n.

"Nice gun," he said to the first man whose revolver he handled, "but I
don't like a barrel that's quite so heavy. There's a whole ounce too
much in the barrel."

"What d'you mean?" asked the cowpuncher. "I've packed that gun for
pretty nigh eight years!"

"Sorry," said Dan passing on, "but I can't work right with a top-heavy
gun."

The next weapon he handed back almost at once.

"What's the matter with that?" asked the owner aggressively.

"Cylinder too tight," said Dan decisively, and a moment later to
another man, "Bad handle. I don't like the feel of it."

Over Jim Silent's guns he paused longer than over most of the rest,
but finally he handed them back. The big man scowled.

Dan looked back to him in gentle surprise.

"You see," he explained quietly, "you got to handle a gun like a
horse. If you don't treat it right it won't treat you right. That's
all I know about it. Your gun ain't very clean, stranger, an' a gun
that ain't kept clean gets off feet."

Silent glanced at his weapons, cursed softly, and restored them to the
holsters.

"Lee," he muttered to Haines, who stood next to him, "what do you
think he meant by that? D' you figger he's got somethin' up his
sleeve, an' that's why he acts so like a damned woman?"

"I don't know," said Haines gravely, "he looks to me sort of
queer--sort of different--damned different, chief!"

By this time Dan had secured a second gun which suited him. He whirled
both guns, tried their actions alternately, and then announced that he
was ready. In the dead silence, one of the men paced off the twenty
yards.

Dan, with his back turned, stood at the mark, shifting his revolvers
easily in his hands, and smiling down at them as if they could
understand his caress.

"How you feelin', Dan?" asked Morgan anxiously.

"Everything fine," he answered.

"Are you gettin' weak?"

"No, I'm all right."

"Steady up, partner."

"Steady up? Look at my hand!"

Dan extended his arm. There was not a quiver in it.

"All right, Dan. When you're shootin', remember that I got pretty
close to everything I own staked on you. There's the stranger gettin'
his four dollars ready."

Silent took his place with the four dollars in his hand.

"Are you ready?" he called.

"Let her go!" said Dan, apparently without the least excitement.

Jim Silent threw the coins, and he threw them so as to increase his
chances as much as possible. A little snap of his hand gave them a
rapid