as we have said, became "great medicine" to the Red-men
when they saw it kill at a distance which the few
wretched guns they had obtained from the fur-traders
could not even send a spent ball to. The double shot,
too, filled them with wonder and admiration; but that
which they regarded with an almost supernatural feeling
of curiosity was the percussion cap, which, in Dick's
hands, always exploded, but in theirs was utterly useless!
This result was simply owing to the fact that Dick,
after firing, handed the rifle to the Indians without