Page 109 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

goose shaft with my fingers. Nevertheless, a journey to An-
caster may not be ill for thee; so go thou, as I bid, and thou
hadst best go this very evening, for since thou hast abided at
the Sheriff’s many know thy face, and if thou goest in broad
daylight, thou mayst get thyself into a coil with some of
his worship’s men-at-arms. Bide thou here till I bring thee
money to pay our good Hugh. I warrant he hath no better
customers in all Nottinghamshire than we.’ So saying, Rob-
in left them and entered the forest.
Not far from the trysting tree was a great rock in which
a chamber had been hewn, the entrance being barred by a
massive oaken door two palms’-breadth in thickness, stud-
ded about with spikes, and fastened with a great padlock.
This was the treasure house of the band, and thither Robin
Hood went and, unlocking the door, entered the chamber,
from which he brought forth a bag of gold which he gave to
Little John, to pay Hugh Longshanks withal, for the cloth of
Lincoln green.
Then up got Little John, and, taking the bag of gold,
which he thrust into his bosom, he strapped a girdle about
his loins, took a stout pikestaff full seven feet long in his
hand, and set forth upon his journey.
So he strode whistling along the leafy forest path that led
to Fosse Way, turning neither to the right hand nor the left,
until at last he came to where the path branched, leading on
the one hand onward to Fosse Way, and on the other, as well
Little John knew, to the merry Blue Boar Inn. Here Little
John suddenly ceased whistling and stopped in the middle
of the path. First he looked up and then he looked down,

10 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood