ow proposed a shooting-match, and, his good
humor entirely restored by winning a victory in this contest, he
promptly enrolled the stranger in his band. His merry companions, on
learning the huge new-comer was John Little, ironically termed him
Little John, by which name he became very famous.

Baffled in his attempts to secure Robin and unable to find any one
near there to serve a warrant upon him, the sheriff hired a Lincoln
tinker, who, entering an inn, loudly boasted how cleverly he was going
to accomplish his task. Among his listeners was the outlaw, who
enticed the tinker to drink, and made him so drunk that he had no
difficulty in stealing his warrant.

The tinker, on awaking, was furious, and, coming face to face with
Robin soon after, attacked him fiercely. Seeing his opponent was
getting the better of him, Robin blew his horn, whereupon six of his
men appeared to aid him. Awed by the sudden appearance of these
men,--who were all clad in Lincoln green,--the tinker laid down his
cudgel and humbly begged permission to join the band.

The baffled sheriff now rode off to London to complain, but, when
Henry heard one of his officers could not capture an outlaw, he
indignantly bade him leave the court and not appear there again until
he had secured Robin. Dismayed at having incurred royal displeasure,
the sheriff concluded to accomplish by stratagem what he had failed to
compass by force. He therefore proclaimed a shooting-match, and,
feeling sure Robin would be among the competitors for the prize,
posted a number of men to watch for and arrest him. These sleuths
recognized all the contestants present, except a dark man, with a
patch over one eye, who did not in the least resemble the fair-haired,
handsome Robin. Although one-eyed, the stranger easily bore away the
prize, and, when the sheriff offered to take him into his service,
curtly rejoined no man should ever be his master. But that evening, in
a secret glade in Sherwood Forest, Robin gleefully exhibited to his
followers the golden arrow he had won, and, doffing his patch,
remarked that the walnut stain, which had transformed a fair man into
a dark one, would soon wear off.

Still, not satisfied with outwitting the sheriff, Robin, anxious to
apprise him of the fact, wrote a message on an arrow, which he boldly
shot into the hall where his enemy was seated at a banquet. Enraged by
this impudence, the sheriff sent out three hundred men to scour the
forest, a