"Six of them I
know right well. Of those Yorkshire yeomen, one is too tall and the
other too short for that bold knave. Robin's beard is as yellow as gold,
while yon tattered beggar in scarlet hath a beard of brown, besides
being blind of one eye. As for the stranger in blue, Robin's shoulders,
I ween, are three inches broader than his."
"Then," quoth the Sheriff, smiting his thigh angrily, "yon knave is a
coward as well as a rogue, and dares not show his face among good men
and true."
Then, after they had rested a short time, those ten stout men stepped
forth to shoot again. Each man shot two arrows, and as they shot, not a
word was spoken, but all the crowd watched with scarce a breath of
sound; but when the last had shot his arrow another great shout arose,
while many cast their caps aloft for joy of such marvelous shooting.
"Now by our gracious Lady fair," quoth old Sir Amyas o' the Dell, who,
bowed with fourscore years and more, sat near the Sheriff, "ne'er saw I
such archery in all my life before, yet have I seen the best hands at
the longbow for threescore years and more.
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