to their horses, they also dashed away after him. But though the
Sheriff of Nottingham went fast, he could not outstrip a clothyard
arrow. Little John twanged his bowstring with a shout, and when the
Sheriff dashed in through the gates of Nottingham Town at full speed, a
gray goose shaft stuck out behind him like a moulting sparrow with one
feather in its tail. For a month afterward the poor Sheriff could sit
upon nought but the softest cushions that could be gotten for him.

Thus the Sheriff and a score of men ran away from Robin Hood and Little
John; so that when Will Stutely and a dozen or more of stout yeomen
burst from out the covert, they saw nought of their master's enemies,
for the Sheriff and his men were scurrying away in the distance, hidden
within a cloud of dust like a little thunderstorm.

Then they all went back into the forest once more, where they found the
widow's three sons, who ran to Little John and kissed his hands. But it
would not do for them to roam the forest at large any more; so they
promised that, after they had gone and told their mother of their
escape, they would come that night to the greenwood tree, and
thenceforth become men of the band.

King Richard Comes to Sherwood Forest

NOT MORE than two months had passed and gone since these stirring
adventures befell Robin Hood and Little John, when all Nottinghamshire
was a mighty stir and tumult, for King Richard of the Lion's Heart was
making a royal progress through merry England, and everyone expected him
to come to Nottingham Town in his journeying. Messengers went riding
back and forth between the Sheriff and the King, until at last the time
was fixed upon when His Majesty was to stop in Nottingham, as the guest
of his worship.

And now came more bustle than ever; a great running hither and thither,
a rapping of hammers and a babble of voices sounded everywhere through
the place, for the folk were building great arches across the streets,
beneath which the King was to pass, and were draping these arches with
silken banners and streamers of many colors. Great hubbub was going on
in the Guild Hall of the town, also, for here a grand banquet was to be
given to the King and the nobles of his train, and the best master
carpenters were busy building a throne where the King and the Sheriff
were to sit at the head of the table, side by side.

It seemed to many of the good folk of the place as if the day that
should bring the King