Bomba’s exultation subsided somewhat when he recalled the fact that the much-prized weapon had failed to work the last time he had pulled the trigger.
“It is broken and there are no white men here to give me another,” he groaned.
Casson took it in his shaking fingers and examined it. Long years before he had been an expert shot with both rifle and revolver and was thoroughly familiar with their mechanisms.
He broke the stock and examined the chambers.
“This is what is the trouble,” he said, as he saw that the chambers were empty. “It can’t shoot if there’s nothing in there to shoot. You didn’t have it fully loaded.”
“But it was loaded when I left the white man’s camp!” Bomba replied. Then he remembered that he had been tempted to try his marksmanship on a tree the day before and had t
