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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Two Little Travellers, by Frances Browne
+Arthur</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Two Little Travellers</p>
+<p>       A Story for Girls</p>
+<p>Author: Frances Browne Arthur</p>
+<p>Release Date: July 4, 2008  [eBook #25972]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE TRAVELLERS***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Mary Meehan,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>Two Little Travellers</h1>
+
+<h3><i>A Story for Girls</i></h3>
+
+<h2>BY RAY CUNNINGHAM</h2>
+
+<h3>(FRANCES BROWNE ARTHUR)</h3>
+
+<h3><i>Author of "For Gilbert's Sake," "John Carew's Daughter," &amp;c., &amp;c.</i></h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3>THOMAS NELSON AND SONS<br />
+<i>London, Edinburgh, and New York</i><br />
+1903</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">"Oh! there's nothing on earth half so holy<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">As the innocent heart of a child."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6"><span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3>TO<br />
+MY CHILDREN</h3>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. UNDER THE CEDAR TREE</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. LEFT BEHIND!</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. THE BABES IN THE WOOD</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. FAR, FAR AWAY!</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. GONE AMISSING!</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. "DREADNOUGHT"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. HILL DIFFICULTY</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. BAMBO AND BRUNO</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. THE NEXT MORNING</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. THE HAPPY LAND</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. A SUDDEN FLIGHT</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. FOLLOWED BY THE ENEMY</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. A TERRIBLE FRIGHT</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. AT EVENING TIME</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. BAMBO'S FRIEND</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. COMING AND GOING</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. ADIEU!</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>TWO LITTLE TRAVELLERS.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>UNDER THE CEDAR TREE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There are twelve months throughout the year,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">From January to December,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the primest month of all the twelve<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Is the merry month of September!<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Then apples so red<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Hang overhead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">And nuts, ripe-brown,<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Come showering down<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the bountiful days of September!"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1"><span class="smcap">Mary Howitt</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>It was pleasant under the shade of the huge cedar tree on the lawn at
+Firgrove that golden Sunday afternoon. It was autumn, really and truly,
+going by the calendar at the back of the small cat-eared diary which
+Darby had coaxed from his father and always carried in his pocket. Yet
+the sunshine was so bright and warm, the birds were singing so joyously
+in the thickets, the rooks cawed so loudly as they wheeled and circled
+like a dense black battalion at drill up against the cloudless blue of
+the sky, that it was hard to believe the diary people had not made a
+mistake in their reckonings or stupidly mixed their dates.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, one would have been quite sure they had done something of the
+sort, and that it was still summer, only for the unmistakable signs and
+tokens of harvest that everywhere met the eye. In the fields on the
+hillside sloping up to meet the sky there were stooks of rich, ripe,
+yellow grain still standing, waiting to be carted home to Mr. Grey's
+stackyard, and there heaped into high domed castles round which children
+loved to play or linger silently, watching the sleek dun mice that
+darted so swiftly hither and thither, planning for themselves such
+glorious games in and out and round about their well-stocked
+store-houses amongst the crisp, rustling corn. Red-cheeked apples,
+dark-skinned winter pears ripened slowly on the orchard trees. Big
+bronze plums and late Victorias mellowed against the garden wall. And
+now and then when a breeze, gentle as the flutter of a fairy's wing,
+fanned the branches of the stately spreading lime tree that was comrade
+of the shining cedar on the lawn, there dropped on the grass border
+beside the tall hollyhocks a pale dry leaf, falling softly to the earth
+from which it grew, silently as a tired bird sinks to her nest amongst
+the clover blooms of summer.</p>
+
+<p>On a wide wooden seat beneath the sheltering branches of the cedar tree
+Captain Dene sat with his little ones close beside him. They were very
+close to him indeed&mdash;as close as they could come: for Darby was bunched
+up on the bench, legs and all, with his head tucked under his father's
+elbow; while Joan was folded in his arms so tightly that the golden
+tangle of her shining curls mingled with the deeper hue of the dark
+cropped head which bent so lovingly over hers.</p>
+
+<p>And no wonder that those three cuddled so close together this balmy
+September afternoon. No wonder they looked sad in spite of the sunbeams
+that boldly forced their way through the spikes on the cedar branches in
+long, slanting shafts of light that rested lovingly on Joan's burnished
+hair like the tender touch of caressing fingers. And no wonder, either,
+if they were all three silent&mdash;not because there was nothing to say, but
+because there were so many things they wanted to speak about, and yet
+the words would not come. For on the morrow, early in the morning, at
+day-dawn even, when the birds should be yet only half awake in their
+nests, while Darby and Joan should be still sleeping in their cribs
+disturbed by neither dream nor fear, their father was to leave them. He
+must be up and away to join the company of brave fellows who called him
+captain, and with them go aboard the big transport ship that even then
+was lying at anchor in Southampton Water, waiting to carry them, with
+many of their comrades, away, away&mdash;far, far away!&mdash;over the sweeping,
+separating sea, to fight for their beloved Queen and country amidst
+perils and privations on the wide, lonely veldts of South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>How were they to live without him&mdash;the dear, darling daddy who had been
+to them father and mother for almost a year now? And that is a long time
+to little children, a large slice from the lives of such mites as Joan
+and Darby Dene. Darby was not quite seven, with thick, short brown hair
+and great gray eyes. Joan was five. Her hair was long and curly; it had
+a funny trick of falling over her face in golden tangles, from which her
+eyes, velvety as the heart of a pansy, blinked out solemnly like stars
+from the purple darkness of a summer night: while her cheeks were
+exactly the colour of the China roses that bloomed so freely, month in
+month out, about the porch at Grannie Dene's front door.</p>
+
+<p>Their names were not really Darby and Joan. They had been baptized Guy
+and Doris; but their father had begun to call them Darby and Joan when
+they were tiny toddlers, just for fun, because they were such devoted
+chums; and after a time nearly every one called them by these names,
+even their mother. Only grannie, who was very much of an invalid, and
+whom in consequence they did not often visit, kept to Guy and Doris. But
+for that they should soon have forgotten that these charming names were
+actually theirs.</p>
+
+<p>Their mother had died about nine months previously, just before
+Christmas, shortly after the birth of baby Eric, the wee, fragile
+brother whom Perry, the careful, kindly nurse, seemed always hushing to
+sleep and rarely permitted the others to touch. Already Joan had ceased
+to remember her mother, except at odd times, and in a hazy sort of
+fashion; and to Darby it appeared quite a great while since that day
+when he had heard the servants say to each other that their mistress was
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>It was a bright, crisp winter day outside&mdash;Darby knew, because he had
+been sliding on the pond behind the barrack wall quite early after
+breakfast&mdash;but inside the house it was chill and gloomy; for all the
+blinds were down, and every room seemed strange and still.</p>
+
+<p>At twilight their father came up to the nursery. He stood for a minute
+or two looking down upon Joan lying asleep in her crib. Then he took
+Darby in his arms, and drawing a low chair close to the window, together
+they sat there until from the fleckless blue of the frosty sky the
+little stars shone out one by one, twinkling soft bright eyes towards
+Darby as if to say, "Good-night, you poor little motherless lamb! Go to
+bed; sleep sound, and we shall watch your pillow the whole night
+through."</p>
+
+<p>But these memories were nearly a year old now. Already they were
+becoming less vivid in Darby's mind, and being gradually pushed aside in
+order to leave room in the storehouse for more recent impressions. Many
+things had happened since then. Baby Eric had grown from a tiny pink
+morsel into quite an armful, Nurse Perry declared, and a heavy handful
+as well, whatever that meant. They had dwelt in different places, too,
+during that time; because when the regiment moved the officers also
+moved, and Captain Dene kept his motherless children as constantly with
+him as it was possible to do. Recently, however, it had become no longer
+possible&mdash;quite impossible, in fact&mdash;for Captain Dene's company was
+under orders for active service in South Africa. Darby and Joan would
+have been more than willing to accompany their father to the ends of the
+earth, riding at the tail of a baggage-wagon, seated on a gun-carriage,
+or perched on the hump of a camel. But Captain Dene only smiled and
+shook his head at the eager little ones. Then he made for them the best
+arrangement that circumstances permitted.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence, just the previous Thursday he had brought his three
+children, with Perry their nurse, to Firgrove, where they were to remain
+during his absence, under the care and guardianship of his own two
+aunts, the Misses Turner.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Catharine and Auntie Alice, as Darby and Joan were told to call the
+maiden ladies (who in the children's eyes looked old enough to be the
+grandmothers of all the young folks in the neighbourhood around their
+country home), were sisters of Captain Dene's mother. They were not
+really old at all, although Aunt Catharine's thick black hair was shaded
+by a lace cap, and in Auntie Alice's nut-brown waves there were streaks
+of silver that lent a chastened charm to her faded face. Firgrove was
+their birthplace, and there in his boyhood Captain Dene had spent many a
+happy holiday.</p>
+
+<p>Auntie Alice was a little, slender body, whose gentle voice and quiet
+ways just matched her meek brown eyes; while Aunt Catharine was a tall
+and stately lady, with a prim, severe manner, and a fixed belief in the
+natural naughtiness of all children, whom she kept down accordingly. And
+although he knew how truly good and kind she was at heart, Captain Dene
+wondered somewhat anxiously how Darby's unbroken spirit would bear the
+curb of such strict, stern rule. But there was Auntie Alice as well, and
+Captain Dene smiled as he remembered how she had petted and indulged him
+in his juvenile days. The aunts between them, like John Gilpin's
+bottles, would keep the balance true. The children would be all right.
+Besides, he did not expect to be very long away&mdash;six months or a year at
+most. The time would soon pass, and when he came home from Africa he
+would have his little ones to live with him again, until Darby should be
+old enough for school at any rate.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>LEFT BEHIND!</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"If I could but wake and find it a dream!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But I can't&mdash;oh, what shall I do?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It's only the good things that change and seem,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The bad ones are always true.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And miracles never happen now,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the fairies all are fled;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And mother's away, and the world somehow<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is dark&mdash;and Flopsy's dead!"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1"><span class="smcap">M. A. Woods</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>The group on the lawn had been silent for a long time&mdash;far too long,
+thought Darby, who liked to use his tongue freely as well as his sturdy
+little legs.</p>
+
+<p>At length Joan raised her head from its resting-place on her father's
+shoulder, and flinging her arms round his neck, she burst into a storm
+of sobs.</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy, daddy!" she cried, "we can't do wifout you. Don't go away and
+leave me and Darby all alone!"</p>
+
+<p>"I must go, my pet," replied Captain Dene gravely. "I am a soldier,
+dear, and soldiers must obey orders. Besides, I am not leaving you
+alone. You shall have the aunts to take care of you. They will know
+better how to look after a wee girlie than a great blundering fellow
+like father."</p>
+
+<p>"You isn't a great blun'rin' fellow; you's my own dearest, sweetest
+daddy!" declared Joan warmly. "And I doesn't want no aunties. Auntie
+Alice is nice, but we doesn't love Aunt Catharine one teeny-weeny
+bit.&mdash;Sure we doesn't, Darby?"</p>
+
+<p>"Joan!" exclaimed Darby in a shocked tone, although he smiled as he
+peeped in the direction of the front door, for already he had learned
+that Aunt Catharine had a trick of pouncing upon him when he least
+expected. It was embarrassing, to say the least of it, and Darby
+disliked it greatly.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Dene pulled at his moustache as though puzzled how to act. He
+quite understood how little there was about his aunt's grim presence to
+attract a soft little creature like Joan&mdash;for a while at least. After a
+time he knew things would be on a freer footing between them; therefore
+he thought it better to take no notice of his small daughter's
+frankly-spoken sentiments, and after a pause he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You are forgetting Eric, surely. He will soon be old enough to play
+with you, and you must be very gentle with him, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Baby!" cried Joan in fine scorn. "Why, how could we play wif him? he
+doesn't know no games."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you needn't count much on Eric, father," put in Darby wisely;
+"he's nearly always sleeping or crying, and nurse hardly ever lets us
+touch him. It's because he's delikid, she says. So when you're away
+there'll just be Joan and me," added the little lad sorrowfully.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Joan spoke again, asking a question that awoke afresh the pain
+at her father's heart&mdash;a pain so sharp, so deep-seated as to be at times
+almost unbearable.</p>
+
+<p>"When you have to go away in the big ship wif the solgers, why did
+mamsie not stay and take care of us? Other chil'ens has nice lovely
+muvers. Why have we none, daddy?"</p>
+
+<p>Why, ah, why?</p>
+
+<p>"Does she not love us any more, father?" whispered Darby, in broken,
+quivering tones&mdash;Darby, who remembered his fair young mother as one
+remembers a pleasing dream.</p>
+
+<p>"Will she never come back no more? Shall we not see her again&mdash;never,
+never?" asked Joan shrilly.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to me, my darlings," said Captain Dene, in a solemn, earnest
+voice, after a pause, during which he wondered how he should answer his
+children's questions. "Mother has gone to live with God in heaven. Her
+body was tired and worn out, and in a way it had grown too small for the
+spirit within. And just as you leave off wearing your garments when they
+grow shabby or small, and father provides you with new things, so mother
+has left her weary, frail body behind and gone to God, the great and
+loving Father of all, where she shall be clothed anew."</p>
+
+<p>"But wasn't she put in the ground, father?" asked Darby the doubting. "I
+'member quite well seeing a big, long box with brass handles and flowers
+and wreaths and things, and nurse and Hughes said it was mother."</p>
+
+<p>"You silly!" struck in Joan sharply. "That wasn't <i>weally</i> muver; it was
+only the bit of her that used to be tired and sick and have headiks. But
+the thinkin' place and the part of her that used to say 'Joan, darlin','
+and 'Darby, my son,' in such a cuddlin' kind of voice, and&mdash;and&mdash;why,
+just all the lovin' bit of mamsie is up in heaven!&mdash;Isn't I correc',
+daddy?" she demanded confidently.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite correct, dear," replied the father, fondly kissing the
+flower-like face upturned to his.</p>
+
+<p>"And will we ever see her again?" asked Darby, who was feeling somewhat
+snubbed. "You are not telling us that, father, and that's what I want
+most partikler to know," he added, with a pathetic sigh, behind which
+there lay a whole world of longing.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my boy," answered Captain Dene promptly; "but not here! You shall
+never see her again in the house or about the garden, at prayer-time or
+for good-night. Yet she has merely gone out of our sight; she is often
+with us, I believe, although we cannot see her. And by-and-by, I do not
+know when or how soon," he added, thinking of the cruel warfare in which
+he was about to take his share, "if you try to be brave and true, and
+kind and loving to every one, you also shall go to dwell with God in
+that happy, beautiful home where mother waits to clasp her dear ones
+again in an embrace from which they shall never be separated."</p>
+
+<p>Darby's eyes were raised to the sky with an expression so rapt, so
+exalted, so pure, as if he were already beholding the glories of the
+heavenly land. But Joan had still some more questions to ask.</p>
+
+<p>"Will God&mdash;or wouldn't it be politer to say Mr. God? No?" as her father
+shook his head. "Well, will He send an angel to fetch us to heaven when
+He wants us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear; and when His messenger comes for us we must make no delay,"
+replied Captain Dene softly.</p>
+
+<p>"And will He let me take Miss Carolina, my dolly, wif me, and the
+pussies?" queried Joan eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, I hardly think so," said her father, with a sympathetic
+smile, for he understood perfectly how hard it is this leaving behind of
+friends and possessions. Did not the Master Himself foresee the trial
+when He enjoined His followers, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures
+upon earth"?</p>
+
+<p>"But Jesus will give you something far better than toys or kittens, my
+darling," continued Captain Dene&mdash;"more beautiful than I can either
+imagine or describe. There will be pleasures of which you shall never
+weary."</p>
+
+<p>Joan thought hard for a minute, with a pucker in her white brow. Then
+she slid from her father's knee and snatched up a shabby, battered doll
+that was lying on the grass beside the bench, and clasping it tightly
+to her breast, she delivered her decision,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I doesn't want no new fings. I wants my sweet Miss Carolina and the
+pussies. So please tell dear Lord Jesus that He needn't trouble to get
+anyfing ready, 'cause Joan isn't comin'."</p>
+
+<p>The father gently stroked his little daughter's hair, but he said
+nothing. What if God's last message to him were to come through the
+muzzle of a Mauser rifle? Should it find him any more willing to leave
+his motherless babes behind than was Joan to forsake her favourites?</p>
+
+<p>"Now, chicks," he resumed, trying hard to speak cheerfully, "there is
+Aunt Catharine at the door. It is your tea-time, I expect, and
+children's bedtime comes early at Firgrove, as I know," he added,
+smiling into Darby's wistful wee face. "But before you go in I want you
+to sing me something that I shall think of when I am far away."</p>
+
+<p>And in their clear, piping treble, with now and again a deeper note from
+their father to carry them on, the little ones sang a favourite hymn,
+the key-note of which, so to speak, dwelt with Captain Dene during many
+a weary day and sleepless night,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ever journeying onward,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Guided by a star."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Early next morning Darby had a queer dream. He dreamt that his father
+came to his bedside, bent down, and kissed him repeatedly.</p>
+
+<p>Was it a dream? Darby wondered, as he slowly awoke, sat up in bed, and
+rubbed his eyes. Then suddenly he remembered that this was the day the
+dear daddy was to leave them; or what if he were already gone!</p>
+
+<p>Daylight had not yet come, but from a table in the far corner of the
+nursery the night-lamp still glimmered faintly. Darby sprang to the
+floor, calling loudly on Joan to come quick&mdash;quick. Together they
+trotted downstairs. The breakfast-room was empty. From the drawing-room,
+whither she had gone to have a good cry, came Auntie Alice, with tears
+running down her cheeks, while close behind her sailed Aunt Catharine.
+She was wrapped in a big, soft white shawl, and there was a curious
+redness round her eyes, as if she had a cold in her head. But father was
+not to be seen!</p>
+
+<p>"You poor dears!" murmured Auntie Alice, throwing tender arms around
+their little white-gowned forms.</p>
+
+<p>"Who allowed you to come downstairs at this time in the morning?"
+demanded Aunt Catharine, eyeing the pair severely over the rims of her
+spectacles; "and in your night-clothes, too! 'Pon my word!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Darby knew that his dream had been no dream, but a sad reality, and
+father was, in very truth, gone! So drawing Joan along with him
+up-stairs, they both cuddled into Darby's bed, where, clasped in each
+other's arms, they sobbed themselves to sleep again.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Firgrove was a charming old place. It had belonged to the Turners for
+generations; but as Aunt Catharine and Auntie Alice were the last of the
+family, after them it would come to Captain Dene. The house had
+originally been a square eight-roomed cottage, built of plain gray
+stone; but one Turner after another had, either for convenience or
+display, added a wing here, a story there, until it had been turned into
+a handsome, roomy residence. From the outside it looked rather
+picturesque, with windows framed in ivy, clematis and wistaria peeping
+out of the most unexpected places, chimney-stalks shooting up from the
+least likely corners. Inside, the same surprises awaited one. No two
+rooms were similar in size, scarcely any exactly the same in shape.
+There were passages here, recesses there; steps leading down to this
+apartment, up to that; with curtained doors and draperies in such
+abundance that the children found within their shelter the most
+delightful hiding-places imaginable. And many a romp and game they had,
+in which once in a while Auntie Alice joined, when Aunt Catharine was
+not anywhere about to be disturbed by the noise or shocked at her
+sister's levity.</p>
+
+<p>Out of doors there were other delights which Darby and Joan at first
+felt they could never exhaust. In the stable Billy, the fat pony,
+munched and snoozed every day and all day long, except when occasionally
+he was harnessed into the basket-carriage to take the aunties for a
+drive, or ambled into the meadow, where Strawberry and Daisy, the
+meek-eyed Alderney cows, browsed at will over the sweet, juicy
+after-grass. There were big, soft-breasted Aylesbury ducks on the pond,
+fowls in the yard, pigeons in the dovecot so tame that they would perch
+on Auntie Alice's shoulder and peck the grains of corn from between her
+lips; and up in the loft above the stable there lived a cat, called
+Impy, who was the proud and watchful mother of three dear little
+kittens, as black, as soft, as sleek as herself.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the house was the garden, a peaceful old-world spot, with its
+prim gravelled paths, boxwood borders, holly hedges, and wealth of
+vegetables, fruit, and flowers. There Green, the deaf old gardener,
+reigned supreme, not always paying heed to Aunt Catharine herself. And
+there also, in a sheltered corner, stood Auntie Alice's beehives, around
+which the small, busy brown bees buzzed and droned from dawn till dark,
+laying up their stores of rich golden honey that was to supply the
+little ones with many a toothsome morsel. Then there was the lawn with
+its velvety sward, spreading shrubs, and stately cedar; and at the back
+of the buildings, beyond the garden to the right, sloped the fields of
+Copsley Farm; while to the left, lying in a gentle hollow, there uprose
+the dark massed pines of Copsley Wood.</p>
+
+<p>Darby and Joan were not allowed to go beyond the boundaries of Firgrove
+alone or without special permission, but within their limits they
+wandered about free as air. It was their father's express wish that they
+should not be molly-coddled in any way, and, indeed, nurse had little
+leisure to look after them. Her time was chiefly occupied with baby
+Eric, who, although improving, was still delicate and fretful, and
+seemed to find the difficulty of cutting his teeth, and life in general,
+almost too much for him. Aunt Catharine's notion of the needs of
+children began and ended with giving them plenty of plain, wholesome
+food, seeing that they went early to bed, were properly clothed, and
+knew their Catechism thoroughly. She instructed Darby and Joan for an
+hour each morning in the mysteries of reading, writing, and counting.
+She drilled them most conscientiously in the commandments, and always
+with the "forbiddens" attached. She hedged them about with "don'ts", and
+believed she was teaching them obedience. And when the tasks were done,
+and the books put away for the day, it would have been hard to say
+whether the teacher or the taught uttered the heartier thanksgiving.
+Then, believing that she had done everything that duty demanded of her,
+Aunt Catharine felt herself free to attend to her prize poultry, her
+poor women, and parish meetings.</p>
+
+<p>Auntie Alice loved the little ones dearly. She enjoyed their chatter and
+a romp with them now and again. But she had not been used to children;
+she was actually shy of them! She fancied they might be happier without
+her, so she kept mostly to the company of her piano, her books, and her
+bees, and the little people were left very much to their own devices.</p>
+
+<p>As long as the weather was fine enough they almost lived out of doors,
+and were perfectly happy; but when it "broke," as country folks
+say&mdash;when the heavy autumn rain beat against the nursery window, and the
+wind shook and swayed the cedar tree on the lawn until it sighed and
+moaned as if in sorrow for the death of summer&mdash;then they longed for the
+dear, loving daddy with a longing that was almost pain! They had letters
+from him as often as was possible. Darby wrote in reply, and Joan
+covered a piece of paper with pot-hangers, with a whole string of
+odd-looking blots at the end, which she said were kisses and her message
+for daddy. Letter-writing, however, especially if one does not write
+easily, is but a poor substitute for speech. It did not seem to bring
+their father close to them as he came in conversation.</p>
+
+<p>And so it happened, exactly as Darby had foreseen, that now since he was
+gone there were just the two of them left&mdash;Darby and Joan!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BABES IN THE WOOD.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'What are you singing of, soft and mild,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Green leaves, waving your gentle hands?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is it a song for a little child,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or a song God only understands?'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Answered the green leaves, soft and mild,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whispered the green leaves, soft and clear,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'It is a song for every child,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It is a song God loves to hear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It is the only song we know,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We never question how or why.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis not a song of fear or woe,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A song of regret that we must die;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ever at morn and at eventide<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">This is our song in the deep old wood,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"Earth is beautiful, heaven is wide;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And we are happy, for God is good!"'"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">F. E. Weatherly.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>"Have you anything for us to do, Auntie Alice?" said Darby Dene one day,
+after he had watched Aunt Catharine safely into the fowl-house to have a
+look at her Brahmas.</p>
+
+<p>It was a still, bright afternoon in October, when the ripe apples were
+dropping from the trees in the garden, and up at Copsley Farm Mrs.
+Grey's turkeys wandered at will over the stubble whence the grain had
+all been carted and built into stacks beside the farmyard.</p>
+
+<p>"Do say that you can think of something, please," pleaded the boy&mdash;"a
+message or anything. We are so tired of the garden, and the lawn, and
+the swing, and&mdash;and&mdash;everything.&mdash;Aren't we, Joan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, werry, werry tired," agreed Joan with ready assent. She always did
+agree with everything that Darby said. He was her model, her hero, who,
+in Joan's eyes, could do no wrong.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I cannot invent or suggest any fresh occupation for you just
+now," answered Auntie Alice, smiling down into the eager upturned faces
+beside her knee. "Would you not run away and have a romp with pussy? she
+is frolicking with her kittens in the garden, quite close to the
+tool-house."</p>
+
+<p>"We were playing with pussy for ever so long, and look there!" said
+Darby, holding up for his aunt's inspection one small brown and not
+over-clean hand. Across the back of it ran a long, straight scratch from
+which the blood was slowly oozing. "That's what pussy did! That's why
+we left her, and why we don't want to go back to the garden."</p>
+
+<p>Darby's tone was so rueful, his expression one of such patient
+forbearance towards base treachery, that his aunt laughed outright. Yet
+she kissed the wounded hand again and again, whispering gently the
+while,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Darby! poor little hand! and poor pussy too!" she added below her
+breath. For she guessed correctly that pussy&mdash;who was in general a
+long-suffering animal&mdash;must have been sorely beset when she used her
+claws in defence of herself or the rights of her family.</p>
+
+<p>"If you really haven't an errand, won't you just invent one, auntie?"
+persisted Darby. Then suddenly he cried, while his face beamed with the
+happiness of the thought that had struck him, "May we go up to the farm
+and see Mrs. Grey? Oh, do say 'yes,' Auntie Alice!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm sure I don't know. Perhaps we should hear what Aunt Catharine
+thinks. Still, I suppose you might," decided Auntie Alice, her
+hesitation overcome by the pleading look in Darby's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, thank you, dear Auntie Alice!" said both children in a
+breath, flinging themselves in ecstasy upon their aunt. She, however,
+did not like to have her delicate ribbons crumpled by smudgy, sticky
+little hands; so she gently withdrew herself from their embrace, shaking
+a warning finger playfully at the pair as she gave them a caution,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You must not stay too long or tease Mrs. Grey, either of you."</p>
+
+<p>"We shan't stay very long," promised Darby; "and Mrs. Grey says we never
+tease her."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Grey hasn't got no chil'ens of her own to play wif and 'muse her,
+and that's why she likes Darby and me to go and talk to her whiles,"
+explained Joan sagely, looking up at her aunt through the mop of golden
+curls which shaded her big blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the reason? Well, since you are going, you might just bring
+those Cochin eggs with you that Mrs. Grey promised us. Your aunt
+Catharine was speaking about them a little ago. Wait a minute, and I'll
+hear what she says," and Auntie Alice made as if she would follow her
+sister to the fowl-house.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please don't!" cried Darby wildly, clutching with both hands at his
+aunt's gown in order to stay her steps. "She'll be sure not to let us.
+She'll ask if we've learned our Catechism, and send us to wash our hands
+or change our clothes, or&mdash;or <i>something</i>. You know how she does, Auntie
+Alice!"</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Alice Turner knew her elder sister's little way very well indeed,
+and because of this she yielded to Darby's importunity.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear, what a droll boy you are!" and by the way she spoke the
+youngsters knew that they had won their way. "Off with you both, then,
+quick! Take my white basket out of the breakfast-room, and see that you
+carry the eggs carefully, or I'm afraid we shall all get into trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Which way shall we go?" asked Darby, gleefully swinging the basket
+about his head. "May we go through the fields, Auntie Alice? The ground
+is quite dry to-day, and the path is ever so much nicer than the road
+past Copsley Wood."</p>
+
+<p>"You may go through the fields, dear; but come back by the road. You
+might break the eggs if you were to return the field way; there are so
+many stiles to climb. And listen to me, chickabiddies," continued Auntie
+Alice earnestly. "You must not on any account go into the wood; it is
+not a safe place for children."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" demanded Darby in astonishment, for he had little or no fear of
+any living thing&mdash;man or beast.</p>
+
+<p>"I need not detain you now, dear, to explain further than to say that
+there are sometimes rough people about who might think it rather funny
+to behave rudely to unprotected little children."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know there's bears in Copsley Wood, and lions and tigers and
+effelants, and&mdash;and&mdash;oh, heaps of drefful fings!" explained Joan, as
+glibly as if she had in person penetrated the many mysteries that&mdash;to
+her infant mind&mdash;were hidden in the cool, dark depths of the old pine
+wood.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" and Darby smiled in scorn of his sister's ignorance.&mdash;"Do
+you hear her, Auntie Alice?&mdash;Why, you little goose, don't you know that
+there aren't any bears, or lions, or tigers, or elephants in this
+country? If we were in a lonely part of Africa, we might see some; but
+there's only rabbits and squirrels and perhaps wild cats in Copsley
+Wood.&mdash;Isn't she a silly, Auntie Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not a silly!" said Joan stoutly.&mdash;"Sure I isn't, Auntie Alice?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, child; and you are quite right to be shy of the wood," answered her
+aunt gravely. "And now, if you want to go to the farm to-day, you had
+better be off. I think I hear Aunt Catharine coming!"</p>
+
+<p>Her caution came too late, however, for in another instant Aunt
+Catharine was upon them.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it now?" she demanded, glancing from one to another of the
+guilty-looking group.&mdash;"What are you doing with that basket, Darby?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;we&mdash;Joan and me were going up to the farm to see Mrs. Grey,"
+faltered Darby. "And please, please, Aunt Catharine, don't say we aren't
+to get!"</p>
+
+<p>"We's goin' to bring your Cochin eggs," added Joan sweetly.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you won't mind, sister," struck in Auntie Alice, in her soft,
+timid voice, "but I gave them leave to go. And I thought they might as
+well fetch the eggs when they are coming back."</p>
+
+<p>"Alice Turner! when do you mean to grow up?" exclaimed Aunt Catharine,
+in withering accents. "Is it that boy you expect to carry a basket of
+eggs? Those fidgets! Why, they'll leave the half of them on the road or
+sit on them by the way!"</p>
+
+<p>"We willn't sit on them," said Joan stoutly. "Jetty shall sit on them,
+and they'll turn into dear, soft, fluffy chickens! Willn't they, Aunt
+Catharine?"</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Catharine did not answer directly, but she looked as if she did
+not feel quite so sure of results as Joan.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be very, very careful, indeed!" promised Darby earnestly; and
+Joan echoed likewise, "Werry, werry careful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well; since your Auntie Alice has already given permission, I
+shall not prevent you, and I must admit I am in a hurry for the eggs.
+Jetty is making a terrible to-do over a solitary china one in her nest.
+But if they are broken or shaken&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>There Aunt Catharine paused; yet her listeners perfectly understood what
+she did not say.</p>
+
+<p>"And remember, children, what has been so often said to you about
+Copsley Wood. You are not to go there on any pretext whatever! Do you
+understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Aunt Catharine; and we've promised Auntie Alice already," replied
+Darby meekly.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; see that you keep your promise, my boy. You always say that
+you forgot when you have been disobedient, but you are both old enough
+to do as you are told. And I should not be doing my duty if I did not
+try to teach you," added Aunt Catharine significantly, as she bent and
+kissed the little ones good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>"And that just means that she'll punish us badly the next time we're
+naughty," explained Darby to Joan, as they clambered over the stile at
+the foot of Mr. Grey's turnip field. "Well, I shouldn't mind greatly if
+it wasn't putting to bed. I do hate going to bed; don't you, Joan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, werry much; for they're always sure to come for us when we'se not
+ready, nurse or Aunt Catharine! They seem to know 'zactly when we're in
+the middle of somefin' awful nice, and then they says, 'Bedtime,
+chil'ens!' Oh, it's just ho'wid!"</p>
+
+<p>Joan puckered up her pretty face so comically in imitation of nurse's
+worried expression, and mimicked Aunt Catharine's lofty tones so
+cleverly, that Darby clapped his hands in delight and admiration. Then
+they raced each other along the breezy headland, across the
+sweet-smelling stubble field, through the stackyard and the orchard,
+until, flushed and breathless, they stood beside the mistress in the
+cool, red-tiled dairy of Copsley Farm.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey was always well pleased to see the little folks from Firgrove,
+and made them warmly welcome; just as, in the long-ago days, she had
+welcomed their father when he too found it a relief sometimes to slip
+away from the prim precision of his aunts' establishment, and come
+rushing up the hill to count the calves, tease the turkey-cock, ride the
+donkey, plague the maids, and generally enjoy himself to his heart's
+content. She dearly loved children although, as Joan said, she had none
+of her own; and the day always seemed brighter to her when Darby and
+Joan came flying over the fields to pay her one of their frequent
+visits.</p>
+
+<p>There was a new donkey at the farm in those days, and as neither of the
+children was particular about a saddle, they rode him in turn until
+Neddy rose in revolt&mdash;actually, with his heels in the air!&mdash;or lay down,
+which was more hopeless still; for once he did that they knew that he,
+for one, had frolicked enough, that day, at any rate. But there were
+other things. They played hide-and-seek round the stacks with Scott the
+huge collie, who was so gentle that he would allow Joan to put her
+fingers in his eyes or pull his big bushy tail. They gathered apples in
+the orchard, hazel nuts in the copse, late blackberries from the hedge
+at the back of the stackyard; and they watched the pigs at their
+afternoon meal until Joan turned away in disgust, declaring that "the
+dirty fings should be teached better manners, and made to sup their
+pow'idge wif a spoon!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, when the sun was sinking low in the west, and they had feasted to
+their complete satisfaction on all the dainties that their hostess loved
+to set before them, it was time to return to Firgrove.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey put into Darby's hand the shallow basket of round brown eggs,
+with two tiny white ones on the top for themselves that had been laid by
+Specky, the lovely black-and-buff bantam. Then, with many kisses and
+warnings to be careful, she set the happy pair upon their homeward way.</p>
+
+<p>They took turns at carrying the basket, and paused now and again to peep
+at their bantam eggs, not much bigger than marbles, and the others which
+held the promise of such sweet baby Cochins within their smooth,
+silk-lined shells.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am tired!" sighed Darby at length, when they were still only
+half-way down the road, just passing by the entrance to the pine wood.
+"Are you tired, Joan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," assented Joan promptly; "this basket's so heavy. Can't we rest
+awhile after we pass the trees?"</p>
+
+<p>"We shall rest here," said Darby decidedly; and suiting the action to
+the word, he took the basket from his sister's hand, placed it carefully
+on the roadside, and, with a deep breath of satisfaction, dropped on
+the soft grass beside it, just where the path branched off the highway
+into Copsley Wood.</p>
+
+<p>"Darby!" cried Joan in remonstrance, "are you forgetting what you
+promised Auntie Alice, and that Aunt Catharine said we wasn't to go into
+the wood?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not forgetting one bit," he replied loftily. "Sure, sitting here
+isn't going into the wood, is it, Miss Joan? Besides, I don't believe
+there's any bad people in it. They only want to frighten us," he
+continued, in a grown-up sort of tone; and when Darby spoke like that,
+Joan felt quite sure he knew what he was talking about&mdash;better even than
+Aunt Catharine herself!</p>
+
+<p>They sat still for a little while, resting on the soft, mossy grass,
+listening to the song of the robins in the hedges, watching the snowy
+sea-gulls that hovered about the tail of Mr. Grey's plough as it turned
+the stubble into long, even furrows of dark, fresh-smelling soil.</p>
+
+<p>Then a couple of rabbits darted by to their burrow in the wood; and at
+the foot of a big beech tree growing close beside the children a whole
+party of squirrels had gathered, nibbling hungrily at the nuts that were
+scattered round its base.</p>
+
+<p>The little ones hushed their chatter, afraid to breathe almost, lest
+they should disturb the merry family meal.</p>
+
+<p>By-and-by, however, Joan spoke, for she could not keep silent many
+minutes at a time.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had one of those dear pretty fings, Darby," she whispered.
+"How sweet and soft it would be to love and stroke! far nicer than
+pussy, for I don't think it would scratch. Look at their great bushy
+tails!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sit you still and mind the eggs, and I'll creep over ever so
+softly and catch one for you," replied her brother under his breath,
+only too willing, alas! to gratify her wish. "It'll be quite easy: just
+one grab at its tail and there you are!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Darby, Aunt Catharine. What ever will she say? Darby!" cried Joan
+in distress.</p>
+
+<p>Darby was creeping on all-fours over the springy grass, and did not mind
+her. Slowly, stealthily he went&mdash;near, nearer, and yet nearer the root
+of the beech tree with every movement of his lithe, wriggling body. He
+is now only a few feet from the squirrels, who seem not to notice the
+intruder. He puts out his hand. He almost touches the smallest member of
+the group, a bright-eyed, furry little fellow. Joan starts to her feet
+in excitement. Darby does exactly as he had planned&mdash;makes a sudden
+clutch at the coveted prize. The object of her desire is really within
+her reach, Joan believes, and she shouts aloud in her delight. There is
+a flash of bead-like eyes, a waving of plumy tails, a scurry of flying
+feet, a chorus of queer, chattering cries, and, lo, the squirrels have
+disappeared, some up one tree, some up another&mdash;all except one, the very
+one which Darby desired to possess, and it scampered along the pathway,
+seeming too frightened to know where it was going; and, without giving a
+thought to the Cochin eggs, to Aunt Catharine, or to probable
+consequences, away rushed Darby in hot pursuit, with Joan treading
+closely on his heels.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the squirrel found refuge in a lofty pine where, most probably,
+some of its friends had their home, and the children halted to take
+breath. Just at that instant, however, a frisky young rabbit started
+from its hiding-place in a hole at their feet. Off it went, scampering
+over the fallen fir needles that were spread so thickly like a soft
+brown carpet over the ground. And away, too, Darby and Joan raced after
+it, as quickly as they could thread their way through the trees,
+following where in front the rabbit led the way, its stumpy whitish
+tail turned up like a beckoning signal-flag. Still they struggled and
+stumbled on and on, in and out, until they stopped for want of breath in
+what seemed the very heart of the wood. Their prey had escaped into the
+shelter of a burrow, and the hunters gazed blankly at the spot where it
+had disappeared. Then they turned to each other in discomfiture and
+disappointment. Afterwards they looked about them, and were filled with
+confusion and affright, for the pathway was nowhere to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>"The eggs, Darby!" cried Joan, suddenly conscious, now that the play was
+played out, of what had been, what was, and what might be. "Let us go
+back diwectly and get Aunt Catharine's basket of eggs."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course, that's what we shall do; but don't be in such a hurry.
+You only confuse a fellow," answered Darby, trying to speak lightly,
+although his lips were quivering. He had sought up and down, backwards,
+forwards, and roundabout, but still could see neither track nor
+footmark&mdash;just trees, tall trees everywhere, one seeming the exact
+counterpart of the other.</p>
+
+<p>Joan, however, was quick to catch his expression of bewilderment, which
+so sadly belied his brave words, and she began to sob weakly. She
+always cried easily, and seemed sometimes to enjoy it; at least Darby
+thought so privately.</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet, can't you! There's nothing for you to cry about," he said, in
+a tone of easy assurance; "at least not yet&mdash;not until after we get
+home," he added comically. "I do hope Aunt Catharine will be in the
+drawing-room, or out to dinner, or&mdash;or&mdash;something when we arrive. If she
+sees us like this, she'll be certain sure to put us to bed at once,"
+continued Darby, with sad conviction, glancing anxiously at his soiled
+sailor suit, which a few hours before was white, his straw hat with the
+brim dangling by a thread; and, worst of all, at Joan's torn pinafore,
+scratched legs, and shoeless foot&mdash;for in the flurry and fervour of the
+chase one small slipper had somehow been left behind.</p>
+
+<p>Joan still sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Joan! don't cry any more, like a good girl," said the little lad
+soothingly. "We shall be sure to find the way out very soon now. We left
+the basket at the edge of the wood; I don't think any one will have
+taken it away. And when we get it, we shan't be hardly any time going
+down the hill. We'll slip in softly, softly, and find Auntie Alice
+first. We'll ask her to coax Aunt Catharine not to be too angry; and
+perhaps, if we tell her we're sorry, she'll not punish us very badly. I
+think we had better not say anything about forgetting this time; we'll
+just be sorry right off."</p>
+
+<p>Joan ceased crying. She dabbed her eyes with the corner of her soiled
+pinafore until they smiled like violets new washed with dew; she wiped
+the trickling tear-drops from her smudgy China rose cheeks until they
+bloomed afresh.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the brave boy soothed his small sister's terror, although his own
+heart was heavy with fear; for the farther they walked the deeper they
+seemed to go into the depths of the dark pine wood. And night was coming
+on. In daytime, even, Copsley Wood was a shadowy place; but now, when
+above the trees and beyond their margin twilight had fallen, it was
+indeed a dark and lonesome spot. All around the pines rose straight and
+tall, like gaunt giant forms flinging out long, skeleton arms eager to
+infold them in a cruel clasp. Strange and stealthy sounds from bird and
+beast came to their ears at intervals, while the unfamiliar music of
+rustling branches and whispering leaves filled the souls of these two
+little travellers with a feeling of awe and vague alarm. Nevertheless
+they kept moving on, on; now stumbling over a fallen branch, again
+shrinking in terror as a great soft owl flitted slowly by, or hooted
+solemnly right above their heads.</p>
+
+<p>At length Joan cried out that she could not walk another step. A sharp
+stone had cut her poor little shoeless foot, and she was limping
+painfully. She sank down on a smooth tree-stump, and Darby sat beside
+her, allowing her to lean her drooping head against his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we lost, Darby?" she asked piteously. "Are we goin' to die here
+like the babes in the wood? And will the robins come in the mornin' and
+cover us up wif leaves?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," answered Darby, shivering at the mere thought of such a
+hurried burial, yet trying to speak cheerfully in spite of the tears in
+his eyes, the lump in his throat. "When you are rested a bit we will go
+on again. If you can't walk, perhaps I could carry you&mdash;a short
+distance, anyway. Surely we shall soon find the path, or some one will
+come to look for us," he added, feeling as if at that moment any one,
+even Aunt Catharine herself, would be welcome.</p>
+
+<p>"It's gettin' awful dark," sobbed Joan, in a choked, weak voice. "Why,
+we can't see even a single star."</p>
+
+<p>"We'd be all right if we could see anything," replied the boy ruefully.
+"Maybe the moon will shine soon; then we'll find our way," he added,
+still trying to cheer his little chum as best he could.</p>
+
+<p>For a while they were silent. Joan was almost asleep, with her head
+still resting on Darby's breast. None but the creatures of the wild were
+near them; only the sounds of the night were in the air&mdash;those soft,
+mysterious voices that whisper to the listening soul of the spirit world
+which wraps so closely round the pure in heart.</p>
+
+<p>But stay! Who dare disturb the sweetness of nature's symphony? Whose
+stealthy steps are those that steal so cautiously over the tell-tale
+twigs and withered bracken? What figures are they that crouch and slide
+from tree to tree, then pause within half a dozen yards of the wandered
+children, ready to pounce like cruel beasts upon their prey?</p>
+
+<p>The shuffling noise attracted Darby's attention. He looked all about
+him, but observed nothing unusual. He peered into the gathering gloom,
+yet failed to see the ugly, red-haired man, the bold, black-browed woman
+who glared at them from behind a screen of hazel bushes. And again he
+settled himself comfortably on the moss-grown stump, and drew Joan's
+head into an easier position against his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>He thought she was asleep, and was nearly over himself, when suddenly
+she sat up and said eagerly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Darby, I'se been finkin'. Don't you know in that nice hymn of ours&mdash;the
+one we singed to daddy the Sunday before he goed away&mdash;there's somefin'
+about bein' 'guided by a star'? P'raps if we was to sing it now God
+would un'erstand, and send a star to show us the way out of the wood."</p>
+
+<p>Darby hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know; I'm not sure," he said at length. "Still, if you
+think singing would make you feel better we might try it," he yielded.
+"Yes, we'll do a verse, anyway. It'll be cheerier than praying&mdash;not so
+much like as if we were going to bed. And it doesn't really matter which
+we do; God will be sure to know 'zactly what we mean. Now, are you
+ready? Come on!"</p>
+
+<p>And there, in the depths of the forest that to these two babes was as
+desolate, dark, and drear as any of which they had heard in fairy tale
+or nursery rhyme, they raised their clear, tremulous voices in pathetic
+appeal to that unseen Presence whom from their cradles they had been
+taught to look upon as "our Father:"&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"From the eastern mountains<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Pressing on they come,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wise men in their wisdom,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To His humble home;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stirred by deep devotion,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Hasting from afar,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ever journeying onward,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Guided by a star."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>FAR, FAR AWAY!</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The leaves were reddening to their fall,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Coo!' said the gray doves, 'coo!'<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As they sunned themselves on the garden wall,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And the swallows round them flew.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Whither away, sweet swallows?<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Coo!' said the gray doves, 'coo!'<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Far from this land of ice and snow<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To a sunny southern clime we go,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where the sky is warm and bright and gay:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Come with us, away, away!'"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1"><span class="smcap">F. E. Weatherly.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Just as they paused on the last note Joan uttered a scream of delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Darby, look!" she cried, clutching at her brother's arm. "The
+star! the star! God has sended it soon, hasn't He? He must have been
+listenin' close by when we sang. Auntie Alice says He is every place at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" eagerly asked Darby, peering anxiously into the darkness, but
+looking in the wrong direction.</p>
+
+<p>"There&mdash;right behind you," replied Joan, pointing with her finger. "It's
+comin' nearer and nearer. Don't you see it?"</p>
+
+<p>Yes, sure enough there was moving slowly towards them, out of the
+shadows, a small bright light not unlike the twinkle of a tiny star. It
+came steadily on, then stopped, wavered, and was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Holloa! who's there? Speak up!" called out a loud, hearty voice.</p>
+
+<p>Heavy footsteps followed the voice&mdash;footsteps that halted and stumbled
+among the gnarled tree-roots and spreading branches, yet kept straight
+on&mdash;and in another instant the kind, ruddy face of Mr. Grey looked down
+upon the children.</p>
+
+<p>"The babes in the wood, by George!" he ejaculated, at the same time
+stooping to peer into the small, eager faces which were so fearlessly
+upturned to meet his gaze. Then, when he made out who the
+forlorn-looking little objects really were, he gave expression to his
+astonishment in a long whistle, which frightened the birds in the trees,
+the rabbits within their burrows, and the wicked man and woman behind
+the hazel bushes, so that they cowered closer beneath the branches,
+wishing themselves well out of the way of Farmer Grey's stout blackthorn
+staff.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's you, Mr. Grey!" said Darby, with a curious catch in his voice
+of glad relief to find that the face bending over them with such kindly,
+quizzical scrutiny was not that of either gipsy, tramp, or poacher; for
+in spite of his lofty scorn of unknown dangers, he had grown terribly
+frightened for the possibilities which might lurk in the gloom of
+Copsley Wood.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, it's me, an' no mistake," replied Mr. Grey readily. "But I'm
+blessed if I knew ye at first in the dusk. 'They're tramps,' says I to
+myself, 'or gipsy weans.' But then, when I got a good look at ye, I saw
+that it was the little folks from Firgrove&mdash;Miss Turner's youngsters."</p>
+
+<p>"We isn't Miss Turner's youngsters," struck in Joan stoutly; "we's
+daddy's chil'ens."</p>
+
+<p>"Ho, ho! so that's the way the wind blows!" laughed Mr. Grey. "Ye're a
+pair o' pickles, anyway, an' no mistake! Who would think <i>ye</i> were the
+little angels whose pretty speeches my missis was divertin' me with all
+the time I was at my tea! An' what may the two o' ye be doin' here in
+the dark, I should like to know?" he demanded, in his big, gruff voice.</p>
+
+<p>"We were lost&mdash;quite lost," cried Joan, "just like the babes in the
+wood. If God hadn't sended you to find us, I s'pose robin redbreast
+would have comed by-and-by to cover us up wif leaves and twigs and
+fings."</p>
+
+<p>"Tush!" and Mr. Grey laughed into the little girl's earnest face,
+although he was moved at the thought of the anxiety and distress these
+small creatures must have endured. "Lost! why, you're not more'n half a
+dozen yards off the highroad."</p>
+
+<p>"You must excuse Joan, please," put in Darby formally. "If she says
+silly things sometimes, it's because she's so little. At least, that's
+how I 'splains her to myself," he added.</p>
+
+<p>Then he went on to give Mr. Grey a clear and full account of how and why
+they were wandering at what was for them such an unusual hour in the
+mazes of Copsley Wood&mdash;frankly owning up to more than his own share in
+the escapade, casting not a shadow of blame upon his little sister.</p>
+
+<p>"So, so!" said Mr. Grey, much amused by the lad's quaint manner and
+grown-up air. "But I thought I heard some kind o' singin' as I came up
+the hill. It was that fetched me into the wood. I had been down at
+Firdale seein' about some seed-wheat for sowin' to-morrow, an' I was in
+a hurry home."</p>
+
+<p>"It was us you heard," Joan told him gravely. "We were askin' God to
+send a star to show us the way out of the darkness."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you'll certainly think my sister very childish," said Darby,
+in an apologetic tone. "But you see, just when we had finished the first
+verse of our hymn, a light really did shine. We didn't know at the time
+that it was only the matches you were striking for your pipe, and Joan
+thought (in fact, we <i>both</i> thought&mdash;for a moment, you know) that God
+had really sent a star to point us out the path, just as long ago He
+guided the wise men to the place where the dear little baby Jesus lay."</p>
+
+<p>For a space there was silence. Joan was almost asleep on her seat on the
+tree-stump; not a quiver of the hazel bushes betrayed the presence of
+the couple lurking there. And into the big farmer's eyes a sudden
+moisture had sprung as he heard these little ones expressing in simple
+speech their perfect confidence in the ability and readiness of their
+heavenly Father to make good His own promise: "I will guide thee with
+mine eye."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, my boy," spoke Mr. Grey at length, in deep, earnest
+tones. "Always look out for God, an' you'll find Him close beside you,
+in the darkest forest as well as in the starry sky. An' now we must be
+movin', or the ladies'll be sendin' the police to look for the pair o'
+ye.&mdash;Eh! Anybody there?" he shouted, as the sudden snapping of a twig
+broke the stillness about them.</p>
+
+<p>There was no answer, only the flutter of a belated bird as it failed to
+find its accustomed perch among the pines, and the sighing of the wind
+through the tree-tops overhead.</p>
+
+<p>"Some beast, I expect, or a poacher, maybe," Mr. Grey muttered to
+himself. Then he turned towards the children. "I was never reckoned much
+o' <i>a star</i>," he said, with a chuckle of amusement, "but I guess I'll
+manage to steer ye straight to Firgrove."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you could carry Joan, please, Mr. Grey? She's not <i>very</i>
+heavy; I sometimes carry her myself," added Darby, as if doing so were a
+mere trifle instead of a feat of which he was privately proud. "She's
+tired, I'm afraid.&mdash;Joan! Waken up! Aren't you tired?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, werry, werry tired," assented Joan sleepily, as the farmer cradled
+her comfortably in his strong arms; and with Darby holding hard by his
+coat-tail they started.</p>
+
+<p>"The eggs, Darby! Is you forgettin' Aunt Catharine's eggs, and the
+bantam's too?" Joan cried, when they neared the opening in the wood.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the fringe of dark trees twilight still lingered, and there,
+just where Darby had set it down, was the basket, safe and sound.</p>
+
+<p>With a whoop of delight at the welcome sight of the basket&mdash;for its
+possible loss had lain heavily on his tender conscience&mdash;Darby sprang
+forward to seize it. But in the dusk he did not notice a long, twisted
+tree-root that straggled between him and his desire. His toe caught in
+it; he suddenly tripped, swayed, and fell flat forward, crunching right
+smash down into the shallow basket of smooth brown Cochin eggs.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoa, there! steady, my man!" called the farmer, vainly struggling to
+suppress his amusement at sight of Darby's deplorable and moist
+condition. "You forget that you've a heavier seat on the eggs than a
+hen, young sir, an' you must sit down easy."</p>
+
+<p>A sharp sob, however, and the smothered cry of "The bantams! we're
+bantams!" that burst from the little creature in his arms, indicated
+that what was a joke to him was a catastrophe to the children, and that
+his mirth was ill-timed and unseemly.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, sonny," he added, in a soothing tone; "just tell the
+ladies when you get home that it was all an accident. Here, rub down
+your clothes wi' this wisp o' grass, an' I'll see if my missis can't
+coax them Cochins to lay some more eggs between this an' Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>Then, with Joan cuddled cosily against his broad shoulder, and Darby's
+small hand clinging closely to his, the party set off down the winding
+road towards Firgrove.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time two figures raised themselves from their cramped
+position behind the hazel thicket. The man stretched himself, hitched up
+on his shoulder a bag, from which peeped the tail of a pheasant and the
+paw of a rabbit, while he muttered savagely and shook his fist in the
+direction of the retreating farmer.</p>
+
+<p>"Spoiled yer little game, did he?" and the dark-eyed woman laughed
+wickedly as she rearranged the faded scarlet shawl more closely round
+her shoulders. "Well, better luck next time, Joe my dear," she added
+airily.</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up!" said the gentleman called Joe, with a heavy scowl. "It's kids
+like they I've been lookin' out for this many a day, an' I'll have them
+yet," he growled, "as sure as yer name's Moll! See if I don't! Come on!"
+And in another moment they were not to be seen, they had plunged into
+the heart of Copsley Wood.</p>
+
+<p>At the gate of Firgrove Mr. Grey set Joan down, and watched until she
+and Darby reached the front door. There a curious group had
+collected&mdash;Auntie Alice, who was softly sobbing; Aunt Catharine, wearing
+her garden-hat and strongest boots; Nurse Perry, Mary the cook; and
+Green the gardener, armed with a stout staff and the stable lantern. It
+was the search-party in the act of setting out to explore the recesses
+of Copsley Wood in quest of the missing children.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Grey thought it would be in better taste to retire. He knew Miss
+Turner, and he guessed that probably the next scene in the drama would
+be purely private. Well, the youngsters had unquestionably disobeyed
+orders, and on their own showing. They must be punished, if by no other
+means they could be taught obedience, which is the first if not the
+chief lesson of life. Still, it was a pity, thought the big,
+soft-hearted man; and the confiding eyes of the children followed him as
+he sauntered up the hill, forgetting that he was in a hurry home. The
+words that had floated from their pure lips through the gloom of the
+pines rang in his ears, and as he went along he hummed softly to
+himself, in his deep, bass voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ever journeying onward,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Guided by a star."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Aunt Catharine's real angry this time, and no mistake," Darby thought,
+as in almost perfect silence she gave him and Joan their supper, then
+helped Perry to undress, bath, and put them to bed. "She's sure to
+punish us somehow to-morrow though she's saying nothing about it
+to-night. Oh dear! if she would not look so cold and cross, but just
+give me enough spanking for us both and get it over, I'd much rather."</p>
+
+<p>But Aunt Catharine had decided not to administer any bodily chastisement
+to her nephew's children, although she considered that a smart whipping
+now and again was almost as necessary to the well-being of young people
+as cooling medicine in the spring. She had talked the matter over with
+Auntie Alice, who could not bear the idea of either Darby or Joan being
+put to any avoidable pain. They had been very disobedient certainly, she
+was obliged to admit, and must be taught somehow to do as they were
+told&mdash;Darby especially, who should have been so much wiser than Joan.
+She would herself have cheerfully borne the penalty of all their
+misdemeanours if she could. That was impossible, however; but she
+succeeded in impressing upon her sister that perhaps Captain Dene might
+not like his motherless children to be subjected to such old-fashioned
+discipline. Aunt Catharine, consequently, had laid her plans for a
+different course of action.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning Darby slept quite late&mdash;for him&mdash;being tired out from the
+fatigue of the previous evening. He awoke refreshed and brisk, however,
+and was about to spring out of bed and dress himself in readiness for
+the fun, frolic, and mischief of a new day, when the nursery door was
+thrown wide open, and Aunt Catharine sailed into the room, arrayed in
+all the glory of a Paisley-pattern morning-gown and black crochet
+breakfast-cap. Now, Miss Turner was one of those people sometimes to be
+met with whose moods usually match their clothes. Darby understood this
+peculiarity of his aunt's in a vague sort of way, so that the moment he
+set eyes on the many-coloured wrapper and sombre headgear he knew that
+now they were in for it and no mistake.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what have you to say for yourselves?" she demanded in a loud
+voice, seating herself solemnly in a chair between the two cribs, and
+looking from one child to the other with her severest expression. "You
+can answer me, Guy; Doris is hardly awake yet."</p>
+
+<p>She addressed them as Guy and Doris; and knowing what that meant as well
+as what was indicated by her awful attire, Darby discreetly held his
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>Joan sat up in bed, rubbed her eyes with her dimpled knuckles, nodded
+her tangled curls towards her aunt, and, sweetly smiling, murmured,
+"Mornin'!" to which cheery greeting her aunt did not respond.</p>
+
+<p>There was a prophetic pause for a while; then Miss Turner spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"I am pleased that at least you have the grace to be silent, to make no
+excuses; because there is nothing you could say that would make your sin
+appear any less heinous in my eyes&mdash;and in God's eyes," she added as an
+after-thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the 'henas,' Aunt Catharine?" cried Joan, peeping in the
+direction of the door. "I'd love to see a 'hena!' There's a picter of
+some in Darby's Nat'ral Hist'ry book. They's just like wolves."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Joan!" said Darby, in a frightened undertone; "there's no hyenas
+here. Aunt Catharine means 'heenyus,' and that's a thing in the
+Catechism&mdash;far on! It's only me that has come to it yet."</p>
+
+<p>"You have both been guilty of the gravest disobedience," continued Miss
+Turner, "and it is my duty to punish you. I have therefore decided to
+keep you in bed until you repent of your naughtiness."</p>
+
+<p>Here Darby started up in anger. His gray eyes flashed, his cheeks were
+scarlet, his small fists clenched under the bedclothes.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Saturday," went on his aunt, in her relentless voice. "You
+shall stay where you are until to-morrow, Sabbath morning. Then, if you
+are in a proper frame of mind, you may both get up as usual; but for one
+week you shall not go beyond the garden.&mdash;And you, Guy, because you are
+older than Doris, and should set your sister a good example instead of
+leading her at your heels into every mischief you can devise&mdash;you are to
+have an additional punishment. I desire that while you are in bed you
+shall occupy yourself with your Catechism. And to-morrow, before
+breakfast, I will hear you repeat the fifth commandment, with the three
+following questions and the proofs thereto. After that perhaps you shall
+have a clearer conception of your duty to your parents, which means, in
+your case, those who are in charge of you." And having delivered herself
+thus, Aunt Catharine sailed away as majestically as she had come.</p>
+
+<p>Darby flung himself about in his wrath.</p>
+
+<p>"Parents indeed!" he cried, in passionate scorn. "<i>She's</i> not our
+parents! she's nobody's parent. Why, I heard Postie telling Perry the
+other day that the Miss Turners were both old maids when he was a kid;
+and people can't be old maids and parents as well! Oh, if daddy hadn't
+gone away, or if mother was only here!" he wailed in his dire distress.
+Then he buried his head in the blankets, for his feelings were too
+deeply wounded to find relief in words.</p>
+
+<p>For a while Joan howled lustily, but by-and-by, when she had eaten her
+breakfast of porridge and milk, she tumbled off to sleep again, being
+still weary after her recent wanderings.</p>
+
+<p>Darby, however, lay wide awake, feeling, now that his burst of anger had
+passed away, very tired of things in general, and of himself in
+particular. It was too dreadful, he thought, to be kept in bed on a fine
+day when he was quite well, only stiff and aching all over. Outside the
+air was balmy and still. The garden was ablaze with late dahlias,
+hollyhocks, and asters; and down by the tool-shed Mistress Pussy and her
+family would be contentedly sunning themselves beside the boxwood
+border&mdash;the close-clipped boxwood border, which always gave out such a
+strong, queer, haunting smell.</p>
+
+<p>Oh dear, how tiresome it all was, and what a pity a fellow could not
+<i>sometimes</i> do as he liked without being called naughty and then
+punished! Should life always be like that, Darby wondered. Surely not,
+he told himself, or else he felt that already he had had about enough of
+it. But he did not believe things were quite the same with other
+children. They were different for him and Joan, because daddy was abroad
+and mother dead. If they had only not been left at Firgrove with Aunt
+Catharine! There were plenty of pleasant places in the world besides
+Firgrove. Could not he and Joan go away somewhere, just themselves
+together, where they would want only to be good, because there should be
+no temptation to be naughty; where there should be no Catechism, no Aunt
+Catharine, and no more punishment, especially putting to bed, which was
+Darby's detestation? He really wished to be obedient, this little lad of
+seven years old, and tried very hard to remember everything he was
+told. But forgetting comes easy; consequently he was frequently in
+trouble. He was often good for days together&mdash;quite good, as Joan said.
+But the difficulty with Darby, as with older folk, was not the <i>being</i>
+good, but the <i>keeping</i> good.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time the boy lay pondering some of the problems of life which
+from the beginning have puzzled many a wiser head than his. But Darby
+did not know that he was only going over a well-beaten track. He just
+knew that he was wishful of finding some pleasant spot where, without
+effort or trouble, he could be happy after his own fashion, untrammelled
+and untroubled by restrictions or consequences.</p>
+
+<p>The morning had glided on to noonday. Joan, having had her sleep out,
+was playing with Miss Carolina in her crib. Outside a family of
+lingering swallows sat on the meadow fence discussing their plans for a
+hurried departure on the morrow; and from the dovecot in the yard came
+the soft, continuous cooing of Auntie Alice's pigeons as they strutted
+about the flags or preened their feathers in the sun. The distant
+barking of Mr. Grey's collie, Scott, as he followed the sheep to the
+pasture, floated in through the open window; while from the next room
+came the soothing murmur of nurse's low, droning voice, singing baby
+Eric over to his midday sleep.</p>
+
+<p>What was it she sang? but, indeed, she seemed always singing it. Nothing
+much; only a snatch here and there from that old hymn she was so fond
+of, or perhaps sang almost unconsciously from habit:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Oh, we shall happy be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When from sin and sorrow free!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Bright in that happy land<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Beams every eye;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Kept by a Father's hand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Love cannot die.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Come to this happy land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Come, come away;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Why will ye doubting stand?<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Why still delay?"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Suddenly Darby sat up in bed in his excitement. A brilliant thought had
+struck him. Why had it not occurred to him sooner? The Happy Land!
+that's where they would go. It was far, far away, certainly; but they
+should take some food with them, and ask the road from time to time.</p>
+
+<p>Joan was soon weary of nursing Miss Carolina. She had slipped out of her
+crib and trotted over to the window, where she was occupying herself
+happily in catching and shutting up in an empty pill-box the flies that
+buzzed drowsily in the warm, bright sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>She paused for an instant in the act of conveying with her nimble little
+fingers another captive to its dungeon, when she noticed Darby's flushed
+cheeks and shining eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, dear?" inquired the tiny, white-robed maiden, in
+quite a motherly manner. "Has you got a pain, Darby? or was you dreamin'
+about somefin' werry nice? You does look awful funny, I fink."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not sick, and I haven't been dreaming," answered her brother, in
+earnest assurance. "But I've been thinking, and I've made up my mind.
+We're not going to stay here any longer. I've 'cided where we'll go.
+We'll go to the Happy Land&mdash;that place nurse is often singing about,
+where we shall always be good, and never be naughty, or sick, or
+punished, or put to bed any more. It'll never be dark or raining either,
+but always fine, and bright, bright as day!"</p>
+
+<p>"How lovely!" cried Joan, clapping her hands in ecstasy, at the same
+time dropping the pill-box, from which the autumn flies crawled lazily,
+as if too indolent or too stupid to enjoy their newly-regained liberty.</p>
+
+<p>"Just wouldn't it!" said Darby, with quivering lips and sparkling eyes,
+for he was terribly excited over his scheme. "And you'll come, Joan,
+won't you, lovey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," assented Joan, without the slightest hesitation, giving a
+decisive nod of her golden head that set all her curls bobbing up and
+down like daffodils in a March breeze&mdash;"yes, I'm comin' wif you, Darby
+dear. When's we goin'?" she inquired anxiously, as if in haste to be
+off.</p>
+
+<p>Darby drew her into bed beside him, tucked up her cold pink toes in the
+blankets, and in earnest, subdued tones the two discussed the how and
+the when of their projected pilgrimage.</p>
+
+<p>They could not set off that day, for they were prisoners. The next day
+was Sunday. They would be sure to be out; but then Sunday was not a
+suitable day on which to start on a lengthy journey. Monday would be a
+more fitting time, and Darby remembered with a thrill of thankfulness
+that early on Monday morning the aunts were going away to spend a couple
+of nights at Denescroft, as grannie's charming, China-rose-trimmed
+cottage was called. That would be their chance! Nurse would be almost
+entirely occupied with Eric, and they two should be left to do pretty
+much as they pleased. By the time their aunts returned on Wednesday
+evening the little travellers would be far away, or perhaps they should
+be safe within the boundaries of the Happy Land.</p>
+
+<p>Before breakfast the following morning Darby repeated his appointed
+task, proofs and all, without so much as a single blunder. The children
+went with their aunts to church as usual. In the evening Auntie Alice
+remarked to her sister how very quiet the little ones had been all day.
+Aunt Catharine also had noticed their subdued demeanour. She set it down
+to the chastening effect of penitence for their recent disobedience, and
+hoped that it might continue during the days of their absence at least.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, pets," said Auntie Alice to the children the next day, as
+they hung about the basket-carriage and Billy, waiting to take his
+mistresses to the station. "Cheer up, Darby," she whispered. "Be a good
+brother, and take care of Joan; and see and be happy until we come
+back."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Auntie Alice, I'll take care of her, sure. And we're going to be
+very, very happy," he added, with a look of exultation in his eyes that
+haunted his aunt until she saw him again.&mdash;"Aren't we, Joan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, werry, werry happy!" murmured Joan out of a tousle of sunny hair.
+"Good-bye, Auntie Alice. Kiss Joan again."</p>
+
+<p>"There, that will do. Stand clear of the wheel, both of you," said Aunt
+Catharine, settling her ample figure comfortably into the little
+basket-chaise. "Don't dirty that nice clean pinafore, Joan; and Darby,
+see that you wash your hands properly before dinner."</p>
+
+<p>The aunts departed, and by the time they had reached the first stage on
+their journey, two little travellers stepped bravely out at the front
+door, down the gravelled drive, through the wide gate, and there they
+halted to hold a hurried council as to which way they should go.</p>
+
+<p>Up the hill in one direction sloped the broad white road that led past
+Copsley Wood. No Happy Land lay in its vicinity! By another route, along
+which Billy and the basket-carriage had vanished, was the station; but
+who ever heard of any one arriving at the Happy Land by rail! Some other
+way still they must seek to bring them to their destination.</p>
+
+<p>From the gable end of Firgrove the fields slid gradually down until they
+were merged in a long, level stretch of meadow ground, through which was
+cut a deep, straight canal, whose waters reached like a shining silver
+belt across the emerald sward of the surrounding pasture-lands. Many a
+time Darby and Joan had sat on the garden wall watching the dingy
+barge-boat come and go. They had listened curiously to the voices of the
+man and boy on board chatting to each other, or shouting to the patient,
+plodding horse that towed along the clumsy craft, laden with this and
+that for the villages and hamlets that dotted the landscape thickly
+between Firdale and the far-off range of hills, which rose so proudly up
+to meet the sunset and the sky.</p>
+
+<p>The October day was mild, and bright as days not always are, even in
+midsummer. Great gold-tinged clouds floated slowly across the high, wide
+dome of the azure sky. The hilltops were bathed in a warm, soft glow;
+the placid waters of the canal sparkled, dimpled, and smiled beneath the
+caress of the passing breeze, until they broke into tiny ripples and
+wavelets against their sedge-grown banks.</p>
+
+<p>Along that silvery waterway they shall go, the children decide. Up
+there, beyond the hills, they say, rise the walls of the Beautiful
+City. That radiance is assuredly reflected from its streets of gold.
+Those big, fleecy clouds certainly curtain the approach to the portals
+of pearl!</p>
+
+<p>Just then, emerging from behind a screening clump of trees, the <i>Smiling
+Jane</i>, as the dingy old boat was called, slowly hove in sight. They
+would run fast and coax the man to take them on board when he stopped to
+get his vessel through the lock; or, better still, they would slip in
+unnoticed when he was otherwise engaged. Without a thought of wrong,
+with never a qualm of fear as to failure or consequences, hand in hand
+they raced along in the direction of the canal, casting not so much as a
+glance behind.</p>
+
+<p>And thus it came about that Darby and Joan set out to seek the Happy
+Land.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>GONE AMISSING!</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The old house by the lindens<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Stood silent in the shade,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And on the gravelled pathway<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The light and shadow played.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I saw the nursery windows<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Wide open to the air;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But the faces of the children,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They were no longer there."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Longfellow.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>When dinner-time came without bringing the children in, nurse became
+very cross indeed. Baby had been somewhat troublesome all the forenoon.
+Auntie Alice had lately got into the habit of taking him of a morning,
+walking him about in her arms, crooning sweet nothings over him in her
+soothing voice. He was old enough to miss her, and to-day was not
+satisfied at being put off with only nurse. He had, besides, a new tooth
+coming&mdash;a tiny pearly thing, peeping like a speck of ivory from a bed
+of coral. Very pretty to look at, certainly, but doubtless extremely
+painful; at least Master Baby felt it so, for he fretted and cried in a
+way which set poor Perry's nerves all on edge, and made her think that
+the responsibilities of her position were almost too heavy to be borne
+on one pair of shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Then Master Darby and Miss Joan&mdash;how tiresome they were! always up to
+some mischief or other, said nurse to herself, as she ran between the
+nursery window and the front door to watch if they were not coming
+before their dinner should be spoiled. And such a nice dinner as it was,
+too! Cook had arranged it as a surprise for them, because they were all
+by themselves, knowing how much they enjoyed roast fowl, stewed apples
+and cream. Now the fowl would be dried to a cinder, the potatoes moist
+and sodden, the apples cold as charity!</p>
+
+<p>They must have again disobeyed orders and gone away to the farm, nurse
+concluded, when twelve o'clock, one o'clock, two o'clock passed, and
+still no sign of the little ones. They would be well stuffed up there,
+she was sure, and quite safe; only it was really too bad of Master Darby
+to steal off that way without leave, and drag his little sister along
+with him. He should have nothing but dry bread for his tea, Perry
+decided. Then with a glance at the bassinet, where baby was soundly
+sleeping away some of his fretfulness, and a careful adjustment of the
+fire-guard on the nursery grate, nurse stole downstairs to get her own
+dinner, which, like the children's, would be none the better for waiting
+so long past the usual time.</p>
+
+<p>Eric awoke from his sound, sweet sleep refreshed and hungry. Nurse fed
+him; then, as the air was mild and the sun warm, she put on his coat and
+cap and carried him into the garden to watch the pussies at play.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon shadows began to lengthen, the sun slipped slowly to the
+west, baby grew weary of pulling at the pussies' tails and turned
+peevish again, and still the others were absent. By this time nurse had
+grown downright angry with them for staying away so long. It was a shame
+of Mrs. Grey to keep them. Master Darby deserved a sound smacking, nurse
+said to herself; and only that she was not permitted to punish her
+charges in such a manner, a sound smacking Master Darby should have
+had&mdash;when nurse could catch him, that is to say. Now, however, she must
+go for them. Mrs. Grey would be thinking they were neglected in the
+absence of their aunts, and perhaps telling tales. So, after wrapping
+Eric up warmly in a big woolly shawl, she tucked him into his
+perambulator and set off up the glen road, past the wood and the
+turnip-field, to Copsley Farm, expecting at every turn to meet Darby and
+Joan rushing towards her on their homeward way. But no such interruption
+to her progress occurred.</p>
+
+<p>When she reached the farm an unpleasant surprise awaited her. Neither
+Darby nor Joan had been there that day&mdash;not since the Friday, said Mrs.
