"Come out, child! You need not be afraid, if you have done nothing wrong. Why are you hiding? Did you creep in here with your cheese roll so that you could eat it in peace?"
"No; I had no cheese roll," said Rudi, still trembling.
"You didn't? and why not?" asked the herdsman in a tone of voice that no one had ever used toward Rudi before, arousing an altogether new feeling in him,—trust in a human being.
"They pushed me away," he answered, as he arose from his hiding place.
"There, now," continued the friendly herdsman; "I can at least see you. Come a little nearer. And why don't you defend yourself when they push you away? They all push each other, but every one manages to get a turn, and why not you?"
"They are stronger," said Rudi, so convincingly that Franz Martin could offer no further argument in the matter. He now got a good look at the boy, who stood before the stalwart herdsman like a little stick before a great pine tree. The strong man looked down pityingly at the meager little figure, that seemed actually mere skin and bones; out of the pale, pinched face two big eyes looked up timidly.
"Whose boy are you?" asked the herdsman.
"Nobody's," was the answer.
"But you must have a home somewhere. Where do you live?"