CHAPTER XXXIII—SHOOTING
Immediately after dinner there was an exhibition of trick and fancy shooting, in which Frank resolved to take part.
Rodney had provided a trap and plenty of glass balls for the occasion, and it was said that Indian Charlie was certain to carry off the honors of the day, as he was a wonderful shot with rifle, revolver or shotgun.
Charlie had a splendid black horse, and he started the shoot off by shooting from horseback, breaking a dozen balls in rapid succession without a miss, while the horse was at full gallop.
The watching cowboys uttered a yell of applause.
“Certainly that fellow is a peach with a shooting iron,” nodded Frank Merriwell. “There are not many who can beat that sort of work.”
Hank Kildare followed Indian Charlie, but he rang the bell only three times out of the six shots.
Pecos Pete, mounted on a wiry little broncho, went scooting across the grassy plain, flung his hat into the air, and shot six holes through it before it could touch the ground.
Then Indian Charlie showed the spectators another trick. As he rode along a revolver in his right hand, he snapped six quarters into the air with the thumb of his left hand and knocked each one out of sight with a bullet as it spun above his head.
This brought another yell of applause from the watching cowboys, and Frank began to understand how it came about that Charlie had been regarded with no small amount of respect by those who knew him best.