+Grey; and she was disappointed, because, having heard that the ladies
+were going from home without the children, she quite expected they would
+have lost no time in paying her a visit.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Mr. Grey came in from the barn, where he had been
+threshing corn all the afternoon. He was tired, heated, and hungry for
+his tea, and only laughed when his wife told him that the little folks
+from Firgrove had gone amissing.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, an' what if they have?" he exclaimed, in his loud, hearty voice.
+"That needn't scare you. Aren't they always gettin' into trouble o' some
+kind or another, the pair o' them? Why, sure it's only the other day
+there that I found them wandered in Copsley Wood, like two motherless
+lambs! They were lost, the little 'un told me, quite lost! An' there
+they were sittin', the two o' them, on the stump o' an old tree, wrapped
+in one another's arms, for all the world like the babes in the wood&mdash;an'
+not more'n half a dozen yards from the highway!"</p>
+
+<p>"An' that's where they are now, sure enough," said Mrs. Grey, in a tone
+of conviction. "They'll have gone back after them squirrels that led
+them such a dance on Friday! What do you think, Miss Perry?" she asked
+anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I am certain of it too, now that you mention it," replied nurse,
+looking aghast at the thought. "Miss Joan was fair wild to get a
+squirrel; and Master Darby, he's that venturesome he would face
+anything. He doesn't know the meaning of fear for all he's so gentle and
+innocent-like. And Miss Joan follows him just like a dog. Dear, dear&mdash;to
+think of it!"</p>
+
+<p>"You may well say that, for Copsley Wood's no place for them to be in by
+themselves," said Mrs. Grey, eyeing nurse with some disapproval in her
+glance.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no place for decent people, let alone children," retorted Perry
+in her turn. "It was no further back than yesterday that the butcher's
+young man was telling me that a couple of gipsies or tramps have set up
+their tent there. He was pressing me to take a walk with him," she
+explained, hanging her head and playing with the fringe of baby's shawl;
+"and I said as how I'd never been in the wood. 'All the better,' says
+Jenkins, quite short, 'because that wood ain't no place for you, nor for
+any other nice young lady.' Oh, if they've gone and got kidnapped or
+murdered, what ever shall I do!" sobbed Perry, who was really a
+well-meaning woman, and good at heart in spite of a certain
+narrow-mindedness, not uncommon to her class, which hindered her from
+seeing at any time much further than her own nose.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey had listened to nurse's speech with ill-concealed scorn.</p>
+
+<p>"Young lady indeed!" she said afterwards to Mr. Grey, giving a
+contemptuous sniff. "Her a lady&mdash;and young too! Why, she's
+eight-and-twenty if she's a day! And a lad like Jim Jenkins! Sakes
+alive! the conceit o' some folks is sickenin'!"</p>
+
+<p>Then when Perry began to weep and lament, the older woman watched her
+curiously in order to make sure how little of her feeling was real, how
+much assumed. But such distress was undoubtedly genuine, Mrs. Grey
+decided, and her eyes held a kindlier expression as she said
+soothingly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come now, cheer up! Takin' on that way won't do no manner o' good. You
+had better hurry home with the baby now. It's gettin' late for him to be
+out, pretty dear! Maybe you'll find the other two there before you, and
+famishin' for their tea."</p>
+
+<p>"The missis is right," agreed Mr. Grey, rising from the table as he
+spoke, and wiping his mouth with a huge, red cotton pocket-handkerchief.
+"You get along as fast as ever you can, an' if the young shavers isn't
+at Firgrove afore you, send somebody up wi' a message. Then me an' Tom
+Brook 'll take a look round; an' if they're anywhere inside Copsley
+Wood, we'll bring them home to you afore bedtime yet, I'll be bound."</p>
+
+<p>But when nurse got back to Firgrove, Darby and Joan were still absent;
+so, giving Eric in charge to Mary the cook, she sped up the hill again
+herself, flying as fast as fear and excitement could urge her, and
+reached the farm, panting and breathless, just when Mr. Grey and his
+head man, Tom Brook, were putting on their coats and preparing to leave
+the barn for the night.</p>
+
+<p>Until almost midnight the two men tramped hither and thither through the
+labyrinths of Copsley Wood, carrying the stable lantern to give them
+light, armed with stout sticks with which to poke among the dense
+undergrowth of laurel, holly, and hazel that formed such a close cover
+for the game of various sorts with which the wood was so thickly
+populated. Now and then from her form amid the withered fern a
+frightened hare leaped among their very feet. Startled rabbits scurried
+here and there over the soft moss and rustling leaves. The cry of a
+night-bird from time to time broke the intense stillness of the lonesome
+place, while more than once they were alarmed by a soft something that
+brushed their face, as a big, downy white owl passed them by in search
+of its prey. In a dell hidden in the very heart of the wood they came
+upon what apparently had been the camping-ground of some wanderers&mdash;the
+gipsies probably, concerning whom the tales and rumours were so rife and
+so exaggerated of late. It must have been used quite recently, for where
+the fire had been built the wood ash was white and undisturbed; while
+the crusts, bones, and fragments of a rough-and-ready meal still
+littered the green turf that spread in such a fresh, delicious carpet
+all around the spot. But now the dell was deserted. The feeling of
+desolation always conveyed by the sight of a burned-out fire, a forsaken
+hearth, struck chilly on Mr. Grey's senses, and he turned away in
+disappointment from the tenantless place. Then the two men gazed blankly
+into each other's eyes. The children could not be found; not a trace of
+them was to be seen, except a small battered shoe&mdash;the shoe that Joan
+had left behind the preceding Friday.</p>
+
+<p>By this time they were so tired out that they were reluctantly obliged
+to give over their search for the night; so, feeling footsore, and
+disheartened by their want of success, they went each his own way
+homewards.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Grey was now thoroughly alarmed for the safety of his wife's little
+favourites, not knowing what mishap might have overtaken them. As for
+nurse, her state of mind was pitiable. She alone had been left in charge
+of the children, and she only was responsible to the Misses Turner for
+their safety. And what would Captain Dene say&mdash;her master, whom she had
+solemnly promised to take good care of his motherless children? She had
+done her best, poor Perry; for although often impatient and
+unsympathetic with the little ones, she loved them devotedly, and would
+now willingly have imperilled her own safety to secure theirs. Oh, how
+earnestly she wished that Miss Turner and Miss Alice were home again, or
+rather that they had not gone away! It was, of course, too late to
+communicate with them that night, but it must be done first thing next
+morning&mdash;as soon as the telegraph office should be open.</p>
+
+<p>"How shall I face them?" cried nurse wildly, pushing cook and baby away
+in her impatience.</p>
+
+<p>Cook looked hurt. She had good-naturedly taken care of Eric all evening,
+and been much diverted by his funny ways. She had offered the little
+fellow to nurse with the best intentions in the world, thinking that
+attending to his wants might distract her attention from her trouble.
+But nurse was not to be consoled thus. She could think of nothing except
+the calamity which had befallen the household in general, herself in
+particular, and for the time being baby was of no importance in her
+eyes; even the adoring Jenkins was forgotten! Nothing remained but her
+own nervous terror and distress.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, as soon as it was daylight, Mr. Grey hastened down to
+Firgrove to inquire if Perry had heard anything of the missing children.
+She had not, and was in a most miserable frame of mind after an
+anxious, sleepless night.</p>
+
+<p>While she and Mr. Grey stood talking together, Tom Brook passed by on
+his way to work at the farm, and seeing the two in conversation, joined
+them. But he brought no comfort to their council with the tidings he had
+to tell&mdash;not much at most, yet important as furnishing a possible clue
+to the fate of the lost ones.</p>
+
+<p>The previous forenoon some of his children at play beside the lock had
+noticed Master Darby and Miss Joan down along the tow-path; but as they
+were accustomed seeing the pair trotting about by themselves
+continually, here, there, and everywhere, they paid no particular
+attention to their movements.</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't go to Copsley Wood after all, then," said Mr. Grey, looking
+very grave, for his fears had been directed into a fresh channel.</p>
+
+<p>"They've gone playing about the canal and fallen in!" cried nurse, with
+a great outburst of tears. "Now they're drownded, dead drownded, both of
+them! O my poor lambs! why did I let you out of my sight for one minute?
+What will master say? O my dear, sweet mistress, this would never have
+happened if you hadn't been tooken away from us!"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Turner and Miss Alice were seated at breakfast in Grannie Dene's
+pretty parlour, where the China roses, that were for all the world just
+the colour of Joan's cheeks, peeped and nodded round the window. They
+were chatting briskly with grannie, whom they had found much stronger,
+and able easily to move about and attend to the affairs of her small
+household, and making their plans for the day. Aunt Catharine was
+arranging everything in her usual capable way. Grannie nodded her head
+in approval, looking the very picture of a sweet, high-bred old lady;
+while Auntie Alice agreed to all her sister suggested, as was her placid
+wont. She appeared contented and at ease, yet from time to time an
+anxious, far-away look would unconsciously creep into her eyes and
+shadow her gentle face when she thought of the little ones at home,
+wondering how they were all getting on&mdash;whether Eric's new tooth had
+come properly through; if Darby was being an obedient boy and taking
+good care of Joan.</p>
+
+<p>The click of the garden-gate attracted their attention, and immediately
+after a whistling telegraph-boy passed the window and the China roses on
+his way to the hall door. Auntie Alice rose from the breakfast-table
+with a queer, fluttering feeling about her heart, and hurried to meet
+the messenger. She took the rustling, brick-coloured envelope from his
+hand, and in another instant the message dictated with much anxiety by
+Mr. Grey lay open before the alarmed ladies,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come home at once. Darby and Joan missing since yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my dears, my dears! Sister, sister! why did we leave them?" was the
+cry that broke from Auntie Alice's trembling lips. It was but the
+expression of a nameless dread which had weighed upon her ever since she
+started from Firgrove, leaving Darby standing looking after them, with
+that expression in his eyes of such perfect purity and peace.</p>
+
+<p>Grannie's thoughts flashed like lightning from the lost children to the
+absent father. She was not a woman of many words, and made little
+outward sign of the sorrow that had suddenly seized upon her. She just
+hid her patient face in her thin white hands, murmuring brokenly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Guy, Guy! my son, my son!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare! One would think those two had never got into a scrape
+before from the way you are going on," said Miss Turner sharply,
+addressing her sister, yet casting a glance of disapproval in the
+direction of Mrs. Dene. "It was only the other day that they went
+wandering into Copsley Wood; and here, when we were ready to set out in
+search of them, didn't they turn up as cool as you please, smiling as
+sweetly as a couple of cherubs! Mr. Grey is alarming us needlessly. He
+and his wife are perfectly silly about those children! It was exactly
+the same when Guy was a boy. He had nothing to do but run up to Mrs.
+Grey for petting and sympathy whenever he made things too hot for
+himself at Firgrove. Well, if Darby has disobeyed me this time, after
+all I said, and the Catechism and everything, I won't be so soft with
+him in future, that's certain!" declared Aunt Catharine, in her severest
+voice; yet her fresh-coloured face had grown pale, her eyes were
+troubled, her lips trembled. In her heart of hearts she wished she had
+not been quite so strict with her nephew's children, Darby
+especially&mdash;poor Dorothy Archdale's motherless little lad.</p>
+
+<p>It was afternoon by the time the ladies arrived at Firdale, the small
+wayside station nearest to Firgrove. Mr. Grey had forsaken his farm and
+his threshing, and was waiting to receive them. But one glance at his
+honest face was sufficient to assure them that he was not the bearer of
+any good news. Nothing further had been heard of the missing children.
+Copsley Wood had been scoured by a band of beaters from end to end, with
+no better success than had attended the efforts of the two men the night
+before. Mr. Grey's thoughts had reverted again and again to the
+ill-favoured man and black-browed woman&mdash;gipsies they were said to be,
+but more likely they were only ordinary vagrants&mdash;who had been seen
+lately loitering about the neighbourhood, and whose appearance had given
+rise to the wildest and absurdest rumours. One cottager, it was said,
+had lost all her hens; another missed a young pig out of its sty, while
+the ailing infant of a third had died in convulsions soon after the
+dark-faced female was at the door demanding a draught of milk! Mrs. Grey
+had suggested that perhaps the evil pair had kidnapped the pretty
+children, meaning to make use of them in some way&mdash;for such things
+happened, if one was to believe all that appeared in the newspapers&mdash;or
+in order to draw a reward out of their friends. Her husband laughed at
+the idea; yet he caused the tramps to be traced and followed from their
+deserted quarters in the wood up to the time when they had forced their
+way, as the bargeman affirmed, on board the barge-boat close beside the
+village of Shendon. They had no youngsters with them then of any
+description, bargee was positive; just the man and woman by themselves.
+They were not gipsies at all, he added, but some sort of play-acting
+people journeying to join their party, who had preceded them to
+Barchester by a few days. Folks of that class were not likely to have
+had a hand in the disappearance of anybody's children; they usually had
+plenty of their own.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies discussed the ins and outs of the odd affair with Mr. Grey in
+all its bearings. At length they were forced to the conclusion that it
+was in the region of the canal they must seek the little ones&mdash;whether
+about it or in it only time should tell. Miss Alice wept softly, while
+Miss Turner was wondering, with a terrible weight on her heart, what she
+should say in the cablegram to Africa; for if Darby and Joan did not
+turn up, and soon too, she knew that their father should have to be
+informed of the calamity which had befallen him.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Grey hurried home to snatch a hasty meal and tell his wife not to be
+anxious about his absence. Then he and Tom Brook, with two other men,
+set off to follow the clue furnished by Tom Brook's children. At
+Firgrove the household waited, eager for news, with what patience they
+could command, and they needed a good share; for waiting, as everybody
+knows, is wearier work than doing.</p>
+
+<p>Step by step, two of them on one side and two on the other, they tramped
+along the course of the canal, poking with their sticks into the long,
+sedgy grass and reeds beside its banks, peering among the clumps of
+osiers that grew thick and tall in the damp, spongy ground below the
+tow-path. On, on they went, only pausing for a few minutes now and
+again, to take a rest or to hold a consultation. They questioned closely
+every pedestrian whom they met by the way, but nobody could give them
+any tidings to help them in their search. And still they pressed on,
+past locks, hamlets, villages&mdash;on, on, until, when night was closing in
+around them, they reached Barchester. There, perforce, they must pause;
+for beyond Barchester was the sea, so at Barchester the canal came to an
+abrupt conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>It was a weary and dispirited little group that gathered on the wharf in
+the fast-falling darkness of the October evening. The other men, as well
+as Mr. Grey, had known Captain Dene from his infancy almost, and two of
+them had little ones of their own snug and safe by their cottage hearths
+at that dull evening hour. They consequently felt keenly the sorrow that
+threatened the absent father; also the distress and trouble of the aunts
+at Firgrove, who had so generously taken upon them the responsible duty,
+which not infrequently turns out a thankless task, of taking charge of
+somebody else's bairns.</p>
+
+<p>The wharf, except for themselves, was deserted. It was almost dark, too,
+lighted only by one badly-trimmed paraffin lamp that swung above the
+door of the room or office which the keeper occupied during the day. Its
+flickering rays fell on the deep, sluggish waters of the canal as they
+lapped and gurgled round the wet, slimy beams on which the planks were
+supported. Mr. Grey stood somewhat apart from the others, and gazed idly
+at the shadows cast by the dimly-burning lamp, as they swayed backwards
+and forwards, up and down, with each slow movement of the water; yet he
+did not actually see anything. He was thinking of the winsome wee pair
+whom he had come upon a few days before sitting on a tree-stump in
+Copsley Wood&mdash;of their trusting eyes, their sweet voices, their artless
+prattle, their firm faith in the protecting power of their heavenly
+Father. Assuredly He had them in His careful keeping some place; but
+where?&mdash;on earth or in heaven? This was the question which so sorely
+perplexed the anxious searchers.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly something attracted Mr. Grey's attention&mdash;something that had
+got jammed in a space between two rotten beams which floated alongside
+the flooring of the crazy old wharf&mdash;and his heart leaped in his breast
+with a throb of sickening fear. He stooped over the water, reached
+forward his stout staff, and with its hooked head carefully hauled up
+that something which he instinctively shrank from seeing, without
+exactly knowing why.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it was nothing much after all, neither more nor less than what may
+be seen any day drifting hither and thither amongst scraps and straws
+upon the surface of a stream&mdash;only a child's sailor-hat, which had once
+been white, but was now sadly discoloured, soaked with water, and
+hanging almost in pieces. A faded blue ribbon dangled from its battered
+brim, bearing on its surface in tarnished gold letters the title of the
+ship to which its wearer belonged&mdash;H.M.S. <i>Dreadnought</i>.</p>
+
+<p>With a queer choking in his throat Mr. Grey carried his find close to
+what light there was beneath the dirty lamp, while with strained, eager
+faces the other men peered over his shoulder, and then, sure enough,
+they saw what they feared. For there, inside the hat, stitched to the
+lining of the crown by a careful mother's loving fingers, was a piece of
+tape on which a name was plainly written, the name of&mdash;Darby Dene!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. "DREADNOUGHT."</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Shall we call this a boat out at sea,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We four sailors rowing?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Can you fancy it? Well, as for me,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I feel the salt wind blowing.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Up, up and down, lazy boat!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On the top of a wave we float;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Down we go with a rush.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Far off I see the strand<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Glimmer; our boat we'll push<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Ashore on fairyland."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">&mdash;<span class="smcap">A. Keary.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>And now it is time to return to the two little travellers.</p>
+
+<p>The big red barge-boat came swinging slowly through the lock as the
+children came close to the canal. They were too late to get aboard
+there, and they hung back in disappointment and indecision. After
+clearing the lock and exchanging a word or two with the woman at the
+toll, the bargeman had laid himself down upon a heap of empty sacks, to
+take a nap most probably, leaving his boy in charge of the tiller. Soon
+bargee was wrapped in slumber, and the boy buried in a penny dreadful.
+Darby and Joan did not desire to disturb either of them. They were
+anxious above all things to get on board the boat unnoticed; so, after a
+hurried consultation carried on in whispers, they agreed that their best
+plan would be to walk on to the next stopping-place&mdash;a tiny clump of
+cottages and a shop or two, called by courtesy a village&mdash;and make sure
+of embarking there. This hamlet was only about half a mile off. They
+could reach it easily before the barge; and keeping well in the shelter
+of the fringe of alders, osiers, and reeds that grew thickly in the
+marshy ground below the tow-path, lest the man or the lad should look
+about and spy them, the children trotted straight along, with their
+eager eyes steadfastly fixed upon the far-off hills in front.</p>
+
+<p>Bargee was soon snoring lustily; the boy seemed to find his story
+all-absorbing; the old brown horse knew every step of the way, foot for
+foot, better than either of them, and required no guiding: consequently
+the little ones were in scarcely any danger of detection. Besides, even
+if the man or the boy on board the canal-boat had noticed the pair
+stealing along behind the bushes, neither would have thought of
+challenging their presence or casting upon them more than a passing
+glance. They would have simply accepted them for what they appeared to
+the casual observer&mdash;two cottage children who were either altogether
+motherless or sadly neglected&mdash;and then forgotten all about them. For,
+to be quite candid, they looked far from respectable&mdash;entirely unlike
+the trim, spotless little persons whom Perry had dressed with such care
+and precision only some hours before; bearing but small resemblance in
+their general cut to the dainty figures which had run the gauntlet of
+Aunt Catharine's eagle eyes as they sat opposite to her at breakfast
+early that morning.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the children's arrival at Firgrove, Miss Turner had gone
+carefully through their clothing,&mdash;adding a number of fresh garments to
+their stock, discarding others which had been purchased according to
+Perry's idea of fitness as being entirely unbecoming or unsuitable,
+laying aside for distribution among her poor a goodly quantity that had
+grown either so small or so shabby as to be altogether unfit for further
+wear&mdash;by Captain Dene's children and Miss Turner's young relatives, that
+is to say.</p>
+
+<p>Upon this store Darby had drawn; for with an eye to thrift which would
+have done credit to Aunt Catharine herself, and expectation of the fresh
+and beautiful rig-out awaiting them in the land for which they were
+bound, he considered that it would be sheer and sinful extravagance to
+carry away with them any clothes, except what they could with an easy
+conscience cast aside&mdash;as Christian left <i>his</i> rags behind when by the
+Shining One he was dressed anew.</p>
+
+<p>Picture them then, please!</p>
+
+<p>Darby wore a velveteen suit which had once been black, but now, from
+stress of wear and weather, had turned a sickly green. From the scrimpy
+legs of the knickerbockers his knees shone bare and brown. Out of the
+sleeves, that reached only half-way below the elbows, his arms stuck
+freely, showing a broad band of untanned wrist between the button-less
+cuffs and the chubby, sunburnt hand. A pair of sadly-scuffed shoes,
+which originally had been nut-brown calf, were held upon his feet by one
+solitary button and a piece of string; while his headgear consisted of a
+sailor-hat, with battered brim, and blue ribbon band so stained and
+faded that only with difficulty one could make out the name upon its
+silken surface&mdash;H.M.S. <i>Dreadnought</i>&mdash;a most appropriate one for the
+ship in which this dauntless mariner sailed, for he had in truth a brave
+and fearless spirit!</p>
+
+<p>As for Joan, she appeared to be even more after the tinker type than
+Darby. Her cotton frock had once upon a time been pink and pretty as a
+double daisy. Now it was washed-out, worn, and, sad to say, in several
+places torn. At different points the skirt had rebelliously escaped from
+the confinement of gathers round the waist; the back gaped open where in
+sundry spots the hooks and eyes had quarrelled and agreed to meet no
+more. On her shining golden curls she had set a cast-off garden-hat
+belonging to Aunt Catharine, of brown straw, in what was known as the
+mushroom shape. Surmounting Joan's tiny figure it looked exactly like a
+small umbrella, which hid her blue eyes, and shaded her pink-and-white
+complexion so completely that several times Darby stooped down, peeped
+under the floppy brim, crying merrily, much to his sister's amusement,
+"Anybody at home to-day? any one within here?" Her feet were dressed
+somewhat after the same fashion as her brother's; while round her
+shoulders, crossed in front and tied by Darby's fumbling fingers in a
+clumsy knot behind, was a faded tartan shoulder-shawl that had once been
+Perry's, but for many a month and day had been used as the nursery
+blanket of all the invalid dolls in Joan's large family.</p>
+
+<p>They were a pair, without doubt. No one could have known them a little
+way off, not even their father or nurse&mdash;well, not nurse certainly,
+although their father might, if he had glanced at them a second time;
+for love's eyes are keen, and not mother-love itself is deeper,
+stronger, truer than a good father's for his trusting children.</p>
+
+<p>Bargee slept soundly on his couch of empty corn-sacks; the lad was still
+lost in his story; the brown horse went slower and slower, pausing now
+and again to snatch a mouthful of grass from the bank beside his feet,
+until at length he stopped altogether, and, settling himself comfortably
+on three legs, he shut his eyes and prepared to follow his master's
+example.</p>
+
+<p>The little ones were now some way in advance of the boat; but when they
+looked back and observed that boat and horse had come to a standstill,
+they agreed that they also might rest awhile, and joyfully threw
+themselves down upon the soft, cool meadow grass, taking good care to
+keep well out of sight of those other two afloat upon the canal.</p>
+
+<p>"I's hungry&mdash;werry," said Joan, with a tired sort of sigh. "Isn't it
+never near dinner-time yet, Darby?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think it must be by this time," replied Darby, looking knowingly
+in the direction of the sun, as he had seen Mr. Grey and Green the
+gardener do. "And if it isn't it ought, for I'm hungry too. Come, and
+we'll eat some of our biscuits and things."</p>
+
+<p>"But there's no meat or potatoes or puddin'. It won't be real dinner
+wifout meat," grumbled Joan.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we can't have real dinner&mdash;pilgrims on a long journey never
+do&mdash;but we can make believe that we have. Won't that do instead, Joan?"
+asked Darby anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it'll do quite well&mdash;to-day," answered Joan, jumping up and
+beginning in true housewifely fashion to set out their repast.</p>
+
+<p>From each child's pocket came a crumpled pocket-handkerchief, not very
+large, and, if the truth must be told, not over clean. These Joan spread
+on the grass to serve as a tablecloth. Then Darby proceeded to
+distribute the rations for the midday meal&mdash;to each a tiny tart, a slice
+of seed-cake, one biscuit, and a mellow russet pear.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, isn't that a lovely dinner?" he demanded proudly; "and there's
+nearly&mdash;not quite, but almost&mdash;as much more for tea," he added, peering
+into the depths of the old reticule which was slung, haversack fashion,
+across his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's 'licious," agreed Joan, with her mouth full of cracknel
+biscuit. Now cracknels are rather dry eating, and when one's mouth is
+otherwise occupied it is not easy to speak distinctly. However, the
+biscuit went over with an effort, and Joan's mouth was free for further
+speech. "It's a puffic'ly 'licious dinner," she repeated. "Why, if we'd
+been at home instead of goin' to the Happy Land, nurse would only have
+given us chops, and maybe rice and jam."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; she's always giving us things like that, and they've hardly any
+taste. When I'm big I'll never eat rice or mutton, but nice, nippy,
+mustardy meat, like what father used to give us from his dinners. We
+never get nothing like that now," sighed the little boy, as if he were
+very badly used indeed.</p>
+
+<p>"It's because Aunt Catharine doesn't think they're good for you,"
+replied Joan wisely. "I heard her tellin' cook to be sure an' give the
+chil'ens plenty of pow'idge, bread an' milk, an' lots of busted rice. I
+wonder why she calls the rice busted."</p>
+
+<p>"It's not 'busted'," corrected Darby, laughing gleefully; "it's <i>burst</i>
+you mean!"</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't matter which, I'm sure, for it's just nonsense to speak
+about rice bein' busted. It's us that's busted when we've eated great
+plates of it&mdash;nashty, messy stuff!" and Joan turned up her dainty little
+nose in disgust at what she was so tired of hearing called "plain,
+wholesome food."</p>
+
+<p>Then she sighed heavily.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with you?" anxiously asked Darby. "Have you not had
+enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I've had enough&mdash;at least&mdash;it doesn't matter. I was only wishin'
+we had a drink of milk. I don't want to be gweedy; but oh, I does want a
+drink so badly! I's so awful thirsty. 'Twas the biscuits, I'm sure,"
+added Joan apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I forgot to bring any milk," said Darby regretfully.
+"There's lots of water in the canal, of course. I could carry you some
+in my hat; but then I don't think it's very clean."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure it looks all right," replied the little girl, grasping eagerly
+at her brother's idea. "It's brown, but see how it sparkles!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, then, and I'll lift you out some," assented Darby. "But you
+mustn't take much, mind; just what will wash down that biscuit, for it
+<i>was</i> dry!"</p>
+
+<p>They crept up the bank of the canal in shelter of a sheaf of tall reeds.
+Together they crouched upon the brink. Joan held Darby's hand fast while
+he leaned down and with his hat ladled her up a small measure of the
+doubtful-looking liquid, which she swallowed greedily and pronounced the
+nicest water she had ever tasted&mdash;better even than milk.</p>
+
+<p>Darby shook the moisture from his hat and waved it in the air to
+dry&mdash;backwards, forwards, round and round, faster and faster. It was
+almost dry. A few more turns would complete the process, and he twirled
+it quicker still, when all at once it went flying from his fingers,
+skimming right into the middle of the canal, hopelessly out of reach!</p>
+
+<p>He gazed after it with such a blank look that Joan laughed gleefully.
+Away it went, sailing slowly along, the blue ribbon trailing like a tail
+behind; on, on, farther and farther, until at length, behind a clump of
+osiers that hung over the bank and dipped into the water at a bend in
+the canal, the watchers lost sight of the gallant little craft&mdash;H.M.S.
+<i>Dreadnought</i>!</p>
+
+<p>"It's gone!" said Darby ruefully. "Well, it's a good thing that it was
+only an old one," he continued, in a cheerier tone. "I'm just as comfy
+without a hat. Perhaps it'll be to one of those big schools where the
+boys wear nothing on their head but their hairs that father will send me
+by-and-by, so I'd best be getting used to going without. And in the
+Happy Land hymn, although it tells about the robes&mdash;at least, I expect
+it's them that's 'bright, bright as day'&mdash;there's not a word about what
+they wear on their heads, except a crown, and one couldn't wear anything
+else along with that."</p>
+
+<p>"I wants another drink," whimpered Joan after a pause, preparing to lay
+hands on Aunt Catharine's mushroom hat. "Take my hat, Darby; it'll hold
+lots and lots of water. That ho'wid old cracknel's stickin' in my froat
+yet," and she gasped piteously, like a chicken with the pip.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," answered Darby decisively, putting down his foot, so to
+speak, in his most masterful manner. "You can't have any more of that
+bad water. Don't you know it's very dangerous to drink bad water?
+There's funny little beasts living in it called microscopes. They get
+into the blood and carry on dreadful. They give people fever, and typus,
+and palsy, and cholera-mortis, and&mdash;and&mdash;I don't know what all," and he
+took a long breath, having somewhat exhausted the supply along with his
+list of horrors. "I heard Dr. King telling Auntie Alice all about it one
+day."</p>
+
+<p>Joan heard him out with open mouth and wondering eyes. How clever Darby
+was! He knew everything&mdash;almost! Her admiration was short-lived,
+however. Soon she returned to the charge, and with the skirt of her
+cotton frock at her eyes, she wailed anew,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I want a drink, I do, or my tea. Bo&mdash;o&mdash;o! I wants my tea!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't think any more about being thirsty, Joan, like a good girl,"
+coaxed her brother, laying his arm lovingly round his little sister's
+shoulders. "That's the right way to do when you've got a pain or
+anything that won't get better&mdash;just pretend it's not there. Or we'll
+make believe that we've had our tea&mdash;although it's only done being
+dinner-time&mdash;and that nurse has just handed us our second cup, and, by
+mistake for her own, put four lumps of sugar in it. My, isn't it sweet!"
+And Darby smacked his lips, but Joan did not lift her head. "Maybe we'll
+get some nice fresh water when we get into the barge," he added, seeing
+that his first tactics had failed. "And when we reach the Happy Land
+there'll be oceans of it&mdash;streams and streams of pure, sparkling water,
+clear as crystal! Think of that, Joan!"</p>
+
+<p>The prospect, though pleasing, was too remote to satisfy Joan's
+immediate craving, or fancy rather, for she was not nearly so thirsty as
+she indicated, and she kept on whimpering,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Bo&mdash;o&mdash;o! I want a drink&mdash;I wants my tea!"</p>
+
+<p>Darby always felt helpless when Joan went on crying in that persistent
+way, and he looked about him in despair. Then he started up in haste, at
+the same time dragging at his sister's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on!" he cried. "See, the horse has started; the <i>Smiling Jane</i>'s
+moving. They're a good way in front. We'll have to run a bit to catch up
+on them."</p>
+
+<p>Thus opportunely diverted from brooding on her grievance, Joan quickly
+dried her eyes, trotted contentedly along by her brother's side, and
+soon they arrived quite close to the rude wharf, where the boat would
+stop long enough to deliver the goods intended for the village and take
+in some fresh cargo to be handed out at one of the hamlets further on.</p>
+
+<p>As the boat came in a number of people were collected on the wharf
+waiting to receive their goods, because to this out-of-the-way place
+the canal-boat served instead of a carrier's cart; therefore all kinds
+of things&mdash;from bags of corn, tons of coal, sacks of potatoes, down to
+small packages&mdash;were sent and received by this route, and the arrival of
+bargee and his boat made quite a break in the uneventful lives of the
+inhabitants of that remote, far-scattered district. They chatted,
+laughed, shouted, and bandied jokes with each other and the bargeman,
+who had sprung from his craft the moment she was made fast to the wharf,
+and stamped about, up and down, as if he was glad to find himself with
+plenty of elbow-room once more.</p>
+
+<p>In the hubbub and general bustle the children had little or no
+difficulty in stealing unobserved on board the barge. They had been on
+her once before with a friendly old bargeman but recently retired to
+give place to a younger, more active man, who was a stranger on the
+route, consequently did not know the little folks from Firgrove. Darby
+drew Joan behind him, and making straight below for the bunker, called
+by courtesy the cabin, they curled themselves up on an old rug in its
+farthest, darkest corner, where, worn out with excitement and fatigue,
+they soon fell fast asleep.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>HILL DIFFICULTY.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"He was a rat, and she was a rat,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And down in one hole they did dwell;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And both were as black as a witch's cat,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And they loved one another well.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"He smelt the cheese, and she smelt the cheese,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And they both pronounced it good;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And both remarked it would greatly add<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To the charms of their daily food."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">&mdash;<i>Anon.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>The cargo for Ashville had been discharged, the stuff for Shendon stowed
+away. A fresh horse waited on the path; the gathering of people had
+scattered, carrying their goods and their gossip with them. The boy was
+feasting upon a hunch of bread and cheese, as a change from devouring
+his story. Bargee was in the act of stepping on board when a man laid a
+hand on his arm, and a rough voice arrested his steps. Two persons were
+standing beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, mate, will you give me an' my wife a lift as far as Engleton?
+We've been on tramp this last week, an' we're both dead beat."</p>
+
+<p>Bargee looked curiously at the speaker, a great, ill-looking fellow,
+with coarse red hair and a crooked eye. From the man he glanced at his
+companion, a tall, broadly-built woman, with bold black eyes, olive
+skin, and flaming cheeks. They were the pair, in short, who had watched
+Darby and Joan from behind the clump of hazel bushes as they sat upon
+the tree-stump that day in Copsley Wood.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't," said the young bargeman shortly. "It's against rules for this
+yer boat to carry passengers."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, ay, I know all that; but just for once you might oblige a chap. We
+could make it worth yer while," added the fellow insinuatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Do now," put in the woman in a wheedling voice, fixing her big, bold
+eyes on bargee's face. "My feet's blistered, an' my legs that stiff I
+couldn't walk another mile to save my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't then," he answered shortly, preparing to push past her and get
+into the boat.</p>
+
+<p>But she clung to his hand, determined not to be thrown off, smiling
+broadly into his dull face, almost dazzling him with the flash of her
+strong white teeth, which she displayed so freely.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, to be sure, who would think now that a fine feller like you could
+be so hard-hearted! Sich a well-set-up lad," she continued, "an' with
+sich a fetchin' kind o' look, shouldn't be backward in helpin' other
+folks, especially a woman as is tired out like me."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you stop here overnight and rest, then? you'll be fit enough to
+foot it to Engleton in the morning. Where's your hurry?" asked bargee,
+beginning to relent under the smiling glances and flattering words of
+the temptress.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's this way," explained the red-haired man, fixing bargee with
+his straight eye, while the crooked one gazed into space about half a
+foot above his head. "We belongs to the Satellite Circus Company; we're
+the proprietors, in fact, me an' my missis here&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean that old shandrydan of a caravan that passed along there
+two or three days ago?" and bargee jerked his thumb in the direction of
+the hilly tract sloping up from the canal course, through which a narrow
+road, little better than a sheep track, wound its circuitous way. "Do
+you call <i>yon</i> a circus company?" he asked, laughing broadly into the
+proprietor's ugly face.</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly&mdash;the Satellite Circus Company, as I think I remarked
+before. We're a small party, small but select&mdash;<i>very</i>" and the
+red-haired man winked knowingly in the direction of his wife. "As I was
+tryin' to explain, the caravan with part of our troupe went on to
+Barchester the other day; but me an' my missis here&mdash;she wasn't feelin'
+well-like&mdash;we stayed behind in the country to recruit, as the newspapers
+says about all the big folks, an' get the benefit o' the fresh air."</p>
+
+<p>"Then 'twas ye was loiterin' about Firdale an' Copsley Wood scarin'
+people out o' their wits? Poachin'&mdash;eh?" asked the young fellow, with a
+grin.</p>
+
+<p>The proprietor of the Satellite Circus Company made no reply, and after
+a moment's hesitation his wife answered for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Look ee here," she said insinuatingly, sidling at the same time nearer
+to bargee, and speaking with her mouth close to his ear. "Wouldn't
+<i>them</i> make a tasty stew for yer supper to-night, my lad?" opening as
+she spoke a huge wallet which hung concealed beneath the folds of her
+faded scarlet shawl, and drawing from its depths a couple of plump young
+rabbits and a pair of wood-pigeons.</p>
+
+<p>"By jingo! wouldn't they though!" he exclaimed, smacking his lips at
+the prospect of the toothsome meal the woman was willing to provide.
+What a pity he could not oblige her and her husband! They were only
+tramps, to be sure, but decent enough for all that. What harm could they
+do on board the old tub of a boat? And what a supper he should have
+after he reached Barchester!</p>
+
+<p>Bargee looked about him. The boy was seated beside the tiller and paying
+no attention to his master; he was still busy with his bread and cheese.
+The toll-keeper yet lingered within the office, so for his benefit
+bargee raised his voice as he said roughly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I tell ye. There's no use o' ye hangin' an' pesterin' here no
+longer. I durstn't disobey orders, an' that's the end o't." Then he
+added in a rapid whisper into the woman's quick ear as he boarded his
+craft,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Push on to the next lock, it's about a mile further, an' I'll take ye
+in then. But mind, if ye're asked any questions, mum's the word."</p>
+
+<p>With a knowing wink and comprehensive smile the pair leisurely sauntered
+off the wharf; and when the canal-boat slowed in passing the next toll,
+with an agile spring the red-haired man leaped from the path to the
+deck, then helped his missis, as he called the bold-eyed, black-browed
+woman, in beside him.</p>
+
+<p>Thus Joe Harris, or Thieving Joe, as he was known among his associates,
+and his wife Moll came to be passengers along with our two little
+travellers on board the <i>Smiling Jane</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The bargeman himself now took the tiller. The boy had stolen back to his
+story, so the newcomers drew somewhat apart, where they sat talking to
+each other in subdued, earnest tones of the small voyagers then sleeping
+so serenely in the dirty bunker below&mdash;the pretty pair whom they had of
+set purpose shadowed along the canal, watched aboard the boat, and
+determinedly followed.</p>
+
+<p>"We've trapped them sure enough this time, Moll, my beauty," said the
+man, indicating the cabin and the little creatures therein by a side nod
+of his great red head.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, surely," answered Moll, with a slow smile. "I expec' the pretty
+dears is sleepin' sweet as angels down in that dirty hole. But, Joe, now
+as we have got 'em, do you think it'll be safe to keep 'em? Won't their
+folks make a row, an' sen' the beaks after us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Folks!" echoed Mr. Harris in mockery. "My, you are a green un, though
+you're sich a black beauty! Do you suppose if they had any folks
+belongin' to 'em worth speakin' o' that they'd be let go galavantin'
+round as we've seed them&mdash;here, there, an' everywhere? No, no; they'd be
+walkin' about hand in hand as prim as peonies, wi' a starched-up nurse
+girl at their heels."</p>
+
+<p>"They're out on a lark, you bet; that's what it is," said Moll, nodding
+her head sagaciously. "Kids like they is allus up to somethin'. Maybe
+they've runned away. More'n likely."</p>
+
+<p>"Humbug!" snapped Joe shortly. "Didn't you notice their clo'es? They're
+nothin' but washed-out rags an' far-worn clouts!" he declared, as if his
+opinion should settle the question beyond further doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"Rags an' clouts if you like," agreed Moll cheerily, "but they wasn't
+allus that. They're the remains o' real nice good things. Mind, Joe, I
+knows, an' you don't; men never does about sich matters."</p>
+
+<p>"Stuff an' nonsense," he growled. "Clo'es or rags, it don't matter a
+button, for they're only common brats, I tell you. There'll be a bit o'
+an outcry after them for a day or two; then it'll die down as quick as
+it rose. Poor folks haven't time to indulge their feelin's. Besides,
+once we've got clear off they'll never find us. We've covered our tracks
+purty cleverly, I'm thinkin', an' so has the kids," he added, with a
+smothered chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"Hum! Well, maybe you're right, my man," said Moll, after a moment's
+silence, during which she sat twirling the fringes of her old red shawl.
+"I'm willin' to stand by you in this business, as I've done in others
+afore now," she added meaningly, while her better half scowled at her,
+and muttered under his breath something that was hardly complimentary;
+"but if trouble comes o't, as it will, or my name's not Moll Harris, you
+can't say as I didn't warn you, like a wife should."</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up!" commanded Joe gruffly; but as this was a frequent and
+favourite remark of his, Moll did not take the trouble to resent it.</p>
+
+<p>Then he changed his tune, and continued in an eager undertone,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"They'll make the fortune o' the company, Moll, old girl, will them
+kids! The little chap's just at the best age to train for the tight-rope
+an' the trapeze. An' the lass, with her yeller curls an' big eyes same's
+a wax doll's&mdash;my, just you picter the crowds she'll draw, trippin'
+round so pretty-like with Bruno at her foot! Can't you see the big bills
+an' posters starin' at you from every wall, flarin' out o' every
+winder:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"'<i>The Wonderful Child Acrobat! The Most Marvellous Aeronaut of the
+Age! Little Boy-Butterfly, and Bambo the Musical Dwarf!</i></p>
+
+<p>"'<i>Sweet Sissy Sunnylocks, and Bruno the Performing Bear!</i></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'<i>Countless other attractions! Come one, come all,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>To the Satellite Company's Variety Hall!</i>'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"What do you think o' that, Moll, my lady? That'll empty folk's pockets,
+or Joe Harris is mistaken for once in his life. My, this <i>is</i> a stroke
+o' luck!" and Mr. Harris rubbed his dirty hands together and laughed
+gleefully. "We've been on the lookout for a couple o' youngsters this
+many a day; now we've hit upon them at last. A bear an' a dwarf's all
+very well, but there's nothin' that touches the hearts an' reaches the
+coins o' an audience like a kid, especially if it has got great
+innercent eyes an' golden hair!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's mighty fine for <i>you</i>, no doubt," said Moll angrily. "You'll
+eat an' drink your fill, an' dress up in fine clo'es o' an off evenin'
+to go rollickin' about an' enjoy yourself. But what good'll it do <i>me</i>,
+I'd like to know?" she asked shrilly. "I share yer dirty work, I know,
+but precious little else; just grub, grub away all the year roun', with
+never a bit o' pleasure, nor a stitch o' handsome things to my back!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give you a silk gownd, Moll, I declare I will, if this bold
+venture turns out for us what I expect&mdash;whatever colour you please; only
+say the word," said Mr. Harris grandly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like claret&mdash;a nice bright claret with plenty o' lace, an' that
+shiny trimmin' wi' tinsel through it," admitted Moll, beginning to
+recover her good humour, and flashing a smiling glance into the squinty
+eye fixed somewhere about her forehead. "Ay, an' what else?" she
+demanded, determined to take full advantage of her husband's unusually
+bland mood.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll buy you a gold ring too, my girl&mdash;one o' them real shiners,"
+promised Joe, thinking that as he was in for the penny he might as well
+pledge himself to the pound. "Ah! that makes you sit up, I'm thinkin',"
+and the generous man gave his wife a playful poke in the ribs.</p>
+
+<p>"Reely an' truly, Joe, fair an' square? A true di'mon', an' none o' your
+sham bits o' glass?" cried Moll in ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p>"Fair an' square, my woman; a real di'mon' as big's a pea, Moll. There's
+my hand on't, if you just help me through wi' this little business. You
+can, you know, if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"So help me bob!" said Moll quite solemnly, and the well-matched pair
+shook hands over their guilty compact. And thus Moll, who in her better
+moods might have befriended the children, pledged herself, for sake of
+vanity and greed, to work her hardest for their undoing.</p>
+
+<p>Twilight was drawing in when the canal-boat stopped at Engleton, the
+last stage on the journey before reaching Barchester. It was a tiny
+village, nestling at the foot of a range of undulating hills that rose,
+plateau after plateau, until their summits seemed to meet the sky. The
+wharf was crowded as usual at that slack evening hour. And in the babel
+of voices, banging of boxes, shifting of stuff, and general confusion,
+our little travellers, rested and refreshed by their long sleep and the
+remainder of the provisions which they had consumed in the cabin, had no
+difficulty in stealing off the boat and away from the wharf without
+attracting any notice, except from two persons, a man and woman&mdash;Joe
+Harris and his wife Moll, who did not lose sight of them for a moment,
+but followed hard upon their heels.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Joan!" cried Darby, as they turned their faces towards the hills.
+"See, we're near the Happy Land now!" and the lad pointed to the golden
+radiance that glowed in the sky and bathed the peaks behind which the
+sun had only lately sunk from sight. "That's the light from the city.
+They've opened the gates because they know we're coming.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry, lovey! Here, take my arm. That's what father used to say when
+mother was tired; I 'member quite well. It's just a little bit further
+now. In one of my Sunday books there's a picture of Christian climbing a
+hill that led to the City Beautiful. The Hill Difficulty it was called.
+I expect this is it. Come on, Joan; we're almost there! Then we'll never
+be tired any more, but 'reign, reign for aye.'"</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the children heard steps behind them, and looked round to
+see, only a few yards away, an ugly red-haired man, with a curious
+crooked eye and evil face, and a tall, sturdy woman with gleaming teeth,
+dusky locks, and crimson cheeks. He had seen them before, Darby
+remembered all at once, hanging about the back gate at Copsley Farm one
+day when he was peeping from the skylight in the stable loft. They must
+be the gipsies who had been haunting Copsley Wood; and the brave boy
+drew his sister closer to his side, as if with his own small body he
+would shield her from all harm.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evenin', my little dears," spoke the man's gruff voice right above
+Darby's head.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening," answered the boy courteously, at the same time
+instinctively putting up his hand in order to raise his hat in the
+direction of Moll's flashing eyes. But there was no hat there, so he
+gave her a military salute instead.</p>
+
+<p>"My, you are a rum un!" laughed the lady, looking admiringly upon the
+charming child.&mdash;"You're right, as usual, Joe Harris," she whispered,
+turning to her husband. "Them's the style for the Satellite Company! The
+silk gownd an' the shiner's mine; you can buy them soon's you please."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Moll snatched the screaming Joan clean out of her brother's
+encircling arms, raised her to her breast, and completely smothered the
+frightened child's sobs in the folds of her old scarlet shawl.</p>
+
+<p>The after-glow had faded from out the west; the hilltops seemed bare and
+brown. The gates of the city were closed, thought Darby, and his lips
+quivered in disappointment as they had not done from fright. The moon
+now sailed slowly on her way through a placid sea of pearly sky. Her
+beams flooded the fields with a soft, pure radiance; they lingered over
+the sluggish waters of the canal until they shone with light and
+borrowed beauty. Everything was quiet; all around was peace.</p>
+
+<p>Darby boldly stood his ground, and manfully faced his foes. Yet, with
+the wicked countenance of Joe Harris bending over him, with Joan's
+stifled cries beating in his ears, it was impossible to do anything more
+than <i>seem</i> brave; and the plucky little lad's face blanched paler than
+the moonbeams, while his heart stood still with nameless fear.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>BAMBO AND BRUNO.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Will you walk into my parlour?' said the spider to the fly;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">''Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The way into the parlour is up a winding stair,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I have many curious things to show when you are there.'"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Mary Howitt.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>"An' where may you an' little missy be goin' at this time o' the
+evenin'?" asked Thieving Joe, in a voice which he intended should be
+pleasant and reassuring; for now that he had come close to the
+children&mdash;looked in Joan's face, and witnessed Darby's brave, proud
+bearing&mdash;he knew Moll was right: that these were no common brats, as he
+had called them, no rustics running wild from morn till night, but
+<i>somebody's</i> little ones, gently born undoubtedly, carefully reared
+unmistakably.</p>
+
+<p>At the first blush of this discovery Mr. Harris felt that perhaps he had
+been a trifle rash&mdash;that it might have been wiser to give more heed to
+his wife's advice; but since he had got his captives secure at last, he
+was not going to be such a fool as to set them free after waiting and
+watching so long for a similar opportunity. He would safeguard himself
+as cunningly as possible against the chances of being detected in his
+crime, and that was all Joe Harris possessed in the way of a conscience;
+that was what constituted the chief difference to him between right and
+wrong&mdash;the cowardly yet restraining fear of being found out. Then, if
+the worst did come to the worst, he would swear that he had not stolen
+the children, but had accidentally come upon them wandering about at
+nightfall alone, and out of charity took them temporarily under his
+protection. Their friends would be deeply grateful, and doubtless reward
+him handsomely, so that he should be none the poorer, no matter which
+way the little enterprise turned out.</p>
+
+<p>He judged correctly that Darby would be more easily led than driven, and
+he did not want to frighten him, not just at first&mdash;that would be time
+enough afterwards, or if he turned rusty&mdash;so he spoke to the little lad
+as smoothly as he knew how. But genuine gentle speech cannot be assumed
+at will. It is not a mannerism merely put on, but an outcome of kindly
+acts and pure thoughts; and Darby was quick to detect the false quality
+in Joe's tones as he repeated his question,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come now, won't you tell me, an' this nice lady here, where the pair o'
+ye was bound for so late in the day?"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the boy hesitated, looking straight at his questioner. How
+could he tell this dreadful man the truth? and it did not occur to him
+to trump up a story or put him off with a half-truth, as some children
+might have done.</p>
+
+<p>"We're going on a journey, my sister and I," said the lad simply.</p>
+
+<p>Then he closed his lips tightly, and his sweet little mouth was set in a
+new resolute curve. He would not speak of the Happy Land to this odd
+pair, who had thrust themselves so unexpectedly and so rudely where they
+were not wanted. They might laugh at him, and who enjoys being laughed
+at, or having their plans and dreams ridiculed and scattered in shreds
+before their very eyes?</p>
+
+<p>"It's late for ye to be out by yerselves," continued Joe. "Aren't ye
+frightened for the dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," replied Darby readily; "<i>that</i> never frightens us. God is in
+the dark as well as in the light, and He always takes care of us."</p>
+
+<p>"Ahem!" and Joe coughed awkwardly, not knowing what to say. He was not
+used to replying to such remarks.</p>
+
+<p>By this time Joan had hushed her sobs to listen to the conversation. She
+wriggled uneasily under the confining shawl; and hearing that she was
+quiet, Moll allowed the little thing to sit up in her arms and look
+about her.</p>
+
+<p>At this point Joe made a movement of impatience, which Moll understood.
+He was in haste to push on, for it would soon be dark, and he was hungry
+for his supper.</p>
+
+<p>Moll frowned at him. She wanted to work things in her own way, and she
+understood that little people don't like to be hurried.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you afeard to be out on this lonesome place so late, my pretty?"
+she asked in a sugar-sweet voice, turning a beaming face upon Joan.</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;I's never f'ightened of dark, or dogs, or fings," she said, drawing
+somewhat back from the bold face so near her own; "but I's sometimes
+f'ightened for peoples. I's f'ightened for you, some, and I's awful
+f'ightened for <i>him</i>," added Joan in a whisper, pointing her tiny
+finger in the direction of Mr. Harris, who was busily engaged in
+lighting his pipe.</p>
+
+<p>Moll scowled, and gave the little girl a slight shake.</p>
+
+<p>"You're frightened, are you?" and she laughed wickedly. "All the same,
+the pair o' ye'll have to come along o' us. We'll see ye safe to yer
+journey's end. Ye might meet tramps or gipsies, or&mdash;oh, I don't know
+what all! They'd pop ye into a bag an' carry ye away wi' them."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't you tramps an' gipsies&mdash;you an' <i>him</i>?" asked Joan innocently.
+"Will you put us in a bag an' carry us away wif you?"</p>
+
+<p>"There! take that for yer impidence," and Moll dealt the child a smart
+slap on her delicate cheek, which made the little one wince with pain
+and terror. "Tramps an' gipsies indeed! I'll learn you another lesson,
+I'm thinkin', afore you're many days older."</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, my lass!" cried her husband proudly, for Moll was rising to
+the occasion even better than he had expected. She had a soft spot
+somewhere in her heart, had Moll, although it was pretty well crusted
+over with wickedness and worldliness, and sometimes she seemed a little
+disgusted with Joe and his shady ways. She could do very well when she
+chose, however. She was, when she pleased, an out-and-out helpmeet, and
+now she was excelling herself. It was the prospect of the claret silk
+and the diamond ring, her better half believed.</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you slap my sister?" cried Darby, darting forward with
+flashing eyes and crimson cheeks, and laying violent hands on Moll's
+gown. But Mr. Harris pulled him roughly off, clapping upon the boy's
+quivering lips a great, dirty, grimy hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Darby! Darby! make her let me go!" Joan cried piteously; but Darby was
+powerless to come to the rescue. "Don't you know," she continued,
+addressing her captor, "we're goin' to the Happy Land? Didn't Darby tell
+you? Well, we are; an' if we doesn't hurry fast, we won't find our way
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! An' does yer pa an' yer ma know where ye are?" asked Moll
+curiously, seeing that Joan was freer with her tongue than her brother.</p>
+
+<p>"We never had no pa an' ma. We once had a faver an' a muver," Joan
+admitted, "if them's what you mean. But muver's away livin' wif God, an'
+daddy's gone in the big, big ship over the sea, an' lefted Darby an' me
+all alone," she added, in a piteous little whine. "Daddy's a
+solger-man, an' wears a wed coat an' a shiny sword."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Harris heard this statement with feelings of relief. So he was right
+after all: the kids were practically orphans. Their friends, if they had
+any, must be mighty careless, argued Joe, and he could do with his
+captives as he pleased, and nobody bother much about them&mdash;unless the
+Tommy from Africa should turn up some fine day. But there were so many
+chances against that contingency that it was not worth thinking about.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, an' it's for the Happy Land ye're bound!" he cried in ridicule.
+"Well, it's a goodish bit from here, so we'd best be movin'. I'm about
+tired o' this foolin', anyway, an' I'm wantin' my supper. Come on!" and
+he gripped Darby's delicate little hand more tightly than before.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go!" demanded the boy indignantly. "We don't know you, and we
+don't want to go with you.&mdash;Sure we don't, Joan?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" wailed Joan. "I doesn't want to go nowhere 'cept back. An' I
+wants Miss Carolina an' my supper, an' my own dear comfy cwib," she
+added, feeling, for once in her life, that it would not be entirely
+disagreeable to be put to bed.</p>
+
+<p>"You hear that," pleaded Darby. "Please put her down. She'll only tire
+you, because she's very solid for her size; I sometimes carry her
+myself. <i>Please!</i> We're not a bit afraid, and we haven't far to go now,"
+he added, glancing up toward the brow of the hill, which was now flooded
+with moonlight. And as he saw how short was the distance to its
+summit&mdash;although, alas! the shortness was only seeming&mdash;his heart
+bounded with gladness and relief; for in spite of his courageous
+bearing, poor Darby was dreadfully afraid. All the stray stories and
+ridiculous remarks&mdash;many of them never meant for his ears&mdash;that he had
+ever heard concerning highwaymen, robbers, tramps, poachers, foreigners,
+and wicked people generally, came crowding to his memory thick and fast,
+and for the first time since they had fled from Firgrove he began to
+wish himself safely back there once more.</p>
+
+<p>Moll made no answer. She glanced around to make sure that no straggler
+was near who could by any chance have heard Joan's cries. Then she
+swathed the child's head in her shawl again, and, with Joe striding in
+front and Darby dragging at his heel, the party set off at a rapid rate,
+which sorely tried Darby's short, tired legs, sturdy though they were.
+But notwithstanding the smartness of their pace, they did not seem to
+come much nearer to the top of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>The winding road upon which the travellers had set their faces, after
+turning their backs on Engleton, had by this time dwindled into a narrow
+bridle-path. And as they proceeded, it too gradually disappeared until
+it was completely lost in the wide stretch of hilly land, half heather,
+half scrubby grass, that spread all around them as far as Darby could
+see.</p>
+
+<p>All at once Joe stopped, and looked anxiously away in front, round the
+base of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>"They were to halt hereabouts," he muttered to his wife, "but I don't
+see a sign o' them. Do you, Moll? you've allus had sharp sight."</p>
+
+<p>Moll swept the landscape with a glance quick and keen as a hawk's. Then,
+without speaking, she pointed with her finger to a spot about half a
+mile off where the ground dipped slightly and formed a sort of hollow,
+sheltered on the far side by a clump of stunted firs.</p>
+
+<p>Darby had followed the direction of Moll's large forefinger with his
+gaze. After a little he made out quite plainly, rising against the clear
+sky beyond the low-lying ground, a faint trail of blue-gray smoke; and
+lower down, considerably below the smoke, there shone a small spot of
+light which winked intermittently through the gathering gloom, as if
+behind it there blinked a very sleepy star.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, that's the caravan, sure enough," said Joe, in a tone of
+satisfaction. "My, Moll, you are a cute un, an' no mistake!&mdash;Come on, my
+young shaver; step out the best you know, for I'm wantin' some supper, I
+can tell you!"</p>
+
+<p>"But we're not going that way," said Darby, trying to withdraw his hand
+from the vice-like grip in which it was held.&mdash;"Please put Joan down,
+ma'am," he begged, turning to Moll. "I'm much obliged to you for
+carrying her so far. Our way lies up the hill and yours down," continued
+the child, bending his grave, innocent eyes upon the woman's hardened
+countenance. "So you see we must part here," he added, with a brave
+attempt at a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Must we?" and Joe Harris laughed harshly. "Look here, my chick," said
+he, with an ugly leer, "you're comin' wi' us; that's settled, so you may
+stow yer cheek an' hurry up, or it'll be the worse for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"You stop, Joe," whispered Moll angrily, nudging her husband with her
+elbow. "You'll frighten the little un, then she'll make a row, an'
+somebody'll hear her. Leave them to me.&mdash;Don't mind the gentleman,
+ducky," she continued, addressing Darby. "He's fond o' sayin' funny
+things; that's his way. Do you see the smoke an' the light yonder?" she
+asked, pointing in the direction of the caravan. "Well, that's our
+house&mdash;the purtiest little house that ever you seed; an' when we gets
+home there'll be some nice goody-goody supper for us. You come along,
+sensible and quiet, an' you an' little missy here'll both get share.
+Then after supper there's heaps an' heaps o' cur'osities for you to look
+at. Our house is jest chock-full up wi' funny things."</p>
+
+<p>Darby was in a difficulty. Moll certainly spoke very fair. He <i>was</i>
+hungry, notwithstanding the refreshments he had consumed in the cabin of
+the <i>Smiling Jane</i>, and the prospect of something savoury was
+undoubtedly tempting. Then he dearly loved looking at things&mdash;odds and
+ends, picked up here and there, such as he imagined Moll's house
+contained. Joan was in a deep sleep, with her golden head pillowed on
+Mrs. Harris's broad shoulder. There would be no use in waking her up;
+she would only begin to cry. Darby was weary himself, too&mdash;so weary that
+he would fain have flung his little body down on the heath where he
+stood and slept some of his weariness away.</p>
+
+<p>But the Happy Land! Would it not be better to hurry on, late though it
+was? They would be sure to get in if they knocked loud enough and gave
+their names at the gate. Then they could rest as long as they pleased,
+with nothing to disturb or frighten them any more, and live always good
+and happy&mdash;"blest, blest for aye."</p>
+
+<p>These thoughts flashed through Darby's busy brain very fast. Then he
+answered Moll in his direct, simple way.</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you," he said; "you are very kind, but we must be getting on
+our way. I will carry Joan," he added, with a tired little gasp, looking
+apprehensively up the long stretch of rough ground rising right in
+front, and the now gloomy hilltop, above which heavy black clouds hung,
+like the curtain of night about to descend and smother them in its
+sombre folds.</p>
+
+<p>"You can go on yer journey when you've rested a bit," coaxed the cunning
+woman. "Or in the mornin'," she added; "that 'ud be best. You'd lose yer
+way in the dark, sartin sure. I'll give you an' missy one o' the nice
+beds that's in my house, where ye'll sleep soun' as tops. Then after
+ye've had yer breakfasts in the mornin' ye'll start; an' my, ye'll be
+there&mdash;wherever ye're goin'&mdash;in a jiffy! What do you think o' that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, perhaps, since you are so very kind as to invite us to supper and
+to stay for the night, and my sister seems so very tired&mdash;perhaps your
+plan might be best," said Darby slowly. Then he added quickly, "But are
+you sure you'll let us go when we want to in the morning&mdash;first thing
+after breakfast?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure's anythin'," declared Moll unblushingly. "Mr. Harris himself
+here'll put ye on the road.&mdash;Won't you, Joe?" asked Moll, with a sly
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Sartin," answered Joe promptly. "I've never bin in the Happy Land
+myself, but I'm familiar wi' the way there. I'll start the kids for it
+right enough, you bet," and the ugly man winked at his wife knowingly.</p>
+
+<p>On the strength of these false promises Darby agreed to accept the
+hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Harris for the night. But he did not see the
+glances of triumph, greed, cunning, and cruelty which passed between the
+pair; and if he had, the single-hearted child would not have understood
+their significance.</p>
+
+<p>It was a strange scene on which Darby Dene's eyes rested when the party
+halted at the hollow where the Satellite Circus Company had made their
+headquarters for the night. Within the shelter of the firs a fire of
+crackling sticks was burning brightly. Hanging over the flame, suspended
+by an iron chain from the centre of three crossed metal bars, swung a
+big black pot, from which there came such a savoury smell that, in spite
+of his disappointment over the break in their journey, Darby could not
+help thinking it a lucky thing that they were going to get a share. A
+lad of about twelve years old was feeding the fire from a pile of dry
+branches that lay by his side&mdash;a lad with short woolly curls, shining,
+gleaming white teeth, thick lips, and a skin as dark as if he had been
+blackleaded all over. He was a negro, Darby knew. He had seen a black
+man only once before, and he now stared at this boy as if he could not
+remove his gaze. The lad's clothes, too, were queer. He had on a dingy
+purple velvet jacket, covered with frayed gold lace, tawdry tinsel
+braid, tarnished gilt buttons, with long, wide red and white striped
+cotton trousers, from which his dusky ankles and bare flat feet flopped
+about like the fins of some great ungainly fish.</p>
+
+<p>Squatted on the grass, on the further side of the fire from the black
+boy, was a small figure which Darby at first thought was that of a
+child. But when at the sound of Joe Harris's footsteps it rose, moved
+slowly close to the crossbars, stood on tiptoe, lifted the lid, peered
+into the steaming pot, <i>then</i>&mdash;with the firelight falling full upon
+it&mdash;he saw that this was not a child; it was a man.</p>
+
+<p>But what sort of a man? Was he a <i>real</i> man, or only a make-believe,
+such as was sometimes seen at shows and fairs? Darby knew about dwarfs,
+certainly, although he had never seen one, and at last he concluded that
+this must be a dwarf&mdash;this small creature not much taller than Joan, yet
+with a huge, broad-shouldered body, square and solid as Moll's own,
+overgrown head, covered with a thick mop of heavy dark hair, pale, sad
+face, weary eyes, short, stunted legs, large feet, and the longest arms,
+the thinnest hands Darby had ever seen in all his life. This was
+Bambo&mdash;Bambo, Mr. Harris's musical dwarf! and the boy shrank
+instinctively behind the shelter of Moll's ample skirts, scarcely
+knowing whether he was more attracted or repelled by the ungainly body,
+which, as the little ones discovered somewhat later on, housed such a
+beautiful soul within.</p>
+
+<p>But what is that beside the dwarf&mdash;that great, soft-looking object that
+is just for all the world like a big brown furry bundle, with a tiny,
+chattering, jabbering monkey, decked out in all the bravery of scarlet
+coat and jaunty forage cap, perched on top of it? Darby steals forward
+step by step to get a closer view. The bundle of fur unrolls itself,
+grunts and turns over as if quite ready for a frolic with its queer
+comrade, and the little lad leaps back in terror. For it is a bear,
+gaunt and grizzly, with funny snout and blinking eyes!</p>
+
+<p>Darby did not notice that the monster was chained, and he moved back
+again behind Moll, whence he gazed fascinated upon the grotesque group,
+over which the leaping flames cast such weird and curious lights and
+shadows.</p>
+
+<p>The gaudy yellow caravan was drawn up on one side, and with the screen
+of trees served as an effective background to the scene. The skinny
+piebald horses had been unloosed from its shafts, freed of their
+harness, and, with rude fetters on their legs, turned adrift to seek
+their supper among the coarse grass and springy heather spreading so
+bountifully around them upon every side.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE NEXT MORNING.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Oh, my heart grows weak as a woman's,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And the fountain of feeling will flow<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When I think of the paths, steep and stony,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That the feet of the dear ones must go.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Oh, those truants from earth and from heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They have made me more manly and mild;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I know now how Jesus could liken<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The kingdom of God to a child!"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles Dickens.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Roughly the spell of the picture was broken by the loud voice of Joe
+Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"Hillao!" he cried, by way of general greeting to the troupe around the
+fire.&mdash;"Any grub ready, Bambo?"</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf glanced round from the pot which he was carefully stirring
+with a long-handled wooden spoon, and then Darby noticed how gentle was
+the expression of his deep-set eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he answered, in a curious, husky voice, thin and vibrating;
+"supper has been ready an hour and more. It's done to rags by this time,
+I'm afraid. We thought, from what you said, that you would have been
+here long before now," he added, speaking more correctly than Mr. Harris
+himself&mdash;differently, somehow, from what one would have expected from
+his uncouth appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"So we should, only we were delayed by business&mdash;<i>important</i> business,"
+said Mr. Harris grandly, "and a good stroke o't, I can tell you! See
+what we've brought wi' us, Bambo&mdash;the missis an' me," he explained,
+pointing to the children, who were seated side by side upon the grass,
+for Moll had retired within the caravan. Joan was awake now and sobbing
+wildly, while Darby was doing his utmost to soothe her by every artifice
+of which he was master.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are these children, and why have you brought them here?" demanded
+the dwarf sternly, as he left his stew-pot and came over beside the
+frightened little creatures, who clung to each other as if for dear
+life. "Have you been at your thieving tricks again, Joe Harris?" he
+asked angrily, yet there was an expression of keen anxiety in the kindly
+gaze he bent upon the captives.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, now, none o' your cheek!" growled the ruffian savagely, though
+his eye fell before the dwarf's straight look and meaning tone. "Who are
+they, you're askin'?" he went on in a milder voice. "Why, jest two
+beggar brats we found wanderin' on the hillside. As to <i>what</i> they are,
+you'll see by-an'-by," he added, with a satisfied chuckle. "Look ee here
+now, Bambo," he continued, trying to be conciliatory, "there's no use in
+turnin' crusty. Haven't I learned you long ago that Joe Harris isn't the
+man to put up wi' no nonsense? All right, that's settled, then. Now,
+don't you think we've run this company on narrow lines long enough?
+Anyway I do, an' we're goin' to widen them&mdash;to strike out on fresh ones.
+What would you say to a tight-rope dancer an' a trapeze performer added
+to the attractions o' the troupe, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>But the dwarf made no reply; he only continued to watch the
+pathetic-looking little pair, as with kisses and caresses they bravely
+strove to comfort one another.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't that boy be the very thing for it?" resumed Joe, after a
+moment's pause. "Isn't he jest the cut for an aeronaut, an' the right
+age to train as an acrobat? An' the gel! Look ee here!" and roughly
+snatching Joan from her seat at Darby's side, Joe swung her over to
+where the big furry bundle, which was the bear, and the mimic
+soldier&mdash;tired probably from their recent gambols&mdash;lay huddled in a heap
+together, and dropped her down on the grass beside them.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Bruno, get up," he shouted, giving the creature a heavy kick with
+his coarse boot. "Rise, sir, an' salute your new playfellow."</p>
+
+<p>The bear growled, stirred, and with a lazy stretch of his big body
+slowly rose upon his hind legs and approached his master; while the
+monkey climbed, chattering and jabbering, to the roof of the caravan.</p>
+
+<p>Darby and the dwarf had followed close at Joe's heel; and when the boy
+saw the huge beast, with sparkling eyes and slavering mouth, tower right
+above his little sister and heard her screams of terror, he felt, just
+for a moment, sick with fear.</p>
+
+<p>"You brute!" exclaimed the dwarf, in his thin, hoarse voice, as he
+reached up his long arms and firmly gripped Bruno by the leather collar
+which was round his neck. But whether he addressed the man or the beast
+was not quite clear, and certainly Joe Harris did not care to inquire.</p>
+
+<p>Joan had flung herself in her panic on Darby's shoulder, with her small,
+wet face buried in the bosom of his old velveteen blouse. The awful
+faint feeling passed from him at the touch of those clinging arms around
+his neck, and with indignant eyes and flushed cheeks he turned and faced
+the great, ugly bully, who only laughed, as if enjoying the sight of
+their distress.</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you frighten my sister so?" he demanded haughtily. "Why did
+you bring us here if you only wanted to be rude to us? You are cruel,
+and a coward as well; for my father says that only cowards would try to
+frighten children or helpless things. Wait until I go home," said the
+little fellow boldly, forgetting in his excitement that he had
+deliberately left home for altogether, "and I shall tell him about you.
+Then you'll be punished as you deserve," he added loftily.</p>
+
+<p>But as Darby uttered this threat a wave of memory swept over him with an
+overwhelming rush. Father! what could <i>he</i> do to help or deliver them,
+away in Africa, or maybe lying dead somewhere? Joe and Moll might
+ill-treat them as they chose before father should be able to interfere.
+And mother! Father in Africa or killed, mother in heaven! and with one
+bitter, thrilling cry the boy's brave spirit gave way, and he sank
+unconscious at Joe Harris's feet.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Harris gave expression to his amusement in a whistle.</p>
+
+<p>"That's capital!" he cried; "the best piece o' actin' I've seed this
+many's the day! Eh, Bambo, what do you think o' <i>that</i> for an amatoor?
