The Sheriff’s Men Appear
Now the sheriff happened to be only five miles away, and soon heard the news of this disturbance, and how Gamelyn and Adam had broken the king’s peace; and, as his duty was, he determined to arrest the law-breakers. Twenty-four of his best men were sent to the castle to gain admittance and arrest Gamelyn and his steward; but the new porter, a devoted adherent of Gamelyn, denied them entrance till he knew their errand; when they refused to tell it, he sent a servant to rouse Gamelyn and warn him that the sheriff’s men stood before the gate.
“Then answered Gamelyn: ‘Good porter, go;
Delay my foes with fair speech at the gate
Till I relieve thee with some cunning wile.
If I o’erlive this strait, I will requite
Thy truth and loyalty. Adam,’ quoth he,
‘Our foes are on us, and we have no friend—
The sheriff’s men surround us, and have sworn
A mighty oath to take us: we must go
Whither our safety calls us.’ He replied:
‘Go where thou wilt, I follow to the last
Or die forlorn: but this proud sheriffs troop
Will flee before our onset, to the fens.’”