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diff --git a/22743.txt b/22743.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b23d04c --- /dev/null +++ b/22743.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6465 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies, by Alice B. Emerson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies + The Missing Pearl Necklace + +Author: Alice B. Emerson + +Release Date: September 23, 2007 [EBook #22743] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: HE PUSHED RUTH ROUGHLY BACK INTO HER SEAT. Page 123] + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +RUTH FIELDING +AND THE GYPSIES + +Or +The Missing Pearl Necklace + +By +ALICE B. EMERSON + +Author of "Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill," +"Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch," etc. + +Illustrated + +New York +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY +Publishers + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Books for Girls + +By ALICE B. EMERSON + +RUTH FIELDING SERIES + +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. +Price per volume, 40 cents, postpaid. + +RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL + Or, Jasper Parloe's Secret. + +RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL + Or, Solving the Campus Mystery. + +RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP + Or, Lost in the Backwoods. + +RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT + Or, Nita, the Girl Castaway. + +RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH + Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys. + +RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND + Or, The Old Hunter's Treasure Box. + +RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM + Or, What Became of the Raby Orphans. + +RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES + Or, The Missing Pearl Necklace. + +Cupples & Leon Co., Publishers, New York. + +Copyright, 1915, by +Cupples & Leon Company + +Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies. + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. On the Lumano River 1 + II. Roberto, the Gypsy 10 + III. Evening at the Red Mill 19 + IV. The Auto Tour 27 + V. A Prophecy Fulfilled 37 + VI. A Transaction in Mutton 43 + VII. Fellow Travelers 53 + VIII. What Was It All About? 61 + IX. Queen Zelaya 69 + X. In the Gypsy Camp 80 + XI. Tom on the Trail 91 + XII. A Break for Liberty 104 + XIII. Ruth in the Toils 111 + XIV. Roberto Again 116 + XV. Helen's Escape 124 + XVI. Through the Night and the Storm 133 + XVII. Off for School Again 140 + XVIII. Getting Into Harness 149 + XIX. Can It Be Possible? 156 + XX. He Cannot Talk 164 + XXI. Ruth Intercedes 169 + XXII. A Great Temptation 175 + XXIII. Nettie Parsons' Feast 182 + XXIV. Roberto Finds His Voice 190 + XXV. Five Thousand Dollars 198 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES + +CHAPTER I + +ON THE LUMANO RIVER + + +The steady turning of the grinding-stones set the old Red Mill a-quiver +in every board and beam. The air within was full of dust--dust of the +grain, and fine, fine dust from the stones themselves. + +Uncle Jabez Potter, the miller, came to the door and looked across the +grassy yard that separated the mill and the farmhouse attached from the +highroad. Under a broad-spreading tree sat two girls, busy with their +needles. + +One, a sharp-faced, light-haired girl, who somehow carried a look of +endured pain in her eyes in spite of the smile she flung at the old man, +cried: + +"Hello, Dusty Miller! come out and fly about a little. It will do you +good." + +The grim face of the miller lightened perceptibly. "How do you reckon a +man like me kin fly, Mercy child?" he croaked. + +"I'll lend you my aeroplanes, if you like," she returned, gaily, and +held up the two ebony canes which had been hidden by the tall grass. +_They_ told the story of Mercy Curtis' look of pain, but once she had +had to hobble on crutches and, as she pluckily declared, canes were +"miles better than crutches." + +"I ain't got no time, gals, an' that's a fac'," said the miller, his +face clouding suddenly. "Ain't ye seen hide nor hair of Ben an' them +mules?" + +"Why, Uncle," said the second girl, quietly, "you know how many errands +Ben had to do in town. He couldn't do them all and get back in so short +a time." + +"I dunno about that, Niece Ruth--I dunno about that," said the old man, +sharply. "Seems ter me I could ha' gone an' been back by now. An' hi +guy! there's four sacks o' flour to take acrost the river to Tim +Lakeby--an' I kyan't do it by meself--Ben knows that. Takes two' on us +ter handle thet punt 'ith the river runnin' like she is right now." + +The girl who had last spoken folded the work in her lap and got up +agilely. Her movements were followed--perhaps a little enviously--by the +gaze of the lame girl. + +"How quick you are, Ruthie," she said. When Ruth Fielding looked down +upon Mercy Curtis, her smile started an answering one upon the lame +girl's thin face. + +"Quick on my feet, dearie," said Ruth. "But you have so much quicker a +mind." + +"Flatterer!" returned the other, yet the smile lingered upon the thin +face and made it the sweeter. + +The miller was turning, grumblingly, back into the shadowy interior of +the mill, when Ruth hailed him. + +"Oh, Uncle!" she cried. "Let me help you." + +"What's that?" he demanded, wheeling again to look at her from under his +shaggy eyebrows. + +Now, Ruth Fielding was worth looking at. She was plump, but not too +plump; and she was quick in her movements, while her lithe and graceful +figure showed that she possessed not only health, but great vitality. +Her hair was of a beautiful bright brown color, was thick, and curled +just a little. + +In her tanned cheeks the blood flowed richly--the color came and went +with every breath she drew, it seemed, at times. That was when she was +excited. But ordinarily she was of a placid temperament, and her brown +eyes were as deep as wells. She possessed the power of looking +searchingly and calmly at one without making her glance either +impertinent or bold. + +In her dark skirt, middy blouse, and black stockings and low shoes, she +made a pretty picture as she stood under the tree, although her +features were none of them perfect. Her cheeks were perhaps a little +too round; her nose--well, it was not a dignified nose at all! And her +mouth was generously large, but the teeth gleaming behind her red lips +were even and white, and her smile lit up her whole face in a most +engaging manner. + +"Do let me help you, Uncle. I know I can," she repeated, as the old +miller scowled at her. + +"What's that?" he said again. "Go with me in that punt to Tim Lakeby's?" + +"Why not?" + +"'Tain't no job for a gal, Niece Ruth," grumbled the miller. + +"Any job is all right for a girl--if she can do it," said Ruth, happily. +"And I can row, Uncle--you know I can." + +"Ha! rowing one o' them paper-shell skiffs of Cameron's _one_ thing; the +ash oars to my punt ain't for baby's han's," growled the miller. + +"Do let me try, Uncle Jabez," said Ruth again, when the lame girl broke +in with: + +"You are an awfully obstinate old Dusty Miller! Why don't you own up +that Ruthie's more good to you than a dozen boys would be?" + +"She ain't!" snarled the old man. + +At that moment there appeared upon the farmhouse porch a little, bent +old woman who hailed them in a shrill, sweet voice: + +"What's the matter, gals? What's the matter, Jabez? Ain't nothin' broke +down, hez there?" + +"No, Aunt Alvirah," laughed Ruth. "I just want Uncle Jabez to let me +help him----" + +The old woman had started down the steps, her hand upon her back as she +came, and intoning in a low voice: "Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!" She +caught up the miller's remark, as he turned away again, very sharply, +for he muttered something about "Silly gals' foolish idees." + +"What d'ye mean by that, Jabez Potter?" she demanded. "If Ruth says she +kin help ye, she _kin_. You oughter know that by this time." + +"Help me row that punt across the river?" snarled the old man, +wrathfully. "What nonsense!" + +"I dunno," said the old woman, slowly. "I see Tim's flag a-flyin'. I +guess he wants his flour bad." + +"And I can pull an oar as good as _you_ can, Uncle Jabez," added Ruth. + +"Oh, all right! Come on, then. I see I shell hev no peace till I let ye +try it. Ef we don't git back fer supper, don't blame _me_, Alviry." + +The miller disappeared in the gathering gloom of the mill. Soon the +jarring of the structure and the hum of the stones grew +slower--slower--slower, and finally the machinery was altogether still. + +Ruth had run for her hat. Then, waving her hand to Mercy and Aunt +Alvirah, she ran around to the landing. + +The Lumano River was a wide stream, but at this season of the year it +was pretty shallow. There was little navigation from Lake Osago at any +time, but now the channel was dotted with dangerous rocks, and there +were even more perilous reefs just under the surface. + +Uncle Jabez's boat was not really a "punt." It was a heavy rowboat, so +stained and waterlogged in appearance that it might have been taken for +a bit of drift-stuff that had been brought in to the Red Mill landing by +the current. + +And truly, that is probably the means by which the miller had originally +obtained the boat. He was of a miserly nature, was Uncle Jabez Potter, +and the old boat--which its first owner had never considered worth +coming after, following some spring freshet--served the miller well +enough to transport his goods across the river. + +Tim Lakeby's store, on the north shore of the river, was in sight of the +Red Mill. There were four sacks of flour to be transported, and already +Uncle Jabez had placed two of them in the bottom of the boat, upon a +clean tarpaulin. + +"Ef we go down the river an' swamp, I shell lose this flour," grumbled +Uncle Jabez. "Drat that Ben! I tell ye, he'd ought to be hum by now." + +Ben was the hired man, and if the miller had not really been kindlier +underneath than he appeared on the surface, Ben would never have +remained as long with him as he had! + +Uncle Jabez balanced the weight in the boat with judgment. Although +there seemed to be no real danger, he knew very well the nature of the +treacherous current. Ruth slipped into the bow seat with her oar, and +Uncle Jabez took stroke. + +The girl unknotted the painter, and the boat drifted out from the +landing. + +"Now, set yer feet square, an' _pull_!" ejaculated her uncle, thrusting +the blade of his own oar beneath the rippling surface. + +They were heavy ash oars--one was all the girl really could manage. But +she was not afraid of a little hard work, her muscles were supple, and +she had rowed one season in the first eight at Briarwood Hall, and so +considered herself something of an oarswoman. + +The miller, by stretching to see over his shoulder, got the boat pointed +in the right direction. "Pull, now!" he commanded, and set a long, +forceful stroke for the girl to match. With the water slapping against +the high side of the craft, sometimes sprinkling them with spray, they +drove her forward for some minutes in silence. + +The boat lumbered heavily, and it was true that Ruth had all she could +do to manage the oars. In some places, where the eddies tugged at the +blade, it seemed as though a submerged giant seized it and tried to +twist it from her grasp! + +"I guess you air gittin' yer fill-up of it, Niece Ruth," growled the +miller, with a sound in his throat that might have been a chuckle. "Look +out, now! ye'll hev us over." + +Ruth knew very well she had done nothing to give the boat that sudden +jerk. It was the current; but she had no breath with which to argue the +matter. + +On and on they pulled, while the sinking sun gilded the little wavelets, +and bathed both river and the shores in golden glory. A homing bird +shrieked a shrill "good-night," as it passed above them, flying from +shore to shore. + +Now the northern shore was nearer than the landing they had left. Only +occasionally Ruth turned her head, for she needed her full attention +upon the oar which she managed with such difficulty. + +"We gotter p'int up-stream," growled Uncle Jabez, after wringing his +neck around again to spy out the landing near Lakeby's store. "Pesky +current's kerried us too fur down." + +He gave a mighty pull to his own oar to rehead the boat. It was a +perilous move, and in a perilous place. Here the water ran, troubled and +white-capped, over a hidden reef. + +"Oh! do be careful, Uncle!" cried Ruth. + +"Pull!" yelled the old man, in return. + +By chance he sunk his own oar-blade so deeply, that it rubbed against +the reef. It lifted Uncle Jabez from his seat, and unbalanced the boat. + +Like a flash the heavy oar flew out of its socket, and the old man +sprawled on his back in the bottom of the boat. The latter whirled +around in the current, and before Ruth could scream, even, it crashed +broadside upon the rock! + +The rotting planks of the boat could not stand such a blow. Ruth saw the +plank cave in, and the water followed. Down the boat settled upon the +submerged part of the rock--a hopeless wreck! + +This was not the worst of the accident. In seeking to recover his seat, +Uncle Jabez went overboard, as the old boat tipped. He dove into the +shallow water, and struck his head heavily on the reef. + +Blood-stained bubbles rose to the surface, and the old man struggled +only feebly to rise. + +"He is hurt! he will be drowned!" gasped Ruth, and seeing him so +helpless, she sprang nimbly over the canted side of the boat and sought +to draw her uncle's head out of the water. + +Although she was a good swimmer, and was not afraid of the water, the +current was so swift, and her own footing so unstable, it was doubtful +if Ruth Fielding could save both the miller and herself from the peril +that menaced them. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ROBERTO, THE GYPSY + + +Ruth Fielding, following the death of her parents and while she was +still a small girl, had left Darrowtown and Miss True Pettis, and all +her other old friends and acquaintances, to live with her mother's +uncle, at the Red Mill. Her coming to the mill and her early adventures +in and about that charming place were related in the first volume of +this series, entitled "Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill." + +Ruth made many friends in her new home, among them Helen and Tom +Cameron, the twin, motherless children of a wealthy dry-goods merchant +who had a beautiful home, called "the Outlook," near the mill, and Mercy +Curtis, the daughter of the railroad station agent at Cheslow, the +nearest important town to Ruth's new home. Ruth, Helen, and Mercy all +went to Briarwood Hall, a girls' school some distance from Cheslow, +while Master Tom attended a military academy at Seven Oaks, near the +girls' institution of learning. The incidents of their first term at +school are related in the second volume of the series, while in the +mid-winter vacation Ruth and her friends go to Snow Camp in the +Adirondacks. + +Later, our friends spent part of a summer vacation at Lighthouse Point +on the Atlantic Coast, after which they visited Silver Ranch in Montana. +The sixth volume tells of another mid-winter camping adventure on Cliff +Island, while the volume previous to our present story--number seven, in +fact--was entitled "Ruth Fielding at Sunrise Farm." + +This story narrated Ruth's particular interest in Sadie Raby, a strange, +wild girl who ran away from cruel people who had taken her "to raise." +Her reunion with her twin brothers, Willie and Dickie, and how they all +three became the special care of Mr. Steele, the wealthy owner of +Sunrise Farm, is told. It is through Ruth's efforts that the Rabys are +settled in life and win friends. + +Now Ruth and her schoolmates had returned to the Red Mill and Cheslow, +and but a brief space would elapse before the girls would begin their +third year at Briarwood Hall; they were all looking toward the beginning +of the fall term with great eagerness. + +Had Ruth Fielding been able to think at this moment of the boat's +overturn, or of anything but her uncle's peril, she might have +considered that the possibility of her ever seeing Briarwood Hall again +was somewhat doubtful! + +The hurrying water tugged at her as though a hundred hands had laid hold +of her person. She was nearly arm-pit deep in the flood, and her uncle's +body was so heavy that she had all she could do to hold his head above +the surface. + +She could not get him back into the boat, even, and perhaps that would +not have been a wise move. For the old skiff, shaking and rocking, was +likely to be torn free by the battling current. If it should swing into +deep water, it must sink almost at once, for the water was pouring in +through the hole that had been battered in its side. + +The flour was fast becoming saturated with the river-water, and its +increased weight would bear the boat to the bottom, if it slipped from +the reef. + +Unable to see any good of boarding the boat again, Ruth tried to work +her way along the reef until she stood upon a higher part of it. Uncle +Jabez was unconscious, blood flowed from a deep cut on his head, and he +lay a dead weight in her arms. + +Never had Ruth Fielding been in greater peril. She was frightened, but +mostly for the old man who seemed so seriously hurt. + +Tossing her loosened hair out of her eyes, she stared longingly at the +landing near Lakeby's store. It was some distance up-stream, and not a +person was in sight. She feared, too, that it was too far away for her +voice to carry. + +Yet she must scream for help. She shouted again and again, endeavoring +to put all the strength of her voice into the cries. Was that an answer? +The girl held her uncle high in her arms and looked all about. + +Nobody was at the store landing. Nobody was behind on the other shore of +the river--and she was glad that Aunt Alvirah and Mercy had not seen the +accident, for neither of them could have helped in this predicament. + +Yes! there was the repeated shout--and nearer. Ruth's eyes turned to the +north shore of the Lumano again. There was somebody running down the +bank--not near the store kept by Timothy Lakeby, but directly opposite +the rock on which the old boat had stranded. + +"Oh! oh! Help! help!" shrieked the girl of the Red Mill. + +"Hold on! I'm coming!" + +The voice came to her more strongly than before. She could not see who +the person was, but she knew he was alone. She could not imagine how he +was to aid them. + +Why did he not run to the store and bring other men to help? There! he +seemed to have leaped right into the river! + +"Oh, dear me! the strongest swimmer could not reach us, let alone help +Uncle Jabez ashore," was Ruth's thought. + +But up came the figure into sight again. Dripping, of course, now he +stood firmly on a peak of rock that was thrust above the tide, and shook +back the long black hair from his eyes. + +He was a wild looking person. His feet were bare and his ragged trousers +were rolled to his knees. He wore neither vest nor coat, and his shirt +was open at his throat. To Ruth he seemed very bronzed and rough +looking. + +But whoever, or whatever, he might be, the girl prayed that he would +prove able to rescue Uncle Jabez. She felt that she could save herself, +but she was having all she could do to bear up the unconscious miller. + +"Hold on!" shouted the rescuer again. + +Once more he plunged forward. He disappeared off the rock. Was he +swimming again? The half-overturned boat hid him from Ruth's gaze. + +Suddenly he shouted close at hand. Up he bobbed on the higher point of +rock just beyond the boat. + +"What's the matter, Missy?" he demanded. "Is the old man hurt?" + +"He hit his head. See! he is unconscious," explained Ruth. + +"I'll get him! Look out, now; I've got to push off this old boat, Missy. +She ain't no good, anyway." + +Ruth saw that he was a big, black-haired, strong looking boy. His +complexion was very dark and his eyes sparkling--like cut jet beads. He +might have been seventeen or eighteen years old, but he was fully as +tall, and apparently as strong, as an ordinary man. + +His long hair curled and was tangled like a wild man's. His beard had +begun to grow on his lip and chin. In his ears Ruth saw small gold rings +and his wrists and forearms--which were bared--were covered with an +intricate pattern of tattooing in red and blue ink. + +Altogether, she had never seen so strange a boy in all her life--and +certainly none so strong. He leaped into the broken boat, seized Ruth's +oar that had not been lost in the overset, and bracing it against the +rock, pushed the trembling boat free in a moment. + +Ruth could not repress a scream. It looked as though he, too, must be +thrown into the river, as the boat was caught by the current and jerked +free. + +But the wild boy laughed and leaped upon the higher part of the rock. As +the miller's old boat drifted down stream, he sprang into the water +again and reached the girl and her burden. + +"Give him to me!" commanded the boy. "I can bear him up better than you, +Missy. We'll get him ashore--and you can't be any wetter than you are +now." + +"Oh, never mind me!" cried Ruth. "I am not afraid of a ducking. And I +can swim." + +"You don't want to try swimming in _this_ place, Missy," he returned. +"You follow right behind me--so." + +He turned, carrying the heavy figure of the miller in his arms as though +he weighed but a hundred pounds instead of nearer two, and set off +toward the shore along the ledge of rock by which he had come. + +Ruth saw, now, that beyond where the boat had been wrecked, the rock +joined the shore, with only here and there a place where it was deep +under water. + +She saw, too, that the boat was now sinking. It had not sailed ten yards +in the fierce current before its gunwales disappeared. It sank in a +deeper channel below--flour and all! Ruth realized that Uncle Jabez +would be sorely troubled over the loss of those bags of flour. + +Ruth paddled to the shore behind the strong boy, but before they really +reached terra firma, she knew that Uncle Jabez was struggling back to +consciousness. The boy lowered the miller easily to the ground. + +"He's coming 'round, Missy," he said. His smile was broad, and the +little gold rings twinkled in his ears. + +Ruth, wet and bedrabbled as she was, did not think of her own +discomfort. She knelt beside Uncle Jabez and spoke to him. For some +seconds he was so dazed that he did not seem to recognize her. Then he +stammered: + +"Ha--ha----I knowed we couldn't do it. No--no gal kin do a man's work. +Ha!" + +This seemed rather hard on Ruth, after she had done her best, and it had +not been her fault that the boat was wrecked, but she was too excited +just then to trouble about the miller's grumbling. + +"Oh, Uncle! you're not badly hurt, are you?" + +"Ha--hum! I dunno," stuttered the miller, and sat up. He rubbed his +forehead and brought his hand, with a little blood upon it, back to the +level of his eyes. "I vum!" he ejaculated, with more interest than +before. "I must ha' cracked my head some. Why was it I didn't drown?" + +"This little missy, here," said the black-eyed youth, quickly. "_She_ +saved you, Mister. She held your head above water till I come." + +"Why--why----Niece Ruth! you did _that_?" + +"Oh, it was nothing, Uncle Jabez! I am so glad you are not hurt worse. +This boy really saved you. He brought you ashore." + +"Who be ye, young man?" asked the miller. "I'm obleeged to ye--if what +my niece says is true." + +"Oh, I am named Roberto. You need not to thank--no!" exclaimed the +stranger, suddenly getting up and looking all about. + +"But it was very brave of him," declared Ruth, and she seized the boy's +hand. "I--I am so glad you were near." + +"Here's Tim and Joe Bascom coming," said Uncle Jabez, who was facing the +store. + +Instantly Roberto, as he called himself, jerked his hand from Ruth's +grasp. He had seen the men coming, too, and without a word he turned and +fled back into the woods. + +"Why--why----" began Ruth, in utter surprise. + +"What's the matter with that feller?" demanded Uncle Jabez, just as the +storekeeper and Farmer Bascom arrived. + +"I seen the feller, Jabe," said the latter, eagerly. "He's one o' them +blamed Gypsies. I run him out o' my orchard only yisterday." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EVENING AT THE RED MILL + + +About this time Uncle Jabez began to wake up to the fact that his boat +and the flour were gone. + +"It's a dumbed shame, Jabez! an' I needed that flour like tunket," said +Timothy Lakeby, the storekeeper. + +"Huh!" grunted the miller. "'Tain't nothin' out o' your pocket, Tim." + +"But my customers air wantin' it." + +"You lemme hev your boat, an' a boy to bring it back, an' we'll go right +hum an' load ye up some more flour," groaned the miller. "That dratted +Ben will be back by thet time, I fancy. Ef he'd been ter the mill I +wouldn't hev been dependent upon my niece ter help row that old boat." + +"Too heavy for her--too heavy for her, Jabe," declared Joe Bascom. + +"Huh! is thet so?" snapped the miller. He could grumble to Ruth himself, +but he would not stand for any other person's criticism of her. "Lemme +tell ye, she worked her passage all right. An' I vum! I b'lieve thet +'twas me, myself, thet run the old tub on the rock." + +"Aside from the flour, Jabez," said the storekeeper, "'tain't much of a +loss. But you an' Ruthie might ha' both been drowned." + +"I would, if it hadn't been for her," declared the miller, with more +enthusiasm than he usually showed. "She held my head up when I was +knocked out--kinder. Ye see this cut in my head?" + +"Ye got out of it lucky arter all, then," said Bascom. + +"Ya-as," drawled the miller. "But I ain't feelin' so pert erbout losin' +thet boat an' the flour." + +"But see how much worse it might have been, Uncle," suggested Ruth, +timidly. "If it hadn't been for that boy----" + +"What did he say his name was?" interrupted Timothy. + +"Roberto." + +"Yah!" said Bascom. "Thet's a Gypsy name, all right! I'd like ter got +holt on him." + +"I wish I could have thanked him," sighed Ruth. + +"If you see him ag'in, Joe," said the miller, "don't you bother about a +peck o' summer apples. I'll pay for them," he added, with a sudden +burst of generosity. "Of course--in trade," he added. + +He could move about now, and the gash in his head had ceased bleeding. +It was a warm evening, and neither Ruth nor her uncle were likely to +take cold from their ducking. But her clothing clung to her in an +uncomfortable manner, and the girl was anxious to get back to the mill. + +Timothy Lakeby routed out a clerk and sent him with them in the lighter +boat that was moored at the store landing. Ruth begged to pull an oar +again, and her uncle did not forbid her. Perhaps he still felt a little +weak and dazed. + +He kept speaking of Roberto, the Gypsy boy. "Strong as an ox, that +feller," he said. "Wisht I had a man like him at the mill. Ben ain't +wuth his salt." + +"Oh, I'm sure, Uncle Jabez, Ben is very faithful and good," urged Ruth. + +"Wal, a feller that could carry me like that young man done--he's jest +another Sandow, _he_ is," said Uncle Jabez. + +They easily got across the river in the storekeeper's lighter boat, and +Ruth displayed her oarsmanship to better advantage, for the oars were +lighter. The miller noted her work and grunted his approval. + +"I vum! they _did_ teach ye suthin' at thet school 'sides folderrols, +didn't they?" he said. + +Ruth asked the store clerk if he knew anything about the Gypsies. + +"Why, yes, Miss. I hear they are camping 'way up the river--up near the +lakes, beyond Minturn's Dam. You know that's a wild country up there." + +Ruth remembered. She had been a little way in that direction with her +friends, Tom and Helen Cameron, in their auto. Minturn Dam had burst two +years before, and done much damage, but was now repaired. + +"That is a long way from here," she suggested to the clerk. + +"Yes'm. But Romany folks is gret roamers--thet's why they're called +'Romany,' mebbe," was the reply. "And I guess that black-eyed rascal is +a wild one." + +"Never mind. He got me out o' the river," mumbled Uncle Jabez. + +They brought the boat to the mill landing in safety, and Ben appeared, +having returned from town and put up the mules. He gazed in blank +amazement at the condition of his employer and Ruth. + +"For the good land!" exclaimed Ben; but he got no farther. He was not a +talkative young man, and it took considerable to wake him up to as +exciting an expression as the above. + +"You kin talk!" snarled Uncle Jabez. "If you'd been here to help me, I +wouldn't ha' lost our boat and the flour." + +The miller fairly _ached_ when he thought of his losses, and he had to +lay the blame on somebody. + +"Now you help me git four more sacks over to Tim Lakeby's----" + +Ruth would not hear of his going back before he changed his clothing and +had something put upon the cut in his head. After a little arguing, it +was agreed that Ben and the clerk should ferry the flour across to the +store, and then the clerk would bring Ben back. + +"Goodness sakes alive!" shrieked Aunt Alvirah, when she saw them come +onto the porch, still dripping. "What you been doing to my pretty, Jabez +Potter?" + +"Huh!" sniffed the miller. "Mebbe it's what she's been doing to _me_?" +and he wreathed his thin lips into a wry grin. + +Aunt Alvirah and Mercy must hear it all. The lame girl was delighted. +She pointed her finger at the old man, who had now gotten into his +Sunday suit and had a bandage on his head. + +"Now, tell me, Dusty Miller, what do you think about girls being of some +use? Isn't Ruth as good as any boy?" + +"She sartainly kep' me from drownin' as good as any boy goin'," admitted +the old man. "But that was only chancey, as ye might say. When it comes +to bein' of main use in the world----Wal, it ain't gals thet makes the +wheels go 'round!' + +"And don't you really think, Uncle, that girls are any use in the +world?" asked Ruth, quietly. She had come out upon the dimly lit porch +(this was after their supper) in season to hear the miller's final +observation. + +"Ha!" ejaculated Jabez. Perhaps he had not intended Ruth to hear just +that. "They're like flowers, I reckon--mighty purty an' ornamental; but +they ain't no manner o' re'l use!" + +Mercy fairly snorted, but she was too wise to say anything farther. +Ruth, however, continued: + +"That seems very unfair, Uncle. Many girls are 'worth their salt,' as +you call it, to their families. Why can't _I_ be of use to you--in time, +of course?" + +"Ha! everyone to his job," said Uncle Jabez, brusquely. "You kin be of +gre't help to your Aunt Alviry, no doubt. But ye can't take a sack of +flour on your shoulders an' throw it inter a waggin--like Ben there. Or +like that Roberto thet lugged me ashore to-night. An' I'm some weight, I +be." + +"And is that all the kind of help you think you'll ever need, Uncle?" +demanded Ruth, with rising emotion. + +"I ain't expectin' ter be helpless an' want nussin' by no gal--not yet +awhile," said Uncle Jabez, with a chuckle. "Gals is a gre't expense--a +gre't expense." + +"Now, Jabez! ye don't mean thet air," exclaimed the little old woman, +coming from the kitchen. She lowered herself into the little rocker +nearby, with her usual moan of, "Oh, my back! an' oh, my bones! Ye don't +mean ter hurt my pretty's feelin's, I know." + +"She axed me!" exclaimed the miller, angrily. "I vum! ain't I spendin' a +fortun' on her schoolin' at that Briarwood Hall?" + +"And didn't she save ye a tidy fortun' when she straightened out that +Tintacker Mine trouble for ye, Jabez Potter?" demanded the old woman, +vigorously. "An' the good Lord knows she's been a comfort an' help to +ye, right an' left, in season an' out, ever since she fust stepped foot +inter this Red Mill----What's she done for ye this very day, Jabez, as +ye said yourself?" + +Aunt Alvirah was one of the very few people who dared to talk plainly to +the miller, when he was in one of his tempers. Now he growled out some +rough reply, and strode into the house. + +"You've driven him away, Auntie!" cried Ruth, under her breath. + +"He'd oughter be driv' away," said the old woman, "when he's in thet +mind." + +"But what he says is true. I _am_ a great expense to him. I--I wish I +could earn my own way through school." + +"Don't ye worry, my pretty. Jabez Potter's bark is wuss than his bite." + +"But the bark hurts, just the same." + +"He ought to be whipped!" hissed Mercy, in her most unmerciful tone. +"I'd like to whip him, till all the dust flew out of his Dusty Miller +clothes--so I would!" + +"Sh!" commanded Ruth, recovering her self-command again and fighting +back the tears. "Just as Aunt Alvirah observes, he doesn't mean half of +what he says." + +"It hurts just the same--you said it yourself," declared the lame girl, +with a snap. + +"I want to be independent, anyway," said Ruth, with some excitement. "I +want an education so I can _do_ something. I'd like to cultivate my +voice--the teacher says it has possibilities. Mr. Cameron is going to +let Helen go as far as she likes with the violin, and she doesn't _have_ +to think about making her way in the world." + +"Gals ain't content now to sit down after gittin' some schoolin'--I kin +see thet," sighed Aunt Alvirah. "It warn't so in my day. I never see the +beat of 'em for wantin' ter go out inter the worl' an' make a +livin'--jes' like men." