I wouldn't let
him, so he withdrew from the company, taking the only bow and arrow we had.
6. I made a crossbow out of a piece of whalebone, and did very well
without him. We had reached that exciting scene where Gesler, the Austrian
tyrant, commands Tell to shoot the apple from his son's head. Pepper
Whitcomb, who played all the juvenile and women parts, was my son.
7. To guard against mischance, a piece of pasteboard was fastened by a
handkerchief over the upper portion of Whitcomb's face, while the arrow to
be used was sewed up in a strip of flannel. I was a capital marksman, and
the big apple, only two yards distant, turned its russet cheek fairly
towards me.
8. I can see poor little Pepper now, as he stood without flinching,
waiting for me to perform my great feat. I raised the crossbow amid the
breathless silence of the crowded audience--consisting of seven boys and
three girls, exclusive of Kitty Collins, who insisted on paying her way in
with a clothespin. I raised the crossbow, I repeat. Twang! went the
whipcord; but, alas! instead of hitting the apple, the arrow flew right
into Pepper Whitcomb's mouth, which happened to be open at the time, and
destroyed my aim.
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