I would weigh out the powder charges as nicely as an apothecary weighs his drugs, for I had discovered that with the pistol the weight of bullet and charge meant much for good marksmanship.

From Weir I got the notion of putting up ball and powder in cartouches, and I devised a method of priming much quicker and surer than the ordinary.

In one way and another I believe I acquired more skill in the business than anybody then living in Scotland.

I cherished my toy like a lover; I christened it "Elspeth "; it lay by my bed at night, and lived by day in a box of sweet-scented foreign wood given me by one of my uncle's skippers.

I doubt I thought more of it than of my duty to my Maker.
All the time I was very busy at Uncle Andrew's counting-house in the Candleriggs, and down by the river-side among the sailors.