HEN they had been asleep for about two hours, Harry started up in a great fright. He had heard a dreadful noise, not far away from where they were lying,- Boo-oo-ooah.' 'It is some wild beast, I am sure,' said Harry, his teeth chattering with fear. 'There it is again. Oh dear! we shall be eaten up. I'm sure we shall.'

This time the noise was nearer and louder. 'Boo-00-00-00ah.' The next moment Harry was running away with all his might, until he was brought to a stop quickly by tumbling over a stump of wood, and sprawling into some brambles.

'It's a cow. It's nothing but a cow,' screamed Hugh.

Harry looked round. It certainly was more like a cow than anything else, for it was an ox, who stood staring with his great eyes at the boys. The moon had come out, and the wood seemed quite light. Harry shivered with his late fright, and from having so few clothes on; for, though it was summer, the nights were cold.

'I wish we could light a fire,' said he.

'But we can't,' Hugh answered. 'We have no matches and no wood.'

'I can't sit here,' said Harry. 'I am so cold, and I am frightened.'

You are always frightened for something or other. I thought you were so tired that you could not walk any more.'

'I would rather walk than sit here, with that moon making great shadows. It makes your face quite white, Hugh, and everything looks horrid. I can't sit here, for I am sure I shall never go to sleep again.'

G

Hugh felt cold and uncomfortable himself, so he was willing to walk away with Harry, who kept looking behind him as he went, and sometimes almost screaming if he heard a slight noise. And there were plenty of noises, for the little rabbits were darting about in the moonlight, sometimes eating the grass, and then raising themselves on their hind legs to listen as they heard the footsteps of the boys, and, upon seeing them, turning round quickly, and, with a kick of their little hind legs, darting away until they reached the door of their holes, when they would turn round again, quite brave, and look about them. Large birds sometimes passed quite close to the boys. Great soft owls, hunting for mice, so close that with a stick Harry might have hit them, but he was dreadfully afraid of those big birds. There were nighthawks also, going in search of supper.

If Hugh and Harry had not been very ignorant little boys, they would have known that there was nothing to be frightened at in any of these things; but, as it was, they were

very much frightened, although Hugh, being a bigger boy, was ashamed to show that he

was.

How often did they both wish that they had stayed at home! Why, any flogging would have been better than all this unhappiness. Poor little boys, they were very much to be pitied, as all naughty boys are; for sooner or later their naughtiness is sure to bring its own punishment!

They could not help the tears running down their faces as they walked, and Harry sobbed aloud.

'What's that?' said Hugh, after a while, stopping and listening.

Harry came as close to his brother as he could, for he too had heard a noise. They listened again. There was a sound like

some one singing.

'I wonder if there is any one in the wood,' said Hugh. 'Let us go towards the place quietly. Don't let yourself be seen.'

'No,' said Harry; 'for it might be the farmer, and he would skin us.'

As they went on the singing seemed to get louder, and after a time they could hear other sounds beside. There seemed to be several people talking, and there were crackling noises as if a fire was burning. The boys crept along amongst the bushes, until they came within sight of a large open space in the wood, and now they could see a bright fire blazing in the middle of the space, and people going to and fro. There were about six men and seven or eight women and one or two boys. The singing came from a woman, who was sitting close up to the fire and cooking something in a great black pot. She had on a bright red handkerchief over her head, and several of the other women had the same.

'They are gipsies, I believe,' said Hugh in a whisper. 'I have seen pictures of them, and they always have red handkerchiefs on their heads, and they always live in woods.'

'Will they hurt us, do you think?' said Harry.