good Stutely, perchance."

So David strode forth, and when he came up to the pilgrim, he saluted
him and said, "Good morrow, holy father, and canst thou tell me when
Will Stutely will be hanged upon the gallows tree? I fain would not miss
the sight, for I have come from afar to see so sturdy a rogue hanged."

"Now, out upon thee, young man," cried the Palmer, "that thou shouldst
speak so when a good stout man is to be hanged for nothing but guarding
his own life!" And he struck his staff upon the ground in anger.
"Alas, say I, that this thing should be! For even this day, toward
evening, when the sun falleth low, he shall be hanged, fourscore rods
from the great town gate of Nottingham, where three roads meet; for
there the Sheriff sweareth he shall die as a warning to all outlaws in
Nottinghamshire. But yet, I say again, Alas! For, though Robin Hood
and his band may be outlaws, yet he taketh only from the rich and the
strong and the dishonest man, while there is not a poor widow nor a
peasant with many children, nigh to Sherwood, but has barley flour
enough all the year long through him. It grieves my heart to see one as
gallant as this Stutely die, for I have been a good Saxon yeoman in my
day, ere I turned palmer, and well I know a stout hand and one that
smiteth shrewdly at a cruel Norman or a proud abbot with fat moneybags.
Had good Stutely's master but known how his man was compassed about with
perils, perchance he might send succor to bring him out of the hand of
his enemies.

"Ay, marry, that is true," cried the young man. "If Robin and his men
be nigh this place, I wot right well they will strive to bring him forth
from his peril. But fare thee well, thou good old man, and believe me,
if Will Stutely die, he shall be right well avenged."