pretty a stew as any
man in all the world, for his rich, soft robes were gone, likewise his
purse with ten golden pounds in it, and nought was left but patched
clothes and a leathern apron. He raged and swore like any layman, but as
his swearing mended nothing and the landlord could not aid him, and as,
moreover, he was forced to be at Emmet Priory that very morning upon
matters of business, he was fain either to don the cobbler's clothes
or travel the road in nakedness. So he put on the clothes, and, still
raging and swearing vengeance against all the cobblers in Derbyshire,
he set forth upon his way afoot; but his ills had not yet done with him,
for he had not gone far ere he fell into the hands of the King's men,
who marched him off, willy-nilly, to Tutbury Town and the Bishop of
Hereford. In vain he swore he was a holy man, and showed his shaven
crown; off he must go, for nothing would do but that he was Robin Hood.

Meanwhile merry Robin rode along contentedly, passing safely by two
bands of the King's men, until his heart began to dance within him
because of the nearness of Sherwood; so he traveled ever on to the
eastward, till, of a sudden, he met a noble knight in a shady lane. Then
Robin checked his mule quickly and leaped from off its back. "Now, well
met, Sir Richard of the Lea," cried he, "for rather than any other man
in England would I see thy good face this day!" Then he told Sir Richard
all the happenings that had befallen him, and that now at last he felt
himself safe, being so nigh to Sherwood again. But when Robin had done,
Sir Richard shook his head sadly. "Thou art in greater danger now,
Robin, than thou hast yet been," said he, "for before thee lie bands of
the Sheriff's men blocking every road and letting none pass through the
lines without examining them closely. I myself know this, having passed
them but now. Before thee lie the Sheriffs men and behind thee the
King's men, and thou canst not hope to pass either way, for by this
time they will know of thy disguise and will be in waiting to seize upon
thee. My castle and everything within it are thine, but nought could be
gained there, for I could not hope to hold it against such a force as is
now in Nottingham of the King's and the Sheriffs men." Having so spoken,
Sir Richard bent his head in thought, and Robin felt his heart sink
within him like that of the fox that hears the hounds at his heels and
finds his den blocked with earth so that there