And as for the d----d rifle--" "Drop it, do you hear!" shouted the Right Bower, clinging to that one idea with the blind pertinacity of rage and a losing cause.

"Drop it!" The Left Bower drew back, but his brother had seized the barrel with both hands.

There was a momentary struggle, a flash through the half-lighted cabin, and a shattering report.

The two men fell back from each other; the rifle dropped on the floor between them.
The whole thing was over so quickly that the other two partners had not had time to obey their common impulse to separate them, and consequently even now could scarcely understand what had passed.

It was over so quickly that the two actors themselves walked back to their places, scarcely realizing their own act.
A dead silence followed.