger you 

 by no means caused any uncovering of the pan, but 

 things in general remained in statu quo — and there 

 was perfect silence. She had a worm-eaten stock, into 

 which the barrel seldom was able to get itself fairly 

 inserted; and even with the aid of circumvoluting 

 twine, 'twas always coggly. Thus too, the vizy (An- 

 glwe sight) generally inclined unduly to one side or 

 the other, and was the cause of all of us every day 

 hitting and hurting objects of whose existence even 

 we were not aware, till alarmed by the lowing or the 

 galloping of cattle on the hills; and we hear now the 

 yell of an old woman in black bonnet and red cloak, 

 who shook her staff at us like a witch, with the blood 

 running down the furrows of her face, and, wdth many 

 oaths, maintained that she was murdered. The "Lang 

 Gun'' had certainly a strong vomit — and, with slugs 

 or swan-shot, was dangerous at two hundred yards to 

 any living thing. Bob Howie at that distance arrested 

 the career of a mad dog — a single slug having been 

 sent through the eye into the brain. We wonder if 

 one or both of those companions of our boyhood be 

 yet alive — or, like many other great guns that have 

 since made more noise in the world, fallen a silent 

 prey to the rust of oblivion. 



Not a boy in the school had a game certificate — 

 [ 54 ] 



