AN: yes, the title is a pun on Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, "A little night music". Zielschiessen means "target practice".
VIERZEHN
Eien kleine Zielschiessen
"Feuer!"
Bang
"Did he hit that rock this time?" Kopa asked Vitani. Markos had just fired another round from his rifle, while Hermann stood by and tried to see where the shots wound up.
"No, I don't even think the bullet landed in the same country," Vitani replied. Down below where the cubs were sitting and watching, Hermann and Markos were busy yelling at each other in German:
"Hermann, there's got to be something wrong with this rifle! I've only hit one target in ten tries!" Hermann grabbed the gun out of Markos's hands, quickly put it to his shoulder, and pulled the trigger almost immediately after. The rock Markos had been aiming at broke cleanly in two.
"No, as I said before, there's nothing…bang…wrong…bang…with the gun." Hermann couldn't resist taking out two even smaller rocks as he lectured his friend, shooting off perfectly-placed rounds all the while.
"Give me that thing back! How about telling me what I need to do, instead of showing me how well you can shoot?"
"OK, OK, try it again. That black stone over there is your target." Markos reloaded, raised the rifle and squeezed one eye shut. "Now before you shoot, what do you see?"
"I see the rock…and the sights."
"And the sights are lined up correctly, right? The front sight is in the middle of the rear sight?"
"Uh-huh."
"Good, now put the top of the front sight right in the middle of that rock, and when everything is where it should be, take the shot."
A few seconds of silence passed before the report of another gunshot rang out. When the echo died away and the dust clouds cleared, Hermann could see that Markos had put the shot on target.
"Well done," he said, taking the rifle back. "Do you think you can remember all that for when it counts?"
"I think so," Markos replied, "but I'll be counting on you as well. Let's head back, maybe they've brought in something tasty. That antelope we had the other night wasn't bad at all, maybe we could improvise a grill or something."
"Sorry, Markos, we're fresh out of antelopes…except for that one standing over there." Hermann already had the stock pressed into his shoulder.
"That antelope? It has to be 300 yards away; you couldn't hit that thing with an artillery shell."
Hermann took no notice of his friend's comments, and deftly dropped the antelope where it stood. "Start grilling, Schreiber," he said, walking away nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. "And the next time I prove you so wonderfully and fantastically wrong, you get to run naked sprints for five minutes to the pond and back."