though it cut his palm, he turned the point away so
that it plunged deep into the ground close beside him; then, ere a blow
could be struck again, he leaped to his feet, with his good sword in his
hand. And now despair fell upon Guy of Gisbourne's heart in a black
cloud, and he looked around him wildly, like a wounded hawk. Seeing that
his strength was going from him, Robin leaped forward, and, quick as a
flash, struck a back-handed blow beneath the sword arm. Down fell the
sword from Guy of Gisbourne's grasp, and back he staggered at the
stroke, and, ere he could regain himself, Robin's sword passed through
and through his body. Round he spun upon his heel, and, flinging his
hands aloft with a shrill, wild cry, fell prone upon his face upon the
green sod.

Then Robin Hood wiped his sword and thrust it back into the scabbard,
and, coming to where Guy of Gisbourne lay, he stood over him with folded
arms, talking to himself the while. "This is the first man I have slain
since I shot the Kings forester in the hot days of my youth. I ofttimes
think bitterly, even yet, of that first life I took, but of this I am as
glad as though I had slain a wild boar that laid waste a fair country.
Since the Sheriff of Nottingham hath sent such a one as this against me,
I will put on the fellow's garb and go forth to see whether I may not
find his worship, and perchance pay him back some of the debt I owe him
upon this score."

So saying, Robin Hood stripped the hairy garments from off the dead man,
and put them on himself, all bloody as they were. Then, strapping the
other's sword and dagger around his body and carrying his own in his
hand, together with the two bows of yew, he drew the cowl of horse's
hide over his face, so that none could tell who he was, and set forth
from the forest, turning his steps toward the eastward and Nottingham
Town. As he strode along the country roads, men, women, and children
hid away from him, for the terror of Guy of Gisbourne's name and of his
doings had spread far and near.

And now let us see what befell Little John while these things were
happening.

Little John walked on his way through the forest paths until he had come
to the outskirts of the woodlands, where, here and there, fields of
barley, corn, or green meadow lands lay smiling in the sun. So he came
to the highroad and to where a little thatched cottage stood back of a
cluster of twisted crab trees, with flowers in front of it. Here