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE AUTO TOUR + + +"Hi, Ruth!" + +"Hey, Ruth!" + +"Straw, Ruth!--why don't you say?" cried the owner of the name, running +to the porch and smiling out upon the Cameron twins, who had stopped +their automobile at the Red Mill gate on a morning soon following that +day on which Uncle Jabez and Ruth had undergone their involuntary +ducking in the Lumano. + +"Aren't you ready, Ruthie?" cried Helen from the back seat of the car. + +"Do hurry up, Ruth--the horses don't want to stand," laughed Tom, who +was slim and black haired and black eyed, like his twin. Indeed, the two +were so much alike that, dressed in each other's clothing, it is +doubtful if they could have been suspected in such disguise. + +"But my bag isn't packed yet," cried Ruth. "I didn't know you'd be here +so soon." + +"Take your toothbrush and powder puff--that's all you girls really +need," declared the irrepressible Tom. + +"I like that! And on a two days' trip into the hills," said his sister, +beating him soundly with an energetic fist. + +"Give him one or two good ones for me, Helen," said Ruth, and ran in to +finish her preparations for the journey she was to take with her +friends. + +"Pshaw!" grumbled the impatient Tom, "going to Uncle Ike's isn't like +going to a fancy hotel. And we'll stop over to-night with Fred Larkin's +folks--the girls there would lend you and Ruth all you need." + +"Hold on!" exclaimed his sister. "Just what have you in _your_ bag? I +know it's heavy. You have all you want----" + +"Sure. Pair of socks, two collars, fishing tackle, some books I borrowed +of Fred last year, my bicycle wrench--you never know when you are going +to need it,--a string of wampum I promised to take to Nealy +Larkin--she's a Campfire girl, you know--and an Indian tomahawk for +Fred----" + +"But, clothes! clothes!" gasped Helen. "Where are your shirts?" + +"Oh, I'll borrow a shirt, if I need one," declared Master Tom, grinning. +"Uncle Ike's Benjy is about my size, you know. What's the use of carting +around so much stuff?" + +"I notice you have your bag full of trash," sniffed Helen. "It can +plainly be seen that Mrs. Murchiston was called away so suddenly that +she could not oversee our packing." + +"Come on, Ruth!" shouted Tom again, turning toward the farmhouse. + +"Now, don't get her in a flurry," admonished Helen. "She hasn't had but +two hours' notice to get ready for this two days' trip. It's a wonder +Uncle Jabez would let her go with us at all." + +"Oh, Uncle Jabe isn't such a bad old fellow after all," said Tom. + +"He's been just as cross and cranky as he can be, ever since he lost his +boat in the river the other evening--you know that. And they say he +would have been drowned, too, if it hadn't been for Ruthie. What a brave +girl she is, Tom!" + +"Bravest in seven states!" acknowledged Master Tom, promptly. He had +always thought there was nobody just like Ruth, and his sister smiled +upon him approvingly. + +"I guess she is!" she agreed. "There isn't a girl at Briarwood Hall that +will be her match in anything--now that Madge Steele has gotten through. +Ruth is going to be head of the senior class before we graduate--you +see." + +"She'll have to hustle some to beat little Mercy Curtis," grinned Tom. +"_There's_ a sharp suffragette for you!" + +Helen laughed. "That's right. But, unfortunately for Mercy, Mrs. +Tellingham considers other work beside our books in grading us. Oh, +Tommy! we're going to have a dandy time this coming year at school." + +"You have my best wishes," returned her brother, with a slightly clouded +face. "Bobbins and Busy Izzy and I expect to be drilled like everything, +when we get back to Seven Oaks. Professor Darly is a terror." + +Ruth came out with her bag then, and in the doorway behind her appeared +the little, stooped figure of Aunt Alvirah. The Camerons waved their +hands and shouted greetings to her. + +"Take good keer of my pretty, Master Tom," shrilled the old lady, +hobbling out into the yard. "Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!" + +"We'll handle her as if she were made of glass," declared Tom, laughing. +"Hop in, Ruthie!" + +"Good-bye, Aunt Alvirah!" cried the girl of the Red Mill, clasping the +little old lady around the neck and kissing her. Then she waved her hand +to Uncle Jabez, who appeared in the mill doorway, and he nodded grimly, +as the car started. + +Ben appeared at a window and bashfully nodded to the departing pleasure +party. The car quickly passed the end of the Cheslow road and sped up +the riverside. These lowlands beyond the Red Mill had once been covered +by a great flood, and the three friends would never forget their race +with the freshet from Culm Falls, at the time the Minturn Dam burst. + +"But we're bound far, far above the dam this time," said Tom. "Fred +Larkin lives farther than that--beyond the gorge between the hills, and +at the foot of the first pond. We'll get there long before dark unless +something happens to this old mill I'm driving." + +"There! Tommy's harping on his pet trouble," laughed Helen. "Father +won't let us use the new car to go scooting about the country alone in, +and Tommy thinks he is abused." + +"Well! that 'six' is just eating its head off in the garage," grumbled +the boy. + +"Just as though it were a horse!" chuckled Ruth. + +"You wait! I bet something happens on this trip, because of this old +heap of scrap iron that pa calls a car." + +"Goodness me!" exclaimed Helen, with some exasperation. "Don't you dare +have a breakdown in the hills, Tom! I should be frightened. It's so wild +up there beyond Loon Lake." + +"You needn't blame me," returned her twin. "I shall do my best." + +"And so will the auto--I have no doubt," added Ruth, laughingly. "Cheer +up, Helen, dear----" + +"I know the rest of it!" interrupted her chum. "'The worst is yet to +come!' I--hope--not!" + +Ruth Fielding would allow no worrying or criticism in this event. They +were out for a good time, and she at once proceeded to cheer up the +twins, and laugh at their fears, and interest them in other things. + +They crossed the river at Culm Falls--a beautiful spot--and it was +beyond the bridge, as the car was mounting the first long rise, that the +party of adventurers found their first incident of moment. + +Here and there were clearings in the forest upon the right side of the +road (on the other side the hill fell abruptly to the river), and little +farms. As the party came in sight of one of these farms, a great cry +arose from the dooryard. The poultry was soundly disturbed--squawking, +cackling, shrieking their protests noisily--while the deep baying of a +dog rose savagely above the general turmoil. + +"Something doing there!" quoth Tom Cameron, slowing down. + +"A chicken hawk, perhaps?" suggested Ruth. + +A woman was screaming admonition or advice; occasionally the gruffer +voice of a man added to the turmoil. But the dog's barking was the +loudest sound. + +Suddenly, from around the corner of the barn, appeared a figure wildly +running. It was neither the farmer, nor his wife--that was sure. + +"Tramp!" exclaimed Tom, reaching for the starting lever again. + +At that moment Helen shrieked. After the running man appeared a hound. +He had broken his leash, and a more savage brute it would be difficult +to imagine. He was following the runner with great leaps, and when the +fugitive vaulted the roadside fence, the dog crashed through the rails, +tearing down a length of them, and scrambling in the dusty road in an +endeavor to get on the trail of the man again. + +Only, it was not a man; it was a boy! He was big and strong looking, but +his face was boyish. Ruth Fielding stood up suddenly in the car and +shrieked to him: + +"Come here! This way! Roberto!" + +"My goodness! is he a friend of yours, Ruthie?" gasped Tom Cameron. + +"He's the Gypsy boy that saved Uncle Jabez," returned Ruth, in a breath. + +"Take him aboard--_do_!" urged Helen. "That awful dog----" + +Roberto had heard and leaped for the running-board of the car. Tom +switched on the power. Just as the huge hound leaped, and his fore-paws +touched the step, the car darted away and the brute was left sprawling. + +The car was a left-hand drive, and Tom motioned the panting youth to get +in beside him. The dark-faced fellow did so. At first he was too +breathless to speak, but his black eyes snapped like beads, and his lips +smiled. He seemed to have enjoyed the race with the savage dog, instead +of having been frightened by it. + +"You save me, Missy, like I save your old man--eh?" he panted, at last, +turning his brilliant smile upon Ruth. "Me! that dog mos' have me, eh?" + +"What was the matter? How came you to start all that riot?" demanded +Tom, looking at the Gypsy youth askance. + +Roberto's grin became expansive. The little gold rings in his ears +twinkled as well as his eyes. + +"I did them no wrong. I slept in the man's haymow. He found me a little +while ago. He say I haf to _pay_ for my sleep--eh? How poor Gypsy pay?" +and he opened his hands and shrugged his shoulders to show that his +pockets were empty. + +"Me, no money have got. Can I work? Of course I work--only the farmers +do not trust me. They call all Gypsies thieves. Isn't it so, Missy?" and +he flashed a glance at Ruth. + +"I know, Mr. Joe Bascom drove you out of his orchard," agreed the girl +of the Red Mill. "But you should have come across the river to _us_. +Uncle Jabez is really grateful to you." + +"Oh, _that_?" and the boy shrugged his shoulders again. "I do not want +pay for what I do--no. I want no money. I would not work a day for all +my grandmother's wealth--and she is a miser," and Roberto laughed again, +showing all his white, strong teeth. + +"But these people back here--this man and his woman--they want me to +churn. It is a dog's work--no? I see where the dog haf to churn, but +that dog die and they get this new, savage one--and it will not. Me, I +think this dog very wise!" and Roberto's merriment broke out again, and +he shook with it. + +"So I tell them I will not do dog's work, and then he, the man, chases +me with his pitchfork, and the woman unloose the dog. Oh, yes! I make a +great noise in the henyard. That dog chase me hard. So--I got away as +you see," he concluded. + +"Say! you're a cool one," declared Tom, with growing admiration. + +"But you ought not to be loafing about, sleeping anywhere, and without +employment," said Helen, primly. + +Roberto's black eyes sparkled. "Why does the little missy say I should +work?" he demanded. "There is no need. I return to my people, perhaps. +There I curry horses and fill the water pails for the women, and go with +my uncle to the horse-fairs where he trades, or be under my +grandmother's beck and call--the grandmother whom I tell you is a miser. +But I never have money with them, and why should I work for it +elsewhere?" + +"To get good clothes, and good food, and pay your way everywhere," +suggested Tom. + +Roberto laughed again. He spread out his strong hands. "These keep me +from day to day," he said. "But money burns a hole in my pocket. Or, +would you have me like my grandmother? She hoards every penny-piece, and +then gloats over her money-box, by the firelight, when the rest of the +camp is asleep. Oh, I see her!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A PROPHECY FULFILLED + + +This queer youth interested Ruth Fielding and her friends, the Cameron +twins, very much. Roberto was not naturally talkative, it seemed, for he +soon dropped into silence and it was hard to get aught out of him but +"Yes" and "No." At first, however, he had been excited, and he told them +a great deal of his life with the tribe and along the pleasant country +roads. + +The cities Roberto could not bear. "There is no breath left in them--it +is used up by so many," he explained. He did not eschew work because he +was lazy, it seemed; but he saw no use in it. + +Clothing? Money? Rich food? Other things that people strive for in the +main? They were nothing to Roberto. He could sleep under a haystack, +crunch a crust of bread, and wear his garments until they fell off him +in rags. + +But he knew the woods and fields as nobody but a wild boy could. Every +whistle and note of every bird was as familiar to him as his own +Tzigane speech; and he could imitate them with exactness. + +He delighted his new friends, as the car rumbled along. He soon stopped +talking much, as I have said, but he answered their multitude of +questions, and did not seem to mind being cross-questioned about the +life of the Gypsies. + +The auto party stopped soon after noon to lunch. It was Roberto who +pointed out the spring of clear, cold water for which they searched. He +had been over this road before and, it seemed, once along a trail was +enough for the young Gypsy. He never forgot. + +He went away down the little stream, and made himself very clean before +appearing for his share of the food. To the surprise of Ruth and Helen +he ate daintily and showed breeding of a kind. Nor was he enamored of +the cakes and other dainties that Babette, the Camerons' cook, had put +into the lunch hamper, but enjoyed, instead, the more simple viands. + +Roberto grew restless of riding in the car soon after luncheon. He +thanked them for giving him the lift, but explained that there were +paths through the woods leading to the present camp of his tribe that he +preferred to follow. + +"It is a mark of kindness for you to have brought me this way," he said, +softly, bending over Ruth's hand, for he insisted upon considering her +his hostess. He realized that, had it not been for her, the Camerons +would have been chary of taking him aboard. + +"If you are ever near the Red Mill again," Ruth told him, "be sure to +come and speak with Uncle Jabez. He will not forget you, I am sure." + +"Of that--pooh!" exclaimed the Gypsy. "I do not want pay for such an +act. Do you?" + +And that set Ruth Fielding to thinking a bit. Perhaps she _had_ expected +payment--of a kind--for her action in helping Uncle Jabez in the river. +She had hoped he would more freely respond to her affection than he did. +Ah! it is hard to do a good act and not secretly hope for some small +return. "Virtue is its own reward" is a moral hard to understand! + +After Roberto had left them, the trio of friends were occupied in +exchanging views regarding the Gypsy boy, and in discussing their +several opinions as to what kind of people his folk really were. + +"It must be loads of fun to jog along the roads in those caravans, and +camp where you please, and all that," said Helen, reflectively. "I +believe I'd like it." + +"About twenty miles on a fast day, eh?" chuckled Tom, with scorn. "Not +for me! When Gypsies get to riding in autos--and six-cylinder, +up-to-date ones, too--I'll join the first tribe that comes along." + +"I declare, Tommy!" laughed his sister, "you are getting to be a 'speed +fiend.' Ruth and I will be scared to drive with you." + +"It's great to go fast," exclaimed Master Tom. "Here's a straight piece +of road ahead, girls. Hold on!" + +As he spoke, he manipulated the levers and the car leaped ahead. Ruth's +startled "Oh!" was left a quarter of a mile behind. The girls clung to +the hand-holds, and Tom crouched behind the windshield and "let her +out." + +It was a straight piece of road, as he had said. But before they reached +the first turn there was another house beside the road--a small +farmhouse. Beyond it was a field, with a stone wall, and it chanced that +just as the Camerons' car roared down the road, clearing at least thirty +miles an hour, the leader of a flock of sheep in that pasture, butted +through a place in the stone-fence and started to cross the highway. + +One sheep would not have made much trouble; it would have been easy to +dodge just one object. But here came a string of the woolly +creatures--and greater fools than sheep have not been discovered in the +animal world! + +The old black-faced ram trotted across the road and through a gap in a +fence on the river side. After him crowded the ewes and youngsters. + +The roaring auto frightened the creatures, but they would not give way +before it. They knew no better than to follow that old ram through the +gap, one after the other. + +Tom had shut off the engine and applied the brakes, as the girls +shrieked. But he had been going too fast to stop short of the place +where the sheep were passing. At the end of the flock came a lamb, +bleating and trying to keep up with its mother. + +"Oh, the lamb!" shrieked Helen. + +"Look out, Tom!" added Ruth. + +The lamb did not get across the road. The car struck it, and with a +pitiful "baa-a-a!" it was knocked a dozen feet. + +In a moment the car stopped. It had scarcely run its entire length past +the spot where the lamb was struck. The poor creature lay panting, +"baa-aing" feebly, beside the road. + +Ruth was out of the tonneau and kneeling beside the creature almost +before the wheels ceased to roll. The mother ewe had crowded through the +fence. Now she put her foolish face out, and called to the lamb to +follow. + +"He can't!" almost sobbed Ruth. "He has a broken leg. Oh! what a foolish +mother you were to lead him right into danger." + +Tom was silent and looked pretty solemn, while Helen was scolding him +nervously--although she knew that he was not really at fault. + +"If you hadn't been speeding, this wouldn't have happened, Tom Cameron!" +she said. "I told you so." + +"Oh, all right. You're a fine prophetess," grunted her brother. "Keep on +rubbing it in." + +The lamb had tried to scramble up, but one of its forelegs certainly was +broken. It tumbled over on its side again, and Ruth held it down +tenderly and tried to soothe its fear. + +"Oh, dear! whatever shall we do?" she murmured. "The poor, poor little +thing." + +"Guess we'll know pretty soon what we'll do," quoth Master Tom, standing +beside the machine and looking back along the road. "Here comes the man +that owns him." + +"Oh, dear me!" whispered Helen. "Doesn't he look savage?" + +"Worse than the old ram there," agreed her brother, for the black-faced +leader of the flock was eyeing them through the fence. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A TRANSACTION IN MUTTON + + +The man who approached was a fierce, red-faced individual, with long +legs encased to the knees in cowhide boots, overalls, a checked shirt, +and a whisp of yellow whisker under his chin that parted and waved, as +he strode toward the auto party. + +His pale blue eyes were ablaze, and he had worked himself up into a +towering rage. Like many farmers (and sometimes for cause), he had +evidently sworn eternal feud against all automobilists! + +"What d'ye mean, runnin' inter my sheep?" he bawled. "I'll have the law +on ye! I'll make ye pay for ev'ry sheep ye killed! I'll attach yer +machine, by glory! I'll put ye all in jail! I'll----" + +"You're going to have your hands full with all _that_, Mister," +interrupted Tom Cameron. "And you're excited more than is necessary. +I'll pay for all the damage I've done--although there would have been +none at all, had your sheep remained in their pasture. This is a county +road, I take it." + +"By glory!" exclaimed the farmer, arriving at the spot at last. "This +road was built for folks ter drive over decent. Nobody reckoned on +locomotives, an' sich comin' this way, when 'twas built--no, sir-ree!" + +"I'm sorry," began Tom, but the man broke in: + +"Thet don't pay me none for havin' all my sheep made into mutton b'fore +their time. By glory! I got an attic home full o' 'sorries.' Ye can't +git out o' it thet way." + +"I am not trying to. I'll pay for any sheep I have hurt or killed," Tom +said, unable to keep from grinning at the excited farmer. + +"And don't ye git sassy none, neither!" commanded the man. "I'm one o' +the school trustees in this deestrict, an' the church clerk. I got some +influence. I guess if I arrested ye right naow--an' these gals, too--the +jestice of the peace would consider I done jest right." + +"Oh!" murmured Helen, clinging to Ruth's hand. + +"He can't do it," whispered the latter. + +"I feel sure, sir," said Tom, politely, "that it will be unnecessary for +you to go to such lengths. I will pay satisfactory damages. There is the +lamb we struck--and the only beast that is hurt." + +The man had given but one glance to the lamb that lay on the grass +beside the girls. He did not look to be any too tender-hearted, and the +little creature's accident did not touch him at all--save in the region +of his pocketbook. + +He stepped to the gap in the fence, kicked the bleating ewe out of the +way in a most brutal manner, and proceeded to count his flock. He had to +do this twice before he was assured that none but the lamb was missing. + +"You see," Tom said, quietly, "I have turned only one of your sheep into +mutton--for I suppose this lamb must be killed." + +"Oh, no, Tom!" cried Ruth, who was bending over the little creature +again. "I am sure its leg will mend." + +The farmer snorted. "Don't want no crippled critters erbout. Ye'll +hafter pay me full price for that lamb, boy--then I'll give it to the +dogs. 'Tain't no good the way it is." + +Ruth had tied the leg firmly with her own handkerchief--which was of +practical size. "If we could put it in splints, and keep the lamb still, +it would mend," she declared to Helen. + +"What do you consider the thing worth, sir?" asked Tom. + +"Four dollars," declared the farmer, promptly. It was not worth two, +even at the present price of lamb, for the creature was neither big nor +fat. + +"Here you are," said Tom, and thrust four one-dollar notes into his +hand. + +The man stared at them, and from them to Tom. He really seemed +disappointed. Perhaps he wished he had said more, when Tom did not +haggle over the price. + +"Wal, I'll take it along to the house then," said the farmer. "An' when +ye come this road ag'in, young man, ye better go a leetle slow--yaas, a +leetle slow!" + +"I certainly shall--as long as you have gaps in your sheep pasture +fence," returned Tom, promptly. + +"Git out'n the way, leetle gal," said the man, brushing Ruth aside. +"I'll take him----" + +The lamb struggled to get on its feet. The sudden appearance of the man +frightened the animal. + +"Stop that!" cried Ruth. "You'll hurt the poor thing." + +"I'll knock him in the head, when I git to the chopping block," said the +farmer, roughly. "Shucks! it's only a lamb." + +"Don't you dare!" Ruth cried, standing in front of the quivering +creature. "You are cruel." + +"Hoity-toity!" cried the farmer. "I guess I kin do as I please with my +own." + +Helen clung to Ruth's hand and tried to draw her away from the rough +man. Even Tom hesitated to arouse the farmer's wrath further. But the +girl from the Red Mill stamped her foot and refused to move. + +"Don't you dare touch it!" she exclaimed. "It isn't your lamb." + +"What's that?" he demanded, and then broke into a hoarse laugh. "Thet +thar's a good one! I raised thet lamb----" + +"And we have just bought it--paid you your own price for it," cried +Ruth. + +"Crickey! that's so, Ruthie," Tom Cameron interposed. "Of course he +doesn't own it. If you want the poor thing, we'll take it along to Fred +Larkin's place." + +"Say!" exclaimed the farmer. "What does this mean? I didn't sell ye the +carcass of thet thar lamb; I only got damages----" + +"You sold it. You know you did," Ruth declared, firmly. "I dare you to +touch the poor little thing. It is ours--and I know its life can be +saved." + +"Pick it right up, girls, and come on," advised Tom, starting his +engine. "We have the rights of it, and if he interferes, we'll just run +on to the next town and bring a constable back with us. I guess we can +call upon the authorities, too. What's sauce for the goose, ought to be +sauce for the gander." + +The man was stammering some very impolite words, and Tom was anxious to +get his sister and Ruth away. The girls lifted the lamb in upon the back +seat and laid it tenderly upon some wraps. Then the boy leaped into the +front seat and prepared to start. + +"I tell ye what it is!" exclaimed the farmer, coming close to the car. +"This ain't no better than highway robbery. I never expected ter have ye +take the carcass away, when I told ye sich a low price----" + +"I have paid its full value, and you don't own a thread of its wool, +Mister," said Tom, feeling the engine throb under him now. "I'm going to +start----" + +"You wait! I ain't got through with you----" + +Just then the car started. The man had been holding to the end of the +seat. He foolishly tried to continue his hold. + +The car sprang ahead suddenly, the farmer was swung around like a top, +and the last they saw of him he was sitting in the middle of the dusty +road, shaking both fists after the car, and yelling at the top of his +voice. Just what he said, it was perhaps better that they did not hear! + +"Wasn't he a mean old thing?" cried Tom, when the car was purring along +steadily. + +"And wasn't Ruth smart to see that he had no right to this poor little +sheep?" said Helen, admiringly. + +"What you going to do with it, Ruthie?" demanded Tom, glancing back at +the lamb. "Going to sell it to a butcher in Littletop? That's where +Fred Larkin's folk live, you know." + +"Sell it to a butcher!" exclaimed Ruth, in scorn. "That's what the +farmer would have done--butchered it." + +"It is the fate of most sheep to be turned into mutton," returned Tom, +his eyes twinkling. + +"And then the mutton is turned into boys and girls," laughed Ruth. "But +if I have my way, this little fellow will never become either a Cameron, +or a Fielding." + +"Oh! I wouldn't want to eat him--after seeing him hurt," cried Helen. +"Isn't he cunning? See! he knows we are going to be good to him." + +"I hope he knows it," her chum replied. "After all, it doesn't take much +to assure domestic animals of our good intentions toward them." + +"Well," said Tom, grinning, "I promise not to eat this lamb, if you make +a point of it, but if I don't get something to eat pretty soon, I assure +you he'll be in grave danger!" + +They made Littletop and the Larkins' residence before Tom became too +ravenous, however; and the younger members of the Larkin family welcomed +the adventurers--including the lamb--with enthusiasm. + +Fred Larkin had some little aptitude for medicine and surgery--so they +all said, at least--and he set the broken leg and put splints upon it. +Then they put the little creature in one of the calf pens, fed it +liberally, and Fred declared that in ten days it would be well enough to +hop around. + +The little Larkin folk were delighted with the lamb for a pet, so Ruth +knew that she could safely trust her protege to them. + +There was great fun that night, for the neighboring young folk were +invited to meet the trio from Cheslow and the Red Mill, and it was +midnight before the girls and boys were still. Therefore, there was no +early start made for the second day's run. + +Breakfast was late, and it was half-past nine before Tom started the +car, and they left Littletop amid the cheers and good wishes of their +friends. + +"We must hustle, if we want to get to Uncle Ike's before dark," Tom +declared. "So you will have to stand for some scorching, girls." + +"See that you don't kill anything--or even maim it," advised his sister. +"You are out four dollars for damages already." + +"Never you mind. I reckon you girls won't care to be marooned along some +of these wild roads all night." + +"Nor to travel over them by night, either," advised Ruth. "My! we +haven't seen a house for ten miles." + +"It's somewhere up this way that those Gypsy friends of Roberto are +encamped--as near as I could make out," Tom remarked. + +"My! I wouldn't like to meet them," his sister said. + +"They wouldn't hurt us--at least, Roberto didn't," laughed Ruth. + +"That's all right. But Gypsies _do_ carry off people----" + +"And eat them?" scoffed Tom. "How silly, Nell!" + +"Well, Mr. Smartie! they might hold us for ransom." + +"Like regular brigands, eh?" returned Tom, lightly. "That _would_ be an +adventure worth chronicling." + +"You can laugh----Oh!" + +As she was speaking, Helen saw a head thrust out of the bushes not far +along the road they traveled. + +"What's the matter?" demanded Ruth, seizing her arm. + +"Look there!" But the car was past the spot in a moment. "Somebody was +watching us, and dodged back," declared Helen, anxiously. + +"Oh, nonsense!" laughed her brother. + +But before they took the next turn they looked back and saw two men +standing in the road, talking. They were rough-looking fellows. + +"Gypsies!" cried Helen. + +However, they saw nobody else for a few miles. Now they were skirting +one of the lakes in the upper chain, some miles above the gorge where +the dam was built, and the scenery was both beautiful and rugged. There +were few farms. + +On a rising stretch of road, the engine began to miss, and something +rattled painfully in the "internal arrangements" of the car. Tom looked +serious, stopped several times, and just coaxed her slowly to the summit +of the hill. + +"Now don't tell us that we're going to have a breakdown!" cried Helen. + +"Do you think those are thunder-heads hanging over the mountain?" asked +Ruth, seriously. + +"Sure of it!" responded Helen. + +"You are a regular 'calamity howler'!" exclaimed Tom. "By Jove! this old +mill _is_ going to kick up rusty." + +"There's a house!" cried Ruth, gaily, standing up in the back to look +ahead. "Now we're all right if the machine has to be repaired, or a +storm bursts upon us." + +But when the car limped up and stopped in the sandy road before the +sagging gate, the trio saw that their refuge was a windowless and +abandoned structure that looked as gaunt and ghostly as a +lightning-riven tree! