Posted by Ed Kiser on October 26, 2002 at 01:23:57 from 205.188.209.46 user Kisered.
In SA, there is the initial encounter with the Amazons who use a BOW to fire an arrow at the Swallows. It says that she pointed her BOW to the ground and called for a parley. Just a BOW; not a CROSSBOW.
There is a specific reference to the use of a CROSSBOW in Swallowdale when Nancy is going by the bay in the Beckfoot launch, and she uses a crossbow to fire a Message-arrow to the beach near where John is working on repair of the mast.
In PM, when Dick is doing the "robbery", there is reference to some rather awsome weapons on the walls, but not a crossbow.
Yet when taking the QUIZ that is offered on a related site, the question as to the nature of the weapon used by the Amazons in SA says that "crossbow" is the right answer; I say it is the LONGBOW.
Where is this crossbow explicitly defined, except for that one time in SD to send the message-arrow? I can see no further reference to a crossbow, yet it seems that there are those that think it was a crossbow that Nancy used in SA. Have I missed something? Quite possible, certainly, but where does the idea that it was a crossbow she used on the island come from?
Ed Kiser, South Florida