Post by neferetus on Oct 29, 2007 13:29:34 GMT -5
With a gazillion Western novels under his belt, writer Louis L'Amour has often been lauded as one of the best authors of the genre. His fidelity to the time period in American history has also been highly praised.
Still, I would like to take old Louis to task for a passage in his novelization of the 1963 motion picture, HOW THE WEST WAS WON.
The year is 1839. Mountain Man Linus Rawlings has just happened upon a party of trappers who are engaged in a firefight with a much larger band of Utes. Linus rides in for the rescue. What follows is the passage in question:
Three Utes were exposed to his rifle. One was some distance away, two were relatively close by. Lifting his rifle, he settled his sights on the spine of the nearest Indian. He took a deep breath, let it out easily, then squeezed of his shot.
The gun boomed in the narrow valley, and the Indian at whom he had fired stiffened sharply, then rolled over, face to the sky. Instantly Linus fired again, then swinging his rifle far left, he squeezed off the third shot, each booming report slamming into the echo of the one before it.
The first shot was a clean hit, the second a miss, the third a hit. Linus slapped his heels into the ribs of his buckskin and fled across the meadow, whooping and yelling.
He counted on the sudden attack, which he had tried to make appear as coming from several men, to surprize the Utes into giving him a running start. (End of Passage.)
Well, if I were a Ute and heard three successive shots, I too would suppose that there were three enemies aproaching. So, just where did Linus get this magic flintlock that can fire three times, without reloading?
Excuse my ignorance of the weaponry of the period, but if anyone can tell me what sort of gun Linus might've been using to achieve such a feat, I'd be much obliged.
Still, I would like to take old Louis to task for a passage in his novelization of the 1963 motion picture, HOW THE WEST WAS WON.
The year is 1839. Mountain Man Linus Rawlings has just happened upon a party of trappers who are engaged in a firefight with a much larger band of Utes. Linus rides in for the rescue. What follows is the passage in question:
Three Utes were exposed to his rifle. One was some distance away, two were relatively close by. Lifting his rifle, he settled his sights on the spine of the nearest Indian. He took a deep breath, let it out easily, then squeezed of his shot.
The gun boomed in the narrow valley, and the Indian at whom he had fired stiffened sharply, then rolled over, face to the sky. Instantly Linus fired again, then swinging his rifle far left, he squeezed off the third shot, each booming report slamming into the echo of the one before it.
The first shot was a clean hit, the second a miss, the third a hit. Linus slapped his heels into the ribs of his buckskin and fled across the meadow, whooping and yelling.
He counted on the sudden attack, which he had tried to make appear as coming from several men, to surprize the Utes into giving him a running start. (End of Passage.)
Well, if I were a Ute and heard three successive shots, I too would suppose that there were three enemies aproaching. So, just where did Linus get this magic flintlock that can fire three times, without reloading?
Excuse my ignorance of the weaponry of the period, but if anyone can tell me what sort of gun Linus might've been using to achieve such a feat, I'd be much obliged.
