Quick as thought Annie, holding Tiger’s collar, darted after her. The little maid heard the footsteps: but seeing another gipsy girl, and their own dog, Tiger, she took no further notice, but ran openly and very swiftly across the field until she came to a broken wall. Here she tugged and tugged at some loose stones, managed to push one away, and then called down into the ground—
“Mother Rachel!”
“Come, Tiger,” said Annie. She flew to a hedge not far off, and once more the dog and she hid themselves. The small girl was too excited to notice either their coming or going; she went on calling anxiously into the ground—
“Mother Rachel! Mother Rachel!”
Presently a black head and a pair of brawny shoulders appeared, and the tall woman whose face and figure Annie knew so well stepped up out of the ground, pushed back the stones into their place, and, taking the gipsy child into her arms, ran swiftly across the field in the direction of the tents.
Chapter Forty Six.
For Love Of Nan.
Now was Annie’s time. “Tiger,” she said, for she had heard the men calling the dog’s name. “I want to go right down into that hole in the ground, and you are to come with me. Don’t let us lose a moment, good dog.”