d Robin, "and put a new saddle on it, and
take likewise a good palfrey and a pair of boots, with gilt spurs on
them. And as it would be a shame for a Knight to ride by himself on
this errand, I will lend you Little John as Squire--perchance he may
stand you in yeoman's stead."

"When shall we meet again?" asked the Knight.

"This day twelve months," said Robin, "under the greenwood tree."

Then the Knight rode on his way, with Little John behind him, and as he
went he thought of Robin Hood and his men, and blessed them for the
goodness they had shown towards him.

"To-morrow," he said to Little John, "I must be at the Abbey of St.
Mary, which is in the city of York, for if I am but so much as a day
late my lands are lost forever, and though I were to bring the money I
should not be suffered to redeem them."

PART IV.

Now the Abbot had been counting the days as well as the Knight, and the
next morning he said to his monks: "This day year there came a Knight
and borrowed of me four hundred pounds, giving his lands in surety.
And if he come not to pay his debt ere midnight tolls they will be ours
for ever."

"It is full early yet," answered the Prior, "he may still be coming."

"He is far beyond the sea," said the Abbot, "and suffers from hunger
and cold. How is he to get here?"

"It were a shame," said the Prior, "for you to take his lands. And you
do him much wrong if you drive such a hard bargain."

"He is dead or hanged," spake a fat-headed monk who was the cellarer,
"and we shall have his four hundred pounds to spend on our gardens and
our wines," and he went with the Abbot to attend the court of justice,
wherein the Knight's lands would be declared forfeited by the High
Justiciar.

"If he come not this day," cried the Abbot, rubbing his hands, "if he
come not this day, they will be ours."

"He will not come yet," said the Justiciar, but he knew not that the
Knight was already at the outer gate, and Little John with him.

"Welcome, Sir Knight," said the porter. "The horse that you ride is
the noblest that ever I saw. Let me lead them both to the stable, that
they may have food and rest."

"They shall not pass these gates," answered the Knight sternly, and he
entered the hall alone, where the monks were sitting at meat, and knelt
down and bowed to them.

"I have come back, my lord," he said to the Abbot, who had just
returned from the court. "I have come back this day as I promised."

"Hav