ady eye and unwavering hand
pointed his rifle towards the target. Bang! a cloud of smoke. Well
shot! the bullet had struck the target, but not very near the centre. A
second and third were equally but not more successful. The fourth
struck the bull's-eye, the fifth the ring next it, and the sixth the
bull's-eye again. Bravo! shouted the excited crowd; would any one beat
that? Forward now came a sober-looking young man, and did his best, but
this was far short of what Walter had achieved. Two others followed
with no better success. Then came one who handled his gun very
carefully, and took his aims with great deliberation. Three shots in
the bull's-eye! here was a winner--would any one come up to him? Four
more came forward, and two of these again scored three shots in the
bull's-eye. And now the rough-looking man, who had excited the general
mirth of the crowd on his arrival, took his stand opposite the target.
He gazed at it a full minute before raising his piece. There was a
derisive titter throughout the spectators as at last he did so in an
awkward style, and with a queer twist of his mouth. The next moment he
was rigid as a statue cut out of stone. Flash! bang! the bull's-eye;
again the bull's-eye; two more very near it; twice again the bull's-eye.
So he has made the best score after all. "I thought so," he cried,
with a swaggering toss of his head and a jaunty whistle, and then with a
flourish of his rifle high in air he strode back into the midst of the
onlookers. Thus there were four of the competitors who had outdone
Walter in the firing at the mark.

But the running and jumping yet remained to be contested. The jumping
was arranged to come next, and the four winners in the shooting prepared
to do their best against their young challenger: Walter was now
thoroughly roused, and, taking off his coat, and exchanging his boots
for a pair of light shoes, stepped forward to exert himself to his
utmost. Higher and higher did he bound over the cross-rod as it was
raised for him by his friends peg by peg. Jumping was a feat in which
he specially prided himself, and loud was the applause of Gregson,
Saunders, and their friends as he sprang over the rod time after time.
At last he failed to clear it, and his utmost was done. And now the
previous winners came on in turn. The first who made the attempt soon
gave in; he was clearly inferior to Walter in the high jump. The next
surpassed him by one peg.