Alpine pasture

Chapter 270 The Archery that strayed

Ju An smiled and said: "I fed that leader when he was a little younger, and now I have a very close relationship with Dinah, and when he sees us, he will surround us and say hello to us."

Taylor nodded and said: "I know, I told you about the last time when the tour group came back, you are really brave, so let's talk about it here, I'm going back, don't forget to choose a place in the ranch this Saturday. Two decent cowboys, don't lose embarrassingly when the time comes, I won't show mercy."

"Don't worry, we will be more conservative when the time comes, so that you won't lose too badly," Ju An said to the old Taylor's back.After getting along with these old cowboys for a long time, you will find that their personalities are distinct. Many of them are very joking, and they are a bit of the boldness of the northerners in China.

After giving the meat to the wolves, Ju An turned his horse's head and rode on the pea grass towards the cows. After finding two or three small cows, he caught Thomas. Seeing Thomas' figure, he immediately urged Grass caught up with the beans: "Thomas, old Taylor just came to the ranch and invited me to participate in a competition. There are three people in the ranch, including two cowboys and the rancher. There are three events in the competition."

Before Juan finished speaking, Thomas smiled and said: "Is it archery, ax throwing and marksmanship?"

Ju An smiled and said to Thomas: "Have you participated? That would be great."

Thomas shrugged his shoulders: "If the rancher must participate, it can only be this, it can't be harnessing calves, riding wild horses or something."

After hearing what Thomas said, Ju An froze for a moment and then figured it out. Many ranchers are not young, such as Taylor with old arms and legs who go to wild horses to trap calves. If something goes wrong with the trap Responsibility, archery, and experience are more important than physical fitness, and the amount of exercise is very small, which is suitable for some older ranchers.

Ju An then said: "My marksmanship can still survive, but I really don't know anything about archery, and I can't see anything when I throw an axe."

After hearing this, Thomas said: "Still the ax is relatively simple, that is, fix a poker card or a rope circle on the tree, as long as you throw the ax out and nail it into the poker card or rope circle, it is considered a win, otherwise it is considered a loss." , the distance requirement is ten steps away, you can find a tree and take a few steps back to practice in the next time, this archery is a bit troublesome, but even if you can’t win, it’s okay, the main thing for everyone is to get together to chat and connect with each other.” .

Ju An nodded and said: "Well, I know this situation, but I can't perform too badly, I still need to find a chance to practice archery and ax throwing."

Thomas looked at Ju An and shook his head and said, "Throwing an ax is actually not too difficult. You just need to master the skills. Archery can't be practiced in a week or two. When the time comes, Lawrence and I will go with you to participate." , if you have time, prepare a compound bow and a small axe, and I will teach you at noon."

Ju An nodded, turned the horse's head, and ran towards the house. When he arrived at the ranch, Ju An was busy looking for things. Dinah saw Ju An busy looking for things, and asked Ju An curiously: " Ann, what are you looking for?"

Juan pinned a small handaxe he found to his waist, a rope in his hand, and his revolver in his pocket: "Taylor came over this morning and invited me to the rancher's game. I'm going to practice Let's shoot an arrow and throw an axe, and Thomas will teach me a few tricks later, so that I won't lose too badly when the time comes."

After hearing this, Dinah smiled and said, "Go, I'll teach you first."

"You can do this too? Are you good at it? It's better not to teach it than to teach it when the time comes." Ju An looked at Dinah and said.

"Before I went to middle school, I participated in these games with my father a few times. If they didn't let girls participate, maybe my father and I could win a lot of people." Dinah said proudly and waved her hand, signaling Ju An to follow. .

Walking to a tree behind the house, Dinah tied the rope in Ju An's hand into a small sheath, then hung it on the tree trunk with a nail, and gently knocked the small nail into the tree trunk with an axe, so that The fist-sized noose leaned against the tree trunk, Dinah walked a few steps away from the tree, and said to Ju An: "Give me the axe, I'll throw it first."After speaking, he grabbed the handle of the ax and raised it over his shoulder, tried a few times before throwing it out.

Um!The wife did not brag that the front corner of the ax blade was inserted into the tree trunk, right in the middle of the noose, followed by Dinah, she walked to the front and pulled the ax out: "If you are still using the axe, be careful not to shake your forearm with the elbow as the center, and the wrist not to shake , and then just throw the ax out, try it.”

Juan took the ax from Dinah's hand, and waited for Dinah to stand on the side. After a few tries, Juan was able to nail the ax to the tree, and it was not too far away from the rope ring. Dinah looked After seeing it, he said: "You don't know how to throw an ax before. Although this throw is not very good, it doesn't seem like you haven't thrown it once."

