Plunging was Henri's forte.

He generally lounged about the settlement when unoccupied, with his hands behind his back, apparently in a reverie, and when called on to act, he seemed to fancy he must have lost time, and could only make up for it by _plunging_.

This habit got him into many awkward scrapes, but his herculean power as often got him out of them.

He was a French-Canadian, and a particularly bad speaker of the English language.
We offer no apology for this elaborate introduction of Henri, for he was as good-hearted a fellow as ever lived, and deserves special notice.
But to return.

The sort of rifle practice called "driving the nail," by which this match was to be decided, was, and we believe still is, common among the hunters of the far west.