John of the Woods | Page 6

it was the trotting of hoofs.
"There is only one animal," said Gigi, whose ears were keen. "I can
hear his four feet patter. I think it is the donkey!"
"I can see him now!" cried Paolo. "It is a little man on a donkey. He is
bending forward and beating it hard."
Gigi strained his eyes to see. "It is Tonio!" he whispered fearfully. "I
know it! Oh, the Hunchback will kill me when he finds me! And he
will take your silver, too!"
"Sh! Sh!" commanded the mother. "He shall not find you. Here, take
this bag, Gigi. It will be safer with you. And here, creep under my
skirts and keep close. He will never guess where you are!"
Mother Margherita spread out her generous draperies, which luckily
were both long and wide, and Gigi crept under them, being wholly
covered. The other boys huddled close, shivering with a not wholly
unpleasant excitement. This was an adventure indeed for a holiday!
The rider drew nearer and nearer, lashing the poor donkey unmercifully.
At last they could see his face, red and lowering.
"Halt!" he cried suddenly. "You in the cart there, halt!"
V
THE HUNCHBACK
The oxen stopped. The cart came to a standstill. The boys huddled
closer, and Gigi's heart beat like a tambourine. He was sure that Tonio
would hear it.
"What do you want?" asked Mother Margherita, and her usually kind
voice was harsh.
"You seem to have a load of young cubs there," shouted Tonio. "Have
you got my boy, Gigi the Tumbler, among them? Some one has stolen
the little monster."
[Illustration: "Have you got my boy?"]
"What are you talking about!" answered Mother Margherita sharply. "I
am a respectable countrywoman returning from market-day with my
children. What business have I with tumblers and vagrants!"
"That I'll see for myself, woman," said Tonio, jumping unsteadily down
from the donkey and approaching the cart. Tonio had been drinking,
and his little eyes were red and fierce.
"Keep your hands off my children!" cried their plucky mother,
brandishing her whip. But Tonio was not to be kept away.

"I will see them!" he snarled. He thrust his ugly face into those of the
three boys, one after another, eyeing them sharply in the growing
darkness. But there was little about these 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,