As Will cut a piece from the last plug, he glanced about over the piles and said with a look of satisfaction:  “Now that ain’t so bad, is it, boys?  That ought to last quite a spell; and when it’s gone, we can come back here, or maybe something else will turn up.”  And then, when he saw the boys rearranging the tobacco in the chest, he said, “Look out there!  You’ll have to get everything just like it was, or we’ll be caught and have had our fun for nothing!” When the chest was repacked, the last screw in its place, and the tiny scraps of tobacco that had fallen upon the floor had been carefully preserved, the boys looked at one another with satisfaction, and Will said, “That’s a pretty slick job all right, if I do say so; and its a lot better than breaking the lock would have been.  I’ll tell you it takes some brains to do up a thing like that, and it makes me feel as if I’d like more of them.”

To this John smiled and said:  “Hey, Will, do you know what’s in that trunk?” John referred to a large trunk that was sitting near the bed on the opposite side of the room.

“Couldn’t tell you all that’s in it, but it’s locked; and it’s in that trunk that Dad keeps his revolvers.  There’s two of them, because I saw inside the trunk the other day.”  And then as the new thought presented itself to his mind, he exclaimed, “I wonder why we couldn’t get into that trunk the same as we did the chest?”

In a twinkling, all the boys were examining the trunk, but to their dismay, they found that the hinges, instead of being on the outside of the trunk, were arranged differently, and they could not get at them.  Again it was John who suggested a plan whereby they could accomplish their desires.  “Just take a nail,” he said, “and turn the head of it around in the lock.  I’ve watched my father do that, and he gets his open every time.”

The trunk, which was an old one, yielded quickly to the efforts made by the boys; and upon raising the lid, they saw before them two shining weapons that were supposed to have been carefully hidden away from their inexperienced fingers.  John and Will each quickly caught one up in his hand; and Will began handling his as though it were a toy, but not so did John.

John’s father had taught him something of the dangers connected with the handling of a gun or revolver.  Besides, John was at one time present when a duel was fought; and on that occasion one of the duelists was killed.  The memory of that incident and of his father’s warnings, made John very careful about pointing the revolver at either of his cousins.  It was, therefore, with intense fear that John looked into the barrel of his cousin’s revolver as Will snapped it, aimlessly pointing in his direction; and John exclaimed, “Turn that thing away, or you’ll shoot me.”

Will’s answer was:  “You needn’t be afraid, John.  This revolver isn’t loaded.”

But John, seeing his cousin’s careless attitude, was afraid; and he dodged down behind a barrel of carpet-rags near which he had been standing.  It was well that John did not longer remain where he had been; for the revolver contained a solitary load, and the frequent pulling of the trigger discharged this.  The bullet passed the very spot where John had a moment before been standing, and lodged itself deep in the side of the trunk.