Holland Discoveries

"No, I never did."

"I did. I was always making bows and arrows. I used willow branches for the bows, and there was a partition behind the chicken house made out of reed, like bamboo. I would get arrows out of there. I even got mom to make me a feather bonnet. I collected a bunch of long feathers out of the chicken pen and she sewed them onto a head band. I was so surprised she did that. Usually it's 'Oh we'll do that sometime.' But when I asked her that, she did it. Right away. Pretty good, hey?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

"But around here! I was surprised, they really know how to use a bow and arrow. When I first saw them all doing that, I thought I might be able to join in, but they would make me look silly. They take it seriously, with competitions and everything. Like sharpshooters in the army. Have you learned to shoot a bow and arrow?"

"No. They don't get into it much at the monastery."

"Boy, Jack. You haven't done much of anything except study, have you? You've got a lot of catching up to do.

Tell me about those soldiers. Did they march all together, really loud. And were they wearing big iron helmets like round buckets on their heads?"

"No, I never saw or heard them marching at all. They rode horses. And most of them just wore caps. The officer's helmet was more like a shiny blue or green soup bowl. The monks said they were Chinese soldiers."