+Why, it 'ud bring down the house, I declare!"</p>
+
+<p>But Bambo did not answer, not by so much as a single glance. He was
+crouching on the grass beside the boy.</p>
+
+<p>Then Joe shoved the sobbing Joan aside, stooped over the limp figure of
+the child, and satisfied himself that he had only fainted. Afterwards he
+followed his wife within the caravan, whistling gaily as he went.</p>
+
+<p>Tonio, the negro lad, slid near the group, and with wide, rolling eyes
+stared at Darby's motionless form and white face. Bruno had rolled
+himself up again comfortably, and was preparing to resume his nap just
+where he had left off when his master so rudely aroused him. Joan had
+hushed her sobs, although now and again a long, shuddering sigh shook
+her little body from head to foot, as with small, smudgy fingers she
+gently stroked her brother's cheek. Puck, the monkey, had skipped nimbly
+from his perch on the chimney of the caravan and found another more to
+his mind on top of Tonio's woolly head, where he sat glowering and
+grinning at the group, as if he wanted to ask, only he couldn't in
+words, "What's the matter, friends? what's to do?"</p>
+
+<p>Bambo raised the boy from the grass, pillowed the drooping head against
+his own broad shoulder, chafed his hands, and put some water to his
+lips, which Tonio carried from the spring that bubbled up from out the
+mossy ground beneath the fir trees. Soon he recovered, and was able to
+sit up in the dwarf's arms and look about him.</p>
+
+<p>Then he remembered everything&mdash;where he was, what had happened&mdash;and his
+face grew white again.</p>
+
+<p>"There, there, sonny, don't fret any more; and don't cry, either of
+you," added Bambo, gently laying one long, lean arm around Joan's
+shoulder. "If you do you'll make the master angry, and maybe he'll beat
+you. You needn't be afraid of Bruno; he's perfectly quiet, except when
+he's angered: besides, he's chained."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you quite, quite sure?" asked Joan timidly, glancing nervously in
+the direction of the bear.</p>
+
+<p>"Certain, positive!" answered Bambo, smiling into the eager faces raised
+so confidingly to his, while an odd, unaccustomed thrill stirred his
+pulse and warmed his heart. "If you look you'll see where the chain
+that's attached to his collar is fastened to the back of the caravan."</p>
+
+<p>"And will the monkey bite us?" again asked the little one.</p>
+
+<p>"Puck! Puck bite! Why no, bless your heart!" and this time the dwarf
+actually laughed. "Puck's about as old as Methuselah, and hasn't got a
+tooth in his head! He'll maybe pull your hair if he takes the notion,
+and that's the worst Puck 'll do to you.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark! there's master calling," cried Bambo, shuffling to his feet as a
+roar resounded from the caravan like the growling of a lion near
+feeding-time. "Sit there, and I'll bring you some of my stew. It's made
+of pheasant and partridge, and very nice, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"There, fellow, that'll do," shouted Joe, standing on the steps of the
+caravan; "you've palavered plenty over them brats. Leave them to howl
+theirselves to sleep if they like, but bring me my supper," he commanded
+angrily&mdash;for Mr. Harris was hungry, and somebody who knows about such
+things says that "a hungry man is an angry man"&mdash;then with a bang of the
+door and an ugly word he disappeared again. And as the dwarf dished up
+the supper he muttered to himself,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"God help you, poor innocents! You have fallen into bad hands when you
+fell into the clutches of Moll Harris and Thieving Joe!"</p>
+
+<p>He carried a plateful of dainty morsels out of his stew to where the
+children waited far back beyond the firelight and the limit of the
+bear's chain. He sat on the grass beside them, coaxing and scolding them
+by turns, until they forgot their fears and made a hearty supper,
+finished off by a draught of sparkling water from the spring.</p>
+
+<p>Just at first the tiny man with the long arms, pale, sad face, and queer
+croaking voice had alarmed the little ones, because they had never seen
+any one the least like Bambo before. But when they discovered how gentle
+was the touch of those thin hands and bony arms, how kind and soothing
+the tones of that croaky voice, all their fears vanished. Darby
+determined that he would never again listen to unkind remarks about
+deformed persons, and Joan cuddled close beside her new friend in a most
+confiding fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"Why has you taken no goody supper?" she asked him when all had
+finished, and the fire had sunk to a glow of red embers mixed with
+feathery flakes of ash. "Isn't you hungry? or did you take too big a
+tea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, little one, I don't think I did. I'm just not hungry to-night.
+Grown-up folks don't usually be so keen-set as youngsters, you know,"
+replied Bambo, looking down into the blue eyes that scanned him so
+curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>you</i> isn't a grown-up," cried the child, in an amused tone.
+"You're just 'bout as big as Darby, only with a queer man-face an'
+grown-up arms. Does you call yourself a boy or a man?" she asked
+seriously, and without a hint of mockery. She merely desired
+information.</p>
+
+<p>"Joan!" said Darby, in a distressed whisper, at the same time giving her
+a dig with his elbow, almost pushing her over.</p>
+
+<p>Joan was going to make a fuss, when Bambo put in quickly, "Hush, missy!
+you mustn't do that, or Moll will hear you. Let me try to answer your
+question, although I hardly know how. I'm only a boy in size, as you
+say&mdash;a small boy; yet in years I am a man, for I was four-and-twenty
+last May, the tenth of May," he added thoughtfully. "But I'm not a man
+as other men.&mdash;And you need not mind your sister saying that I'm not
+grown up," he continued, laying a thin hand on Darby's dark head, "for
+neither I am&mdash;leastways not like other folks.&mdash;I'm a dwarf, dearies&mdash;a
+poor, stunted bit of a thing like yon fir over yonder that has grown
+this way, that way, and every way except straight up and down like the
+rest of the trees about it. I'm Bambo the dwarf, Joe Harris's musical
+dwarf," and the little man laughed whimsically.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe I'll be different in the next world," he continued, after a
+moment's silence, which the children did not break, as they could think
+of nothing suitable to say, therefore tactfully held their peace. "I
+hope I shall, I <i>believe</i> I shall," he added, with a far-away look in
+his eyes, as if he had become unconscious of his audience; "for has not
+the blessed Lord Himself said, 'Behold, I make all things new'?"</p>
+
+<p>Here he was seized with a violent fit of coughing, which shook his poor
+frame sadly, and left him panting and spent.</p>
+
+<p>"You's got a werry bad cold," said Joan, with a pretty air of concern.
+"Can't you take some nashty medicine or sticky sweeties or cough drops
+to make you better?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our nurse or our aunt always rubs us with stuff called 'lyptus, and
+sometimes puts a poultice on when we've got cold," Darby remarked. "I
+don't s'pose they'll have any 'lyptus in the caravan; but wouldn't you
+try the poultice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, sonny; only it wouldn't do me any good. I never was used with
+physic or poulticing; and I'll be better soon without anything,"
+answered the dwarf, trying to stifle another fit of coughing lest it
+should distress the little ones. "I'll be quite well, in fact&mdash;before
+long, too," he added softly, with his shrunken face raised to the sky
+whence, with shining, sleepless eyes, the stars looked down upon the odd
+little group as if they were God's sentinels guarding the outposts where
+danger lurked.</p>
+
+<p>"P'raps you shouldn't sit on the grass; it's usually damp at night,"
+said Darby, in that quaint, old-world way of his which always attracted
+people greatly even when it most amused them. "Nurse doesn't allow us to
+sit on the grass when we're not well.&mdash;Sure she doesn't, Joan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never, never!" Joan affirmed solemnly, shaking her tangled golden head.</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf got to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; I'll have to obey, I suppose," he said with a smile. "Now, I
+must find out where you two are to be put up for the night. It's high
+time you were under shelter. This sort of thing," he went on, waving his
+hand towards the open space, the caravan, the dying fire, and the
+chained bear, "is not what you're used to; anybody with half an eye
+could see that&mdash;even Joe, although it suits his purpose to pretend he
+doesn't. To-morrow you'll tell me all about your home and your people,
+and how you wandered this way, and everything. Then we'll see what's to
+be done next," he added under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>Moll carried the children off to the caravan, where Mr. Harris was
+already sleeping the sound sleep which is generally supposed to be the
+outcome of an easy conscience. She was about to bundle them, clothes and
+all, into a bed hastily spread upon what to Darby looked like a narrow
+shelf. He was too sleepy to offer any objections to the arrangement; but
+Joan stoutly resisted, declaring that she never went to bed without
+being undressed and saying her prayers.</p>
+
+<p>"Boo-oo!" she wailed, putting her knuckles into her eyes. "I wants a
+nightgown, and I wants to say my p'ayers," she persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up, will you!" ordered Moll, giving the little girl a rude shake.
+She would have slapped her, only she dared not disturb her better half,
+for then the blows might have gone round. "I ha'n't got no nightgownd
+for ee," she went on, in an angry undertone; "but ee can take off yer
+frock an' wrap the shawl roun' ee." Which Joan proceeded to do,
+although she felt that nurse's old tartan shoulder-shawl was but a sorry
+substitute for a nightgown.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I's goin' to say my p'ayers," she said, kneeling on the bare floor
+at this prayerless woman's knee, with closed eyes and piously-folded
+hands&mdash;a pathetic little figure in her comical attire. "You'll say the
+big words and join in the 'amen.' That's what nurse does. Is you ready?
+Now&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Gentle Jesus, meek'n mild,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Look upon a ickle child,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pity my&mdash;'I can't say it!'&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Suffer me to come to Thee.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Fain I would to Thee be brought;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dea'est Lord, forbid it not;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the kin'dom of Thy gwace<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Give a ickle Joan a place. Amen!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>After the "amen" Joan opened her big blue eyes and looked steadily at
+Moll without rising from her knees. The woman fidgeted on her seat,
+toyed with the amber beads on her neck, but she would not meet the pure
+gaze fixed upon her; for there was a tremulousness about her lips, a
+moisture in her eyes, a sense of ashamedness all over her which she did
+not wish the child to see.</p>
+
+<p>But Joan <i>did</i> see, and vaguely understood that here there was somewhat
+amiss, and forthwith proceeded to offer her sympathy after her own
+fashion, which, when all is said, is about the oldest and sweetest form
+that sympathy can take. Silently she got to her feet, climbed on Moll's
+lap, and laid a kiss&mdash;light as a snowflake, holy as a benediction,
+pregnant as a prayer&mdash;upon the woman's broad, sunburnt brow. Then she
+tumbled on to the shelf beside Darby, and soon both were wrapped in the
+deep, dreamless sleep of wearied childhood.</p>
+
+<p>A few hours afterwards quite an air of stir and bustle pervaded the
+encampment. The crossbars for the support of pots and pans were taken
+down; scattered utensils were gathered up and stowed away; Bruno was
+driven into his cage under the body of the van; the wandering horses
+were caught, harnessed, and put in their places; and soon the Satellite
+Circus Company was on the move once more. For Joe and Moll had not
+failed to observe the dwarf's openly-evinced interest in their captives;
+and fearing that he might take it into his head to decamp during the
+night, carrying the children along with him, they quickly made up their
+minds to push on and put as many miles as the horses could cover between
+them and the possibility of escape, pursuit, or capture before daylight
+the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>The little ones slept soundly side by side on their narrow shelf; the
+bear snarled uneasily behind his iron bars, with only an inch of plank
+between his hairy embrace and their soft young bodies; the monkey curled
+closer into the warmth of Tonio's black breast; the dwarf sat on his
+perch above the plodding piebalds, watching the stars and speculating
+about the pretty children&mdash;who they were, whence they came, and what
+would be their fate if left to the tender mercies of Thieving Joe and
+his bold wife Moll.</p>
+
+<p>It was broad daylight when Darby and Joan awoke and sat up to look about
+them. For a few minutes they remembered nothing of what had occurred,
+and could not make out where they were. Oh yes, of course, Darby at
+length understood. They were in a caravan where they had sheltered all
+night, not very far from the foot of that hill over whose summit lay the
+entrance to the country which they had set out to seek.</p>
+
+<p>He slid cautiously off the shelf, helped Joan to put on her frock and
+tie her shawl round her again; then they opened the door, stole down the
+steps, and there they paused in dismay. The caravan had come to a
+standstill, and been drawn up on the edge of a stretch of dreary common;
+the horses were unyoked, and grazing near by. Along the further
+boundary of the common wound a broad, level highway, bordered by a wide
+footpath; and in the distance, from the valley front, rose the towers,
+spires, and smoking chimneys of a large-sized town. But Firgrove, Hill
+Difficulty, and the Happy Land all lay behind&mdash;far, far away!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE HAPPY LAND.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Heaven lies about us in our infancy."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Wordsworth.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"To be good is to be happy; angels<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Are happier than men because they're better."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Rowe.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>"Now, please, Mrs. Joe, will you show Joan and me the nearest way to the
+place where you found us?" asked Darby in all good faith when they had
+finished their breakfast. It had been a most unusual one for them, and
+not much of a treat: the bread was dry, the bacon strong smelling, the
+bitter coffee guiltless of either cream or milk, and poor Joan made many
+a wry face in her efforts to get it down.</p>
+
+<p>"Time enough, time enough," answered Mrs. Joe cheerily, yet with a
+shamefaced look. "What's yer hurry? Are you so keen to leave us, eh?"
+she asked, fixing her bold, smiling eyes on the earnest countenance of
+the little lad.</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;that is&mdash;ah&mdash;not 'zactly," stammered Darby, feeling himself in a
+fix between truth and politeness. "We didn't come on a visit, you know;
+we came only for the night. And you promised to let us go this morning
+after breakfast, and to show us the way."</p>
+
+<p>Molly only laughed, looking this way and that; but Joe began roughly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Look ee here now, young Hop-o'-my-thumb, we've had enough o' this
+humbug. Ye're both here, an' here ye're goin' to stay till I've done wi'
+ye. Do you heed?" he shouted, gripping Darby by the shoulder and giving
+him a hearty shake, while the dwarf's sunken eyes flashed with an angry
+gleam.</p>
+
+<p>Joan began to whimper softly into the folds of her tartan shawl, but
+Darby looked from the black-browed woman to the coarse, red-haired man
+with stern, reproachful eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You promised&mdash;<i>she</i> promised," he said bravely, although his lips were
+quivering piteously, and all the healthy colour had fled from his
+cheeks, leaving them pale as the petals of a faded white rose.</p>
+
+<p>Moll laughed again more loudly than before. Did the little softy really
+believe that big folks meant everything they said? And looking into her
+broadly-smiling face and unscrupulous eyes, Darby Dene had his first
+lesson in the meaning of deceit. He there and then began to realize that
+there are people in the world to whom falsehood comes easy, who think
+little or nothing of a broken vow.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you wish us to stay with you?" he asked, turning to Joe as the
+more hopeful of the two, because Joe said pretty much what he meant, and
+Moll did not. "You don't love us, and of course you can't expect that we
+can be very fond of you after&mdash;after&mdash;well, we know you for only such a
+little while. Do please let us go," urged the child in pleading tones;
+and now the big tears rolled down his cheeks and splashed in heavy
+drops, like a summer shower, over the breast of his shabby velvet
+blouse, while Joan sat and stared from Moll to Joe in wide-eyed silent
+terror.</p>
+
+<p>"Not likely!" replied Mr. Harris, with an ugly laugh. "You're goin' to
+begin yer eddication, my son, an' little missy here too. So now shut up,
+an' let's have no more o' yer blubb'rin'. Ye're goin' to do as I bid ye,
+or if ye don't I'll manage to learn ye, I'm thinkin'. Eh?" he cried,
+playfully pinching Joan's small pink ear until she screamed with pain,
+then glancing from face to face of the party gathered around the fagot
+fire, fingering idly at the same time the heavy whip in his belt with
+which he kept Bruno to his tasks. "An' min', if ye try to slope&mdash;to run
+away&mdash;well, it'll be all the worse for ye an' for anybody as helps ye,"
+he added savagely, with a scowl in the direction of the dwarf, who sat a
+little apart, his head leaning upon his hands, his barely-tasted
+breakfast on the ground beside him.</p>
+
+<p>Joe then lighted his pipe, took a gun and some rabbit-snares from the
+caravan, and shouting to Tonio to look sharp, he sauntered off in the
+direction of the fir plantation, with the black boy following dutifully
+at his heels.</p>
+
+<p>Moll shortly after retired within the caravan, where they could hear her
+singing snatches of a rollicking street song as if for her own
+diversion; then&mdash;with only the dwarf, the bear, and the monkey to
+witness their distress&mdash;Darby and Joan threw themselves on the grass,
+where, wrapped in each other's arms, they gave free vent to their
+disappointment and dismay.</p>
+
+<p>Bruno rolled on the ground, grunted, sat up and blinked at the children
+out of his funny little slits of eyes, but he said nothing. Puck skipped
+hither and thither, chattering and jabbering as if begging them to
+forget their grief and crack some nuts for him instead. The dwarf sat
+motionless, his head still sunk upon his hands, as if he had forgotten
+their very presence, yet all the time he was watching them through his
+fingers. And as soon as their sobs had subsided into long-drawn, gasping
+sighs, such as the west wind makes in a wide chimney, he left his place,
+and sitting down between them, put a long arm around the shoulders of
+each, and drew them close beside him.</p>
+
+<p>He was only a dwarf, but in his heart there were pity and love for all
+creatures helpless and weaker than himself. And because of this he was
+like God&mdash;<i>he</i>, Bambo the object: mean, lowly, poor, so far as money
+went, yet rich in the priceless power of loving, which is beyond the
+riches of gold or lands; for is not love of God? Is not God Himself the
+beginning, centre, end&mdash;nay, not <i>end</i>, because it endureth for ever&mdash;of
+all real, true love? And in their desolation Darby and Joan turned to
+him with a feeling of confidence and hope.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I want to hear everything," he said coaxingly; "then perhaps I
+shall be able to help you. You must be quick, for Joe and Tonio won't
+stay long away. There's no rabbits or birds over there, I'm sure," he
+continued, nodding his great head in the direction of the plantation,
+"and at any moment Moll may come and interrupt us."</p>
+
+<p>Then Darby told their odd new friend everything, as he had desired the
+child to do&mdash;who they were, where they lived, why they had left their
+home, whither they were bound, and what had befallen them upon the
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear!" exclaimed Bambo when the recital was ended, and Darby
+paused to draw a long breath. "Firgrove! Turner of Firgrove! Old Squire
+Turner folks about Firdale used to call him. Why, my grandfather, Moses
+Green, was gardener there once upon a time."</p>
+
+<p>"And he's there yet!" declared Darby, looking highly delighted at the
+discovery. "Green my aunts call him; an old, old man with white hair and
+a bended back&mdash;'all 'count o' the rheumatiz,' he says."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, ay! so grandad's still alive. Deary me! deary me! Although he
+always had a sort of spite at me for being as I am," added the dwarf to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Had you never no muver?" demanded Joan curiously; "or does
+funny-lookin' peoples like you just grow the way Topsy did? Topsy never
+had no muver. That was 'cause she was black, I s'pose; and Tonio won't
+have none either?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I had a mother once, missy&mdash;a good and loving mother, and a kind
+grandmother too. But they are both gone this many a year ago,
+and&mdash;except grandad, who doesn't count&mdash;I have neither kith nor kin in
+the world."</p>
+
+<p>Bambo sighed deeply, overcome by sad memories. A tear trickled slowly
+down his hollow, weather-beaten cheek, and Joan put up a smudgy, gentle,
+little hand to wipe it away.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be sorry, please, dear dwarf. Joan loves you; you's so kind to
+Joan," she murmured.</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't <i>we</i> be your kith and kin?" asked Darby anxiously. "I expect
+by 'kith and kin' you just mean friends. We'll be your friends if you'd
+like us to. We're both very fond of you already.&mdash;Aren't we, Joan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, werry," Joan assented warmly, continuing to caress the dwarf's
+haggard face with her soft, chubby fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless your dear, loving little hearts!" he ejaculated fervently,
+looking from one to the other of the earnest faces raised so trustfully
+to his. "Them's the sweetest words that anybody has spoken to poor Bambo
+this many's the day&mdash;since my mother died. <i>She</i> always had gentle words
+and sweet looks in plenty for her misshapen boy; and granny too, bless
+her! But after they went and left me the world seemed all cold and
+cruel, with nothing better for the likes of me than cuffs and kicks. It
+was always, 'Get out of the way, you object!' 'Oh, poor wretch! how
+horrid-looking he is!' or else jeers, gibes, and laughter. And since I
+became a man, <i>this</i> kind of a man, I mean," he explained, glancing from
+Joan to his stunted limbs, huge feet, and claw-like hands, "it has been
+harder still&mdash;harsh words and heavy blows if I did not bring in money
+enough at shows and fairs. Now, I think the Lord Jesus has seen my
+loneliness, taken pity upon me, and sent two of His own to cheer me, and
+brighten a bit of the wilderness for a weary pilgrim. And we'll see if
+the dwarf can't do something to show his gratitude," said Bambo
+resolutely, yet speaking softly as if to himself. "Firgrove! And this is
+Barchester, you may say&mdash;only about three miles from it as the crow
+flies&mdash;and Barchester's thirty odd miles from Firdale. It's not so far
+after all, and yet it would be a goodish bit to tramp," he added
+thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"But do you think we must go home?" queried Darby anxiously. "You see,
+when Mr. Joe and Mrs. Moll overtook us we were on our way, as I told
+you, to the Happy Land&mdash;we were quite close to it, in fact. Would it be
+right to turn back now?" the little lad asked, fixing his clear gray
+eyes seriously on the face of the dwarf. "Wouldn't we be like
+somebody&mdash;I forget who&mdash;that put his hand to the plough and looked back?
+Didn't Jesus say that it's wrong of any one to do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, sonny, our blessed Lord does say that 'no man, having put his hand
+to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God;' and, of
+course, we oughtn't to do it. But we must first make sure that we've put
+our hands upon the right plough, that it's pointed in the proper
+direction in the very field the great Husbandman wants us to turn over.
+Then we can forge right ahead, cutting the furrow clean and straight, no
+matter how stony the soil, or how stiff we find the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>think</i> I understand what you mean," said Darby slowly. "You are
+trying to tell me as nicely as you can that we haven't got our plough
+pointed in the right direction. Is that it, Mr. Bambo?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, deary, and the sooner you get it turned about the better,"
+replied the dwarf briskly. "Your field's waiting for you at Firgrove, so
+back there you and missy must go as soon as ever you can give Joe and
+Moll the slip. My, won't the ladies be in a fine way! By this time, I
+expect, they'll have scoured the country, and be getting the canal
+dragged in search of you both."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't we goin' to the Happy Land at all, then?" asked Joan, in a tone
+of glad relief.</p>
+
+<p>She had been listening to the talk between Bambo and her brother in
+somewhat of a puzzle as to their meaning. She had, however, gathered the
+gist of their remarks, and is that not about all that is worth gathering
+of most conversations?</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a little," whispered Darby, gently prodding her behind the dwarf's
+back. "Don't be in such a hurry. We're coming to that."</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause if we isn't," continued Joan the irrepressible, "I's werry,
+werry glad. I doesn't know nuffin' 'bout the Happy Land&mdash;nuffin' much,
+anyway, 'cept what nurse's hymn says&mdash;but I knows Firgrove, and I love
+Auntie Alice, and the pussies, and baby when he's not cryin'. They's
+quite 'nuff for me&mdash;just now at least," she added as an after-thought.
+"And I wants to go back to Miss Carolina and the rest of my dear, sweet
+dollies. Darby wouldn't let me bring none of them wif me. Now I's
+lonesome for them," she whimpered, "and I won't go to no Happy Land
+wifout my fings. There!" declared the mutinous little maid, with an
+emphatic waggle of her sunny head, such as she had seen Perry finish up
+with when argument waxed warm between her and Molly the cook.</p>
+
+<p>And just as Captain Dene had smiled sympathetically over a similar
+speech of his small daughter's, so did the dwarf bend an understanding
+gaze upon the winsome, wilful face, with its dewy eyes and quivering
+lips. At the same time there came back to his memory a verse of a hymn
+or poem, Bambo did not know which, that his mother had been very fond of
+and often repeated:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Fair Anwoth by the Solway,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To me thou still art dear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">E'en from the verge of heaven<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I drop for thee a tear.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, if one soul from Anwoth<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Meet me at God's right hand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My heaven will be two heavens<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In Immanuel's land."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Should we try to go to the Happy Land some other time, do you think,
+Mr. Bambo?" asked Darby anxiously, half frightened and wholly distressed
+by the feeling of satisfaction which filled him at the prospect of going
+back to the security of Firgrove. It seemed to him as if a return
+implied an easy entrance at the wide gate upon the broad and pleasant
+way, and turning their backs on the strait and narrow path, which had
+proved so tortuous and stony for their tender, stumbling feet.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the dwarf hesitated, hardly knowing how to answer the
+boy's question. Then he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"If I was you, I wouldn't set out again in search of the Happy Land;
+because them that turns their backs upon the duties which lie close to
+their hand, and their faces away from the place where God has put them,
+never find a happy land, neither in this life nor in the next," said the
+little man solemnly. "It mostly comes to folks, often when they little
+expect; leastways it did to me," he added softly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean," said Darby, with a
+puzzled pucker between his brows. "How could the Happy Land come to one?
+Can you tell me that, please?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you're looking for a country on this side of time such as the
+hymn describes, and I think that's the notion that's taken hold of your
+wise wee head," said the dwarf, laying a gentle hand on the lad's dark
+hair, "you'll never find it; for there's no such place as that in this
+world&mdash;where the sun's always shining, and night never falls; where
+folks are never tempted or wicked; where there's no need to struggle,
+and nobody makes mistakes; where there's neither sickness nor sorrow,
+parting nor death&mdash;nothing but music and pleasure and happiness all the
+year round. Only in heaven are all these joys to be found&mdash;the heaven
+that awaits us after our work is done, when the blessed Lord Himself
+sends His messenger to bring us home."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, dear dwarf, isn't there any Happy Land at all," asked Joan,
+fixing upon her friend a pair of wondering, wide blue eyes&mdash;"no nice
+place where me and Darby can always be quite happy and good, wifout
+naughtiness or puttin' to bed same as at Firgrove; where I could keep my
+dollies and the pussies wif me, and where there 'ud be no Aunt
+Catharine?" she added emphatically. "Tell me, please, isn't there no
+Happy Land like that anywhere, wifout bein' deaded and put in a big box
+in the ground, the way they did wif muver?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, missy, there's a Happy Land sure enough for us all; but each of us
+must seek it within, and create it around us for ourselves," said the
+dwarf dreamily. "And I think that you surely make yours about you
+wherever you are," he added, as he softly smoothed the little one's
+tangled yellow curls.</p>
+
+<p>"Please 'splain it to me again, Mr. Bambo," begged Darby, in his sweet,
+grave tones; "I'm afraid I don't quite understand your meaning yet. I'm
+only seven years old, you see, and not very wise for my age, Aunt
+Catharine says."</p>
+
+<p>"And I'm not wise at all," laughed Bambo, shaking his great head in a
+droll way, which vastly amused Miss Joan, "although I'm more than three
+times your age. I fear I'm not good at explaining, either, for I'm just
+a dull, unlearned fellow. I never had no schooling, not since I wore
+petticoats!"&mdash;here Joan laughed merrily&mdash;"and have no knowledge except
+what the Master has taught me out under the sky and the stars, from the
+hedgerows, the beasts, the birds, the trees, the flowers. But I'll do my
+best to tell you what I mean, and the great Teacher Himself will make
+the rest clear to you if you are willing to learn of Him.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that the only truly Happy Land is just wherever the Lord
+Jesus is, and He dwells with those who love and desire Him above all
+others, no matter what their station or where their habitation may
+be&mdash;whether in a palace or a caravan; beyond yonder storm-blown hill, or
+safe in the snug shelter of Firgrove. Then if He is to walk always
+beside us, we must conduct ourselves as befits them that keep good
+company. We must shirk no duty, no matter how disagreeable; leave never
+a task unlearned, be it ever so hard; and travelling along hand in hand
+with a Friend who is always faithful, a Counsellor who is ever wise, a
+Guide who never stumbles, earth will become for us a real Happy Land,
+and life a foretaste of the bliss of that kingdom prepared for the
+Lord's own subjects 'from the foundation of the world.'</p>
+
+<p>"This is what I believe, sonny, and I think it is what the Lord Jesus
+wanted the multitudes to learn and remember when He said in His sermon
+on the mount, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom
+of heaven.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, thank you, dear Mr. Bambo; I know now 'zactly what you
+mean. How clever you are!" exclaimed Darby, in a tone of mingled respect
+and admiration, looking at his new teacher with glowing eyes, while his
+cheeks were flushed from the excess of his delight. "And I am so glad we
+needn't go away any more to look for the Happy Land from father, when he
+comes back, and Eric, and Auntie Alice, and&mdash;and&mdash;everything," he added,
+hurriedly lumping Aunt Catharine along with the odds and ends that were
+too numerous to mention separately, "but just stay at home, and be good
+and brave and true and loving to everybody. How easy it sounds! I feel
+as if I never could be disobedient or naughty any more," he added, with
+a look of such angelic innocence and high resolve that the dwarf had not
+the heart to mar his lofty mood by so much as a hint of danger or a word
+of warning. He only repeated softly, almost below his breath, a verse
+from the battered old Book in his pocket, that was at times his sole
+companion, and comfort always:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto
+you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father
+which is in heaven."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A SUDDEN FLIGHT.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Little robin redbreast sat upon a tree,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Up went pussy-cat, and down went he;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Down came pussy-cat, and away robin ran;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Says little robin redbreast, 'Catch me if you can.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Little robin redbreast flew upon a wall,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pussy-cat jumped after him, and almost got a fall.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Little robin chirped and sang, and what did pussy say?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pussy-cat said 'Mew,' and robin flew away."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Meanwhile time was passing: morning had slipped on to afternoon. Moll
+would not stay inside the caravan all day, and Joe might be back at any
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"And now that you know where your Happy Land actually lies, don't you
+think we'd better make tracks for it as soon as we can?" said Bambo at
+length, speaking out of the silence that had fallen over the group. For
+both Darby and Bambo had been thinking, and Joan was asleep, with her
+head resting against the dwarf's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you say 'we'? Are you going to come with us?" asked Darby, in
+great delight. "Oh, how kind you are! But won't you be very tired
+walking all that long way to Firgrove and back again, and your cough so
+troublesome?" he inquired with concern.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't want to come back again, sonny. I've been intending to leave
+Joe and Moll for a good while past. I always put off and put off. Having
+no friends to go to, and there being nothing else I could fall back upon
+for a living, I suppose I was timid about making a change. Now I can see
+God's hand in it. He kept me on with the Harrises because He had
+something He wants poor Bambo to do before he dies. If only I can hold
+out until I deliver you and little missy safe into the care of your
+friends, that's all I'll ask. My work will then be done; I'll be ready
+for the call whenever the messenger comes."</p>
+
+<p>"How? what do you mean?" asked Darby, in an eager whisper, for he was
+frightened&mdash;awed, rather&mdash;he knew not why, by the look on the dwarf's
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Because, deary, Bambo's soon going home&mdash;home to the dear Lord Jesus,
+whose love has made the world a happy land for the poor, despised,
+misshapen dwarf since first I sought and found Him waiting and willing
+to claim and receive me&mdash;<i>me</i>&mdash;even me, for His own."</p>
+
+<p>The ready tears coursed quickly down Darby's cheeks, but he remained
+silent. He did not know rightly what he ought to say, and, guided by the
+inimitable tact, the heaven-born wisdom of childhood, said simply
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Whish! here's Moll," spoke Bambo, in a warning undertone. "Don't let on
+to her what we've been talking about. Better not say anything to missy,
+either; but the very first chance we get we'll give them the slip&mdash;see
+if we won't! Don't fret, sonny," he added, giving Darby's hand a
+reassuring squeeze. "Just you leave things to me, and never fear, for
+God will certainly set us free."</p>
+
+<p>Almost directly Joe and Tonio returned. Joe was ravenously hungry and
+extremely cross because they had come back empty-handed, and Joe did not
+like that. He had an odd and occasionally inconvenient knack of picking
+up something&mdash;no matter what&mdash;wherever he went. This talent of his was
+well known among his friends, and had gained for him the nickname before
+mentioned of Thieving Joe, a title of which he was actually proud,
+until&mdash;But better not anticipate.</p>
+
+<p>To-day, however, Joe had picked up nothing. Not a bird had they seen
+worth the waste of powder and shot; not a rabbit had even so much as
+sniffed in the direction of the snares. Joe was disappointed and out of
+temper in consequence, and flinging down his gun, and administering a
+cuff to the long-suffering Tonio, he roared for Bambo to bring him his
+dinner, in a voice which awoke Joan bolt upright from her sleep, and set
+Darby to shake and shiver down to the very soles of his shoes.</p>
+
+<p>When the savoury meal which the dwarf had so carefully prepared was
+disposed of, Mr. Harris lay down beside the fire to rest after the
+fatigues of the morning. There he slept until twilight was stealing over
+the common, and within the belt of fir trees darkness and gloom peopled
+the spaces with shadows, and filled the air with that silence which
+speaks in no known language, yet with many voices. And again, as on the
+previous night, soon the encampment was in the bustle of removal. Bruno
+and Puck were shoved into their cages, the horses harnessed and yoked to
+the caravan, Darby and Joan carefully hidden away inside under Moll's
+guardianship, and the party were on the move once more.</p>
+
+<p>They were not going far, only to the outskirts of Barchester, the big,
+busy, noisy town whose tall chimneys rose through the smoke-laden
+atmosphere which hung so dark and heavy above their belching mouths.
+Barchester was about eight miles off going by the less direct road along
+which they would travel in order to elude pursuit. There they would halt
+for the night, awaiting the proprietor's orders for the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>The black boy capered alongside the caravan, aiming stones at the
+sparrows hunched up on the leafless branches of the hedges, or chasing
+the shy young rabbits that scuttered frightened to their burrows in the
+mossy bank by the roadside, as the piebalds plodded sedately on their
+monotonous way. The bear snarled behind his iron bars, the children
+crouched silently in a corner of the caravan, while Joe and Moll smoked
+and lounged, and discussed their plans concerning their captives and the
+company generally during the approaching winter. Bambo occupied his
+accustomed perch above the horses; and through the badly-fitted squares
+of glass in front, which by no stretch of politeness could truthfully be
+styled windows, the hum of their voices and the meaning of their words
+reached distinctly and sharply his ears and brain.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Moll, are you mindin' that our term o' the van's about up?"
+asked Joe, after some minor matters had been talked over. "We'll give
+the bloomin' old shay back at the end o' the time, an' I don't think as
+you an' me'll ever ride in it again, my woman! We ought to be able to do
+better for ourselves than travel the country like this afore another
+summer comes roun'."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I hope so, for I'm gettin' kind o' tired o' bein' cooped up in
+a box like a rabbit in a trap," answered Moll sulkily.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go to lodgin's for the winter," Joe went on, taking no notice of
+her surly mood; "jest a couple o' rooms, wi' a corner in an outhouse
+where we can keep the bear. Bambo an' Bruno, wi' the little un on his
+back fixed up in tinsel an' spangles, an' her yeller curls flyin', ought
+to bring home a tidy penny every night&mdash;a heap o' coppers, I tell you!
+Tonio will take to the hurdy-gurdy again; him an' Puck should win money
+too. An' as for you," he continued, "you can make yer livin' any day by
+yer black eyes an' slippery tongue. My, Moll, you are a cute un, an' no
+mistake!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, give over yer palaver, for I'm not wantin' it," said Moll
+roughly, yet not ill pleased at her husband's judicious tribute to her
+smartness and her charms. "It's all very fine&mdash;you have everythin'
+nicely fixed up accordin' to yer own notion," she continued mockingly;
+"but I'd like to know where <i>you</i> come in? What are <i>you</i> goin' to do?"
+she demanded angrily. "Nothin', I expect. Play the fine gentleman an'
+live upon what the rest o' us earns. Not if I knows it, Joe Harris,"
+said Moll harshly, with a vicious snap of her strong white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, now, you mustn't turn rusty, Mrs. Harris, my dear; it don't suit
+yer style o' beauty. I'm not goin' to be either idle or extravagant. I'm
+goin' to work hard an' train them kids to work for us. There's money in
+them, I tell you, especially the boy, an' see if Joe Harris can't draw
+it out o' him! He'll be a bit stubborn at first, maybe, but we'll soon
+cure him o' that," added the man savagely. "An' min' you promised to
+help me, Moll! You're surely not forgettin' the bargain we made? You
+were to stan' by me wi' the brats, an' I was to give you the silk gownd
+an' the glitters&mdash;eh, my lass?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not sure if I want yer silk gownd nor yer glitters, Joe Harris,"
+answered his wife moodily. "It ud be dirty money that ud buy them. I
+don't like this business, I tell you agin, as I telled you afore, an'
+there'll no good come o't. Let the little uns go, Joe," she urged in
+pleading tones. "For all that you purtend the other way, you know well
+that there's folks breakin' their hearts about them somewhere. Sen' the
+dwarf back wi' them to Firdale; they'll know their own way from there.
+An' as for Bambo&mdash;why, if he never turns up agin he'll be no loss. He's
+dyin'; you can see that wi' half an eye. His cough's 'nuff to give a
+body the shivers."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you mad, woman, that you bid me throw away the best chance ever I
+had? An' the dwarf too! Why, do you want to ruin us all at one sweep?"
+growled Joe furiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to ruin you, an' well you knows it," said Moll soothingly;
+"but I'm kin' o' tired o' livin' from day to day in dread o' you bein'
+followed an' took up an' put in prison. For it'll come to that, or
+worse, Joe, mark my words!" she added oracularly. "'The fox runs long,
+but he's caught at last,'" she quoted solemnly, "an' I never felt so
+downright sure o't afore. I think it's the look o' them children's eyes,
+the little lass in partik'ler," added the woman, remembering with a
+queer thrill at her heart Joan's kneeling baby form, the folded hands,
+the lisping prayer, the unexpected kiss. "She makes me wish I was a
+better woman," said Moll in a broken voice, softly sobbing the while.</p>
+
+<p>Joe made no reply whatever. Possibly he was so vastly astonished at his
+wife's strange mood that his usual ready flow of forcible argument for
+once had failed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you let them go, Joe? do ee now," Moll resumed, in her most
+persuasive tones. "An' when you return the van, send Tonio off on his
+own hook too; the lad eats more'n he earns. An' sell Bruno; he's a
+vicious brute&mdash;nothin' but an encumbrance. You couldn't do much wi' him
+anyhow, once Bambo's out o' the road. The beast has a grudge agin you,
+for the way you whip him, I expect. He'll do you an injury one o' these
+days if you don't have a care! Then when we've only ourselves to think
+o', you an' me'll make a nice, comfortable livin' easy&mdash;you an' me, an'
+Puck an' the organ, wi' no fear o' the beaks or the jyle,
+or&mdash;or&mdash;anythin'. My! it makes me young agin thinkin' o' the fine times
+we'd have."</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up, will you?" roared Mr. Harris, with a savage stamp of his huge
+foot, which set Bruno to growl ominously, and all the pots and pans
+slung around the van to jingle in unison.</p>
+
+<p>After a moment Moll spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"You bid me shut up," she said, with an angry jangle in her naturally
+soft, full tones. "All right, I will, Joe Harris; but when the time
+comes&mdash;as come it shall&mdash;that you're sorry you didn't listen to me,
+don't look to Moll for pity. There, them's my last words."</p>
+
+<p>Then a sullen silence fell upon the pair; but by the time the caravan
+had reached its destination they were chatting as harmoniously as if no
+difference of opinion had ever arisen to disturb their peace.</p>
+
+<p>The horses were again unyoked, the bear dragged from its lair, and
+arrangements put in train for the night. After a scanty supper of scraps
+and fragments&mdash;for by this time the store in the larder was at low
+ebb&mdash;having charged Bambo and Tonio with threats and strong words to
+look well after the children on peril of their lives, and on no account
+to allow them out of the van, Joe and Moll dressed themselves in their
+best, and set off to look up some old friends and spend a pleasant
+evening in the town.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner were they safely out of the way than Tonio slyly
+disappeared&mdash;following, doubtless, the example set him by his master and
+mistress&mdash;possessing no more sense of responsibility to restrain his
+movements than a kitten or a butterfly. Thus the dwarf found himself,
+greatly to his satisfaction and delight, left in sole charge of the
+captives and the encampment.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The first faint light of the misty October morning was spreading up
+slowly from the east, the delicate hoar frost of autumn was lying like a
+filmy veil of silvery gossamer over the furze bushes and rough grass
+around the camping-place, before the pair of pleasure-seekers returned.
+By that time, however, Tonio was sleeping soundly beside the piebalds in
+shelter of a tumble-down wall, with the monkey curled closely in against
+his dusky breast. Joe and Moll were stupid, tired, and decidedly out of
+sorts, as people are wont to be after a surfeit of enjoyment and a scant
+supply of sleep. Bruno growled as usual at being disturbed, and clanked
+his chain as if in remonstrance; from behind the wall the uneasy
+fidgeting of the hungry horses could be plainly heard; while Tonio's
+noisy snoring rose and fell upon the still, damp air with rhythmical
+regularity. But over the old yellow caravan a curious and suspicious
+silence reigned; not a sound was to be heard within its wooden walls,
+not a glimmer of light came through its curtained panes.</p>
+
+<p>Joe muttered an ugly word, roughly threw open the door, struck a match,
+lighted the lamp and peered about him. Bambo's usual shakedown was
+deserted; the pallet where the children should have been was unoccupied.
+The place was empty; the prisoners had escaped&mdash;under the guidance of
+the dwarf undoubtedly, many hours before, probably.</p>
+
+<p>Behind her husband's back Moll executed a sort of breakdown dance, so
+great was her satisfaction at the unexpected way in which her wishes had
+been carried out. But the disappointment and wrath of Joe over this
+sudden overthrow of his schemes were deep and furious.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>FOLLOWED BY THE ENEMY.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"What will the fishers do,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When at the break of day<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They seek the pretty boats they left<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Moored in the quiet bay?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They seek the pretty boats,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And find that they are fled;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Alas! what will the fishers do?<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">How can they earn their bread?"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">&mdash;"A."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>After his talk with Darby, the dwarf thought long and anxiously as to
+what would be their best route to Firgrove. Under ordinary circumstances
+their simplest one would have been to start from Barchester, or else go
+back to Engleton, then straight along by the canal to Firdale, thence to
+Firgrove, which was only about a mile from the village. But Joe and Moll
+would be sure to follow them, in order to make an attempt to recover
+their captives. Several times before Joe had tried to kidnap an
+attractive smart child whom he could train to be a sort of golden prop
+upon which his laziness could lean, but hitherto he had always been
+balked in his purpose. He would be furiously angry, Bambo knew, when he
+discovered that, just when a life of ease and idleness such as he had
+longed for seemed certain in the near future, he was as far as ever from
+accomplishing his object.</p>
+
+<p>So, in order to avoid the chance of being brought back and subjected to
+greater cruelty than before, the dwarf decided to take a much longer way
+than that by the canal. They would strike out across the common behind
+Barchester, then double back a bit, and follow an unfrequented road
+which also led to Firdale, winding through a long tract of hilly land,
+laid out chiefly in runs for mountain cattle and hardy sheep, and
+scarcely inhabited except by herds and shepherds.</p>
+
+<p>They could, of course, have travelled by rail, but this mode did not
+even occur to Bambo. For one thing, he was penniless, except for a few
+coppers that had escaped Moll's covetous eyes and grasping fingers the
+last time she rifled his pockets, when she supposed him to be asleep;
+and for another, he was not used to railway journeys. He had never, in
+fact, been inside a railway carriage in all his life, and he would have
+hated and shrunk from the attention he would most assuredly have
+attracted from all sorts of people&mdash;pity, horror, shrugs, smiles, grins,
+jeers, and laughter. It was bad enough to be stared at in booths and
+fairs when he was dressed up as a general in a shabby scarlet uniform
+and plumed hat with Bruno by his side. That was different. That was the
+only way he had ever hit upon by which he might honestly earn his food
+and shelter, such as it was. But from choice the dwarf had always
+avoided his fellow-creatures. Surrounded by the strong, the
+self-satisfied, the handsome, the gay, the consciousness of his own
+oddity and deformity was borne in upon his sensitive spirit in the
+keenest manner; but in the woods and fields, by the roadside and the
+hedgerows, he felt another person entirely. There Bambo forgot that he
+was so unlike his fellows; and among the birds, the beasts, the trees,
+the flowers, with God's wide heaven above and the green earth under
+foot, this simple, large-souled child of nature dropped his burden, and
+for the time being felt happy and at home.</p>
+
+<p>He knew quite well the way along which he proposed to travel, for he had
+footed it from Firdale to Barchester more than once when he was a boy.
+In the scattered cottages and herdsmen's huts there were simple, kindly
+souls, who would welcome any one from the outside world, and willingly
+give them a bit of bread, a drink of milk, with maybe a shakedown by
+their fireside for the night, without asking any awkward questions or
+gazing too curiously at the odd little man and his charming companions.
+They might get a lift, too, for a few miles now and again in a cart or
+wagon going between one and another of the few farms along the route.
+Bambo sincerely hoped they should, for Joan would not be able to walk
+very far at once. Her feet were tender, and her shoes were thin. Bambo
+knew she should have to be carried the greater part of the way, and his
+great anxiety was lest his fund of strength, which had gradually grown
+so sadly small, should fail him before he had completed his self-imposed
+task. What would become of the little ones if he were forced to lie down
+under the friendly shelter of some wayside hedge, utterly unable to drag
+himself another step? Would Joe and Moll find them and force them back
+to a life of lovelessness, hardship, and degradation? Oh, surely not!
+and the dwarf's soul sank within him as he contemplated the bare
+possibility of such failure and defeat.</p>
+
+<p>For a while Bambo gave way to despondency and these by no means
+unnatural fears. Soon, however, this mood passed away, banished as
+swiftly as mist before sunshine, by the recollection of a promise&mdash;old
+almost as the everlasting hills, yet new as the song which the redeemed
+ones sing around the throne of God,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I
+will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee
+with the right hand of my righteousness."</p>
+
+<p>Like a whisper of sweetest music the peace of the words stole over the
+dwarf's troubled spirit, soothing and fortifying him so that he felt
+himself no longer a weakling, a pigmy, but a veritable giant to fight
+and to endure. And with a smile upon his lips and a light not of earth
+in his sunken eyes, Bambo and his charges slipped noiselessly away from
+the bear, the monkey, and the caravan, and set out, not to <i>seek</i> the
+Happy Land, as Darby said with one of his quaint, grave glances, but
+this time to <i>find</i> it.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The first streaks of sunlight were lighting up the landscape before the
+little party paused to take a rest, and to eat some of the food which
+the dwarf's fore-thought had provided. Darby found a dry seat upon the
+trunk of a fallen tree. Upon it they sat and ate their breakfast of cold
+rabbit and dry bread, washed down by a draught of pure water carried in
+a tin porringer from a spring which bubbled out of the bank hard by&mdash;a
+spring that was half hidden by the feathery moss, trailing periwinkle,
+and brown fern fronds with which it was surrounded. The children
+breakfasted heartily, their early outing having sharpened their
+appetites; but Bambo's eating was only a pretence, for he was not
+hungry. Joan was a fairly solid weight for a girl of five, and he had
+carried her in his arms nearly all the way from the encampment. He was
+tired and exhausted in consequence; his hands burned, his lips were
+parched, his brow fevered. He laved his face with the clear, cool water;
+and after a long, deep drink from the porringer, which Joan held to his
+lips with all the precision and gravity of a professional nurse, he felt
+strengthened and refreshed.</p>
+
+<p>By-and-by they set out again, and now Joan trotted by Bambo's side,
+chattering gaily the while. The sunshine was warm and bright. The air
+was alive with myriads of insects flitting and buzzing their brief life
+away. Sparrows chirped and wrangled in the bare brown hedges, robins
+piped their sweet, plaintive tune from every tree; film-like webs of
+silvery gossamer decked the grass beneath their feet, and draped the
+stunted furze bushes as with a bridal veil of rarest lace. It was all so
+gladsome, so beautiful, so free, that Joan laughed and skipped for joy.
+And was she not going back to Miss Carolina, and the cats, and baby, and
+Auntie Alice, and Firgrove? Darby trudged more soberly by the dwarf's
+side, and they chatted as they went. Bambo told tales of his boyhood. He
+described to the children the tiny two-roomed cottage, long since swept
+away to be replaced by a more sanitary habitation, where he and his
+widowed mother lived with his grandfather and grandmother. He spoke of
+his kind grandmother's death, and his mother's, almost immediately
+after, from the same destroying fever. Thus Bambo was left practically
+alone in the world. His grandfather was a sour, silent man, disappointed
+first in his only son, who had never been anything but a ne'er-do-well
+and a burden to his parents; then in his grandson, whose deformity and
+helplessness the old man resented as a personal injury at the hand of
+Providence. He could not tolerate the child as a baby&mdash;never set eyes
+upon him, in fact, if he could help it. When the baby grew from infancy
+to childhood, he quickly learned, guided by the unerring instinct
+usually possessed by the young, to keep out of his grandfather's way and
+to fear him, so that there was little love lost between them. After the
+two women were gone the state of matters grew worse. Sore from a sense
+of injustice, starved for want of affection, the boy was often sullen
+and sometimes disobedient. Strife and even blows were the outcome, until
+life in Moses Green's lodging&mdash;for he had quitted the cottage&mdash;became
+unbearable to the wretched, misguided boy. Indeed, so unhappy did he
+feel in those dark days after his mother's death, that he had been often
+tempted to wonder why God had made him at all when he was not made as
+others, when in all the big, wide world there seemed no fitting place
+for such as he.</p>
+
+<p>There were several kind, good people who, aware of the harsh, unnatural
+feeling of the surly old gardener towards his grandson, were anxious to
+befriend the orphan child&mdash;Squire Turner of Firgrove, the father of Aunt
+Catharine and Auntie Alice, being among the number. But the first thing
+they one and all proposed was that for a while he should be sent to
+school, and to this the lad resolutely refused to submit. Did he not
+know what strong, active boys who could leap, and run, and fight, and
+play football were like out of school? They were his enemies, his
+tormentors, who mocked, gibed, jeered, stoned him even, until he
+sometimes felt he would like to wrap his long arms round their necks and
+strangle the whole lot of them. And if they were cruel and unkind out of
+school, when he could generally get away from them somehow, or hide,
+what would they be in it where there should be no escape? School indeed!
+Not likely! So in order to free himself from the attentions of those who
+meant well enough, no doubt, but, in the dwarf's opinion, did not know
+what they were talking about, Bambo did what many another boy has done
+on the top of his temper before and since&mdash;he ran away, far, far away to
+the big town of Barchester, upon which he and the children had just
+turned their backs, tramping every step of the long, weary journey.</p>
+
+<p>It was quickly made plain to him, however, that most of the lads who
+loafed about the Barchester street corners were curiously similar to the
+boys of Firdale in their love of teasing and making a mock of any
+creature weaker than themselves, any one whose appearance or
+peculiarities presented a fair butt for their rough ridicule, and
+gradually the dwarf grew to cherish a rooted hatred to his race.</p>
+
+<p>The days went on. He had arrived in Barchester with only a
+long-treasured threepenny piece in his pocket. Rapidly it melted away;
+for a few pence do not last very long, even when one buys only a
+halfpenny worth of bread a day and sleeps on a doorstep. He was almost
+famished and worn to a shadow when, by good luck or ill, he fell in with
+the proprietor of the Satellite Circus Company and his troupe, as Joe so
+grandly called the occupants of the huge yellow caravan. They were just
+starting on tour&mdash;the phrase is Joe's&mdash;for the summer. Joe eagerly
+invited the dwarf to accompany them, being on the lookout at the time
+for a fresh sensation, and seeing in the extraordinary-looking lad, with
+the huge head, stunted legs, and sprawling feet, a novel addition to his
+party at the cost merely of some scraps and a shelter, when a shelter
+was available and not required for any other purpose.</p>
+
+<p>The boy on his part jumped at the man's offer, for was he not starving?
+Besides, he was overjoyed at the prospect of the freedom and the outdoor
+life held out to him by the proposal that he should become part and
+parcel of the constantly-moving caravan. And what a fine way of escape
+from his persecutors! So there and then the dwarf was enrolled as a
+regular member of the Satellite Circus Company. His real name&mdash;plain
+Jimmy Green&mdash;was scornfully cast aside. Mr. Harris voted it slow and
+commonplace. After a good deal of thought and much indecision, he
+substituted the more catchy one of Bambo as being both novel and
+appropriate to the profession&mdash;Bambo, the musical dwarf; though why he
+was dubbed musical was always a puzzle to the poor little man, because
+nobody had ever known him to sing a note in his life. Sing! why, with
+his hoarse, croaky voice he could no more make music than a frog in a
+marsh. The absurdity of it amused him at first every time he saw his
+name flaring in big red and yellow letters from placards and hoardings.
+Bambo was all right; he rather liked the change. And Bambo he had
+remained ever since, until, like Darby and Joan, the dwarf had almost
+forgotten his claim to any other name.</p>
+
+<p>From year to year he stayed on with Joe and Moll. Other members of the
+company came and went, but still the dwarf remained&mdash;now cuffed and
+kicked, when he did not by his grotesque antics and claptrap tricks
+bring in as many pence as his patrons believed he might; again let alone
+when he had been lucky, and they were in a good humour with themselves
+and all the world. He acted as bear-leader and buffoon, villain and
+hero, alternately in public; while in private he was cook, drudge,
+messman, and menagerie manager for the rest of the party, for animals of
+some sort invariably formed part of the attractions of the troupe. Now
+it was a performing poodle, picked up somewhere in Mr. Harris's own
+ingenious way of finding things which had never been lost; again it was
+a cage of white mice; at another time a wonderful parrot, with always a
+monkey, and generally a bear. Bambo had a great way with these
+creatures, and often succeeded in teaching them tricks when Joe had
+failed. His methods were few and simple, based chiefly upon kindness and
+perseverance; whereas Joe's one idea of imparting instruction was by
+threats and chastisement in some form, dealt out impartially to each and
+all, and more than one valuable animal had come to grief on the system.</p>
+
+<p>It was a hard life, and after a time became very monotonous to the
+dwarf, who was often heartsick of it all. But what else was there for
+him to do? Nothing that he knew of, so he stayed on.</p>
+
+<p>One after another the changing seasons slipped swiftly away, and in
+their passing brought to the Satellite Circus Company reverses and bad
+times. They found it impossible to keep pace with the ever-growing craze
+for something fresh, a new excitement, and in consequence had slowly but
+surely been losing their place in public favour. Then the company was
+broken up. The Swedish giantess went over to an opposition troupe; the
+German ventriloquist and conjurer had died of apoplexy; their leading
+lady, who so airily executed the tight-rope performances as well, went
+off one fine day without saying good-bye, and married the clown, with
+whom she had serious thoughts of setting up a select show on her own
+account. The roomy, comfortable caravan was sold, and an old lumbering
+machine hired each summer instead; while in winter the party lived from
+hand to mouth on their wits, putting up here, there, and anyhow. The
+animals had all died or been disposed of except the horses&mdash;a pair of
+broken-down yet intelligent piebalds&mdash;Puck, and Bruno, the bear that
+Bambo had trained from a cub, and tamed until he was as gentle as a
+lamb with every one but Joe, towards whom he seemed to entertain a
+dislike both deep and savage.</p>
+
+<p>As the years rolled round, Bambo became reconciled to his lot, and in
+course of time more than reconciled, even happy. For in the many
+solitary hours he passed perched above the horses upon the box of the
+caravan, when the soft summer wind fanned his face, or in dark, dewy
+midnights, when in the shelter of some leafy forest glade he felt
+himself alone with nature, long-forgotten words he had heard from his
+mother's lips, prayers she had taught him, hymns she had crooned beside
+his bed, came back to his memory&mdash;not quickly or clearly all at once,
+but slowly, hazily. He eagerly welcomed these memories, and hungrily
+held them close. At first they represented to him his mother&mdash;gentle,
+pitiful, loving&mdash;come back from the dead, and the friendless youth felt
+no longer desolate. Then he began to ponder the meaning of the thoughts
+that filled his heart and brain; and God, by His silent lessons,
+conveyed through every bird that flies, every insect that crawls, each
+flower that raises its smiling beauty to the sun, helped him to
+understand. He had learned to read, in an imperfect sort of way, during
+his early years. He bought a Bible with clear type in the next village
+they stopped at, and, by dint of frequent practice, he was soon able to
+read it easily. The Book became his constant comfort and delight.
+Henceforth existence ceased to be a burden to the despised dwarf; each
+day brought a fresh message of hope, and held a sweeter significance of
+love for this hitherto hopeless, loveless creature, because the Lord had
+discovered to him the real meaning of life, and he knew himself&mdash;mean,
+unworthy though he was&mdash;at his true value: no longer only a log, a
+spectacle, an offence, but an immortal soul for whom the dear Christ
+Jesus had esteemed it no shame to die! He was sure that he was wanted in
+the world, that there was a use for him, a something which he alone
+could do, and he patiently awaited the Lord's orders. Now he knew that
+his special work had been put ready to his hand&mdash;the deliverance of
+these two little ones. And although the call to action did not sound
+until his sands of life were well-nigh run, the answer "Ready!" rang
+none the less cheerily and promptly.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>At midday, which Bambo was able to guess pretty nearly by the sun, the
+fugitives halted to have their dinner. Joan said it was not dinner at
+all, only breakfast over again; for it consisted of some more cold
+rabbit, a slice of bread each, with a drink of water. And very good it
+tasted to these hungry little people, who many a time at Firgrove had
+discontentedly turned up their noses at much more dainty fare. Then Joan
+fell asleep, cradled comfortably in the dwarf's long arms, and Darby
+dozed at his side.</p>
+
+<p>When they awoke it was well on in the afternoon. The sun was no longer
+visible; a chilling wind had sprung up from the east; dull gray clouds
+hung loweringly overhead; a close mist, as of coming rain, wrapped the
+landscape as in a mantle. Bambo felt that they must push on, and, if
+possible, find somewhere to shelter in for the night. It would never do
+for these tenderly-nurtured children to be exposed to a drenching. About
+himself the dwarf had no anxiety. A shower more or less could not matter
+much, he thought, as a more severe fit of coughing than usual shook his
+frail, thin body and tore at his poor, raw chest. Nothing mattered now,
+he told himself, except that he should accomplish the work his Master
+had given him to do, and along with the work he believed that he should
+also be granted a sufficiency of strength. After that&mdash;why, he would be
+quite ready and eager for the next call upon him, whenever it came.</p>
+
+<p>But there was not a house or cottage within sight, only a long stretch
+of barren land, half heather, partly coarse grass, over which some
+small, horned sheep and half-grown cattle had been turned out to
+pasture. About three miles off, at a place called Hanleigh Heath, there
+was a farm with a solitary wayside dwelling attached&mdash;a big, bare barn
+of a place, part of which the farmer had utilized as a sort of rude
+hostelry. The dwarf knew it well. It was called the Traveller's Delight.
+He had put up there with the Harrises one night several years before.
+The landlord and Joe seemed the best of friends&mdash;as "thick as thieves,"
+in fact. Therefore Bambo felt that he dared not venture within the
+hostelry with his charges&mdash;it would not be safe; besides, they had no
+money to pay for lodging. Nevertheless, they must make for it with all
+speed. The rain was coming on, and soon too. The Traveller's Delight
+held out their only chance of refuge from the wet and the darkness, and
+the dwarf hoped that in some of its straggling outhouses they should
+find shelter for the night.</p>
+
+<p>It was almost dark when Darby and the dwarf saw a light twinkling a
+short way off, like a bright, friendly eye from out the gloom. Oh, how
+thankful they were! for both were weary beyond the power of moving many
+yards further. Darby was staggering from giddiness and stumbling at
+every step. His little legs dragged one after the other as if each foot
+were weighted with lead. Bambo spoke no word, for speech was now hardly
+possible to him, his throat was so sore, his breath so laboured, his
+chest so torn by the deep, grating cough, which, in spite of all his
+efforts, he could not suppress. The instant the rain actually began to
+fall he had taken off his jacket to wrap around Joan, who was sound
+asleep in his arms, and his vest he had put upon Darby. It hung about
+the boy's slim shoulders and over his knees somewhat like a sack. It had
+saved him from a wetting, however; while Bambo, thus stripped of his
+outer garments, was soaked to the skin.</p>
+
+<p>He carefully laid the still sleeping Joan under the shelter of a hayrick
+in the stackyard behind the inn; and charging Darby neither to make a
+noise nor leave her alone, no matter what might happen, the dwarf crept
+cautiously forward&mdash;stealthy in his movements as a cat stalking a
+mouse&mdash;to ascertain whether there was any safe cover to which he could
+convey the children.</p>
+
+<p>From the front of the inn the lamplight streamed through the uncurtained
+windows, shining cheerily on the wet cobble-stones of the sloppy
+courtyard, and now and again a shrill voice pierced the silence of the
+night as a woman's figure moved to and fro within the warmly-glowing
+kitchen. But outside there was no sign of life; all was still except for
+the occasional shuffling of the horses' feet in the stable, the slow,
+deep breathing of the cows in an adjacent shed; and Bambo became bolder.
+He peeped in at this window, he peered within that door, until at length
+he found what he wanted&mdash;an empty house with plenty of clean, dry straw
+strewn upon its floor.</p>
+
+<p>In summer it had probably been used for housing the calves which were
+now wandering at will over the wide, wet pasture-lands, having arrived
+at an age when they could be promoted to share the privations without
+enjoying any of the comforts of the grown-up creatures belonging to the
+establishment. No one was likely to have an errand there now that its
+former occupants were away. In any case, nobody would be about before
+morning, Bambo reasoned, and by day-dawn he and his charges would have
+once more taken the road for Firgrove.</p>
+
+<p>Gently and carefully he raised Joan from her bed beside the haystack,
+fearing that if she awoke she might make a noise. She did awake,
+however, sat up, looked all round in a frightened fashion, then began to
+whimper. Drawing a fold of shawl across her mouth and whispering to
+Darby to keep close, the dwarf carried her as swiftly and silently as
+possible to the shelter which he had discovered. There, snugly curled up
+among the clean, dry straw like kittens in a basket, the little ones
+were both soon sound asleep.</p>
+
+<p>But Bambo could not sleep, although his weakness and weariness amounted
+almost to pain. He was strangely wakeful, and eagerly on the alert for
+the slightest sound which might indicate either disturbance or danger.
+By-and-by, however, his head began to droop on his chest; his eyes were
+closed, his long arms lay limply by his side. The present faded away
+from him; he drifted back into the past again. Once more he was a child
+at his mother's knee; his brow was bent upon her lap, his hands were
+folded as she bade him fold them when he said his evening prayer&mdash;a
+simple petition which in all his wanderings the dwarf never forgot, and
+of late years never omitted to repeat each night&mdash;in perfect faith and
+childlike confidence that his words would be heard, his requests
+granted:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I lay my body down to sleep,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And pray that God my soul will keep;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And if I die before I wake,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I pray that God my soul will take. Amen."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>For a while all was still within the calf-house. Darby and Joan slept
+the profound, dreamless sleep of tired childhood; the dwarf was buried
+in an oblivion which was as much the stupor of weakness as the
+blissfulness of sleep. About an hour he remained sunk in sweet
+forgetfulness of present danger and future difficulties. Then his big
+head began to bob uneasily up and down, from one side to another, until
+it fell upon his shoulder with a sudden jerk which only partially
+aroused him. He opened his eyes with an effort. Where was he, and where
+was his mother? Surely that was not her voice which broke in so coarsely
+through the closed door and the hole in the wall? That harsh laugh never
+burst from her mouth; those ugly words never soiled her pure lips! All
+at once Bambo started upright, thoroughly awake and trembling with
+terror. He remembered everything, and for a minute his brave, loving
+heart died within him as he recognized the voices in the court outside
+of Thieving Joe and his wife Moll, wrangling with the sleepy landlord
+for admittance at that unseemly hour to the shelter and comfort of the
+Traveller's Delight.</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf put his ear to a chink in the door and listened intently. He
+could not make out what they said, however, but that they were there in
+hot pursuit of himself and the children Bambo felt not an atom of doubt.
+Some one must have taken note of the runaways, given Joe and Moll
+warning, and here they were already on their trail. They would question
+the landlord; next, search every corner and cranny about the inn for the
+fugitives. At any moment their hiding-place might be discovered.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A TERRIBLE FRIGHT.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"No will-o'-the-wisp mislight thee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No snake or slowworm bite thee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">But on, on thy way,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Not making a stay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Since ghost there's none to affright thee.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Let not the dark thee cumber;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What though the moon does slumber?<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">The stars of the night<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Will lend thee their light,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like tapers clear without number."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1"><span class="smcap">R. Herrick.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Behind the stackyard at the Traveller's Delight the ground dipped down
+into a hollow, which, even in daylight, was completely screened from the
+view of any one within the house or about the yard by a great clump or
+patch of scraggy furze bushes. In this secluded spot there stood a
+lime-kiln, one of those built somewhat like a low circular tower, with
+gaping mouth and open roof; but for many a day the kiln had not been
+used&mdash;not since the present tenant entered on possession of the farm at
+Hanleigh Heath. During the course of these years of disuse nature had
+been busy beautifying the original ugliness of the structure. Now ivy
+climbed boldly here and there over the rough mason-work, trails of late
+convolvulus festooned the opening, hardy hart's-tongue and tufts of
+parsley fern sprang from every crevice in the stones, while the top was
+covered with a tangle of briars, nettles, and matted grass. These
+combined to form a species of thatch which perfectly protected the
+interior from both wind and rain.</p>
+
+<p>Bambo had come upon this spot long ago. He had, in fact, slept there one
+night snugly and safely, and thought to himself what a fine hiding-place
+it would be in case of need, for nobody seemed to go near it. Now, in
+his dilemma and sore strait, the remembrance of the old lime-kiln came
+back to him, and he welcomed the idea with joy and gratitude. It would
+never occur to Joe Harris to seek his runaways in such a spot&mdash;he
+probably did not know of its existence&mdash;and the dwarf did not believe
+that the landlord would take any part in the chase. He surmised, and
+correctly too, that such a shrewd person would prefer to ignore the
+claims of friendship to running the risk of bringing the Traveller's
+Delight under the notice of the authorities, or mixing himself up with
+what might turn out to be an awkward business.</p>
+
+<p>For what seemed to the watching Bambo a very long time lights continued
+to burn within the house, while now and again a burst of noisy laughter
+broke the silence of the night, rising discordantly above the steady,
+persistent pitter-patter, pitter-patter, drip, drip, drip of the soft,
+thick autumn rain. At length the darkness and stillness of midnight held
+the homestead in possession. Even the rain had ceased to fall; not a
+sound was to be heard except the dwarf's hoarse, laboured breaths and
+the gentle, regular breathing of the sleeping children.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually and cautiously Bambo awoke Darby. For a minute or two the
+little fellow could not make out where he was; but in a few hurried
+whispered sentences the dwarf made him understand how near and how dire
+was the danger which threatened them&mdash;how absolutely needful it was for
+them to be quick, and to be wary in their attempt if they meant to
+escape.</p>
+
+<p>Without arousing Joan, Bambo lifted her up from her nest among the
+straw, and keeping her still well wrapped up in his own worn jacket, he
+held her easily in his arms. Then, with Darby pressing close beside him,
+they crept noiselessly forth from the shelter and warmth of the cosy
+calf-house.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the moon rode high in a soft gray-blue sky, shedding a
+flood of pale, pure radiance on all things, touching the homely,
+commonplace details of the farmyard with a love-like caress until they
+were idealized into objects of wonder and beauty. But Bambo had no eyes
+just then for admiring nature's marvellous transformation scenes; the
+work in hand occupied his whole attention. He barely glanced at the
+moon, although he was well aware of her presence, which he considered
+rather unfortunate, and heartily wished it had been still dark, because
+then their movements would have been more certain to escape notice.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly and stealthily they moved from the cover of the door, keeping
+well within the shadow cast by the walls of the outhouses. Step by step
+they stole along until they reached the greater security of the
+stackyard. There they were beyond view from the windows, supposing any
+one were looking out, which was hardly likely. Inch by inch they crawled
+across the bright patch of a hundred yards or so between them and the
+clump of friendly furze bushes. There they paused to take breath and
+look about them. There was nobody at their heels; nothing in sight
+except the sheep huddled in heaps for shelter behind the low stone
+dikes, and the young cattle herding in groups here and there over the
+wet, glistening fields. In the hollow below lay the place of refuge for
+which they were bound. And just as Bruce's plucky spider made that "bold
+little run at the very last pinch" which "put him into his native spot,"
+so one quick rush down the incline in front of them landed the fugitives
+inside the empty lime-kiln, where they were safe, for the moment at
+least, with a roof over their heads, a dry green floor beneath their
+feet, on which they could stretch their weary limbs.</p>
+
+<p>But afterwards! The inn seemed wrapped in slumber just then. The
+landlord would be back in his bed. Joe and Moll might have left&mdash;gone
+off in another direction, disappointed at not finding the fugitives or
+any news of them at the Traveller's Delight on their arrival; or
+possibly they were resting, with the intention of making a thorough
+search through the premises in the daylight next morning. This was the
+more probable explanation of how matters actually stood; at the same
+time, Bambo had no sense of security that it was the correct one. At
+that very moment their enemies might be prowling from barn to byre, from
+cart-shed to stable in pursuit of their prey. They would undoubtedly
+explore the stackyard. Next, they would notice the furze bushes. They
+would poke and peer among them and about them. Failing to find what they
+sought, they would be sure to look this way and that, up and down, until
+their eyes lighted upon the lime-kiln. Then&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Here the dwarf drew a quick breath, set his teeth hard, and again asked
+himself what was to be done next.</p>
+
+<p>The children were worn out. Joan sobbed from time to time in her sleep,
+and brave, strong-souled little Darby shivered with cold and fright,
+while he pressed closer and closer to the dwarf's side for warmth and
+protection. As for Bambo himself, he was feeling extremely ill. The
+fever that raged in his blood cracked his lips and parched his tongue,
+until it felt in his mouth like so much dry sponge. His breathing had
+become so laboured from the sharp, shooting pains in his chest and back
+that it was only with difficulty he could speak; while his hot hands
+shook, and his thin, stunted limbs trembled beneath the weight of his
+big, ungainly body. He wondered what would happen if he were not able to
+go any further! What would become of the boy and little missy if he were
+to die there in the kiln before morning? Alas! there could be but one
+answer to that question, with Moll Harris and Thieving Joe hovering
+around like hawks about a nest of doves. But no; God was not going to
+deliver them up to the destroyers in any such fashion. After having
+brought them thus far on their way in safety, He would surely see them
+over the rest of the road; and Bambo took heart again. They would rest
+where they were until dawn; then one more effort would surely bring them
+to some farm or decent cottage. He would tell the children's story, and
+perhaps a cart or other conveyance could be found to take them on to
+Firgrove; some one, at least, there would surely be willing to hasten to
+inform the ladies of the whereabouts of the two wee wanderers.</p>
+
+<p>Thus far the dwarf's thoughts ran readily on, then stopped in confusion.
+Further they would not seek to penetrate, and it did not matter. Once
+the little ones were safe with their friends he should have plenty of
+time to think about himself. Then he would be free to lie down in some
+quiet spot and sleep away some of the weakness and weariness which
+every moment threatened to overpower him. Sleep! oh, if he could only
+sleep until the racking pains in his chest were better!
+Sleep&mdash;sleep&mdash;sleep! and perhaps it might even be permitted him not to
+wake at all until he had reached that land whose inhabitants are never
+sick, and the people who dwell therein are forgiven their iniquity.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid your cold is worse," whispered Darby at length through the
+silence, that was broken only by Joan's sobbing sighs and the dwarf's
+hoarse breathing, which every moment became more painful and more
+difficult.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, I think it is," answered Bambo, giving the little fellow's hand a
+grateful squeeze. "But don't you fret about Bambo, deary; he'll soon be
+all right, never fear, once you and missy are safe at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Are we far from the canal here, Mr. Bambo?" Darby again asked, after a
+long pause, during which the dwarf thought he had fallen asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;no&mdash;well, let me see," said the dwarf thoughtfully. "Why, it's
+just a matter of about two miles as the crow flies, over the fields on
+the other side of the inn."</p>
+
+<p>"Could we walk as the crow flies?" demanded Darby eagerly. "That is&mdash;of
+course&mdash;well, you know what I mean," and the little lad smiled and
+coloured in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, there's nothing to hinder, so far as I know. Why are you asking,
+deary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I've been thinking that if we could get there&mdash;and Joan should
+be able to walk that length easily, I'm sure, after this nice long sleep
+she's having&mdash;the man would let us into the boat, and that would take us
+home without tiring you any more. Or we could slip on board when he
+wasn't looking. You know that's how we came," added the boy, with an
+amused little chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf did not answer immediately.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sonny, I wouldn't say but you're about right," he replied at
+length. "I never thought of going by the canal, knowing as how the
+boat's not allowed to carry passengers. But if we were to tell the man
+in charge where we're bound for, and explain things a bit to him, it's
+more than likely he'd stretch a point and take us to Firdale. And if he
+refuses, we could do just as you say&mdash;slip in at the next stopping-place
+without anybody being anything the wiser.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless you for a wee wisehead!" gasped Bambo, in his hoarse, quavering
+voice, at the same time drawing the child still closer to his side.
+"You've put new life into me. Here I've been fearing as how I should
+never reach Firgrove, and blaming the Lord for forgetting us. And now,
+out of the mouth of a babe, so to speak, He brings the very plan that
+will be easiest and best for us all," and tears of joy and thankfulness
+trickled down the poor creature's hollow, fevered cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"We needn't go just yet, not for ever so long," said Darby, quite proud
+of his post of commander-in-chief for the time being. "The boat leaves
+Barchester early, early in the morning, but she doesn't reach Engleton
+till about eight o'clock. I've talked with Mrs. Grey of the <i>Smiling
+Jane</i> lots and lots of times, so I know. She reaches Firdale some time
+in the evening. We'll be home in time for tea. Oh, won't it be lovely!"
