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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High on Track and Field, by 
+Gertrude W. Morrison
+
+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: The Girls of Central High on Track and Field
+       The Champions of the School League
+
+Author: Gertrude W. Morrison
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2010 [EBook #34749]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: BOBBY WON BY A CLEAN TWO YARDS]
+
+
+
+
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD
+
+OR
+
+THE CHAMPIONS OF THE SCHOOL LEAGUE
+
+by
+
+GERTRUDE W. MORRISON
+
+  Author of The Girls of Central High,
+  The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna, etc.
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.
+
+AKRON, OHIO -- NEW YORK
+
+MADE IN U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1914 by
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+
+
+
+Table of Contents
+
+  - CHAPTER I--THE GIRL ON THE STONE FENCE
+  - CHAPTER II--HIDE AND SEEK
+  - CHAPTER III--THE GYPSY CAMP
+  - CHAPTER IV--THE GYPSY QUEEN
+  - CHAPTER V--THE SITUATION LOOKS SERIOUS
+  - CHAPTER VI--PRESSING HOSPITALITY
+  - CHAPTER VII--THE YELLOW KERCHIEF AGAIN
+  - CHAPTER VIII--THE GIRL IN THE STORM
+  - CHAPTER IX--THE GYPSIES AGAIN
+  - CHAPTER X--EVE'S ADVENTURE
+  - CHAPTER XI--BOBBY IS INTERESTED
+  - CHAPTER XII--THE RACES
+  - CHAPTER XIII--WHAT MARGIT SAID
+  - CHAPTER XIV--ANOTHER FLITTING
+  - CHAPTER XV--ANOTHER RIVALRY ON THE FIELD
+  - CHAPTER XVI--FIVE IN A TOWER
+  - CHAPTER XVII--EVE TAKES A RISK
+  - CHAPTER XVIII--THE CONSCIENCE OF PRETTYMAN SWEET
+  - CHAPTER XIX--MARGIT AND MISS CARRINGTON MEET
+  - CHAPTER XX--INTER-CLASS RIVALRY
+  - CHAPTER XXI--MARGIT'S MYSTERY
+  - CHAPTER XXII--LOU POTTER SCORES ONE
+  - CHAPTER XXIII--THE FIELD DAY
+  - CHAPTER XXIV--MARGIT PAYS A DEBT
+  - CHAPTER XXV--THE WINNING POINTS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I--THE GIRL ON THE STONE FENCE
+
+
+The roads were muddy, but the uplands and the winding sheep-paths across
+them had dried out under the caressing rays of the Spring sun and, with
+the budding things of so many delicate shades of green, the groves and
+pastures--all nature, indeed--were garbed in loveliness.
+
+The group of girls had toiled up the ascent to an overhanging rock on
+the summit of a long ridge. Below--in view from this spot for some
+rods--wound the brown ribbon of road which they had been following until
+the upland paths invited their feet to firmer tread.
+
+There were seven of the girls and every one of the seven--in her
+way--was attractive. But the briskest, and most eager, and most
+energetic, was really the smaller--a black-eyed, be-curled, laughing
+miss who seemed bubbling over with high spirits.
+
+"Sit down--do, Bobby! It makes me simply _ache_ to see you flitting
+around like a robin. And I'm tired to death!" begged one girl, who had
+dropped in weariness on the huge, gray rock.
+
+"How can you expect to dance half the night, Jess Morse, and then start
+off on a regular walking 'tower?'" demanded the girl addressed. "_I_
+didn't go to Mabel Boyd's party last night. As Gee Gee says, 'I
+conserved my energies.'"
+
+"I don't believe anything ever tires you, Bobs," said the girl who sat
+next to Jess--a vigorous, good looking maid with a very direct gaze, who
+was attractively gowned in a brown walking dress. "You are next door to
+perpetual motion."
+
+"How'd you know who I was next door to?" laughed Clara Hargrew, whom her
+friends insisted on calling "Bobby" because her father, Tom Hargrew, had
+nicknamed her that when she was little, desiring a boy in the family
+when only girls had been vouchsafed to him.
+
+"And it is a fact that that French family who have moved into the little
+house next us are just as lively as fleas. They could be called
+'perpetual motion,' all right.
+
+"And oh, say!" cried the lively Bobby, "we had the greatest joke the
+other night on Lil Pendleton. You know, she thinks she's some French
+scholar--and she _does_ speak high school French pretty glibly----"
+
+"How's that, young lady?" interposed the girl in brown. "Put away your
+hammer. Do you _dare_ knock anything taught in Central High?"
+
+"That's all right, Mother Wit," drawled Bobby Hargrew. "But any brand of
+French that one learns out of a book is bound to sound queer in the ears
+of the Parisian born--believe me! And these Sourat people are the real
+thing."
+
+"But what about Lily Pendleton?" demanded one of the two girls who were
+dressed exactly alike and looked so much alike that one might have been
+the mirrored reflection of the other.
+
+"Why," replied Bobby, thus urged by one of the Lockwood twins, "Lil had
+some of us over to her house the other evening, and she is forever
+getting new people around her--like her mother, you know. Mrs. Pendleton
+has the very _queerest_ folk to some of her afternoons-long-haired
+pianists, and long-haired Anarchists, and once she had a short-haired
+pugilist--only he was reformed, I believe, and called himself a physical
+instructor, or a piano-mover, or something----"
+
+"Stop, stop!" cried Jess Morse, making a grab at Bobby. "You're running
+on like Tennyson's brook. You're a born gossip."
+
+"You're another! Don't you want to hear about these Sourats?"
+
+"I don't think any of us will hear the end of your story if you don't
+stick to the text a little better, Bobby," remarked a quiet, graceful
+girl, who stood upright, gazing off over the hillside and wooded valley
+below, to the misty outlines of the city so far away.
+
+"Then keep 'em still, will you, Nell?" demanded Bobby, of the last
+speaker. "Listen: The Sourats were invited with the rest of us over to
+Lily's, and Lil sang us some songs in American French. Afterward I heard
+Hester Grimes ask the young man, Andrea Sourat, if the songs did not
+make him homesick, and with his very politest bow, he said:
+
+"'No, Mademoiselle! Only seek.'
+
+"I don't suppose the poor fellow knew how it sounded in English, but it
+certainly was an awful slap at Lil," giggled Bobby.
+
+"Well, I wish they wouldn't give us languages at High," sighed Nellie
+Agnew, Dr. Arthur Agnew's daughter, when the laugh had subsided, and
+still looking off over the prospect. "I know my German is dreadful."
+
+"Let's petition to do away with Latin and Greek, too," suggested Bobby,
+who was always deficient in those studies. "'Dead languages'--what's the
+good of 'em if they are deceased, anyway? I've got a good mind to ask
+Old Dimple a question next time."
+
+"What's the question, Bobby?" asked Jess, lazily.
+
+"Why, if they're 'dead languages,' who killed 'em? He ought to have a
+monument, whoever he was--and if he'd only buried them good and deep he
+might have had _two_ monuments."
+
+"If you gave a little more time to studying books and less time to
+studying mischief----" began the girl in brown, when suddenly Nellie
+startled them all by exclaiming:
+
+"Look there! See that girl down there? What do you suppose she is
+doing?"
+
+Some of them jumped up to look over the edge of the rock on which they
+rested; but Jess Morse refused to be aroused.
+
+"What's the girl doing?" she drawled. "It's got to be something awfully
+funny to get me on my feet again----"
+
+"Hush!" commanded the girl in brown.
+
+"Can she hear us, 'way down there, Laura Belding?" asked Nellie Agnew,
+anxiously. "See here! Something's chasing her--eh?"
+
+The girl who had attracted their attention was quite unknown to any of
+the walking party. And she was, at first sight, an odd-looking person.
+She wore no hat, and her black hair streamed behind her in a wild tangle
+as she ran along the muddy road. She had a vivid yellow handkerchief
+tied loosely about her throat, and her skirt was green--a combination of
+colors bound to attract attention at a distance.
+
+When the girls first saw this fugitive--for such she seemed to be--she
+was running from the thick covert of pine and spruce which masked the
+road to the west, and now she leaped upon the stone fence which bordered
+the upper edge of the highway as far as the spectators above could trace
+its course.
+
+The stone wall was old, and broken in places. It must have offered very
+insecure footing; but the oddly dressed girl ran along it with the
+confidence of a chipmunk.
+
+"Did you ever see anything like that?" gasped Bobby. "I'd like to have
+her balance."
+
+"And her feet!" agreed Jess, struggling to her knees the better to see
+the running girl.
+
+"She's bound to fall!" gasped Nellie.
+
+"Not she!" said Eve Sitz, the largest and quietest girl of the group.
+"Those Gypsies run like dogs and are just as sure-footed as--as
+chamois," added the Swiss girl, harking back to a childhood memory of
+her own mountainous country.
+
+"A Gypsy!" asked Bobby, in a hushed voice. "You don't mean it?"
+
+"She's dressed like one," said Eve.
+
+"And see how brown she is," added Laura Belding, otherwise "Mother Wit."
+
+"There! she almost fell," gasped one of the twins who stood now, with
+arms entwined, looking at the flying girl with nervous expectancy. It
+did not seem as though she could run the length of the stone fence
+without coming to grief.
+
+But it was a quick journey. With a flying leap the girl in the green
+skirt and yellow scarf disappeared in a clump of brush which masked the
+wall at its easterly end, just where the road dipped toward the noisy
+brook which curved around that shoulder of the ridge and, later, fell
+over a ledge into a broad pool--the murmur of the cascade being faintly
+audible to the spectators on the summit of the ridge.
+
+"She's gone!" spoke Bobby, finally, breaking the silence.
+
+"But who's that coming after her?" demanded Nellie, looking back toward
+the West. "There! down in the shadow of the trees. Isn't that a figure
+moving, too?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II--HIDE AND SEEK
+
+
+"It's a man!"
+
+Dora Lockwood said it so tragically that Bobby was highly amused.
+
+"My goodness me!" she chortled. "You said that with all the horrified
+emphasis of a spinster lady."
+
+"It _is_ a man--isn't it?" whispered the other twin.
+
+"I--I guess so," Laura Belding said, slowly.
+
+"It is," declared Jess. "And he's a tough looking character."
+
+"And he is acting quite as oddly as the girl did," remarked Bobby. "What
+do you suppose it means?"
+
+"He's a Gypsy, too, I believe," put in Eve Sitz, suddenly.
+
+"Say! this is getting melodramatic," laughed Laura Belding.
+
+"Just like 'The Gypsy's Warning,' or something quite as hair-raising,
+eh?" agreed Bobby.
+
+"There! he's coming out," gasped Jess.
+
+The man appeared for half a minute in the clearer space of the open
+road. He was staring all about, up and down the road, along the edge of
+the woods, and even into the air. The seven girls were behind the fringe
+of bushes that edged the huge rock, and he could not see them.
+
+"What an evil-faced fellow he is!" whispered Dora Lockwood.
+
+"And see the big gold rings in his ears," added her twin, Dorothy.
+
+"Do you suppose he is really after that girl?" observed Laura,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Whether he is, or not, it's none of our business, I suppose," returned
+Jess, who was Mother Wit's closest chum.
+
+"I'm not so sure of that."
+
+"My goodness! if they're Gypsies, we don't want to have anything to do
+with them," exclaimed Dorothy.
+
+"Oh, the Romany people aren't so bad," said Eve Sitz, easily. "They have
+customs of their own, and live a different life from we folk----"
+
+"Or 'us folk?'" suggested Nellie, smiling.
+
+"From other folk, anyway!" returned the big girl, cheerfully. "They come
+through this section every Spring--and sometimes later in the year, too.
+We have often had them at the house," she added, for Eve's father had a
+large farm, and from that farm the seven girls had started on this long
+walk early in the morning.
+
+It was the Easter vacation at Central High and these friends were all
+members of the junior class. Centerport, the spires and tall buildings
+of which they could now see in the distance, was a wealthy and lively
+city of some hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, situated on the
+southern shore of Lake Luna, a body of water of considerable size.
+
+At either end of the lake was another large town--namely Lumberport and
+Keyport. In each of these latter cities was a well conducted high
+school, and in Centerport there were three--the East and West Highs, and
+Central High, the newest and largest.
+
+For a year now the girls of all these five high schools had been deeply
+interested in athletics, including the games usually played upon the
+Girls' Branch Athletic League grounds--canoeing, rowing, ski running,
+and lastly, but not least in value according to the estimation of their
+instructors, walking. Usually the physical instructor of Central High,
+Mrs. Case, accompanied her pupils on their walking tours; but this
+vacation the seven friends who now stood upon the summit of this big,
+gray rock, had determined to indulge in a long walk by themselves, and
+they had come over to Eve Sitz's house the night before so as to get an
+early start on the mountain road to Fielding, twenty miles away. From
+that place they would take the train back to Centerport, and Eve was to
+remain all night with Laura at the Belding home.
+
+These girls, although of strongly marked and contrasting characters,
+were intimate friends. They had been enthusiastic members of the girls'
+athletic association from its establishment; and they had, individually
+and together, taken an important part in the athletic activities of
+Central High.
+
+For instance, in the first volume of this series, entitled, "The Girls
+of Central High; Or, Rivals for All Honors," Laura Belding was able to
+interest one of the wealthiest men of Centerport, Colonel Richard
+Swayne, in the girls' athletic association, then newly formed, so that
+he gave a large sum of money toward a proper athletic field and
+gymnasium building for their sole use.
+
+In "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna; Or, the Crew That Won," the
+second story of the series, the girls were mainly centering their
+attention upon aquatic sports; and the Lockwood twins--Dora and
+Dorothy--were particularly active in this branch of athletics. They won
+honorable mention if not the prize in the canoe event, and were likewise
+members of the Central High girls' crew that won the cup in the contest
+of eight-oared shells.
+
+The third volume of the series, named "The Girls of Central High at
+Basketball; Or, The Great Gymnasium Mystery," particularly related the
+fortunes of the representative basketball team of Central High, and of
+which each girl now gathered here on the ridge was a member.
+
+Not long previous to this day in the Spring vacation when the seven were
+tramping toward Fielding, Jess Morse had made a great hit with her
+school friends and instructors, as well. She had written a play, which
+was performed by members of the girls' secret society of the school and
+some of their boy friends, and so good was it that it not only won a
+prize of two hundred dollars for which many of the girls of Central High
+had competed, but it attracted the attention of a professional
+theatrical producer, who had made a contract with Mrs. Morse, Jess's
+mother, for the use of the play in a revised form upon the professional
+stage. The details of all this are to be found in the fourth volume of
+the series, entitled, "The Girls of Central High on the Stage; Or, The
+Play That Took the Prize."
+
+"There! the fellow's going back," said Jess Morse, suddenly calling
+attention to the dark man on the road below.
+
+"If he was after the girl he has given up the chase. I am glad of that,"
+added her chum.
+
+"But where did the girl go?" demanded Bobby Hargrew, craning her neck to
+peer toward the bushes on the easterly side of the rock.
+
+"There she is!" ejaculated Dora Lockwood, grabbing Bobby by the arm.
+
+She pointed down the side of the ridge, where the rough pasture land
+dropped to the verge of the brook. The other girls came running and
+gazed in the direction she pointed out.
+
+The green skirt and the yellow scarf appeared. The girl was wading in
+the stream, and she passed swiftly along, seen by the spectators at
+every opening in the fringe of trees and brush that bordered the brook.
+
+"In the water at this time of the year!" gasped Jess.
+
+"And in her shoes and stockings! She wouldn't have had time to stop to
+take them off and get so far up stream," declared Bobby, almost dancing
+up and down in her eagerness.
+
+"What do you suppose it means?" cried Nellie.
+
+"She is running away from the man, I guess," admitted Laura, slowly.
+
+"And trying to hide her trail," added Eve.
+
+"Hide her trail! Is this the Indian country? Are the Gypsies savages?"
+demanded Nellie. "Has she got to run along the top of a stone fence and
+then take to a running stream to throw off pursuit?"
+
+"That is her hope, I expect," Laura said.
+
+"But _why?_" cried Bobby. "You can't tell me that even Gypsies are as
+keen on a trail as all that----"
+
+"Hark!" commanded Laura. "Listen."
+
+"It's dogs," spoke Bobby, in a moment.
+
+"O--o--o--o! sounds like a wolf," shuddered Dora.
+
+"It is worse," said Eve Sitz, her face flushing. "That is the bay of a
+bloodhound. I remember that we saw one of the great, lop-eared animals
+in leash when that party of Romanys went past our place last week."
+
+"You don't mean that, Eve?" Jess cried. "A bloodhound?"
+
+"And they have put him on the trail of that girl--sure as you live!"
+declared the farmer's daughter, with decision.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III--THE GYPSY CAMP
+
+
+"Why! I think this is outrageous," said Nellie Agnew. "We ought to find
+a constable and have such a thing stopped. Think of chasing that poor
+girl with a mad dog----"
+
+"I guess he isn't mad," ventured Eve, soberly.
+
+Bobby laughed. "Even if he's only vexed I wouldn't want a bloodhound
+tearing after me over these hills."
+
+"You know what I mean," persisted Nellie, still wrathfully. "It is a
+desperate shame! The dog will hurt her----"
+
+"No, no!" said Eve. "It is trained. And the man has it in leash----"
+
+"Hush! here they are!" warned Laura, and the girls hid themselves behind
+the fringe of bushes.
+
+The dog gave tongue just as it came in sight, and the sound sent a
+shiver over the watchers. The baying of a bloodhound is a very
+terrifying sound indeed.
+
+With the dogs were three men--one of them the same the girls of Central
+High had seen before. The other two were fully as rough-looking.
+
+"I hope they don't find her!" exclaimed Bobby.
+
+"They'll find you if you don't keep still," warned Jess.
+
+But it appeared to the girls that the Gypsies were having considerable
+difficulty in following the trail of the girl who had fled along the top
+of the old stone wall. The dog searched from side to side of the road.
+He leaped the wall, dragging one of the men after him, and ran about the
+lower field. That she had traversed the stone fence, like a fox, never
+seemed to enter the men's minds, nor the dog's either.
+
+For some time the party of hunters were in sight; but finally they went
+off in an easterly direction along the road, passing over the brook in
+which the strange girl had left her "water trail," and the girls of
+Central High believed that the fugitive was safe--for the time being, at
+least.
+
+"I wish we knew where she was going," said Nellie. "I'd help her, for
+one."
+
+"Me, too," agreed Bobby Hargrew.
+
+"If she should get as far as our house, mother would take her in," said
+Eve, in her placid way. "But the Romany folk are peculiar people, and
+they have laws of their own and do not like to be brought under those of
+other countries."
+
+"Why, they're just tramps, aren't they? Sort of sublimated tramps,
+perhaps," said Jess.
+
+"Not the real Gypsies," said Laura. "They are very jealous, I have read,
+of their customs, their laws, and their language. They claim descent in
+direct line from early Egyptian times. The name of Stanley alone, which
+is common with them, dates back to William the Conqueror."
+
+"Well, come on!" sighed Jess. "We don't care anything about the Gypsies,
+and we can't help that girl--just now. If we tried to follow her up
+stream we would only give those men the idea of the direction in which
+we went. Let's get on, or we'll never get to Fielding."
+
+"All right," agreed Laura.
+
+"Forward, march!" sang out Bobby. "How's the way, Eve? Right down this
+hill?"
+
+"Keep parallel with the road. We'll strike another path later," said the
+Swiss girl, who had rambled all over these hills with her brother.
+
+"Oh, these shoes!" groaned Jess.
+
+"I told you so," exclaimed Laura.
+
+"Bah! what good does it do to repeat _that?_" snapped her chum. "I hate
+those old mud-scows of mine that Mrs. Case makes me wear when she goes
+walking with us."
+
+"Well, you certainly wore a fine pair to-day," scoffed Bobby. "I guess
+it doesn't do to do what Mrs. Case advises against."
+
+"Not if we want to make points for Central High," said Laura, laughing.
+
+"That's so! Where would Jess be to-day if this was a regular scheduled
+walk, to count for our school in June?" cried Dora.
+
+"Now, rub it in! rub it in!" exclaimed Jess. "Don't you suppose I know
+I've been a chump without you all telling me so?"
+
+"I do believe it will rain," burst out Dorothy, suddenly. "Doesn't that
+look like a rain-cloud to you, Laura?"
+
+"Pooh!" said Eve. "Don't be afraid of a little April shower. It won't
+drown us, that's sure."
+
+"That's all right," agreed Dora, the other twin. "But we don't want to
+get soaked. If it should start to rain, is there any shelter near?"
+
+"The Gypsy camp, maybe," laughed Bobby, and then went on ahead, singing:
+
+    "'April showers bring May flowers
+      And sometimes more than that;
+    For the unexpected downpour
+      Often ruins the Easter hat.'
+
+"Say, girls, we _would_ be in a mess if it should start to rain hard."
+
+"And that cloud looks threatening," admitted Nellie Agnew.
+
+"I believe I felt a drop then," gasped Dora.
+
+"What's the matter, Chicken Little?" laughed Laura. "Is the sky
+falling?"
+
+"You can laugh! Maybe it will be a regular flood," said Jess, ruefully.
+
+"By the way, what caused the flood?" asked Bobby, soberly.
+
+"Folks were so wicked--all but Noah," replied Dora.
+
+"No," said Bobby.
+
+"It's one of Bobby's 'burns,'" declared Jess. "What _did_ cause the
+flood, then?"
+
+"It rained," said the irrepressible one.
+
+"Come on under this tree, girls!" cried Eve, striding ahead down the
+hill. "It will only be a passing shower."
+
+They ran for cover, and the broad branching limbs of the huge cedar Eve
+had selected faithfully covered them as the brief spring shower went
+drumming by.
+
+Meanwhile Laura was saying, more thoughtfully:
+
+"We've got to give our best attention to the inter-class and
+inter-school athletics when school opens again, girls, if we want
+Central High to stand first at the end of the year. You know we are
+being beaten right along by the East High and Keyport Just think!
+Central High only Number 3 in points that count when the June field day
+comes. We can't stand for that, can we?"
+
+"I should say not!" cried Bobby. "But we beat 'em last year on the
+water."
+
+"And we stand first in basketball," added Dora Lockwood.
+
+"But the fact remains we haven't got the championship of the League
+cinched by any manner of means," returned Laura. "Eve is going to win, I
+believe, in the shot-putting contests. Mrs. Case says that is on the
+doubtful list of girls' athletics. But throwing weights isn't going to
+hurt Eve, or Hester Grimes, that's sure. And look at that girl at
+Vassar! She put the shot thirty-two feet and three-quarters of an inch
+when she was only sixteen. Eve can do almost as well."
+
+"I don't know about that, Mother Wit," said the big girl, laughing. "But
+I'll do my best."
+
+"And your best will beat them all, I believe."
+
+"She'll beat Magdeline Spink, of Lumberport, I know," cried Bobby. "And
+_she_ did all the big 'throws' last year--baseball, basketball, putting
+the shot, and all of 'em."
+
+"I hope you are right, Bobby," returned the country girl, smiling. She
+was proud of her strength and physique. Her outdoor life since she was a
+little child, and what she had inherited from a long line of peasant
+ancestors was coming into play now for the benefit of Central High's
+athletic score.
+
+"Now, don't sit down there on the damp ground, Jess. You'll get a case
+of rheumatism--and a bad case, too."
+
+"Oh, I hope not!" cried Jess, jumping up. "I shouldn't know what to do
+for it."
+
+"You'd have to take mud baths," giggled Dorothy.
+
+"That road below is in fine shape for that purpose, then," said Jess,
+looking through the pouring rain at the puddles in the roadway.
+
+"You'd have to wear flannels," said Dora.
+
+"Hah!" cried Bobby. "That's it. Flannels are a sure cure. You know,
+
+    "'Although it caused within his home
+      A very serious schism,
+    He still insisted flannel-cakes
+      Were good for rheumatism.'"
+
+"Go on!" exclaimed Jess, laughing. "You sound like 'Alice in
+Wonderland.'"
+
+"Say, rather, 'Bobby in Blunderland,'" added Laura. "But to get back to
+athletics----"
+
+"'To return to our muttons,'" quoth Bobby, unrepressed.
+
+"We have a chance to win the championship--our school has--if we can
+bring the relay teams up to the mark, and win the jumping events. It is
+on field and track that we have got to gain the points. No doubt of
+that."
+
+"Then our track teams need strengthening--much," said Nellie Agnew,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"I should say so!" exclaimed Bobby. "I could put on one of Lil
+Pendleton's peg-top skirts and beat most of the junior runners right
+now!"
+
+"If it's as bad as that, we have all got to go into the track athletics,
+and pull up our score," declared Laura.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Dorothy, suddenly. "It's stopped raining."
+
+"That little shower didn't even wet under the bushes," said Eve, with
+satisfaction.
+
+"Let's get along, then, before another comes and washes us away," said
+Bobby. "Straight ahead, Evangeline?"
+
+"Yes. Right down to that dead oak you see on the lower hillside."
+
+"Good! A mark is set before me, and if my luck holds good I'll reach it.
+But why prate of 'luck'? Is there such a thing?"
+
+"Give it up. What's the answer?" asked Dora Lockwood, directly behind
+her.
+
+"Luck is a foolish thing--or a belief in it is," complained Bobby. "List
+to my tale of woe:
+
+    "Why wear a rabbit foot for luck
+      Or nail a horseshoe on the sill?
+    For if upon the ice you slip
+      You'll surely get a spill.
+
+    "Why cross your fingers in the dark
+      To keep the witches from your track,
+    When if, in getting out of bed,
+      You step upon a tack?"
+
+"Don't sing us any more doggerel, but lead on!" commanded Laura.
+
+Bobby was first at the dead tree. There she stopped, not for breath, but
+because, below her, in a sheltered hollow, where a spring drifted away
+across a grassy lawn, there was an encampment. She held up her hand and
+motioned for silence.
+
+There were three large, covered wagons such is Gypsies usually drive. A
+dozen horses were tethered where the young grass was particularly lush.
+A fire over which a big kettle of some savory stew bubbled, burned in
+the midst of the encampment. There were two gaudily painted canvas tents
+staked on the green, too, although from the opened doors of the wagons
+it was evident that the Gypsies, at this time of year, mainly lived
+within their vehicles.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Bobby, when the other girls were crowding about her, and
+looking as hard as she was at the camp. "This is what the girl we saw,
+ran away from."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV--THE GYPSY QUEEN
+
+
+"Isn't that romantic?" cried Jess, under her breath. "Wouldn't you like
+to live in the open like that, Laura?"
+
+"Sometimes. Then again I might want a steam-heated house," laughed
+Mother Wit.
+
+"And see that darling little baby!" gasped Nellie Agnew, as a little
+fellow in gay apparel ran out of one of the tents.
+
+A young woman followed him. She had black hair, and very black eyes, and
+wore a necklace, and earrings, and bracelets galore. When she ran after
+the crowing little one the tinkling of these ornaments was audible to
+the group of girls on the hillside.
+
+This gaily dressed woman caught up the laughing child, and as she turned
+her gaze went over his head and struck full upon the seven girls.
+
+She set the little boy down quietly, said something to him, and he ran
+to cover like a frightened chicken. She spoke another word--aloud--and
+two men and three other women appeared from the wagons, or tents. They
+all gazed up at the half-frightened girls.
+
+"Come down, pretty young ladies," said the gaily bedecked Gypsy woman,
+in a wheedling tone. "We will not harm you. If you cross our palms with
+silver we may be able to tell you something pleasant."
+
+She spoke English well enough; but her address mainly was a formula
+used; to attract trade.
+
+"What'll we do?" gasped Dorothy Lockwood, clinging to her twin's hand.
+
+"Keep your courage, Dorry," said her sister.
+
+"Don't let them see we're afraid of them," Nellie advised, but in a
+shaking voice.
+
+"And why should we be afraid?" asked Laura, quite calmly.
+
+"Oh, I've seen that woman before," said Eve. "She's one of the Vareys.
+They are English Gypsies, like the Stanleys. She was at our place last
+summer."
+
+She started down the steep hillside into the camp. The first Gypsy woman
+said something in the Romany dialect to the others, and the men drifted
+away, only the woman awaiting the coming of the girls of Central High.
+
+As the seven friends approached they saw that the Varey woman was very
+handsome, in her bold, dark way. Silver ornaments were entwined in her
+coarse, blue-black hair; her dress, though garish in color, was neat and
+of rich material. The bangle, bracelets, necklace and all were either of
+silver or gold--no sham about them, as Laura Belding very well knew, her
+father being a jeweler and she knowing something about good jewelry.
+
+"She's queen of the tribe," whispered Eve to Laura. "And her husband,
+Jim Varey, is leader of this clan. He is a horse trader, and sells
+oilcloth and tinware, while the women sell baskets, and the like, and
+pick up a quarter now and then telling fortunes."
+
+"Oh, Eve!" whispered Jess, behind, "did you ever have your fortune
+told?"
+
+"Yes. It's silly," replied Eve, flushing.
+
+"It would be lots of fun," said Bobby, quite as eager as Jess.
+
+"Let's all do it," urged Nellie. "If we give them a little money they
+probably will not molest us."
+
+"They wouldn't dare trouble us, anyway," said Eve. "And why should
+they?"
+
+But the other girls, who were not so well acquainted with the Romany
+people, felt that the adventure in the Gypsy camp promised much
+excitement. In a minute they were all on the greensward in front of the
+tent of the Gypsy queen.
+
+"Cross the poor Gypsy's palm with silver," whined Grace Varey, in a
+wheedling tone, "and each of you shall learn what the future has in
+store for you."
+
+"Suppose you can't tell us anything pleasant?" said Bobby Hargrew,
+boldly. "Then we'd rather not know it."
+
+"But such pretty little ladies are bound to have pretty fortunes,"
+replied the Romany woman. "Come! for a shilling--two shillings, in your
+American money--I will tell you each what you want to know most."
+
+"You will?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, for but two shillings in your American money."
+
+"She means a quarter," said Eve.
+
+"You try it first, Mother Wit," urged Nellie, nudging Laura.
+
+At the words Grace Varey looked sharply at Laura Belding's earnest face
+and thoughtful gray eyes. Instantly she said:
+
+"You do not fear. You lead these others. You have a quick mind and you
+invent things. You are usually first in everything; but power does not
+spoil you. You win love as well as admiration--there is a difference.
+You have parents and at least one brother. You have no sister. There is
+a----" She shut her eyes for a moment, and hesitated. "There is a black
+person--a woman--who has something to do with you----"
+
+"Beware of the 'black man coming with a bundle,'" hissed Bobby,
+giggling.
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed Jess. "She means Mammy Jinny, Laura's old nurse."
+
+Grace Varey had turned swiftly to the scoffing Bobby, and she pointed at
+her with an accusing finger.
+
+"You do not believe," she said, quickly. "You are light and thoughtless.
+You have been spoiled by a doting father. You have no mother--poor
+child! You are very frivolous and light-hearted; but a great sorrow is
+coming into your life soon. Into your school life, I believe. It is
+connected with one of your teachers--a woman. Beware!"
+
+Now, this was very melodramatic; but Bobby, for some reason, could not
+laugh at it. The woman was too much in earnest. Suddenly Grace Varey's
+manner changed, and she whined:
+
+"Cross the poor Gypsy's palm with silver, and she will tell you more.
+Only two shillings, little lady," and she urged Laura toward the tent.
+
+"All right," said Mother Wit. "If the rest of you are game, I am. But
+don't back out afterward."
+
+"Not if she is genuine," said Jess, laughing.
+
+Bobby hadn't a word to say; for the moment she was quelled.
+
+But all that the woman had said could be easily explained by the science
+of deduction--which is merely observation raised to the _nth_ power.
+
+Mother Wit went into the tent and found it a rather gloomy place. There
+was a folding table and two divans, besides some dingy hangings. It was
+evidently arranged for the purpose of fortune telling and nothing else.
+
+"Sit down, lady," said the Gypsy queen. "Let me see your hand. Do you
+believe in the reading of character by the lines of the hand?"
+
+"I do not know whether I do or not," replied Laura, calmly.
+
+The woman laughed lightly. She peered at the lines of Laura's palm for a
+moment, and then said:
+
+"You believe nothing without investigation. For so young a person you
+are very cautious, and you have much good sense. You are sharp and
+intelligent. And you are gentle-hearted. In short, your friends love you
+very dearly, and you are very faithful to them. Is it not so?"
+
+"You flatter me," said Laura, quietly.
+
+She noted that the woman was no longer holding her hand by the fingers;
+that she had shifted her own hand to Laura's wrist, and that two of the
+queen's fingers were resting lightly on her pulse--just as Dr. Agnew
+held a patient's hand when he counted the throbbing of his heart.
+
+"Oh, I know," went on the Gypsy, in her whining, sing-song way. "You
+would be faithful in every event. If you had a secret you could keep
+it--surely. For instance," she added, without changing her tone or
+raising her voice, "if you had seen the girl with the yellow
+handkerchief and green skirt, and the little, puckered blue scar high
+up--near the right temple--you would not tell where she was--which
+direction she had gone."
+
+_That_ was why the woman was feeling her pulse! Laura knew her heart
+jumped at the question. She might control her features; but the woman's
+question had startled her, and that sudden heart-throb had told the
+shrewd queen what she wished to know.
+
+She smiled lazily, in the dim light, upon the girl before her. She knew
+that Laura Belding and her friends had seen the fugitive from the Gypsy
+camp.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V--THE SITUATION LOOKS SERIOUS
+
+
+Laura Belding was as quick to think as she was to act. She remained
+perfectly calm after the woman's question--calm outwardly, at least. Now
+she spoke:
+
+"You have spoken a very true thing now. If I had seen such a girl I
+should not tell you. And this has nothing to do with my own fortune. I
+have paid you to tell me something about my future--which you seem to
+know so well."
+
+This spurring phrase put the woman on her mettle. She flushed slowly
+under her dark skin.
+
+"You are a heretic--you do not believe," she said.
+
+"I must be shown before I believe," returned Laura, confidently.
+
+"Then what comes to you in the future will only prove the case," laughed
+the Gypsy queen. "You do not believe in palmistry," and she tossed the
+hand from her lightly.
+
+"Neither do you," said Laura, bluntly. "You did not hold my hand then to
+enable you to read my palm, but for another purpose."
+
+"You are a shrewd lady," said the Gypsy. "I read character in other ways
+than by palmistry--it is true."
+
+She looked at Laura for some seconds very earnestly. Of course, Mother
+Wit did not believe this Gypsy had any occult power; but her deep black
+eyes were wonderfully compelling, and it might be that there was
+something in "mind reading."
+
+"You have an intention now that, if followed to its conclusion, will
+bring you trouble, young lady. Just what that intention may be, or what
+trouble it may bring, I cannot say exactly," declared the woman, slowly
+and impressively. "But it deals with a person you have never seen but
+once--I believe, recently. It seems that you may think you are helping
+her----"
+
+"That is not prophesying," said Laura, quickly, and interrupting the
+Gypsy queen. "I shall scarcely think your information worth what I have
+paid you if you do not do better than that."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded the woman, hastily, and with a flush coming
+into her cheek again.
+
+"You know very well that you are warning me not to assist the girl who
+has run away from this camp," Mother Wit said, boldly.
+
+"Ha! Then you _did_ see her?" cried the Gypsy.
+
+"You know I did. You played a trick on me to find out. You are not
+telling my fortune, but you are endeavoring to find out, through me,
+about the girl who has run away. And I tell you right now, you will not
+learn anything further from me--or from the other girls."
+
+The Gypsy queen gazed at her with lowering brows; but Laura Belding
+neither "shivered nor shook."
+
+"You are quite courageous--for a girl," observed the woman, at last.
+
+"I may be, or not. But I am intelligent enough to know when I am being
+fooled. Unless you have something of importance to tell me I shall
+conclude that this fortune-telling seance is ended," and Laura rose from
+her seat.
+
+"Wait," said the woman, in a low voice. "I will tell you one thing. You
+may not consider it worth your attention now, little lady; but it will
+prove so in the end. _Do not cross the Romany folk--it is bad luck!_"
+
+"And I do not believe in 'luck,'" rejoined Laura, smiling. She was
+determined not to let the woman see that she was at all frightened.
+Surely these people would not dare detain, or injure, seven girls.
+
+"An unbeliever!" muttered the Gypsy woman. "We can tell nothing to an
+unbeliever."
+
+"And having got _from_ her all you are likely to get," said Laura,
+coolly, "your prophecies are ended, are they?"
+
+Queen Grace waved her hand toward the tent flap. "Send in one of your
+companions," she said. "Any one of them. I am angry with you, and when
+passion controls me I can see nothing, little lady."
+
+But Laura Belding went forth, fully determined that none of her friends
+should waste their money upon the chance that the Gypsy queen might see
+into the future for them.
+
+"It's wicked, anyway," decided Mother Wit. "If God thought it best for
+us to know what the future had in store for us, he would have put it
+within the power of every person to know what was coming. Professional
+palmists, and fortune-tellers of all sorts, are merely wicked persons
+who wish to get foolish people's money!"
+
+She found the six other girls grouped in the middle of the camp, trying
+to understand one of the women, who was talking to them, and evidently
+not a little frightened.
+
+"Oh, Laura! How did it go?" demanded Jess, running to her.
+
+"Very bad. She is a fraud," whispered Mother Wit. "And look out! they
+think we have seen the girl who ran away and they will try to pump us
+about her."
+
+"That's what I thought," declared Jess.
+
+"Know all about your past and future, Laura?" asked Bobby Hargrew.
+
+"Dear me! it makes me shiver to think of it," said Nellie. "Does she
+stir a cauldron, and call on the spirits of the earth and air?"
+
+"She calls on nothing but her own shrewd sense," replied Laura, shortly.
+"And she can tell you really nothing. Take my advice, girls, and don't
+try it."
+
+"Oh!" cried the disappointed Bobby "I did so hope she could tell
+me--more."
+
+"Don't you believe a thing she told you about trouble coming to you at
+school," said Eve, quietly.
+
+"You needn't worry about that, Bobs," drawled Dora Lockwood. "You know
+you are always getting into trouble with Gee Gee."
+
+"Maybe she could tell me how to circumvent her," sighed Bobby.
+
+"You'll never get the best of Miss Grace Carrington," said Jess,
+decidedly; "so give up all hope of _that_."
+
+"Let the little lady try it--do," whined one of the women. "She can
+learn much, perhaps. Because one fails, that is no reason why another
+should not succeed."
+
+"I'd like to try it," said Bobby, earnestly.
+
+Laura whispered: "What they want to find out is if we saw the girl who
+has run away from them, and if we know where she is. Be careful."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Positive," Laura replied. "She caught me with her questions. She knows
+I saw the girl. I told her nothing else."
+
+The queen came to the opening of the tent and beckoned to Bobby. She
+seemed to know instinctively which girl was anxious to try her arts.
+
+"Oh, Bobby," whispered Dorothy. "Maybe you'd better not--as Laura says."
+
+"I want to see for myself," said the other girl, doggedly.
+
+And she moved toward the Gypsy's tent. Laura gathered the other girls
+about her. One of the women was so near that she could overhear anything
+said louder than a whisper.
+
+"I want to get away from here at once," said Laura, quietly. "Let us buy
+any little things they may have for sale, and go on our way. We can get
+away better now when there are only two men in the camp than we can when
+those other three--and the bloodhound--get back."
+
+"Oh, mercy me!" gasped Jess. "I had forgotten about the bloodhound."
+
+"Hush!" murmured Laura. "Don't let that woman hear you."
+
+But it was evident that the Gypsy woman had heard. She uttered a
+sentence or two in Romany and the two men whom the girls had seen before
+at the camp appeared. They did not come near, but sat by the roadside
+that passed through the hollow, and filled their pipes and smoked. It
+was quite evident that they were on guard.
+
+"We are prisoners!" whispered Nellie, seizing Eve's arm.
+
+"Sh!" admonished Laura again. "Don't let them see that you're afraid.
+That will only make them the bolder."
+
+But all of the six girls outside the Gypsy's tent were more than a
+little disturbed. The situation did seem serious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI--PRESSING HOSPITALITY
+
+
+The other woman had been stirring the great pot of stew. It certainly
+_did_ throw off a delicious odor. Each girl carried a lunch box and they
+had been about to hunt a pretty spot, near a spring, and satisfy their
+appetites. Now the woman at the cauldron, who looked a deal like an old
+witch, turned and waved her spoon, grinned, and said something to the
+half-frightened visitors.
+
+The younger Gypsy woman interpreted:
+
+"She says you can have some dinner, if you will stay."
+
+"My goodness!" whispered Dora. "I could not eat any of that stuff."
+
+"Some of the Gypsies are good cooks--and that smells delicious," Eve
+said.
+
+Laura shook her head, but tried to speak kindly. "We could not stop long
+enough to eat with you," she said. "We must go just as soon as the other
+girl comes out."
+
+"Better think twice of it, little lady," said the Gypsy woman. "When you
+eat the bread and salt of the Romany folk they remain your friends."
+
+"And chase you with bloodhounds if you try to get away," spoke Nellie,
+unguardedly.
+
+It was an unfortunate remark. The woman must have heard it. She turned
+and spoke to the men again. They rose and stood ready to oppose the
+departure of the girls of Central High.
+
+Even Laura and Eve felt their courage waver at this. The latter knew
+that there were no farms near--no inhabited dwellings. The nearest
+family must be at least two miles away. And this road was lonely at
+best--and this time of year, when the farmers were just beginning to get
+their plows into the ground, everybody was busy and there would not be
+much driving on any of the ridge roads.
+
+"What can we do?" moaned Dorothy Lockwood.
+
+"Will they dare keep us here, Eve?" demanded her twin.
+
+At this strained point in the proceedings there was a sudden excitement
+among the Gypsies. One of the men started up the road in an easterly
+direction. The girls looked in some worriment of mind to see what was to
+happen.
+
+"They've caught the girl!" muttered Jess.
+
+"No, But the dog's coming back," said Laura.
+
+There appeared almost at once the three men who had hunted with the
+bloodhound--and the hound himself. He was more ferocious-looking close
+to than at a distance. The six girls shrank together when he passed
+them, his great dewlaps slobbering and dripping, and his red eyes
+glancing sullenly from side to side.
+
+The Gypsies laughed when they saw fear so plainly displayed in the
+countenances of the six girls. The bloodhound was fastened to one of the
+wagon wheels, and then the Romany folk paid no particular attention to
+their visitors.
