But suddenly they came amongst us again--two of them, not three.

They said the younger Robin had died of the plague in foreign lands, and all men gave heed to the tale.

But from the first I noted that Long Robin's step was firmer than when he went forth, that there was more power in his voice, more strength in his arm.

True, he goes about with bowed back; but I have seen him lift himself up when he thought there was none to see him, and stretch his long arms with a strength and ease that are seldom seen in the very aged.

He can accomplish long rides and rambles, strange in one so old; and our people begin to regard him with awe, as a man whom death has passed by.