+said Darby, clasping his hands in ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" assented Bambo, earnestly, solemnly. It was not of the tea he was
+thinking, however, but of the deep satisfaction and gratitude with which
+he would hand over his charges to their proper guardians. "And now you
+must try and sleep a while, sonny, like missy here. See, lie down on
+this nice dry place, and you can lean your head on Bambo's knee."</p>
+
+<p>"You must rest too," coaxed Darby sweetly. "You are so good to us, yet
+you never think of yourself. Wait, see if we won't take care of you when
+we go to Firgrove! Aunt Catharine will soon cure your cough. She's fine
+for doctoring, though she <i>is</i> so&mdash;so&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't fret about me, sonny; I'll rest plenty by-and-by, never you
+fear," and with that strange smile lighting up his pale, plain face, a
+smile which to look upon&mdash;only now it was too dark&mdash;made Darby feel as
+if he were in church or had newly finished saying his prayers, the dwarf
+watched until the little lad's heavy eyelids drooped over his tired
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Soon he would have been, like Joan, fast asleep. Bambo also was hovering
+on the undefined borderland, when the sound of footsteps from the field
+above the kiln caught his quick ear, and with a sudden jerk of his great
+head he sat up to listen. At the same time a flare of light from a
+lantern streamed over the top of the kiln, and loud, angry voices rose
+upon the still night air in quarrelsome tones.</p>
+
+<p>"I ain't goin' prowlin' about here no longer, Joe Harris, I tell ee,"
+said Moll shrilly. "I've tramped at yer heel for the last twelve hours
+a'most, till I'm ready to drop, an' now you'd keep folks from their
+proper sleep all for nought!"</p>
+
+<p>"Stow yer cheek, I say, or it'll be the worse for you," growled Mr.
+Harris savagely. "I'm goin' to fin' them kids an' that rascally imp o' a
+dwarf wherever they are, an' you're goin' to help me. They come this
+way, right enough&mdash;there's no mistake about that&mdash;an' where else would
+they be but here? There's not another spot they could shelter for miles
+an' miles."</p>
+
+<p>"Fin' 'em, then, if you can!" snapped Moll sharply. "Anyhow, I'm goin'
+away to my bed like a decent Christ'an woman. Come along, Joe, do," she
+urged, with a swift change of tone. "You can have another look roun' in
+the mornin' if you must. But if you'd take my biddin'&mdash;only that's what
+you never do&mdash;you'd let 'em go back where they come from."</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up!" commanded Joe, in the same savage tone as before. "Haven't I
+told you agin an' agin that I'll never let 'em escape&mdash;not if we were to
+swing for't!" he added grandly. Then he went on in a wheedling sort of
+way. "Here, old girl, take the lantern an' look down below there; you've
+sharper sight nor me. Pullen, he says as there's a tumble-down
+lime-kiln in that hollow. Bambo ud hardly hit on't; but it's best to
+make sure."</p>
+
+<p>Moll snatched the lantern from her lord's hand with an extremely bad
+grace, and an exclamation which sounded very like "Bad luck to Pullen
+an' the Traveller's Delight!" For she heartily disliked the mission upon
+which they were bound&mdash;the recovery of the captives. Having had frequent
+experience of her husband's furious temper and the weight of his fists,
+she dared not directly refuse to aid him; but from the bottom of her
+heart she hoped the two sweet innocents would never fall into his
+clutches again.</p>
+
+<p>"Better for them to be dead!" muttered Moll passionately, as, lantern in
+hand, she nimbly slid down the shiny wet slope to the lime-kiln. "The
+little lass, leastways," she added in a softer voice. And as the memory
+of Joan's freely-bestowed kiss fell upon the woman's half-awakened heart
+like the touch of an angel's finger, a tear trembled on her long black
+lashes, and a wordless prayer winged its way through the inky darkness
+of the murky sky&mdash;a prayer which in heaven was understood to indicate a
+struggling soul's yearning after better things.</p>
+
+<p>Straight and swift to the mouth of the kiln came Moll, the lantern
+flinging its trail of light from side to side as she moved. At length
+she paused opposite the opening, darted inside, looked about, and
+stopped short with a smothered cry as her keen eyes discerned the little
+group huddled in the far corner.</p>
+
+<p>"Whish!" was all she said. Then she laid a finger on her lip, pointed
+upwards, and whispered, "Joe!"</p>
+
+<p>Neither Bambo nor Darby moved or spoke, and Joan slept on. They were too
+frightened to do anything but stare at Moll in astonishment, wondering,
+yet thankful, because she seemed disposed to be so friendly.</p>
+
+<p>Moll put the lantern on the ground, fumbled for an instant in a huge
+hold-all that hung beneath her skirt, whence she produced a handful of
+coppers with a hunch of bread and cheese. These she silently handed to
+the dwarf, who grasped her hand and murmured a fervent "God bless you,
+Moll!" Then moving forward to where the sleeping child lay upon the
+grass, the woman dropped on her knees beside her, bent down until her
+face was on a level with the little one's, and reverently pressed her
+lips to one of the small hands that were flung in a position of perfect
+grace across the folds of the dwarf's worn brown jacket.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait here till everything quiet," she breathed, leaning towards Bambo's
+ear; "then fly for yer lives. Joe's as mad as mad! Make for the canal.
+Bargee'll take ye on board if you tell him that these is the runaways
+the beaks was on the hunt for. But don't split on us&mdash;leastways, not if
+you can help it," added Moll, suddenly remembering how little reason she
+had to expect mercy at the dwarf's hands. "An' now farewell! Don't
+forget that Moll tried to do ye a good turn when she had the chance."
+And giving Darby's head a rough pat, and casting another long look upon
+the unconscious Joan, the woman clambered up the slope almost as quickly
+as she had come down.</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy me!" they heard her exclaim in accents of annoyance; "if this
+bloomin' old lantern hasn't gone out! What ever'll you do, Joe?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fool!" shouted Joe angrily. "Why, get it lighted agin, to be sure.
+Come, hurry up. I ain't agoin' to stay here for ever."</p>
+
+<p>"No more be I," answered his wife coolly. "You've burrowed enough roun'
+in this direction, surely; leastways I have, an' now I'm goin' to get
+some sleep. If you want that thing lighted, you can do it yerself, for I
+won't. There!"</p>
+
+<p>Directly after the dwarf heard her rapid steps retreating in the
+direction of the hostelry, and again he blessed Moll Harris in his
+heart; for he knew full well that the lantern had not been extinguished
+accidentally, but by a quick-witted woman's willing fingers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>AT EVENING TIME.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ah! what would the world be to us<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">If the children were no more?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We should dread the desert behind us<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Worse than the dark before.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ye are better than all the ballads<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That ever were sung or said;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For ye are living poems,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And all the rest are dead."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">&mdash;<span class="smcap">Longfellow.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>It was not quite a week since Darby and Joan had so suddenly and
+mysteriously disappeared from Firgrove; yet to the distracted aunts it
+seemed as if years instead of days had dragged away since that bright
+morning when they had bidden the little ones good-bye, and left them
+standing among the pussies and the flowers, looking the picture of
+health, beauty, and innocence. And where were they now? Dead, drowned,
+Aunt Catharine felt convinced, although she had no further proof of
+their fate than what was indicated by the finding of Darby's hat; for,
+notwithstanding all their efforts, not another trace of the missing
+children had been discovered. They had assuredly fallen into the canal,
+argued Miss Turner. The locks were so often open, the keepers so dull
+and unobservant, that their bodies might easily have drifted by without
+being noticed. Then, once past Barchester, they would be washed away by
+the next outgoing tide&mdash;far, far away, wrapped in a tangle of brown and
+green seaweed; or perhaps they were lying fathoms deep beneath the
+restless, shifting waters, whence they should rise no more until that
+day "when the sea gives up its dead."</p>
+
+<p>Nurse Perry took the same hopeless view of the children's fate as Miss
+Turner. She wandered about from morning till night with Eric in her
+arms, searching the most unlikely places, questioning everybody she met
+in her eager desire to discover the lost little ones&mdash;"for all the
+world," said cook, "like a creature that was off her head!" She grew
+quite pale and thin, with a sad, frightened look in her eyes which even
+the blandishments of Mr. Jenkins, when he came of a morning for orders,
+could not banish; their rims were red, too, as from frequent tears, for
+many a good cry poor Perry had. She blamed herself unreservedly for the
+disappearance of her charges; and as Miss Turner believed that <i>she</i>
+also was in fault, far more than Perry, they mourned and lamented in
+company.</p>
+
+<p>For during those days of sad suspense Aunt Catharine appeared an altered
+woman. No longer stern and stately, self-satisfied and self-sufficient,
+she and her sister seemed to have changed places. She it was who clung
+to Miss Alice for sympathy and support in the sore trouble that had
+befallen them. Miss Alice it was who kept brave and cheery&mdash;hoping
+against hope that things were not actually so black as they looked; but
+Miss Turner could not be coaxed to take any comfort to herself.</p>
+
+<p>"It's very easy for <i>you</i> to keep hopeful and calm," she would say to
+her sister. "<i>You</i> have nothing to reproach yourself with. You were
+always soft and sweet and loving with them, whereas I&mdash;I was afraid to
+let them see how closely they had wound themselves about my heart for
+fear they should become petted and spoiled: so they thought me stern and
+harsh, when I only meant to be firm and judicious; they believed me hard
+and unsympathetic, when I was trying to teach them self-command and
+obedience. Oh, why did I not win their hearts by tenderness, and gain
+their allegiance by kindness, rather than seek to mould them after my
+pattern by laying down laws and holding constantly before their eyes the
+fear of punishment!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't grieve so, dear sister. You never were either unkind or harsh to
+Darby and Joan. I'm sure no one could ever imagine any such thing,"
+answered Miss Alice soothingly. "Every one knows, and Guy knew too,
+before he went away, how dearly you loved the children."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said Miss Turner impatiently; "of course people would take
+it for granted that I loved my nephew's little ones&mdash;and who could help
+it?&mdash;but what I am angry with myself for is that I did not let them see
+it. What good is love if one only shuts it up in one's heart to be
+looked at in private? It must be seen and felt if it is to be of any
+value, or to make any impression on its object. Ah! I was blind before,
+but now I see things more plainly. Those two&mdash;Darby especially&mdash;have
+gone away, wherever they are, with the idea that Aunt Catharine was in a
+sense their enemy, who grudged them every bit of happiness they wanted
+to have, while all the time I would willingly have given my life for
+either of them. Oh, if they were only back, how different I would be!"
+sobbed poor Aunt Catharine, leaning her aching head and faded face upon
+her sister's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, dear," coaxed Auntie Alice, in her soft, cooing voice. "You will
+make yourself ill, and what should I do then? Besides, there is no use
+in giving way like that&mdash;until we are sure there is no longer room for
+hope, at any rate. It is not a week yet since the children disappeared.
+There's no guessing where they may have gone&mdash;off to Africa to find
+their father, as likely as not!" laughed Auntie Alice. "Darby would
+start in a minute&mdash;you know how hazy are his ideas of places and
+distance&mdash;and Joan follows wherever he leads. Some one will be finding
+them wandering about and bringing them back to us directly, you'll see.
+I shouldn't be a bit surprised," she added, in answer to her sister's
+look of astonishment, in which there was mingled a faint ray of hope.
+"And Dr. King agrees with me that it's some wild scheme or other that
+has taken them off, although perhaps not just Africa."</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. King!" exclaimed Miss Turner, with a touch of her former asperity;
+"what does Dr. King know about the affair more than I do? But, of
+course, he would agree with you&mdash;ay, if you said the moon was made of
+green cheese!"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Alice blushed prettily at her sister's words; indeed, she always
+did blush when Dr. King's name was mentioned. Even Darby used to notice
+it, and invariably fixed his eye upon his aunt to see the soft
+rose-colour rise in the cheeks which were still smooth and round enough
+to show off a blush becomingly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's not alone Dr. King who believes they've gone off on some
+wild-goose chase," continued Miss Alice presently. "The rector thinks so
+too; and Mrs. Grey gets quite angry when her husband declares the
+children are drowned."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe, maybe," replied, Miss Turner gloomily; "and I'm sure I hope
+you're right. But one thing I'm certain of is that they've not set out
+for Africa. Darby would never take such a ridiculous notion into his
+head. He knew perfectly well how far away it is, and how people go
+there. Why, if there was one thing I drummed into him thoroughly over
+and above everything else&mdash;except the commandments, perhaps&mdash;it was
+Africa! But all the same, it's the thought of Africa that's just killing
+me, sister," moaned the poor lady in piteous tones. "What will their
+father say? What will he think of us? How are we to tell him? for tell
+him we must without further delay. That cablegram has got to go
+to-morrow. It's all very well for Dr. King and Mr. Grey and the rest of
+them to say, 'Wait, wait; time enough.' But we've waited too long
+already, so to-morrow the message goes, as sure as my name's Catharine
+Anne Turner. Then there's granny&mdash;Guy's poor mother at Denescroft. We've
+put her off and kept her in the dark quite long enough, even if there is
+a risk in letting her know the truth. I'm going there myself, Alice
+Turner," announced Aunt Catharine resolutely, "the minute I get that
+cablegram off my mind. I, and I alone, shall bear the pain of telling
+her that the grandchildren she adored have gone to be with their mother
+in heaven&mdash;her son's dear dead Dorothy. After that, I suppose the next
+thing will be seeing about our black gowns," whispered the elder lady,
+with a grievous burst of sorrow for which her sister had no words of
+comfort ready, because she too was softly sobbing.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, cheer up," said Miss Alice at length, after she had dried her
+eyes. "Try to keep brave&mdash;for this one day at least. Who knows what may
+happen! Why, at any moment they may walk in," she added brightly, and
+her cheerfulness was not altogether assumed. For Auntie Alice could not
+bring herself to believe that the children were really lost, or gone
+from their sight for all time&mdash;that until they met together, small and
+great, around the throne of God in heaven they should see them no more.
+In the dead of night, when the house was still and baby sleeping quietly
+in his bassinet by Perry's bedside, she would leave her room and go into
+the nursery, where the sight of the empty cribs, the waiting garments,
+the books and toys lying in their usual places, was almost more than she
+could bear. Then she would feel with her sister that they were indeed
+gone for ever, and an earnest prayer for the absent father, upon whom
+the sudden blow would fall with stunning force, would wing its way out
+of the silence of the midnight hours to the God who is so specially a
+children's God. And would He not watch over them faithfully and keep
+them in safety? Ay, surely. But whether He should give them back in life
+to those who grieved so deeply for their loss, or fold them gently in
+the everlasting security of His own bosom, was a question to which as
+yet there had come no answer.</p>
+
+<p>But in broad daylight, when the sky was blue, the sun shining, and the
+kittens whisking merrily round after their own tails among the autumn
+flowers in the garden, Auntie Alice was able to put away from her the
+dread fears which in the darkness took such real and awful shapes, and
+to agree with Dr. King and Mrs. Grey that the children had only gone off
+for a frolic somewhere, and, like bad halfpence, would certainly come
+back when least expected. They were not dead, she told herself; they
+<i>could</i> not be dead, she said in her heart over and over again. Darby,
+the wise, manly little lad, many of whose quaint, sweet sayings were
+carefully stored in his aunt's memory&mdash;Darby, with his clear eyes and
+winning ways, lying among the mud and slime of the canal! Horrible! And
+Joan, bright, merry, loving Joan&mdash;"little jumping Joan," she sometimes
+called herself&mdash;the very sunbeam of prim, quiet Firgrove&mdash;Joan sleeping
+among the fishes with folded hands and curtained eyes! Awful! And a long
+shudder would seize Auntie Alice's slender figure. No, no! the children
+were not drowned, she was certain; they would come back to them some day
+and somehow: so from hour to hour she watched and waited, hoped and
+prayed.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>And now it is time to return to the old lime-kiln and our little
+travellers hidden there.</p>
+
+<p>Being abruptly left to himself by Moll in the darkness&mdash;for the moon
+was now hidden behind a bank of dense black cloud&mdash;Joe prowled and
+stamped and beat furiously among the furze bushes, while now and again a
+snarl of baffled rage broke from him which boded ill for the future of
+the fugitives&mdash;if he could only lay his hands upon them!</p>
+
+<p>In a short time, however, he concluded apparently that further search in
+that quarter, and with no light to guide him save "the cold light of
+stars," would prove fruitless, for his retreating footsteps seemed to
+follow Moll's. Then Darby and the dwarf felt free to breathe again, and
+held each other's hands in mute thanksgiving for their deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>But hark! what was that? Steps once more&mdash;Joe, probably, come back with
+the newly-lighted lantern to take a final look around. This time he
+would search the kiln himself. Then&mdash;And the dwarf noiselessly changed
+his position so that the dark bundle which was Joan lay behind him, and
+wrapped his long arms tightly round the boy, determined to shield them
+to the last against all danger.</p>
+
+<p>The steps came nearer and nearer, slow and deliberate; then they stopped
+as if in indecision, then came on again&mdash;not down the incline this time,
+but advancing from the front. Faster and louder thumped the hearts of
+Darby and the dwarf as they watched and waited; nearer and nearer drew
+the black, shapeless <i>something</i>, until it halted right opposite the
+mouth of the kiln, only a few yards away.</p>
+
+<p>It must be Joe Harris, Bambo was sure. He had paused to strike a light,
+and in another minute they should be discovered. Darby clung to his
+protector with all his strength. His teeth chattered in terror, but the
+brave little lad did not utter a sound.</p>
+
+<p>The footsteps again, and Bambo closed his eyes an instant while his soul
+rose to heaven in one of those earnest petitions which ofttimes are
+prayed without a word. Then he looked towards the entrance to the kiln,
+fully prepared to see the wicked face of Thieving Joe leering in upon
+them&mdash;to hear his shout of satisfaction at beholding his prey so
+securely caught in a trap from which there was no escape.</p>
+
+<p>But instead of their enemy, what do you think stood there? Just an
+innocent-looking red and white calf&mdash;probably one of the family, now at
+grass, which had formerly occupied the snug house in the farmyard. It
+was, doubtless, in the habit of coming to the old kiln occasionally for
+a change, or for shelter in wet weather. And now it stood and surveyed
+the intruders with solemn, serious eyes, as much as to say, "What are
+you funny little folks doing in my place, pray?"</p>
+
+<p>The sense of relief was so great, the situation seemed so ludicrous,
+that Darby broke into a peal of shrill, nervous laughter, which he as
+suddenly suppressed; while the dwarf again lifted his heart to Heaven in
+grateful acknowledgment of deliverance from danger.</p>
+
+<p>Darby fondled the calf's cold nose and stroked his rough, wet coat; and
+Master Calf, seeing that his self-invited guests were not so odd or
+fearsome as they looked, marched slowly inside, deliberately lay down in
+what apparently was his own particular corner, and calmly commenced
+chewing his cud. Then, with his hand in Bambo's and his head resting
+against the animal's warm, shaggy side, Darby soon fell asleep; and the
+dwarf dozed at intervals until the first streaks of dawn broke up the
+blackness of the eastern sky.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The <i>Smiling Jane</i> came crawling along the canal towards Engleton,
+gradually slowed, then stopped altogether as she hove abreast of the
+wharf. It was thick with people standing about in twos and threes
+awaiting the arrival of the boat. The bargeman jumped ashore, strutted
+hither and thither, chatting with this one and that, discussing the
+weather, retailing the latest gossip from Barchester, when, from behind
+the pile of miscellaneous stuff collected on the wharf waiting transit
+by the <i>Smiling Jane</i>, three small figures appeared suddenly, as if they
+had sprung from the water beneath the planks. It was Bambo with his
+little charges.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well!" exclaimed bargee, staring at the trio in open-mouthed
+astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Did ee ever!" cried a woman who was mounting guard over some hampers of
+quacking ducks and cackling hens.</p>
+
+<p>"The pretty dears!" ejaculated another; "eh, the sweet crayters! But
+just look at <i>him</i>! See his big, ugly head, an' the arms o' him like the
+flappers o' a win'mill! Save us all!" she piously added, gazing her fill
+at the dwarf and the children, whose winsome faces and uncommon
+appearance could not be concealed under a few days' smudges, nor
+disguised beneath a cotton frock or faded velveteen suit.</p>
+
+<p>Darby, who was to be spokesman for the party, here approached the
+bargeman with frank, courteous manner; while the dwarf hung timidly in
+the rear, still keeping Joan well within the shelter of his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, Mr. Bargee, will you take us in your boat as far as Firdale?"
+begged the boy, in gentle, winning tones. "We've come a long way, and
+Mr. Bambo here," pointing to the dwarf, "has such a bad cold that he's
+not able to walk any further. Do say 'yes;' won't you, Mr. Bargee?"</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the young fellow hesitated, looking from the boy to the
+dwarf and the golden-haired girl. Then he shook his head decisively.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't do it, little un," he said kindly. "It's agin the rules, an' I
+durstn't break them. I was near gettin' the sack not long ago because a
+couple o' tramps or play-actor folks over-persuaded me to give them a
+lift. The perlice was on their track. Reg'lar sharpers they was. That
+was only two or three days back, when them kids belongin' to Dene o'
+Firgrove disappeared," explained bargee to the gaping loungers hanging
+about the wharf.</p>
+
+<p>"But we're Dene's kids! we come from Firgrove! Father&mdash;Captain Dene, you
+know&mdash;left us there with Aunt Catharine and Auntie Alice when he went to
+Africa," cried Darby, in eager, rapid snatches of speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Likely!" laughed bargee good-humouredly. "Tell that to the marines,
+chappie. Maybe <i>they'll</i> b'lieve you, for Will Spiers don't. He's not
+sich a green un as to be took in by a tale like that. Dene's kids was
+drownded in the canal. Their clo'es or boots or somethin' was found the
+other evenin'. Leastways, so I heerd," he added, with a look round the
+company, as if challenging confirmation of his words.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, they was drownded, sure enough," spoke a woman's shrill voice, high
+above the cackle of the hens and the quack-quack of the ducks&mdash;"drownded
+dead, an' more's the pity; an' their ma dead, too, an' their pa in
+Africa, an' their aunties takin' on terrible 'bout them."</p>
+
+<p>"We isn't dwowned," called out Joan in her clear, sweet voice, shaking
+back her yellow mane and surveying the faces about her with merry eyes.
+"We was lost&mdash;quite lost&mdash;and now we's founded and goin' home again."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you see that we're not drowned?" said Darby seriously, turning
+round and round before the amused onlookers. "We wouldn't be here if we
+were <i>drownded</i>, would we? I'm really and truly Darby Dene&mdash;I mean Guy
+Dene, for that's my proper name; and this is my sister Joan&mdash;Doris, I
+should say&mdash;with kind Mr. Bambo, who has helped us to run away from some
+wicked people who wanted to keep us always. Now, please, won't you let
+us on board the barge? We'll go below into the little house where we hid
+before, and not disturb you a bit. You see, we came with you, and you
+ought to take us back again," added the boy, with a sudden gleam of
+amusement in his big gray eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Here the dwarf came slowly forward, painfully conscious that all eyes
+were fixed upon him. Yet he did not flinch. He beckoned the bargeman
+aside, and in a few broken, gasping sentences told him the main facts of
+the children's story.</p>
+
+<p>The instant the young fellow clearly grasped the situation and
+understood his own share in the adventure, he generously cast all fear
+of consequences to the winds, and there and then agreed to take the
+travellers with him to Firdale as fast as his boat could bear them.</p>
+
+<p>And as the old brown horse pulled slowly off, dragging the big red
+barge-boat away behind him, a hearty cheer broke from the watchers on
+the wharf, and "A safe journey!" was flung from every lip after the
+<i>Smiling Jane</i> and the little voyagers whom she bore on board.</p>
+
+<p>It was a mild, mellow day, such as not infrequently comes towards the
+end of October&mdash;a day whose brightness almost deludes one into thinking
+that summer is not entirely gone, yet with a hint of change in the
+still, waiting earth, the silently-falling leaves; a touch of crispness
+in the air which foretells winter, and at the same time indicates that
+winter is not really a bad time after all.</p>
+
+<p>On the deck of the barge Joan made herself quite at home. She had been
+so shielded that she was really none the worse, except for outward tear
+and wear, of all she had gone through. She trotted hither and thither,
+watching the patient horse plodding along the tow-path, throwing bits of
+bread to the white-winged gulls which hovered in the wake of the boat,
+chattering to bargee, who had speedily become her willing captive,
+enchained in the meshes of her sunny hair, held fast by the innocent
+witchery of her long-lashed violet eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Down in the bunker below lay Bambo, too worn out now to do ought but
+toss and tumble in the fever and restlessness which were hourly becoming
+more consuming and distressing, thankful to be at liberty just to let
+himself go, without fear or danger. For now he felt that the children
+were, beyond a doubt, safe out of reach of Thieving Joe, and he himself
+separated at last and for ever from all further connection with the
+Satellite Circus Company. Soon the little ones should be safe at home
+with their own people, and he, Bambo, homeless and friendless, should be
+free from future care concerning them&mdash;free to creep away somewhere,
+unnoticed and alone, to lie down and rest&mdash;sleep&mdash;suffer&mdash;or maybe die,
+if such were God's will for him.</p>
+
+<p>Beside the dwarf's pallet Darby kept loving watch, dozing from time to
+time when Bambo seemed sleeping; again, rousing up to hang over him in
+distress when he babbled so queerly about Firgrove, his mother, Thieving
+Joe, Moll, and the bear. Then the raving would cease, and the dwarf
+would look up with intelligent, grateful eyes into the white, anxious
+face of the boy bending over him.</p>
+
+<p>"It's only my head, sonny; you needn't be frightened," he would gasp, in
+his hoarse, croaking whisper. "I was just wandering a bit, I think. Sick
+folk often does that. There, deary, don't cry! we'll soon be at home
+now&mdash;ay, soon, very soon," murmured the little man to himself, while
+that faint, sweet smile, which Darby thought made the haggard face quite
+beautiful, played around his poor parched lips, and a glad light shone
+from his sunken eyes.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon the good-natured bargeman brewed a can of tea. Along
+with it he produced some solid slices of bread and butter&mdash;the best his
+locker afforded&mdash;and to this repast he made his passengers warmly
+welcome. Joan ate a hearty meal, but Darby was not hungry, and the dwarf
+could take only a deep draught of the strong, hot tea. It revived him
+somewhat, so that by the time the barge slowed up at Firdale he was
+able, with the help of Darby's willing hand, to creep out of his bunker
+up on deck.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Smiling Jane</i> was in that evening rather before her regular time.
+There were, therefore, none of the idlers on the wharf who usually
+awaited her arrival, only a few people, beside the wharf-keeper, who had
+come to receive or send off stuff. These were too much occupied to
+notice, except by an amused or curious glance, the odd-looking trio who
+slipped so quietly through their midst and away up the field-path
+towards Firgrove. Indeed, had not bargee, after their backs were turned,
+told their story and made known their identity to an open-mouthed and
+delighted audience, no one would have suspected that the two little
+ragamuffins in company with the outlandish-looking mountebank were the
+lost children whose tragic fate had cast quite a gloom over the
+neighbourhood, and elicited such universal sympathy with the ladies at
+Firgrove and the poor bereaved father fighting for his country far, far
+away in Africa.</p>
+
+<p>It was almost sunset when the little travellers reached their journey's
+end. The western sky was ablaze with crimson and gold, the hilltop was
+flushed with warmth and beauty, the streak of sluggish water which was
+the canal lay athwart the level land like a shining, jewelled belt,
+while every window-pane in the quaint old house shone and glowed as if
+there were an illumination within by way of welcome for the wanderers.</p>
+
+<p>But Darby and Joan heeded none of these things. They trudged sturdily on
+as fast as their short legs could carry them and the dwarf's failing
+strength would permit, until they came to the gate. There they paused,
+with their backs to the glory of the sun-setting, the blush on the
+hilltop, and the radiance beyond. For now they knew that at last they
+had found the country they had travelled so far to seek, while all the
+time it was spread out wide and fair about their very feet, shut up
+within themselves, whence it should well forth in an atmosphere of
+obedience, love, duty&mdash;the chief elements which go to make a truly happy
+land.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>BAMBO'S FRIEND.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"After the night comes the morning,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">After the winter the spring;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We can begin again, Dolly,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And be sorry for everything.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We love, and so we are happy;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No beautiful thing ever ends;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis good to cry and be sorry,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But better to kiss and be friends."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">E. Coxhead.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>This evening the sisters were pacing arm in arm up and down the long,
+wide gravel walk between the front door and the gate. Miss Turner looked
+pinched and worn, with pale cheeks and great hollows about her eyes,
+which were dim and dry as if from want of sleep. Her head was bent, her
+step was slow like the step of an old person; and indeed she seemed
+old&mdash;ten years older than the brisk and vigorous Aunt Catharine who had
+trodden the same path with such a stately air only a week ago.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Alice's gentle face also was thin and white. Her eyes, which were
+big and gray like Darby's, and usually soft and calm in their glance,
+were alert, bright, and restless, as if always on the watch for
+something they could not see, while in her nut-brown hair there were
+nearly twice as many silver streaks as had been visible when Darby and
+Joan went away.</p>
+
+<p>They had been speaking of the lost little ones, but now a silence had
+fallen upon them which neither showed any desire to break. There was
+nothing more to say except what had already been said over and over
+again. Everything had been done that they and wise, kind neighbours
+could do or suggest; and on the morrow Dr. King and Mr. Grey would put
+the case into the hands of the Barchester police&mdash;more to satisfy Miss
+Turner than from any faith in the result on their own part. The Firdale
+men had done their best and failed; what cleverer would they be in
+Barchester?</p>
+
+<p>The air had grown chilly, although the sun was not yet set, and Miss
+Turner shivered, as much from nervousness as from cold. Her sister was
+drawing her within doors, when the latch of the gate clicked sharply,
+and both ladies turned round to look in its direction.</p>
+
+<p>And what did they see as the wide iron gate swung slowly back on its
+hinges? The oddest looking group that had ever sought entrance to
+Firgrove&mdash;the most pathetic, yet the most grotesque! First and foremost
+was a small boy in soiled, sodden garments&mdash;hatless, unwashed,
+unbrushed, tired, drooping, and travel-stained, yet with an expression
+of unutterable gladness beaming from out a pair of clear gray eyes that
+seemed far too big for the thin white face which they illumined. By his
+side, holding fast by the boy's hand, stood a little girl&mdash;bedraggled,
+unkempt, untidy, with a glimmer of pearly teeth, and great blue eyes
+gleaming out from a mop of tangled curls that glittered as if they had
+caught within their burnished strands all the sunbeams which had lighted
+up that bright October day. And leaning against the pillar of the gate
+was the third figure of the party, and the queerest&mdash;a tiny man, not
+much taller than the little girl, with huge head, long arms, shrivelled,
+haggard face, and deep-set, eager eyes&mdash;a dwarf, in short, and, at the
+first glance, the most uncouth that ever was seen.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Turner drew herself up in astonishment and annoyance at the
+ill-timed intrusion of the three little tramps. A something in the
+boy's eyes, however, arrested the words of rebuke and dismissal which
+hung ready to fall from her lips, and she looked at them again before
+stepping forward to shut the gate in their faces.</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Alice's sight was quicker than her sister's, her instincts
+truer, her faith stronger, and with a low, glad cry of "My dears! my
+dears!" she sprang, swift as a girl, toward the children, bent down, and
+Darby and Joan felt themselves gathered close and tight within Auntie
+Alice's loving arms; while from Aunt Catharine's eyes the thankful tears
+rained thick and fast, mingled with a shower of kisses, upon their
+smiling, upturned faces.</p>
+
+<p>"We's comed home again, Aunt Catharine," announced Joan cheerfully and
+easily, as if the pair of them had just returned from church. "Is you
+glad to see us?" she asked, smiling sweetly into her aunt's swimming
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Joan, very, very glad; I don't think you'll ever know <i>how</i> glad,"
+answered Miss Turner gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Darby and me went away to look for the Happy Land&mdash;like what nurse
+sings 'bout, don't you know?&mdash;far, far away," explained the little
+girl. "But we didn't find it after goin' miles and miles and miles;
+we only finded a old carawan, and some bad peoples, and Puck, and a
+<i>ee-mornous</i> (enormous) bear! Now we's back, and I's awful hung'y!
+Is there any cake or cold puddin', or anythin' good for tea?" she
+inquired anxiously, looking audaciously up into the familiar face of Aunt
+Catharine&mdash;familiar, of course, yet with a something so new and strange
+in its softened lines that the little one instinctively put up a dirty
+hand and softly stroked her aunt's cheek, murmuring as she did so, in
+her sweet, cooing voice, "Poor Aunt Catharine! Joan loves you, and
+willn't never, never go away from you any more. Now, please tell me,
+<i>is</i> there anythin' good for tea?" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Joan!" exclaimed Darby in a shocked undertone, as if mere creature
+comforts like cake and cold pudding were not to be thought of at such a
+time. Then he addressed his aunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Joan's quite correc'," he said, standing right in front of her, bravely
+bent on confession of his naughtiness and getting it over as quickly as
+possible, so that he could start fair with a clean sheet. "I was mad
+because you punished me, and we made up a plan&mdash;at least I did&mdash;to run
+away and find the Happy Land, and I coaxed Joan to come with me. It's
+all my fault, Aunt Catharine; so whatever putting to bed or catechism
+there is I'll take it, for I was the naughty one. But we found out that
+there's no Happy Land at all&mdash;at least not like what I thought. Our
+Happy Land's here at Firgrove, and oh, but we're glad to get back to
+it!&mdash;Aren't we, Joan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, werry, werry glad," agreed Joan readily.</p>
+
+<p>"And I'm never going to be disobedient or troublesome, never, never any
+more, if you'll forgive me this time, Aunt Catharine, and let me begin
+over again," begged the boy, slipping a grimy little paw into Aunt
+Catharine's spotless hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive you, child!" cried Aunt Catharine, in a broken voice. "Why, of
+course I'll forgive you, and we'll both begin over again, Darby," she
+whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," he replied cheerily. "And I'm going to try to make a
+Happy Land all about me wherever I am. Mr. Bambo 'splained it to me ever
+so nicely. He's very clever, you know. This is he," said Darby, pointing
+to the dwarf, who still leaned, as if for support, against the pillar of
+the gate.</p>
+
+<p>Bambo advanced a step, tried to speak, but his voice was too hoarse to
+be intelligible.</p>
+
+<p>"He's my own dear dwarf!" declared Joan, patting the little man's
+shoulder with gentle, caressing touch.</p>
+
+<p>"He is called Bambo, but his real own name is Green&mdash;Jimmy Green; Green,
+our gardener's grandson, Aunt Catharine," explained Darby in rapid
+sentences. "The wicked man and woman took us to their caravan when we
+were on our way to look for the Happy Land, and only for Bambo we should
+not have known where to find it. We love him, Aunt Catharine, Auntie
+Alice. He is ill&mdash;very ill, I think. Won't you please be good to him,
+both of you?" pleaded the boy, in eager, coaxing accents.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies looked from Darby to the dwarf in a bewildered way. Again he
+attempted to explain his presence there, and again he failed. He was
+about to steal quietly away&mdash;for was not his work done, his mission
+accomplished?&mdash;when all at once the ground seemed to slip from beneath
+his feet; he swayed, reeled, and with a low moan, as of a hurt animal,
+fell on the grass border within the gate, at the very feet of the
+children whose safety he had counted of so much more consequence than
+his own life.</p>
+
+<p>Darby flung himself on the ground beside the still, pathetic little
+figure, and Joan, with sobs and cries, implored her dear dwarf to open
+his eyes, to waken up and speak to his own little missy once more. But
+the dwarf did not move or speak. His ears were deaf to Darby's tender
+tones and Joan's insistent pleading.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Nurse Perry, with Eric in her arms, popped her head out
+at the front door&mdash;just to get a breath of fresh air, as she would have
+said. For a long minute she gazed at the group by the gate; then with a
+loud cry, and dumping baby down upon the door mat, she flew along the
+gravel path, and flinging her arms around the children, she laughed and
+cried over them by turns.</p>
+
+<p>"My precious pets!" she sobbed. "And have they come back to their poor
+old Perry? And us thinkin' you was both dead and drownded in the canal.
+Oh, did I ever!"</p>
+
+<p>"There, nurse, that will do. You'd choke a fellow," declared Darby,
+wriggling himself out of her clinging embrace. "Of course we're not
+either dead or drowned. How can you be so silly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Eh! and is it silly you call me for near frettin' myself into the grave
+about you?" cried nurse, stung by Master Darby's want of feeling.&mdash;"Miss
+Joan won't call nursie silly; sure you won't, lovey? And aren't you
+glad to get back to your own Perry, and baby, and everything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, werry glad," agreed Joan readily; "and I hope you've got lots and
+lots of jam and goodies for tea. Has you, nurse? 'cause I's as hung'y as
+hung'y as anythin'!" she whimpered.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, darlin', there's a seed-cake and toast, and a whole pot of
+beautiful strawberry jam that has never been touched. I couldn't eat
+hardly a mouthful these days for picterin' my pretty lyin' in the mud at
+the bottom of that slimy, smellin' canal," whined Perry, wiping her eyes
+on the corner of a much-betrimmed white apron.</p>
+
+<p>"That'll do, Perry," called out Miss Turner, in her usual brisk tones.
+"Come here; I want you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am," answered Perry meekly. "But oh, ma'am, what's <i>that</i>?" she
+screamed, noticing for the first time the odd little object on the grass
+over which the ladies were so anxiously bending. "What ever is it, Miss
+Alice? Is it a <i>man</i>&mdash;<i>that</i>? and is he living?" the woman inquired in a
+shocked whisper, drawing back her skirts, and gaping with eyes and mouth
+at the quiet figure huddled in a little heap at Miss Turner's feet. Yet
+when Perry had been made to understand that it was even to this small
+creature they owed the safety and return of their darlings, she was as
+warm in her expressions of gratitude and as eager to be kind to him as
+her mistresses themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Bambo was carried to a pleasant top room overlooking the lawn and the
+cedar tree, and laid in a comfortable bed&mdash;the most comfortable in which
+his poor body had ever lain in all his weary life. But its softness did
+not soothe him; the down pillows were not restful; he paid no heed to
+the cool freshness of the linen: for when he recovered from the stupor
+into which he had sunk beside the gate, he was in the grip of an enemy
+which he would have a hard fight to shake off. The wet and cold to which
+he had been exposed without sufficient clothing, together with the
+fatigue he had undergone, working on a constitution already in a
+critical condition, had brought on pneumonia; and when Dr. King saw him,
+late that night, he had little hope of being able to save his life.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, after a long, sound sleep and a good breakfast of
+porridge and milk, Joan was as bright as a button, petted by Perry,
+playing with baby, and teasing the pussies. Her troubles were behind,
+and she did not talk much about her adventures.</p>
+
+<p>But Darby was weak, wandering, and feverish. Dr. King said, however,
+that his illness was merely the effect of excitement and the strain upon
+a not over strong system. He would be all right in a few days. He
+chattered incessantly of the Happy Land, Bruno, Joe, Moll, and the
+monkey, but in broken snatches from which no reliable information could
+be gleaned.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Turner would have liked to send the police after the Harrises
+without a single hour's delay. It was dreadful, she declared, to think
+of such a wicked pair being permitted to wander at large, working
+mischief without let or hindrance. But her friends advised her to wait
+until Darby was well enough to be questioned; or possibly the dwarf
+might yet be able to furnish such a clue to their haunts and habits as
+should enable the police to pounce upon them unawares.</p>
+
+<p>For a few days Darby continued in a low and feeble condition; then he
+took a turn for the better, and soon he was strong enough to listen to
+Joan's merry prattle, and to be amused by baby's funny attempts at
+speaking. The weather was still mild and bright; so as soon as he was
+able to be about he was allowed out into the garden, where the kittens
+loved to sun themselves in the sheltered corner down by the boxwood
+border.</p>
+
+<p>Still Bambo's life hung trembling in the balance. The actual disease had
+abated, but his weakness and want of vitality made his recovery seem
+almost impossible. One hour he would revive somewhat, and the next sink
+so low that Miss Turner and Miss Alice felt that at any moment the end
+might come. Between them they kept constant watch beside the faithful
+creature, feeling as if nothing that they might do could repay him for
+the devotion which he had displayed towards the children. Bit by bit
+they had gathered from Darby and Joan the story of their quest of the
+Happy Land, what befell them by the way, and all that the dwarf had done
+to deliver them from the clutches of Thieving Joe, and the captivity of
+life dragged out within the narrow compass of the Satellite Circus
+Company's old yellow caravan.</p>
+
+<p>At last a day came when the poor dwarf smiled up into Miss Turner's
+anxious face with a world of intelligence and gratitude in the eyes
+whose sweet expression made the wan, pinched features look almost
+beautiful to the aunt of Darby and Joan. She did not regard him as an
+object utterly unlike other people, a bit of lumber for which the world
+could have no real use or fitting place. She remembered only that by
+this man's promptitude and courage two innocent, helpless children had
+been rescued from a fate infinitely worse than a peaceful death, with a
+green grave under the daisies, and those who loved them delivered from a
+lifelong sorrow. So there were real gladness and true thankfulness in
+Aunt Catharine's look and voice as she laid a cool hand upon the
+invalid's brow, saying kindly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You are better, are you not, Bambo?&mdash;that is, if it is Bambo I am to
+call you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, I do feel better," answered the dwarf, in a low, quavering
+voice. "And, please, call me Bambo; it is the name little master and
+missy knows me by."</p>
+
+<p>"You have been very ill, but you will soon be stronger and able to see
+the children. They come to the door very often to ask for you."</p>
+
+<p>A flush of pleasure crept into the dwarf's hollow cheeks. He was not
+used to having anybody asking after his health, or interested in him in
+any way. Then Miss Turner held a cup of nice strong soup to his lips,
+and soon after he fell into a sweet, refreshing sleep, which lasted many
+hours.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. King was standing by the bedside when he awoke.</p>
+
+<p>"You've had a close shave, my lad!" he said, in his quick, direct way.
+"You'll pull through now though.&mdash;Plenty of nourishment and perfect
+rest, that's all he wants in the meantime," added the doctor to Miss
+Turner, as he hurried off to visit another patient, or perhaps to have a
+little chat with Miss Alice, who was amusing Darby in the garden, where
+the bees buzzed and worked about their hives along the sunny south wall.</p>
+
+<p>After seeing the doctor down the stairs Miss Turner came back to the
+dwarf, and as she entered the room she saw him turn his face away from
+the window to the wall with a sigh, which filled her heart with pity for
+the forlorn little being.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Bambo," she began, "you have done so much for me and mine that I
+want you to let me be as kind to you as I know how. You have been more
+than a friend to my dear nephew's children. I desire above all things to
+be a friend to you."</p>
+
+<p>"O ma'am, that is impossible," answered the dwarf in a choked voice.
+"You are a lady, while I am nobody&mdash;an insignificant, despised object!
+And don't you know who I really am? Green, your gardener's
+grandson&mdash;Jimmy Green the dwarf, the boy who ran away from Firgrove long
+ago, when you and Miss Alice were in foreign parts for your eddication!"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe my sister and I were in Paris at that time," answered Miss
+Turner lightly. "But what difference does the fact of your being Green's
+grandson make, except to give you an additional claim upon our
+friendliness? And, Bambo, your grandfather is truly sorry he treated you
+harshly and unjustly in the past. He has asked me to tell you so, and to
+say that instead of feeling ashamed of you now, he's really proud to
+think what you have done for Master Darby and Miss Joan."</p>
+
+<p>"'Twas nothing, nothing," murmured the dwarf in confusion, although his
+beaming face plainly showed the gratification he felt at his
+grandfather's message.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," resumed Miss Turner, "if I am to be your friend, you must
+tell me why you sighed so sadly just now. Come; you won't refuse, I am
+sure," she added in a persuasive tone.</p>
+
+<p>For a while there was silence in the room. Miss Turner waited for the
+dwarf to speak. He kept his face towards the wall, and from time to time
+put up a long, thin hand to wipe away the big tears that forced their
+way beneath his closed eyelids to trickle slowly on to the snowy pillow
+in which his head was half hidden.</p>
+
+<p>At length he raised himself in the bed and looked straight at Miss
+Turner. And as he met the kindly glance of her keen, true eyes, a quick
+smile parted his lips and shone like a flicker of pale sunlight all over
+his worn features.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good, ma'am, so good that because you ask me I will tell
+you. Well, I was only wishing that I had not got better. I have been
+ailing for a while back&mdash;since last spring&mdash;and I was kind of looking
+forward to getting away home soon," said Bambo, as calmly as if he were
+talking of a journey to Barchester. "You see, ma'am, it's this way," he
+explained, in an apologetic tone. "When a body's made like me&mdash;just an
+object for folks to pity, laugh, jeer, and peep at, without a real
+friend&mdash;the world is a poor place in comparison to that one the Lord has
+prepared and waiting for all who love Him and want to go there."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't, Bambo, don't!" implored Miss Turner, looking at the dwarf
+through a mist of tears. "You make me feel that I, who have always been
+strong and well, am one of those who have done so little to make life a
+less burdensome possession, a pleasanter thing for such as you. Do not
+be so anxious to depart, dear friend. The little ones love you; your old
+grandfather needs you. Here you shall always find a home. At Firgrove we
+will make a place for you as soon as you shall be able to fill it.
+Meantime you have nothing to do but try to get well. Perfect rest and
+plenty of nourishment&mdash;these are the doctor's orders, and there's
+nothing for it but obedience."</p>
+
+<p>The dwarf drank in Miss Turner's words, hardly daring to believe he was
+in his sober senses, for they sounded almost too good to be true. He to
+stay on at Firgrove with the dear boy and sweet little missy! What had
+he done that he should be so kindly treated, so generously dealt with?
+Nothing, Bambo said to himself, less than nothing, for there had been
+scarcely anything to do.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing? Ah! was it nothing to be willing to lay down his life for those
+friends of his? nothing to give the cup of cold water in the name of
+Jesus to two of His children? "Verily, inasmuch as ye have done it unto
+one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."</p>
+
+<p>From that day the dwarf grew rapidly better, and before the flowers were
+all gone out of the borders, or the last red and yellow leaves had
+fluttered from the lime tree on the lawn, he was able to saunter up and
+down the gravel paths, his hand on Darby's shoulder, the baby holding
+fast by one of his fingers, with Joan and the kittens frolicking among
+their feet, and racing here, there, and everywhere, all over the place.</p>
+
+<p>He quite agreed with Miss Turner that from no mistaken feelings of mercy
+or pity should Joe Harris be shielded from the reach of the law, so he
+gave all the information that he could supply concerning the rascal's
+favourite resorts and usual associates. He and the little ones pleaded
+hard on Moll's behalf; but Dr. King declared that in her case the
+receiver was as bad as the thief, and she would just have to take her
+chance along with her husband.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the Barchester police were on their track. They came across Tonio
+wandering disconsolately about the streets, with only Puck for company.
+He, however, knew nothing of the movements of his late master, except
+that the caravan had been returned to its lawful owner, and that the
+Satellite Circus Company, as a company, had ceased to exist.</p>
+
+<p>But neither Joe, Moll, nor Bruno was anywhere to be found. They had a
+long start of their pursuers; consequently they had disappeared as
+completely as last year's snow, leaving not a trace behind.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>COMING AND GOING.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"For me, my heart that erst did go<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Most like a tired child at a show,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That sees through tears the mummers leap,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Would now its wearied vision close,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Would childlike on His love repose<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who giveth His beloved&mdash;sleep."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">E. B. Browning.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>The winter, which proved a mild and open one, passed very pleasantly at
+Firgrove. By Dr. King's orders Darby and Joan were granted a long
+holiday, for Darby was still fragile and delicate looking. He had never
+quite got over the effects of the excitement and fatigue of his travels
+in search of the Happy Land. They now lived almost out of doors, with
+the dwarf as their faithful attendant and constant companion. The little
+ones never wearied of his company, he could entertain them in so many
+different ways. He showed Darby how to make whistles of the hollow
+bore-tree stem, and a huge kite, with a lion painted on its surface, the
+Union Jack flying at its head, and an old map of Africa cut into strips
+to form the tail. Darby considered this a masterpiece, and laid it
+carefully by until he could display it to his father in its full
+significance. He caught a squirrel in the wood for Joan, and tamed the
+little animal so that it would nibble a nut from her hand, or hold it in
+its own paws, looking at her the while with fearless, shining eyes, as
+much as to say,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, little lady. If all children were as good and kind to us
+wild creatures as you at Firgrove are, we should have a better time of
+it than many of us often have."</p>
+
+<p>He brought primrose roots from the glen, and planted a bank with them
+behind the house. He filled the rockeries with rare ferns, and covered
+over all the waste corners about the grounds with delicate anemones,
+variegated hyacinths, and the sweet, wild white bluebell, rifled from
+the darkest recesses of Copsley Wood.</p>
+
+<p>He carved curious wooden animals and toys for Eric, attracting the
+little fellow so strongly to himself that often he would cry for
+"Bam'o," and stay quite happily with him for hours, when all poor
+Perry's nursery tricks had failed to divert him from brooding over a
+coming tooth or some other infant ailment. Nurse soon grew to count the
+dwarf among her blessings at Firgrove; while Miss Alice used to smile,
+and say to her friend Dr. King that she did not know how ever the
+children had amused themselves before he came.</p>
+
+<p>And day by day, by his little acts of fore-thought for others and
+loving-kindness towards all with whom he came in contact, he showed them
+what a Happy Land even the humblest, the youngest can create around
+them, what an atmosphere of love, what a foretaste of the existence
+whose essence is love, because God is its centre&mdash;that heaven wherein
+the pure in heart shall dwell for evermore!</p>
+
+<p>And what of Bambo himself? How can one picture or describe such deep
+happiness as his? He was well aware that he could not live long. At any
+time a cold or a chill might hasten the end, yet the knowledge caused
+him no real regret. During his years of loneliness and privation he had
+learned to regard death as an open door through which he should escape
+from drudgery, ill-treatment, desolation, into the rest, the love, the
+happiness that remain to the children of God in that home where there
+is no death, "neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain: for the
+former things are passed away." Now, the wretchedness was all behind.
+His daily path was hedged around by affection and watchfulness; but
+Bambo felt that it could not continue. His friends would by-and-by weary
+of their self-imposed burden. The children would grow up, go away, form
+new friendships, find fresh interests in life, and where should he be
+then? No, no; life was a grand, a satisfying, a beautiful thing for the
+clever, the strong, the brave; but the like of him could have no
+continuous part, no fixed place in its keen warfare; so for him he felt
+that it was better to depart than to hang on a weary, sickly weakling.
+Therefore, when Darby and Joan were looking forward to the coming summer
+and making their plans for enjoying it, in all of which they included
+their little friend, the dwarf would smile&mdash;his sweet, childlike
+smile&mdash;and say nothing. He did not want to cast a shadow upon their
+gladness.</p>
+
+<p>The children frequently had letters from their father, for whom they
+longed with an eagerness that grew keener as the months went by and
+still the cruel warfare continued, and always the date of his return
+was put back from time to time. Oh, why did he not come, they cried.
+They had so much to tell, so many things to show&mdash;lots of precious
+trifles given and gathered since he went away.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the winter seemed to pass, day by day, week after week, month in
+month out. Then spring came shyly creeping over the land, with snowdrops
+nestling in her breast, primroses and violets budding in the grassy
+banks beneath her feet. Later on pink and white blossoms crowned the
+orchard trees, balmy breezes gently stirred the opening leaves, azure
+skies stretched high overhead, daisies carpeted the ground under foot.
+At length it was actually summer&mdash;summer in the first flush of her
+fresh, untarnished loveliness. And as the children looked out of the
+nursery window one bright May morning, they remembered with a sudden
+thrill of joy that at last daddy was coming home. Any day he might be
+with them&mdash;any hour, in fact; for even at that moment the ship might be
+lying snug and safe at anchor in Southampton Water!</p>
+
+<p>That very evening he arrived&mdash;not Captain, but Major Dene, for he had
+been promoted while he was away. Joan flung herself wildly upon her
+father, hugging and kissing him with all her might for a minute or two;
+then she turned her attentions and her fingers towards his pockets, in
+search of whatever spoil she could find. Darby stood silent and shy,
+gazing with wide, troubled eyes upon the tall, gaunt man who carried
+such a cruel scar across the hollow of his bronzed cheek. Then with a
+low, sobbing cry of "Father! father!" the little lad clasped his arms
+about his father's neck, and on his father's breast wept out some of the
+ache, the loneliness, the longing which for many lagging months had lain
+in such a heavy weight upon his tender, faithful, loving heart.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"Why mayn't we go up to see Bambo this morning, Aunt Catharine?" asked
+Darby next day, as soon as he and Joan had eaten their breakfast. "We
+didn't see him at all yesterday, and I have so much to tell him about
+father and the Boers and Africa and&mdash;and&mdash;everything."</p>
+
+<p>"And I wants to take him some marigolds," said Joan, holding up a huge
+bunch nearly as big as her own head.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Catharine was silent, and Darby almost dropped the rod he was
+trimming into a stick for baby and looked up into his aunt's face. It
+was pale and sad, and there were tears in her eyes. "What is it, Aunt
+Catharine?" inquired the boy. "Has anything vexed you, or are you angry
+with us?" he added timidly; while Joan rubbed her rosy face up and down
+against her aunt's hand, for all the world like a confident kitten.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dears, I'm not angry with either of you; why should I?" answered
+Aunt Catharine quickly. "But I have something to say that will make you
+both sad, and I don't like doing so."</p>
+
+<p>"It is about Bambo, I am certain," said Darby slowly, throwing down the
+rod he was whittling, shutting up his precious knife and putting it into
+his pocket, while a shadow fell upon his face, and clouded the gladness
+in his eyes. "He's not up yet, and when we were going to his room after
+we were dressed, nurse dragged us downstairs again; and she looked so
+funny, as if something had frightened her."</p>
+
+<p>"Please let me go to my dear dwarf, Aunt Catharine," coaxed Joan. "One
+of Topsy's legs is comin' off, and nobody knows how to mend it 'cept
+Bambo."</p>
+
+<p>"Bam'o! Bam'o!" cried Eric, at the top of his voice. "Bam'o! tum an' div
+baby swing&mdash;high, high!"</p>
+
+<p>"There, Alice, you tell them, for upon my word I can't," whispered Miss
+Turner to her sister, who had come into the breakfast-room just behind
+the children; and catching Eric up in her arms, Aunt Catharine carried
+him outside into the glory and promise which the beauty of the summer
+morning held for her saddened spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"Bambo won't be able to mend your doll to-day, Joan," said Auntie Alice
+gently, lifting the little girl on to her lap and drawing Darby close
+beside her knee. "He will never talk to you, or amuse you, or do
+anything for any of us again; because last night, after we were all
+asleep except your father and Aunt Catharine, God's messenger came and
+whispered to him that he was wanted&mdash;that his errand on earth was done.
+And early this morning, long before you were awake, when the young birds
+were yet nestling in the warmth of their mother's wing, ere the lambs
+were astir in the fields, when the world was hushed in that sweet
+stillness which awaits the dawn, he went away&mdash;away where he will not be
+weak or sickly any more, where he will no longer be Jimmy Green, the
+gardener's poor grandson, or Bambo, Joe Harris's musical dwarf, but a
+new creature, with a new name&mdash;a name that is written in the Lamb's book
+of life!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Auntie Alice soothed and petted the little creatures, talking to
+them in her soft, caressing voice, telling them once again of that fair
+country to which their friend had gone. And when their sorrow had sobbed
+itself dry they stole away to find their father, going on tiptoe, as if
+they feared to disturb the slumber of their little comrade.</p>
+
+<p>Three days later the dwarf was laid to rest in a corner of the Firdale
+churchyard beside his mother. Major Dene erected over the spot a rugged
+granite cross with his name upon it, his age, and the date of his death.
+And below this he caused to be cut another name&mdash;the name by which the
+dwarf always seemed to know himself best, because by it he was known to
+those whom he had loved and served so faithfully and so well:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">BAMBO.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<i>Sown in dishonour, raised in glory.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Now, what you all require is a thorough change," said Dr. King when he
+called at Firgrove a few days after Bambo's death. "The young people
+here have both been through a great deal.&mdash;You, my dear sir," to Major
+Dene, "must make the most of your time, and build up your strength as
+firmly as possible before you go back to Africa. The ladies, too," he
+continued, addressing Miss Turner and Miss Alice, "will be all the
+better of a little holiday, a complete change before&mdash;ah&mdash;in short,
+before any further changes take place." And the staid elderly doctor
+beamed upon Miss Alice, who held down her head, toyed with Joan's curls,
+and blushed in a most becoming way&mdash;the sort of blush which made her
+gentle face look almost like a girl's again.</p>
+
+<p>"What's you's cheeks gettin' so red for&mdash;just like as if you'd got the
+toofache, eh?" demanded Joan, with awkward directness.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you too hot, Auntie Alice? Shall I draw down the blind?" asked
+Darby politely. "Or would you prefer to come out into the garden?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;no&mdash;thank you, dear&mdash;that is&mdash;" stammered Auntie Alice, in such
+painful confusion that, although intensely amused, Major Dene felt
+obliged to come to her rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, kids!" he said: "I expect you're bound to know later on, so
+you may as well be told now. Come, and be introduced to your future new
+uncle&mdash;<i>our</i> new uncle!" he added with a laugh, at the same time leading
+the little ones up to Dr. King.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Joan, drawing a long breath and surveying the doctor
+with her head sideways, like a fastidious young robin eyeing a crumb.
+"Is that why you was allus comin' to ask if we had headiks, or
+stumukiks, or if baby wanted castor-oil, and to look at our tongues? I
+s'pose uncles is like that. Never had none before," she added, still
+gazing at the stout, bald-headed gentleman in front of her, as if the
+honour of being her future relative had invested him with a new
+personality and lent him fresh interest in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What'll Aunt Catharine do without you?" asked Darby of Auntie Alice
+somewhat reproachfully, and giving but a limp, indifferent shake to the
+hand which Dr. King held out as a peace-offering.</p>
+
+<p>Auntie Alice glanced timidly and sadly at her sister, for this was the
+one bitter drop in her cup of sweetness&mdash;this severing of the ties which
+for years and years had bound the two Misses Turner as closely together
+as the Siamese twins almost.</p>
+
+<p>"Tush!" cried Aunt Catharine briskly, although there were tears in her
+eyes. "She's not going out of the country. Beechfield is but a short
+walk from Firgrove; we can meet every day, if we want to. Besides, I
+have you children, and your father will be back and forward between this
+and Denescroft&mdash;for a while, anyway," added she, laying a loving hand
+on Darby's head.</p>
+
+<p>The boy pressed closely to her side; but Joan confidently clambered upon
+her knee, and laid her golden head against her aunt's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Catharine has got me," she announced, flinging her arms round that
+lady's neck, creasing the dainty lace collar, crumpling the delicate
+lilac ribbons, tumbling the neatly-banded hair. But Aunt Catharine did
+not seem to mind; in fact, she looked as if she rather enjoyed the feel
+of those soft little hands upon her face, the pressure of those clinging
+arms about her neck. "I'll stay wif her allus and allus. I used to like
+Auntie Alice best, but she's got <i>him</i>," Joan went on, pointing a small
+pink finger at Dr. King, who, it must be admitted, looked a trifle
+sheepish at being so frankly and openly sat upon in family council; "so
+now I's goin' to give the most of the love to Aunt Catharine," she
+declared, bestowing upon her aunt a shower of hearty kisses. "And I'm
+never goin' to leave her, never, never&mdash;unless," she added thoughtfully,
+"she gets a doctor man too, by-and-by. Then I'd just have to stay wif
+daddy."</p>
+
+<p>Darby giggled behind Aunt Catharine's back, and the others laughed
+heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"What would you say to Scotland?" asked Dr. King, well pleased to get
+gracefully away from a subject which he had been feeling rather
+personal. "That would be a change indeed&mdash;the very thing after South
+Africa," he added, looking with a keen professional eye at Major Dene's
+gaunt cheeks and too sharply outlined profile. "There are some pleasant
+places on the west coast&mdash;bracing, yet not too cold. In my boyhood I
+spent a summer in a village called St. Aidens. It was out of the way,
+certainly, but you could not go to a more delightful spot."</p>
+
+<p>"St. Aidens!" echoed Miss Turner, with a note of pleasure in her voice.
+"Why, I stayed there one year too, long ago, with my father. Yes, let us
+go to St. Aidens by all means," she said heartily. "Your mother could
+come with us," she continued, addressing her nephew.&mdash;"And you," turning
+to the doctor, "I daresay Alice will make you welcome if you will join
+us during our stay."</p>
+
+<p>So there and then the question was settled, and by the second week in
+June to St. Aidens the family went.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It is the time of the yearly fair at St. Aidens. The buying and selling
+are done, and now the people who have flocked thither in crowds are free
+to enjoy the shows and performances which make the fair a festival to
+be looked forward to and back upon as the chief outing of the season.</p>
+
+<p>There are many items of attraction. Here Punch and Judy make public
+their domestic broils for the benefit of the onlookers&mdash;old, young, and
+middle-aged&mdash;whom this sample pair never fail to draw around them
+wherever they appear. There an Indian juggler squats, the centre of a
+gaping circle, as without a grimace he swallows swords, scissors,
+knives, old nails, and scraps of metal that would tax the stomach of an
+ostrich. Farther away is an Italian basket-maker, with olive skin and
+oily manners; while leaning listlessly against the railing behind him is
+a woman&mdash;his wife, probably&mdash;with dusky hair, and sad dark eyes which
+hardly seem to see her green love-birds pecking knowingly at their pack
+of dirty cards. Along near the pier a negro minstrel with his banjo is
+singing one of the simple melodies of his race, its sad, sweet refrain
+almost drowned in the roars of laughter called forth by a chalky-faced
+clown, who appears to be not a compound of flesh, blood, and nerves like
+ordinary mortals, but just a bundle of wire springs and india-rubber
+balls.</p>
+
+<p>The hobby-horses go round and round, with their ever-changing load, in
+monotonous regularity. The switchback railway sways up and down to the
+time of its own mechanical music, amid shrieks of delight and peals of
+merriment; while youngsters yell aloud with excitement or fear as the
+gaudily-painted gondolas swing them up higher and higher than before.</p>
+
+<p>The noise is deafening. Between the cries of ice-cream vendors, the
+high-pitched eloquence of medicine-men, peddlers, tired children, and
+scolding mothers, it is well-nigh maddening. Still the crowd elbows and
+jostles along, gradually growing noisier and denser. There they mingle
+shoulder to shoulder, the squalid and the well-to-do, lads and lasses,
+boys and girls, husbands and wives, grave and gay; while friendly
+greetings are exchanged, light jests bandied as they move backwards and
+forwards, intent upon the fun of the fair, with hardly a glance for the
+feast of beauty which nature has spread around them with such a lavish
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>Along the level ground above the beach the tents and caravans are drawn
+up in orderly array. Stretching away from the shore is the bay, lying
+calm and unruffled under the summer sky, except when its glassy surface
+is rippled by the dip of an oar or churned into froth by the restless
+pulsations of a passing steamer. Across the bay the hills rise
+beautiful and purple-blue through the evening glow, throwing out
+encircling arms around the villages dotted thick and white along their
+base, as the arms of a mother are open wide to infold her nestling
+children.</p>
+
+<p>Away to the left the bay stretches on till its waters are merged in
+ocean; while to the east, above the little town, with its swarming
+streets, its bustling railway station, its quiet cemetery, its chimneys,
+and its spires, rises another range of hills, seeming in their nearness
+like a God-built barrier between that old-world village on the Scottish
+coast and the steadily advancing steps of the great city which lies
+beyond.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ADIEU!</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We need love's tender lessons taught<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As only weakness can;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">God hath His small interpreters&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The child must teach the man.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Of such the kingdom! Teach Thou us,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">O Master most divine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To feel the deep significance<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of these wise words of Thine!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The haughty eye shall seek in vain<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What innocence beholds;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No cunning finds the key of heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No strength its gate unfolds.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Alone to guilelessness and love<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That gate shall open fall;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The mind of pride is nothingness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The childlike heart is all."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Whittier.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Six o'clock had chimed from the church tower, and already the sun's rays
+were falling slantwise across the water, and tingeing the kingly heights
+of Arran with a royal purple radiance.</p>
+
+<p>On a bench, somewhat removed from the bustle and the hubbub, Major Dene
+sat smoking and dreaming. He had come out a little while before to seek
+the children, who, along with Perry, were enjoying the fresh sights and
+novelties to the full. From where he lounged he could see them standing
+on the fringe of a crowd that had rapidly collected on the road right in
+front of one of the hotels.</p>
+
+<p>It was not a safe stand for little people; not a fitting place for them
+to be, either. Perry should have more sense and less curiosity, thought
+Major Dene, as he sent the stump of his cigar hissing and sputtering
+into the placid blue water at his feet, and rose to join the children
+and accompany them home; for it was their tea-time, and going on quickly
+for the dinner-hour at Westfield, the comfortable house where the family
+from Firgrove had temporarily taken up their abode.</p>
+
+<p>All this time the youngsters had been straining and tiptoeing to get a
+glimpse at whatever was causing so much interest and excitement amongst
+those of the pleasure-seekers who were fortunate enough to have a peep.
+Just then the crowd swayed and split, so that through the opening they
+had an uninterrupted view of the performers who had drawn about them so
+many of the sightseers.</p>
+
+<p>They numbered three&mdash;an ugly red-haired man, with coarse features and
+squint eye, armed with a heavy-handled dog-whip; a tall, black-browed,
+sad-faced woman; and a bear, big, brown, shaggy, and savage-looking.</p>
+
+<p>For one long moment the children gazed at the group as if spellbound.
+Then, with a ringing cry from Joan and a choking sob from Darby, they
+instinctively clutched at each other's hands and fled in the direction
+of the open ground beside the water, coming bang up against their father
+just as he was sauntering slowly forward to join them.</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy, daddy! the bear, the bear!" screamed Joan, hiding her small,
+scared face against her father's arm, burrowing her fluffy head beneath
+his coat like a frightened rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what the people over there are staring at, father?" asked
+Darby, in a low, strained voice, while his lips quivered so that he
+could hardly articulate the words. "It's Joe, father, Thieving Joe&mdash;Joe
+Harris and Moll! They've got Bruno with them&mdash;the bear, you
+remember&mdash;and he's dancing and capering. But there's foam at his mouth,
+and his eyes are glittering; for Joe's raging at him just the way he
+used to do, and lashing him on his legs with the long whip. Oh, it's
+dreadful!" and the boy shuddered, more at the recollection of past
+terror than in fear of present danger. His father's strong fingers were
+folded firmly round his little hand; so he held up his head and tried to
+feel brave.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?" asked Major Dene, in a queer, tense tone&mdash;a tone which
+Darby had never heard from his father in all his life before.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite, quite sure," answered the boy decidedly. "Do you think I <i>could</i>
+be mistaken?"</p>
+
+<p>"And I's sure too," added Joan, lifting her head for the first time, and
+looking timidly about her with wide, tearful blue eyes, as if she
+expected to see Bruno waiting to play at hide-and-seek with her from
+behind her father's back. "I'd like to speak to Mrs. Moll, 'cause she
+heard me say my p'ayers and put me to bed. But I don't want never to see
+that howid Joe or the dwedful big bear no more. Please pwomise you won't
+let them come near us, daddy!" she begged in piteous accents.</p>
+
+<p>"Take the children home at once&mdash;directly," said Major Dene to Perry,
+who, breathless and flushed, at this point joined them, with Eric
+kicking and struggling in her arms, quite cross, because he wanted a
+longer look at the huge beast, which in his baby eyes appeared neither
+more nor less than a great big pussy cat.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir&mdash;" began Perry; but the expression of her master's face
+checked the words, whatever she had intended to say, on the woman's
+lips, and obediently she drew the little ones away. It was such a look
+as his men might have seen in their commander's eyes as he doggedly led
+them on to avenge some of the blood that has flowed so free and red to
+enrich the arid plains of South Africa, at the cost, alas! of the
+impoverishment of many a desolated heart. But none of his home folks had
+ever seen those frank, smiling eyes snap and sparkle in the way they did
+now, like broken steel; not one of them would have imagined that those
+almost boyish features could set in such stern, grim lines as they fell
+into while he waited for the much and long desired interview with the
+rascal who had tried to rob him of his children.</p>
+
+<p>Major Dene stood and watched until Perry and her charges had turned up a
+side street that would take them straight to Westfield. Then grasping
+his tough Malacca firmly in his supple fingers, he strode swiftly
+forward to face the foe.</p>
+
+<p>As he came close to the mob of people around the performers there arose
+a hoarse shout, mingled with shrill screams and piercing cries. Then the
+crowd surged, broke, scattered, and fled hither and thither in panic,
+until, in an incredibly short time, there were only about half a dozen
+who stood their ground to watch the closing scene in the final
+exhibition given by the remaining members of the old Satellite Circus
+Company.</p>
+
+<p>It was, in truth, a gruesome spectacle! A huge beast&mdash;maddened to fury
+by the sharp lashes of a stinging whip, blinded by the blows that had
+fallen thick and fast about his head and ears, goaded by the memory of
+years of cruelty and brutality&mdash;crushing to death in his hairy embrace
+his tormentor, as together they rolled over and over in the thick white
+dust of the village street, not a sound breaking the awesome silence but
+the fierce, deep growling of the savage bear and the wild, hysterical
+weeping of a terrified woman.</p>
+
+<p>For one brief, breathless moment Major Dene held back, gazing in horror
+at the unequal combat. Then, forgetting everything except that there on
+the ground before him was a fellow-creature in dire need of help, he
+sprang to the rescue. With one hand he tried to drag the brute off its
+victim by the leather collar that encircled its neck, while with the
+cane, which he still held in the other hand, he belaboured it smartly
+about the snout and eyes. Fired by one man's courage, several others
+came to his assistance, and among them they at length succeeded in
+securing Bruno. But not before his thirst for revenge was satisfied; for
+when Joe Harris was lifted and laid gently down upon the soft greensward
+alongside the sea, one glance was sufficient to show the medical man,
+who was quickly on the spot, that he was beyond the reach of human aid.</p>
+
+<p>Yea, verily, "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"Couldn't we help poor Mrs. Moll somehow, father?" suggested Darby next
+morning, after their father had briefly told the children that Thieving
+Joe was dead, and Bruno had been taken in charge by an enterprising
+organ-grinder, who, shrewdly surmising the real state of feeling between
+the brute and his late master which had led to such an awful tragedy,
+promised to be answerable for his good behaviour in the future. "She
+tried to help us as well as she knew how. Bambo thought so too."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us take her back to Firgrove wif us, Aunt Catharine," coaxed Joan;
+"she can do heaps and heaps of fings, I know."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid that would hardly do, little one," answered Aunt Catharine,
+shaking her head. "But we'll think it over, and do the kindest thing we
+can for the poor creature."</p>
+
+<p>The following day Major Dene and his aunt bent their steps towards the
+village, intending to seek out Moll, have a talk with her, and befriend
+her in whatever way should seem wisest and best. But although they
+sought high and low, peering inside canvas caves, walking boldly into
+booths and marquees, haunting Aunt Sally alleys and shooting galleries,
+inquiring of her probable whereabouts from any likely person they saw,
+Mrs. Harris was not to be found. She must, they concluded, have caught a
+glimpse of Darby and Joan, taken fright, and, fearful of consequences,
+made off.</p>
+
+<p>So there was an end of all kindly intentions towards poor Moll, who,
+under other circumstances, might have been a better woman. And who can
+say that after her husband's tragic death, aided possibly by the
+altered conditions of her life, she would not henceforth endeavour to
+live more honestly than she had done hitherto? Certainly Aunt Catharine
+hoped she would, but Joan <i>believed</i> she should. And for some subtle,
+inexplicable reason Darby felt that Joan was right.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>If you journey some day through the heart of happy England, it may be
+that you will come upon the village of Firdale, and not far away,
+sheltering snugly in the hollow below Copsley Wood, the old-fashioned,
+handsome homestead of Firgrove.</p>
+
+<p>Darby and Joan are a big boy and girl now. Eric is in knickerbockers,
+and trots quite proudly up the hill to Copsley Farm and down again, all
+by his own self! There is a bright, clever governess at Firdale, and
+Joan has quite left off dolls. Even Miss Carolina, the well-beloved, has
+long since ceased to charm. Darby is at school&mdash;a real, proper boys'
+school, as he says, where they have forms and fags, masters and mischief
+in plenty.</p>
+
+<p>But he and Joan still preserve their spirits pure, simple, single,
+childlike, as they were on that bright October morning when, hand in
+hand, they set out to seek the Happy Land.</p>
+
+<p>And now, having accompanied them so far, let us wish them for the
+remainder of their journey "<i>Bon voyage!</i>" and thus take leave of our
+Two Little Travellers.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE TRAVELLERS***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 25972-h.txt or 25972-h.zip *******</p>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,6412 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Two Little Travellers, by Frances Browne
+Arthur
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Two Little Travellers
+       A Story for Girls
+
+
+Author: Frances Browne Arthur
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 4, 2008  [eBook #25972]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE TRAVELLERS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Mary Meehan, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+TWO LITTLE TRAVELLERS
+
+A Story for Girls
+
+by
+
+RAY CUNNINGHAM
+
+(FRANCES BROWNE ARTHUR)
+
+Author of "For Gilbert's Sake," "John Carew's Daughter," &c., &c.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Thomas Nelson and Sons
+London, Edinburgh, and New York
+1903
+
+
+
+
+    "Oh! there's nothing on earth half so holy
+    As the innocent heart of a child."