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FELLOW TRAVELERS + + +"Well! this is a pretty pickle!" groaned Tom, at last as much disturbed +as Helen had been. "It's no use, girls. We'll have to stop here till the +storm is over. It is coming." + +"Well, that will be fun!" cried Ruth, cheerfully. "Of course we ought to +be storm-bound in a deserted house. That is according to all romantic +precedent." + +"Humph! you and your precedent!" grumbled her chum. "I'd rather it was a +nice roadside hotel, or tearoom. That would be something like." + +"Come on! we'll take in the hamper, and make tea on the deserted +hearthstone," said Ruth. "Tom can stay out here and repair his old +auto." + +"Tom will find a shelter for the machine first, I reckon. There! hear +the thunder? We are going to get it, and I must raise the hood of the +tonneau, too," proclaimed the lad. "Go on with your hamper and wraps. I +see sheds back there, and I'll try to coax the old Juggernaut into that +lane and so to the sheds." + +He did as he proposed during the next few minutes, while the girls +approached the deserted dwelling, with the hamper. The lower front +windows were boarded, and the door closed. But the door giving entrance +from the side porch was ajar. + +"'Leave all hope behind, ye who enter here,'" quoted Helen, peering into +the dusky interior. "It looks powerful ghostly, Ruthie." + +"There are plenty of windows out, so we'll have light enough," returned +the girl of the Red Mill. "Don't be a 'fraid cat,' Helen." + +"That's all right," grumbled her chum. "You're only making a bluff +yourself." + +Ruth laughed. She was not bothered by fears of the supernatural, no +matter what the old house was, or had been. Now, a good-sized rat might +have made her shriek and run! + +Into the house stepped Ruth Fielding, in her very bravest manner. The +hall was dark, but the door into a room at the left--toward the back of +the house--was open and through this doorway she ventured, the old, +rough boards of the floor creaking beneath her feet. + +This apartment must have been the dining-room. There was a high, ornate, +altogether ugly mantle and open fireplace at one end of the room. At the +other, there stood, fastened to the wall, or built into it, a china +closet, the doors of which had been removed. These ugly, shallow +caverns gaped at them and promised refuge to spiders and mice. On the +hearth was a heap of crusted gray ashes. + +"What a lonesome, eerie sort of a place," shivered Helen. "Wish the old +car had kept running----" + +"Through the rain?" suggested Ruth, pointing outside, where the air was +already gray with approaching moisture. + +Down from the higher hills the storm was sweeping. They could smell it, +for the wind leaped in at the broken windows and rustled the shreds of +paper still clinging to the walls of the dining-room. + +"This isn't a fit place to eat in," grumbled Helen. + +"Let's go above stairs. Carry that alcohol stove carefully, dear. We'll +have a nice cup of tea, even if it does----" + +"Oh!" shrieked Helen, as a long streak of lightning flew across their +line of vision. + +"Yes. Even in spite of _that_," repeated Ruth, smiling, and raising her +voice that she might be heard above the cannonade of thunder. + +"I don't like it, I tell you!" declared her chum. + +"I can't say that I do myself, but I do not see how we are to help it." + +"I wish Tom was inside here, too." + +Ruth had glanced through the window and seen that Master Tom had managed +to get the auto under a shed at the back. He was industriously putting +up the curtains to the car, and making all snug against the rain, before +he began to tinker with the machinery. + +There was a faint drumming in the air--the sound of rain coming down the +mountain side, beating its "charge" upon the leaves as it came. There +were no other sounds, for the birds and insects had sought shelter +before the wrathful face of the storm. + +Yes! there was one other. The girls had not heard it until they began +climbing the stairs out of the side entry. Helen clutched Ruth suddenly +by the skirt. + +"Hear that!" she whispered. + +"Say it out loud, dear, do!" exclaimed the girl of the Red Mill. "There +is never anything so nerve-shaking as a stage whisper." + +"There! you heard it?" + +"The wind rustling something," said Ruth, attempting to go on. + +"No." + +"Something squeaks--mice, I do believe." + +"Mice would starve to death here," declared Helen. + +"How smart of you! That is right," agreed Ruth. "Come on. Let us see +what it is--if it's upstairs." + +Helen clung close to her and trembled. There was the rustling, squeaking +sound again. Ruth pushed on (secretly feeling rather staggered by the +strange noise), and they entered one of the larger upper chambers. + +Immediately she saw an open stovepipe hole in the chimney. "The noise +comes from that," she declared, setting down the basket and pointing. + +"But what is it?" wailed her frightened chum. + +"The wind?" + +"Never!" + +The lightning flashed again, and the thunder rolled nearer. Helen +screamed, crouched down upon the floor, and covered her ears, squeezing +her eyelids tight shut too. + +"Dreadful! dreadful!" she gasped. + +Still the silence outside between the reports of thunder; but the +rustling in the chimney continued. Ruth looked around, found a piece of +broken window-sash on the floor, and approached the open pipe-hole. + +"Here's for stirring up Mr. Ghost," she said, in a much braver tone than +she secretly felt. + +She always felt her responsibility with Helen. The latter was of a +nervous, imaginary temperament, and it was never well for her to get +herself worked up in this way. + +"Oh, Ruth! Don't! Suppose it bites you!" gasped Helen. + +At that Ruth _did_ laugh. "Whoever heard of a ghost with teeth?" she +demanded, and instantly thrust the stick into the gaping hole. + +There was a stir--a flutter--a squeaking--and out flopped a brown object +about the size of a mouse. Helen shrieked again, and even Ruth darted +back. + +"A mouse!" cried Helen. + +"Right--_a flittermouse_!" agreed Ruth, suddenly bursting into a laugh. +"The chimney's full of them." + +"Oh, let's get out!" + +"In this rain?" and Ruth pointed to the window, where now the drops were +falling, big and fast--the vanguard of the storm. + +"But if a bat gets into your hair!" moaned Helen, rocking herself on her +knees. + +Ruth opened the big hamper, seized a newspaper, and swooped down upon +the blind, fluttering brown bat. Seizing it as she would a spider, she +ran to the window and flung it out, just as the water burst into the +room in a flood. + +Then she ran to the pipe-hole and thrust the paper into it, making a +"stopper" which would not easily fall out. She dragged Helen to the +other side of the room, where the floor was dry and they were out of the +draught. + +There the two girls cowered for some moments, hugged close together, +Helen hiding her eyes from the intermittent lightning against Ruth's +jacket. The thunder roared overhead, and the rain dashed down in +torrents. For ten minutes it was as hard a storm as the girl of the Red +Mill ever remembered seeing. Such tempests in the hills are not +infrequent. + +When the thunder began to roll away into the distance, and the lightning +was less brilliant, the girls could take some notice of what else went +on. The fierce drumming of the rain continued, but there seemed to be a +noise in the lower part of the building. + +"Tom has come in," said Helen, with satisfaction. + +"He must have gotten awfully wet, then, getting here from that shed," +Ruth returned. "Hush!" + +Somebody sneezed heavily. Helen opened her mouth to cry out, but Ruth +put her palm upon her lips, effectually smothing the cry. + +"Sh!" the girl of the Red Mill admonished. "Let him find us." + +"Oh! that will be fun," agreed Helen. + +Ruth did not look at her. She listened intently. There was a heavy, +scraping foot upon the floor below. To _her_ mind, it did not sound like +Tom at all. + +She held Helen warningly by the wrist and they continued to strain their +ears for some minutes. Then an odor reached them which Ruth was sure did +not denote Tom's presence in the room below. It was the smell of strong +tobacco smoked in an ancient pipe! + +"What's that?" sniffed Helen, whisperingly. + +Uncle Jabez smoked a strong pipe and Ruth could not be mistaken as to +the nature of this one. She remembered the two men who had hidden in the +bushes as the car rolled by, not many miles back on this road. + +"Let's shout for Tom and bring him in here," Helen suggested. + +"Perhaps get him into trouble? Let's try and find out, first, what sort +of people they are," objected Ruth, for they now heard talking and knew +that there were at least two visitors below. + +Rising quietly, Ruth crept on tiptoe to the head of the stair. The +drumming rain helped smother any sound she might have made. + +Slowly, stair by stair, Ruth Fielding let herself down until she could +see into the open doorway of the dining room. Two men were squatting on +the hearth, both smoking assiduously. + +They were rough looking, unlovely fellows, and the growl of their voices +did not impress Ruth as being of a quality to inspire confidence. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WHAT WAS IT ALL ABOUT? + + +The two men were mumbling together--Ruth could not catch the words at +first. When she did, they meant nothing to her, and she was puzzled. + +But suddenly one said in clear, if peculiar, English: + +"The old hag bags the best of the loot--always, my Carlo." + +The other replied, still gruffly, yet in a musical language that Ruth +could not identify; yet somehow she was reminded of Roberto. He, the +Gypsy lad, had formed his English sentences much as this ruffian had +formed his phrase. Were these two of Roberto's tribesmen? + +"I like it not--I like it not!" the other burst out again, in anger. +"Why should she govern? It is an iron rod in a trembling hand." + +"Psst!" snapped the other. "You respect neither age nor wisdom." He now +spoke in English, but later he relapsed into the Tzigane tongue. Helen +crept down to Ruth's side and listened, too; but it was little the girls +understood. + +The angry ruffian--the complaining one--dropped more words in English +now and then, like: "We risk all--she nothing." "There were the pearls, +my Carlo--ah! beautiful! beautiful! Does she not seize them as her own?" +"I put my neck in a noose no longer for any man but myself--surely not +for a woman!" + +Then it was that the man Carlo burst into a tirade in his native speech, +and under cover of his loud talk Ruth motioned her chum to creep back up +the stairway, and she followed. + +A sudden disquieting thought came to her. The rain was growing less. +Suppose Tom should come abruptly into the house? He might get into +trouble with these ruffians. + +She whispered this thought to Helen, and her friend was panic-stricken +again. "We must warn Tom--oh, we _must_ warn him somehow!" she gasped. + +"Surely we will," declared the girl from the Red Mill. "Now, careful how +you step. A creaking board might give us away." + +They crept across the upper chamber to the rear of the house. Through +another room they went, until they could look out of a broken window +upon the sheds. There was Master Tom standing before the shed (the +machine was hidden), wiping his hands upon a piece of waste, and looking +out upon the falling rain. + +He saw the girls almost instantly, and opened his mouth to shout to +them, but Ruth clapped her own hand to her lips and motioned with the +other for him to be silent. Tom understood. + +He looked more than surprised--not a little startled, in fact. + +"What will he think?" murmured Helen. "He's so reckless!" + +"Leave it to me," declared Ruth, leaning out of the window into the +still falling rain. + +She caught the boy's eye. He watched her motions. There was built at +this end of the house an outside stairway, and although it was in bad +repair, she saw that an agile fellow like Tom could mount the steps +without any difficulty. + +Pointing to this flight, she motioned him to come by that means to their +level, still warning him by gesture to make no sound. The boy understood +and immediately darted across the intervening space to the house. + +Ruth knew there was no dining-room window from which the ruffians +downstairs could see him. And they had made no move as far as she had +heard. + +She left Helen to meet Tom when he came in through the sagging door at +the top of the outside flight of stairs, and tiptoed back into that room +where they had been frightened by the bat. + +It was directly over the dining-room. The same chimney was built into +each room. This thought gave Ruth's active mind food for further +reflection. + +The rumble of the men's voices continued from below. Tom and Helen +followed her so softly into the room that Ruth did not hear them until +they stood beside her. Tom touched her arm and pointed downward: + +"Tramps?" he asked. + +"Those Gypsies, I believe," whispered Ruth, in return. + +Helen was just as scared as she could be, and clung tightly to Tom's +hand. "Wish we could scare them away," suggested the boy, with knitted +brow. + +"Perhaps we can!" uttered Ruth, suddenly eager, and her brown eyes +dancing. "Sh! Wait! Let me try." + +She went to the paper-stuffed stovepipe hole, out of which the bat had +fallen. Helen would have exclaimed aloud, had not Tom seen her lips open +and squeezed her hand warningly. + +"What is it?" he hissed. + +"Don't! don't!" begged Helen. "You'll let those bats all out here----" + +"Bats?" queried Tom, in wonder. + +"In the chimney," whispered Ruth. "Listen!" + +The stir and squeaking of the bats were audible. Enough rain had come in +at the top of the broken chimney to disturb the nocturnal creatures. + +"Just the thing!" giggled Tom, seeing what Ruth would do. "Frighten them +to pieces!" + +The girl of the Red Mill had secured the stick she used before. She +pulled aside the "stopper" of newspaper and thrust in the stick. At once +the rustling and squeaking increased. + +She worked the stick up and down insistently. Scale from the inside of +the chimney began to rattle down to the hearth below. The voices ceased. +Then the men were heard to scramble up. + +The bats were dislodged--perhaps many of them! There was a scuffling and +scratching inside the flue. + +Below, the men broke out into loud cries. They shouted their alarm in +the strange language the girls had heard before. Then their feet stamped +over the floor. + +Tom ran lightly to the window. He saw a bat wheel out of the window +below, and disappear. The rain had almost stopped. + +It was evident that many of the creatures were flapping about that +deserted dining-room. The two ruffians scrambled to the door, through +the entry, and out upon the porch. + +The sound of their feet did not hold upon the porch. They leaped down +the steps, and Tom beckoned the girls eagerly to join him at the window. +The two men were racing down the lane toward the muddy highroad, paying +little attention to their steps or to the last of the rainstorm. + +"Panic-stricken, sure enough! Smart girl, Ruthie," was Master Tom's +comment. "Now tell a fellow all about it." + +The girls did so, while Ruth lit the alcohol lamp and made the tea. Tom +was ravenous--nothing could spoil that boy's appetite. + +"Gyps., sure enough," was his comment. "But what you heard them say +wasn't much." + +"They'd been robbing somebody--or were going to rob," said Helen, +shaking her head. "What frightful men they are!" + +"Pooh! they've gone now, and the old machine is fixed. We'll plow on +through the mud as soon as you like." + +"I shall be glad, when we get to civilization again," said his sister. + +"And I'd like very much to understand what those men were talking +about," Ruth observed. "Do you suppose Roberto knows about it? +Pearls--beautiful pearls, that fellow spoke of." + +"I tell you they are thieves!" declared Helen. + +"We'll probably never know," Tom said, confidently. "So let's not +worry!" + +Master Tom did not prove a good prophet on this point, although he had +foreseen the breaking down of the automobile before they started from +the Red Mill. They went back to the car and started from the old house +in a much more cheerful mood, neither of the girls supposing that they +were likely to run across the Gypsy men again. + +"We must hustle to make Uncle Ike's to-night, sure enough," Tom said, as +the car rolled out into the muddy highway. + +"Is it very far yet?" asked Ruth. + +"More than sixty miles, and a bad road, and it is now half-past five," +replied the boy. + +"Oh, my! I hope we'll not be delayed after dark," said his sister. + +"I never knew you to be such a 'fraid-cat before, Helen," laughed Ruth. + +"Everything's gone wrong to-day. And those awful men scared me. Let's +stop at the hotel at Boise Landing, if it grows dark. Uncle Ike's is a +long way beyond the town, Tom." + +"Sure--if you say so," agreed her brother, cheerfully. "I can send word +up to the folks that we are all right. Of course, they will be expecting +us this evening. I telegraphed them this morning that we were on the +way." + +The car plowed on through the mud. These roads were in very bad shape, +and even while it had been dry, the traveling was bad enough. Now the +wheels skidded and slipped, and the engine panted as though it were +tired. + +It missed explosions frequently, too, and Tom sat under the wheel with +a very serious face indeed. It was not far to a small settlement called, +on the map, Severn Corners. Tom knew he could get gas there, if he +needed it, but he was not sure that there was a repair shop at the +place. If the old machine played a trick on them again---- + +And it did! Right at the foot of a hill, and not far from the shore of +Long Lake, the engine "died." + +"Whatever shall we do?" cried Helen. + +"No use wrangling about it," said Ruth, with a laugh. "Will we have to +walk?" + +"Walk! and carry the ropes and everything else of value?" demanded +Helen. + +"We can't leave the machine unprotected," said Tom, seriously. "No +knowing what would happen to it. But it's not far to Severn Corners. +Only two miles, or so." + +"Now, I tell you," said Ruth, briskly. "You walk on, Tom, and get help. +Bring back a team to drag the auto into town. Perhaps you'll find a farm +before you go far. We'll remain here till you come back." + +"That's what you'll have to do, Tommy," agreed his sister, as the boy +hesitated. "Of course, I'm only fooling. I won't be afraid." + +"I'll do my best, girls," Tom assured them. "I am sure you'll be +perfectly safe," and Master Tom started off along the road at a quick +trot. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +QUEEN ZELAYA + + +Ruth and her chum were both a little troubled by Tom Cameron's +departure, but even Helen had braced up and was determined not to show +her fear. The situation of the girls in the auto on this lonely road was +enough to trouble the mind of any person unfamiliar with the wilderness. + +The shore of Long Lake (which they could see from their seats in the +car) was as wild as any stretch of country through which they had +traveled during the two days of the tour. + +The stalled auto was on the main-traveled road, however, and there was a +chance of somebody coming along. Ruth and Helen hoped that if this +happened, it would be somebody who would remain with them until Tom's +return. + +Both kept this wish a secret, for each tried to cheer the other. +Perhaps, had it not been for that adventure at the old house shortly +before, neither girl would have felt so nervous. + +The outlook from the stalled auto was very attractive, if wild. They +could overlook a considerable part of Long Lake, a stretch of its +distant southern shore, and several islands. + +The edge of the water was perhaps half a mile away, and the ground +sloped abruptly from this road toward the lake. Following the very edge +of the water was another road, but one which the girls knew nothing +about and could scarcely see from the auto. + +It was merely a brown ribbon of cart-path through the second-growth +timber, and it wound along the hillside, sometimes approaching very +close to the main highway. Before the county had built the better road, +this path had been the trail to Boise Landing. + +Had the girls been looking that way, they might have seen, through a +small break in the trees, some minutes after Tom left them, a string of +odd-looking wagons moving slowly along this lower trail. + +First two men walked ahead, smoking their pipes and plowing through the +mud and water without regard to where they stepped. Then followed three +freshly painted green wagons--vehicles something like old-fashioned +omnibuses, but with windows in the sides and front, and a door and steps +behind. Through the roof of one a stovepipe was thrust. + +Behind followed a troop of horses, with two bare-legged, wild-looking +youngsters astride each a barebacked steed, and holding the others with +leading-reins. These horses, as well as those drawing the wagons, were +sleek and well curried. + +A multitude of dogs ran in the mud and water, too, but there were no +women and children about, save upon the front seats of each van with the +drivers. Sounds from within the green vehicles, however, proclaimed the +presence of a number of others. + +They were a strange-looking people--all swarthy, dark-haired, +red-lipped, men and women alike having their ears pierced. The rings in +the lobes of the women's ears were much larger than the ornaments in +those of the men. + +At a certain opening in the shrubbery, the men ahead, looking upward, +beheld the stalled auto and the two girls in it. One man held up his +hand and the first wagon stopped. So did the remainder of the caravan. + +The two spoke together, and then strode back to the first green van. The +window behind the driver's seat was already open and a strange face +appeared at it. + +The man driving this van was young and rather handsome--in the same wild +way that Roberto was handsome. Beside him sat a comely young woman, +buxom of figure, with a child in her lap. Her head was encircled with a +yellow silk kerchief, she wore a green, tight-fitting bodice, and her +short skirt was of a peculiar purple. She wore black stockings and neat +black pumps on her feet. + +Between these two on the seat, from the open window, was thrust the +wicked, haggard head of a woman who might have been a hundred from the +network of wrinkles in her face, and her generally aged appearance. But +her eyes--black as sloes--were as sharp as a bird's. Her lips were gray, +thin, and drew back when she spoke, displaying several strong, yellow +fangs rather than teeth! + +When she spoke, it was with a hissing sound. She used the speech of the +Gypsy folk, and the others--even the rough men in the road--were very +respectful to her. They explained the stoppage of the caravan, and +pointed out the auto and the girls above. + +It was evident that one of the men had suggested something which pleased +the hag, in regard to the strangers in the motor-car. She grinned +suddenly, displaying gums and fangs in a most horrible grimace. + +Nodding vigorously, she gave them some commands, and then spoke to the +comely woman beside the driver. The latter passed the sleeping infant +back to the old woman, who disappeared into the interior of the van. The +younger woman leaped down into the road, and waiting beside the two +rough men, allowed the entire caravan to pass on, leaving them behind. + +It was fast growing dark. The sun had disappeared behind the hills in +the west, and long shadows were stretching their gaunt hands out for the +girls in the auto. The chill wind which came after the tempest made them +shiver, although they were somewhat sheltered by the curtains which Tom +had arranged. + +"I suppose we _could_ snuggle down here with the robes, in the tonneau, +and spend the night in some comfort," suggested Ruth Fielding. + +"Oh! don't mention it!" exclaimed her friend. "If Tom doesn't come back +with a team, or with another auto, I'll never forgive him." + +"Of course he will return. But he may be delayed, Helen." + +"This auto-touring isn't as much fun as I thought it would be," groaned +Helen Cameron. "Oh! what's that?" + +She peered out of the automobile. There was a handsome, smiling, dark +young woman standing in the road beside the car. + +"Young ladies," said the stranger, in a pleasant voice, "are you in +trouble? Can I help you at all?" + +"My goodness me! do you live near here? Can we go home with you?" cried +Helen, in excitement. + +"Wait!" breathed Ruth, seizing her chum's arm, but Helen was too anxious +to escape from her present situation to listen to Ruth. + +"For if you'll take us in till my brother gets back from Severn +Corners----" + +"We are going to Severn Corners--my husband and I," said the woman, +smiling. + +"Oh! then you do not live near here?" cried Helen, in disappointment. + +"Nobody lives near here, little lady," explained the stranger. "Nobody +lives nearer than Severn Corners. But it is lonesome here. We will take +you both on in our wagon--nobody shall hurt you. There is only my +husband and baby and the old grandmother." + +"Where is your wagon?" demanded Ruth, suddenly hopping out into the road +and looking all about. + +"Down yonder," said the woman, pointing below. "We follow the lower +road. Just there. You can see the top of it." + +"Oh! A bus! It's like Uncle Noah's," declared Helen, referring to the +ancient vehicle much patronized by the girls at Briarwood Hall. + +"Who are you?" demanded Ruth, again, with keen suspicion. + +"We are pedlars. We are good folks," laughed the woman. She did, indeed, +seem very pleasant, and even Ruth's suspicions were allayed. Besides, +it was fast growing dark, and there was no sign of Tom on the hilltop +ahead. + +"Let's go on with them," begged Helen, seizing her chum's hand. "I am +afraid to stay here any longer." + +"But Tom will not know where we have gone," objected Ruth, feebly. + +"I'll write him a note and leave it pinned to the seat." + +She proceeded to do this, while Ruth lit the auto lamps so that neither +Tom, on his return, or anybody else, would run into the car in the dark. +Then they were ready to go with the woman, removing only their personal +wraps and bags. They would have to risk having the touring car stripped +by thieves before Tom Cameron came back. + +"I don't believe there are any thieves around here," whispered Helen. +"They would be scared to death in such a lonesome place!" she added, +with a giggle. + +Ruth felt some doubt about going with the woman. She was so dark and +foreign looking. Yet she seemed desirous of doing the girls a service. +And even she, Ruth, did not wish to stay longer on the lonely road. +Something surely had happened to detain Tom. + +In the south, too, "heat lightning" played sharply--and almost +continuously. Ruth knew that this meant the tempest was raging at a +distance and that it might return to this side of the lake. + +The thought of being marooned on this mountain road, at night, in such a +storm as that which they had experienced two or three hours before, was +more than Ruth Fielding could endure with calmness. + +So she agreed to go with the woman. Tom would know where they had gone +when he returned, for he could not miss the note his sister had left. + +At least, that is what both girls believed. Only, they were scarcely out +of sight of the car with the woman, when one of the rough-looking men, +who had walked ahead of the Gypsy caravan, appeared from the bushes, +stepped into the auto, tore the note from where it had been pinned, and +at once slipped back into the shadows, with the crumpled paper in his +pocket! + +Now the girls and their guide were down on the lower road. There was a +twinkling light that showed the green van, horses, and the handsome +driver--and the man looked like Roberto. + +"They are Gypsies, I believe," whispered Ruth. + +"Oh! you have Gypsies on the brain," flung back her chum. "At least, we +shall be dry in that bus, if it rains. And we can find somebody at +Severn Corners to put us up, even if there is no hotel." + +Ruth sighed, and agreed. The woman had been speaking to the man on the +seat. Now she took the lantern and went around to the back of the van. + +"This way, little ladies," she said, in her most winning tone. "You may +rest in comfort inside here. Nobody but the good old grandmother and my +bebe." + +"Come on!" said Helen to Ruth, leading the way. + +There was a light in the interior and it dazzled the girls' eyes, as +they climbed in. The door snapped to behind them, and the horses started +along the road before either Ruth or Helen were able to see much of +their surroundings. + +And strange enough their surroundings were; berths on either side of the +strange cart, made up for sleeping and covered with gay quilts. There +were chests and boxes, some of them padlocked, and all with cushions on +them for seats. + +There was a table, and a hanging lamp, and a stove. A child was asleep +in one of the bunks; a white-haired poodle lay crouched at the child's +feet, and showed its teeth and snarled at the two visitors. + +But the appearance that amazed--and really startled--the girls most was +the figure that sat facing them, as they entered the van. It was that +of an old, old crone, sitting on a stool, bent forward with her sharp +chin resting on her clenched fists, and her elbows on her knees, while +iron-gray elf-locks hung about her wrinkled, nut-brown face, half +screening it. + +Her bead-like eyes held the girls entranced from the first. Ruth and +Helen looked at each other, startled and amazed, but they could not +speak. Nor could they keep their gaze for long off the strange old +woman. + +"Who are you, little ladies?" croaked the hag at last. + +Ruth became the spokesman. "We are two girls who have been motoring over +the hills. Our motor-car broke down, and we were left alone while my +friend's brother went for help. We grew fearful when it became dark----" + +The gray lips opened again: "You own the motor-car, little ladies?" + +"My friend's father owns it," said Ruth. + +"Then your parents are wealthy," and the fangs suddenly displayed +themselves in a dreadful smile. "It is fine to be rich. The poor Gypsy +scarcely knows where to lay her head, but you little ladies have great +houses and much money--eh?" + +"Gypsy!" gasped Helen, seizing Ruth's hand. + +Ruth felt a sinking at her own heart. All the stories she had ever +heard of these strange, wandering tribes rushed in upon her mind again. +She had not been afraid of Roberto, and the woman who had brought them +to the van seemed kind enough. But this old hag----! + +"Do not shrink from the old Romany woman," advised the hag, her eyes +sparkling again. "She would not hurt the little ladies. She is a queen +among her people--what she says is law to them. Do not fear." + +"Oh, I see no reason why we should be afraid of you," Ruth said, trying +to speak in an unshaken voice. "I think you all mean us kindly, and we +are thankful for this lift to Severn Corners." + +Something like a cackle broke from the hag's throat. "Queen Zelaya will +let nothing befall you, little ladies," she declared. "Fear not. Her +word is law among the Romany folk, poor as she may be. And now tell me, +my little birds,--tell me of your riches, and your great houses, and all +the wealth your parents have. I love to hear of such things--even I, +poor Zelaya, who have nothing after a long, long life of toil." