The Sheriff was very much afraid when he knew that he had really fallen into the hands of Robin Hood. He was angry too when he thought that he had actually had Robin in his own house the day before, and could so easily have caught and put him in prison, if he had only known.
They had a very fine dinner, and the Sheriff began to feel quite comfortable and to think he was going to get off easily, when Robin said, "Now, Master Sheriff, you must pay for your dinner."
"Oh! indeed I am a poor man," said the Sheriff, "I have no money."
"No money! What have you in your saddle-bags, then?" asked Robin.
"Only pebbles, nothing but pebbles, as I told you before," replied the frightened Sheriff.
"Little John, go and search the Sheriff's saddle-bags," said Robin.
Little John did as he was told, and counted out three hundred pounds upon the ground.
"Sheriff," said Robin sternly, "I shall keep all this money and divide it among my men. It is not half as much as you have stolen from them. If you had told me the truth about it, I might have given you some back. But I always punish people who tell lies. You have done so many evil deeds," he went on, "that you deserve to be hanged."
The poor Sheriff shook in his shoes.