+
+        CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+
+
+
+    TO
+    MY CHILDREN
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+        I. UNDER THE CEDAR TREE
+
+       II. LEFT BEHIND!
+
+      III. THE BABES IN THE WOOD
+
+       IV. FAR, FAR AWAY!
+
+        V. GONE AMISSING!
+
+       VI. THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. "DREADNOUGHT"
+
+      VII. HILL DIFFICULTY
+
+     VIII. BAMBO AND BRUNO
+
+       IX. THE NEXT MORNING
+
+        X. THE HAPPY LAND
+
+       XI. A SUDDEN FLIGHT
+
+      XII. FOLLOWED BY THE ENEMY
+
+     XIII. A TERRIBLE FRIGHT
+
+      XIV. AT EVENING TIME
+
+       XV. BAMBO'S FRIEND
+
+      XVI. COMING AND GOING
+
+     XVII. ADIEU!
+
+
+
+
+TWO LITTLE TRAVELLERS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+UNDER THE CEDAR TREE.
+
+    "There are twelve months throughout the year,
+      From January to December,
+    And the primest month of all the twelve
+      Is the merry month of September!
+          Then apples so red
+          Hang overhead,
+          And nuts, ripe-brown,
+          Come showering down
+      In the bountiful days of September!"
+
+                                     MARY HOWITT.
+
+
+It was pleasant under the shade of the huge cedar tree on the lawn at
+Firgrove that golden Sunday afternoon. It was autumn, really and truly,
+going by the calendar at the back of the small cat-eared diary which
+Darby had coaxed from his father and always carried in his pocket. Yet
+the sunshine was so bright and warm, the birds were singing so joyously
+in the thickets, the rooks cawed so loudly as they wheeled and circled
+like a dense black battalion at drill up against the cloudless blue of
+the sky, that it was hard to believe the diary people had not made a
+mistake in their reckonings or stupidly mixed their dates.
+
+Indeed, one would have been quite sure they had done something of the
+sort, and that it was still summer, only for the unmistakable signs and
+tokens of harvest that everywhere met the eye. In the fields on the
+hillside sloping up to meet the sky there were stooks of rich, ripe,
+yellow grain still standing, waiting to be carted home to Mr. Grey's
+stackyard, and there heaped into high domed castles round which children
+loved to play or linger silently, watching the sleek dun mice that
+darted so swiftly hither and thither, planning for themselves such
+glorious games in and out and round about their well-stocked
+store-houses amongst the crisp, rustling corn. Red-cheeked apples,
+dark-skinned winter pears ripened slowly on the orchard trees. Big
+bronze plums and late Victorias mellowed against the garden wall. And
+now and then when a breeze, gentle as the flutter of a fairy's wing,
+fanned the branches of the stately spreading lime tree that was comrade
+of the shining cedar on the lawn, there dropped on the grass border
+beside the tall hollyhocks a pale dry leaf, falling softly to the earth
+from which it grew, silently as a tired bird sinks to her nest amongst
+the clover blooms of summer.
+
+On a wide wooden seat beneath the sheltering branches of the cedar tree
+Captain Dene sat with his little ones close beside him. They were very
+close to him indeed--as close as they could come: for Darby was bunched
+up on the bench, legs and all, with his head tucked under his father's
+elbow; while Joan was folded in his arms so tightly that the golden
+tangle of her shining curls mingled with the deeper hue of the dark
+cropped head which bent so lovingly over hers.
+
+And no wonder that those three cuddled so close together this balmy
+September afternoon. No wonder they looked sad in spite of the sunbeams
+that boldly forced their way through the spikes on the cedar branches in
+long, slanting shafts of light that rested lovingly on Joan's burnished
+hair like the tender touch of caressing fingers. And no wonder, either,
+if they were all three silent--not because there was nothing to say, but
+because there were so many things they wanted to speak about, and yet
+the words would not come. For on the morrow, early in the morning, at
+day-dawn even, when the birds should be yet only half awake in their
+nests, while Darby and Joan should be still sleeping in their cribs
+disturbed by neither dream nor fear, their father was to leave them. He
+must be up and away to join the company of brave fellows who called him
+captain, and with them go aboard the big transport ship that even then
+was lying at anchor in Southampton Water, waiting to carry them, with
+many of their comrades, away, away--far, far away!--over the sweeping,
+separating sea, to fight for their beloved Queen and country amidst
+perils and privations on the wide, lonely veldts of South Africa.
+
+How were they to live without him--the dear, darling daddy who had been
+to them father and mother for almost a year now? And that is a long time
+to little children, a large slice from the lives of such mites as Joan
+and Darby Dene. Darby was not quite seven, with thick, short brown hair
+and great gray eyes. Joan was five. Her hair was long and curly; it had
+a funny trick of falling over her face in golden tangles, from which her
+eyes, velvety as the heart of a pansy, blinked out solemnly like stars
+from the purple darkness of a summer night: while her cheeks were
+exactly the colour of the China roses that bloomed so freely, month in
+month out, about the porch at Grannie Dene's front door.
+
+Their names were not really Darby and Joan. They had been baptized Guy
+and Doris; but their father had begun to call them Darby and Joan when
+they were tiny toddlers, just for fun, because they were such devoted
+chums; and after a time nearly every one called them by these names,
+even their mother. Only grannie, who was very much of an invalid, and
+whom in consequence they did not often visit, kept to Guy and Doris. But
+for that they should soon have forgotten that these charming names were
+actually theirs.
+
+Their mother had died about nine months previously, just before
+Christmas, shortly after the birth of baby Eric, the wee, fragile
+brother whom Perry, the careful, kindly nurse, seemed always hushing to
+sleep and rarely permitted the others to touch. Already Joan had ceased
+to remember her mother, except at odd times, and in a hazy sort of
+fashion; and to Darby it appeared quite a great while since that day
+when he had heard the servants say to each other that their mistress was
+dead.
+
+It was a bright, crisp winter day outside--Darby knew, because he had
+been sliding on the pond behind the barrack wall quite early after
+breakfast--but inside the house it was chill and gloomy; for all the
+blinds were down, and every room seemed strange and still.
+
+At twilight their father came up to the nursery. He stood for a minute
+or two looking down upon Joan lying asleep in her crib. Then he took
+Darby in his arms, and drawing a low chair close to the window, together
+they sat there until from the fleckless blue of the frosty sky the
+little stars shone out one by one, twinkling soft bright eyes towards
+Darby as if to say, "Good-night, you poor little motherless lamb! Go to
+bed; sleep sound, and we shall watch your pillow the whole night
+through."
+
+But these memories were nearly a year old now. Already they were
+becoming less vivid in Darby's mind, and being gradually pushed aside in
+order to leave room in the storehouse for more recent impressions. Many
+things had happened since then. Baby Eric had grown from a tiny pink
+morsel into quite an armful, Nurse Perry declared, and a heavy handful
+as well, whatever that meant. They had dwelt in different places, too,
+during that time; because when the regiment moved the officers also
+moved, and Captain Dene kept his motherless children as constantly with
+him as it was possible to do. Recently, however, it had become no longer
+possible--quite impossible, in fact--for Captain Dene's company was
+under orders for active service in South Africa. Darby and Joan would
+have been more than willing to accompany their father to the ends of the
+earth, riding at the tail of a baggage-wagon, seated on a gun-carriage,
+or perched on the hump of a camel. But Captain Dene only smiled and
+shook his head at the eager little ones. Then he made for them the best
+arrangement that circumstances permitted.
+
+In consequence, just the previous Thursday he had brought his three
+children, with Perry their nurse, to Firgrove, where they were to remain
+during his absence, under the care and guardianship of his own two
+aunts, the Misses Turner.
+
+Aunt Catharine and Auntie Alice, as Darby and Joan were told to call the
+maiden ladies (who in the children's eyes looked old enough to be the
+grandmothers of all the young folks in the neighbourhood around their
+country home), were sisters of Captain Dene's mother. They were not
+really old at all, although Aunt Catharine's thick black hair was shaded
+by a lace cap, and in Auntie Alice's nut-brown waves there were streaks
+of silver that lent a chastened charm to her faded face. Firgrove was
+their birthplace, and there in his boyhood Captain Dene had spent many a
+happy holiday.
+
+Auntie Alice was a little, slender body, whose gentle voice and quiet
+ways just matched her meek brown eyes; while Aunt Catharine was a tall
+and stately lady, with a prim, severe manner, and a fixed belief in the
+natural naughtiness of all children, whom she kept down accordingly. And
+although he knew how truly good and kind she was at heart, Captain Dene
+wondered somewhat anxiously how Darby's unbroken spirit would bear the
+curb of such strict, stern rule. But there was Auntie Alice as well, and
+Captain Dene smiled as he remembered how she had petted and indulged him
+in his juvenile days. The aunts between them, like John Gilpin's
+bottles, would keep the balance true. The children would be all right.
+Besides, he did not expect to be very long away--six months or a year at
+most. The time would soon pass, and when he came home from Africa he
+would have his little ones to live with him again, until Darby should be
+old enough for school at any rate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+LEFT BEHIND!
+
+    "If I could but wake and find it a dream!
+    But I can't--oh, what shall I do?
+    It's only the good things that change and seem,
+    The bad ones are always true.
+    And miracles never happen now,
+    And the fairies all are fled;
+    And mother's away, and the world somehow
+    Is dark--and Flopsy's dead!"
+
+                             M. A. WOODS.
+
+
+The group on the lawn had been silent for a long time--far too long,
+thought Darby, who liked to use his tongue freely as well as his sturdy
+little legs.
+
+At length Joan raised her head from its resting-place on her father's
+shoulder, and flinging her arms round his neck, she burst into a storm
+of sobs.
+
+"Daddy, daddy!" she cried, "we can't do wifout you. Don't go away and
+leave me and Darby all alone!"
+
+"I must go, my pet," replied Captain Dene gravely. "I am a soldier,
+dear, and soldiers must obey orders. Besides, I am not leaving you
+alone. You shall have the aunts to take care of you. They will know
+better how to look after a wee girlie than a great blundering fellow
+like father."
+
+"You isn't a great blun'rin' fellow; you's my own dearest, sweetest
+daddy!" declared Joan warmly. "And I doesn't want no aunties. Auntie
+Alice is nice, but we doesn't love Aunt Catharine one teeny-weeny
+bit.--Sure we doesn't, Darby?"
+
+"Joan!" exclaimed Darby in a shocked tone, although he smiled as he
+peeped in the direction of the front door, for already he had learned
+that Aunt Catharine had a trick of pouncing upon him when he least
+expected. It was embarrassing, to say the least of it, and Darby
+disliked it greatly.
+
+Captain Dene pulled at his moustache as though puzzled how to act. He
+quite understood how little there was about his aunt's grim presence to
+attract a soft little creature like Joan--for a while at least. After a
+time he knew things would be on a freer footing between them; therefore
+he thought it better to take no notice of his small daughter's
+frankly-spoken sentiments, and after a pause he said,--
+
+"You are forgetting Eric, surely. He will soon be old enough to play
+with you, and you must be very gentle with him, you know."
+
+"Baby!" cried Joan in fine scorn. "Why, how could we play wif him? he
+doesn't know no games."
+
+"I think you needn't count much on Eric, father," put in Darby wisely;
+"he's nearly always sleeping or crying, and nurse hardly ever lets us
+touch him. It's because he's delikid, she says. So when you're away
+there'll just be Joan and me," added the little lad sorrowfully.
+
+Suddenly Joan spoke again, asking a question that awoke afresh the pain
+at her father's heart--a pain so sharp, so deep-seated as to be at times
+almost unbearable.
+
+"When you have to go away in the big ship wif the solgers, why did
+mamsie not stay and take care of us? Other chil'ens has nice lovely
+muvers. Why have we none, daddy?"
+
+Why, ah, why?
+
+"Does she not love us any more, father?" whispered Darby, in broken,
+quivering tones--Darby, who remembered his fair young mother as one
+remembers a pleasing dream.
+
+"Will she never come back no more? Shall we not see her again--never,
+never?" asked Joan shrilly.
+
+"Listen to me, my darlings," said Captain Dene, in a solemn, earnest
+voice, after a pause, during which he wondered how he should answer his
+children's questions. "Mother has gone to live with God in heaven. Her
+body was tired and worn out, and in a way it had grown too small for the
+spirit within. And just as you leave off wearing your garments when they
+grow shabby or small, and father provides you with new things, so mother
+has left her weary, frail body behind and gone to God, the great and
+loving Father of all, where she shall be clothed anew."
+
+"But wasn't she put in the ground, father?" asked Darby the doubting. "I
+'member quite well seeing a big, long box with brass handles and flowers
+and wreaths and things, and nurse and Hughes said it was mother."
+
+"You silly!" struck in Joan sharply. "That wasn't _weally_ muver; it was
+only the bit of her that used to be tired and sick and have headiks. But
+the thinkin' place and the part of her that used to say 'Joan, darlin','
+and 'Darby, my son,' in such a cuddlin' kind of voice, and--and--why,
+just all the lovin' bit of mamsie is up in heaven!--Isn't I correc',
+daddy?" she demanded confidently.
+
+"Quite correct, dear," replied the father, fondly kissing the
+flower-like face upturned to his.
+
+"And will we ever see her again?" asked Darby, who was feeling somewhat
+snubbed. "You are not telling us that, father, and that's what I want
+most partikler to know," he added, with a pathetic sigh, behind which
+there lay a whole world of longing.
+
+"Yes, my boy," answered Captain Dene promptly; "but not here! You shall
+never see her again in the house or about the garden, at prayer-time or
+for good-night. Yet she has merely gone out of our sight; she is often
+with us, I believe, although we cannot see her. And by-and-by, I do not
+know when or how soon," he added, thinking of the cruel warfare in which
+he was about to take his share, "if you try to be brave and true, and
+kind and loving to every one, you also shall go to dwell with God in
+that happy, beautiful home where mother waits to clasp her dear ones
+again in an embrace from which they shall never be separated."
+
+Darby's eyes were raised to the sky with an expression so rapt, so
+exalted, so pure, as if he were already beholding the glories of the
+heavenly land. But Joan had still some more questions to ask.
+
+"Will God--or wouldn't it be politer to say Mr. God? No?" as her father
+shook his head. "Well, will He send an angel to fetch us to heaven when
+He wants us?"
+
+"Yes, dear; and when His messenger comes for us we must make no delay,"
+replied Captain Dene softly.
+
+"And will He let me take Miss Carolina, my dolly, wif me, and the
+pussies?" queried Joan eagerly.
+
+"Well, no, I hardly think so," said her father, with a sympathetic
+smile, for he understood perfectly how hard it is this leaving behind of
+friends and possessions. Did not the Master Himself foresee the trial
+when He enjoined His followers, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures
+upon earth"?
+
+"But Jesus will give you something far better than toys or kittens, my
+darling," continued Captain Dene--"more beautiful than I can either
+imagine or describe. There will be pleasures of which you shall never
+weary."
+
+Joan thought hard for a minute, with a pucker in her white brow. Then
+she slid from her father's knee and snatched up a shabby, battered doll
+that was lying on the grass beside the bench, and clasping it tightly
+to her breast, she delivered her decision,--
+
+"I doesn't want no new fings. I wants my sweet Miss Carolina and the
+pussies. So please tell dear Lord Jesus that He needn't trouble to get
+anyfing ready, 'cause Joan isn't comin'."
+
+The father gently stroked his little daughter's hair, but he said
+nothing. What if God's last message to him were to come through the
+muzzle of a Mauser rifle? Should it find him any more willing to leave
+his motherless babes behind than was Joan to forsake her favourites?
+
+"Now, chicks," he resumed, trying hard to speak cheerfully, "there is
+Aunt Catharine at the door. It is your tea-time, I expect, and
+children's bedtime comes early at Firgrove, as I know," he added,
+smiling into Darby's wistful wee face. "But before you go in I want you
+to sing me something that I shall think of when I am far away."
+
+And in their clear, piping treble, with now and again a deeper note from
+their father to carry them on, the little ones sang a favourite hymn,
+the key-note of which, so to speak, dwelt with Captain Dene during many
+a weary day and sleepless night,--
+
+    "Ever journeying onward,
+      Guided by a star."
+
+Early next morning Darby had a queer dream. He dreamt that his father
+came to his bedside, bent down, and kissed him repeatedly.
+
+Was it a dream? Darby wondered, as he slowly awoke, sat up in bed, and
+rubbed his eyes. Then suddenly he remembered that this was the day the
+dear daddy was to leave them; or what if he were already gone!
+
+Daylight had not yet come, but from a table in the far corner of the
+nursery the night-lamp still glimmered faintly. Darby sprang to the
+floor, calling loudly on Joan to come quick--quick. Together they
+trotted downstairs. The breakfast-room was empty. From the drawing-room,
+whither she had gone to have a good cry, came Auntie Alice, with tears
+running down her cheeks, while close behind her sailed Aunt Catharine.
+She was wrapped in a big, soft white shawl, and there was a curious
+redness round her eyes, as if she had a cold in her head. But father was
+not to be seen!
+
+"You poor dears!" murmured Auntie Alice, throwing tender arms around
+their little white-gowned forms.
+
+"Who allowed you to come downstairs at this time in the morning?"
+demanded Aunt Catharine, eyeing the pair severely over the rims of her
+spectacles; "and in your night-clothes, too! 'Pon my word!"
+
+Then Darby knew that his dream had been no dream, but a sad reality, and
+father was, in very truth, gone! So drawing Joan along with him
+up-stairs, they both cuddled into Darby's bed, where, clasped in each
+other's arms, they sobbed themselves to sleep again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Firgrove was a charming old place. It had belonged to the Turners for
+generations; but as Aunt Catharine and Auntie Alice were the last of the
+family, after them it would come to Captain Dene. The house had
+originally been a square eight-roomed cottage, built of plain gray
+stone; but one Turner after another had, either for convenience or
+display, added a wing here, a story there, until it had been turned into
+a handsome, roomy residence. From the outside it looked rather
+picturesque, with windows framed in ivy, clematis and wistaria peeping
+out of the most unexpected places, chimney-stalks shooting up from the
+least likely corners. Inside, the same surprises awaited one. No two
+rooms were similar in size, scarcely any exactly the same in shape.
+There were passages here, recesses there; steps leading down to this
+apartment, up to that; with curtained doors and draperies in such
+abundance that the children found within their shelter the most
+delightful hiding-places imaginable. And many a romp and game they had,
+in which once in a while Auntie Alice joined, when Aunt Catharine was
+not anywhere about to be disturbed by the noise or shocked at her
+sister's levity.
+
+Out of doors there were other delights which Darby and Joan at first
+felt they could never exhaust. In the stable Billy, the fat pony,
+munched and snoozed every day and all day long, except when occasionally
+he was harnessed into the basket-carriage to take the aunties for a
+drive, or ambled into the meadow, where Strawberry and Daisy, the
+meek-eyed Alderney cows, browsed at will over the sweet, juicy
+after-grass. There were big, soft-breasted Aylesbury ducks on the pond,
+fowls in the yard, pigeons in the dovecot so tame that they would perch
+on Auntie Alice's shoulder and peck the grains of corn from between her
+lips; and up in the loft above the stable there lived a cat, called
+Impy, who was the proud and watchful mother of three dear little
+kittens, as black, as soft, as sleek as herself.
+
+Behind the house was the garden, a peaceful old-world spot, with its
+prim gravelled paths, boxwood borders, holly hedges, and wealth of
+vegetables, fruit, and flowers. There Green, the deaf old gardener,
+reigned supreme, not always paying heed to Aunt Catharine herself. And
+there also, in a sheltered corner, stood Auntie Alice's beehives, around
+which the small, busy brown bees buzzed and droned from dawn till dark,
+laying up their stores of rich golden honey that was to supply the
+little ones with many a toothsome morsel. Then there was the lawn with
+its velvety sward, spreading shrubs, and stately cedar; and at the back
+of the buildings, beyond the garden to the right, sloped the fields of
+Copsley Farm; while to the left, lying in a gentle hollow, there uprose
+the dark massed pines of Copsley Wood.
+
+Darby and Joan were not allowed to go beyond the boundaries of Firgrove
+alone or without special permission, but within their limits they
+wandered about free as air. It was their father's express wish that they
+should not be molly-coddled in any way, and, indeed, nurse had little
+leisure to look after them. Her time was chiefly occupied with baby
+Eric, who, although improving, was still delicate and fretful, and
+seemed to find the difficulty of cutting his teeth, and life in general,
+almost too much for him. Aunt Catharine's notion of the needs of
+children began and ended with giving them plenty of plain, wholesome
+food, seeing that they went early to bed, were properly clothed, and
+knew their Catechism thoroughly. She instructed Darby and Joan for an
+hour each morning in the mysteries of reading, writing, and counting.
+She drilled them most conscientiously in the commandments, and always
+with the "forbiddens" attached. She hedged them about with "don'ts", and
+believed she was teaching them obedience. And when the tasks were done,
+and the books put away for the day, it would have been hard to say
+whether the teacher or the taught uttered the heartier thanksgiving.
+Then, believing that she had done everything that duty demanded of her,
+Aunt Catharine felt herself free to attend to her prize poultry, her
+poor women, and parish meetings.
+
+Auntie Alice loved the little ones dearly. She enjoyed their chatter and
+a romp with them now and again. But she had not been used to children;
+she was actually shy of them! She fancied they might be happier without
+her, so she kept mostly to the company of her piano, her books, and her
+bees, and the little people were left very much to their own devices.
+
+As long as the weather was fine enough they almost lived out of doors,
+and were perfectly happy; but when it "broke," as country folks
+say--when the heavy autumn rain beat against the nursery window, and the
+wind shook and swayed the cedar tree on the lawn until it sighed and
+moaned as if in sorrow for the death of summer--then they longed for the
+dear, loving daddy with a longing that was almost pain! They had letters
+from him as often as was possible. Darby wrote in reply, and Joan
+covered a piece of paper with pot-hangers, with a whole string of
+odd-looking blots at the end, which she said were kisses and her message
+for daddy. Letter-writing, however, especially if one does not write
+easily, is but a poor substitute for speech. It did not seem to bring
+their father close to them as he came in conversation.
+
+And so it happened, exactly as Darby had foreseen, that now since he was
+gone there were just the two of them left--Darby and Joan!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE BABES IN THE WOOD.
+
+    "'What are you singing of, soft and mild,
+      Green leaves, waving your gentle hands?
+    Is it a song for a little child,
+      Or a song God only understands?'
+
+    Answered the green leaves, soft and mild,
+      Whispered the green leaves, soft and clear,--
+    'It is a song for every child,
+      It is a song God loves to hear;
+    It is the only song we know,
+      We never question how or why.
+    'Tis not a song of fear or woe,
+      A song of regret that we must die;
+    Ever at morn and at eventide
+      This is our song in the deep old wood,--
+    "Earth is beautiful, heaven is wide;
+      And we are happy, for God is good!"'"
+
+                               F. E. WEATHERLY.
+
+
+"Have you anything for us to do, Auntie Alice?" said Darby Dene one day,
+after he had watched Aunt Catharine safely into the fowl-house to have a
+look at her Brahmas.
+
+It was a still, bright afternoon in October, when the ripe apples were
+dropping from the trees in the garden, and up at Copsley Farm Mrs.
+Grey's turkeys wandered at will over the stubble whence the grain had
+all been carted and built into stacks beside the farmyard.
+
+"Do say that you can think of something, please," pleaded the boy--"a
+message or anything. We are so tired of the garden, and the lawn, and
+the swing, and--and--everything.--Aren't we, Joan?"
+
+"Yes, werry, werry tired," agreed Joan with ready assent. She always did
+agree with everything that Darby said. He was her model, her hero, who,
+in Joan's eyes, could do no wrong.
+
+"I'm afraid I cannot invent or suggest any fresh occupation for you just
+now," answered Auntie Alice, smiling down into the eager upturned faces
+beside her knee. "Would you not run away and have a romp with pussy? she
+is frolicking with her kittens in the garden, quite close to the
+tool-house."
+
+"We were playing with pussy for ever so long, and look there!" said
+Darby, holding up for his aunt's inspection one small brown and not
+over-clean hand. Across the back of it ran a long, straight scratch from
+which the blood was slowly oozing. "That's what pussy did! That's why
+we left her, and why we don't want to go back to the garden."
+
+Darby's tone was so rueful, his expression one of such patient
+forbearance towards base treachery, that his aunt laughed outright. Yet
+she kissed the wounded hand again and again, whispering gently the
+while,--
+
+"Poor Darby! poor little hand! and poor pussy too!" she added below her
+breath. For she guessed correctly that pussy--who was in general a
+long-suffering animal--must have been sorely beset when she used her
+claws in defence of herself or the rights of her family.
+
+"If you really haven't an errand, won't you just invent one, auntie?"
+persisted Darby. Then suddenly he cried, while his face beamed with the
+happiness of the thought that had struck him, "May we go up to the farm
+and see Mrs. Grey? Oh, do say 'yes,' Auntie Alice!"
+
+"Well, I'm sure I don't know. Perhaps we should hear what Aunt Catharine
+thinks. Still, I suppose you might," decided Auntie Alice, her
+hesitation overcome by the pleading look in Darby's eyes.
+
+"Oh, thank you, thank you, dear Auntie Alice!" said both children in a
+breath, flinging themselves in ecstasy upon their aunt. She, however,
+did not like to have her delicate ribbons crumpled by smudgy, sticky
+little hands; so she gently withdrew herself from their embrace, shaking
+a warning finger playfully at the pair as she gave them a caution,--
+
+"You must not stay too long or tease Mrs. Grey, either of you."
+
+"We shan't stay very long," promised Darby; "and Mrs. Grey says we never
+tease her."
+
+"Mrs. Grey hasn't got no chil'ens of her own to play wif and 'muse her,
+and that's why she likes Darby and me to go and talk to her whiles,"
+explained Joan sagely, looking up at her aunt through the mop of golden
+curls which shaded her big blue eyes.
+
+"Is that the reason? Well, since you are going, you might just bring
+those Cochin eggs with you that Mrs. Grey promised us. Your aunt
+Catharine was speaking about them a little ago. Wait a minute, and I'll
+hear what she says," and Auntie Alice made as if she would follow her
+sister to the fowl-house.
+
+"Oh, please don't!" cried Darby wildly, clutching with both hands at his
+aunt's gown in order to stay her steps. "She'll be sure not to let us.
+She'll ask if we've learned our Catechism, and send us to wash our hands
+or change our clothes, or--or _something_. You know how she does, Auntie
+Alice!"
+
+Yes, Alice Turner knew her elder sister's little way very well indeed,
+and because of this she yielded to Darby's importunity.
+
+"Dear, dear, what a droll boy you are!" and by the way she spoke the
+youngsters knew that they had won their way. "Off with you both, then,
+quick! Take my white basket out of the breakfast-room, and see that you
+carry the eggs carefully, or I'm afraid we shall all get into trouble."
+
+"Which way shall we go?" asked Darby, gleefully swinging the basket
+about his head. "May we go through the fields, Auntie Alice? The ground
+is quite dry to-day, and the path is ever so much nicer than the road
+past Copsley Wood."
+
+"You may go through the fields, dear; but come back by the road. You
+might break the eggs if you were to return the field way; there are so
+many stiles to climb. And listen to me, chickabiddies," continued Auntie
+Alice earnestly. "You must not on any account go into the wood; it is
+not a safe place for children."
+
+"Why?" demanded Darby in astonishment, for he had little or no fear of
+any living thing--man or beast.
+
+"I need not detain you now, dear, to explain further than to say that
+there are sometimes rough people about who might think it rather funny
+to behave rudely to unprotected little children."
+
+"Don't you know there's bears in Copsley Wood, and lions and tigers and
+effelants, and--and--oh, heaps of drefful fings!" explained Joan, as
+glibly as if she had in person penetrated the many mysteries that--to
+her infant mind--were hidden in the cool, dark depths of the old pine
+wood.
+
+"Nonsense!" and Darby smiled in scorn of his sister's ignorance.--"Do
+you hear her, Auntie Alice?--Why, you little goose, don't you know that
+there aren't any bears, or lions, or tigers, or elephants in this
+country? If we were in a lonely part of Africa, we might see some; but
+there's only rabbits and squirrels and perhaps wild cats in Copsley
+Wood.--Isn't she a silly, Auntie Alice?"
+
+"I'm not a silly!" said Joan stoutly.--"Sure I isn't, Auntie Alice?"
+
+"No, child; and you are quite right to be shy of the wood," answered her
+aunt gravely. "And now, if you want to go to the farm to-day, you had
+better be off. I think I hear Aunt Catharine coming!"
+
+Her caution came too late, however, for in another instant Aunt
+Catharine was upon them.
+
+"What is it now?" she demanded, glancing from one to another of the
+guilty-looking group.--"What are you doing with that basket, Darby?"
+
+"I--we--Joan and me were going up to the farm to see Mrs. Grey,"
+faltered Darby. "And please, please, Aunt Catharine, don't say we aren't
+to get!"
+
+"We's goin' to bring your Cochin eggs," added Joan sweetly.
+
+"I hope you won't mind, sister," struck in Auntie Alice, in her soft,
+timid voice, "but I gave them leave to go. And I thought they might as
+well fetch the eggs when they are coming back."
+
+"Alice Turner! when do you mean to grow up?" exclaimed Aunt Catharine,
+in withering accents. "Is it that boy you expect to carry a basket of
+eggs? Those fidgets! Why, they'll leave the half of them on the road or
+sit on them by the way!"
+
+"We willn't sit on them," said Joan stoutly. "Jetty shall sit on them,
+and they'll turn into dear, soft, fluffy chickens! Willn't they, Aunt
+Catharine?"
+
+Aunt Catharine did not answer directly, but she looked as if she did
+not feel quite so sure of results as Joan.
+
+"We'll be very, very careful, indeed!" promised Darby earnestly; and
+Joan echoed likewise, "Werry, werry careful!"
+
+"Well, well; since your Auntie Alice has already given permission, I
+shall not prevent you, and I must admit I am in a hurry for the eggs.
+Jetty is making a terrible to-do over a solitary china one in her nest.
+But if they are broken or shaken--"
+
+There Aunt Catharine paused; yet her listeners perfectly understood what
+she did not say.
+
+"And remember, children, what has been so often said to you about
+Copsley Wood. You are not to go there on any pretext whatever! Do you
+understand?"
+
+"Yes, Aunt Catharine; and we've promised Auntie Alice already," replied
+Darby meekly.
+
+"Very well; see that you keep your promise, my boy. You always say that
+you forgot when you have been disobedient, but you are both old enough
+to do as you are told. And I should not be doing my duty if I did not
+try to teach you," added Aunt Catharine significantly, as she bent and
+kissed the little ones good-bye.
+
+"And that just means that she'll punish us badly the next time we're
+naughty," explained Darby to Joan, as they clambered over the stile at
+the foot of Mr. Grey's turnip field. "Well, I shouldn't mind greatly if
+it wasn't putting to bed. I do hate going to bed; don't you, Joan?"
+
+"Yes, werry much; for they're always sure to come for us when we'se not
+ready, nurse or Aunt Catharine! They seem to know 'zactly when we're in
+the middle of somefin' awful nice, and then they says, 'Bedtime,
+chil'ens!' Oh, it's just ho'wid!"
+
+Joan puckered up her pretty face so comically in imitation of nurse's
+worried expression, and mimicked Aunt Catharine's lofty tones so
+cleverly, that Darby clapped his hands in delight and admiration. Then
+they raced each other along the breezy headland, across the
+sweet-smelling stubble field, through the stackyard and the orchard,
+until, flushed and breathless, they stood beside the mistress in the
+cool, red-tiled dairy of Copsley Farm.
+
+Mrs. Grey was always well pleased to see the little folks from Firgrove,
+and made them warmly welcome; just as, in the long-ago days, she had
+welcomed their father when he too found it a relief sometimes to slip
+away from the prim precision of his aunts' establishment, and come
+rushing up the hill to count the calves, tease the turkey-cock, ride the
+donkey, plague the maids, and generally enjoy himself to his heart's
+content. She dearly loved children although, as Joan said, she had none
+of her own; and the day always seemed brighter to her when Darby and
+Joan came flying over the fields to pay her one of their frequent
+visits.
+
+There was a new donkey at the farm in those days, and as neither of the
+children was particular about a saddle, they rode him in turn until
+Neddy rose in revolt--actually, with his heels in the air!--or lay down,
+which was more hopeless still; for once he did that they knew that he,
+for one, had frolicked enough, that day, at any rate. But there were
+other things. They played hide-and-seek round the stacks with Scott the
+huge collie, who was so gentle that he would allow Joan to put her
+fingers in his eyes or pull his big bushy tail. They gathered apples in
+the orchard, hazel nuts in the copse, late blackberries from the hedge
+at the back of the stackyard; and they watched the pigs at their
+afternoon meal until Joan turned away in disgust, declaring that "the
+dirty fings should be teached better manners, and made to sup their
+pow'idge wif a spoon!"
+
+Then, when the sun was sinking low in the west, and they had feasted to
+their complete satisfaction on all the dainties that their hostess loved
+to set before them, it was time to return to Firgrove.
+
+Mrs. Grey put into Darby's hand the shallow basket of round brown eggs,
+with two tiny white ones on the top for themselves that had been laid by
+Specky, the lovely black-and-buff bantam. Then, with many kisses and
+warnings to be careful, she set the happy pair upon their homeward way.
+
+They took turns at carrying the basket, and paused now and again to peep
+at their bantam eggs, not much bigger than marbles, and the others which
+held the promise of such sweet baby Cochins within their smooth,
+silk-lined shells.
+
+"Oh, I am tired!" sighed Darby at length, when they were still only
+half-way down the road, just passing by the entrance to the pine wood.
+"Are you tired, Joan?"
+
+"Yes," assented Joan promptly; "this basket's so heavy. Can't we rest
+awhile after we pass the trees?"
+
+"We shall rest here," said Darby decidedly; and suiting the action to
+the word, he took the basket from his sister's hand, placed it carefully
+on the roadside, and, with a deep breath of satisfaction, dropped on
+the soft grass beside it, just where the path branched off the highway
+into Copsley Wood.
+
+"Darby!" cried Joan in remonstrance, "are you forgetting what you
+promised Auntie Alice, and that Aunt Catharine said we wasn't to go into
+the wood?"
+
+"I'm not forgetting one bit," he replied loftily. "Sure, sitting here
+isn't going into the wood, is it, Miss Joan? Besides, I don't believe
+there's any bad people in it. They only want to frighten us," he
+continued, in a grown-up sort of tone; and when Darby spoke like that,
+Joan felt quite sure he knew what he was talking about--better even than
+Aunt Catharine herself!
+
+They sat still for a little while, resting on the soft, mossy grass,
+listening to the song of the robins in the hedges, watching the snowy
+sea-gulls that hovered about the tail of Mr. Grey's plough as it turned
+the stubble into long, even furrows of dark, fresh-smelling soil.
+
+Then a couple of rabbits darted by to their burrow in the wood; and at
+the foot of a big beech tree growing close beside the children a whole
+party of squirrels had gathered, nibbling hungrily at the nuts that were
+scattered round its base.
+
+The little ones hushed their chatter, afraid to breathe almost, lest
+they should disturb the merry family meal.
+
+By-and-by, however, Joan spoke, for she could not keep silent many
+minutes at a time.
+
+"I wish I had one of those dear pretty fings, Darby," she whispered.
+"How sweet and soft it would be to love and stroke! far nicer than
+pussy, for I don't think it would scratch. Look at their great bushy
+tails!"
+
+"Well, sit you still and mind the eggs, and I'll creep over ever so
+softly and catch one for you," replied her brother under his breath,
+only too willing, alas! to gratify her wish. "It'll be quite easy: just
+one grab at its tail and there you are!"
+
+"But, Darby, Aunt Catharine. What ever will she say? Darby!" cried Joan
+in distress.
+
+Darby was creeping on all-fours over the springy grass, and did not mind
+her. Slowly, stealthily he went--near, nearer, and yet nearer the root
+of the beech tree with every movement of his lithe, wriggling body. He
+is now only a few feet from the squirrels, who seem not to notice the
+intruder. He puts out his hand. He almost touches the smallest member of
+the group, a bright-eyed, furry little fellow. Joan starts to her feet
+in excitement. Darby does exactly as he had planned--makes a sudden
+clutch at the coveted prize. The object of her desire is really within
+her reach, Joan believes, and she shouts aloud in her delight. There is
+a flash of bead-like eyes, a waving of plumy tails, a scurry of flying
+feet, a chorus of queer, chattering cries, and, lo, the squirrels have
+disappeared, some up one tree, some up another--all except one, the very
+one which Darby desired to possess, and it scampered along the pathway,
+seeming too frightened to know where it was going; and, without giving a
+thought to the Cochin eggs, to Aunt Catharine, or to probable
+consequences, away rushed Darby in hot pursuit, with Joan treading
+closely on his heels.
+
+Soon the squirrel found refuge in a lofty pine where, most probably,
+some of its friends had their home, and the children halted to take
+breath. Just at that instant, however, a frisky young rabbit started
+from its hiding-place in a hole at their feet. Off it went, scampering
+over the fallen fir needles that were spread so thickly like a soft
+brown carpet over the ground. And away, too, Darby and Joan raced after
+it, as quickly as they could thread their way through the trees,
+following where in front the rabbit led the way, its stumpy whitish
+tail turned up like a beckoning signal-flag. Still they struggled and
+stumbled on and on, in and out, until they stopped for want of breath in
+what seemed the very heart of the wood. Their prey had escaped into the
+shelter of a burrow, and the hunters gazed blankly at the spot where it
+had disappeared. Then they turned to each other in discomfiture and
+disappointment. Afterwards they looked about them, and were filled with
+confusion and affright, for the pathway was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"The eggs, Darby!" cried Joan, suddenly conscious, now that the play was
+played out, of what had been, what was, and what might be. "Let us go
+back diwectly and get Aunt Catharine's basket of eggs."
+
+"Yes, of course, that's what we shall do; but don't be in such a hurry.
+You only confuse a fellow," answered Darby, trying to speak lightly,
+although his lips were quivering. He had sought up and down, backwards,
+forwards, and roundabout, but still could see neither track nor
+footmark--just trees, tall trees everywhere, one seeming the exact
+counterpart of the other.
+
+Joan, however, was quick to catch his expression of bewilderment, which
+so sadly belied his brave words, and she began to sob weakly. She
+always cried easily, and seemed sometimes to enjoy it; at least Darby
+thought so privately.
+
+"Be quiet, can't you! There's nothing for you to cry about," he said, in
+a tone of easy assurance; "at least not yet--not until after we get
+home," he added comically. "I do hope Aunt Catharine will be in the
+drawing-room, or out to dinner, or--or--something when we arrive. If she
+sees us like this, she'll be certain sure to put us to bed at once,"
+continued Darby, with sad conviction, glancing anxiously at his soiled
+sailor suit, which a few hours before was white, his straw hat with the
+brim dangling by a thread; and, worst of all, at Joan's torn pinafore,
+scratched legs, and shoeless foot--for in the flurry and fervour of the
+chase one small slipper had somehow been left behind.
+
+Joan still sobbed.
+
+"Hush, Joan! don't cry any more, like a good girl," said the little lad
+soothingly. "We shall be sure to find the way out very soon now. We left
+the basket at the edge of the wood; I don't think any one will have
+taken it away. And when we get it, we shan't be hardly any time going
+down the hill. We'll slip in softly, softly, and find Auntie Alice
+first. We'll ask her to coax Aunt Catharine not to be too angry; and
+perhaps, if we tell her we're sorry, she'll not punish us very badly. I
+think we had better not say anything about forgetting this time; we'll
+just be sorry right off."
+
+Joan ceased crying. She dabbed her eyes with the corner of her soiled
+pinafore until they smiled like violets new washed with dew; she wiped
+the trickling tear-drops from her smudgy China rose cheeks until they
+bloomed afresh.
+
+Thus the brave boy soothed his small sister's terror, although his own
+heart was heavy with fear; for the farther they walked the deeper they
+seemed to go into the depths of the dark pine wood. And night was coming
+on. In daytime, even, Copsley Wood was a shadowy place; but now, when
+above the trees and beyond their margin twilight had fallen, it was
+indeed a dark and lonesome spot. All around the pines rose straight and
+tall, like gaunt giant forms flinging out long, skeleton arms eager to
+infold them in a cruel clasp. Strange and stealthy sounds from bird and
+beast came to their ears at intervals, while the unfamiliar music of
+rustling branches and whispering leaves filled the souls of these two
+little travellers with a feeling of awe and vague alarm. Nevertheless
+they kept moving on, on; now stumbling over a fallen branch, again
+shrinking in terror as a great soft owl flitted slowly by, or hooted
+solemnly right above their heads.
+
+At length Joan cried out that she could not walk another step. A sharp
+stone had cut her poor little shoeless foot, and she was limping
+painfully. She sank down on a smooth tree-stump, and Darby sat beside
+her, allowing her to lean her drooping head against his shoulder.
+
+"Are we lost, Darby?" she asked piteously. "Are we goin' to die here
+like the babes in the wood? And will the robins come in the mornin' and
+cover us up wif leaves?"
+
+"No, no," answered Darby, shivering at the mere thought of such a
+hurried burial, yet trying to speak cheerfully in spite of the tears in
+his eyes, the lump in his throat. "When you are rested a bit we will go
+on again. If you can't walk, perhaps I could carry you--a short
+distance, anyway. Surely we shall soon find the path, or some one will
+come to look for us," he added, feeling as if at that moment any one,
+even Aunt Catharine herself, would be welcome.
+
+"It's gettin' awful dark," sobbed Joan, in a choked, weak voice. "Why,
+we can't see even a single star."
+
+"We'd be all right if we could see anything," replied the boy ruefully.
+"Maybe the moon will shine soon; then we'll find our way," he added,
+still trying to cheer his little chum as best he could.
+
+For a while they were silent. Joan was almost asleep, with her head
+still resting on Darby's breast. None but the creatures of the wild were
+near them; only the sounds of the night were in the air--those soft,
+mysterious voices that whisper to the listening soul of the spirit world
+which wraps so closely round the pure in heart.
+
+But stay! Who dare disturb the sweetness of nature's symphony? Whose
+stealthy steps are those that steal so cautiously over the tell-tale
+twigs and withered bracken? What figures are they that crouch and slide
+from tree to tree, then pause within half a dozen yards of the wandered
+children, ready to pounce like cruel beasts upon their prey?
+
+The shuffling noise attracted Darby's attention. He looked all about
+him, but observed nothing unusual. He peered into the gathering gloom,
+yet failed to see the ugly, red-haired man, the bold, black-browed woman
+who glared at them from behind a screen of hazel bushes. And again he
+settled himself comfortably on the moss-grown stump, and drew Joan's
+head into an easier position against his shoulder.
+
+He thought she was asleep, and was nearly over himself, when suddenly
+she sat up and said eagerly,--
+
+"Darby, I'se been finkin'. Don't you know in that nice hymn of ours--the
+one we singed to daddy the Sunday before he goed away--there's somefin'
+about bein' 'guided by a star'? P'raps if we was to sing it now God
+would un'erstand, and send a star to show us the way out of the wood."
+
+Darby hesitated.
+
+"Well, I don't know; I'm not sure," he said at length. "Still, if you
+think singing would make you feel better we might try it," he yielded.
+"Yes, we'll do a verse, anyway. It'll be cheerier than praying--not so
+much like as if we were going to bed. And it doesn't really matter which
+we do; God will be sure to know 'zactly what we mean. Now, are you
+ready? Come on!"
+
+And there, in the depths of the forest that to these two babes was as
+desolate, dark, and drear as any of which they had heard in fairy tale
+or nursery rhyme, they raised their clear, tremulous voices in pathetic
+appeal to that unseen Presence whom from their cradles they had been
+taught to look upon as "our Father:"--
+
+    "From the eastern mountains
+      Pressing on they come,
+    Wise men in their wisdom,
+      To His humble home;
+    Stirred by deep devotion,
+      Hasting from afar,
+    Ever journeying onward,
+      Guided by a star."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+FAR, FAR AWAY!
+
+    "The leaves were reddening to their fall,
+      'Coo!' said the gray doves, 'coo!'
+    As they sunned themselves on the garden wall,
+      And the swallows round them flew.
+    'Whither away, sweet swallows?
+      Coo!' said the gray doves, 'coo!'
+    'Far from this land of ice and snow
+    To a sunny southern clime we go,
+    Where the sky is warm and bright and gay:
+      Come with us, away, away!'"
+
+                             F. E. WEATHERLY.
+
+
+Just as they paused on the last note Joan uttered a scream of delight.
+
+"Look, Darby, look!" she cried, clutching at her brother's arm. "The
+star! the star! God has sended it soon, hasn't He? He must have been
+listenin' close by when we sang. Auntie Alice says He is every place at
+once."
+
+"Where?" eagerly asked Darby, peering anxiously into the darkness, but
+looking in the wrong direction.
+
+"There--right behind you," replied Joan, pointing with her finger. "It's
+comin' nearer and nearer. Don't you see it?"
+
+Yes, sure enough there was moving slowly towards them, out of the
+shadows, a small bright light not unlike the twinkle of a tiny star. It
+came steadily on, then stopped, wavered, and was gone.
+
+"Holloa! who's there? Speak up!" called out a loud, hearty voice.
+
+Heavy footsteps followed the voice--footsteps that halted and stumbled
+among the gnarled tree-roots and spreading branches, yet kept straight
+on--and in another instant the kind, ruddy face of Mr. Grey looked down
+upon the children.
+
+"The babes in the wood, by George!" he ejaculated, at the same time
+stooping to peer into the small, eager faces which were so fearlessly
+upturned to meet his gaze. Then, when he made out who the
+forlorn-looking little objects really were, he gave expression to his
+astonishment in a long whistle, which frightened the birds in the trees,
+the rabbits within their burrows, and the wicked man and woman behind
+the hazel bushes, so that they cowered closer beneath the branches,
+wishing themselves well out of the way of Farmer Grey's stout blackthorn
+staff.
+
+"Oh, it's you, Mr. Grey!" said Darby, with a curious catch in his voice
+of glad relief to find that the face bending over them with such kindly,
+quizzical scrutiny was not that of either gipsy, tramp, or poacher; for
+in spite of his lofty scorn of unknown dangers, he had grown terribly
+frightened for the possibilities which might lurk in the gloom of
+Copsley Wood.
+
+"Ay, it's me, an' no mistake," replied Mr. Grey readily. "But I'm
+blessed if I knew ye at first in the dusk. 'They're tramps,' says I to
+myself, 'or gipsy weans.' But then, when I got a good look at ye, I saw
+that it was the little folks from Firgrove--Miss Turner's youngsters."
+
+"We isn't Miss Turner's youngsters," struck in Joan stoutly; "we's
+daddy's chil'ens."
+
+"Ho, ho! so that's the way the wind blows!" laughed Mr. Grey. "Ye're a
+pair o' pickles, anyway, an' no mistake! Who would think _ye_ were the
+little angels whose pretty speeches my missis was divertin' me with all
+the time I was at my tea! An' what may the two o' ye be doin' here in
+the dark, I should like to know?" he demanded, in his big, gruff voice.
+
+"We were lost--quite lost," cried Joan, "just like the babes in the
+wood. If God hadn't sended you to find us, I s'pose robin redbreast
+would have comed by-and-by to cover us up wif leaves and twigs and
+fings."
+
+"Tush!" and Mr. Grey laughed into the little girl's earnest face,
+although he was moved at the thought of the anxiety and distress these
+small creatures must have endured. "Lost! why, you're not more'n half a
+dozen yards off the highroad."
+
+"You must excuse Joan, please," put in Darby formally. "If she says
+silly things sometimes, it's because she's so little. At least, that's
+how I 'splains her to myself," he added.
+
+Then he went on to give Mr. Grey a clear and full account of how and why
+they were wandering at what was for them such an unusual hour in the
+mazes of Copsley Wood--frankly owning up to more than his own share in
+the escapade, casting not a shadow of blame upon his little sister.
+
+"So, so!" said Mr. Grey, much amused by the lad's quaint manner and
+grown-up air. "But I thought I heard some kind o' singin' as I came up
+the hill. It was that fetched me into the wood. I had been down at
+Firdale seein' about some seed-wheat for sowin' to-morrow, an' I was in
+a hurry home."
+
+"It was us you heard," Joan told him gravely. "We were askin' God to
+send a star to show us the way out of the darkness."
+
+"I'm afraid you'll certainly think my sister very childish," said Darby,
+in an apologetic tone. "But you see, just when we had finished the first
+verse of our hymn, a light really did shine. We didn't know at the time
+that it was only the matches you were striking for your pipe, and Joan
+thought (in fact, we _both_ thought--for a moment, you know) that God
+had really sent a star to point us out the path, just as long ago He
+guided the wise men to the place where the dear little baby Jesus lay."
+
+For a space there was silence. Joan was almost asleep on her seat on the
+tree-stump; not a quiver of the hazel bushes betrayed the presence of
+the couple lurking there. And into the big farmer's eyes a sudden
+moisture had sprung as he heard these little ones expressing in simple
+speech their perfect confidence in the ability and readiness of their
+heavenly Father to make good His own promise: "I will guide thee with
+mine eye."
+
+"That's right, my boy," spoke Mr. Grey at length, in deep, earnest
+tones. "Always look out for God, an' you'll find Him close beside you,
+in the darkest forest as well as in the starry sky. An' now we must be
+movin', or the ladies'll be sendin' the police to look for the pair o'
+ye.--Eh! Anybody there?" he shouted, as the sudden snapping of a twig
+broke the stillness about them.
+
+There was no answer, only the flutter of a belated bird as it failed to
+find its accustomed perch among the pines, and the sighing of the wind
+through the tree-tops overhead.
+
+"Some beast, I expect, or a poacher, maybe," Mr. Grey muttered to
+himself. Then he turned towards the children. "I was never reckoned much
+o' _a star_," he said, with a chuckle of amusement, "but I guess I'll
+manage to steer ye straight to Firgrove."
+
+"Do you think you could carry Joan, please, Mr. Grey? She's not _very_
+heavy; I sometimes carry her myself," added Darby, as if doing so were a
+mere trifle instead of a feat of which he was privately proud. "She's
+tired, I'm afraid.--Joan! Waken up! Aren't you tired?"
+
+"Yes, werry, werry tired," assented Joan sleepily, as the farmer cradled
+her comfortably in his strong arms; and with Darby holding hard by his
+coat-tail they started.
+
+"The eggs, Darby! Is you forgettin' Aunt Catharine's eggs, and the
+bantam's too?" Joan cried, when they neared the opening in the wood.
+
+Outside the fringe of dark trees twilight still lingered, and there,
+just where Darby had set it down, was the basket, safe and sound.
+
+With a whoop of delight at the welcome sight of the basket--for its
+possible loss had lain heavily on his tender conscience--Darby sprang
+forward to seize it. But in the dusk he did not notice a long, twisted
+tree-root that straggled between him and his desire. His toe caught in
+it; he suddenly tripped, swayed, and fell flat forward, crunching right
+smash down into the shallow basket of smooth brown Cochin eggs.
+
+"Whoa, there! steady, my man!" called the farmer, vainly struggling to
+suppress his amusement at sight of Darby's deplorable and moist
+condition. "You forget that you've a heavier seat on the eggs than a
+hen, young sir, an' you must sit down easy."
+
+A sharp sob, however, and the smothered cry of "The bantams! we're
+bantams!" that burst from the little creature in his arms, indicated
+that what was a joke to him was a catastrophe to the children, and that
+his mirth was ill-timed and unseemly.
+
+"Never mind, sonny," he added, in a soothing tone; "just tell the
+ladies when you get home that it was all an accident. Here, rub down
+your clothes wi' this wisp o' grass, an' I'll see if my missis can't
+coax them Cochins to lay some more eggs between this an' Christmas."
+
+Then, with Joan cuddled cosily against his broad shoulder, and Darby's
+small hand clinging closely to his, the party set off down the winding
+road towards Firgrove.
+
+At the same time two figures raised themselves from their cramped
+position behind the hazel thicket. The man stretched himself, hitched up
+on his shoulder a bag, from which peeped the tail of a pheasant and the
+paw of a rabbit, while he muttered savagely and shook his fist in the
+direction of the retreating farmer.
+
+"Spoiled yer little game, did he?" and the dark-eyed woman laughed
+wickedly as she rearranged the faded scarlet shawl more closely round
+her shoulders. "Well, better luck next time, Joe my dear," she added
+airily.
+
+"Shut up!" said the gentleman called Joe, with a heavy scowl. "It's kids
+like they I've been lookin' out for this many a day, an' I'll have them
+yet," he growled, "as sure as yer name's Moll! See if I don't! Come on!"
+And in another moment they were not to be seen, they had plunged into
+the heart of Copsley Wood.
+
+At the gate of Firgrove Mr. Grey set Joan down, and watched until she
+and Darby reached the front door. There a curious group had
+collected--Auntie Alice, who was softly sobbing; Aunt Catharine, wearing
+her garden-hat and strongest boots; Nurse Perry, Mary the cook; and
+Green the gardener, armed with a stout staff and the stable lantern. It
+was the search-party in the act of setting out to explore the recesses
+of Copsley Wood in quest of the missing children.
+
+Mr. Grey thought it would be in better taste to retire. He knew Miss
+Turner, and he guessed that probably the next scene in the drama would
+be purely private. Well, the youngsters had unquestionably disobeyed
+orders, and on their own showing. They must be punished, if by no other
+means they could be taught obedience, which is the first if not the
+chief lesson of life. Still, it was a pity, thought the big,
+soft-hearted man; and the confiding eyes of the children followed him as
+he sauntered up the hill, forgetting that he was in a hurry home. The
+words that had floated from their pure lips through the gloom of the
+pines rang in his ears, and as he went along he hummed softly to
+himself, in his deep, bass voice,--
+
+    "Ever journeying onward,
+      Guided by a star."
+
+"Aunt Catharine's real angry this time, and no mistake," Darby thought,
+as in almost perfect silence she gave him and Joan their supper, then
+helped Perry to undress, bath, and put them to bed. "She's sure to
+punish us somehow to-morrow though she's saying nothing about it
+to-night. Oh dear! if she would not look so cold and cross, but just
+give me enough spanking for us both and get it over, I'd much rather."
+
+But Aunt Catharine had decided not to administer any bodily chastisement
+to her nephew's children, although she considered that a smart whipping
+now and again was almost as necessary to the well-being of young people
+as cooling medicine in the spring. She had talked the matter over with
+Auntie Alice, who could not bear the idea of either Darby or Joan being
+put to any avoidable pain. They had been very disobedient certainly, she
+was obliged to admit, and must be taught somehow to do as they were
+told--Darby especially, who should have been so much wiser than Joan.
+She would herself have cheerfully borne the penalty of all their
+misdemeanours if she could. That was impossible, however; but she
+succeeded in impressing upon her sister that perhaps Captain Dene might
+not like his motherless children to be subjected to such old-fashioned
+discipline. Aunt Catharine, consequently, had laid her plans for a
+different course of action.
+
+Next morning Darby slept quite late--for him--being tired out from the
+fatigue of the previous evening. He awoke refreshed and brisk, however,
+and was about to spring out of bed and dress himself in readiness for
+the fun, frolic, and mischief of a new day, when the nursery door was
+thrown wide open, and Aunt Catharine sailed into the room, arrayed in
+all the glory of a Paisley-pattern morning-gown and black crochet
+breakfast-cap. Now, Miss Turner was one of those people sometimes to be
+met with whose moods usually match their clothes. Darby understood this
+peculiarity of his aunt's in a vague sort of way, so that the moment he
+set eyes on the many-coloured wrapper and sombre headgear he knew that
+now they were in for it and no mistake.
+
+"Well, what have you to say for yourselves?" she demanded in a loud
+voice, seating herself solemnly in a chair between the two cribs, and
+looking from one child to the other with her severest expression. "You
+can answer me, Guy; Doris is hardly awake yet."
+
+She addressed them as Guy and Doris; and knowing what that meant as well
+as what was indicated by her awful attire, Darby discreetly held his
+peace.
+
+Joan sat up in bed, rubbed her eyes with her dimpled knuckles, nodded
+her tangled curls towards her aunt, and, sweetly smiling, murmured,
+"Mornin'!" to which cheery greeting her aunt did not respond.
+
+There was a prophetic pause for a while; then Miss Turner spoke.
+
+"I am pleased that at least you have the grace to be silent, to make no
+excuses; because there is nothing you could say that would make your sin
+appear any less heinous in my eyes--and in God's eyes," she added as an
+after-thought.
+
+"Where's the 'henas,' Aunt Catharine?" cried Joan, peeping in the
+direction of the door. "I'd love to see a 'hena!' There's a picter of
+some in Darby's Nat'ral Hist'ry book. They's just like wolves."
+
+"Hush, Joan!" said Darby, in a frightened undertone; "there's no hyenas
+here. Aunt Catharine means 'heenyus,' and that's a thing in the
+Catechism--far on! It's only me that has come to it yet."
+
+"You have both been guilty of the gravest disobedience," continued Miss
+Turner, "and it is my duty to punish you. I have therefore decided to
+keep you in bed until you repent of your naughtiness."
+
+Here Darby started up in anger. His gray eyes flashed, his cheeks were
+scarlet, his small fists clenched under the bedclothes.
+
+"This is Saturday," went on his aunt, in her relentless voice. "You
+shall stay where you are until to-morrow, Sabbath morning. Then, if you
+are in a proper frame of mind, you may both get up as usual; but for one
+week you shall not go beyond the garden.--And you, Guy, because you are
+older than Doris, and should set your sister a good example instead of
+leading her at your heels into every mischief you can devise--you are to
+have an additional punishment. I desire that while you are in bed you
+shall occupy yourself with your Catechism. And to-morrow, before
+breakfast, I will hear you repeat the fifth commandment, with the three
+following questions and the proofs thereto. After that perhaps you shall
+have a clearer conception of your duty to your parents, which means, in
+your case, those who are in charge of you." And having delivered herself
+thus, Aunt Catharine sailed away as majestically as she had come.
+
+Darby flung himself about in his wrath.
+
+"Parents indeed!" he cried, in passionate scorn. "_She's_ not our
+parents! she's nobody's parent. Why, I heard Postie telling Perry the
+other day that the Miss Turners were both old maids when he was a kid;
+and people can't be old maids and parents as well! Oh, if daddy hadn't
+gone away, or if mother was only here!" he wailed in his dire distress.
+Then he buried his head in the blankets, for his feelings were too
+deeply wounded to find relief in words.
+
+For a while Joan howled lustily, but by-and-by, when she had eaten her
+breakfast of porridge and milk, she tumbled off to sleep again, being
+still weary after her recent wanderings.
+
+Darby, however, lay wide awake, feeling, now that his burst of anger had
+passed away, very tired of things in general, and of himself in
+particular. It was too dreadful, he thought, to be kept in bed on a fine
+day when he was quite well, only stiff and aching all over. Outside the
+air was balmy and still. The garden was ablaze with late dahlias,
+hollyhocks, and asters; and down by the tool-shed Mistress Pussy and her
+family would be contentedly sunning themselves beside the boxwood
+border--the close-clipped boxwood border, which always gave out such a
+strong, queer, haunting smell.
+
+Oh dear, how tiresome it all was, and what a pity a fellow could not
+_sometimes_ do as he liked without being called naughty and then
+punished! Should life always be like that, Darby wondered. Surely not,
+he told himself, or else he felt that already he had had about enough of
+it. But he did not believe things were quite the same with other
+children. They were different for him and Joan, because daddy was abroad
+and mother dead. If they had only not been left at Firgrove with Aunt
+Catharine! There were plenty of pleasant places in the world besides
+Firgrove. Could not he and Joan go away somewhere, just themselves
+together, where they would want only to be good, because there should be
+no temptation to be naughty; where there should be no Catechism, no Aunt
+Catharine, and no more punishment, especially putting to bed, which was
+Darby's detestation? He really wished to be obedient, this little lad of
+seven years old, and tried very hard to remember everything he was
+told. But forgetting comes easy; consequently he was frequently in
+trouble. He was often good for days together--quite good, as Joan said.
+But the difficulty with Darby, as with older folk, was not the _being_
+good, but the _keeping_ good.
+
+For a long time the boy lay pondering some of the problems of life which
+from the beginning have puzzled many a wiser head than his. But Darby
+did not know that he was only going over a well-beaten track. He just
+knew that he was wishful of finding some pleasant spot where, without
+effort or trouble, he could be happy after his own fashion, untrammelled
+and untroubled by restrictions or consequences.
+
+The morning had glided on to noonday. Joan, having had her sleep out,
+was playing with Miss Carolina in her crib. Outside a family of
+lingering swallows sat on the meadow fence discussing their plans for a
+hurried departure on the morrow; and from the dovecot in the yard came
+the soft, continuous cooing of Auntie Alice's pigeons as they strutted
+about the flags or preened their feathers in the sun. The distant
+barking of Mr. Grey's collie, Scott, as he followed the sheep to the
+pasture, floated in through the open window; while from the next room
+came the soothing murmur of nurse's low, droning voice, singing baby
+Eric over to his midday sleep.
+
+What was it she sang? but, indeed, she seemed always singing it. Nothing
+much; only a snatch here and there from that old hymn she was so fond
+of, or perhaps sang almost unconsciously from habit:--
+
+    "Oh, we shall happy be,
+    When from sin and sorrow free!
+
+     "Bright in that happy land
+      Beams every eye;
+    Kept by a Father's hand,
+      Love cannot die.
+
+     "Come to this happy land,
+      Come, come away;
+    Why will ye doubting stand?
+      Why still delay?"
+
+Suddenly Darby sat up in bed in his excitement. A brilliant thought had
+struck him. Why had it not occurred to him sooner? The Happy Land!
+that's where they would go. It was far, far away, certainly; but they
+should take some food with them, and ask the road from time to time.
+
+Joan was soon weary of nursing Miss Carolina. She had slipped out of her
+crib and trotted over to the window, where she was occupying herself
+happily in catching and shutting up in an empty pill-box the flies that
+buzzed drowsily in the warm, bright sunshine.
+
+She paused for an instant in the act of conveying with her nimble little
+fingers another captive to its dungeon, when she noticed Darby's flushed
+cheeks and shining eyes.
+
+"What's the matter, dear?" inquired the tiny, white-robed maiden, in
+quite a motherly manner. "Has you got a pain, Darby? or was you dreamin'
+about somefin' werry nice? You does look awful funny, I fink."
+
+"I'm not sick, and I haven't been dreaming," answered her brother, in
+earnest assurance. "But I've been thinking, and I've made up my mind.
+We're not going to stay here any longer. I've 'cided where we'll go.
+We'll go to the Happy Land--that place nurse is often singing about,
+where we shall always be good, and never be naughty, or sick, or
+punished, or put to bed any more. It'll never be dark or raining either,
+but always fine, and bright, bright as day!"
+
+"How lovely!" cried Joan, clapping her hands in ecstasy, at the same
+time dropping the pill-box, from which the autumn flies crawled lazily,
+as if too indolent or too stupid to enjoy their newly-regained liberty.
+
+"Just wouldn't it!" said Darby, with quivering lips and sparkling eyes,
+for he was terribly excited over his scheme. "And you'll come, Joan,
+won't you, lovey?"
+
+"Yes," assented Joan, without the slightest hesitation, giving a
+decisive nod of her golden head that set all her curls bobbing up and
+down like daffodils in a March breeze--"yes, I'm comin' wif you, Darby
+dear. When's we goin'?" she inquired anxiously, as if in haste to be
+off.
+
+Darby drew her into bed beside him, tucked up her cold pink toes in the
+blankets, and in earnest, subdued tones the two discussed the how and
+the when of their projected pilgrimage.
+
+They could not set off that day, for they were prisoners. The next day
+was Sunday. They would be sure to be out; but then Sunday was not a
+suitable day on which to start on a lengthy journey. Monday would be a
+more fitting time, and Darby remembered with a thrill of thankfulness
+that early on Monday morning the aunts were going away to spend a couple
+of nights at Denescroft, as grannie's charming, China-rose-trimmed
+cottage was called. That would be their chance! Nurse would be almost
+entirely occupied with Eric, and they two should be left to do pretty
+much as they pleased. By the time their aunts returned on Wednesday
+evening the little travellers would be far away, or perhaps they should
+be safe within the boundaries of the Happy Land.
+
+Before breakfast the following morning Darby repeated his appointed
+task, proofs and all, without so much as a single blunder. The children
+went with their aunts to church as usual. In the evening Auntie Alice
+remarked to her sister how very quiet the little ones had been all day.
+Aunt Catharine also had noticed their subdued demeanour. She set it down
+to the chastening effect of penitence for their recent disobedience, and
+hoped that it might continue during the days of their absence at least.
+
+"Good-bye, pets," said Auntie Alice to the children the next day, as
+they hung about the basket-carriage and Billy, waiting to take his
+mistresses to the station. "Cheer up, Darby," she whispered. "Be a good
+brother, and take care of Joan; and see and be happy until we come
+back."
+
+"Yes, Auntie Alice, I'll take care of her, sure. And we're going to be
+very, very happy," he added, with a look of exultation in his eyes that
+haunted his aunt until she saw him again.--"Aren't we, Joan?"
+
+"Yes, werry, werry happy!" murmured Joan out of a tousle of sunny hair.
+"Good-bye, Auntie Alice. Kiss Joan again."
+
+"There, that will do. Stand clear of the wheel, both of you," said Aunt
+Catharine, settling her ample figure comfortably into the little
+basket-chaise. "Don't dirty that nice clean pinafore, Joan; and Darby,
+see that you wash your hands properly before dinner."
+
+The aunts departed, and by the time they had reached the first stage on
+their journey, two little travellers stepped bravely out at the front
+door, down the gravelled drive, through the wide gate, and there they
+halted to hold a hurried council as to which way they should go.
+
+Up the hill in one direction sloped the broad white road that led past
+Copsley Wood. No Happy Land lay in its vicinity! By another route, along
+which Billy and the basket-carriage had vanished, was the station; but
+who ever heard of any one arriving at the Happy Land by rail! Some other
+way still they must seek to bring them to their destination.
+
+From the gable end of Firgrove the fields slid gradually down until they
+were merged in a long, level stretch of meadow ground, through which was
+cut a deep, straight canal, whose waters reached like a shining silver
+belt across the emerald sward of the surrounding pasture-lands. Many a
+time Darby and Joan had sat on the garden wall watching the dingy
+barge-boat come and go. They had listened curiously to the voices of the
+man and boy on board chatting to each other, or shouting to the patient,
+plodding horse that towed along the clumsy craft, laden with this and
+that for the villages and hamlets that dotted the landscape thickly
+between Firdale and the far-off range of hills, which rose so proudly up
+to meet the sunset and the sky.
+
+The October day was mild, and bright as days not always are, even in
+midsummer. Great gold-tinged clouds floated slowly across the high, wide
+dome of the azure sky. The hilltops were bathed in a warm, soft glow;
+the placid waters of the canal sparkled, dimpled, and smiled beneath the
+caress of the passing breeze, until they broke into tiny ripples and
+wavelets against their sedge-grown banks.
+
+Along that silvery waterway they shall go, the children decide. Up
+there, beyond the hills, they say, rise the walls of the Beautiful
+City. That radiance is assuredly reflected from its streets of gold.
+Those big, fleecy clouds certainly curtain the approach to the portals
+of pearl!
+
+Just then, emerging from behind a screening clump of trees, the _Smiling
+Jane_, as the dingy old boat was called, slowly hove in sight. They
+would run fast and coax the man to take them on board when he stopped to
+get his vessel through the lock; or, better still, they would slip in
+unnoticed when he was otherwise engaged. Without a thought of wrong,
+with never a qualm of fear as to failure or consequences, hand in hand
+they raced along in the direction of the canal, casting not so much as a
+glance behind.
+
+And thus it came about that Darby and Joan set out to seek the Happy
+Land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GONE AMISSING!
+
+    "The old house by the lindens
+      Stood silent in the shade,
+    And on the gravelled pathway
+      The light and shadow played.
+
+    "I saw the nursery windows
+      Wide open to the air;
+    But the faces of the children,
+      They were no longer there."
+
+                      LONGFELLOW.
+
+
+When dinner-time came without bringing the children in, nurse became
+very cross indeed. Baby had been somewhat troublesome all the forenoon.
+Auntie Alice had lately got into the habit of taking him of a morning,
+walking him about in her arms, crooning sweet nothings over him in her
+soothing voice. He was old enough to miss her, and to-day was not
+satisfied at being put off with only nurse. He had, besides, a new tooth
+coming--a tiny pearly thing, peeping like a speck of ivory from a bed
+of coral. Very pretty to look at, certainly, but doubtless extremely
+painful; at least Master Baby felt it so, for he fretted and cried in a
+way which set poor Perry's nerves all on edge, and made her think that
+the responsibilities of her position were almost too heavy to be borne
+on one pair of shoulders.
+
+Then Master Darby and Miss Joan--how tiresome they were! always up to
+some mischief or other, said nurse to herself, as she ran between the
+nursery window and the front door to watch if they were not coming
+before their dinner should be spoiled. And such a nice dinner as it was,
+too! Cook had arranged it as a surprise for them, because they were all
+by themselves, knowing how much they enjoyed roast fowl, stewed apples
+and cream. Now the fowl would be dried to a cinder, the potatoes moist
+and sodden, the apples cold as charity!
+
+They must have again disobeyed orders and gone away to the farm, nurse
+concluded, when twelve o'clock, one o'clock, two o'clock passed, and
+still no sign of the little ones. They would be well stuffed up there,
+she was sure, and quite safe; only it was really too bad of Master Darby
+to steal off that way without leave, and drag his little sister along
+with him. He should have nothing but dry bread for his tea, Perry
+decided. Then with a glance at the bassinet, where baby was soundly
+sleeping away some of his fretfulness, and a careful adjustment of the
+fire-guard on the nursery grate, nurse stole downstairs to get her own
+dinner, which, like the children's, would be none the better for waiting
+so long past the usual time.
