Then, candy in hand, and with the little old gentleman on her right, the Policeman on her left, and Jane trailing behind, doing a one-two-three-and-point, she set forward gayly along the wide, curving road.

CHAPTER XI

As she trotted along, pulling with great relish at a candy-stick, she glanced down at the Policeman every now and then--and glowed with pride.

On some few well-remembered occasions her chauffeur had condescended to hold a short conversation with her; had even permitted her to sound the clarion of the limousine, with its bright, piercing tones. All of which had been keenly gratifying. But here she was, actually conversing with an Officer in full uniform! And on terms of perfect equality!

She proffered him the bag of spiral sweets.

He cocked his head side wise at it. "Is that the chewing kind?" he inquired.

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

However, he did not seem in the least disappointed. For he had a mouthful of gum, and this he cracked loudly from time to time--in a way that excited her admiration and envy.

"I've watched you go by our house lots of times," she confided presently, eager to say something cordial.

"Oh?" said he. "It's a beat that does well enough in summer. But in the wintertime I'd rather be Down-Town." Puffing a little,--for though he was upside down and walking on his hands, he had so far made good progress--he halted and rested his feet against the lowest limb of a tree that stood close to the road. Now his cap touched the ground, and his hands were free. With one white-gloved finger he drew three short lines in the packed dirt.

"And you _ought_ to be Down-Town," declared the little old gentleman, halting too. "Because you're a Policeman with a level head."

A level head? Gwendolyn stooped to look. And saw that it was indeed a fact!

"If I hadn't one," answered the Policeman with dignity, "would I be able to stand up comfortably in this remarkable manner?"

"Oh, tee! hee! hee! hee!"

It was the nurse, her sleeve lifted, her blowzy face convulsed. As she laughed, Gwendolyn saw wrinkle after wrinkle in the black sateen taken up--with truly alarming rapidity.

"My!" she exclaimed. "Jane's always been stout. But now--!"

The Policeman was deepening the three short lines in the dirt, making a capital A. "Two streets come together," he said, placing his finger on the point of the letter. "And the block that connects 'em just before they meet, that's the beat for _me_."

"I hope you'll get it," she said heartily.

"Get it!" he repeated bitterly. "Well, I certainly won't if I don't find that Bird!" And he started forward once more.

The Man-Who-Makes-Faces, trudging alongside, craned to peer ahead, his grizzled beard sticking straight out in front of him. "Now, let me see,"

he mused in a puzzled way. "Which route, I wonder, had we better take?"

"That depends on where we're going," replied the Policeman, helplessly.

"And with the Bird gone, of course I don't know."

"I'll tell you," said the little old gentleman promptly. "First, we must cross the Glass--"

Gwendolyn gave him a quick glance. Surely he meant cross the _grass_.

"Yes, the Glass; go on," encouraged the Officer.

"--And find _him_." Those round dark eyes darted a quick glance at Gwendolyn.

Jane, capering at his heels, now interrupted. "Find him!" she taunted.

"Gwendolyn'll never find her father if she don't listen to me."

He ignored her. "Next," he went on "we'll steer straight for Robin Hood's Barn."

"Oh!" exclaimed the Policeman "Then we have to go around."

"_Every_body has to go around."

Once more Jane broke in. "Gwendolyn," she called, "you'll never find your mother. This precious pair is takin' you the wrong way!"

Gwendolyn paid no heed. Ahead the road divided--to the left in a narrow bridle-path, all loose soil and hoof-prints, and sharp turns; to the right in a level thoroughfare that held a straight course. She touched the little old gentleman's elbow. "Which?" she whispered.

As the parting of the ways was reached, he pointed. And she saw a sign--a sign with an arrow directing travelers to the right. Under the arrow, plainly lettered, were the words:

_To the Bear's Den_.

Gwendolyn looked her concern. "Do we _have_ to go that road?" she asked him.

He nodded.

The next moment, with a loud rumbling of the eyes, Jane came alongside.

"Oh, dearie," she cried, "you couldn't hire _me_ to go. And I wouldn't like to see _you_ go. I think too much of you, I do _indeed_."

"Hold your tongue!" ordered the little old gentleman, crossly.

Jane obeyed. Up came a hand, and she seized the tongue-tip in her front mouth. But since there was a second tongue-tip in that back face, she still continued her babbling: "Don't ask me to trapse over the hard pavements on my poor tired feet, dearie, just because you take your notions.... Come, I say! Your mother's nobody, anyhow.... You don't know what you're sayin' or doin', poor thing! You're just wanderin', that's all--just wanderin'."

"I'm wandering in the right direction, anyhow," retorted Gwendolyn, stoutly. And to the little old gentleman, "I'm sorry we're going this way, though. I'm 'fraid of Bears,"--for the sign was past now; the four were on the level thoroughfare.

The Policeman seemed not to have remarked her anxiety. "And after the Den, what do we pass?" he questioned.

"The Big Rock," answered the Man-Who-Makes-Faces.

"Do we have to turn it?" The other spoke with some annoyance. "What's likely to come out? I suppose it won't be hiding that Bird."

"There's a hollow under the Rock," said the little old gentleman. "We'll find _something_." His face grew grave.

"And--and after we go by the Big Rock?" ventured Gwendolyn.

The little old gentleman smiled. "Ah, then!" he said, "--then we come to the Pillery!"

"Oh!" She considered the reply. Pillery--it was a word she had never chanced upon in the large Dictionary. Yet she felt she could hardly ask any questions about it. She had asked so many already. "It's kind of you to answer and answer and answer," she said aloud. "Nobody else ever did that."

"Ask anything you want to know," he returned cordially. "I'll always give you prompt attention. Though of course, there are _some_ things--"