THE RIFLE ON MOVING GAME. 289 



tinue to catch it always at that point. JusL after it 

 turns is, however, the best, the sight being taken at 

 the lower edge. The ball, too, is always tossed to 

 about the same height, is always at the same distance 

 and in the same direction, and is always descending 

 at the same rate of speed. No one who has ever han- 

 dled a gun needs to be told how quickly the gun be- 

 gins to return to the same place when often tossed up 

 to it. And in the same way the rifle-sights soon be- 

 gin to align themselves almost automatically with 

 anything always in the same position. How easy 

 this becomes with a little practice is shown by the 

 fact that with a month's practice men who had never 

 before handled a rifle almost equaled Carver's best 

 scores on balls. How easy it is to do naturally is well 

 shown by the feat of Mr. Maurice Thompson, the 

 well-known archer. At the very first trial he broke 

 with bow and arrow thirty-five out of fifty balls tossed 

 in air at ten paces, shooting, too, as fast as the arrows 

 could be placed on the string. This was indeed a 

 feat, since it takes considerable skill to hit with an ar- 

 row a ball at ten paces even at rest. This would be 

 fully equal to the same with the rifle at twenty-five 

 yards; a little feat that neither Carver nor his followers 

 have ever cared to attempt in public. 



The whole secret of the matter is this: that a body 

 descending inside of ten paces, descending straight 

 and always at the same speed, becomes with a little 

 practice practically /// a state of rest at any point along 

 the line at which one accustoms one's self to shoot at it. 

 It is practically a body always in the same position 

 and at the same distance, and the most careless aim if 

 only low enough will hit it. A grazing ball that would 

 not count on a bull's-eye will also break a glass ball. 