+
+Eric awoke from his sound, sweet sleep refreshed and hungry. Nurse fed
+him; then, as the air was mild and the sun warm, she put on his coat and
+cap and carried him into the garden to watch the pussies at play.
+
+The afternoon shadows began to lengthen, the sun slipped slowly to the
+west, baby grew weary of pulling at the pussies' tails and turned
+peevish again, and still the others were absent. By this time nurse had
+grown downright angry with them for staying away so long. It was a shame
+of Mrs. Grey to keep them. Master Darby deserved a sound smacking, nurse
+said to herself; and only that she was not permitted to punish her
+charges in such a manner, a sound smacking Master Darby should have
+had--when nurse could catch him, that is to say. Now, however, she must
+go for them. Mrs. Grey would be thinking they were neglected in the
+absence of their aunts, and perhaps telling tales. So, after wrapping
+Eric up warmly in a big woolly shawl, she tucked him into his
+perambulator and set off up the glen road, past the wood and the
+turnip-field, to Copsley Farm, expecting at every turn to meet Darby and
+Joan rushing towards her on their homeward way. But no such interruption
+to her progress occurred.
+
+When she reached the farm an unpleasant surprise awaited her. Neither
+Darby nor Joan had been there that day--not since the Friday, said Mrs.
+Grey; and she was disappointed, because, having heard that the ladies
+were going from home without the children, she quite expected they would
+have lost no time in paying her a visit.
+
+At that moment Mr. Grey came in from the barn, where he had been
+threshing corn all the afternoon. He was tired, heated, and hungry for
+his tea, and only laughed when his wife told him that the little folks
+from Firgrove had gone amissing.
+
+"Well, an' what if they have?" he exclaimed, in his loud, hearty voice.
+"That needn't scare you. Aren't they always gettin' into trouble o' some
+kind or another, the pair o' them? Why, sure it's only the other day
+there that I found them wandered in Copsley Wood, like two motherless
+lambs! They were lost, the little 'un told me, quite lost! An' there
+they were sittin', the two o' them, on the stump o' an old tree, wrapped
+in one another's arms, for all the world like the babes in the wood--an'
+not more'n half a dozen yards from the highway!"
+
+"An' that's where they are now, sure enough," said Mrs. Grey, in a tone
+of conviction. "They'll have gone back after them squirrels that led
+them such a dance on Friday! What do you think, Miss Perry?" she asked
+anxiously.
+
+"I am certain of it too, now that you mention it," replied nurse,
+looking aghast at the thought. "Miss Joan was fair wild to get a
+squirrel; and Master Darby, he's that venturesome he would face
+anything. He doesn't know the meaning of fear for all he's so gentle and
+innocent-like. And Miss Joan follows him just like a dog. Dear, dear--to
+think of it!"
+
+"You may well say that, for Copsley Wood's no place for them to be in by
+themselves," said Mrs. Grey, eyeing nurse with some disapproval in her
+glance.
+
+"It's no place for decent people, let alone children," retorted Perry
+in her turn. "It was no further back than yesterday that the butcher's
+young man was telling me that a couple of gipsies or tramps have set up
+their tent there. He was pressing me to take a walk with him," she
+explained, hanging her head and playing with the fringe of baby's shawl;
+"and I said as how I'd never been in the wood. 'All the better,' says
+Jenkins, quite short, 'because that wood ain't no place for you, nor for
+any other nice young lady.' Oh, if they've gone and got kidnapped or
+murdered, what ever shall I do!" sobbed Perry, who was really a
+well-meaning woman, and good at heart in spite of a certain
+narrow-mindedness, not uncommon to her class, which hindered her from
+seeing at any time much further than her own nose.
+
+Mrs. Grey had listened to nurse's speech with ill-concealed scorn.
+
+"Young lady indeed!" she said afterwards to Mr. Grey, giving a
+contemptuous sniff. "Her a lady--and young too! Why, she's
+eight-and-twenty if she's a day! And a lad like Jim Jenkins! Sakes
+alive! the conceit o' some folks is sickenin'!"
+
+Then when Perry began to weep and lament, the older woman watched her
+curiously in order to make sure how little of her feeling was real, how
+much assumed. But such distress was undoubtedly genuine, Mrs. Grey
+decided, and her eyes held a kindlier expression as she said
+soothingly,--
+
+"Come now, cheer up! Takin' on that way won't do no manner o' good. You
+had better hurry home with the baby now. It's gettin' late for him to be
+out, pretty dear! Maybe you'll find the other two there before you, and
+famishin' for their tea."
+
+"The missis is right," agreed Mr. Grey, rising from the table as he
+spoke, and wiping his mouth with a huge, red cotton pocket-handkerchief.
+"You get along as fast as ever you can, an' if the young shavers isn't
+at Firgrove afore you, send somebody up wi' a message. Then me an' Tom
+Brook 'll take a look round; an' if they're anywhere inside Copsley
+Wood, we'll bring them home to you afore bedtime yet, I'll be bound."
+
+But when nurse got back to Firgrove, Darby and Joan were still absent;
+so, giving Eric in charge to Mary the cook, she sped up the hill again
+herself, flying as fast as fear and excitement could urge her, and
+reached the farm, panting and breathless, just when Mr. Grey and his
+head man, Tom Brook, were putting on their coats and preparing to leave
+the barn for the night.
+
+Until almost midnight the two men tramped hither and thither through the
+labyrinths of Copsley Wood, carrying the stable lantern to give them
+light, armed with stout sticks with which to poke among the dense
+undergrowth of laurel, holly, and hazel that formed such a close cover
+for the game of various sorts with which the wood was so thickly
+populated. Now and then from her form amid the withered fern a
+frightened hare leaped among their very feet. Startled rabbits scurried
+here and there over the soft moss and rustling leaves. The cry of a
+night-bird from time to time broke the intense stillness of the lonesome
+place, while more than once they were alarmed by a soft something that
+brushed their face, as a big, downy white owl passed them by in search
+of its prey. In a dell hidden in the very heart of the wood they came
+upon what apparently had been the camping-ground of some wanderers--the
+gipsies probably, concerning whom the tales and rumours were so rife and
+so exaggerated of late. It must have been used quite recently, for where
+the fire had been built the wood ash was white and undisturbed; while
+the crusts, bones, and fragments of a rough-and-ready meal still
+littered the green turf that spread in such a fresh, delicious carpet
+all around the spot. But now the dell was deserted. The feeling of
+desolation always conveyed by the sight of a burned-out fire, a forsaken
+hearth, struck chilly on Mr. Grey's senses, and he turned away in
+disappointment from the tenantless place. Then the two men gazed blankly
+into each other's eyes. The children could not be found; not a trace of
+them was to be seen, except a small battered shoe--the shoe that Joan
+had left behind the preceding Friday.
+
+By this time they were so tired out that they were reluctantly obliged
+to give over their search for the night; so, feeling footsore, and
+disheartened by their want of success, they went each his own way
+homewards.
+
+Mr. Grey was now thoroughly alarmed for the safety of his wife's little
+favourites, not knowing what mishap might have overtaken them. As for
+nurse, her state of mind was pitiable. She alone had been left in charge
+of the children, and she only was responsible to the Misses Turner for
+their safety. And what would Captain Dene say--her master, whom she had
+solemnly promised to take good care of his motherless children? She had
+done her best, poor Perry; for although often impatient and
+unsympathetic with the little ones, she loved them devotedly, and would
+now willingly have imperilled her own safety to secure theirs. Oh, how
+earnestly she wished that Miss Turner and Miss Alice were home again, or
+rather that they had not gone away! It was, of course, too late to
+communicate with them that night, but it must be done first thing next
+morning--as soon as the telegraph office should be open.
+
+"How shall I face them?" cried nurse wildly, pushing cook and baby away
+in her impatience.
+
+Cook looked hurt. She had good-naturedly taken care of Eric all evening,
+and been much diverted by his funny ways. She had offered the little
+fellow to nurse with the best intentions in the world, thinking that
+attending to his wants might distract her attention from her trouble.
+But nurse was not to be consoled thus. She could think of nothing except
+the calamity which had befallen the household in general, herself in
+particular, and for the time being baby was of no importance in her
+eyes; even the adoring Jenkins was forgotten! Nothing remained but her
+own nervous terror and distress.
+
+Next morning, as soon as it was daylight, Mr. Grey hastened down to
+Firgrove to inquire if Perry had heard anything of the missing children.
+She had not, and was in a most miserable frame of mind after an
+anxious, sleepless night.
+
+While she and Mr. Grey stood talking together, Tom Brook passed by on
+his way to work at the farm, and seeing the two in conversation, joined
+them. But he brought no comfort to their council with the tidings he had
+to tell--not much at most, yet important as furnishing a possible clue
+to the fate of the lost ones.
+
+The previous forenoon some of his children at play beside the lock had
+noticed Master Darby and Miss Joan down along the tow-path; but as they
+were accustomed seeing the pair trotting about by themselves
+continually, here, there, and everywhere, they paid no particular
+attention to their movements.
+
+"They didn't go to Copsley Wood after all, then," said Mr. Grey, looking
+very grave, for his fears had been directed into a fresh channel.
+
+"They've gone playing about the canal and fallen in!" cried nurse, with
+a great outburst of tears. "Now they're drownded, dead drownded, both of
+them! O my poor lambs! why did I let you out of my sight for one minute?
+What will master say? O my dear, sweet mistress, this would never have
+happened if you hadn't been tooken away from us!"
+
+Miss Turner and Miss Alice were seated at breakfast in Grannie Dene's
+pretty parlour, where the China roses, that were for all the world just
+the colour of Joan's cheeks, peeped and nodded round the window. They
+were chatting briskly with grannie, whom they had found much stronger,
+and able easily to move about and attend to the affairs of her small
+household, and making their plans for the day. Aunt Catharine was
+arranging everything in her usual capable way. Grannie nodded her head
+in approval, looking the very picture of a sweet, high-bred old lady;
+while Auntie Alice agreed to all her sister suggested, as was her placid
+wont. She appeared contented and at ease, yet from time to time an
+anxious, far-away look would unconsciously creep into her eyes and
+shadow her gentle face when she thought of the little ones at home,
+wondering how they were all getting on--whether Eric's new tooth had
+come properly through; if Darby was being an obedient boy and taking
+good care of Joan.
+
+The click of the garden-gate attracted their attention, and immediately
+after a whistling telegraph-boy passed the window and the China roses on
+his way to the hall door. Auntie Alice rose from the breakfast-table
+with a queer, fluttering feeling about her heart, and hurried to meet
+the messenger. She took the rustling, brick-coloured envelope from his
+hand, and in another instant the message dictated with much anxiety by
+Mr. Grey lay open before the alarmed ladies,--
+
+"Come home at once. Darby and Joan missing since yesterday."
+
+"Oh, my dears, my dears! Sister, sister! why did we leave them?" was the
+cry that broke from Auntie Alice's trembling lips. It was but the
+expression of a nameless dread which had weighed upon her ever since she
+started from Firgrove, leaving Darby standing looking after them, with
+that expression in his eyes of such perfect purity and peace.
+
+Grannie's thoughts flashed like lightning from the lost children to the
+absent father. She was not a woman of many words, and made little
+outward sign of the sorrow that had suddenly seized upon her. She just
+hid her patient face in her thin white hands, murmuring brokenly,--
+
+"Oh, Guy, Guy! my son, my son!"
+
+"Well, I declare! One would think those two had never got into a scrape
+before from the way you are going on," said Miss Turner sharply,
+addressing her sister, yet casting a glance of disapproval in the
+direction of Mrs. Dene. "It was only the other day that they went
+wandering into Copsley Wood; and here, when we were ready to set out in
+search of them, didn't they turn up as cool as you please, smiling as
+sweetly as a couple of cherubs! Mr. Grey is alarming us needlessly. He
+and his wife are perfectly silly about those children! It was exactly
+the same when Guy was a boy. He had nothing to do but run up to Mrs.
+Grey for petting and sympathy whenever he made things too hot for
+himself at Firgrove. Well, if Darby has disobeyed me this time, after
+all I said, and the Catechism and everything, I won't be so soft with
+him in future, that's certain!" declared Aunt Catharine, in her severest
+voice; yet her fresh-coloured face had grown pale, her eyes were
+troubled, her lips trembled. In her heart of hearts she wished she had
+not been quite so strict with her nephew's children, Darby
+especially--poor Dorothy Archdale's motherless little lad.
+
+It was afternoon by the time the ladies arrived at Firdale, the small
+wayside station nearest to Firgrove. Mr. Grey had forsaken his farm and
+his threshing, and was waiting to receive them. But one glance at his
+honest face was sufficient to assure them that he was not the bearer of
+any good news. Nothing further had been heard of the missing children.
+Copsley Wood had been scoured by a band of beaters from end to end, with
+no better success than had attended the efforts of the two men the night
+before. Mr. Grey's thoughts had reverted again and again to the
+ill-favoured man and black-browed woman--gipsies they were said to be,
+but more likely they were only ordinary vagrants--who had been seen
+lately loitering about the neighbourhood, and whose appearance had given
+rise to the wildest and absurdest rumours. One cottager, it was said,
+had lost all her hens; another missed a young pig out of its sty, while
+the ailing infant of a third had died in convulsions soon after the
+dark-faced female was at the door demanding a draught of milk! Mrs. Grey
+had suggested that perhaps the evil pair had kidnapped the pretty
+children, meaning to make use of them in some way--for such things
+happened, if one was to believe all that appeared in the newspapers--or
+in order to draw a reward out of their friends. Her husband laughed at
+the idea; yet he caused the tramps to be traced and followed from their
+deserted quarters in the wood up to the time when they had forced their
+way, as the bargeman affirmed, on board the barge-boat close beside the
+village of Shendon. They had no youngsters with them then of any
+description, bargee was positive; just the man and woman by themselves.
+They were not gipsies at all, he added, but some sort of play-acting
+people journeying to join their party, who had preceded them to
+Barchester by a few days. Folks of that class were not likely to have
+had a hand in the disappearance of anybody's children; they usually had
+plenty of their own.
+
+The ladies discussed the ins and outs of the odd affair with Mr. Grey in
+all its bearings. At length they were forced to the conclusion that it
+was in the region of the canal they must seek the little ones--whether
+about it or in it only time should tell. Miss Alice wept softly, while
+Miss Turner was wondering, with a terrible weight on her heart, what she
+should say in the cablegram to Africa; for if Darby and Joan did not
+turn up, and soon too, she knew that their father should have to be
+informed of the calamity which had befallen him.
+
+Mr. Grey hurried home to snatch a hasty meal and tell his wife not to be
+anxious about his absence. Then he and Tom Brook, with two other men,
+set off to follow the clue furnished by Tom Brook's children. At
+Firgrove the household waited, eager for news, with what patience they
+could command, and they needed a good share; for waiting, as everybody
+knows, is wearier work than doing.
+
+Step by step, two of them on one side and two on the other, they tramped
+along the course of the canal, poking with their sticks into the long,
+sedgy grass and reeds beside its banks, peering among the clumps of
+osiers that grew thick and tall in the damp, spongy ground below the
+tow-path. On, on they went, only pausing for a few minutes now and
+again, to take a rest or to hold a consultation. They questioned closely
+every pedestrian whom they met by the way, but nobody could give them
+any tidings to help them in their search. And still they pressed on,
+past locks, hamlets, villages--on, on, until, when night was closing in
+around them, they reached Barchester. There, perforce, they must pause;
+for beyond Barchester was the sea, so at Barchester the canal came to an
+abrupt conclusion.
+
+It was a weary and dispirited little group that gathered on the wharf in
+the fast-falling darkness of the October evening. The other men, as well
+as Mr. Grey, had known Captain Dene from his infancy almost, and two of
+them had little ones of their own snug and safe by their cottage hearths
+at that dull evening hour. They consequently felt keenly the sorrow that
+threatened the absent father; also the distress and trouble of the aunts
+at Firgrove, who had so generously taken upon them the responsible duty,
+which not infrequently turns out a thankless task, of taking charge of
+somebody else's bairns.
+
+The wharf, except for themselves, was deserted. It was almost dark, too,
+lighted only by one badly-trimmed paraffin lamp that swung above the
+door of the room or office which the keeper occupied during the day. Its
+flickering rays fell on the deep, sluggish waters of the canal as they
+lapped and gurgled round the wet, slimy beams on which the planks were
+supported. Mr. Grey stood somewhat apart from the others, and gazed idly
+at the shadows cast by the dimly-burning lamp, as they swayed backwards
+and forwards, up and down, with each slow movement of the water; yet he
+did not actually see anything. He was thinking of the winsome wee pair
+whom he had come upon a few days before sitting on a tree-stump in
+Copsley Wood--of their trusting eyes, their sweet voices, their artless
+prattle, their firm faith in the protecting power of their heavenly
+Father. Assuredly He had them in His careful keeping some place; but
+where?--on earth or in heaven? This was the question which so sorely
+perplexed the anxious searchers.
+
+Suddenly something attracted Mr. Grey's attention--something that had
+got jammed in a space between two rotten beams which floated alongside
+the flooring of the crazy old wharf--and his heart leaped in his breast
+with a throb of sickening fear. He stooped over the water, reached
+forward his stout staff, and with its hooked head carefully hauled up
+that something which he instinctively shrank from seeing, without
+exactly knowing why.
+
+Yet it was nothing much after all, neither more nor less than what may
+be seen any day drifting hither and thither amongst scraps and straws
+upon the surface of a stream--only a child's sailor-hat, which had once
+been white, but was now sadly discoloured, soaked with water, and
+hanging almost in pieces. A faded blue ribbon dangled from its battered
+brim, bearing on its surface in tarnished gold letters the title of the
+ship to which its wearer belonged--H.M.S. _Dreadnought_.
+
+With a queer choking in his throat Mr. Grey carried his find close to
+what light there was beneath the dirty lamp, while with strained, eager
+faces the other men peered over his shoulder, and then, sure enough,
+they saw what they feared. For there, inside the hat, stitched to the
+lining of the crown by a careful mother's loving fingers, was a piece of
+tape on which a name was plainly written, the name of--Darby Dene!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. "DREADNOUGHT."
+
+    "Shall we call this a boat out at sea,
+      We four sailors rowing?
+    Can you fancy it? Well, as for me,
+      I feel the salt wind blowing.
+    Up, up and down, lazy boat!
+    On the top of a wave we float;
+    Down we go with a rush.
+      Far off I see the strand
+    Glimmer; our boat we'll push
+      Ashore on fairyland."
+
+     --A. KEARY.
+
+
+And now it is time to return to the two little travellers.
+
+The big red barge-boat came swinging slowly through the lock as the
+children came close to the canal. They were too late to get aboard
+there, and they hung back in disappointment and indecision. After
+clearing the lock and exchanging a word or two with the woman at the
+toll, the bargeman had laid himself down upon a heap of empty sacks, to
+take a nap most probably, leaving his boy in charge of the tiller. Soon
+bargee was wrapped in slumber, and the boy buried in a penny dreadful.
+Darby and Joan did not desire to disturb either of them. They were
+anxious above all things to get on board the boat unnoticed; so, after a
+hurried consultation carried on in whispers, they agreed that their best
+plan would be to walk on to the next stopping-place--a tiny clump of
+cottages and a shop or two, called by courtesy a village--and make sure
+of embarking there. This hamlet was only about half a mile off. They
+could reach it easily before the barge; and keeping well in the shelter
+of the fringe of alders, osiers, and reeds that grew thickly in the
+marshy ground below the tow-path, lest the man or the lad should look
+about and spy them, the children trotted straight along, with their
+eager eyes steadfastly fixed upon the far-off hills in front.
+
+Bargee was soon snoring lustily; the boy seemed to find his story
+all-absorbing; the old brown horse knew every step of the way, foot for
+foot, better than either of them, and required no guiding: consequently
+the little ones were in scarcely any danger of detection. Besides, even
+if the man or the boy on board the canal-boat had noticed the pair
+stealing along behind the bushes, neither would have thought of
+challenging their presence or casting upon them more than a passing
+glance. They would have simply accepted them for what they appeared to
+the casual observer--two cottage children who were either altogether
+motherless or sadly neglected--and then forgotten all about them. For,
+to be quite candid, they looked far from respectable--entirely unlike
+the trim, spotless little persons whom Perry had dressed with such care
+and precision only some hours before; bearing but small resemblance in
+their general cut to the dainty figures which had run the gauntlet of
+Aunt Catharine's eagle eyes as they sat opposite to her at breakfast
+early that morning.
+
+Soon after the children's arrival at Firgrove, Miss Turner had gone
+carefully through their clothing,--adding a number of fresh garments to
+their stock, discarding others which had been purchased according to
+Perry's idea of fitness as being entirely unbecoming or unsuitable,
+laying aside for distribution among her poor a goodly quantity that had
+grown either so small or so shabby as to be altogether unfit for further
+wear--by Captain Dene's children and Miss Turner's young relatives, that
+is to say.
+
+Upon this store Darby had drawn; for with an eye to thrift which would
+have done credit to Aunt Catharine herself, and expectation of the fresh
+and beautiful rig-out awaiting them in the land for which they were
+bound, he considered that it would be sheer and sinful extravagance to
+carry away with them any clothes, except what they could with an easy
+conscience cast aside--as Christian left _his_ rags behind when by the
+Shining One he was dressed anew.
+
+Picture them then, please!
+
+Darby wore a velveteen suit which had once been black, but now, from
+stress of wear and weather, had turned a sickly green. From the scrimpy
+legs of the knickerbockers his knees shone bare and brown. Out of the
+sleeves, that reached only half-way below the elbows, his arms stuck
+freely, showing a broad band of untanned wrist between the button-less
+cuffs and the chubby, sunburnt hand. A pair of sadly-scuffed shoes,
+which originally had been nut-brown calf, were held upon his feet by one
+solitary button and a piece of string; while his headgear consisted of a
+sailor-hat, with battered brim, and blue ribbon band so stained and
+faded that only with difficulty one could make out the name upon its
+silken surface--H.M.S. _Dreadnought_--a most appropriate one for the
+ship in which this dauntless mariner sailed, for he had in truth a brave
+and fearless spirit!
+
+As for Joan, she appeared to be even more after the tinker type than
+Darby. Her cotton frock had once upon a time been pink and pretty as a
+double daisy. Now it was washed-out, worn, and, sad to say, in several
+places torn. At different points the skirt had rebelliously escaped from
+the confinement of gathers round the waist; the back gaped open where in
+sundry spots the hooks and eyes had quarrelled and agreed to meet no
+more. On her shining golden curls she had set a cast-off garden-hat
+belonging to Aunt Catharine, of brown straw, in what was known as the
+mushroom shape. Surmounting Joan's tiny figure it looked exactly like a
+small umbrella, which hid her blue eyes, and shaded her pink-and-white
+complexion so completely that several times Darby stooped down, peeped
+under the floppy brim, crying merrily, much to his sister's amusement,
+"Anybody at home to-day? any one within here?" Her feet were dressed
+somewhat after the same fashion as her brother's; while round her
+shoulders, crossed in front and tied by Darby's fumbling fingers in a
+clumsy knot behind, was a faded tartan shoulder-shawl that had once been
+Perry's, but for many a month and day had been used as the nursery
+blanket of all the invalid dolls in Joan's large family.
+
+They were a pair, without doubt. No one could have known them a little
+way off, not even their father or nurse--well, not nurse certainly,
+although their father might, if he had glanced at them a second time;
+for love's eyes are keen, and not mother-love itself is deeper,
+stronger, truer than a good father's for his trusting children.
+
+Bargee slept soundly on his couch of empty corn-sacks; the lad was still
+lost in his story; the brown horse went slower and slower, pausing now
+and again to snatch a mouthful of grass from the bank beside his feet,
+until at length he stopped altogether, and, settling himself comfortably
+on three legs, he shut his eyes and prepared to follow his master's
+example.
+
+The little ones were now some way in advance of the boat; but when they
+looked back and observed that boat and horse had come to a standstill,
+they agreed that they also might rest awhile, and joyfully threw
+themselves down upon the soft, cool meadow grass, taking good care to
+keep well out of sight of those other two afloat upon the canal.
+
+"I's hungry--werry," said Joan, with a tired sort of sigh. "Isn't it
+never near dinner-time yet, Darby?"
+
+"Yes, I think it must be by this time," replied Darby, looking knowingly
+in the direction of the sun, as he had seen Mr. Grey and Green the
+gardener do. "And if it isn't it ought, for I'm hungry too. Come, and
+we'll eat some of our biscuits and things."
+
+"But there's no meat or potatoes or puddin'. It won't be real dinner
+wifout meat," grumbled Joan.
+
+"Well, we can't have real dinner--pilgrims on a long journey never
+do--but we can make believe that we have. Won't that do instead, Joan?"
+asked Darby anxiously.
+
+"Yes, it'll do quite well--to-day," answered Joan, jumping up and
+beginning in true housewifely fashion to set out their repast.
+
+From each child's pocket came a crumpled pocket-handkerchief, not very
+large, and, if the truth must be told, not over clean. These Joan spread
+on the grass to serve as a tablecloth. Then Darby proceeded to
+distribute the rations for the midday meal--to each a tiny tart, a slice
+of seed-cake, one biscuit, and a mellow russet pear.
+
+"Now, isn't that a lovely dinner?" he demanded proudly; "and there's
+nearly--not quite, but almost--as much more for tea," he added, peering
+into the depths of the old reticule which was slung, haversack fashion,
+across his shoulders.
+
+"Yes, it's 'licious," agreed Joan, with her mouth full of cracknel
+biscuit. Now cracknels are rather dry eating, and when one's mouth is
+otherwise occupied it is not easy to speak distinctly. However, the
+biscuit went over with an effort, and Joan's mouth was free for further
+speech. "It's a puffic'ly 'licious dinner," she repeated. "Why, if we'd
+been at home instead of goin' to the Happy Land, nurse would only have
+given us chops, and maybe rice and jam."
+
+"Yes; she's always giving us things like that, and they've hardly any
+taste. When I'm big I'll never eat rice or mutton, but nice, nippy,
+mustardy meat, like what father used to give us from his dinners. We
+never get nothing like that now," sighed the little boy, as if he were
+very badly used indeed.
+
+"It's because Aunt Catharine doesn't think they're good for you,"
+replied Joan wisely. "I heard her tellin' cook to be sure an' give the
+chil'ens plenty of pow'idge, bread an' milk, an' lots of busted rice. I
+wonder why she calls the rice busted."
+
+"It's not 'busted'," corrected Darby, laughing gleefully; "it's _burst_
+you mean!"
+
+"It doesn't matter which, I'm sure, for it's just nonsense to speak
+about rice bein' busted. It's us that's busted when we've eated great
+plates of it--nashty, messy stuff!" and Joan turned up her dainty little
+nose in disgust at what she was so tired of hearing called "plain,
+wholesome food."
+
+Then she sighed heavily.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" anxiously asked Darby. "Have you not had
+enough?"
+
+"Yes, I've had enough--at least--it doesn't matter. I was only wishin'
+we had a drink of milk. I don't want to be gweedy; but oh, I does want a
+drink so badly! I's so awful thirsty. 'Twas the biscuits, I'm sure,"
+added Joan apologetically.
+
+"I'm afraid I forgot to bring any milk," said Darby regretfully.
+"There's lots of water in the canal, of course. I could carry you some
+in my hat; but then I don't think it's very clean."
+
+"I'm sure it looks all right," replied the little girl, grasping eagerly
+at her brother's idea. "It's brown, but see how it sparkles!"
+
+"Come on, then, and I'll lift you out some," assented Darby. "But you
+mustn't take much, mind; just what will wash down that biscuit, for it
+_was_ dry!"
+
+They crept up the bank of the canal in shelter of a sheaf of tall reeds.
+Together they crouched upon the brink. Joan held Darby's hand fast while
+he leaned down and with his hat ladled her up a small measure of the
+doubtful-looking liquid, which she swallowed greedily and pronounced the
+nicest water she had ever tasted--better even than milk.
+
+Darby shook the moisture from his hat and waved it in the air to
+dry--backwards, forwards, round and round, faster and faster. It was
+almost dry. A few more turns would complete the process, and he twirled
+it quicker still, when all at once it went flying from his fingers,
+skimming right into the middle of the canal, hopelessly out of reach!
+
+He gazed after it with such a blank look that Joan laughed gleefully.
+Away it went, sailing slowly along, the blue ribbon trailing like a tail
+behind; on, on, farther and farther, until at length, behind a clump of
+osiers that hung over the bank and dipped into the water at a bend in
+the canal, the watchers lost sight of the gallant little craft--H.M.S.
+_Dreadnought_!
+
+"It's gone!" said Darby ruefully. "Well, it's a good thing that it was
+only an old one," he continued, in a cheerier tone. "I'm just as comfy
+without a hat. Perhaps it'll be to one of those big schools where the
+boys wear nothing on their head but their hairs that father will send me
+by-and-by, so I'd best be getting used to going without. And in the
+Happy Land hymn, although it tells about the robes--at least, I expect
+it's them that's 'bright, bright as day'--there's not a word about what
+they wear on their heads, except a crown, and one couldn't wear anything
+else along with that."
+
+"I wants another drink," whimpered Joan after a pause, preparing to lay
+hands on Aunt Catharine's mushroom hat. "Take my hat, Darby; it'll hold
+lots and lots of water. That ho'wid old cracknel's stickin' in my froat
+yet," and she gasped piteously, like a chicken with the pip.
+
+"Certainly not," answered Darby decisively, putting down his foot, so to
+speak, in his most masterful manner. "You can't have any more of that
+bad water. Don't you know it's very dangerous to drink bad water?
+There's funny little beasts living in it called microscopes. They get
+into the blood and carry on dreadful. They give people fever, and typus,
+and palsy, and cholera-mortis, and--and--I don't know what all," and he
+took a long breath, having somewhat exhausted the supply along with his
+list of horrors. "I heard Dr. King telling Auntie Alice all about it one
+day."
+
+Joan heard him out with open mouth and wondering eyes. How clever Darby
+was! He knew everything--almost! Her admiration was short-lived,
+however. Soon she returned to the charge, and with the skirt of her
+cotton frock at her eyes, she wailed anew,--
+
+"I want a drink, I do, or my tea. Bo--o--o! I wants my tea!"
+
+"Don't think any more about being thirsty, Joan, like a good girl,"
+coaxed her brother, laying his arm lovingly round his little sister's
+shoulders. "That's the right way to do when you've got a pain or
+anything that won't get better--just pretend it's not there. Or we'll
+make believe that we've had our tea--although it's only done being
+dinner-time--and that nurse has just handed us our second cup, and, by
+mistake for her own, put four lumps of sugar in it. My, isn't it sweet!"
+And Darby smacked his lips, but Joan did not lift her head. "Maybe we'll
+get some nice fresh water when we get into the barge," he added, seeing
+that his first tactics had failed. "And when we reach the Happy Land
+there'll be oceans of it--streams and streams of pure, sparkling water,
+clear as crystal! Think of that, Joan!"
+
+The prospect, though pleasing, was too remote to satisfy Joan's
+immediate craving, or fancy rather, for she was not nearly so thirsty as
+she indicated, and she kept on whimpering,--
+
+"Bo--o--o! I want a drink--I wants my tea!"
+
+Darby always felt helpless when Joan went on crying in that persistent
+way, and he looked about him in despair. Then he started up in haste, at
+the same time dragging at his sister's hand.
+
+"Come on!" he cried. "See, the horse has started; the _Smiling Jane_'s
+moving. They're a good way in front. We'll have to run a bit to catch up
+on them."
+
+Thus opportunely diverted from brooding on her grievance, Joan quickly
+dried her eyes, trotted contentedly along by her brother's side, and
+soon they arrived quite close to the rude wharf, where the boat would
+stop long enough to deliver the goods intended for the village and take
+in some fresh cargo to be handed out at one of the hamlets further on.
+
+As the boat came in a number of people were collected on the wharf
+waiting to receive their goods, because to this out-of-the-way place
+the canal-boat served instead of a carrier's cart; therefore all kinds
+of things--from bags of corn, tons of coal, sacks of potatoes, down to
+small packages--were sent and received by this route, and the arrival of
+bargee and his boat made quite a break in the uneventful lives of the
+inhabitants of that remote, far-scattered district. They chatted,
+laughed, shouted, and bandied jokes with each other and the bargeman,
+who had sprung from his craft the moment she was made fast to the wharf,
+and stamped about, up and down, as if he was glad to find himself with
+plenty of elbow-room once more.
+
+In the hubbub and general bustle the children had little or no
+difficulty in stealing unobserved on board the barge. They had been on
+her once before with a friendly old bargeman but recently retired to
+give place to a younger, more active man, who was a stranger on the
+route, consequently did not know the little folks from Firgrove. Darby
+drew Joan behind him, and making straight below for the bunker, called
+by courtesy the cabin, they curled themselves up on an old rug in its
+farthest, darkest corner, where, worn out with excitement and fatigue,
+they soon fell fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+HILL DIFFICULTY.
+
+    "He was a rat, and she was a rat,
+      And down in one hole they did dwell;
+    And both were as black as a witch's cat,
+      And they loved one another well.
+
+    "He smelt the cheese, and she smelt the cheese,
+      And they both pronounced it good;
+    And both remarked it would greatly add
+      To the charms of their daily food."
+
+                               --_Anon._
+
+
+The cargo for Ashville had been discharged, the stuff for Shendon stowed
+away. A fresh horse waited on the path; the gathering of people had
+scattered, carrying their goods and their gossip with them. The boy was
+feasting upon a hunch of bread and cheese, as a change from devouring
+his story. Bargee was in the act of stepping on board when a man laid a
+hand on his arm, and a rough voice arrested his steps. Two persons were
+standing beside him.
+
+"Say, mate, will you give me an' my wife a lift as far as Engleton?
+We've been on tramp this last week, an' we're both dead beat."
+
+Bargee looked curiously at the speaker, a great, ill-looking fellow,
+with coarse red hair and a crooked eye. From the man he glanced at his
+companion, a tall, broadly-built woman, with bold black eyes, olive
+skin, and flaming cheeks. They were the pair, in short, who had watched
+Darby and Joan from behind the clump of hazel bushes as they sat upon
+the tree-stump that day in Copsley Wood.
+
+"Can't," said the young bargeman shortly. "It's against rules for this
+yer boat to carry passengers."
+
+"Ay, ay, I know all that; but just for once you might oblige a chap. We
+could make it worth yer while," added the fellow insinuatingly.
+
+"Do now," put in the woman in a wheedling voice, fixing her big, bold
+eyes on bargee's face. "My feet's blistered, an' my legs that stiff I
+couldn't walk another mile to save my life."
+
+"Don't then," he answered shortly, preparing to push past her and get
+into the boat.
+
+But she clung to his hand, determined not to be thrown off, smiling
+broadly into his dull face, almost dazzling him with the flash of her
+strong white teeth, which she displayed so freely.
+
+"Well, to be sure, who would think now that a fine feller like you could
+be so hard-hearted! Sich a well-set-up lad," she continued, "an' with
+sich a fetchin' kind o' look, shouldn't be backward in helpin' other
+folks, especially a woman as is tired out like me."
+
+"Can't you stop here overnight and rest, then? you'll be fit enough to
+foot it to Engleton in the morning. Where's your hurry?" asked bargee,
+beginning to relent under the smiling glances and flattering words of
+the temptress.
+
+"Well, it's this way," explained the red-haired man, fixing bargee with
+his straight eye, while the crooked one gazed into space about half a
+foot above his head. "We belongs to the Satellite Circus Company; we're
+the proprietors, in fact, me an' my missis here--"
+
+"You don't mean that old shandrydan of a caravan that passed along there
+two or three days ago?" and bargee jerked his thumb in the direction of
+the hilly tract sloping up from the canal course, through which a narrow
+road, little better than a sheep track, wound its circuitous way. "Do
+you call _yon_ a circus company?" he asked, laughing broadly into the
+proprietor's ugly face.
+
+"Undoubtedly--the Satellite Circus Company, as I think I remarked
+before. We're a small party, small but select--_very_" and the
+red-haired man winked knowingly in the direction of his wife. "As I was
+tryin' to explain, the caravan with part of our troupe went on to
+Barchester the other day; but me an' my missis here--she wasn't feelin'
+well-like--we stayed behind in the country to recruit, as the newspapers
+says about all the big folks, an' get the benefit o' the fresh air."
+
+"Then 'twas ye was loiterin' about Firdale an' Copsley Wood scarin'
+people out o' their wits? Poachin'--eh?" asked the young fellow, with a
+grin.
+
+The proprietor of the Satellite Circus Company made no reply, and after
+a moment's hesitation his wife answered for him.
+
+"Look ee here," she said insinuatingly, sidling at the same time nearer
+to bargee, and speaking with her mouth close to his ear. "Wouldn't
+_them_ make a tasty stew for yer supper to-night, my lad?" opening as
+she spoke a huge wallet which hung concealed beneath the folds of her
+faded scarlet shawl, and drawing from its depths a couple of plump young
+rabbits and a pair of wood-pigeons.
+
+"By jingo! wouldn't they though!" he exclaimed, smacking his lips at
+the prospect of the toothsome meal the woman was willing to provide.
+What a pity he could not oblige her and her husband! They were only
+tramps, to be sure, but decent enough for all that. What harm could they
+do on board the old tub of a boat? And what a supper he should have
+after he reached Barchester!
+
+Bargee looked about him. The boy was seated beside the tiller and paying
+no attention to his master; he was still busy with his bread and cheese.
+The toll-keeper yet lingered within the office, so for his benefit
+bargee raised his voice as he said roughly,--
+
+"No, no, I tell ye. There's no use o' ye hangin' an' pesterin' here no
+longer. I durstn't disobey orders, an' that's the end o't." Then he
+added in a rapid whisper into the woman's quick ear as he boarded his
+craft,--
+
+"Push on to the next lock, it's about a mile further, an' I'll take ye
+in then. But mind, if ye're asked any questions, mum's the word."
+
+With a knowing wink and comprehensive smile the pair leisurely sauntered
+off the wharf; and when the canal-boat slowed in passing the next toll,
+with an agile spring the red-haired man leaped from the path to the
+deck, then helped his missis, as he called the bold-eyed, black-browed
+woman, in beside him.
+
+Thus Joe Harris, or Thieving Joe, as he was known among his associates,
+and his wife Moll came to be passengers along with our two little
+travellers on board the _Smiling Jane_.
+
+The bargeman himself now took the tiller. The boy had stolen back to his
+story, so the newcomers drew somewhat apart, where they sat talking to
+each other in subdued, earnest tones of the small voyagers then sleeping
+so serenely in the dirty bunker below--the pretty pair whom they had of
+set purpose shadowed along the canal, watched aboard the boat, and
+determinedly followed.
+
+"We've trapped them sure enough this time, Moll, my beauty," said the
+man, indicating the cabin and the little creatures therein by a side nod
+of his great red head.
+
+"Ay, surely," answered Moll, with a slow smile. "I expec' the pretty
+dears is sleepin' sweet as angels down in that dirty hole. But, Joe, now
+as we have got 'em, do you think it'll be safe to keep 'em? Won't their
+folks make a row, an' sen' the beaks after us?"
+
+"Folks!" echoed Mr. Harris in mockery. "My, you are a green un, though
+you're sich a black beauty! Do you suppose if they had any folks
+belongin' to 'em worth speakin' o' that they'd be let go galavantin'
+round as we've seed them--here, there, an' everywhere? No, no; they'd be
+walkin' about hand in hand as prim as peonies, wi' a starched-up nurse
+girl at their heels."
+
+"They're out on a lark, you bet; that's what it is," said Moll, nodding
+her head sagaciously. "Kids like they is allus up to somethin'. Maybe
+they've runned away. More'n likely."
+
+"Humbug!" snapped Joe shortly. "Didn't you notice their clo'es? They're
+nothin' but washed-out rags an' far-worn clouts!" he declared, as if his
+opinion should settle the question beyond further doubt.
+
+"Rags an' clouts if you like," agreed Moll cheerily, "but they wasn't
+allus that. They're the remains o' real nice good things. Mind, Joe, I
+knows, an' you don't; men never does about sich matters."
+
+"Stuff an' nonsense," he growled. "Clo'es or rags, it don't matter a
+button, for they're only common brats, I tell you. There'll be a bit o'
+an outcry after them for a day or two; then it'll die down as quick as
+it rose. Poor folks haven't time to indulge their feelin's. Besides,
+once we've got clear off they'll never find us. We've covered our tracks
+purty cleverly, I'm thinkin', an' so has the kids," he added, with a
+smothered chuckle.
+
+"Hum! Well, maybe you're right, my man," said Moll, after a moment's
+silence, during which she sat twirling the fringes of her old red shawl.
+"I'm willin' to stand by you in this business, as I've done in others
+afore now," she added meaningly, while her better half scowled at her,
+and muttered under his breath something that was hardly complimentary;
+"but if trouble comes o't, as it will, or my name's not Moll Harris, you
+can't say as I didn't warn you, like a wife should."
+
+"Shut up!" commanded Joe gruffly; but as this was a frequent and
+favourite remark of his, Moll did not take the trouble to resent it.
+
+Then he changed his tune, and continued in an eager undertone,--
+
+"They'll make the fortune o' the company, Moll, old girl, will them
+kids! The little chap's just at the best age to train for the tight-rope
+an' the trapeze. An' the lass, with her yeller curls an' big eyes same's
+a wax doll's--my, just you picter the crowds she'll draw, trippin'
+round so pretty-like with Bruno at her foot! Can't you see the big bills
+an' posters starin' at you from every wall, flarin' out o' every
+winder:--
+
+     "'_The Wonderful Child Acrobat! The Most Marvellous Aeronaut of the
+     Age! Little Boy-Butterfly, and Bambo the Musical Dwarf!_
+
+     "'_Sweet Sissy Sunnylocks, and Bruno the Performing Bear!_
+
+    "'_Countless other attractions! Come one, come all,
+    To the Satellite Company's Variety Hall!_'
+
+"What do you think o' that, Moll, my lady? That'll empty folk's pockets,
+or Joe Harris is mistaken for once in his life. My, this _is_ a stroke
+o' luck!" and Mr. Harris rubbed his dirty hands together and laughed
+gleefully. "We've been on the lookout for a couple o' youngsters this
+many a day; now we've hit upon them at last. A bear an' a dwarf's all
+very well, but there's nothin' that touches the hearts an' reaches the
+coins o' an audience like a kid, especially if it has got great
+innercent eyes an' golden hair!"
+
+"Oh, it's mighty fine for _you_, no doubt," said Moll angrily. "You'll
+eat an' drink your fill, an' dress up in fine clo'es o' an off evenin'
+to go rollickin' about an' enjoy yourself. But what good'll it do _me_,
+I'd like to know?" she asked shrilly. "I share yer dirty work, I know,
+but precious little else; just grub, grub away all the year roun', with
+never a bit o' pleasure, nor a stitch o' handsome things to my back!"
+
+"I'll give you a silk gownd, Moll, I declare I will, if this bold
+venture turns out for us what I expect--whatever colour you please; only
+say the word," said Mr. Harris grandly.
+
+"I'd like claret--a nice bright claret with plenty o' lace, an' that
+shiny trimmin' wi' tinsel through it," admitted Moll, beginning to
+recover her good humour, and flashing a smiling glance into the squinty
+eye fixed somewhere about her forehead. "Ay, an' what else?" she
+demanded, determined to take full advantage of her husband's unusually
+bland mood.
+
+"I'll buy you a gold ring too, my girl--one o' them real shiners,"
+promised Joe, thinking that as he was in for the penny he might as well
+pledge himself to the pound. "Ah! that makes you sit up, I'm thinkin',"
+and the generous man gave his wife a playful poke in the ribs.
+
+"Reely an' truly, Joe, fair an' square? A true di'mon', an' none o' your
+sham bits o' glass?" cried Moll in ecstasy.
+
+"Fair an' square, my woman; a real di'mon' as big's a pea, Moll. There's
+my hand on't, if you just help me through wi' this little business. You
+can, you know, if you like."
+
+"So help me bob!" said Moll quite solemnly, and the well-matched pair
+shook hands over their guilty compact. And thus Moll, who in her better
+moods might have befriended the children, pledged herself, for sake of
+vanity and greed, to work her hardest for their undoing.
+
+Twilight was drawing in when the canal-boat stopped at Engleton, the
+last stage on the journey before reaching Barchester. It was a tiny
+village, nestling at the foot of a range of undulating hills that rose,
+plateau after plateau, until their summits seemed to meet the sky. The
+wharf was crowded as usual at that slack evening hour. And in the babel
+of voices, banging of boxes, shifting of stuff, and general confusion,
+our little travellers, rested and refreshed by their long sleep and the
+remainder of the provisions which they had consumed in the cabin, had no
+difficulty in stealing off the boat and away from the wharf without
+attracting any notice, except from two persons, a man and woman--Joe
+Harris and his wife Moll, who did not lose sight of them for a moment,
+but followed hard upon their heels.
+
+"Look, Joan!" cried Darby, as they turned their faces towards the hills.
+"See, we're near the Happy Land now!" and the lad pointed to the golden
+radiance that glowed in the sky and bathed the peaks behind which the
+sun had only lately sunk from sight. "That's the light from the city.
+They've opened the gates because they know we're coming.
+
+"Hurry, lovey! Here, take my arm. That's what father used to say when
+mother was tired; I 'member quite well. It's just a little bit further
+now. In one of my Sunday books there's a picture of Christian climbing a
+hill that led to the City Beautiful. The Hill Difficulty it was called.
+I expect this is it. Come on, Joan; we're almost there! Then we'll never
+be tired any more, but 'reign, reign for aye.'"
+
+At that moment the children heard steps behind them, and looked round to
+see, only a few yards away, an ugly red-haired man, with a curious
+crooked eye and evil face, and a tall, sturdy woman with gleaming teeth,
+dusky locks, and crimson cheeks. He had seen them before, Darby
+remembered all at once, hanging about the back gate at Copsley Farm one
+day when he was peeping from the skylight in the stable loft. They must
+be the gipsies who had been haunting Copsley Wood; and the brave boy
+drew his sister closer to his side, as if with his own small body he
+would shield her from all harm.
+
+"Good-evenin', my little dears," spoke the man's gruff voice right above
+Darby's head.
+
+"Good-evening," answered the boy courteously, at the same time
+instinctively putting up his hand in order to raise his hat in the
+direction of Moll's flashing eyes. But there was no hat there, so he
+gave her a military salute instead.
+
+"My, you are a rum un!" laughed the lady, looking admiringly upon the
+charming child.--"You're right, as usual, Joe Harris," she whispered,
+turning to her husband. "Them's the style for the Satellite Company! The
+silk gownd an' the shiner's mine; you can buy them soon's you please."
+
+So saying, Moll snatched the screaming Joan clean out of her brother's
+encircling arms, raised her to her breast, and completely smothered the
+frightened child's sobs in the folds of her old scarlet shawl.
+
+The after-glow had faded from out the west; the hilltops seemed bare and
+brown. The gates of the city were closed, thought Darby, and his lips
+quivered in disappointment as they had not done from fright. The moon
+now sailed slowly on her way through a placid sea of pearly sky. Her
+beams flooded the fields with a soft, pure radiance; they lingered over
+the sluggish waters of the canal until they shone with light and
+borrowed beauty. Everything was quiet; all around was peace.
+
+Darby boldly stood his ground, and manfully faced his foes. Yet, with
+the wicked countenance of Joe Harris bending over him, with Joan's
+stifled cries beating in his ears, it was impossible to do anything more
+than _seem_ brave; and the plucky little lad's face blanched paler than
+the moonbeams, while his heart stood still with nameless fear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+BAMBO AND BRUNO.
+
+    "'Will you walk into my parlour?' said the spider to the fly;
+    ''Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy.
+    The way into the parlour is up a winding stair,
+    And I have many curious things to show when you are there.'"
+
+                                      MARY HOWITT.
+
+
+"An' where may you an' little missy be goin' at this time o' the
+evenin'?" asked Thieving Joe, in a voice which he intended should be
+pleasant and reassuring; for now that he had come close to the
+children--looked in Joan's face, and witnessed Darby's brave, proud
+bearing--he knew Moll was right: that these were no common brats, as he
+had called them, no rustics running wild from morn till night, but
+_somebody's_ little ones, gently born undoubtedly, carefully reared
+unmistakably.
+
+At the first blush of this discovery Mr. Harris felt that perhaps he had
+been a trifle rash--that it might have been wiser to give more heed to
+his wife's advice; but since he had got his captives secure at last, he
+was not going to be such a fool as to set them free after waiting and
+watching so long for a similar opportunity. He would safeguard himself
+as cunningly as possible against the chances of being detected in his
+crime, and that was all Joe Harris possessed in the way of a conscience;
+that was what constituted the chief difference to him between right and
+wrong--the cowardly yet restraining fear of being found out. Then, if
+the worst did come to the worst, he would swear that he had not stolen
+the children, but had accidentally come upon them wandering about at
+nightfall alone, and out of charity took them temporarily under his
+protection. Their friends would be deeply grateful, and doubtless reward
+him handsomely, so that he should be none the poorer, no matter which
+way the little enterprise turned out.
+
+He judged correctly that Darby would be more easily led than driven, and
+he did not want to frighten him, not just at first--that would be time
+enough afterwards, or if he turned rusty--so he spoke to the little lad
+as smoothly as he knew how. But genuine gentle speech cannot be assumed
+at will. It is not a mannerism merely put on, but an outcome of kindly
+acts and pure thoughts; and Darby was quick to detect the false quality
+in Joe's tones as he repeated his question,--
+
+"Come now, won't you tell me, an' this nice lady here, where the pair o'
+ye was bound for so late in the day?"
+
+For a moment the boy hesitated, looking straight at his questioner. How
+could he tell this dreadful man the truth? and it did not occur to him
+to trump up a story or put him off with a half-truth, as some children
+might have done.
+
+"We're going on a journey, my sister and I," said the lad simply.
+
+Then he closed his lips tightly, and his sweet little mouth was set in a
+new resolute curve. He would not speak of the Happy Land to this odd
+pair, who had thrust themselves so unexpectedly and so rudely where they
+were not wanted. They might laugh at him, and who enjoys being laughed
+at, or having their plans and dreams ridiculed and scattered in shreds
+before their very eyes?
+
+"It's late for ye to be out by yerselves," continued Joe. "Aren't ye
+frightened for the dark?"
+
+"Oh no," replied Darby readily; "_that_ never frightens us. God is in
+the dark as well as in the light, and He always takes care of us."
+
+"Ahem!" and Joe coughed awkwardly, not knowing what to say. He was not
+used to replying to such remarks.
+
+By this time Joan had hushed her sobs to listen to the conversation. She
+wriggled uneasily under the confining shawl; and hearing that she was
+quiet, Moll allowed the little thing to sit up in her arms and look
+about her.
+
+At this point Joe made a movement of impatience, which Moll understood.
+He was in haste to push on, for it would soon be dark, and he was hungry
+for his supper.
+
+Moll frowned at him. She wanted to work things in her own way, and she
+understood that little people don't like to be hurried.
+
+"Aren't you afeard to be out on this lonesome place so late, my pretty?"
+she asked in a sugar-sweet voice, turning a beaming face upon Joan.
+
+"No--I's never f'ightened of dark, or dogs, or fings," she said, drawing
+somewhat back from the bold face so near her own; "but I's sometimes
+f'ightened for peoples. I's f'ightened for you, some, and I's awful
+f'ightened for _him_," added Joan in a whisper, pointing her tiny
+finger in the direction of Mr. Harris, who was busily engaged in
+lighting his pipe.
+
+Moll scowled, and gave the little girl a slight shake.
+
+"You're frightened, are you?" and she laughed wickedly. "All the same,
+the pair o' ye'll have to come along o' us. We'll see ye safe to yer
+journey's end. Ye might meet tramps or gipsies, or--oh, I don't know
+what all! They'd pop ye into a bag an' carry ye away wi' them."
+
+"Isn't you tramps an' gipsies--you an' _him_?" asked Joan innocently.
+"Will you put us in a bag an' carry us away wif you?"
+
+"There! take that for yer impidence," and Moll dealt the child a smart
+slap on her delicate cheek, which made the little one wince with pain
+and terror. "Tramps an' gipsies indeed! I'll learn you another lesson,
+I'm thinkin', afore you're many days older."
+
+"Well done, my lass!" cried her husband proudly, for Moll was rising to
+the occasion even better than he had expected. She had a soft spot
+somewhere in her heart, had Moll, although it was pretty well crusted
+over with wickedness and worldliness, and sometimes she seemed a little
+disgusted with Joe and his shady ways. She could do very well when she
+chose, however. She was, when she pleased, an out-and-out helpmeet, and
+now she was excelling herself. It was the prospect of the claret silk
+and the diamond ring, her better half believed.
+
+"How dare you slap my sister?" cried Darby, darting forward with
+flashing eyes and crimson cheeks, and laying violent hands on Moll's
+gown. But Mr. Harris pulled him roughly off, clapping upon the boy's
+quivering lips a great, dirty, grimy hand.
+
+"Darby! Darby! make her let me go!" Joan cried piteously; but Darby was
+powerless to come to the rescue. "Don't you know," she continued,
+addressing her captor, "we're goin' to the Happy Land? Didn't Darby tell
+you? Well, we are; an' if we doesn't hurry fast, we won't find our way
+to-night."
+
+"Indeed! An' does yer pa an' yer ma know where ye are?" asked Moll
+curiously, seeing that Joan was freer with her tongue than her brother.
+
+"We never had no pa an' ma. We once had a faver an' a muver," Joan
+admitted, "if them's what you mean. But muver's away livin' wif God, an'
+daddy's gone in the big, big ship over the sea, an' lefted Darby an' me
+all alone," she added, in a piteous little whine. "Daddy's a
+solger-man, an' wears a wed coat an' a shiny sword."
+
+Mr. Harris heard this statement with feelings of relief. So he was right
+after all: the kids were practically orphans. Their friends, if they had
+any, must be mighty careless, argued Joe, and he could do with his
+captives as he pleased, and nobody bother much about them--unless the
+Tommy from Africa should turn up some fine day. But there were so many
+chances against that contingency that it was not worth thinking about.
+
+"Ay, an' it's for the Happy Land ye're bound!" he cried in ridicule.
+"Well, it's a goodish bit from here, so we'd best be movin'. I'm about
+tired o' this foolin', anyway, an' I'm wantin' my supper. Come on!" and
+he gripped Darby's delicate little hand more tightly than before.
+
+"Let me go!" demanded the boy indignantly. "We don't know you, and we
+don't want to go with you.--Sure we don't, Joan?"
+
+"No, no!" wailed Joan. "I doesn't want to go nowhere 'cept back. An' I
+wants Miss Carolina an' my supper, an' my own dear comfy cwib," she
+added, feeling, for once in her life, that it would not be entirely
+disagreeable to be put to bed.
+
+"You hear that," pleaded Darby. "Please put her down. She'll only tire
+you, because she's very solid for her size; I sometimes carry her
+myself. _Please!_ We're not a bit afraid, and we haven't far to go now,"
+he added, glancing up toward the brow of the hill, which was now flooded
+with moonlight. And as he saw how short was the distance to its
+summit--although, alas! the shortness was only seeming--his heart
+bounded with gladness and relief; for in spite of his courageous
+bearing, poor Darby was dreadfully afraid. All the stray stories and
+ridiculous remarks--many of them never meant for his ears--that he had
+ever heard concerning highwaymen, robbers, tramps, poachers, foreigners,
+and wicked people generally, came crowding to his memory thick and fast,
+and for the first time since they had fled from Firgrove he began to
+wish himself safely back there once more.
+
+Moll made no answer. She glanced around to make sure that no straggler
+was near who could by any chance have heard Joan's cries. Then she
+swathed the child's head in her shawl again, and, with Joe striding in
+front and Darby dragging at his heel, the party set off at a rapid rate,
+which sorely tried Darby's short, tired legs, sturdy though they were.
+But notwithstanding the smartness of their pace, they did not seem to
+come much nearer to the top of the hill.
+
+The winding road upon which the travellers had set their faces, after
+turning their backs on Engleton, had by this time dwindled into a narrow
+bridle-path. And as they proceeded, it too gradually disappeared until
+it was completely lost in the wide stretch of hilly land, half heather,
+half scrubby grass, that spread all around them as far as Darby could
+see.
+
+All at once Joe stopped, and looked anxiously away in front, round the
+base of the hill.
+
+"They were to halt hereabouts," he muttered to his wife, "but I don't
+see a sign o' them. Do you, Moll? you've allus had sharp sight."
+
+Moll swept the landscape with a glance quick and keen as a hawk's. Then,
+without speaking, she pointed with her finger to a spot about half a
+mile off where the ground dipped slightly and formed a sort of hollow,
+sheltered on the far side by a clump of stunted firs.
+
+Darby had followed the direction of Moll's large forefinger with his
+gaze. After a little he made out quite plainly, rising against the clear
+sky beyond the low-lying ground, a faint trail of blue-gray smoke; and
+lower down, considerably below the smoke, there shone a small spot of
+light which winked intermittently through the gathering gloom, as if
+behind it there blinked a very sleepy star.
+
+"Ay, that's the caravan, sure enough," said Joe, in a tone of
+satisfaction. "My, Moll, you are a cute un, an' no mistake!--Come on, my
+young shaver; step out the best you know, for I'm wantin' some supper, I
+can tell you!"
+
+"But we're not going that way," said Darby, trying to withdraw his hand
+from the vice-like grip in which it was held.--"Please put Joan down,
+ma'am," he begged, turning to Moll. "I'm much obliged to you for
+carrying her so far. Our way lies up the hill and yours down," continued
+the child, bending his grave, innocent eyes upon the woman's hardened
+countenance. "So you see we must part here," he added, with a brave
+attempt at a smile.
+
+"Must we?" and Joe Harris laughed harshly. "Look here, my chick," said
+he, with an ugly leer, "you're comin' wi' us; that's settled, so you may
+stow yer cheek an' hurry up, or it'll be the worse for you!"
+
+"You stop, Joe," whispered Moll angrily, nudging her husband with her
+elbow. "You'll frighten the little un, then she'll make a row, an'
+somebody'll hear her. Leave them to me.--Don't mind the gentleman,
+ducky," she continued, addressing Darby. "He's fond o' sayin' funny
+things; that's his way. Do you see the smoke an' the light yonder?" she
+asked, pointing in the direction of the caravan. "Well, that's our
+house--the purtiest little house that ever you seed; an' when we gets
+home there'll be some nice goody-goody supper for us. You come along,
+sensible and quiet, an' you an' little missy here'll both get share.
+Then after supper there's heaps an' heaps o' cur'osities for you to look
+at. Our house is jest chock-full up wi' funny things."
+
+Darby was in a difficulty. Moll certainly spoke very fair. He _was_
+hungry, notwithstanding the refreshments he had consumed in the cabin of
+the _Smiling Jane_, and the prospect of something savoury was
+undoubtedly tempting. Then he dearly loved looking at things--odds and
+ends, picked up here and there, such as he imagined Moll's house
+contained. Joan was in a deep sleep, with her golden head pillowed on
+Mrs. Harris's broad shoulder. There would be no use in waking her up;
+she would only begin to cry. Darby was weary himself, too--so weary that
+he would fain have flung his little body down on the heath where he
+stood and slept some of his weariness away.
+
+But the Happy Land! Would it not be better to hurry on, late though it
+was? They would be sure to get in if they knocked loud enough and gave
+their names at the gate. Then they could rest as long as they pleased,
+with nothing to disturb or frighten them any more, and live always good
+and happy--"blest, blest for aye."
+
+These thoughts flashed through Darby's busy brain very fast. Then he
+answered Moll in his direct, simple way.
+
+"No, thank you," he said; "you are very kind, but we must be getting on
+our way. I will carry Joan," he added, with a tired little gasp, looking
+apprehensively up the long stretch of rough ground rising right in
+front, and the now gloomy hilltop, above which heavy black clouds hung,
+like the curtain of night about to descend and smother them in its
+sombre folds.
+
+"You can go on yer journey when you've rested a bit," coaxed the cunning
+woman. "Or in the mornin'," she added; "that 'ud be best. You'd lose yer
+way in the dark, sartin sure. I'll give you an' missy one o' the nice
+beds that's in my house, where ye'll sleep soun' as tops. Then after
+ye've had yer breakfasts in the mornin' ye'll start; an' my, ye'll be
+there--wherever ye're goin'--in a jiffy! What do you think o' that?"
+
+"Well, perhaps, since you are so very kind as to invite us to supper and
+to stay for the night, and my sister seems so very tired--perhaps your
+plan might be best," said Darby slowly. Then he added quickly, "But are
+you sure you'll let us go when we want to in the morning--first thing
+after breakfast?"
+
+"Sure's anythin'," declared Moll unblushingly. "Mr. Harris himself
+here'll put ye on the road.--Won't you, Joe?" asked Moll, with a sly
+laugh.
+
+"Sartin," answered Joe promptly. "I've never bin in the Happy Land
+myself, but I'm familiar wi' the way there. I'll start the kids for it
+right enough, you bet," and the ugly man winked at his wife knowingly.
+
+On the strength of these false promises Darby agreed to accept the
+hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Harris for the night. But he did not see the
+glances of triumph, greed, cunning, and cruelty which passed between the
+pair; and if he had, the single-hearted child would not have understood
+their significance.
+
+It was a strange scene on which Darby Dene's eyes rested when the party
+halted at the hollow where the Satellite Circus Company had made their
+headquarters for the night. Within the shelter of the firs a fire of
+crackling sticks was burning brightly. Hanging over the flame, suspended
+by an iron chain from the centre of three crossed metal bars, swung a
+big black pot, from which there came such a savoury smell that, in spite
+of his disappointment over the break in their journey, Darby could not
+help thinking it a lucky thing that they were going to get a share. A
+lad of about twelve years old was feeding the fire from a pile of dry
+branches that lay by his side--a lad with short woolly curls, shining,
+gleaming white teeth, thick lips, and a skin as dark as if he had been
+blackleaded all over. He was a negro, Darby knew. He had seen a black
+man only once before, and he now stared at this boy as if he could not
+remove his gaze. The lad's clothes, too, were queer. He had on a dingy
+purple velvet jacket, covered with frayed gold lace, tawdry tinsel
+braid, tarnished gilt buttons, with long, wide red and white striped
+cotton trousers, from which his dusky ankles and bare flat feet flopped
+about like the fins of some great ungainly fish.
+
+Squatted on the grass, on the further side of the fire from the black
+boy, was a small figure which Darby at first thought was that of a
+child. But when at the sound of Joe Harris's footsteps it rose, moved
+slowly close to the crossbars, stood on tiptoe, lifted the lid, peered
+into the steaming pot, _then_--with the firelight falling full upon
+it--he saw that this was not a child; it was a man.
+
+But what sort of a man? Was he a _real_ man, or only a make-believe,
+such as was sometimes seen at shows and fairs? Darby knew about dwarfs,
+certainly, although he had never seen one, and at last he concluded that
+this must be a dwarf--this small creature not much taller than Joan, yet
+with a huge, broad-shouldered body, square and solid as Moll's own,
+overgrown head, covered with a thick mop of heavy dark hair, pale, sad
+face, weary eyes, short, stunted legs, large feet, and the longest arms,
+the thinnest hands Darby had ever seen in all his life. This was
+Bambo--Bambo, Mr. Harris's musical dwarf! and the boy shrank
+instinctively behind the shelter of Moll's ample skirts, scarcely
+knowing whether he was more attracted or repelled by the ungainly body,
+which, as the little ones discovered somewhat later on, housed such a
+beautiful soul within.
+
+But what is that beside the dwarf--that great, soft-looking object that
+is just for all the world like a big brown furry bundle, with a tiny,
+chattering, jabbering monkey, decked out in all the bravery of scarlet
+coat and jaunty forage cap, perched on top of it? Darby steals forward
+step by step to get a closer view. The bundle of fur unrolls itself,
+grunts and turns over as if quite ready for a frolic with its queer
+comrade, and the little lad leaps back in terror. For it is a bear,
+gaunt and grizzly, with funny snout and blinking eyes!
+
+Darby did not notice that the monster was chained, and he moved back
+again behind Moll, whence he gazed fascinated upon the grotesque group,
+over which the leaping flames cast such weird and curious lights and
+shadows.
+
+The gaudy yellow caravan was drawn up on one side, and with the screen
+of trees served as an effective background to the scene. The skinny
+piebald horses had been unloosed from its shafts, freed of their
+harness, and, with rude fetters on their legs, turned adrift to seek
+their supper among the coarse grass and springy heather spreading so
+bountifully around them upon every side.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE NEXT MORNING.
+
+    "Oh, my heart grows weak as a woman's,
+      And the fountain of feeling will flow
+    When I think of the paths, steep and stony,
+      That the feet of the dear ones must go.
+
+    "Oh, those truants from earth and from heaven,
+      They have made me more manly and mild;
+    And I know now how Jesus could liken
+      The kingdom of God to a child!"
+
+                            CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+
+Roughly the spell of the picture was broken by the loud voice of Joe
+Harris.
+
+"Hillao!" he cried, by way of general greeting to the troupe around the
+fire.--"Any grub ready, Bambo?"
+
+The dwarf glanced round from the pot which he was carefully stirring
+with a long-handled wooden spoon, and then Darby noticed how gentle was
+the expression of his deep-set eyes.
+
+"Yes," he answered, in a curious, husky voice, thin and vibrating;
+"supper has been ready an hour and more. It's done to rags by this time,
+I'm afraid. We thought, from what you said, that you would have been
+here long before now," he added, speaking more correctly than Mr. Harris
+himself--differently, somehow, from what one would have expected from
+his uncouth appearance.
+
+"So we should, only we were delayed by business--_important_ business,"
+said Mr. Harris grandly, "and a good stroke o't, I can tell you! See
+what we've brought wi' us, Bambo--the missis an' me," he explained,
+pointing to the children, who were seated side by side upon the grass,
+for Moll had retired within the caravan. Joan was awake now and sobbing
+wildly, while Darby was doing his utmost to soothe her by every artifice
+of which he was master.
+
+"Who are these children, and why have you brought them here?" demanded
+the dwarf sternly, as he left his stew-pot and came over beside the
+frightened little creatures, who clung to each other as if for dear
+life. "Have you been at your thieving tricks again, Joe Harris?" he
+asked angrily, yet there was an expression of keen anxiety in the kindly
+gaze he bent upon the captives.
+
+"Come, now, none o' your cheek!" growled the ruffian savagely, though
+his eye fell before the dwarf's straight look and meaning tone. "Who are
+they, you're askin'?" he went on in a milder voice. "Why, jest two
+beggar brats we found wanderin' on the hillside. As to _what_ they are,
+you'll see by-an'-by," he added, with a satisfied chuckle. "Look ee here
+now, Bambo," he continued, trying to be conciliatory, "there's no use in
+turnin' crusty. Haven't I learned you long ago that Joe Harris isn't the
+man to put up wi' no nonsense? All right, that's settled, then. Now,
+don't you think we've run this company on narrow lines long enough?
+Anyway I do, an' we're goin' to widen them--to strike out on fresh ones.
+What would you say to a tight-rope dancer an' a trapeze performer added
+to the attractions o' the troupe, eh?"
+
+But the dwarf made no reply; he only continued to watch the
+pathetic-looking little pair, as with kisses and caresses they bravely
+strove to comfort one another.
+
+"Wouldn't that boy be the very thing for it?" resumed Joe, after a
+moment's pause. "Isn't he jest the cut for an aeronaut, an' the right
+age to train as an acrobat? An' the gel! Look ee here!" and roughly
+snatching Joan from her seat at Darby's side, Joe swung her over to
+where the big furry bundle, which was the bear, and the mimic
+soldier--tired probably from their recent gambols--lay huddled in a heap
+together, and dropped her down on the grass beside them.
+
+"Here, Bruno, get up," he shouted, giving the creature a heavy kick with
+his coarse boot. "Rise, sir, an' salute your new playfellow."
+
+The bear growled, stirred, and with a lazy stretch of his big body
+slowly rose upon his hind legs and approached his master; while the
+monkey climbed, chattering and jabbering, to the roof of the caravan.
+
+Darby and the dwarf had followed close at Joe's heel; and when the boy
+saw the huge beast, with sparkling eyes and slavering mouth, tower right
+above his little sister and heard her screams of terror, he felt, just
+for a moment, sick with fear.
+
+"You brute!" exclaimed the dwarf, in his thin, hoarse voice, as he
+reached up his long arms and firmly gripped Bruno by the leather collar
+which was round his neck. But whether he addressed the man or the beast
+was not quite clear, and certainly Joe Harris did not care to inquire.
+
+Joan had flung herself in her panic on Darby's shoulder, with her small,
+wet face buried in the bosom of his old velveteen blouse. The awful
+faint feeling passed from him at the touch of those clinging arms around
+his neck, and with indignant eyes and flushed cheeks he turned and faced
+the great, ugly bully, who only laughed, as if enjoying the sight of
+their distress.
+
+"How dare you frighten my sister so?" he demanded haughtily. "Why did
+you bring us here if you only wanted to be rude to us? You are cruel,
+and a coward as well; for my father says that only cowards would try to
+frighten children or helpless things. Wait until I go home," said the
+little fellow boldly, forgetting in his excitement that he had
+deliberately left home for altogether, "and I shall tell him about you.
+Then you'll be punished as you deserve," he added loftily.
+
+But as Darby uttered this threat a wave of memory swept over him with an
+overwhelming rush. Father! what could _he_ do to help or deliver them,
+away in Africa, or maybe lying dead somewhere? Joe and Moll might
+ill-treat them as they chose before father should be able to interfere.
+And mother! Father in Africa or killed, mother in heaven! and with one
+bitter, thrilling cry the boy's brave spirit gave way, and he sank
+unconscious at Joe Harris's feet.
+
+Mr. Harris gave expression to his amusement in a whistle.
+
+"That's capital!" he cried; "the best piece o' actin' I've seed this
+many's the day! Eh, Bambo, what do you think o' _that_ for an amatoor?
+Why, it 'ud bring down the house, I declare!"
+
+But Bambo did not answer, not by so much as a single glance. He was
+crouching on the grass beside the boy.
+
+Then Joe shoved the sobbing Joan aside, stooped over the limp figure of
+the child, and satisfied himself that he had only fainted. Afterwards he
+followed his wife within the caravan, whistling gaily as he went.
+
+Tonio, the negro lad, slid near the group, and with wide, rolling eyes
+stared at Darby's motionless form and white face. Bruno had rolled
+himself up again comfortably, and was preparing to resume his nap just
+where he had left off when his master so rudely aroused him. Joan had
+hushed her sobs, although now and again a long, shuddering sigh shook
+her little body from head to foot, as with small, smudgy fingers she
+gently stroked her brother's cheek. Puck, the monkey, had skipped nimbly
+from his perch on the chimney of the caravan and found another more to
+his mind on top of Tonio's woolly head, where he sat glowering and
+grinning at the group, as if he wanted to ask, only he couldn't in
+words, "What's the matter, friends? what's to do?"
+
+Bambo raised the boy from the grass, pillowed the drooping head against
+his own broad shoulder, chafed his hands, and put some water to his
+lips, which Tonio carried from the spring that bubbled up from out the
+mossy ground beneath the fir trees. Soon he recovered, and was able to
+sit up in the dwarf's arms and look about him.
+
+Then he remembered everything--where he was, what had happened--and his
+face grew white again.
+
+"There, there, sonny, don't fret any more; and don't cry, either of
+you," added Bambo, gently laying one long, lean arm around Joan's
+shoulder. "If you do you'll make the master angry, and maybe he'll beat
+you. You needn't be afraid of Bruno; he's perfectly quiet, except when
+he's angered: besides, he's chained."
