arewell to the beast who had been his
companion and fellow-sufferer for so many long months, he turned his
back on the fountain and stole down one of the darkest little side
streets.

He ran on down, constantly down, for the village was on the side of a
hill, and the market-place was at its top. Around sharp curves he
turned, dived under dark archways and through dirty alleys, down
flights of steps, until he was out of breath and too dizzy to go
further. He had come out on the highroad, it seemed. The little brown
cottages were farther apart here. It was more like the country, which
Gigi loved. He turned into an enclosure and hid behind a stack of
straw, panting.

[Illustration: Gigi runs away.]

He wondered if by this time they had discovered his flight, and he
shivered to think of what Tonio and Cecco were saying if it were so.
He looked up and down the road. There was something familiar about it.
Yes, it was surely the road up which they had toiled that very
afternoon, coming from the country and a far-off village. They had
been planning to go on from here down the other side of the hill to the
next village, Gigi knew. But now would they retrace their steps to
look for him?

Just then he spied a black speck moving down the road toward him.
Gigi's heart sank. Could they be after him already? He crouched
closer behind the straw-stack, trembling. They must not find him!

Nearer and nearer came the speck. At last Gigi saw that it was a cart
drawn by a team of white oxen, which accounted for the slowness of the
pace. He sighed with relief. This at least he need not fear. As it
came nearer, Gigi saw that in the cart were a woman and three little
boys of about his own age. And presently, as he watched the lumbering
team curiously, he recognized the very woman who had given him the
silver piece an hour before. These, too, were the little boys who had
faced him in the crowd. A sudden hope sprang into Gigi's heart.
Perhaps she would help him to escape. Perhaps she would at least give
him a lift on his way. He decided to risk it.

IV

THE OX-CART

Gigi waited until the cart was nearly opposite, and he could hear the
voices of the woman and the children talking and laughing together.
Then he crept out from behind the stack and stepped to the side of the
road.

The great, lumbering oxen eyed him curiously, but did not pause. The
children stopped talking, and one of them pointed Gigi out to