Page 302 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

‘To pleasure my Queen I will do it,’ said Sir Robert Lee,
‘but for the sake of no other in all the world would I wager a
groat, for no man can stand against Tepus and Gilbert and
Clifton.’
Then turning to the King, Queen Eleanor said, ‘I want no
such aid as Sir Robert giveth me; but against thy wine and
beer and stout bows of yew I wager this girdle all set with
jewels from around my waist; and surely that is worth more
than thine.’
‘Now, I take thy wager,’ quoth the King. ‘Send for thy ar-
chers straightway. But here come forth the others; let them
shoot, and then I will match those that win against all the
world.’
‘So be it,’ said the Queen. Thereupon, beckoning to young
Richard Partington, she whispered something in his ear,
and straightway the Page bowed and left the place, cross-
ing the meadow to the other side of the range, where he was
presently lost in the crowd. At this, all that stood around
whispered to one another, wondering what it all meant, and
what three men the Queen was about to set against those
famous archers of the King’s guard.
And now the ten archers of the King’s guard took their
stand again, and all the great crowd was hushed to the still-
ness of death. Slowly and carefully each man shot his shafts,
and so deep was the silence that you could hear every ar-
row rap against the target as it struck it. Then, when the
last shaft had sped, a great roar went up; and the shooting, I
wot, was well worthy of the sound. Once again Gilbert had
lodged three arrows in the white; Tepus came second with

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