Page 292 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

dollars, some twenty-five, but the gun student gladly sacrificed many
pleasures in order to possess these books. He joined the National Rifle
Association and read magazines, catalogs—anything he could find about
guns. Eventually he was able to look at any gun and tell you all about it,
which means something when you consider that there are approximately
90,000 types, not counting minor variations.

When Jack returned to San Francisco, his gunsmith friend was back in
business but could give him only part-time work. Anyway, repairing ordinary
guns was no kind of job for one with his highly specialized capabilities. His
talent had been molded into an art. But where could he make his services
valuable?

Then came the proof that an artist in any line will inevitably find his right
place. Two years ago there opened in San Francisco, a unique establishment
known as the Far West Hobby Shop—a collector’s Mecca. China, pioneer
relics, costume books, and hundreds of things rare and curious are found
there. Its most noteworthy collection, however, is firearms. The shop has the
largest stock of guns on the Pacific Coast—over six hundred and principally
collectors’ items. There are little Derringers, like the one used to assassinate
Lincoln, big 1836 Pattersons, and the first Colt model; there are ornate
French dueling pistols in elaborate hand-carved cases, and plain, solid, purely
American rifles such as Daniel Boone used to fight off the Indians.

The need was for a gun expert thoroughly familiar with the history and
operation of firearms—one who could put into condition old models bought
by the shop and tell visitors all about the various guns in stock. A man, in
short, who could take charge of the firearms from the time they entered the
shop until they went out. It is a difficult post but Jack Roske fills it to
perfection. Being young, handsome and as physically fit as a Zane Grey hero
is one more point in his favor.

His native talent, combined with his knowledge acquired through years of
study and experience, gives him a sixth sense which enables him to take an
ancient, incomplete model to pieces, fabricate the missing parts, and
reassemble the whole with no guide or precedent.