Duke caught him up.
"Silly Toby," he cried, "it's Tim. You must learn to know Tim;" and old
Barbara coming up by this time and speaking to the boy in a friendly
tone, poor Toby's misgivings were satisfied, and he set to work to
wagging his tail in a slightly subdued manner.
Then came explanations on both sides. Tim had to tell how he had slipped
himself out through the window, narrow as it was, and how, thanks to an
old water-butt and some loose bricks in the wall, he had scrambled down
like a cat, and made off as fast as his legs would carry him to the
place where he had left the children.
"And when you wasn't there I was fairly beat--I was," he said. "I knowed
they hadn't had time to find you--perlice I mean--but I saw as you must
have got tired waiting so long. So off I set till I met a woman who told
me the way to the Sandle'ham road. I had a fancy you'd ask for it rather
than come into the town if you thought they'd cotched me, and I was
about right you see."
"Is this the Sandle'ham road? Oh yes, Barbara told us it was," said the
children. "But us didn't know it was. Us just runned and runned when us
saw the policeman, us was so frightened."
"But us _was_ going back to try to get you out of prison if Barbara
would have let us," added Pamela.
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