the twigs and bark. He did not seem unhappy though
he looked thin, and his clothes hardly held together they were so
ragged.

All these particulars became visible to the children, as the party of
gipsies--for such they were, though of a low class--came nearer and
nearer. I forgot to say that the sixth member of the party was a donkey,
a poor half-starved looking creature, with roughly-made panniers,
stuffed with crockery apparently, for basins and jugs and pots of
various kinds were to be seen sticking out of them in all directions.
And besides the donkey's load there was a good deal more to carry, for
the man and the women and the big boy were all loaded with bundles of
different shapes and sizes, and the little fellow had a sort of knapsack
on his back. They would probably have passed on their way without
dreaming of the two small people in Spy Tower up above their heads, had
not Duke, suddenly catching sight of the donkey's burden, exclaimed
loudly to Pamela:

"See, see, sister; they have jugs and dishes. Perhaps us could get a
bowl like ours."

At the sound of the child's voice the man stopped short in what he was
saying to his companions, and looked up.

"Good day, my little master, and my pretty missy too," he said in a
smooth voice, not the least like the rather harsh tones in which he had
been speaking a moment before in the strange language. "At your service,
and is there anything I can do for you?"

"Oh the pretty dears," exclaimed one of the two women, while the other
turned away with a rough laugh, muttering something the children could
not distinguish the meaning of. "Oh the pretty dears! Like two sweet
birds up in a nest. And wouldn't you like your fortunes told, my
honeys?"

"I don't know what that means," replied Duke, feeling very valiant at
the top of the wall. "I want to know if you've got any china bowls to
sell--bowls for bread and milk, with little blue leaves running over
them."

"To be sure, to be sure," said the man. "We've the very thing--it is
strange, to be sure, that I should have just what the little master
wants, isn't it?" he went on, turning to the woman.

"If the gentleman and lady could come down and look at them, they would
see better," said she, seizing the panniers with a great show of getting
out the crockery they contained.

"Us can't come down there," said Duke. "You must come in at the gate,
and us will meet you at the back door."

The man and woman hesitated.

"