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN THE GYPSY CAMP + + +Ruth remembered what Roberto had said about his miserly grandmother. She +believed these people who had offered her and Helen a ride were of the +same tribe as Roberto, and the way Queen Zelaya spoke, caused the girl +to believe that this old woman and Roberto's grandmother were one and +the same person. + +She could say nothing to Helen at the moment. Personally she felt more +afraid of this Gypsy Queen than she had of the two rough men in the +abandoned house that afternoon! + +"Come!" repeated Zelaya. "Tell me of all the riches and jewels--the gold +and silver-plates you eat from, the jewelry you have to wear, the rich +silks--all of it! I love to hear of such things," exclaimed the woman, +grinning again in her terrible way. + +Helen opened her lips to speak, but Ruth pinched her. "Tell her +nothing," the girl of the Red Mill whispered. "I am afraid we have said +too much already." + +"Why?" queried Helen, wonderingly. + +"Pshaw! this old woman can't hurt us. Isn't she funny?" + +"Speak up, my little ladies!" commanded Queen Zelaya. "My will is law +here. Do not forget that." + +"I guess your will isn't much law to _us_," replied Helen, laughing and +tossing her head. "You see, we do not know you----" + +"You shall!" hissed the horrible old creature, suddenly stretching forth +one of her claw-like hands. "Come here!" + +Ruth seized her friend tightly. Helen was laughing, but suddenly she +stopped. The queen's terrible eyes seemed to hold the girl in a spell. +Involuntarily Helen's limbs bore her toward the far end of the van. + +The girl's face became pale; her own eyes protruded from their sockets; +the Gypsy Queen charmed her, just as a snake is said to charm a young +bird in its nest. + +But Ruth sprang after her, seized Helen's arm again, and shook her. + +"You stop that!" she cried, to the old woman. "Don't you mind her, +Helen. She has some wicked power in her eyes, my dear!" + +Her cry broke the hypnotic spell the woman had cast over Helen Cameron. +The latter sank down, trembling and sobbing, with her hands over her +face. + +"Oh, dear, Ruthie! I wish we hadn't gotten into this wagon," she moaned. + +"I am sure I wish so, too," returned her chum, in a low voice, while the +old woman rocked herself to and fro in her seat, and cackled her horrid +laughter. + +"Aren't we ever going to get to that town? Tom said it was only two +miles or a little over." + +"I wish we could speak to that other woman," muttered Ruth. + +"Do you suppose this old thing is crazy?" whispered Helen. + +"Worse than that," returned Ruth. "I am afraid of them all. I don't +believe they mean us well. Let's get out, Helen." + +"Oh! where shall we go?" returned her friend, in a tone quite as soft as +Ruth's own. + +"We must be somewhere near the town." + +"It is pitch dark outside the windows," complained Helen. + +"Let's try it. Pitch dark is not as bad as this wicked old creature----" + +The hag laughed again, although she was not looking at them. Surely she +could not hear the girls' whispers, yet her cackling laugh sent a shiver +over both girls. It was just as though Queen Zelaya, as she called +herself, could read what was in their minds. + +"Yes, yes!" whispered Helen, with sudden eagerness in her voice. "You +are right. We will go." + +"We'll slip out without anybody but the old woman seeing us----Then +we'll run!" + +Ruth jumped up suddenly and stepped to the door at the rear of the van. +She turned the knob and tried to open it. _The door was fastened upon +the outside!_ + +Again the old woman broke into her cackling laugh. "Oh, no! oh, no!" she +cried. "The pretty, rich little ladies cannot go yet. They must be the +guests of the poor old Gypsy a little longer--they must eat of her salt. +Then they will be her friends--and maybe they will help to make her +rich." + +The girls stood close together, panting, afraid. Helen put her lips to +Ruth's ear, and whispered: + +"Does _that_ mean she is going to hold us for ransom? Oh, dear! what did +I say this very day? I _knew_ Gypsies were like this." + +"Hush!" warned Ruth. "Try and not let her see you are so afraid. Perhaps +she means only to frighten us." + +"But--but when she looks at me, I seem to lose everything--speech, power +to move, even power to think," gasped Helen. + +Just then the van turned suddenly from the road and came to a halt. They +had been traveling much faster than Ruth and Helen had supposed. + +Lights flashed outside, and dogs barked, while the voices of men, women +and children rose in a chorus of shouts and cries. + +"Oh, thank goodness!" exclaimed Helen. "They have gotten into town at +last." + +Ruth feared this was not so. She tried to peer out of one of the +windows. There was a bonfire at one side, and she thought she saw a +tent. There were other wagons like the one in which they seemed to be +imprisoned. + +"Now they'll _have_ to let us out," repeated Helen. + +"I am afraid not," returned the girl of the Red Mill. "This is the Gypsy +camp, I am sure, dear. Do try to be brave! I think they never meant to +take us after Tom, at all. We are prisoners, dear." + +At once Helen's spirits sank, but she grew angry. + +"You'd better not keep us here," she cried, looking again at the old +woman. "My father has plenty of money and he will spend it all to get me +back--and to punish you." + +"We will not take all his money from him, my pretty little lady," +returned Zelaya. "Only a part of it. And the poor Gypsy has nothing," +and once more she cackled. + +The door of the van was unlocked and opened. In the lamplight appeared a +rough-looking man, with an evil face and a squint in one eye. He said +something to the queen in their own tongue, but he spoke with great +respect, and removed his hat and bowed to her, when she replied. + +Ruth and Helen started for the door, but the man motioned them back and +scowled at them in an evil manner. They could see a crowd of curious +faces without, and behind this man were children, women both old and +young, and a few men. + +Zelaya lifted the child from its bed, and passed her into the arms of +the woman who had guided Ruth and Helen to the van. She smiled upon the +girls just as pleasantly as before, but now they knew that she was false +and cruel. + +Then the queen waved her hand and the door was closed. "You remain with +me to-night, little ladies. Oh! Zelaya would let nothing trouble +you--no, no!" + +Helen burst into wild sobs at this, and threw herself upon the floor of +the van. Ruth faced the old woman with wrathful sparks in her brown +eyes. + +"You are acting very foolishly, indeed, whoever you are. You Gypsies +cannot carry things with such a high hand in this State of New York. +You'll find out----" + +"I am Zelaya, the Queen," interrupted the old hag, hoarsely. "Have a +care! I will put a spell upon you, little lady----" + +"Pooh! you can't frighten me that way," declared Ruth Fielding. "I am +not afraid of your spells, or your fortune telling, or any of your +foolish magic. If you believe in any of it yourself, you have not gained +much wisdom all the years you have lived." + +"You do not fear the arts of my people?" repeated Zelaya, trying to hold +Ruth with her eye as she had Helen. + +"No, I do not. I fear your wickedness. And I know you must be very +dishonest and cruel. But you have no more supernatural power than I have +myself!" + +Zelaya's wrinkled face suddenly reddened with passion. She raised her +claw-like hand and struck the bold girl sharply upon the cheek. + +"Impudence!" she muttered. + +"And _that_ is nothing supernatural," said Ruth, with continued +boldness, although the blow had hurt her--leaving its mark. "You are +breaking the laws of the land, which are far more powerful than any +Gypsy law----" + +"Wait!" commanded the woman, threateningly. "You will learn yet, bold +girl, how strong our laws are." + +She went back to her stool, mumbling to herself. Ruth lifted Helen into +one of the berths, and sat down beside her. By and by the door of the +van opened again and a bold-looking young woman--not the one that had +brought them to the van--came in with three wooden bowls of a savory +stew. She offered the tray to the visitors at a motion from old Zelaya, +so that they had their choice before the queen received her own supper. + +"Let's eat it," whispered Ruth to Helen, when she saw that Zelaya +plunged her own tin spoon into the stew. "It surely isn't drugged, or +_she_ wouldn't touch it." + +They ate greedily, for both were hungry. It takes more than fear to +spoil the healthy appetite of youth! + +"Do you suppose," whispered Helen, "that we could climb out of one of +these windows after she falls asleep?" + +"I am sure I couldn't get through one," returned Ruth. "And I doubt if +you could. Besides, there will be guards, and the dogs are awake. We've +got to wait for help from outside, my dear." + +"Do you suppose Tom will find us?" + +"I hope not!" exclaimed Ruth. "Not while he is alone. But he certainly +will give the alarm, and the whole countryside will be aroused." + +"Oh, dear, me! this old woman seems so sure that she can hold us +captive." + +"I think she is crazy," Ruth declared. "And the other Gypsies must lack +good sense, too, or they would not be governed by her." + +The queen gobbled down her supper and then prepared to retire to her own +bunk. She told the girls to do the same, and they removed their shoes +and outer garments and lay down--one on one side of the wagon, and one +on the other. + +Ruth's head was toward the door. She could watch the movements of the +old Gypsy woman. Zelaya did not go to sleep at all, but seemed to be +waiting for the camp to get quiet and for her two visitors to fall into +slumber. + +She kept raising her head and looking first at Helen, then at Ruth. The +latter knew by her chum's breathing that, despite her fears, Helen had +fallen asleep almost instantly. + +So Ruth began to breathe deeply and regularly, too. She closed her +eyes--almost entirely. This was what Zelaya had been waiting for. + +Silently the old woman arose and turned up the lampwick a little. She +knelt down before one of the padlocked boxes and unlocked it softly. +Then she rummaged in the box--seemingly beneath a lot of rubbish that +filled it, and drew forth a japanned box--like a cashbox. This was +locked, too, and Zelaya wore the key of it on a string about her neck. + +Silently, with a glance at the two girls now and then, she unlocked +this box and opened it on the top of the chest, before which she knelt. + +Ruth could see the old woman's face. It changed very much as she gazed +upon what was in the japanned box. Her black eyes glowed, and her gray, +thin lips were wreathed in a smile of delight. + +Again Ruth remembered Roberto's account of his grandmother. She was a +miser, and he had mentioned that he had seen her at night gloating over +her hoarded wealth. + +Surely Zelaya had all the signs of a miser. The next moment Ruth saw +that the old woman verily possessed something worth gloating over. + +She lifted from the interior of the box a string of flashing gems--a +broad band, or necklace, of them, in fact--and let them flow through her +fingers in a stream of sparkling light. They were beautiful, beautiful +pearls--a really wonderful necklace of them! + +Ruth held her breath for a moment. The queen turned suddenly and shot a +keen, suspicious glance at her. The girl knew enough to cough, turn +slightly, and recommence her steady breathing. + +The old woman had dropped the pearls in haste. Now she picked them up +again, and went on with her silent worship of the gems. + +Ruth did not startle her again; but she saw something that made her own +heart beat faster and brought the perspiration out upon her limbs. + +Above the old woman's head, and behind her, was a window. Pressed close +to the pane of the window Ruth saw a face--dark, evil, be-mustached. It +was one of the Gypsy men. + +She remembered now what she had overheard between the two supposed +tramps who had taken shelter in the deserted house during the tempest. +Was _this_ one of those two ruffians? And was he the one who had railed +at the division of some stolen treasure, and had spoken with +covetousness of the beautiful pearls? + +The thought made Ruth tremble. His wicked face withdrew, but all the +time the Gypsy queen was admiring the necklace, Ruth felt that the evil +eyes of the man were also gloating over the pearls. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +TOM ON THE TRAIL + + +In spite of the fact that his sister thought it hard that Tom Cameron +had not returned to the stalled auto by dark, the lad was having no easy +time. + +In the first place, he had not run a mile on the road to Severn Corners +when he stepped on a pebble, turned his ankle sharply, and had to hobble +the rest of the way at a much slower pace than he had expected. + +All the time, too, Tom was troubled about the uncertainty of there being +at the Corners any repair shop. He knew it was a small settlement. At +most, the repair garage would be very small, and perhaps the mechanic a +mere country "jack-of-all-trades," who would fumble the job. + +To obtain a car to drag his own into the town was beyond the boy's +hopes, and when he came at last to a comfortable looking farmhouse some +half a mile that side of the settlement, he determined to see if he +could not obtain a pair of horses from the farmer, to get the car to +the hamlet. + +He approached the back door of the house without seeing anybody about. +It was already growing dark, he had hobbled so slowly on the road. As he +stepped upon the porch, Tom heard a sudden furious barking inside the +house. + +"Welcome to our city!" he muttered. "If nobody's at home but _that_ +savage beast, I'm likely to fare about as Roberto did at that farmhouse +'way back on the road by Culm Falls." + +But he ventured to rap upon the door. It was one of those old-fashioned +doors which opens in two parts. The upper half swung outward, but the +lower remained bolted. + +Lucky for Tom Cameron this was so. A great, shaggy beast, with gleaming +fangs and slobbering jaws, appeared over the ledge, scratching with his +strong claws to get out at the intruder. + +"What do you want?" demanded a shrill voice from somewhere behind the +excited brute. "We ain't got nothin' for tramps." + +"I should say you most certainly _had_ something for tramps, Madam," +said Tom, when he could make himself heard. "Any tramp would run from +that fellow." + +"I don't see _you_ running. But you better," advised the woman, who was +thin-faced, scant of hair, and had a voice about as pleasant as a +whip-saw going through a knot. + +"But _I_ am not a tramp, I assure you, Madam," said Tom, politely. + +"Huh! ye look it," declared the woman, without any politeness at all. + +And the boy _did_ look rather dilapidated. He had gotten more than a +little wet in the first of the shower, and he had pawed around among the +"internal arrangements" of the balky auto to such purpose, that he was +disheveled and oil-streaked from head to foot. + +"I'm in disguise just now, Ma'am," laughed Tom, cheerfully. "But really, +I have not come begging either food or lodging. Is your husband at +home?" + +"Yes, he is. And he'll be here in a minute and chase ye off the +place--ef ye don't scat at once," said the woman, sourly. "_He_ wouldn't +hold back this dog, now, I tell ye." + +"Please believe me, Madam," urged Tom, "that I am better than I appear. +Our car broke down on the road yonder, and I have come to see if I can +hire a team of horses to drag it into the Corners." + +"Car? What kind of a car? Ain't no railroad here," she said, +suspiciously. + +The dog had barked himself breathless by now and they could talk a +little easier. Tom smiled, as he replied: + +"Our motor car--automobile." + +"Huh! why didn't ye say so?" she demanded. "Tryin' to fool me. It's bad +enough ter drive one o' them abominations over people's roads, but +tryin' to make out ye air on a train--though, land o' Goshen! some of ye +make 'em go as fast as airy express I ever see. Wal! what about your +ortermobile?" + +"It's broken down," said Tom, feeling that he had struck the wrong +house, after all, if he expected help. + +"I'm 'tarnal glad of it!" snapped the farmer's wife. "Nuthin' could +please me better. Las' time I went to town one o' them plagued nuisances +come hootin' erlong an' made the old mare back us clean inter the +ditch--an' I broke a dozen an' a ha'f of aigs right in the lap of my new +bombazeen dress. Drat 'em all, I say!" + +"I am very sorry, Ma'am, that the accident occurred. But I can assure +you I was not the cause of it," Tom said, quietly, and stifling a great +desire to laugh. "I wish only to get your husband to help me with his +team--and I will pay him well." + +"Huh! what d'ye call well?" she demanded. "A boy like you ain't likely +to have much money." + +Thus brought to a "show down," Tom promptly pulled out his billcase and +opened it in the light that streamed out of the doorway. The woman could +see that he carried quite a bundle of notes--and that they were not all +single dollar bills! + +"Land o' Goshen!" she ejaculated. "Where'd you steal all that money, ye +young ruffian? I thought there was suthin' mighty bad about you when I +fust set eyes on ye." + +This was a compliment that Tom Cameron had not been looking for! He was +certainly taken aback at the woman's words, and before he could make any +response, she raised her voice and began to shout for "Sam!" + +"Crickey!" thought the boy, "I hope Sam will have a better opinion of me +than she does, or I'm likely to get into trouble." + +He began to back off the porch, and had his ankle not pained him so, he +certainly would have set off on a run. Perhaps it is well he did not try +this, however, for the woman cried: + +"You move a step off'n thet platform before Sam Blodgett comes an' I'll +open the lower ha'f of this door and let the dawg loose on ye!" + +Then she bawled for her husband again, and pretty soon a shouted +response came from the direction of the barns. Then a lantern flickered +and swung, and Tom knew the man was coming toward the house. + +He appeared--a short, heavy-set man, barefooted, and with a pail of milk +in one hand and the lantern in the other. + +"What's the matter, Sairy?" he demanded. + +"Who's this?" + +"Thet's what _I_ wanter know," snapped the woman. "It 'pears like he's +one o' these runaway boys ye read about in the papers--an' he's stole +some money." + +"I haven't either!" cried Tom, in some exasperation. "I don't have to +steal money--or anything else, I hope. I showed her that I had some +money, so that she would believe I could pay you for some work I wanted +done----" + +"What work?" interposed the farmer. + +Tom told him about the stalled auto and what he wanted. + +"How much'll ye give?" shot in the farmer, right to the point. + +"What do you ask to drag the machine to town--to the Corners, I mean?" + +"If it's where ye say it is, ten dollars!" + +"All right," agreed the boy. "Your wife knows I have the money. I'll pay +you when we get to the Corners." + +"I know ye got the money," said the woman. "But I don't know _how_ ye +got it. And if you've got an ortermobile, too, I bet ye stole _that_!" + +"You hesh up, Sairy," advised Mr. Blodgett. "No need of your sp'ilin' a +trade. Gimme my supper. I'll hafter eat b'fore I go with ye, young +man." + +"Oh, all right," sighed Tom, remembering how the girls must be very much +frightened by this time. + +The man tramped into the house with the milk and the lantern. Neither he +nor his wife asked Tom inside--or mentioned supper to him. The woman put +it steaming on the table and Tom--like the dog--might stand and look on. + +At last the farmer was finished. "Guess the team's eat by now," he +remarked, and came out with the lantern hung on his arm. All this time +the dog had had "fits and starts" of wanting to get at Tom and eat him +up. Now he slipped past his master and ran at the visitor with a savage +growl. + +The boy had no idea of being made the supper of the brute, no matter how +hungry Fido might be. So he kicked out and barely touched him. Instantly +the brute set up a terrible "ki-yi-ing!" and shot off the porch and +disappeared into the darkness. Evidently the Blodgetts kept the animal +for its bark, for it did not have the pluck of a woodchuck! + +"Come on," advised Sam, as the woman began to rail again. "She's wound +up an' ain't likely to run down again for a week. You sure you wanter +pay ten dollars for this job?" + +"I'm sure I _will_ pay that for it, whether I want to or not," declared +Tom, with confidence. + +"Aw right. We'll be movin'. Maybe another shower by'm'by, an' I sha'n't +wanter be out in it." + +"We'll go just as fast as you want to," said Tom, hobbling along to the +stables. "I won't keep you back, Mr. Blodgett." + +"You're lame, I see," said the man, not unkindly. "You kin straddle one +of the hosses if you like." + +Tom was glad enough to do this, and in a few minutes they were going +back over the dark track Tom had come, the harness jingling from the +horses' hames, and Mr. Blodgett trudging sturdily along by the animals' +heads. + +They came to the top of the ridge from which the stalled car had last +been seen by Tom. "There are the lights!" he cried. + +He was glad to see them. They shone cheerfully in the dark, and he had +no idea that the girls were in any trouble. + +But when they got down to the bottom of the hill there was neither sign +nor sound of the two girls. Tom shouted at the top of his voice. He +searched the car all over for some written word. He saw that the girls +had carried off only their own personal belongings and nothing else. + +What could it mean? Surely no thieves had come this way, or the car +would have been stripped of everything portable, and of value. At +least, so it seemed to Master Tom. He was not wise enough to suspect +that the goods in the car had been left alone to mislead him. The +Gypsies had been after bigger game than a few dollars' worth of auto +furnishings. + +"Come now!" exclaimed Sam Blodgett. "I can't wait here all night. I only +agreed to drag the car ter town." + +"But where could those girls have gone? My sister and Ruth Fielding?" + +"Ye ain't payin' me ter be no detectif," drawled the man. "Come! Shell I +hitch on?" + +"Oh, yes! I don't know what else to do," groaned the boy. "I've got to +get the car fixed first of all. Then I will find help and follow the +girls." + +The farmer was as unsympathetic as a man possibly could be. He started +the car and let Tom ride in it. But he had no word of advice to give +about the absent girls. + +Perhaps, like his wife, he believed that Tom was not honest, that the +car was stolen, and that Tom's companions were mythical! + +They rolled into Severn Corners at ten o'clock. Of course, in a hamlet +of that kind, there was scarcely a light burning. Tom had learned from +Blodgett that the local blacksmith sometimes "monkeyed with ortermobiles +that come erlong busted." + +So he had the farmer draw the car to the door of the blacksmith shop. + +"Sim lives right next door, there," said Blodgett, preparing to depart. +"Mebbe ye kin wake him up an' convince him he'd oughter mend yer +contraption in the middle of the night. But Sim Peck is constable, too, +so mebbe ye won't keer ter trouble him," and the farmer drove away with +a chuckle. + +This news was, however, important to Tom. A constable was just about the +man he most wanted to see. It had dawned on the boy's mind that his +sister and Ruth had gotten into trouble, and he must find help for them. + +The street of the village was dark. This was one of the nights when the +moon was booked to shine, but forgot to! The town fathers evidently lit +the street lights only when the almanac said there was to be no moon. + +Tom removed one of the headlights and found his way to the door of the +cottage next to the smithy. There was neither bell nor knocker, but he +thundered at the panel with right good will, until he heard a stir in a +chamber above. Finally a blind opened a little way and a sleepy voice +inquired what he wanted. + +"Are you the blacksmith, sir?" asked Tom. + +"Huh? Wal! I should say I was. But I ain't no doctor," snarled the man +above, "and I ain't in the habit of answering night calls. Don't ye see +I ain't got no night bell? Go away! you're actin' foolish. I don't shoe +hosses this time o' night." + +"It's not a horse," explained Tom, near laughter despite his serious +feelings. "It's a motor-car." + +"Naw, I don't shoe no ortermobile, neither!" declared the man, and +prepared to close the blind. + +"Say, Mister!" shouted Tom. "Do come down. I need you----" + +"If I come down thar, I won't come as no blacksmith, nor no mechanic. +I'll come as the constable and run ye in--ye plaguey whipper-snapper!" + +"All right," cried Tom, fearing he would shut the blind. "Come down as +constable. I reckon I need you in that character more than any other." + +"I believe ye do!" exclaimed the man, angrily. "If you air there when I +git on my pants, you'll take a walk to the callaboose. None o' you young +city sports air goin' to disturb the neighborhood like this--not if I +know it!" + +Meanwhile, Tom could hear him stirring around, tumbling over the chairs +in the dark, and growling at his boots, and otherwise showing his anger. +But the boy was desperate, and he stood still until the man +appeared--tin star pinned to his vest. + +"Wal, by gravey!" exclaimed the blacksmith-constable. "Ain't you a +reckless youngster ter face up the majesty of the law in this here way?" + +Tom saw that, after all, the constable was grinning, and was not such an +ill-natured fellow, now that he was really awake. The boy plunged into +his story and told it with brevity, but in detail. + +"Why, I see how it is, youngster," said the man. "You're some scart +about your sister and that other girl. But mebbe nothing's happened 'em +at all." + +"But where have they gone?" + +"I couldn't tell you. We'll make search. But we've got to have something +to travel in, and if it don't take too long to fix your auto, we'll +travel in _that_." + +Of course, this was good sense, and Tom saw it, impatient as he was. The +constable laid aside the vest with the badge of office upon it, and the +blacksmith proceeded to open his forge and light a fire and a lantern. +Then he listened to Tom's explanation of what had happened to the car, +and went to work. + +Fortunately the damage was not serious, and the blacksmith was not a bad +mechanic. Therefore, in an hour and a half he closed the smithy again, +removing his apron, and the constable donned his vest and got into the +car beside the troubled Tom. + +"Now let her out, son!" advised the official. "You've got all the law +with ye that there is in this section, and ye kin go as fast as ye +please." + +Tom needed no urging. He shot the repaired car over the road at a pace +that would have made his sister and her chum scream indeed! + +Once at the bottom of the hill where the car had been stalled, they +stopped and got out, each taking a lantern by the constable's advice. +Blodgett and his horses had done their best to trample out the girls' +footsteps, but there had been no other vehicle along the road, and the +searchers managed to find footprints of the girls at one side. + +"Sure them's them?" asked Mr. Peck. + +"You can see they are not the prints of men's shoes," said Tom, +confidently. + +"Right ye air! And here's another woman's shoe--only larger. They went +away with some woman, that's sure." + +"A woman?" muttered Tom, greatly amazed. "Whoever could she be--and +where have they gone with her?" