Abstract: A cable guard includes a rod to be fixed to the handle of a compound bow extending from the handle toward the bowstring and positioned laterally offset from the central plane of the bow to keep the tension cables out of the path of an arrow fired by the bow. A tube fits slidably on the rod and carries a pair of pulleys at its distal end, coaxial with the rod and the tube. The first pulley is fixed to the tube, and the second pulley is freely rotatable on the tube. The tension cables are trained respectively into the grooves of the two pulleys on the side of the pulleys opposite from the central plane of the bow. As the bow is drawn the first cable turns its pulley together with the tube in one direction, while the second cable turns its pulley in the opposite direction. Simultaneously, the cables work together to draw the tube axially along the rod away from the handle.