Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/238

that the string of a cross-bow does. Both these pistols, if made with good, strong elastic, will shoot quite a distance, and if the arrows are armed with a tack or pin in the head they can be used in target practice. We now come to a gun in which the spring is the principal part.

A certain old gentleman was at one time very much annoyed by fine bird-shot which at all times of the day came rattling against the window-panes of his study. Being somewhat of a philosopher, the old man at last became deeply interested in investigating the cause of his annoyance. From the window Image missingSpring Shot-gun. he could see a house separated from his study by a deep back yard, a vacant lot, and another yard. While peering out between the blinds of his window he saw a boy appear at one of the windows of the distant house; the boy held something in his left hand which he pulled with his right; almost instantly there was a rattling of bird-shot against the old gentleman's window glass, and the boy disappeared. But so great was the distance that separated the two houses that it was impossible for the old man to distinguish what sort of an instrument the mischievous lad used to propel the fine shot so far and with such force. The youngster was at last waylaid, and the mystery solved. The machine used proved to be a spring shot-gun. No powder or explosive is used with one of these guns, neither does it possess stock, trigger, or sights, but simply consists of a stick of whalebone or any other