Weir had learned
his trade in Italy, and was a neat craftsman, so I employed him to make
me a pistol after my own pattern. The butt was of light, tough wood,
and brass-bound, for I did not care to waste money on ornament. The
barrel was shorter than the usual, and of the best Spanish metal, and
the pan and the lock were set after my own device. Nor was that all,
for I became an epicure in the matter of bullets, and made my own with
the care of a goldsmith. I would weigh out the powder charges as nicely
as an apothecary weighs his drugs, for I had discovered that with the
pistol the weight of bullet and charge meant much for good
marksmanship. From Weir I got the notion of putting up ball and powder
in cartouches, and I devised a method of priming much quicker and surer
than the ordinary. In one way and another I believe I acquired more
skill in the business than anybody then living in Scotland. I cherished
my toy like a lover; I christened it "Elspeth "; it lay by my bed at
night, and lived by day in a box of sweet-scented foreign wood given me
by one of my uncle's skippers. I doubt I thought more of it than of my
duty to my Maker.
All the time I was very busy at Uncle Andrew's counting-house in the
Candleriggs, and down by the river-side among the sailors.
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