the head of a nail
respectable only, when it's the perfection of the art! Any one, in the least
refined and elevated in sentiment, knows that the delicate touches denote the
master, whereas your sledge-hammer blows come from the rude and uninstructed. If
a miss is as good as a mile, a hit ought to be better, Pathfinder, whether it
wound or kill.«
    »The surest way of settling this rivalry, will be to make another trial,«
observed Lundie; »and that will be of the potatoe. You're Scotch, Mr. Muir, and
might fare better were it a cake or a thistle, but frontier law has declared for
the American fruit, and the potatoe, it shall be.«
    As Major Duncan manifested some impatience of manner, Muir had too much tact
to delay the sports any longer, with his discursive remarks, but judiciously
prepared himself for the next appeal. To say the truth, the Quarter Master had
little, or no faith in his own success in the trial of skill that was to follow,
nor would he have been so free in presenting himself as a competitor, at all,
had he anticipated it would have been made, but Major Duncan, who was somewhat
of a humorist, in his own quiet Scotch way, had secretly ordered it to be
introduced, expressly to mortify him; for, a Laird himself, Lundie did not
relish the notion that one who might claim to be a gentleman, should bring
discredit on his caste by forming an unequal alliance. As soon as every thing
was prepared, Muir was summoned to the stand, and the potatoe was held in
readiness to be thrown. As the sort of feat we are about to offer to the reader,
however, may be new to him, a word in explanation will render the matter more
clear. A potatoe of large size was selected, and given to one, who stood at the
distance of twenty yards from the stand. At the word heave, which was given by
the marksman, the vegetable was thrown, with a gentle toss, into the air, and it
was the business of the adventurer to cause a ball to pass through it, before it
reached the ground.
    The Quarter Master, in a hundred experiments, had once succeeded in
accomplishing this difficult feat, but he now essayed to perform it again, with
a sort of blind hope, that was fated to be disappointed. The potatoe was thrown
in the usual manner, the rifle was discharged, but the flying target was
untouched.
    »To the right