With The Long-Bow Aim Indeed Was Taken, But Quite
Differently, For If The Arrow Were Kept Waiting With The String Drawn,
The Eye And The Hand Would Not Go True Together.
The quicker the arrow
left the bow the moment that it was full drawn, the better the result.
On
the other hand, the arblast was in no haste, but was adjusted
deliberately - so deliberately that it gave rise to a proverb, 'A fool's
bolt is soon shot.' This could not apply to the long-bow, with which the
arrow was discharged swiftly, while an arblast was slowly brought to the
level like a rifle. As it was hard to draw again, that added strength to
the saying; but it arose from the deliberation with which a good
cross-bowman aimed. To the long-bow the cross-bow was the express rifle.
The express delivers its bullet accurately point-blank - the bullet flies
straight to its mark up to a certain distance. So the cross-bow bolt flew
point-blank, and thus its application to hunting when the deer were
really killed for their venison. The hunter stole through the fern, or
crept about the thickets - thickets and fern exactly like those here
to-day - or waited Indian-like in ambush behind an oak as the herd fed
that way, and, choosing the finest buck, aimed his bolt so as either to
slay at once or to break the fore-leg. Like the hare, if the fore-leg is
injured, deer cannot progress; if only the hind-quarter is hit, there is
no telling how far they may go.
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