wn of the pests; and it
seemed to her she could hear the music of his pipe as he stepped into
the street and began to play, while the rats from every hole and cranny
followed him to the very banks of the Weser, where they were drowned in
the rolling tide.

It seemed awful that after promising the Piper those fifty thousand
guilders, the Mayor should break his word; and it certainly was
terrible, when the Piper found he had been duped, that he should again
begin to pipe, and that the children--yes, every one in Hamelin
Town--should follow him just as the rats had done, and that by and by
he should lead them to the mountain-side, that it should open, and
that, lo! after they had all passed in, it should close again, leaving
only one little lame boy outside, weeping bitterly because he had not
been able to walk fast enough to keep up with the merry crowd. It was
all so distinct and plain.

She wondered where the children went after the hill-side shut them in.
She wondered what they saw. She thought the Piper's music must have
been very odd indeed to charm them so. She could almost hear-- _What
was that_? She gave a start; for sure as you live, she heard the sound
of a fife piping shrill and loud round the corner. She flung down the
book and ran into the street. The air was cold and sharp and made her
shiver, but she did not stop to think of that; she was listening to
that Piper who was coming around the side of the house,--nearer and
nearer. She meant to follow him, whoever he was. There! How the wind
whistled and the leaves scurried!

Wind! Leaves! Why, it was the Pied Piper himself with his puffed
cheeks and tattered coat; and before him ran the host of children,
dancing, as they went, to the tune of the Piper's fife.

Away--away--

With a bound Doris left the door-step and followed after, running and
fluttering, skipping and skurrying, sometimes like a little girl and
sometimes like a big leaf,--she had n't time to ask herself which she
really was; for all the while she was listening to that wonderful fife
as it whistled and wailed, shrieked and sighed, and seemed to coax them
on all the while.

She followed blindly after the rest of the whirling crowd.

Away they went, always more and more,--away they went, clear out of
town and into the bare country,--away they went; and the Piper behind
them made his fife-notes shriller and louder, so that all could hear,
and they seemed to be carried along in sp