It struck the target but on the lower rim. After his father had told him how to correct his aim, Chips took the bow. On the first shot he hit his left arm with the bowstring, receiving a painful bruise.
“Remember your fundamentals and that won’t occur,” Mr. Holloway said. “Elbow bent, wrist straight, shoulder low, index finger under the jawbone and the string to the center of the chin.”
Dan’s turn came next. His form was excellent despite lack of practice. Two of his arrows went in the gold and the other four in a group in the next ring.
“Not bad, Dan!” Mr. Holloway approved. “Let’s see you beat that, Ross.”
Ross confidently took his place in front of the target. With easy grace he sent an arrow winging on its way. It struck the bull’s-eye, causing the Cubs to cheer lustily.
“See, didn’t I tell you?” Ross demanded.
He shot two more arrows. Both missed the target completely.
“I’m a little out of practice,” Ross muttered. Instead of shooting the remainder of his arrows, he handed the bow to a Cubmate from Den 1.
For nearly an hour the boys practiced, some acquiring the art readily and others finding it difficult to catch on to the trick of relaxing.
“We’ll definitely assign parts next time,” Mr. Hatfield told the boys. “Off hand, I think Fred will make a good Friar Tuck and Brad could act the part of Little John.”