+
+It was plain that they considered the girls would not go far when they
+saw that the dog could be unleashed and set upon their trail. Nellie
+Agnew began to cry, but Laura was growing angry.
+
+"Just wait till Bobby comes out of that tent. I'm going to start right
+off along the road----"
+
+"You won't ever dare to!" gasped Dora.
+
+"Yes, I will. They won't dare set a dog like that on us----"
+
+Just then the little boy they had first seen ran out of the other tent.
+He was evidently aiming for his father, who was a low-browed man with
+huge hoops of gold in his ears, and a ferocious mustache.
+
+But the little one had to pass the dog. He saw him, gave a shriek of
+delight, and ran straight at the huge and savage-looking creature!
+
+The girls were, for an instant, greatly startled. Then they were amazed
+to see the little fellow roll the bloodhound over and laugh and shriek
+in delight--while the dog nuzzled the baby and seemed to like the play.
+
+"My goodness!" cried Jess. "That dog's nothing but a bluff!"
+
+"I believe you," said Laura. "I've heard of a dog's bark being worse
+than his bite; but in this case his appearance is a whole lot worse than
+his real nature. I guess they just keep him for his fearful looks and
+his ability to trail anything."
+
+"Girls included," murmured Dora. "I don't want him trailing me."
+
+The Gypsies had tried to call the little boy away from the huge dog. But
+they knew that the appearance of the hound would no longer strike terror
+to the hearts of their visitors.
+
+Indeed, Laura, who was naturally unafraid of dogs, as she was of horses,
+went over to the big, ugly-looking brute, and patted his head. He raised
+up and looked at her, and his bloodshot eyes _did_ have a fearful
+appearance; but he lapped her hand with his soft tongue--and _that_
+bogey was laid!
+
+"Just as soon as Bobby comes out, we'll go, girls," said Laura,
+confidently. "They won't dare lay a finger on us."
+
+At that moment Bobby burst from the fortune-teller's tent. She presented
+a wonderful and a shocking sight to her friends, for usually they saw
+her laughing. She was in tears and she ran to Laura and clung to her in
+a frightened way.
+
+"Oh! oh!" she cried. "I want to get away from this horrid place. Do
+let's go, Mother Wit! Please do!"
+
+"What's the matter with you, Bobby?" demanded Jess, nervously. "You give
+me the creeps."
+
+"These hateful people----" began Dora Lockwood, when the Gypsy queen
+appeared at the tent entrance. Her eyes sparkled and her handsome face
+was flushed. She called something in a low, clear voice, and the men,
+who had gathered in a knot at one side, started toward her.
+
+One of them unfastened the dog again and held the end of the chain. The
+queen was talking excitedly in their own tongue to the others.
+
+Laura shook Bobby a little and said, shrewdly:
+
+"I guess she got out of you what she wanted to know, eh?"
+
+Bobby only sobbed.
+
+"Did you tell her what direction that girl was going--that she was
+wading up stream?"
+
+"Oh, yes! I did!" gasped Bobby. "She made me."
+
+"Well, it can't be helped. It's really none of our business," said
+Laura. "But if they try to stop us from going away now, we've got to
+scatter and run. They can't hold us all very well, and one of us will
+surely find some house----"
+
+"They won't dare stop us," said Eve, decidedly.
+
+At that moment Nell held up her hand. "Hark!" she exclaimed. "What is
+that?"
+
+The rattling of a heavy wagon coming down the road from the east was
+audible. Eve instantly ran out to the edge of the road. One of the
+Gypsies uttered a shrill, warning cry, and the men turned to intercept
+the girls.
+
+But into view came the heads of a team of bay horses, and then a
+farm-wagon, with a bewhiskered man in high boots on the seat, driving
+the team.
+
+"Hullo! Whoa!" exclaimed the farmer, when he saw Eve. "I declare I Is
+that you, Evie?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Crook! how glad I am to see you," said the Swiss girl. "What
+have you got in the wagon? Just a few bags? Then you can give us a lift,
+can't you? We are tired walking."
+
+"Sure I can, Miss Evie," replied the farmer. "What are you girls doin'
+with these 'Gyptians? Gettin' your fortunes told?"
+
+"Oh, we just stopped here for a minute," said Eve, carelessly.
+
+The Gypsies had hesitated to approach closer. The men began to slip
+away, one after the other.
+
+"Pile in, girls," said the farmer, hospitably. "I'm going five or six
+miles on this road. Bound for Fielding?"
+
+"Yes, we are," replied Eve, as her friends gratefully clambered into the
+end of the wagon.
+
+"Oh, dear me!" whispered Jess. "What luck this is! I believe those folks
+would have tried to keep us."
+
+"I don't know about that," returned her chum. "But the woman certainly
+managed to frighten Bobby most thoroughly."
+
+Bobby had hushed her sobs. But even when the wagon had started again and
+the Gypsy camp was out of sight, she was not willing to talk about what
+the Varey woman had told her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII--THE YELLOW KERCHIEF AGAIN
+
+
+School opened the next Monday and the girls of Central High took up
+their tasks "for the last heat" of the year, as Jess Morse expressed it.
+
+"And I'm glad," she told her chum, Laura Belding, "Just think! next Fall
+we'll be seniors."
+
+"Wishing your life away," laughed Laura. "We were awfully glad to be
+juniors, I remember."
+
+"Sure. But we'll boss the school next fall," said Jess.
+
+"We've done very well for juniors, especially in athletics," observed
+Laura. "Why, practically, our bunch has dominated athletics for a year,
+now. We made the eight-oared shell in our sophomore year."
+
+"True. And the champion basketball team, too."
+
+"And Eve is going to qualify for the broad jump as well as the shot-put,
+I verily believe," said Laura. "I'm glad I found that girl and got her
+to come to Central High instead of going to Keyport."
+
+"She was a lucky find," admitted Jess. "And she wasn't much afraid of
+those Gypsies last week--did you notice?"
+
+"Of course she wasn't. She told me this morning that the constable over
+there looked for the camp, but the Romany folk had moved on."
+
+"I wonder if they caught that girl in the yellow kerchief," said Jess,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Don't know. But they managed to scare Bobby pretty thoroughly," said
+Laura. "I never did see Bobby Hargrew quite so impressed."
+
+Jess smiled. "She seemed to know something about you, too, Laura--that
+Gypsy queen. She knew you had a negro mammy at home."
+
+"I don't know how she guessed that," admitted Laura. "But I believe all
+that fortune telling is foolishness. If she came to the house and told
+Mammy Jinny half what she did us, Mammy would be scared to death. We had
+a good laugh on the dear old thing yesterday. She's had a cold for
+several days and mother insisted upon calling Dr. Agnew in to see her.
+You know how Nellie's father is--always joking and the like; and he
+enjoys puzzling Mammy Jinny. So when he had examined her he said:
+
+"'Mammy, the trouble is in your thorax, larynx and epiglottis.'
+
+"'Ma soul an' body, Doctor!' exclaimed Mammy, turning gray. 'An' I only
+t'ought I had a so' t'roat.'"
+
+"But Mammy does like to use long words herself," chuckled Jess. "She
+will remember those words and spring them on you some time. Remember
+when her nephew had the rheumatism?"
+
+"Of course," Laura replied. "We asked her if it was the inflammatory
+kind and she said:
+
+"'Sho' it's exclamatory rheumatism. He yells all de time.'"
+
+"But I _do_ wonder," said Jess, again, "if the Gypsies caught that girl.
+She must have wanted badly to get away from them to have run the risk of
+being chased by a bloodhound."
+
+"And she was smart, too," Laura agreed. "Running on that wall and wading
+in the stream threw the dog off the scent."
+
+"If one of us had done such a thing as that when the water was so cold
+we would have got our 'never-get-over,'" declared Jess.
+
+"I believe you. And a lot of us girls are 'tender-feet,' as Chet says,
+at this time of year. We have been in the house too much. I tell you,
+Jess, we've got to get 'em out in the field just as soon as it's dry
+enough. Bill Jackway is working on the track and Mrs. Case says she
+thinks we can start outdoor relay practice and quarter-mile running on
+Saturday--if it's pleasant."
+
+"That's what we have got to practice up on, too, if we want to win the
+points we need to put Central High at the top of the list," agreed her
+chum.
+
+"I should say!"
+
+The moment they were freed from the regular lessons of the day Laura and
+Jess and their particular friends made for the handsome gym, building
+and athletic field that Colonel Richard Swayne had made possible for
+them. Bobby Hargrew was very much down in the mouth, for she had gone up
+against Miss Carrington at several points and the martinet had been very
+severe with the irrepressible.
+
+"I tell you what," growled Bobby, "I believe that little brother of
+Alice Long hit it off about right when it comes to teachers."
+
+"How is that?" asked Laura.
+
+"Why, he came home after going to school a few days last Fall, and says
+he: 'I don't think teachers know much, anyway. They keep asking you
+questions all the time.'"
+
+"I agree with you there," Jess said. "And such useless questions! Why,
+if you answered them literally half the time you'd be swamped in
+demerits. For instance, did you notice that one to-day: 'Why did
+Hannibal cross the Alps?' I felt just like answering: 'For the same
+reason the chicken crossed the road!'"
+
+The girls got into their gym. suits in a hurry and then played passball
+for a while, and, when well warmed up, went out on the field. Mrs. Case
+appeared and tried some of the younger ones out in relay running, while
+several of the bigger ones, including Eve, tried the broad jump, and
+Laura, and Jess, and more of the juniors trotted around the cinder path.
+
+Central High had to develop a first-class sprinter to win that event at
+the June tourney, and, as Laura said, "it was a question where the
+lightning would strike." Every girl who _would_ run--even down to the
+freshies--was to be tried out. As for the relay races, that was a matter
+of general interest. To-day Mrs. Case's whistle blew in half an hour,
+and every girl oh the field lined up for a "shuttle relay"--half of them
+on one line and half on the other, fifty yards apart.
+
+At the sound of the whistle Number 1 girl shot off across the running
+space and touched Number 2, the latter dashing back to touch Number 3,
+and so on until the last girl crossed the line at the finish. This is a
+splendid form of relay-racing, for it keeps the girls on the alert, and
+the distance is not too great for any girl, who has a physician's
+approval, to run.
+
+Mrs. Case, however, was extremely careful--as was Dr. Agnew, the medical
+inspector--as to the condition of the girls before they entered upon any
+very serious training. The afternoons of this first week of school were
+spent in working out the girls gradually, the instructor learning what
+they really could do. Nor were any of the girls allowed to work on the
+track, or in the gym., two days in succession.
+
+But Saturday afternoon was devoted to real work and the making up of the
+relay teams for practice during the spring. It chanced to be a glorious
+day, too, and the field was well attended. Bobby Hargrew was faithfully
+practicing for the quarter-mile sprint. She was as fast as anybody in
+the junior class, and for once was really putting her mind to the work.
+
+"If Gee Gee doesn't hamper me too much with conditions and extra work,
+maybe I can be of some help to the school," spoke Miss Bobby. "But I can
+see plainly she's got it in for me."
+
+"That's what the Gypsy fortune-teller told you," returned Jess. "Didn't
+she warn you to beware of one of your teachers--and a woman?"
+
+Bobby's light-hearted chatter was stilled and she paled as Jess reminded
+her of the Gypsy woman.
+
+"Pooh!" Laura quickly said. "There is nothing in that foolishness."
+Bobby had utterly refused to tell them what Grace Varey, the Gypsy
+queen, had told her in the tent. "She could easily see that Bobby was
+full of good spirits and that she must always be in difficulties with
+her teachers--and of course it was safe to guess that she would have
+trouble with a female teacher. I wouldn't give a minute's thought to
+such foolishness."
+
+But Bobby would not be led to say anything farther, and was very quiet
+for a time.
+
+She was with Laura and the other juniors, however, over by the gate,
+when Nell Agnew made her great discovery. The girls had been playing
+captain's ball on one of the courts, and they were all warm and tired.
+Wrapped in their blanket coats, on which Mrs. Case insisted at this time
+of the year, they were resting on the bench which faced the gateway, and
+the gate was open.
+
+"My goodness me!" gasped the doctor's daughter, suddenly, "isn't that
+the same girl?"
+
+"Huh?" asked Bobby. "Isn't what the same girl? You're as lucid as mud,
+Nell."
+
+"Out there! Quick, Laura--don't you see her?"
+
+Laura Belding craned her neck to see outside the yard. Across the street
+a girl was passing slowly. They could not see her face, and she was
+wrapped in a long cloak--or waterproof garment.
+
+"Look at that yellow handkerchief!" exclaimed Jess.
+
+"I saw it--and I saw her face," said Nellie.
+
+"That's like the girl we saw up there on the ridge," admitted Laura,
+slowly.
+
+"The Gypsy girl!" exclaimed Jess, in excitement.
+
+"It _was_ she. I saw her face," repeated Nell.
+
+"Now, what do you know about that?" cried Jess. "Why, she must have
+gotten away from those people, after all. I'm glad of it."
+
+Bobby said never a word, but she stared after the yellow kerchief, which
+showed plainly above the collar of the mantle the strange girl wore. And
+while her mates discussed with interest the appearance in town of the
+fugitive from the Gypsy camp, Bobby was only thoughtful.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII--THE GIRL IN THE STORM
+
+
+Now, Bobby Hargrew was not naturally a secretive girl. Far from it. Her
+mates noted, however, that of late she had grown quieter. Ever since
+their adventure with the Gypsies she had seemed distraught at times, and
+not at all like her usual merry, light-hearted self.
+
+"That horrid Gypsy woman told her something that scared her," Jess Morse
+said to Laura Belding. "I didn't think Bobby would be so easily gulled."
+
+"Those people know how to make things seem awful real, I expect,"
+returned her chum, thoughtfully. "If I had not been on my guard, and had
+the woman not tried to learn something from me, instead of attempting to
+mystify me, I expect I would have fallen under her spell."
+
+"Nonsense!" laughed Jess.
+
+"Well, it seems Bobby was impressed," said Laura.
+
+"I should say she was. And whatever the woman told her, it is something
+that is supposed to happen in the future. Bobby is looking forward to it
+with terror."
+
+"I wish I knew what it was."
+
+"But Bobs won't take you into her confidence," sighed Jess.
+
+"No. I've sounded her. And it is no mere trouble that she expects in
+school. It is something more serious than Miss Carrington's severity,"
+Laura rejoined.
+
+Clara Hargrew probably had more friends among the girls of Central High
+than any other girl on the Hill; yet she had not one "crush." She was
+"hail-fellow-well-met" with all her schoolmates, and never paired off
+with any particular girl. She had nobody in whom she would naturally
+confide--not even at home.
+
+For there had been no mother in the Hargrew home for several years. Mr.
+Hargrew idolized Bobby, who was the oldest of his three girls; but a
+father can never be like a mother to a girl. Her two sisters were
+small--the youngest only six years old. The housekeeper and nurse looked
+out for the little girls; but Bobby was answerable to nobody but her
+father, and he was a very easy-going man indeed. He was proud of Bobby,
+and of her smartness and whimsicality; and about everything she did was
+right in his eyes.
+
+The fact that his oldest daughter had been a good deal of a tomboy never
+troubled the groceryman in the least. "She was as good as any boy," he
+often laughingly said, and it was he who had nicknamed her "Bobby."
+
+But the girl was just now at the age and stage of growth when she needed
+a mother's advice and companionship more than any other time in her
+life. And she felt woefully alone these days.
+
+She was usually the life of the house when she was indoors, and the
+little girls, Elsie and Mabel, loved to have her as their playmate. In
+the evenings, too, she was used to being much with her father. But of
+late Mr. Hargrew had been going out one or two evenings each week--a new
+practice for him--and on these evenings when her father was absent,
+Bobby was so gloomy that it was not long before the little girls
+complained.
+
+"You're sick, child," declared Mrs. Ballister, the old lady who had been
+with them since long before Mrs. Hargrew died.
+
+"No, I'm not," declared Bobby.
+
+"Then you've done something that's settin' heavy on your conscience,"
+declared the old lady, nodding. "Nothing else would make you so quiet,
+Clara."
+
+And Bobby felt too miserable to "answer back," and swallowed the
+accusation without comment.
+
+It was early in the week following the Saturday on which the girls had
+seen the fugitive from the Gypsy camp passing the athletic field. Soon
+after the mid-day recess a sudden spring thunder storm came up, the sky
+darkened, the air grew thick, and sharp lightning played across the
+clouds before the threatened downpour.
+
+Some of the girls were so frightened that they ran in from the
+recreation ground before the gong rang. The heavens were overcast and
+the trees before the schoolhouse began to writhe in the rising wind.
+
+The first heavy drops were falling when Bobby, who had been excused by
+Miss Carrington to do an errand during the recess, turned the corner and
+faced the sudden blast. It swooped down upon her with surprising power,
+whirled her around, flung her against the fence, and then, in
+rebounding, she found herself in another person's arms.
+
+"Oh, dear me! Excuse me--do!" gasped Bobby, blinded for the moment and
+clinging to the person with whom she had collided. "I--I didn't mean to
+run you down."
+
+At that instant there was a blinding flash followed by a roll of thunder
+that seemed to march clear across the sky. Bobby felt this girl whom she
+clung to shrink and tremble at the sound. Now, Bobby herself was not
+particularly afraid of thunder and lightning, and she immediately grew
+braver.
+
+"Come on!" she said. "We'll get wet here. Let's run into the boys'
+vestibule--that's nearest."
+
+The boys' yard was empty; indeed, the afternoon session had been called
+to order now in all the classrooms. Bobby and the strange girl ran, half
+blindly, into the graveled yard and up the steps.
+
+Just as they entered the vestibule the downpour came. The flood
+descended and had they been out in it half a minute longer the fugitives
+would have been saturated.
+
+"Just in time!" cried Bobby, attempting to open the inner door.
+
+"Oh! I can't go in there," stammered the strange girl.
+
+"Nor I guess I can't, either," said Bobby, half laughing, half
+breathless. "It's locked--and the wind is blowing the rain right into
+this vestibule. Come on! Let's shut this outside door."
+
+The half of the two-leaved door of the vestibule which had been open was
+heavy; but Bobby's companion proved to be a strong and rugged girl, and
+together they managed to close it. Then, with the rain and wind shut
+out, although the roar of the elements was still loud in their ears, the
+two girls were able to examine each other.
+
+And instantly Bobby Hargrew forgot all about the thunder, and lightning,
+and rain. She stared at the girl cowering in the corner, who winced
+every time the lightning played across the sky, and closed her eyes with
+her palms to the reverberation of the thunder.
+
+The girl was perhaps a couple of years older Bobby herself. She was dark
+and had a tangle of black hair which was dressed indifferently. A woolen
+cap was drawn down almost to her ears. She was rather scrubbily dressed,
+and nothing that she wore looked very clean or very new. The waist she
+had on was cut low at the neck--so low that the girl had tied loosely
+around her throat a soft, yellow muffler.
+
+Although the old brown cloak she wore hid her green skirt, Bobby knew
+that the girl before her was the one she and her friends had seen
+escaping from the Gypsy camp nearly a fortnight before. The girl who had
+been unafraid of pursuit by the bloodhound, and had run upon stone
+fences and waded in an ice-cold mountain brook to hide her trail, now
+cowered in the vestibule of the schoolhouse, in a nervous tremor because
+of the thunderstorm.
+
+"My! but you _are_ scared of lightning, aren't you?" exclaimed Bobby,
+after a minute, and when the noise of the elements had somewhat ceased.
+
+"I--I always am," gasped the girl.
+
+"The lightning won't hurt you--at least, the lightning you _see_ will
+never hurt you, my father says," added Bobby. "The danger is all past by
+the time you see the flash of it."
+
+"But I can't help being frightened," replied the girl.
+
+"No. I suppose not. And I guess you are brave enough about other things
+to make up, eh?"
+
+The girl looked up at her, but was evidently puzzled. She glanced
+through the glass doors of the building into the corridor.
+
+"Is this the school building?" she asked, quickly.
+
+"Yes. But this is the boys' entrance, so I don't want to ring. I'd get
+scolded for coming here," said Bobby.
+
+"Oh, don't ring!" exclaimed the girl, putting a timid hand upon Bobby's
+arm. "This is the big school, isn't it?"
+
+"It's the biggest in town. It's Central High," said Bobby, proudly.
+
+"You go here to school, of course?" asked the girl, somewhat wistfully.
+
+"Yes. I'm a junior."
+
+The other shook her head. The grading of the school was evidently not
+understood by the Gypsy girl.
+
+"Say! do you have many teachers in this school?" she asked.
+
+"Yes. There's enough of them," replied Bobby, grumblingly.
+
+"Women, too?"
+
+"Yes. Some women."
+
+"Who are they?" asked the girl, quickly. "What's their names?"
+
+The thunder was rolling away now, but the rain was still beating down in
+such volume that the girls could not venture forth. Bobby would have
+gotten wet in running around to the girls' entrance.
+
+"Why," she said, studying the Gypsy's face in a puzzled way. "There's
+Miss Gould."
+
+"Gould? That's not her whole name, is it?" asked this curious girl.
+
+"Miss Marjorie Gould."
+
+"Say it slow--say the letters," commanded the Gypsy girl.
+
+Bobby, much amazed, began:
+
+"M-a-r-j-o-r-i-e G-o-u-l-d."
+
+The strange girl shook her head. Bobby saw that she had been counting
+the letters of Miss Gould's name on her fingers, and she asked:
+
+"Don't you read English?"
+
+"No. I'm Austrian. I know some German. A woman taught me. But I never
+went to school--never to a school like this," said the Gypsy girl, with
+a sigh.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Bobby, deeply interested.
+
+"You--you can call me Margit--Margit Salgo, from Austria."
+
+Now, this puzzled Bobby Hargrew more than ever, for she knew that the
+Gypsies the girl had been with were English. Yet she was afraid of
+frightening the girl by telling her what she already knew about her. And
+immediately the Gypsy girl asked her another question:
+
+"Spell me some of their other names, will you?"
+
+"Whose other names?"
+
+"The lady teachers," replied Margit, her black eyes flashing eagerly.
+
+"Why--why, there's Mrs. Case," stammered Bobby.
+
+"How do you spell the letters?"
+
+"R-o-s-e C-a-s-e," said Bobby, slowly.
+
+"No! no!" exclaimed Margit. "Not enough. Too short."
+
+"But don't you know the name of the woman you are looking for?"
+
+"I didn't say I was looking for anybody," said Margit, with suspicion.
+"I am just curious."
+
+"And you can't repeat the name?"
+
+"I never heard it repeated. I only know how many letters there are. I
+saw it on a card. I counted the letters," said the girl, with a shrewd
+light in her eyes. "Now! haven't you any more lady teachers here?"
+
+"There's Gee Gee!" exclaimed Bobby, with half a chuckle, amused at the
+thought of Miss Carrington being mixed up in any manner with this
+half-wild Gypsy girl.
+
+"Too short," said the other, shaking her head decidedly.
+
+"Oh, her real name is long enough. It's Grace G. Carrington."
+
+"Spell it out," commanded Margit Salgo, eagerly.
+
+Bobby did so, but the girl shook her head. "Not enough letters," she
+declared.
+
+"Why--there are sixteen letters to Miss Carrington's name," said Bobby,
+wonderingly. "How many are there to the name you are hunting for?"
+
+"Two more," said Margit, promptly.
+
+"Eighteen?"
+
+"Yes. Now, don't you tell anybody what I say. That's a good girl," urged
+the other.
+
+"You're not afraid of me, are you?" asked Bobby, in wonder.
+
+"I'm afraid of everybody," muttered the girl.
+
+"You've--you've run away from somebody?" ventured Bobby, fearing to
+startle the fugitive by telling her just how much she _did_ know.
+
+"Never you mind about me. Thank you for what you've told me. I--I guess
+the worst of it's over now, and I'll go," said Margit, and she tugged at
+the knob of the outer door.
+
+The rain was still falling fast; but the thunder only muttered in the
+distance and the electric display had entirely passed.
+
+"Wait!" cried Bobby, earnestly. "Maybe I can help you some more."
+
+"No. I don't need anybody to help me. I can take care of myself,"
+replied the Gypsy girl, sullenly.
+
+She mastered the door-latch, pulled the door open, and ran out into the
+rain. In half a minute she was flying up the street, and not until she
+was out of sight did Bobby remember something that might be of great
+importance in explaining the mystery.
+
+"Why, Miss Carrington always writes her name 'Grace _Gee_ Carrington,'"
+exclaimed Bobby. "There's the eighteen letters that the girl is looking
+for. I never thought of that!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX--THE GYPSIES AGAIN
+
+
+When the rain stopped, Bobby went around to the other entrance and
+reported herself to Miss Carrington. That teacher always doubted Bobby's
+excuses, and this time she shook her head over the girl's tardiness.
+
+"You told me you had plenty of time to do your errand within the limit
+of the recess, Miss Hargrew," said Gee Gee. "Do better next time,
+please."
+
+"She always acts as though she thought I had an India rubber
+imagination," muttered Bobby, to her nearest seatmate, "and that I was
+always stretching it."
+
+"Miss Hargrew, please refrain from communicating in lesson time!"
+snapped the ever-watchful teacher.
+
+"Dear me!" murmured Bobby. "She's got me again. I _do_ have the worst
+luck."
+
+And then she wondered what Miss Carrington knew about the strange Gypsy
+girl, or what Margit knew about Gee Gee.
+
+"I'd like to get better acquainted with that girl," thought Bobby.
+"There is a mystery about her--and Gee Gee is in it."
+
+But she said nothing to any of the other juniors, judging it best to
+keep her own counsel. Meanwhile she kept a keen lookout for the girl to
+appear about the school building again. Several days passed, however,
+and Bobby saw nothing of her.
+
+Meanwhile the girls who were earnest in the work of putting Central High
+ahead in the inter-school athletic competition worked hard on the field
+and under Mrs. Case's eye in the gymnasium.
+
+Bobby was really doing her best on the track. Never had she settled down
+to such thorough work in any branch of athletics as she had in this
+effort to make a record for the quarter-mile. Central High needed the
+points that a champion sprinter could win, just as the school needed the
+points putting the shot, and the broad jump, would add to its record.
+
+Bobby, the year before, had acted as coxswain of the eight-oared crew;
+and she had played all season on the big basketball team--the champion
+nine. But this running was different work.
+
+Now she had no teammates to encourage her, or to keep her up to the
+mark. It was just what she could do for the school by herself.
+
+"Just by your lonesome, Bobby," Laura Belding told her. "To win the
+quarter-mile will mean two whole points in June. Think of that! And you
+can do it."
+
+"I don't know," returned the other girl, in some despondency. "Gee
+Gee'll likely get something on me before the June meet, and then
+where'll we be?"
+
+"But you don't _have_ to do things to make Miss Carrington give you
+demerits."
+
+"Bah! I don't have to do anything at all to get demerits. She's just
+expecting me to do something all the time, and she 'jumps' me without
+giving me a chance. Any other girl in the school can cut up much worse
+than I do and never get a sour look; but I--oh, dear!"
+
+"You see what it is to have a reputation for mischief," said Laura, half
+inclined to laugh. "Can't you cut out the frolic for this one term? Cure
+yourself of practical joking and 'joshing' poor Miss Carrington."
+
+"Great Cæsar!" ejaculated Bobby. "How could I ever do it?"
+
+Nevertheless, with all her reckless talk, she was really trying her very
+best to keep out of difficulties in school, and on the other hand to
+make the best time possible on the cinder track.
+
+Mrs. Case began to try her out now and then, and held the watch on her.
+Bobby wanted to know how fast she made the quarter; but the instructor
+put up her watch with a smile and a head-shake.
+
+"That I sha'n't tell you, Miss Hargrew. Not yet. You do your best;
+that's what you are to do. If you fall back, or I see you losing form,
+you'll hear about it soon enough."
+
+One morning before school-time Bobby heard Mrs. Ballister scolding at
+the back door. The old housekeeper did not often scold the maid, for she
+was a dear old lady and, as Bobby herself said, "as mild-tempered as a
+lamb." But she heard her say:
+
+"Be off with you! We've nothing for you. Scalawags like you shouldn't
+prosper--filling a girl's silly head full of more silliness. Go on at
+once!"
+
+Somehow Bobby had a premonition of what the trouble was about. She ran
+out upon the side porch and saw two Gypsy women coming around the path
+from the fear of the house. They were the two who had been at Queen
+Grace Varey's camp that day on the ridge when the girls of Central High
+had had their adventure.
+
+"Here is a little lady," whined the old woman. "She will buy of us,"
+lifting up her baskets.
+
+"No, no," said Bobby, shaking her head vigorously.
+
+The other woman recognized her and touched the arm of her companion
+warningly.
+
+"Surely the little lady will not be unkind to the poor Romany," she
+whined. "She does not forget what Queen Grace told her?"
+
+"I want to forget it," declared Bobby, with flushed face. "I have
+nothing for you. Go away--do!"
+
+"Ah-ha, little lady!" chuckled the woman, with a leer. "You are mistress
+here now--and you can send us away. But remember! Your father will bring
+home another mistress before mid-summer."
+
+The two women laughed harshly, and turned away, going slowly out of the
+yard. Bobby remained upon the porch until she had winked back the
+tears--and bitter tears they were, indeed--and so went slowly in to
+breakfast.
+
+"Those horrid 'Gyptians," Mrs. Ballister was saying. "I caught them out
+there trying to tell Sally's fortune. They'd make her believe she was
+going to fall heir to a fortune, or get a husband, or something, and
+then we'd lose the best kitchen girl we ever had."
+
+But Bobby felt too serious to smile at the old lady's sputtering.
+Despite what Laura Belding said, there _must_ be something in the
+fortunes the Gypsy queen told! How did she know so much about _her?_
+Bobby asked herself.
+
+She knew that Bobby had no mother and that she was sure to get into
+trouble with her teachers. And now the prophecy she had made that her
+father would bring home a new wife before mid-summer rankled in Bobby
+Hargrew's mind like a barbed arrow.
+
+For Bobby loved her father very dearly, and had been for years his
+confidante. It had long been agreed between them that she was going to
+be his partner in the grocery business, just as though she had been born
+a boy. And as soon as the little girls were big enough they were to go
+away to boarding school, Mrs. Ballister should be relieved of the
+responsibility of the house, and Bobby was going to be the real mistress
+of the Hargrew home.
+
+And suppose, instead of all these things Father Tom should bring home a
+new mother to reign over them? The thought was ever in Bobby's mind
+these days. Not that she had any reason to fear the coming of a
+step-mother. The only girl at Central High whom she knew that had a
+step-mother loved her very dearly and made as much of her as though she
+had been two real mothers. Sue Blakesley had been without a mother long
+enough to appreciate even a substitute.
+
+But Bobby and Mr. Hargrew had been such close friends and comrades that
+the girl was jealous of such a possibility as anybody coming into her
+father's life who could take her place in any degree. She worried over
+the Gypsy's prophecy continually; she wet her pillow at night with
+bitter tears because of it, and it sobered and changed her to her
+schoolmates, as we have seen.
+
+It was a very serious and imminent trouble indeed to the warm-hearted,
+impulsive girl.
+
+On her way to school that morning she chanced to turn the corner into
+Whiffle Street just as a dark-browed, shuffling fellow crossed from the
+other side and trailed along ahead of her toward the schoolhouse. Bobby
+knew that black face, and the huge gold hoops in his ears, at once. It
+was the husband of the Gypsy queen.
+
+"Oh, I wonder if the whole encampment is in town hunting for that poor
+girl, Margit?" thought Bobby. "They are such strange, wicked folk. And
+look at him--why, that's Gee Gee!"
+
+The lady ahead on the walk, behind whom the Gypsy was walking so
+stealthily, was none other than Miss Carrington herself. Instantly
+Bobby's thought flashed to the mysterious inquiries of the girl, Margit
+Salgo, about the teacher at Central High.
+
+Bobby involuntarily quickened her steps. She was afraid of these
+Gypsies; but she was curious, too. The whole block was deserted, it
+seemed, save for herself, Gee Gee, and the man.
+
+Suddenly he hastened his long stride and overtook the teacher. Bobby
+knew that the fellow accosted Miss Carrington. The lady halted, and
+shrank a little. But she did not scream, or otherwise betray fear.
+
+"No, lady. Ah'm no beggar. Ma nyme's Jim Varey an' ah'm honest man, so I
+be. Ah come out o' Leeds, in Yorkshire, an' we be travelin', me an'
+mine. Wait, lady! Ah've summat tae show ye."
+
+He fumbled in his pocket and brought out a card. He held this card so
+that Miss Carrington could read what was printed, or written, on it. And
+she did so, as was evident to Bobby, for she started back a little and
+uttered a murmured exclamation.
+
+"Ah sees ye knaw ye'r awn nyme, lidy," said Jim Varey, shrewdly. "Yer
+the lady we're lookin' for, mayhap. 'Tis private business----"
+
+"I can have no business with you, man," exclaimed Miss Carrington. "Why,
+you're a Gypsy!"
+
+"Aye. I'm Gypsy. An' so was ma fawther an' mither, an' their fawthers
+an' mithers before 'em. We'm proud of the Romany blood. An' more'n 'us,
+lady, has mixed with the Romany--an' in other climes aside Yorkshire.
+But all Romany is one, wherever vound. Ye knaw that, lidy."
+
+"I don't know what you mean! I don't know what you are talking about!
+What do you want of me?" cried Miss Carrington, quite wildly.
+
+The man drew closer. Bobby was really frightened, too. She opened her
+own mouth to shriek for help. But the Gypsy did not touch the teacher.
+Instead, he said in a low, but perfectly clear, voice, so that Bobby
+heard it plainly:
+
+"I would speak to you, lidy, of the child of Belas Salgo."
+
+Miss Carrington uttered a stifled shriek. Bobby sprang forward, finding
+her own voice now, and using it to good purpose, too. A door banged, and
+a gentleman ran out of his house and down to the gate, where the Gypsy
+had stopped Miss Carrington.
+
+It chanced to be Franklin Sharp, the principal of Central High. Jim
+Varey saw him coming, glanced swiftly around, evidently considered the
+time and place unfavorable for further troubling the teacher, and so
+broke into a run and disappeared.
+
+Mr. Sharp caught Gee Gee before she fell. But she did not utterly lose
+consciousness. Bobby had caught her hand and clung to it. The girl heard
+Gee Gee murmur:
+
+"There was no child! There was no child! Oh! Poor Anne! Poor Anne!"
+
+"Let us take her into the house," said Mr. Sharp, kindly. "That ruffian
+has scared her, I believe. Could you identify him, do you think, Miss
+Hargrew?"
+
+"Yes, sir," declared Bobby, tremblingly.
+
+But Miss Carrington cried: "Oh, no! Oh, no! Don't go after him--do
+nothing to him."
+
+And she continued to cry and moan while they took her into the house and
+put her in the care of Mrs. Sharp. That forenoon Gee Gee did not appear
+before her classes at Central High. But she was present at the afternoon
+session and Bobby thought her quite as stern and hard as ever. Nor did
+the teacher say a word to the girl about the Gypsy, or mention the
+occasion in any way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X--EVE'S ADVENTURE
+
+
+Eve Sitz had plenty to do out of school hours when she was at home.
+Nobody could afford to be idle at the Sitz farm. But she found time,
+too, to put on an old skirt, gym. shoes, and a sweater, and go down
+behind the barn to practice her broad jump and to throw a baseball at
+the high board fence behind the sheepfold.
+
+She grew expert indeed in ball throwing, and occasionally when Otto, her
+brother, caught her at this exercise, he marvelled that his sister could
+throw the horsehide farther and straighter than he.
+
+"Dot beats it all, mein cracious!" gasped Otto, who was older than Eve
+by several years, had never been to school in this new country, and was
+one who would never be able to speak English without a strong accent.
+"How a girl can t'row a pall like dot. I neffer!"
+
+"You wait till June, Otto," replied his sister, in German. "If you come
+to the big field the day of the Centerport High Schools, you will see
+that girls can do quite well in athletics. You know how we can row, and
+you saw us play basketball. Wait till you see the Central High girls on
+track and field!"
+
+"A lot of foolishness," croaked Otto. "You go to the school to learn to
+be smart, no?"
+
+"No," replied Eve, laughing at him. "I am smart in the first place, or I
+would not go. And don't I help mother just as much--and milk--and feed
+the pigs and chickens--and all that? Wait till you see me put the shot.
+I am going to win a whole point for the school if I am champion
+shot-putter."
+
+"Ach! It is beyond me," declared Otto, walking off to attend to his
+work.
+
+The family--plain Swiss folk as they were--thought Eve quite mad over
+these "foolish athletics." They had no such things in the schools at
+home--in the old country. Yet Father and Mother Sitz were secretly proud
+of their big and handsome daughter. She was growing up "American." That
+was something to be achieved. They had come of peasant stock, and hoped
+that their girl, at least, would mix with a more highly educated class
+of young folk in this new country.
+
+So, if Eve thought that the tasks which usually fell to her nights and
+mornings, and on Saturdays, were not sufficient to keep her in what she
+called "condition," her parents made no objection to her throwing
+baseballs, or jumping, or taking long walks, or riding on the old gray
+mare's back over the North pasture.
+
+And it was upon one of these rides that she fell upon her second
+adventure that Spring with the Gypsies--or, at least, with one of the
+tribe.
+
+It occurred on the Saturday morning following Miss Carrington's meeting
+with Jim Varey, husband of the Gypsy queen. Of course, Bobby Hargrew had
+said nothing about this mysterious connection of the martinet teacher
+with the roving band of "Egyptians"; it was not her secret, and although
+Bobby might be an innocent gossip, she was no tale-bearer.
+
+Eve finished her morning's work, "pegged" the baseball at the target she
+had marked with a brush on the sheep fold fence, managing to scare all
+the woolly muttons out of at least half of their senses, and then
+grabbed up a bridle and ran down to the pasture bars and whistled for
+the mare.
+
+The old horse came cantering across the field. Eve never failed to have
+a lump of sugar in her pocket, and the old girl nuzzled around for it
+and would not be content until she had munched it. Meanwhile Eve slipped
+on the bridle and sprang upon the creature's back.
+
+Hester Grimes, and Lily Pendleton, and some of the wealthier girls who
+went to Central High, rode horseback in the parks. They went to a riding
+school and cantered around a tanbark ring, and then rode, very demurely,
+two and two, upon old broken-kneed hacks through the bridle-paths. Mrs.
+Case approved of horseback exercise for girls, either astride or
+side-saddle, as they pleased; but she certainly would have held her
+breath in fear had she seen Eve Sitz career down the rocky pasture upon
+her mount on this keen-aired morning.
+
+It had rained over night and the bushes were still dripping. Every time
+a sharp hoof of the unshod mare tore up a clod as she cantered, Eve got
+the scent of the wet earth in her nostrils, and drank it in with long
+and deep inhalations. She rode the mare with a loose rein and let her
+take her head.
+
+They dashed down the hill and through the narrow path that crossed a
+piece of Mr. Sitz's swamp land. Here the dogwood was budding and a few
+Judas-trees displayed a purple blush, as though a colored mist hung
+about them. In a few days the bushes would burst forth in full flower.
+Eve rode fast along the swamp path. It was narrow, and to have ventured
+three yards upon either side would have been to sink, horse and all,
+into the quagmire. This was a waste piece of the farm that her father
+hoped to drain at some time, but now it was only a covert for birds and
+frogs.
+
+But suddenly, as the girl rode fast, she thought she heard a cry. She
+half checked her mount; but the sound was not repeated.
+
+A minute later the gray mare was through the marsh-piece and out upon
+the field beyond. Eve intended circling around by Peveril Pond and so
+reach home again by another path; yet the mysterious cry she had heard
+back there in the swamp-piece kept returning to her mind.
+
+Suppose it had been a real cry--a human cry--a cry for help?
+
+The thought came back to her again and again. She was in sight of the
+pond, when she could stand it no longer, but pulled the mare about.
+
+"Come, old girl! We've got to be sure of this," cried Eve. "Back you
+go!"
+
+Her mount cantered back again. They reached the edge of the swamp and
+Eve pulled the mare down to a walk. Stepping daintily, the steed
+followed the narrow path through the over-bushed swamp. One could not
+see a dozen feet on either hand, so tall were the bushes, and so
+thick--not even at the height Eve rode.
+
+She halted her horse and called aloud:
+
+"Ahoy! Hullo! Who called?"
+
+No answer--for half a minute. The farmer's daughter shouted again. Then
+she heard it again--a half-stifled cry--a cry that ended in a choking
+gasp and which chilled the blood in her veins and made her hold her own
+breath for a moment.
+
+Was it an actual voice calling for help that had answered her? Or had
+she imagined the cry?
+
+She held in the anxious horse, and waited. Again the muffled shriek
+reached her ears. Somebody was caught in the quagmire--in the quicksand.
+It was off to the left, and not many yards from the path.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI--BOBBY IS INTERESTED
+
+
+Indeed, one could not have ventured many feet from the path at this
+season of the year, when the heavy Spring rains had filled the swamp,
+without sinking into the mire. Eve knew this very well, and it was with
+fast-beating heart that she slipped from her horse, tied the bridle-rein
+to a sapling, and ventured cautiously in the direction of the
+half-choked cries.
+
+"I'm coming! Where are you?" she called.
+
+The cry for help came for a third time. Eve parted the bushes before
+her, and then shrank back. She had been about to put her foot upon a bit
+of shaking moss which, when she disturbed the branches of the bush, sank
+completely out of sight in the black mire.
+
+Another step might have proved her own undoing!
+
+But on the other side of this dimpling pool of mire a willow tree of the
+"weeping" variety stood with its roots deep in the swamp. And clinging
+to a drooping branch of this tree were two sun-browned hands--muscular,
+but small.
+
+"A woman!" gasped Eve. Then, the next moment, she added: "A girl!"
+
+And a girl it was--a girl no older than herself. The victim was all but
+shoulder deep in the mire. She was clinging desperately to the branch of
+the tree. Her face was half hidden by the twigs and leaves, and by her
+own disarranged hair, which hung in black elf-locks about it.
+
+But even in that moment of surprise and fear, Eve identified her. It was
+the girl who had been a fugitive from the Gypsy camp.
+
+The identity of the person in peril did not claim Eve's attention for
+half a moment, however. It was her necessity, and the fact that she must
+be rescued immediately that spurred the farm girl to action.
+
+"Hold on! I'll save you!" she shouted, and even as she spoke she saw the
+girl slip down a hand's breadth deeper into the ooze. If she was to save
+the victim Eve must indeed work rapidly, and to the purpose.
