“There!” he muttered. “But I don’t see what you want to pay the old woman for.”
“Because it’s right to pay her,” Bob explained; “I took her dinner.”
“Oh!” giggling.
“Yes, sir. And you know it’s right, Fitz; you’re just plaguing me.”
“Think so?”—laughing. “Well, pay her. But hurry up about it; I hear our pursuers coming. You’ll fool around and get us trapped, if you don’t look sharp.”
“Here!” Bob cried, dropping the goblin to the ground and returning the gold to him. “You go to the door and pay her. If she sees me, she’ll run away again. Go on; I’ll hide.”
With the words he stepped aside among the trees that bordered the road; and the goblin ran to the door of the hut and kicked upon it. There was silence in the cabin for several moments; then the door screaked on its hinges and slowly swung open. The old man and old woman were both there; but as soon as they caught sight of the green little being, they were more frightened than they had been at sight of the giant. With a great flirting of skirts and shaking of trousers, they leaped right over the goblin’s head and sped away to the fields again, yelling lustily. Fitz Mee rolled upon the ground, laughing immoderately; and Bob joined in his companion’s merriment. However, he called to him:
“Throw the gold upon the floor—and come on; they’ll find it, if they ever pluck up courage to come back to their house. Come on; we’ve got to hurry.”