Then he cautiously left the house and latched the door behind him. Outside both moon and stars shone brightly, and the night seemed peaceful and inviting after the close and ill-smelling kitchen.
"I'll be glad to get away," said Tip, softly; "for I never did like that old woman. I wonder how I ever came to live with her."
He was walking slowly toward the road when a thought made him pause.
"I don't like to leave Jack Pumpkinhead to the tender mercies of old Mombi," he muttered. "And Jack belongs to me, for I made him—even if the old witch did bring him to life."
He retraced his steps to the cow-stable and opened the door of the stall where the pumpkin-headed man had been left.
"TIP LED HIM ALONG THE PATH."
Jack was standing in the middle of the stall, and by the moonlight Tip could see he was smiling just as jovially as ever.