Ju An said proudly: "Your husband is an athletic genius, and throwing an ax is no problem at all."As soon as the words fell, the ax in his hand rubbed against the tree trunk and flew out without even touching the bark. Dinah laughed as she watched Ju An run to pick up the axe.

Dinah watched Ju An throw it a few times, then turned around and went back to the house, leaving Ju An alone to practice by the tree. After a while, the big tree was covered with scars. After practicing, the bark of this tree must be lost, so he took off the noose and nails on the trunk, found a new tree, and changed two trees. Thomas took the bow and five arrows. When I got to the back of the house: "You throw the ax well, it looks good."

Ju An pursed her lips and threw the ax out of her hand intently: "Dinah taught me just now, and I'm practicing now. Since you're here, let's learn bow and arrow first."

After Thomas heard this, he demonstrated how to shoot an arrow, then handed the bow to Ju An, and then taught Ju An how to draw the bow, what steps to take, and how to aim. This compound bow also has two small wheels. It is less labor-intensive, and five arrow shafts of different colors are stuck on the bow body.

Seeing that Ju An's posture was fine, Thomas asked Ju An to shoot an arrow. If it wasn't for the colored shafts of this guy, it might not be easy to find it. Hey, he flew out, and after ten consecutive shots from drawing the bow to releasing the arrow, the posture was finally correct in Thomas' eyes.

After another two rounds of practice with Thomas, it was time for lunch. After eating, Juan drove to the town and bought a bow with small wheels, equipped with ten arrows directly, and then I practiced in the back of the house all night, and the progress was very obvious. In one afternoon, Ju An was able to shoot the tree trunk. As for whether it was going upwards or downwards, Ju An didn’t know when the arrow hit the tree trunk. .This kind of improvement made Dinah shake her head in amazement: "My dear, if you go to the competition on Saturday with your archery level, you can directly make those old cowboys cry. You can reach the distance of only five or six steps. Faster two feet."

Ju An laughed and said haha ​​while pulling out the arrow on the tree trunk: "You don't understand my tactics at all. I have prepared a huge room for improvement for myself, so that I can feel it every time I improve. The more I am interested, unlike others, although it looks fast at the beginning, in fact, the whole process is moving at a constant speed. I am accelerating, and the speed is zero at the beginning, but it is getting faster and faster, until the end will be Throw it at a constant speed without a shadow."

After listening to Ju An's words, Dinah stared at it for a few times, then sighed and said: "Okay! Let's practice tomorrow. I just hope that you don't lose face too much for your archery performance on Saturday."Only then did Ju An pack up the bow, arrow and ax and followed Dinah back to the house.Lock everything in your hand in the gun cabinet in front of the door.

After a few days of practice, Ju An's throwing of the ax became more and more accurate, and his archery skills also made great progress. If the center of the target is the ten rings, Ju An's arrows are always dangling in the fourth, fifth and sixth rings. Anything beyond the eighth ring is an accident.Dinah's evaluation is that Ju An's archery is basically recognizable. After five days of practice, Ju An has gloriously approached the level of a novice archer for two days.

Not only Dinah, but also Thomas was surprised. Ju An was good at ax and marksmanship, but the bow and arrow went astray.Thomas took Lawrence to watch Ju An shoot a few arrows, and Thomas said to Ju An, "Prepare fifty dollars, anyway, our chances of winning the championship are slim."

Waiting for the day of the competition, the three of Ju An and Thomas Lawrence waited until after three o'clock in the afternoon before riding horses from the pasture and heading towards the camp at the foot of the mountain.Three people in full cowboy attire, cowboy hats, respective shirts, dark scarf jeans with brown leather holsters, half-height riding boots with shiny spurs, revolvers tied around their waists, and horseback behind the saddle There are bows and arrows tied to the top, which is a bit like a western movie.

When we got to the foot of the mountain, we found that a dozen people had already arrived. Everyone was dressed in the same way, and they all came on horseback. Only one person drove a pickup truck, but there were several boxes of beer behind him, and there was a small For the golden trophy, there is no place to sit, but everyone brings blankets and sits on the ground. If you need it, you can go to the trunk of the pickup truck to get a beer.

When the old Taylor rode a horse and brought two cowboys in their 40s to the foot of the mountain, he greeted everyone, then introduced each other, and introduced the three new-faced ranchers to Ju An one by one. Let me introduce, the ranch of the three of them is located west of Taylor and Thornton. Ju An has never had a chance to meet them. This time I just met them. The cowboys who came to participate in the game are all at least 40 years old. There is only a young man in his 20s in Ju'an who looks like he is in his early years.

(End of this chapter)