Read Online William the Good by Richmal Crompton - Free Book Online

sat and gazed after it in horror and indignation. William
found his voice first.
    ‘ Well! ’ he said. ‘Well! Fancy nearly killin ’ folks an’ then talkin’ like that to ’em. Coo – I’d like to haunt him. ’
    ‘Oh, come on,’ said Douglas. ‘Gimme the stones and start puttin’ the matches in an’ I bet I hit every one.’
    But it was suddenly discovered that there were only two matches left and that Ginger and William were tired of the game. Despite Douglas’s passionate protests they walked away from the
stream, Douglas remarking bitterly:
    ‘That’s always the way. Always. Always with everythin ’! The minute my turn for anythin’ comes it stops.’
    ‘What shall we do?’ said Ginger when they had walked aimlessly to the end of the road.
    ‘Let’s get out the bows and arrers an’ practise,’ said William. ‘We’ve not done that for quite a long time.’
    So they got out their bows and arrows, fixed up a target on a tree in William’s back garden and for some time practised happily enough. Only Douglas was still gloomy.
    ‘Always the way,’ he muttered bitterly as he listlessly strung his bow. ‘Umpire for hours an’ hours an’ hours an’ when my time comes only two matches
left.’
    ‘You can have first go hittin’ next Monday,’ said William generously.
    ‘Yes,’ said Douglas, still bitter, ‘an’ it’ll be wet Sunday night an’ they’ll all stay indoors an’ there won’t be any matches. Oh, I know !’
    He was further annoyed by the fact that he failed to score a bull.
    ‘Always the same!’ he said. ‘Somethin’ wrong with my arrers now. ’S’enough for me to get hold of a thing for everything to go wrong –an’ anyway
it’s a silly sort of thing to do – shootin’ with bows and arrers. Bow and arrer shootin’ isn’t any use to anyone but Normans an’ Red Indians an’ such
like.’
    William who had scored several bulls spiritedly opposed this view.
    ‘I bet it is,’ he said. ‘I bet it’s more use than any other sort of shootin’!’
    Douglas gave vent to his general sense of bitterness and disappointment by a derisive laugh. ‘Huh!’ he said, ‘ Huh! D’you mean to say that bow an’ arrer
shootin’s more use than gun shootin’ an’ pistol shootin’? What about the war? Was there any bow an’ arrer shootin’ in the war? No. They only did
gun shootin’ an’ pistol shootin’ ’cause those is the only kinds of shootin’ what’s any good. D’you think that they’d have had only gun shootin’
if bow an’ arrer shootin’ was any good?’
    William, having taken up any position, was seldom at a loss in defending it.
    ‘Huh!’ he said repeating Douglas’ derisive laugh, ‘ Huh! Well, jus’ at first gun shootin’s better, of course. Anyone knows that. Jus’ at first. Because they shoot with gunpowder and nat’rally gunpowder shoots further than string. Yes, but you listen . . . what about when all the gunpowder’s used up? What
about a war what goes on so long that all the gunpowder’s used up? What’ll they do then? They’ll have to start shootin’ with bows an’ arrers then. Yes, an’ they’ll be in a nice mess too ’cause none of ’em’ll know how to shoot ’em an’ it’s not as easy as it looks. Yes, they’ll be jolly glad
of us to teach ’em then. It’s jolly lucky for them we know how to do it. I bet we’ll all be made generals an’ commander-in-chiefs then. I bet if
there’s another war they’ll soon use up all the gunpowder ’cause with all the lot they used up in the last war there can’t be much left an’ then we’ll come in with our bows an’ arrers.’
    ‘Well, there’s not many of us to fight against a whole foreign army,’ said Douglas gloomily. ‘Jus’ you an’ me an’ Ginger an’ Henry against a whole
foreign army.’
    ‘Y-yes,’ admitted William reluctantly. Then he brightened. ‘But we could train some more. We could start trainin’ ’em now so as to be