The Twins took hold of hands. They could hear their hearts beat. They walked softly up the road.
The Tinkers were still laughing and talking; the baby and the dog kept on playing.
The Twins were almost by, when all of a sudden, the geese stood up. “Squawk, squawk,” they cried. “Squawk, squawk.”
“Whatever is the matter with you, now?” said the Tinker’s wife to the geese. “Can’t you be quiet?” The dog stopped romping with the baby, sniffed the air, and growled. “Lie down,” said the woman; “there’s a bone for your supper.” She threw the dog a bone. He sprang at it and began to gnaw it.
Larry and Eileen had crouched behind a rock the minute the geese began to squawk. “I believe they know us,” whispered Eileen.
They waited until everything was quiet again. Then Larry whispered, “Run now, and if you fall, never wait to rise but run till we get to Tom Daly’s house!”
Then they ran! The soft pat-pat of their bare feet on the dirt road was not heard by the Tinkers, and soon another turn in the road hid them from view, but, for all that, they ran and ran, ever so far, until some houses were in sight.
They could see the flicker of firelight in the windows of the nearest house. It was Tom Daly’s house. They could see Tom’s shadow as he sat at his loom, weaving flax into beautiful white linen cloth. They could hear the clack! clack! of his loom. It made the Twins feel much safer to hear this sound and see Tom’s shadow, for Tom was a friend of theirs, and they often went into his house and watched him weave his beautiful linen, which was so fine that the