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A BREAK FOR LIBERTY + + +Ruth finally slept in the Gypsy van as sweetly as though she were in her +own little bed in the gable room at the Red Mill. She was bodily +wearied, and she had lost herself while yet she was watching the Gypsy +Queen worshipping the pearl necklace, and fearing that the man with the +evil eyes was peering into the interior of the van. + +A hundred noises of the Gypsy camp awakened her when the sun was +scarcely showing his face. Dogs barked and scampered about; horses +neighed and stamped; roosters crowed and hens cackled. The children were +crying, or laughing, and the women chattering as they went about the +getting of breakfast at the fires. + +The fires crackled; the men sat upon the van tongues cleaning harness +after the rain and mud of the afternoon before. The boys were polishing +the coats of the beautiful horses, till they shone again. + +All these activities Ruth Fielding could see through the tiny windows of +the queen's van, in which she and Helen Cameron were imprisoned. Her +chum roused, too, but was half tempted to cry, when she remembered their +circumstances. Queen Zelaya had gone out. + +"Come on!" exclaimed Ruth. "We've got to make the best of it. Get on +your dress and shoes, and perhaps they will let us out, too." + +"Let's run away, Ruthie," whispered Helen. + +"The very first chance we get--sure we will!" agreed her chum. + +They found the door unlocked, and, as nobody stayed them, the two girls +descended the steps to the ground. A cross-looking dog came and smelled +of them, but the bold-looking girl who had brought the supper the night +before drove him away. + +Ruth essayed to speak to her, but she shook her head and laughed. +Perhaps she did not understand much English. + +Ruth was looking around eagerly for Roberto. Had she seen the Gypsy boy, +she would certainly have thrown herself--and Helen--upon him for +protection. But although not many of the Gypsies looked unkindly toward +the girls, none appeared really friendly. + +The woman who had aided in their capture the night before took them down +to the water, where they might wash their faces and hands and comb their +hair, using the toilet requisites from their bags. Nobody had offered +to interfere with them in any manner, or touch their belongings. The +woman waited patiently until they were ready, and took them back to the +camping ground for breakfast. + +But Ruth had seen something. At first she dared not whisper it to her +chum. After they had eaten (and a very good breakfast it was that the +Gypsies gave them), she managed to get Helen out of earshot of the +watchers. + +Everybody in the camp watched the prisoners. The girls were not driven +back into the van again at once, but Ruth saw that even the children +circled about her and Helen, at a little distance, so that the girls +were continuously guarded. + +They sat down upon an old stump, in an open space, where nobody could +creep near enough to hear what Ruth said to Helen without one or the +other of the captives seeing the eavesdropper. + +"What is it?" asked Helen, anxiously. "Oh, Ruth! where do you suppose +Tom is? What can he think of us?" + +"I only hope Tom won't come along here alone and fall into trouble, +too," said the girl of the Red Mill, in return. "But I believe there is +a chance for us to get away without his help, dear." + +"Oh, how?" demanded her chum. + +"Did you look along the shore when we were down there to the lake just +now?" + +"Yes. In both directions. There wasn't a soul in sight but you and +myself and that woman," returned Helen, showing that she had been +observant to a degree, at least. + +"You are right. It is a lonely spot. I saw nobody. But I saw a fishing +punt." + +"A fishing punt?" + +"Yes. Pulled up on the shore a little way. There is a pole in it, too. +It can be pushed off into the water easily, and I did not see another +boat of any kind in either direction." + +"Oh, Ruth! Neither did I. I didn't even see the boat you speak of." + +"It is there just the same. We can reach it in one minute from here--by +running." + +"Let's run, then!" whispered Helen, energetically. + +"We'll wait our chance. They are watching too closely now. By and by +they must get more careless. Then we'll try it." + +"But I don't just see what we can do in that boat," queried Helen, after +a moment's thought. + +"Push out into the lake, so that they can't reach us. Then risk being +seen by Tom or somebody else who will help us escape the Gypsies." + +"But these men will follow us," said Helen, with a shudder. "They can +swim--some of them--surely." + +"And if they try it, we'll beat them off with the push-pole," declared +Ruth. "Keep up your pluck, Helen. They will not really dare hurt +us--especially if they expect to get money for our release. And I'd like +to know," added Ruth, with rather a bitter little laugh, "who will pay +_my_ ransom?" + +"I'll make father pay whatever they ask," whispered Helen. "Oh, dear! +won't he be just _mad_ when he hears about it?" + +Soon the activities of the camp changed. It was plain to the two girls +that their captors had no intention of spending the day in this dell by +the lake side. + +A number of the men and boys had gone off with some of the horses early. +Now they returned, and it was evident that the men were angry, if not a +little frightened. They talked loudly with Zelaya, and the Queen of the +Gypsies seemed to be scolding them soundly. + +It was surprising to the visitors at the camp that the old woman should +have such influence over these black-browed ruffians. But she _did_ +possess a power; it was self-evident! + +Soon preparations were begun for shifting camp. The tents were struck +and all the paraphernalia of the camp was returned to the three vans. + +"Something has happened," whispered Ruth to Helen. "Perhaps Tom has +raised the hue and cry for us, and they are afraid of being caught here +with us in their possession." + +"Mean old things!" snapped Helen. "I wish they would all be caught and +put into jail." + +"The little children, too?" + +"The little ones will grow up to be big ones--and they are all bad," +declared Helen, with confidence. + +"I can't believe that Roberto is bad," said Ruth, thoughtfully. "I wish +he was with them now. I believe he would help us get away." + +"Maybe these are not his people." + +"I think they are," returned Ruth. But she did not say anything then to +Helen about the pearl necklace, and the cashbox of Queen Zelaya. + +The necklace was never out of Ruth's thought, however, for she was sure +it had been stolen. The girl of the Red Mill would know the necklace +again; wherever she might see it. + +In the first place it was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. +But there was a peculiar pendant attached to it--in the shape of a +fleur-de-lis--of larger pearls, that would distinguish it among any +number of such articles of adornment. + +Ruth kept in mind the chance she hoped would arise for their escape. +Helen was hopeless; but she had agreed to make the attempt, if Ruth +did. + +The whole camp was busy in preparing for departure. There were not so +many eyes now upon the girls. And--therefore--there being no regular +guard set over them, the opportunity Ruth hoped for arose. + +In harnessing one of the horses to a van, something happened to call +most of the excited crowd together. The horse kicked, and one of the men +was hurt. + +The moment the shouting over this incident arose, Ruth pinched Helen and +they both got up and slipped into the wood. They were out of sight in a +moment, and having chosen the side toward the lake, they set off at top +speed through the underbrush for the spot where Ruth had seen the +fishing punt. + +"Suppose it leaks?" gasped Helen, running hard beside her friend. + +"Well! we'll know it when we're in deep water," grimly returned Ruth. + +At that moment they heard a great hullabaloo at the camp behind them. + +"They've discovered we're missing," gasped Helen. + +"Come on, then!" cried Ruth. "Let's see if we can outwit them. We've got +a chance for liberty, my dear. Don't lose heart." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RUTH IN THE TOILS + + +The lake shore was just ahead of the fugitives. Ruth had been but a few +yards out of the way in her calculations. She and Helen came out upon +the beach almost at the spot where the fishing punt lay. + +The boat appeared to be sound, and the pole lying in it was a straight, +peeled ash sapling, not too heavy for either of the girls to handle. + +"Jump in, Helen!" commanded Ruth. "Take the pole and push off. I'll push +here at the bow." + +"But you'll get all wet!" quavered her chum. + +"As though _that_ mattered," returned the other, with a chuckle, as she +leaned against the bow of the punt and braced her feet for the grand +effort. "Now!" + +Helen had scrambled in and seized the pole. She thrust it against the +shore, her own weight bearing down the stern, which was in the water, +and thus raising the bow a trifle. + +"All-to-geth-er!" gasped Ruth, as though they were at "tug-of-war" in +the Briarwood gymnasium. + +The boat moved. Ruth's feet slipped and she scrambled to get a fresh +brace for them. + +"Now, again!" she cried. + +At that moment a great hound came rushing out of the wood upon their +trail, raised his red eyes, saw them, and uttered a mournful bay. + +"We're caught!" wailed Helen. + +"We're nothing of the kind!" returned her friend. "Push again, Helen!" + +One more effort and Ruth was ankle deep in the water. The boat floated +free! + +But before the brave girl could scramble aboard, the hound leaped for +her. Helen screamed. That shriek was enough, without the baying of the +hound, to bring their enemies to the water's edge. + +Ruth Fielding was terrified--of course! But she gave a final push to the +boat as the hound grabbed her. Fortunately the beast seized only her +skirt. Perhaps he had been taught not to actually worry his prey. + +However, the girl was dragged to her knees, and she could not escape. +The punt shot out into the lake, and Ruth shouted to her chum: + +"Keep on! keep on! Never mind me! Find Tom and bring help----Oh!" + +The weight of the big dog had cast her into the shallow water. She +immediately scrambled to her feet again. The hound held onto the skirt. +The material was too strong to easily tear, and she could not get away. + +There was a crashing in the brush and out upon the edge of the lake came +half a dozen of the Gypsy men and one of the women. She was the one who +had befooled Ruth and Helen into entering the green van the night +before. When she saw Ruth's plight, standing in the water with the hound +holding her, she laughed as though it were a great joke. + +But the men did not laugh. He with the squinting eye strode down to the +girl and would have slapped her with his hard palm, had not the woman +jumped in and put herself between the man and Ruth. She seemed to +threaten him in her own language, and the ruffian desisted. + +One of the boys threw off his clothing--all his outer garments, at +least--and plunged right into the lake after Helen. The boat had swung +around, for there was considerable current in Long Lake. + +"Don't let him come near you, Helen!" screamed Ruth. "Use your pole!" + +Her friend stood very bravely in the stern of the punt and raised the +pole threateningly. The Gypsy boy could not easily overtake the boat, +which was drifting farther and farther out toward the middle of the +lake. + +Some of the others began running along the shore as though to keep pace +with the boat. But suddenly a long-drawn, eerie cry resounded from the +direction of the camp. The men stopped and returned; the boy scrambled +ashore and hastily grabbed his clothing. The woman and the squint-eyed +man dragged Ruth into the bush. + +The cry was a signal of some kind, and one not to be disobeyed. The +Gypsies hurried back to the vans, and Ruth did not see Helen again. + +All was confusion at the camp. The horses were ready to start, and the +movables were packed. The children and women swarmed into two of the +vans. Queen Zelaya stood at the door of the other, and the moment she +saw that one of the prisoners had not been recovered, she began to +harangue her people threateningly. + +The squint-eyed man pushed Ruth toward the old woman. Zelaya's claw-like +hand seized the girl's shoulder. + +She was jerked forward and up the steps into the van. Almost at once the +caravan started, and Zelaya pulled the door to, and darkened the +windows. + +"Quick, now!" she commanded the girl. "Take off your hat. Gypsies have +no use for hats." + +She seized it and thrust it into one of her boxes. Then she commanded +Ruth to remove her frock, and that followed the hat into the same +receptacle. Afterward the girl was forced to take off her shoes and +stockings. + +"Sit down here!" commanded Zelaya, as the van rolled along. The queen +had been mixing some kind of a lotion in a bowl. Now with a sponge she +anointed Ruth's face and neck, far below the collar of any gown she +would wear; likewise her arms and hands, and her limbs from the knees +down. Then Zelaya threw some earth on Ruth's feet and streaked her limbs +with the same. She gave her a torn and not over-clean frock to put on +instead of her own clothing, and insisted that she don the ugly garment +at once. + +"Now, Gentile girl," hissed the old woman, "if they come to search for +you, speak at your peril. We say you are ours--a wicked, orphan Gypsy, +wicked through and through." + +She tore down Ruth's hair and rubbed some lotion into it that darkened +its color, too. She really looked as wild and uncouth as the bold girl +who waited upon the queen of the Gypsies. + +"Now let them find you!" cackled the old woman. "You are Belle, my +great-granddaughter, and you are touched here--eh?" and she tapped her +own wrinkled forehead with her finger. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ROBERTO AGAIN + + +Ruth cried a little. But, after all, it was more because she was lonely +than for any other reason. What would eventually happen to her in the +Gypsy queen's toils she did not know. She had not begun to worry about +that as yet. + +Helen had gotten clear away. She was confident of that, and was likewise +sure that her chum would rouse the authorities and come in search of +her. Tom, too, was faithful; he must already be stirring up the whole +neighborhood to find his sister and Ruth. + +How far the caravan had traveled the night before, after the girls had +joined the Gypsies, Ruth could not guess. But she realized that now they +were making very good time up the road leading to Boise Landing, along +the edge of Long Lake. + +There might be some pursuit already. If Tom had telegraphed his father, +Mr. Cameron would come looking for Helen "on the jump"! And had the +searchers any idea the Gypsies had captured the two girls, Ruth was +sure that the wanderers would get into trouble very quickly. + +"Why, even Uncle Jabez would 'start something,' as Tom would say, if he +learned of this. I believe, even if I am not 'as good as a boy,' that +Uncle Jabez loves me and would not let a parcel of tramps carry me off +like this." + +She wiped away the tears, therefore, and in looking into a cloudy little +mirror screwed to the wall of the vehicle, she found that the tears did +not wash off the walnut stain. She had been dyed with a "fast color," +sure enough! + +"If Heavy and The Fox, or Belle and Lluella could see me now!" thought +Ruth Fielding. + +Suddenly the caravan halted. There were shouts and cries, and evidently +the other vans were being emptied of their occupants in a hurry. Some of +the men seemed to be arguing in English at the head of the queen's van. + +Ruth believed that a searching party had overtaken the Gypsies. She +feared there would be a fight, and she was anxious to show herself, so +that her unknown rescuers might see her. + +But she dared not scream. Old Zelaya scowled at her so savagely and +threatened her so angrily with her clenched fist, that Ruth dared not +speak. Finally the old woman opened the door of the van and flung her +down the steps. + +The act was so unexpected that Ruth fell into the arms of the crowd +waiting for her. It was evidently ready for her appearance. The boys and +girls, and some of the women, received her into their midst, and they +made so much noise, chattering and shrieking, and dancing about her, +that Ruth was both confused and frightened. + +Had she herself shrieked aloud, her voice would have been drowned in the +general hullabaloo. This noise was all intentional on the part of the +Gypsies, for up at the head of the caravan Ruth caught a glimpse of a +big man standing with a stout oak club in his hand and a big shiny star +pinned to his vest near the armhole. + +A constable! Whether he was there searching for her and Helen, or was +merely making inquiries about a robbed hen-roost, the girl from the Red +Mill could not guess. There was so much confusion about her, that she +could not hear a word the constable said! + +She waved her hand to him and tried to attract his attention. The girls +and boys laughed at her, and pulled her about, and the bold girl she had +seen before almost tore the frock from her shoulders. + +Suddenly Ruth realized that, even did the constable look right at her, +he would not discover that she was a white girl. She looked just as +disreputable in every way as the Gypsy children themselves! + +The constable came toward the first van. Zelaya now sat upon the top +step, smoking a cheroot, and nodding in the sun as though she were too +old and too feeble to realize what was going on. Yet Ruth was sure that +the sly old queen had planned this scene and told her tribesmen what to +do. + +Ruth was whisked away from the steps of the queen's van, and borne off +by the shouting, dancing children. She tried to cry out so that the +constable would hear her, but the crowd drowned her cries. + +She saw the constable search each of the three vans. Of course, he found +no girls answering to the descriptions of Ruth and Helen--and it was the +girls that he was searching for. He was Sim Peck, the +blacksmith-constable from Severn Corners. It was a pity Tom Cameron had +not been with him! + +Finally Ruth saw that the man had given up the search, and the Gypsies +were going to depart. She determined to make a desperate attempt to +attract his attention to herself. + +She suddenly sprang through the group of children, knocking the bold +girl down in her effort, and started, yelling, for the constable. +Instantly one of the men halted her, swung her about, clapped a palm +over her mouth, and she saw him staring balefully down into her face. + +"You do that ageen--I keel you!" he hissed. + +It was the evil-eyed man who had spied upon Queen Zelaya, as she had +worshipped the pearl necklace in the van the evening before. Ruth was +stricken dumb and motionless. The man looked wicked enough to do just +what he said he would. + +She saw the constable depart. Then the Gypsies huddled into the wagons, +and she was seized by Zelaya and put into the first van. The old witch +was grinning broadly. + +"Ah, ha!" she chuckled. "What does the Gentile girl think now? That she +shall escape so easily Zelaya? Ha! she is already like one of our own +kind. Her own parents would not know her--nor shall they see her again +until they have paid, and paid in full!" + +"You are holding the wrong girl, Zelaya," murmured Ruth. "_My_ parents +are dead, and there is nobody to pay you a great ransom for me." + +"False!" croaked the hag, and struck her again. + +The caravan rolled on after that for a long way. It did not stop for +dinner, and Ruth grew very hungry, for she and Helen had been too +excited that morning to eat much breakfast. + +Through the open door and the forward window Ruth saw considerable of +the road. They were seldom out of sight of the lake. By and by they +turned right down to the water's edge and she heard the horses' feet +splashing through the shallow water. + +She could not imagine where they were going. Out of the door she saw +that they seemed to be leaving the land and striking right out into the +lake. The water grew deeper slowly, rising first over one step and then +another, while the shore of the lake receded behind them. The other vans +and the boys driving the horses followed in their wake. + +Curious, Ruth arose and went to the forward end of the van. She could +see out between the driver and his wife, and over the heads of the +horses. The latter were almost shoulder deep now, and were advancing +very slowly. + +Some rods ahead she saw that there was a wooded island. It was of good +size and seemed to be densely covered with trees and brush. Yet, there +was a patch of sandy shore toward which the horses were being urged. + +The lake was so low, that there was a fordable stretch of its bottom +between the mainland and this island. These Gypsies seemed to know this +bar perfectly, and the driver of the queen's van made no mistake in +guiding his span. + +In half an hour the horses were trotting through the shallows again. +They rolled out upon the white beach, and then Ruth saw that a faint +wagon trail led into the interior of the island. + +The Gypsies had been there before. There, in the middle of the wooded +isle, was a clearing. The moment the vans arrived, all the people jumped +out, laughing and talking, and the usual preparations for an encampment +were begun. Only, in this case, Queen Zelaya sent the squint-eyed man +and the ruffian who had so frightened Ruth to either shore of the +island to keep watch. + +Tents were set up, fires kindled, a great supper begun, and the poultry +was set loose to roam at will. Somewhere the Gypsy children had picked +up a kid and a little calf. Both of these were freed, and at once began +to butt each other, to the vast delight of the little ones. + +All about, under-foot and growling if they were disturbed, were the ugly +dogs. Ruth was afraid of them! + +Now that they were on the island, the Gypsies gave her slight attention. +The children did not come near her, and she was glad of that. Of course, +the adults knew she could not escape. + +Later she heard one of the men on the shore shout. Nobody was disturbed +at the camp, but after a little, there was some loud conversation and +then somebody broke through the bushes and appeared suddenly in the +little clearing. + +Ruth Fielding gasped and sprang to her feet. Nobody noticed her. + +The newcomer was Roberto. He strode swiftly across the camp to the +queen's van. Zelaya sat upon the steps and when he came before her, he +bowed very respectfully. + +The old woman showed more emotion at his appearance than Ruth believed +possible. She got up quickly and kissed the boy on both of his cheeks. +Her eyes sparkled and she talked with him for some time in the Tzigane +tongue. + +Once or twice Roberto glanced in Ruth's direction, as though he and the +old woman had been speaking of the captive girl. But, to the latter's +surprise, she saw no look of recognition in the Gypsy boy's eyes. + +Finally, when he parted from the queen, Roberto crossed the encampment +directly toward Ruth. The girl, fearful, yet hoping he would see and +know her, rose to her feet and took a single step toward him. + +Roberto turned upon her fiercely. He struck at her with his arm and +pushed Ruth roughly back into her seat. But although the action was so +cruel and his look so hateful, the girl heard him whisper: + +"Wait! Let the little lady have no fear!" + +Then he passed on to greet his friends about the nearest campfire. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +HELEN'S ESCAPE + + +Helen Cameron was so fearful at first of the Gypsies overtaking her, +that she had no thought of any peril which might lie ahead of the +drifting punt, into which she had scrambled. She realized that Ruth had +sacrificed herself in their attempt to escape, but she could render her +chum no help now. Indeed, the current which had seized the boat was so +strong that she could not have gotten back to the shore, had she tried. + +When the Gypsies disappeared into the wood, taking Ruth with them, Helen +realized her helplessness and loneliness, and she wept. She sat in the +stern of the punt and floated on and on, without regard to where she was +going. + +She could not have changed the course of the punt, however. She was now +in too deep water; the guiding pole was of no use to her, and there were +no oars, of course. She was drifting toward the middle of the lake, it +seemed, yet the general direction was eastward. + +There, at the lower end of the lake, a wide stream carried its waters +toward the distant Minturn Dam. But long before the stream came to that +place, there was much of what the local guides called "white water." + +These swift rapids Helen thought little about at first. She had had no +experience to warn her of her peril. At this moment she was fearful only +of the wild Gypsy clan that had tried to keep her prisoner and that had, +indeed, succeeded in carrying away her dear friend, Ruth Fielding. + +As she floated on, she saw nothing more of the Gypsies. She began to +believe that they had not turned back to follow her along the edge of +the lake. They were satisfied with their single prisoner! + +"But father will see to that!" sobbed Helen. "He won't let them run away +with Ruth Fielding--I know he won't! Dear, dear! what would I ever do if +Ruth disappeared and we shouldn't meet each other again--or not until we +were quite grown up? + +"Such things _have_ happened! I've read about it in books. And those +dreadful Gypsies make the children they capture become Gypsies, too. +Suppose, years and years hence, I should meet Ruth and she should ask to +tell my fortune as Gypsy women do--and she shouldn't know me----" + +Helen began to sob again. She was working herself up into a highly +nervous state and her imagination was "running away with her," as Ruth +often said. + +Just then she almost lost the punt-pole, and this near-accident startled +her. She might need that pole yet--especially if the boat drifted into +shallow water. + +She looked all around. She stood up, so as to see farther. Not a moving +object appeared along either shore of the lake. This was a veritable +wilderness, and human habitations were far, far away. + +She raised her eyes to the chain of hills over which she and her brother +and Ruth had ridden the day before. At one point she could see the road +itself, and just then there flashed into view an auto, traveling +eastward at a fast clip. + +"But, of course, they can't see _me_ 'way down here," said Helen, +shaking her head. "They wouldn't notice such a speck on the lake." + +So she did not even try to signal to the motor-car, and it was quickly +out of sight. + +The current was now stronger, it seemed. The punt drifted straight down +the lake toward the broad stream through which Long Lake was drained. +Helen hoped the boat would drift in near one shore, or the other, but it +entered the stream as near the middle as though it had been aimed for +that point! + +Here the water gripped the heavy boat and drew it onward, swifter and +swifter. At first Helen was not afraid. She saw the banks slipping by on +either hand, and was now so far from the Gypsies, that she would have +been glad to get ashore. Yet she did not think herself in any increased +danger. + +Suddenly, however, an eddy gripped the boat. To her amazement the craft +swung around swiftly and she was floating down stream, stern foremost! + +"Oh, dear me! I wish I had a pair of oars. Then I could manage this +thing," she told herself. + +Then the boat scraped upon a rock. The blow was a glancing one, but it +drove the craft around again. She was glad, however, to see the bow +aimed properly. + +From moment to moment the boat now moved more swiftly. It seemed that +the foam-streaked water tore at its sides as though desiring to swamp +it. Helen sat very quietly in the middle seat, and watched the dimpling, +eddying stream with increasing anxiety. + +Suddenly the punt darted shoreward. It looked just as though it must be +cast upon the beach. Helen raised herself stiffly, seized the pole more +firmly, and prepared to leap ashore with its aid. + +And just as she was about to risk the feat, the bow of the boat whirled +outward again, she was almost cast into the water, and once more the +boat whirled down the middle current. + +She dropped back into her seat with a gasp. This was terrible! She could +not possibly control the craft in the rapids, and she was traveling +faster and faster. + +The boat came to another eddy, and was whirled around and around, so +swiftly, that Helen's poor head swam, too! She raised her voice in a cry +for help, but it was likewise a cry of despair. She had no idea that +there was a soul within the sound of her voice. + +Crash! the boat went against an outcropping rock. It spun around again +and darted down the current. It was leaking now; the water poured into +it between the sprung planks. + +The river widened suddenly into a great pool, fringed with trees. At one +point a rock was out-thrust into the river and Helen saw--dimly enough +at first--a figure spring into view upon this boulder. + +"Help! help!" shrieked the girl, as the boat spun about. + +"Hi! catch that!" + +It was dear old Tom's voice! The shout brought hope to Helen's heart. + +"Oh, Tom! Tom!" she cried. "Save me!" + +"Bet you I will!" returned the boy. "Just grab this rope----Now!" + +She saw the loop come hurtling through the air. Tom had learned how to +properly throw a lariat the summer before, while in Montana, and he and +his particular chums had practised the art assiduously ever since that +time. + +Now, at his second trial, he dropped the noose right across the punt. +Helen seized upon it. + +"Hitch it to the ring in the bow--quick!" commanded her brother, and +Helen obeyed. + +In five minutes he had her ashore, but the punt sunk in shallow water. + +"I don't care! I don't care!" cried Helen, wading through the shallow +water. "I really thought I was going to drown, Tommy boy." + +"But where's Ruth? Whatever have you girls been doing since last +evening? Where did you go to?" + +He held her in his arms for a moment and hugged her tightly. Helen +sobbed a little, with her face against his shoulder. + +"Oh! it's so-o good to have you again, Tommy," she declared. + +Then she told him swiftly all that had happened. Tom was mighty glad to +get his sister back, but he was vastly worried about her chum. + +"That's what I feared. I had a feeling that you girls had fallen into +the hands of those Gypsies. Those men in the old house were two of +them----" + +"I know it. We saw them at the encampment." + +"But if Ruth is still with them," Tom said, "Peck will get her. He said +he knew how to handle Gyps. He's been used to them all his life. And +this tribe often come through this region, he told me." + +"Who is Mr. Peck?" asked Helen, puzzled. + +Tom told her of his adventures on the previous night. After returning to +the spot where the auto had been stalled earlier in the evening, Tom and +the constable had searched with the lanterns all about the place, and +had followed the footsteps of the girls and the strange woman to the +lower road. + +"I had no idea then that the wagon you had evidently gotten into was a +Gypsy cart," pursued Tom. "We saw you'd gone on toward Severn Corners, +however, and we went back. But you come along with me, now, Helen, and +we'll return to that very place. I expect Uncle Ike will be waiting for +us. I telephoned him before daylight this morning--and it's now ten +o'clock. The car is right back here on the road." + +"Oh! I am so glad!" + +"Yes. Soon after breakfast Peck and I separated! I came this way in the +car, hoping to find some trace of you. Peck made inquiries and said he'd +follow the Gyps. Ruth will be taken away from them," declared Tom, with +conviction. "That big smith isn't afraid of anybody." + +"Oh, I hope so," said Helen. "But that horrible old Gypsy--the queen, +she calls herself--is very powerful." + +"Not much she isn't!" laughed Tom. "Peck fully feels the importance of +that star he wears. I think he would tackle a herd of elephants, if they +were breaking the law." + +So they sped on in the motor-car, feeling considerably better. The twins +were very fond of each other, and were never really happy, when they +were apart for long. + +But when they ran down into Severn Corners, expecting to find Ruth at +the constable's house, they were gravely disappointed. The forge was +open and Sim Peck was shoeing a horse. He stood up, hammer in hand, when +the motor-car stopped before the smithy. + +"Hello!" he said to Tom. "Did you get her?" + +"I got my sister. She's had an awful time. Those Gypsies ought to be all +shut up in jail," said Tom, vigorously. + +"Them 'Gyptians?" drawled Peck, in surprise. "What they got ter do with +it?" + +"Why, they had everything to do with it. Don't you know that they +carried off both my sister here and Ruth Fielding?" + +"Look here," said the blacksmith-constable, slowly, "let me understand +this. Your sister has been with the 'Gyptians?" + +"Yes. Didn't you find Ruth with them?" + +"Wait a minute. Was she with old Zelaya's tribe?" + +"Yes," cried Helen. "That is the name of the Gypsy queen." + +"And the other gal?" demanded the man. "Where is she?" + +"That's what I ask you," said Tom, anxiously. "My sister escaped from +them, but they recaptured the other girl." + +"Sure o' that?" he demanded. + +"Yes, I am!" cried Helen. "I saw them drag her back through the woods to +the encampment." + +"When was this?" + +"Not far from six o'clock this morning." + +"By gravey!" ejaculated the man. "She ain't with 'em now. I been all +through them vans, and seen the whole tribe. There ain't a white gal +with 'em," said Mr. Peck, with confidence. