"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.
"So you think it's too far?" said Little John.
"Yes, ever so much."
"Ah, well, we'll try," said the big fellow coolly. "Where-about shall I hit the cap—in the middle?"
[Illustration: "Ah, well, we'll try," said Little John.
"Whereabouts shall I hit the cap?">[
"No," said Robin; "just at the top of the brim."