+
+She saw how the girl had come into her evil plight. Beside the tree ran
+a narrow strip of grassy hummock. It looked sound, but Eve well knew
+that all such places were treacherous.
+
+The Gypsy girl had trusted to it, venturing off the regular and beaten
+path. She had slipped, or the edge of the hummock had caved in with her.
+Only by chance had she caught at the branch of the willow and so stayed
+her descent into the bottomless morass.
+
+Fleet of foot, Eve sprang back to the bridle-path where the mare was
+tied. She wanted the only thing which, in this emergency, could be of
+help to her--and to the girl sinking in the mire.
+
+There was no time to go for help. There was no fence near where she
+could obtain rails, even. Nor did she have anything with which to cut
+down saplings to aid the girl.
+
+Quickly her nimble fingers unbound the leather bridle from the tree.
+Then she unbuckled the reins and removed them entirely, letting the mare
+go free if she would. But the wise old horse stood and watched her,
+without offering to run away.
+
+"That's right! Stand still, old girl!" exclaimed Eve Sitz. "I'll want
+you mighty bad in a minute, or two, perhaps."
+
+She sprang upon the tussock on which the victim of the accident had
+evidently been before her. But she was cautious. She came to the place
+where the poor girl clung to the tree branch. Those twigs were slowly
+slipping through her cramped fingers. In a few seconds she would slip
+entirely from her hold. Already she was too far gone to speak, and her
+eyes were closed.
+
+It was no use calling again. Eve bent forward and with a little prayer
+for help, cast the loop of the strong rein over the victim's head and
+shoulders.
+
+As she did so the girl's hands slipped entirely from the tree branch.
+
+Eve screamed. But she threw herself back, too, as the weight of the
+sinking girl came upon the bridle-rein. Eve easily held her up. She
+could sink no farther. But the question that troubled the farmer's
+daughter was: Could she draw the unconscious girl out of the mire?
+
+But Eve was the heavier of the two, and far stronger. The Gypsy girl
+could run and leap like a hare--as she had proven the day the girls of
+Central High had seen her escaping from the encampment of her Romany
+companions. But she had not been strong enough to scramble out of the
+mud when she had once fallen into it.
+
+Now Eve, sure that the bridle-rein would hold, flung herself back and
+dragged the girl up. She came out upon the narrow tussock slowly, but
+surely.
+
+Eve wrapped the lines about her wrists and tugged with all her weight
+and strength; and she was not many seconds in accomplishing the rescue.
+
+The unfortunate girl lay helpless on the edge of the morass. She was a
+mass of mud, and her eyes were still closed. Eve seized her under the
+arms and dragged her across the trembling hummock to firmer ground. Once
+Eve herself stepped over the edge of the solid ground and
+plunged--knee-deep--into the mire.
+
+But she recovered herself and quickly brought her burden, breathless
+though she herself was, to the bridle-path. The old gray mare looked
+upon the muddy figure on the ground with ears pricked forward. But Eve
+spoke softly to her, and the creature stood still, as though she knew
+her help was needed.
+
+Eve did not trouble to put on the rein again. When she got her breath
+she raised the girl, who was still only half conscious, in her arms, and
+managed to get her on the horse.
+
+"You've got to carry double; but you can go just as slow as you want to,
+old girl!" Eve exclaimed, as she leaped upon the mare herself, sitting
+behind the other girl, and holding her on.
+
+Then she spoke again to the mare, and the latter picked her way
+carefully over the narrow path and so to the North pasture. In fifteen
+minutes Eve had the strange girl at the farmhouse, where her
+kind-hearted mother helped put the visitor to bed. They were true
+Samaritans in that house. They reserved all questioning until after the
+needy had been aided.
+
+Eve went to town that afternoon, for she was due for practice at the
+athletic field, full of this adventure. The strange girl had not said a
+word about herself save that she had been traveling through the marsh
+early that morning and had mistaken the path.
+
+Eve had told her mother her suspicions as to who the girl was, and it
+was plain that the young Gypsy would be unfit for travel for some days.
+The Sitzes would try to find out something about her condition and why
+she was striving to escape from her companions.
+
+"But, it's plain why she left town so hurriedly," declared Jess Morse,
+one of those to whom Eve told her story. "I've seen those Gypsy women in
+town myself this week. I saw the queen--Grace Varey, did you say her
+name is?"
+
+"That's the name she gave us last year," said Eve.
+
+"Well, I saw her only this morning. The Gypsies have come to town to
+search for that girl. She knows it and was escaping into the country
+when she got into that swamp. My! It was lucky you rode that way, Eve."
+
+But it was Bobby Hargrew who showed the most interest in the affairs of
+the mysterious Gypsy girl. She asked Eve a hundred questions about her
+and finally admitted that she had reasons for wishing to know all about
+her that she did not feel free to divulge.
+
+"I tell you honestly, Eve, I wish you'd let me go home with you so that
+I can see that girl before Monday morning," said Bobby, bluntly.
+
+"Well, why not?" returned the farm girl, laughing. "You'd be welcome,
+Clara."
+
+"I'll telephone father at the store and run home and pack a bag and meet
+you at the station," announced Bobby, greatly excited.
+
+"Why, we'll be more than pleased," urged Eve. "I'd like to know what the
+matter is with that girl, too. If you find out, will you tell me?" and
+she laughed again.
+
+"If it's only _my_ secret I'll tell you in a minute," promised Bobby.
+But in her heart she believed that it would prove to be partly Miss
+Carrington's secret, and she could not speak of _her_ affairs, that was
+sure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII--THE RACES
+
+
+Bobby, as she said, "fished" for this invitation and got it while the
+girls were dressing in the gym. building, before the try-out work on the
+field that Saturday afternoon. Eve went to her broad jump, while Bobby
+lined up with a lot of the would-be sprinters from all four classes, to
+try their speed from the fifty-yard dash up to the quarter-mile.
+
+Only the very best of the candidates were allowed to try the longer
+races, and they had all to go to Dr. Agnew's office first. The doctor
+spent the most of every Saturday afternoon at the gym. building, and he
+doled out good advice to the girls while he prodded them, and listened
+to their heart and lung action, and otherwise discovered if they were
+"fit."
+
+Laura had been delegated by Mrs. Case to watch the sprinters, and most
+of them were quickly sent to the courts to play tennis, or basketball,
+or some other game, and the cinder track was soon devoted to those only
+who were earnestly endeavoring to develop their speed as runners--and
+who had some small chance, at least, to make a good record.
+
+Bobby tried the first short dash, and then the third. There was some
+crowding on the track and she could not do her best--nor did she wish
+to. As long as she made a good enough showing to be advised to wait for
+the finals, she was content, and so was Laura.
+
+"Hold yourself in," advised Mother Wit, smiling on her. "If you spend
+your best wind trying to beat these others at first you'll be lost when
+it comes to the quarter-mile, and be retired."
+
+So Bobby bided her time until the quarter-mile was called. There were
+but six contestants. It was the longest trial of speed that Mrs. Case
+would allow on the track. The Girls' Branch Athletic League gave but a
+doubtful approval, at most, to the quarter-mile trial.
+
+The six were "set" on the line and Laura, watch in hand, waited for the
+arrow to touch the mark, her hand raised.
+
+"Go!" she shouted, and the girls sprang away, each doing her very best
+from the start. For the quarter-mile run leaves little space for
+jockeying. It is soon over, and the contestant who gets off ahead is
+quite frequently the winner.
+
+The six girls were not so unevenly matched; and they started well on a
+line. For the first few yards they kept together.
+
+But then the pace began to tell. For fifty yards, say, they were matched
+to a degree; then it was plain that only two of them had the "sand" to
+keep up that killing pace for long.
+
+Bobby and one other forged ahead. Breast to breast, their arms working
+in unison, their stride equal, the two girls passed ahead of the others
+and shot along the track with unabated swiftness.
+
+The girls behind were panting, and falling back. One wavered and dropped
+out entirely when she had run but a furlong. The others clung to the
+track, however, doing their very best to record a fair time, at least.
+They had learned under Mrs. Case to play the game out, no matter how
+badly they seemed to be beaten.
+
+Bobby and the girl with her felt the strain growing, however. Unless the
+runner is experienced, the dogged perseverance of a close opponent is
+likely to rattle one at the last moment. As the two came down the
+stretch and the watching girls began to cheer and "root" for their
+favorite contestant, the runners felt their nerve going.
+
+A misstep now would cause the loss of the race to one, or to the other.
+Bobby tried not to see the girls along the track, or to think of the one
+pounding away beside her.
+
+She was breathing with comparative ease herself; but the sound of the
+other girl's breathing pumped in her ears, louder and louder! And how
+loudly her footbeats were, too!
+
+Could she only get away from those sounds--leave them behind her--clear
+the rushing air about her of those noises!
+
+There was the line stretched across the track. She knew it was there
+because Laura stood with it in her hand. If she could only breast that
+ribbon first!
+
+Somewhere--it seemed to be a cry from the air right over her head--a
+shrill voice kept repeating:
+
+"Come on! Come on, Bobs!"
+
+And Bobby called up that reserve strength that Mrs. Case had talked so
+much about in her little lectures to the girls, and sprang ahead of her
+rival. She was unconscious of the fact that she was ahead. It seemed to
+her that the other girl was still clinging to her. She could hear the
+footsteps and the heavy breathing.
+
+But suddenly she was aware that it was her own feet spurning the cinders
+that she heard--and her own breathing. She was winning!
+
+And then the tape snapped across her chest and Jess and Eve Sitz, who
+had run over to watch the finish of the race, caught her in their arms.
+
+"Splendid! Bully for you, Bobs!" cried Jess. "Why, there isn't any other
+quarter-mile runner in Central High. You take the palm!"
+
+And not until then did Bob understand that the girl she thought she had
+run so closely was a hallucination. The second runner was yards behind
+her at the finish!
+
+They bore Bobby into the gym. building and Mrs. Case insisted upon Dr.
+Agnew's seeing her again almost immediately. The physician was still in
+the building, and he came when called. The physical instructor was
+examining the time card Laura and her assistants had made out. She would
+not divulge their time to the runners, and the time keepers were sworn
+to secrecy; but everybody knew that Bobby Hargrew had made a good
+showing.
+
+"There's nothing the matter with that little girl," said the doctor,
+confidently. "Only, these sudden strains are not valuable. Yes, once, by
+the way, is all right. As long as one does not go beyond that reserve
+strength that your instructor harps upon," and he laughed.
+
+Bobby was naturally proud over her achievement, for she knew that she
+had run a very fast quarter. She was only sorry that she could not know
+herself just how fast she was. But that was a secret Mrs. Case kept from
+her.
+
+"The worst possible thing for a runner in training to know is how fast,
+or how slow, he is," she often declared, "Do your best each time; that
+is your business."
+
+So Bobby got into her street clothes and, having telephoned to her
+father as she had promised Eve Sitz, she ran home to pack her bag. On
+the way she passed by the house where Miss Carrington boarded. Gee Gee
+had two rooms in a wing of the old Boyce house, in which the Widow Boyce
+kept lodgers. Her front room had long, French windows which swung
+outward like doors upon the porch. And as Bobby ran by she saw a man
+come down from this porch, as though he had been listening at the
+windows, and hurry around the corner of the house and behind the thick
+hedge of the kitchen garden.
+
+"That was the Gypsy--Jim Varey," Bobby thought, hesitating before the
+house. "What is he haunting Gee Gee for? Ought she to know that he is
+hanging around?"
+
+But the girl hesitated about going in and speaking to the teacher. Gee
+Gee, she considered, was really her arch-enemy. Why should she try to
+shield her from any trouble? And, too, Miss Carrington might not thank
+her for interfering in her private affairs.
+
+So Bobby ran on home and told Mrs. Ballister where she was going,
+huddled a few things into her bag, kissed "the kids," as she termed her
+sisters, and ran off for the station, there to meet Eve for the 5:14
+train to Keyport.
+
+And while she waited who should appear but that black-faced man with the
+gold hoops in his ears--Jim Varey!
+
+The Gypsy saw her--Bobby knew he did. But he paid her no attention,
+slinking into the men's room and not appearing again until Eve arrived
+and the two girls went aboard the train. Then Bobby saw him once more.
+
+"Do you see that fellow, Eve?" she demanded, whispering into the bigger
+girl's ear.
+
+"What fellow?"
+
+"There! he's gone," said Bobby, with a sigh. "I feared he was following
+us."
+
+"Whom do you mean?" queried Eve, rather surprised by her manner.
+
+"Jim Varey, the Gypsy."
+
+"Why! is he about?" asked Eve. "You mean the husband of Queen Grace?
+Well, he's a bad egg, he is! I hope he won't dog us to the house, for he
+might learn then where that poor girl is hiding."
+
+When they were in the car Bobby stuck her head out of the window to look
+along the platform. She did not see Jim Varey in the crowd; but she
+might better have kept in her head--for he saw her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII--WHAT MARGIT SAID
+
+
+The two girls settled back into their seats, each having one to herself,
+for the car was not filled. Bobby was soon laughing and joking in her
+usual way.
+
+"If I ride backward like this, will I get to the same place you do,
+Eve?" she asked.
+
+"What a ridiculous question!" exclaimed Eve.
+
+"I don't know. One of the 'squabs' was going around yesterday asking
+everybody a much more foolish one."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"Why, what was the largest island in the world before Australia was
+discovered?" queried Bobby, giggling.
+
+"Why--why--Newfoundland, perhaps?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+"Madagascar?"
+
+"No," said Bobby, shaking her head.
+
+"England and Scotland together?"
+
+"Huh! You couldn't divide them very well," jeered Bobby. "But that's not
+the answer."
+
+"What _was_ the biggest island, then? I give, it up," said Eve.
+
+"Why, Australia, of course," chuckled Bobby. "It was there all the time,
+even if it wasn't discovered. Don't you see?"
+
+And so she passed the time without betraying the fact that she had a
+very serious reason for wishing to see and talk with Margit Salgo.
+
+When the girls left the train they had no idea that Jim Varey got out of
+the smoking car on the wrong side from the station and hid in the
+bushes. When the girls started across the fields toward the Sitz place,
+the Gypsy dogged them.
+
+In half an hour Eve and her guest reached the house, never suspecting
+that they had been the subject of attention.
+
+Bobby was welcome at the farmhouse. She had been there several times
+before and from Farmer Sitz down they enjoyed the whimsical,
+irrepressible girl. The expectation that she would be "good fun" put
+Bobby on her mettle, despite the fact that, secretly, she did not feel
+cheerful.
+
+Margit Salgo was better and seemed content enough to occupy the
+comfortable bed in the room next Eve's own. She knew Bobby immediately,
+and looked a bit disturbed. But Bobby gave her to understand that she
+had told nobody about what the Gypsy girl had said the day they were
+caught together in the rain.
+
+"But to-night, when the other folks are abed, I want you to tell Eve and
+me what you care to about yourself, Margit," said Bobby, when the others
+were out of the room. "Perhaps we can help you. All we girls are
+interested in you, for, you see, at least seven of us saw you that day
+when you ran away from your friends."
+
+"No friends of mine! no friends of mine!" gasped the girl, half in fear.
+
+"All right. You tell us all about it this evening," whispered Bobby and
+then whisked out to help Eve with her duties.
+
+Not that she was of much help when she followed Eve out to the clean and
+modern barn where Eve had her own six cows to milk, while Otto or the
+hired man milked the rest of the herd. But she _was_ amusing.
+
+"Goodness me!" was Bobby's first comment, when she came into the shed
+and saw the row of mild-eyed cattle standing in their stalls. "What a
+lot of cows--and every one of them chewing gum! Can you beat it?"
+
+"What do you suppose Miss Carrington would say to a row of girls who
+chewed their cud as seriously as these bossies?" laughed Eve.
+
+Bobby arched her brows, screwed up her mouth, and replied, in a stilted
+manner:
+
+"'Young ladies! I _am_ surprised. Do my eyes deceive me? Do you consider
+it polite to wag your jaws like that in public? Fie, for shame!' And
+much more to the same purpose," added Bobby, laughing. "Oh, Gee Gee and
+her lessons in politeness make me tired. She's so polite herself that
+she'd even return a telephone call! Hullo! what's this?"
+
+"A bridle," said Eve, as Bobby took it down from its hook.
+
+"Oh! Sure! You see, I'm a regular green-horn when it comes to country
+things. Of course, that's the bit. But say! _how_ do you ever get it
+into the horse's mouth? _I'd_ have to wait for him to yawn, I expect,"
+and she laughed.
+
+She was great fun at supper, too, to the delight of the family. Otto,
+with his queer notions of the English language, made Bobby very gay; and
+the young man complained of his difficulties with the English language
+just for the sake of encouraging Bobby to correct his speech. Finally
+she made up one of her little doggerel verses for him, to Otto's great
+delight:
+
+    "Otto saw a sausage in a pan,
+      He smelled a smelt a-frying;
+    He saw the sheep that had been dyed
+      Look not the least like dying.
+
+    "He saw a hen sit on an egg,
+      Although she had been set;
+    Heard Eve complain of being dry
+      Though plainly she was wet.
+
+    "He looked upon the window pane,
+      Quite sure no pain it had;
+    Then sighed, and shook his head, and said:
+      'Dot English, she iss pad!'"
+
+Good Mrs. Sitz had not allowed Margit to get out of bed, but Eve and
+Bobby took supper in to the Gypsy girl on a tray. She protested that she
+was not an invalid, and after Otto and the old folks had gone to bed,
+Margit, well wrapped in shawls and a comforter, came out to sit in a big
+chair before Eve's fire.
+
+"I am not like you girls," she said, wistfully. "You go to school and
+learn things out of books, eh? Well, I never went to school. And then,
+this big America is so different from my country. You do not
+understand."
+
+"I guess I can understand something of what you mean," observed Eve,
+soberly. "You see, _we_ came from Europe, too."
+
+"Not from Hungary--Austria-Hungary?" cried Margit Salgo, with
+excitement.
+
+"No, no. From Switzerland," replied Eve, smiling. "And I was very small
+when we came, so I do not remember much about it."
+
+"But I came only last year," explained Margit. "And I was given to the
+Vareys----"
+
+"Goodness me! Don't talk that way," interrupted Bobby. "It sounds just
+as though you were _owned_ by those Gypsies."
+
+"Well, it is so," said Margit. "I am a Gypsy, too. My father was Belas
+Salgo. He was a musician--a wonderful musician, I believe. But he was a
+Gypsy. And all the Romany are kin, in some way. These Vareys are English
+Gypsies. They are kind enough to me. But I sure believe they hide from
+me _who I am_."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" asked Eve, in surprise, although Bobby said
+not a word, but listened, eagerly.
+
+"Only my father, you see, was a Gypsy. My mother----"
+
+"Who was she?" asked Bobby, suddenly.
+
+"I--I do not know. But she was not of those people--no. I am sure of
+that. She died when I was very little. I went about in many lands with
+my father. Then he died--very suddenly. Gypsy friends took me for a
+while, but they all said I belonged over here--in America. So they sent
+me here finally."
+
+"Your mother was American, then, perhaps?" said Eve, shrewdly.
+
+"That may be it. But these Vareys care nothing about my finding any
+relatives, save for one thing," said Margit, shaking her head, gloomily.
+
+"What is that?" asked Bobby.
+
+"If there is money. They believe my mother's people might be rich, or
+something of the kind. Then they would make them pay to get hold of me.
+But suppose my mother's people do not want me?" slowly added the
+fugitive, sadly.
+
+"You are quite sure this is the idea the Vareys have?" asked Bobby.
+
+"Oh, yes. I heard them talking. Then I saw a--a card with a name written
+on it. They said, when they were looking at the card, '_She_ will know
+all about it. It is to her we must go.' So I know it was a woman's
+name."
+
+"But how did you know--or suspect--that the name was that of any teacher
+in our school?" demanded Bobby, much to Eve's surprise.
+
+"Ah! I learned much--here a word, there a word--by listening. I knew we
+were coming to Centerport for the purpose of getting speech with this
+woman whose name had been given them by the Hungarian people who brought
+me over here to America."
+
+"But mercy on us!" cried Eve, in vast amazement. "What name is it?"
+
+"She can't explain, for she cannot pronounce it," said Bobby, instantly.
+
+"Grace, or Jim Varey, never spoke the name aloud," said Margit, shaking
+her head. "But I know there are eighteen letters in the name. I counted
+them."
+
+"And what teacher at Central High has eighteen letters in her name?"
+murmured Eve, staring at Bobby.
+
+Bobby took a pencil and wrote Miss Carrington's full name slowly on a
+piece of paper. She put it before the Gypsy girl.
+
+"Is _that_ the name?" she asked. "When we spoke together before I had
+forgotten that Miss Carrington always spells her middle name out in full
+when she writes it at all."
+
+"Miss Carrington!" gasped Eve, and, like Bobby, looked in the Gypsy
+girl's face questioningly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV--ANOTHER FLITTING
+
+
+"Is she nice?" asked Margit Salgo, eagerly, looking at the two Central
+High girls.
+
+"Bless us!" muttered Bobby.
+
+"She is a very well educated lady," said Eve, seriously. "I cannot tell
+whether you would like her. But--but do you really believe that she
+knows anything about you, Margit?"
+
+"I do not know how much she knows of _me_," said the Gypsy girl,
+quickly. "But of my mother's people she knows. That I am sure. She--she
+holds the key, you would say, to the matter. It is through her, I am
+sure, that the Vareys expect to get money for me."
+
+"To sell you to Miss Carrington?" gasped Eve.
+
+"I do not know," replied the Gypsy girl, shaking her head. "But there is
+money to be made out of me, I know. And Queen Grace is--is very eager to
+get money."
+
+"She's avaricious, is she?" said Eve, thoughtfully.
+
+But Bobby Hargrew's mind was fixed upon another phase of the subject.
+She took Margit's hand and asked, softly:
+
+"What was your mother's name, dear?"
+
+"Why--Madam Salgo."
+
+"But her first name--her intimate name? What did your father call her?
+Do you not remember?"
+
+Margit waited a moment and then nodded. "I understand," she said. "It
+was 'Annake.'"
+
+"Anne?"
+
+"Ah, yes--in your harsh English tongue," returned Margit. "But why do
+you ask?"
+
+Bobby was not willing to tell her that--then.
+
+"At any rate, Margit," Eve told her, soothingly, "you will stay here
+with us just as long as you like." The girl had narrated her flight from
+Centerport when she saw the Gypsies in that town and knew they would
+hunt her down. "And we girls will help you find your friends."
+
+"This Miss Carrington," spoke Margit, eagerly. "She knows. I must meet
+her. But do you not tell her anything about me. Let me meet and judge
+her for myself."
+
+"Don't you think we'd better tell her something about you?" asked Eve,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Perhaps she might not want to know me," replied the Gypsy girl,
+anxiously. "Who am I? A Romany! All you other people look down on the
+Romany folk."
+
+"Well, you are only part Gypsy," said the practical Evangeline. "And
+your father was an educated man--a great musician, you say."
+
+"Surely!"
+
+"Then I wouldn't class myself with people who would chase me with a
+bloodhound, and only wanted to make money out of me," said Eve,
+sensibly.
+
+"Ah! but all the Romany folk are not like, the Vareys," returned Margit.
+
+Eve would not allow the girl to talk until late, for her experience in
+the swamp had been most exhausting. They bundled her into bed, and laid
+all her poor clothing--which Mrs. Sitz had washed and ironed with her
+own hands--on the chair beside her.
+
+Bobby had one more question to ask the Gypsy girl before she went to
+sleep, and she asked that in secret.
+
+"How did that Varey woman--that Gypsy queen--know so much about me, and
+about Laura Belding, and our affairs?"
+
+"Did she?" returned Margit, sleepily. "She is a sharp one! But, then,
+the Vareys have worked through this part of the country for years and
+years. That is why I was given to them, I think. Perhaps Grace Varey has
+been to Centerport many times--I do not know. We Romany folk pick up all
+sorts of information--yes!"
+
+Bobby stole into bed beside Eve. She could not sleep for some time; but
+finally her eyes closed and--for some hours, or some minutes, she never
+knew which--she slept. Then, a dog's howling broke her rest.
+
+Bobby sat up and listened. The dog's mournful howling sounded nearer.
+Some dog about the Sitz premises answered with several savage barks.
+But, as nothing followed, the city girl dropped back upon her pillows
+again.
+
+The night noises of the country, however, disturbed her. She could not
+sleep soundly. Once she thought she heard voices--and so clearly that it
+seemed as though they must be in the bedroom.
+
+But it was still dark. Nobody could be astir, she told herself, at such
+a dark hour. A rooster crowed, and then several others followed. She
+fell asleep again slowly counting the chanticleers.
+
+And then--suddenly, it seemed--Eve was shaking her and calling in her
+ear:
+
+"Oh, Bobby! Bobby! Wake up--do! What do you suppose has happened?"
+
+It was broad daylight. Eve was more than half dressed and the door
+between their room and that occupied by the Gypsy girl was open.
+
+"What's the matter?" gasped Bobby.
+
+"She's gone!" wailed Eve.
+
+"Who's gone?" and Bobby leaped out of bed.
+
+"That girl. Out of the window. She's run away!"
+
+Bobby ran to look into the room. The window sash was up and the blinds
+wide open. The girls had slept on the ground floor, and alone in this
+wing of the rambling old farmhouse.
+
+"What did she run away for?" demanded Bobby, slowly. "She could have
+_walked_ away, had she wanted to, couldn't she? Nobody would have
+stopped her."
+
+"But she's gone!" cried Eve.
+
+"So I see," Bobby admitted, grimly. "She didn't go of her own free will,
+you can just bet!"
+
+"I didn't think of that," cried Eve, running to the window.
+
+It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and even farmer folk remain an hour
+longer in bed on that day. The sun, which had just risen, revealed the
+hillside fields and pastures clearly. There was not an object in sight
+which suggested the missing girl's escape, saving just beneath the
+window. There several planks had been laid upon the soft earth, to make
+a walk to the hard path. This had been done by those who had come after
+Margit Salgo, so as to leave no footprints.
+
+Eve finished dressing in a hurry and ran to tell her parents and Otto.
+Mr. and Mrs. Sitz slept at the other end of the house, and Otto and the
+hired man on the floor above.
+
+Whoever had kidnapped the girl--for such it seemed to be--had worked
+very circumspectly. The watchdog, chained by his hutch, had been caught
+and a strong rubber band fastened about his jaws so that he could not
+bark. This had evidently been the first work of the marauders.
+
+Then they had gone about taking out the girl coolly enough. There were
+few footprints anywhere. And in the roadway they found where a wagon had
+been turned around. In this wagon, it was likely, Margit had been
+carried away, and it had started along the road in the direction of
+Centerport.
+
+"They have got her again," sighed Bobby. "And goodness only knows what
+they will do with her, or where they will hide her away." "Perhaps we
+will never see the poor girl again," ventured Eve.
+
+But Bobby did not believe that. She knew now, for sure, that Margit
+Salgo was in some manner closely connected with the private affairs of
+Miss Carrington. She was sure that both the Gypsies and Margit would
+appear near the high school again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV--ANOTHER RIVALRY ON THE FIELD
+
+
+Eve Sitz had no rival at Central High when it came to putting the shot;
+but there were plenty of girls who essayed the broad jump--and some did
+almost if not quite as well as Eve. Notably Lou Potter, a senior who
+practiced assiduously and who had many friends who believed she would,
+in the end, best the Swiss girl.
+
+"The meet is a long way off yet," said one of Lou's friends to Laura
+Belding. "That girl you juniors are boosting isn't the only 'hope' of
+Central High."
+
+"Whom do you mean?" returned Mother Wit.
+
+"That girl whose name sounds like a glass of vichy--what is it? Eve----"
+
+"And what about Eve Sitz?" demanded Bobby, who chanced to arrive in time
+to hear the senior's remark.
+
+"And here's another fresh one," said the senior, eyeing Bobby coolly.
+"Thinks she is going to grab off the quarter-mile."
+
+"You make me tired!" returned Bobby, promptly. "Is that what you call
+loyalty to the school? If you've got another girl faster than I am, trot
+her out. I won't stand in her light."
+
+"Nor will Eve interfere with any girl who can beat her in jumping, or
+put the shot farther," declared Laura, quickly.
+
+"Oh, yes! That's all very pretty talk. But Mrs. Case is favoring you.
+She is favoring the whole junior class. _We_ weren't doing all the
+athletic stunts last year when we were juniors--no, indeed!"
+
+"Well, whose fault is it if the junior class stands better in after-hour
+athletics than the senior?" demanded Bobby, laughing.
+
+"And you pushed yourselves into the basketball team even before you were
+juniors," declared the other girl, angrily.
+
+"Come, now!" returned Laura, warmly. "That's not fair at all. If any of
+you seniors had shown any desire to play the game to win, Mrs. Case
+would have put you on the first team--you know that. But your class, as
+a whole, would rather dance, and go to parties, and attend the theatre,
+and all that. You know very well that Mrs. Case has often called our
+attention to the fact that late hours takes the vitality out of us, and
+makes success in the gym. and on the field impossible."
+
+"Thanks for your lecture, Mother Witless!" snapped the other girl. "But
+I don't care for it. And let me tell you that Lou Potter is going to
+make your soda-water champion look cheap."
+
+"Dear me!" exclaimed Bobby, as the older girl turned away. "Do you
+suppose we'll be as high and mighty as all that when we get to be
+seniors, Laura?"
+
+"I hope not--not even if we get to be patriarchs," laughed Mother Wit.
+"But Miss Potter is making a good jump, just the same, Bobby. Eve isn't
+going to have it all her own way."
+
+"Why, Eve'll beat her easily," declared Bobby, with confidence.
+
+Eve Sitz did not find it so easy to score ahead of all her rivals,
+however. And Lou Potter's record steadily grew better. Eve knew that she
+was doing her very best right along, whereas the senior was creeping up,
+creeping up--showing almost as good a record as Eve, and still forging
+on.
+
+Magdeline Spink, of Lumberport, held the championship for putting the
+shot, and Eve knew that she had surpassed her score. In the broad jump
+it was almost as difficult for the contestants to learn their exact
+record as it was for the sprinters to learn theirs. If Mrs. Case
+measured the distance she kept the record secret.
+
+Some of the seniors, especially those who were backing Lou Potter, began
+to make trouble in the meetings of the athletic committee, too.
+Heretofore no point had been made of the fact that the after-hour
+athletics were dominated by the junior class of Central High. That it
+was the fault of the present class of seniors if they were not in
+control of the League, did not now appeal to the disaffected.
+
+Some of the junior and sophomore girls who, as Bobby said, were inclined
+to "toady" to members of the first class, took up cudgels for the
+seniors, too. Notably Lily Pendleton, who was forever aping the manners
+of her elders and always liked to associate with more mature girls.
+
+And so, when there was friction in the committee meetings, Lily usually
+sided with the senior members.
+
+"Why don't you stick by your classmates, Lil?" demanded the hot-tempered
+Bobby, one afternoon, when the committee had been discussing plans for
+the June meet. It had already been decided that the inter-school field
+day exercises should be held on the grounds of Central High, that being
+by far the best field.
+
+"Have I got to stick by you whether you're right, or not, Bob Hargrew?"
+demanded Lily.
+
+"But we're right--of course."
+
+"I don't think so. The seniors should have their say. We'll want to boss
+when _we_ are seniors."
+
+"They haven't shown much interest in the scoring of Central High in
+athletic matters until lately," Jess Morse said, quickly. "Why should
+they want to come in now and run it all?"
+
+"They have the right," declared Lily.
+
+"Don't see it--do you, Laura?" cried Bobby.
+
+"If they only wouldn't try to go against Mrs. Case's wishes so
+frequently," sighed Mother Wit, who would have conceded much for peace.
+
+"They don't propose to be bossed by the teachers all the time," declared
+Lily. "And they're right."
+
+Now, this attitude would have appealed to Bobby Hargrew a few months
+before. But she had learned a good bit of late.
+
+"There is no use in our trying to run athletics in opposition to Mrs.
+Case--or Mr. Sharp," she said.
+
+"Or Gee Gee; eh, Bobby?" added Hester Grimes, slily.
+
+As the girls crowded out of the committee room some of the boys were
+grouped at the corridor's end, plainly waiting for their appearance.
+Chet Belding and Launcelot Darby, his chum, were waiting for Laura and
+Jess. That was a frequent occurrence. No boy ever waited for the
+fly-away Bobby; but there was with the two chums a tall, thin youth
+dressed in the most astonishing clothes that ever appeared in the
+corridors of a high school.
+
+"Oh me, oh my!" cried Bobby, under her breath. "There's Purt Sweet--and
+he looks like a negro minstrel."
+
+"My goodness me! He _is_ dressed to kill, isn't he?" giggled Jess.
+
+For Prettyman Sweet, the sartorial example of Central High, was more
+than usually gay upon this occasion. And he was not waiting there by
+chance, it was plain.
+
+"See! Lily is trotting off with him," laughed Bobby. "They must have
+patched up a truce. Oh! and look at that collar!" and the wicked Bobby
+leaned far over the banister and sang gaily:
+
+    "He wore a collar extra high,
+      He wore a purple vest;
+    He wore his father's patience out--
+      But why tell all the rest?"
+
+"That saucy child!" exclaimed Lily, looking back. "She ought to be
+whipped."
+
+"You never can get even with her, doncher know," drawled Purt, shaking
+his head. "Weally, I'd much like to try it; but I don't know what to
+do."
+
+"And the rest of those girls, laughing, too," snapped Lily. "Jess Morse
+and Laura are just as bad."
+
+"Well, weally----"
+
+"Oh, if you had half the pluck of a rabbit," scolded Lily, "you'd do
+something to get square."
+
+Now, Lil Pendleton wronged Pretty Sweet. He was not particularly brave,
+it was true; but he would have done a good deal to "get even" with Bobby
+Hargrew for her sharp tongue. He had been the butt of her jokes for a
+long time and---- Well, it is said even the worm will turn.
+
+The following afternoon a sudden thunder shower kept some of the girls
+in the school building after most of the pupils had departed. It was a
+part of the junior class, and Bobby, as well as Laura and Jess, were
+among those kept by Miss Carrington after the regular session closed.
+
+"I believe she knew we were due at the athletic field this afternoon,"
+grumbled Bobby, as they stood waiting at the foot of the tower stairs
+for the shower to pass.
+
+"What good would it have done us to be at the gym. now?" laughed Laura.
+"This shower has spoiled open air work for the afternoon."
+
+"Bobby doesn't believe Gee Gee ever gives us extra tasks because we
+deserve them," said Jess.
+
+"It _did_ seem as though Miss Carrington was particularly harsh to-day,"
+murmured Eve.
+
+"That's so! She was as cross as two sticks," declared Bobby.
+
+"I believe something is troubling Miss Carrington's mind," said Nellie
+Agnew. "Have you noticed how thin she is getting--and that she starts
+nervously at every little thing?"
+
+"She was scared when the thunder began--I was glad of it," declared
+Bobby.
+
+"Bad girl!" admonished Laura.
+
+"It's her conscience," ventured Bobby.
+
+Eve looked at her and shook her head.
+
+"Oh, I'm not going to say _why_ I think her conscience troubles her,"
+laughed Bobby.
+
+Nellie was looking out of the window. "I say, girls! it's breaking away,
+I do believe. And I think there's a rainbow--yes! there's a part of it."
+
+"It is a very small part you see, Nell," laughed Eve.
+
+"Let's go up into the tower," suggested Jess. "We can see it all from
+there."
+
+"Let's," agreed Bobby.
+
+"That's forbidden, you know," said Laura, slowly.
+
+"Oh, dear, Laura! Don't be such a mollycoddle! Nobody's really told us
+girls not to go into the tower. And we won't do any damage----"
+
+"Maybe the door is locked," observed Nellie, doubtfully.
+
+But Bobby ran to the solid oak door and tried it. Although there was a
+key in the lock, the door opened at once to her turning of the knob.
+
+"Come on!" exclaimed Bobby. "You're a lot of scare-cats!"
+
+"I admire your language, Bobs," laughed Jess, following her.
+
+The others went, too. Of course it was forbidden territory, and why
+shouldn't they want to go? That was only human nature.
+
+Besides, as they climbed the stairs, through the narrow windows they
+caught glimpses of the rainbow and the clouds, now breaking up into
+great beds of vari-colored mist.
+
+"Hurry up!" cried Bobby, in the lead. "It's just wonderful up here."
+
+They had left the door at the foot of the long, winding flight open. But
+scarcely had they disappeared when another figure appeared in the
+corridor which they had left. Purt Sweet, too, had been kept after
+school by Professor Dimp.
+
+The youth saw the girls ascend the stair. The chance was too obvious to
+neglect. Although usually taking Bobby's jokes and the others' laughter
+good-naturedly, he had been spurred by Lily Pendleton's remarks to a
+desire to "get square."
+
+And here was opportunity before him. Purt hurried forward, softly closed
+the door behind the girls, and turned the key in the lock.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI--FIVE IN A TOWER
+
+
+But the girls climbing the stairs to see the rainbow had no idea that
+anybody below was playing a trick on them. After school was dismissed
+and the pupils left the building, and the teachers were gone, there was
+nobody but old John, the janitor, on the premises.
+
+From any other floor he could be summoned by alarm bells. But there were
+no push-buttons in the tower. Therefore, when Purt Sweet turned the key,
+and stole away from the door at the bottom of the tower stairs, he had
+imprisoned the five girls as effectually as though they were in the
+tower of some ancient castle.
+
+The five went up the stairs, however, without any suspicion that they
+were prisoners.
+
+"Come on! come on!" urged Bobby, who mounted much quicker than the
+others. "Oh, this is glorious!"
+
+They came out into a square room, through which the air blew freshly.
+The rain had evidently blown into the place during the shower, for it
+lay in puddles on the stone floor. The windows had no panes--indeed,
+they were merely narrow slits in the stone wall, like loop-holes in old
+fortresses.
+
+"Dear me!" cried Jess. "How small the people look in the park--do you
+see? Just like ants."
+
+"Some of 'em are uncles, not 'ants,'" laughed Bobby.
+
+"Punning again!" exclaimed Nell. "You should be punished for that,
+Bobby."
+
+"Huh! that's worse than mine," declared Bobby.
+
+"Look at that sky!" cried Laura.
+
+"It is very beautiful," agreed Eve, quietly.
+
+"Look at those clouds yonder--a great, pink bed of down!" murmured Jess.
+
+"And this arch of color," said Laura, seriously. "I suppose that is just
+what Noah saw. How poetic to call it the Bow of Promise!"
+
+The girls enjoyed looking at the wild colorings of the clouds and the
+beautiful bow. A half an hour elapsed before they proposed descending.
+
+As they went down the stairs, Bobby still in the lead, she stopped
+suddenly with a little cry.
+
+"What's the matter now, Bobs?" demanded Jess.
+
+"Oh! don't you see it?" cried the other girl. "It's a spider."
+
+"He won't eat you," said Jess. "Go on."
+
+"I know he won't. I declare! he's spinning a web."
+
+At that moment she came to the bottom of the stairway.
+
+"Guess the draught pulled the door shut," she exclaimed. "Hullo!"
+
+She tried the knob, but the door would not open.
+
+"Why, what's the matter, Bobby?" cried Laura. "That is not a spring
+lock."
+
+"Huh! I guess not," returned Bobby. "But somebody's sprung it on us,
+just the same."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Nellie Agnew.
+
+"The door's locked," declared Laura, reaching the bottom step and trying
+the knob herself.
+
+"You bet it is," said Bobby.
+
+"It's a joke!" gasped Eve.
+
+"I should hope so," returned Laura. "If they were in earnest it would be
+bad for us. John will leave the building soon, and how will we attract
+anybody to release us?"
+
+"Oh, Laura!" cried Nell. "Nobody would be so mean."
+
+"It may be," said Eve, thoughtfully, "that somebody went past, saw the
+door open, and closed and locked it with no idea that we were in the
+tower."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Bobby, at that. "We're in a nice fix--yes?"
+
+"Who would have done it?" wailed Nellie Agnew.
+
+"Maybe the janitor himself," observed Laura, thoughtfully.
+
+"My goodness! but you're the cheerful girl," returned Bobby. "Do you
+want to scare us to death right at the start, Mother Wit?"
+
+"We might as well admit the seriousness of the situation," said Laura.
+"I can't imagine that anybody would shut us up here for a joke."
+
+"Some of the boys?" suggested Eve.
+
+"That Short and Long is full of mischief," added Nell.
+
+"Chet would wring his neck for a thing like this," declared Jess, with
+confidence.
+
+"I don't care who did it, or what it was done for," said Bobby, finally.
+"The fact remains: The door is locked!"
+
+"That is the truest thing you ever said, Bobby," sighed Jess. "Come on
+back to the tower room. Do you suppose we can call loud enough to
+attract the attention of people on the street?"
+
+"Not in a thousand years," groaned Bobby.
+
+"Oh, we won't have to remain here that long," said Laura, cheerfully.
+
+"Hope not," growled Bobby. "I'm getting hungry."
+
+"That won't do you any good," said Jess. "It's useless to have an
+appetite when there is nothing in sight to satisfy it--just as useless
+as the holes in a porous plaster."
+
+"Who says the holes in a porous plaster are useless?" demanded Bobby,
+quickly. "They're not."
+
+"What are they for, then?" asked Eve, mildly.
+
+"Why, to let the pain out, of course," declared Bobby, boldly.
+
+"I wish there were some holes here that would let _us_ out," sighed
+Nellie Agnew.
+
+"Don't lose heart, Nell!" advised Laura. "There never was a situation
+that didn't offer some release. We'll find a way of escape."
+
+"Sure!" scoffed Bobby. "Any of us can crawl out through one of these
+slits in the wall."
+
+"And then what?" demanded Jess.
+
+"Why, jump!" cried Bobby. "There'll be nothing to stop you."
+
+"Don't talk so recklessly," said Mother Wit. "This is really a very
+serious problem. Mother will be very anxious about me if I don't come
+home by six."
+
+"It's an hour and a half to that yet," said Nellie, looking at her
+watch.
+
+Bobby was striving to squeeze through one of the open windows in the
+tower and look down upon the street. But it was nonsense to expect
+anybody on the walk to see them up there in the tower.
+
+"And we could shriek our heads off without attracting a bit of
+attention," declared Nellie, half crying. "What _shall_ we do, Laura?"
+
+"Keep cool," advised Laura. "Why lose all our courage because we are
+locked into this tower? We will be found."
+
+"Maybe," spoke Bobby, gloomily.
