"I expected they'd scold me.
Plague take the old gun--it kicks as bad as a mule.

Oh, Andy, you're a lucky boy to get off so well." The next day Andy obtained permission to take out the gun in the afternoon when his chores were done.
"I want to get used to it, ma'am," he said.

"It kicked last night." "Dear me, did it ?" asked Sophia.

"I didn't know guns kicked.

What do they kick with?
They haven't got any legs." Andy explained as well as he could what he meant by the gun's kicking, and said it was because it had not been used for a good while, and needed to be taken out.
"It needs exercise, just like horses, ma'am," he said.
"That is singular, Andrew," said Priscilla.
"Just so," observed her sister.
"It's a fact, ma'am," said Andy.