The Count of Monte Cristo

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from his thoughts. For a long time a gun had been the young man's
greatest ambition. In every country where independence has taken the
place of liberty, the first desire of a manly heart is to possess a
weapon, which at once renders him capable of defence or attack, and, by
rendering its owner terrible, often makes him feared. From this moment
Vampa devoted all his leisure time to perfecting himself in the use of
his precious weapon; he purchased powder and ball, and everything served
him for a mark--the trunk of some old and moss-grown olivetree, that
grew on the Sabine mountains; the fox, as he quitted his earth on some
marauding excursion; the eagle that soared above their heads: and thus
he soon became so expert, that Teresa overcame the terror she at first
felt at the report, and amused herself by watching him direct the ball
wherever he pleased, with as much accuracy as if he placed it by hand.

"One evening a wolf emerged from a pine-wood hear which they were
usually stationed, but the wolf had scarcely advanced ten yards ere
he was dead. Proud of this exploit, Vampa took the dead animal on his