toppling. Frantic clutches of
small brown hands and the quick shifting of feet alone saved a smash-up.

The master was still in the schoolhouse with some of the older boys and
girls; but the younger ones had rushed out when the bell rang.

"Hi, where are you going?" several shouted. "What you got on your
heads?"

The little strangers turned their faces and, nodding violently, tried to
smile ingratiatingly. Some one let fly a snowball, and in a moment the
mob of boys, shouting and laughing noisily, chased after them. No harm
was intended; it was merely excess of spirits at getting out from
school. But the result was disastrous. The little fellows faced round in
alarm, cried out wildly in an unknown tongue and then, in spite of their
burdens, tried to run away.

The inevitable happened: one of them stumbled, fell against the other,
and down they both went headlong with a crash. The tall Madonna was
broken in two; Washington had his cocked hat crushed; the cherubs had
lost their wings; and as for the elephants and the giraffes, there was a
general mix-up of broken trunks and long necks.

The little fellows had scrambled to their feet, and after a frightened
glance set up wails of lamentation in which the word _padrone_ recurred
fast and fearfully. By that time Master Brench, with the older pupils,
among whom were my cousins, Addison, Theodora and Ellen, had come out.
The old Squire, too, chanced to be approaching with a horse sled; often
of late, since the traveling was bad, he had driven to the schoolhouse
to get us.

It was a wholly compassionate group that now gathered about the forlorn
itinerants. Who they were or whither they were traveling was at first
far from clear, for they could not speak a word of English.

At last the old Squire, touched by their looks of despair and sorrow,
decided to put their "rafts" on the horse sled and to take the little
strangers home with us for the night.

They seemed to be chilled to the very marrow of their bones, for they
hung round the stove in the kitchen as if they would never thaw out.
When grandmother Ruth set a warm supper before them, they ate like
starved animals and cast pathetic glances at the table to see whether
there was more food. Tears stood in grandmother's eyes as she
replenished their plates.

Little by little, with the aid of many signs and gestures, they managed
to tell us their story. A _padrone_ had brought them with nine other
boys from Naples to s