He released Otho, who said gently:
"Brother, thou hast nearly overstayed the time; the sentence has been
given against me that I shall be hanged."

"Brother," said Gamelyn, "this day shall thy foes and mine be hanged:
the sheriff, the justice, and the wicked jurors." Then Gamelyn turned
to the judge, who sat as if paralysed in his seat of judgment, and
said:

"'Come from the seat of justice: all too oft
Hast thou polluted law's clear stream with wrong;
Too oft hast taken reward against the poor;
Too oft hast lent thine aid to villainy,
And given judgment 'gainst the innocent.
Come down and meet thine own meed at the bar,
While I, in thy place, give more rightful doom
And see that justice dwells in law for once.'"

[Illustration: "Come from the seat of justice"]

A Scene

The justice sat still, dumb with astonishment, and Gamelyn struck him
fiercely, cut his cheek, and threw him over the bar so that his arm
broke; and no man durst withstand the outlaw, for fear of his company
standing at the doors. The youth sat down in the judge's seat, with
Otho beside him, and Adam in the clerk's desk; and he placed in the
dock the false sheriff, the justice, and the unjust jurors, and
accused them of wrong and attempted murder. In order to keep up the
forms of law, he empanelled a jury of his own young men, who brought
in a verdict of "Guilty," and the prisoners were all condemned to
death and hanged out of hand, though the false sheriff attempted to
appeal to the brotherly affection of which he had shown so little.

Honour from the King

After this high-handed punishment of their enemies Gamelyn and his
brother went to lay their case before King Edward, and he forgave
them, in consideration of all the wrongs and injuries Gamelyn had
suffered; and before they returned to their distant county the king
made Otho sheriff of the county, and Gamelyn chief forester of all his
free forests; his band of outlaws were all pardoned, and the king gave
them posts according to their capabilities. Now Gamelyn and his
brother settled down to a happy, peaceful life. Otho, having no son,
made Gamelyn his heir, and the latter married a beauteous lady, and
lived with her in joy till his life's end.

CHAPTER XI: WILLIAM OF CLOUDESLEE

Introduction

The outlaw of mediaeval England has always possessed a potent charm for
the minds of less rebellious persons. No doubt now the attraction has
somewha