The children waited anxiously. They were fond of Tooku and Yamen. As soon as the three climbed the steps of the castle, the children surrounded them.
“What’s the matter, Yamen? Where are the other donkeys, Tooku? What have you done to your arm?”
“Aie, aie!” wept Yamen. “The robbers came and took our goods and our donkeys! Tooku tried to stop them but they broke his arm for him. Aie-aie, what bad luck we have had this day! All the goods gone, and the two fine little donkeys!”
“They took all three,” said Tooku, “But this one, my own good creature, must have escaped, for we heard him trotting after us as we hastened back home on foot.”
“What were the robbers like?” asked Jack.
“Strange enough,” answered Yamen. “Small and wiry, with strips of wolf-skin round their middles. Each had a wolf’s tail, dyed red, hanging behind him. Aie-aie, they were strange enough and fierce enough!”
“We heard tales in the town,” said Tooku, to Ranni and Pilescu. “Many travellers have been robbed. These robbers take goods but not money. They come down from the mountains like goats, and they go back, no man knows where!”
“Have the villagers searched for their hiding-place?” asked Ranni. “Have they hunted all about the mountain-sides?”
“Everywhere!” said Yamen. “Yes, not a place, not a cave has been forgotten. But nowhere is there a sign of the fierce robbers with their red wolves’ tails!”
“Poor Yamen!” said Nora. The frightened woman was sitting in a chair, trembling. Pilescu bound up Tooku’s arm. It was not broken, but badly gashed. The children felt very sorry.