go near the police.  And they cried and sobbed and hung upon Tim in their panic of terror, till the poor boy was fairly at his wit’s end, and had to give in so far as to promise to say no more about it at present.  So they spent the early hours of the beautiful spring morning in a copse outside the little town, where they were quite happy, and ate the provisions Peter’s wife had put up for them with a good appetite, thinking no more of the future than the birds in the bushes; while poor Tim was grudging every moment of what he felt to be lost time, and wondering where they were to get their next meal or find shelter for the night!

It ended at last in a compromise.  Tim received gracious permission himself to go to the police to ask the way, provided he left “us” in the wood—­“us” promising to be very good, not to stray out of a certain distance, to speak to no possible passers-by, and to hide among the brushwood if any suspicious-looking people came near.

And, far more anxious at heart than if he could have persuaded them to come with him, but still with no real misgiving but that in half an hour he would be back with full directions for the rest of their journey, Tim set off at a run in quest of the police office of Monkhaven.  He was soon in the main street of the town, which after all was more like a big village—­except at the end where lay the canal wharf, which was dirty and crowded and bustling—­and had no difficulty in finding the house he was in search of.  On the walls outside were pasted up posters of different sizes and importance—­notices of new regulations, and “rewards” for various losses—­but Tim, taking no notice of any of these, hastened to knock at the door, and eagerly, though not without some fear, stood waiting leave to enter.

Two or three policemen were standing or sitting about talking to each other.  Tim’s first knock was not heard, but a second brought one to the door.

“Please, sir,” said the boy without waiting to be asked what he wanted, “could you tell me the nearest way to Sandle’ham?  I’m on my way there—­leastways to some place near-by there—­there’s two childer with me, sir, as has got strayed away from their home, and——­”

“What’s that he’s saying?” said another man coming forward—­he was the head officer evidently—­“Tell us that again,”—­“Just make him come inside, Simpkins, and just as well shut to the door,” he added in a low voice.  Tim came forward unsuspiciously.  “Well, what’s that you were saying?” he went on to Tim.

“It’s two childer, sir,” repeated Tim—­“two small childer as has got strayed away from their home—­you may have heard of it?—­and I’m a-taking them back, only I’m not rightly sure of the way, and I thought—­I thought, as it was the best to ax you, seeing as you’ve maybe heard——­” but here Tim’s voice, which had been faltering somewhat, so keen and hard was the look directed upon him, came altogether to an end; and he grew so red and looked so uneasy that perhaps it was no wonder if Superintendent Boyds thought him a suspicious character.