down stairs were old and small, and the glassnot perfectly homogeneous so that unless the reflection of the face felljust in the centre a round chin became elongated. Before thecheval-glass he was ordered to stand sideways and throw up the gunquickly to the present, then holding it there, to glance at himself.
He saw his frame arched forward, his back bent, his shoulders drawntogether, the collar of his coat up to his poll behind, the entireposition cramped and awkward. Now he understood how unsightly itlooked, and how difficult it is to shoot well in that way. Many goodsportsmen by dint of twenty years' cramping educate their awkwardness toa successful pitch. It needs many years to do it: but you can standupright at once.
He altered his posture in a moment, looked, and saw himself standingeasily, upright but easily, and found that his heart beat withoutvibrating the barrel as it will if the chest be contracted, and thatbreathing did not throw the gun out of level. Instead of compressinghimself to the gun, the gun fitted to him. The gun had been his masterand controlled him, now he was the master of the gun.
Next he had to practise the bringing of the gun to the shoulder--the actof lifting it--and to choose the position from which he would usuallylift it. He had his free choice, but was informed that when once he hadselected it he must adhere to it. Some generally carry the gun on thehollow of the left arm with the muzzle nearly horizontal to the left.Some under the right arm with the left hand already on the stock. Somewith the muzzle upwards aslant with both hands also. Now and then onewaits with the butt on his hip: one swings his gun anyhow in one handlike an umbrella: a third tosses it over his shoulder with the hammersdown and the trigger-guard up, and jerks the muzzle over when the gamerises. Except in snap-shooting, when the gun must of necessity be heldalready half-way to the shoulder, it matters very little which thesportsman does, nor from what position he raises his gun.
But the governor insisted that it did matter everything that theposition should be habitual. That in order to shoot with success, thegun must not be thrown up now one way and now another, but must almostinvariably, certainly as a rule, be lifted from one recognised position.Else so many trifling circumstances interfere with the precisionwithout which nothing can be done, a crease of the coat, a button, thesleeve, or you might, forgetting yourself, knock the barrel against abough.
To avoid these you must take your mind from the game to guide your gunto the shoulder. If you took your mind from the game the continuity ofthe glance was broken, and the aim snapped in two, not to be united.Therefore, he insisted on Bevis choosing a position in which he wouldhabitually carry his gun when in the presence of game.
Bevis at once selected that with the gun in the hollow of his left arm,the muzzle somewhat upwards; this was simply imitation, because thegovernor held it in that way. It is, however, a good position, easy forwalking or waiting for ground game or for game that flies, for hare orsnipe, for everything except thick cover or brushwood, or moving in adouble mound, when you must perforce hold the gun almost perpendicularbefore you to escape the branches. This being settled, and the governorhaving promised him faithfully that if he saw him carry it any other wayhe would lock the gun up for a week each time, they proceeded topractise the bringing of the gun up to the shoulder, that is, to thepresent.
The left hand should always grasp the stock at the spot where the gunbalances, where it can be poised on the palm like the beam of weightsand scales. Instead of now taking it just in front of thetrigger-guard, now on the trigger-guard, now six or seven inches infront, carelessly seizing it in different places as it happens, the lefthand should always come to the same spot. It will do so undeviatinglywith a very little practice and without thought or effort, as your righthand meets your friend's to shake hands.
If it comes always to the same spot the left hand does not requireshifting after the butt touches the shoulder. The necessary movementsare reduced to a minimum. Grasping it then at the balance lift itgently to the shoulder, neither hastily nor slowly, but with quiet ease.Bevis was particularly taught not to throw the butt against hisshoulder with a jerk, he was to bring it up with the deliberate motionof "hefting."
"Hefting" is weighing in the hands--you are asked to "heft" a thing--totake it and feel by raising it what you think it weighs.
With this considerate ease Bevis was to "heft" his gun to the shoulder,and only to press it there sufficiently to feel that the butt touchedhim. He was not to hold it loosely, nor to pull it against his shoulderas if he were going to mortice it there. He was just to feel it. Ifyou press the gun with a hard iron stiffness against the shoulder youcannot move it to follow the flying bird: you pull against and resistyourself. On the other hand, if loosely held the gun is apt to shift.
