felt I could stand up
and face death with any one in the field, fighting in a good cause and
armed as others; but to be taken advantage of at any moment, and
perhaps shot down like a dog, was rather too much. I therefore resolved
in my own mind, not only to disarm my friend but to render his weapon
useless; but how to accomplish this was the question, as to raise any
suspicion would perhaps bring down wrath upon my own head. I therefore
resolved to leave everything precisely intact till an opportunity should
present itself. The very next day the time arrived, and during this
Grand Turk's absence I hastily removed the caps from off the nipples of
the revolver, and having exploded them upon the nipples of his
double-barrelled gun, I pinched them back into their original shape and
replaced them on the revolver. I then put the box of caps into my pocket
and felt perfectly secure, and could have sat and been fired at without
the slightest fear. This gentleman shortly afterwards was seized with
paralysis of the brain, and ended his days in a madhouse. No one, I
believe, ever suffered any inconvenience from the revolver, and what
became of it I know not.

If leaving weapons about is necessary (which I do not for a moment
admit), then most assuredly they should be rendered harmless by being
left unloaded, and thus the means of rendering them destructive would be
kept out of the way of meddlers. All ammunition should, as a rule, be
kept in some secret and safe place, and always under lock and key. Every
man knows that edged tools are dangerous, consequently that the leaving
loaded firearms within the reach of anybody who may chance to come
across them is simply leaving means of destruction unprotected, and he
should bear in mind that this mischief of his own neglect might
accidentally at any moment be wielded against himself.

'How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds,
Makes deeds ill done.
SHAKESPEARE: _King John._

The responsibility of those possessing firearms is great, and proper
precautions and proper care cannot be too strictly enforced. Care costs
nothing, and may be the means of preventing loss of life and many a
deplorable accident. The precautions necessary to be borne in mind in
the safe use of firearms for one's own protection, as well as the
protection of others, are voluminous, and so varied are they that it is
with difficulty they can be all dealt with i