started again and slowly died away

started again and slowly died away We were half-way through Wig when I heard a sound that filled my heart with fear ;the tap-tapping of the blind man's stick on the frozen road. Then it knocked against the inn door and we did not breathe .But then the tapping started again and slowly died away.

‘Mother,’I said,‘take it all, and let's go before the blind man comes back with his friends.’

But my mother went on counting until we heard a low shout coming from the hill outside.‘I'll take what I have,’ she said, jumping to her feet.

‘And I'll take this for what I'm owed, ’I said, and picked up the cloth of papers.

We ran from the inn and along the road to the village. It was dark but there was a full moon .We heard running feet coming towards us.

‘Take the money and run on,’ my mother said breathlessly. But I refused to leave her. Quickly, I pulled her off the road and down under a small bridge .There we hid ,trembling.

Not a moment too soon .Seven or eight men were running past us. Three men ran in front, and I saw that the one in the middle was the blind man. Silently, I climbed back up to Wig the road and lay in the long grass to watch what happened.