Page 310 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

‘With all my heart,’ quoth merry Robin, ‘I will shoot from
this time till tomorrow day if it can pleasure my most gra-
cious lord and King. Take thy place, Gilbert lad, and shoot.’
So Gilbert took his place once more, but this time he
failed, for, a sudden little wind arising, his shaft missed the
center ring, but by not more than the breadth of a barley
straw.
‘Thy eggs are cracked, Gilbert,’ quoth Robin, laughing;
and straightway he loosed a shaft, and once more smote the
white circle of the center.
Then the King arose from his place, and not a word said
he, but he looked around with a baleful look, and it would
have been an ill day for anyone that he saw with a joyous or
a merry look upon his face. Then he and his Queen and all
the court left the place, but the King’s heart was brimming
full of wrath.
After the King had gone, all the yeomen of the archer
guard came crowding around Robin, and Little John, and
Will, and Allan, to snatch a look at these famous fellows
from the mid-country; and with them came many that had
been onlookers at the sport, for the same purpose. Thus
it happened presently that the yeomen, to whom Gilbert
stood talking, were all surrounded by a crowd of people
that formed a ring about them.
After a while the three judges that had the giving away
of the prizes came forward, and the chief of them all spake
to Robin and said, ‘According to agreement, the first prize
belongeth rightly to thee; so here I give thee the silver bu-
gle, here the quiver of ten golden arrows, and here a purse

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