+
+"You have become a regular croaker," declared Jess. "I'm ashamed of you,
+Bobs."
+
+"That's all right!" cried Bobby. "But hunger is an awful thing to
+suffer."
+
+"Ha! you make me laugh," cried Eve. "Just think of me! If I don't catch
+that 5:14 train I'll not get supper till nine o'clock."
+
+"But what a supper it will be when you _do_ get it!" exclaimed Bobby.
+"Oh, girls! when I was at Eve's house last week they had thirteen
+vegetables for supper, besides two kinds of cold meat, and preserves and
+pickles. Talk about the poor farmer! Why the sort of supper Eve's folks
+have every night would cost city folks two dollars a plate."
+
+"I am afraid you are stretching your imagination, Bobby," laughed Eve.
+
+"Never! They've got bins and bins of vegetables--and rows and rows of
+ham in the meat house--and bar'ls and bar'ls of salt pork! Listen here,"
+cried the whimsical Bobby, who had a doggerel rhyme for every occasion.
+"This is just what Eve Sitz hears whenever she goes down into the cellar
+in the winter. She can't deny it!" And she sang:
+
+    "Potato gazed with frightened eyes,
+      King corn lent mournful ear,
+    The beet a blushing red did turn,
+      The celery blanched with fear,
+    The bean hid trembling in its pod,
+      The trees began to bark,
+    And on the beaten turnpike road
+      The stones for warmth did spark,
+    The brooklet babbled in its sleep
+      Because the night was cold;
+    The onion weeps within its bed
+      Because the year is old."
+
+"You are so ridiculous," said Eve. "Nobody believes the rigamaroles you
+say."
+
+"All right!" returned Bobby, highly offended. "But you're bound to
+believe one thing--that's sure."
+
+"What is that?" queried Nellie.
+
+"That we're up in this tower, with the door locked--and I believe that
+John, the janitor, goes home about this time to supper!"
+
+"Oh, oh!" cried Nellie. "Don't say _that_. However will we get away?"
+
+"Let's bang on the door!" exclaimed Jess.
+
+So they thumped upon the thick oak door--Bobby even kicked it viciously;
+and they shouted until they were hoarse. But nobody heard, and nobody
+came. The only person who knew they were locked into the tower was a
+mile away from Central High by that time--and, anyway, he dared not tell
+of what he had done, nor did he dare go back to release the girls from
+their imprisonment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII--EVE TAKES A RISK
+
+
+"Now, Nell!" declared Mother Wit, emphatically, "there isn't the least
+use in your crying. Tears will not get us down from this tower."
+
+"You--you can be just as--as brave as you want to be," sobbed Nellie
+Agnew. "I--want--to--go--home!"
+
+"For goodness-gracious sake! Who doesn't?" snapped Bobby. "But, just as
+Laura says, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth won't help us the
+tiniest bit!"
+
+"What will help us, I'd like to know?" grumbled Jess Morse.
+
+"Put on your thinking cap, Mother Wit," cried Bobby.
+
+"Dear me!" said Eve, drawing in her head. "It _is_ a long way from the
+ground--and that's a fact."
+
+"It's a good, long jump," chuckled Bobby.
+
+"Let's write calls for help on pieces of paper and drop them down,"
+suggested Laura.
+
+"With the wind blowing the way it is, the papers would fly up, instead
+of down," scoffed her chum.
+
+"We'll weight 'em," said Laura.
+
+"It would be like throwing over a bottle into the sea, telling how we
+are cast away on a desert island," said Bobby. "And this is worse than
+any desert island I ever heard about. Say, girls! how do you suppose our
+boots will taste?"
+
+"What nonsense!" said Nellie, wiping her eyes. "We sha'n't be hungry
+enough to begin on our shoes for a long time yet. But how scared our
+folks will be when we don't come home to supper."
+
+"And the sun's going down," mourned Jess.
+
+"Why, girls," said Laura, thoughtfully, "it will be after dark before
+our folks begin to miss us much. And then they won't see us up here,
+that's sure!"
+
+"I'm going to climb out of one of these windows and wave something,"
+cried her chum. "Surely somebody will see me."
+
+"And think you're just playing up here," commented Nellie, who was fast
+losing all hope.
+
+"My goodness!" exclaimed Jess. "They must think, then, that I have
+selected a crazy place to play in," and she removed her jacket and began
+to crawl out through one of the windows of the tower.
+
+"Be careful, dear!" warned Laura.
+
+"Yes, do look out where you step," said Bobby, grabbing Jess's skirt
+with a firm grip. "It's a long way down to the street."
+
+"If we only had some means of making a light up here," said Laura, in a
+worried tone. "Then, after dark, people _would_ be attracted by our
+plight."
+
+"I haven't a match--have you?" demanded Bobby.
+
+"Of course not. Girls never do carry useful things in their pockets.
+Unless _you_ do, Bobby."
+
+"I've got about everything in my pocket but a match," declared the
+smaller girl.
+
+"I have a good mind to drop this old coat," called Jess, from outside.
+
+"And it would catch on something half-way down the tower, perhaps, and
+then you'd never see it again," Bobby said.
+
+"Well, what _shall_ we do?" demanded Jess, wriggling back into the tower
+room and dragging her jacket after her. "Nobody will even look up. I
+expect we'd look like pigeons up here to them."
+
+"Oh, dear!" gasped Bobby. "I do wish some pigeons _would_ fly up here.
+They do sometimes, you know."
+
+"What good would they do us?" demanded Nellie.
+
+"Couldn't we kill and eat them?" replied Bobby. "Nothing like having
+bright ideas when you are cast away on a desert tower."
+
+"Your ideas may be bright enough," laughed Laura; "but I wouldn't care
+to eat pigeons raw."
+
+"You may be glad to before we get down from here," returned Bobby,
+gloomily.
+
+"Now that's ridiculous," said Mother Wit, briskly. "Don't _you_ begin to
+lose heart, Miss Hargrew."
+
+"I've as good a right as the next one," growled Bobby.
+
+"Speaking of pigeons," observed Jess, ruminatively, "Chet's carriers
+sometimes come up here when he lets them out. I've seen them."
+
+"My goodness me!" ejaculated Mother Wit. "Wouldn't that be fine?"
+
+"Wouldn't what be fine?" queried Nellie, wiping her eyes.
+
+"If some of Chet's carriers would just fly up here. They know me. I've
+handled them lots of times. And we might send a note back telling Chet
+where we are."
+
+"And he'd find it tied under the pigeon's wing in about a week," scoffed
+Bobby.
+
+"What _are_ we going to do, girls?" demanded Nellie. "And it's chilly up
+here, too."
+
+Jess pulled on her jacket again. "We can go down on the stairway, where
+it is warmer," she said.
+
+"It is very annoying," wailed the doctor's daughter, "to have you girls
+take the matter so calmly. Why, the whole town will be searching for us
+by midnight."
+
+"I hope so!" ejaculated Bobby.
+
+"Let's all shout together. Somebody ought to hear us," Eve said.
+
+"That is impossible," objected Jess. "Sound doesn't travel
+downward--much. Not when there is a sharp wind blowing, as it is now.
+It's a good deal farther to the ground than it appears."
+
+"That's like what our old girl, Nora, said about the distance to
+Liverpool. When she came to us, she came direct from the immigrant
+ship," laughed Bobby. "And she was telling about the weary way across
+the 'say.' 'How far is it, Nora?' one of the children asked her.
+
+"'It's fower thousan' mile,' declared Nora, 'to Liverpool.'
+
+"But the kiddies wouldn't have that. They looked it up in the geography,
+and told her she was wrong--it was only three thousand.
+
+"'Sure, that's flatways,' says Nora. 'But I been over it, an' wid the
+ups an' the downs, sure I _know_ 'tis another thousand!"
+
+"Dear me, Bobby," complained Nellie. "I believe you'd joke if you were
+going to be hanged!"
+
+"Do you think so?" asked Bobby, seriously. "Much obliged. That's a good
+reputation to have, whether I deserve it or not."
+
+"Good for you, Bobs!" laughed Jess. "You keep still, old croaker!" she
+added, shaking Nellie Agnew. "Let's look on the cheerful side of it.
+Every cloud has a silver lining."
+
+"If you can see any silver lining to _this_ cloud, I'd like you to show
+it to me, Miss!" exclaimed Nellie, with some warmth.
+
+Eve was going from window to window, thrusting her head and shoulders
+out of each, and examining the sides of the tower carefully. Laura asked
+what she was doing.
+
+"Why, dear, on this side is the roof of the school building," said Eve,
+thoughtfully. "It isn't so far below us."
+
+"It's much too far for us to jump," returned Mother Wit.
+
+"True," said Eve, smiling. "But see here."
+
+"I can't climb out of the same window you are at," complained Laura.
+
+"Go to the next one, then, and I'll point it out to you."
+
+Laura did so. Sitting sideways on the sills the girls could thrust the
+upper part of their bodies out and obtain an unobstructed view of this
+entire wall of the tower.
+
+"See that wire?" exclaimed Eve, eagerly.
+
+Just below the level of the windows which pierced the upper story of the
+tower a heavy stay-wire was fastened to a staple set in the masonry. At
+some time the school building had been dressed with flags and bunting
+and this heavy wire had never been removed. It was fastened at the other
+end to a ring in the roof of the main building.
+
+"I see it, Evangeline," admitted Mother Wit, with something like fear in
+her voice. "You wouldn't do it!"
+
+"I believe I can," declared the country girl.
+
+"Why--why--it would take a trapeze performer!"
+
+"Well, Mrs. Case has had us working on the ladders and the parallel bars
+until we ought to be pretty fair on a trapeze," said Eve, laughing a
+little.
+
+"Oh, Eve! I wouldn't try it," cried Laura.
+
+"You see," said the other, steadily, "if I can get out of the window
+here, and two of you can steady me, I can drop down upon that wire----"
+
+"But suppose you should fall to the roof!"
+
+"I won't fall. That is not what I am aiming to do, at least."
+
+"It is too reckless a thing to try," cried Laura.
+
+"Now, wait. Nobody will see us up here. If we have to stay all night
+some of the girls will be sick. You know that. Now, if I can once get to
+that wire, I know I can work my way down it to the roof."
+
+"You'll slide--and cut your hands all to pieces."
+
+"No, I won't. I've a pair of thick gloves in my pocket," declared Eve.
+"I am going to try it, Mother Wit."
+
+"Oh, I don't believe you had better!"
+
+Eve slid back into the tower-room, Laura following her. The bigger girl
+slipped out of her coat and took off her hat immediately.
+
+"Hullo!" said Bobby. "Don't you want your slippers, too? You're in for
+the night, are you?"
+
+But Eve was finding her gloves and these she drew on. Even Nellie began
+to get interested then.
+
+"What _are_ you going to do now?" she cried.
+
+Laura explained quickly. Nellie began to cry again, and even Bobby
+looked troubled.
+
+"It isn't worth the risk, is it?" she asked. "Somebody will find us some
+time."
+
+"That's just it," Eve returned. "We don't know when that _some time_
+will be. I can slide down that wire, get in by the roof opening, and
+unlock this door that shuts us up here. Of course, the key will be in
+the lock. If it isn't, and there is nobody in the building, I can
+telephone for help."
+
+"Say, that's great!" spoke Jess. "If you can only do it safely, Eve."
+
+"Oh, I'll do it," declared the country girl, confidently, and the next
+moment she began climbing out through the window nearest to the wire.
+
+Laura and Jess held her around the waist; then, as she slid out, farther
+and farther, they clung to her shoulders. But Eve had to leave her arms
+free and suddenly she panted:
+
+"Let me go! I've got to drop and grab the wire. That's the only way."
+
+Laura and her chum looked at each other in doubt and fear. It did seem
+as though, if they let go of the girl, she must fall to the foot of the
+tower!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII--THE CONSCIENCE OF PRETTYMAN SWEET
+
+
+Prettyman Sweet would never have played such a contemptible trick on
+Bobby Hargrew and her comrades had he not been goaded to it by Lily
+Pendleton. Purt had what the girls called "a dreadful crush" on Lily,
+and she had made fun of him because he took Bobby's jokes so tamely.
+
+"If you had a spark of pluck you'd get square with that Hargrew girl,"
+Lily Pendleton had told him, and Purt thought that he was getting square
+with Bobby and her friends when he turned the key in the lock at the
+foot of the tower stairs.
+
+At first as he ran out of the school building into the rain that was
+still falling a little, his only fear was that he had been seen by
+somebody. But once away from the school building he began to giggle over
+the joke he had played on the girls.
+
+"They won't laugh at me so much next time," he thought.
+
+And then he remembered, with something of a shock, that he could not
+afford to tell anybody about what he had done. If he owned up to having
+locked the girls into the tower, he knew very well what would happen to
+him.
+
+If Chet Belding, or Lance Darby, did not get hold of him, one of the
+other boys would most certainly take him to task for the trick. And Purt
+Sweet was no fighter.
+
+He wouldn't get much fun out of the trick he had played on the girls,
+after all! Now he wished he had not done it. What was the fun, when he
+had to keep it a secret?
+
+So Purt continued on this way home with lagging feet. And every yard,
+the possibilities that might follow his trick grew plainer in his mind.
+He saw, as he went on, that instead of having done something to create a
+laugh, he might have been guilty of an act that would start a whole lot'
+of trouble.
+
+He knew, as well as did the girls shut up in the tower, that old John,
+the janitor, would go home to supper soon. And at this time of year,
+when there were no fires to see to, except the hot water heater, the old
+man might not come back at all.
+
+For, as far as Purt knew, there were no meetings in the building that
+evening. At least, he had heard none announced. The girls were likely to
+be left in the tower until the next day, while their friends were
+searching the city for them.
+
+Purt went into the square, from which point he could gaze up at the
+tower. But it was so far away, and so tall, that he could see nothing at
+the narrow slits of windows up there at the top.
+
+"If--if those girls waved a handkerchief out of the openings, nobody
+could see it down here," thought the conscience-stricken youth.
+
+He had never been up in the tower himself, for it was forbidden
+territory. So he did not know how wide the windows were. It just struck
+home to Master Purt Sweet that the girls would be unable to signal their
+situation to anybody.
+
+But he had reached home before these thoughts so troubled him that he
+felt as though he _must_ undo what he had done. Perhaps John had not
+gone home yet. He might still be able to get into the building, creep
+upstairs, unlock the door of the tower, and then run out before the
+girls could catch and identify him.
+
+For Purt had a very strong desire not to be suspected in this matter.
+Chet Belding would take up cudgels for his sister in a minute; and Chet
+would, Purt was sure, thrash him most soundly!
+
+Any of the teachers would have a pass-key to the building. Purt
+remembered that fact, too. Could he prevail upon one of them to lend him
+a key so that he could go into the building? Of course, he must have
+some good excuse, and he feared to appear before Professor Dimp with any
+such request unless he could back it with sound reason. And Mr. Sharp
+was entirely out of the question. Purt knew that the principal of
+Central. High would see right through him instantly.
+
+As for the lady teachers, Purt was more afraid of them than of Mr. Dimp
+and the principal. As it grew dark the boy sat cowering in his room at
+home, from the window of which he could see dimly the outlines of the
+schoolhouse tower, and he wept a few tears.
+
+He would have given a good deal had he not turned the key in that lock!
+
+Purt didn't feel that he could appear at the dinner table; so he gave an
+excuse to his mother's maid, and went out again. Perhaps somebody had
+discovered the girls up in the tower and released them. He walked up
+Whiffle Street and saw Chet Belding hanging over the front gate.
+
+"Hullo, Purt!" exclaimed the big fellow. "What's doing?"
+
+"No--nothing," stammered Purt.
+
+"Well, don't be so scared about it. What's got you now?"
+
+"No--nothing," stammered Purt again.
+
+"Haven't seen Lance, have you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor the girls?"
+
+The question scared Purt Sweet through and through. But he plucked up
+courage to ask:
+
+"How should I know anything about them? Hasn't your sister come home
+yet?"
+
+"No. Down to that gym., I expect. Say, these girls are getting
+altogether too athletic. Didn't see Jess, either, did you?"
+
+Purt shook his head and went on. He was afraid to stop longer with
+Chet--afraid that the latter would learn something about what he had
+done. It did seem to the culprit as though knowledge of the trick played
+on Laura Belding and her friends stuck out all over him.
+
+It was deep dusk now. Purt came within a block of the school building
+and looked slily about the corners, as though he were bent on mischief,
+instead of desirous of undoing the mischief he had already done.
+
+Had old John gone home yet? Would all the lower doors of Central High be
+locked? These were the questions that puzzled him.
+
+Purt ran into the side gate of the boys' recreation ground and fumbled
+at the basement door, by which he knew the janitor usually left. It was
+locked; yet, as he rattled the knob, he thought he heard an answering
+sound within.
+
+He scuttled away to the corner and there waited to watch the door.
+Nobody came out.
+
+After half a minute of uncertainty the lad crept on to the boys'
+entrance. The outside doors were closed and locked. He ran around to the
+street and entered the girls' yard. The outer vestibule door was opened
+here and he ventured in, creeping along in the darkness and fumbling for
+the doorknob.
+
+And just then Purt Sweet got the scare of his life. A strong hand
+clasped his wrist and a sharp voice demanded:
+
+"What do you want here? Are you waiting for those girls, too?"
+
+"Oh, dear me!" gasped Prettyman Sweet, his knees trembling. "_Now_ I'm
+in a fix, sure enough!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX--MARGIT AND MISS CARRINGTON MEET
+
+
+It was several seconds before Purt realized just what manner of person
+had seized him by the arm in the vestibule at the girls' entrance of
+Central High. It was so dark that Purt only knew it was a girl.
+
+"Who--who are you?" he stammered.
+
+"Oh! It's only a boy," said the girl, in a tone of disgust. "What do you
+want here?"
+
+"I--I was trying to get in," murmured Purt.
+
+"What for? Isn't this the girls' entrance? They told me it was."
+
+Then Purt knew that she did not belong at Central High. Indeed, she was
+a different kind of girl from any the youth had ever met.
+
+"Who are you, and what do _you_ want?" asked Purt, plucking up courage.
+"I guess you don't go to Central High."
+
+"I never went to any school--not like this, anyway."
+
+"But what do you want here? I--I left something in the building and
+wanted to get back and find it," stammered Purt.
+
+"I was waiting to see those girls," said the stranger.
+
+"What girls?" demanded the boy, in a panic again.
+
+"Some that I know. I waited and watched down by that place where they
+play----"
+
+"The athletic field?" suggested Purt.
+
+"Perhaps. And I asked another girl. She said they had not come down from
+the school yet. They were kept in. So I came up here----"
+
+"Who were the girls you want to see?"
+
+"One is named Evangeline, and she-comes from Switzerland. I am Austrian
+myself. And there is another girl--a little girl who always laughs. Her
+name is like a boy's name."
+
+"Bobby Hargrew," said Purt, with a stifled groan. "And neither of those
+girls have come out of the building yet?"
+
+"No," said the girl. "I have watched and waited for more than an hour."
+
+Purt rattled the knob of the inner door desperately; but it was locked
+and evidently there was nobody within to hear him.
+
+"They must be away upstairs and cannot hear you," said the strange girl.
+
+And _that_ scared Purt, too. It seemed to him that this girl must know
+just what he had done to those girls whom she was waiting for. He
+started to leave the vestibule.
+
+"Hold on! Isn't there any other door we can get in by?" asked the
+stranger.
+
+"I'm--I'm going to try the main entrance. Perhaps that is unlocked,"
+Purt replied.
+
+"I'll go with you," volunteered the other, and followed him down the
+steps.
+
+Purt wanted to get rid of her, whoever she was. He wished now that he
+hadn't come back to the schoolhouse. He had read somewhere that
+criminals are driven by some mysterious power to haunt the scenes of
+their crimes. And it must be a fact, Purt told himself, for he had
+certainly been foolish to come back here to Central High--and go without
+his supper.
+
+He decided to slip out of the girls' yard and run away. But when he
+reached the street there was the strange girl right at his elbow. And he
+remembered that she had a grip as firm as Chet Belding's own.
+
+So nothing would do but try the front entrance. Of course, he knew it
+was ridiculous to go to that door. Even by day it was kept locked and
+visitors had to ring; only the teachers had pass-keys.
+
+But they went in at the main gate and mounted the steps of the portico.
+It was indeed black under here, for the street lights were too far away
+to cast any of their radiance into the place. Purt fumbled around, found
+the doorknob, and tried it. To his amazement it turned in his hand and
+the door swung open into the dark corridor.
+
+"They're here, then," whispered the girl. "Where do you suppose they
+are?" she continued.
+
+Now Purt had very good reason for believing that he knew just where the
+girls were whom this stranger wished to see; but he only said, gruffly:
+
+"I'm sure I don't know. I don't believe they're in the building now."
+
+"Oh, yes, they are. They have not come out. There are several beside
+those I named. So I was told at the athletic field."
+
+"Well, I don't know anything about them!" denied Purt, hurriedly. "I--I
+just want to go up for my book----"
+
+He shook himself free and ran for the front stairway. He knew his way in
+the dark and hoped to leave the girl behind. Once let him reach the foot
+of the tower stairs, he would unlock the door, fling it open so that the
+prisoners would hear him above, and then dart down the boys' stairway
+and so out of the school building again.
+
+But before he reached the top of the first flight he heard the patter of
+the strange girl's footsteps beside him. Through the long windows enough
+light filtered to show him her figure. And she ran better than he did,
+and without panting.
+
+Purt was scared now worse than he had been before.
+
+"She'll tell them who unlocked the door," he thought, "and so they'll
+know right away who imprisoned them in the first place. Then Laura will
+tell her brother and Chet will thrash me--I know he will!"
+
+The lad was almost ready to cry now. It seemed to him as though every
+step he took got him deeper and deeper into trouble.
+
+He dashed up the other flight two steps at a time; but the girl kept on
+equal terms with him. What good wind she had! She could beat many of the
+girls of Central High in running, that was sure.
+
+"I don't know what has become of Eve Sitz and that other girl you want
+to see," exclaimed Purt, stopping suddenly. "And I don't see why you are
+sticking so close to me."
+
+"You know your way around this building; I don't," declared the girl,
+shortly.
+
+"I can't help you find them----"
+
+"You seem afraid of something," remarked the girl, shrewdly. "What's the
+matter with you?"
+
+"Well, I go to school here," complained Purt. "You don't. You'll get
+into trouble, coming into the building at night."
+
+"I guess you're afraid of getting into trouble yourself," returned the
+other, quite unshaken.
+
+"Well, if one of the teachers is here and finds us----"
+
+"I'll tell them just what I came for. Will you?" demanded the girl,
+quickly, and thrusting her face into Purt's so as to see him better.
+
+She had him there! Purt knew it--and he knew _she_ knew it. This strange
+girl was laughing softly to herself in the darkness.
+
+"Go on--if you're going anywhere," said she, after a minute. "I believe
+you know where those girls are. I want to see that Evangeline and that
+Hargrew girl. You show me."
+
+"I--I don't know!" wailed Purt, under his breath.
+
+Then he was sure he heard somebody's step. It was in one of the
+classrooms opening into this corridor.
+
+At the sound, spurred by sudden terror, the boy leaped away. He was
+half-way down the corridor. Around the corner was the door of the tower.
+
+And then, just as he dashed past a door on his right, it opened. A broad
+band of light streamed out, and to Purt's ears came the quick demand:
+
+"What's this? Who are you?"
+
+"It's Gee Gee!" thought the boy, but he never stopped. In a moment he
+realized that Miss Carrington had not addressed her question to him, but
+to the girl.
+
+He ran on, as softly as possible, and rounded the corner, knowing that
+the strange girl had been caught by the teacher, who repeated her demand
+in a louder and more emphatic tone.
+
+"Who are you? What are you doing here in the schoolhouse?" Then Miss
+Carrington saw that the girl was not one of her scholars--indeed, no
+girl of Central High was ever dressed so gaily, unless it was at a
+masquerade.
+
+"For goodness sake, child!" exclaimed the teacher, still more sharply.
+"Come in here and explain yourself."
+
+She drew her inside the classroom and closed the door. In the full light
+the strange girl was revealed in a purple velvet skirt, a green bodice,
+a yellow silk scarf, or handkerchief, around her neck, and with a net,
+on which steel beads were sewed, over her hair. With her dark complexion
+and high color she was indeed a striking figure as she stood there,
+hands on her hips, and panting slightly as she gazed back bravely into
+Miss Carrington's spectacled eyes.
+
+"For goodness sake, child!" repeated the teacher. "Who and what are
+you?"
+
+"My name is Margit Salgo," said the Gypsy girl, watching Miss
+Carrington, with her sharp black eyes.
+
+"Salgo?" whispered the teacher, and for a moment the girl thought that
+Miss Carrington would sink into the nearest chair. Then she drew herself
+up and, although her pallor remained, her eyes sparkled behind the thick
+lenses of her spectacles.
+
+"I suppose you are here to tell me your father was Belas Salgo?"
+demanded the lady, harshly.
+
+"I don't know who you are, Madam," said the Gypsy girl. "Are you the
+lady whom the Vareys say knows all about me?"
+
+"Who are the Vareys?" returned Miss Carrington, quickly.
+
+"They are English Gypsies. I was placed in their care when my father's
+friends brought me to this country. They have held me prisoner but I
+have got away from them----"
+
+"I do not understand you--I do not understand you," insisted Miss
+Carrington, weakly. And now she did grope her way to a seat.
+
+"Are you the teacher here whose name has in it eighteen letters?" asked
+the girl, anxiously. "I do not read your English, although I speak it. I
+learn to speak languages easily--it is a gift. My father had it."
+
+"True," murmured Miss Carrington. "Belas Salgo was a wonderful
+linguist."
+
+"Does your name have the eighteen letters?" pursued Margit, eagerly. She
+repeated her story about the card on which was printed, or written, the
+name of the lady whom the Vareys had come to Centerport to see. Miss
+Carrington listened more quietly, and finally bowed.
+
+"Yes. I am the lady. I am Miss Carrington," she admitted.
+
+"That is what those girls called you," muttered Margit, but the teacher
+did not hear.
+
+"You claim to be Belas Salgo's daughter?" repeated Miss Carrington, at
+last.
+
+"I am his daughter. I cannot remember my mother--much. But my father I
+remember very well. Why, I traveled everywhere with him! All over
+southern Europe we went. And to Algiers, and the other north coast
+cities. He played everywhere about the Mediterranean until he died. And
+then," said the girl, simply, "I lost all happiness--and I was brought
+to this great, cold country."
+
+Miss Carrington had listened with her head resting on her hand and her
+eyes watching the girl from behind her glasses. Now she said:
+
+"Well, I do not believe you are Belas Salgo's child--not the Belas Salgo
+I have good reason to remember. No. But I will take you home with me and
+we will talk this matter over.
+
+"I was correcting some examination papers," she added, going to the desk
+and turning out the student lamp. "But they may go until another time,"
+and with a sigh she put on her hat and cloak, and taking the Gypsy
+girl's hand led her out of the school building, the darkened corridors
+of which she knew so well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX--INTER-CLASS RIVALRY
+
+
+If Eve Sitz had been outside of the schoolhouse tower, being held by the
+girls all of this time, she must certainly have been by now at the point
+of exhaustion, and so must they.
+
+But Eve had dropped just right, had caught the wire with her gloved
+hands just as she had expected to, and then swung down and hung from the
+steel strand for a few seconds to get her breath.
+
+Nellie and Bobby, leaning out of neighboring windows, cheered her on.
+
+"Hurrah, girls!" declared the irrepressible. "She's going to do it.
+There she goes--hand under hand!"
+
+"Oh, if she doesn't slip," wailed Nellie.
+
+"She's not going to slip," cried Bobby. "Hurrah! She's on the roof."
+
+Once on the main building Eve did not waste time. She ran to the door,
+which she knew would be open, and so darted down the stairs to the
+corridor out of which the tower stairway opened. There was the key in
+the lock as they had expected, and in a few moments she was calling the
+other four girls down.
+
+"My goodness!" exclaimed Nellie, kissing Eve when she reached the foot
+of the stairs. "Aren't you just the brave, brave girl! And whatever
+should we have done without you?"
+
+"I guess one of the others would have done the same had I not first
+thought of it," returned Eve, modestly.
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed Laura, suddenly. "I hear somebody."
+
+A door opened below, and then somebody came up stairs. The girls crowded
+back into the corner and waited.
+
+"I know that step," whispered Jess.
+
+"Fee, fi, fo, fum!" murmured Bobby.
+
+"And well may you say it is your 'foe,' Bobby," giggled Jess. "It's Miss
+Carrington."
+
+"Never!" gasped Nell.
+
+"Yes, it is. I am sure," agreed Laura.
+
+"Oh, dear! if she catches us here we'll have to tell where we have been
+and all about it," groaned Eve.
+
+"And demerits to work off to-morrow," moaned Bobby.
+
+"Back into the stairway and keep still," whispered Laura.
+
+They all crowded back. Miss Carrington came along the gloomy corridor
+and entered a classroom. She did not turn the corner.
+
+"Good! Now let's creep down and make our escape," whispered Bobby.
+
+"But not by the front door. She came in that way."
+
+"But the other doors will be locked--both the boys' and ours," urged
+Jess.
+
+"I know the way out through the basement," spoke Bobby, with
+determination. "I can open John's door. Come on."
+
+So, at the very moment Prettyman Sweet tried the basement door, the
+girls on whom he had played his trick were about to come out. Purt was
+scared and ran away. Later, when he escaped from Margit, the Gypsy girl,
+and ran to the foot of the tower stairs, Purt was scared again.
+
+He found the door open and the girls gone. Who could have released them?
+He slunk home in the darkness, taking the back alleys instead of Whiffle
+Street, and the next day he scarcely dared go to school for fear the
+girls had found out who played the trick on them.
+
+But Laura and her mates all thought that either John, the janitor, or
+one of the teachers had chanced to close the tower door and lock it.
+And, as they had been where they were forbidden to go, they said very
+little about their fright and anxiety.
+
+But Eve was quite a heroine among them. The girl from the farm was a
+deal more muscular than most of her mates; perhaps no girl at Central
+High could have climbed out of that tower window and worked her way down
+the wire in just that manner.
+
+And Eve was showing herself, as time went on, to be the best girl at the
+broad jump and at putting the twelve-pound shot, too. Lou Potter, of the
+senior class, did well; but after a time she seemed to have reached her
+limit in both the jumping and shot-putting.
+
+Then it was that Eve took a spurt and went ahead. She left all other
+competitors but Lou far behind.
+
+Mrs. Case did not approve of inter-class competition in athletics; but
+the managing committee of the June meet had made such competition
+necessary to a degree. The upper classes of Central High had to choose
+their champions, and those champions in the foot races, from the
+100-yard dash to the quarter-mile, had to compete the first week in June
+to arrange which should represent the school on the big day.
+
+In other trials it was the same--broad jump, shot-putting, relay race
+teams, and all the rest. There was developed in the freshman class a
+sprinter who almost bested Bobby Hargrew at first; but the freshmen had
+little, after all, to do when the big day came.
+
+The main contestants for athletic honors were bound to be drawn from the
+junior and sophomore classes. It was a fact that the present senior
+class of Central High had not been as imbued with the spirit of
+after-hour athletics, or with loyalty to the school, as had the younger
+classes.
+
+And the seniors had awakened too late to the importance of leaving a
+good record in athletics behind them when they were graduated. There was
+not a girl in the class the equal of Mary O'Rourke, or Celia Prime, who
+had been graduated the year before.
+
+Lou Potter, however, had many supporters, not alone among her own class.
+The freshies and sophs of course were jealous of the prominence of the
+juniors in athletics, so they centered their loyalty upon Lou.
+
+Eve could do nothing that Lou Potter couldn't do! That was the cry, and
+the feeling ran quite high for a while. Besides, another thing came to
+make Eve rather unpopular with a certain class of girls.
+
+"Touch Day"--that famous occasion when candidates for membership in the
+M. O. R.'s were chosen--came in May, and Eve was one of the lucky girls
+to receive the magic "touch." The fact that she had not been attending
+Central High a year aroused bitter feeling, although Eve was a junior in
+good standing.
+
+"Say!" cried Bobby Hargrew, "if they had kicked about _me_ being an M.
+O. R. there would have been some sense in it. For I never really thought
+I'd arrive at such an honor."
+
+For Bobby had really been drawn as a member of the secret society, and
+she never ceased to be surprised at the fact. But this school
+year--especially since early spring--Bobby Hargrew had been much
+changed. Not that she was not cheerful, and full of fun; but she had
+settled down to better work in her classes, and there was a steadiness
+about her that had been missing in the old Bobby Hargrew.
+
+They were talking this change over one evening around the Belding dinner
+table.
+
+"Bobby wouldn't be herself if she got too strait-laced," remarked
+Chetwood. "That's the main good thing about her--the ginger in her."
+
+"Chetwood!" exclaimed his mother, admonishingly. "You speak of the girl
+as though she were a horse--or a dog. 'Ginger' indeed!"
+
+"Well, Little Mum," said her big son. "That's exactly what I mean. She's
+no namby-pamby, Miss Sissy kind of a girl; but a good fellow----"
+
+"I cannot allow you to talk that way about one of your young lady
+friends," declared Mrs. Belding, with heat. "I am surprised, Chetwood."
+
+Mr. Belding began to chuckle, and she turned on him now with some
+exasperation.
+
+"James!" she said, warmly. "I believe you support these children in
+their careless use of English, and in their other crimes against the
+niceties of our existence. Chet is as boisterous and rough as--as a
+street boy. And Laura uses most shocking language at times, I declare."
+
+"Oh, Mother Mine! why drag me into it?" laughed Laura, while her father
+added:
+
+"Isn't 'crimes' a rather strong word in this instance, Mother?"
+
+"I do not care!" cried the good lady, much disturbed. "Chetwood uses
+language that I know my mother would never have allowed at Her table.
+And Laura is so taken up with these dreadful athletics that she cares
+nothing for the things which used to interest me when I was a girl. She
+really doesn't like to pour tea for me Wednesday afternoons."
+
+"I admit it," said Laura, _sotto voce_.
+
+"Do you blame her?" added Chet, grumblingly.
+
+"Thank goodness! I was brought up differently," declared Mrs. Belding,
+sternly. "We girls were not allowed to do such awful things-even in
+private--as you do, Laura, in your gymnasium----"
+
+"Hear! hear!" cried Father Belding, finally rapping on the table with
+the handle of his knife. "I must say a word here. Mother, you are too
+hard on the young folks."
+
+"No I am not, James," said the good lady, bridling.
+
+"You force me to say something that may hurt your feelings; but I
+believe you have forgotten it. You complain of Laura's athletics and
+gymnasium work. Don't you see that it is an escape valve for the
+overflow of animal spirits that the girls of our generation, Mother,
+missed?"
+
+"I deny that the girls of _my_ day possessed such 'animal spirits,' as
+you call them," declared Mrs. Belding, vehemently.
+
+"You force me," said Mr. Belding, gravely, yet with a twinkle in his
+eyes, "to prove my case. Children! did I ever tell you about the first
+view I had of your dear mother?"
+
+"No, Pop! Tell us," urged Chet, who kept on eating despite his interest
+in the discussion.
+
+"Mr. Belding!" gasped his wife, suddenly. "What are you----"
+
+"Sorry, my dear; you force me to it," said her husband, with continued
+gravity. "But the first sight I ever had of your mother, children, was
+when she was six or seven years old. I was working for old Mr. Cummings,
+whose business I finally bought out, and I came to your mother's house
+on an errand."
+
+"James!" cried Mrs. Belding. "I cannot allow you to tell that foolish
+thing. It--it is disgraceful."
+
+"It is indeed," admitted her husband, nodding. "But if you and your
+school girl friends had been as much devoted to athletics as Laura and
+her little friends, I doubt if you would have needed the front stairs
+bannisters as an escape valve for your animal spirits.
+
+"For, children," added Mr. Belding, as his wife, her face very rosy, got
+up to come around the table to him, "my first view of your mother was
+her coming down stairs at express train speed, a-straddle of the
+bannisters!"
+
+Mrs. Belding reached him then, and any further particulars of this
+"disgraceful" story, were smothered promptly. But Laura and Chet enjoyed
+immensely the fact that--once upon a time, at least--there had been some
+little element of tomboyishness in their mother's character.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI--MARGIT'S MYSTERY
+
+
+To the amazement of the girls of Central High--particularly those seven
+who had been on the early Spring tramp to Fielding and had first seen
+the Gypsy girl when she ran away from Queen Grace Varey and the other
+Romany folk--Margit Salgo, as she called herself, appeared suddenly in
+the class rooms of the school. And, to complete their bewilderment, she
+appeared as the attendant of Miss Carrington!
+
+Margit spoke little to any of the other girls. She came to Eve and Bobby
+and told them how she had been made to leave the farmhouse by the
+Vareys, who had come after her in the night; but how she had finally got
+away from them, and her connection with Miss Carrington, she would not
+explain, although Bobby was very curious.
+
+"Well, doesn't that beat all!" ejaculated Bobby, to Eve Sitz. "And we
+thought we might be able to help Margit. She seems to have helped
+herself, all right."
+
+"I am glad, if she is now in good hands; but I do not understand it,"
+rejoined Eve.
+
+"Say! there can't be any mistake about her wanting to get to Miss
+Carrington before. Now she's got to Gee Gee, all right. Guess there's
+nothing to be said by outside parties, eh?"
+
+"Well, we can wonder--eh?"
+
+"Oh, there's no law against it. Take it out in wondering. You can be
+sure that Gee Gee will be as mum as an oyster."
+
+"But where is Queen Grace--and the others?" added Eve.
+
+"That's so," Bobby returned. "If Miss Carrington hasn't settled with the
+Romanies and given them what they wanted, you can make sure that they
+will take a hand in the matter again."
+
+Margit, however, seemed to have cut loose from the Gypsies altogether.
+When she appeared at Central High with the teacher she was dressed like
+any other girl coming from a well-to-do home. Her Gypsy garb had been
+discarded.
+
+Margit sat by herself and she had special lessons. She did not recite
+with the other girls, nor did she have much to say to any of them, save
+to Eve and Bobby. Even Mother Wit was not very successful in scraping an
+acquaintance with the Austro-Hungarian.
+
+Indeed, when one of the girls tried to talk with her, Margit answered in
+German; or, if the girl was taking German and could understand the
+spoken language pretty well, Margit used the outlandish dialect of the
+Romany folk, and that settled it.
+
+Either she did not wish to make acquaintances, or she had been warned by
+Miss Carrington not to satisfy the curiosity of the girls of Central
+High about herself.
+
+Of course nobody dared to question Gee Gee. If Mr. Sharp understood the
+reason for the new girl's presence he gave no sign--ignored her
+entirely, in fact. So the girls were vastly excited about Margit Salgo,
+her presence at Central High, where she came from,
+and--particularly--what relationship she bore to Gee Gee.
+
+One day the teacher was particularly short-tempered and found reason for
+taking Bobby Hargrew to task over some trivial fault.
+
+"I am amazed, Miss Hargrew, that so light-minded a girl as you ever won
+your way into the M. O. R. chapter. I do not see, Miss, but that you are
+just as mischievous as ever. Neither time nor place changes you."
+
+She said it very spitefully, and some of the other girls laughed. But
+suddenly Margit popped up and said something vigorously in
+German--speaking so quickly that the other girls did not understand her;
+but Gee Gee evidently understood.
+
+Her face flamed and she glared at the Gypsy girl in a way that would
+have quelled any other in the room. But Margit did not wither under her
+glance. She stared back, her head up and shoulders squared; and it was
+plain by her attitude that she defied Gee Gee.
+
+Bobby was as amazed as the others. Margit had taken her part against the
+teacher. And for the moment it seemed as though there would be a serious
+breach between Gee Gee and her protégé.
+
+However, the incident effectually called Gee Gee's attention away from
+Bobby, and the latter heard nothing more of _her_ fault. But it seemed
+that the connection between the teacher and Margit Salgo was not founded
+upon _love_. There was some other reason than affection that made Gee
+Gee care for the half-wild Gypsy girl. Some of the others whispered that
+Gee Gee must have done some awful thing, and Margit knew it and so held
+the teacher in her power. But that, of course, was a silly explanation
+of the mystery.
+
+It was plain, too, that the teacher would not let Margit out of her
+sight on the street. They came and went to school together, walking side
+by side. At the place where Miss Carrington had boarded so long, nobody
+ever saw Margit in the yard, but Miss Carrington was with her.
+
+One might have thought the girl a prisoner.
+
+Bobby was hurrying over to Laura's house with her books, one morning,
+wishing for a little help in one of the problems to be discussed that
+day, and she started through the grounds surrounding the Widow Boyce's
+house, from the back street.
+
+Suddenly she saw a man crouching in the shrubbery. Weeks before she had
+seen a man spying about the house, and believed him to be one of the
+Gypsies. Now Bobby halted and spied on the Peeping Tom himself.
+
+In a moment she saw that it was the man with the gold rings in his ears
+whom Eve had told her was Jim Varey, the husband of the Gypsy Queen. He
+was lurking there for no good purpose, that was sure.
+
+Having carried Margit off from Farmer Sitz's house in the middle of the
+night, the Gypsies would doubtless attempt to steal the girl away from
+Gee Gee, as well. The school teacher had evidently not settled with the
+Romany folk. They had not yet got money through the girl, as Margit had
+said they hoped to do.
+
+Bobby turned back toward the street, intending to look for a policeman,
+or for some neighbor; but as she did so she heard wheels grating against
+the curb, and there stood a covered wagon, with two sleek horses
+attached, and another Gypsy man driving them.
+
+The man on the seat of the wagon whistled, and Jim Varey raised his hand
+as a signal. Then the latter darted around the corner of the house
+toward the front.
+
+These maneuvers were only too plain to Bobby. There was not time to
+look for a policeman--and, in any case, an officer was hard to find in
+the Hill section of Centerport.
+
+Bobby ran along the hedge, stooping so as not to be seen by the man on
+the wagon seat, and came around to the front of the house from the
+direction opposite that which Jim Varey had taken.
+
+Just as she reached the front porch there was a wild scream from Miss
+Carrington, and Bobby saw the man leap from the far end of the porch
+with Margit in his arms.
+
+Margit did not scream; she only beat the man about the head
+and--perhaps--left the marks of her nails in his dark face.
+
+It was plain that she was being carried away from Gee Gee against her
+will. She had no desire to go back to the Gypsies.
