Sentence:  It might seem easy to hit the head of a barrel at that distance, but either the lads were not expert enough or else the snowballs, being of irregular shapes and rather light, did not <WSD>carry</WSD> well. Whatever the cause, the fact remained that the barrel received only a few scattering shots and these on the outer edges of the head. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To be transmitted; to travel.