Page 126 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

he measured the oaken staff. ‘Thou art right, good fellow,’
said he presently, ‘truly, my sword is no match for that cud-
gel of thine. Bide thee awhile till I get me a staff.’ So saying,
he threw aside the rose that he had been holding all this
time, thrust his sword back into the scabbard, and, with a
more hasty step than he had yet used, stepped to the road-
side where grew the little clump of ground oaks Robin had
spoken of. Choosing among them, he presently found a
sapling to his liking. He did not cut it, but, rolling up his
sleeves a little way, he laid hold of it, placed his heel against
the ground, and, with one mighty pull, plucked the young
tree up by the roots from out the very earth. Then he came
back, trimming away the roots and tender stems with his
sword as quietly as if he had done nought to speak of.
Little John and the Tanner had been watching all that
passed, but when they saw the stranger drag the sapling
up from the earth, and heard the rending and snapping of
its roots, the Tanner pursed his lips together, drawing his
breath between them in a long inward whistle.
‘By the breath of my body!’ said Little John, as soon as
he
could gather his wits from their wonder, ‘sawest thou
that, Arthur? Marry, I think our poor master will stand but
an ill chance with yon fellow. By Our Lady, he plucked up
yon green tree as it were a barley straw.’
Whatever Robin Hood thought, he stood his ground,
and now he and the stranger in scarlet stood face to face.
Well did Robin Hood hold his own that day as a mid-
country yeoman. This way and that they fought, and back

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