With a long breath, Jack lowered his rifle and, turning faced the master of the school:
“Captain Putnam,” he said in a low but firm tone. “I made a bull’s-eye that time because there was a bullet in the cartridge. I am satisfied now that my other two shots were blanks.
CHAPTER IV
THE BLANK CARTRIDGES
For the moment after Jack spoke so positively there was a silence. Captain Putnam looked at the young officer thoughtfully.
“Huh! that’s all tommy-rot!” observed Reff Ritter. “He missed and that is all there is to it.”
“Of course he missed,” chimed in Coulter. “He isn’t a crack shot by any means.”
“What makes you so certain that the first two shots were blanks, Major Ruddy?” asked the master of the school, somewhat sternly.
“Well, sir, I think my record helps to prove it,” answered Jack. “At the hundred-yard target I made three bull’s-eyes; at the two-hundred-yard target I made two bull’s-eyes and a four; now I have made a bull’s-eye and two blanks. Doesn’t it stand to reason, sir, that if those cartridges had not been blanks I would at least have made a two or a one?”
“It is probable, yes,” answered the captain, thoughtfully. “But I did not know any blanks had been brought along, much less dealt out.”
“I brought a case along by mistake,” put in Bob Grenwood. “But as soon as I discovered my mistake I put the case to one side. There it is, sir, on yonder rock.”