At least this practice and drill had one useful effect--the eye got accustomed to the flash from the pan, instead of blinking the discharge, which ruins the shooting.

Almost everybody and everything on the place got shot dead in this way without knowing it.
It was not so easy as might be supposed to find proper flints.

The best time to look for them was after a heavy storm of rain had washed a shallow channel beside the road, when you might select some hardy splinters which had lain hidden under the dust.

How we were found out is not quite clear: perhaps the powder left a smell of sulphur for any one who chanced to go up in the garret.
But, however that may be, one day, as we came in unexpectedly from a voyage in the punt, something was discovered burning among the logs on the kitchen hearth; and, though a desperate rescue was attempted, nothing was left but the barrel of our precious gun and some crooked iron representing the remains of the lock.

There are things that are never entirely forgotten, though the impression may become fainter as years go by.