"A regular scarecrow!" said the stranger. "I congratulate you as well as your friend on being right in your guesses. I _am_ a poor man and I _have_ been ill, and I certainly had hoped to stay in Sunbury for a few days to try and get up my strength a little; but I heard something at the Bull Inn yesterday afternoon on my arrival which made me change my mind and resolve to move on. I mustn’t waste time talking, though, for I’m getting quite faint for want of food, and must ask the next good woman I meet to make me a cup of tea in her kitchen." His looks certainly corroborated his statement, for a deadly pallor had overspread his countenance and he almost fell as he staggered up against a tree. "I’m weaker than I thought," he murmured. "I wish I had gone on last night instead of stopping here." "If you will wait a minute," said Robin eagerly, "I’ll fetch you a glass of milk and some biscuits. Mother always gives them to me for my lunch, but I’d much rather you had them than me." "It’s too bad to rob you of your lunch, my boy," was the grateful answer, "but really I should be very glad of a bite. It would just help me to get along. By the way," he called out as Robin was darting off, "could you manage to bring the refreshments without letting everyone know I’m here? I have particular reasons for asking. I’ll tell you why when you come back." "It will be quite easy," asseverated Robin. "I often eat my lunch in the wood, so nobody will think it funny if I carry it away." Julius considered it wiser to accompany the messenger rather than remain with the man, and many were the conjectures of the two boys as they went together upon their quest. "I think he is in hiding from someone," said Robin, "and is afraid to risk going into the village in case he is taken prisoner. I wish he was a cavalier on some secret errand from the king. How splendid it would be to help him in some glorious adventure like one reads about in books!" "He’s much more likely to be a fugitive from justice," replied the more matter-of-fact Julius. "It’s rather queer of him sleeping in Robin Hood’s Lair all night, and not wanting to go to Sunbury again. I’ve half a mind to tell father about him and get him to send one of the game-keepers round." "If you betray him I’ll never play with you again! Never!" exclaimed Robin indignantly. "It would be mean after he’s trusted us like this. I wouldn’t have a traitor for my friend for anything, and that’s what you would be if you told!" When the pair returned to the house in the wood with a plentiful supply of the promised food, they found the stranger almost in a state of collapse. With the greatest difficulty they got him to swallow a little milk, which revived him somewhat, so that with their assistance he was able at length to regain the shelter of the hut. "I’ll be all right soon," he said to them. "It’s only my silly old heart. I’ve let myself run down rather too much, that’s all."