Gigi shook his head. "I do not know," he said. "I have belonged to
them always, I think."

"Hark!" said Mother Margherita suddenly. "What's that?"

There was a faint noise far off on the road behind them. Gigi
trembled. "They are coming for me!" he said. "What shall I do?"

"No, no," said the woman. "I do not fear that. It is too soon,
surely. But it is growing dark here in the valley. This is a lonely
spot, and there are many wicked men about besides your masters, Gigi."

"Thieves and villains!" whispered Giovanni. "Oh, mother, hide the bag
of silver that you got at market!"

"Sh! Sh!" warned the mother sharply. "Do not speak of it! Hiew,
hiew! Go on! go on!" And she urged the oxen faster.

But the great beasts would not hasten their pace for her. The noise
came nearer. They could hear that it was the trotting of hoofs.

"There is only one animal," said Gigi, whose ears were keen. "I can
hear his four feet patter. I think it is the donkey!"

"I can see him now!" cried Paolo. "It is a little man on a donkey. He
is bending forward and beating it hard."

Gigi strained his eyes to see. "It is Tonio!" he whispered fearfully.
"I know it! Oh, the Hunchback will kill me when he finds me! And he