Joel shook his head helplessly.
“I really can’t remember. I think I came in the kitchen door and went up the back stairs to my room, but I’m not entirely sure.”
“I understand,” said Landis, “that you are interested in shooting with bows and arrows, eh?”
This time, to their amazement, Joel obviously found cause for offense.
“Pardon me! I am interested in archery!”
“I suppose then that you have noticed the Japanese bow at the end of the room here?”
“I have, of course, seen and handled the long bow there. The design ruins it for distance.”
“Was it usually strung?”
Joel was roused at last. He turned on Landis a glance of protesting rebuke.
“Strung? There is no such word in archery, sir! If you mean bent, that is, the bowcord in its nocks, then it was not! No one with any respect for a bow would leave it in that condition!”