John of the Woods | Page 3

and Cecco were also quickly
on their feet, and the three bowed, side by side, as a sign that the show
was over.
Cecco hissed a word into Gigi's ear, and he knew what to fear next. He
shuddered and tried to draw aside; but the Giant turned to him, livid
with rage, and with one blow of his heavy hand struck him to the
ground.
"So! You spoil us again!" he muttered. "You good-for-nothing! I'll
teach you! Now take the tambourine and gather up the coins from the
crowd. You'll get a beating anyway for this. But if you don't take up
more than we had at the last town, you'll have such a trouncing as you
never yet knew. Now then!"
Dazed and trembling, Gigi took the tambourine, and, shaking its little
bells appealingly, went about among the people. They had already
begun to scatter, with the wonderful agility of a crowd which has not
paid. Some, however, still lingered from curiosity and with the hope of
a second performance. A number of small copper coins Jingled into
Gigi's tambourine. He approached the good woman who had shown an
interest in him. She stooped down and thrust a piece of silver into his
hand, whispering,--
"It is for yourself, child. Do not give it to the cruel men! Keep it to
spend upon a feast-day, darling!"
Gigi looked at her, surprised. People so seldom spoke kindly to him!
The brown spot upon his eyelid quivered. He seemed about to cry. The
woman patted him on the head kindly.
"If they are cruel to you, I'd not stay with them," she whispered. "I'd
run away.--Hey, Beppo! Hey, Giovanni! Paolo!" she called, "we must
be off." And she turned to gather up her young ones, who were
shouting about the market-place, trying to stand upon their heads as
Gigi had done.
Gigi clasped the silver piece tightly in his hand, and went on, shaking
the tambourine after the retreating crowd. But few more pennies were
coaxed away. Presently he made his way back to the group of tumblers,
now seated on the fountain-steps.
"Well, what have you?" growled the Giant. Gigi presented the

tambourine with the few pennies rattling around somewhat lonesomely.
"Humph!" snarled Cecco. "Less than last time. Is that all?"
"A beating you get!" roared the Giant.
Gigi shivered. "No,--not all," he said. "Here is a silver piece," and he
held out the coin which the kind woman had given him.
"Ah, silver! that is better!" cried Tonio the Hunchback, with his eyes
shining greedily. "Give it here"; and he snatched it and thrust it Into his
pouch. Tonio was the treasurer of the gypsy band. But the Giant had
been eyeing Gigi with an ugly gleam.
"He was keeping it!" he growled. "He did not mean to give it up. He
would have stolen it!"
"It was mine!" cried Gigi with spirit. "She gave it to me and told me to
keep it for a fiesta. But I gave it up because--because I did not want to
be beaten again."
"You did not give it up soon enough!" roared the Giant, working
himself into a terrible rage. "You shall smart for this, you whelp! After
supper I will beat you as never a boy was beaten yet. But I must eat
first. I must get up my strength. No supper for you, Gigi. Do you watch
the donkey here while we go to the inn and spend the silver piece. Then,
when we are camped outside the town,--then we will attend to you!"

III
THE RUNAWAY
It was but a step to the inn around the corner. Off went the three
gypsies, leaving Gigi with the donkey beside the fountain. The poor
animal stood with hanging head and flopping ears. He too was weary
and heart-broken by a hard life and many beatings. His back was piled
with the heavy roll of carpet and all the poor belongings of the band,
including the tent for the night's lodging. For on these warm spring
nights they slept in the open, usually outside the walls of some town.
They were never welcome visitors, but vagrants and outcasts.
Gigi sat on the fountain-step with his aching head between his hands.
He was very hungry, and his heart ached even more than his head or his
empty stomach. He was so tired of their cruelties and their hard ways
with him, which had been ever since he could remember. The kind
word which the good woman had spoken to him had unnerved him, too.
She had advised him to run away. Run away! He had thought of that

before. But how could he do it? Tonio the Hunchback was so wicked
and sharp! He would know just where to find a runaway.