Page 359 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

notice of his doing so. Then, when Little John stood against
the tree, he drew Guy of Gisbourne’s sharp, double-edged
dagger. ‘Fall back! fall back!’ cried he. ‘Would ye crowd so
on my pleasure, ye unmannerly knaves? Back, I say! Farther
yet!’ So they crowded back, as he ordered, many of them
turning their faces away, that they might not see what was
about to happen.
‘Come!’ cried Little John. ‘Here is my breast. It is meet
that the same hand that slew my dear master should butcher
me also! I know thee, Guy of Gisbourne!’
‘Peace, Little John!’ said Robin in a low voice. ‘Twice thou
hast said thou knowest me, and yet thou knowest me not at
all. Couldst thou not tell me beneath this wild beast’s hide?
Yonder, just in front of thee, lie my bow and arrows, likewise
my broadsword. Take them when I cut thy bonds. Now! Get
them quickly!’ So saying, he cut the bonds, and Little John,
quick as a wink, leaped forward and caught up the bow and
arrows and the broadsword. At the same time Robin Hood
threw back the cowl of horse’s hide from his face and bent
Guy of Gisbourne’s bow, with a keen, barbed arrow fitted to
the string. ‘Stand back!’ cried he sternly. ‘The first man that
toucheth finger to bowstring dieth! I have slain thy man,
Sheriff; take heed that it is not thy turn next.’ Then, seeing
that Little John had armed himself, he clapped his bugle
horn to his lips and blew three blasts both loud and shrill.
Now when the Sheriff of Nottingham saw whose face it
was beneath Guy of Gisbourne’s hood, and when he heard
those bugle notes ring in his ear, he felt as if his hour had
come. ‘Robin Hood!’ roared he, and without another word

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood