an it had
ever been before in his life, and this was not to be wondered at,
because he had not washed it since he left his Aunt Selina's yesterday
morning. And yesterday morning seemed a very long time ago.

He stood in the middle of the van, trying to look at himself in the
glass, when suddenly it fell from his hand and broke, and Jimmy gave a
violent jump. For to his great alarm he heard distinctly the voice of
Coote, the railway policeman, just outside the van.

Now Coote had been greatly astonished last night, on coming out of the
ham and beef shop, to see no sign of Jimmy. He had spent two hours
looking for him, and then he gave him up as a bad job. When he told the
station-master what had happened, he was ordered to do nothing else
until he found the boy again, and so Coote had spent the whole day
searching for him. And Coote's instructions were, on finding the boy, to
take him direct to his aunt's house at Chesterham.

Coote, after looking all over Barstead, thought that perhaps Jimmy had
gone away with the circus people, so he took a train and followed them.
But Jimmy felt as much afraid as ever; he made sure that if Coote caught
him he would be locked up in prison. Thinking that the policeman was
coming into the van, he looked about for a place to hide himself, and at
last he made up his mind to crawl under the bed. It was not at all easy,
because the bed was close to the floor; but still, Jimmy managed it at
last, and lay quite still on the floor, expecting every moment that
Coote would enter. Then he remembered that he had left his own clothes
on the floor, so that if Coote saw them he would guess that their owner
was hiding. Jimmy felt that he would do anything to get safely away, and
he lay on the floor scarcely daring to breathe, until Coote's voice
sounded farther off.

Crawling out from under the bed again, presently, without stopping to
think, Jimmy opened the door of the van, ran down the steps, and on
putting his feet to the grass, he at once dodged round the van and set
off at a run away from the tent.

He ran and ran until he was quite out of breath. He seemed to have
reached a country lane; it was very quiet and dark, and the stars shone
in the sky. Jimmy sat down by the wayside, feeling very hot and tired,
and then he remembered that he was wearing the clown's clothes. He
remembered also that he had left all his money and his knife behind him;
but still he did not think of going back, because