He wanted these people to realize that he belonged to the important strange gentleman who had for a moment come so knowingly among them.
As they climbed out of the sheltering glade he was alive with a new design.

Gypsies notoriously carried off desirable children; this was common knowledge in Newbern Center.

So why wouldn't they carry off him, especially if he were right round there where they could find him easily?
He saw himself and his dog forcibly conveyed away with the caravan--though he would not really resist--to a strange and charming life beyond the very farthest hills.

He did not confide this to his father, but he looked back often.

They followed a path and were soon on a bare ridge above the camp.
Dave Cowan was already talking of other things, seeming not to have been ever so little impressed with his reception by these wondrous people, but he had won a new measure of his son's respect.