"Then do but untie my hands and I will fight thee and thy men with no
weapon but only my naked fists. I crave no weapon, but let me not be
meanly hanged this day."

Then the Sheriff laughed aloud. "Why, how now," quoth he, "is thy proud
stomach quailing? Shrive thyself, thou vile knave, for I mean that thou
shalt hang this day, and that where three roads meet, so that all men
shall see thee hang, for carrion crows and daws to peck at."

"O thou dastard heart!" cried Will Stutely, gnashing his teeth at the
Sheriff. "Thou coward hind! If ever my good master meet thee thou shalt
pay dearly for this day's work! He doth scorn thee, and so do all brave
hearts. Knowest thou not that thou and thy name are jests upon the lips
of every brave yeoman? Such a one as thou art, thou wretched craven,
will never be able to subdue bold Robin Hood."

"Ha!" cried the Sheriff in a rage, "is it even so? Am I a jest with thy
master, as thou callest him? Now I will make a jest of thee and a sorry
jest withal, for I will quarter thee limb from limb, after thou art
hanged." Then he spurred his horse forward and said no more to Stutely.

At last they came to the great town gate, through which Stutely saw the
fair country beyond, with hills and dales all clothed in verdure, and
far away the dusky line of Sherwood's skirts. Then when he saw the
slanting sunlight lying on field and fallow, shining redly here and
there on cot and farmhouse, and when he heard the sweet birds singing
their vespers, and the sheep bleating upon the hillside, and beheld the
swallows flying in the bright air, there came a great fullness to his
heart so that all things blurred to his sight through salt tears, and he