The remark was pat. I had seen several of the men 211 snip the head from a rattlesnake with a single offhand shot—yes, they all carried their weapons easily and wontedly. But the target of an immobile can lacked in stimulation to concord of nerve and eye.
Now I shot again, holding lower and more firmly, out of mere guesswork, and landed appreciably closer although still within the zone of ridicule. And somebody else shot, and somebody else, and another, until we all were whooping and laughing and jesting, and the jets flew as if from the balls of a mitrailleuse, and the can rocked and gyrated, spurring us to haste as it constantly changed the range. Presently it was merely a twist of ragged tin. Then in the little silence, as we paused, a voice spoke irritatingly.
“I ’laow yu fellers ain’t no great shucks at throwin’ lead.”
Daniel stood by, with arms akimbo, his booted legs braggartly straddled and his freckled face primed with an intolerant grin at our recent efforts. My Lady had come over with him. Raw-boned, angular, cloddish but as strong as a mule, he towered over her in a maddening atmosphere of proprietorship.
She smiled at me—at all of us: at me, swiftly; at them, frankly. And I knew that she was still afraid.
“Reckon we don’t ask no advice, friend,” they answered. Again a constraint enfolded, fastened upon us by an unbidden guest. “Like as not you can do better.”
Daniel laughed boisterously, his mouth widely open. 212
“I couldn’t do wuss. I seen yu poppin’ at that can. Hadn’t but one hole in it till yu all turned loose an’ didn’t give it no chance. Haw haw! I ’laow for a short bit I’d stand out in front o’ that greenie from the States an’ let him empty two guns at me.”
“S’pose you do it,” friend Jenks promptly challenged. “By thunder, I’ll hire ye with the ten cents, and give him four bits if he hits you.”
“He wouldn’t draw on me, nohaow,” scoffed Daniel. “I daren’t shoot for money, but I’ll shoot for fun. Anybody want to shoot ag’in me?”