low of coming. He was always
on the look-out for it; and, indeed, had he not been so Duke would have
kept him up to his promise, for whenever he saw Tim alone for a moment
he was sure to whisper to him, "How soon do you think us can run away?"
And it was now the seventh day since the children had been carried off!

Pamela's foot was almost well. She could walk and even run without it
hurting her. Diana had bound it up carefully, after putting on some
ointment which certainly healed it very quickly. For, with all their
ignorance and brutality, the gipsies were really clever in some ways.
They had knowledge of herbs which had been handed down to them by their
ancestors, and their fingers were skilful and nimble. And for their own
sakes Mick and the Missus were anxious that their two pretty prisoners
should not fall ill. So that, though dirty and uncared-for as far as
appearance went, the little pair had not really suffered in health by
their misfortunes.

It was partly, perhaps, owing to their innocent hopefulness, which kept
up their spirits when, had they been wiser and older, they would have
lost heart and grown ill with fear and anxiety.

They were now far enough from Sandlingham for Mick to feel pretty sure
they would not be tracked. The actual distance they had travelled was
not great, but a few miles in those days were really more than a hundred
at the present time. For there were, of course, no railways; in many
parts of the country the cross-roads were so bad that it was necessary
and really quicker to make long rounds rather than leave "the king's
highway." And--still more important, perhaps, in such a case--there were
no telegraphs! No possibility for poor Grandpapa and Grandmamma--as
there would be nowadays, _could_ such a thing happen as the theft of
little children--to send word in the space of an hour or two to the
police all over the country. Indeed, compared with what it is in our
times, the police hardly existed.

And everything was in the gipsies' favour. No one had seen them in the
neighbourhood of Arbitt Lodge. They had not been on the Sandlingham
high-road before meeting the children, and had avoided it on purpose
after that. So, among the many explanations that were offered to the
poor old gentleman and lady of their grandchildren's disappearance,
though "stolen by gipsies" was suggested, it was not seriously taken up.

"There have been no gipsies about here for months past," said Grandpapa.
"B