“Yes, I feel well enough—and my eyesight is all right.”
“Maybe you had a blank cartridge,” cried Dale, suddenly.
This remark caused Jack to look at the remaining cartridges he possessed. Captain Putnam insisted upon examining them also, for he, too, was unwilling to believe that the young officer has made a total miss of the two shots.
“These are certainly ball cartridges,” he said, as he looked them over. “Nothing wrong there. You must have been careless in your aim, Major Ruddy.”
“Captain Putnam, I did the very best I could,” pleaded Jack.
“Well, you have one more shot,” answered the master of the school.
As pale as a sheet the young major of the battalion walked to the front once more and raised his rifle. For several seconds there was a deathlike silence. Then came another crack and flash and a moment of suspense.
“Hurrah! A bull’s-eye!”
“That’s the time you did it, Jack!”
“Why didn’t you do that before?”