“Peace, Little John!” said Robin Hood hastily, in a low voice; but good Queen Eleanor laughed aloud, and a ripple of merriment sounded all over the booth.

The Bishop of Hereford did not laugh, neither did the King, but he turned to the Queen, and quoth he, “Who are these men that thou hast brought before us?”

Then up spoke the Bishop hastily, for he could hold his peace no longer:  “Your Majesty,” quoth he, “yon fellow in blue is a certain outlawed thief of the mid-country, named Robin Hood; yon tall, strapping villain goeth by the name of Little John; the other fellow in green is a certain backsliding gentleman, known as Will Scarlet; the man in red is a rogue of a northern minstrel, named Allan a Dale.”

At this speech the King’s brows drew together blackly, and he turned to the Queen.  “Is this true?” said he sternly.

“Yea,” said the Queen, smiling, “the Bishop hath told the truth; and truly he should know them well, for he and two of his friars spent three days in merry sport with Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest.  I did little think that the good Bishop would so betray his friends.  But bear in mind that thou hast pledged thy promise for the safety of these good yeomen for forty days.”

“I will keep my promise,” said the King, in a deep voice that showed the anger in his heart, “but when these forty days are gone let this outlaw look to himself, for mayhap things will not go so smoothly with him as he would like.”  Then he turned to his archers, who stood near the Sherwood yeomen, listening and wondering at all that passed.  Quoth he, “Gilbert, and thou, Tepus, and thou, Hubert, I have pledged myself that ye shall shoot against these three fellows.  If ye outshoot the knaves I will fill your caps with silver pennies; if ye fail ye shall lose your prizes that ye have won so fairly, and they go to them that shoot against you, man to man.  Do your best, lads, and if ye win this bout ye shall be glad of it to the last days of your life.  Go, now, and get you gone to the butts.”

Then the three archers of the King turned and went back to their booths, and Robin and his men went to their places at the mark from which they were to shoot.  Then they strung their bows and made themselves ready, looking over their quivers of arrows, and picking out the roundest and the best feathered.

But when the King’s archers went to their tents, they told their friends all that had passed, and how that these four men were the famous Robin Hood and three of his band, to wit, Little John, Will Scarlet, and Allan a Dale.  The news of this buzzed around among the archers in the booths, for there was not a man there that had not heard of these great mid-country yeomen.  From the archers the news was taken up by the crowd that looked on at the shooting, so that at last everybody stood up, craning their necks to catch sight of the famous outlaws.

Six fresh targets were now set up, one for each man that was to shoot; whereupon Gilbert and Tepus and Hubert came straightway forth from the booths.  Then Robin Hood and Gilbert of the White Hand tossed a farthing aloft to see who should lead in the shooting, and the lot fell to Gilbert’s side; thereupon he called upon Hubert of Suffolk to lead.