They had no barbs, but Jack said that if arrows were well feathered, they did not require iron points, but would fly quite well if merely sharpened at the point; which I did not know before.
"A feathered arrow without a barb," said he, "is a good weapon, but a barbed arrow without feathers is utterly useless." The string of the bow was formed of our piece of whip-cord, part of which, as he did not like to cut it, was rolled round the bow.
Although thus prepared for a start on the morrow, we thought it wise to exercise ourselves a little in the use of our weapons before starting, so we spent the whole of the next day in practising.

And it was well we did so, for we found that our arms were very imperfect, and that we were far from perfect in the use of them.

First, Jack found that the bow was much too strong, and he had to thin it.

Also the spear was much too heavy, and so had to be reduced in thickness, although nothing would induce Peterkin to have it shortened.

My sling answered very well, but I had fallen so much out of practice that my first stone knocked off Peterkin's hat, and narrowly missed making a second Goliath of him.