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_ CHAPTER V. THE HUNCHBACK
The oxen stopped. The cart came to
a standstill. The boys huddled closer,
and Gigi's heart beat like a tambourine.
He was sure that Tonio would hear it.
"What do you want?" asked Mother Margherita,
and her usually kind voice was harsh.
"You seem to have a load of young cubs
there," shouted Tonio. "Have you got my
boy, Gigi the Tumbler, among them? Some
one has stolen the little monster."
"What are you talking about!" answered
Mother Margherita sharply. "I am a respectable
countrywoman returning from market-day
with my children. What business have I
with tumblers and vagrants!"
"That I'll see for myself, woman," said
Tonio, jumping unsteadily down from the
donkey and approaching the cart. Tonio had
been drinking, and his little eyes were red and
fierce.
"Keep your hands off my children!" cried
their plucky mother, brandishing her whip.
But Tonio was not to be kept away.
"I will see them!" he snarled. He thrust
his ugly face into those of the three boys, one
after another, eyeing them sharply in the
growing darkness. But there was little about
these sun-browned, black-eyed youngsters to
suggest the slender, fair-haired Gigi.
Tonio peered into the cart. He even thrust
his long, lean hand into the straw that covered
the floor, and felt about the corners, while the
boys wriggled away from his touch like eels
from a landing-net. Gigi held his breath. But
Mother Margherita would not tamely endure
all this.
"Get along, you vermin!" she cried, striking
at his hands as he approached the forward
end of the cart. "Can't you see that the
boy is not here? What would he be doing in
my cart, anyway? I'll trouble you to let us go
on our way in peace. My man in the house
down yonder will be out to help us with his
crossbow and his dogs, if we scream a bit
louder. Be off with you, and look for your
boy in the village. Is it likely he would have
come so far as this, the poor tired little lad?"
"The others are searching the village,"
growled the Hunchback tipsily. "They'll
find him if he's there. 'Tis likely you are
right. And then! I must be there to help at
the punishing. Oh! that will be sport!--Have
any other teams passed you on the road?" he
asked suddenly. "Have you overtaken no one
on foot?"
"We have passed no one," said Mother
Margherita truthfully, starting up the oxen.
"Hiew! Hiew! Go on! go on," she clucked.
"We must get home to bed."
The Hunchback withdrew from the cart
unsteadily, and mounted his donkey. For a
moment he looked doubtfully up and down
the road, then he turned the poor tired animal's
head once more toward the village, and they
began to plod back up the slope.
"The Lord forgive me!" whispered Mother
Margherita piously. "I told a lie, and before
my children, too! But it was to spare a child
suffering, perhaps death. Surely, the Lord
who loves little children will forgive me this sin."
So the good woman mused, as, faint with
terror and gasping for breath, Gigi came out
from under her skirts. He handed back the
bag of silver, and gave a sigh of relief. The
little boys seized him rapturously.
"You are saved, Gigi!" cried Paolo.
"He will never find you now," said Giovanni.
"See, we are almost home! You shall come
and live with us and teach us how to tumble!"
cried Beppo, hugging his new friend closely.
But Mother Margherita interrupted him.
"Not so fast, not so fast, children," she
warned. "Gigi is saved for now. But we may
be able to do little more for him. Your father
is master in the house, remember. Your father
may not be pleased with what we have done.
Never promise what you may not be able to
give, my Beppo." And she fell to musing
again rather uneasily.
The boys were all suddenly silent, and Gigi,
who had warmed to their kindness, felt a
sudden chill. He had not thought of anything
beyond the safety of the moment. He had
made no plans, he had only hoped vaguely
that these good people might help him. But
now, what was to happen next? Was there
still something more to fear?
Suddenly the flash of a lantern lighted the
road ahead. A man's voice hailed them loudly.
"Hello! Hello! Will you never be coming home?"
"Father! It is father!" cried the three boys
in an answering shout. Then with a common
thought they all stopped short, and Gigi felt
them looking at him in the darkness.
"What will he think of Gigi?" he heard
Beppo whisper to his brothers.
"Sh!" warned Mother Margherita. And
the man's voice sounded nearer.
"Hello, old woman!" it called gruffly.
"Well, you did come back, didn't you?
I began to believe that you had all run away."
"Run away!" There was a little pause
before any one answered. And Gigi felt
the elbows of the boys nudging him in the side.
"Father's angry!" they whispered. "Father
is terrible when he is angry. You had better
look out!"
Then Gigi knew that there was something
else to fear that night. And his heart sank.
Was there to be no end of his troubles? _
Read next: Chapter 6. The Silver Piece
Read previous: Chapter 4. The Ox-Cart
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