"That musket," Pierre informed him, "came over on the _Mayflower_."

"Really, or just a gag?" Rand asked. "It easily could have. The
_Mayflower_ Company bought their muskets in Holland, from some
seventeenth-century forerunner of Bannerman's, and Europe was full of
muskets like this then, left over from the wars of the Holy Roman Empire
and the French religious wars."

"Yes; I suppose all their muskets were obsolete types for the period,"
Pierre agreed. "Well, that's a real _Mayflower_ arm. Stephen has the
documentation for it. It came from the Charles Winthrop Sawyer
collection, and there were only three ownership changes between the last
owner and the _Mayflower_ Company. Stephen only paid a hundred dollars
for it, too."

"That was practically stealing," Rand said. He carried the musket to the
light and examined it closely. "Nice condition, too; I wouldn't be afraid
to fire this with a full charge, right now." He handed the weapon back.
"He didn't lose a thing on that deal."

"I should say not! I'd give him two hundred for it, any time. Even
without the history, it's worth that."

"Who buys history, anyhow?" Rand wanted to know. "The fact that it came
from the Sawyer collection adds more value to it than this _Mayflower_
business. Past ownership by a recognized authority like Sawyer is a real
guarantee of quality and authenticity. But history, documented or
otherwise--hell, only yesterday I saw a pair of pistols with a wonderful
three-hundred-and-fifty-year documented history. Only not a word of it