"No," said young Robin; "it's so hard. Could you have hit it?"
"I think I could if I stood ten times as far away," said the great
fellow quietly.
"Oh, do try, please," cried Robin.
"Very well; only let's pick up your arrows first, or we may lose
some of them. Always pick up your arrows while they are fresh--I
mean, while you can remember where they are."
The shafts were picked up, mostly by Little John, whose eyes were
very sharp at seeing where the little arrows lay; and then they
walked back, and Robin had to run by his big companion's side, for
he began to stride away, counting as he went, till he had taken two
hundred steps from the tree all along one of the alleys of the
forest, when he stopped short.
"Now then, my little bowman," he said; "think I can hit the mark
now?"
"No," said Robin decisively; "we're too far away. I can hardly see
the cap."
"Well, let's try," said Little John, stringing his bow, and then
carefully selecting an arrow from the quiver at his back. This
arrow he drew two or three times through his hand so as to smooth
the feathering and make the web lie straight, before fitting the
notch to the string.
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