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THROUGH THE NIGHT AND THE STORM + + +Ruth did not really know what to think of Roberto, the Gypsy boy. + +His push, as he passed her, had been most rude, but his whispered words +seemed a promise of friendship. He did not look at her again, as he went +around the encampment. Roberto seemed a privileged character, and it was +not hard to guess that he was Queen Zelaya's favorite grandchild. + +As for the prisoner, she was scarcely spoken to by anybody. She was not +abused, but she felt her position keenly. Particularly was she ashamed +of her appearance--barefooted, bareheaded, and stained until she seemed +as dark as the Gypsy girls themselves. Ruth thought she looked +altogether hateful! + +"I really would be ashamed to have Tom Cameron see me now," she thought. + +Yet she would have been delighted indeed to see Tom! It was in her +chum's twin brother that she hoped, after all, for escape. + +For Roberto, the Gypsy, ignored her completely. She feared that his +whispered words to her, when he first entered the camp, had meant +nothing after all. Why should she expect him to be different from his +tribesmen? + +The Gypsies fed her well and allowed her to wander about the camp as she +pleased. There were two sentinels set to watch the northern and southern +shores of the lake. Nobody could approach the island without being +observed and warning given to the camp. + +Ruth had lost hope of anybody coming to the encampment in search of her, +for the present. The constable had doubtless been sent by Tom Cameron, +and he would report that there was nobody but Gypsies in the camp. +Nobody but her immediate friends would distinguish Ruth from a Gypsy +now. + +If Helen had found Tom, the situation could not be changed much for +Ruth--and the latter realized that. Mr. Cameron and Uncle Jabez would +have to be communicated with, before a general alarm could be sent out +and detectives put on the case. + +By that time, where would the girl from the Red Mill be? + +This question was no easy one to answer. Ruth did not believe the +Gypsies would remain on this island for any length of time. Queen Zelaya +was doubtless shrewd enough to plan a long jump next time, and so throw +off pursuit. + +Indeed, all the next day the girl could do little but worry about her +own situation, and about Helen's fate. The last she had seen of her +chum, she had been drifting out into the middle of this lake. Suppose +the punt had sprung a leak, or capsized? + +Clouds gathered that day, and the second evening on the island closed +with a steady, fine rain falling. The encampment was quiet early. Even +the dogs found shelter from the wet, but Ruth had every reason to +believe that the Gypsy men took turns in guarding the encampment. + +Ruth was made to sleep in Queen Zelaya's van, and as soon as it had +become real dark, the old woman made her enter. In her rags of clothing, +Ruth was not afraid of a little rain--surely she had on nothing that +would be spoiled by the wet; but she had to obey the old hag. + +At supper time Roberto brought the bowls of savory stew that usually +made up that meal for the Gypsies. There were three bowls on the tray +and the boy gave Ruth a sharp side glance and pointed to a certain bowl. +She dared not refuse to take it. + +When he approached his grandmother at the other end of the van, he +removed his own bowl before setting the tray upon the box beside her. +Ruth hesitated to eat her own portion; she had been afraid of being +drugged from the beginning. + +Yet, somehow, she could not help feeling confidence in Roberto. The +latter ate his supper with gusto, talking all the while with the old +woman. But he went away without a word or look at Ruth after the meal. + +Soon Zelaya made her go to bed. Ruth was not sleepy, but she appeared to +go to sleep almost at once, as she had before. She lay down in all the +clothing she wore, for she was apprehensive of something happening on +this night. She saw that the old woman was very drowsy herself. + +Appearing to sleep, Ruth waited and watched. The storm whined in the +trees of the island, but there was no other noise. + +Zelaya was at the locked box again, and she soon drew forth her +treasure-casket. She fondled the collar of pearls as she had on the +first night Ruth had slept in the van. + +The girl was watching for that evil face at the window again. For a +moment she thought she saw it, but then she recognized that it was +Roberto's handsome face against the wet pane. + +Suddenly Ruth realized that the old woman had fallen asleep over her box +of valuables. The girl was confident that there had been a drugged bowl +at supper time, but _she_ had not eaten of it. + +There was a little noise at the door--ever so slight. The handle turned, +and Roberto's head was thrust in. He nodded at Ruth as though he were +sure she was not asleep, and then creeping up the steps, he gazed at his +grandmother. + +There could be no doubt that she was sound asleep! He slipped in and +closed the door. At first he did not say a word to Ruth. + +He went to Zelaya's side and shook her lightly. She did not awake. As +though she were a child, the strong youth lifted her and placed her in +the bed. Then he locked the small box, put the key again around Zelaya's +neck, and lowered the treasure box into the chest. The padlock of this +he snapped and then turned cheerfully to the watchful Ruth. + +"Come!" he whispered. "Missy not afraid of Roberto? Come!" + +No. Ruth was _not_ afraid of him. She rose quickly and preceded him, as +he directed by a gesture, out of the door of the van. There was neither +light nor sound in the whole camp. + +Once they were free, Roberto seized the girl's hand and led her through +the darkness and the rain. Ruth's tender feet stumbled painfully over +the rough ground, but the boy was not impatient. + +He seemed to know his way in the dark by instinct. Certainly, Ruth could +scarcely see her hand before her face! + +However, it was not long before she realized that they had come out upon +the shore of the island. There was a vast, empty-looking place before +them, which Ruth knew must be the open lake. + +Where the sentinels had gone, she could not guess, unless Roberto had +managed to drug _them_, too! + +However, there was not a word said, save when Roberto led her down, to +the water and she felt it lave her feet. Then he muttered, in a low +tone: + +"Don't fear, little Missy." + +As they waded deeper and deeper into the lake, following as she supposed +the track by which the wagons had come to the island, Ruth _was_ more +than a little frightened. Yet she would not show Roberto it was so. + +Once she whispered to him: "I can swim, Roberto." + +"Good! But I will carry you," and he suddenly stooped, slung her across +his shoulder as though she had been a feather-weight, and marched on +through the water. + +It was plain that the Gypsy boy knew this ford better than the drivers +of the vans, for he found no spot that he could not wade through and +carry Ruth, as well. It was nearly an hour before they reached the land. + +The rain beat upon them and the wind soughed in the trees. It seemed to +get darker and darker, yet Roberto never hesitated for direction, and +setting Ruth down upon her own feet, helped her on till they came to a +well-traveled road. + +Not far ahead was a light. Ruth knew at once that it was a lamp shining +through the windows of some farmhouse kitchen. + +"There they will take you in," Roberto said. "They are kind people. I am +sorry I could not bring away your own clothes and your bag. But it could +not be, Missy." + +"Oh! you have been so good to me, Roberto!" she cried, seizing both of +his hands. "However can I thank you--or repay you?" + +"Don't be too hard on Gypsy--on my old grandmother. She is old and she +is a miser. She thought she could make your friends pay her money. But +now we will all leave here in the morning and you shall never be +troubled by us again." + +"I will do nothing to punish her, Roberto," promised Ruth. "But I hope I +shall see you at the Red Mill some time." + +"Perhaps--who knows?" returned the youth, with a smile that she could +see in the dark, his teeth were so white. "Now run to the door and +knock. When I see it opened and you go in, I will return." + +Ruth Fielding did as she was bidden. She entered the gate, mounted the +porch, and rapped upon the kitchen door. The moment she looked into the +motherly face of the woman who answered her knock, the girl knew that +her troubles were over. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +OFF FOR SCHOOL AGAIN + + +There was much bustle about the old Red Mill. The first tang of frost +was in the air, and September was lavishly painting the trees and bushes +along the banks of the Lumano with crimson and yellow. + +A week had elapsed since Ruth and Helen had been prisoners in the +Gypsies' encampment, up in the hills. That week had been crowded with +excitement and adventure for the chums and Tom Cameron. They would all +three have much to talk about regarding the Gypsies and their ways, for +weeks to come. + +Uncle Ike Cameron had roused up the County Sheriff and all his minions, +before Ruth appeared at Severn Corners, driven by the kindly farmer to +whose door Roberto had brought her through the darkness and rain. + +Constable Peck, having searched the Gypsy camp, believed that Ruth must +have escaped from the Romany people at the same time as Helen. +Therefore, it was not until Ruth's complete story was told, that actual +pursuit of the Gypsies by the county authorities was begun. + +Then Queen Zelaya and her band were not only out of the county, but out +of the state, as well. They had hurried across the border, and it was +understood that the tribe had gone south--as they usually did in the +winter--and would be seen no more in New York State--at least not until +the next spring. + +The three friends had much to tell wherever they went during this +intervening week. They had had a fine time at "Uncle Ike's," but every +adventure they had was tame in comparison to those they had experienced +on the road overlooking Long Lake. + +They wondered what had become of Roberto--if he had returned to his +people and risked being accused of letting Ruth escape. Ruth discussed +this point with her friends; but one thing she had never mentioned to +either Helen, or her brother Tom. + +She did not speak to them of the wonderful pearl necklace she had seen +in the old Gypsy queen's possession. There was a mystery about that; she +believed Zelaya must have stolen it. The man with the wicked face had +intimated that it was part of some plunder the Gypsies had secured. + +Now, Ruth and Helen--and Tom as well--were ready to start for school +again. This was the last morning for some time to come, that Ruth would +look out of her little bedroom window at the Red Mill. + +She always left the beautiful place with regret. She had come to love +old Aunt Alvirah so much, and have such a deep affection and pity for +the miserly miller, that the joy of going back to Briarwood was well +tempered with remorse. + +The night before, Uncle Jabez had come to Ruth, when she was alone, and +thrust a roll of coin in her hand. "Ye'll want some ter fritter away as +us'al, Niece Ruth," he had said in his most snarling tone. + +When she looked at it, her heart beat high. There were five ten-dollar +gold pieces! + +It was given in an ungrateful way, yet the girl of the Red Mill believed +her uncle meant to be kind after all. The very thought of giving up +possession of so much money made him cranky. Perhaps he was determined +to give her these fifty dollars on the very day they had been wrecked on +the Lumano. No wonder he had been so cross all this time! + +It was Uncle Jabez's way. As Aunt Alvirah said, he could not help it. At +least, he had never learned to make any effort to cure this unfortunate +niggardliness that made him seem so unkind. + +"I do wish I had a lot of money," she told Aunt Alvirah, with a sigh. "I +would never have to ask him to pay out a cent again. I could refuse to +take this that he has given me and then I----" + +"Tut, tut, my pretty! don't say that," said the little old woman, +soothingly. "It does him good to put his hand in his pocket--it does, +indeed. If it is a sad wrench for him ter git it out ag'in--all the +better!" and she chuckled a little as she lowered herself into her +rocker. "Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!" + +"Ye don't understand yer uncle's nater like I do, Ruthie. You bein' his +charge has been the salvation of him--yes, it has! Don't worry when he +gives ye money; it's all thet keeps his old heart from freezin' right up +solid." + +Now the Cameron automobile was at the gate, and Helen and Tom were +calling to Ruth to hurry. Ben had taken her trunk to the Cheslow station +the day before. Ruth appeared with her new handbag (the Gypsies had the +old one), flung her arms about Aunt Alvirah's neck as she sat on the +porch, and then ran swiftly to the door of the mill. + +"Uncle! I'm going!" she called into the brown dusk of the place. + +He came slowly to the door. His gray, grim face was unlighted by even an +attempt at a smile, as he shook hands with her. + +"I know ye'll be a good gal," he said, sourly. "Ye allus be. But be +savin' with--with all thet money I gave ye. It's enough to be the +ruination of a young gal to hev so much." + +He repented of his gift, she knew. Yet she remembered what Aunt Alvirah +had said, and refrained from handing it back to him. She determined, +however, if she could, to never touch the five gold pieces, and some +time, when she was self-supporting, she would hand the very same coins +back to him! + +This was in her thought as she moved away. So, on this occasion, Ruth +Fielding did not leave the Red Mill with a very happy feeling at her +heart. + +The automobile sped away along the shady road into Cheslow. At the +station Mercy Curtis, the lame girl, was awaiting them, although it was +still some time before the train was due that would bear them away to +Lake Osago. + +When it _did_ steam into view and come to a slow stop beside the +platform, there was Heavy Stone and The Fox with their hands out of the +windows, shouting to them. They had secured two seats facing each other, +and Ruth and Mercy joined them, while Tom and Helen took the seat +behind. + +Such a chattering as there was! The fleshy girl and Mary Cox had not +seen Ruth and Helen and Mercy since they had all returned from the +Steeles' summer home at Sunrise Farm, and you may believe there was +plenty to talk about. + +"Who else is here?" demanded Ruth, standing up to search the length of +the car for familiar faces. + +"Look out, Miss!" cried Heavy, producing her first joke of the fall +term. "Remember Lot's wife!" + +"Why so?" asked Helen. + +"Goodness me! how ignorant you are--and you took chemistry last year, +too," declared Jennie Stone. + +"I--don't--just--see," admitted Helen. + +"You mean to say you don't know what two-fold chemical change Lot's wife +underwent?" + +"Give it up!" + +"Why," giggled Heavy, "first she turned to rubber, and then she turned +to salt!" + +When the crowd had shown their appreciation, The Fox said: + +"We're going to pick up an Infant at Maxwell. Heard about her?" + +"No. Who is she?" asked Helen. "Not that Infants interest me much now. +We can let the juniors take them in hand. Remember, girls, we are +full-fledged seniors this year." + +"You'll have an interest in this new girl," said Miss Cox, with +assurance. + +"Why?" + +"She is Nettie Parsons. You know her father is the big sugar man. He has +oodles of money!" + +"Lot's of sugar, eh?" chuckled Heavy. "Hope she'll bring some to school +with her. I have a sweet tooth, I hope you know." + +"A tooth! a whole set of sweet teeth, you mean!" cried Ruth. + +"I only hope she is nice. I don't care how much money she has," said +Helen, smiling. "We won't hold her wealth up against her, if she's the +right sort." + +"Oh, I'm not fooling," said The Fox, rather sharply, for she had a short +temper, "to match her red hair," as Heavy said. "She'll probably bring +trunks full of nice dresses to school and loads of jewelry----" + +"Won't that be silly? For Mrs. Tellingham won't let her wear them." + +"Only on state and date occasions," put in Mercy. + +"At any rate, her folks have splendid things. Why! don't you remember +about her aunt losing that be-a-utiful necklace last spring?" + +"Necklace?" repeated Ruth. "What sort of a necklace?" + +"One of the finest pearl collars in the world, they say. Worth maybe +fifty thousand dollars. Wonderful!" + +"A pearl necklace?" queried the girl from the Red Mill, her interest +growing. + +"Yes, indeed." + +"How careless of her!" said Heavy, with a yawn. + +"Silly!" exclaimed The Fox. "It was stolen, of course." + +"By whom?" demanded Ruth. + +"Why, if the police knew that, they'd get back the necklace, wouldn't +they?" demanded Mary Cox, with scorn. + +"But I didn't know--they might suspect?" suggested Ruth, meekly. + +"They do. Gypsies." + +"Gypsies!" cried Ruth and Helen together. And then the latter began: +"Oh, girls! listen to what happened to Ruth and me only a week ago!" + +"Wait a bit, dear," broke in Ruth. "Let us know a little more about the +lost necklace. Why do they think the Gypsies took it?" + +"I'll tell you," said The Fox. "You see, this aunt of Nettie's is very, +very rich. She comes from California, and she was on to visit the +Parsons last spring. + +"There was a tribe of Gypsies camping near the Parsons estate. They all +went over to have their fortunes told--just for a lark, you know. It was +after dinner one evening, and there was company. Nettie's Aunt Rachel +had dressed her best, and she wore the necklace to the Gypsy camp. + +"That very night the Parsons' house was robbed. Not much was taken +except the aunt's jewel-box and some money she had in her desk. The +robbers were frightened away before they could go to any of the other +suites. + +"The next day the Gypsies had left their encampment, too. Of course, +there was nothing to connect the robbery with the Gyps., save +circumstantial evidence. The police didn't find either the Gypsies or +the necklace. But Aunt Rachel offered five thousand dollars' reward for +the return of the pearls." + +"Just think of that!" gasped Helen. "Five thousand dollars. My, Ruthie! +wouldn't you like to win _that_?" + +"Indeed I would," returned her chum, with longing. + +"But I guess the Gypsies _we_ were mixed up with never owned a pearl +necklace like that. They didn't look as though they had anything but the +gaily colored rags they stood in--and their horses." + +"What do you know about Gypsies?" asked The Fox. + +"A whole lot," cried Helen. "Let me tell you," and she proceeded to +repeat the story of their adventure with Queen Zelaya and her tribe. +Ruth said nothing during the story; her mind was busy with the mystery +of the missing necklace. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +GETTING INTO HARNESS + + +Nettie Parsons proved to be a very sweet, quiet girl, when she came +aboard the train at Maxwell. She was rather older than the majority of +girls who entered Briarwood Hall as "Infants." It seemed that she had +suffered considerable illness and that had made her backward in her +books. + +"Never mind! She'll be company for Ann Hicks," said Helen. "Won't that +be fine? Neither of them will feel so badly, then, because they are in +the lower classes." + +"We'll get the Sweetbriars to make her feel at home," said Ruth, to her +chum. "No hazing this term, girlie! Let's welcome the newcomers like +friends and sisters." + +"Sure, my dear," agreed Helen. "We haven't forgotten what they did to +_us_, when we first landed at Briarwood Hall." + +When the train ran down to the dock where they were to take the +steamboat _Lanawaxa_ for the other side of the lake, there was a crowd +of a dozen or more girls in waiting. A welcoming shout greeted Ruth as +she headed the party from the vestibule coach: + + "S. B.--Ah-h h! + S. B.--Ah-h-h! + Sound our battle-cry + Near and far! + S. B.--All! + Briarwood Hall! + Sweetbriars, do or die-- + This be our battle-cry-- + Briarwood Hall! + _That's All!_" + +Every girl present belonged to the now famous school society, and Nettie +Parsons was interested right away. She wished to know all about it, and +how to join, and of course she was referred to Ruth. + +In this way the girl of the Red Mill and the new pupil became better +acquainted, and Ruth found opportunity very soon to ask Nettie about the +pearl necklace that her Aunt Rachel had lost some months before. + +Meanwhile, the girls, with their hand luggage, trooped down the long +dock to the _Lanawaxa's_ boarding-plank. Heavy Stone turned suddenly in +the hot sunshine (for it was a glowing noon) to find two of the smaller +girls mincing along in her very footsteps. + +"I say! what are you two Infants following me so closely for?" she +demanded. + +"Please, Miss," giggled one of them, "mother told me to take Sadie for a +nice long walk, but to be sure and keep her in the shade!" + +This delighted the other girls immensely, for it was not often that +anybody got ahead of the plump girl. She was too good-natured to take +offense, however, and only grinned at them. + +They all crowded aboard and sought seats on the upper deck of the +steamer. Tom had met some of his friends who attended the Seven Oaks +Military Academy, among them big Bob Steele and little Isadore Phelps. + +Of course the boys joined the girls, and necessary introductions were +made. Before the _Lanawaxa_ pulled out of the dock, they were all having +great fun. + +"But how we will miss Madge!" was the general cry of the older girls, +for Bobbins' sister no longer attended Briarwood Hall, and her absence +would be felt indeed. + +Not being under the immediate eye of his sharp-tongued sister, Bobbins +showed his preference for Mercy Curtis, and spent a good deal of time at +the lame girl's side. He was so big and she was so slight and delicate, +that they made rather an odd-looking pair. + +However, Bobbins enjoyed her sharp tongue and withstood her raillery. +She called him "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum" and made believe that she was very much +afraid of him; yet it was noticeable that there was no venom in the +sharp speeches the lame girl addressed to her big cavalier--and Mercy +Curtis could be most unmerciful if she so desired! + +Soon they were on the train again, and a short run to the Seven Oaks +station, where the red brick barracks of the Military School frowned +down upon the railroad from the heights above. + +"I wouldn't go to school in such an ugly place," declared the girls. + +Here is where they separated from their boy friends. A great, ramshackle +bus, and another vehicle, were waiting at the end of the platform. An +old man in a long duster stood beside the bus to help the girls in and +see to their baggage. This was "Uncle Noah" Dolliver. + +At once The Fox formed the girls into line, and keeping step to the +march, they tramped the length of the platform, singing: + + "Uncle Noah, he built an ark-- + One wide river to cross! + And in it we have many a lark-- + One wide river to cross! + One wide river! + One wide river of Jordan! + One wide river! + One wide river to cross! + + "The Sweetbriars get in, one by one-- + One wide river to cross! + The last in line is Heavy Stone-- + One wide river to cross!" + +And the plump girl _was_ the last one to pop into the ancient equipage, +filling the very last seat--_tight_! + +"Lucky you brought along another wagon, Uncle Noah," said The Fox, as +the remainder of the girls ran to the second vehicle. + +Both of the wagons soon started. It was a hot and dusty afternoon and +the girls were really crowded. + +"I'm squeezed in so tight I can't think," moaned Helen. + +"Ouch!" cried Belle Tingley. "That's my funny-bone you hit, Lluella, +with your handbag. Oh! how funny it feels." + +"Did you ever know why they call that thing in your elbow the funny +bone?" asked Heavy, mighty serious. + +"No," said Belle, rubbing the elbow vigorously. + +"Why, it's what makes folks 'laugh in their sleeves,'" chuckled the +plump girl. + +"Oh, dear me! isn't she smart?" groaned Lluella. + +"Almost as smart as my Cousin Bill," said The Fox, breaking into the +conversation. "He won't be called 'Willie' and he'll answer only to +'Bill,' or 'William.' + +"'William,' said the teacher one day to him in school, 'spell "ibex."' + +"Bill jumps up and begins: 'I-b----' + +"'Stop! stop, William!' cries the teacher. 'Where did you learn such +grammar? Always say, "I am."' + +"And do you know," chuckled Mary, "Bill sat down and gave up spelling +the word--and he doesn't know how to spell 'ibex' yet!" + +The sun had set, when they got out at the end of the Cedar Walk. Ruth, +who had sat beside Nettie Parsons, went with her to the principal's +office and introduced her to Mrs. Grace Tellingham. + +Later Ruth joined her chums in the old West Dormitory. There were two +quartette rooms side by side, in which were hatched most of the fun and +good times that happened at Briarwood Hall. In one were Ruth, Helen, +Mercy, and Ann Hicks, the girl from the west. The other had long been +the room of The Fox, Heavy, Belle Tingley, and Lluella Fairfax. + +Ann Hicks, right from Silver Ranch, was on hand to greet Ruth and the +others, she having arrived at Briarwood the day before. She brought +greetings from her Uncle Bill, Bashful Ike and his Sally. + +The crowd quieted down at last. The last guilty shadows stole from room +to room, and finally every girl sought her own bed. Ruth and Helen +shared one of the big beds in their room, but they did not go to sleep +at once. They could hear the quiet breathing of Mercy and Ann, but the +chum's eyes were still wide open. + +"That Nettie Parsons is a much nicer girl than I expected," whispered +Helen. + +"That is something I want to talk with you about," said Ruth, quickly. + +"What?" + +"Nettie Parsons. At least, something about her Aunt Rachel." + +"Oh! the necklace," laughed Helen. "Are you really interested in it, +Ruth?" + +"She offered five thousand dollars' reward for it," continued Ruth, +breathlessly. "She really did. And the reward still stands." + +"Why, Ruthie!" exclaimed Helen, astonished. "Do you mean to say----" + +"This is what I mean to say," said Ruth, with energy. "I mean that I'd +love to win that reward. I believe I know what has become of the pearl +necklace. In fact, Helen, I am very sure that I have seen the +necklace." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CAN IT BE POSSIBLE? + + +Ruth was thinking a great deal--it must be confessed!--about money +during the first days of this new term at Briarwood Hall, and yet she +was not naturally of a mercenary nature. Nor was she alone in this, for +the advent of Nettie Parsons into the school quite turned the heads of +many. + +Nettie Parsons was the first multi-millionaire's daughter who had ever +come to Briarwood Hall. Most of the girls' parents were well-to-do; +otherwise they could not have afforded to pay the tuition fees, for Mrs. +Grace Tellingham's institution was of considerable importance on the +roster of boarding schools. + +Many of the girls' parents, like Helen Cameron's father, were really +wealthy. But Mr. Parsons was way above that! And with a certain class +the mere fact of money _as_ money, is cause enough for them to kneel +down and worship! + +After a time these "toadies" were disappointed in the daughter of the +"sugar king." Nettie Parsons was a very commonplace, kindly girl, not +at all brilliant, and dressed more plainly than the majority of the +girls at Briarwood Hall. + +Ruth's thoughts about money were not in the same lines as the thoughts +of those girls so much interested in Nettie Parsons' riches. She neither +envied the wealthy girl her possessions, nor desired to be like her. + +What Ruth Fielding desired so keenly was independence. She wanted to +control her own destiny, instead of being so beholden to Uncle Jabez +Potter for everything. The sting of being an object of charity had +gotten deeply into Ruth's heart. The old miller had an unfortunate way +with him, which made the proud girl feel keenly her situation. + +There was really no reason at all why the miller should take care of, +and educate, his niece's child. He was not legally bound to do it. The +kinship was not close enough for people to really expect Uncle Jabez to +do all that he had for Ruth Fielding! + +There had been times when the girl, through several fortunate +circumstances, had been of real help to the miller. She had once helped +recover some money he had lost when the freshet wrecked a part of the +Red Mill. Again, it was through her that an investment in a mine in +Montana had proved productive of gain for Uncle Jabez, instead of loss. + +And now, only this summer, she had actually saved the miller's life. + +Grudgingly, Uncle Jabez had paid these debts by keeping her at this +expensive school and furnishing her with clothes and spending money. It +was plain he had never approved of her being away from the mill during +vacations, too. + +Uncle Jabez saw no reason for young people "junketing about" and +spending so much time in pleasure, as Ruth's friends did. Boys and girls +learned to work, in his day, between short terms at school. It was all +so different now, that the old man could not be blamed for +misunderstanding. + +For a girl to look forward to making a name for herself in the world--to +have a career--to really be somebody--was something of which Uncle Jabez +(and Aunt Alvirah as well) could not fail to disapprove. + +Ruth desired to prepare for college, and in time enter a higher +institution of learning. She wished, too, to cultivate her voice, and to +use it in supporting herself later. She knew she could sing; she loved +it, and the instructors at Briarwood encouraged her in the belief that +she had a more than ordinarily fine contralto voice. + +Uncle Jabez did not believe in such things. He would never be willing to +invest money in making a singer of his niece. Useless to think of it! + +Uncle Jabez had said that girls were of little use in the world, +anyway--unless they settled down to housekeeping. The times Ruth had +been of aid to him were, as he said, "just chancey." + +It was of the reward for the return of the missing pearl necklace to +Nettie Parsons' Aunt Rachel, that the girl of the Red Mill was thinking +so continually, while the first days of this term at Briarwood slipped +by. But five thousand dollars would grant Ruth Fielding the independence +she craved! + +Ruth and Helen Cameron had discussed the mystery of the pearl necklace +in all its bearings--over and over again. All the "pros" and "cons" in +the case had "been before the house," as Helen said, and it all came to +the same answer: Could it be possible that Queen Zelaya, Roberto's +grandmother, now had in her possession the necklace rightfully the +property of Nettie Parsons' Aunt Rachel? + +"That is, she had it," said Ruth, believing fully it was so, "if that +awful man I saw spying on her, has not robbed the old woman and gotten +away with the necklace. You know how he talked that day in the deserted +house to the other Gypsy?" + +"I guess I do!" exclaimed Helen. "Could I ever forget a single detail of +that awful time?" + +"And where are the Gypsies now?" said Ruth, feelingly. "Ah! _that_ is +the question." + +"Uncle Ike