Hugh Priest's automatic pistol

Hugh Priest's automatic pistol is the weapon Leland Gaunt provides when Hugh's attachment to his fox-tail ornament turns toward violence. At The Mellow Tiger, Hugh uses it against Henry Beaufort; Henry returns fire and kills him. The pistol later becomes evidence of a second, concealed danger: a toxic substance carried on its bullets.

From Gaunt's offer to Hugh's hand

When Hugh speaks of wanting to act against Henry, Gaunt suggests that Hugh should take care of him before Henry can take care of Hugh. He then produces an automatic pistol and tells Hugh it is fully loaded. Hugh picks it up, and his uncertainty gives way as he holds the weapon. When he says he has left his wallet at home, Gaunt assures him that payment is not a concern. The exchange places the pistol in Hugh's possession as part of Gaunt's intervention in his grievance.

The shooting at The Mellow Tiger

Hugh carries the pistol to The Mellow Tiger and opens fire on Henry. His first two shots strike objects behind the bar; the next hits Henry, who takes cover and reaches for a sawed-off shotgun. As Hugh approaches, he connects the confrontation to the fox-tail, making clear that the attack is bound up with his grievance over the object. Henry and Hugh fire at the same time. Henry's shotgun kills Hugh, while Hugh's bullet wounds Henry. The pistol's immediate role is therefore both offensive and fatal to its user: it enables Hugh's attack but does not protect him from Henry's response.

The weapon as evidence

After the shooting, State Police ballistics identifies the recovered weapon as an automatic pistol but cannot readily identify its type. A later report from Dr. Van Allen reveals that Hugh died in the ambulance from a toxin introduced into his blood, rather than from gunshot trauma. The doctor says the toxin was very likely on the bullets in the gun that shot Hugh. The pistol thus links the violence at the bar to a lethal effect that investigators initially could not explain, extending the weapon's significance beyond the exchange of gunfire.

A weapon that cannot be safely handled

The pistol’s danger persists after the shooting because the bullets carry a toxin. Dr. Van Allen reports that the substance entered Hugh’s blood through his wounds and caused his death in the ambulance; the medical account distinguishes this cause from the gunshot trauma itself. He warns that the toxin’s effects began slowly and then accelerated, and asks who has the weapon. Henry Payton learns that State Police ballistics officer David Friedman has taken it to Augusta, raising the possibility that the contaminated ammunition could expose someone else to the same danger.

Aftermath and investigative significance

The pistol’s recovery creates an urgent problem beyond identifying what Hugh fired. State Police ballistics officer David Friedman takes it to Augusta, and Henry Payton learns that the weapon’s type is unfamiliar even to the specialist examining it. Dr. Van Allen’s radio report supplies the explanation for Hugh’s otherwise puzzling death: Hugh died in the ambulance after a toxic substance entered his blood, and the doctor believes it was carried on the bullets. The toxin’s effects began slowly and then accelerated, leading Van Allen to ask who had the gun and whether it had been unloaded. The weapon therefore remains dangerous after the barroom shootout, turning an object of violence into a potential source of further exposure.

The unresolved hazard

The available evidence leaves the pistol’s later handling as an open danger rather than a resolved investigative matter. Dr. Van Allen asks whether David Friedman unloaded it before taking it to Augusta, but the record does not establish whether the ammunition was removed or whether anyone else was exposed. The weapon’s significance therefore outlasts Hugh Priest’s attack: its ordinary identity as a firearm is complicated by bullets believed to carry a toxin, making possession itself a potential risk.