The inner courtyard had one new addition at the far wall, a timber target mounted on a wooden stand, man-sized, with a red chalk circle at its center at chest height.
Five captains and forty militia soldiers lined the courtyard in the loose, uneven way trained men stood when they did not yet know what task they were being given. Harr waited near the front with his hands at his sides. Col stood two captains down, watching the bench.
The bench had fifteen flintlock pistols for the demonstration. Ninety more were cased in the storage room off the courtyard and sorted by squad.
Beorn picked up one of the demonstration pistols and loaded it in front of them. He did not explain each step as he worked. He measured the powder charge with the brass measure Wynn had made to the specified volume, poured it down the barrel, seated a cloth patch over the bore, drove the ball home with the ramrod, and primed the pan.
The entire sequence took forty seconds.
