“Oh, how should I know that?” laughed Tom.
“In November, huh?” Brent said, soberly sorting over the old targets. He seemed to put Tom and me in the position of waiting clerks. He amused me, as he always did, he was so slow and businesslike.
“The hunting season, that’s all I know,” said Tom.
“That would be November. Let’s see, here’s one—here’s two—wait a second, here’s another for November thirteen. Those are the last. Maybe November thirteen was the unlucky day, huh?”
“Very likely,” I said. “And what of it?”
“He’s found something to beat crossword puzzles,” Tom laughed. “Come on, what do you say we turn in?”
“What I’d like to know,” Brent said calmly preoccupied, “is who the other chap was. I’ve only heard of three. There were four here in camp at the end. There was the old geezer,” (Brent always spoke of people with nonchalant disrespect), “and the young one, and Mr.—what d’you say his name was—Weston? Well, there were four here practising rifle shooting. You can see for yourselves.” He held up one of the targets as Tom and I leaned over the table, our interest suddenly caught. “Four shots,” said Brent, pointing a lanky finger at one after another of the bullet holes. “Here’s another—four holes. Here’s another—four holes. Every blooming one of them has four holes. Seems as if they might have been keeping a kind of score. Hmph,” he drawled. “What do you make of it? Each one took a crack, then they’d take another target. There’s not a single one with three holes, or a single one with five holes. Is there anything about a gun, or is there anything about a man, that would make him shoot just four times? Do they have such things as four-shooters? Were there any guns left around here?”
“Sure, there are a dozen or more,” Tom said. “They left everything. Brent, old boy, you’ve got me guessing. No, I never heard of a four-shooter, as you call it.”
“Well then, there were four people here,” Brent said. “I don’t know if that’s the usual way to practise or not⸺”
“It is,” interrupted Tom. “Boy, oh boy, you’ve got me guessing! How the dickens did you ever stumble on that discovery?”