+
+Now, Miss Carrington could not run. She had been brought up in no
+athletic school, that was sure. She followed the kidnapper clumsily
+enough, and he would have gotten well away in the covered wagon with the
+girl, had it remained to Gee Gee to intervene.
+
+But Bobby screamed, dropped her books, and went at the fellow as though
+she were playing football. She "tackled low," seizing with both arms
+about the knees, and Jim Varey, screeching and threatening, fell forward
+on the sward--and Margit escaped from his arms.
+
+"Oh!" gasped the girl.
+
+"Quick! get into the house!" cried Bobby, bounding to her feet.
+
+Margit whisked past her, and past Miss Carrington, and fled indoors as
+she was advised. Jim Varey leaped up and confronted the little girl who
+had overturned him. His fists were clenched and he gabbled in the Romany
+tongue a string of what were evidently threats and vituperation.
+
+"Now, it isn't me you want to carry off," said Bobby, bravely. "I
+wouldn't be any good to you. Get away, now, for I see Mr. Sharp coming
+down the street."
+
+Which was true enough--although the school principal was still a long
+way off. Jim Varey seemed to see the wisdom of the girl's remarks,
+however, for he turned and fled.
+
+The next minute they heard the heavy wagon being driven furiously away
+from the garden gate, and Bobby turned to find Gee Gee, sitting very
+faint and white, upon the porch steps.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII--LOU POTTER SCORES ONE
+
+
+"Has he gone?" gasped Gee Gee, weakly.
+
+"They've driven off, Miss Carrington. Margit is in no danger now," said
+Bobby, eyeing the teacher curiously.
+
+"You--you know about it, too, do you?" murmured the teacher.
+
+"I guess I know something about it," replied Bobby, promptly. "We girls
+saw Margit up there in the hills when she ran away from the Gypsies the
+first time. And I was over to Eve Sitz's the night the Vareys stole
+Margit away again. I'd see the police if I were you, Miss Carrington."
+
+"The police--yes!" returned the lady. "It will all have to be dragged
+into publicity, I suppose."
+
+Bobby didn't know what to say, for she did not understand Gee Gee's
+present character, anyway! Nobody before had ever seen Miss Grace Gee
+Carrington so disturbed in her mind.
+
+Bobby saw the front door open again, and Margit appeared on the porch.
+
+"Come in! Come in! It's all right now," said the Gypsy girl. "There is
+nothing to fear from them now---- Ah! who is this?"
+
+Bobby turned quickly and saw a little, stooped old man, turning in at
+the gate. Miss Carrington saw him, too, and she came to her feet in a
+moment. The color came back into her face and she began to look very
+grim again--more like her usual self.
+
+"Morning! morning!" cackled the old gentleman, nodding at the school
+teacher, but looking hard at Bobby. And the latter recognized him as
+Eben Chumley, a queer, miserly old man who owned a great deal of
+property on the Hill.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Chumley," said Miss Carrington, quietly.
+
+"Now, don't tell me _this_ is the gal," said Mr. Chumley, pointing a
+long finger at Bobby. "For that's Tom Hargrew's young 'un--I know her
+well enough."
+
+"_This_ is the girl I wish you to see and talk with, Mr. Chumley," said
+Miss Carrington, beckoning Margit forward. Then she added, in her
+severest tone: "Miss Hargrew! you are excused."
+
+"Well, the mean cat!" muttered Bobby, as she went out of the yard. "I
+had no intention of listening to their private affairs. But she might at
+least have thanked me for tumbling over that Gypsy."
+
+Margit came to her, however, that morning, and thanked her warmly.
+
+"You're a brave girl, Miss Hargrew," she said. "And I think that Jim
+Varey will let me alone hereafter. At least, he had better keep his
+distance."
+
+And so it seemed, for thereafter, when Miss Carrington and her charge
+walked to and from school, a policeman strolled behind them. The
+girls--especially those of the junior class, however--were almost eaten
+up with curiosity.
+
+Luckily, as June approached, they had something else to think about out
+of regular recitation hours. The rivalry on the athletic field became
+very keen indeed. Mrs. Case did her best to impress upon the girls'
+minds that a spirit of rivalry between classes would perhaps injure the
+chances of the school at large at the final meet.
+
+"Loyalty to Central High!" was her battle cry. But all of the
+girls--especially a certain portion of the seniors--forgot the "good of
+the greater number" in the petty class differences.
+
+Lou Potter, the senior, was backed strongly for first place in putting
+the shot and for the broad jump. Nobody but Mrs. Case, indeed, knew just
+how Lou and Eve Sitz stood in those two events.
+
+The Saturday afternoon came when Mrs. Case was to try out the girls with
+the highest scores in the various events to be featured on the Big Day.
+Relay teams from each class had been gradually made up, and now these
+were to compete for the honor of representing Central High at the meet.
+
+The Junior Four was made up of Laura Belding, Jess Morse, and Dora and
+Dorothy Lockwood, with Bobby Hargrew as substitute. They were not only
+all fast, but they were quick-witted. A relay race isn't altogether won
+with one's feet.
+
+The seniors averaged taller girls, and heavier. The sophomores were
+nearer the weight and size of Laura and her mates; and of course, it was
+scarcely to be expected that the freshman four would stand a chance at
+all.
+
+When the three heats were run off, however, the freshmen proved better
+than the seniors once, and surpassed the sophomores in two of the heats.
+The juniors won all three heats in fast time.
+
+"Those squabs are coming on to be jimdandies!" declared Bobby,
+enthusiastically. "They're going to be just such another class in
+athletics as ours."
+
+"And of course," remarked Lou Potter, who overheard her, "the junior
+class of Central High is just the most wonderful crowd of girls that was
+ever brought together."
+
+"Now you've said it," admitted Bobby, with satisfaction. "But I never
+did expect to hear a senior say that about us!"
+
+Mrs. Case came over and her presence halted further bickering. But the
+rivalry of the two upper classes rankled.
+
+Bobby took the hundred-yard dash from all competitors. Later she easily
+beat all the other entries in the quarter-mile race.
+
+Interest centered after that in the broad jump and the shot-putting
+contest. Eve was in her usual good form and equalled, in her three
+trials, her best previous record. Just what that record had been the
+girls as a body did not know; but on this occasion the distance was made
+public. Eve had bested all competitors by a full inch and a half. Her
+nearest rival was Lou Potter.
+
+"Favoritism!" was the cry among the seniors, but they were very careful
+not to allow their physical instructor hear it.
+
+In truth, Mrs. Case, as she always had been, was opposed to inter-class
+trials on the field or track. It lowered the standard of loyalty to the
+school as a whole, and was frequently the cause of bickerings and
+heart-burnings, as in this present case.
+
+But she was bound by the rules of a committee in which she had but one
+vote. She was glad to learn, however, that other instructors in other
+schools were having the same trouble. The Girls' Branch Athletic League
+is truly against rivalry between classes of the same school.
+
+In putting the shot the same unfortunate feeling arose between backers
+of Lou Potter and Evangeline Sitz. Eve carried the day; she put the
+twelve-pound shot far ahead of her rival. But the seniors were not
+satisfied. Their class would make a poor showing indeed at the meet.
+
+"I'd just like to get square with that Swiss doll!" exclaimed Lou
+Potter, as she turned out of the gate of the athletic field, after it
+was all over and Mrs. Case had announced who would be the
+representatives of the school in each department of athletics, at the
+June meet.
+
+"She is a foreigner, anyway. Laura Belding got her to come to this
+school. She'd much better have gone to Keyport, where she belongs,"
+cried one of Lou's classmates.
+
+They could not see that Eve's presence at Central High was likely to
+give the school at least two points in athletics; that Keyport might
+have won had the country girl attended the Keyport High, as she had
+first intended.
+
+"There she goes now--aiming for the railroad station," said Lou Potter.
+"I wish something would keep her from getting to the field on the day of
+the meet."
+
+It was this mean thought in her mind, perhaps, that made Miss Potter
+notice Eve particularly as she followed behind the country girl. Lou's
+friends separated from her, but her way led toward the railroad station,
+too.
+
+And before that was reached Miss Potter suddenly became aware of the
+fact that a woman and a man were following Eve Sitz.
+
+She saw them first standing at a corner, and whispering, and pointing
+after Eve. They were dark-faced people, foreign-looking, and the man
+wore hoops of gold in his ears.
+
+"There are a lot of those Gypsies around this Spring," was Lou's first
+thought. "Hullo! those people are watching that Sitz girl."
+
+She became curious, as she saw the Gypsies dog Eve's footsteps for block
+after block. Whether they wished to speak to the big girl, or were just
+watching her, Lou could not tell.
+
+She was a bold girl herself, and not at all afraid of the Romany folk.
+When Eve disappeared into the railroad station and the man and woman
+remained outside, Lou walked up to them.
+
+"What are you following that girl for?" she asked, and when Queen Grace
+and her husband would have denied it, Lou made her reason for asking
+plain.
+
+"If you don't like her, neither do I. I'd like to have her out of the
+way for at least one day--one day next week," and she named the day of
+the Athletic Meet.
+
+"This is a plot to trap us," growled Jim Varey to his wife.
+
+But the Gypsy Queen was, as we have seen, a very shrewd student of human
+nature. She could see just how bad a heart Lou Potter had. Queen Grace
+possessed no occult power. No so-called fortune-teller has. They are all
+wicked people, and liars. But she had long made a study of the worst
+side of human nature.
+
+She saw that Lou Potter was ripe for mischief. She talked to her softly
+and insinuatingly, putting Jim out of the way. Then she agreed to meet
+the senior again and learn just what she wished done to Eve Sitz.
+
+For the Gypsy Queen saw a chance to make a few dollars and, as Margit
+Salgo had said, the woman was very avaricious. She and her husband had
+been following Eve idly enough. They dared not approach Margit while she
+was under the protection of Miss Carrington and the police; but they
+laid to Eve a part of the blame for the Gypsy girl's escape from their
+hands before they had made any money out of her.
+
+Lou Potter went away from her conference with the Gypsies very much
+delighted.
+
+"I guess we'll show them that the seniors have something to say about
+athletics at Central High," she muttered, over and over again. "I reckon
+I've scored one on Miss Eve Sitz, too!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII--THE FIELD DAY
+
+
+There was a tall, gaunt, gray man who came to the Widow Boyce's to see
+Miss Carrington on certain occasions. He always carried a blue bag,
+stuffed with papers and books, and it was well known by the neighbors
+that he was Miss Carrington's lawyer.
+
+There was nothing suggestive of romance about Aaron MacCullough; but
+like all old attorneys he had dabbled in many, many romances. There were
+a score of old families of Centerport who had entrusted their cupboard
+secrets to Mr. MacCullough.
+
+He came in one evening, with his blue bag, and sat down in Gee Gee's
+sitting room. The Central High teacher was quite as dry in appearance,
+and as grim as the lawyer himself. She sat on one side of the table, and
+he on the other, and the papers which he first examined and read aloud
+he passed to her, and she scrutinized them through her spectacles.
+
+"So," she said, at length, "these correspondents of yours in Buda-Pesth
+seem to know all about Salgo's affairs, do they?"
+
+"It is notorious, Miss Carrington," said the old man, nodding. "There
+can be no mistake. Belas Salgo was a strange man. All geniuses, perhaps,
+are strange----"
+
+"He was a wicked foreigner!" declared Miss Carrington, sharply.
+
+"Wicked in your eyes, perhaps. He married and carried away with him your
+dearest friend."
+
+"My cousin Anne--yes," said she, slowly. "She had been in my care. She
+was musical. She went mad over the man--and he no better than a Gypsy."
+
+"Gypsy blood he confessed to--yes," said the lawyer, shaking his head.
+"But he could make wonderful music. I remember hearing him once in this
+very town."
+
+"Oh, he charmed everybody--but me," said Miss Carrington, vigorously.
+"And he would have charmed me, perhaps, with his fiddle if Anne had not
+gone mad over him. I knew how it would be for her--misery and trouble!"
+
+"We do not know that," said the old gentleman, shaking his head. "Her
+few years with Belas Salgo were happy enough, by all account."
+
+"But she never wrote to me!" cried the Central High teacher.
+
+"Nor she never wrote to her father's partner, Mr. Chumley. Eben Chumley,
+by the way, is for denying the identity of this girl, Margit?"
+
+"Well! so was I," admitted Miss Carrington. "Though heaven knows it was
+for another reason! I did not think poor Anne would have had a daughter
+and never written me a word about it."
+
+"Ahem!" said Mr. MacCullough, clearing his throat significantly, "your
+last word to her, I understand, was a harsh one?"
+
+"Ah! But I never meant it. She must have known I never meant it,"
+exclaimed Miss Carrington, her voice trembling.
+
+The old lawyer shook his head. "We never do mean the harsh words," he
+murmured.
+
+"However," he added, after a moment's silence. "The fact remains that
+this girl, Margit Salgo, is assuredly the daughter of Belas Salgo and
+Anne Carrington. The money--what there was of it--left in the hands of
+Eben Chumley by his partner, Anne's father, belongs to the child, and
+Eben must be made to disgorge."
+
+"It will hurt Chumley dreadfully to give up the money," said Gee Gee,
+quickly. "How much is there?"
+
+"Less than a thousand dollars. You know, Chumley & Carrington were in
+the real estate business in only a small way, back in those days. With
+interest, and all, it will be but a modest fortune."
+
+"I suppose those Gypsies thought the child was a great heiress," said
+the teacher.
+
+"That is probable. They undoubtedly think so now. It is my advice that
+you allow me to go to the police and explain the matter fully. Let them
+gather in this Jim Varey, and the others, and tell them just how little
+the sum is that is coming to Margit Salgo. It is about enough for her
+education--and that's all."
+
+Miss Carrington nodded. "Nevertheless," she said, with finality, "she is
+Cousin Anne's child. I shall make her education and future keeping my
+affair. I have not worked, and taught, all these years for nothing, Mr.
+MacCullough."
+
+"Quite true--quite true," admitted the old man, briskly. "And if you
+wish to adopt the girl----"
+
+"I intend to do so," announced Gee Gee.
+
+"Then there is nobody to gainsay you, I am certain," declared the
+lawyer, rising. "I congratulate the child upon falling in with so good a
+guardian, Miss Carrington. And--perhaps--you are to be congratulated,
+too," he added to himself as he left her sitting grimly by the table.
+
+For more than Lawyer MacCullough noted the change that was gradually
+coming over the martinet teacher of Central High. Whether it was the
+influence of Margit's presence, or not, it was true that Miss Carrington
+was not half so harsh as she used to be.
+
+"Change of heart--she's sure to die, I'm afraid," announced Bobby
+Hargrew, one day, when Gee Gee had failed to seize the opportunity to
+berate that young lady for a certain fault.
+
+But later, Miss Carrington put herself out to speak to Bobby on the
+street, and upon matters not connected with the school work.
+
+"Clara, I never properly thanked you for taking my ward's part the other
+morning when that dreadful man attacked her," said Miss Carrington,
+quietly. "But I am grateful, nevertheless."
+
+"Your ward!" gasped Bobby, her curiosity and wonder passing all bounds
+of politeness. "Oh, Miss Carrington! is she really related to you?"
+
+"Margit? Not in the least--at least, no relation that the law would
+allow. For that reason I propose to adopt her. She will be known as
+Margaret Carrington--and I hope, Miss Clara, that you and the other
+girls of Central High will be kind to her."
+
+Bobby smiled. "I think Margit will take care of herself, Miss
+Carrington, if we don't treat her right. But I know all the girls will
+be glad to have her join."
+
+"Thank you. She is foreign to your ways, as yet," pursued the teacher, a
+little doubtfully. "From what she says, she is much interested in Mrs.
+Case's classes--in the physical culture classes, and the like. I--I
+expect you will introduce her at the gymnasium, Miss Clara?"
+
+"Of course!" exclaimed Bobby, half stunned. "Why--why Margit's the
+surest-footed girl I ever saw. You ought to see her running that day
+along the top of the stone wall!"
+
+"Er--I presume that such unseemly conduct will not be necessary if
+Margaret becomes a votary of athletics as taught the young ladies of
+Central High," returned Miss Carringtan, stiffly.
+
+"Just the same," Bobby said, in talking over the matter with Laura and
+the rest of the girls, afterwards, "just the same, Margit Salgo will be
+a splendid addition to our fighting force some day. Why, she's got
+biceps like a boy, and she says she can swim, and skate, and ride. We're
+going to have another A-1 champion for Central High in Margit Salgo some
+day!"
+
+It must be confessed that, about this time, many of the Central High
+girls gave more thought to athletic matters than they did to their
+lessons. Still, the unbending rule that only those who kept up with
+their studies would have a part in the after-hour athletic contests was
+a solvent for any serious trouble.
+
+The day of the meet was at hand. The athletic teams of the five high
+schools--three of Centerport and one each from Lumberport and
+Keyport--were to meet on the Central High field. There were several
+important trophies, as well as the usual league pins for the winners,
+and interest in the field day--not alone among the girls themselves--ran
+high.
+
+Laura Belding and her mates had figured out very carefully just what
+events Central High was sure to win, and how many of the "uncertain"
+points were needed to clinch the championship.
+
+They felt sure of the hundred-yard dash; as far as they could learn no
+girl in any of the five schools had developed the speed of Bobby Hargrew
+over that short course.
+
+The two hundred and twenty-yard dash and the quarter-mile run were
+doubtful, despite Bobby's splendid showing in the latter. The hurdle
+races were doubtful, too, as well as the shuttle and potato relays.
+
+In the high and broad jumps, as well as the shot-putting, there was
+serious doubt. The best Laura could figure, Central High would go into
+the contest needing four points more than they were _sure_ of winning.
+
+Those four points might be supplied by Bobby in the quarter-mile run,
+one of the chief events of the day, and Eve Sitz in the broad jump and
+putting the shot.
+
+"You girls have got to do your very best--don't forget that!" Laura told
+them, as they separated the night before the meet. "Central High just
+about leans her whole weight on you."
+
+It was on Friday and the whole school was excused at noon; but those
+taking part in the events of the day were not obliged to report until
+one o'clock--and then only to the committee at the gymnasium building.
+
+The crowds from Lumberport and from Keyport came in chartered steamers.
+They marched into the field just before one o'clock, and the classes
+from the East and West Highs followed them a few minutes later. The
+girls in their light dresses, and with the flags fluttering, were a
+pretty sight.
+
+Of course, the grandstand was rapidly filling with adult spectators, and
+with the boys, when the girls of Central High came in. There was some
+marching and counter-marching, before all were seated. Already some of
+the girls, in their gymnasium clothes, began to appear on the courts for
+warming-up practice.
+
+Suddenly Bobby Hargrew burst into a knot of Central High girls gathered
+around Mrs. Case, on the main floor of the gym. building, and fairly
+shouted:
+
+"Where is she?"
+
+"Where's who?" asked Laura, curiously. "Is this one of your jokes? Who
+are you looking for?"
+
+"Where's Eve? Who's seen Eve Sitz?" repeated Bobby, anxiously.
+
+"Why, I think you'll find her around somewhere. What's the matter? Got
+to see her right this moment, Bobby?"
+
+Bobby's tone of tragic despair stopped the joking at last, however, as
+she cried:
+
+"She's not reported. She isn't here. Nobody's seen her. She hasn't come
+into town, as far as I can find out. And certain sure she hasn't come
+into this building--and it's one o'clock now!"
+
+"Why, Clara! what do you mean?" asked the physical instructor of Central
+High. "It is not possible that Evangeline Sitz would fail to appear at
+such a time as this?"
+
+"And with so much depending on her?" shrieked Jess Morse. "Impossible!"
+
+"Something has happened to her," said Laura, aghast.
+
+"Has nobody seen her?" demanded Mrs. Case.
+
+Nobody had.
+
+"I'll run to father's office and telephone," suggested Nellie Agnew.
+"They have a telephone at the Sitz farm, haven't they?"
+
+"Of course," rejoined Laura. "Do run, Nell!"
+
+The group, mostly made up of juniors, was horror-stricken by the fact
+that one of the most dependable of the girls was missing. But a senior
+who stood near said, scoffingly:
+
+"Oh, I guess that girl won't be missed. We've got Lou Potter to put
+right in her place--in both the shot-put and the broad jump. And the
+chance belonged to Lou, anyway. Now she'll get her rights, perhaps."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV--MARGIT PAYS A DEBT
+
+
+"Did you hear what that girl said, Laura?" demanded Bobby, in a whisper,
+clinging to the arm of Mother Wit. "It sounded as though she knew
+something about Eve's absence."
+
+"No. Just jealousy," returned Laura.
+
+"I--don't--know---- Here's Nell!" exclaimed the smaller girl, eagerly.
+
+The doctor's daughter ran up, very much excited.
+
+"Otto was on the 'phone," she said. "He says that Eve left for town in
+time to catch the nine-twenty-seven. Why, she should have been here two
+hours ago!"
+
+"What do you suppose has happened?" wailed Jess.
+
+"I will see the committee at once," said Mrs. Case, quietly. "Of course,
+if Evangeline does not report in time, we shall have to put in a
+substitute."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Case!" cried Bobby. "_Don't_ put in that Lou Potter!"
+
+"What, Clara? Is that your loyalty to Central High?" demanded the
+athletic instructor, sternly.
+
+"Well, she's been so mean----"
+
+"But if she is the next best girl we have in training, and Eve does not
+appear, would you cripple Central High's chances for a petty feud like
+this?"
+
+Mrs. Case spoke warmly and Bobby fell back abashed. But all the juniors
+were amazed and troubled by the emergency which had so suddenly arisen.
+
+The attitude of some seniors surprised Eve's friends, too. They were
+seen to gather in groups, and giggle and whisper, and when the troubled
+juniors passed these seniors made remarks which suggested that they knew
+more about Eve's absence than her own friends.
+
+Especially was Lou Potter in high feather over something. She sneered at
+Laura Belding, when the latter went about asking everybody if they had
+seen or heard of Eve that morning.
+
+Time approached for the early events of the afternoon, and the relay
+teams were called out for the first event. About that time Margit Salgo,
+who had been moving about in the crowd of Central High competitors,
+suddenly broke away from a group, of whom Lou Potter was the center, and
+ran hurriedly for the exit.
+
+At the gate the ticket-taker had just allowed Mr. and Mrs. Belding to
+enter and Margit saw Chet--whom she now knew very well--beside their
+automobile outside.
+
+"Chetwood!" she gasped, running out to him. "There has something
+happened that will make Central High lose to-day--it is a plot--it is a
+meanness----"
+
+She broke into German, as she did when she was excited, and Chet
+literally "threw up his hands."
+
+"Hold your horses, Miss Margaret," he begged. "I can't follow you when
+you talk like that. My German's lame in both feet, anyway--like the son
+of Jonathan."
+
+"I do not know your Jonathan," she cried, when Chet, grinning,
+interrupted:
+
+"You're weak in your Scripture, then. But what about it? What's
+happened?"
+
+"They have got Eve Sitz!" declared Margit, tragically.
+
+"Who's got her?"
+
+"I do not know for sure. I only suspect," declared the girl. "But quick!
+drive where I shall say. We may be in time."
+
+"Do you mean to say that Eve hasn't got here yet?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Yet she's already left home?"
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed!"
+
+"And she's an important figure in to-day's events, I understand," quoth
+Master Chet. "You think you know where she is?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" cried Margit.
+
+"Hop in, then. Tell me where to go, and we'll get there if a policeman
+doesn't hold us up on the way."
+
+Margit whispered in his ear. Chet looked surprised; then nodded and
+helped her into the seat beside him. In a minute they were out of the
+crowd of other autos and were speeding down Whiffle Street and into
+Market.
+
+When they struck the main thoroughfare the young fellow had to drive the
+car more circumspectly; but he made such time that more than one traffic
+officer held up a warning hand and shook his head at them.
+
+"Sure you know where you want to go, Margaret?" Chet asked his companion
+once, as they dodged around a truck and turned off into a long and
+narrow side street where the class of tenements on either hand were of
+the cheaper quality.
+
+"Yes," nodded the girl. "I should know. I was there myself."
+
+"Oh! that's where the Gyps, have their encampment in town?" exclaimed
+Chet.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you think Eve has been caught by the same people who held you?"
+
+"Yes. I believe so."
+
+"Then take it from me, Margaret," declared Chet, decidedly, "a policeman
+goes into the house with us. I don't take any chances with those
+people."
+
+She nodded again and a few moments later she told him to stop before a
+certain number. This was, indeed, a crowded and mean section of the
+town.
+
+"I thought Romany folk lived in the open air and were bold and free--and
+all that?" said Chet, in disgust, as he stopped the engine and prepared
+to get out after removing certain plugs so that the car could not be
+started during their absence.
+
+"In town they live like other poor people. They camp in a cheap flat.
+But they would not remain here long if they did not hope to get hold of
+me," replied Margit, quietly.
+
+"Hullo! You're running right into trouble, perhaps," said Chet,
+doubtfully.
+
+"What if I am? That girl, Eve, was good to me. And those other girls are
+my friends. We will get her free so that she may get to the athletic
+field in time. What?"
+
+"I guess it _is_ what," admitted Chet, to himself.
+
+Then he saw an officer and beckoned to the man. A few words explained
+their need.
+
+"Ha! I was told to keep an eye on those folk. I know 'em," said the
+policeman. "And this is the girl who was with them before?" and he
+stared curiously at Margit Salgo.
+
+They went quickly into the house and up to the floor that the girl
+remembered very well indeed. She pointed out the door of the flat and
+Chet rapped upon it. The officer kept in the shadow.
+
+The door opened a trifle, after the second knock, and a voice whispered
+some word which Chet could not understand. Instantly Margit hissed a
+reply--it was in Romany.
+
+The door opened a bit wider. Somebody inside saw the girl; but Chet was
+seen, too.
+
+"What did Ah tell 'ee?" demanded Jim Varey's gruff voice. "This is a
+business tae bring trouble tae us, says I--and I was right."
+
+Before he had ceased speaking the policeman sprang forward and with knee
+and shoulder forced the door wide open. He had drawn his club.
+
+"Keep still--all you here! If you give me trouble I'll arrest all of you
+instead of this man and his wife," and he seized Jim by the shoulder.
+
+"Where's the girl?" cried Chet. "Eve! Eve Sitz! Are you here?"
+
+There was an answering cry from back in some other room. Margit darted
+past the struggling people in the kitchen and opened a door beyond.
+
+"Here I am!" cried Eve Sitz.
+
+The country girl was tied to a chair, but not tightly enough to cramp
+her limbs. Nor had she been really ill-treated.
+
+"Run down," said the officer to Chet, "and blow this whistle. Tell my
+partner, when he comes, to send for the wagon. We'll give these folks a
+ride."
+
+"Oh, but I must get to the field, Chetwood!" cried Eve, in despair.
+"They told me Margit was here and needed me, and I came right from the
+train. I don't know what it means----"
+
+Chet had darted down the stairs and he soon came back with the other
+policeman. The officers agreed that the boy and two girls need not
+accompany them to the station; the Gypsy Queen and her husband, with the
+other Romany folk at home in the flat, could be held until later in the
+day for somebody to appear against them.
+
+And that somebody was Miss Carrington's lawyer, Aaron MacCullough. Eve
+had no more trouble with the Gypsies--nor did Margit. Mr. MacCullough
+took the opportunity of showing the roaming folk that they could make
+little out of Margit or her friends, and then the Centerport police
+warned them out of town.
+
+Meanwhile Chet, with the two girls, got into the automobile, and started
+back toward the Central High athletic field. It was already two o'clock,
+and on the program of the day the event of the broad jump would be
+called in less than half an hour!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV--THE WINNING POINTS
+
+
+That first relay race, in which the Junior Four of Central High took
+part, passed like a night-mare for Laura Belding and her companions.
+Every one of them was worried about Eve's disappearance--so worried that
+they came perilously near not doing their very best.
+
+But the rooters for their school got off with a splendid chorus when the
+girls came on the field, and with all that enthusiasm Laura and her
+comrades could not fail "to pull off some brilliant running," as Bobby
+slangily expressed it.
+
+And they did so. The four won the point for Central High, and next in
+line was the one hundred-yard dash. Bobby, as fresh as a lark, came to
+the scratch and prepared to do her very best against the representatives
+from the four other high schools. There was a girl from Lumberport whom
+she had been told to look out for. But Bobby proposed to "look out" for
+nobody on this short dash. The girl who got off in the best form was
+almost sure to win.
+
+And that girl was Bobby. At the word she shot away like an arrow, and a
+roar of approval burst from the seats occupied by the boys of Central
+High.
+
+"C--e--n, Central High!
+C--e--n--t--r--a--l, Central High!
+C--e--n--t--r--a--l--h--i--g--h, Central High!
+Ziz--z--z--z----
+Boom!"
+
+Bobby seemed to be fairly borne along on that yell. She started ahead
+and she kept ahead. Like a flash she went down the track and breasted
+the tape quicker than it takes to tell it.
+
+"Bobby Hargrew! She's all right!" sang the girls of Central High on the
+benches.
+
+Then girls and boys joined in, and finally the other schools added their
+cheers to the paean of praise that sent Bobby back to the gym. building
+with a delightful glow at her heart.
+
+"Good for you, Bobs!" cried Jess, who stood in the sun in her blanket
+coat. "That's another of the points we need. Why, we're going to wipe up
+the field with them."
+
+"But where's Eve?" panted Bobby. "Has anybody seen her?"
+
+"No. She didn't come. She's left us in the lurch----"
+
+"Not intentionally, I am sure," declared Bobby, quickly.
+
+"Well, Mrs. Case is going to put Lou in for the broad jump if Eve
+doesn't show up. And that miserable senior is as perky about it as she
+can be. There she is yonder, all ready for the event, although it's not
+due for an hour yet," added Jess.
+
+The field was next cleared for folk dancing, taking part in which were
+most of the freshman and sophomore classes of all five schools. This
+attracted the adult spectators more than it did the girls themselves;
+the latter's keenest interest was centered in the all-absorbing athletic
+events.
+
+One of the juniors kept watch at the entrance to the field, and sent in
+word now and then that nothing had been heard or seen of Eve Sitz. Laura
+and her other friends did not know that Margit had gone away with Chet
+fielding to hunt for the missing girl.
+
+"If she doesn't come pretty soon all will be lost!" groaned Nellie Agnew
+as the field cleared after the folk dancing.
+
+"Maybe Lou can carry the points for us," suggested Dora Lockwood,
+doubtfully.
+
+"Never in this world!" cried Bobby.
+
+"Nor does Mrs. Case believe it. But it's the best she can do," said
+Jess. "There! after this event comes the broad jump."
+
+"See that nasty Lou Potter!" complained Bobby. "She's standing there,
+grinning just like a Chessy-cat----"
+
+"Hold on, Bobby, hold on!" exclaimed Nellie Agnew, admonishingly.
+"Remember!"
+
+"Remember what?" snapped Bobby.
+
+"'Loyalty to Central High!' That's the battle cry."
+
+"And right Nell is, Bobs," interposed Jess. "We've got to give that girl
+the finest kind of a send-off when she goes into the field. Hearten her
+up! Never mind how mean we think her, remember she represents Central
+High, and the old school needs the points."
+
+"Quite true, girls," said Laura. "When Lou goes out to jump, pass the
+word to the boys to give her an ovation."
+
+And just then there was some shouting at the gate, the crowd opened, and
+a figure dashed through wildly and made for the gym.
+
+"It's Eve! It's Eve!" shouted Bobby, fairly dancing up and down.
+
+Margit Salgo was right behind the country girl. She hurried with her to
+the dressing rooms, and before the broad jump was called, Eve appeared,
+cool, smiling, and quite like her usual self.
+
+"Mrs. Case! I protest!" declared Lou Potter, standing before the
+physical instructor of Central High, as Eve approached. "This is my
+chance. I demand the right to make this jump."
+
+But the instructor only smiled and shook her head.
+
+"Evangeline is in plenty of time," she said. "You are merely a
+substitute, Miss Potter. Are you ready, Eve? Then, take your place with
+the other contestants. You are Number 3."
+
+News of Eve's nick o' time appearance had been circulated by Chet
+Belding when he joined the Central High boys. When it came the girl's
+turn to jump she received an ovation that startled the echoes.
+
+And Eve did not disappoint her friends. She carried off the honors of
+the broad jump by two inches over every other competitor, beating the
+record established two years before.
+
+Bobby did equally as well in the quarter-mile race. That was a trial of
+greater endurance than her winning dash, but she came along ahead of all
+the other sprinters, and won by a clean two yards.
+
+Then Eve went into the field again and beat the famous Magdeline Spink,
+of Lumberport, putting the shot, by ten and a quarter inches--making a
+remarkable score for Central High, and establishing a record for
+following classes to attempt to beat for some years to come.
+
+Of course, the girls as a whole did not know for sure that any of the
+seniors had had anything to do with Eve's being abducted to the Varey
+flat; but because Lou Potter, and others, had been so positive that Eve
+would not appear, the juniors could not help feeling suspicious.
+
+Had it not been for Laura Belding, ever the peace-maker, friction might
+have resulted that would have lasted through the remainder of the term
+and spoiled the graduation exercises for Central High that year.
+
+"We can afford to let the matter rest as it is," said Mother Wit, to her
+junior class friends. "Central High won--we got the winning points--and
+we stand at the head of our school athletic league. We can be satisfied
+with our score.
+
+"As far as these seniors go---- Well, the bad ones are not the entire
+class. And, anyway, they will soon be graduated and we shall have no
+more trouble from them. Let them be an example to us----"
+
+"An example!" cried the irrepressible Bobby. "I guess you mean a
+horrible example."
+
+"Perhaps. At least, let us remember, when we are seniors, not to do as
+they have done," concluded Mother Wit.
+
+"If I'm any prophet," said Jess. "We won't be like them."
+
+"Well, you are no prophet!" cried Bobby. "And don't talk to me any more
+about prophets and fortune-tellers."
+
+"Oh-ho!" mocked Nellie. "Bobby no longer believes in the Gypsy Queen!"
+
+"I believe in nothing of the kind. I was a dreadfully foolish girl to
+pay any attention to that wicked woman. You see, she was wrong. I got
+into no trouble this term with Gee Gee, after all."
+
+But Bobby said nothing to her friends about the greater fear that she
+had had for weeks--the fear that her father might bring home a new wife.
+She knew now that that had been merely a spiteful guess of the Gypsy
+Queen, who knew Mr. Hargrew's circumstances, and thought it safe to warn
+his daughter that he might marry again.
+
+"The wicked old witch--that's what she is!" thought Bobby. "Father Tom
+would never do that. I am going to be his housekeeper as well as his
+partner." And nothing in the future could ever make Bobby Hargrew doubt
+her father's word.
+
+The girls of Central High--especially the juniors--carried off greater
+honors after that Field Day; but never did they win trophies that gave
+them more satisfaction than these.
+
+Eve was sure to make a name for herself in the league in the future; and
+Bobby had developed into quite a sprinter. Laura Belding looked forward
+in the next year to developing other girls into all-round athletes who
+would win points for Central High.
+
+And indeed, they all--girls and instructors alike--looked forward to
+immense benefit as well as pleasure to be derived from the future
+athletic activities of the Girls of Central High.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High on Track and
+Field, by Gertrude W. Morrison
+
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High on Track and Field, by 
+Gertrude W. Morrison
+
+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: The Girls of Central High on Track and Field
+       The Champions of the School League
+
+Author: Gertrude W. Morrison
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2010 [EBook #34749]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<div class="document" id="the-girls-of-central-high-on-track-and-field">
+<h1 class="title document-title level-1">The Girls of Central High on Track and Field</h1>
+
+<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- -->
+<hr class="docutils"/>
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<div class="figure align-center">
+<img alt="images/illus-fpc.jpg" src="images/illus-fpc.jpg"/>
+<p class="caption">BOBBY WON BY A CLEAN TWO YARDS</p>
+</div>
+<!--  -->
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p class="align-center larger bold">THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD</p>
+<p class="align-center">OR</p>
+<p class="align-center larger">THE CHAMPIONS OF THE SCHOOL LEAGUE</p>
+<div class="align-center larger line-block">
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+<p class="align-center">by</p>
+<p class="align-center">GERTRUDE W. MORRISON</p>
+<p class="align-center">Author of The Girls of Central High,
+The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna, etc.</p>
+<div class="align-center line-block">
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+<p class="align-center">ILLUSTRATED</p>
+<div class="align-center line-block">
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+<p class="align-center">THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.</p>
+<p class="align-center">AKRON, OHIO — NEW YORK</p>
+<p class="align-center">MADE IN U. S. A.</p>
+<div class="align-center line-block">
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+<p class="align-center">Copyright, 1914 by</p>
+<p class="align-center">GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</p>
+<div class="align-center line-block">
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="pbr"/>
+
+<div class="section" id="contents">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2">Table of Contents</h2>
+<ul class="simple">
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-ithe-girl-on-the-stone-fence" id="id1">CHAPTER I—THE GIRL ON THE STONE FENCE</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-iihide-and-seek" id="id2">CHAPTER II—HIDE AND SEEK</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-iiithe-gypsy-camp" id="id3">CHAPTER III—THE GYPSY CAMP</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-ivthe-gypsy-queen" id="id4">CHAPTER IV—THE GYPSY QUEEN</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-vthe-situation-looks-serious" id="id5">CHAPTER V—THE SITUATION LOOKS SERIOUS</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-vipressing-hospitality" id="id6">CHAPTER VI—PRESSING HOSPITALITY</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-viithe-yellow-kerchief-again" id="id7">CHAPTER VII—THE YELLOW KERCHIEF AGAIN</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-viiithe-girl-in-the-storm" id="id8">CHAPTER VIII—THE GIRL IN THE STORM</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-ixthe-gypsies-again" id="id9">CHAPTER IX—THE GYPSIES AGAIN</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xeves-adventure" id="id10">CHAPTER X—EVE’S ADVENTURE</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xibobby-is-interested" id="id11">CHAPTER XI—BOBBY IS INTERESTED</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xiithe-races" id="id12">CHAPTER XII—THE RACES</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xiiiwhat-margit-said" id="id13">CHAPTER XIII—WHAT MARGIT SAID</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xivanother-flitting" id="id14">CHAPTER XIV—ANOTHER FLITTING</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xvanother-rivalry-on-the-field" id="id15">CHAPTER XV—ANOTHER RIVALRY ON THE FIELD</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xvifive-in-a-tower" id="id16">CHAPTER XVI—FIVE IN A TOWER</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xviieve-takes-a-risk" id="id17">CHAPTER XVII—EVE TAKES A RISK</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xviiithe-conscience-of-prettyman-sweet" id="id18">CHAPTER XVIII—THE CONSCIENCE OF PRETTYMAN SWEET</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xixmargit-and-miss-carrington-meet" id="id19">CHAPTER XIX—MARGIT AND MISS CARRINGTON MEET</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxinter-class-rivalry" id="id20">CHAPTER XX—INTER-CLASS RIVALRY</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xximargits-mystery" id="id21">CHAPTER XXI—MARGIT’S MYSTERY</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxiilou-potter-scores-one" id="id22">CHAPTER XXII—LOU POTTER SCORES ONE</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxiiithe-field-day" id="id23">CHAPTER XXIII—THE FIELD DAY</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxivmargit-pays-a-debt" id="id24">CHAPTER XXIV—MARGIT PAYS A DEBT</a></li>
+<li class="toc-entry"><a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#chapter-xxvthe-winning-points" id="id25">CHAPTER XXV—THE WINNING POINTS</a></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<!-- |
+| -->
+<div class="section" id="chapter-ithe-girl-on-the-stone-fence">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id1">CHAPTER I—THE GIRL ON THE STONE FENCE</a></h2>
+<p>The roads were muddy, but the uplands and
+the winding sheep-paths across them had dried
+out under the caressing rays of the Spring sun
+and, with the budding things of so many delicate
+shades of green, the groves and pastures—all
+nature, indeed—were garbed in loveliness.</p>
+<p>The group of girls had toiled up the ascent
+to an overhanging rock on the summit of a long
+ridge. Below—in view from this spot for some
+rods—wound the brown ribbon of road which
+they had been following until the upland paths
+invited their feet to firmer tread.</p>
+<p>There were seven of the girls and every one
+of the seven—in her way—was attractive. But
+the briskest, and most eager, and most energetic,
+was really the smaller—a black-eyed, be-curled,
+laughing miss who seemed bubbling over with
+high spirits.</p>
+<p>“Sit down—do, Bobby! It makes me simply
+<em>ache</em> to see you flitting around like a robin. And
+I’m tired to death!� begged one girl, who had
+dropped in weariness on the huge, gray rock.</p>
+<p>“How can you expect to dance half the night,
+Jess Morse, and then start off on a regular walking
+‘tower?’� demanded the girl addressed. “<em>I</em>
+didn’t go to Mabel Boyd’s party last night. As
+Gee Gee says, ‘I conserved my energies.’�</p>
+<p>“I don’t believe anything ever tires you,
+Bobs,� said the girl who sat next to Jess—a
+vigorous, good looking maid with a very direct
+gaze, who was attractively gowned in a brown
+walking dress. “You are next door to perpetual
+motion.�</p>
+<p>“How’d you know who I was next door to?�
+laughed Clara Hargrew, whom her friends insisted
+on calling “Bobby� because her father,
+Tom Hargrew, had nicknamed her that when
+she was little, desiring a boy in the family when
+only girls had been vouchsafed to him.</p>
+<p>“And it is a fact that that French family who
+have moved into the little house next us are just
+as lively as fleas. They could be called ‘perpetual
+motion,’ all right.</p>
+<p>“And oh, say!� cried the lively Bobby, “we
+had the greatest joke the other night on Lil Pendleton.
