sulting spark was thrown into the "pan," igniting a pinch of
powder. The fire ran into the powder charge and the gun went off. Round
balls were used, and the loading was done with the help of a ramrod.

There were already percussion rifles in those days, but General Winfield
Scott, who bossed the Mexican war, declared that he would have nothing
to do with those new-fangled weapons. The old smooth-bore flintlock was
good enough for him. In truth, the percussion gun of that period was not
as reliable as might have been wished. The cap was liable to get wet and
to fail to go off, whereas a good flint could be counted upon to yield a
spark every time.

It was not until 1858 that the percussion rifle, still a muzzle-loader,
was generally used by the United States army. The Springfield, which was
the first breech-loader (one cartridge inserted at a time) came along
in 1870. In 1892 it was replaced by the first of our magazine rifles,
the Krag, and simultaneously we adopted smokeless powder, a European
invention.

The regulation United States service rifle is a great improvement on the
Krag. It is loaded with "clips," holding five cartridges each. The
velocity of the bullet is greater, and the accuracy and rapidity of fire
are superior.

FIGHTING RANGE 800 YARDS.

In the Mexican war the ordinary fighting range, with the smooth-bore
flintlock, was about 250 yards. In the Civil War, with the percussion
muzzle-loader, it was 350 to 400 yards. With the new service rifle, the
fighting range is 700 to 800 yards, and the infantryman is able to fire
at least twenty times as many shots in a given number of minutes as was
possible fifty years ago.

The field artilleryman carries no rifle, but is provided with a
45-caliber automatic pistol and twenty-one cartridges. The men who
compose the machine-gun platoons have no rifles, but each one of them is
armed with the same sort of service pistol and a bolo. The latter is a
weapon new to our army, adopted as a result of military experience in
the Philippines. It is in effect a machete (a sugar cane chopping
knife), shortened and made heavier. At close quarters it is a formidable
weapon.

The bolo embodies the best principles of the various razor-edged
fighting blades of the Filipinos, and was first adopted as a side arm of
the Marine Corps officers. The bolo, which is much heavier than an
ordinary sword, measures 24 inches from tip of handle to tip of blade,
and is forged from a pi