The arrival of our visitors cheered him up; and finding that
the baron was to remain with him, he testified his delight
and the cordiality of his welcome by pegging him in the ribs
till he made him roar.
Robin and Marian took an affectionate leave of the baron and the old knight;
and before they quitted the vicinity of Barnsdale, deeming it prudent
to return in a different disguise, they laid aside their pilgrim's attire,
and assumed the habits and appurtenances of wandering minstrels.
They travelled in this character safely and pleasantly, till one
evening at a late hour they arrived by the side of a river,
where Robin looking out for a mode of passage perceived
a ferry-boat safely moored in a nook on the opposite bank;
near which a chimney sending up a wreath of smoke through
the thick-set willows, was the only symptom of human habitation;
and Robin naturally conceiving the said chimney and wreath of smoke
to be the outward signs of the inward ferryman, shouted "Over!"
with much strength and clearness; but no voice replied,
and no ferryman appeared. Robin raised his voice, and shouted
with redoubled energy, "Over, Over, O-o-o-over!" A faint echo
alone responded "Over!" and again died away into deep silence:
but after a brief interval a voice from among the willows,
in a strange kind of mingled intonation that was half a shout
and half a song, answered:
Over, over, over, jolly, jolly rover,
Would you then come over? Over, over, over?
Jolly, jolly rover, here's one lives in clover:
Who finds the clover? The jolly, jolly rover.
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