But King Richard came not again, and would never need his Royal Guard more. Tidings presently reached them, of how he had met his death in a foreign land, and how John reigned as King in his stead. The proof of these events followed soon after, when there came striding through the glade the big, familiar form of Little John.
“Art come to arrest us?” called out Robin, as he ran forward and embraced his old comrade.
“Nay, I am not come as the Sheriff of Nottingham, thanks be,” answered Little John. “The new King has deposed me, and ‘tis greatly to my liking, for I have long desired to join you here again in the greenwood.”
Then were the rest of the band right glad at this news, and toasted Little John royally.
The new King waged fierce war upon the outlaws, soon after this, and sent so many scouting parties into Sherwood and Barnesdale that Robin and his men left these woods for a time and went into Derbyshire, near Haddon Hall. A curious pile of stone is shown to this day as the ruins of Robin’s Castle, where the bold outlaw is believed to have defied his enemies for a year or more. At any rate King John found so many troubles of his own, after a time, that he ceased troubling the outlaws.
But in one of the last sorties Robin was wounded. The cut did not seem serious, and healed over the top; but it left a lurking fever. Daily his strength ebbed away from him, until he was in sore distress.
One day as he rode along on horseback, near Kirklees Abbey, he was seized with so violent a rush of blood to the head that he reeled and came near falling from his saddle. He dismounted weakly and knocked at the Abbey gate. A woman shrouded in black peered forth.
“Who are you that knock here? For we allow no man within these walls,” she said.
“Open, for the love of Heaven!” he begged. “I am Robin Hood, ill of a fever and in sore straits.”
At the name of Robin Hood the woman started back, and then, as though bethinking herself, unbarred the door and admitted him. Assisting his fainting frame up a flight of stairs and into a front room, she loosed his collar and bathed his face until he was revived. Then she spoke hurriedly in a low voice:
“Your fever will sink, if you are bled. See, I have provided a lancet and will open your veins, while you lie quiet.”