sing with the doctor, they
came through that very lane again, and in their sheltered corner, there
were the gipsies, looking as if they had never stirred for weeks.
There, too, were the women cooking by the fire, and the horses and
ponies grazing on the strips of grass by the roadside.

But closer examination would have proved that the horses which drew cart
and van were different, and several of the drove of loose ones had been
sold or changed away.

There, too, were the boys whose duty it was to mind the horses slouching
about the lane, and their dark eyes glistened as the doctor and Vane
came along.

"Dear me!" said the doctor suddenly.

"What, uncle?"

"I thought I saw someone hurry away through the furze bushes as we came
up, as if to avoid being seen. Your friend Macey I think."

"Couldn't have been, uncle, or he would have stopped."

"I was mistaken perhaps.--A singular people these, so wedded to their
restless life. I should like to trace them back and find out their
origin. It would be a curious experience to stay with them for a year
or two," continued the doctor, after a long silence, "and so find out
exactly how they live. I'm afraid that they do a little stealing at
times when opportunity serves. Fruit, poultry, vegetables, any little
thing they can snap up easily. Then, too, they have a great knowledge
of herbs and wild vegetables, with which, no doubt, they supplement
their scanty fare. Like to join them for a bit, Vane?"

"Oh, no," said the boy laughing. "I don't think I should care for that.
Too fond of a comfortable bed, uncle, and a chair and table for my
meals."

"If report says true, their meals are not bad," continued the doctor.
"Their women are most clever at marketing and contrive to buy very
cheaply of the butchers, and they are admirable cooks. They do not
starve themselves."

"Think there's any truth about the way they cook fowls or pheasants,
uncle?"

"What, covering them all over with clay, and then baking them in the hot
embers of a wood fire? Not a doubt about it, boy. They serve squirrels
and hedgehogs in the same way, even a goose at times. When they think
it is done, the clay is burned into earthenware. Then a deft blow with
a stick or stone cracks the burnt clay and the bird or animal is turned
out hot and juicy, the feathers or bristles remaining in the clay."

"Don't think I could manage hedgehog or squirrel, uncle."

"I should not select them for diet.