John of the Woods

by Abbie Farwell Brown

"And did they beat you then?" asked Beppo, doubling up his fists.

Gigi sighed again. "They always beat me," he said simply. "Whatever I did, they beat me when they were ugly. And that was always."

"Do you belong to them?" asked the woman suddenly. "They are Gypsies, black men. But you are fair like the people of the North. Where did they get you, Gigi?"

Gigi shook his head. "I do not know," he said. "I have belonged to them always, I think."

"Hark!" said Mother Margherita suddenly. "What's that?"

There was a faint noise far off on the road behind them. Gigi trembled. "They are coming for me!" he said. "What shall I do?"

"No, no," said the woman. "I do not fear that. It is too soon, surely. But it is growing dark here in the valley. This is a lonely spot, and there are many wicked men about besides your masters, Gigi."

"Thieves and villains!" whispered Giovanni. "Oh, mother, hide the bag of silver that you got at market!"

"Sh! Sh!" warned the mother sharply. "Do not speak of it! Hiew, hiew! Go on! go on!" And she urged the oxen faster.

But the great beasts would not hasten their pace for her. The noise came nearer. They could hear that it was the trotting of hoofs.