opportunity, Elsie would hardly have had
the courage to go on her way with Mrs. Ferguson's dirty tattered gown
tucked up and pinned together about her.

By-and-by Elsie began to think she saw what Mrs. Ferguson was thinking
of. She noticed that she frequently looked along the road, and carefully
watched for any vehicle whose wheels sounded in the distance. "She
thinks mother'll come and fetch us," Elsie said to herself, "or at least
the woman that I told her I lived with; but she'll never come here after
us, that's certain."

But although Elsie had very little fear that they would be found, yet
she was determined to get away somehow from this hovel.

Two whole days had elapsed. They had spent three wretched shivering
nights on the floor of the loft. On the third day Elsie felt she could
bear it no longer. She was in a state of suppressed excitement, and she
felt that she could almost jump out of her skin.

It is very strange to notice through what small loopholes people often
make their escape. The fairy-tale idea of passing through keyholes and
up chimneys is scarcely more wonderful. Now, Mrs. Ferguson had been
keeping a strict watch on these children, and not only herself, but her
husband and two children had all been employed to watch. On the third
day there stopped at the cottage door a lumbering vehicle, containing a
man and woman and several baskets. The two alighted, and came into the
cottage, where a great talking ensued, and many purchases were displayed
and loudly discussed. The two Ferguson lads should have been with Elsie
and Duncan, but they had climbed on to the top of the peat-stack by the
side of the house, and were lying full length, peering unobserved
through the dingy window. Suddenly Elsie perceived that they were alone,
and without waiting to consider the possibilities of the case, she took
Duncan by the hand, pushed him over the stone wall, quickly climbed it
herself, and flew away over the grass as fast as her feet could carry
her in the direction of the hills.

Here, again, fortune favoured her, as it sometimes does favour the most
rash ventures. After running a goodish way, Elsie saw what she had never
dreamed of finding--a roadway sweeping round the foot of the hill, and
quite hidden from sight by a sudden rise in the ground. When they gained
the road, they too would be hidden by the rising ground between them and
the crofter's cottage, whereas now they could be seen distinctly by any
one