+You know, she thinks she’s some
+French scholar—and she <em>does</em> speak high school
+French pretty glibly——�</p>
+<p>“How’s that, young lady?� interposed the
+girl in brown. “Put away your hammer. Do
+you <em>dare</em> knock anything taught in Central
+High?�</p>
+<p>“That’s all right, Mother Wit,� drawled
+Bobby Hargrew. “But any brand of French
+that one learns out of a book is bound to sound
+queer in the ears of the Parisian born—believe
+me! And these Sourat people are the real
+thing.�</p>
+<p>“But what about Lily Pendleton?� demanded
+one of the two girls who were dressed exactly
+alike and looked so much alike that one might
+have been the mirrored reflection of the other.</p>
+<p>“Why,� replied Bobby, thus urged by one of
+the Lockwood twins, “Lil had some of us over
+to her house the other evening, and she is forever
+getting new people around her—like her
+mother, you know. Mrs. Pendleton has the
+very <em>queerest</em> folk to some of her afternoons-long-haired
+pianists, and long-haired Anarchists,
+and once she had a short-haired pugilist—only
+he was reformed, I believe, and called himself a
+physical instructor, or a piano-mover, or something——�</p>
+<p>“Stop, stop!� cried Jess Morse, making a
+grab at Bobby. “You’re running on like Tennyson’s
+brook. You’re a born gossip.�</p>
+<p>“You’re another! Don’t you want to hear
+about these Sourats?�</p>
+<p>“I don’t think any of us will hear the end
+of your story if you don’t stick to the text a little
+better, Bobby,� remarked a quiet, graceful girl,
+who stood upright, gazing off over the hillside
+and wooded valley below, to the misty outlines
+of the city so far away.</p>
+<p>“Then keep ’em still, will you, Nell?� demanded
+Bobby, of the last speaker. “Listen:
+The Sourats were invited with the rest of us
+over to Lily’s, and Lil sang us some songs in
+American French. Afterward I heard Hester
+Grimes ask the young man, Andrea Sourat, if
+the songs did not make him homesick, and with
+his very politest bow, he said:</p>
+<p>“‘No, Mademoiselle! Only seek.’</p>
+<p>“I don’t suppose the poor fellow knew how it
+sounded in English, but it certainly was an awful
+slap at Lil,� giggled Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Well, I wish they wouldn’t give us languages
+at High,� sighed Nellie Agnew, Dr. Arthur Agnew’s
+daughter, when the laugh had subsided,
+and still looking off over the prospect. “I
+know my German is dreadful.�</p>
+<p>“Let’s petition to do away with Latin and
+Greek, too,� suggested Bobby, who was always
+deficient in those studies. “‘Dead languages’—what’s
+the good of ’em if they are deceased,
+anyway? I’ve got a good mind to ask Old
+Dimple a question next time.�</p>
+<p>“What’s the question, Bobby?� asked Jess,
+lazily.</p>
+<p>“Why, if they’re ‘dead languages,’ who
+killed ’em? He ought to have a monument,
+whoever he was—and if he’d only buried them
+good and deep he might have had <em>two</em> monuments.�</p>
+<p>“If you gave a little more time to studying
+books and less time to studying mischief——�
+began the girl in brown, when suddenly Nellie
+startled them all by exclaiming:</p>
+<p>“Look there! See that girl down there?
+What do you suppose she is doing?�</p>
+<p>Some of them jumped up to look over the edge
+of the rock on which they rested; but Jess Morse
+refused to be aroused.</p>
+<p>“What’s the girl doing?� she drawled. “It’s
+got to be something awfully funny to get me on
+my feet again——�</p>
+<p>“Hush!� commanded the girl in brown.</p>
+<p>“Can she hear us, ’way down there, Laura
+Belding?� asked Nellie Agnew, anxiously. “See
+here! Something’s chasing her—eh?�</p>
+<p>The girl who had attracted their attention was
+quite unknown to any of the walking party.
+And she was, at first sight, an odd-looking person.
+She wore no hat, and her black hair
+streamed behind her in a wild tangle as she ran
+along the muddy road. She had a vivid yellow
+handkerchief tied loosely about her throat, and
+her skirt was green—a combination of colors
+bound to attract attention at a distance.</p>
+<p>When the girls first saw this fugitive—for
+such she seemed to be—she was running from
+the thick covert of pine and spruce which masked
+the road to the west, and now she leaped upon
+the stone fence which bordered the upper edge of
+the highway as far as the spectators above could
+trace its course.</p>
+<p>The stone wall was old, and broken in places.
+It must have offered very insecure footing; but
+the oddly dressed girl ran along it with the confidence
+of a chipmunk.</p>
+<p>“Did you ever see anything like that?�
+gasped Bobby. “I’d like to have her balance.�</p>
+<p>“And her feet!� agreed Jess, struggling to
+her knees the better to see the running girl.</p>
+<p>“She’s bound to fall!� gasped Nellie.</p>
+<p>“Not she!� said Eve Sitz, the largest and
+quietest girl of the group. “Those Gypsies run
+like dogs and are just as sure-footed as—as
+chamois,� added the Swiss girl, harking back to
+a childhood memory of her own mountainous
+country.</p>
+<p>“A Gypsy!� asked Bobby, in a hushed voice.
+“You don’t mean it?�</p>
+<p>“She’s dressed like one,� said Eve.</p>
+<p>“And see how brown she is,� added Laura
+Belding, otherwise “Mother Wit.�</p>
+<p>“There! she almost fell,� gasped one of the
+twins who stood now, with arms entwined, looking
+at the flying girl with nervous expectancy.
+It did not seem as though she could run the
+length of the stone fence without coming to
+grief.</p>
+<p>But it was a quick journey. With a flying
+leap the girl in the green skirt and yellow scarf
+disappeared in a clump of brush which masked
+the wall at its easterly end, just where the road
+dipped toward the noisy brook which curved
+around that shoulder of the ridge and, later, fell
+over a ledge into a broad pool—the murmur of
+the cascade being faintly audible to the spectators
+on the summit of the ridge.</p>
+<p>“She’s gone!� spoke Bobby, finally, breaking
+the silence.</p>
+<p>“But who’s that coming after her?� demanded
+Nellie, looking back toward the West.
+“There! down in the shadow of the trees. Isn’t
+that a figure moving, too?�</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-iihide-and-seek">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id2">CHAPTER II—HIDE AND SEEK</a></h2>
+<p>“It’s a man!�</p>
+<p>Dora Lockwood said it so tragically that
+Bobby was highly amused.</p>
+<p>“My goodness me!� she chortled. “You
+said that with all the horrified emphasis of a
+spinster lady.�</p>
+<p>“It <em>is</em> a man—isn’t it?� whispered the other
+twin.</p>
+<p>“I—I guess so,� Laura Belding said, slowly.</p>
+<p>“It is,� declared Jess. “And he’s a tough
+looking character.�</p>
+<p>“And he is acting quite as oddly as the girl
+did,� remarked Bobby. “What do you suppose
+it means?�</p>
+<p>“He’s a Gypsy, too, I believe,� put in Eve
+Sitz, suddenly.</p>
+<p>“Say! this is getting melodramatic,� laughed
+Laura Belding.</p>
+<p>“Just like ‘The Gypsy’s Warning,’ or something
+quite as hair-raising, eh?� agreed Bobby.</p>
+<p>“There! he’s coming out,� gasped Jess.</p>
+<p>The man appeared for half a minute in the
+clearer space of the open road. He was staring
+all about, up and down the road, along the edge
+of the woods, and even into the air. The seven
+girls were behind the fringe of bushes that edged
+the huge rock, and he could not see them.</p>
+<p>“What an evil-faced fellow he is!� whispered
+Dora Lockwood.</p>
+<p>“And see the big gold rings in his ears,� added
+her twin, Dorothy.</p>
+<p>“Do you suppose he is really after that girl?�
+observed Laura, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>“Whether he is, or not, it’s none of our business,
+I suppose,� returned Jess, who was Mother
+Wit’s closest chum.</p>
+<p>“I’m not so sure of that.�</p>
+<p>“My goodness! if they’re Gypsies, we don’t
+want to have anything to do with them,� exclaimed
+Dorothy.</p>
+<p>“Oh, the Romany people aren’t so bad,� said
+Eve Sitz, easily. “They have customs of their
+own, and live a different life from we folk——�</p>
+<p>“Or ‘us folk?’� suggested Nellie, smiling.</p>
+<p>“From other folk, anyway!� returned the big
+girl, cheerfully. “They come through this section
+every Spring—and sometimes later in the
+year, too. We have often had them at the
+house,� she added, for Eve’s father had a large
+farm, and from that farm the seven girls had
+started on this long walk early in the morning.</p>
+<p>It was the Easter vacation at Central High
+and these friends were all members of the junior
+class. Centerport, the spires and tall buildings
+of which they could now see in the distance, was
+a wealthy and lively city of some hundred and
+fifty thousand inhabitants, situated on the southern
+shore of Lake Luna, a body of water of considerable
+size.</p>
+<p>At either end of the lake was another large
+town—namely Lumberport and Keyport. In
+each of these latter cities was a well conducted
+high school, and in Centerport there were three—the
+East and West Highs, and Central High,
+the newest and largest.</p>
+<p>For a year now the girls of all these five high
+schools had been deeply interested in athletics,
+including the games usually played upon the Girls’
+Branch Athletic League grounds—canoeing, rowing,
+ski running, and lastly, but not least in value
+according to the estimation of their instructors,
+walking. Usually the physical instructor of
+Central High, Mrs. Case, accompanied her pupils
+on their walking tours; but this vacation the
+seven friends who now stood upon the summit
+of this big, gray rock, had determined to indulge
+in a long walk by themselves, and they had come
+over to Eve Sitz’s house the night before so as
+to get an early start on the mountain road to
+Fielding, twenty miles away. From that place
+they would take the train back to Centerport,
+and Eve was to remain all night with Laura at
+the Belding home.</p>
+<p>These girls, although of strongly marked and
+contrasting characters, were intimate friends.
+They had been enthusiastic members of the girls’
+athletic association from its establishment; and
+they had, individually and together, taken an important
+part in the athletic activities of Central
+High.</p>
+<p>For instance, in the first volume of this series,
+entitled, “The Girls of Central High; Or, Rivals
+for All Honors,� Laura Belding was able to interest
+one of the wealthiest men of Centerport,
+Colonel Richard Swayne, in the girls’ athletic
+association, then newly formed, so that he gave
+a large sum of money toward a proper athletic
+field and gymnasium building for their sole use.</p>
+<p>In “The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna;
+Or, the Crew That Won,� the second story of
+the series, the girls were mainly centering their
+attention upon aquatic sports; and the Lockwood
+twins—Dora and Dorothy—were particularly
+active in this branch of athletics. They won honorable
+mention if not the prize in the canoe
+event, and were likewise members of the Central
+High girls’ crew that won the cup in the contest
+of eight-oared shells.</p>
+<p>The third volume of the series, named “The
+Girls of Central High at Basketball; Or, The
+Great Gymnasium Mystery,� particularly related
+the fortunes of the representative basketball
+team of Central High, and of which each girl
+now gathered here on the ridge was a member.</p>
+<p>Not long previous to this day in the Spring
+vacation when the seven were tramping toward
+Fielding, Jess Morse had made a great hit with
+her school friends and instructors, as well. She
+had written a play, which was performed by
+members of the girls’ secret society of the school
+and some of their boy friends, and so good was
+it that it not only won a prize of two hundred
+dollars for which many of the girls of Central
+High had competed, but it attracted the attention
+of a professional theatrical producer, who had
+made a contract with Mrs. Morse, Jess’s mother,
+for the use of the play in a revised form upon
+the professional stage. The details of all this
+are to be found in the fourth volume of the
+series, entitled, “The Girls of Central High on
+the Stage; Or, The Play That Took the Prize.�</p>
+<p>“There! the fellow’s going back,� said Jess
+Morse, suddenly calling attention to the dark
+man on the road below.</p>
+<p>“If he was after the girl he has given up the
+chase. I am glad of that,� added her chum.</p>
+<p>“But where did the girl go?� demanded
+Bobby Hargrew, craning her neck to peer toward
+the bushes on the easterly side of the rock.</p>
+<p>“There she is!� ejaculated Dora Lockwood,
+grabbing Bobby by the arm.</p>
+<p>She pointed down the side of the ridge, where
+the rough pasture land dropped to the verge of
+the brook. The other girls came running and
+gazed in the direction she pointed out.</p>
+<p>The green skirt and the yellow scarf appeared.
+The girl was wading in the stream, and she
+passed swiftly along, seen by the spectators at
+every opening in the fringe of trees and brush
+that bordered the brook.</p>
+<p>“In the water at this time of the year!�
+gasped Jess.</p>
+<p>“And in her shoes and stockings! She
+wouldn’t have had time to stop to take them off
+and get so far up stream,� declared Bobby, almost
+dancing up and down in her eagerness.</p>
+<p>“What do you suppose it means?� cried Nellie.</p>
+<p>“She is running away from the man, I guess,�
+admitted Laura, slowly.</p>
+<p>“And trying to hide her trail,� added Eve.</p>
+<p>“Hide her trail! Is this the Indian country?
+Are the Gypsies savages?� demanded Nellie.
+“Has she got to run along the top of a stone
+fence and then take to a running stream to
+throw off pursuit?�</p>
+<p>“That is her hope, I expect,� Laura said.</p>
+<p>“But <em>why?</em>� cried Bobby. “You can’t tell
+me that even Gypsies are as keen on a trail as all
+that——�</p>
+<p>“Hark!� commanded Laura. “Listen.�</p>
+<p>“It’s dogs,� spoke Bobby, in a moment.</p>
+<p>“O—o—o—o! sounds like a wolf,� shuddered
+Dora.</p>
+<p>“It is worse,� said Eve Sitz, her face flushing.
+“That is the bay of a bloodhound. I remember
+that we saw one of the great, lop-eared
+animals in leash when that party of Romanys
+went past our place last week.�</p>
+<p>“You don’t mean that, Eve?� Jess cried. “A
+bloodhound?�</p>
+<p>“And they have put him on the trail of that
+girl—sure as you live!� declared the farmer’s
+daughter, with decision.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-iiithe-gypsy-camp">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id3">CHAPTER III—THE GYPSY CAMP</a></h2>
+<p>“Why! I think this is outrageous,� said Nellie
+Agnew. “We ought to find a constable and
+have such a thing stopped. Think of chasing
+that poor girl with a mad dog——�</p>
+<p>“I guess he isn’t mad,� ventured Eve, soberly.</p>
+<p>Bobby laughed. “Even if he’s only vexed I
+wouldn’t want a bloodhound tearing after me
+over these hills.�</p>
+<p>“You know what I mean,� persisted Nellie,
+still wrathfully. “It is a desperate shame! The
+dog will hurt her——�</p>
+<p>“No, no!� said Eve. “It is trained. And
+the man has it in leash——�</p>
+<p>“Hush! here they are!� warned Laura, and
+the girls hid themselves behind the fringe of
+bushes.</p>
+<p>The dog gave tongue just as it came in sight,
+and the sound sent a shiver over the watchers.
+The baying of a bloodhound is a very terrifying
+sound indeed.</p>
+<p>With the dogs were three men—one of them
+the same the girls of Central High had seen before.
+The other two were fully as rough-looking.</p>
+<p>“I hope they don’t find her!� exclaimed
+Bobby.</p>
+<p>“They’ll find you if you don’t keep still,�
+warned Jess.</p>
+<p>But it appeared to the girls that the Gypsies
+were having considerable difficulty in following
+the trail of the girl who had fled along the top of
+the old stone wall. The dog searched from side
+to side of the road. He leaped the wall, dragging
+one of the men after him, and ran about
+the lower field. That she had traversed the
+stone fence, like a fox, never seemed to enter the
+men’s minds, nor the dog’s either.</p>
+<p>For some time the party of hunters were in
+sight; but finally they went off in an easterly
+direction along the road, passing over the brook
+in which the strange girl had left her “water
+trail,� and the girls of Central High believed that
+the fugitive was safe—for the time being, at
+least.</p>
+<p>“I wish we knew where she was going,� said
+Nellie. “I’d help her, for one.�</p>
+<p>“Me, too,� agreed Bobby Hargrew.</p>
+<p>“If she should get as far as our house, mother
+would take her in,� said Eve, in her placid way.
+“But the Romany folk are peculiar people, and
+they have laws of their own and do not like to
+be brought under those of other countries.�</p>
+<p>“Why, they’re just tramps, aren’t they? Sort
+of sublimated tramps, perhaps,� said Jess.</p>
+<p>“Not the real Gypsies,� said Laura. “They
+are very jealous, I have read, of their customs,
+their laws, and their language. They claim descent
+in direct line from early Egyptian times.
+The name of Stanley alone, which is common
+with them, dates back to William the Conqueror.�</p>
+<p>“Well, come on!� sighed Jess. “We don’t
+care anything about the Gypsies, and we can’t
+help that girl—just now. If we tried to follow
+her up stream we would only give those men the
+idea of the direction in which we went. Let’s
+get on, or we’ll never get to Fielding.�</p>
+<p>“All right,� agreed Laura.</p>
+<p>“Forward, march!� sang out Bobby. “How’s the
+way, Eve? Right down this hill?�</p>
+<p>“Keep parallel with the road. We’ll strike
+another path later,� said the Swiss girl, who had
+rambled all over these hills with her brother.</p>
+<p>“Oh, these shoes!� groaned Jess.</p>
+<p>“I told you so,� exclaimed Laura.</p>
+<p>“Bah! what good does it do to repeat <em>that?</em>�
+snapped her chum. “I hate those old mud-scows
+of mine that Mrs. Case makes me wear
+when she goes walking with us.�</p>
+<p>“Well, you certainly wore a fine pair to-day,�
+scoffed Bobby. “I guess it doesn’t do to do
+what Mrs. Case advises against.�</p>
+<p>“Not if we want to make points for Central
+High,� said Laura, laughing.</p>
+<p>“That’s so! Where would Jess be to-day if
+this was a regular scheduled walk, to count for
+our school in June?� cried Dora.</p>
+<p>“Now, rub it in! rub it in!� exclaimed Jess.
+“Don’t you suppose I know I’ve been a chump
+without you all telling me so?�</p>
+<p>“I do believe it will rain,� burst out Dorothy,
+suddenly. “Doesn’t that look like a rain-cloud
+to you, Laura?�</p>
+<p>“Pooh!� said Eve. “Don’t be afraid of a
+little April shower. It won’t drown us, that’s
+sure.�</p>
+<p>“That’s all right,� agreed Dora, the other
+twin. “But we don’t want to get soaked. If
+it should start to rain, is there any shelter
+near?�</p>
+<p>“The Gypsy camp, maybe,� laughed Bobby,
+and then went on ahead, singing:</p>
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">“‘April showers bring May flowers</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">And sometimes more than that;</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">For the unexpected downpour</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Often ruins the Easter hat.’</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p>“Say, girls, we <em>would</em> be in a mess if it should
+start to rain hard.�</p>
+<p>“And that cloud looks threatening,� admitted
+Nellie Agnew.</p>
+<p>“I believe I felt a drop then,� gasped Dora.</p>
+<p>“What’s the matter, Chicken Little?�
+laughed Laura. “Is the sky falling?�</p>
+<p>“You can laugh! Maybe it will be a regular
+flood,� said Jess, ruefully.</p>
+<p>“By the way, what caused the flood?� asked
+Bobby, soberly.</p>
+<p>“Folks were so wicked—all but Noah,� replied
+Dora.</p>
+<p>“No,� said Bobby.</p>
+<p>“It’s one of Bobby’s ‘burns,’� declared Jess.
+“What <em>did</em> cause the flood, then?�</p>
+<p>“It rained,� said the irrepressible one.</p>
+<p>“Come on under this tree, girls!� cried Eve,
+striding ahead down the hill. “It will only be
+a passing shower.�</p>
+<p>They ran for cover, and the broad branching
+limbs of the huge cedar Eve had selected faithfully
+covered them as the brief spring shower
+went drumming by.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Laura was saying, more thoughtfully:</p>
+<p>“We’ve got to give our best attention to the
+inter-class and inter-school athletics when school
+opens again, girls, if we want Central High to
+stand first at the end of the year. You know
+we are being beaten right along by the East
+High and Keyport Just think! Central High
+only Number 3 in points that count when the
+June field day comes. We can’t stand for that,
+can we?�</p>
+<p>“I should say not!� cried Bobby. “But we
+beat ’em last year on the water.�</p>
+<p>“And we stand first in basketball,� added
+Dora Lockwood.</p>
+<p>“But the fact remains we haven’t got the
+championship of the League cinched by any
+manner of means,� returned Laura. “Eve is
+going to win, I believe, in the shot-putting contests.
+Mrs. Case says that is on the doubtful
+list of girls’ athletics. But throwing weights
+isn’t going to hurt Eve, or Hester Grimes, that’s
+sure. And look at that girl at Vassar! She
+put the shot thirty-two feet and three-quarters
+of an inch when she was only sixteen. Eve can
+do almost as well.�</p>
+<p>“I don’t know about that, Mother Wit,� said
+the big girl, laughing. “But I’ll do my best.�</p>
+<p>“And your best will beat them all, I believe.�</p>
+<p>“She’ll beat Magdeline Spink, of Lumberport,
+I know,� cried Bobby. “And <em>she</em> did all
+the big ‘throws’ last year—baseball, basketball,
+putting the shot, and all of ’em.�</p>
+<p>“I hope you are right, Bobby,� returned the
+country girl, smiling. She was proud of her
+strength and physique. Her outdoor life since
+she was a little child, and what she had inherited
+from a long line of peasant ancestors was
+coming into play now for the benefit of Central
+High’s athletic score.</p>
+<p>“Now, don’t sit down there on the damp
+ground, Jess. You’ll get a case of rheumatism—and
+a bad case, too.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, I hope not!� cried Jess, jumping up.
+“I shouldn’t know what to do for it.�</p>
+<p>“You’d have to take mud baths,� giggled
+Dorothy.</p>
+<p>“That road below is in fine shape for that purpose,
+then,� said Jess, looking through the pouring
+rain at the puddles in the roadway.</p>
+<p>“You’d have to wear flannels,� said Dora.</p>
+<p>“Hah!� cried Bobby. “That’s it. Flannels
+are a sure cure. You know,</p>
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">“‘Although it caused within his home</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">A very serious schism,</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">He still insisted flannel-cakes</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Were good for rheumatism.’�</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p>“Go on!� exclaimed Jess, laughing. “You
+sound like ‘Alice in Wonderland.’�</p>
+<p>“Say, rather, ‘Bobby in Blunderland,’� added
+Laura. “But to get back to athletics——�</p>
+<p>“‘To return to our muttons,’� quoth Bobby,
+unrepressed.</p>
+<p>“We have a chance to win the championship—our
+school has—if we can bring the relay
+teams up to the mark, and win the jumping
+events. It is on field and track that we have
+got to gain the points. No doubt of that.�</p>
+<p>“Then our track teams need strengthening—much,�
+said Nellie Agnew, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>“I should say so!� exclaimed Bobby. “I
+could put on one of Lil Pendleton’s peg-top
+skirts and beat most of the junior runners right
+now!�</p>
+<p>“If it’s as bad as that, we have all got to
+go into the track athletics, and pull up our
+score,� declared Laura.</p>
+<p>“Hurrah!� cried Dorothy, suddenly. “It’s
+stopped raining.�</p>
+<p>“That little shower didn’t even wet under the
+bushes,� said Eve, with satisfaction.</p>
+<p>“Let’s get along, then, before another comes
+and washes us away,� said Bobby. “Straight
+ahead, Evangeline?�</p>
+<p>“Yes. Right down to that dead oak you see
+on the lower hillside.�</p>
+<p>“Good! A mark is set before me, and if my
+luck holds good I’ll reach it. But why prate of
+‘luck’? Is there such a thing?�</p>
+<p>“Give it up. What’s the answer?� asked
+Dora Lockwood, directly behind her.</p>
+<p>“Luck is a foolish thing—or a belief in it is,�
+complained Bobby. “List to my tale of woe:</p>
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">“Why wear a rabbit foot for luck</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Or nail a horseshoe on the sill?</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">For if upon the ice you slip</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">You’ll surely get a spill.</div>
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">“Why cross your fingers in the dark</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">To keep the witches from your track,</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">When if, in getting out of bed,</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">You step upon a tack?�</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p>“Don’t sing us any more doggerel, but lead
+on!� commanded Laura.</p>
+<p>Bobby was first at the dead tree. There she
+stopped, not for breath, but because, below her,
+in a sheltered hollow, where a spring drifted
+away across a grassy lawn, there was an encampment.
+She held up her hand and motioned
+for silence.</p>
+<p>There were three large, covered wagons such
+is Gypsies usually drive. A dozen horses were
+tethered where the young grass was particularly
+lush. A fire over which a big kettle of some
+savory stew bubbled, burned in the midst of the
+encampment. There were two gaudily painted
+canvas tents staked on the green, too, although
+from the opened doors of the wagons it was evident
+that the Gypsies, at this time of year,
+mainly lived within their vehicles.</p>
+<p>“Oh!� exclaimed Bobby, when the other
+girls were crowding about her, and looking as
+hard as she was at the camp. “This is what
+the girl we saw, ran away from.�</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-ivthe-gypsy-queen">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id4">CHAPTER IV—THE GYPSY QUEEN</a></h2>
+<p>“Isn’t that romantic?� cried Jess, under her
+breath. “Wouldn’t you like to live in the open
+like that, Laura?�</p>
+<p>“Sometimes. Then again I might want a
+steam-heated house,� laughed Mother Wit.</p>
+<p>“And see that darling little baby!� gasped
+Nellie Agnew, as a little fellow in gay apparel
+ran out of one of the tents.</p>
+<p>A young woman followed him. She had black
+hair, and very black eyes, and wore a necklace,
+and earrings, and bracelets galore. When she
+ran after the crowing little one the tinkling of
+these ornaments was audible to the group of
+girls on the hillside.</p>
+<p>This gaily dressed woman caught up the
+laughing child, and as she turned her gaze went
+over his head and struck full upon the seven
+girls.</p>
+<p>She set the little boy down quietly, said
+something to him, and he ran to cover like a frightened
+chicken. She spoke another word—aloud—and
+two men and three other women appeared
+from the wagons, or tents. They all gazed up
+at the half-frightened girls.</p>
+<p>“Come down, pretty young ladies,� said the
+gaily bedecked Gypsy woman, in a wheedling
+tone. “We will not harm you. If you cross
+our palms with silver we may be able to tell you
+something pleasant.�</p>
+<p>She spoke English well enough; but her address
+mainly was a formula used; to attract trade.</p>
+<p>“What’ll we do?� gasped Dorothy Lockwood,
+clinging to her twin’s hand.</p>
+<p>“Keep your courage, Dorry,� said her sister.</p>
+<p>“Don’t let them see we’re afraid of them,�
+Nellie advised, but in a shaking voice.</p>
+<p>“And why should we be afraid?� asked
+Laura, quite calmly.</p>
+<p>“Oh, I’ve seen that woman before,� said Eve.
+“She’s one of the Vareys. They are English
+Gypsies, like the Stanleys. She was at our place
+last summer.�</p>
+<p>She started down the steep hillside into the
+camp. The first Gypsy woman said something
+in the Romany dialect to the others, and the
+men drifted away, only the woman awaiting the
+coming of the girls of Central High.</p>
+<p>As the seven friends approached they saw
+that the Varey woman was very handsome, in
+her bold, dark way. Silver ornaments were entwined
+in her coarse, blue-black hair; her dress,
+though garish in color, was neat and of rich
+material. The bangle, bracelets, necklace and
+all were either of silver or gold—no sham about
+them, as Laura Belding very well knew, her
+father being a jeweler and she knowing something
+about good jewelry.</p>
+<p>“She’s queen of the tribe,� whispered Eve to
+Laura. “And her husband, Jim Varey, is leader
+of this clan. He is a horse trader, and sells
+oilcloth and tinware, while the women sell baskets,
+and the like, and pick up a quarter now
+and then telling fortunes.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, Eve!� whispered Jess, behind, “did you
+ever have your fortune told?�</p>
+<p>“Yes. It’s silly,� replied Eve, flushing.</p>
+<p>“It would be lots of fun,� said Bobby, quite
+as eager as Jess.</p>
+<p>“Let’s all do it,� urged Nellie. “If we give
+them a little money they probably will not molest
+us.�</p>
+<p>“They wouldn’t dare trouble us, anyway,�
+said Eve. “And why should they?�</p>
+<p>But the other girls, who were not so well acquainted
+with the Romany people, felt that the
+adventure in the Gypsy camp promised much
+excitement. In a minute they were all on the
+greensward in front of the tent of the Gypsy
+queen.</p>
+<p>“Cross the poor Gypsy’s palm with silver,�
+whined Grace Varey, in a wheedling tone, “and
+each of you shall learn what the future has in
+store for you.�</p>
+<p>“Suppose you can’t tell us anything pleasant?�
+said Bobby Hargrew, boldly. “Then
+we’d rather not know it.�</p>
+<p>“But such pretty little ladies are bound to
+have pretty fortunes,� replied the Romany
+woman. “Come! for a shilling—two shillings,
+in your American money—I will tell you each
+what you want to know most.�</p>
+<p>“You will?�</p>
+<p>“Yes, indeed, for but two shillings in your
+American money.�</p>
+<p>“She means a quarter,� said Eve.</p>
+<p>“You try it first, Mother Wit,� urged Nellie,
+nudging Laura.</p>
+<p>At the words Grace Varey looked sharply at
+Laura Belding’s earnest face and thoughtful
+gray eyes. Instantly she said:</p>
+<p>“You do not fear. You lead these others.
+You have a quick mind and you invent things.
+You are usually first in everything; but power
+does not spoil you. You win love as well as
+admiration—there is a difference. You have
+parents and at least one brother. You have no
+sister. There is a——� She shut her eyes for
+a moment, and hesitated. “There is a black
+person—a woman—who has something to do
+with you——�</p>
+<p>“Beware of the ‘black man coming with a
+bundle,’� hissed Bobby, giggling.</p>
+<p>“Hush!� exclaimed Jess. “She means
+Mammy Jinny, Laura’s old nurse.�</p>
+<p>Grace Varey had turned swiftly to the scoffing
+Bobby, and she pointed at her with an
+accusing finger.</p>
+<p>“You do not believe,� she said, quickly.
+“You are light and thoughtless. You have
+been spoiled by a doting father. You have no
+mother—poor child! You are very frivolous
+and light-hearted; but a great sorrow is coming
+into your life soon. Into your school life, I
+believe. It is connected with one of your
+teachers—a woman. Beware!�</p>
+<p>Now, this was very melodramatic; but Bobby,
+for some reason, could not laugh at it. The
+woman was too much in earnest. Suddenly
+Grace Varey’s manner changed, and she whined:</p>
+<p>“Cross the poor Gypsy’s palm with silver,
+and she will tell you more. Only two shillings,
+little lady,� and she urged Laura toward the
+tent.</p>
+<p>“All right,� said Mother Wit. “If the rest
+of you are game, I am. But don’t back out
+afterward.�</p>
+<p>“Not if she is genuine,� said Jess, laughing.</p>
+<p>Bobby hadn’t a word to say; for the moment
+she was quelled.</p>
+<p>But all that the woman had said could be
+easily explained by the science of deduction—which
+is merely observation raised to the <em>nth</em>
+power.</p>
+<p>Mother Wit went into the tent and found it
+a rather gloomy place. There was a folding
+table and two divans, besides some dingy hangings.
+It was evidently arranged for the purpose
+of fortune telling and nothing else.</p>
+<p>“Sit down, lady,� said the Gypsy queen.
+“Let me see your hand. Do you believe in the
+reading of character by the lines of the hand?�</p>
+<p>“I do not know whether I do or not,� replied
+Laura, calmly.</p>
+<p>The woman laughed lightly. She peered at
+the lines of Laura’s palm for a moment, and
+then said:</p>
+<p>“You believe nothing without investigation.
+For so young a person you are very cautious,
+and you have much good sense. You are sharp
+and intelligent. And you are gentle-hearted.
+In short, your friends love you very dearly,
+and you are very faithful to them. Is it not
+so?�</p>
+<p>“You flatter me,� said Laura, quietly.</p>
+<p>She noted that the woman was no longer
+holding her hand by the fingers; that she had
+shifted her own hand to Laura’s wrist, and that
+two of the queen’s fingers were resting lightly
+on her pulse—just as Dr. Agnew held a patient’s
+hand when he counted the throbbing of his
+heart.</p>
+<p>“Oh, I know,� went on the Gypsy, in her
+whining, sing-song way. “You would be faithful
+in every event. If you had a secret you
+could keep it—surely. For instance,� she added,
+without changing her tone or raising her
+voice, “if you had seen the girl with the yellow
+handkerchief and green skirt, and the little,
+puckered blue scar high up—near the right
+temple—you would not tell where she was—which
+direction she had gone.�</p>
+<p><em>That</em> was why the woman was feeling her
+pulse! Laura knew her heart jumped at the
+question. She might control her features; but
+the woman’s question had startled her, and that
+sudden heart-throb had told the shrewd queen
+what she wished to know.</p>
+<p>She smiled lazily, in the dim light, upon the
+girl before her. She knew that Laura Belding
+and her friends had seen the fugitive from the
+Gypsy camp.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-vthe-situation-looks-serious">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id5">CHAPTER V—THE SITUATION LOOKS SERIOUS</a></h2>
+<p>Laura Belding was as quick to think as she
+was to act. She remained perfectly calm after
+the woman’s question—calm outwardly, at least.
+Now she spoke:</p>
+<p>“You have spoken a very true thing now.
+If I had seen such a girl I should not tell you.
+And this has nothing to do with my own fortune.
+I have paid you to tell me something
+about my future—which you seem to know so
+well.�</p>
+<p>This spurring phrase put the woman on her
+mettle. She flushed slowly under her dark skin.</p>
+<p>“You are a heretic—you do not believe,�
+she said.</p>
+<p>“I must be shown before I believe,� returned
+Laura, confidently.</p>
+<p>“Then what comes to you in the future will
+only prove the case,� laughed the Gypsy queen.
+“You do not believe in palmistry,� and she
+tossed the hand from her lightly.</p>
+<p>“Neither do you,� said Laura, bluntly. “You
+did not hold my hand then to enable you to read
+my palm, but for another purpose.�</p>
+<p>“You are a shrewd lady,� said the Gypsy.
+“I read character in other ways than by palmistry—it
+is true.�</p>
+<p>She looked at Laura for some seconds very
+earnestly. Of course, Mother Wit did not believe
+this Gypsy had any occult power; but her
+deep black eyes were wonderfully compelling,
+and it might be that there was something in
+“mind reading.�</p>
+<p>“You have an intention now that, if followed
+to its conclusion, will bring you trouble, young
+lady. Just what that intention may be, or what
+trouble it may bring, I cannot say exactly,� declared
+the woman, slowly and impressively.
+“But it deals with a person you have never seen
+but once—I believe, recently. It seems that you
+may think you are helping her——�</p>
+<p>“That is not prophesying,� said Laura,
+quickly, and interrupting the Gypsy queen. “I
+shall scarcely think your information worth
+what I have paid you if you do not do better
+than that.�</p>
+<p>“What do you mean?� demanded the
+woman, hastily, and with a flush coming into
+her cheek again.</p>
+<p>“You know very well that you are warning
+me not to assist the girl who has run away from
+this camp,� Mother Wit said, boldly.</p>
+<p>“Ha! Then you <em>did</em> see her?� cried the
+Gypsy.</p>
+<p>“You know I did. You played a trick on
+me to find out. You are not telling my fortune,
+but you are endeavoring to find out, through
+me, about the girl who has run away. And I
+tell you right now, you will not learn anything
+further from me—or from the other girls.�</p>
+<p>The Gypsy queen gazed at her with lowering
+brows; but Laura Belding neither “shivered nor
+shook.�</p>
+<p>“You are quite courageous—for a girl,� observed
+the woman, at last.</p>
+<p>“I may be, or not. But I am intelligent
+enough to know when I am being fooled. Unless
+you have something of importance to tell
+me I shall conclude that this fortune-telling
+seance is ended,� and Laura rose from her seat.</p>
+<p>“Wait,� said the woman, in a low voice. “I
+will tell you one thing. You may not consider
+it worth your attention now, little lady; but it
+will prove so in the end. <em>Do not cross the
+Romany folk—it is bad luck!</em>�</p>
+<p>“And I do not believe in ‘luck,’� rejoined
+Laura, smiling. She was determined not to let
+the woman see that she was at all frightened.
+Surely these people would not dare detain, or
+injure, seven girls.</p>
+<p>“An unbeliever!� muttered the Gypsy
+woman. “We can tell nothing to an unbeliever.�</p>
+<p>“And having got <em>from</em> her all you are likely
+to get,� said Laura, coolly, “your prophecies
+are ended, are they?�</p>
+<p>Queen Grace waved her hand toward the tent
+flap. “Send in one of your companions,� she
+said. “Any one of them. I am angry with
+you, and when passion controls me I can see
+nothing, little lady.�</p>
+<p>But Laura Belding went forth, fully determined
+that none of her friends should waste
+their money upon the chance that the Gypsy
+queen might see into the future for them.</p>
+<p>“It’s wicked, anyway,� decided Mother Wit.
+“If God thought it best for us to know what the
+future had in store for us, he would have put
+it within the power of every person to know
+what was coming. Professional palmists, and
+fortune-tellers of all sorts, are merely wicked
+persons who wish to get foolish people’s
+money!�</p>
+<p>She found the six other girls grouped in the
+middle of the camp, trying to understand one
+of the women, who was talking to them, and
+evidently not a little frightened.</p>
+<p>“Oh, Laura! How did it go?� demanded
+Jess, running to her.</p>
+<p>“Very bad. She is a fraud,� whispered
+Mother Wit. “And look out! they think we
+have seen the girl who ran away and they will
+try to pump us about her.�</p>
+<p>“That’s what I thought,� declared Jess.</p>
+<p>“Know all about your past and future,
+Laura?� asked Bobby Hargrew.</p>
+<p>“Dear me! it makes me shiver to think of it,�
+said Nellie. “Does she stir a cauldron, and
+call on the spirits of the earth and air?�</p>
+<p>“She calls on nothing but her own shrewd
+sense,� replied Laura, shortly. “And she can
+tell you really nothing. Take my advice, girls,
+and don’t try it.�</p>
+<p>“Oh!� cried the disappointed Bobby “I did
+so hope she could tell me—more.�</p>
+<p>“Don’t you believe a thing she told you about
+trouble coming to you at school,� said Eve,
+quietly.</p>
+<p>“You needn’t worry about that, Bobs,�
+drawled Dora Lockwood. “You know you are
+always getting into trouble with Gee Gee.�</p>
+<p>“Maybe she could tell me how to circumvent
+her,� sighed Bobby.</p>
+<p>“You’ll never get the best of Miss Grace
+Carrington,� said Jess, decidedly; “so give up
+all hope of <em>that</em>.�</p>
+<p>“Let the little lady try it—do,� whined one
+of the women. “She can learn much, perhaps.
+Because one fails, that is no reason why another
+should not succeed.�</p>
+<p>“I’d like to try it,� said Bobby, earnestly.</p>
+<p>Laura whispered: “What they want to find
+out is if we saw the girl who has run away
+from them, and if we know where she is. Be
+careful.�</p>
+<p>“Are you sure?�</p>
+<p>“Positive,� Laura replied. “She caught me
+with her questions. She knows I saw the girl.
+I told her nothing else.�</p>
+<p>The queen came to the opening of the tent
+and beckoned to Bobby. She seemed to know
+instinctively which girl was anxious to try her
+arts.</p>
+<p>“Oh, Bobby,� whispered Dorothy. “Maybe
+you’d better not—as Laura says.�</p>
+<p>“I want to see for myself,� said the other
+girl, doggedly.</p>
+<p>And she moved toward the Gypsy’s tent.
+Laura gathered the other girls about her. One
+of the women was so near that she could overhear
+anything said louder than a whisper.</p>
+<p>“I want to get away from here at once,� said
+Laura, quietly. “Let us buy any little things
+they may have for sale, and go on our way. We
+can get away better now when there are only
+two men in the camp than we can when those
+other three—and the bloodhound—get back.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, mercy me!� gasped Jess. “I had forgotten
+about the bloodhound.�</p>
+<p>“Hush!� murmured Laura. “Don’t let that
+woman hear you.�</p>
+<p>But it was evident that the Gypsy woman had
+heard. She uttered a sentence or two in Romany
+and the two men whom the girls had seen
+before at the camp appeared. They did not
+come near, but sat by the roadside that passed
+through the hollow, and filled their pipes and
+smoked. It was quite evident that they were
+on guard.</p>
+<p>“We are prisoners!� whispered Nellie, seizing
+Eve’s arm.</p>
+<p>“Sh!� admonished Laura again. “Don’t let
+them see that you’re afraid. That will only
+make them the bolder.�</p>
+<p>But all of the six girls outside the Gypsy’s
+tent were more than a little disturbed. The
+situation did seem serious.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-vipressing-hospitality">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id6">CHAPTER VI—PRESSING HOSPITALITY</a></h2>
+<p>The other woman had been stirring the great
+pot of stew. It certainly <em>did</em> throw off a delicious
+odor. Each girl carried a lunch box and
+they had been about to hunt a pretty spot, near
+a spring, and satisfy their appetites. Now the
+woman at the cauldron, who looked a deal like
+an old witch, turned and waved her spoon,
+grinned, and said something to the half-frightened
+visitors.</p>
+<p>The younger Gypsy woman interpreted:</p>
+<p>“She says you can have some dinner, if you
+will stay.�</p>
+<p>“My goodness!� whispered Dora. “I could
+not eat any of that stuff.�</p>
+<p>“Some of the Gypsies are good cooks—and
+that smells delicious,� Eve said.</p>
+<p>Laura shook her head, but tried to speak
+kindly. “We could not stop long enough to eat
+with you,� she said. “We must go just as soon
+as the other girl comes out.�</p>
+<p>“Better think twice of it, little lady,� said the
+Gypsy woman. “When you eat the bread and
+salt of the Romany folk they remain your
+friends.�</p>
+<p>“And chase you with bloodhounds if you try
+to get away,� spoke Nellie, unguardedly.</p>
+<p>It was an unfortunate remark. The woman
+must have heard it. She turned and spoke to
+the men again. They rose and stood ready to
+oppose the departure of the girls of Central
+High.</p>
+<p>Even Laura and Eve felt their courage waver
+at this. The latter knew that there were no
+farms near—no inhabited dwellings. The nearest
+family must be at least two miles away. And
+this road was lonely at best—and this time of
+year, when the farmers were just beginning to
+get their plows into the ground, everybody was
+busy and there would not be much driving on
+any of the ridge roads.</p>
+<p>“What can we do?� moaned Dorothy Lockwood.</p>
+<p>“Will they dare keep us here, Eve?� demanded
+her twin.</p>
+<p>At this strained point in the proceedings there
+was a sudden excitement among the Gypsies.
