would satisfy a sparrow. Fetch some more at once,
for I am perfectly starving.' Then, without giving the woman time to
go to the larder, he got up from his chair, and rolled, staggering
from hunger, towards the kitchen.

Directly the door had closed on the Bad One the boy ran in, pulled
down a bag of gold from the beam, and tucked it under his left arm.
Next he unhooked the little bridge and put it under his right. He did
not try to escape, as most boys of his age would have done, for the
wisdom put into his mind by the good spirits taught him that before he
could reach the river and make use of the bridge the Bad One would
have tracked him by his footsteps and been upon him. So, making
himself very small and thin, he hid himself behind a pile of buffalo
skins in the corner, first tearing a slit through one of them, so that
he could see what was going on.

He had hardly settled himself when the servant entered the room, and,
as she did so, the last bag of gold on the beam fell to the
ground--for they had begun to fall directly the boy had taken the
first one. She cried to her master that someone had stolen both the
bag and the bridge, and the Bad One rushed in, mad with anger, and
bade her go and seek for footsteps outside, that they might find out
where the thief had gone. In a few minutes she returned, saying that
he must be in the house, as she could not see any footsteps leading to
the river, and began to move all the furniture in the room, without
discovering Ball-Carrier.

'But he _must_ be here somewhere,' she said to herself, examining for
the second time the pile of buffalo skins; and Ball-Carrier, knowing
that he could not possibly escape now, hastily wished that the Bad One
should be unable to eat any more food at present.

'Ah, there is a slit in this one,' cried the servant, shaking the
skin; 'and here he is.' And she pulled out Ball-Carrier, looking so
lean and small that he would hardly have made a mouthful for a
sparrow.

'Was it you who took my gold and bridge?' asked the Bad One.

'Yes,' answered Ball-Carrier, 'it was I who took them.'

The Bad One made a sign to the woman, who inquired where he had hidden
them. He lifted his left arm where the gold was, and she picked up a
knife and scraped his skin so that no gold should be left sticking to
it.

'What have you done with the bridge?' said she. And he lifted his
right arm, from which she took the bridge, while the Bad One looked
on, well ple