he
milestone and took the goat through a gap in the hedge. He brought it
to the house before the robbers were through with their breakfast. They
were all terribly surprised. The Captain began to bite at his nails.

The farmer, with the two shoes under his arm, came to where he had left
the goat. The goat was gone and its collar was left on the milestone. He
knew that a robber had taken his goat. "And I had promised Ann, my
wife, to buy her a new shawl at the fair," said he. "She'll never stop
scolding me if I go back to her now with one hand as long as the other.
The best thing I can do is to take a sheep out of my field and sell
that. Then when she is in good humor on account of getting the shawl
I'll tell her about the loss of my goat." So the farmer went back to the
field.

They were sitting down to a game of cards after breakfast--the six
robbers and Gilly--when they saw the farmer going past with the sheep.
"I'll be bound that he'll watch that sheep more closely than he watched
the goat," said one of the robbers. "Could any of you steal that sheep
without doing him any violence?" said Gilly. "I couldn't," said one
robber, and "I couldn't," said another robber. "I could hardly do that
myself," said the Captain of the Robbers. "I'll bring the sheep here
before you're through with the game of cards," said Gilly.

The farmer was just past the milestone when he saw a man hanging on a
tree. "The saints between us and harm," said he, "do they hang men along
this road?" Now the man hanging from the tree was Gilly. He had fastened
himself to a branch with his belt, putting it under his arm-pits. He
slipped down from the branch and ran till he was ahead of the farmer.
The farmer saw another man hanging from a tree. "The saints preserve
us," said he, "sure; it's not possible that they hanged two men along
this road?" Gilly slipped down from that tree too and ran on until he
was ahead of the farmer again. The farmer saw a third man hanging from
a tree. "Am I leaving my senses?" said he. "I'll go back and see if the
other men are hanging there as I thought they were." He tied the sheep
to a bush and went back. As soon as he turned, Gilly slipped down from
the tree, took the sheep through a gap, and got back to the robbers
before they were through with the game. All the robbers said it was
a wonderful thing he had done. The Captain of the Robbers was left
standing by himself scratching his head.

The farmer found no men hang