verwhelmed him with protestations and apologies, and the
black boy stood behind exposing his teeth, and gums and the whites of
his eyes freely; "niver mention it, Mr Slagg; accidents _will_ happen,
you know, in the best regulated families. As for me beaver, it's better
riddled than whole in this warm weather. Maybe you'd as well carry your
gun at what sodgers call `the showlder,' wid the muzzle pintin' at the
moon--so; that's it. Don't blame yoursilf, Mr Slagg. Sure, it's worse
than that I was when I begood, for the nasty thing I carried wint off
somehow of its own accord, an' I shot me mother's finest pig--wan barrel
into the tail, an' the other into the hid. You see, they both wint off
a'most at the same moment. We must learn by exparience, av coorse.
You've not had much shootin' yet, I suppose?"

Poor, self-condemned Slagg admitted that he had not, and humbly attended
to Flinn's instructions, after which they proceeded on their way; but it
might have been observed that Flinn kept a corner of his eye steadily on
his new friend during the remainder of that day, while the attenuated
black kept so close to Slagg's elbow as to render the pointing of the
muzzle of his gun at him an impossibility.

Presently there was heard among the bushes a whirring of wings, and up
flew a covey of large birds of the turkey species. Flinn stepped
briskly aside, saying, "Now thin, let drive!" while the attenuated black
fell cautiously in rear.

Bang! bang! went Slagg's gun.

"Oh!" he cried, conscience-stricken; "there, if I haven't done it
again!"

"Done it! av coorse ye have!" cried Flinn, picking up an enormous bird;
"it cudn't have bin nater done by a sportin' lord."

"Then it ain't a tame one?" asked Slagg eagerly.

"No more a tame wan than yoursilf, an' the best of aitin' too," said.
Flinn.

Jim Slagg went on quietly loading his gun, and did not think it
necessary to explain that he had supposed the birds to be tame turkeys,
that his piece had a second time gone off by accident, and that he had
taken no aim at all!

After that, however, he managed to subdue his feelings a little, and
accidentally bagged a few more birds of strange form and beautiful
plumage, by the simple process of shutting his eyes and firing into the
middle of flocks, to the immense satisfaction of Flinn, who applauded
all his successes and explained away all his failures in the most
amiable manner.

If the frequent expanding of the mouth from e