The Lost Diary of Annie Oakley’s Wild West Stagehand. Clive Dickinson
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу The Lost Diary of Annie Oakley’s Wild West Stagehand - Clive Dickinson страница 4
Название: The Lost Diary of Annie Oakley’s Wild West Stagehand
Автор: Clive Dickinson
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Книги для детей: прочее
isbn: 9780007502578
isbn:
Out in the centre of the arena, Frank has all her rifles, shotguns and revolvers loaded and laid out on a wooden table covered with a silk cloth. He loads and fires the clay pigeons from spring traps and reloads Annie’s guns during the act.
Annie don’t miss too often. In fact, she tells me that sometimes she misses on purpose, to prove that the targets don’t just explode on their own. One day I counted fifty-five hits out of the fifty-six glass balls Frank tossed in the air for her, and she only missed one because she tripped as she pulled the trigger.
She’s shoots so fast too – and with both hands. I’ve seen her hitting targets holding the gun over her head and lying on her back across a chair. She can hit glass balls tied to the end of a rope Frank spins round his head. She can even toss two glass balls high in the air herself, then pick up a rifle, shoot the first ball, spin round and shoot the second before it hits the ground.
The audience’s favourite stunt is Annie’s mirror trick. In this, she turns her back on the target, takes aim with the rifle over her shoulder using a polished knife blade as a mirror, and still manages to hit the target. Sometimes she’ll even jump the table after Frank has let fly a clay pigeon, run ten yards to pick up her gun and still hit the target before it lands. That’s pretty snappy shooting, seeing that from start to finish the clay’s only in the air for four or five seconds!
12 JUNE 1885 – BUFFALO, NEW YORK STATE
I don’t know. That Annie! She seems to spring surprises as easy as she springs clays from a trap.
I guess I should have expected something to happen to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, seeing that we’re here in the town of Buffalo. A special supper of buffalo tongue, or perhaps a buffalo hide for Buffalo Bill?
But when I saw who Major Burke, the publicity manager, brought into town today, I thought my eyes were playing tricks. Down the steps from the railroad car came the great Sioux warrior, Chief Sitting Bull himself! Some folks claim he’s the one who killed General Custer at the famous battle of Little Bighorn nine years ago.
Major Burke says Sitting Bull’s going to be touring with the Wild West this summer. You can’t blame the major for looking mighty pleased with himself for getting a famous Indian chief like Sitting Bull to join the show. I’d say Major Burke is sitting pretty.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.