The others he took alternately and whirled with a broad loop, standing in the centre of the room.

Of the set one was a little more supple, a little more durable, it seemed.

This he selected and coiled swiftly.
Last of all he lingered--and longest--over his revolvers.

Six in all, he set them in a row along the bed and without delay threw out two to begin with.

Then he fingered the others, tried their weight and balance, slipped cartridges into the cylinders and extracted them again, whirled the cylinders, examined the minutest parts of the actions.
They were all such guns as an expert would have turned over with shining eyes, but finally he threw one aside into the discard; the cylinder revolved just a little too hard.