ng the middle part about two
inches thick. This he did with his pocket knife, without any
difficulty, the wood seeming to be quite soft and yielding itself to the
sharp blade with the utmost facility. And as he worked, so did Dick,
the latter with a smile of amusement upon his face, for he flattered
himself that he knew a thing or two about bows; and to him it seemed
ridiculous to suppose that this wood which yielded itself as readily as
cheese to the shaping of the knife could ever be of the slightest use as
a bow. But he worked steadily on, following Stukely's lead, and shaping
his own branch precisely as Stukely shaped his, and after some three
hours of by no means arduous work each possessed a perfectly straight,
smooth rod, accurately trimmed into the form of a bow about six feet
long, with properly notched ends for the string to fit into.

"There," said Stukely at last, as he critically inspected his own and
Dick's production, "I do not think we can improve upon either of those,
which ought to make really formidable weapons when they are ready for
use. Now, the next thing is to hang them up in the shade to dry, and
that will take three full days at least, after which they will be ready
to use, and will steadily improve in quality until the whole of the sap
is completely dried out of them. If they have a fault it will probably
be that we shall find them a shade too strong for us at first; but we
shall grow accustomed to that in time. We cannot do better than hang
them to a bough of this tree, where they will be completely shielded
from the rays of the sun, and will dry slowly and evenly. Now, the next
thing we need is a string for each bow, and--if we can contrive it--a
spare string as a stand by. And"--glancing about him--"I think we ought
to find the materials for the manufacture of those strings not very far
away."

He hung up the two bows in such a situation that at no time of the day
would the rays of the sun get at them, and then wandered round the
enclosure, peering up among the branches of the trees, and at length
seemed to find what he was seeking, for presently he swung himself up
into a particular tree, and climbing some little way up it, plucked two
brown balls about the size of oranges, with which he descended.

"Here we are," he exclaimed in accents of satisfaction, as he exhibited
the balls to Dick. "These are the cocoons of a certain caterpillar, the
name of which I forget, but they spin