Chapter 95: Indian Hunting Firearms

After spending over an hour, Liang En and his group had thoroughly searched through the attic. However, apart from two wooden boxes dating back to the Victorian era that might be worth something, the rest of the items failed to arouse their purchasing interest.

"These two boxes, I can offer you a maximum of 80 pounds. Even if I sold them for 150 pounds, that would be pushing it," Liang En explained to Miss Blake after bringing down the two boxes from the attic.

"A fair price," Miss Blake nodded in understanding. As a student in archaeology, she comprehended such items and agreed, "Besides these, have you found anything else that caught your eye?"

"Everything else is essentially junk," Liang En candidly stated, "They might fetch around 50 or 60 pounds if sold to a scrapyard, but for us, it's not worth buying."

"Alright!" Miss Blake sighed, then looked up at Liang En, "Have you thoroughly searched the attic?"

"No, not completely," Liang En shook his head and proceeded to explain the unusual discovery he had made on the attic roof to Miss Blake.

"I understand," as an astute person, Miss Blake grasped Liang En's intentions and said, "You can dismantle the wooden panels on the attic, but I'd like to accompany you in this venture."

Soon, the three of them returned to the attic, armed with a metal detector. As they searched the inner wall of the roof with no windows, the metal detector quickly gave a noticeable response.

"Let's pry this open," Liang En turned to Fan Meng and instructed. Fan Meng nodded immediately and set to work using a handsaw and crowbar on the wooden wall. Five minutes later, a cabinet door appeared before them.

Using a pocket-sized screwdriver he had with him, Liang En removed the locks on the cabinet door's hinges. Inside, several canvas bags of varying sizes and shapes immediately grabbed everyone's attention.

"These are definitely something valuable," Fan Meng exclaimed excitedly upon seeing the outlines of these packages. He cautiously reached out and began to remove the canvas bags.

Liang En and Miss Blake next to him agreed with his assessment, as the shapes of these packages were unmistakable – they were firearms.

"Congratulations, I believe your property taxes are sorted now," Liang En grinned and said to Miss Blake beside him. He then used a rope he carried to lower the bags from the attic entrance.

After emptying the hidden firearms from the concealed cupboard, Liang En habitually inspected the cupboard itself, checking for any hidden compartments.

As he had suspected, upon a thorough examination, he found a movable partition at the back of the cupboard. From behind this partition, he retrieved a small box.

Spending another half an hour inspecting the attic thoroughly, Liang En and his group brought the pile of items they had just found to the living room on the ground floor. Bathed in the sunlight streaming in through the windows, they examined their newfound spoils.

The first bags to be opened were those completely faded canvas ones. Undoing the rope from the first bag revealed a single-shot breech-loading rifle with a traditional design and a hexagonal barrel, sparked by a percussion cap.

This rifle was an old-style muzzleloader, using black powder as its propellant, thus boasting an immense 0.67-inch caliber.

Engravings adorned the metal below the rifle, indicating that this weapon was crafted by the renowned manufacturer Kurimola Company, a royal supplier to the Maharaja of Lanka in India, and was intended as a gift for a British Army lieutenant colonel surnamed Potter.

"This matches perfectly," Miss Blake clapped her hands together. "This exactly fits the information my grandfather mentioned. He had told me that the entire property previously belonged to a British army officer stationed in India and his descendants."

Due to production constraints, this rifle had always been expensive; even in its moderately preserved condition, it could fetch around £3,500 on the market.

In addition to this, they also found a Wilkinson centerfire sporting rifle produced in 1870 and a Richards centerfire rifle from 1872.

These two rifles, with larger production volumes, were priced around £1,500. However, in contrast to the canvas bags containing the long rifles, the three smaller canvas bags held an even greater surprise for them.

Two of these bags each contained a double-barreled breech-loading pistol with intricate precious metal inlay patterns and shallow reliefs on the frame and grip. Merely from their decorative appearance, it was evident that these pistols weren't cheap.

"I doubt these were meant for self-defense. Even in the era of black powder firearms, the caliber is unusually large, surpassing the norm," Fan Meng confirmed after ensuring the firearms were unloaded, carefully examining the pistol's muzzle.

"Moreover, the overall size of the pistol is rather significant. I find it hard to believe that ordinary individuals could carry such a large pistol conveniently like they would with a standard handgun."

"But if intended for hunting, this wouldn't serve the purpose effectively. The barrel is too short, and the range is too limited. If facing a wild beast, using this pistol would be like gambling with your life."

"Could these be defensive handguns?" Miss Blake inquired, "Both my grandfather and father enjoyed hunting in Canada. They often carried a high-caliber handgun to safeguard against close encounters with large carnivores."

"Your suggestion sounds plausible, but the reality is somewhat different," Liang En smiled, pointing at the exquisite relief carvings on the pistols, "Those who used these pistols were individuals of stature, so they usually had sufficient protection to deal with such situations."

"Alright, don't keep us in suspense," Fan Meng carefully inspected the elaborately carved wooden grips of the pistols and urged, "Tell us what these double-barreled pistols were actually used for."

"These are howdah pistols, often used by riders on the backs of elephants," Liang En picked up another pistol and explained, "When British hunters engaged in hunting in India, they would sit in a box on the back of an elephant, and this box was called a 'howdah'."

"Actually, this is a traditional hunting practice among Indian nobility, which the British embraced after their arrival. Especially for hunting large and fierce animals."

"The participants in these hunts were usually British military officers and administrative officials serving in India. They possessed high-quality military-grade weapons and were skilled in their usage."

"The reason for being perched on an elephant's back is that trained elephants can drive the prey out of hiding into open spaces, giving the hunters a significant advantage. Moreover, standing on the back of an elephant provided safety to these hunters."

"These hunters could easily take close-range shots at ferocious animals, particularly when a tiger attacked the elephant. In such situations, these large-caliber double-barreled pistols had their justified use."

"If that's the case, indeed, these firearms suit that kind of scenario," Fan Meng's expression cleared up after hearing Liang En's explanation.

"Though aiming a high-caliber pistol is challenging, I suppose using this type of pistol to shoot a mostly stationary target like a tiger just one or two meters away shouldn't be much of a problem."