Robin smiled at the old man's emphatic speech. "When is this prize to be offered, Warrenton, and what other marvels are there to be?"
The man-at-arms commenced afresh. "There is to be a tourney, held in Sherwood Forest."
"Ay; but the archery?"
"I have told you that the Prince offers a fine prize. Know also that he brings with him Hubert, the most renowned of all archers: so that he deems the prize already won. The Prince puts a hundred gold pieces into the purse, and Hubert pockets it in advance."
"Is he a fair bowman, this Hubert?"
"I know but one archer better than he, lording—yourself; and I have seen the finest archery in the world."
"You talk heedlessly, Warrenton," said Robin, rebuking him. Yet secretly he was flattered by this sincere belief in him.
"I'll go with you to Nottingham—and Stuteley shall stay here, on guard," said Robin.
But Stuteley begged most earnestly that he should be allowed to go also, so that Robin came nigh to giving up the plan all together. For he would not consent to leave the dame unprotected.
In the end Warrenton himself, with fine self-sacrifice, offered to remain at Locksley.