Go, get some water
from yonder fountain, William, and pour it over his head."
The man did as he was bidden, and presently Little John opened his eyes
and looked around him, all dazed and bewildered with the stun of the
blow. Then they tied his hands behind him, and lifting him up set him
upon the back of one of the horses, with his face to its tail and his
feet strapped beneath its belly. So they took him back to the King's
Head Inn, laughing and rejoicing as they went along. But in the meantime
the widow's three sons had gotten safely away, and were hidden in the
woodlands.
Once more the Sheriff of Nottingham sat within the King's Head Inn. His
heart rejoiced within him, for he had at last done that which he had
sought to do for years, taken Little John prisoner. Quoth he to himself,
"This time tomorrow the rogue shall hang upon the gallows tree in front
of the great gate of Nottingham Town, and thus shall I make my long
score with him even." So saying, he took a deep draught of Canary. But
it seemed as if the Sheriff had swallowed a thought with his wine, for
he shook his head and put the cup down hastily.
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