behind me."

"Aunt said I should be safer behind you," said the boy; "but I'm
not. It's so hard to hold on by your belt, because you're so----"

"Look here. Master Robin, I get enough o' that from the men. If
you say I'm so fat, I'll pitch you into the first patch o' brambles
we come to."

"But you are fat," said the boy; "and you dare not. If you did my
father would punish you."

"He wouldn't know."

"Oh! yes he would, David," said the little fellow, confidently;
"the other men would tell him."

"They wouldn't know," said the man with a chuckle. "I say, aren't
you afraid?"

"No," said the boy. "What of, tumbling off? I could jump."

"'Fraid of going through this great dark forest?"

"No. What is there to be afraid of?"

"Robbers and thieves, and all sorts of horrid things. Why, we
might meet Robin Hood and his men."

"I should like that," said the boy.