Chapter 72 Making Bows and Arrows
You must light a fire to spend the night, and you have to go out to find firewood.
There was no shortage of materials for starting a fire. There was a large pile of them at the door - chopped thorns.
Some of these thorns have dried up, and are filled with other dried plants, making the whole thing look like a large dry grass ball.
Mu Xi went out to look for firewood, while Zhao Yeqing worked on the big grass ball in the cave.
To start a fire, the material must first be flammable and not too large. She needs to cut the thorny bushes before she can get the hay inside. The thorny vines can also be used as kindling.
After she separated the grass ball, Mu Xi came back holding Chai.
First use large wooden sticks to lay the bottom, leaving some space in the middle and then place the fire-starting materials, and place a few small firewood on the materials.
Zhao Yeqing took out a lighter and lit the hay. He blew gently on the burning firewood with his mouth, and stopped when he saw the flame getting bigger.
Mu Xi said, "When I was collecting firewood just now, I saw a persimmon tree next to me. You stay in the cave while I pick some."
Zhao Yeqing had no objection. Someone needed to watch the newly lit fire to prevent it from going out.
Mu Xi moved quickly and brought back, in addition to the persimmons, the trunk of a small tree and two rolls of bark.
It doesn't look like it's used for burning fire, so Zhao Yeqing asked curiously.
Mu Xi replied, "I want to make a bow and arrow, and save as much bullets as possible. I have to find food in the forest during this period. I will try to use it to hunt."
He said this without any confidence, as he had no experience in making bows and arrows.
The trunk of this small tree was only as thick as a forearm. Mu Xi removed the branches and leaves, leaving only about two meters long.
To make a bow, you have to split the tree trunk vertically in half. Mu Xi opened his backpack, took out a knife and started to cut the trunk.
The knife is very sharp and it can cut wood as easily as cutting a watermelon.
The wood used to make the bow needs to be straight enough to ensure that the arrow does not deviate from its direction.
Mu Xi held the wood vertically in front of his eyes, squinted one eye to check the situation, and if he saw any place that was not flat enough, he put it down and continued to cut.
Zhao Yeqing picked out a few soft persimmons that Mu Xi had just brought back, cut them in half with a knife and took a bite of the flesh in the middle. Perhaps because fruits that have grown in plenty of sunlight have higher sugar content, it tasted unexpectedly good.
She opened her eyes wide in surprise. It was not as bitter as she had imagined.
He peeled off the other half of the skin and handed it to Mu Xi, "Try it quickly."
Mu Xi didn't stop what he was doing. He opened his mouth to take the persimmon, ate it, and said, "Pick a few more before we leave tomorrow morning."
After feeding, she went back to pick the remaining persimmons and prepare today's dinner.
Sweet potatoes, potatoes and canned food can be stored longer, but corn is still fresh and cannot be stored for a long time, so I will deal with it tonight.
Build a simple rack before baking.
In fact, you can also poke a wooden stick into the corn cob and roast it next to the fire or hold it over the fire. However, the former cooks slowly and is easily burnt, so the outside is black and the inside is still raw. The latter will make your hands sore.
When grilling food, it is best not to let the open flame come into contact with the food. Make a simple rack that is higher than the flame and place the corn on it. Use the heat from the flame to roast the corn so it doesn't turn black. It also saves time overall than grilling it on a skewer.
As the saying goes, sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood.
Use four pieces of firewood to tie two X-shaped supports, insert one on each side into the ground, pass a branch through the middle of the corn, and place it on the two X-shaped stands.
It was exactly one or two centimeters away from the flame.
Mu Xi finally shaved the wood smooth, and he also had to make a bow opening at each end of the bow to tie the bowstring.
A bow handle of about 15 centimeters should be carved out in the middle to make it easier to hold the bow.
The bowstrings were made from the two bundles of bark that had just been brought back.
This bark is not the old bark that was used to build greenhouse racks to provide shade and shelter from rain for vegetables, but the bark of a small tree with a trunk only as thick as a thumb.
This kind of tree grows very fast in the forest, especially after the rain, it shoots up like bamboo shoots in just a few days.
The bark has long, flexible fibers and is more durable than vines for making ropes.
In the past, if you wanted to make ropes from this kind of bark, you had to wait for two or three days to dry it in the sun before you could use it. Recently, the sun has been extremely strong, and a lot of the moisture under the bark has evaporated. Mu Xi put it next to the fire, and soon the green color on the inside of the bark turned into light brown.
Tear the bark into thin strips, twist two thin strips together clockwise to make a thin rope, and then twist two thin ropes together counterclockwise to make a bowstring.
The rope will not fall apart due to the interaction of forces when twisted in two directions.
Insert the twisted rope into the mouth of the bow. After one end is tied, the other end needs to bend the bow before it can be tied.
Use one hand to press down the other end of the bow and tie the bowstring, and the bow is completed.
Mu Xi tried to pull the bowstring, and the taut rope made a dull clanging sound.
After the bow is bent, the belly of the bow needs to be adjusted again to make sure it is level.
Mu Xi picked up two weathered stones in the cave. The surface of these stones was uneven and most suitable for polishing.
Place the stone on the belly of the bow and rub it back and forth. The bumps that were originally cut by the knife will be rounded off, and then use the knife to cut off the burrs caused by grinding.
If the small pits on the belly of the bow are not smoothed out, one of the pits will become the bending point of the bow, and the bow arm will break after being used several times.
After you have a bow, you still need to make arrows.
Arrows do not have iron tipped ends, and it is best not to use dry branches to make them. They must be fresh, so that the arrows shot out will not be light and will not crack due to stress.
There were many small trees outside the cave. Mu Xi broke off five or six branches as thick as fingers at the entrance of the cave and continued to cut them with a knife.
The outer bark of the branches must be scraped off to prevent it from falling off during use and changing the direction of the arrow.
The arrow must be pointed, so Mu Xi sharpened one end with a knife and then put it on the fire to roast it for a while. The roasted arrowhead would be harder.
Mu Xi had the idea of making a bow and arrow a long time ago. After the goose in his family died, he collected the goose feathers. Usually, when Huhu and Xuebing went out to catch birds, if the tail feathers were long enough, he would also keep them for future use.
I didn't forget to bring it with me when I went out this time, to make feathers for my bow and arrows.
Zhao Yeqing didn't expect that he kept the feathers for today, and was a little convinced, "You can still think of doing this."
Mu Xi explained that eagle feathers are the best and goose feathers are the worst. When they were in school, their teacher told them that in addition to catching the poachers red-handed and on the spot, they also need to carefully observe their clothes and accessories. An inconspicuous feather may be the key.
Some hunters would make necklaces out of animal teeth, while others, who liked fierce birds, would make necklaces and amulets out of eagle feathers.
It can be considered as metaphysics among poachers and also a medal of honor.
Zhao Yeqing nodded seriously, "I understand, it's the same principle as the tomb-grabbing talisman."
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