Dick drew a long breath of relief. He had fired his first shot not at his own but at his right-hand neighbor’s target. "Thank your lucky star, young man, for the sighting spots, or else your score would have been spoiled in the making," quietly remarked Sergeant Battiste, who was standing back, enjoying the lad’s perplexity. "Let it be a lesson to you--always take a squint through your peep sight at the number below your target before you fire. One of those fives in Four Target was right in the center--a pin wheel! How much windage did you have?" "A quarter-point of left wind," answered Dick. "Just right--now, go ahead and make a possible." And that is exactly what Drummer Comstock did--every one of his following shots hitting the bull’s-eye for a perfect score, and to the present day he shows that page from his score book with great pride. Dick’s luck continued with him at 600 yards, which to many old and tried riflemen is one of the most interesting ranges. With forty-three points here and the fifty at 500 yards, Dick now had a total score of one hundred and eighty-two points. "What’s your total, Hank?" asked Dick while they rested during the noon hour. "One hundred and sixty-three, so far; but do you know who has the highest total for the day?" "No, I didn’t get through at six hundred in time to look over the score-boards; why, who is it?" "Oh, a fellow named Richard Comstock! Great Scott! If you keep this up they will be hailing you as the Military Champeen of the World, Dick. That was great shooting you did at 500 yards, old man." * * * * * * * * * [Illustration: A Leaf From Dick’s Score Book] A LEAF FROM DICK’S SCORE BOOK 1. This leaf is from Dick’s Score Book, which he inked in after he left the range. 2. It will be noticed the mirage was bad and Dick’s 2nd sighting shot and first four record shots were low, therefore he raised his sight 25 yards. The bull’s eye of this target (B) is 20 inches in diameter. 25 yards up on sight gauge would be about 6-¼ inches. 3. "The square rule" is, changing the elevation 100 yards at any range gives change on the target equal to the number of inches in the square of the range. Example: at 500 yards equals 25 inches. 4. On the 9th and 10th shots, Dick raised his sight again and kept in the bull. The mirage had increased, tending to "throw" his shots low. * * * * * * * * * "I am proud of it, of course, but when you read how some of these crack shots make a string of bulls as long as your arm at that range then it loses some of its lustre as a star score." "They didn’t get those wonderful records, though, on the first real practise, as you have done, Dick; and Battiste says you have a natural gift for shooting which further practise will surely develop."