This was a very 'big' place: the gentleman who approached had a way of waving his hand--very white and jewelled--and a grand, lofty idea of what a gun should cost. 'Twenty, thirty, forty pounds--some of the L30 were second-hand, of course--we have a few, a very few, second-hand guns'--such was the sweeping answer to my first mild inquiry about prices. Then, seeing at once my vacillating manner, he, too, took me in hand, only in a terribly earnest, ponderous way from which there was no escape. 'You wanted a good general gun--yes; a thoroughly good, well-finished, _plain_ gun (great emphasis on the 'plain'). Of course, you can't get anything new for _that_ money, finished in style. Still, the plain gun will shoot just as well (as if the shooting part was scarcely worth consideration). We make the very best plain-finished article for five-and-twenty guineas in London. By-the-by, where is your shooting, sir?' Thrust home like this, not over-gratified by a manner which seemed to say, 'Listen to an authority,' and desiring to keep an incog., I mutter something about 'abroad.' 'Ah--well, then, this article is precisely the thing, because it will carry ball, an immense advantage in any country where you may come across large game.' 'How far will it throw a ball?' I ask, rather curious on that subject, for I was under the impression that a smooth-bore of the usual build is not much to be relied on in that way--far less, indeed, than the matchlocks made by semi-civilized nations. But it seems I was mistaken. 'Why--a hundred yards point-blank, and ten times better to shoot with than a rifle.' 'Indeed!' 'Of course, I mean in cover, as you're pretty sure to be. Say a wild boar is suddenly started: well, you pull out your No. 4 shot-cartridge, and push in a ball; you shoot as well again--snap-shooting with a smooth-bore in jungle or bush. There's not a better gun turned out in town than that. It's not the slightest use your looking for anything cheaper--rebounding locks, best stocks, steel damascene barrels; fit for anything from snipe to deer, from dust to buck-shot----' 'But I think----' Another torrent overwhelms me. 'Here's an order for twenty of these guns for Texas, to shoot from horseback at buffalo--ride in among them, you know.' I look at my watch, find it's much later than I imagine, remark that it is really a difficult thing to pick out a gun, and seize the door-handle. 'When gentlemen don't exactly know what they're looking for it _is_ a hard job to choose a gun'--he smiles sarcastically, and shuts me out politely.