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88 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON |
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lowest of the branches, for the nearest to the ground were at a height of forty feet, and it would be necessary to carry a rope over these before we could fix it. I had an idea, however, and, sitting down on the grass, I began to make some arrows with the slenderest pieces of the bamboo that I had so carefully chosen. As the arrows were hollow, I filled them with the moist sand to give them a little weight; and, lastly, I tipped them with a bit of feather from the flamingo, to make them fly straight.
The boys watched me with interest, and soon saw what I was doing. Laying the arrows aside for a moment, I chose a flexible rod for a bow, and making a niche at each end, soon fixed a piece of string to draw it into a curve. Then I asked my wife if she had such a thing as a ball of string, which would unravel as I required it. She produced this with a laugh from what she called her enchanted bag. I tied the end of the ball of string to an arrow, and fixing it to the bow, I shot it off so as to make the arrow pass over one of the largest branches of the tree, and fall again to the ground ; thus I had overcome the first difficulty. It was now easy to tie a piece of rope to the end of the string, and draw it upwards, till the knot reached |
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