"But it ain't safe to hang 'round here."
"I know it; yet what else can we do? We're bound to take the chances, an' I'm goin' to stop at one of these houses."
Master Plummer appeared thoroughly alarmed, yet he made no protest against the proposed plan.
At that moment imprisonment had less horrors for him than such severe exertions.
Joe's greatest fear was that, while asking for shelter, he would be forced to explain why he was taking the princess with him for a long tramp, when the day was so warm; and, dangerous though such a course might be, he was resolved to tell only the truth.
"If I can't get through without lyin', I'll go to jail, an' take my medicine like a man," he said to himself, and once this resolve had been made he stopped in front of the nearest dwelling.
His timid knock at the door was answered by a motherly-looking German woman, who appeared surprised at seeing the visitors.
"If we'll pay whatever you think is right, may we come in an' stay a little while?" Joe asked, falteringly. "It's awful hot, an' the princess must be tired."
"Kannst du kein deutch sprechen?"
Joe looked at her in bewilderment, and Plums said in a whisper: