I then took a strong bamboo, bent it and strung it so as to
form a bow. When the boys saw what I had done they were delighted, and
begged to have the pleasure of firing the first shot.
`No, no!' said I, `I did not make this for mere pleasure, nor is it
even intended as a weapon, the arrows are pointless. Elizabeth,' I
continued to my wife, `can you supply me with a ball of stout thread
from your wonderful bag?'
`Certainly,' replied she, `I think that a ball of thread was the first
thing to enter the bag,' and diving her hand deep in, she drew out the
very thing I wanted.
`Now, boys,' I said, `I am going to fire the first shot,' and I
fastened one end of the thread to one of my arrows and aimed at a
large branch above me. The arrow flew upwards and bore the thread over
the branch and fell at our feet. Thus was the first step in our
undertaking accomplished. Now for the rope ladder!
Fritz had obtained two coils of cord each about forty feet in length;
these we stretched on the ground side by side; then Fritz cut the
bamboos into pieces of two feet for the steps of the ladder, and as he
handed them to me, I passed them through knots which I had prepared in
the ropes, while Jack fixed each end with a nail driven through the
wood. When the ladder was finished, I carried over the bough a rope by
which it might be hauled up.
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