Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/37

WHO FOLLOWED THE PIPER as they had come near the great stone on the mountainside he had seen the old mill horse standing near.

The horse came up beside him and stood there in the dark. It was old Baldwin who drew sacks to and from the mill. John Ball put his hand upon the horse, and he found the hide all covered with flour and grain that he used to carry.

He was glad that Baldwin had come, and he did not know how it had happened. But Baldwin had just followed the children. He was in the first cave when the rock closed behind them. He stayed for a while in the dark, and then he went clumping, clumping, after the children.

The music was going farther and farther away from them now. John Ball hurried on, with Baldwin keeping beside him. Then he saw a light like a star before them. It grew wider and wider. There was sunlight and a wind blowing. There were trees. He heard the pipes playing in the open air as he came to the open-