"
"Hold on," said the factor as Bob turned to go. "Here's a rifle that
I'm going to let you take with you, for you may need it." He picked up
a gun that had been leaning against the wall beside him. "It's a 44
repeating Winchester that I've used for three or four years, and it's
a good one. I've got a heavier one now for seals and white whales, and
I'll give you this if you take the letters through safely. Is that a
bargain?"
Bob's eyes bulged and his pleasure was manifest.
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I'll not be losin' th' letters."
It was the first repeating rifle--the first rifle, in fact, of any
kind--that he had ever seen, and as Mr. MacPherson explained and
illustrated to him its manipulation, he thought it the most marvellous
piece of mechanism in the world.
"Now be careful how you handle it," cautioned the factor after the arm
had been thoroughly described. "You see that when you throw a
cartridge into the barrel by the lever action it cocks the gun, and if
you're not going to discharge it again immediately you must let the
hammer down. It shoots a good many times farther, too, than your old
gun, so be sure there are no Eskimos within half a mile of its muzzle
or you'll be killing some of them, and I don't want that to happen,
for I need them all to hunt.
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