142 ‘HOP-O'-MY-THUMB.

children once more along with them, and their joy for this
lasted till their money was all spent; but then they found
themselves quite as ill off as before. So by degrees they again
thought of leaving them in the forest once more : and that the
young ones might not come back a second time, they said they
would take them a great deal farther than they did at first.
They could not talk about this matter so slily but that Hop-
o’-my-thumb found means to hear all that passed between
them ; but he cared very little about it, for he thought it would.
be easy for him to do just the same as he had done before.
But though he got up very early the next morning to go to the
river's side and get the pebbles, a thing that he had not thought
of hindered him ; for he found that the house door was double-
locked. Hop-o’-my-thumb was now quite at a loss what to
do ; but soon after this, his mother gave each of the children a
piece of bread for breakfast, and then it came into his head that
he could make his share do as well as the pebbles, by dropping
crumbs of it all the way as he went. So he did not eat his
piece, but put it into his pocket. It was not long before they
all set out, and their parents took care to lead them into the
very thickest and darkest part of the forest. They then slipped
away by a by-path as before, and left the children by them-
selves again. All this did not give Hop-o'-my-thumb any
concern, for he thought himself quite sure of getting back by
means of the crumbs that he had dropped by the way ; but
when he came to Jook for them he found that not a morsel
was left, for the birds had eaten them all up.

‘The poor children were now sadly off, for the further they
went, the harder it was for them to get out of the forest. At
last, night came on, and the noise of the wind among the trees
seemed to them as if it was the howling of wolves, so that every
moment they thought they should be eaten up. ‘They hardly