About the middle of that day, he picked up a little strip of a print dress that struck him as being familiar, and he decided to send a little piece of it in a letter to his mother, and ask her if it was not a piece of Lizzie's frock.
He had found it on the side of a common, near a spot where a fire had evidently been lighted, and which bore other traces of being used as a camping-ground for a short time. He wished now he had followed them up sooner, but still he was thankful for this small proof that he was on the right track still.
And when he reached the village beyond, he got writing materials, and sent off a piece of the rag he had picked up, by way of cheering his mother, and giving her fresh hope that Lizzie might yet be found.
[CHAPTER VII.]
REPENTANCE.
JACK was elated over the success that had attended his efforts thus far. And although at the little village where he passed the second night of his wanderings, he could hear nothing of the cavalcade of vans, or which road they had taken, he felt so sure he was on the right track that he went on again the next day, and again saw traces of a camp-fire, which reassured him. And he felt confident now that he should soon overtake the company he was in search of.
He had to spend his money for food and lodging now, and, careful as he was, the last shilling was changed on Thursday, and he seemed no nearer finding his sister than when he first started from home.
He must have lost the track of those he was in search of, too, he began to fear; for he could hear nothing of fair-folks or show-vans in the town he had now reached. The only gypsy vans that had been seen in that neighbourhood were the travelling hawkers, who sold brooms, brushes, baskets, and mats, and displayed their wares outside the vans. Two of these had perambulated the neighbourhood a few days previously, he was told; and he began to fear that he must have been misled by the camp-fires of these itinerant dealers, and so lost the trail of those he was in search of.
So there was nothing for it but to look about for work where he was. But Jack was not so successful here as he had been at the first town he made his stopping-place.
Nobody wanted a lock mended or a pipe repaired, or at least they did not feel disposed to employ a stranger like this lad. So the poor fellow was soon reduced to great distress, and began to fear he should have to sell some of his tools for subsistence, when he met a gentleman who was in search of a workman who could stop a leaky pipe at once. No one he had met with could undertake to do it until the next day, and therefore he was glad to employ Jack.