t three different targets, and hit
them all! It is to be hoped that his histories contained some things
easier to believe than this.

But as we approach the present age we still find wonderful narrations
about archers. Robin Hood, for instance, was a great fellow with the
bow. It is said that on one occasion he shot an arrow so that it fell
a mile from where he was standing! A long shot, and hard to be
equalled by the crack rifles of the present day.

Sir Walter Scott, in "Ivanhoe," introduces Robin Hood under the name
of Locksley, and in a shooting match, when his opponent had planted
his arrow right in the centre of the bull's-eye, and everybody, of
course, thought that nothing better than that could be done, Master
Robin just steps up and lets fly his arrow, driving it into the arrow
that was sticking in the target, splitting it from end to end!

And then there is that famous story about William Tell. Many persons
have their doubts about this performance, and either assert that there
never was such a person as Tell, or that no man could have confidence
enough in his own skill to shoot at an apple on his son's head. But I
prefer to believe this good old story, and, in fact, I see no good
reason to doubt it. There was a Dane, named Foke, of whom the same
story is told, and an Englishman, named William of Cloudesley, is said
to have shot an apple from his son's head merely to show his
expertness.

Most of the stories of bows and arrows relate to the accurate aim of
the archers, but here is one which shows the tremendous force by which
an arrow may be propelled, if the bow is strong and long enough. A
French gentleman named Blaise de Vigenere, says that he _saw_ a Turk,
named Barbarossa, an admiral of a ship called the Grand Solyman, send
an arrow from his bow, right through a cannon-ball! He did not state
whether the cannon-ball had a hole through it, or not.

But I think that the most wonderful, astounding, and altogether
amazing story about arrow-shooting is told of the Indians who used to
inhabit Florida. It is stated that these Indians were in the habit of
assembling, in parties of ten or a dozen, for the purpose of having
some amusement in archery. They would form themselves into a circle,
and one of them throwing an ear of maize or Indian corn into the air,
the rest would shoot at it and would shell it of every grain of corn
before it fell to the ground. Sometimes, the arrows would strike it so
hard and fast