Page 347 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

the scabbard, and, coming to where Guy of Gisbourne
lay, he stood over him with folded arms, talking to himself
the while. ‘This is the first man I have slain since I shot the
Kings forester in the hot days of my youth. I ofttimes think
bitterly, even yet, of that first life I took, but of this I am as
glad as though I had slain a wild boar that laid waste a fair
country. Since the Sheriff of Nottingham hath sent such a
one as this against me, I will put on the fellow’s garb and go
forth to see whether I may not find his worship, and per-
chance pay him back some of the debt I owe him upon this
score.’
So saying, Robin Hood stripped the hairy garments
from off the dead man, and put them on himself, all bloody
as they were. Then, strapping the other’s sword and dagger
around his
body and carrying his own in his hand, together with the
two bows of yew, he drew the cowl of horse’s hide over his
face, so that none could tell who he was, and set forth from
the forest, turning his steps toward the eastward and Not-
tingham Town. As he strode along the country roads, men,
women, and children hid away from him, for the terror of
Guy of Gisbourne’s name and of his doings had spread far
and near.
And now let us see what befell Little John while these
things were happening.
Little John walked on his way through the forest paths
until he had come to the outskirts of the woodlands, where,
here and there, fields of barley, corn, or green meadow
lands lay smiling in the sun. So he came to the highroad

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood