se sun-browned, black-eyed youngsters to
suggest the slender, fair-haired Gigi.

Tonio peered into the cart. He even thrust
his long, lean hand into the straw that covered
the floor, and felt about the corners, while the
boys wriggled away from his touch like eels
from a landing-net. Gigi held his breath. But
Mother Margherita would not tamely endure
all this.

"Get along, you vermin!" she cried, striking
at his hands as he approached the forward
end of the cart. "Can't you see that the
boy is not here? What would he be doing in
my cart, anyway? I'll trouble you to let us go
on our way in peace. My man in the house
down yonder will be out to help us with his
crossbow and his dogs, if we scream a bit
louder. Be off with you, and look for your
boy in the village. Is it likely he would have
come so far as this, the poor tired little lad?"

"The others are searching the village,"
growled the Hunchback tipsily. "They'll
find him if he's there. 'Tis likely you are
right. And then! I must be there to help at
the punishing. Oh! that will be sport!--Have
any other teams passed you on the road?" he
asked suddenly. "Have you overtaken no one
on foot?"

"We have passed no one," said Mother
Margherita truthfully, starting up the oxen.
"Hiew! Hiew! Go on! go on," she clucked.
"We must get home to bed."

The Hunchback withdrew from the cart
unsteadily, and mounted his donkey. For a
moment he looked doubtfully up and down
the road, then he turned the poor tired animal's
head once more toward the village, and they
began to plod back up the slope.

"The Lord forgive me!" whispered Mother
Margherita piously. "I told a lie, and before
my children, too! But it was to spare a child
suffering, perhaps death. Surely, the Lord
who loves little children will forgive me this sin."

So the good woman mused, as, faint with
terror and gasping for breath, Gigi came out
from under her skirts. He handed back the
bag of silver, and gave a sigh of relief. The
little boys seized him rapturously.

"You are saved, Gigi!" cried Paolo.

"He will never find you now," said Giovanni.

"See, we are almost home! You shall come
and live with us and teach us how to tumble!"
cried Beppo, hugging his new friend closely.
But Mother Margherita interrupted him.

"Not so fast, not so fast, children," she
warned. "Gigi is saved for now. But we may
be able to do little more for him. Your father
is master in the hou