The
groom wrapped the boys up as well as he could, and was urging the horse
on, when it suddenly shied and came to a standstill. Looking down, the
groom saw a small child seated in the middle of the road, almost
miraculously preserved from the horse's hoofs.
"Well, here's a go," he muttered; "where on earth does it come from, we
don't want no delay in such a storm as this!"
The boys had sprung down at once from the trap, and were endeavoring to
drag the child away when it burst into roars of fright and anger.
"I want mummy--oh, mummy!"
It was a little girl between three and four. She had been placidly
nursing a doll in the middle of the road, and seemed perfectly oblivious
of wind and rain.
"Where do you live?" asked Roy, but the child only continued to wail for
its mother.
"Here, Master Roy, you'll be wet through. Come back, and let Master
Dudley hoist her up to me. We can't stop all day trying to find out
where she lives. We'll take her back with us for the time."
But this did not please Roy.
"No, we must find her mother; she must come from the village we have
passed. You wait there with the horse, Sanders, and we'll take her
back."
"Let Master Dudley do it, then," said Sanders, crossly, "and you get
into the trap again.
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