Page 147 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

unwillingly he untied the mouth of the bag, and slowly
thrust his hands into the meal and began fumbling about
with his arms buried to the elbows in the barley flour. The
others gathered round him, their heads together, looking
and wondering what he would bring forth.
So they stood, all with their heads close together gazing
down into the sack. But while he pretended to be searching
for the money, the Miller gathered two great handfuls of
meal. ‘Ha,’ quoth he, ‘here they are, the beauties.’ Then, as
the others leaned still more forward to see what he had, he
suddenly cast the meal into their faces, filling their eyes and
noses and mouths with the flour, blinding and half choking
them. Arthur a Bland was worse off than any, for his mouth
was open, agape with wonder of what was to come, so that
a great cloud of flour flew down his throat, setting him a-
coughing till he could scarcely stand.
Then, while all four stumbled about, roaring with the
smart of the meal in their eyeballs, and while they rubbed
their eyes till the tears made great channels on their faces
through the meal, the Miller seized another handful of flour
and another and another, throwing it in their faces, so that
even had they had a glimmering of light before they were
now as blind as ever a beggar in Nottinghamshire, while
their hair and beards and clothes were as white as snow.
Then catching up his great crabstaff, the Miller began
laying about him as though he were clean gone mad. This
way and that skipped the four, like peas on a drumhead, but
they could see neither to defend themselves nor to run away.
Thwack! thwack! went the Miller’s cudgel across their backs,

1 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood