Just ill.

The first Mauser rifle adopted by Germany was the Gew. 71. It was followed shortly by a carbine variant for horse soldiers, cannon-cockers, and the like. The carbine was a diminutive little thing, with a full-length stock of the type now referred to as "Mannlicher-style", a turned-down bolt handle, and a stubby 20" barrel.

Apparently, sporting conversions of these rifles were somewhat common around the end of the 19th Century, after they had been obsoleted. I came into possession of one such, a bringback from a WWI Doughboy who pulled occupation duty in Germany during 1919; I bought it from his grandson. Mine was originally made in 1877 by C.G.Haenel & Sohn in the town of Suhl. It had been sporterized in a fashion that would be familiar to later generations of American shooters, by the simple expedient of shortening the military stock to the barrel band and refinishing the wood. In meticulous Teutonic fashion, every piece, down to individual screw heads, bears the gun's serial number, and they all match. The finish is worn to an even brown/gray patina. It looks very much like the one here, except the stock on mine is a little longer and has no inlet pistol grip.

This single-shot black powder Mauser carbine is a handy, compact little weapon. So compact that one could mislay it in the frenzy of moving, and it could lay on a table in a basement with a large sofa cushion atop it. Up out of the floodwaters, mind you, but with the cushion preventing air circulation...

I just noticed it yesterday. I was almost physically ill. It really wasn't too bad; just some freckling on the receiver, the knoxform of the barrel, and the bolt, and an hour or so's diligent work removed the orange cancer spots, but still...

A 131 year old rifle is going to carry the marks of history, and some of those little marks on this rifle from now on are going to be from the Great Indiana Floods of 2008.