+One of the men started up the road in an easterly
+direction. The girls looked in some
+worriment of mind to see what was to happen.</p>
+<p>“They’ve caught the girl!� muttered Jess.</p>
+<p>“No, But the dog’s coming back,� said
+Laura.</p>
+<p>There appeared almost at once the three men
+who had hunted with the bloodhound—and the
+hound himself. He was more ferocious-looking
+close to than at a distance. The six girls shrank
+together when he passed them, his great dewlaps
+slobbering and dripping, and his red eyes
+glancing sullenly from side to side.</p>
+<p>The Gypsies laughed when they saw fear so
+plainly displayed in the countenances of the six
+girls. The bloodhound was fastened to one of
+the wagon wheels, and then the Romany folk
+paid no particular attention to their visitors.</p>
+<p>It was plain that they considered the girls
+would not go far when they saw that the dog
+could be unleashed and set upon their trail.
+Nellie Agnew began to cry, but Laura was
+growing angry.</p>
+<p>“Just wait till Bobby comes out of that tent.
+I’m going to start right off along the road——�</p>
+<p>“You won’t ever dare to!� gasped Dora.</p>
+<p>“Yes, I will. They won’t dare set a dog like
+that on us——�</p>
+<p>Just then the little boy they had first seen
+ran out of the other tent. He was evidently
+aiming for his father, who was a low-browed
+man with huge hoops of gold in his ears, and
+a ferocious mustache.</p>
+<p>But the little one had to pass the dog. He
+saw him, gave a shriek of delight, and ran
+straight at the huge and savage-looking creature!</p>
+<p>The girls were, for an instant, greatly startled.
+Then they were amazed to see the little
+fellow roll the bloodhound over and laugh and
+shriek in delight—while the dog nuzzled the
+baby and seemed to like the play.</p>
+<p>“My goodness!� cried Jess. “That dog’s
+nothing but a bluff!�</p>
+<p>“I believe you,� said Laura. “I’ve heard of
+a dog’s bark being worse than his bite; but in
+this case his appearance is a whole lot worse
+than his real nature. I guess they just keep him
+for his fearful looks and his ability to trail anything.�</p>
+<p>“Girls included,� murmured Dora. “I don’t
+want him trailing me.�</p>
+<p>The Gypsies had tried to call the little boy
+away from the huge dog. But they knew that
+the appearance of the hound would no longer
+strike terror to the hearts of their visitors.</p>
+<p>Indeed, Laura, who was naturally unafraid of
+dogs, as she was of horses, went over to the big,
+ugly-looking brute, and patted his head. He
+raised up and looked at her, and his bloodshot
+eyes <em>did</em> have a fearful appearance; but he
+lapped her hand with his soft tongue—and <em>that</em>
+bogey was laid!</p>
+<p>“Just as soon as Bobby comes out, we’ll go,
+girls,� said Laura, confidently. “They won’t
+dare lay a finger on us.�</p>
+<p>At that moment Bobby burst from the fortune-teller’s
+tent. She presented a wonderful
+and a shocking sight to her friends, for usually
+they saw her laughing. She was in tears and
+she ran to Laura and clung to her in a frightened
+way.</p>
+<p>“Oh! oh!� she cried. “I want to get away
+from this horrid place. Do let’s go, Mother
+Wit! Please do!�</p>
+<p>“What’s the matter with you, Bobby?� demanded
+Jess, nervously. “You give me the
+creeps.�</p>
+<p>“These hateful people——� began Dora
+Lockwood, when the Gypsy queen appeared at
+the tent entrance. Her eyes sparkled and her
+handsome face was flushed. She called something
+in a low, clear voice, and the men, who
+had gathered in a knot at one side, started toward
+her.</p>
+<p>One of them unfastened the dog again and
+held the end of the chain. The queen was talking
+excitedly in their own tongue to the others.</p>
+<p>Laura shook Bobby a little and said, shrewdly:</p>
+<p>“I guess she got out of you what she wanted
+to know, eh?�</p>
+<p>Bobby only sobbed.</p>
+<p>“Did you tell her what direction that girl was
+going—that she was wading up stream?�</p>
+<p>“Oh, yes! I did!� gasped Bobby. “She
+made me.�</p>
+<p>“Well, it can’t be helped. It’s really none
+of our business,� said Laura. “But if they try
+to stop us from going away now, we’ve got to
+scatter and run. They can’t hold us all very
+well, and one of us will surely find some
+house——�</p>
+<p>“They won’t dare stop us,� said Eve, decidedly.</p>
+<p>At that moment Nell held up her hand.
+“Hark!� she exclaimed. “What is that?�</p>
+<p>The rattling of a heavy wagon coming down
+the road from the east was audible. Eve instantly
+ran out to the edge of the road. One
+of the Gypsies uttered a shrill, warning cry, and
+the men turned to intercept the girls.</p>
+<p>But into view came the heads of a team of
+bay horses, and then a farm-wagon, with a bewhiskered
+man in high boots on the seat, driving
+the team.</p>
+<p>“Hullo! Whoa!� exclaimed the farmer,
+when he saw Eve. “I declare I Is that you,
+Evie?�</p>
+<p>“Why, Mr. Crook! how glad I am to see
+you,� said the Swiss girl. “What have you
+got in the wagon? Just a few bags? Then you
+can give us a lift, can’t you? We are tired
+walking.�</p>
+<p>“Sure I can, Miss Evie,� replied the farmer.
+“What are you girls doin’ with these ‘Gyptians?
+Gettin’ your fortunes told?�</p>
+<p>“Oh, we just stopped here for a minute,�
+said Eve, carelessly.</p>
+<p>The Gypsies had hesitated to approach closer.
+The men began to slip away, one after the
+other.</p>
+<p>“Pile in, girls,� said the farmer, hospitably.
+“I’m going five or six miles on this road.
+Bound for Fielding?�</p>
+<p>“Yes, we are,� replied Eve, as her friends
+gratefully clambered into the end of the wagon.</p>
+<p>“Oh, dear me!� whispered Jess. “What
+luck this is! I believe those folks would have
+tried to keep us.�</p>
+<p>“I don’t know about that,� returned her
+chum. “But the woman certainly managed to
+frighten Bobby most thoroughly.�</p>
+<p>Bobby had hushed her sobs. But even when
+the wagon had started again and the Gypsy
+camp was out of sight, she was not willing to
+talk about what the Varey woman had told her.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-viithe-yellow-kerchief-again">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id7">CHAPTER VII—THE YELLOW KERCHIEF AGAIN</a></h2>
+<p>School opened the next Monday and the
+girls of Central High took up their tasks “for
+the last heat� of the year, as Jess Morse expressed
+it.</p>
+<p>“And I’m glad,� she told her chum, Laura
+Belding, “Just think! next Fall we’ll be
+seniors.�</p>
+<p>“Wishing your life away,� laughed Laura.
+“We were awfully glad to be juniors, I remember.�</p>
+<p>“Sure. But we’ll boss the school next fall,�
+said Jess.</p>
+<p>“We’ve done very well for juniors, especially
+in athletics,� observed Laura. “Why, practically,
+our bunch has dominated athletics for a
+year, now. We made the eight-oared shell in
+our sophomore year.�</p>
+<p>“True. And the champion basketball team,
+too.�</p>
+<p>“And Eve is going to qualify for the broad
+jump as well as the shot-put, I verily believe,�
+said Laura. “I’m glad I found that girl and
+got her to come to Central High instead of going
+to Keyport.�</p>
+<p>“She was a lucky find,� admitted Jess. “And
+she wasn’t much afraid of those Gypsies last
+week—did you notice?�</p>
+<p>“Of course she wasn’t. She told me this
+morning that the constable over there looked
+for the camp, but the Romany folk had moved
+on.�</p>
+<p>“I wonder if they caught that girl in the
+yellow kerchief,� said Jess, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>“Don’t know. But they managed to scare
+Bobby pretty thoroughly,� said Laura. “I
+never did see Bobby Hargrew quite so impressed.�</p>
+<p>Jess smiled. “She seemed to know something
+about you, too, Laura—that Gypsy queen.
+She knew you had a negro mammy at home.�</p>
+<p>“I don’t know how she guessed that,� admitted
+Laura. “But I believe all that fortune
+telling is foolishness. If she came to the house
+and told Mammy Jinny half what she did us,
+Mammy would be scared to death. We had a
+good laugh on the dear old thing yesterday.
+She’s had a cold for several days and mother
+insisted upon calling Dr. Agnew in to see her.
+You know how Nellie’s father is—always joking
+and the like; and he enjoys puzzling Mammy
+Jinny. So when he had examined her he
+said:</p>
+<p>“‘Mammy, the trouble is in your thorax,
+larynx and epiglottis.’</p>
+<p>“‘Ma soul an’ body, Doctor!’ exclaimed
+Mammy, turning gray. ‘An’ I only t’ought I
+had a so’ t’roat.’�</p>
+<p>“But Mammy does like to use long words
+herself,� chuckled Jess. “She will remember
+those words and spring them on you some time.
+Remember when her nephew had the rheumatism?�</p>
+<p>“Of course,� Laura replied. “We asked her
+if it was the inflammatory kind and she said:</p>
+<p>“‘Sho’ it’s exclamatory rheumatism. He yells
+all de time.’�</p>
+<p>“But I <em>do</em> wonder,� said Jess, again, “if the
+Gypsies caught that girl. She must have wanted
+badly to get away from them to have run the
+risk of being chased by a bloodhound.�</p>
+<p>“And she was smart, too,� Laura agreed.
+“Running on that wall and wading in the
+stream threw the dog off the scent.�</p>
+<p>“If one of us had done such a thing as that
+when the water was so cold we would have got
+our ‘never-get-over,’� declared Jess.</p>
+<p>“I believe you. And a lot of us girls are
+‘tender-feet,’ as Chet says, at this time of year.
+We have been in the house too much. I tell
+you, Jess, we’ve got to get ’em out in the field
+just as soon as it’s dry enough. Bill Jackway
+is working on the track and Mrs. Case says she
+thinks we can start outdoor relay practice and
+quarter-mile running on Saturday—if it’s pleasant.�</p>
+<p>“That’s what we have got to practice up on,
+too, if we want to win the points we need to
+put Central High at the top of the list,� agreed
+her chum.</p>
+<p>“I should say!�</p>
+<p>The moment they were freed from the regular
+lessons of the day Laura and Jess and their
+particular friends made for the handsome gym,
+building and athletic field that Colonel Richard
+Swayne had made possible for them. Bobby
+Hargrew was very much down in the mouth,
+for she had gone up against Miss Carrington
+at several points and the martinet had been very
+severe with the irrepressible.</p>
+<p>“I tell you what,� growled Bobby, “I believe
+that little brother of Alice Long hit it off
+about right when it comes to teachers.�</p>
+<p>“How is that?� asked Laura.</p>
+<p>“Why, he came home after going to school a
+few days last Fall, and says he: ‘I don’t think
+teachers know much, anyway. They keep asking
+you questions all the time.’�</p>
+<p>“I agree with you there,� Jess said. “And
+such useless questions! Why, if you answered
+them literally half the time you’d be swamped
+in demerits. For instance, did you notice that
+one to-day: ‘Why did Hannibal cross the
+Alps?’ I felt just like answering: ‘For the
+same reason the chicken crossed the road!’�</p>
+<p>The girls got into their gym. suits in a hurry
+and then played passball for a while, and, when
+well warmed up, went out on the field. Mrs.
+Case appeared and tried some of the younger
+ones out in relay running, while several of the
+bigger ones, including Eve, tried the broad
+jump, and Laura, and Jess, and more of the
+juniors trotted around the cinder path.</p>
+<p>Central High had to develop a first-class
+sprinter to win that event at the June tourney,
+and, as Laura said, “it was a question where
+the lightning would strike.� Every girl who
+<em>would</em> run—even down to the freshies—was to
+be tried out. As for the relay races, that was
+a matter of general interest. To-day Mrs.
+Case’s whistle blew in half an hour, and every
+girl oh the field lined up for a “shuttle relay�—half
+of them on one line and half on the
+other, fifty yards apart.</p>
+<p>At the sound of the whistle Number 1 girl
+shot off across the running space and touched
+Number 2, the latter dashing back to touch
+Number 3, and so on until the last girl crossed
+the line at the finish. This is a splendid form
+of relay-racing, for it keeps the girls on the
+alert, and the distance is not too great for any
+girl, who has a physician’s approval, to run.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Case, however, was extremely careful—as
+was Dr. Agnew, the medical inspector—as to
+the condition of the girls before they entered
+upon any very serious training. The afternoons
+of this first week of school were spent in working
+out the girls gradually, the instructor learning
+what they really could do. Nor were any
+of the girls allowed to work on the track, or
+in the gym., two days in succession.</p>
+<p>But Saturday afternoon was devoted to real
+work and the making up of the relay teams for
+practice during the spring. It chanced to be a
+glorious day, too, and the field was well attended.
+Bobby Hargrew was faithfully practicing
+for the quarter-mile sprint. She was as
+fast as anybody in the junior class, and for once
+was really putting her mind to the work.</p>
+<p>“If Gee Gee doesn’t hamper me too much
+with conditions and extra work, maybe I can
+be of some help to the school,� spoke Miss
+Bobby. “But I can see plainly she’s got it in
+for me.�</p>
+<p>“That’s what the Gypsy fortune-teller told
+you,� returned Jess. “Didn’t she warn you to
+beware of one of your teachers—and a
+woman?�</p>
+<p>Bobby’s light-hearted chatter was stilled and
+she paled as Jess reminded her of the Gypsy
+woman.</p>
+<p>“Pooh!� Laura quickly said. “There is
+nothing in that foolishness.� Bobby had utterly
+refused to tell them what Grace Varey,
+the Gypsy queen, had told her in the tent.
+“She could easily see that Bobby was full of
+good spirits and that she must always be in difficulties
+with her teachers—and of course it was
+safe to guess that she would have trouble with
+a female teacher. I wouldn’t give a minute’s
+thought to such foolishness.�</p>
+<p>But Bobby would not be led to say anything
+farther, and was very quiet for a time.</p>
+<p>She was with Laura and the other juniors,
+however, over by the gate, when Nell Agnew
+made her great discovery. The girls had been
+playing captain’s ball on one of the courts, and
+they were all warm and tired. Wrapped in
+their blanket coats, on which Mrs. Case insisted
+at this time of the year, they were resting on
+the bench which faced the gateway, and the
+gate was open.</p>
+<p>“My goodness me!� gasped the doctor’s
+daughter, suddenly, “isn’t that the same girl?�</p>
+<p>“Huh?� asked Bobby. “Isn’t what the
+same girl? You’re as lucid as mud, Nell.�</p>
+<p>“Out there! Quick, Laura—don’t you see
+her?�</p>
+<p>Laura Belding craned her neck to see outside
+the yard. Across the street a girl was passing
+slowly. They could not see her face, and she
+was wrapped in a long cloak—or waterproof
+garment.</p>
+<p>“Look at that yellow handkerchief!� exclaimed
+Jess.</p>
+<p>“I saw it—and I saw her face,� said Nellie.</p>
+<p>“That’s like the girl we saw up there on the
+ridge,� admitted Laura, slowly.</p>
+<p>“The Gypsy girl!� exclaimed Jess, in excitement.</p>
+<p>“It <em>was</em> she. I saw her face,� repeated Nell.</p>
+<p>“Now, what do you know about that?� cried
+Jess. “Why, she must have gotten away from
+those people, after all. I’m glad of it.�</p>
+<p>Bobby said never a word, but she stared after
+the yellow kerchief, which showed plainly above
+the collar of the mantle the strange girl wore.
+And while her mates discussed with interest the
+appearance in town of the fugitive from the
+Gypsy camp, Bobby was only thoughtful.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-viiithe-girl-in-the-storm">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id8">CHAPTER VIII—THE GIRL IN THE STORM</a></h2>
+<p>Now, Bobby Hargrew was not naturally a
+secretive girl. Far from it. Her mates noted,
+however, that of late she had grown quieter.
+Ever since their adventure with the Gypsies she
+had seemed distraught at times, and not at all
+like her usual merry, light-hearted self.</p>
+<p>“That horrid Gypsy woman told her something
+that scared her,� Jess Morse said to
+Laura Belding. “I didn’t think Bobby would
+be so easily gulled.�</p>
+<p>“Those people know how to make things
+seem awful real, I expect,� returned her chum,
+thoughtfully. “If I had not been on my guard,
+and had the woman not tried to learn something
+from me, instead of attempting to mystify
+me, I expect I would have fallen under her
+spell.�</p>
+<p>“Nonsense!� laughed Jess.</p>
+<p>“Well, it seems Bobby was impressed,� said
+Laura.</p>
+<p>“I should say she was. And whatever the
+woman told her, it is something that is supposed
+to happen in the future. Bobby is looking forward
+to it with terror.�</p>
+<p>“I wish I knew what it was.�</p>
+<p>“But Bobs won’t take you into her confidence,�
+sighed Jess.</p>
+<p>“No. I’ve sounded her. And it is no mere
+trouble that she expects in school. It is something
+more serious than Miss Carrington’s severity,�
+Laura rejoined.</p>
+<p>Clara Hargrew probably had more friends
+among the girls of Central High than any other
+girl on the Hill; yet she had not one “crush.�
+She was “hail-fellow-well-met� with all her
+schoolmates, and never paired off with any particular
+girl. She had nobody in whom she would
+naturally confide—not even at home.</p>
+<p>For there had been no mother in the Hargrew
+home for several years. Mr. Hargrew idolized
+Bobby, who was the oldest of his three girls;
+but a father can never be like a mother to a
+girl. Her two sisters were small—the youngest
+only six years old. The housekeeper and nurse
+looked out for the little girls; but Bobby was
+answerable to nobody but her father, and he
+was a very easy-going man indeed. He was
+proud of Bobby, and of her smartness and
+whimsicality; and about everything she did was
+right in his eyes.</p>
+<p>The fact that his oldest daughter had been a
+good deal of a tomboy never troubled the groceryman
+in the least. “She was as good as any
+boy,� he often laughingly said, and it was he
+who had nicknamed her “Bobby.�</p>
+<p>But the girl was just now at the age and stage
+of growth when she needed a mother’s advice
+and companionship more than any other time in
+her life. And she felt woefully alone these
+days.</p>
+<p>She was usually the life of the house when
+she was indoors, and the little girls, Elsie and
+Mabel, loved to have her as their playmate. In
+the evenings, too, she was used to being much
+with her father. But of late Mr. Hargrew had
+been going out one or two evenings each week—a
+new practice for him—and on these evenings
+when her father was absent, Bobby was so
+gloomy that it was not long before the little
+girls complained.</p>
+<p>“You’re sick, child,� declared Mrs. Ballister,
+the old lady who had been with them since long
+before Mrs. Hargrew died.</p>
+<p>“No, I’m not,� declared Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Then you’ve done something that’s settin’
+heavy on your conscience,� declared the old
+lady, nodding. “Nothing else would make you
+so quiet, Clara.�</p>
+<p>And Bobby felt too miserable to “answer
+back,� and swallowed the accusation without
+comment.</p>
+<p>It was early in the week following the Saturday
+on which the girls had seen the fugitive
+from the Gypsy camp passing the athletic field.
+Soon after the mid-day recess a sudden spring
+thunder storm came up, the sky darkened, the
+air grew thick, and sharp lightning played across
+the clouds before the threatened downpour.</p>
+<p>Some of the girls were so frightened that
+they ran in from the recreation ground before
+the gong rang. The heavens were overcast and
+the trees before the schoolhouse began to writhe
+in the rising wind.</p>
+<p>The first heavy drops were falling when
+Bobby, who had been excused by Miss Carrington
+to do an errand during the recess, turned the
+corner and faced the sudden blast. It swooped
+down upon her with surprising power, whirled
+her around, flung her against the fence, and
+then, in rebounding, she found herself in another
+person’s arms.</p>
+<p>“Oh, dear me! Excuse me—do!� gasped
+Bobby, blinded for the moment and clinging to
+the person with whom she had collided. “I—I
+didn’t mean to run you down.�</p>
+<p>At that instant there was a blinding flash
+followed by a roll of thunder that seemed to
+march clear across the sky. Bobby felt this girl
+whom she clung to shrink and tremble at the
+sound. Now, Bobby herself was not particularly
+afraid of thunder and lightning, and she
+immediately grew braver.</p>
+<p>“Come on!� she said. “We’ll get wet here.
+Let’s run into the boys’ vestibule—that’s nearest.�</p>
+<p>The boys’ yard was empty; indeed, the afternoon
+session had been called to order now in all
+the classrooms. Bobby and the strange girl ran,
+half blindly, into the graveled yard and up the
+steps.</p>
+<p>Just as they entered the vestibule the downpour
+came. The flood descended and had they
+been out in it half a minute longer the fugitives
+would have been saturated.</p>
+<p>“Just in time!� cried Bobby, attempting to
+open the inner door.</p>
+<p>“Oh! I can’t go in there,� stammered the
+strange girl.</p>
+<p>“Nor I guess I can’t, either,� said Bobby, half
+laughing, half breathless. “It’s locked—and
+the wind is blowing the rain right into this vestibule.
+Come on! Let’s shut this outside door.�</p>
+<p>The half of the two-leaved door of the vestibule
+which had been open was heavy; but
+Bobby’s companion proved to be a strong and
+rugged girl, and together they managed to close
+it. Then, with the rain and wind shut out, although
+the roar of the elements was still loud
+in their ears, the two girls were able to examine
+each other.</p>
+<p>And instantly Bobby Hargrew forgot all
+about the thunder, and lightning, and rain. She
+stared at the girl cowering in the corner, who
+winced every time the lightning played across
+the sky, and closed her eyes with her palms to
+the reverberation of the thunder.</p>
+<p>The girl was perhaps a couple of years older
+Bobby herself. She was dark and had a tangle
+of black hair which was dressed indifferently.
+A woolen cap was drawn down almost to her
+ears. She was rather scrubbily dressed, and
+nothing that she wore looked very clean or very
+new. The waist she had on was cut low at
+the neck—so low that the girl had tied loosely
+around her throat a soft, yellow muffler.</p>
+<p>Although the old brown cloak she wore hid
+her green skirt, Bobby knew that the girl before
+her was the one she and her friends had seen
+escaping from the Gypsy camp nearly a fortnight
+before. The girl who had been unafraid
+of pursuit by the bloodhound, and had run upon
+stone fences and waded in an ice-cold mountain
+brook to hide her trail, now cowered in the vestibule
+of the schoolhouse, in a nervous tremor
+because of the thunderstorm.</p>
+<p>“My! but you <em>are</em> scared of lightning, aren’t
+you?� exclaimed Bobby, after a minute, and
+when the noise of the elements had somewhat
+ceased.</p>
+<p>“I—I always am,� gasped the girl.</p>
+<p>“The lightning won’t hurt you—at least, the
+lightning you <em>see</em> will never hurt you, my father
+says,� added Bobby. “The danger is all past
+by the time you see the flash of it.�</p>
+<p>“But I can’t help being frightened,� replied
+the girl.</p>
+<p>“No. I suppose not. And I guess you are
+brave enough about other things to make up,
+eh?�</p>
+<p>The girl looked up at her, but was evidently
+puzzled. She glanced through the glass doors
+of the building into the corridor.</p>
+<p>“Is this the school building?� she asked,
+quickly.</p>
+<p>“Yes. But this is the boys’ entrance, so I
+don’t want to ring. I’d get scolded for coming
+here,� said Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Oh, don’t ring!� exclaimed the girl, putting
+a timid hand upon Bobby’s arm. “This is the
+big school, isn’t it?�</p>
+<p>“It’s the biggest in town. It’s Central
+High,� said Bobby, proudly.</p>
+<p>“You go here to school, of course?� asked
+the girl, somewhat wistfully.</p>
+<p>“Yes. I’m a junior.�</p>
+<p>The other shook her head. The grading of
+the school was evidently not understood by the
+Gypsy girl.</p>
+<p>“Say! do you have many teachers in this
+school?� she asked.</p>
+<p>“Yes. There’s enough of them,� replied
+Bobby, grumblingly.</p>
+<p>“Women, too?�</p>
+<p>“Yes. Some women.�</p>
+<p>“Who are they?� asked the girl, quickly.
+“What’s their names?�</p>
+<p>The thunder was rolling away now, but the
+rain was still beating down in such volume that
+the girls could not venture forth. Bobby would
+have gotten wet in running around to the girls’
+entrance.</p>
+<p>“Why,� she said, studying the Gypsy’s face
+in a puzzled way. “There’s Miss Gould.�</p>
+<p>“Gould? That’s not her whole name, is it?�
+asked this curious girl.</p>
+<p>“Miss Marjorie Gould.�</p>
+<p>“Say it slow—say the letters,� commanded
+the Gypsy girl.</p>
+<p>Bobby, much amazed, began:</p>
+<p>“M-a-r-j-o-r-i-e G-o-u-l-d.�</p>
+<p>The strange girl shook her head. Bobby saw
+that she had been counting the letters of Miss
+Gould’s name on her fingers, and she asked:</p>
+<p>“Don’t you read English?�</p>
+<p>“No. I’m Austrian. I know some German.
+A woman taught me. But I never went to
+school—never to a school like this,� said the
+Gypsy girl, with a sigh.</p>
+<p>“Who are you?� asked Bobby, deeply interested.</p>
+<p>“You—you can call me Margit—Margit
+Salgo, from Austria.�</p>
+<p>Now, this puzzled Bobby Hargrew more than
+ever, for she knew that the Gypsies the girl
+had been with were English. Yet she was
+afraid of frightening the girl by telling her
+what she already knew about her. And immediately
+the Gypsy girl asked her another question:</p>
+<p>“Spell me some of their other names, will
+you?�</p>
+<p>“Whose other names?�</p>
+<p>“The lady teachers,� replied Margit, her
+black eyes flashing eagerly.</p>
+<p>“Why—why, there’s Mrs. Case,� stammered
+Bobby.</p>
+<p>“How do you spell the letters?�</p>
+<p>“R-o-s-e C-a-s-e,� said Bobby, slowly.</p>
+<p>“No! no!� exclaimed Margit. “Not enough.
+Too short.�</p>
+<p>“But don’t you know the name of the woman
+you are looking for?�</p>
+<p>“I didn’t say I was looking for anybody,�
+said Margit, with suspicion. “I am just curious.�</p>
+<p>“And you can’t repeat the name?�</p>
+<p>“I never heard it repeated. I only know
+how many letters there are. I saw it on a card.
+I counted the letters,� said the girl, with a
+shrewd light in her eyes. “Now! haven’t you
+any more lady teachers here?�</p>
+<p>“There’s Gee Gee!� exclaimed Bobby, with
+half a chuckle, amused at the thought of Miss
+Carrington being mixed up in any manner with
+this half-wild Gypsy girl.</p>
+<p>“Too short,� said the other, shaking her head
+decidedly.</p>
+<p>“Oh, her real name is long enough. It’s
+Grace G. Carrington.�</p>
+<p>“Spell it out,� commanded Margit Salgo,
+eagerly.</p>
+<p>Bobby did so, but the girl shook her head.
+“Not enough letters,� she declared.</p>
+<p>“Why—there are sixteen letters to Miss
+Carrington’s name,� said Bobby, wonderingly.
+“How many are there to the name you are
+hunting for?�</p>
+<p>“Two more,� said Margit, promptly.</p>
+<p>“Eighteen?�</p>
+<p>“Yes. Now, don’t you tell anybody what I
+say. That’s a good girl,� urged the other.</p>
+<p>“You’re not afraid of me, are you?� asked
+Bobby, in wonder.</p>
+<p>“I’m afraid of everybody,� muttered the girl.</p>
+<p>“You’ve—you’ve run away from somebody?�
+ventured Bobby, fearing to startle the
+fugitive by telling her just how much she <em>did</em>
+know.</p>
+<p>“Never you mind about me. Thank you for
+what you’ve told me. I—I guess the worst of
+it’s over now, and I’ll go,� said Margit, and she
+tugged at the knob of the outer door.</p>
+<p>The rain was still falling fast; but the thunder
+only muttered in the distance and the electric
+display had entirely passed.</p>
+<p>“Wait!� cried Bobby, earnestly. “Maybe I
+can help you some more.�</p>
+<p>“No. I don’t need anybody to help me. I
+can take care of myself,� replied the Gypsy girl,
+sullenly.</p>
+<p>She mastered the door-latch, pulled the door
+open, and ran out into the rain. In half a
+minute she was flying up the street, and not until
+she was out of sight did Bobby remember something
+that might be of great importance in explaining
+the mystery.</p>
+<p>“Why, Miss Carrington always writes her
+name ‘Grace <em>Gee</em> Carrington,’� exclaimed
+Bobby. “There’s the eighteen letters that the
+girl is looking for. I never thought of that!�</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-ixthe-gypsies-again">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id9">CHAPTER IX—THE GYPSIES AGAIN</a></h2>
+<p>When the rain stopped, Bobby went around
+to the other entrance and reported herself to
+Miss Carrington. That teacher always doubted
+Bobby’s excuses, and this time she shook her
+head over the girl’s tardiness.</p>
+<p>“You told me you had plenty of time to do
+your errand within the limit of the recess, Miss
+Hargrew,� said Gee Gee. “Do better next time,
+please.�</p>
+<p>“She always acts as though she thought I had
+an India rubber imagination,� muttered Bobby,
+to her nearest seatmate, “and that I was always
+stretching it.�</p>
+<p>“Miss Hargrew, please refrain from communicating
+in lesson time!� snapped the ever-watchful
+teacher.</p>
+<p>“Dear me!� murmured Bobby. “She’s got
+me again. I <em>do</em> have the worst luck.�</p>
+<p>And then she wondered what Miss Carrington
+knew about the strange Gypsy girl, or what
+Margit knew about Gee Gee.</p>
+<p>“I’d like to get better acquainted with that
+girl,� thought Bobby. “There is a mystery about
+her—and Gee Gee is in it.�</p>
+<p>But she said nothing to any of the other
+juniors, judging it best to keep her own counsel.
+Meanwhile she kept a keen lookout for the girl
+to appear about the school building again. Several
+days passed, however, and Bobby saw nothing
+of her.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile the girls who were earnest in the
+work of putting Central High ahead in the inter-school
+athletic competition worked hard on the
+field and under Mrs. Case’s eye in the gymnasium.</p>
+<p>Bobby was really doing her best on the track.
+Never had she settled down to such thorough
+work in any branch of athletics as she had in
+this effort to make a record for the quarter-mile.
+Central High needed the points that a champion
+sprinter could win, just as the school needed the
+points putting the shot, and the broad jump,
+would add to its record.</p>
+<p>Bobby, the year before, had acted as coxswain
+of the eight-oared crew; and she had played all
+season on the big basketball team—the champion
+nine. But this running was different work.</p>
+<p>Now she had no teammates to encourage her,
+or to keep her up to the mark. It was just what
+she could do for the school by herself.</p>
+<p>“Just by your lonesome, Bobby,� Laura Belding
+told her. “To win the quarter-mile will
+mean two whole points in June. Think of that!
+And you can do it.�</p>
+<p>“I don’t know,� returned the other girl, in
+some despondency. “Gee Gee’ll likely get something
+on me before the June meet, and then
+where’ll we be?�</p>
+<p>“But you don’t <em>have</em> to do things to make
+Miss Carrington give you demerits.�</p>
+<p>“Bah! I don’t have to do anything at all to
+get demerits. She’s just expecting me to do
+something all the time, and she ‘jumps’ me
+without giving me a chance. Any other girl in
+the school can cut up much worse than I do and
+never get a sour look; but I—oh, dear!�</p>
+<p>“You see what it is to have a reputation for
+mischief,� said Laura, half inclined to laugh.
+“Can’t you cut out the frolic for this one term?
+Cure yourself of practical joking and ‘joshing’
+poor Miss Carrington.�</p>
+<p>“Great Cæsar!� ejaculated Bobby. “How
+could I ever do it?�</p>
+<p>Nevertheless, with all her reckless talk, she
+was really trying her very best to keep out of
+difficulties in school, and on the other hand to
+make the best time possible on the cinder track.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Case began to try her out now and then,
+and held the watch on her. Bobby wanted to
+know how fast she made the quarter; but the
+instructor put up her watch with a smile and a
+head-shake.</p>
+<p>“That I sha’n’t tell you, Miss Hargrew. Not
+yet. You do your best; that’s what you are to
+do. If you fall back, or I see you losing form,
+you’ll hear about it soon enough.�</p>
+<p>One morning before school-time Bobby heard
+Mrs. Ballister scolding at the back door. The
+old housekeeper did not often scold the maid,
+for she was a dear old lady and, as Bobby herself
+said, “as mild-tempered as a lamb.� But
+she heard her say:</p>
+<p>“Be off with you! We’ve nothing for you.
+Scalawags like you shouldn’t prosper—filling a
+girl’s silly head full of more silliness. Go on
+at once!�</p>
+<p>Somehow Bobby had a premonition of what
+the trouble was about. She ran out upon the
+side porch and saw two Gypsy women coming
+around the path from the fear of the house.
+They were the two who had been at Queen
+Grace Varey’s camp that day on the ridge when
+the girls of Central High had had their adventure.</p>
+<p>“Here is a little lady,� whined the old woman.
+“She will buy of us,� lifting up her baskets.</p>
+<p>“No, no,� said Bobby, shaking her head vigorously.</p>
+<p>The other woman recognized her and touched
+the arm of her companion warningly.</p>
+<p>“Surely the little lady will not be unkind to
+the poor Romany,� she whined. “She does not
+forget what Queen Grace told her?�</p>
+<p>“I want to forget it,� declared Bobby, with
+flushed face. “I have nothing for you. Go
+away—do!�</p>
+<p>“Ah-ha, little lady!� chuckled the woman,
+with a leer. “You are mistress here now—and
+you can send us away. But remember! Your
+father will bring home another mistress before
+mid-summer.�</p>
+<p>The two women laughed harshly, and turned
+away, going slowly out of the yard. Bobby remained
+upon the porch until she had winked back
+the tears—and bitter tears they were, indeed—and
+so went slowly in to breakfast.</p>
+<p>“Those horrid ’Gyptians,� Mrs. Ballister was
+saying. “I caught them out there trying to tell
+Sally’s fortune. They’d make her believe she
+was going to fall heir to a fortune, or get a
+husband, or something, and then we’d lose the
+best kitchen girl we ever had.�</p>
+<p>But Bobby felt too serious to smile at the
+old lady’s sputtering. Despite what Laura Belding
+said, there <em>must</em> be something in the fortunes
+the Gypsy queen told! How did she know so
+much about <em>her?</em> Bobby asked herself.</p>
+<p>She knew that Bobby had no mother and that
+she was sure to get into trouble with her teachers.
+And now the prophecy she had made that
+her father would bring home a new wife before
+mid-summer rankled in Bobby Hargrew’s mind
+like a barbed arrow.</p>
+<p>For Bobby loved her father very dearly, and
+had been for years his confidante. It had long
+been agreed between them that she was going
+to be his partner in the grocery business, just as
+though she had been born a boy. And as soon
+as the little girls were big enough they were to
+go away to boarding school, Mrs. Ballister should
+be relieved of the responsibility of the house,
+and Bobby was going to be the real mistress of
+the Hargrew home.</p>
+<p>And suppose, instead of all these things
+Father Tom should bring home a new mother to
+reign over them? The thought was ever in
+Bobby’s mind these days. Not that she had any
+reason to fear the coming of a step-mother. The
+only girl at Central High whom she knew that
+had a step-mother loved her very dearly and
+made as much of her as though she had been
+two real mothers. Sue Blakesley had been without
+a mother long enough to appreciate even a
+substitute.</p>
+<p>But Bobby and Mr. Hargrew had been such
+close friends and comrades that the girl was
+jealous of such a possibility as anybody coming
+into her father’s life who could take her place
+in any degree. She worried over the Gypsy’s
+prophecy continually; she wet her pillow at night
+with bitter tears because of it, and it sobered and
+changed her to her schoolmates, as we have seen.</p>
+<p>It was a very serious and imminent trouble
+indeed to the warm-hearted, impulsive girl.</p>
+<p>On her way to school that morning she
+chanced to turn the corner into Whiffle Street
+just as a dark-browed, shuffling fellow crossed
+from the other side and trailed along ahead of
+her toward the schoolhouse. Bobby knew that
+black face, and the huge gold hoops in his ears,
+at once. It was the husband of the Gypsy queen.</p>
+<p>“Oh, I wonder if the whole encampment is
+in town hunting for that poor girl, Margit?�
+thought Bobby. “They are such strange, wicked
+folk. And look at him—why, that’s Gee Gee!�</p>
+<p>The lady ahead on the walk, behind whom the
+Gypsy was walking so stealthily, was none other
+than Miss Carrington herself. Instantly Bobby’s
+thought flashed to the mysterious inquiries of the
+girl, Margit Salgo, about the teacher at Central
+High.</p>
+<p>Bobby involuntarily quickened her steps. She
+was afraid of these Gypsies; but she was curious,
+too. The whole block was deserted, it seemed,
+save for herself, Gee Gee, and the man.</p>
+<p>Suddenly he hastened his long stride and overtook
+the teacher. Bobby knew that the fellow
+accosted Miss Carrington. The lady halted, and
+shrank a little. But she did not scream, or otherwise
+betray fear.</p>
+<p>“No, lady. Ah’m no beggar. Ma nyme’s
+Jim Varey an’ ah’m honest man, so I be. Ah
+come out o’ Leeds, in Yorkshire, an’ we be travelin’,
+me an’ mine. Wait, lady! Ah’ve summat
+tae show ye.�</p>
+<p>He fumbled in his pocket and brought out a
+card. He held this card so that Miss Carrington
+could read what was printed, or written, on it.
+And she did so, as was evident to Bobby, for
+she started back a little and uttered a murmured
+exclamation.</p>
+<p>“Ah sees ye knaw ye’r awn nyme, lidy,� said
+Jim Varey, shrewdly. “Yer the lady we’re
+lookin’ for, mayhap. ’Tis private business——�</p>
+<p>“I can have no business with you, man,� exclaimed
+Miss Carrington. “Why, you’re a Gypsy!�</p>
+<p>“Aye. I’m Gypsy. An’ so was ma fawther
+an’ mither, an’ their fawthers an’ mithers before
+’em. We’m proud of the Romany blood. An’
+more’n ’us, lady, has mixed with the Romany—an’
+in other climes aside Yorkshire. But all Romany
+is one, wherever vound. Ye knaw that,
+lidy.�</p>
+<p>“I don’t know what you mean! I don’t know
+what you are talking about! What do you want
+of me?� cried Miss Carrington, quite wildly.</p>
+<p>The man drew closer. Bobby was really
+frightened, too. She opened her own mouth to
+shriek for help. But the Gypsy did not touch
+the teacher. Instead, he said in a low, but perfectly
+clear, voice, so that Bobby heard it
+plainly:</p>
+<p>“I would speak to you, lidy, of the child of
+Belas Salgo.�</p>
+<p>Miss Carrington uttered a stifled shriek.
+Bobby sprang forward, finding her own voice
+now, and using it to good purpose, too. A door
+banged, and a gentleman ran out of his house
+and down to the gate, where the Gypsy had
+stopped Miss Carrington.</p>
+<p>It chanced to be Franklin Sharp, the principal
+of Central High. Jim Varey saw him coming,
+glanced swiftly around, evidently considered the
+time and place unfavorable for further troubling
+the teacher, and so broke into a run and disappeared.</p>
+<p>Mr. Sharp caught Gee Gee before she fell.
+But she did not utterly lose consciousness.
+Bobby had caught her hand and clung to it. The
+girl heard Gee Gee murmur:</p>
+<p>“There was no child! There was no child!
+Oh! Poor Anne! Poor Anne!�</p>
+<p>“Let us take her into the house,� said Mr.
+Sharp, kindly. “That ruffian has scared her, I
+believe. Could you identify him, do you think,
+Miss Hargrew?�</p>
+<p>“Yes, sir,� declared Bobby, tremblingly.</p>
+<p>But Miss Carrington cried: “Oh, no! Oh,
+no! Don’t go after him—do nothing to him.�</p>
+<p>And she continued to cry and moan while they
+took her into the house and put her in the care
+of Mrs. Sharp. That forenoon Gee Gee did not
+appear before her classes at Central High. But
+she was present at the afternoon session and
+Bobby thought her quite as stern and hard as
+ever. Nor did the teacher say a word to the
+girl about the Gypsy, or mention the occasion in
+any way.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xeves-adventure">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id10">CHAPTER X—EVE’S ADVENTURE</a></h2>
+<p>Eve Sitz had plenty to do out of school hours
+when she was at home. Nobody could afford to
+be idle at the Sitz farm. But she found time,
+too, to put on an old skirt, gym. shoes, and a
+sweater, and go down behind the barn to practice
+her broad jump and to throw a baseball at
+the high board fence behind the sheepfold.</p>
+<p>She grew expert indeed in ball throwing, and
+occasionally when Otto, her brother, caught her
+at this exercise, he marvelled that his sister could
+throw the horsehide farther and straighter than
+he.</p>
+<p>“Dot beats it all, mein cracious!� gasped
+Otto, who was older than Eve by several years,
+had never been to school in this new country,
+and was one who would never be able to speak
+English without a strong accent. “How a girl
+can t’row a pall like dot. I neffer!�</p>
+<p>“You wait till June, Otto,� replied his sister,
+in German. “If you come to the big field
+the day of the Centerport High Schools, you will
+see that girls can do quite well in athletics. You
+know how we can row, and you saw us play
+basketball. Wait till you see the Central High
+girls on track and field!�</p>
+<p>“A lot of foolishness,� croaked Otto. “You
+go to the school to learn to be smart, no?�</p>
+<p>“No,� replied Eve, laughing at him. “I am
+smart in the first place, or I would not go. And
+don’t I help mother just as much—and milk—and
+feed the pigs and chickens—and all that?
