The child did not quite understand what was happening to him; and his vicious, street-urchin’s, pale face filled with fear.
He muttered: “Yes. Tonton made me.”
“Tonton?”
“Yes: Uncle Jodot.”
“And where’s your uncle now?”
“We went away last night, all three of us, and then came back.”
“And then?” [[314]]
“Then they went down below, when the water had gone, and hunted everywhere and gathered things.”
“Before me?” cried Ralph.
“Yes: before you and the young lady. When you came out of the grotto they hid themselves behind a wall down there, further off than the grotto. I saw everything from here, where Tonton told me to wait for him.”