Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/232

Cut a thin, smooth piece of pine just long and wide enough to cover the gun-barrel from stock to muzzle, and fasten it on Image missingFig. 130.Elastic Sling. with a couple of small brads at the muzzle and a screw at the stock (Fig. 129, C).

There is always a certain amount of danger attending the use of firearms which is avoided by the cross-bow, added to which advantage is the fact that the twang a bowstring makes is so slight a noise as not to alarm the game, and if the young sportsman be inexperienced he may shoot several times at the same bird or rabbit without frightening it away. With a little practice it is astonishing what precision of aim can be obtained with the cross-bow. I know boys who seldom miss a bird even with the simple elastic sling, consisting of two pieces of rubber bands attached to a forked or a straight stick (Fig. 130).