- As in Chapter 30, we start with another passage from an "Old Play," actually written by Scott himself. The passage claims that every group of men, even outlaw groups, have their own laws. It's human nature to have law.
- Locksley goes to the agreed-upon meeting place with Cedric and the Black Knight.
- Now that they are back in the forest, Locksley becomes their official leader once again.
- Locksley asks where the Friar has gotten to.
- He sends the Miller to go pull the Friar out of Front-de-Boeuf's wine cellars.
- Locksley wants to split up the booty from the raid on Torquilstone with Cedric.
- Cedric doesn't want to think about that; he has plenty of money.
- He is deeply sad because Athelstane has been killed. All he wants to do is thank Locksley's men for their help and go home. Cedric offers Wamba whatever he wants as a reward for his loyalty.
- Wamba asks for Gurth's freedom.
- Cedric is so pleased with Gurth that he frees him from his service.
- Gurth turns to Wamba and says he could also be free if he wanted, but Wamba is happy being Cedric's jester.
- Rowena arrives at the meeting place surrounded by guards.
- She thanks Locksley and his men for rescuing her family.
- Rowena passes by De Bracy, where he is standing as a prisoner.
- De Bracy asks for her forgiveness.
- She cannot forgive him for all of the misery he has caused.
- Rowena moves on.
- Cedric thanks the Black Knight for all his leadership.
- Cedric invites the Black Knight back to Rotherwood, where he will be treated as a son or brother.
- The Black Knight thanks Cedric for his generosity but refuses for now. Instead, somewhere down the line, he intends to ask Cedric for a favor.
- A procession arrives with Athelstane's body.
- Locksley offers the Black Knight whatever he wants in terms of spoil from the raid.
- The Black Knight asks for custody of De Bracy.
- Locksley agrees, even though De Bracy killed his father.
- The Black Knight frees De Bracy, but he warns him to be careful in the future.
- De Bracy walks slowly out of the clearing.
- At the last minute, he grabs a horse with some of Front-de-Boeuf's riches and gallops away.
- Locksley offers the Black Knight the horn that he won for his archery at the tournament at Ashby.
- If the Black Knight finds himself in trouble, he can blow on this horn and call for help.
- The outlaws all agree to help the Black Knight if they hear his horn sounding.
- The Friar arrives with a captive with a rope around his neck.
- The captive is Isaac, looking deeply miserable.
- The Friar explains that he went into Front-de-Boeuf's cellars – just to look around, mind you.
- He found Isaac there chained to a wall.
- He spent the evening converting Isaac to Christianity.
- The outlaws who found the Friar confirm that he was in the cellars, but he was drunk off his head, and Isaac was half-dead.
- Isaac adds that he couldn't understand a word the Friar was saying.
- The Friar gets angry with Isaac for denying his conversion to Christianity.
- The Black Knight stops the Friar from hitting Isaac.
- The Friar won't free Isaac unless the Black Knight makes him.
- The Black Knight cheerfully slugs the Friar on the cheek.
- The Friar falls over backwards and allows Isaac to be freed.
- The Black Knight plans to ransom Isaac back to his people.
- Locksley does have one other person to ransom, someone he picked up on the forest road: Prior Aymer himself.