in the corner, with Mossoo's tangled head between them; at the dark form
of Perrin, near the ashes of the fire; and at the fair child in
Seraminta's arms, sleeping quietly at last. Before the cock in the
farmyard near had answered a shrill friend in the distance more than
twice, the whole party, except the baby, was awake, the donkey
harnessed, and the journey continued.

Day after day passed in the same manner, and baby still cried for
"Mammy," but every day less and less, for the tramps were kind to her in
their rough way, and fortunately her memory was short, and soon ceased
to recall Maggie's loving care and caresses. So before she had led her
new life a week, she had found things to smile at again; sometimes
flowers which the freckled Bennie picked for her in the hedges,
sometimes the gay rattle of the tambourine, sometimes a ride on the
donkey's back; the poodle also, from having been an object of fear, had
now become a friend.

Mossoo was a dog who had known trouble. He well remembered the days
when he had had to learn to dance, and what it was to shrink from blows,
and to howl with pain and fear under punishment. Times were not so bad
for him now, because his education was over, but still he had to work
hard for his living. In every town they passed he must stiffen his long
thin back, raise himself on his small feet, and dance gravely to the
sound of the tambourine; if this happened at the end of a long day's
tramp, it was both difficult and painful, but he seldom failed, for he
knew the consequences--no supper and a beating.

Accordingly, until a certain sign was given, he kept one pink-rimmed eye
on his mistress's face, and revolved slowly round and round, with
drooping paws and an elegant curtsying movement, the centre of an
admiring ring. Sometimes, when the performance was over, and he carried
round a small tin plate for coppers, the spectators would drop off one
by one, and give him nothing; sometimes he got a good deal, and took it
to his mistress with joyful wags of his ragged tasselled tail. Now,
Mossoo had noticed the addition of baby to the accustomed party, and
also her passionate sobs and cries. She was in trouble, as he had often
been, and one day this trouble was even deeper than usual. They had
stopped to rest in a little wayside copse, and after the donkey was
unharnessed the man and the two boys had started off on a foraging
expedition, or, in other words, to see what they could be