d he; "mayhap you can
discern it."
"i see something," answered johnston, shading his eyes with his
hand; "but it is a very long shoot."
"a fair shoot--a fair shoot! stand aside, arnaud, lest you find
a bolt through your gizzard. now, comrade, i take no flight
shot, and i give you the vantage of watching my shaft."
as he spoke he raised his arbalest to his shoulder and was about
to pull the trigger, when a large gray stork flapped heavily into
view skimming over the brow of the hill, and then soaring up into
the air to pass the valley. its shrill and piercing cries drew
all eyes upon it, and, as it came nearer, a dark spot which
circled above it resolved itself into a peregrine falcon, which
hovered over its head, poising itself from time to time, and
watching its chance of closing with its clumsy quarry. nearer
and nearer came the two birds, all absorbed in their own contest,
the stork wheeling upwards, the hawk still fluttering above it,
until they were not a hundred paces from the camp. the brabanter
raised his weapon to the sky, and there came the short, deep
twang of his powerful string. his bolt struck the stork just
where its wing meets the body, and the bird whirled aloft in a
last convulsive flutter before falling wounded and flapping to
the earth. a roar of applause burst from the crossbowmen; but at
the instant that the bolt struck its mark old johnston, who had
stood listlessly with arrow on string, bent his bow and sped a
shaft through the body of the falcon. whipping the other from
his belt, he sent it skimming some few feet from the earth with
so true an aim that it struck and transfixed the stork for the
second time ere it could reach the ground. a deep-chested shout
of delight burst from the archers at the sight of this double
feat, and aylward, dancing with joy, threw his arms round the old
marksman and embraced him with such vigor that their mail tunics
clanged again.
"ah! camarade," he cried, "you shall have a stoup with me for
this! what then, old dog, would not the hawk please thee, but
thou must have the stork as well. oh, to my heart again!"
"it is a pretty piece of yew, and well strung," said johnston
with a twinkle in his deep-set gray eyes. "even an old broken
bowman might find the clout with a bow like this."
"you have done very well," remarked the brabanter in a surly
voice. "but it seems to me that you have not yet shown yourself
to be a better marksman than i, for i have struck that at which i
aimed, and, by the three kings! no man can do more."
"it would ill beseem me to claim to be a better marksman,"
answered johnston, "for i have heard great things of your skill.
i did but wish to show that the long-bow could do that which an
arbalest could not do, for you could not with your moulinet have
your string ready to speed another shaft ere the bird drop to the
earth."
"in that you have vantage," said the crossbowman. "by saint
james! it is now my turn to show you where my weapon has the
better of you. i pray you to draw a flight shaft with all your
strength down the valley, that we may see the length of your
shoot."
"that is a very strong prod of yours," said johnston, shaking his
grizzled head as he glanced at the thick arch and powerful
strings of his rival's arbalest. "i have little doubt that you
can overshoot me, and yet i have seen bowmen who could send a
cloth-yard arrow further than you could speed a quarrel."
"so i have heard," remarked the brabanter; "and yet it is a
strange thing that these wondrous bowmen are never where i chance
to be. pace out the distances with a wand at every five score,
and do you, arnaud, stand at the fifth wand to carry back my
bolts to me."
a line was measured down the valley, and johnston, drawing an
arrow to the very head, sent it whistling over the row of wands.
"bravely drawn! a rare shoot!" shouted the bystanders.
"it is well up to the fourth mark."
"by my hilt! it is over it," cried aylward. "i can see where
they have stooped to gather up the shaft."
"we shall hear anon," said johnston quietly, and presently a
young archer came running to say that the arrow had fallen twenty
paces beyond the fourth wand.
"four hundred paces and a score," cried black simon. "i' faith,
it is a very long flight. yet wood and steel may do more than
flesh and blood."
the brabanter stepped forward with a smile of conscious triumph,
and loosed the cord of his weapon. a shout burst from his
comrades as they watched the swift and lofty flight of the heavy
bolt.
"over the fourth!" groaned aylward. "by my hilt! i think that it
is well up to the fifth."
"it is over the fifth!" cried a gascon loudly, and a comrade came
running with waving arms to say that the bolt had pitched eight
paces beyond the mark of the five hundred.
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