harming little girl, peeping out of a latticed window beside the door.
She wore a little red hood, and looked wistfully after Davy as the shop
went out of sight.

"I verily believe that was Little Red Riding Hood," said Davy to
himself, "and I never knew before that Robin Hood was her father!" The
thought of Red Riding Hood, however, brought the wolf to Davy's mind,
and he began to anxiously watch the thickets on either side of the path,
and even went so far as to whistle softly to himself, by way of showing
that he wasn't in the least afraid. He went on and on, hoping the forest
would soon come to an end, until the path shook itself again, disclosing
to view a trim little brick shop in the densest part of the thicket. It
had a neat little green door, with a bright brass knocker upon it, and a
sign above it, bearing the words:--

"SHAM-SHAM: BARGAINS IN WATCHES."

"Well!" exclaimed Davy, in amazement. "Of all places to sell watches in
that's the preposterest!"--but as he turned to walk away he found the
trees and bushes for the first time blocking his way, and refusing to
move aside. This distressed him very much, until it suddenly occurred to
him that this must mean that he was to go into the shop; and, after a
moment's hesitation, he went up and knocked timidly at the door with the
bright brass knocker. There was no response to the knock, and Davy
cautiously pushed open the door and went in.

The place was so dark that at first he could see nothing, although he
heard a rattling sound coming from the back part of the shop; but
presently he discovered the figure of an old man, busily mixing
something in a large iron pot. As Davy approached him he saw that the
pot was full of watches, which the old man was stirring with a ladle.
The old creature was very curiously dressed, in a suit of rusty green
velvet, with little silver buttons sewed over it, and he wore a pair of
enormous yellow-leather boots; and Davy was quite alarmed at seeing that
a broad leathern belt about his waist was stuck full of old-fashioned
knives and pistols. Davy was about to retreat quickly from the shop,
when the old man looked up, and said, in a peevish voice:--

[Illustration: "'HOW MANY WATCHES DO YOU WANT?' SAID SHAM-SHAM, IN A
PEEVISH VOICE."]

"How many watches do you want?"--and Davy saw that he was a very
shocking-looking person, with wild, staring eyes, and with a skin as
dark as mahogany, as if he had been soaked in something for e