The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1855-10-20


then at tne ba,i. 1t was certainly tue one he
had seen put IN the pistol, and now he bad
seen his iogman take il from his incuth. He
was undoubtedly astounded
Come, lets load again." said Joe.
saint Maria cried the Spaniard, 'you
must use some--some- what you call himy
some trick, ch. BY Jago, shall load the
pistol myself"
"Do So said Joe calmly, and as he
spoke he gave him his powder flask
The Spanard poured cut an extra quaint
ty Of powder, and having poured it into the
pStol ne called for the ramner. He then
put the same ball in that he used before.
Meanwhile, Joe had been loading his owH
pistol.
zone moment said Joe, reaching out
his hand "Thc caps are in the butt of
your pistol. can open the spring and get
them"
The fellow passed over his pistol, but
kept his eyes upon It, Joe opened little
silver spring at the end of the butt n1
there were the caps. lie took out twJ|
ha,in capped his own pistol, he tossllcjt
into the r,r, ontctins IL very aalroifsy q Al
came down, and then handed back ys,r her
to the Spaniard. had watched JoS sose.
ly, but saw nothing out of the way /; and
yet he had changed pistols with bis foe.
"Now," said he, ''rlI puta bali in my pis.
tol and then wen be ready"
lie slipped something in which lookedlike
a cartridge, but no one saw it.
"NOw,' cried the Spaniard, lets see you
hold this in your mouth
Again they took their stations, and again
they were ready.
"DnC-two-three "
The Spanlard fired first by aim, Joe firing
in the air as before. Again Joe steppcd1Ur.
ward AMI took the same ball from his mouth
aud handed it TO his antagonist. The fellow
was completely dumb-iounded, and SO vere
the rest.
"Tou no fire at me-" gaspcl the Captain.
"lil fire at you the next time" said Noe,
in tone Of thunder, "lhus far have Only
shown you that powder and ball can have n 0
effect on me. Twice hayey you fired at me
with as true pisto. as ever was made, thnd
both times have caught your ball betveen
my teeth, while have fired III the ai2 |
meant that you should live long enough to
know that for once in your life you'd bad
seen, if not Old Nick himself, iing
meaning downward at least one who in
his employ. The Old gentleman will Ike the
cor pany Of a Spanish Captain of infantry,
and III send you along. Come, load
again III
But the astonished Spaniard did notlaecm
inclined to do 50. A man who swallqR cd
carving knives as he would sardines.j aud
who caught pistol balls between his teeth,
was not the man to deal with. WhilD he
was pondrring upon what he had CEN J oc
took handful Of bullets FROM his pdkket
and began to toss them rapidly dow IBIS
throat, aud when these wlre gone he kct
up half.dozcn iair-sizcd stones, aud VENT
them after the bullets.
Holy Saiat Maria ~ calculated they ban,
lard, What a man. BY my soul, m The
devil" M
And when he thus spoke he turned Upon
his heel aud lrit the place. After hsIwas
gone, Joe bechoned ior me to give him{ The
knives. | did so, and then saw himAs p
them up bis coat-sleeyes. When hett6irn.
ed to the cafe he approached the aeepar.
"You want your knives" he sad
But the poor fellow dared not speak. joe
put his hand to his right car aud pulled out
one Of the long knives, Then from the left
ear hc drew the other The keeper GRO sed
himself in terror aud shrank trembling
away. But we finished our wine, snd hay
iug paid e. I, turned to 30.
Nheu T- were alone he explained to me
the secret oi his pistols They were a pair
he had used in his cgerdeman pcrfornan.
ccs, and such as all wizards Use who pehor IN
.C l..tI I, ,t,,I Iar.
rel OF the pistol had no connection whreycr
with the nipple for the cap, but Win, ap-
pcarcd to be socket fJr the rammrr, was,
in fact a second harrel-to be sure smaller
than the other, but yet as large as the bore
OF any r!ic pstOl-and with this secret bar
ri the priming tub. connected. So tn. ap-
parent barrel of the weapon might be dllcd
with powder and bali, and no harm could be
done. When Joe first returned viii hs
pistols, he had both these secret bore, Il -|
with blank charges, aud then the otter lUa'
ding was for nothing IN effect but ippear'
ance. At the second loading Joe du gcd
the secret barrel Of his own psto, while
the Spaniard had been loading the man bar
rel OF h $. Then Of coursc, 1t becahE nee.
essary to uaAp an exchange else tnc Span
lard would never have got his wcapn oil.
When Joe got the other pistol into hh pos
session anu made the exchange Of wlrch we
spoke at the time, he had only to press
srnartly upon secret spring on the sde OF
the stock, aud he had the whole rharge,
which the other had put in, emptied in his
hand So he had the marked ball tof!ispose
OF as he chose
Even after that, while We remained IN
Mahon, Joe Laitit was au object OF tDlh Gu
iosity and dread ON shore Tor an sccOunt,
all co!orcd to suit the exaggerated conccp-
tons of the cale.kccpcr, had been spread
all over the city, and the plous Catholics
there wanted nothing to do with such
man, only to keep on his good naturd side,