The sun was low down in the west, and shining through and under the great oak and beech trees, so that everything seemed to be turned to orange and gold.  
It was the outlaws' supper time, the sun being their clock in the forest; and the men were gathering together to enjoy their second great meal of the day, the other being breakfast, after having which they always separated to go hunting through the woods to bring in the provisions for the next day.
 
Robin Hood's men, then, were scattered about under the shade of a huge spreading oak tree, waiting for the roast venison, which sent a very pleasant odor from the glowing fire of oak wood, and young Robin was seated on the mossy grass close by the thatched shed which formed the captain's headquarters, where Maid Marian was busy spreading the supper for the little party who ate with Robin Hood himself.
 
Little John was there, lying down, smiling and contented after a hard day's hunting, listening to young Robin, who was displaying the treasures he had brought in that day, and telling his great companion where he had found them.
 
There were flowers for Maid Marian, because she was fond of the purple and yellow loosestrife, and long thick reeds in a bundle.
 
"You can make me some arrows of those," said Robin; "and I've found a young yew tree with a bough quite straight. You must cut that down and dry it to make me a bigger bow. This one is not strong enough."
 
"Very well, big one," said Little John, smiling and stretching out his hand to smooth the boy's curly brown hair. "Anything else for me to do?"
 
"Oh yes, lots of things, only I can't think of them yet. Look here, I found these."
 
The boy took some round prickly husks out of his pocket.
 
"Chestnuts—eating ones."
 
"Yes, I know where you got them," said Little-John, "but they're no good. Look."
 
He tore one of the husks open, and laid bare the rich brown nut; but it was, as he said, good for nothing, there being no hard sweet kernel within, nothing but soft pithy woolly stuff.
 
"No good at all," continued the great forester; "but I'll show you a tree which bears good ones, only the nuts are better if they're left till they drop out of their husks."
 
"And then the pigs get them," said Robin.
 
"Then you must get up before the pigs, and be first. Halloa! What now?"
 
For a horn was blown at a distance, and the men under the great oak tree sprang to their feet, while Robin Hood came out to see what the signal meant.
 
Young Robin, who was now quite accustomed to the foresters' ways, caught up his bow like the rest, and stood looking eagerly in the direction from which the cheery sounding notes of the horn were blown.
 
He had not long to wait, for half a dozen of the merry men in green came marching towards them with a couple of prisoners, each having his hands fastened behind him with a bow-string and a broad bandage tied over his eyes, so that they should not know their way again to the outlaws' stronghold.
 
"Prisoners!" said young Robin.
 
"Poor men, too," grumbled Little John.
 
"Then you'll give them their supper and send them away to-morrow morning," said young Robin.
 
"I suppose so," said Little John, "but I don't know what made our fellows bring them in."
 
"Let's go and see," said young Robin.
 
Little John followed as the boy marched off, bow in hand, to where Robin Hood was standing, waiting to hear what his men had to say about the prisoners they had brought in. And as they drew near the boy saw that one was, a homely poor-looking man with round shoulders, the other, well dressed in sad-colored clothes, and thin and bent. But the boy could see little more for the broad bandage, which nearly covered the prisoner's face and was tied tightly behind over his long, gray hair, while his gray beard hung down low.
 
Young Robin looked pityingly at this prisoner, and a longing came over him to loosen the thong which tied his hands tightly behind him, and take off the bandage so that he could breathe freely, but just then Robin Hood cried:
 
"Well, my lads, whom have we here?"
 
The bowed down gray-haired prisoner rose erect at this, and cried:
 
"Is that Robin Hood who speaks?"
 
Before the outlaw could answer; he was stopped by a cry: from the boy, who threw down his bow and darted to the prisoner's side.
 
"Father!" he cried; and he leaped up, as active now as one of the deer of the forest, to fling his arms about the prisoner's neck.
 
But only for a moment.
 
The next he had dropped to the ground, to look fiercely round at the astonished men, as he drew the dagger which hung from his belt.
 
[Illustration: Robin looked fiercely round at the astonished men, as he drew the dagger which hung from his belt.]
 
"Who dared do this?" he cried, as he reached up to tear the bandage from the face bending over him, and then darted round to begin sawing at the thong which held his father's hands.
 
Little John took a step or two forward to help the boy, but Robin Hood held up his hand to keep him back, and a dead silence fell upon the great group of foresters who had pressed forward, and who eagerly watched the scene before them in the soft, amber sunshine which came slanting through the trees. The task was hard, but the little fellow worked well, and many moments had not elapsed before the prisoner's hands were free, and as if seeing no one but the little forester before him in green, and quite regardless of all around, he dropped upon his knees, clasped the boy to his breast, and softly whispered the words:
 
"Thank God!"
 
Young Robin's arms were tightly round his father's neck by this time, and he was kissing the care-worn face again and again.
 
"They didn't know who you were, father; they didn't know who you were," cried the boy passionately, as if asking his father's pardon for the outrage committed upon him.
 
"No, Rob," said the Sheriff, in a choking voice; "they did not know who I was. But you know your poor old father again."
 
"Know you again!" cried the boy, hanging back, and looking at his father wonderingly. "Why, yes; but what a long time you have been before you came to fetch me."
 
"Yes, yes, my boy; a long, long year of misery and sorrow; but I have found you now, at last."
 
"Oh! I am glad," cried the boy, struggling free, and catching his father's hand to lead him towards where Robin Hood and Marian were standing, we............