g to
tell Mr. Jacob Hawken. Look at those nipples: large diameter across the
threaded end, making it much easier to worry out wet powder by removing
them and working with a bent wire from that end. We have to work at the
ball with a screw, and that is no easy task after the patch paper
becomes swollen. With this rifle you can replace the wet powder with dry
and fire the ball out in much less time. Where did you get it, Mr.
Boyd?"

The plainsman laughed exultingly. "Won it on the boat coming down, from
an English sportsman who was returning home. He said it was a fine
weapon, and I thought so; but I wanted your opinion."

"Take it out on the Grand Prairie and try it out. From what I can see
here it is a remarkably fine rifle; but handsome is, you know."

"I've tried it out already," laughed the other. "It's the best rifle in
this country, always excepting, of course, the Hawken!"

"As long as you put it that way I shall have to agree with you. Did you
see the man who left a few moments before you came in?"

Boyd nodded shortly. "Yes; but I don't care to discuss him beyond
warning you to look out for him. He deals in draft animals in
Independence, has the name of being slippery, and is known as Ephriam
Schoolcraft. However, I'm not an unprejudiced critic, for there is not
the best of feelings between us, due to an unprincipled trick he tried
to play on my partner." His face clouded for a moment. His partner had
joined the ill-fated Texan Santa Fe Expedition and had lost his life at
the hands of one of Armijo's brutal officers, for whom Tom Boyd had an
abiding hatred. On his last visit to Santa Fe he had shown it so
actively that only his wits and forthright courage had let him get out
of the city with his life. "Well, to change the subject, I lost my
pistol in the river, and I've heard a great deal about a revolving Colt
pistol from some Texans I met. It shoots six times without re-loading
and is fitted for caps. Got one?"

"Two," chuckled Jarvis. "A large bore and a smaller. They are fine
weapons, but never rest the barrel on your other hand when you shoot."

"I'll remember that. Which size would you recommend for me?"

"The larger, by all means. We are expecting a shipment by express down
the Ohio and it should reach us almost any day now. It took the Texans
to prove their worth and give them their reputation."

"Fit it with caps, mold and whatever it needs. I need caps and powder
for the rifle, too. First qua