The child stopped crying and looked up at him pitifully before he burst into tears again. The child quickly got up and ran towards the other children. The child may have been young, but he was still fairly on guard against strangers.
At that time, it was common for parents to sell their children due to the famine. It was also not uncommon to hear of others kidnapping children to sell to slave traders.
There were a few families in the village, and everyone knew each other. A child would obviously be terrified when they saw a strange, dark-skinned, and bigger than a normal man around. Some of the children burst into tears and ran off, attracting much attention from the adults tending to the fields.