"
"That will do," said the Sheriff. "You can go."
The man turned to leave the room, when the Sheriff said sharply:
"Stop! You are leaving the gold pieces I gave you."
"Yes, I can't take pay to lead anyone to fight against Robin Hood
and his men."
"Those pieces were for the news you brought me," said the Sheriff.
"Yes, take them, for you have behaved like an honest man."
But the Sheriff did not take the man's advice, neither did he
listen to the appeal of young Robin's aunt. For, as Sheriff of
Nottingham, he said to himself that it was his duty to destroy or
scatter the band of outlaws who had lived in Sherwood Forest for so
long a time.
So he gathered a strong body of crossbow-men, and others with
spears and swords, besides asking for the help of two gallant
knights who came with their esquires mounted and in armour with
their men.
Somehow Robin Hood knew what was being prepared, and about a week
after, when the Sheriff and his great following of about three
hundred men were struggling to make their way through the forest,
they heard the sound of a horn, and all at once the thick woodland
seemed to be alive with archers, who used their bows in such a way
that first one, then a dozen, then by fifties, the Sheriff's men
began to flee, and in less than an hour they were all crawling back
to Nottingham, badly beaten, not a man among them being ready to
turn and fight.
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