boy, Gigi the Tumbler, among them? Some
one has stolen the little monster."

[Illustration: "Have you got my boy?"]

"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