“‘I’ve sworn to hang thee on the highest gallows in Nottingham,’ replied the sheriff; ‘and when I catch that still greater villain, Robin Hood, he shall dance by thy side.’
“‘Thou’rt a dastard coward!’ cried Stutely in a rage, ‘a faint-hearted peasant slave! By’r lady, if e’er thou meet’st bold Robin Hood, thou’lt have payment for the deed thou’rt doing. He scorns and despises thee, and all thy cowardly crew, who will as soon take King Henry prisoner as brave Robin Hood;’ and the forester laughed loudly in defiance.
“At the sheriff’s command the executioner seized him by the arms, and hurried him to the fatal tree; he was just about to affix the rope, when a tall yeoman leaped out of an adjacent bush, and with a stroke of his sword felled the officer to the earth.
“‘I’m come to take leave of thee, Will, before thou diest,’ cried the intruder; ‘and, good master sheriff, thou must spare him to me awhile.’”
“‘As I live,’ cried the sheriff, to his attendants, ‘yon varlet’s a rebel too, and one of Robin Hood’s men,—seize him—five pounds for his head, dead or alive.’ But, in a moment, Little John, for he it was, cut the bonds that secured his comrade, and snatching a sword from one of the soldiers, gave it him, shouting, ‘Fight, Will, defend thyself, man—Help is near.—To the rescue—To the rescue.’—And turning back to back, the two outlaws gallantly parried the attacks of their assailants.
“‘To the rescue! To the rescue!’ echoed a host of voices from a neighbouring wood; and Robin Hood, with seven-score men, bounded across the green plain. A flight of arrows from their bows rattled upon the armour of the soldiers, and more than one stuck into the sheriff’s robe.
“‘Away, my men, away!’ cried he, flying to the castle for shelter. ‘’Tis Robin Hood himself;’ and the knowledge that the outlaw would especially choose him for a mark added wings to the speed of the valiant sheriff. His men—nothing loth to follow such an example, vied with each other in the race, so greatly to the amusement of the merry outlaws that they could not for laughter discharge an arrow in pursuit of them.
“‘I little thought, good master, to have seen thy face again,’ said Will Stutely; ‘and to thee, my bold comrade,’ he added, addressing Little John, ‘to thee I owe my best thanks. ’Twill be a long day ere Will Stutely forgets thy kindness.’
“‘May we ever thus support each other in danger,’ said Robin Hood, loud enough for the whole band to hear him. ‘But, my brave yeomen, we must away, or we shall have the whole nest of hornets about our ears;’ and, with many a laugh at the sudden flight of the sheriff, and the glorious rescue of one of their favourite companions, the bold foresters plunged again into the woods and returned to Barnesdale, where they celebrated the joyful occasion with feasting and music, till the stars glittering through the topmost branches of the trees warned them that the hour of rest was at hand.