Then, just as the tail-board was again fastened, an astonishing thing happened. A child--a boy, evidently, for it was practically obscured by a man's coat and a hat several sizes too large,--dropped suddenly, apparently from heaven, and landed on the ground directly between Peter and farmer Craddock. From their faces it would have been difficult to judge which was the more amazed. The child stood, silent and trembling, before them. Then the children, from their hiding place in the barn loft, all saw him. It was Splutters! Mollie involuntarily shut her eyes. She expected to see Grimes strike him dead or pick him up bodily and hurl him into the bog. She knew, now, what had happened. It had happened before--but the limb of the tree had never broken before. Ambrose had tripped Stevie. He had held him back from entering the barn door. She, in her haste to close it, had not noticed that he was still outside. Then, in a desperate attempt to elude Ambrose, Stevie, weak and sick as he was, had struggled and fought his way up the outside of the building until he could swing into the limbs of a large tree where, among the foliage, he might screen himself from observation. Stephen alone knew how difficult the feat had been, for in his weakened physical condition he was totally unequal to any exertion. So loud was the roaring in his ears and the pressure on his head that, when the limb broke and he was dropped like plumpet right at the feet of the two men, the boy was incapable of sensing anything accurately. But he was vaguely conscious that the stranger's voice was kindly and that when he looked upon him his keen, trustworthy eyes seemed to see and understand his misery. He was also vaguely conscious that in response to the stranger's inquiry, Peter Grimes, with a murderous look, had said: "Oh, he's a leetle feller I'm a lookin' arter fer a spell, but I doan aim ter keep him long," at which Stephen had almost imperceptibly drawn nearer the stranger. And at the moment the latter placed his hand not un-gently upon the boy's shoulder. "I could use a leetle feller like him on my place. Them bugs--the little old hatefuls--is jist eatin' the life out o' my potatoes," he said. "Spose I gin ye a dollar more an' tote him along with me." If he had not exhibited the dollar bill as he spoke it is likely Peter Grimes would have deliberated long enough to become suspicious of the offer and decline it. Now, acting solely upon impulse resultant from his desire to lay violent hands upon Stephen at the earliest possible moment, he signified his acceptance by action rather than word. Extending one hand for the money, with the other he reached out and clutched Stephen by the coat collar, lifted him up like a sack of oats and, instead of tossing him into the bog, sat him down with vicious force on the remaining barrel in the wagon.