Sclinas Star/ing 195 



begin to gather round than he fluttered bis 

 wings and saluted them with a cheery whistle. 

 Instantly the pony and cart were surrounded with 

 a crowd of imps shouting and dancing ; Fan was 

 hustled and began to kick, and one or two boys 

 made a dash for the starling. But Elimelech 

 was a match for them ; he quietly flew up to 

 a neighbouring roof and waited there till the 

 hubbub had subsided Before Selina had reached 

 her inn, he was on the pony's back again. 



Once in the stable, both Fan and Elimelech 

 were safe ; but Selina had to do a good deal of 

 extra carrying that day, for she could not venture 

 to drive the cart about the town, and had to drag 

 every parcel separately from shop or market to 

 the inn. At last she got away, escaping by a 

 back lane which joined the main road outside 

 the town, and reached home without further 

 adventures. 



On the Saturday following she started again, 

 and again Elimelech insisted on being of the 

 party. She had no great fear for his safety thii 

 time, for unless it came to throwing stones, which 

 was unlikely on a market-day with policemen 



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