A few rows farther on, among some exceptionally fine flintlocks, all
of which pre-dated 1700, he saw one of those big Belgian navy pistols,
_circa_ 1800, of the sort once advertised far and wide by a certain
old-army-goods dealer for $6.95. This was a particularly repulsive
specimen of its breed; grimy with hardened dust and gummed oil, maculated
with yellow-surface-rust, the brasswork green with corrosion. It was
impossible to shrug off a thing like that. From then on, Rand kept his
eyes open for similar incongruities.
They weren't hard to find. There was a big army pistol, of Central
European origin and in abominable condition, among a row of fine
multi-shot flintlocks. Multi-shot ... Stephen Gresham had mentioned an
Elisha Collier flintlock revolver. It wasn't there. It should be hanging
about where this post-Napoleonic German thing was.
There was no Hall breech-loader, either, but there was a dilapidated old
Ketland. There were many such interlopers among the U.S. Martials: an
English ounce-ball cavalry pistol, a French 1777 and a French 1773, a
couple more $6.95 bargain-counter specials, a miserable altered S. North
1816. Among the Colts, there was some awful junk, including a big Spanish
hinge-frame .
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