Free The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein Page B

good.”
    “Well, then—see you later,
Tom
!” Pollyanna pranced off to her pie pavilion.
    “Hi, Tom,” said Walter. “I’m Walter. This is my friend Billy. We’re here to hunt for treasure.”
    “I figured you weren’t here to cure warts with spunk-water. Did you boys bring shovels?”
    Walter nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Two of ’em. We left them back at the gate.”
    “Wait,” said Billy. “First we need to rescue Robin Hood.”
    “You two playing Robin Hood?” said Tom Sawyer. “Me and Joe Harper play Robin Hood all the time. Why, I’d rather be an outlaw in Sherwood Forest than president of the United States.”
    “Not me.”
    Behind Tom Sawyer, Billy had just seen the Sheriff of Nottingham limp his way up a set of steps to a raised platform. Four stern deputies marched behind him.
    “Uh-oh,” said Billy. “It’s the musketeers. Looks like they’re working for the sheriff now.”
    “Why, that ain’t right,” said Tom Sawyer. “That ain’t the way it is in the book.”
    Billy didn’t have time to explain to Tom Sawyer how the three musketeers had ended up in
Robin Hood.
    He and Walter slipped behind an oak tree to hide. Tom hid with them. The three boys were close enough to hear the sheriff as he gave orders to the musketeers.
    “A right good reward have I offered to whosoever should bring me Robin Hood and the traitorous Sir William of Goat. But no man in Missouri hath proved brave enough. Therefore, brave musketeers, keep an eye upon our contestants. Unless Robin Hood should prove a coward as well as a rogue, he will surely be amongst the archers competing here this day.”
    “Wait with Tom,” Billy said to Walter. “I need to go warn Robin and Hercules.”
    “Hercules?” said Tom Sawyer. “Is he here, too?”
    “See that archer in the hooded robe? The huge guy disguised as a monk?”
    “That there is Hercules?”
    “Yup.”
    “Oh, this is bully!” exclaimed Tom.
    “Does ‘bully’ mean ‘good’?” asked Walter.
    “Nope,” said Tom. “Bully is better than good.”
    “Well, this isn’t ‘bully,’ ” said Billy. “The sheriff wants to hang us all.”
    “Don’t let him see your face,” suggested Walter.
    “Good idea. Can I borrow your hat, Tom?”
    “I reckon so.”
    Billy put on Tom’s straw hat, lowered his head, and trotted away from the tree. He had to talk to Hercules, warn him about the danger.
    Behind him, someone blew a flourish of trumpet blasts.
    The archery contest was about to begin.
    Billy needed to hurry.

“Herc!” Billy whispered when he reached the big man.
    “Billy?” said Hercules. “What are you doing here?”
    “You guys are in trouble. Where’s Robin?”
    Hercules nodded toward an archer at the far end of the shooting line. The guy was dressed in tattered clothes and a feathered cap, and he wore a black patch over one eye. Despite the disguise, Billy knew the half-blind beggar was really Robin Hood.
    “Is Maid Marian here?”
    “No,” said Hercules. “Robin said too many royals would come to this picnic and they’d all recognize her, since her father is Sir Richard of Leaford.”
    Great
, thought Billy.
If things get ugly, it will just be Hercules and his bow against the four musketeers’ swords.
    “This is a trap,” said Billy. “The sheriff is going to arrest Robin the second he shoots his winning arrow.”
    “Fear not, for I shall protect him.” Hercules nocked an arrow and tugged back with all his might.
    The bow snapped.
    “By Zeus,” he muttered, “that is the fourth bow I have broken this day.”
    The trumpet sounded again and all the archers in the line stepped forward to take their shots.
    Arrows sliced through the air. One archer hit the dead center of his hay-bale target’s bull’s-eye.
    “We have a winner!” cried the Sheriff of Nottingham.
    “Nay,” said the half-blind beggar. “For I have not yet loosed my shaft.”
    He aimed his arrow at the very same target.
    “Are you blind in both eyes, you