The Joining, and The Rifle Summary

The Joining: The narrator, at the beginning of the section called "The Joining", finds it remarkable that, in all the years the Rifle has existed and considering all the people who have handled it and owned it, the Rifle has never been checked to see if it was loaded. However, perhaps this is not surprising, especially with respect to more modern owners who would not know how to check to see whether a flintlock rifle is loaded or not. The only way to check is to stick the ramrod in the barrel and measure its length; if there is a ball loaded with gunpowder, the ramrod will measure slightly shorter than it would if the rifle was not loaded.

Because the flintlock rifle took so long to load, it was often carried or otherwise left...