THE RESULT OF OVERLOADING, 



127 



time to convince my friend that such was the case. 

 The result, however, was that I was commissioned to 

 order a gun for him in England. I and W. Tolley, of 

 Conduit Street, London, undertook the job, and 

 in due time the result of these skilful workmen's 

 efforts was delivered. A few weeks after its 

 arrival, I went to have a few days* shooting with 

 my friend. He complained of his new purchase ; 

 it did not shoot well, and the recoil was suffi- 

 cient to knock him off his feet every time he fired 

 it. I was surprised, for from experience I knew 

 what good work these makers turned out, but I had 

 not far to seek for an elucidation of the mystery, 

 and it was simply this, he was shooting an ounce and 

 three-eighths of shot when one ounce was an amply 

 sufficient charge, for the gun was a 12-bore. 



My friend explained how the overloading occurred. 

 An acquaintance — who it afterwards appeared wished 

 to possess the gun — told him that high-classed guns 

 required heavy loading, and that it was the quantity 

 of shot that they could take made them so 

 valuable. It may appear remarkable to many how 

 an educated man could be such a fool, but there are 

 so many men in the United States who have spent 

 all their early days toiling in an office, and have only 

 taken to field sports late in life, that very crude ideas 

 about guns and gunnery will frequently be found to 

 exist among them. In fact, I may safely say that 

 among them are to be found as many Cockney sports- 

 men and Winkles as we have in England. It is 

 almost unnecessary to state that when the charges 

 were rectified, no better shot-gun could be found in 

 the State of Missouri. 



But excuse this digression. The experience which 

 I had at the wild geese would be unique in Great 

 Britain, but not so in many parts of the Western 

 States, and, as a test of the killing powers of a gun, 

 it could not be excelled, for all that was required by 



