THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 93 
munication, that in flasks so constructed the two halves are 
simply blown asunder, instead of being shattered to atoms, 
and that the owner escapes with a scorched, instead of a 
maimed, right hand. 
But to return to the loading. You then toss in the 
powder as quickly as is consistent with accuracy, return 
your flask, insert a cut wad in the barrel, draw your ram- 
rod, drive down the wad sharply and ram it home on the 
powder; remembering not to grasp the rod, much less 
cover the tip of it with the palm of your hand, in ramming 
down, but to hold it only between the tips of your fingers 
and thumb. In case of an explosion, this difference in the 
mode of holding it will. just make the difference of lacer- 
ated finger tips or a hand blown to shreds. 
For the same reason, never hold your nose over the 
muzzles, as if you want to look down the barrels; you can- 
not see the charge in the chambers, any more than you can 
find truth at the bottom of a draw well. 
Your powder home, drop the ramrod into the undis- 
charged barrel, by which you will ascertain whether the 
load has started on the firing of the first, as it will do 
sometimes, and create some risk of bursting a barrel, and 
if it have, will drive it back into its place. Pour your shot 
into the barrel you are loading, insert another cut wad on 
the top of it, ram it down sharply, and return the ramrod 
to its pipes. If, by any accident, a shot have run down 
into the barrel which contains the ramrod, do not attempt 
to draw it by force, which will only jam it harder, but in- 
vert the piece, give it a shake, and out will come both shot 
and ramrod. 