The butt must touch his shoulder at the same place every time. Thosewho have not had this pointed out to them frequently have the thick orupper part of the butt high above the shoulder, and really put nothingbut the narrow and angular lower part against the body. At anothertime, throwing it too low, they have to bend and stoop over the gun toget an aim. Or it is pitched up to the chest, and not to the shoulderat all--to the edge of the chest, or again to the outside of theshoulder on the arm. They never bring it twice to the same place andmust consequently change the inclination of the head at every shot. Afresh effort has, therefore, to be gone through each time to get thebody and the gun to fit.
Bevis was compelled to bring the butt of his gun up every time to thesame spot well on his shoulder, between his chest and his arm, with thehollow of the butt fitting, like a ball in its socket. One of the greatobjects of this mechanical training was that he should not have to paythe least attention to the breech of the gun in aiming. All that he hadto do with was the sight. His gun, when he had thus practised, came upexactly level at once.
It required no shifting, no moving of the left hand further up or lowerdown the stock, no pushing of the butt higher up the shoulder, or tothis side or that. His gun touched his shoulder at a perfect level, asstraight as if he had thrust out his hand and pointed with the indexfinger at the bird. Not the least conscious effort was needed, therewas nothing to correct, above all there was not a second's interruptionof the continuity of glance--the look at the game. The breech was levelwith the sight instantly; all he had further to do with was the sight.
With both eyes open he never lost view of the bird for the tenth of asecond. The governor taught him to keep his eyes, both open, on thebird as it flew, and his gun came up to his line of sight. The blackdot at the end of the barrel--as the sight appears in the act ofshooting--had then only to cover the bird, and the finger pressed thetrigger. Up to the moment that the black dot was adjusted to the markall was automatic.
The governor's plan was first to reduce the movements to a minimum;secondly, to obtain absolute uniformity of movement; thirdly, to secureby this absolute uniformity a perfect unconsciousness of effort ofmovement at all; in short, automatic movement; and all this in orderthat the continuity of glance, the look at the game, might not beinterrupted for the merest fraction of a second. That glance was reallythe aim, the gun fitted itself to the gaze just as you thrust out yourindex finger and point, the body really did the work of aiming itself.
All the mind had to do was to effect the final adjustment of the blackdot of the sight. Very often when the gun was thus brought up no suchadjustment was necessary, it was already there, so that there wasnothing to do but press the trigger. It then looked as if the guntouched the shoulder and was discharged instantaneously.
He was to look at the bird, to keep both eyes on it, to let his gun cometo his eyes, still both open, adjust the dot and fire. There was nobinocular trouble because he was never to stay to run his eyes up thebarrels--that would necessitate removing his glance from the game, athing strictly forbidden. Only the dot. He saw only the dot, and thedot gave no binocular trouble. The barrels were entirely ignored; thebody had already adjusted them. Only the dot. The sight--this dot--isthe secret of shooting.
The govern
or said if you shut the left eye you cannot retain your glanceon the bird, the barrels invariably obscure it for a moment, and themind has to catch itself again. He would not let Bevis take his eyesoff it--he would rather he missed. Bevis was also to be careful not tolet his right hand hang with all the weight of his arm on the stock, athing which doubles the labour of the left arm as it has to uphold theweight of the gun and of the right arm too, and thus the muzzle is aptto be depressed.
He was not to blink, but to look through the explosion. Hundreds ofsportsmen blink as they pull the trigger. He was to let his gunsmoothly follow the bird, even in the act of the explosion, exactly asthe astronomer's clockwork equatorial follows a star. There was to becontinuity of glance; and thus at last he brought down his snipes rightand left, as it seemed, with a sweep of the gun.
The astronomers discovered "personal equation." Three men are set toobserve the occultation of a satellite by
Bevis: The Story of a Boy Page 93