I have been asked to write an introduction to the story of "The Bowmen", on its
publication in book form together with three other tales of similar fashion. And I
hesitate. This affair of "The Bowmen" has been such an odd one from first to
last, so many queer complications have entered into it, there have been so many
and so divers currents and cross-currents of rumour and speculation concerning
it, that I honestly do not know where to begin. I propose, then, to solve the
difficulty by apologising for beginning at all.