“All right, Miss Prince,” said Bill. “But let us just say good night to our tramp.” They pressed round him. “You will come back to-morrow, won’t you?” they pleaded.
“No, no,” said the man. “I must go back to the roads. But it’s been awfully jolly, to-night. Thank you for being pals. I shan’t forget you, kiddies.”
Very reluctantly the Cubs went away with Miss Prince, but Danny did not go with them. Stepping out of the circle of light into the shadow, he walked down the path, where in the yellow moonlight he could see a dark figure ahead. The mysterious tramp was not going to escape so easily.
CHAPTER X
BY MOONLIGHT
For a moment Danny stood on the path, just beyond the red glow of the fire, and wondered what he should do. He could hear the voices of the Cubs telling Miss Prince all about the mysterious tramp and the crackling of their steps as they walked away through the bracken fern and undergrowth. Ahead, along the path, he could see a dark figure walking a little unsteadily.
The moon had mounted higher in the grey, star-pricked sky. Mystery, adventure, romance—Danny felt it was very near, and yet it was walking away from him, a black figure, silhouetted against a silvery distance. He must stop it from going—but how?
Without knowing exactly what he meant to do he began running, and had soon caught up the tramp.
“Sir,” he said, “I say, sir!”
The man turned round. “Well?” he said in his strange, sad voice.
“I wish you wouldn’t go away,” said Danny.