he outlaws stood at stiff attention. When he had come
near the spot where the Black Knight stood, he dismounted and knelt
before him.

"I trust Your Majesty has not needed our arms before," he said humbly.

"It is the King!" cried Will Scarlet, falling upon his knees.

"The King!" echoed Robin Hood after a moment of dumb wonderment; and he
and all his men bent reverently upon their knees, as one man.

CHAPTER XXIII

HOW ROBIN HOOD AND MAID MARIAN WERE WED

"Stand up again," then said the King,
"I'll thee thy pardon give;
Stand up, my friend, who can contend,
When I give leave to live?"

Then Robin Hood began a health
To Marian, his only dear,
And his yeomen all, both comely and tall,
Did quickly bring up the rear.

"Your pardon, sire!" exclaimed Robin Hood. "Pardon, from your royal
bounty, for these my men who stand ready to serve you all your days!"

Richard of the Lion Heart looked grimly about over the kneeling band.

"Is it as your leader says?" he asked.

"Aye, my lord King!" burst from sevenscore throats at once.

"We be not outlaws from choice alone," continued Robin; "but have
been driven to outlawry through oppression. Grant us grace and royal
protection, and we will forsake the greenwood and follow the King."

Richard's eyes sparkled as he looked from one to another of this
stalwart band, and he thought within himself that here, indeed, was a
royal bodyguard worth the while.

"Swear!" he said in his full rich voice; "swear that you, Robin Hood,
and all your men from this day henceforth will serve the King!"

"We swear!" came once more the answering shout from the yeomen.

"Arise, then," said King Richard. "I give you all free pardon, and will
speedily put your service to the test. For I love such archers as you
have shown yourselves to be, and it were a sad pity to decree such men
to death. England could not produce the like again, for many a day. But,
in sooth, I cannot allow you to roam in the forest and shoot my deer;
nor to take the law of the land into your own hands. Therefore, I now
appoint you to be Royal Archers and mine own especial body-guard. There
be one or two civil matters to settle with certain Norman noblemen,
in which I crave your aid. Thereafter, the half of your number, as
may later be determined, shall come back to these woodlands as Royal
Foresters. Mayhap you will show as much zeal in protecting my preserves
as you have f