Page 298 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

governing the game. So Sir Hugh stepped to the edge of the
platform and spoke in a loud clear voice, and thus he said:
That each man should shoot seven arrows at the target
that belonged to his band, and, of the fourscore yeomen
of each band, the three that shot the best should be cho-
sen. These three should shoot three arrows apiece, and the
one that shot the best should again be chosen. Then each of
these should again shoot three arrows apiece, and the one
that shot the best should have the first prize, the one that
shot the next best should have the second, and the one that
shot the next best should have the third prize. Each of the
others should have fourscore silver pennies for his shooting.
The first prize was to be twoscore and ten golden pounds,
a silver bugle horn inlaid with gold, and a quiver with ten
white arrows tipped with gold and feathered with the white
swan’s-wing therein. The second prize was to be fivescore of
the fattest bucks that run on Dallen Lea, to be shot when the
yeoman that won them chose. The third prize was to be two
tuns of good Rhenish wine.
So Sir Hugh spoke, and when he had done all the archers
waved their bows aloft and shouted. Then each band turned
and marched in order back to its place.
And now the shooting began, the captains first taking
stand and speeding their shafts and then making room
for the men who shot, each in turn, after them. Two hun-
dred and eighty score shafts were shot in all, and so deftly
were they sped that when the shooting was done each tar-
get looked like the back of a hedgehog when the farm dog
snuffs at it. A long time was taken in this shooting, and