He and Tess lifted Dot, who complained but faintly and kept her eyes tightly closed, and pushed her feet first through the small window. The driver’s seat was broad and roomy. The little girl lay there all right while first Tess and then Sammy crept through the window.
It was dark here, and they could scarcely see the way to the ground. But Sammy ventured down first, and after barking his shins a little found the step and whispered his directions to Tess about passing Dot down to him.
They actually got to the ground themselves and brought the smallest Corner House girl with them without any serious mishap. Sammy tried to carry Dot over his shoulder, but he could not stagger far with her. And, too, the sleepy child began to object.
“Sh! Keep still!” hissed her sister in Dot’s ear. “Do you want the Gypsies to get you again?”
She had to help Sammy carry the child, however. Dot was such a heavy sleeper—especially when she first went to sleep—that nothing could really bring her back to realities. The two stumbled along with her in the deep shadows and actually reached the woods that bordered the encampment.
Suddenly a dog barked. Somebody shouted to the animal and it subsided with a sullen growl. But in a moment another dog began to yap. The guards of the camp realized that something was going wrong, although as yet none of the dogs had scented the escaping children exactly.
“Oh, hurry! Hurry!” gasped Tess. “The dogs will chase us.”
“I am afraid they will,” admitted Sammy. “We got to hide our trail.”
“How’ll we do that, Sammy?” gasped Tess.
“Like the Indians do,” declared the boy. “We got to find a stream of water and wade in it.”