+
+"Are you quite, quite sure?" asked Joan timidly, glancing nervously in
+the direction of the bear.
+
+"Certain, positive!" answered Bambo, smiling into the eager faces raised
+so confidingly to his, while an odd, unaccustomed thrill stirred his
+pulse and warmed his heart. "If you look you'll see where the chain
+that's attached to his collar is fastened to the back of the caravan."
+
+"And will the monkey bite us?" again asked the little one.
+
+"Puck! Puck bite! Why no, bless your heart!" and this time the dwarf
+actually laughed. "Puck's about as old as Methuselah, and hasn't got a
+tooth in his head! He'll maybe pull your hair if he takes the notion,
+and that's the worst Puck 'll do to you.
+
+"Hark! there's master calling," cried Bambo, shuffling to his feet as a
+roar resounded from the caravan like the growling of a lion near
+feeding-time. "Sit there, and I'll bring you some of my stew. It's made
+of pheasant and partridge, and very nice, I assure you."
+
+"There, fellow, that'll do," shouted Joe, standing on the steps of the
+caravan; "you've palavered plenty over them brats. Leave them to howl
+theirselves to sleep if they like, but bring me my supper," he commanded
+angrily--for Mr. Harris was hungry, and somebody who knows about such
+things says that "a hungry man is an angry man"--then with a bang of the
+door and an ugly word he disappeared again. And as the dwarf dished up
+the supper he muttered to himself,--
+
+"God help you, poor innocents! You have fallen into bad hands when you
+fell into the clutches of Moll Harris and Thieving Joe!"
+
+He carried a plateful of dainty morsels out of his stew to where the
+children waited far back beyond the firelight and the limit of the
+bear's chain. He sat on the grass beside them, coaxing and scolding them
+by turns, until they forgot their fears and made a hearty supper,
+finished off by a draught of sparkling water from the spring.
+
+Just at first the tiny man with the long arms, pale, sad face, and queer
+croaking voice had alarmed the little ones, because they had never seen
+any one the least like Bambo before. But when they discovered how gentle
+was the touch of those thin hands and bony arms, how kind and soothing
+the tones of that croaky voice, all their fears vanished. Darby
+determined that he would never again listen to unkind remarks about
+deformed persons, and Joan cuddled close beside her new friend in a most
+confiding fashion.
+
+"Why has you taken no goody supper?" she asked him when all had
+finished, and the fire had sunk to a glow of red embers mixed with
+feathery flakes of ash. "Isn't you hungry? or did you take too big a
+tea?"
+
+"Well, little one, I don't think I did. I'm just not hungry to-night.
+Grown-up folks don't usually be so keen-set as youngsters, you know,"
+replied Bambo, looking down into the blue eyes that scanned him so
+curiously.
+
+"But _you_ isn't a grown-up," cried the child, in an amused tone.
+"You're just 'bout as big as Darby, only with a queer man-face an'
+grown-up arms. Does you call yourself a boy or a man?" she asked
+seriously, and without a hint of mockery. She merely desired
+information.
+
+"Joan!" said Darby, in a distressed whisper, at the same time giving her
+a dig with his elbow, almost pushing her over.
+
+Joan was going to make a fuss, when Bambo put in quickly, "Hush, missy!
+you mustn't do that, or Moll will hear you. Let me try to answer your
+question, although I hardly know how. I'm only a boy in size, as you
+say--a small boy; yet in years I am a man, for I was four-and-twenty
+last May, the tenth of May," he added thoughtfully. "But I'm not a man
+as other men.--And you need not mind your sister saying that I'm not
+grown up," he continued, laying a thin hand on Darby's dark head, "for
+neither I am--leastways not like other folks.--I'm a dwarf, dearies--a
+poor, stunted bit of a thing like yon fir over yonder that has grown
+this way, that way, and every way except straight up and down like the
+rest of the trees about it. I'm Bambo the dwarf, Joe Harris's musical
+dwarf," and the little man laughed whimsically.
+
+"Maybe I'll be different in the next world," he continued, after a
+moment's silence, which the children did not break, as they could think
+of nothing suitable to say, therefore tactfully held their peace. "I
+hope I shall, I _believe_ I shall," he added, with a far-away look in
+his eyes, as if he had become unconscious of his audience; "for has not
+the blessed Lord Himself said, 'Behold, I make all things new'?"
+
+Here he was seized with a violent fit of coughing, which shook his poor
+frame sadly, and left him panting and spent.
+
+"You's got a werry bad cold," said Joan, with a pretty air of concern.
+"Can't you take some nashty medicine or sticky sweeties or cough drops
+to make you better?"
+
+"Our nurse or our aunt always rubs us with stuff called 'lyptus, and
+sometimes puts a poultice on when we've got cold," Darby remarked. "I
+don't s'pose they'll have any 'lyptus in the caravan; but wouldn't you
+try the poultice?"
+
+"Ay, sonny; only it wouldn't do me any good. I never was used with
+physic or poulticing; and I'll be better soon without anything,"
+answered the dwarf, trying to stifle another fit of coughing lest it
+should distress the little ones. "I'll be quite well, in fact--before
+long, too," he added softly, with his shrunken face raised to the sky
+whence, with shining, sleepless eyes, the stars looked down upon the odd
+little group as if they were God's sentinels guarding the outposts where
+danger lurked.
+
+"P'raps you shouldn't sit on the grass; it's usually damp at night,"
+said Darby, in that quaint, old-world way of his which always attracted
+people greatly even when it most amused them. "Nurse doesn't allow us to
+sit on the grass when we're not well.--Sure she doesn't, Joan?"
+
+"Never, never!" Joan affirmed solemnly, shaking her tangled golden head.
+
+The dwarf got to his feet.
+
+"Very well; I'll have to obey, I suppose," he said with a smile. "Now, I
+must find out where you two are to be put up for the night. It's high
+time you were under shelter. This sort of thing," he went on, waving his
+hand towards the open space, the caravan, the dying fire, and the
+chained bear, "is not what you're used to; anybody with half an eye
+could see that--even Joe, although it suits his purpose to pretend he
+doesn't. To-morrow you'll tell me all about your home and your people,
+and how you wandered this way, and everything. Then we'll see what's to
+be done next," he added under his breath.
+
+Moll carried the children off to the caravan, where Mr. Harris was
+already sleeping the sound sleep which is generally supposed to be the
+outcome of an easy conscience. She was about to bundle them, clothes and
+all, into a bed hastily spread upon what to Darby looked like a narrow
+shelf. He was too sleepy to offer any objections to the arrangement; but
+Joan stoutly resisted, declaring that she never went to bed without
+being undressed and saying her prayers.
+
+"Boo-oo!" she wailed, putting her knuckles into her eyes. "I wants a
+nightgown, and I wants to say my p'ayers," she persisted.
+
+"Shut up, will you!" ordered Moll, giving the little girl a rude shake.
+She would have slapped her, only she dared not disturb her better half,
+for then the blows might have gone round. "I ha'n't got no nightgownd
+for ee," she went on, in an angry undertone; "but ee can take off yer
+frock an' wrap the shawl roun' ee." Which Joan proceeded to do,
+although she felt that nurse's old tartan shoulder-shawl was but a sorry
+substitute for a nightgown.
+
+"Now I's goin' to say my p'ayers," she said, kneeling on the bare floor
+at this prayerless woman's knee, with closed eyes and piously-folded
+hands--a pathetic little figure in her comical attire. "You'll say the
+big words and join in the 'amen.' That's what nurse does. Is you ready?
+Now--
+
+    "Gentle Jesus, meek'n mild,
+    Look upon a ickle child,
+    Pity my--'I can't say it!'--
+    Suffer me to come to Thee.
+
+    "Fain I would to Thee be brought;
+    Dea'est Lord, forbid it not;
+    In the kin'dom of Thy gwace
+    Give a ickle Joan a place. Amen!"
+
+After the "amen" Joan opened her big blue eyes and looked steadily at
+Moll without rising from her knees. The woman fidgeted on her seat,
+toyed with the amber beads on her neck, but she would not meet the pure
+gaze fixed upon her; for there was a tremulousness about her lips, a
+moisture in her eyes, a sense of ashamedness all over her which she did
+not wish the child to see.
+
+But Joan _did_ see, and vaguely understood that here there was somewhat
+amiss, and forthwith proceeded to offer her sympathy after her own
+fashion, which, when all is said, is about the oldest and sweetest form
+that sympathy can take. Silently she got to her feet, climbed on Moll's
+lap, and laid a kiss--light as a snowflake, holy as a benediction,
+pregnant as a prayer--upon the woman's broad, sunburnt brow. Then she
+tumbled on to the shelf beside Darby, and soon both were wrapped in the
+deep, dreamless sleep of wearied childhood.
+
+A few hours afterwards quite an air of stir and bustle pervaded the
+encampment. The crossbars for the support of pots and pans were taken
+down; scattered utensils were gathered up and stowed away; Bruno was
+driven into his cage under the body of the van; the wandering horses
+were caught, harnessed, and put in their places; and soon the Satellite
+Circus Company was on the move once more. For Joe and Moll had not
+failed to observe the dwarf's openly-evinced interest in their captives;
+and fearing that he might take it into his head to decamp during the
+night, carrying the children along with him, they quickly made up their
+minds to push on and put as many miles as the horses could cover between
+them and the possibility of escape, pursuit, or capture before daylight
+the next morning.
+
+The little ones slept soundly side by side on their narrow shelf; the
+bear snarled uneasily behind his iron bars, with only an inch of plank
+between his hairy embrace and their soft young bodies; the monkey curled
+closer into the warmth of Tonio's black breast; the dwarf sat on his
+perch above the plodding piebalds, watching the stars and speculating
+about the pretty children--who they were, whence they came, and what
+would be their fate if left to the tender mercies of Thieving Joe and
+his bold wife Moll.
+
+It was broad daylight when Darby and Joan awoke and sat up to look about
+them. For a few minutes they remembered nothing of what had occurred,
+and could not make out where they were. Oh yes, of course, Darby at
+length understood. They were in a caravan where they had sheltered all
+night, not very far from the foot of that hill over whose summit lay the
+entrance to the country which they had set out to seek.
+
+He slid cautiously off the shelf, helped Joan to put on her frock and
+tie her shawl round her again; then they opened the door, stole down the
+steps, and there they paused in dismay. The caravan had come to a
+standstill, and been drawn up on the edge of a stretch of dreary common;
+the horses were unyoked, and grazing near by. Along the further
+boundary of the common wound a broad, level highway, bordered by a wide
+footpath; and in the distance, from the valley front, rose the towers,
+spires, and smoking chimneys of a large-sized town. But Firgrove, Hill
+Difficulty, and the Happy Land all lay behind--far, far away!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE HAPPY LAND.
+
+    "Heaven lies about us in our infancy."
+
+                              WORDSWORTH.
+
+    "To be good is to be happy; angels
+    Are happier than men because they're better."
+
+                              ROWE.
+
+
+"Now, please, Mrs. Joe, will you show Joan and me the nearest way to the
+place where you found us?" asked Darby in all good faith when they had
+finished their breakfast. It had been a most unusual one for them, and
+not much of a treat: the bread was dry, the bacon strong smelling, the
+bitter coffee guiltless of either cream or milk, and poor Joan made many
+a wry face in her efforts to get it down.
+
+"Time enough, time enough," answered Mrs. Joe cheerily, yet with a
+shamefaced look. "What's yer hurry? Are you so keen to leave us, eh?"
+she asked, fixing her bold, smiling eyes on the earnest countenance of
+the little lad.
+
+"No--that is--ah--not 'zactly," stammered Darby, feeling himself in a
+fix between truth and politeness. "We didn't come on a visit, you know;
+we came only for the night. And you promised to let us go this morning
+after breakfast, and to show us the way."
+
+Molly only laughed, looking this way and that; but Joe began roughly,--
+
+"Look ee here now, young Hop-o'-my-thumb, we've had enough o' this
+humbug. Ye're both here, an' here ye're goin' to stay till I've done wi'
+ye. Do you heed?" he shouted, gripping Darby by the shoulder and giving
+him a hearty shake, while the dwarf's sunken eyes flashed with an angry
+gleam.
+
+Joan began to whimper softly into the folds of her tartan shawl, but
+Darby looked from the black-browed woman to the coarse, red-haired man
+with stern, reproachful eyes.
+
+"You promised--_she_ promised," he said bravely, although his lips were
+quivering piteously, and all the healthy colour had fled from his
+cheeks, leaving them pale as the petals of a faded white rose.
+
+Moll laughed again more loudly than before. Did the little softy really
+believe that big folks meant everything they said? And looking into her
+broadly-smiling face and unscrupulous eyes, Darby Dene had his first
+lesson in the meaning of deceit. He there and then began to realize that
+there are people in the world to whom falsehood comes easy, who think
+little or nothing of a broken vow.
+
+"Why do you wish us to stay with you?" he asked, turning to Joe as the
+more hopeful of the two, because Joe said pretty much what he meant, and
+Moll did not. "You don't love us, and of course you can't expect that we
+can be very fond of you after--after--well, we know you for only such a
+little while. Do please let us go," urged the child in pleading tones;
+and now the big tears rolled down his cheeks and splashed in heavy
+drops, like a summer shower, over the breast of his shabby velvet
+blouse, while Joan sat and stared from Moll to Joe in wide-eyed silent
+terror.
+
+"Not likely!" replied Mr. Harris, with an ugly laugh. "You're goin' to
+begin yer eddication, my son, an' little missy here too. So now shut up,
+an' let's have no more o' yer blubb'rin'. Ye're goin' to do as I bid ye,
+or if ye don't I'll manage to learn ye, I'm thinkin'. Eh?" he cried,
+playfully pinching Joan's small pink ear until she screamed with pain,
+then glancing from face to face of the party gathered around the fagot
+fire, fingering idly at the same time the heavy whip in his belt with
+which he kept Bruno to his tasks. "An' min', if ye try to slope--to run
+away--well, it'll be all the worse for ye an' for anybody as helps ye,"
+he added savagely, with a scowl in the direction of the dwarf, who sat a
+little apart, his head leaning upon his hands, his barely-tasted
+breakfast on the ground beside him.
+
+Joe then lighted his pipe, took a gun and some rabbit-snares from the
+caravan, and shouting to Tonio to look sharp, he sauntered off in the
+direction of the fir plantation, with the black boy following dutifully
+at his heels.
+
+Moll shortly after retired within the caravan, where they could hear her
+singing snatches of a rollicking street song as if for her own
+diversion; then--with only the dwarf, the bear, and the monkey to
+witness their distress--Darby and Joan threw themselves on the grass,
+where, wrapped in each other's arms, they gave free vent to their
+disappointment and dismay.
+
+Bruno rolled on the ground, grunted, sat up and blinked at the children
+out of his funny little slits of eyes, but he said nothing. Puck skipped
+hither and thither, chattering and jabbering as if begging them to
+forget their grief and crack some nuts for him instead. The dwarf sat
+motionless, his head still sunk upon his hands, as if he had forgotten
+their very presence, yet all the time he was watching them through his
+fingers. And as soon as their sobs had subsided into long-drawn, gasping
+sighs, such as the west wind makes in a wide chimney, he left his place,
+and sitting down between them, put a long arm around the shoulders of
+each, and drew them close beside him.
+
+He was only a dwarf, but in his heart there were pity and love for all
+creatures helpless and weaker than himself. And because of this he was
+like God--_he_, Bambo the object: mean, lowly, poor, so far as money
+went, yet rich in the priceless power of loving, which is beyond the
+riches of gold or lands; for is not love of God? Is not God Himself the
+beginning, centre, end--nay, not _end_, because it endureth for ever--of
+all real, true love? And in their desolation Darby and Joan turned to
+him with a feeling of confidence and hope.
+
+"Now, I want to hear everything," he said coaxingly; "then perhaps I
+shall be able to help you. You must be quick, for Joe and Tonio won't
+stay long away. There's no rabbits or birds over there, I'm sure," he
+continued, nodding his great head in the direction of the plantation,
+"and at any moment Moll may come and interrupt us."
+
+Then Darby told their odd new friend everything, as he had desired the
+child to do--who they were, where they lived, why they had left their
+home, whither they were bound, and what had befallen them upon the
+journey.
+
+"Dear, dear!" exclaimed Bambo when the recital was ended, and Darby
+paused to draw a long breath. "Firgrove! Turner of Firgrove! Old Squire
+Turner folks about Firdale used to call him. Why, my grandfather, Moses
+Green, was gardener there once upon a time."
+
+"And he's there yet!" declared Darby, looking highly delighted at the
+discovery. "Green my aunts call him; an old, old man with white hair and
+a bended back--'all 'count o' the rheumatiz,' he says."
+
+"Ay, ay! so grandad's still alive. Deary me! deary me! Although he
+always had a sort of spite at me for being as I am," added the dwarf to
+himself.
+
+"Had you never no muver?" demanded Joan curiously; "or does
+funny-lookin' peoples like you just grow the way Topsy did? Topsy never
+had no muver. That was 'cause she was black, I s'pose; and Tonio won't
+have none either?"
+
+"Yes, I had a mother once, missy--a good and loving mother, and a kind
+grandmother too. But they are both gone this many a year ago,
+and--except grandad, who doesn't count--I have neither kith nor kin in
+the world."
+
+Bambo sighed deeply, overcome by sad memories. A tear trickled slowly
+down his hollow, weather-beaten cheek, and Joan put up a smudgy, gentle,
+little hand to wipe it away.
+
+"Don't be sorry, please, dear dwarf. Joan loves you; you's so kind to
+Joan," she murmured.
+
+"Couldn't _we_ be your kith and kin?" asked Darby anxiously. "I expect
+by 'kith and kin' you just mean friends. We'll be your friends if you'd
+like us to. We're both very fond of you already.--Aren't we, Joan?"
+
+"Yes, werry," Joan assented warmly, continuing to caress the dwarf's
+haggard face with her soft, chubby fingers.
+
+"Bless your dear, loving little hearts!" he ejaculated fervently,
+looking from one to the other of the earnest faces raised so trustfully
+to his. "Them's the sweetest words that anybody has spoken to poor Bambo
+this many's the day--since my mother died. _She_ always had gentle words
+and sweet looks in plenty for her misshapen boy; and granny too, bless
+her! But after they went and left me the world seemed all cold and
+cruel, with nothing better for the likes of me than cuffs and kicks. It
+was always, 'Get out of the way, you object!' 'Oh, poor wretch! how
+horrid-looking he is!' or else jeers, gibes, and laughter. And since I
+became a man, _this_ kind of a man, I mean," he explained, glancing from
+Joan to his stunted limbs, huge feet, and claw-like hands, "it has been
+harder still--harsh words and heavy blows if I did not bring in money
+enough at shows and fairs. Now, I think the Lord Jesus has seen my
+loneliness, taken pity upon me, and sent two of His own to cheer me, and
+brighten a bit of the wilderness for a weary pilgrim. And we'll see if
+the dwarf can't do something to show his gratitude," said Bambo
+resolutely, yet speaking softly as if to himself. "Firgrove! And this is
+Barchester, you may say--only about three miles from it as the crow
+flies--and Barchester's thirty odd miles from Firdale. It's not so far
+after all, and yet it would be a goodish bit to tramp," he added
+thoughtfully.
+
+"But do you think we must go home?" queried Darby anxiously. "You see,
+when Mr. Joe and Mrs. Moll overtook us we were on our way, as I told
+you, to the Happy Land--we were quite close to it, in fact. Would it be
+right to turn back now?" the little lad asked, fixing his clear gray
+eyes seriously on the face of the dwarf. "Wouldn't we be like
+somebody--I forget who--that put his hand to the plough and looked back?
+Didn't Jesus say that it's wrong of any one to do that?"
+
+"Ay, sonny, our blessed Lord does say that 'no man, having put his hand
+to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God;' and, of
+course, we oughtn't to do it. But we must first make sure that we've put
+our hands upon the right plough, that it's pointed in the proper
+direction in the very field the great Husbandman wants us to turn over.
+Then we can forge right ahead, cutting the furrow clean and straight, no
+matter how stony the soil, or how stiff we find the ground."
+
+"I _think_ I understand what you mean," said Darby slowly. "You are
+trying to tell me as nicely as you can that we haven't got our plough
+pointed in the right direction. Is that it, Mr. Bambo?"
+
+"That's it, deary, and the sooner you get it turned about the better,"
+replied the dwarf briskly. "Your field's waiting for you at Firgrove, so
+back there you and missy must go as soon as ever you can give Joe and
+Moll the slip. My, won't the ladies be in a fine way! By this time, I
+expect, they'll have scoured the country, and be getting the canal
+dragged in search of you both."
+
+"Isn't we goin' to the Happy Land at all, then?" asked Joan, in a tone
+of glad relief.
+
+She had been listening to the talk between Bambo and her brother in
+somewhat of a puzzle as to their meaning. She had, however, gathered the
+gist of their remarks, and is that not about all that is worth gathering
+of most conversations?
+
+"Wait a little," whispered Darby, gently prodding her behind the dwarf's
+back. "Don't be in such a hurry. We're coming to that."
+
+"'Cause if we isn't," continued Joan the irrepressible, "I's werry,
+werry glad. I doesn't know nuffin' 'bout the Happy Land--nuffin' much,
+anyway, 'cept what nurse's hymn says--but I knows Firgrove, and I love
+Auntie Alice, and the pussies, and baby when he's not cryin'. They's
+quite 'nuff for me--just now at least," she added as an after-thought.
+"And I wants to go back to Miss Carolina and the rest of my dear, sweet
+dollies. Darby wouldn't let me bring none of them wif me. Now I's
+lonesome for them," she whimpered, "and I won't go to no Happy Land
+wifout my fings. There!" declared the mutinous little maid, with an
+emphatic waggle of her sunny head, such as she had seen Perry finish up
+with when argument waxed warm between her and Molly the cook.
+
+And just as Captain Dene had smiled sympathetically over a similar
+speech of his small daughter's, so did the dwarf bend an understanding
+gaze upon the winsome, wilful face, with its dewy eyes and quivering
+lips. At the same time there came back to his memory a verse of a hymn
+or poem, Bambo did not know which, that his mother had been very fond of
+and often repeated:--
+
+    "Fair Anwoth by the Solway,
+      To me thou still art dear;
+    E'en from the verge of heaven
+      I drop for thee a tear.
+    Oh, if one soul from Anwoth
+      Meet me at God's right hand,
+    My heaven will be two heavens
+      In Immanuel's land."
+
+"Should we try to go to the Happy Land some other time, do you think,
+Mr. Bambo?" asked Darby anxiously, half frightened and wholly distressed
+by the feeling of satisfaction which filled him at the prospect of going
+back to the security of Firgrove. It seemed to him as if a return
+implied an easy entrance at the wide gate upon the broad and pleasant
+way, and turning their backs on the strait and narrow path, which had
+proved so tortuous and stony for their tender, stumbling feet.
+
+For an instant the dwarf hesitated, hardly knowing how to answer the
+boy's question. Then he spoke.
+
+"If I was you, I wouldn't set out again in search of the Happy Land;
+because them that turns their backs upon the duties which lie close to
+their hand, and their faces away from the place where God has put them,
+never find a happy land, neither in this life nor in the next," said the
+little man solemnly. "It mostly comes to folks, often when they little
+expect; leastways it did to me," he added softly.
+
+"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean," said Darby, with a
+puzzled pucker between his brows. "How could the Happy Land come to one?
+Can you tell me that, please?"
+
+"Well, if you're looking for a country on this side of time such as the
+hymn describes, and I think that's the notion that's taken hold of your
+wise wee head," said the dwarf, laying a gentle hand on the lad's dark
+hair, "you'll never find it; for there's no such place as that in this
+world--where the sun's always shining, and night never falls; where
+folks are never tempted or wicked; where there's no need to struggle,
+and nobody makes mistakes; where there's neither sickness nor sorrow,
+parting nor death--nothing but music and pleasure and happiness all the
+year round. Only in heaven are all these joys to be found--the heaven
+that awaits us after our work is done, when the blessed Lord Himself
+sends His messenger to bring us home."
+
+"Then, dear dwarf, isn't there any Happy Land at all," asked Joan,
+fixing upon her friend a pair of wondering, wide blue eyes--"no nice
+place where me and Darby can always be quite happy and good, wifout
+naughtiness or puttin' to bed same as at Firgrove; where I could keep my
+dollies and the pussies wif me, and where there 'ud be no Aunt
+Catharine?" she added emphatically. "Tell me, please, isn't there no
+Happy Land like that anywhere, wifout bein' deaded and put in a big box
+in the ground, the way they did wif muver?"
+
+"Ay, missy, there's a Happy Land sure enough for us all; but each of us
+must seek it within, and create it around us for ourselves," said the
+dwarf dreamily. "And I think that you surely make yours about you
+wherever you are," he added, as he softly smoothed the little one's
+tangled yellow curls.
+
+"Please 'splain it to me again, Mr. Bambo," begged Darby, in his sweet,
+grave tones; "I'm afraid I don't quite understand your meaning yet. I'm
+only seven years old, you see, and not very wise for my age, Aunt
+Catharine says."
+
+"And I'm not wise at all," laughed Bambo, shaking his great head in a
+droll way, which vastly amused Miss Joan, "although I'm more than three
+times your age. I fear I'm not good at explaining, either, for I'm just
+a dull, unlearned fellow. I never had no schooling, not since I wore
+petticoats!"--here Joan laughed merrily--"and have no knowledge except
+what the Master has taught me out under the sky and the stars, from the
+hedgerows, the beasts, the birds, the trees, the flowers. But I'll do my
+best to tell you what I mean, and the great Teacher Himself will make
+the rest clear to you if you are willing to learn of Him.
+
+"I believe that the only truly Happy Land is just wherever the Lord
+Jesus is, and He dwells with those who love and desire Him above all
+others, no matter what their station or where their habitation may
+be--whether in a palace or a caravan; beyond yonder storm-blown hill, or
+safe in the snug shelter of Firgrove. Then if He is to walk always
+beside us, we must conduct ourselves as befits them that keep good
+company. We must shirk no duty, no matter how disagreeable; leave never
+a task unlearned, be it ever so hard; and travelling along hand in hand
+with a Friend who is always faithful, a Counsellor who is ever wise, a
+Guide who never stumbles, earth will become for us a real Happy Land,
+and life a foretaste of the bliss of that kingdom prepared for the
+Lord's own subjects 'from the foundation of the world.'
+
+"This is what I believe, sonny, and I think it is what the Lord Jesus
+wanted the multitudes to learn and remember when He said in His sermon
+on the mount, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom
+of heaven.'"
+
+"Oh, thank you, thank you, dear Mr. Bambo; I know now 'zactly what you
+mean. How clever you are!" exclaimed Darby, in a tone of mingled respect
+and admiration, looking at his new teacher with glowing eyes, while his
+cheeks were flushed from the excess of his delight. "And I am so glad we
+needn't go away any more to look for the Happy Land from father, when he
+comes back, and Eric, and Auntie Alice, and--and--everything," he added,
+hurriedly lumping Aunt Catharine along with the odds and ends that were
+too numerous to mention separately, "but just stay at home, and be good
+and brave and true and loving to everybody. How easy it sounds! I feel
+as if I never could be disobedient or naughty any more," he added, with
+a look of such angelic innocence and high resolve that the dwarf had not
+the heart to mar his lofty mood by so much as a hint of danger or a word
+of warning. He only repeated softly, almost below his breath, a verse
+from the battered old Book in his pocket, that was at times his sole
+companion, and comfort always:--
+
+"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto
+you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father
+which is in heaven."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A SUDDEN FLIGHT.
+
+    "Little robin redbreast sat upon a tree,
+    Up went pussy-cat, and down went he;
+    Down came pussy-cat, and away robin ran;
+    Says little robin redbreast, 'Catch me if you can.'
+
+    "Little robin redbreast flew upon a wall,
+    Pussy-cat jumped after him, and almost got a fall.
+    Little robin chirped and sang, and what did pussy say?
+    Pussy-cat said 'Mew,' and robin flew away."
+
+
+Meanwhile time was passing: morning had slipped on to afternoon. Moll
+would not stay inside the caravan all day, and Joe might be back at any
+moment.
+
+"And now that you know where your Happy Land actually lies, don't you
+think we'd better make tracks for it as soon as we can?" said Bambo at
+length, speaking out of the silence that had fallen over the group. For
+both Darby and Bambo had been thinking, and Joan was asleep, with her
+head resting against the dwarf's shoulder.
+
+"Why do you say 'we'? Are you going to come with us?" asked Darby, in
+great delight. "Oh, how kind you are! But won't you be very tired
+walking all that long way to Firgrove and back again, and your cough so
+troublesome?" he inquired with concern.
+
+"I won't want to come back again, sonny. I've been intending to leave
+Joe and Moll for a good while past. I always put off and put off. Having
+no friends to go to, and there being nothing else I could fall back upon
+for a living, I suppose I was timid about making a change. Now I can see
+God's hand in it. He kept me on with the Harrises because He had
+something He wants poor Bambo to do before he dies. If only I can hold
+out until I deliver you and little missy safe into the care of your
+friends, that's all I'll ask. My work will then be done; I'll be ready
+for the call whenever the messenger comes."
+
+"How? what do you mean?" asked Darby, in an eager whisper, for he was
+frightened--awed, rather--he knew not why, by the look on the dwarf's
+face.
+
+"Because, deary, Bambo's soon going home--home to the dear Lord Jesus,
+whose love has made the world a happy land for the poor, despised,
+misshapen dwarf since first I sought and found Him waiting and willing
+to claim and receive me--_me_--even me, for His own."
+
+The ready tears coursed quickly down Darby's cheeks, but he remained
+silent. He did not know rightly what he ought to say, and, guided by the
+inimitable tact, the heaven-born wisdom of childhood, said simply
+nothing.
+
+"Whish! here's Moll," spoke Bambo, in a warning undertone. "Don't let on
+to her what we've been talking about. Better not say anything to missy,
+either; but the very first chance we get we'll give them the slip--see
+if we won't! Don't fret, sonny," he added, giving Darby's hand a
+reassuring squeeze. "Just you leave things to me, and never fear, for
+God will certainly set us free."
+
+Almost directly Joe and Tonio returned. Joe was ravenously hungry and
+extremely cross because they had come back empty-handed, and Joe did not
+like that. He had an odd and occasionally inconvenient knack of picking
+up something--no matter what--wherever he went. This talent of his was
+well known among his friends, and had gained for him the nickname before
+mentioned of Thieving Joe, a title of which he was actually proud,
+until--But better not anticipate.
+
+To-day, however, Joe had picked up nothing. Not a bird had they seen
+worth the waste of powder and shot; not a rabbit had even so much as
+sniffed in the direction of the snares. Joe was disappointed and out of
+temper in consequence, and flinging down his gun, and administering a
+cuff to the long-suffering Tonio, he roared for Bambo to bring him his
+dinner, in a voice which awoke Joan bolt upright from her sleep, and set
+Darby to shake and shiver down to the very soles of his shoes.
+
+When the savoury meal which the dwarf had so carefully prepared was
+disposed of, Mr. Harris lay down beside the fire to rest after the
+fatigues of the morning. There he slept until twilight was stealing over
+the common, and within the belt of fir trees darkness and gloom peopled
+the spaces with shadows, and filled the air with that silence which
+speaks in no known language, yet with many voices. And again, as on the
+previous night, soon the encampment was in the bustle of removal. Bruno
+and Puck were shoved into their cages, the horses harnessed and yoked to
+the caravan, Darby and Joan carefully hidden away inside under Moll's
+guardianship, and the party were on the move once more.
+
+They were not going far, only to the outskirts of Barchester, the big,
+busy, noisy town whose tall chimneys rose through the smoke-laden
+atmosphere which hung so dark and heavy above their belching mouths.
+Barchester was about eight miles off going by the less direct road along
+which they would travel in order to elude pursuit. There they would halt
+for the night, awaiting the proprietor's orders for the morrow.
+
+The black boy capered alongside the caravan, aiming stones at the
+sparrows hunched up on the leafless branches of the hedges, or chasing
+the shy young rabbits that scuttered frightened to their burrows in the
+mossy bank by the roadside, as the piebalds plodded sedately on their
+monotonous way. The bear snarled behind his iron bars, the children
+crouched silently in a corner of the caravan, while Joe and Moll smoked
+and lounged, and discussed their plans concerning their captives and the
+company generally during the approaching winter. Bambo occupied his
+accustomed perch above the horses; and through the badly-fitted squares
+of glass in front, which by no stretch of politeness could truthfully be
+styled windows, the hum of their voices and the meaning of their words
+reached distinctly and sharply his ears and brain.
+
+"I say, Moll, are you mindin' that our term o' the van's about up?"
+asked Joe, after some minor matters had been talked over. "We'll give
+the bloomin' old shay back at the end o' the time, an' I don't think as
+you an' me'll ever ride in it again, my woman! We ought to be able to do
+better for ourselves than travel the country like this afore another
+summer comes roun'."
+
+"I'm sure I hope so, for I'm gettin' kind o' tired o' bein' cooped up in
+a box like a rabbit in a trap," answered Moll sulkily.
+
+"We'll go to lodgin's for the winter," Joe went on, taking no notice of
+her surly mood; "jest a couple o' rooms, wi' a corner in an outhouse
+where we can keep the bear. Bambo an' Bruno, wi' the little un on his
+back fixed up in tinsel an' spangles, an' her yeller curls flyin', ought
+to bring home a tidy penny every night--a heap o' coppers, I tell you!
+Tonio will take to the hurdy-gurdy again; him an' Puck should win money
+too. An' as for you," he continued, "you can make yer livin' any day by
+yer black eyes an' slippery tongue. My, Moll, you are a cute un, an' no
+mistake!"
+
+"Come, give over yer palaver, for I'm not wantin' it," said Moll
+roughly, yet not ill pleased at her husband's judicious tribute to her
+smartness and her charms. "It's all very fine--you have everythin'
+nicely fixed up accordin' to yer own notion," she continued mockingly;
+"but I'd like to know where _you_ come in? What are _you_ goin' to do?"
+she demanded angrily. "Nothin', I expect. Play the fine gentleman an'
+live upon what the rest o' us earns. Not if I knows it, Joe Harris,"
+said Moll harshly, with a vicious snap of her strong white teeth.
+
+"Now, now, you mustn't turn rusty, Mrs. Harris, my dear; it don't suit
+yer style o' beauty. I'm not goin' to be either idle or extravagant. I'm
+goin' to work hard an' train them kids to work for us. There's money in
+them, I tell you, especially the boy, an' see if Joe Harris can't draw
+it out o' him! He'll be a bit stubborn at first, maybe, but we'll soon
+cure him o' that," added the man savagely. "An' min' you promised to
+help me, Moll! You're surely not forgettin' the bargain we made? You
+were to stan' by me wi' the brats, an' I was to give you the silk gownd
+an' the glitters--eh, my lass?"
+
+"I'm not sure if I want yer silk gownd nor yer glitters, Joe Harris,"
+answered his wife moodily. "It ud be dirty money that ud buy them. I
+don't like this business, I tell you agin, as I telled you afore, an'
+there'll no good come o't. Let the little uns go, Joe," she urged in
+pleading tones. "For all that you purtend the other way, you know well
+that there's folks breakin' their hearts about them somewhere. Sen' the
+dwarf back wi' them to Firdale; they'll know their own way from there.
+An' as for Bambo--why, if he never turns up agin he'll be no loss. He's
+dyin'; you can see that wi' half an eye. His cough's 'nuff to give a
+body the shivers."
+
+"Are you mad, woman, that you bid me throw away the best chance ever I
+had? An' the dwarf too! Why, do you want to ruin us all at one sweep?"
+growled Joe furiously.
+
+"I don't want to ruin you, an' well you knows it," said Moll soothingly;
+"but I'm kin' o' tired o' livin' from day to day in dread o' you bein'
+followed an' took up an' put in prison. For it'll come to that, or
+worse, Joe, mark my words!" she added oracularly. "'The fox runs long,
+but he's caught at last,'" she quoted solemnly, "an' I never felt so
+downright sure o't afore. I think it's the look o' them children's eyes,
+the little lass in partik'ler," added the woman, remembering with a
+queer thrill at her heart Joan's kneeling baby form, the folded hands,
+the lisping prayer, the unexpected kiss. "She makes me wish I was a
+better woman," said Moll in a broken voice, softly sobbing the while.
+
+Joe made no reply whatever. Possibly he was so vastly astonished at his
+wife's strange mood that his usual ready flow of forcible argument for
+once had failed him.
+
+"Won't you let them go, Joe? do ee now," Moll resumed, in her most
+persuasive tones. "An' when you return the van, send Tonio off on his
+own hook too; the lad eats more'n he earns. An' sell Bruno; he's a
+vicious brute--nothin' but an encumbrance. You couldn't do much wi' him
+anyhow, once Bambo's out o' the road. The beast has a grudge agin you,
+for the way you whip him, I expect. He'll do you an injury one o' these
+days if you don't have a care! Then when we've only ourselves to think
+o', you an' me'll make a nice, comfortable livin' easy--you an' me, an'
+Puck an' the organ, wi' no fear o' the beaks or the jyle,
+or--or--anythin'. My! it makes me young agin thinkin' o' the fine times
+we'd have."
+
+"Shut up, will you?" roared Mr. Harris, with a savage stamp of his huge
+foot, which set Bruno to growl ominously, and all the pots and pans
+slung around the van to jingle in unison.
+
+After a moment Moll spoke.
+
+"You bid me shut up," she said, with an angry jangle in her naturally
+soft, full tones. "All right, I will, Joe Harris; but when the time
+comes--as come it shall--that you're sorry you didn't listen to me,
+don't look to Moll for pity. There, them's my last words."
+
+Then a sullen silence fell upon the pair; but by the time the caravan
+had reached its destination they were chatting as harmoniously as if no
+difference of opinion had ever arisen to disturb their peace.
+
+The horses were again unyoked, the bear dragged from its lair, and
+arrangements put in train for the night. After a scanty supper of scraps
+and fragments--for by this time the store in the larder was at low
+ebb--having charged Bambo and Tonio with threats and strong words to
+look well after the children on peril of their lives, and on no account
+to allow them out of the van, Joe and Moll dressed themselves in their
+best, and set off to look up some old friends and spend a pleasant
+evening in the town.
+
+No sooner were they safely out of the way than Tonio slyly
+disappeared--following, doubtless, the example set him by his master and
+mistress--possessing no more sense of responsibility to restrain his
+movements than a kitten or a butterfly. Thus the dwarf found himself,
+greatly to his satisfaction and delight, left in sole charge of the
+captives and the encampment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first faint light of the misty October morning was spreading up
+slowly from the east, the delicate hoar frost of autumn was lying like a
+filmy veil of silvery gossamer over the furze bushes and rough grass
+around the camping-place, before the pair of pleasure-seekers returned.
+By that time, however, Tonio was sleeping soundly beside the piebalds in
+shelter of a tumble-down wall, with the monkey curled closely in against
+his dusky breast. Joe and Moll were stupid, tired, and decidedly out of
+sorts, as people are wont to be after a surfeit of enjoyment and a scant
+supply of sleep. Bruno growled as usual at being disturbed, and clanked
+his chain as if in remonstrance; from behind the wall the uneasy
+fidgeting of the hungry horses could be plainly heard; while Tonio's
+noisy snoring rose and fell upon the still, damp air with rhythmical
+regularity. But over the old yellow caravan a curious and suspicious
+silence reigned; not a sound was to be heard within its wooden walls,
+not a glimmer of light came through its curtained panes.
+
+Joe muttered an ugly word, roughly threw open the door, struck a match,
+lighted the lamp and peered about him. Bambo's usual shakedown was
+deserted; the pallet where the children should have been was unoccupied.
+The place was empty; the prisoners had escaped--under the guidance of
+the dwarf undoubtedly, many hours before, probably.
+
+Behind her husband's back Moll executed a sort of breakdown dance, so
+great was her satisfaction at the unexpected way in which her wishes had
+been carried out. But the disappointment and wrath of Joe over this
+sudden overthrow of his schemes were deep and furious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+FOLLOWED BY THE ENEMY.
+
+    "What will the fishers do,
+      When at the break of day
+    They seek the pretty boats they left
+      Moored in the quiet bay?
+    They seek the pretty boats,
+      And find that they are fled;
+    Alas! what will the fishers do?
+      How can they earn their bread?"
+
+     --"A."
+
+
+After his talk with Darby, the dwarf thought long and anxiously as to
+what would be their best route to Firgrove. Under ordinary circumstances
+their simplest one would have been to start from Barchester, or else go
+back to Engleton, then straight along by the canal to Firdale, thence to
+Firgrove, which was only about a mile from the village. But Joe and Moll
+would be sure to follow them, in order to make an attempt to recover
+their captives. Several times before Joe had tried to kidnap an
+attractive smart child whom he could train to be a sort of golden prop
+upon which his laziness could lean, but hitherto he had always been
+balked in his purpose. He would be furiously angry, Bambo knew, when he
+discovered that, just when a life of ease and idleness such as he had
+longed for seemed certain in the near future, he was as far as ever from
+accomplishing his object.
+
+So, in order to avoid the chance of being brought back and subjected to
+greater cruelty than before, the dwarf decided to take a much longer way
+than that by the canal. They would strike out across the common behind
+Barchester, then double back a bit, and follow an unfrequented road
+which also led to Firdale, winding through a long tract of hilly land,
+laid out chiefly in runs for mountain cattle and hardy sheep, and
+scarcely inhabited except by herds and shepherds.
+
+They could, of course, have travelled by rail, but this mode did not
+even occur to Bambo. For one thing, he was penniless, except for a few
+coppers that had escaped Moll's covetous eyes and grasping fingers the
+last time she rifled his pockets, when she supposed him to be asleep;
+and for another, he was not used to railway journeys. He had never, in
+fact, been inside a railway carriage in all his life, and he would have
+hated and shrunk from the attention he would most assuredly have
+attracted from all sorts of people--pity, horror, shrugs, smiles, grins,
+jeers, and laughter. It was bad enough to be stared at in booths and
+fairs when he was dressed up as a general in a shabby scarlet uniform
+and plumed hat with Bruno by his side. That was different. That was the
+only way he had ever hit upon by which he might honestly earn his food
+and shelter, such as it was. But from choice the dwarf had always
+avoided his fellow-creatures. Surrounded by the strong, the
+self-satisfied, the handsome, the gay, the consciousness of his own
+oddity and deformity was borne in upon his sensitive spirit in the
+keenest manner; but in the woods and fields, by the roadside and the
+hedgerows, he felt another person entirely. There Bambo forgot that he
+was so unlike his fellows; and among the birds, the beasts, the trees,
+the flowers, with God's wide heaven above and the green earth under
+foot, this simple, large-souled child of nature dropped his burden, and
+for the time being felt happy and at home.
+
+He knew quite well the way along which he proposed to travel, for he had
+footed it from Firdale to Barchester more than once when he was a boy.
+In the scattered cottages and herdsmen's huts there were simple, kindly
+souls, who would welcome any one from the outside world, and willingly
+give them a bit of bread, a drink of milk, with maybe a shakedown by
+their fireside for the night, without asking any awkward questions or
+gazing too curiously at the odd little man and his charming companions.
+They might get a lift, too, for a few miles now and again in a cart or
+wagon going between one and another of the few farms along the route.
+Bambo sincerely hoped they should, for Joan would not be able to walk
+very far at once. Her feet were tender, and her shoes were thin. Bambo
+knew she should have to be carried the greater part of the way, and his
+great anxiety was lest his fund of strength, which had gradually grown
+so sadly small, should fail him before he had completed his self-imposed
+task. What would become of the little ones if he were forced to lie down
+under the friendly shelter of some wayside hedge, utterly unable to drag
+himself another step? Would Joe and Moll find them and force them back
+to a life of lovelessness, hardship, and degradation? Oh, surely not!
+and the dwarf's soul sank within him as he contemplated the bare
+possibility of such failure and defeat.
+
+For a while Bambo gave way to despondency and these by no means
+unnatural fears. Soon, however, this mood passed away, banished as
+swiftly as mist before sunshine, by the recollection of a promise--old
+almost as the everlasting hills, yet new as the song which the redeemed
+ones sing around the throne of God,--
+
+"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I
+will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee
+with the right hand of my righteousness."
+
+Like a whisper of sweetest music the peace of the words stole over the
+dwarf's troubled spirit, soothing and fortifying him so that he felt
+himself no longer a weakling, a pigmy, but a veritable giant to fight
+and to endure. And with a smile upon his lips and a light not of earth
+in his sunken eyes, Bambo and his charges slipped noiselessly away from
+the bear, the monkey, and the caravan, and set out, not to _seek_ the
+Happy Land, as Darby said with one of his quaint, grave glances, but
+this time to _find_ it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first streaks of sunlight were lighting up the landscape before the
+little party paused to take a rest, and to eat some of the food which
+the dwarf's fore-thought had provided. Darby found a dry seat upon the
+trunk of a fallen tree. Upon it they sat and ate their breakfast of cold
+rabbit and dry bread, washed down by a draught of pure water carried in
+a tin porringer from a spring which bubbled out of the bank hard by--a
+spring that was half hidden by the feathery moss, trailing periwinkle,
+and brown fern fronds with which it was surrounded. The children
+breakfasted heartily, their early outing having sharpened their
+appetites; but Bambo's eating was only a pretence, for he was not
+hungry. Joan was a fairly solid weight for a girl of five, and he had
+carried her in his arms nearly all the way from the encampment. He was
+tired and exhausted in consequence; his hands burned, his lips were
+parched, his brow fevered. He laved his face with the clear, cool water;
+and after a long, deep drink from the porringer, which Joan held to his
+lips with all the precision and gravity of a professional nurse, he felt
+strengthened and refreshed.
+
+By-and-by they set out again, and now Joan trotted by Bambo's side,
+chattering gaily the while. The sunshine was warm and bright. The air
+was alive with myriads of insects flitting and buzzing their brief life
+away. Sparrows chirped and wrangled in the bare brown hedges, robins
+piped their sweet, plaintive tune from every tree; film-like webs of
+silvery gossamer decked the grass beneath their feet, and draped the
+stunted furze bushes as with a bridal veil of rarest lace. It was all so
+gladsome, so beautiful, so free, that Joan laughed and skipped for joy.
+And was she not going back to Miss Carolina, and the cats, and baby, and
+Auntie Alice, and Firgrove? Darby trudged more soberly by the dwarf's
+side, and they chatted as they went. Bambo told tales of his boyhood. He
+described to the children the tiny two-roomed cottage, long since swept
+away to be replaced by a more sanitary habitation, where he and his
+widowed mother lived with his grandfather and grandmother. He spoke of
+his kind grandmother's death, and his mother's, almost immediately
+after, from the same destroying fever. Thus Bambo was left practically
+alone in the world. His grandfather was a sour, silent man, disappointed
+first in his only son, who had never been anything but a ne'er-do-well
+and a burden to his parents; then in his grandson, whose deformity and
+helplessness the old man resented as a personal injury at the hand of
+Providence. He could not tolerate the child as a baby--never set eyes
+upon him, in fact, if he could help it. When the baby grew from infancy
+to childhood, he quickly learned, guided by the unerring instinct
+usually possessed by the young, to keep out of his grandfather's way and
+to fear him, so that there was little love lost between them. After the
+two women were gone the state of matters grew worse. Sore from a sense
+of injustice, starved for want of affection, the boy was often sullen
+and sometimes disobedient. Strife and even blows were the outcome, until
+life in Moses Green's lodging--for he had quitted the cottage--became
+unbearable to the wretched, misguided boy. Indeed, so unhappy did he
+feel in those dark days after his mother's death, that he had been often
+tempted to wonder why God had made him at all when he was not made as
+others, when in all the big, wide world there seemed no fitting place
+for such as he.
+
+There were several kind, good people who, aware of the harsh, unnatural
+feeling of the surly old gardener towards his grandson, were anxious to
+befriend the orphan child--Squire Turner of Firgrove, the father of Aunt
+Catharine and Auntie Alice, being among the number. But the first thing
+they one and all proposed was that for a while he should be sent to
+school, and to this the lad resolutely refused to submit. Did he not
+know what strong, active boys who could leap, and run, and fight, and
+play football were like out of school? They were his enemies, his
+tormentors, who mocked, gibed, jeered, stoned him even, until he
+sometimes felt he would like to wrap his long arms round their necks and
+strangle the whole lot of them. And if they were cruel and unkind out of
+school, when he could generally get away from them somehow, or hide,
+what would they be in it where there should be no escape? School indeed!
+Not likely! So in order to free himself from the attentions of those who
+meant well enough, no doubt, but, in the dwarf's opinion, did not know
+what they were talking about, Bambo did what many another boy has done
+on the top of his temper before and since--he ran away, far, far away to
+the big town of Barchester, upon which he and the children had just
+turned their backs, tramping every step of the long, weary journey.
+
+It was quickly made plain to him, however, that most of the lads who
+loafed about the Barchester street corners were curiously similar to the
+boys of Firdale in their love of teasing and making a mock of any
+creature weaker than themselves, any one whose appearance or
+peculiarities presented a fair butt for their rough ridicule, and
+gradually the dwarf grew to cherish a rooted hatred to his race.
+
+The days went on. He had arrived in Barchester with only a
+long-treasured threepenny piece in his pocket. Rapidly it melted away;
+for a few pence do not last very long, even when one buys only a
+halfpenny worth of bread a day and sleeps on a doorstep. He was almost
+famished and worn to a shadow when, by good luck or ill, he fell in with
+the proprietor of the Satellite Circus Company and his troupe, as Joe so
+grandly called the occupants of the huge yellow caravan. They were just
+starting on tour--the phrase is Joe's--for the summer. Joe eagerly
+invited the dwarf to accompany them, being on the lookout at the time
+for a fresh sensation, and seeing in the extraordinary-looking lad, with
+the huge head, stunted legs, and sprawling feet, a novel addition to his
+party at the cost merely of some scraps and a shelter, when a shelter
+was available and not required for any other purpose.
+
+The boy on his part jumped at the man's offer, for was he not starving?
+Besides, he was overjoyed at the prospect of the freedom and the outdoor
+life held out to him by the proposal that he should become part and
+parcel of the constantly-moving caravan. And what a fine way of escape
+from his persecutors! So there and then the dwarf was enrolled as a
+regular member of the Satellite Circus Company. His real name--plain
+Jimmy Green--was scornfully cast aside. Mr. Harris voted it slow and
+commonplace. After a good deal of thought and much indecision, he
+substituted the more catchy one of Bambo as being both novel and
+appropriate to the profession--Bambo, the musical dwarf; though why he
+was dubbed musical was always a puzzle to the poor little man, because
+nobody had ever known him to sing a note in his life. Sing! why, with
+his hoarse, croaky voice he could no more make music than a frog in a
+marsh. The absurdity of it amused him at first every time he saw his
+name flaring in big red and yellow letters from placards and hoardings.
+Bambo was all right; he rather liked the change. And Bambo he had
+remained ever since, until, like Darby and Joan, the dwarf had almost
+forgotten his claim to any other name.
+
+From year to year he stayed on with Joe and Moll. Other members of the
+company came and went, but still the dwarf remained--now cuffed and
+kicked, when he did not by his grotesque antics and claptrap tricks
+bring in as many pence as his patrons believed he might; again let alone
+when he had been lucky, and they were in a good humour with themselves
+and all the world. He acted as bear-leader and buffoon, villain and
+hero, alternately in public; while in private he was cook, drudge,
+messman, and menagerie manager for the rest of the party, for animals of
+some sort invariably formed part of the attractions of the troupe. Now
+it was a performing poodle, picked up somewhere in Mr. Harris's own
+ingenious way of finding things which had never been lost; again it was
+a cage of white mice; at another time a wonderful parrot, with always a
+monkey, and generally a bear. Bambo had a great way with these
+creatures, and often succeeded in teaching them tricks when Joe had
+failed. His methods were few and simple, based chiefly upon kindness and
+perseverance; whereas Joe's one idea of imparting instruction was by
+threats and chastisement in some form, dealt out impartially to each and
+all, and more than one valuable animal had come to grief on the system.
+
+It was a hard life, and after a time became very monotonous to the
+dwarf, who was often heartsick of it all. But what else was there for
+him to do? Nothing that he knew of, so he stayed on.
+
+One after another the changing seasons slipped swiftly away, and in
+their passing brought to the Satellite Circus Company reverses and bad
+times. They found it impossible to keep pace with the ever-growing craze
+for something fresh, a new excitement, and in consequence had slowly but
+surely been losing their place in public favour. Then the company was
+broken up. The Swedish giantess went over to an opposition troupe; the
+German ventriloquist and conjurer had died of apoplexy; their leading
+lady, who so airily executed the tight-rope performances as well, went
+off one fine day without saying good-bye, and married the clown, with
+whom she had serious thoughts of setting up a select show on her own
+account. The roomy, comfortable caravan was sold, and an old lumbering
+machine hired each summer instead; while in winter the party lived from
+hand to mouth on their wits, putting up here, there, and anyhow. The
+animals had all died or been disposed of except the horses--a pair of
+broken-down yet intelligent piebalds--Puck, and Bruno, the bear that
+Bambo had trained from a cub, and tamed until he was as gentle as a
+lamb with every one but Joe, towards whom he seemed to entertain a
+dislike both deep and savage.
+
+As the years rolled round, Bambo became reconciled to his lot, and in
+course of time more than reconciled, even happy. For in the many
+solitary hours he passed perched above the horses upon the box of the
+caravan, when the soft summer wind fanned his face, or in dark, dewy
+midnights, when in the shelter of some leafy forest glade he felt
+himself alone with nature, long-forgotten words he had heard from his
+mother's lips, prayers she had taught him, hymns she had crooned beside
+his bed, came back to his memory--not quickly or clearly all at once,
+but slowly, hazily. He eagerly welcomed these memories, and hungrily
+held them close. At first they represented to him his mother--gentle,
+pitiful, loving--come back from the dead, and the friendless youth felt
+no longer desolate. Then he began to ponder the meaning of the thoughts
+that filled his heart and brain; and God, by His silent lessons,
+conveyed through every bird that flies, every insect that crawls, each
+flower that raises its smiling beauty to the sun, helped him to
+understand. He had learned to read, in an imperfect sort of way, during
+his early years. He bought a Bible with clear type in the next village
+they stopped at, and, by dint of frequent practice, he was soon able to
+read it easily. The Book became his constant comfort and delight.
+Henceforth existence ceased to be a burden to the despised dwarf; each
+day brought a fresh message of hope, and held a sweeter significance of
+love for this hitherto hopeless, loveless creature, because the Lord had
+discovered to him the real meaning of life, and he knew himself--mean,
+unworthy though he was--at his true value: no longer only a log, a
+spectacle, an offence, but an immortal soul for whom the dear Christ
+Jesus had esteemed it no shame to die! He was sure that he was wanted in
+the world, that there was a use for him, a something which he alone
+could do, and he patiently awaited the Lord's orders. Now he knew that
+his special work had been put ready to his hand--the deliverance of
+these two little ones. And although the call to action did not sound
+until his sands of life were well-nigh run, the answer "Ready!" rang
+none the less cheerily and promptly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At midday, which Bambo was able to guess pretty nearly by the sun, the
+fugitives halted to have their dinner. Joan said it was not dinner at
+all, only breakfast over again; for it consisted of some more cold
+rabbit, a slice of bread each, with a drink of water. And very good it
+tasted to these hungry little people, who many a time at Firgrove had
+discontentedly turned up their noses at much more dainty fare. Then Joan
+fell asleep, cradled comfortably in the dwarf's long arms, and Darby
+dozed at his side.
+
+When they awoke it was well on in the afternoon. The sun was no longer
+visible; a chilling wind had sprung up from the east; dull gray clouds
+hung loweringly overhead; a close mist, as of coming rain, wrapped the
+landscape as in a mantle. Bambo felt that they must push on, and, if
+possible, find somewhere to shelter in for the night. It would never do
+for these tenderly-nurtured children to be exposed to a drenching. About
+himself the dwarf had no anxiety. A shower more or less could not matter
+much, he thought, as a more severe fit of coughing than usual shook his
+frail, thin body and tore at his poor, raw chest. Nothing mattered now,
+he told himself, except that he should accomplish the work his Master
+had given him to do, and along with the work he believed that he should
+also be granted a sufficiency of strength. After that--why, he would be
+quite ready and eager for the next call upon him, whenever it came.
+
+But there was not a house or cottage within sight, only a long stretch
+of barren land, half heather, partly coarse grass, over which some
+small, horned sheep and half-grown cattle had been turned out to
+pasture. About three miles off, at a place called Hanleigh Heath, there
+was a farm with a solitary wayside dwelling attached--a big, bare barn
+of a place, part of which the farmer had utilized as a sort of rude
+hostelry. The dwarf knew it well. It was called the Traveller's Delight.
+He had put up there with the Harrises one night several years before.
+The landlord and Joe seemed the best of friends--as "thick as thieves,"
+in fact. Therefore Bambo felt that he dared not venture within the
+hostelry with his charges--it would not be safe; besides, they had no
+money to pay for lodging. Nevertheless, they must make for it with all
+speed. The rain was coming on, and soon too. The Traveller's Delight
+held out their only chance of refuge from the wet and the darkness, and
+the dwarf hoped that in some of its straggling outhouses they should
+find shelter for the night.
+
+It was almost dark when Darby and the dwarf saw a light twinkling a
+short way off, like a bright, friendly eye from out the gloom. Oh, how
+thankful they were! for both were weary beyond the power of moving many
+yards further. Darby was staggering from giddiness and stumbling at
+every step. His little legs dragged one after the other as if each foot
+were weighted with lead. Bambo spoke no word, for speech was now hardly
+possible to him, his throat was so sore, his breath so laboured, his
+chest so torn by the deep, grating cough, which, in spite of all his
+efforts, he could not suppress. The instant the rain actually began to
+fall he had taken off his jacket to wrap around Joan, who was sound
+asleep in his arms, and his vest he had put upon Darby. It hung about
+the boy's slim shoulders and over his knees somewhat like a sack. It had
+saved him from a wetting, however; while Bambo, thus stripped of his
+outer garments, was soaked to the skin.
+
+He carefully laid the still sleeping Joan under the shelter of a hayrick
+in the stackyard behind the inn; and charging Darby neither to make a
+noise nor leave her alone, no matter what might happen, the dwarf crept
+cautiously forward--stealthy in his movements as a cat stalking a
+mouse--to ascertain whether there was any safe cover to which he could
+convey the children.
+
+From the front of the inn the lamplight streamed through the uncurtained
+windows, shining cheerily on the wet cobble-stones of the sloppy
+courtyard, and now and again a shrill voice pierced the silence of the
+night as a woman's figure moved to and fro within the warmly-glowing
+kitchen. But outside there was no sign of life; all was still except for
+the occasional shuffling of the horses' feet in the stable, the slow,
+deep breathing of the cows in an adjacent shed; and Bambo became bolder.
+He peeped in at this window, he peered within that door, until at length
+he found what he wanted--an empty house with plenty of clean, dry straw
+strewn upon its floor.
+
+In summer it had probably been used for housing the calves which were
+now wandering at will over the wide, wet pasture-lands, having arrived
+at an age when they could be promoted to share the privations without
+enjoying any of the comforts of the grown-up creatures belonging to the
+establishment. No one was likely to have an errand there now that its
+former occupants were away. In any case, nobody would be about before
+morning, Bambo reasoned, and by day-dawn he and his charges would have
+once more taken the road for Firgrove.
+
+Gently and carefully he raised Joan from her bed beside the haystack,
+fearing that if she awoke she might make a noise. She did awake,
+however, sat up, looked all round in a frightened fashion, then began to
+whimper. Drawing a fold of shawl across her mouth and whispering to
+Darby to keep close, the dwarf carried her as swiftly and silently as
+possible to the shelter which he had discovered. There, snugly curled up
+among the clean, dry straw like kittens in a basket, the little ones
+were both soon sound asleep.
+
+But Bambo could not sleep, although his weakness and weariness amounted
+almost to pain. He was strangely wakeful, and eagerly on the alert for
+the slightest sound which might indicate either disturbance or danger.
+By-and-by, however, his head began to droop on his chest; his eyes were
+closed, his long arms lay limply by his side. The present faded away
+from him; he drifted back into the past again. Once more he was a child
+at his mother's knee; his brow was bent upon her lap, his hands were
+folded as she bade him fold them when he said his evening prayer--a
+simple petition which in all his wanderings the dwarf never forgot, and
+of late years never omitted to repeat each night--in perfect faith and
+childlike confidence that his words would be heard, his requests
+granted:--
+
+    "I lay my body down to sleep,
+    And pray that God my soul will keep;
+    And if I die before I wake,
+    I pray that God my soul will take. Amen."
+
+For a while all was still within the calf-house. Darby and Joan slept
+the profound, dreamless sleep of tired childhood; the dwarf was buried
+in an oblivion which was as much the stupor of weakness as the
+blissfulness of sleep. About an hour he remained sunk in sweet
+forgetfulness of present danger and future difficulties. Then his big
+head began to bob uneasily up and down, from one side to another, until
+it fell upon his shoulder with a sudden jerk which only partially
+aroused him. He opened his eyes with an effort. Where was he, and where
+was his mother? Surely that was not her voice which broke in so coarsely
+through the closed door and the hole in the wall? That harsh laugh never
+burst from her mouth; those ugly words never soiled her pure lips! All
+at once Bambo started upright, thoroughly awake and trembling with
+terror. He remembered everything, and for a minute his brave, loving
+heart died within him as he recognized the voices in the court outside
+of Thieving Joe and his wife Moll, wrangling with the sleepy landlord
+for admittance at that unseemly hour to the shelter and comfort of the
+Traveller's Delight.
+
+The dwarf put his ear to a chink in the door and listened intently. He
+could not make out what they said, however, but that they were there in
+hot pursuit of himself and the children Bambo felt not an atom of doubt.
+Some one must have taken note of the runaways, given Joe and Moll
+warning, and here they were already on their trail. They would question
+the landlord; next, search every corner and cranny about the inn for the
+fugitives. At any moment their hiding-place might be discovered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A TERRIBLE FRIGHT.
+
+    "No will-o'-the-wisp mislight thee,
+    No snake or slowworm bite thee,
+        But on, on thy way,
+        Not making a stay,
+    Since ghost there's none to affright thee.
+
+    "Let not the dark thee cumber;
+    What though the moon does slumber?
+        The stars of the night
+        Will lend thee their light,
+    Like tapers clear without number."
+
+                    R. HERRICK.
+
+
+Behind the stackyard at the Traveller's Delight the ground dipped down
+into a hollow, which, even in daylight, was completely screened from the
+view of any one within the house or about the yard by a great clump or
+patch of scraggy furze bushes. In this secluded spot there stood a
+lime-kiln, one of those built somewhat like a low circular tower, with
+gaping mouth and open roof; but for many a day the kiln had not been
+used--not since the present tenant entered on possession of the farm at
+Hanleigh Heath. During the course of these years of disuse nature had
+been busy beautifying the original ugliness of the structure. Now ivy
+climbed boldly here and there over the rough mason-work, trails of late
+convolvulus festooned the opening, hardy hart's-tongue and tufts of
+parsley fern sprang from every crevice in the stones, while the top was
+covered with a tangle of briars, nettles, and matted grass. These
+combined to form a species of thatch which perfectly protected the
+interior from both wind and rain.
+
+Bambo had come upon this spot long ago. He had, in fact, slept there one
+night snugly and safely, and thought to himself what a fine hiding-place
+it would be in case of need, for nobody seemed to go near it. Now, in
+his dilemma and sore strait, the remembrance of the old lime-kiln came
+back to him, and he welcomed the idea with joy and gratitude. It would
+never occur to Joe Harris to seek his runaways in such a spot--he
+probably did not know of its existence--and the dwarf did not believe
+that the landlord would take any part in the chase. He surmised, and
+correctly too, that such a shrewd person would prefer to ignore the
+claims of friendship to running the risk of bringing the Traveller's
+Delight under the notice of the authorities, or mixing himself up with
+what might turn out to be an awkward business.
+
+For what seemed to the watching Bambo a very long time lights continued
+to burn within the house, while now and again a burst of noisy laughter
+broke the silence of the night, rising discordantly above the steady,
+persistent pitter-patter, pitter-patter, drip, drip, drip of the soft,
+thick autumn rain. At length the darkness and stillness of midnight held
+the homestead in possession. Even the rain had ceased to fall; not a
+sound was to be heard except the dwarf's hoarse, laboured breaths and
+the gentle, regular breathing of the sleeping children.
+
+Gradually and cautiously Bambo awoke Darby. For a minute or two the
+little fellow could not make out where he was; but in a few hurried
+whispered sentences the dwarf made him understand how near and how dire
+was the danger which threatened them--how absolutely needful it was for
+them to be quick, and to be wary in their attempt if they meant to
+escape.
+
+Without arousing Joan, Bambo lifted her up from her nest among the
+straw, and keeping her still well wrapped up in his own worn jacket, he
+held her easily in his arms. Then, with Darby pressing close beside him,
+they crept noiselessly forth from the shelter and warmth of the cosy
+calf-house.
+
+By this time the moon rode high in a soft gray-blue sky, shedding a
+flood of pale, pure radiance on all things, touching the homely,
+commonplace details of the farmyard with a love-like caress until they
+were idealized into objects of wonder and beauty. But Bambo had no eyes
+just then for admiring nature's marvellous transformation scenes; the
+work in hand occupied his whole attention. He barely glanced at the
+moon, although he was well aware of her presence, which he considered
+rather unfortunate, and heartily wished it had been still dark, because
+then their movements would have been more certain to escape notice.
+
+Slowly and stealthily they moved from the cover of the door, keeping
+well within the shadow cast by the walls of the outhouses. Step by step
+they stole along until they reached the greater security of the
+stackyard. There they were beyond view from the windows, supposing any
+one were looking out, which was hardly likely. Inch by inch they crawled
+across the bright patch of a hundred yards or so between them and the
+clump of friendly furze bushes. There they paused to take breath and
+look about them. There was nobody at their heels; nothing in sight
+except the sheep huddled in heaps for shelter behind the low stone
+dikes, and the young cattle herding in groups here and there over the
+wet, glistening fields. In the hollow below lay the place of refuge for
+which they were bound. And just as Bruce's plucky spider made that "bold
+little run at the very last pinch" which "put him into his native spot,"
+so one quick rush down the incline in front of them landed the fugitives
+inside the empty lime-kiln, where they were safe, for the moment at
+least, with a roof over their heads, a dry green floor beneath their
+feet, on which they could stretch their weary limbs.
+
+But afterwards! The inn seemed wrapped in slumber just then. The
+landlord would be back in his bed. Joe and Moll might have left--gone
+off in another direction, disappointed at not finding the fugitives or
+any news of them at the Traveller's Delight on their arrival; or
+possibly they were resting, with the intention of making a thorough
+search through the premises in the daylight next morning. This was the
+more probable explanation of how matters actually stood; at the same
+time, Bambo had no sense of security that it was the correct one. At
+that very moment their enemies might be prowling from barn to byre, from
+cart-shed to stable in pursuit of their prey. They would undoubtedly
+explore the stackyard. Next, they would notice the furze bushes. They
+would poke and peer among them and about them. Failing to find what they
+sought, they would be sure to look this way and that, up and down, until
+their eyes lighted upon the lime-kiln. Then--
+
+Here the dwarf drew a quick breath, set his teeth hard, and again asked
+himself what was to be done next.
+
+The children were worn out. Joan sobbed from time to time in her sleep,
+and brave, strong-souled little Darby shivered with cold and fright,
+while he pressed closer and closer to the dwarf's side for warmth and
+protection. As for Bambo himself, he was feeling extremely ill. The
+fever that raged in his blood cracked his lips and parched his tongue,
+until it felt in his mouth like so much dry sponge. His breathing had
+become so laboured from the sharp, shooting pains in his chest and back
+that it was only with difficulty he could speak; while his hot hands
+shook, and his thin, stunted limbs trembled beneath the weight of his
+big, ungainly body. He wondered what would happen if he were not able to
+go any further! What would become of the boy and little missy if he were
+to die there in the kiln before morning? Alas! there could be but one
+answer to that question, with Moll Harris and Thieving Joe hovering
+around like hawks about a nest of doves. But no; God was not going to
+deliver them up to the destroyers in any such fashion. After having
+brought them thus far on their way in safety, He would surely see them
+over the rest of the road; and Bambo took heart again. They would rest
+where they were until dawn; then one more effort would surely bring them
+to some farm or decent cottage. He would tell the children's story, and
+perhaps a cart or other conveyance could be found to take them on to
+Firgrove; some one, at least, there would surely be willing to hasten to
+inform the ladies of the whereabouts of the two wee wanderers.
+
+Thus far the dwarf's thoughts ran readily on, then stopped in confusion.
+Further they would not seek to penetrate, and it did not matter. Once
+the little ones were safe with their friends he should have plenty of
+time to think about himself. Then he would be free to lie down in some
+quiet spot and sleep away some of the weakness and weariness which
+every moment threatened to overpower him. Sleep! oh, if he could only
+sleep until the racking pains in his chest were better!
+Sleep--sleep--sleep! and perhaps it might even be permitted him not to
+wake at all until he had reached that land whose inhabitants are never
+sick, and the people who dwell therein are forgiven their iniquity.
+
+"I'm afraid your cold is worse," whispered Darby at length through the
+silence, that was broken only by Joan's sobbing sighs and the dwarf's
+hoarse breathing, which every moment became more painful and more
+difficult.
+
+"Ay, I think it is," answered Bambo, giving the little fellow's hand a
+grateful squeeze. "But don't you fret about Bambo, deary; he'll soon be
+all right, never fear, once you and missy are safe at home."
+
+"Are we far from the canal here, Mr. Bambo?" Darby again asked, after a
+long pause, during which the dwarf thought he had fallen asleep.
+
+"Yes--no--well, let me see," said the dwarf thoughtfully. "Why, it's
+just a matter of about two miles as the crow flies, over the fields on
+the other side of the inn."
+
+"Could we walk as the crow flies?" demanded Darby eagerly. "That is--of
+course--well, you know what I mean," and the little lad smiled and
+coloured in the darkness.
+
+"Ay, there's nothing to hinder, so far as I know. Why are you asking,
+deary?"
+
+"Because I've been thinking that if we could get there--and Joan should
+be able to walk that length easily, I'm sure, after this nice long sleep
+she's having--the man would let us into the boat, and that would take us
+home without tiring you any more. Or we could slip on board when he
+wasn't looking. You know that's how we came," added the boy, with an
+amused little chuckle.
+
+The dwarf did not answer immediately.
+
+"Well, sonny, I wouldn't say but you're about right," he replied at
+length. "I never thought of going by the canal, knowing as how the
+boat's not allowed to carry passengers. But if we were to tell the man
+in charge where we're bound for, and explain things a bit to him, it's
+more than likely he'd stretch a point and take us to Firdale. And if he
+refuses, we could do just as you say--slip in at the next stopping-place
+without anybody being anything the wiser.
+
+"Bless you for a wee wisehead!" gasped Bambo, in his hoarse, quavering
+voice, at the same time drawing the child still closer to his side.
+"You've put new life into me. Here I've been fearing as how I should
+never reach Firgrove, and blaming the Lord for forgetting us. And now,
+out of the mouth of a babe, so to speak, He brings the very plan that
+will be easiest and best for us all," and tears of joy and thankfulness
+trickled down the poor creature's hollow, fevered cheeks.
+
+"We needn't go just yet, not for ever so long," said Darby, quite proud
+of his post of commander-in-chief for the time being. "The boat leaves
+Barchester early, early in the morning, but she doesn't reach Engleton
+till about eight o'clock. I've talked with Mrs. Grey of the _Smiling
+Jane_ lots and lots of times, so I know. She reaches Firdale some time
+in the evening. We'll be home in time for tea. Oh, won't it be lovely!"
