"Do you mean, whichever wins is to have the choice?" "No, which ever wins fires first." The coin was spun in the air. It came down "heads". When Hans returned one of the discs of tin was nailed up at the spot arranged, then Mr. Allnutt stepped two hundred yards. Dirck unslung his rifle, and filled the magazine. Hans stood three or four yards from the rock; he knew that there was little chance of either of them missing the stone. Although Dirck had so far treated the affair as almost a joke he was not disposed to be careless, for the quiet and composed air of his young antagonist seemed to show that the latter must be at least a fair shot or he would never have carried the thing so far. As soon, therefore, as he had loaded his rifle, he took his place with greater seriousness and gravity than he had hitherto manifested. He put the gun up to his shoulder and then lowered it again. "Is there any time-limit?" he asked. The Boers and Mr. Allnutt consulted together a moment, then the latter said, "We have agreed that there may be half a minute between each of the first five shots, a limit of two minutes for reloading, and then half a minute between each of the last five shots." Dirck again raised his rifle to his shoulder and almost instantaneously fired. There was a clang. Hans ran forward and pointed, with a stick he had cut, to a spot near the edge of the tin. As soon as he retired again the rifle cracked. The ten shots were all fired well within time. Hans took down the tin and ran with it to the group, and then, going to the rock, fastened the other there. Seven of the bullets had hit the tin fairly, another had cut a semicircular bit out of the edge, the other two had been outside the circle. The holes were dotted about all over the tin, but, with one exception, none was within an inch of the centre. "That is very good shooting," Mr. Allnutt said. "Four inches are not much of a mark at two hundred yards." "I have done better," Dirck said carelessly, "but I fancy it is quite good enough for the purpose." Yorke now took his place at the firing-point. There was not a breath of wind blowing, and, as he had practised so often at a similar mark, he felt pretty confident that he could do better than Dirck had done. He shouted to Hans, "Do not trouble to point out where the shots strike. I would rather fire quicker." The first five shots went off at intervals of only about ten seconds. He reloaded quickly, and again fired rapidly. "You have not overrated your shooting," the Boer who had taken the lead in the matter said. "Every shot hit." They walked up in a body to the target. As they neared it they uttered exclamations of surprise. The ten shots had all fairly struck the tin. "It is a trick, an infamous trick!" Dirck exclaimed furiously. "That boy must have punched the holes before he put the tin up. It is not the one he showed us as he went along."