John of the Woods | Page 5

Now here

you are before us, on foot!"
"I ran," said Gigi simply. "I came not by the highway, which is long
and winding, but down steep streets like stairs, which brought me here
very quickly."
"See the bruise on his cheek, mother!" cried Beppo, the littlest boy,
pointing. The good woman saw it, and her eyes flashed.
"Oh! Oh!" she clucked. "The wicked men! Did they do that to you?"
"Yes. And they will do more if they catch me now," said Gigi. "I know.
They have beaten me many times till I could not move. But if they
catch me this time, they will kill me because I ran away. Will you help
me?"
"Why, what can I do?" asked the woman uneasily, looking up and
down the road. "If they should come now! You belong to them. I shall
get myself into trouble."
Gigi's face fell. "Very well," he said. "Good-by. You were kind to me
to-day, and I thought--perhaps--" He turned away, with his lips
quivering.
"Stay!" cried the woman. "Where is the silver piece which I gave you?
You can at least buy food and a night's lodging with that."
"They took it from me," said Gigi. "I had to give it up because there
was so little money in the tambourine,--only coppers. They said people
would not pay because I fell; and so they would beat me again."
"They took it from you! The thieves!" cried the woman angrily. "Nay,
then I will indeed help you to escape. Climb in here, boy, among my
youngsters. We have still an hour's ride down the road, and you shall
go so far at least."
Gigi climbed into the cart and nestled down among the children. The
woman clucked to the oxen, and forthwith they moved on down the
highroad. The shadows were beginning to darken, and the birds had
ceased to sing.
"Hiew! Hiew! Come up! Come up!" the woman urged on the great
white oxen. "It is growing late, and the good man will wonder why we
are so long returning from market. This has been our holiday," she
explained to Gigi. "And to think that the Tumblers should have
happened to come to the market this very day! The children will never
forget!"
Beppo had been staring at Gigi with fascinated eyes. "How did you

learn?" he asked suddenly. "Could I do it too?"
Gigi laughed. For the first time that day his face lost its sadness, and
the brown spot on his eyelid, falling into one of the little creases, gave
him a very mischievous look. He seemed to wink. Immediately the
whole cartful of peasants began to laugh with him, they knew not why.
They could not help it. This was what happened whenever Gigi laughed,
as he seldom did.
But soon Gigi grew grave once more. "Why do you want to learn?" he
asked. "It does not make me happy. For oh! they are so cruel!"
"Do they beat you much?" asked Paolo sympathetically. Gigi nodded
his head with a sigh. "Very much," he said. "I am always black and
blue."
"Am I too big to learn?" demanded Giovanni, the oldest boy, who was
perhaps twelve and heavier than Gigi. "When did you begin?"
Gigi grew thoughtful. "Ever since I remember, I have tumbled," he said.
"Ever since I was a baby, before I could even turn a somersault, they
tossed me back and forth between them and made me kiss my hand to
the people who stood about."
"And did they beat you then?" asked Beppo, doubling up his fists.
Gigi sighed again. "They always beat me," he said simply. "Whatever I
did, they beat me when they were ugly. And that was always."
"Do you belong to them?" asked the woman suddenly. "They are
Gypsies, black men. But you are fair like the people of the North.
Where did they get you, Gigi?"
Gigi shook his head. "I do not know," he said. "I have belonged to them
always, I think."
"Hark!" said Mother Margherita suddenly. "What's that?"
There was a faint noise far off on the road behind them. Gigi trembled.
"They are coming for me!" he said. "What shall I do?"
"No, no," said the woman. "I do not fear that. It is too soon, surely. But
it is growing dark here in the valley. This is a lonely spot, and there are
many wicked men about besides your masters, Gigi."
"Thieves and villains!" whispered Giovanni. "Oh, mother, hide the bag
of silver that you got at market!"
"Sh! Sh!" warned the mother sharply. "Do not speak of it! Hiew, hiew!
Go on! go on!" And she urged the oxen faster.
But the great beasts would not hasten their pace for her. The noise

came nearer. They could hear that