it will drop the feather cap and the pebble. Bring them to me to
the great town-gate and I will pay you a dollar for your
trouble."

"Very well," said the soldier, "shooting my gun is a job that
fits me like an old coat." So, down he sat and the old man went
his way.

Well, there he sat and sat and sat and sat until the sun touched
the rim of the ground, and then, just as the old man said, there
came flying a great black bird as silent as night. The soldier
did not tarry to look or to think. As the bird flew by up came
the gun to his shoulder, squint went his eye along the
barrel--Puff! bang!--

I vow and declare that if the shot he fired had cracked the sky
he could not have been more frightened. The great black bird gave
a yell so terrible that it curdled the very blood in his veins
and made his hair stand upon end. Away it flew like a flash--a
bird no longer, but a great, black demon, smoking and smelling
most horribly of brimstone, and when the soldier gathered his
wits, there lay the feather cap and a little, round, black stone
upon the ground.

"Well," said the soldier, "it is little wonder that the old man
had no liking to shoot at such game as that." And thereupon he
popped the feather cap into one pocket and the round stone into
another, and shouldering his musket marched away until he reached
the town-gate, and there was the old man waiting for him.