The Adventures of Bobby Orde

to buy as soon as he could save up enough on an allowance of one cent a day, had been withdrawn from sale and offered as prize for the fall trap shooting. This had been a severe blow, but f

fed only the melancholy satisfaction of seeing Mr. Kincaid, whom he liked, win out over Mr. N

s surprised to find Bucephalus and the yellow cart hitched

nds with Bobby very gravely. "I brought around the new rifle," he added fur

The new shiny Flobert Rifle with its gold-plated locks and trigger guards res

itched him to the fence, and, followed closely by the excited Bobby, climbed into a field. From his po

obby, tacking away with the handle of his heavy pocket-knife

epped

pen her," he said, h

nism. He cocked the arm and pulled back the breech block, thus opening

ausing in the filling of his pipe, "but you

oaded," obj

in any circumstances lets the muzzle of his gun, loaded or unloaded, for even a single instant, point toward any living cre

ir," sa

nished Mr. Kincaid, "and

ffairs in the world to own such a thing, produced a little square red box containing the cartridges. Thi

across it. "You know how to sight, don't you? I thought likely. When you pul

rapidly as though he had just climbed a hill. He tried desperately to hold the front sight in the notch of the hind sight, and both on the black

said t

ere you hit!" sug

d; and with great care laid the Flo

t," approved

rated the exact cent

good shot, wasn't it, Mr. Kincaid? That was do

ghting his pipe, and s

all you can say (puff, puff). No one shot's a good s

his head and thr

thing but an accident," said he

this; for with the dead rest across the stump, he thought he was holding the sights against the black. Mr. Kincaid watched him amusedl

hoot any more?" cried

t fooling-at first, anyway. You can't expect to become a good shot in a

t made me miss,"

ut I'm not going to. You think it over; and next ti

ed Bobby, his in

id with mock anxiety. "Because I've got ninety cartri

cried

l, the Maple County Sportsman's Association, say; and we'll hold weekly shoots. These will be the

breath

t," he continued. "I've always wanted to be president of something; and you can be secretary. You must get a little

d what he

make a fine rust that you may never be able to get out; and rust will eat into the rifling and make the gun inaccurate. No matter how late it is, or how tired you are, always clean your gun before you go to bed. It's the second most important thing I can teach you. You'll see lo

and the oil can, and showed him how to get all the

ing back the half-seat, "climb

d into a slow steady jog, which soon covered the distance to

I'm going to shoot, myself; and you'll have to

it be?" a

Here," said he; "you take this and put it away carefully. I'll keep the ammunition," he added

the old white horse jogging sleepily, the old yellow cart lu

nd how they were fastened to the barrel; the fall of the hammer; the firing-pin; the mechanism of the ejector, the butt plate, the polished stock and the manner in which it was attached to the barrel. Over the fancy scroll of the gold-plated trigger-guard he passed his fingers lovingly.

e cried. "Where a

butcher. They found Bobby dancing wildly around and

Orde. "What is it? What's

o the conclusion that Bobby had shot

y. He thrust the rifle, bott

gger-guard, carved in flowi

m Arthur Kincaid.