+said Darby, clasping his hands in ecstasy.
+
+"Ay!" assented Bambo, earnestly, solemnly. It was not of the tea he was
+thinking, however, but of the deep satisfaction and gratitude with which
+he would hand over his charges to their proper guardians. "And now you
+must try and sleep a while, sonny, like missy here. See, lie down on
+this nice dry place, and you can lean your head on Bambo's knee."
+
+"You must rest too," coaxed Darby sweetly. "You are so good to us, yet
+you never think of yourself. Wait, see if we won't take care of you when
+we go to Firgrove! Aunt Catharine will soon cure your cough. She's fine
+for doctoring, though she _is_ so--so--"
+
+"Don't fret about me, sonny; I'll rest plenty by-and-by, never you
+fear," and with that strange smile lighting up his pale, plain face, a
+smile which to look upon--only now it was too dark--made Darby feel as
+if he were in church or had newly finished saying his prayers, the dwarf
+watched until the little lad's heavy eyelids drooped over his tired
+eyes.
+
+Soon he would have been, like Joan, fast asleep. Bambo also was hovering
+on the undefined borderland, when the sound of footsteps from the field
+above the kiln caught his quick ear, and with a sudden jerk of his great
+head he sat up to listen. At the same time a flare of light from a
+lantern streamed over the top of the kiln, and loud, angry voices rose
+upon the still night air in quarrelsome tones.
+
+"I ain't goin' prowlin' about here no longer, Joe Harris, I tell ee,"
+said Moll shrilly. "I've tramped at yer heel for the last twelve hours
+a'most, till I'm ready to drop, an' now you'd keep folks from their
+proper sleep all for nought!"
+
+"Stow yer cheek, I say, or it'll be the worse for you," growled Mr.
+Harris savagely. "I'm goin' to fin' them kids an' that rascally imp o' a
+dwarf wherever they are, an' you're goin' to help me. They come this
+way, right enough--there's no mistake about that--an' where else would
+they be but here? There's not another spot they could shelter for miles
+an' miles."
+
+"Fin' 'em, then, if you can!" snapped Moll sharply. "Anyhow, I'm goin'
+away to my bed like a decent Christ'an woman. Come along, Joe, do," she
+urged, with a swift change of tone. "You can have another look roun' in
+the mornin' if you must. But if you'd take my biddin'--only that's what
+you never do--you'd let 'em go back where they come from."
+
+"Shut up!" commanded Joe, in the same savage tone as before. "Haven't I
+told you agin an' agin that I'll never let 'em escape--not if we were to
+swing for't!" he added grandly. Then he went on in a wheedling sort of
+way. "Here, old girl, take the lantern an' look down below there; you've
+sharper sight nor me. Pullen, he says as there's a tumble-down
+lime-kiln in that hollow. Bambo ud hardly hit on't; but it's best to
+make sure."
+
+Moll snatched the lantern from her lord's hand with an extremely bad
+grace, and an exclamation which sounded very like "Bad luck to Pullen
+an' the Traveller's Delight!" For she heartily disliked the mission upon
+which they were bound--the recovery of the captives. Having had frequent
+experience of her husband's furious temper and the weight of his fists,
+she dared not directly refuse to aid him; but from the bottom of her
+heart she hoped the two sweet innocents would never fall into his
+clutches again.
+
+"Better for them to be dead!" muttered Moll passionately, as, lantern in
+hand, she nimbly slid down the shiny wet slope to the lime-kiln. "The
+little lass, leastways," she added in a softer voice. And as the memory
+of Joan's freely-bestowed kiss fell upon the woman's half-awakened heart
+like the touch of an angel's finger, a tear trembled on her long black
+lashes, and a wordless prayer winged its way through the inky darkness
+of the murky sky--a prayer which in heaven was understood to indicate a
+struggling soul's yearning after better things.
+
+Straight and swift to the mouth of the kiln came Moll, the lantern
+flinging its trail of light from side to side as she moved. At length
+she paused opposite the opening, darted inside, looked about, and
+stopped short with a smothered cry as her keen eyes discerned the little
+group huddled in the far corner.
+
+"Whish!" was all she said. Then she laid a finger on her lip, pointed
+upwards, and whispered, "Joe!"
+
+Neither Bambo nor Darby moved or spoke, and Joan slept on. They were too
+frightened to do anything but stare at Moll in astonishment, wondering,
+yet thankful, because she seemed disposed to be so friendly.
+
+Moll put the lantern on the ground, fumbled for an instant in a huge
+hold-all that hung beneath her skirt, whence she produced a handful of
+coppers with a hunch of bread and cheese. These she silently handed to
+the dwarf, who grasped her hand and murmured a fervent "God bless you,
+Moll!" Then moving forward to where the sleeping child lay upon the
+grass, the woman dropped on her knees beside her, bent down until her
+face was on a level with the little one's, and reverently pressed her
+lips to one of the small hands that were flung in a position of perfect
+grace across the folds of the dwarf's worn brown jacket.
+
+"Wait here till everything quiet," she breathed, leaning towards Bambo's
+ear; "then fly for yer lives. Joe's as mad as mad! Make for the canal.
+Bargee'll take ye on board if you tell him that these is the runaways
+the beaks was on the hunt for. But don't split on us--leastways, not if
+you can help it," added Moll, suddenly remembering how little reason she
+had to expect mercy at the dwarf's hands. "An' now farewell! Don't
+forget that Moll tried to do ye a good turn when she had the chance."
+And giving Darby's head a rough pat, and casting another long look upon
+the unconscious Joan, the woman clambered up the slope almost as quickly
+as she had come down.
+
+"Mercy me!" they heard her exclaim in accents of annoyance; "if this
+bloomin' old lantern hasn't gone out! What ever'll you do, Joe?"
+
+"Fool!" shouted Joe angrily. "Why, get it lighted agin, to be sure.
+Come, hurry up. I ain't agoin' to stay here for ever."
+
+"No more be I," answered his wife coolly. "You've burrowed enough roun'
+in this direction, surely; leastways I have, an' now I'm goin' to get
+some sleep. If you want that thing lighted, you can do it yerself, for I
+won't. There!"
+
+Directly after the dwarf heard her rapid steps retreating in the
+direction of the hostelry, and again he blessed Moll Harris in his
+heart; for he knew full well that the lantern had not been extinguished
+accidentally, but by a quick-witted woman's willing fingers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+AT EVENING TIME.
+
+    "Ah! what would the world be to us
+      If the children were no more?
+    We should dread the desert behind us
+      Worse than the dark before.
+
+    "Ye are better than all the ballads
+      That ever were sung or said;
+    For ye are living poems,
+      And all the rest are dead."
+
+                   --LONGFELLOW.
+
+
+It was not quite a week since Darby and Joan had so suddenly and
+mysteriously disappeared from Firgrove; yet to the distracted aunts it
+seemed as if years instead of days had dragged away since that bright
+morning when they had bidden the little ones good-bye, and left them
+standing among the pussies and the flowers, looking the picture of
+health, beauty, and innocence. And where were they now? Dead, drowned,
+Aunt Catharine felt convinced, although she had no further proof of
+their fate than what was indicated by the finding of Darby's hat; for,
+notwithstanding all their efforts, not another trace of the missing
+children had been discovered. They had assuredly fallen into the canal,
+argued Miss Turner. The locks were so often open, the keepers so dull
+and unobservant, that their bodies might easily have drifted by without
+being noticed. Then, once past Barchester, they would be washed away by
+the next outgoing tide--far, far away, wrapped in a tangle of brown and
+green seaweed; or perhaps they were lying fathoms deep beneath the
+restless, shifting waters, whence they should rise no more until that
+day "when the sea gives up its dead."
+
+Nurse Perry took the same hopeless view of the children's fate as Miss
+Turner. She wandered about from morning till night with Eric in her
+arms, searching the most unlikely places, questioning everybody she met
+in her eager desire to discover the lost little ones--"for all the
+world," said cook, "like a creature that was off her head!" She grew
+quite pale and thin, with a sad, frightened look in her eyes which even
+the blandishments of Mr. Jenkins, when he came of a morning for orders,
+could not banish; their rims were red, too, as from frequent tears, for
+many a good cry poor Perry had. She blamed herself unreservedly for the
+disappearance of her charges; and as Miss Turner believed that _she_
+also was in fault, far more than Perry, they mourned and lamented in
+company.
+
+For during those days of sad suspense Aunt Catharine appeared an altered
+woman. No longer stern and stately, self-satisfied and self-sufficient,
+she and her sister seemed to have changed places. She it was who clung
+to Miss Alice for sympathy and support in the sore trouble that had
+befallen them. Miss Alice it was who kept brave and cheery--hoping
+against hope that things were not actually so black as they looked; but
+Miss Turner could not be coaxed to take any comfort to herself.
+
+"It's very easy for _you_ to keep hopeful and calm," she would say to
+her sister. "_You_ have nothing to reproach yourself with. You were
+always soft and sweet and loving with them, whereas I--I was afraid to
+let them see how closely they had wound themselves about my heart for
+fear they should become petted and spoiled: so they thought me stern and
+harsh, when I only meant to be firm and judicious; they believed me hard
+and unsympathetic, when I was trying to teach them self-command and
+obedience. Oh, why did I not win their hearts by tenderness, and gain
+their allegiance by kindness, rather than seek to mould them after my
+pattern by laying down laws and holding constantly before their eyes the
+fear of punishment!"
+
+"Don't grieve so, dear sister. You never were either unkind or harsh to
+Darby and Joan. I'm sure no one could ever imagine any such thing,"
+answered Miss Alice soothingly. "Every one knows, and Guy knew too,
+before he went away, how dearly you loved the children."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Miss Turner impatiently; "of course people would take
+it for granted that I loved my nephew's little ones--and who could help
+it?--but what I am angry with myself for is that I did not let them see
+it. What good is love if one only shuts it up in one's heart to be
+looked at in private? It must be seen and felt if it is to be of any
+value, or to make any impression on its object. Ah! I was blind before,
+but now I see things more plainly. Those two--Darby especially--have
+gone away, wherever they are, with the idea that Aunt Catharine was in a
+sense their enemy, who grudged them every bit of happiness they wanted
+to have, while all the time I would willingly have given my life for
+either of them. Oh, if they were only back, how different I would be!"
+sobbed poor Aunt Catharine, leaning her aching head and faded face upon
+her sister's shoulder.
+
+"Hush, dear," coaxed Auntie Alice, in her soft, cooing voice. "You will
+make yourself ill, and what should I do then? Besides, there is no use
+in giving way like that--until we are sure there is no longer room for
+hope, at any rate. It is not a week yet since the children disappeared.
+There's no guessing where they may have gone--off to Africa to find
+their father, as likely as not!" laughed Auntie Alice. "Darby would
+start in a minute--you know how hazy are his ideas of places and
+distance--and Joan follows wherever he leads. Some one will be finding
+them wandering about and bringing them back to us directly, you'll see.
+I shouldn't be a bit surprised," she added, in answer to her sister's
+look of astonishment, in which there was mingled a faint ray of hope.
+"And Dr. King agrees with me that it's some wild scheme or other that
+has taken them off, although perhaps not just Africa."
+
+"Dr. King!" exclaimed Miss Turner, with a touch of her former asperity;
+"what does Dr. King know about the affair more than I do? But, of
+course, he would agree with you--ay, if you said the moon was made of
+green cheese!"
+
+Miss Alice blushed prettily at her sister's words; indeed, she always
+did blush when Dr. King's name was mentioned. Even Darby used to notice
+it, and invariably fixed his eye upon his aunt to see the soft
+rose-colour rise in the cheeks which were still smooth and round enough
+to show off a blush becomingly.
+
+"It's not alone Dr. King who believes they've gone off on some
+wild-goose chase," continued Miss Alice presently. "The rector thinks so
+too; and Mrs. Grey gets quite angry when her husband declares the
+children are drowned."
+
+"Maybe, maybe," replied, Miss Turner gloomily; "and I'm sure I hope
+you're right. But one thing I'm certain of is that they've not set out
+for Africa. Darby would never take such a ridiculous notion into his
+head. He knew perfectly well how far away it is, and how people go
+there. Why, if there was one thing I drummed into him thoroughly over
+and above everything else--except the commandments, perhaps--it was
+Africa! But all the same, it's the thought of Africa that's just killing
+me, sister," moaned the poor lady in piteous tones. "What will their
+father say? What will he think of us? How are we to tell him? for tell
+him we must without further delay. That cablegram has got to go
+to-morrow. It's all very well for Dr. King and Mr. Grey and the rest of
+them to say, 'Wait, wait; time enough.' But we've waited too long
+already, so to-morrow the message goes, as sure as my name's Catharine
+Anne Turner. Then there's granny--Guy's poor mother at Denescroft. We've
+put her off and kept her in the dark quite long enough, even if there is
+a risk in letting her know the truth. I'm going there myself, Alice
+Turner," announced Aunt Catharine resolutely, "the minute I get that
+cablegram off my mind. I, and I alone, shall bear the pain of telling
+her that the grandchildren she adored have gone to be with their mother
+in heaven--her son's dear dead Dorothy. After that, I suppose the next
+thing will be seeing about our black gowns," whispered the elder lady,
+with a grievous burst of sorrow for which her sister had no words of
+comfort ready, because she too was softly sobbing.
+
+"Come, cheer up," said Miss Alice at length, after she had dried her
+eyes. "Try to keep brave--for this one day at least. Who knows what may
+happen! Why, at any moment they may walk in," she added brightly, and
+her cheerfulness was not altogether assumed. For Auntie Alice could not
+bring herself to believe that the children were really lost, or gone
+from their sight for all time--that until they met together, small and
+great, around the throne of God in heaven they should see them no more.
+In the dead of night, when the house was still and baby sleeping quietly
+in his bassinet by Perry's bedside, she would leave her room and go into
+the nursery, where the sight of the empty cribs, the waiting garments,
+the books and toys lying in their usual places, was almost more than she
+could bear. Then she would feel with her sister that they were indeed
+gone for ever, and an earnest prayer for the absent father, upon whom
+the sudden blow would fall with stunning force, would wing its way out
+of the silence of the midnight hours to the God who is so specially a
+children's God. And would He not watch over them faithfully and keep
+them in safety? Ay, surely. But whether He should give them back in life
+to those who grieved so deeply for their loss, or fold them gently in
+the everlasting security of His own bosom, was a question to which as
+yet there had come no answer.
+
+But in broad daylight, when the sky was blue, the sun shining, and the
+kittens whisking merrily round after their own tails among the autumn
+flowers in the garden, Auntie Alice was able to put away from her the
+dread fears which in the darkness took such real and awful shapes, and
+to agree with Dr. King and Mrs. Grey that the children had only gone off
+for a frolic somewhere, and, like bad halfpence, would certainly come
+back when least expected. They were not dead, she told herself; they
+_could_ not be dead, she said in her heart over and over again. Darby,
+the wise, manly little lad, many of whose quaint, sweet sayings were
+carefully stored in his aunt's memory--Darby, with his clear eyes and
+winning ways, lying among the mud and slime of the canal! Horrible! And
+Joan, bright, merry, loving Joan--"little jumping Joan," she sometimes
+called herself--the very sunbeam of prim, quiet Firgrove--Joan sleeping
+among the fishes with folded hands and curtained eyes! Awful! And a long
+shudder would seize Auntie Alice's slender figure. No, no! the children
+were not drowned, she was certain; they would come back to them some day
+and somehow: so from hour to hour she watched and waited, hoped and
+prayed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now it is time to return to the old lime-kiln and our little
+travellers hidden there.
+
+Being abruptly left to himself by Moll in the darkness--for the moon
+was now hidden behind a bank of dense black cloud--Joe prowled and
+stamped and beat furiously among the furze bushes, while now and again a
+snarl of baffled rage broke from him which boded ill for the future of
+the fugitives--if he could only lay his hands upon them!
+
+In a short time, however, he concluded apparently that further search in
+that quarter, and with no light to guide him save "the cold light of
+stars," would prove fruitless, for his retreating footsteps seemed to
+follow Moll's. Then Darby and the dwarf felt free to breathe again, and
+held each other's hands in mute thanksgiving for their deliverance.
+
+But hark! what was that? Steps once more--Joe, probably, come back with
+the newly-lighted lantern to take a final look around. This time he
+would search the kiln himself. Then--And the dwarf noiselessly changed
+his position so that the dark bundle which was Joan lay behind him, and
+wrapped his long arms tightly round the boy, determined to shield them
+to the last against all danger.
+
+The steps came nearer and nearer, slow and deliberate; then they stopped
+as if in indecision, then came on again--not down the incline this time,
+but advancing from the front. Faster and louder thumped the hearts of
+Darby and the dwarf as they watched and waited; nearer and nearer drew
+the black, shapeless _something_, until it halted right opposite the
+mouth of the kiln, only a few yards away.
+
+It must be Joe Harris, Bambo was sure. He had paused to strike a light,
+and in another minute they should be discovered. Darby clung to his
+protector with all his strength. His teeth chattered in terror, but the
+brave little lad did not utter a sound.
+
+The footsteps again, and Bambo closed his eyes an instant while his soul
+rose to heaven in one of those earnest petitions which ofttimes are
+prayed without a word. Then he looked towards the entrance to the kiln,
+fully prepared to see the wicked face of Thieving Joe leering in upon
+them--to hear his shout of satisfaction at beholding his prey so
+securely caught in a trap from which there was no escape.
+
+But instead of their enemy, what do you think stood there? Just an
+innocent-looking red and white calf--probably one of the family, now at
+grass, which had formerly occupied the snug house in the farmyard. It
+was, doubtless, in the habit of coming to the old kiln occasionally for
+a change, or for shelter in wet weather. And now it stood and surveyed
+the intruders with solemn, serious eyes, as much as to say, "What are
+you funny little folks doing in my place, pray?"
+
+The sense of relief was so great, the situation seemed so ludicrous,
+that Darby broke into a peal of shrill, nervous laughter, which he as
+suddenly suppressed; while the dwarf again lifted his heart to Heaven in
+grateful acknowledgment of deliverance from danger.
+
+Darby fondled the calf's cold nose and stroked his rough, wet coat; and
+Master Calf, seeing that his self-invited guests were not so odd or
+fearsome as they looked, marched slowly inside, deliberately lay down in
+what apparently was his own particular corner, and calmly commenced
+chewing his cud. Then, with his hand in Bambo's and his head resting
+against the animal's warm, shaggy side, Darby soon fell asleep; and the
+dwarf dozed at intervals until the first streaks of dawn broke up the
+blackness of the eastern sky.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The _Smiling Jane_ came crawling along the canal towards Engleton,
+gradually slowed, then stopped altogether as she hove abreast of the
+wharf. It was thick with people standing about in twos and threes
+awaiting the arrival of the boat. The bargeman jumped ashore, strutted
+hither and thither, chatting with this one and that, discussing the
+weather, retailing the latest gossip from Barchester, when, from behind
+the pile of miscellaneous stuff collected on the wharf waiting transit
+by the _Smiling Jane_, three small figures appeared suddenly, as if they
+had sprung from the water beneath the planks. It was Bambo with his
+little charges.
+
+"Well, well!" exclaimed bargee, staring at the trio in open-mouthed
+astonishment.
+
+"Did ee ever!" cried a woman who was mounting guard over some hampers of
+quacking ducks and cackling hens.
+
+"The pretty dears!" ejaculated another; "eh, the sweet crayters! But
+just look at _him_! See his big, ugly head, an' the arms o' him like the
+flappers o' a win'mill! Save us all!" she piously added, gazing her fill
+at the dwarf and the children, whose winsome faces and uncommon
+appearance could not be concealed under a few days' smudges, nor
+disguised beneath a cotton frock or faded velveteen suit.
+
+Darby, who was to be spokesman for the party, here approached the
+bargeman with frank, courteous manner; while the dwarf hung timidly in
+the rear, still keeping Joan well within the shelter of his arm.
+
+"Please, Mr. Bargee, will you take us in your boat as far as Firdale?"
+begged the boy, in gentle, winning tones. "We've come a long way, and
+Mr. Bambo here," pointing to the dwarf, "has such a bad cold that he's
+not able to walk any further. Do say 'yes;' won't you, Mr. Bargee?"
+
+For an instant the young fellow hesitated, looking from the boy to the
+dwarf and the golden-haired girl. Then he shook his head decisively.
+
+"Can't do it, little un," he said kindly. "It's agin the rules, an' I
+durstn't break them. I was near gettin' the sack not long ago because a
+couple o' tramps or play-actor folks over-persuaded me to give them a
+lift. The perlice was on their track. Reg'lar sharpers they was. That
+was only two or three days back, when them kids belongin' to Dene o'
+Firgrove disappeared," explained bargee to the gaping loungers hanging
+about the wharf.
+
+"But we're Dene's kids! we come from Firgrove! Father--Captain Dene, you
+know--left us there with Aunt Catharine and Auntie Alice when he went to
+Africa," cried Darby, in eager, rapid snatches of speech.
+
+"Likely!" laughed bargee good-humouredly. "Tell that to the marines,
+chappie. Maybe _they'll_ b'lieve you, for Will Spiers don't. He's not
+sich a green un as to be took in by a tale like that. Dene's kids was
+drownded in the canal. Their clo'es or boots or somethin' was found the
+other evenin'. Leastways, so I heerd," he added, with a look round the
+company, as if challenging confirmation of his words.
+
+"Ay, they was drownded, sure enough," spoke a woman's shrill voice, high
+above the cackle of the hens and the quack-quack of the ducks--"drownded
+dead, an' more's the pity; an' their ma dead, too, an' their pa in
+Africa, an' their aunties takin' on terrible 'bout them."
+
+"We isn't dwowned," called out Joan in her clear, sweet voice, shaking
+back her yellow mane and surveying the faces about her with merry eyes.
+"We was lost--quite lost--and now we's founded and goin' home again."
+
+"Don't you see that we're not drowned?" said Darby seriously, turning
+round and round before the amused onlookers. "We wouldn't be here if we
+were _drownded_, would we? I'm really and truly Darby Dene--I mean Guy
+Dene, for that's my proper name; and this is my sister Joan--Doris, I
+should say--with kind Mr. Bambo, who has helped us to run away from some
+wicked people who wanted to keep us always. Now, please, won't you let
+us on board the barge? We'll go below into the little house where we hid
+before, and not disturb you a bit. You see, we came with you, and you
+ought to take us back again," added the boy, with a sudden gleam of
+amusement in his big gray eyes.
+
+Here the dwarf came slowly forward, painfully conscious that all eyes
+were fixed upon him. Yet he did not flinch. He beckoned the bargeman
+aside, and in a few broken, gasping sentences told him the main facts of
+the children's story.
+
+The instant the young fellow clearly grasped the situation and
+understood his own share in the adventure, he generously cast all fear
+of consequences to the winds, and there and then agreed to take the
+travellers with him to Firdale as fast as his boat could bear them.
+
+And as the old brown horse pulled slowly off, dragging the big red
+barge-boat away behind him, a hearty cheer broke from the watchers on
+the wharf, and "A safe journey!" was flung from every lip after the
+_Smiling Jane_ and the little voyagers whom she bore on board.
+
+It was a mild, mellow day, such as not infrequently comes towards the
+end of October--a day whose brightness almost deludes one into thinking
+that summer is not entirely gone, yet with a hint of change in the
+still, waiting earth, the silently-falling leaves; a touch of crispness
+in the air which foretells winter, and at the same time indicates that
+winter is not really a bad time after all.
+
+On the deck of the barge Joan made herself quite at home. She had been
+so shielded that she was really none the worse, except for outward tear
+and wear, of all she had gone through. She trotted hither and thither,
+watching the patient horse plodding along the tow-path, throwing bits of
+bread to the white-winged gulls which hovered in the wake of the boat,
+chattering to bargee, who had speedily become her willing captive,
+enchained in the meshes of her sunny hair, held fast by the innocent
+witchery of her long-lashed violet eyes.
+
+Down in the bunker below lay Bambo, too worn out now to do ought but
+toss and tumble in the fever and restlessness which were hourly becoming
+more consuming and distressing, thankful to be at liberty just to let
+himself go, without fear or danger. For now he felt that the children
+were, beyond a doubt, safe out of reach of Thieving Joe, and he himself
+separated at last and for ever from all further connection with the
+Satellite Circus Company. Soon the little ones should be safe at home
+with their own people, and he, Bambo, homeless and friendless, should be
+free from future care concerning them--free to creep away somewhere,
+unnoticed and alone, to lie down and rest--sleep--suffer--or maybe die,
+if such were God's will for him.
+
+Beside the dwarf's pallet Darby kept loving watch, dozing from time to
+time when Bambo seemed sleeping; again, rousing up to hang over him in
+distress when he babbled so queerly about Firgrove, his mother, Thieving
+Joe, Moll, and the bear. Then the raving would cease, and the dwarf
+would look up with intelligent, grateful eyes into the white, anxious
+face of the boy bending over him.
+
+"It's only my head, sonny; you needn't be frightened," he would gasp, in
+his hoarse, croaking whisper. "I was just wandering a bit, I think. Sick
+folk often does that. There, deary, don't cry! we'll soon be at home
+now--ay, soon, very soon," murmured the little man to himself, while
+that faint, sweet smile, which Darby thought made the haggard face quite
+beautiful, played around his poor parched lips, and a glad light shone
+from his sunken eyes.
+
+In the afternoon the good-natured bargeman brewed a can of tea. Along
+with it he produced some solid slices of bread and butter--the best his
+locker afforded--and to this repast he made his passengers warmly
+welcome. Joan ate a hearty meal, but Darby was not hungry, and the dwarf
+could take only a deep draught of the strong, hot tea. It revived him
+somewhat, so that by the time the barge slowed up at Firdale he was
+able, with the help of Darby's willing hand, to creep out of his bunker
+up on deck.
+
+The _Smiling Jane_ was in that evening rather before her regular time.
+There were, therefore, none of the idlers on the wharf who usually
+awaited her arrival, only a few people, beside the wharf-keeper, who had
+come to receive or send off stuff. These were too much occupied to
+notice, except by an amused or curious glance, the odd-looking trio who
+slipped so quietly through their midst and away up the field-path
+towards Firgrove. Indeed, had not bargee, after their backs were turned,
+told their story and made known their identity to an open-mouthed and
+delighted audience, no one would have suspected that the two little
+ragamuffins in company with the outlandish-looking mountebank were the
+lost children whose tragic fate had cast quite a gloom over the
+neighbourhood, and elicited such universal sympathy with the ladies at
+Firgrove and the poor bereaved father fighting for his country far, far
+away in Africa.
+
+It was almost sunset when the little travellers reached their journey's
+end. The western sky was ablaze with crimson and gold, the hilltop was
+flushed with warmth and beauty, the streak of sluggish water which was
+the canal lay athwart the level land like a shining, jewelled belt,
+while every window-pane in the quaint old house shone and glowed as if
+there were an illumination within by way of welcome for the wanderers.
+
+But Darby and Joan heeded none of these things. They trudged sturdily on
+as fast as their short legs could carry them and the dwarf's failing
+strength would permit, until they came to the gate. There they paused,
+with their backs to the glory of the sun-setting, the blush on the
+hilltop, and the radiance beyond. For now they knew that at last they
+had found the country they had travelled so far to seek, while all the
+time it was spread out wide and fair about their very feet, shut up
+within themselves, whence it should well forth in an atmosphere of
+obedience, love, duty--the chief elements which go to make a truly happy
+land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+BAMBO'S FRIEND.
+
+    "After the night comes the morning,
+      After the winter the spring;
+    We can begin again, Dolly,
+      And be sorry for everything.
+
+    "We love, and so we are happy;
+      No beautiful thing ever ends;
+    'Tis good to cry and be sorry,
+      But better to kiss and be friends."
+
+                        E. COXHEAD.
+
+
+This evening the sisters were pacing arm in arm up and down the long,
+wide gravel walk between the front door and the gate. Miss Turner looked
+pinched and worn, with pale cheeks and great hollows about her eyes,
+which were dim and dry as if from want of sleep. Her head was bent, her
+step was slow like the step of an old person; and indeed she seemed
+old--ten years older than the brisk and vigorous Aunt Catharine who had
+trodden the same path with such a stately air only a week ago.
+
+Miss Alice's gentle face also was thin and white. Her eyes, which were
+big and gray like Darby's, and usually soft and calm in their glance,
+were alert, bright, and restless, as if always on the watch for
+something they could not see, while in her nut-brown hair there were
+nearly twice as many silver streaks as had been visible when Darby and
+Joan went away.
+
+They had been speaking of the lost little ones, but now a silence had
+fallen upon them which neither showed any desire to break. There was
+nothing more to say except what had already been said over and over
+again. Everything had been done that they and wise, kind neighbours
+could do or suggest; and on the morrow Dr. King and Mr. Grey would put
+the case into the hands of the Barchester police--more to satisfy Miss
+Turner than from any faith in the result on their own part. The Firdale
+men had done their best and failed; what cleverer would they be in
+Barchester?
+
+The air had grown chilly, although the sun was not yet set, and Miss
+Turner shivered, as much from nervousness as from cold. Her sister was
+drawing her within doors, when the latch of the gate clicked sharply,
+and both ladies turned round to look in its direction.
+
+And what did they see as the wide iron gate swung slowly back on its
+hinges? The oddest looking group that had ever sought entrance to
+Firgrove--the most pathetic, yet the most grotesque! First and foremost
+was a small boy in soiled, sodden garments--hatless, unwashed,
+unbrushed, tired, drooping, and travel-stained, yet with an expression
+of unutterable gladness beaming from out a pair of clear gray eyes that
+seemed far too big for the thin white face which they illumined. By his
+side, holding fast by the boy's hand, stood a little girl--bedraggled,
+unkempt, untidy, with a glimmer of pearly teeth, and great blue eyes
+gleaming out from a mop of tangled curls that glittered as if they had
+caught within their burnished strands all the sunbeams which had lighted
+up that bright October day. And leaning against the pillar of the gate
+was the third figure of the party, and the queerest--a tiny man, not
+much taller than the little girl, with huge head, long arms, shrivelled,
+haggard face, and deep-set, eager eyes--a dwarf, in short, and, at the
+first glance, the most uncouth that ever was seen.
+
+Miss Turner drew herself up in astonishment and annoyance at the
+ill-timed intrusion of the three little tramps. A something in the
+boy's eyes, however, arrested the words of rebuke and dismissal which
+hung ready to fall from her lips, and she looked at them again before
+stepping forward to shut the gate in their faces.
+
+But Miss Alice's sight was quicker than her sister's, her instincts
+truer, her faith stronger, and with a low, glad cry of "My dears! my
+dears!" she sprang, swift as a girl, toward the children, bent down, and
+Darby and Joan felt themselves gathered close and tight within Auntie
+Alice's loving arms; while from Aunt Catharine's eyes the thankful tears
+rained thick and fast, mingled with a shower of kisses, upon their
+smiling, upturned faces.
+
+"We's comed home again, Aunt Catharine," announced Joan cheerfully and
+easily, as if the pair of them had just returned from church. "Is you
+glad to see us?" she asked, smiling sweetly into her aunt's swimming
+eyes.
+
+"Yes, Joan, very, very glad; I don't think you'll ever know _how_ glad,"
+answered Miss Turner gravely.
+
+"Darby and me went away to look for the Happy Land--like what nurse
+sings 'bout, don't you know?--far, far away," explained the little
+girl. "But we didn't find it after goin' miles and miles and miles;
+we only finded a old carawan, and some bad peoples, and Puck, and a
+_ee-mornous_ (enormous) bear! Now we's back, and I's awful hung'y!
+Is there any cake or cold puddin', or anythin' good for tea?" she
+inquired anxiously, looking audaciously up into the familiar face of Aunt
+Catharine--familiar, of course, yet with a something so new and strange
+in its softened lines that the little one instinctively put up a dirty
+hand and softly stroked her aunt's cheek, murmuring as she did so, in
+her sweet, cooing voice, "Poor Aunt Catharine! Joan loves you, and
+willn't never, never go away from you any more. Now, please tell me,
+_is_ there anythin' good for tea?" she demanded.
+
+"Joan!" exclaimed Darby in a shocked undertone, as if mere creature
+comforts like cake and cold pudding were not to be thought of at such a
+time. Then he addressed his aunt.
+
+"Joan's quite correc'," he said, standing right in front of her, bravely
+bent on confession of his naughtiness and getting it over as quickly as
+possible, so that he could start fair with a clean sheet. "I was mad
+because you punished me, and we made up a plan--at least I did--to run
+away and find the Happy Land, and I coaxed Joan to come with me. It's
+all my fault, Aunt Catharine; so whatever putting to bed or catechism
+there is I'll take it, for I was the naughty one. But we found out that
+there's no Happy Land at all--at least not like what I thought. Our
+Happy Land's here at Firgrove, and oh, but we're glad to get back to
+it!--Aren't we, Joan?"
+
+"Yes, werry, werry glad," agreed Joan readily.
+
+"And I'm never going to be disobedient or troublesome, never, never any
+more, if you'll forgive me this time, Aunt Catharine, and let me begin
+over again," begged the boy, slipping a grimy little paw into Aunt
+Catharine's spotless hand.
+
+"Forgive you, child!" cried Aunt Catharine, in a broken voice. "Why, of
+course I'll forgive you, and we'll both begin over again, Darby," she
+whispered.
+
+"That's right," he replied cheerily. "And I'm going to try to make a
+Happy Land all about me wherever I am. Mr. Bambo 'splained it to me ever
+so nicely. He's very clever, you know. This is he," said Darby, pointing
+to the dwarf, who still leaned, as if for support, against the pillar of
+the gate.
+
+Bambo advanced a step, tried to speak, but his voice was too hoarse to
+be intelligible.
+
+"He's my own dear dwarf!" declared Joan, patting the little man's
+shoulder with gentle, caressing touch.
+
+"He is called Bambo, but his real own name is Green--Jimmy Green; Green,
+our gardener's grandson, Aunt Catharine," explained Darby in rapid
+sentences. "The wicked man and woman took us to their caravan when we
+were on our way to look for the Happy Land, and only for Bambo we should
+not have known where to find it. We love him, Aunt Catharine, Auntie
+Alice. He is ill--very ill, I think. Won't you please be good to him,
+both of you?" pleaded the boy, in eager, coaxing accents.
+
+The ladies looked from Darby to the dwarf in a bewildered way. Again he
+attempted to explain his presence there, and again he failed. He was
+about to steal quietly away--for was not his work done, his mission
+accomplished?--when all at once the ground seemed to slip from beneath
+his feet; he swayed, reeled, and with a low moan, as of a hurt animal,
+fell on the grass border within the gate, at the very feet of the
+children whose safety he had counted of so much more consequence than
+his own life.
+
+Darby flung himself on the ground beside the still, pathetic little
+figure, and Joan, with sobs and cries, implored her dear dwarf to open
+his eyes, to waken up and speak to his own little missy once more. But
+the dwarf did not move or speak. His ears were deaf to Darby's tender
+tones and Joan's insistent pleading.
+
+At this moment Nurse Perry, with Eric in her arms, popped her head out
+at the front door--just to get a breath of fresh air, as she would have
+said. For a long minute she gazed at the group by the gate; then with a
+loud cry, and dumping baby down upon the door mat, she flew along the
+gravel path, and flinging her arms around the children, she laughed and
+cried over them by turns.
+
+"My precious pets!" she sobbed. "And have they come back to their poor
+old Perry? And us thinkin' you was both dead and drownded in the canal.
+Oh, did I ever!"
+
+"There, nurse, that will do. You'd choke a fellow," declared Darby,
+wriggling himself out of her clinging embrace. "Of course we're not
+either dead or drowned. How can you be so silly?"
+
+"Eh! and is it silly you call me for near frettin' myself into the grave
+about you?" cried nurse, stung by Master Darby's want of feeling.--"Miss
+Joan won't call nursie silly; sure you won't, lovey? And aren't you
+glad to get back to your own Perry, and baby, and everything?"
+
+"Yes, werry glad," agreed Joan readily; "and I hope you've got lots and
+lots of jam and goodies for tea. Has you, nurse? 'cause I's as hung'y as
+hung'y as anythin'!" she whimpered.
+
+"Yes, darlin', there's a seed-cake and toast, and a whole pot of
+beautiful strawberry jam that has never been touched. I couldn't eat
+hardly a mouthful these days for picterin' my pretty lyin' in the mud at
+the bottom of that slimy, smellin' canal," whined Perry, wiping her eyes
+on the corner of a much-betrimmed white apron.
+
+"That'll do, Perry," called out Miss Turner, in her usual brisk tones.
+"Come here; I want you."
+
+"Yes, ma'am," answered Perry meekly. "But oh, ma'am, what's _that_?" she
+screamed, noticing for the first time the odd little object on the grass
+over which the ladies were so anxiously bending. "What ever is it, Miss
+Alice? Is it a _man_--_that_? and is he living?" the woman inquired in a
+shocked whisper, drawing back her skirts, and gaping with eyes and mouth
+at the quiet figure huddled in a little heap at Miss Turner's feet. Yet
+when Perry had been made to understand that it was even to this small
+creature they owed the safety and return of their darlings, she was as
+warm in her expressions of gratitude and as eager to be kind to him as
+her mistresses themselves.
+
+Bambo was carried to a pleasant top room overlooking the lawn and the
+cedar tree, and laid in a comfortable bed--the most comfortable in which
+his poor body had ever lain in all his weary life. But its softness did
+not soothe him; the down pillows were not restful; he paid no heed to
+the cool freshness of the linen: for when he recovered from the stupor
+into which he had sunk beside the gate, he was in the grip of an enemy
+which he would have a hard fight to shake off. The wet and cold to which
+he had been exposed without sufficient clothing, together with the
+fatigue he had undergone, working on a constitution already in a
+critical condition, had brought on pneumonia; and when Dr. King saw him,
+late that night, he had little hope of being able to save his life.
+
+The next morning, after a long, sound sleep and a good breakfast of
+porridge and milk, Joan was as bright as a button, petted by Perry,
+playing with baby, and teasing the pussies. Her troubles were behind,
+and she did not talk much about her adventures.
+
+But Darby was weak, wandering, and feverish. Dr. King said, however,
+that his illness was merely the effect of excitement and the strain upon
+a not over strong system. He would be all right in a few days. He
+chattered incessantly of the Happy Land, Bruno, Joe, Moll, and the
+monkey, but in broken snatches from which no reliable information could
+be gleaned.
+
+Miss Turner would have liked to send the police after the Harrises
+without a single hour's delay. It was dreadful, she declared, to think
+of such a wicked pair being permitted to wander at large, working
+mischief without let or hindrance. But her friends advised her to wait
+until Darby was well enough to be questioned; or possibly the dwarf
+might yet be able to furnish such a clue to their haunts and habits as
+should enable the police to pounce upon them unawares.
+
+For a few days Darby continued in a low and feeble condition; then he
+took a turn for the better, and soon he was strong enough to listen to
+Joan's merry prattle, and to be amused by baby's funny attempts at
+speaking. The weather was still mild and bright; so as soon as he was
+able to be about he was allowed out into the garden, where the kittens
+loved to sun themselves in the sheltered corner down by the boxwood
+border.
+
+Still Bambo's life hung trembling in the balance. The actual disease had
+abated, but his weakness and want of vitality made his recovery seem
+almost impossible. One hour he would revive somewhat, and the next sink
+so low that Miss Turner and Miss Alice felt that at any moment the end
+might come. Between them they kept constant watch beside the faithful
+creature, feeling as if nothing that they might do could repay him for
+the devotion which he had displayed towards the children. Bit by bit
+they had gathered from Darby and Joan the story of their quest of the
+Happy Land, what befell them by the way, and all that the dwarf had done
+to deliver them from the clutches of Thieving Joe, and the captivity of
+life dragged out within the narrow compass of the Satellite Circus
+Company's old yellow caravan.
+
+At last a day came when the poor dwarf smiled up into Miss Turner's
+anxious face with a world of intelligence and gratitude in the eyes
+whose sweet expression made the wan, pinched features look almost
+beautiful to the aunt of Darby and Joan. She did not regard him as an
+object utterly unlike other people, a bit of lumber for which the world
+could have no real use or fitting place. She remembered only that by
+this man's promptitude and courage two innocent, helpless children had
+been rescued from a fate infinitely worse than a peaceful death, with a
+green grave under the daisies, and those who loved them delivered from a
+lifelong sorrow. So there were real gladness and true thankfulness in
+Aunt Catharine's look and voice as she laid a cool hand upon the
+invalid's brow, saying kindly,--
+
+"You are better, are you not, Bambo?--that is, if it is Bambo I am to
+call you."
+
+"Yes, ma'am, I do feel better," answered the dwarf, in a low, quavering
+voice. "And, please, call me Bambo; it is the name little master and
+missy knows me by."
+
+"You have been very ill, but you will soon be stronger and able to see
+the children. They come to the door very often to ask for you."
+
+A flush of pleasure crept into the dwarf's hollow cheeks. He was not
+used to having anybody asking after his health, or interested in him in
+any way. Then Miss Turner held a cup of nice strong soup to his lips,
+and soon after he fell into a sweet, refreshing sleep, which lasted many
+hours.
+
+Dr. King was standing by the bedside when he awoke.
+
+"You've had a close shave, my lad!" he said, in his quick, direct way.
+"You'll pull through now though.--Plenty of nourishment and perfect
+rest, that's all he wants in the meantime," added the doctor to Miss
+Turner, as he hurried off to visit another patient, or perhaps to have a
+little chat with Miss Alice, who was amusing Darby in the garden, where
+the bees buzzed and worked about their hives along the sunny south wall.
+
+After seeing the doctor down the stairs Miss Turner came back to the
+dwarf, and as she entered the room she saw him turn his face away from
+the window to the wall with a sigh, which filled her heart with pity for
+the forlorn little being.
+
+"Now, Bambo," she began, "you have done so much for me and mine that I
+want you to let me be as kind to you as I know how. You have been more
+than a friend to my dear nephew's children. I desire above all things to
+be a friend to you."
+
+"O ma'am, that is impossible," answered the dwarf in a choked voice.
+"You are a lady, while I am nobody--an insignificant, despised object!
+And don't you know who I really am? Green, your gardener's
+grandson--Jimmy Green the dwarf, the boy who ran away from Firgrove long
+ago, when you and Miss Alice were in foreign parts for your eddication!"
+
+"I believe my sister and I were in Paris at that time," answered Miss
+Turner lightly. "But what difference does the fact of your being Green's
+grandson make, except to give you an additional claim upon our
+friendliness? And, Bambo, your grandfather is truly sorry he treated you
+harshly and unjustly in the past. He has asked me to tell you so, and to
+say that instead of feeling ashamed of you now, he's really proud to
+think what you have done for Master Darby and Miss Joan."
+
+"'Twas nothing, nothing," murmured the dwarf in confusion, although his
+beaming face plainly showed the gratification he felt at his
+grandfather's message.
+
+"And now," resumed Miss Turner, "if I am to be your friend, you must
+tell me why you sighed so sadly just now. Come; you won't refuse, I am
+sure," she added in a persuasive tone.
+
+For a while there was silence in the room. Miss Turner waited for the
+dwarf to speak. He kept his face towards the wall, and from time to time
+put up a long, thin hand to wipe away the big tears that forced their
+way beneath his closed eyelids to trickle slowly on to the snowy pillow
+in which his head was half hidden.
+
+At length he raised himself in the bed and looked straight at Miss
+Turner. And as he met the kindly glance of her keen, true eyes, a quick
+smile parted his lips and shone like a flicker of pale sunlight all over
+his worn features.
+
+"You are very good, ma'am, so good that because you ask me I will tell
+you. Well, I was only wishing that I had not got better. I have been
+ailing for a while back--since last spring--and I was kind of looking
+forward to getting away home soon," said Bambo, as calmly as if he were
+talking of a journey to Barchester. "You see, ma'am, it's this way," he
+explained, in an apologetic tone. "When a body's made like me--just an
+object for folks to pity, laugh, jeer, and peep at, without a real
+friend--the world is a poor place in comparison to that one the Lord has
+prepared and waiting for all who love Him and want to go there."
+
+"Don't, Bambo, don't!" implored Miss Turner, looking at the dwarf
+through a mist of tears. "You make me feel that I, who have always been
+strong and well, am one of those who have done so little to make life a
+less burdensome possession, a pleasanter thing for such as you. Do not
+be so anxious to depart, dear friend. The little ones love you; your old
+grandfather needs you. Here you shall always find a home. At Firgrove we
+will make a place for you as soon as you shall be able to fill it.
+Meantime you have nothing to do but try to get well. Perfect rest and
+plenty of nourishment--these are the doctor's orders, and there's
+nothing for it but obedience."
+
+The dwarf drank in Miss Turner's words, hardly daring to believe he was
+in his sober senses, for they sounded almost too good to be true. He to
+stay on at Firgrove with the dear boy and sweet little missy! What had
+he done that he should be so kindly treated, so generously dealt with?
+Nothing, Bambo said to himself, less than nothing, for there had been
+scarcely anything to do.
+
+Nothing? Ah! was it nothing to be willing to lay down his life for those
+friends of his? nothing to give the cup of cold water in the name of
+Jesus to two of His children? "Verily, inasmuch as ye have done it unto
+one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
+
+From that day the dwarf grew rapidly better, and before the flowers were
+all gone out of the borders, or the last red and yellow leaves had
+fluttered from the lime tree on the lawn, he was able to saunter up and
+down the gravel paths, his hand on Darby's shoulder, the baby holding
+fast by one of his fingers, with Joan and the kittens frolicking among
+their feet, and racing here, there, and everywhere, all over the place.
+
+He quite agreed with Miss Turner that from no mistaken feelings of mercy
+or pity should Joe Harris be shielded from the reach of the law, so he
+gave all the information that he could supply concerning the rascal's
+favourite resorts and usual associates. He and the little ones pleaded
+hard on Moll's behalf; but Dr. King declared that in her case the
+receiver was as bad as the thief, and she would just have to take her
+chance along with her husband.
+
+Soon the Barchester police were on their track. They came across Tonio
+wandering disconsolately about the streets, with only Puck for company.
+He, however, knew nothing of the movements of his late master, except
+that the caravan had been returned to its lawful owner, and that the
+Satellite Circus Company, as a company, had ceased to exist.
+
+But neither Joe, Moll, nor Bruno was anywhere to be found. They had a
+long start of their pursuers; consequently they had disappeared as
+completely as last year's snow, leaving not a trace behind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+COMING AND GOING.
+
+    "For me, my heart that erst did go
+    Most like a tired child at a show,
+      That sees through tears the mummers leap,
+    Would now its wearied vision close,
+    Would childlike on His love repose
+      Who giveth His beloved--sleep."
+
+                     E. B. BROWNING.
+
+
+The winter, which proved a mild and open one, passed very pleasantly at
+Firgrove. By Dr. King's orders Darby and Joan were granted a long
+holiday, for Darby was still fragile and delicate looking. He had never
+quite got over the effects of the excitement and fatigue of his travels
+in search of the Happy Land. They now lived almost out of doors, with
+the dwarf as their faithful attendant and constant companion. The little
+ones never wearied of his company, he could entertain them in so many
+different ways. He showed Darby how to make whistles of the hollow
+bore-tree stem, and a huge kite, with a lion painted on its surface, the
+Union Jack flying at its head, and an old map of Africa cut into strips
+to form the tail. Darby considered this a masterpiece, and laid it
+carefully by until he could display it to his father in its full
+significance. He caught a squirrel in the wood for Joan, and tamed the
+little animal so that it would nibble a nut from her hand, or hold it in
+its own paws, looking at her the while with fearless, shining eyes, as
+much as to say,--
+
+"Thank you, little lady. If all children were as good and kind to us
+wild creatures as you at Firgrove are, we should have a better time of
+it than many of us often have."
+
+He brought primrose roots from the glen, and planted a bank with them
+behind the house. He filled the rockeries with rare ferns, and covered
+over all the waste corners about the grounds with delicate anemones,
+variegated hyacinths, and the sweet, wild white bluebell, rifled from
+the darkest recesses of Copsley Wood.
+
+He carved curious wooden animals and toys for Eric, attracting the
+little fellow so strongly to himself that often he would cry for
+"Bam'o," and stay quite happily with him for hours, when all poor
+Perry's nursery tricks had failed to divert him from brooding over a
+coming tooth or some other infant ailment. Nurse soon grew to count the
+dwarf among her blessings at Firgrove; while Miss Alice used to smile,
+and say to her friend Dr. King that she did not know how ever the
+children had amused themselves before he came.
+
+And day by day, by his little acts of fore-thought for others and
+loving-kindness towards all with whom he came in contact, he showed them
+what a Happy Land even the humblest, the youngest can create around
+them, what an atmosphere of love, what a foretaste of the existence
+whose essence is love, because God is its centre--that heaven wherein
+the pure in heart shall dwell for evermore!
+
+And what of Bambo himself? How can one picture or describe such deep
+happiness as his? He was well aware that he could not live long. At any
+time a cold or a chill might hasten the end, yet the knowledge caused
+him no real regret. During his years of loneliness and privation he had
+learned to regard death as an open door through which he should escape
+from drudgery, ill-treatment, desolation, into the rest, the love, the
+happiness that remain to the children of God in that home where there
+is no death, "neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain: for the
+former things are passed away." Now, the wretchedness was all behind.
+His daily path was hedged around by affection and watchfulness; but
+Bambo felt that it could not continue. His friends would by-and-by weary
+of their self-imposed burden. The children would grow up, go away, form
+new friendships, find fresh interests in life, and where should he be
+then? No, no; life was a grand, a satisfying, a beautiful thing for the
+clever, the strong, the brave; but the like of him could have no
+continuous part, no fixed place in its keen warfare; so for him he felt
+that it was better to depart than to hang on a weary, sickly weakling.
+Therefore, when Darby and Joan were looking forward to the coming summer
+and making their plans for enjoying it, in all of which they included
+their little friend, the dwarf would smile--his sweet, childlike
+smile--and say nothing. He did not want to cast a shadow upon their
+gladness.
+
+The children frequently had letters from their father, for whom they
+longed with an eagerness that grew keener as the months went by and
+still the cruel warfare continued, and always the date of his return
+was put back from time to time. Oh, why did he not come, they cried.
+They had so much to tell, so many things to show--lots of precious
+trifles given and gathered since he went away.
+
+Slowly the winter seemed to pass, day by day, week after week, month in
+month out. Then spring came shyly creeping over the land, with snowdrops
+nestling in her breast, primroses and violets budding in the grassy
+banks beneath her feet. Later on pink and white blossoms crowned the
+orchard trees, balmy breezes gently stirred the opening leaves, azure
+skies stretched high overhead, daisies carpeted the ground under foot.
+At length it was actually summer--summer in the first flush of her
+fresh, untarnished loveliness. And as the children looked out of the
+nursery window one bright May morning, they remembered with a sudden
+thrill of joy that at last daddy was coming home. Any day he might be
+with them--any hour, in fact; for even at that moment the ship might be
+lying snug and safe at anchor in Southampton Water!
+
+That very evening he arrived--not Captain, but Major Dene, for he had
+been promoted while he was away. Joan flung herself wildly upon her
+father, hugging and kissing him with all her might for a minute or two;
+then she turned her attentions and her fingers towards his pockets, in
+search of whatever spoil she could find. Darby stood silent and shy,
+gazing with wide, troubled eyes upon the tall, gaunt man who carried
+such a cruel scar across the hollow of his bronzed cheek. Then with a
+low, sobbing cry of "Father! father!" the little lad clasped his arms
+about his father's neck, and on his father's breast wept out some of the
+ache, the loneliness, the longing which for many lagging months had lain
+in such a heavy weight upon his tender, faithful, loving heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Why mayn't we go up to see Bambo this morning, Aunt Catharine?" asked
+Darby next day, as soon as he and Joan had eaten their breakfast. "We
+didn't see him at all yesterday, and I have so much to tell him about
+father and the Boers and Africa and--and--everything."
+
+"And I wants to take him some marigolds," said Joan, holding up a huge
+bunch nearly as big as her own head.
+
+Aunt Catharine was silent, and Darby almost dropped the rod he was
+trimming into a stick for baby and looked up into his aunt's face. It
+was pale and sad, and there were tears in her eyes. "What is it, Aunt
+Catharine?" inquired the boy. "Has anything vexed you, or are you angry
+with us?" he added timidly; while Joan rubbed her rosy face up and down
+against her aunt's hand, for all the world like a confident kitten.
+
+"No, dears, I'm not angry with either of you; why should I?" answered
+Aunt Catharine quickly. "But I have something to say that will make you
+both sad, and I don't like doing so."
+
+"It is about Bambo, I am certain," said Darby slowly, throwing down the
+rod he was whittling, shutting up his precious knife and putting it into
+his pocket, while a shadow fell upon his face, and clouded the gladness
+in his eyes. "He's not up yet, and when we were going to his room after
+we were dressed, nurse dragged us downstairs again; and she looked so
+funny, as if something had frightened her."
+
+"Please let me go to my dear dwarf, Aunt Catharine," coaxed Joan. "One
+of Topsy's legs is comin' off, and nobody knows how to mend it 'cept
+Bambo."
+
+"Bam'o! Bam'o!" cried Eric, at the top of his voice. "Bam'o! tum an' div
+baby swing--high, high!"
+
+"There, Alice, you tell them, for upon my word I can't," whispered Miss
+Turner to her sister, who had come into the breakfast-room just behind
+the children; and catching Eric up in her arms, Aunt Catharine carried
+him outside into the glory and promise which the beauty of the summer
+morning held for her saddened spirit.
+
+"Bambo won't be able to mend your doll to-day, Joan," said Auntie Alice
+gently, lifting the little girl on to her lap and drawing Darby close
+beside her knee. "He will never talk to you, or amuse you, or do
+anything for any of us again; because last night, after we were all
+asleep except your father and Aunt Catharine, God's messenger came and
+whispered to him that he was wanted--that his errand on earth was done.
+And early this morning, long before you were awake, when the young birds
+were yet nestling in the warmth of their mother's wing, ere the lambs
+were astir in the fields, when the world was hushed in that sweet
+stillness which awaits the dawn, he went away--away where he will not be
+weak or sickly any more, where he will no longer be Jimmy Green, the
+gardener's poor grandson, or Bambo, Joe Harris's musical dwarf, but a
+new creature, with a new name--a name that is written in the Lamb's book
+of life!"
+
+Then Auntie Alice soothed and petted the little creatures, talking to
+them in her soft, caressing voice, telling them once again of that fair
+country to which their friend had gone. And when their sorrow had sobbed
+itself dry they stole away to find their father, going on tiptoe, as if
+they feared to disturb the slumber of their little comrade.
+
+Three days later the dwarf was laid to rest in a corner of the Firdale
+churchyard beside his mother. Major Dene erected over the spot a rugged
+granite cross with his name upon it, his age, and the date of his death.
+And below this he caused to be cut another name--the name by which the
+dwarf always seemed to know himself best, because by it he was known to
+those whom he had loved and served so faithfully and so well:--
+
+    BAMBO.
+
+    "_Sown in dishonour, raised in glory._"
+
+"Now, what you all require is a thorough change," said Dr. King when he
+called at Firgrove a few days after Bambo's death. "The young people
+here have both been through a great deal.--You, my dear sir," to Major
+Dene, "must make the most of your time, and build up your strength as
+firmly as possible before you go back to Africa. The ladies, too," he
+continued, addressing Miss Turner and Miss Alice, "will be all the
+better of a little holiday, a complete change before--ah--in short,
+before any further changes take place." And the staid elderly doctor
+beamed upon Miss Alice, who held down her head, toyed with Joan's curls,
+and blushed in a most becoming way--the sort of blush which made her
+gentle face look almost like a girl's again.
+
+"What's you's cheeks gettin' so red for--just like as if you'd got the
+toofache, eh?" demanded Joan, with awkward directness.
+
+"Are you too hot, Auntie Alice? Shall I draw down the blind?" asked
+Darby politely. "Or would you prefer to come out into the garden?"
+
+"Yes--no--thank you, dear--that is--" stammered Auntie Alice, in such
+painful confusion that, although intensely amused, Major Dene felt
+obliged to come to her rescue.
+
+"Look here, kids!" he said: "I expect you're bound to know later on, so
+you may as well be told now. Come, and be introduced to your future new
+uncle--_our_ new uncle!" he added with a laugh, at the same time leading
+the little ones up to Dr. King.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Joan, drawing a long breath and surveying the doctor
+with her head sideways, like a fastidious young robin eyeing a crumb.
+"Is that why you was allus comin' to ask if we had headiks, or
+stumukiks, or if baby wanted castor-oil, and to look at our tongues? I
+s'pose uncles is like that. Never had none before," she added, still
+gazing at the stout, bald-headed gentleman in front of her, as if the
+honour of being her future relative had invested him with a new
+personality and lent him fresh interest in her eyes.
+
+"What'll Aunt Catharine do without you?" asked Darby of Auntie Alice
+somewhat reproachfully, and giving but a limp, indifferent shake to the
+hand which Dr. King held out as a peace-offering.
+
+Auntie Alice glanced timidly and sadly at her sister, for this was the
+one bitter drop in her cup of sweetness--this severing of the ties which
+for years and years had bound the two Misses Turner as closely together
+as the Siamese twins almost.
+
+"Tush!" cried Aunt Catharine briskly, although there were tears in her
+eyes. "She's not going out of the country. Beechfield is but a short
+walk from Firgrove; we can meet every day, if we want to. Besides, I
+have you children, and your father will be back and forward between this
+and Denescroft--for a while, anyway," added she, laying a loving hand
+on Darby's head.
+
+The boy pressed closely to her side; but Joan confidently clambered upon
+her knee, and laid her golden head against her aunt's shoulder.
+
+"Aunt Catharine has got me," she announced, flinging her arms round that
+lady's neck, creasing the dainty lace collar, crumpling the delicate
+lilac ribbons, tumbling the neatly-banded hair. But Aunt Catharine did
+not seem to mind; in fact, she looked as if she rather enjoyed the feel
+of those soft little hands upon her face, the pressure of those clinging
+arms about her neck. "I'll stay wif her allus and allus. I used to like
+Auntie Alice best, but she's got _him_," Joan went on, pointing a small
+pink finger at Dr. King, who, it must be admitted, looked a trifle
+sheepish at being so frankly and openly sat upon in family council; "so
+now I's goin' to give the most of the love to Aunt Catharine," she
+declared, bestowing upon her aunt a shower of hearty kisses. "And I'm
+never goin' to leave her, never, never--unless," she added thoughtfully,
+"she gets a doctor man too, by-and-by. Then I'd just have to stay wif
+daddy."
+
+Darby giggled behind Aunt Catharine's back, and the others laughed
+heartily.
+
+"What would you say to Scotland?" asked Dr. King, well pleased to get
+gracefully away from a subject which he had been feeling rather
+personal. "That would be a change indeed--the very thing after South
+Africa," he added, looking with a keen professional eye at Major Dene's
+gaunt cheeks and too sharply outlined profile. "There are some pleasant
+places on the west coast--bracing, yet not too cold. In my boyhood I
+spent a summer in a village called St. Aidens. It was out of the way,
+certainly, but you could not go to a more delightful spot."
+
+"St. Aidens!" echoed Miss Turner, with a note of pleasure in her voice.
+"Why, I stayed there one year too, long ago, with my father. Yes, let us
+go to St. Aidens by all means," she said heartily. "Your mother could
+come with us," she continued, addressing her nephew.--"And you," turning
+to the doctor, "I daresay Alice will make you welcome if you will join
+us during our stay."
+
+So there and then the question was settled, and by the second week in
+June to St. Aidens the family went.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is the time of the yearly fair at St. Aidens. The buying and selling
+are done, and now the people who have flocked thither in crowds are free
+to enjoy the shows and performances which make the fair a festival to
+be looked forward to and back upon as the chief outing of the season.
+
+There are many items of attraction. Here Punch and Judy make public
+their domestic broils for the benefit of the onlookers--old, young, and
+middle-aged--whom this sample pair never fail to draw around them
+wherever they appear. There an Indian juggler squats, the centre of a
+gaping circle, as without a grimace he swallows swords, scissors,
+knives, old nails, and scraps of metal that would tax the stomach of an
+ostrich. Farther away is an Italian basket-maker, with olive skin and
+oily manners; while leaning listlessly against the railing behind him is
+a woman--his wife, probably--with dusky hair, and sad dark eyes which
+hardly seem to see her green love-birds pecking knowingly at their pack
+of dirty cards. Along near the pier a negro minstrel with his banjo is
+singing one of the simple melodies of his race, its sad, sweet refrain
+almost drowned in the roars of laughter called forth by a chalky-faced
+clown, who appears to be not a compound of flesh, blood, and nerves like
+ordinary mortals, but just a bundle of wire springs and india-rubber
+balls.
+
+The hobby-horses go round and round, with their ever-changing load, in
+monotonous regularity. The switchback railway sways up and down to the
+time of its own mechanical music, amid shrieks of delight and peals of
+merriment; while youngsters yell aloud with excitement or fear as the
+gaudily-painted gondolas swing them up higher and higher than before.
+
+The noise is deafening. Between the cries of ice-cream vendors, the
+high-pitched eloquence of medicine-men, peddlers, tired children, and
+scolding mothers, it is well-nigh maddening. Still the crowd elbows and
+jostles along, gradually growing noisier and denser. There they mingle
+shoulder to shoulder, the squalid and the well-to-do, lads and lasses,
+boys and girls, husbands and wives, grave and gay; while friendly
+greetings are exchanged, light jests bandied as they move backwards and
+forwards, intent upon the fun of the fair, with hardly a glance for the
+feast of beauty which nature has spread around them with such a lavish
+hand.
+
+Along the level ground above the beach the tents and caravans are drawn
+up in orderly array. Stretching away from the shore is the bay, lying
+calm and unruffled under the summer sky, except when its glassy surface
+is rippled by the dip of an oar or churned into froth by the restless
+pulsations of a passing steamer. Across the bay the hills rise
+beautiful and purple-blue through the evening glow, throwing out
+encircling arms around the villages dotted thick and white along their
+base, as the arms of a mother are open wide to infold her nestling
+children.
+
+Away to the left the bay stretches on till its waters are merged in
+ocean; while to the east, above the little town, with its swarming
+streets, its bustling railway station, its quiet cemetery, its chimneys,
+and its spires, rises another range of hills, seeming in their nearness
+like a God-built barrier between that old-world village on the Scottish
+coast and the steadily advancing steps of the great city which lies
+beyond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ADIEU!
+
+    "We need love's tender lessons taught
+      As only weakness can;
+    God hath His small interpreters--
+      The child must teach the man.
+
+    "Of such the kingdom! Teach Thou us,
+      O Master most divine,
+    To feel the deep significance
+      Of these wise words of Thine!
+
+    "The haughty eye shall seek in vain
+      What innocence beholds;
+    No cunning finds the key of heaven,
+      No strength its gate unfolds.
+
+    "Alone to guilelessness and love
+      That gate shall open fall;
+    The mind of pride is nothingness,
+      The childlike heart is all."
+
+                           WHITTIER.
+
+
+Six o'clock had chimed from the church tower, and already the sun's rays
+were falling slantwise across the water, and tingeing the kingly heights
+of Arran with a royal purple radiance.
+
+On a bench, somewhat removed from the bustle and the hubbub, Major Dene
+sat smoking and dreaming. He had come out a little while before to seek
+the children, who, along with Perry, were enjoying the fresh sights and
+novelties to the full. From where he lounged he could see them standing
+on the fringe of a crowd that had rapidly collected on the road right in
+front of one of the hotels.
+
+It was not a safe stand for little people; not a fitting place for them
+to be, either. Perry should have more sense and less curiosity, thought
+Major Dene, as he sent the stump of his cigar hissing and sputtering
+into the placid blue water at his feet, and rose to join the children
+and accompany them home; for it was their tea-time, and going on quickly
+for the dinner-hour at Westfield, the comfortable house where the family
+from Firgrove had temporarily taken up their abode.
+
+All this time the youngsters had been straining and tiptoeing to get a
+glimpse at whatever was causing so much interest and excitement amongst
+those of the pleasure-seekers who were fortunate enough to have a peep.
+Just then the crowd swayed and split, so that through the opening they
+had an uninterrupted view of the performers who had drawn about them so
+many of the sightseers.
+
+They numbered three--an ugly red-haired man, with coarse features and
+squint eye, armed with a heavy-handled dog-whip; a tall, black-browed,
+sad-faced woman; and a bear, big, brown, shaggy, and savage-looking.
+
+For one long moment the children gazed at the group as if spellbound.
+Then, with a ringing cry from Joan and a choking sob from Darby, they
+instinctively clutched at each other's hands and fled in the direction
+of the open ground beside the water, coming bang up against their father
+just as he was sauntering slowly forward to join them.
+
+"Daddy, daddy! the bear, the bear!" screamed Joan, hiding her small,
+scared face against her father's arm, burrowing her fluffy head beneath
+his coat like a frightened rabbit.
+
+"Do you know what the people over there are staring at, father?" asked
+Darby, in a low, strained voice, while his lips quivered so that he
+could hardly articulate the words. "It's Joe, father, Thieving Joe--Joe
+Harris and Moll! They've got Bruno with them--the bear, you
+remember--and he's dancing and capering. But there's foam at his mouth,
+and his eyes are glittering; for Joe's raging at him just the way he
+used to do, and lashing him on his legs with the long whip. Oh, it's
+dreadful!" and the boy shuddered, more at the recollection of past
+terror than in fear of present danger. His father's strong fingers were
+folded firmly round his little hand; so he held up his head and tried to
+feel brave.
+
+"Are you sure?" asked Major Dene, in a queer, tense tone--a tone which
+Darby had never heard from his father in all his life before.
+
+"Quite, quite sure," answered the boy decidedly. "Do you think I _could_
+be mistaken?"
+
+"And I's sure too," added Joan, lifting her head for the first time, and
+looking timidly about her with wide, tearful blue eyes, as if she
+expected to see Bruno waiting to play at hide-and-seek with her from
+behind her father's back. "I'd like to speak to Mrs. Moll, 'cause she
+heard me say my p'ayers and put me to bed. But I don't want never to see
+that howid Joe or the dwedful big bear no more. Please pwomise you won't
+let them come near us, daddy!" she begged in piteous accents.
+
+"Take the children home at once--directly," said Major Dene to Perry,
+who, breathless and flushed, at this point joined them, with Eric
+kicking and struggling in her arms, quite cross, because he wanted a
+longer look at the huge beast, which in his baby eyes appeared neither
+more nor less than a great big pussy cat.
+
+"Please, sir--" began Perry; but the expression of her master's face
+checked the words, whatever she had intended to say, on the woman's
+lips, and obediently she drew the little ones away. It was such a look
+as his men might have seen in their commander's eyes as he doggedly led
+them on to avenge some of the blood that has flowed so free and red to
+enrich the arid plains of South Africa, at the cost, alas! of the
+impoverishment of many a desolated heart. But none of his home folks had
+ever seen those frank, smiling eyes snap and sparkle in the way they did
+now, like broken steel; not one of them would have imagined that those
+almost boyish features could set in such stern, grim lines as they fell
+into while he waited for the much and long desired interview with the
+rascal who had tried to rob him of his children.
+
+Major Dene stood and watched until Perry and her charges had turned up a
+side street that would take them straight to Westfield. Then grasping
+his tough Malacca firmly in his supple fingers, he strode swiftly
+forward to face the foe.
+
+As he came close to the mob of people around the performers there arose
+a hoarse shout, mingled with shrill screams and piercing cries. Then the
+crowd surged, broke, scattered, and fled hither and thither in panic,
+until, in an incredibly short time, there were only about half a dozen
+who stood their ground to watch the closing scene in the final
+exhibition given by the remaining members of the old Satellite Circus
+Company.
+
+It was, in truth, a gruesome spectacle! A huge beast--maddened to fury
+by the sharp lashes of a stinging whip, blinded by the blows that had
+fallen thick and fast about his head and ears, goaded by the memory of
+years of cruelty and brutality--crushing to death in his hairy embrace
+his tormentor, as together they rolled over and over in the thick white
+dust of the village street, not a sound breaking the awesome silence but
+the fierce, deep growling of the savage bear and the wild, hysterical
+weeping of a terrified woman.
+
+For one brief, breathless moment Major Dene held back, gazing in horror
+at the unequal combat. Then, forgetting everything except that there on
+the ground before him was a fellow-creature in dire need of help, he
+sprang to the rescue. With one hand he tried to drag the brute off its
+victim by the leather collar that encircled its neck, while with the
+cane, which he still held in the other hand, he belaboured it smartly
+about the snout and eyes. Fired by one man's courage, several others
+came to his assistance, and among them they at length succeeded in
+securing Bruno. But not before his thirst for revenge was satisfied; for
+when Joe Harris was lifted and laid gently down upon the soft greensward
+alongside the sea, one glance was sufficient to show the medical man,
+who was quickly on the spot, that he was beyond the reach of human aid.
+
+Yea, verily, "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Couldn't we help poor Mrs. Moll somehow, father?" suggested Darby next
+morning, after their father had briefly told the children that Thieving
+Joe was dead, and Bruno had been taken in charge by an enterprising
+organ-grinder, who, shrewdly surmising the real state of feeling between
+the brute and his late master which had led to such an awful tragedy,
+promised to be answerable for his good behaviour in the future. "She
+tried to help us as well as she knew how. Bambo thought so too."
+
+"Let us take her back to Firgrove wif us, Aunt Catharine," coaxed Joan;
+"she can do heaps and heaps of fings, I know."
+
+"I'm afraid that would hardly do, little one," answered Aunt Catharine,
+shaking her head. "But we'll think it over, and do the kindest thing we
+can for the poor creature."
+
+The following day Major Dene and his aunt bent their steps towards the
+village, intending to seek out Moll, have a talk with her, and befriend
+her in whatever way should seem wisest and best. But although they
+sought high and low, peering inside canvas caves, walking boldly into
+booths and marquees, haunting Aunt Sally alleys and shooting galleries,
+inquiring of her probable whereabouts from any likely person they saw,
+Mrs. Harris was not to be found. She must, they concluded, have caught a
+glimpse of Darby and Joan, taken fright, and, fearful of consequences,
+made off.
+
+So there was an end of all kindly intentions towards poor Moll, who,
+under other circumstances, might have been a better woman. And who can
+say that after her husband's tragic death, aided possibly by the
+altered conditions of her life, she would not henceforth endeavour to
+live more honestly than she had done hitherto? Certainly Aunt Catharine
+hoped she would, but Joan _believed_ she should. And for some subtle,
+inexplicable reason Darby felt that Joan was right.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If you journey some day through the heart of happy England, it may be
+that you will come upon the village of Firdale, and not far away,
+sheltering snugly in the hollow below Copsley Wood, the old-fashioned,
+handsome homestead of Firgrove.
+
+Darby and Joan are a big boy and girl now. Eric is in knickerbockers,
+and trots quite proudly up the hill to Copsley Farm and down again, all
+by his own self! There is a bright, clever governess at Firdale, and
+Joan has quite left off dolls. Even Miss Carolina, the well-beloved, has
+long since ceased to charm. Darby is at school--a real, proper boys'
+school, as he says, where they have forms and fags, masters and mischief
+in plenty.
+
+But he and Joan still preserve their spirits pure, simple, single,
+childlike, as they were on that bright October morning when, hand in
+hand, they set out to seek the Happy Land.
+
+And now, having accompanied them so far, let us wish them for the
+remainder of their journey "_Bon voyage!_" and thus take leave of our
+Two Little Travellers.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE TRAVELLERS***
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:19:37 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:19:37 -0700
commit	90484ae17a0df9a3ef76a305867a75d514b4fbb5 (patch)
tree	c40941755e17c88412e47db50f6d25480eaafa43