Hugh was afraid of standing too near Harry, lest the men should see them talking and box their ears for them. So after he had said what I have told you, he went back to his place on the turf and sat down. He did not fall off to sleep any more. MUST get rid of this baby,' thought The woman seemed so satisfied with Hugh as a nursemaid, that so long as the child was quiet she did not care to take it from him. Hugh tried to lay it down upon the grass several times, but whenever he did so, the baby stirred and made a little noise as if it would wake, and he had to rock it off again. All at once one of the men glanced at Harry, and then said something to the others in their own language; and then a woman came to Harry and bid him get into the caravan and go to sleep. It was in vain that Harry said he would rather sleep outside, he was made to do as he was bid, and then Hugh was told to do the same. In he got also, with the baby still in his arms, and as soon as they were in the caravan, the woman bolted the door outside. 'We shall never get away now,' said Harry. They have guessed that we shall try it, and now they have shut us in.' Hugh. We can do them no good!' Oh, Hugh, you don't know what wicked men they are!' said Harry, again speaking low, and looking round as if afraid that some one might hear him from behind. They went out to-night for nothing else but to steal and rob. They went to a farm-house, and made me get through the window of the hen-house, because I am small, and it was a little window. I said I wouldn't first, and then that horrid man with the straw hat beat me; oh, he beat me so, Hugh! and another held his hand over my mouth, that I should not cry and be heard. Those bags of theirs are full of fowls and turkeys, stolen things, all stolen. When we were in the middle of stealing the fowls, the farmer heard us and came down, and then several more men, and there was firing of guns, and a great noise, and everybody ran away; and because I could not run fast enough, that horrid man beat me again. Oh, Hugh, I am so miserable! I have been a very wicked boy indeed. It all began with our stealing the cherries, though that did not seem so bad at the time; and now they have made me be a regular thief,—they made me do it, Hugh; I couldn't help it, and I am as bad as those wicked gipsies, for I am a thief.' 'And I have been a very wicked boy too,' said Hugh, gravely; 'I have been worse than you, Harry, for I am older, and I thought of it first.' Then the two little boys sat silent for some time, for they felt too unhappy to speak. At last Hugh said,- But why should they want to keep us here now, I wonder?' 'Oh, I forgot to tell you that the farmer sent off a man to fetch some policemen, and that is what makes the gipsies afraid. They think, I suppose, that I shall tell the police where to find them in the wood; and so I would,' said Harry; 'for they are bad, wicked men, and they live by stealing.' 'What are we to do now?' asked Hugh. 'I don't know; I can't tell,' said Harry; 'if we could only get out of this horrid caravan.' 'I wish it wasn't so dark,' said Hugh, and we might think of something.' The caravan was lighted only in one corner by a small end of a tallow candle stuck on to a piece of wire. There seemed to be two rooms to the caravan, for there was a door each side. Hugh and Harry were in the outer room. 'I wonder if we could get this candle off the wire, so as to look about us?' said Hugh. They tried and found they could. Hugh gave Harry the end of candle to hold, and they both moved softly to the door. It was fastened only by a latch, and the boys went into the inner room. There were two beds on the floor of this inner room, and in the beds were several children fast asleep. 'I wonder if I laid the baby down in the bed if it would wake it?' Try,' said Harry. Hugh put down the child, and it still slept on; so, after watching it for a few moments, they went on with their search. There were several windows, but the boys found that neither of those at the sides of the caravan opened at all. There was another door at the back, but it was locked; and above the door there was a window. Hugh tried it, and found that it would open. 'Now, I wonder if they are asleep,' said he, meaning the gipsies outside. 'I shouldn't dare try to get away if they are still awake.' |