royally. First, several couples stood forth at quarterstaff, and
so shrewd were they at the game, and so quickly did they give stroke and
parry, that the Sheriff, who loved to watch all lusty sports of the
kind, clapped his hands, forgetting where he was, and crying aloud,
"Well struck! Well struck, thou fellow with the black beard!" little
knowing that the man he called upon was the Tinker that tried to serve
his warrant upon Robin Hood.

Then several yeomen came forward and spread cloths upon the green grass,
and placed a royal feast; while others still broached barrels of sack
and Malmsey and good stout ale, and set them in jars upon the cloth,
with drinking horns about them. Then all sat down and feasted and drank
merrily together until the sun was low and the half-moon glimmered with
a pale light betwixt the leaves of the trees overhead.

Then the Sheriff arose and said, "I thank you all, good yeomen, for the
merry entertainment ye have given me this day. Right courteously have ye
used me, showing therein that ye have much respect for our glorious King
and his deputy in brave Nottinghamshire. But the shadows grow long, and
I must away before darkness comes, lest I lose myself within the
forest."

Then Robin Hood and all his merry men arose also, and Robin said to the
Sheriff, "If thou must go, worshipful sir, go thou must; but thou hast
forgotten one thing."

"Nay, I forgot nought," said the Sheriff; yet all the same his heart
sank within him.

"But I say thou hast forgot something," quoth Robin. "We keep a merry
inn here in the greenwood, but whoever becometh our guest must pay his
reckoning."

Then the Sheriff laughed, but the laugh was hollow. "Well, jolly boys,"
quoth he, "we have had a merry time together today, and even if ye had
not asked me, I would have given you a score of pounds for the sweet
entertainment I have had."

"Nay," quoth Robin seriously, "it would ill beseem us to treat Your
Worship so meanly. By my faith, Sir Sheriff, I would be ashamed to show
my face if I did not reckon the King's deputy at three hundred pounds.
Is it not so, my merry men all?"

Then "Ay!" cried all, in a loud voice.

"Three hundred devils!" roared the Sheriff. "Think ye that your
beggarly feast was worth three pounds, let alone three hundred?"

"Nay," quoth Robin gravely. "Speak not so roundly, Your Worship. I do
love thee for the sweet feast thou hast given me this day in merry
Nottingham Town; but t