[300winmag]

Wonder how these quiet professionals compared in on the noise meter with the De Lisle Enfield Carbine of WWII fame.... Size aside....?

I have no idea if there are any surviving DeLisles left. But one old report mentioned that the firing was virtually silent, but the action clattered like an old jalopy when worked. Depending on the situation, that might not have been a problem.

[ExGeeEye]

Wandering through a ghost town, I came across a dilapidated relic of a building. It had stood vacant for over two years, and nearly so for several more. Its foundations seemed solid, the walls unholed, the windows intact; there was even a flicker in one of the lamps.

The tables and chairs were arranged in a familiar way. A few scattered personal items-- a pen, a coffee mug from an insurance agency, a towel embroidered with a small "42"-- told me that the ones who had been here might return.

But the dust lay heavily everywhere.

A chalked message on the wall read "We'll be back". This cheered me, until I realized....

...it was in my own hand.

Be well, Hobbit Holers, wherever you are.