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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What object rekindles in Cornish McManus the desire to build a masterpiece of a rifle?
(a) A newspaper article
(b) A target shooting competition
(c) A woman's petticoat
(d) A rough-sawn "blank" of curly maple

2. What is the twist rate of the rifling of the barrel of Cornish McManus' "sweet" rifle?
(a) One turn in thirty-five inches
(b) One turn in thirty-five yards
(c) One turn in six inches
(d) It doesn't twist

3. How much money does Tim Harrow have hidden in his mobile home?
(a) Over one million dollars in cash and gold
(b) None
(c) Only a few dollars
(d) About twenty thousand dollars in cash and gold

4. What is the name of the part of a flintlock rifle that holds the priming charge?
(a) The patch box
(b) The hammer
(c) The bolster
(d) The pan

5. In New York, John Byam often shoots and kills English soldiers in the opposite lines at what range?
(a) About one mile
(b) Fifteen feet
(c) Three hundred yards
(d) Byam doesn't shoot any English soldiers

Short Answer Questions

1. What does rifling do for a rifle?

2. What is John Byam paid for joining a volunteer unit in fighting against the British?

3. According to the novel, how much would the "sweet" rifle be worth if its provenance were known and proved?

4. On the rifle that Cornish McManus builds, what is the name of the part that holds the flint?

5. What kills most of the soldiers during the American Revolutionary War?

Short Essay Questions

1. Is the "sweet" rifle evil?

2. What types of uses is Cornish McManus' "sweet" rifle put to during the novel?

3. In order to fire properly, the following things must be true: "the powder is dry and in good shape" (p. 16); "the flint is clean and with a new sharp edge" (p. 16); "the frizzen is wiped dry" (p. 16); "the spring on the hammer is strong" (p. 16); "the flint [slams] hard against the frizzen" (p. 16); "the powder is positioned correctly in the pan" (p. 17). Explain how all of these things happen to occur on Christmas Eve, 1993.

4. Why does John Byam kill the first British officer that he kills?

5. What was John Byam called in his day as a soldier? What would he be called today?

6. The cover image of several common editions of the book shows a highly-engraved flintlock rifle. Does the book describe the rifle as being engraved?

7. Do you think that John Waynewright would have valued Cornish McManus's "sweet" rifle?

8. What does John Byam use the "sweet" rifle for?

9. Why does it take Cornish McManus so long to build the "sweet" rifle?

10. Why does John Byam offer so much wealth in exchange for Cornish McManus' "sweet" rifle?

(see the answer keys)

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