An oaken case six feet high or more, and a vast dial, with a mysterious picture of a full moon and a ship in full sail that somehow indicated the quarters of the year, if you had been imitating Rip Van Winkle and after a sleep of six months wanted to know whether it was spring or autumn.

But only to think that all the while we were puzzling over the moon and the ship and the queer signs on the dial a gun was hidden inside! The case was locked, it is true; but there are ways of opening locks, and we were always handy with tools.
This gun was almost, but not quite so long as the other.

That dated from the time between Stuart and Hanover; this might not have been more than seventy years old.

And a beautiful piece of workmanship it was: my new double breechloader is a coarse common thing to compare with it.

Long and slender and light as a feather, it came to the shoulder with wonderful ease.