She ran as fast as she could through the woods, until she came to the brook where she had left her basket. There it was, full of water cress, just as she had left it. She snatched it up and ran all the way home.
When she came in at the kitchen door of her house, her mother was rummaging in the cupboard, as if she were looking for something she had lost.
“Well, Merrimeg, you’ve been a precious long time getting a little basketful of water cress. I’ve lost my blue saltcellar with the salt in it. Do you think you can find it?”
Merrimeg suddenly found that the saltcellar was no longer in her pocket. She must have lost it somewhere in the woods.
[Illustration: MERRIMEG AND THE RAG-BONE MAN]
Merrimeg put her head out of the front window and looked down the street.
A queer man with a dirty face was coming along, and he was bending down under a heavy sack which he was carrying on his back.
“Rags! bones! old iron!” he cried, and all the children who were playing in the street ran indoors in a fright.
It was the Rag-Bone Man. Everybody said that if you didn’t look sharp he’d snatch you up and stuff you in his sack and carry you off and never, never bring you back any more; so all the children in that village were terribly afraid of him, and whenever they saw him coming they simply took to their heels and fled.
“Rags! bones! old iron!” cried the Rag-Bone Man.
“Oh, pshaw,” said Merrimeg, “_I’m_ not afraid.”
She went out into the street and watched him coming. He came on nearer and nearer. He reached the house next door and stopped there and stared at Merrimeg.
“Rags! bones! old iron!” he shouted out, at the top of his voice, and quick as a wink Merrimeg sprang back into the house and banged the door and bolted it and ran to her room and buried her head under the pillows. It was a long time before she came out again.
When she did come out, she didn’t go into the street, because the Rag-Bone Man was still there, probably. She went into the cabbage garden, where her mother was hanging up clothes.
“Where are you going, Merrimeg?” said her mother.
“You’d better go over to Tish’s house now. They’re expecting you to have supper with them. And don’t get your dress soiled, and don’t stay too late.”