It was all rather confusing and Peter could not really understand because she felt so wretched. The horse plodded on up the hill until they met Fenella and her mother, who ran forward and grabbed her hand and kissed it. Peter was rather afraid she was going to disgrace herself. She could not say much, and when she looked down at the white road shimmering in the sun everything went hazy and she had to grab the side of the caravan to keep herself from slipping off. Dimly she realized that the woman had climbed up beside her and was holding her with an arm round her shoulders. Then the caravan lurched forward, turned the corner at the top of the hill, and swayed off the road on to a rutted lane. Peter had a dim recollection of a crowd of strange, dark faces; of a flickering fire and of towering walls of rock before she slumped sideways and felt herself lifted through the air.

Something cold was trickling down her chest... somebody was smacking her hand... water was on her face and lips... Her head was resting on something warm and soft. She stirred and struggled to sit up. Reuben was on his knees in front of her with an enamel mug of water poised for another throw. There was a smell of wood smoke and a babble of voices. Wide-eyed, Fenella was on her other side, and then a soft voice behind her said, "Good! You are better now. Drink this."

She never knew what she did drink, but it was tea of some sort - scalding, brown, sweet and yet scented! A magic gipsy tea, she thought, as her head cleared and the sickness passed. Then she realized that Fenella's mother was supporting her firmly but gently, and she sipped gratefully again at the steaming potion. It was lovely. The warmth seeped through her and she felt ravenously hungry as the smell of something luscious mingled with wood and smoke drifted towards her. She laughed a little shakily and sat up.

She was in a huge quarry in which four other gipsy caravans were already at rest. The ground was marked with the black circles of burnt-out fires which seemed to show that this was an established camping ground. She tried to bend her knee and winced, and Reuben said:

"You are better now. You are a brave chi. We shall not forget. Now you must stay and eat, and then if you wish you shall spend the night with us... But you must not go on until you have eaten... it is hotchi-witchi... very good... what is it, you ask?... The Gentiles call him hedge-pig... And you must not go on until the knee is clean."