Page 309 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

lodged not more than half an inch from the very center.
‘By my soul!’ cried Gilbert. ‘Art thou the devil in blue, to
shoot in that wise?’
‘Nay,’ quoth Robin, laughing, ‘not quite so ill as that, I
trust.’ And he took up another shaft and fitted it to the
string. Again he shot, and again he smote his arrow close
beside the center; a third time he loosed his bowstring and
dropped his arrow just betwixt the other two and into the
very center, so that the feathers of all three were ruffled to-
gether, seeming from a distance to be one thick shaft.
And now a low murmur ran all among that great crowd,
for never before had London seen such shooting as this; and
never again would it see it after Robin Hood’s day had gone.
All saw that the King’s archers were fairly beaten, and stout
Gilbert clapped his palm to Robin’s, owning that he could
never hope to draw such a bowstring as Robin Hood or Lit-
tle John. But the King, full of wrath, would not have it so,
though he knew in his mind that his men could not stand
against those fellows. ‘Nay!’ cried he, clenching his hands
upon the arms of his seat, ‘Gilbert is not yet beaten! Did he
not strike the clout thrice? Although I have lost my wager,
he hath not yet lost the first prize. They shall shoot again,
and still again, till either he or that knave Robin Hood co-
meth off the best. Go thou, Sir Hugh, and bid them shoot
another round, and another, until one or the other is over-
come.’ Then Sir Hugh, seeing how wroth the King was, said
never a word, but went straightway to do his bidding; so he
came to where Robin Hood and the other stood, and told
them what the King had said.

0 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood