ch as the great earthquake of 1811, had ever done. The
Lakes provided jobs, electric power, flood control, soil conservation, a
fisherman's paradise, milder winters, cooler summers, and they covered
all the really good farming land in the eastern part of the state.

Catriona loaded the revolver. It was an obsolete .357 Magnum with a
6-1/2 inch barrel, and the cartridge cases of the metal-piercing bullets
had a greenish sheen. "Now, put it in the holstah, and be ca'eful,"
Catriona said.

Stonecypher wore the holster, a leather silhouette studded with two
spring clips opening forward, on a belt and secured to his leg by a
thong. Gingerly, he took the revolver and slipped it under the clips.
"I've kept outa duels all my life," he said, "but, so long as it's for
you, I don't much mind."

"Ah'll mind if he kills you. You do like I tell you, and you can beat
him. Why, mah best act in the How-To Cahnival was How to Win a Duel.
Cou'se, they didn't know ah was really drawin' befoah the buzzah
sounded. Why, ah used to set two plates ten yahds apaht, draw two
revolvahs, and shoot both plates, all in foah-tenths of a second!"

Stonecypher grinned. "Sorry I missed that carnival first time it came
through here. I coulda seen you in that costume they poured on you,
three years earlier."

"Nevah mind the veiled compliments. Now, try it!"

Stonecypher faced the target, a sheet of plastiboard roughly sawed to
the shape of a man, and backed by a heap of earth removed from the new,
as yet dry, pond in which they stood. Catriona pressed a small buzzer
concealed in her palm. Stonecypher's big hand closed on the revolver
butt, pushing the weapon up and forward. The sound of the shot rattled
away over the mountain top.

"That's good!" Catriona cried, consulting the sonic timer. "One and
two-tenths seconds from buzzah to shot!"

"But I missed," Stonecypher protested. "Look bad on tevee."

"You'll hit him. Watch the recoil next time."

Stonecypher drew and fired a second wild shot. He snorted, "Confound
Westerns, anyhow!"

"Weste'ns?"

"Sure. That's where this duelin' started. Used to, almost ever' movie or
tevee was called a Western. Sort of a fantasy, because they were just
slightly based on real history. They generally showed a feller in a
flowered shirt, ridin' a Tennessee Walking Horse, and shootin' a gun.
Ever'body in these Westerns had a gun, and they all shot at each other.

"The youngin's were hep on 'em, so they all wor