Page 225 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

How Sir Richard of the

Lea Paid His Debts

HE LONG HIGHWAY stretched straight on, gray and
Tdusty in the sun. On either side were dikes full of water
bordered by osiers, and far away in the distance stood the
towers of Emmet Priory with tall poplar trees around.
Along the causeway rode a knight with a score of stout
men-at-arms behind him. The Knight was clad in a plain,
long robe of gray serge, gathered in at the waist with a broad
leathern belt, from which hung a long dagger and a stout
sword. But though he was so plainly dressed himself, the
horse he rode was a noble barb, and its trappings were rich
with silk and silver bells.
So thus the band journeyed along the causeway between
the dikes, till at last they reached the great gate of Emmet
Priory. There the Knight called to one of his men and bade
him knock at the porter’s lodge with the heft of his sword.
The porter was drowsing on his bench within the lodge,
but at the knock he roused himself and, opening the wicket,
came hobbling forth and greeted the Knight, while a tame
starling that hung in a wicker cage within piped out, ‘In
coelo quies! In coelo quies!’ such being the words that the
poor old lame porter had taught him to speak.
‘Where is thy prior?’ asked the Knight of the old porter.

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood