e legs were very tired; and where
was the use of tiring them still more when they might only be wandering
farther and farther from their home? For, though the choice was not
great, being simply a question of up-hill or down-dale, it was as bad as
if there had been half a dozen ways before them, as they had not the
least idea which of the two was the right one!

The two pair of blue eyes looked at each other piteously; then the
eyelids drooped, and big tears slowly welled out from underneath them;
the twins flung their arms about each other, and, sitting down on the
little bit of dusty grass that bordered the highway, burst into loud and
despairing sobs.

CHAPTER XII.

GOOD-BYE TO "US."

"And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day."
_Morituri Salutamus._

By slow degrees their sobs exhausted themselves. Pamela leant her head
against Duke and shut her eyes.

"I am so tired, bruvver," she said. "If us could only get some quiet
place out of the sun I would like to lie down and go to sleep. Wouldn't
you, bruvver?"

"I don't know," said Duke.

"I wonder if the birds would cover us up wif leaves," said Pamela
dreamily, "like those little children long ago?"

"That would be if us was dead," said Duke. "Oh sister, you don't think
us must be going to die!"

"I don't know," said Pamela in her turn.

Suddenly Duke raised himself a little, and Pamela, feeling him move, sat
up and opened her eyes.

"What is it?" she asked, but he did not need to answer, for just then
she too heard the sound that had caught Duke's ears. It was the barking
of a dog--not a deep baying sound, but a short, eager, energetic bark,
and seemingly very near them. The children looked at each other and then
rose to their feet.

"Couldn't you fink it was Toby?" said Pamela in a low voice, though why
she spoke so low she could not have said.

Duke nodded, and then, moved by the same impulse, they went forward to
the middle of the road and looked about them, hand in hand. Again came
the sharp eager bark, and this time a voice was heard as if soothing the
dog, though they could not quite catch the words. But some one was near
them--thus much seemed certain, and the very idea had comfort in it.
Still, for a minute or two they could not make out where were the dog
and its owner; for they did not know that a short way down the road a
path ending in a stil