One boy ran up: he was ready, and the only one
who was. Presently Chaunter rushed by.
’Barnshed ‘s in custody; I’m away
home,’ he said, passing.
We stared at the black opening of the dell.
‘Oh, it’s Catman; we don’t mind
him,’ Saddlebank reassured us; but we heard
ominous voices, and perceived people standing over
a prostrate figure. Then we heard a voice too
well known to us. It said, ’The explanation
of a pupil in your charge, Mr. Catman, being sent barefaced
into the town—a scholar of mine-for sage
and onions . . .’
‘Old Rippenger!’ breathed Temple.
We sat paralyzed. Now we understood the folly
of despatching a donkey like Barnshed for sage and
onions.
‘Oh, what asses we have been!’ Temple
continued. ’Come along-we run for it!
Come along, Richie! They ‘re picking up
the fellows like windfalls.’
I told him I would not run for it; in fact, I distrusted
my legs; and he was staggering, answering Saddlebank’s
reproaches for having come among tramps.
‘Temple, I see you, sir!’ called Mr. Rippenger.
Poor Temple had advanced into the firelight.
With the instinct to defeat the master, I crawled
in the line of the shadows to the farther side of
a tent, where I felt a hand clutch mine. ‘Hide
me,’ said I; and the curtain of the tent was
raised. After squeezing through boxes and straw,
I lay flat, covered by a mat smelling of abominable
cheese, and felt a head outside it on my chest.
Several times Mr. Rippenger pronounced my name in
the way habitual to him in anger: ‘Rye!’
Temple’s answer was inaudible to me. Saddlebank
spoke, and other boys, and the man and the woman.
Then a light was thrust in the tent, and the man said,
’Me deceive you, sir! See for yourself,
to satisfy yourself. Here’s our little
uns laid warm, and a girl there, head on the mat, going
down to join her tribe at Lipcombe, and one of our
women sleeps here, and all told. But for you
to suspect me of combining—Thank ye, sir.
You’ve got my word as a man.’
The light went away. My chest was relieved of
the weight on it. I sat up, and the creature
who had been kind to me laid mat and straw on the
ground, and drew my head on her shoulder, where I slept
fast.
A FREE LIFE ON THE ROAD
I woke very early, though I had taken kindly to my
pillow, as I found by my having an arm round my companion’s
neck, and her fingers intertwisted with mine.
For awhile I lay looking at her eyes, which had every
imaginable light and signification in them; they advised
me to lie quiet, they laughed at my wonder, they said,
‘Dear little fellow!’ they flashed as
from under a cloud, darkened, flashed out of it, seemed
to dip in water and shine, and were sometimes like
a view into a forest, sometimes intensely sunny, never
quite still. I trusted her, and could have slept
again, but the sight of the tent stupefied me; I fancied
the sky had fallen, and gasped for air; my head was
extremely dizzy too; not one idea in it was kept from
wheeling. This confusion of my head flew to my
legs when, imitating her, I rose to go forth.
In a fit of horror I thought, ’I ‘ve forgotten
how to walk!’
