Page 224 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

and kissed his cheek. All the forest glades rang with the
shout that went up as the Knight and the yeomen marched
off through the woodland with glare of torches and gleam
of steel, and so were gone.
Then up spake the Bishop of Hereford in a mournful
voice, ‘I, too, must be jogging, good fellow, for the night
waxes late.’
But Robin laid his hand upon the Bishop’s arm and
stayed him. ‘Be not so hasty, Lord Bishop,’ said he. ‘Three
days hence Sir Richard must pay his debts to Emmet; until
that time thou must be content to abide with me lest thou
breed trouble for the Knight. I promise thee that thou shalt
have great sport, for I know that thou art fond of hunting
the dun deer. Lay by thy mantle of melancholy, and strive
to lead a joyous yeoman life for three stout days. I promise
thee thou shalt be sorry to go when the time has come.’
So the Bishop and his train abided with Robin for three
days, and much sport his lordship had in that time, so that,
as Robin had said, when the time had come for him to go he
was sorry to leave the greenwood. At the end of three days
Robin set him free, and sent him forth from the forest with
a guard of yeomen to keep freebooters from taking what
was left of the packs and bundles.
But, as the Bishop rode away, he vowed within himself
that he would sometime make Robin rue the day that he
stopped him in Sherwood.
But now we shall follow Sir Richard; so listen, and you
shall hear what befell him, and how he paid his debts at Em-
met Priory, and likewise in due season to Robin Hood.