Page 154 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

such as they desired showed his face in all the time that they
lay hidden there. Many passed along the dusty road in the
glare of the sun: now it was a bevy of chattering damsels
merrily tripping along; now it was a plodding tinker; now a
merry shepherd lad; now a sturdy farmer; all gazing ahead
along the road, unconscious of the seven stout fellows that
lay hidden so near them. Such were the travelers along the
way; but fat abbot, rich esquire, or money-laden usurer
came there none.
At last the sun began to sink low in the heavens; the light
grew red and the shadows long. The air grew full of silence,
the birds twittered sleepily, and from afar came, faint and
clear, the musical song of the milkmaid calling the kine
home to the milking.
Then Stutely arose from where he was lying. ‘A plague of
such ill luck!’ quoth he. ‘Here have we abided all day, and
no bird worth the shooting, so to speak, hath come within
reach of our bolt. Had I gone forth on an innocent errand,
I had met a dozen stout priests or a score of pursy money-
lenders. But it is ever thus: the dun deer are never so scarce
as when one has a gray goose feather nipped betwixt the
fingers. Come, lads, let us pack up and home again, say I.’
Accordingly, the others arose, and, coming forth from
out the thicket, they all turned their toes back again to Sher-
wood. After they had gone some distance, Will Stutely, who
headed the party, suddenly stopped. ‘Hist!’ quoth he, for his
ears were as sharp as those of a five-year-old fox. ‘Hark, lads!
Methinks I hear a sound.’ At this all stopped and listened
with bated breath, albeit for a time they could hear nothing,

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