they'd never find me at all," which reflection was much nearer the
truth than the little fellow imagined.

I don't know how long Bob had been sitting under the steps--it may
have been five minutes, or it may have been a quarter of an hour, and
he was beginning to feel a little cold--when he heard the cellar-door
open, and some one put their foot upon the steps.

"There they are!" he thought, and he cuddled himself up in the
smallest space possible.

Some one was coming down, sure enough, but it was not the children, as
Bob expected. It was his Aunt Alice and her cousin Tom Green. They had
come down to get some cider and apples for the company, and had no
thought of Bob. In fact, when Bob was missed it was supposed that he
had got tired and had gone up-stairs, where old Aunt Hannah was
putting some of the smaller children to bed.

So, of course, Alice and Tom Green did not try to find him, but Bob,
who could not see them, thought it was certainly some of the children
come down to look for him.

In this picture of the scene in the cellar, little Bob is behind those
two barrels in the right-hand upper corner, but of course you can't
see him. He knows how to hide too well for that.

[Illustration]

But when Tom and Alice spoke, Bob knew their voices and peeped out.