Then did we guess what they mought be; and some sayd it maye be soe and soe, and others sayed it is thys or that, till one sayd it maye be ye hiding-place of Robyn Hode, in ye faire tyme of ye yeare, but others sayd no, it is a place for woodemen and they who doe mynd cattel. But one of my serving men being curious to knowe what was within these caves, dyd with hys handes begin to pull downe some of ye boardes, ye which dyd make a kynd of doorway, whereupon came an arrow, which dyd pin hys hande to the woode, and he dyd cry out in gret payn for us to release him. Then ran forward Thomas à Boston, one of ye yeomen, to give succor, but whan he dyd put forthe hys hande to plucke out the arrowe from hys comrade, straiteway flew anoder arrowe, which smiting him on ye face, dyd pierce his two cheekes, soe that ye feathers of the arrowe were wet with hys bloude. Anon came a loude voice which alle might heare, though ye speaker no manne coulde see: “Stande alle! Upon ye erthe your weapons throwe.” Thys we dyd, when there advanced into ye lytell open space before ye caves, a stalwart man y’clad in green clothe of goode pryce, having in his hande a long-bowe to which an arrow was notched. At his right side he dyd weare a goodlie sword, and from his left shouder hung a crooked horne. He hadde on a mantel of sad color, but of thicke texture, to keepe him from ye inclemency of ye weather. “Who seeke you here?” he cry’d. “Why brake you downe in wantonness ye dwelling of a poore forester?” Then dyd I answer him and saye-- “We be but poore wayfayrers halting on our way to cook our store of victuals, and dyd but mene to peep into the caves, to see if aney manne dyd dwell therein this winter of the yeare.” Then dyd ye manne, with a gret oathe, declare that never dyd he see a poore traveller wend his waye through the forest with such goodlie retinue and beastes, and that he must firste enquire into my state, before I went thitherfrom. With that he tooke his bugle and dyd blowe a lusty blast upon hys curled horne, and anon came a reply from far awaye in ye foreste. Then ye bold robber, for we dyd guess it was Robyn himself, dyd set him on ye gnarléd root of a gret tree and waited patiently; and soe perforce dyd we, being afeard of ye man. Nevertheless, I dyd gaze my fyll upon ye bolde outlawe before me, and marry, he was a right sturdy fellow, tall, and of a proportionate bignesse of lymbe, comely of feature, and with a swarthy visage, hys hair and beard of ye sloes colour, and eke had he the eyen of ye falcon; a very proper manne was he and in hys pryme. Anon as we dyd gaze upon him, and he at us, he dyd put to us sundrie questions, which we dyd answer him very civilly. As he dyd thus question us, and no man dyd come to the sounde of the robber’s bugle, my other yeoman, Robert Baldrow, dyd rise up and saye to Robyn--