wrote father that they had been traced some distance toward +the south," Helen returned, doubtfully. + +"The south is a big section of the country," and Ruth wagged her head. + +"Father was very angry," said Helen, "that the police did not find them, +so that the whole tribe could be punished for what they did to us, I +never saw father so angry before. He declared that the Gypsies should be +taught a lesson, and that their escape was most inexcusable." + +Ruth said nothing, but shook her head. + +"You know the excuse the sheriff and that Constable Peck, at Severn +Corners, gave?" + +"Yes," nodded Ruth. + +"If you had come right up to the village that night, when Roberto +brought you to the farmhouse, and told where the camp was, they'd have +nabbed the whole crowd, before they could have gotten over the state +line." + +"I know," murmured Ruth. + +She was remembering Roberto's words as he left her that stormy night in +sight of her refuge. He had asked not to be too hard on the Gypsies; +therefore, she had not hurried to lodge information against Queen Zelaya +and her tribe. + +But if she had only known about this pearl necklace! Nettie Parsons had +described the jewel so clearly that the girl of the Red Mill could not +for a moment doubt that the necklace in Zelaya's possession was the one +for which the reward was offered. + +"I tell you what I'll do, if you say the word," Helen said at last, +seeing that her friend was really so much troubled about the affair. + +"What's that, dear?" + +"I'll write to father. Let me tell him all about you seeing the old +woman handling the pearls, and then about this necklace that was lost by +Nettie's aunt. He can advise you, at any rate." + +So it was agreed. Helen wrote that very day. Inside of a week an answer +came, and it quite excited Helen. + +"What do you think?" she demanded of her chum. "Father has business that +calls him to Lumberton in a few days. He will come here to see us. And +he says for me to tell you to be sure and say nothing to anybody else +about the missing necklace until he sees you." + +"Of course I won't speak of it," replied Ruth. "I am not likely to. Oh, +dear, Helen! if I could only win the reward that woman offers for the +return of her necklace!" + +It was not many days before Helen received the telegram announcing her +father's coming to Lumberton, which was the nearest town to Briarwood +Hall. She showed it to Mrs. Tellingham, and asked that she and Ruth be +excused from lessons, when Mr. Cameron came, as he wished to drive the +girls over to see Tom at Seven Oaks. + +This was, of course, arranged. Mr. Cameron was a very busy man, and he +could not spend much time in this visit. But he desired to speak to Ruth +regarding the mystery of the pearl necklace. + +He had hired a pair of spirited horses at Lumberton, and he quite had +his hands full, as they bowled over the hilly road toward the military +academy. But he could talk to the girls. + +He had Ruth give him every particular of what she had seen at night in +the Gypsy van, and when she had done so, he said: + +"I have taken the pains to get from the police the description of Mrs. +Rachel Parsons' missing necklace. It fits your tale exactly, Ruth. Now, +I tell you what I shall do. + +"I will set a detective agency at work. For my own part, I wish to +overtake this Queen Zelaya, as she calls herself, and punish her for +what she did to you two girls. If such people go free, it encourages +them to do worse next time. + +"Now, if she has the necklace, and we can secure it, all the better. I +would be glad to see you get that reward, Ruthie. And Helen says you are +very anxious to win it." + +"Who wouldn't be?" gasped Ruth. "Just think of five thousand dollars!" + +They were driving through a fine piece of chestnut wood as she said +this. The blight had not struck these beautiful trees and they hung full +of the prickly burrs. The frost of the previous night had opened many of +these, and the brown nuts smiled at once through the openings. + +"There's a boy knocking them down!" cried Helen. "Let's stop and get +some, Father. See them rain down!" + +At that moment a shower of chestnuts fell and a prickly burr landed on +the back of one of the team. The beast rose on his hind legs and pawed +the air, snorting. + +"Look out!" exclaimed the boy in the tree. + +Mr. Cameron was a good horseman and he had the animals well in hand. The +boy, however, was so anxious to see what went on below, that he strained +forward too far. With a scream, and the snap of broken boughs, he +plunged forward, shot through the leafy-canopy, and landed with a +sickening thud upon the ground! + +Mr. Cameron had halted the horses dead. Ruth was out of the carriage +like a flash and dropped on her knees by the boy's side. She was +horror-stricken and speechless; yet she had made a great discovery as +the boy fell. + +He was Roberto, the Gypsy! + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +HE CANNOT TALK + + +"Is he badly hurt?" cried Mr. Cameron, who dared not get down and leave +the horses just then. + +"Don't tell us he is killed, Ruthie!" wailed Helen, clasping her hands +and unable to leave the carriage. + +The Gypsy boy lay very still. One arm was bent under him in such a queer +position that the girl of the Red Mill knew it must be broken. His olive +face was pallid, and there was a little blood on his lips. + +She dared not move him. She bent down and put her ear to his chest. His +heart was beating--he breathed! + +"He's alive!" she said, turning to her friends in the carriage. "But I +am afraid he is badly hurt. At least, one arm----" + +The youth groaned. Ruth turned toward him with a tender little cry. She +thought his eyelids quivered, but they were not opened. + +"What will we do with him? He ought to be taken to a hospital. Where's +the nearest doctor?" asked Mr. Cameron. + +"Lumberton," said Ruth, promptly. "And that is the only place where +there is a hospital around here." + +"Back we must go, then," declared Mr. Cameron, promptly. "We sha'n't see +Master Tom to-day, that's sure. You get out, Helen, and I'll turn +around." + +Helen ran to her friend who still hovered over the boy. At once she +recognized him. + +"My goodness me! Roberto! isn't that strange? Then he did not go south +with the other Gypsies." + +"It seems not--poor fellow," returned Ruth. + +"Do you suppose he knows all about the necklace--how his grandmother +became possessed of it, and all?" + +"I don't know. I am sure Roberto is quite honest himself," returned +Ruth. "He is not a thief like those wicked men who were talking that day +in the old house, and who seem to have so much influence in the Gypsy +camp." + +"I don't care!" exclaimed Helen, warmly. "I am sorry for Roberto. But I +hope father _does_ send detectives after the Gyps., and that they catch +and punish that horrid old woman. How mean she was to us!" + +"Sh!" warned Ruth. + +Roberto gave no sign of returning consciousness now. That puzzled the +girl of the Red Mill, for she had thought he was just about to come to. + +Mr. Cameron turned the carriage and halted it beside the spot where the +boy lay. "Of course you two girls can't lift him?" he said. + +"Of course we can!" returned his daughter, promptly. "Oh! Ruth and I +haven't been doing gym. work for two years for nothing. Just watch us." + +"Easy!" murmured Ruth, warningly, as Helen seized the youth's legs. +"Perhaps he has more than a broken arm." + +"But he must be lifted," said Helen. "Come on, now! He isn't conscious, +and perhaps we can get him into the carriage before he wakes up." + +And they did. Roberto did not seem to be conscious, and yet, to Ruth's +surprise, the color came and went in the boy's cheeks, and his black +brows knitted a little. It was just as though he _were_ conscious and +was endeavoring to endure the pain he felt without moaning. + +They got him into the carriage in as comfortable a position as possible. +Ruth sat beside him, while Helen joined her father on the front seat. +Then the gentleman let the spirited team go, and they dashed off over +the road toward Lumberton. + +At once Helen told her father who the injured youth was. Having heard +all the details of his young folks' adventures on the road to Boise +Landing, Mr. Cameron knew just who Roberto was, and he saw the +importance of learning from him, if possible, where his clan had gone. + +"We want to know especially what has become of the old woman--the +queen," Mr. Cameron said. "I can't help it, if she _is_ the boy's +grandmother, she is a wicked woman. Besides, we want to get back that +necklace for Mrs. Parsons." + +Unfortunately, it would be impossible for the dry goods merchant to +remain in Lumberton to watch the case. He had to return that very +evening, and could not spare the time now to see Tom. + +He arranged at the hospital for Roberto to be given every care, and left +some money with Helen and Ruth for them to purchase little luxuries for +the boy when he should become convalescent. + +He waited until after the doctors had made their examination and learned +that Roberto not only suffered from a broken arm, but had two ribs +broken and his right leg badly wrenched. + +Mr. Cameron wrote a note to Mrs. Tellingham, asking that Helen and Ruth +might visit the hospital every day or two to see how the patient fared. + +"Besides," said Ruth, eagerly, "I may get him to talk. Perhaps he has +deserted his tribe for good, and he may help us learn about the +necklace." + +"You want to be very careful in trying to pump the lad," said Mr. +Cameron, with a smile. + +He need not have feared on this point, however, as it turned out. The +very next afternoon Ruth and Helen hurried in to Lumberton to make +inquiries at the hospital. They saw the head physician and he was +frankly puzzled about Roberto. + +"I thought I had had every kind of a case in my experience," said the +surgeon, "but there's something about this one that puzzles me." + +"Is he more hurt than you thought?" cried Ruth, anxiously. + +"I don't know. It seems that we have found all his injuries that are +apparent. But there is one we cannot reach. Something is the matter with +his speech." + +"His speech?" gasped Helen. + +"You have heard him speak?" + +"Of course!" + +"Then he is not naturally dumb----" + +"Dumb?" repeated Helen, in wonderment. "You don't mean that he is dumb?" + +"I mean just that. It appears that since his fall yesterday, he cannot +talk at all," said the doctor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +RUTH INTERCEDES + + +The two girls did not see Roberto that day, nor for several days +following. The hospital authorities did not think it best to allow him +to be excited even in a mild way. + +They sent in such delicacies as the nurse said he could have, and Tony +Foyle was bribed by Helen to get a report from the hospital every day +about the young Gypsy. + +The girls kept very quiet about the patient in the hospital. Their mates +knew only that Helen and Ruth had been driving with Mr. Cameron when the +boy fell out of the tree. They did not dream that the victim of the +accident had any possible connection with the pearl necklace that Nettie +Parsons' aunt had lost! + +Helen kept her father informed of the progress of Roberto's case, and in +return he wrote Helen that the detectives were confident of reaching old +Queen Zelaya and her tribe. + +"But if we could only get Roberto to talk!" sighed Ruth. + +"Why, Ruth Fielding! if the poor fellow has been made speechless by +that fall, how _can_ he talk?" + +"I know, but----" + +"Don't you believe it is _so_?" + +"Why--yes," admitted Ruth. "Of course, he would have no reason for +refusing to speak. And they say he has a hard time making them +understand what he wants, for he doesn't know how to write. Poor fellow! +I suppose he never realized before, that the art of writing was of any +use to _him_." + +In a week or so the girls were allowed to go to the ward where Roberto +lay. Helen carried an armful of good things for the Gypsy lad to eat, +but Ruth remembered that he had not cared much for delicacies, and she +carried picture papers and a great armful of brilliant fall +flowers--some picked by herself in the woods, and the others begged from +Tony Foyle. + +"Taking flowers to a boy--pshaw!" scoffed Helen. "Why, that shows you +have no brother, Ruthie. Tom wouldn't look at flowers when he's sick." + +Ruth believed she had made no mistake. When they approached the bed in +which Roberto lay, he looked very pale indeed, and the expression of +weariness on his face as he stared out of the distant window, made +Ruth's heart ache for the captive wild-boy. + +"Here are visitors for you, Robert," said the kindly nurse. + +The big, black eyes of the Gypsy boy rolled toward the two girls. Then +his face lit up and his eyes sparkled. They were fixed eagerly on the +mass of brilliant blossoms Ruth carried. She scattered the flowers over +the coverlet, and Roberto seized some of them, fairly pressing them to +his lips. He nodded and smiled at the display of Helen's offerings, too, +but he could not keep his eyes away from the flowers. He had been +homesick for his beloved woodlands. + +He was still in plaster and could not move much. He did his best to make +the girls understand how welcome they were, but not a sound came from +his lips. + +"A very strange case, indeed," said the doctor in charge, when the girls +came down from the ward. "There seems to be absolutely no reason why he +does not speak. Apparently no paralysis of the vocal cords. But +speechless he is. And as he cannot read or write, it is a nuisance." + +"It isn't possible that for some reason he doesn't _wish_ to speak?" +queried Ruth, doubtfully. + +"Why, Ruth! there you go again!" exclaimed Helen. "I never knew you to +be so suspicious." + +The doctor laughed. "I think not," he said. "Of course, he might, but he +must be a wonderfully good actor. The next time you come, we shall try +him." + +So on a subsequent call of the two girls at the hospital, the doctor +entered the ward at the same time they did and likewise approached +Roberto's bed, only on the opposite side. Ruth had brought more flowers, +and the boy was evidently delighted. + +"Are you sure you can't speak to me, Roberto?" asked Ruth, softly, as he +nodded and smiled and clasped the flowers to his breast with his one +good hand. + +Roberto shook his head sadly, and his black eyes showed every indication +of sorrow. But of a sudden he jumped, and a spasm of pain crossed his +face. The doctor straightened up and Roberto scowled at him wrathfully. +The boy had not uttered a sound. + +"I jabbed him with this needle," said the doctor, with disgust. "You +see, either he has perfect control over himself; or he absolutely cannot +speak. While I was setting his arm and fixing up his smashed ribs, he +only moaned a little." + +"Oh!" Helen had gasped, looking at the medical man in some wrath. + +"Don't do it again--not for _me_," urged Ruth. "I am sorry I said +anything about it." + +"Oh, he isn't seriously injured by _that_," said the surgeon, holding up +the needle. "But I do not think he is 'playing possum.'" + +"It isn't possible!" exclaimed Helen, confidently. + +"And how long must he lie here?" Ruth asked. + +"Oh, in a fortnight he'll be as fine as a fiddle. Of course, he won't be +able to use his arm much for several weeks. But the ribs will knit all +right. Maybe he can find some light job----" + +"We'll see about _that_," Helen interrupted. + +"I can see you young ladies are much interested in him," chuckled the +doctor. "And not entirely because he is a handsome, black-eyed rascal, +eh?" + +Ruth knew that old Tony Foyle, the gardener at Briarwood Hall, was +interested in the lad. He had gone up to the ward to see Roberto several +times, and came away enthusiastic in the Gypsy's praise. + +"Sure," said Tony, to Ruth, "he's jist the bye after me hear-r-t. +Herself would like him, he's that doomb!" + +"Herself" was Tony's wife, who was the cook at Briarwood Hall. + +"And the way that boy do be lovin' flowers! Sure, his bed in the +horspital is jest covered wid 'em. He'd be a handy lad to have here ter +give me aid, so he would. An' I been tellin' Mis' Tellingham that I need +another helper." + +"We'll get him the job, Tony!" cried Ruth, in delight. "I believe he +would like to help around your hothouse and the beds. I'll see." + +She interceded with the principal for Roberto, and obtained her promise +that the Gypsy boy should have the job. Then she sounded Roberto +himself, and by the way his eyes lit up and he smiled and nodded, Ruth +knew he would be delighted to be Tony Foyle's assistant. + +"At least," thought Ruth, "I can keep in sight of him for a time. +Perhaps he couldn't tell us, anyway, where Queen Zelaya has hidden +herself. But I believe he knows, and I haven't much faith in the results +those detectives get." + +Roberto mended rapidly. He was soon up and about the ward, when the +girls called. He was less restless than Ruth expected him to be, and he +still signified his intention of coming to help the little old Irish +gardener at Briarwood Hall. + +"When he recovers his powers of speech," said the doctor, "it will be as +suddenly as he lost them. No doubt of that. But it is a most puzzling +case. I am glad he is not going far from Lumberton. I want to watch the +progress of the affair." + +The next day Roberto came to Briarwood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A GREAT TEMPTATION + + +About this time Ruth suffered a great temptation. She was so little +given to covetousness or envy, that other girls of her class might have +dresses, jewelry, and many other things dear to girlish hearts, without +Ruth's being at all disturbed. + +Her one great, overmastering passion was for Independence! She envied +none of her mates anything but _that_. + +Now she fell under temptation, and this was the way of it: Ruth belonged +to the picked class that the physical instructor had chosen for +exhibition gymnasium work at the mid-winter entertainment. This year +there were to be important visitors at the school, and Mrs. Tellingham +wished to make the occasion a more than ordinarily successful +entertainment. + +The class of twenty girls, selected from the best of the seniors and +juniors, was to drill, dance, and go through other gymnastic exercises. +And it was agreed among them that each girl should have a brand new +costume, although this was no suggestion of either the teacher or Mrs. +Tellingham. + +The class invented this idea itself. It was agreed--nineteen in favor, +at least--to appear at the entertainment in a brand new outfit. And how +could Ruth say "No?" + +Every girl in the class but herself had only to write home for money and +order the uniform. As it chanced, Ruth had plenty of money to pay for a +costume. Helen, who was one of the number, knew Ruth had that fifty +dollars in gold that Uncle Jabez had given the girl of the Red Mill the +day she left home. + +This was the temptation: Ruth had promised herself never to use that +money. She had a small sum left from her vacation money, and she was +making that do for incidentals, until she could earn more in some way. +She was already tutoring both Nettie Parsons and Ann Hicks in their more +advanced textbooks, and they were paying her small sums for this help. + +But she could not earn enough in this way--nor in any other--to buy the +new gymnasium costume. And there were the five ten-dollar gold pieces +lying in a little jeweler's box in the bottom of her trunk. + +She went with Helen to the dressmaker in Lumberton, when Helen ordered +_her_ new costume. "Why don't you let her fit you now, too, Ruth?" +demanded Miss Cameron. + +"Oh, there is plenty of time. Let us see first how well she makes +yours," Ruth returned, with a forced laugh. + +She knew she could not wear her usual costume with the picked class +without looking odd. The girls had decided on crimson trimming on the +blue skirt and blouse, instead of the regulation white. Nineteen girls +with crimson bands and one with white--and that soiled!--would look odd +enough. + +It would fairly spoil the picture, Ruth knew. She was worried because of +this, for she did not want to make her mates look ridiculous. Never had +Ruth Fielding been so uncertain about any question since she had been +old enough to decide for herself. + +She was really so troubled that her recitation marks were not as high as +they should have been. The teachers began to question her, for Ruth +Fielding's course at Briarwood had been a triumphant one from the start! + +"You are not ill, Miss Fielding?" asked Miss Gould. "I am surprised to +find that you are going below your past averages. What is the matter?" + +"I am sure I do not know, Miss Gould," declared Ruth. Yet she feared +that the reply was not strictly truthful. She _did_ know; night and day +she was worrying about the new gymnasium costume. + +Should she order one, or should she not? Could she buy a little of the +crimson ribbon and put it on her old uniform and thus pass muster? What +would the girls say, if she did that? + +And what would they say if she appeared at the exhibition in her old +costume? Was she purely selfish in trying to get out of buying the new +dress? Was her reason for not wishing to break into that roll of coin a +bad one, after all? + +Those questions kept coming to Ruth Fielding, and got between her and +her books. Mrs. Tellingham called her into the office early in October +and pointed out to her that, unless her averages increased, her standing +in her class would be greatly changed. + +"You are doing no outside work, Miss Fielding?" inquired the principal. + +"No, Ma'am." + +"I hear you are helping two of the other girls--in a perfectly +legitimate way, of course. It is not taking too much out of you?" + +"Oh, no, dear Mrs. Tellingham!" cried Ruth, fearful that her tutoring +would be forbidden. + +"You are not working too hard in the gym.?" + +"I do not think so," stammered Ruth. + +"And _this_ is ridiculous," said Mrs. Tellingham, with a smile. "I do +not think there is a more robust looking girl in my school. But, there +must be something." + +"I suppose so," murmured Ruth. + +"But you do not know what it is? If you do, tell me." + +"I study just as hard, Mrs. Tellingham," said Ruth, non-committally. "I +spend quite as much thought over my books. Really, I think I shall do +better again." + +"I hope so. I do not want to see any bright girl like you fall behind. +There is always some reason for such changes, but sometimes we teachers +have hard work to get at it. I want all my girls to have confidence in +me and to tell me if anything goes wrong with them." + +"Yes, Ma'am," said Ruth, guiltily. + +But she could not take the principal of Briarwood Hall into her +confidence--she positively could _not_ do it! How ridiculous it would +seem to the dignified Mrs. Grace Tellingham that she did not dip into +the money her uncle had given her to buy that costume! + +And she was losing her standing, and worrying everybody who cared, +because of this temptation. She knew she was doing wrong in falling +behind in her studies. + +Surely _that_ was not the way to give Uncle Jabez the best return +possible for his investment. If she fell back in her books this year, +Ruth knew she would never be able to make it up. She must either be +prepared for college half a year later, or skip some work that would be +found wanting at a later time--would be a thorn in her flesh, indeed, +for the remainder of her school life. + +One hour Ruth told herself that she would be decisive--she would be +brave--she would not move in her determination to keep the fifty dollars +intact. And then, the next hour, her heart would sink, as she looked +forward to what would be said and thought by her companions when the +exhibition day came around and she appeared in her old suit. + +She thought seriously of trying to withdraw in season from the +exhibition class. But unfortunately she could not easily do that. The +instructor had selected the twenty girls herself, and what excuse--what +honest excuse--could Ruth give for demanding her release? + +"Oh, dear me!" she thought, tossing on her pillow at night, "if I could +only be the means of returning that necklace to Mrs. Parsons! My +troubles would all be over for sure. + +"Mr. Cameron's detectives will _never_ find that old Queen Zelaya, but I +bet Roberto knows just where she has gone for the winter." + +With this in mind she tried again and again to get some information out +of Tony Foyle's new helper. Roberto always had a smile for her, and +seemed willing enough to try to make signs about anything and everything +but his tribe and his grandmother. + +And so smart was he that his gestures were very understandable indeed, +when he wished to give information about the new work that he loved, and +about the fall flowers and bulbs which were being taken up for storage +in the conservatory against the cold of winter. + +It seemed strange--indeed, it made Ruth suspicious--that Roberto could +convey his meaning so easily by gesture when the subject was not one +regarding the missing Gypsies! + +Again and again the thought came to the girl that the Gypsy boy was +actually "playing possum." Knowing, perhaps, that he would be questioned +about his grandmother, and not wishing to give information about her or +her tribe, he had decided to become dumb. + +Yet, if this was so, how wonderfully well he did it! Even the doctor at +the hospital could not understand the case. + +Roberto's condition certainly was puzzling. And Ruth believed that he +held the clew to the whereabouts of Queen Zelaya and the pearl necklace. +That being the case, he stood between Ruth and that great reward which +the girl of the Red Mill was so anxious to win. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +NETTIE PARSONS' FEAST + + +Incidentally there was as much fun going on at Briarwood Hall as usual +this fall, but Ruth Fielding did not entirely enjoy any of the frolics +in which she necessarily had a part. + +The work of the Sweetbriar organization was all that really interested +her in this line. Several new girls who entered the school in September +who were old enough, joined the association, besides others who were +advanced from the lower classes. + +It was an honor--and was so considered by all--to be invited to become a +Sweetbriar. Within the association was much innocent entertainment. +Picnics, musicals, evening parties approved by the school faculty--even +little feasts after curfew--were hatched within the membership. + +Nettie Parsons, the daughter of the "sugar king," was destined never to +be very popular in the school. Those girls who hoped to benefit by +Nettie's wealth soon found that money meant as little to Nettie as to +any girl at Briarwood. + +On the other hand, she was no brilliant scholar, and she made friends +slowly. Ruth and Helen determined to help the "poor little rich girl," +as they called her, and they egged her on to give a midnight reception +in the room Nettie occupied with three other girls in the West +Dormitory. + +"There's no way so sure to the hearts of these girls than through their +stomachs," Mercy said, when she heard of the plan. "Let poor Net stuff +them full of indigestible 'goodies,' and they will remember her for +life!" + +"Why put it that way, Mercy?" drawled Heavy. "You know, you are fond of +a bit of candy, or a pickle, yourself. The 'goodies' which we do not get +at the school table are 'gifts of the gods.' They are unexpected +pleasures. And when eaten after hours, with a blanket for a tablecloth +and candles for lights, they become 'forbidden fruit,' which is known to +be the sweetest of all!" + +"Listen to Jen going into rhapsodies over eatables!" sniffed The Fox. +"Give her her way, and every composition she handed in to Miss Gould +would be a menu." + +"Bah!" scoffed Heavy. "You eat your share when you get a chance, I +notice." + +"When Heavy is free from the scholastic yoke, and bosses her father's +house for good," said Helen, "every dinner will make old Luculus turn in +his grave and groan with envy----" + +"Or with indigestion," snapped Mercy. "The girl will positively _burst_ +some day!" + +"I don't care," mourned Heavy, shaking her head. "It isn't what I get to +eat at Briarwood that makes me fat--that's sure." + +"No," chuckled Ruth. "You grow plump on the remembrance of what you have +already eaten, dear. Who was it ate three plates of floating island last +night for supper?" + +"Well!" cried Heavy, with wide open eyes, "you wouldn't want me to leave +them and let them go to waste, would you? Both you and Helen left your +shares, and the cook would have been hurt, if the pudding had come back +untouched." + +"Kind-hearted girl!" said The Fox, with a sniff. + +After-hour parties were frowned upon by Mrs. Tellingham and the +teachers, of course; not for the mild breaking of the school rules +entailed, but because the girls' stomachs were apt to suffer. + +In the West Dormitory, too, Miss Picolet was known to be very sharp-eyed +and sharp-eared for such occasions. It took some wit to circumvent Miss +Picolet; perhaps that is why the girls on Ruth's corridor so delighted +in holding orgies unbeknown to the little French teacher. + +Miss Scrimp, the matron, was a heavy sleeper. The girls did not worry +about her. + +Nettie Parsons' room was at the very end of the cross-corridor, and +farthest from the stairway. The stairway went up through the middle of +the big brick dormitory building, and perhaps _that_ was not the best +arrangement in case of fire; but there were plenty of fire escapes on +the outside. + +The question which at once arose, when the sixteen girls Nettie chose +had been invited to the feast, was who should stand guard? + +This was always a matter for discussion--sometimes for heart burnings, +too. It was no pleasant task to sit out upon the cold stairway and watch +for the opening of Miss Picolet's door below. + +Sometimes they decided by casting lots. Sometimes some girl who was very +good-natured was inveigled into taking her plate of goodies out there in +the dimly lit corridor. And sometimes one had to be bribed to stand +watch for the others. + +Miss Picolet was always known to light her candle when she was disturbed +by any sound, or suspicion; then she would come to her door and listen. +She never moved about her room without a light, that was one good thing! +The girl on watch had warning the instant the French teacher opened her +door. + +But of the sixteen girls Nettie Parsons had chosen, not one wanted to +play sentinel. Some of them said they would rather not attend the +jamboree at all! + +The season was far enough advanced for the nights to be cold, and the +corridors were not warm after the steam went down. The party was called +for ten o'clock. By that time frost would most likely be gathering on +the window panes. + +"Catch _me_ bundling up in a fur coat and mittens and stopping out there +in that draughty place!" cried The Fox, "while the rest of you are +stuffing yourself to repletion in a nice warm room." + +"Thought you didn't care for the goodies?" demanded Heavy, slily. + +"I don't care for catching my death of cold, Miss!" snapped Mary Cox. + +Neither Lluella, nor Belle, would "be the goat." Of course, it was +understood that Heavy herself could never be out of reach of the cake +plates! Nettie would not hear of Ruth being on watch. + +"I have it!" said Ruth, at last. "Leave it to me. I'll find a new guard, +and I know he will not fail us." + +"Who is that?" demanded her chum. + +"Roberto." + +"Goodness me!" exclaimed Nettie. "Not that boy who helps Foyle?" + +"That's the one. And he'll do anything for Ruth," declared Helen, +promptly. + +"Anything but talk!" thought Ruth, to herself, but she did not say it +aloud. + +"I don't see how _he_ can help us," Ann Hicks said. "He can't come into +the dormitory." + +"I--guess--not!" cried Helen. + +"But he won't mind watching outside," Ruth explained. "At least, I'll +ask him----" + +"But what good will _that_ do?" demanded Heavy. "If Miss Picolet gets up +out of her warm nest, _he_ won't know it." + +"Yes, he will," said Ruth, nodding. + +The Fox began to laugh. "Don't let _her_ hear you say that, Fielding. +Picolet is an awful old maid. She would be horrified, if she thought a +male person even imagined her in bed!" + +"But how will he know?" demanded Ann. + +"That's easy," laughed Ruth. "He will stand where he can watch her +window. If he sees her candle lit, he will give the alarm." + +"How?" asked Nettie. + +"We'll rig a 'tick-tack'--you know what I mean?" + +"Oh, don't I!" giggled Heavy. + +"Roberto can pull the string below, and that will make a tick-tack rap +on Nettie's window." + +"Splendid!" cried the giver of the feast. "You just see if he will do +it, Miss Fielding. And I'll give him a dollar--or more, if he wants +it." + +"A dollar will be a lot of money for Roberto," laughed Helen. "But he +won't do it for that." + +"No?" + +"Of course not. He'll only do it because Ruth asks him." + +Which was really the fact. Roberto understood well enough what was +desired of him. Ruth pointed out the French teacher's window, and the +windows of Nettie Parsons' quartette room. From one of them would hang a +weighted string on that night. Everything was agreed, and the feast +planned. + +It was a starlight night, when it arrived, but Roberto could find a +place to hide in the shrubbery, where he could watch both windows, as +agreed. He slept in a little back room of Tony Foyle's suite in the +basement of the main building, and could get out and in without +disturbing Mr. and Mrs. Foyle. + +If he were caught out of his room after hours, Ruth knew that Tony would +be angry, but she had great influence with the little Irishman and +promised Roberto that she would "make it all right" for him, if he were +caught. + +The hour of the party came. The West Dormitory had apparently been "in +the arms of Morpheus" for half an hour, at least. + +"But Mr. Murphy didn't get a strangle hold on us to-night," giggled +Heavy, as she led the procession from her room. + +The girls were all in their kimonas, and many brought plates, knives and +forks, cups, and other paraphernalia for the feast. There was to be hot +chocolate and there were two alcohol lamps and two pots. + +The Fox presided over one lamp and Heavy bossed the other one. There was +something wrong with the plump girl's lamp; either it had been filled +too full, or it leaked. From the start it kept flaring and frightening +the girls. + +"I really wish you would not use that old contraption!" exclaimed Ann +Hicks. "It's just as uncertain as a pinto pony." + +"Never you mind," snapped Heavy. "I guess I know----" + +Pouf! + +The flames flared suddenly. Heavy leaped back, stumbled over another +girl, and went sprawling. The flames did not touch her, but they _did_ +ignite the curtain at the window. + +There was a great squealing as the girls ran. Nobody dared tear down the +blazing curtain, and the flames leaped higher and higher each instant. + +Then one of the most frightened of the company jerked open the door, put +her head out into the corridor, and shrieked "Fire!