In the
end Robin lent him Little John for a squire, and gave him twelve months
in which to repay his loan. Away he went, no longer a knight of rueful
countenance.
"Nowe as the knight went on his way,
This game he thought full good,
When he looked on Bernysdale
He blyssed Robin Hode;
"And when he thought on Bernysdale,
On Scathelock, Much, and John,
He blyssed them for the best company
That ever he in come."
The next day was that fixed for the payment of the loan to the abbot of
St. Mary's. Abbot and prior waited in hope and excitement. If the cash
was not paid by night a rich estate would fall into their hands. The
knight must pay to the last farthing, or be beggared. As they sat
awaiting the cellarer burst in upon them, full of exultation.
"He is dead or hanged!" he cried. "We shall have our four hundred pounds
many times over."
With them were the high-justice of England and the sheriff of the shire,
brought there to give the proceeding the warrant of legality. Time was
passing, an hour or two more would end the knight's grace, only a narrow
space of time lay between him and beggary. The justice had just turned
with congratulations to the abbot, when, to the discomfiture of the
churchmen, the debtor, Sir Richard of the Lee, appeared at the gate of
the abbey, and made his way into the hall.
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