was to be the centre mark.
Each man was to fire three shots apiece.

Barshalloch--for so his companions called my opponent after his
lairdship--made a great to-do about the loading, and would not be
content till he had drawn the charge two--three times. The spin of a
coin gave him first shot, and he missed the mark and cut the bole of
the tree.

"See," I said, "I will put my ball within a finger's-breadth of his."
Sure enough, when they looked, the two bullets were all but in the same
hole.

His second shot took the hat low down on its right side, and clipped
away a bit of the brim. I saw by this time that the man could shoot,
though he had a poor weapon and understood little about it. So I told
the company that I would trim the hat by slicing a bit from the other
side. This I achieved, though by little, for my shot removed only half
as much cloth as its predecessor. But the performance amazed the
onlookers. "Ye've found a fair provost at the job, Barshalloch," one of
them hiccupped. "Better quit and pay for the mutchkin."

My antagonist took every care with his last shot, and, just missing the
cockade, hit the hat about the middle, cut the branch on which it
rested, and brought it fluttering to the ground a pace or two farther
on. It lay there, dimly seen through a low branch of the cherry tree,
with the cockade on the side nearest me. It was a difficult mark, but
the light was good and my hand steady. I walked forward and brought
back the hat with a hole drilled clean through the cockade.

At that there was a great laughter, and much jocosity from the
cock-lairds at their friend's expense. Barshalloch very handsomely
complimented me, and sent for the mutchkin. His words made me warm
towards him, and I told him that half the business was not my skill of
shooting but the weapon I carried.

He begged for a look at it, and examined it long and carefully.

"Will ye sell, friend?" he asked. "I'll give ye ten golden guineas and
the best filly that ever came out o' Strathendrick for that pistol."

But I told him that the offer of Strathendrick itself would not buy it.

"No?" said he. "Well, I won't say ye're wrong. A man should cherish his
weapon like his wife, for it carries his honour."

Presently, having drunk the wager, they went indoors again, all but a
tall fellow who had been a looker-on, but had not been of the Lennox
company. I had remarked him during the contest, a long, lean man with a
bright, humorous