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +ROBERTO FINDS HIS VOICE + + +That settled it! There was a full-fledged panic in that quartette room +in an instant. It bade fair, too, to spread to the whole building. + +Ruth, who had been busy distributing cakes before the accident, sprang +to the open door, seized the girl who had yelled, and literally "yanked" +her back into the room. Then she banged the door to and placed her back +against it. + +"Stop!" she cried, yet in a low voice. "Don't be foolish. It's only a +little fire. We can put it out. Don't rouse the whole house and frighten +everybody." + +"Oh, Ruth! I can't reach it!" wailed Helen, who was really trying to +pull down the curtain. + +Ann ran with a bowl of water and tried to splash it over the burning +curtain. But the bowl tipped backwards and part of the water went over +Heavy, who was just trying to struggle to her feet. + +"Oh! oh! wow!" gasped the plump girl. "I'm drowning! Do you think I'm +afire, Ann Hicks?" + +Some of the others were sane enough to laugh, but the more nervous girls +were already in tears, and the fire _was_ spreading from one curtain to +the other. There was a smell of scorching varnish, too. The window frame +was catching! + +In the very midst of the confusion, when it seemed positive that the +whole school must be aroused, there came a commanding rap upon the +window pane. It was not the gentle signal of the tick-tack--no, indeed! + +"Will you hear _that_?" gasped Belle Tingley. "Miss Picolet's up." + +"No!" cried Ruth, from the other end of the room. "Open that window, +Ann! It's Roberto. He's climbed the fire-escape." + +"My goodness me!" gasped The Fox. "I never was so glad to see a boy in +all my life! Let him in--do!" + +No sooner said than done. The girl from Silver Ranch had her wits about +her. She snapped open the catch and raised the sash. + +Into the room bounded the Gypsy lad. He had seen the flames from the +ground and he immediately knew what to do when he got inside. + +He seized a chair, leaped up into it, and with his long arms was enabled +to tear down the blazing hangings. These he thrust into the bowl of +water. + +"Oh, Roberto! your hands are burned!" cried Ruth, darting to his side, +as the fire was quenched. + +"Never you mind, little Missy----" + +He halted, staring at her. Then his face flushed like fire and his eyes +dropped before her accusing gaze. + +"You _can_ speak!" exclaimed the girl from the Red Mill. "You _can_!" + +"He's gotten back his tongue!" cried Helen, in surprise. "Isn't that +wonderful?" + +But Ruth was sure, by the Gypsy boy's shamefaced look, that there was +nothing wonderful about it at all. Roberto had been able to speak all +the time, but he did not wish to. Now, in his excitement, he had +betrayed the fact. + +There was too much confusion just then for the matter to be discussed or +explained. The girls, seeing that the fire was out, scattered at once to +their rooms. Roberto left instantly by the window, and Ruth helped +Nettie and her roommates repair the damage as well as possible. + +"I'll buy new curtains for the windows," said the "sugar king's" +daughter. "And I'm only glad nothing worse happened." + +"The worst hasn't happened yet," giggled one of her roommates. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I saw Jennie Stone take a bag of pickles, some seed cakes, a citron +bun, and about half a pound of candy with her, when she flew. If she +absorbs all that to-night, she will be sick to-morrow, that's all!" + +"Well," Ruth advised, "the best we can do won't hide the damage. Miss +Scrimp will find out about the fire, anyway. The best thing to do is to +make a clean breast of it, Nettie. I'm sorry the feast was a failure, +but we all know you did your best." + +"I'm thankful it was no worse," returned the new girl. "And how brave +that Gypsy boy was, Ruth! I must thank him to-morrow." + +"You leave him to me," said the girl of the Red Mill, grimly. "I want to +talk to Roberto myself." + +When she got back to her excited roommates, she said little about the +wonderful recovery of the Gypsy boy's power of speech, until Mercy and +Ann were asleep. Then she said to Helen Cameron: + +"I am going to telegraph to your father the first thing in the morning. +Roberto has been fooling us all. You can't tell me! I know he's been +able to talk all the time." + +"You don't really think so, dear?" asked Helen. + +"I do. He must have been conscious when we picked him up that time and +carried him to the carriage. And we mentioned his grandmother then and +the necklace. He's just as sharp as a knife, you know; he's been dumb +for a purpose. He did not want to be questioned about Zelaya and the +missing pearl necklace." + +"My goodness me! Father will be _so_ angry," cried Helen. + +"Roberto will have to tell. I like him, and he was very brave to-night. +But I do not believe the boy is a thief himself, and he would be better +if he entirely left his thieving relatives." + +"Maybe he'll run away," suggested Helen. + +But Roberto would have been obliged to start very early that next +morning to have run away. Ruth Fielding was the first person up in the +school, and she was standing outside Tony's door, when the little +Irishman first appeared. + +"Helen Cameron wants you to take this telegram down to the office at +once, Tony," she said. "Mrs. Tellingham knows about it. We are in a +dreadful hurry. Is Roberto inside?" + +"Sure he is, Miss----" + +"You take the message; don't let Roberto see it, and you keep your eye +on that boy to-day, until Mr. Cameron arrives. He'll want to see him." + +"Now, don't be tellin' me th' bye has been inter mischief?" cried the +warm-hearted Irishman. + +"Not much. Only he's suddenly recovered the use of his tongue, Tony, and +Mr. Cameron wants to talk with him." + +"Gracious powers!" murmured Tony. "Recovered his spache, has he? The +saints be praised!" + +He obeyed Ruth, however, in each particular. If Roberto had it in his +mind to run away, he had no chance to do so that day. Tony watched him +sharply, and in the evening Mr. Cameron arrived at Briarwood Hall. + +The gentleman greeted his daughter and Ruth in Mrs. Tellingham's parlor, +but when he interviewed Roberto, it was downstairs in Tony Foyle's +rooms. + +The girls saw Mr. Cameron only for a moment after that. He was just +starting for the train, and Roberto was going with him. + +"The young rascal has admitted just what Ruth suspected," said Mr. +Cameron, chuckling a little. "He fooled us all--including the doctor. +Though the Doc., I reckon, suspected strongly that the boy could talk, +if he desired to. + +"Roberto did not want to be questioned. Now he has told me that his +grandmother did not go south at all. He says she often spends the winter +in New York City as do other Gypsies. She is really a great character +among her people, and with the information I have gathered, I believe +the New York police will be able to locate her. + +"I shall hang on to Master Roberto until the matter is closed up. He +will say nothing about the necklace. He'll not even own up that he ever +saw it. But he tells me that his grandmother is a miser and hoards up +valuables just like a magpie." + +Helen's father and the Gypsy boy went away then, and the chums had to +possess their souls with patience, and attend strictly to their school +work, until they could hear how the matter turned out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS + + +It was not likely that Ruth found it any easier, after this, to attend +strictly to her school duties, but after her conversation with Mrs. +Tellingham she _had_ put forth a greater effort to recover her standing +in her class. + +Whether Mrs. Parsons' necklace was found, or not; whether Ruth obtained +a portion of the reward in pay for the information she had lodged, the +girl realized that she had no right to neglect her studies. + +She had come to one conclusion at least: whether or no, she would not +break into that fifty dollars Uncle Jabez had given her so unwillingly. +And she would use no more of his money for vacation jaunts, or for +luxuries. + +"I must accept his help in gaining my education," she told herself. "But +beyond that, I need not go. I have gone about, and had good times, and +bought many things just as though I really had a right to expect Uncle +Jabez to supply every need. + +"No more of that, Ruth Fielding! You prate of wishing to be +independent: be so in any event!" + +She was young to come to such a determination; yet Ruth's experiences +since her parents had died were such as would naturally make her +self-assertive. She knew what she wanted, _and she went after it_! + +As for the matter of the new gymnasium suit--why! that Ruth gave up +entirely. She decided that she had no business to use Uncle Jabez's +money for it, and of course she could not go into debt for a new +costume. + +No matter what the other girls thought, or what they did, _she_ would +have to be content with her old uniform when it came to the exhibition +games. + +She did not have the courage yet to tell even Helen of this decision; +nevertheless she was determined to stick to it. At once she had begun to +pick up in recitation marks, and Miss Gould no longer scowled over +Ruth's reports. + +The strain of mind had been considerable, however; Ruth had much to make +up in her studies; she wasted no time and began to forge ahead again. + +She would not even think of Roberto and Mr. Cameron's search for Queen +Zelaya. Helen was full of the topic, and often tried to discuss it with +Ruth, but the latter put it aside. + +She had done all she could (or so she thought) to help restore the +missing pearl necklace to Nettie's aunt. Worrying about it any more was +not going to help a bit. + +It seemed too ridiculous to think of _her_ ever obtaining five thousand +dollars--or any part of that generous reward! + +So the busy days passed. Helen heard from her father several times, but +although she knew he was in New York, ostensibly buying goods, and that +he had Roberto with him, the gentleman said very little about the other +Gypsies and the missing necklace. + +Then one day Mrs. Tellingham sent for Ruth. To be sent for by the +principal never frightened the girl of the Red Mill--much. She stood +well on the principal's books, she knew. + +But the lady had called her to discuss nothing about the school work. +She had a letter and a railroad ticket in her hand. + +"Tony has telephoned for Dolliver to come for you, Ruth," said Mrs. +Tellingham. "You must go away----" + +"Nothing has happened at home? Uncle Jabez--Aunt Alvirah----?" + +"Nothing is wrong with them at all, my dear," declared the lady, kindly. +"It is Mr. Cameron. He wants you to come to New York at once. Here is +transportation for you. He will meet your train at the Grand Central +Station." + +"Mrs. Parsons' necklace!" gasped Ruth. + +"He says something about that--yes," said Mrs. Tellingham. "It is +important for you to come and identify somebody, I believe. You must +tell him that, at this time in the term, you can be spared only a short +time." + +All was bustle and confusion for Ruth during the next two hours. Then +she found herself on the train bound for New York. She had a section of +the sleeper to herself, and arrived in the city the next morning at an +early hour. + +She was making her toilette, as the electric engine whisked the long +train through the upper reaches of the city, and she marveled at the +awakening Bronx and Harlem streets. + +When she came out through the gateway of the trainshed, she saw a youth +standing by, watching the on-coming passengers sharply. But she was +almost upon him, and he had stepped forward, lifting his hat and putting +out a hand to take her bag, before she recognized Roberto, the Gypsy +boy. + +But how changed in appearance! Of course, he was still dark of skin, and +his black eyes flashed. But he had removed the gold rings from his ears, +his hair had been trimmed to a proper length, he was dressed smartly in +a gray suit, and wore a nice hat and shoes. + +Altogether Roberto was a very handsome youth indeed--more so now than +when he had been a wild boy! + +"You do not know me, Miss Fielding?" he said, his eyes twinkling and a +warm blush rising in his cheeks. + +"You--you are so changed!" gasped Ruth. + +"Yes. Mr. Cameron is a fine man," said the boy, nodding. "I like him. He +do all this for me," and he made a gesture that included his new outfit, +and flashed her another brilliant smile. + +"Oh! how it does improve you, Roberto!" she cried. + +"_Robert_, if you please," he said, laughing. "_I_ am going to be +American boy--yes. I have left the Gypsy boy forever behind--eh?" + +Ruth fairly clapped her hands. "Do you mean all that, Robert?" she +cried. + +"Sure!" he said proudly. "I like America. Yes! I have been here now ten +years, and it suit me. And Mr. Cameron say I can go to school and learn +to be American business man. That is better than trading horses--eh?" + +"Oh, isn't that fine!" cried the girl of the Red Mill. "Now, where are +you going to take me?" + +"To the hotel. Mr. Cameron will wait breakfast for us," declared the +lad, and in ten minutes Ruth was greeting her chum's father across the +restaurant table. + +"And I suppose you are just about eaten up with curiosity as to why I +sent for you?" Mr. Cameron asked her, smiling, when Robert had gone out +on an errand. + +"Just about, sir," admitted the girl. + +"Why, I want to tell you, my dear, that you are likely to be a very +lucky girl indeed. The five thousand dollars reward----" + +"You haven't found the necklace?" + +"Yes, indeed. That has been found and identified. What I want you for is +so you can identify that old Gypsy, Queen Zelaya. I did not want to +force her grandson to appear against her before the authorities. But you +can do so with a clear conscience. + +"Queen Zelaya will be sent back to Bohemia. She has a bad record, and +entered the country secretly some years ago. Your evidence will enable +the Federal authorities to clinch their case, and return the old woman +to the country of her birth. + +"It is not believed that she actually stole the pearl necklace, but it +is plain she shared in the proceeds of all the Gypsies' plundering, and +in this case she took the giant's portion. + +"We could not prove robbery upon her, but she can be transported, and +she shall be," concluded Mr. Cameron, firmly. + +This was what finally happened to Queen Zelaya. Her clan was broken up, +and not one of them was ever seen in the neighborhood of the Red +Mill--or elsewhere in that county--again. + +Robert Mazell, as is the Gypsy boy's Americanized name, promises to be +all that he told Ruth he hoped to be--in time. He must begin at the +bottom of the educational ladder, but he is so quick to learn that his +patron, Mr. Cameron, tells Tom, laughingly, that _he_, Tom, will have to +look to his laurels, or the boy from Bohemia will outstrip him. + +Having carried out the trailing of the Gypsy Queen at his own expense, +and recovered the necklace privately, Mr. Cameron did not have to divide +the reward offered by Mrs. Rachel Parsons with anybody. + +The entire five thousand dollars was deposited in Ruth's name in the +Cheslow Savings Bank. And this happened in time so that Ruth could draw +enough of her fortune to get a new gymnasium costume for the mid-winter +exhibition! + +She did not have to use the money Uncle Jabez grudgingly gave her. Her +tuition fees were paid in advance for this year at Briarwood Hall, but +she determined thereafter to pay all her own expenses, at school and +elsewhere. + +At last she felt herself to be independent. By going to Mr. Cameron, she +could get money when she wished, without annoying the miller, and for +this situation she was very very thankful. + +Her life stretched before her over a much pleasanter path than ever +before. There were kind friends whom she could help in the future, as +they needed help--and that delighted Ruth Fielding. + +Her own future seemed secure. She could prepare herself for college and +could gain the education she craved. It seemed that nothing could balk +her ambition in that direction. And so--this seems to be a very good +place indeed in which to bid good-bye for a time to Ruth Fielding of the +Red Mill. + +THE END + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES + +By ALICE B. EMERSON + +12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 40 cents, postpaid. + +Ruth Fielding was an orphan and came to live with her miserly uncle. By +her sunny disposition she melted the old miller's heart. Her adventures +and travels make stories that will hold the interest of every reader. +The Ruth Fielding Series is the biggest and best selling series of books +for girls ever published. + +Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill + or Jaspar Parloe's Secret + +Ruth Fielding at Briarwood Hall + or Solving the Campus Mystery + +Ruth Fielding at Snow Camp + or Lost in the Backwoods + +Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point + or Nita, the Girl Castaway + +Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch + or Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys + +Ruth Fielding on Cliff Island + or The Old Hunter's Treasure Box + +Ruth Fielding at Sunrise Farm + or What Became of the Raby Orphans + +Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies + or The Missing Pearl Necklace + +Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures (New) + or Helping the Dormitory Fund + +Ruth Fielding Down in Dixie (New) + or Great Days in the Land of Cotton + +Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue + +CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE MOTOR GIRLS SERIES + +By MARGARET PENROSE + +Author of the highly successful "Dorothy Dale Series" + +12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid. + +Since the enormous success of our "Motor Boys Series," by Clarence +Young, we have been asked to get out a similar series for girls. No one +is better equipped to furnish these tales than Mrs. Penrose, who, +besides being an able writer, is an expert automobilist. + +The Motor Girls + or A Mystery of the Road + +The Motor Girls on a Tour + or Keeping a Strange Promise + +The Motor Girls at Lookout Beach + or In Quest of the Runaways + +The Motor Girls Through New England + or Held by the Gypsies + +The Motor Girls on Cedar Lake + or The Hermit of Fern Island + +The Motor Girls on the Coast + or The Waif from the Sea + +The Motor Girls on Crystal Bay + or The Secret of the Red Oar + +The Motor Girls on Waters Blue + or The Strange Cruise of the Tartar + +The Motor Girls at Camp Surprise + or The Cave in the Mountain + +Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue + +CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE DOROTHY DALE SERIES + +By MARGARET PENROSE + +Author of "The Motor Girls Series" + +12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid. + +Dorothy Dale is the daughter of an old Civil War veteran who is running +a weekly newspaper in a small Eastern town. Her sunny disposition, her +fun-loving ways and her trials and triumphs make clean, interesting and +fascinating reading. The Dorothy Dale Series is one of the most popular +series of books for girls ever published. + +Dorothy Dale: a Girl of To-day +Dorothy Dale at Glenwood School +Dorothy Dale's Great Secret +Dorothy Dale and Her Chums +Dorothy Dale's Queer Holidays +Dorothy Dale's Camping Days +Dorothy Dale's School Rivals +Dorothy Dale in the City +Dorothy Dale's Promise +Dorothy Dale in the West +Dorothy Dale's Strange Discovery (New) + +Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue + +CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE SADDLE BOYS SERIES + +By CAPTAIN JAMES CARSON + +12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 40 cents, postpaid. + +All lads who love life in the open air and a good steed, will want to +peruse these books. Captain Carson knows his subject thoroughly, and his +stories are as pleasing as they are healthful and instructive. + +The Saddle Boys of the Rockies + or Lost on Thunder Mountain + +Telling how the lads started out to solve the mystery of a great noise +in the mountains--how they got lost--and of the things they discovered. + +The Saddle Boys in the Grand Canyon + or The Hermit of the Cave + +A weird and wonderful story of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, told in +a most absorbing manner. The Saddle Boys are to the front in a manner to +please all young readers. + +The Saddle Boys on the Plains + or After a Treasure of Gold + +In this story the scene is shifted to the great plains of the southwest +and then to the Mexican border. There is a stirring struggle for gold, +told as only Captain Carson can tell it. + +The Saddle Boys at Circle Ranch + or In at the Grand Round-up + +Here we have lively times at the ranch, and likewise the particulars of +a grand round-up of cattle and encounters with wild animals and also +cattle thieves. A story that breathes the very air of the plains. + +The Saddle Boys on Mexican Trails + or In the Hands of the Enemy + +The scene is shifted in this volume to Mexico. The boys go on an +important errand, and are caught between the lines of the Mexican +soldiers. They are captured and for a while things look black for them; +but all ends happily. + +CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +UP-TO-DATE BASEBALL STORIES + +THE BASEBALL JOE SERIES + +By LESTER CHADWICK + +Author of "The College Sports Series" + +12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid. + +Baseball Joe of the Silver Stars + or The Rivals of Riverside + +In this volume, the first of the series, Joe is introduced as an +everyday country boy who loves to play baseball and is particularly +anxious to make his mark as a pitcher. A splendid picture of the great +national game in the smaller towns of our country. + +Baseball Joe on the School Nine + or Pitching for the Blue Banner + +Joe's great ambition was to go to boarding school and play on the school +team. He got to boarding school but found it harder making the team +there than it was getting on the nine at home. + +Baseball Joe at Yale + or Pitching for the College Championship + +From a preparatory school Baseball Joe goes to Yale University. He makes +the freshman nine and in his second year becomes a varsity pitcher and +pitches in several big games. + +Baseball Joe in the Central League + or Making Good as a Professional Pitcher + +In this volume the scene of action is shifted from Yale College to a +baseball league of our central states. Baseball Joe's work in the box +for Old Eli had been noted by one of the managers and Joe gets an offer +he cannot resist. + +Baseball Joe in the Big League + or A Young Pitcher's Hardest Struggle + +From the Central League Joe is drafted into the St. Louis Nationals. At +first he has little to do in the pitcher's box, but gradually he wins +favor. A corking baseball story that fans, both young and old, will +enjoy. + +Baseball Joe on the Giants + or Making Good as a Twirler in the Metropolis + +How Joe was traded to the Giants and became their mainstay in the box +makes an interesting baseball story. + +Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue + +CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE MOTOR BOYS SECOND SERIES +(Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of.) + +By CLARENCE YOUNG + +12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid. + +This, the Second Series of the now world famed Motor Boys virtually +starts a new series, but retains all the favorite characters introduced +in the previous books. The Motor Boys Series is the biggest and best +selling series of books for boys ever published. + +Ned, Bob and Jerry at Boxwood Hall + or The Motor Boys as Freshmen + +Fresh from their adventures in their automobile, their motor boat and +their airship, the youths are sent to college to complete their +interrupted education. Some boys at the institution of learning have +heard much about our heroes, and so conclude that the Motor Boys will +try to run everything to suit themselves. + +A plot is formed to keep our heroes entirely in the background and not +let them participate in athletics and other contests. How the Motor Boys +forged to the front and made warm friends of their rivals makes +unusually interesting reading. + +Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue + +CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE Y.M.C.A. BOYS SERIES + +By BROOKS HENDERLEY + +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid. + +This new series relates the doings of a wide-awake boys' club of the Y. +M. C. A., full of good times and everyday, practical Christianity. +Clean, elevating and full of fun and vigor, books that should be read by +every boy. + +The Y. M. C. A. Boys of Cliffwood + or The Struggle for the Holwell Prize + +Telling how the boys of Cliffwood were a wild set and how, on +Hallowe'en, they turned the home town topsy-turvy. This led to an +organization of a boys' department in the local Y. M. C. A. When the +lads realized what was being done for them, they joined in the movement +with vigor and did all they could to help the good cause. To raise funds +they gave a minstrel show and other entertainments, and a number of them +did their best to win a gold medal offered by a local minister who was +greatly interested in the work of upbuilding youthful character. + +The Y. M. C. A. Boys on Bass Island + or The Mystery of Russabaga Camp + +Summer was at hand, and at a meeting of the boys of the Y. M. C. A. of +Cliffwood, it was decided that a regular summer camp should be +instituted. This was located at a beautiful spot on Bass Island, and +there the lads went boating, swimming, fishing and tramping to their +heart's content. There were a great many surprises, but in the end the +boys managed to clear up a mystery of long standing. Incidentally, the +volume gives a clear insight into the workings of the now justly popular +summer camps of the Y. M. C. A., throughout the United States. + +Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue + +CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE MOTOR BOYS SERIES +(Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of.) + +By CLARENCE YOUNG + +12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid. + +The Motor Boys + or Chums Through Thick and Thin + +The Motor Boys Overland + or A Lone Trip for Fun and Fortune + +The Motor Boys in Mexico. + or The Secret of The Buried City + +The Motor Boys Across the Plains + or The Hermit of Lost Lake + +The Motor Boys Afloat + or The Stirring Cruise of the Dartaway + +The Motor Boys on the Atlantic + or The Mystery of the Lighthouse + +The Motor Boys in Strange Waters + or Lost in a Floating Forest + +The Motor Boys on the Pacific + or The Young Derelict Hunters + +The Motor Boys in the Clouds + or A Trip for Fame and Fortune + +The Motor Boys Over the Rockies + or A Mystery of the Air + +The Motor Boys Over the Ocean + or A Marvellous Rescue in Mid-Air + +The Motor Boys on the Wing + or Seeking the Airship Treasure + +The Motor Boys After a Fortune + or The Hut on Snake Island + +The Motor Boys on the Border + or Sixty Nuggets of Gold + +The Motor Boys Under the Sea + or From Airship to Submarine + +The Motor Boys on Road and River + or Racing to Save a Life + +CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies, by Alice B. 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