But he was too lithesome for her; quick as lightning, he twisted himself out of the coat, which was considerably too large, besides sundry dilapidation which helped the peeling process, and leaving it in her hand, ran off with a merry laugh.
Phœbe dropped the rag and began to run after him, but her dignity returned to her aid in time to prevent a ludicrous exhibition of her locomotive powers, and the certainty of ignominious defeat.
She shrewdly surmised that the coat, old as it was, and superfluous its dimensions, might nevertheless be valuable to its owner, and that the boy would presently be peeping round to recover it; so she stood by it for a few minutes, and was rewarded by the sight of him again.
Beckoning him forward, she showed a small coin, but he made no attempt to take it, and as he picked up his garment, said quietly,—
"Are you friend to Englishman?"
"Yes; I give you dis and more if you take me to him."
"I daren't now: come at dark, and bring him something to eat."
"Stop, chile. Be any oder one dere too?"
"No, nobody more," said the boy.
And Phœbe returned home in great disappointment.