CHAPTER VIII
Let gallows gape for dog: let man go free. --Henry V.
A page had been brought up in Gamwell-Hall, who, while he was little,had been called Little John, and continued to be so called after he hadgrown to be a foot taller than any other man in the house. He was fullseven feet high. His latitude was worthy of his longitude, and hisstrength was worthy of both; and though an honest man by profession, hehad practiced archery on the king's deer for the benefit of his master'shousehold, and for the improvement of his own eye and hand, till hisaim had become infallible within the range of two miles. He had foughtmanfully in defence of his young master, took his captivity exceedinglyto heart, and fell into bitter grief and boundless rage when he heardthat he had been tried in Nottingham and sentenced to die. AliceGamwell, at Little John's request, wrote three letters of one tenour;and Little John, having attached them to three blunt arrows, saddled thefleetest steed in old Sir Guy of Gamwell's stables, mounted, and rodefirst to Arlingford Castle, where he shot one of the three arrows overthe battlements; then to Rubygill Abbey, where he shot the second intothe abbey-garden; then back past Gamwell-Hall to the borders of SherwoodForest, where he shot the third into the wood. Now the first of thesearrows lighted in the nape of the neck of Lord Fitzwater, and lodgeditself firmly between his skin and his collar; the second rebounded withthe hollow vibration of a drumstick from the shaven sconce of the abbotof Rubygill; and the third pitched perpendicularly into the centre of avenison pasty in which Robin Hood was making incision.
Matilda ran up to her father in the court of Arlingford Castle, seizedthe arrow, drew off the letter, and concealed it in her bosom before thebaron had time to look round, which he did with many expressions of rageagainst the impudent villain who had shot a blunt arrow into the nape ofhis neck.
"But you know, father," said Matilda, "a sharp arrow in the same placewould have killed you; therefore the sending a blunt one was veryconsiderate."
"Considerate, with a vengeance!" said the baron. "Where was theconsideration of sending it at all? This is some of your forester'spranks. He has missed you in the forest, since I have kept watch andward over you, and by way of a love-token and a remembrance to you takesa random shot at me."
The abbot of Rubygill picked up the missile-missive or messengerarrow, which had rebounded from his shaven crown, with a very unghostlymalediction on the sender, which he suddenly checked with a pious andconsolatory reflection on the goodness of Providence in having blessedhim with such a thickness of skull, to which he was now indebted fortemporal preservation, as he had before been for spiritual promotion. Heopened the letter, which was addressed to father Michael; and found itto contain an intimation that William Gamwell was to be hanged on Mondayat Nottingham.
"And I wish," said the abbot, "father Michael were to be hanged withhim: an ungrateful monster, after I had rescued him from the fangs ofcivil justice, to reward my lenity by not leaving a bone unbruised amongthe holy brotherhood of Rubygill."
Robin Hood extracted from his venison pasty a similar intimation of theevil destiny of his cousin, whom he determined, if possible, to rescuefrom the jaws of Cerberus.
The sheriff of Nottingham, though still sore with his bruises, was sointent on revenge, that he raised himself from his bed to attendthe execution of William Gamwell. He rode to the august structure ofretributive Themis, as the French call a gallows, in all the pride andpomp of shrievalty, and with a splendid retinue of well-equipped knavesand varlets, as our ancestors called honest serving-men.
Young Gamwell was brought forth with his arms pinioned behind him; hissister Alice and his father, Sir Guy, attending him in disconsolatemood. He had rejected the confessor provided by the sheriff, and hadinsisted on the privilege of choosing his own, whom Little John hadpromised to bring. Little John, however, had not made his appearancewhen the fatal procession began its march; but when they reached theplace of execution, Little John appeared, accompanied by a ghostlyfriar.
"Sheriff," said young Gamwell, "let me not die with my hands pinioned:give me a sword, and set any odds of your men against me, and let medie the death of a man, like the descendant of a noble house, which hasnever yet been stained with ignominy."
"No, no," said the sheriff; "I have had enough of setting odds againstyou. I have sworn you shall be hanged, and hanged you shall be."
"Then God have mercy on me," said young Gamwell; "and now, holy friar,shrive my sinful soul."
The friar approached.
"Let me see this friar," said the sheriff: "if he be the friar of thebridge, I had as lief have the devil in Nottingham; but he shall find metoo much for him here."
"The friar of the bridge," said Little John, "as you very well know,sheriff, was father Michael of Rubygill Abbey, and you may easily seethat this is not the man."
"I see it," said the sheriff; "and God be thanked for his absence."
Young Gamwell stood at the foot of the ladder. The friar approached him,opened his book, groaned, turned up the whites of his eyes, tossed uphis arms in the air, and said "Dominus vobiscum." He then crossed bothhis hands on his breast under the folds of his holy robes, and stood afew moments as if in inward prayer. A deep silence among the attendantcrowd accompanied this action of the friar; interrupted only by thehollow tone of the death-bell, at long and dreary intervals. Suddenlythe friar threw off his holy robes, and appeared a forester clothed ingreen, with a sword in his right hand and a horn in his left. With thesword he cut the bonds of William Gamwell, who instantly snatched asword from one of the sheriff's men; and with the horn he blew a loudblast, which was answered at once by four bugles from the quartersof the four winds, and from each quarter came five-and-twenty bowmenrunning all on a row.
"Treason! treason!" cried the sheriff. Old Sir Guy sprang to his son'sside, and so did Little John; and the four setting back to back, keptthe sheriff and his men at bay till the bowmen came within shot and letfly their arrows among the sheriff's men, who, after a brief resistance,fled in all directions. The forester, who had personated the friar, sentan arrow after the flying sheriff, calling with a strong voice, "To thesheriff's left arm, as a keepsake from Robin Hood." The arrow reachedits destiny; the sheriff redoubled his speed, and, with the one arrow inhis arm, did not stop to breathe till he was out of reach of another.
The foresters did not waste time in Nottingham, but were soon at adistance from its walls. Sir Guy returned with Alice to Gamwell-Hall;but thinking he should not be safe there, from the share he had had inhis son's rescue, they only remained long enough to supply themselveswith clothes and money, and departed, under the escort of Little John,to another seat of the Gamwells in Yorkshire. Young Gamwell, taking itfor granted that his offence was past remission, determined on joiningRobin Hood, and accompanied him to the forest, where it was deemedexpedient that he should change his name; and he was rechristenedwithout a priest, and with wine instead of water, by the immortal nameof Scarlet.
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