+Wait till you see me put the shot. I am going
+to win a whole point for the school if I am champion
+shot-putter.�</p>
+<p>“Ach! It is beyond me,� declared Otto,
+walking off to attend to his work.</p>
+<p>The family—plain Swiss folk as they were—thought
+Eve quite mad over these “foolish athletics.�
+They had no such things in the schools
+at home—in the old country. Yet Father and
+Mother Sitz were secretly proud of their big and
+handsome daughter. She was growing up
+“American.� That was something to be
+achieved. They had come of peasant stock, and
+hoped that their girl, at least, would mix with a
+more highly educated class of young folk in this
+new country.</p>
+<p>So, if Eve thought that the tasks which
+usually fell to her nights and mornings, and on
+Saturdays, were not sufficient to keep her in what
+she called “condition,� her parents made no objection
+to her throwing baseballs, or jumping,
+or taking long walks, or riding on the old gray
+mare’s back over the North pasture.</p>
+<p>And it was upon one of these rides that she
+fell upon her second adventure that Spring with
+the Gypsies—or, at least, with one of the tribe.</p>
+<p>It occurred on the Saturday morning following
+Miss Carrington’s meeting with Jim Varey,
+husband of the Gypsy queen. Of course, Bobby
+Hargrew had said nothing about this mysterious
+connection of the martinet teacher with the roving
+band of “Egyptians�; it was not her secret,
+and although Bobby might be an innocent gossip,
+she was no tale-bearer.</p>
+<p>Eve finished her morning’s work, “pegged�
+the baseball at the target she had marked with a
+brush on the sheep fold fence, managing to scare
+all the woolly muttons out of at least half of
+their senses, and then grabbed up a bridle and
+ran down to the pasture bars and whistled for
+the mare.</p>
+<p>The old horse came cantering across the field.
+Eve never failed to have a lump of sugar in her
+pocket, and the old girl nuzzled around for it
+and would not be content until she had munched
+it. Meanwhile Eve slipped on the bridle and
+sprang upon the creature’s back.</p>
+<p>Hester Grimes, and Lily Pendleton, and some
+of the wealthier girls who went to Central High,
+rode horseback in the parks. They went to a
+riding school and cantered around a tanbark ring,
+and then rode, very demurely, two and two, upon
+old broken-kneed hacks through the bridle-paths.
+Mrs. Case approved of horseback exercise for
+girls, either astride or side-saddle, as they
+pleased; but she certainly would have held her
+breath in fear had she seen Eve Sitz career
+down the rocky pasture upon her mount on this
+keen-aired morning.</p>
+<p>It had rained over night and the bushes were
+still dripping. Every time a sharp hoof of the
+unshod mare tore up a clod as she cantered, Eve
+got the scent of the wet earth in her nostrils,
+and drank it in with long and deep inhalations.
+She rode the mare with a loose rein and let her
+take her head.</p>
+<p>They dashed down the hill and through the
+narrow path that crossed a piece of Mr. Sitz’s
+swamp land. Here the dogwood was budding
+and a few Judas-trees displayed a purple blush,
+as though a colored mist hung about them. In
+a few days the bushes would burst forth in full
+flower.
+Eve rode fast along the swamp path. It was
+narrow, and to have ventured three yards upon
+either side would have been to sink, horse and
+all, into the quagmire. This was a waste piece
+of the farm that her father hoped to drain at
+some time, but now it was only a covert for
+birds and frogs.</p>
+<p>But suddenly, as the girl rode fast, she thought
+she heard a cry. She half checked her mount;
+but the sound was not repeated.</p>
+<p>A minute later the gray mare was through the
+marsh-piece and out upon the field beyond. Eve
+intended circling around by Peveril Pond and so
+reach home again by another path; yet the mysterious
+cry she had heard back there in the
+swamp-piece kept returning to her mind.</p>
+<p>Suppose it had been a real cry—a human cry—a
+cry for help?</p>
+<p>The thought came back to her again and again.
+She was in sight of the pond, when she could
+stand it no longer, but pulled the mare about.</p>
+<p>“Come, old girl! We’ve got to be sure of
+this,� cried Eve. “Back you go!�</p>
+<p>Her mount cantered back again. They reached
+the edge of the swamp and Eve pulled the mare
+down to a walk. Stepping daintily, the steed
+followed the narrow path through the over-bushed
+swamp. One could not see a dozen feet
+on either hand, so tall were the bushes, and so
+thick—not even at the height Eve rode.</p>
+<p>She halted her horse and called aloud:</p>
+<p>“Ahoy! Hullo! Who called?�</p>
+<p>No answer—for half a minute. The farmer’s
+daughter shouted again. Then she heard it
+again—a half-stifled cry—a cry that ended in a
+choking gasp and which chilled the blood in her
+veins and made her hold her own breath for a
+moment.</p>
+<p>Was it an actual voice calling for help that had
+answered her? Or had she imagined the cry?</p>
+<p>She held in the anxious horse, and waited.
+Again the muffled shriek reached her ears.
+Somebody was caught in the quagmire—in the
+quicksand. It was off to the left, and not many
+yards from the path.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xibobby-is-interested">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id11">CHAPTER XI—BOBBY IS INTERESTED</a></h2>
+<p>Indeed, one could not have ventured many
+feet from the path at this season of the year,
+when the heavy Spring rains had filled the
+swamp, without sinking into the mire. Eve
+knew this very well, and it was with fast-beating
+heart that she slipped from her horse, tied the
+bridle-rein to a sapling, and ventured cautiously
+in the direction of the half-choked cries.</p>
+<p>“I’m coming! Where are you?� she called.</p>
+<p>The cry for help came for a third time. Eve
+parted the bushes before her, and then shrank
+back. She had been about to put her foot upon
+a bit of shaking moss which, when she disturbed
+the branches of the bush, sank completely out of
+sight in the black mire.</p>
+<p>Another step might have proved her own undoing!</p>
+<p>But on the other side of this dimpling pool of
+mire a willow tree of the “weeping� variety
+stood with its roots deep in the swamp. And
+clinging to a drooping branch of this tree were
+two sun-browned hands—muscular, but small.</p>
+<p>“A woman!� gasped Eve. Then, the next
+moment, she added: “A girl!�</p>
+<p>And a girl it was—a girl no older than herself.
+The victim was all but shoulder deep in
+the mire. She was clinging desperately to the
+branch of the tree. Her face was half hidden
+by the twigs and leaves, and by her own disarranged
+hair, which hung in black elf-locks about
+it.</p>
+<p>But even in that moment of surprise and fear,
+Eve identified her. It was the girl who had
+been a fugitive from the Gypsy camp.</p>
+<p>The identity of the person in peril did not
+claim Eve’s attention for half a moment, however.
+It was her necessity, and the fact that she
+must be rescued immediately that spurred the
+farm girl to action.</p>
+<p>“Hold on! I’ll save you!� she shouted, and
+even as she spoke she saw the girl slip down a
+hand’s breadth deeper into the ooze. If she was
+to save the victim Eve must indeed work rapidly,
+and to the purpose.</p>
+<p>She saw how the girl had come into her evil
+plight. Beside the tree ran a narrow strip of
+grassy hummock. It looked sound, but Eve
+well knew that all such places were treacherous.</p>
+<p>The Gypsy girl had trusted to it, venturing
+off the regular and beaten path. She had
+slipped, or the edge of the hummock had caved
+in with her. Only by chance had she caught at
+the branch of the willow and so stayed her descent
+into the bottomless morass.</p>
+<p>Fleet of foot, Eve sprang back to the bridle-path
+where the mare was tied. She wanted the
+only thing which, in this emergency, could be
+of help to her—and to the girl sinking in the
+mire.</p>
+<p>There was no time to go for help. There
+was no fence near where she could obtain rails,
+even. Nor did she have anything with which to
+cut down saplings to aid the girl.</p>
+<p>Quickly her nimble fingers unbound the
+leather bridle from the tree. Then she unbuckled
+the reins and removed them entirely,
+letting the mare go free if she would. But the
+wise old horse stood and watched her, without
+offering to run away.</p>
+<p>“That’s right! Stand still, old girl!� exclaimed
+Eve Sitz. “I’ll want you mighty bad
+in a minute, or two, perhaps.�</p>
+<p>She sprang upon the tussock on which the
+victim of the accident had evidently been before
+her. But she was cautious. She came to
+the place where the poor girl clung to the tree
+branch. Those twigs were slowly slipping
+through her cramped fingers. In a few seconds
+she would slip entirely from her hold. Already
+she was too far gone to speak, and her eyes were
+closed.</p>
+<p>It was no use calling again. Eve bent forward
+and with a little prayer for help, cast the
+loop of the strong rein over the victim’s head
+and shoulders.</p>
+<p>As she did so the girl’s hands slipped entirely
+from the tree branch.</p>
+<p>Eve screamed. But she threw herself back,
+too, as the weight of the sinking girl came upon
+the bridle-rein. Eve easily held her up. She
+could sink no farther. But the question that
+troubled the farmer’s daughter was: Could she
+draw the unconscious girl out of the mire?</p>
+<p>But Eve was the heavier of the two, and far
+stronger. The Gypsy girl could run and leap
+like a hare—as she had proven the day the girls
+of Central High had seen her escaping from the
+encampment of her Romany companions. But
+she had not been strong enough to scramble out
+of the mud when she had once fallen into it.</p>
+<p>Now Eve, sure that the bridle-rein would
+hold, flung herself back and dragged the girl
+up. She came out upon the narrow tussock
+slowly, but surely.</p>
+<p>Eve wrapped the lines about her wrists and
+tugged with all her weight and strength; and
+she was not many seconds in accomplishing the
+rescue.</p>
+<p>The unfortunate girl lay helpless on the edge
+of the morass. She was a mass of mud, and
+her eyes were still closed. Eve seized her under
+the arms and dragged her across the trembling
+hummock to firmer ground. Once Eve herself
+stepped over the edge of the solid ground and
+plunged—knee-deep—into the mire.</p>
+<p>But she recovered herself and quickly brought
+her burden, breathless though she herself was,
+to the bridle-path. The old gray mare looked
+upon the muddy figure on the ground with ears
+pricked forward. But Eve spoke softly to her,
+and the creature stood still, as though she knew
+her help was needed.</p>
+<p>Eve did not trouble to put on the rein again.
+When she got her breath she raised the girl,
+who was still only half conscious, in her arms,
+and managed to get her on the horse.</p>
+<p>“You’ve got to carry double; but you can go
+just as slow as you want to, old girl!� Eve exclaimed,
+as she leaped upon the mare herself,
+sitting behind the other girl, and holding her on.</p>
+<p>Then she spoke again to the mare, and the
+latter picked her way carefully over the narrow
+path and so to the North pasture. In fifteen
+minutes Eve had the strange girl at the farmhouse,
+where her kind-hearted mother helped
+put the visitor to bed. They were true Samaritans
+in that house. They reserved all questioning
+until after the needy had been aided.</p>
+<p>Eve went to town that afternoon, for she was
+due for practice at the athletic field, full of this
+adventure. The strange girl had not said a
+word about herself save that she had been traveling
+through the marsh early that morning and
+had mistaken the path.</p>
+<p>Eve had told her mother her suspicions as to
+who the girl was, and it was plain that the
+young Gypsy would be unfit for travel for some
+days. The Sitzes would try to find out something
+about her condition and why she was
+striving to escape from her companions.</p>
+<p>“But, it’s plain why she left town so hurriedly,�
+declared Jess Morse, one of those to
+whom Eve told her story. “I’ve seen those
+Gypsy women in town myself this week. I saw
+the queen—Grace Varey, did you say her name
+is?�</p>
+<p>“That’s the name she gave us last year,� said
+Eve.</p>
+<p>“Well, I saw her only this morning. The
+Gypsies have come to town to search for that
+girl. She knows it and was escaping into the
+country when she got into that swamp. My!
+It was lucky you rode that way, Eve.�</p>
+<p>But it was Bobby Hargrew who showed the
+most interest in the affairs of the mysterious
+Gypsy girl. She asked Eve a hundred questions
+about her and finally admitted that she had reasons
+for wishing to know all about her that she
+did not feel free to divulge.</p>
+<p>“I tell you honestly, Eve, I wish you’d let me
+go home with you so that I can see that girl
+before Monday morning,� said Bobby, bluntly.</p>
+<p>“Well, why not?� returned the farm girl,
+laughing. “You’d be welcome, Clara.�</p>
+<p>“I’ll telephone father at the store and run
+home and pack a bag and meet you at the station,�
+announced Bobby, greatly excited.</p>
+<p>“Why, we’ll be more than pleased,� urged
+Eve. “I’d like to know what the matter is with
+that girl, too. If you find out, will you tell
+me?� and she laughed again.</p>
+<p>“If it’s only <em>my</em> secret I’ll tell you in a minute,�
+promised Bobby. But in her heart she believed
+that it would prove to be partly Miss
+Carrington’s secret, and she could not speak of
+<em>her</em> affairs, that was sure.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xiithe-races">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id12">CHAPTER XII—THE RACES</a></h2>
+<p>Bobby, as she said, “fished� for this invitation
+and got it while the girls were dressing in
+the gym. building, before the try-out work on
+the field that Saturday afternoon. Eve went to
+her broad jump, while Bobby lined up with a
+lot of the would-be sprinters from all four
+classes, to try their speed from the fifty-yard
+dash up to the quarter-mile.</p>
+<p>Only the very best of the candidates were
+allowed to try the longer races, and they had
+all to go to Dr. Agnew’s office first. The doctor
+spent the most of every Saturday afternoon
+at the gym. building, and he doled out good advice
+to the girls while he prodded them, and listened
+to their heart and lung action, and otherwise
+discovered if they were “fit.�</p>
+<p>Laura had been delegated by Mrs. Case to
+watch the sprinters, and most of them were
+quickly sent to the courts to play tennis, or
+basketball, or some other game, and the cinder
+track was soon devoted to those only who were
+earnestly endeavoring to develop their speed as
+runners—and who had some small chance, at
+least, to make a good record.</p>
+<p>Bobby tried the first short dash, and then the
+third. There was some crowding on the track
+and she could not do her best—nor did she wish
+to. As long as she made a good enough showing
+to be advised to wait for the finals, she was
+content, and so was Laura.</p>
+<p>“Hold yourself in,� advised Mother Wit,
+smiling on her. “If you spend your best wind
+trying to beat these others at first you’ll be lost
+when it comes to the quarter-mile, and be retired.�</p>
+<p>So Bobby bided her time until the quarter-mile
+was called. There were but six contestants.
+It was the longest trial of speed that Mrs. Case
+would allow on the track. The Girls’ Branch
+Athletic League gave but a doubtful approval,
+at most, to the quarter-mile trial.</p>
+<p>The six were “set� on the line and Laura,
+watch in hand, waited for the arrow to touch
+the mark, her hand raised.</p>
+<p>“Go!� she shouted, and the girls sprang
+away, each doing her very best from the start.
+For the quarter-mile run leaves little space for
+jockeying. It is soon over, and the contestant
+who gets off ahead is quite frequently the winner.</p>
+<p>The six girls were not so unevenly matched;
+and they started well on a line. For the first
+few yards they kept together.</p>
+<p>But then the pace began to tell. For fifty
+yards, say, they were matched to a degree; then
+it was plain that only two of them had the
+“sand� to keep up that killing pace for long.</p>
+<p>Bobby and one other forged ahead. Breast to
+breast, their arms working in unison, their stride
+equal, the two girls passed ahead of the others
+and shot along the track with unabated swiftness.</p>
+<p>The girls behind were panting, and falling
+back. One wavered and dropped out entirely
+when she had run but a furlong. The others
+clung to the track, however, doing their very best
+to record a fair time, at least. They had learned
+under Mrs. Case to play the game out, no matter
+how badly they seemed to be beaten.</p>
+<p>Bobby and the girl with her felt the strain
+growing, however. Unless the runner is experienced,
+the dogged perseverance of a close opponent
+is likely to rattle one at the last moment.
+As the two came down the stretch and the watching
+girls began to cheer and “root� for their
+favorite contestant, the runners felt their nerve
+going.</p>
+<p>A misstep now would cause the loss of the
+race to one, or to the other. Bobby tried not to
+see the girls along the track, or to think of the
+one pounding away beside her.</p>
+<p>She was breathing with comparative ease herself;
+but the sound of the other girl’s breathing
+pumped in her ears, louder and louder! And
+how loudly her footbeats were, too!</p>
+<p>Could she only get away from those sounds—leave
+them behind her—clear the rushing air
+about her of those noises!</p>
+<p>There was the line stretched across the track.
+She knew it was there because Laura stood with
+it in her hand. If she could only breast that
+ribbon first!</p>
+<p>Somewhere—it seemed to be a cry from the
+air right over her head—a shrill voice kept repeating:</p>
+<p>“Come on! Come on, Bobs!�</p>
+<p>And Bobby called up that reserve strength that
+Mrs. Case had talked so much about in her little
+lectures to the girls, and sprang ahead of her
+rival. She was unconscious of the fact that she
+was ahead. It seemed to her that the other girl
+was still clinging to her. She could hear the
+footsteps and the heavy breathing.</p>
+<p>But suddenly she was aware that it was her
+own feet spurning the cinders that she heard—and
+her own breathing. She was winning!</p>
+<p>And then the tape snapped across her chest
+and Jess and Eve Sitz, who had run over to
+watch the finish of the race, caught her in their
+arms.</p>
+<p>“Splendid! Bully for you, Bobs!� cried Jess.
+“Why, there isn’t any other quarter-mile runner
+in Central High. You take the palm!�</p>
+<p>And not until then did Bob understand that
+the girl she thought she had run so closely was
+a hallucination. The second runner was yards
+behind her at the finish!</p>
+<p>They bore Bobby into the gym. building and
+Mrs. Case insisted upon Dr. Agnew’s seeing her
+again almost immediately. The physician was
+still in the building, and he came when called.
+The physical instructor was examining the time
+card Laura and her assistants had made out. She
+would not divulge their time to the runners, and
+the time keepers were sworn to secrecy; but
+everybody knew that Bobby Hargrew had made
+a good showing.</p>
+<p>“There’s nothing the matter with that little
+girl,� said the doctor, confidently. “Only, these
+sudden strains are not valuable. Yes, once, by
+the way, is all right. As long as one does not
+go beyond that reserve strength that your instructor
+harps upon,� and he laughed.</p>
+<p>Bobby was naturally proud over her achievement,
+for she knew that she had run a very fast
+quarter. She was only sorry that she could not
+know herself just how fast she was. But that
+was a secret Mrs. Case kept from her.</p>
+<p>“The worst possible thing for a runner in
+training to know is how fast, or how slow, he
+is,� she often declared, “Do your best each
+time; that is your business.�</p>
+<p>So Bobby got into her street clothes and, having
+telephoned to her father as she had promised
+Eve Sitz, she ran home to pack her bag. On the
+way she passed by the house where Miss Carrington
+boarded. Gee Gee had two rooms in a wing
+of the old Boyce house, in which the Widow
+Boyce kept lodgers. Her front room had long,
+French windows which swung outward like
+doors upon the porch. And as Bobby ran by
+she saw a man come down from this porch, as
+though he had been listening at the windows,
+and hurry around the corner of the house
+and behind the thick hedge of the kitchen garden.</p>
+<p>“That was the Gypsy—Jim Varey,� Bobby
+thought, hesitating before the house. “What is
+he haunting Gee Gee for? Ought she to know
+that he is hanging around?�</p>
+<p>But the girl hesitated about going in and
+speaking to the teacher. Gee Gee, she
+considered, was really her arch-enemy. Why should
+she try to shield her from any trouble? And,
+too, Miss Carrington might not thank her for
+interfering in her private affairs.</p>
+<p>So Bobby ran on home and told Mrs. Ballister
+where she was going, huddled a few things
+into her bag, kissed “the kids,� as she termed
+her sisters, and ran off for the station, there to
+meet Eve for the 5:14 train to Keyport.</p>
+<p>And while she waited who should appear but
+that black-faced man with the gold hoops in his
+ears—Jim Varey!</p>
+<p>The Gypsy saw her—Bobby knew he did.
+But he paid her no attention, slinking into the
+men’s room and not appearing again until Eve
+arrived and the two girls went aboard the train.
+Then Bobby saw him once more.</p>
+<p>“Do you see that fellow, Eve?� she demanded,
+whispering into the bigger girl’s ear.</p>
+<p>“What fellow?�</p>
+<p>“There! he’s gone,� said Bobby, with a sigh.
+“I feared he was following us.�</p>
+<p>“Whom do you mean?� queried Eve, rather
+surprised by her manner.</p>
+<p>“Jim Varey, the Gypsy.�</p>
+<p>“Why! is he about?� asked Eve. “You
+mean the husband of Queen Grace? Well, he’s
+a bad egg, he is! I hope he won’t dog us to
+the house, for he might learn then where that
+poor girl is hiding.�</p>
+<p>When they were in the car Bobby stuck her
+head out of the window to look along the platform.
+She did not see Jim Varey in the crowd;
+but she might better have kept in her head—for
+he saw her.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xiiiwhat-margit-said">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id13">CHAPTER XIII—WHAT MARGIT SAID</a></h2>
+<p>The two girls settled back into their seats,
+each having one to herself, for the car was not
+filled. Bobby was soon laughing and joking in
+her usual way.</p>
+<p>“If I ride backward like this, will I get to
+the same place you do, Eve?� she asked.</p>
+<p>“What a ridiculous question!� exclaimed
+Eve.</p>
+<p>“I don’t know. One of the ‘squabs’ was going
+around yesterday asking everybody a much
+more foolish one.�</p>
+<p>“What was that?�</p>
+<p>“Why, what was the largest island in the
+world before Australia was discovered?� queried
+Bobby, giggling.</p>
+<p>“Why—why—Newfoundland, perhaps?�</p>
+<p>“Nope.�</p>
+<p>“Madagascar?�</p>
+<p>“No,� said Bobby, shaking her head.</p>
+<p>“England and Scotland together?�</p>
+<p>“Huh! You couldn’t divide them very well,�
+jeered Bobby. “But that’s not the answer.�</p>
+<p>“What <em>was</em> the biggest island, then? I give,
+it up,� said Eve.</p>
+<p>“Why, Australia, of course,� chuckled Bobby.
+“It was there all the time, even if it wasn’t discovered.
+Don’t you see?�</p>
+<p>And so she passed the time without betraying
+the fact that she had a very serious reason for
+wishing to see and talk with Margit Salgo.</p>
+<p>When the girls left the train they had no idea
+that Jim Varey got out of the smoking car on
+the wrong side from the station and hid in the
+bushes. When the girls started across the fields
+toward the Sitz place, the Gypsy dogged them.</p>
+<p>In half an hour Eve and her guest reached
+the house, never suspecting that they had been
+the subject of attention.</p>
+<p>Bobby was welcome at the farmhouse. She
+had been there several times before and from
+Farmer Sitz down they enjoyed the whimsical,
+irrepressible girl. The expectation that she
+would be “good fun� put Bobby on her mettle,
+despite the fact that, secretly, she did not feel
+cheerful.</p>
+<p>Margit Salgo was better and seemed content
+enough to occupy the comfortable bed in the
+room next Eve’s own. She knew Bobby
+immediately, and looked a bit disturbed. But Bobby
+gave her to understand that she had told nobody
+about what the Gypsy girl had said the day they
+were caught together in the rain.</p>
+<p>“But to-night, when the other folks are abed,
+I want you to tell Eve and me what you care
+to about yourself, Margit,� said Bobby, when
+the others were out of the room. “Perhaps we
+can help you. All we girls are interested in you,
+for, you see, at least seven of us saw you that
+day when you ran away from your friends.�</p>
+<p>“No friends of mine! no friends of mine!�
+gasped the girl, half in fear.</p>
+<p>“All right. You tell us all about it this evening,�
+whispered Bobby and then whisked out to
+help Eve with her duties.</p>
+<p>Not that she was of much help when she followed
+Eve out to the clean and modern barn
+where Eve had her own six cows to milk, while
+Otto or the hired man milked the rest of the
+herd. But she <em>was</em> amusing.</p>
+<p>“Goodness me!� was Bobby’s first comment,
+when she came into the shed and saw the row
+of mild-eyed cattle standing in their stalls.
+“What a lot of cows—and every one of them
+chewing gum! Can you beat it?�</p>
+<p>“What do you suppose Miss Carrington
+would say to a row of girls who chewed their
+cud as seriously as these bossies?� laughed Eve.</p>
+<p>Bobby arched her brows, screwed up her
+mouth, and replied, in a stilted manner:</p>
+<p>“‘Young ladies! I <em>am</em> surprised. Do my
+eyes deceive me? Do you consider it polite to
+wag your jaws like that in public? Fie, for
+shame!’ And much more to the same purpose,�
+added Bobby, laughing. “Oh, Gee Gee and her
+lessons in politeness make me tired. She’s so
+polite herself that she’d even return a telephone
+call! Hullo! what’s this?�</p>
+<p>“A bridle,� said Eve, as Bobby took it down
+from its hook.</p>
+<p>“Oh! Sure! You see, I’m a regular green-horn
+when it comes to country things. Of
+course, that’s the bit. But say! <em>how</em> do you
+ever get it into the horse’s mouth? <em>I’d</em> have
+to wait for him to yawn, I expect,� and she
+laughed.</p>
+<p>She was great fun at supper, too, to the delight
+of the family. Otto, with his queer notions
+of the English language, made Bobby very
+gay; and the young man complained of his difficulties
+with the English language just for the
+sake of encouraging Bobby to correct his speech.
+Finally she made up one of her little doggerel
+verses for him, to Otto’s great delight:</p>
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">“Otto saw a sausage in a pan,</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">He smelled a smelt a-frying;</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">He saw the sheep that had been dyed</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Look not the least like dying.</div>
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">“He saw a hen sit on an egg,</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Although she had been set;</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">Heard Eve complain of being dry</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Though plainly she was wet.</div>
+<div class="line"><br/></div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">“He looked upon the window pane,</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Quite sure no pain it had;</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">Then sighed, and shook his head, and said:</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">’Dot English, she iss pad!‘�</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p>Good Mrs. Sitz had not allowed Margit to
+get out of bed, but Eve and Bobby took supper
+in to the Gypsy girl on a tray. She protested
+that she was not an invalid, and after Otto and
+the old folks had gone to bed, Margit, well
+wrapped in shawls and a comforter, came out
+to sit in a big chair before Eve’s fire.</p>
+<p>“I am not like you girls,� she said, wistfully.
+“You go to school and learn things out of
+books, eh? Well, I never went to school. And
+then, this big America is so different from my
+country. You do not understand.�</p>
+<p>“I guess I can understand something of what
+you mean,� observed Eve, soberly. “You see,
+<em>we</em> came from Europe, too.�</p>
+<p>“Not from Hungary—Austria-Hungary?�
+cried Margit Salgo, with excitement.</p>
+<p>“No, no. From Switzerland,� replied Eve,
+smiling. “And I was very small when we came,
+so I do not remember much about it.�</p>
+<p>“But I came only last year,� explained Margit.
+“And I was given to the Vareys——�</p>
+<p>“Goodness me! Don’t talk that way,� interrupted
+Bobby. “It sounds just as though you
+were <em>owned</em> by those Gypsies.�</p>
+<p>“Well, it is so,� said Margit. “I am a
+Gypsy, too. My father was Belas Salgo. He
+was a musician—a wonderful musician, I believe.
+But he was a Gypsy. And all the Romany
+are kin, in some way. These Vareys are
+English Gypsies. They are kind enough to me.
+But I sure believe they hide from me <em>who I
+am</em>.�</p>
+<p>“What do you mean by that?� asked Eve,
+in surprise, although Bobby said not a word, but
+listened, eagerly.</p>
+<p>“Only my father, you see, was a Gypsy. My
+mother——�</p>
+<p>“Who was she?� asked Bobby, suddenly.</p>
+<p>“I—I do not know. But she was not of
+those people—no. I am sure of that. She died
+when I was very little. I went about in many
+lands with my father. Then he died—very
+suddenly. Gypsy friends took me for a while,
+but they all said I belonged over here—in
+America. So they sent me here finally.�</p>
+<p>“Your mother was American, then, perhaps?�
+said Eve, shrewdly.</p>
+<p>“That may be it. But these Vareys care
+nothing about my finding any relatives, save for
+one thing,� said Margit, shaking her head,
+gloomily.</p>
+<p>“What is that?� asked Bobby.</p>
+<p>“If there is money. They believe my mother’s
+people might be rich, or something of the
+kind. Then they would make them pay to get
+hold of me. But suppose my mother’s people
+do not want me?� slowly added the fugitive,
+sadly.</p>
+<p>“You are quite sure this is the idea the
+Vareys have?� asked Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Oh, yes. I heard them talking. Then I
+saw a—a card with a name written on it. They
+said, when they were looking at the card, ‘<em>She</em>
+will know all about it. It is to her we must go.’
+So I know it was a woman’s name.�</p>
+<p>“But how did you know—or suspect—that
+the name was that of any teacher in our
+school?� demanded Bobby, much to Eve’s surprise.</p>
+<p>“Ah! I learned much—here a word, there
+a word—by listening. I knew we were coming
+to Centerport for the purpose of getting speech
+with this woman whose name had been given
+them by the Hungarian people who brought me
+over here to America.�</p>
+<p>“But mercy on us!� cried Eve, in vast
+amazement. “What name is it?�</p>
+<p>“She can’t explain, for she cannot pronounce
+it,� said Bobby, instantly.</p>
+<p>“Grace, or Jim Varey, never spoke the name
+aloud,� said Margit, shaking her head. “But
+I know there are eighteen letters in the name.
+I counted them.�</p>
+<p>“And what teacher at Central High has
+eighteen letters in her name?� murmured Eve,
+staring at Bobby.</p>
+<p>Bobby took a pencil and wrote Miss Carrington’s
+full name slowly on a piece of paper. She
+put it before the Gypsy girl.</p>
+<p>“Is <em>that</em> the name?� she asked. “When we
+spoke together before I had forgotten that Miss
+Carrington always spells her middle name out
+in full when she writes it at all.�</p>
+<p>“Miss Carrington!� gasped Eve, and, like
+Bobby, looked in the Gypsy girl’s face questioningly.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xivanother-flitting">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id14">CHAPTER XIV—ANOTHER FLITTING</a></h2>
+<p>“Is she nice?� asked Margit Salgo, eagerly,
+looking at the two Central High girls.</p>
+<p>“Bless us!� muttered Bobby.</p>
+<p>“She is a very well educated lady,� said Eve,
+seriously. “I cannot tell whether you would
+like her. But—but do you really believe that
+she knows anything about you, Margit?�</p>
+<p>“I do not know how much she knows of <em>me</em>,�
+said the Gypsy girl, quickly. “But of my mother’s
+people she knows. That I am sure. She—she
+holds the key, you would say, to the matter.
+It is through her, I am sure, that the Vareys
+expect to get money for me.�</p>
+<p>“To sell you to Miss Carrington?� gasped
+Eve.</p>
+<p>“I do not know,� replied the Gypsy girl,
+shaking her head. “But there is money to be
+made out of me, I know. And Queen Grace
+is—is very eager to get money.�</p>
+<p>“She’s avaricious, is she?� said Eve, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>But Bobby Hargrew’s mind was fixed upon
+another phase of the subject. She took Margit’s
+hand and asked, softly:</p>
+<p>“What was your mother’s name, dear?�</p>
+<p>“Why—Madam Salgo.�</p>
+<p>“But her first name—her intimate name?
+What did your father call her? Do you not
+remember?�</p>
+<p>Margit waited a moment and then nodded.
+“I understand,� she said. “It was ‘Annake.’�</p>
+<p>“Anne?�</p>
+<p>“Ah, yes—in your harsh English tongue,�
+returned Margit. “But why do you ask?�</p>
+<p>Bobby was not willing to tell her that—then.</p>
+<p>“At any rate, Margit,� Eve told her, soothingly,
+“you will stay here with us just as long
+as you like.� The girl had narrated her flight
+from Centerport when she saw the Gypsies in
+that town and knew they would hunt her down.
+“And we girls will help you find your friends.�</p>
+<p>“This Miss Carrington,� spoke Margit, eagerly.
+“She knows. I must meet her. But do
+you not tell her anything about me. Let me
+meet and judge her for myself.�</p>
+<p>“Don’t you think we’d better tell her something
+about you?� asked Eve, thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>“Perhaps she might not want to know me,�
+replied the Gypsy girl, anxiously. “Who am I?
+A Romany! All you other people look
+down on the Romany folk.�</p>
+<p>“Well, you are only part Gypsy,� said the
+practical Evangeline. “And your father was
+an educated man—a great musician, you say.�</p>
+<p>“Surely!�</p>
+<p>“Then I wouldn’t class myself with people
+who would chase me with a bloodhound, and
+only wanted to make money out of me,� said
+Eve, sensibly.</p>
+<p>“Ah! but all the Romany folk are not like,
+the Vareys,� returned Margit.</p>
+<p>Eve would not allow the girl to talk until
+late, for her experience in the swamp had been
+most exhausting. They bundled her into bed,
+and laid all her poor clothing—which Mrs. Sitz
+had washed and ironed with her own hands—on
+the chair beside her.</p>
+<p>Bobby had one more question to ask the
+Gypsy girl before she went to sleep, and she
+asked that in secret.</p>
+<p>“How did that Varey woman—that Gypsy
+queen—know so much about me, and about
+Laura Belding, and our affairs?�</p>
+<p>“Did she?� returned Margit, sleepily. “She
+is a sharp one! But, then, the Vareys have
+worked through this part of the country for
+years and years. That is why I was given to
+them, I think. Perhaps Grace Varey has been
+to Centerport many times—I do not know. We
+Romany folk pick up all sorts of information—yes!�</p>
+<p>Bobby stole into bed beside Eve. She could
+not sleep for some time; but finally her eyes
+closed and—for some hours, or some minutes,
+she never knew which—she slept. Then, a dog’s
+howling broke her rest.</p>
+<p>Bobby sat up and listened. The dog’s mournful
+howling sounded nearer. Some dog about
+the Sitz premises answered with several savage
+barks. But, as nothing followed, the city girl
+dropped back upon her pillows again.</p>
+<p>The night noises of the country, however,
+disturbed her. She could not sleep soundly.
+Once she thought she heard voices—and so
+clearly that it seemed as though they must be
+in the bedroom.</p>
+<p>But it was still dark. Nobody could be astir,
+she told herself, at such a dark hour. A rooster
+crowed, and then several others followed. She
+fell asleep again slowly counting the chanticleers.</p>
+<p>And then—suddenly, it seemed—Eve was
+shaking her and calling in her ear:</p>
+<p>“Oh, Bobby! Bobby! Wake up—do!
+What do you suppose has happened?�</p>
+<p>It was broad daylight. Eve was more than
+half dressed and the door between their room
+and that occupied by the Gypsy girl was open.</p>
+<p>“What’s the matter?� gasped Bobby.</p>
+<p>“She’s gone!� wailed Eve.</p>
+<p>“Who’s gone?� and Bobby leaped out of
+bed.</p>
+<p>“That girl. Out of the window. She’s run
+away!�</p>
+<p>Bobby ran to look into the room. The window
+sash was up and the blinds wide open.
+The girls had slept on the ground floor, and
+alone in this wing of the rambling old farmhouse.</p>
+<p>“What did she run away for?� demanded
+Bobby, slowly. “She could have <em>walked</em> away,
+had she wanted to, couldn’t she? Nobody
+would have stopped her.�</p>
+<p>“But she’s gone!� cried Eve.</p>
+<p>“So I see,� Bobby admitted, grimly. “She
+didn’t go of her own free will, you can just
+bet!�</p>
+<p>“I didn’t think of that,� cried Eve, running
+to the window.</p>
+<p>It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and even
+farmer folk remain an hour longer in bed on
+that day. The sun, which had just risen, revealed
+the hillside fields and pastures clearly.
+There was not an object in sight which suggested
+the missing girl’s escape, saving just beneath
+the window. There several planks had
+been laid upon the soft earth, to make a walk
+to the hard path. This had been done by those
+who had come after Margit Salgo, so as to leave
+no footprints.</p>
+<p>Eve finished dressing in a hurry and ran to
+tell her parents and Otto. Mr. and Mrs. Sitz
+slept at the other end of the house, and Otto
+and the hired man on the floor above.</p>
+<p>Whoever had kidnapped the girl—for such it
+seemed to be—had worked very circumspectly.
+The watchdog, chained by his hutch, had been
+caught and a strong rubber band fastened about
+his jaws so that he could not bark. This had
+evidently been the first work of the marauders.</p>
+<p>Then they had gone about taking out the girl
+coolly enough. There were few footprints anywhere.
+And in the roadway they found where
+a wagon had been turned around. In this
+wagon, it was likely, Margit had been carried
+away, and it had started along the road in the
+direction of Centerport.</p>
+<p>“They have got her again,� sighed Bobby.
+“And goodness only knows what they will do
+with her, or where they will hide her away.�
+“Perhaps we will never see the poor girl
+again,� ventured Eve.</p>
+<p>But Bobby did not believe that. She knew
+now, for sure, that Margit Salgo was in some
+manner closely connected with the private affairs
+of Miss Carrington. She was sure that both
+the Gypsies and Margit would appear near the
+high school again.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xvanother-rivalry-on-the-field">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id15">CHAPTER XV—ANOTHER RIVALRY ON THE FIELD</a></h2>
+<p>Eve Sitz had no rival at Central High when
+it came to putting the shot; but there were
+plenty of girls who essayed the broad jump—and
+some did almost if not quite as well as Eve.
+Notably Lou Potter, a senior who practiced
+assiduously and who had many friends who
+believed she would, in the end, best the Swiss
+girl.</p>
+<p>“The meet is a long way off yet,� said one
+of Lou’s friends to Laura Belding. “That girl
+you juniors are boosting isn’t the only ‘hope’
+of Central High.�</p>
+<p>“Whom do you mean?� returned Mother
+Wit.</p>
+<p>“That girl whose name sounds like a glass of
+vichy—what is it? Eve——�</p>
+<p>“And what about Eve Sitz?� demanded
+Bobby, who chanced to arrive in time to hear
+the senior’s remark.</p>
+<p>“And here’s another fresh one,� said the
+senior, eyeing Bobby coolly. “Thinks she is
+going to grab off the quarter-mile.�</p>
+<p>“You make me tired!� returned Bobby,
+promptly. “Is that what you call loyalty to the
+school? If you’ve got another girl faster than
+I am, trot her out. I won’t stand in her light.�</p>
+<p>“Nor will Eve interfere with any girl who
+can beat her in jumping, or put the shot farther,�
+declared Laura, quickly.</p>
+<p>“Oh, yes! That’s all very pretty talk. But
+Mrs. Case is favoring you. She is favoring the
+whole junior class. <em>We</em> weren’t doing all the
+athletic stunts last year when we were juniors—no,
+indeed!�</p>
+<p>“Well, whose fault is it if the junior class
+stands better in after-hour athletics than the
+senior?� demanded Bobby, laughing.</p>
+<p>“And you pushed yourselves into the basketball
+team even before you were juniors,� declared
+the other girl, angrily.</p>
+<p>“Come, now!� returned Laura, warmly.
+“That’s not fair at all. If any of you seniors
+had shown any desire to play the game to win,
+Mrs. Case would have put you on the first team—you
+know that. But your class, as a whole,
+would rather dance, and go to parties, and attend
+the theatre, and all that. You know very
+well that Mrs. Case has often called our
+attention to the fact that late hours takes the vitality
+out of us, and makes success in the gym. and
+on the field impossible.�</p>
+<p>“Thanks for your lecture, Mother Witless!�
+snapped the other girl. “But I don’t care for
+it. And let me tell you that Lou Potter is going
+to make your soda-water champion look cheap.�</p>
+<p>“Dear me!� exclaimed Bobby, as the older
+girl turned away. “Do you suppose we’ll be
+as high and mighty as all that when we get to
+be seniors, Laura?�</p>
+<p>“I hope not—not even if we get to be patriarchs,�
+laughed Mother Wit. “But Miss Potter
+is making a good jump, just the same, Bobby.
+Eve isn’t going to have it all her own way.�</p>
+<p>“Why, Eve’ll beat her easily,� declared
+Bobby, with confidence.</p>
+<p>Eve Sitz did not find it so easy to score
+ahead of all her rivals, however. And Lou
+Potter’s record steadily grew better. Eve knew
+that she was doing her very best right along,
+whereas the senior was creeping up, creeping
+up—showing almost as good a record as Eve,
+and still forging on.</p>
+<p>Magdeline Spink, of Lumberport, held the
+championship for putting the shot, and Eve
+knew that she had surpassed her score. In the
+broad jump it was almost as difficult for the
+contestants to learn their exact record as it was
+for the sprinters to learn theirs. If Mrs. Case
+measured the distance she kept the record secret.</p>
+<p>Some of the seniors, especially those who
+were backing Lou Potter, began to make trouble
+in the meetings of the athletic committee, too.
+Heretofore no point had been made of the fact
+that the after-hour athletics were dominated by
+the junior class of Central High. That it was
+the fault of the present class of seniors if they
+were not in control of the League, did not now
+appeal to the disaffected.</p>
+<p>Some of the junior and sophomore girls who,
+as Bobby said, were inclined to “toady� to
+members of the first class, took up cudgels for
+the seniors, too. Notably Lily Pendleton, who
+was forever aping the manners of her elders
+and always liked to associate with more mature
+girls.</p>
+<p>And so, when there was friction in the committee
+meetings, Lily usually sided with the
+senior members.</p>
+<p>“Why don’t you stick by your classmates,
+Lil?� demanded the hot-tempered Bobby, one
+afternoon, when the committee had been discussing
+plans for the June meet. It had already
+been decided that the inter-school field
+day exercises should be held on the grounds of
+Central High, that being by far the best field.</p>
+<p>“Have I got to stick by you whether you’re
+right, or not, Bob Hargrew?� demanded Lily.</p>
+<p>“But we’re right—of course.�</p>
+<p>“I don’t think so. The seniors should have
+their say. We’ll want to boss when <em>we</em> are
+seniors.�</p>
+<p>“They haven’t shown much interest in the
+scoring of Central High in athletic matters
+until lately,� Jess Morse said, quickly. “Why
+should they want to come in now and run it
+all?�</p>
+<p>“They have the right,� declared Lily.</p>
+<p>“Don’t see it—do you, Laura?� cried Bobby.</p>
+<p>“If they only wouldn’t try to go against Mrs.
+Case’s wishes so frequently,� sighed Mother
+Wit, who would have conceded much for peace.</p>
+<p>“They don’t propose to be bossed by the
+teachers all the time,� declared Lily. “And
+they’re right.�</p>
+<p>Now, this attitude would have appealed to
+Bobby Hargrew a few months before. But she
+had learned a good bit of late.</p>
+<p>“There is no use in our trying to run athletics
+in opposition to Mrs. Case—or Mr.
+Sharp,� she said.</p>
+<p>“Or Gee Gee; eh, Bobby?� added Hester
+Grimes, slily.</p>
+<p>As the girls crowded out of the committee
+room some of the boys were grouped at the corridor’s
+end, plainly waiting for their appearance.
+Chet Belding and Launcelot Darby, his
+chum, were waiting for Laura and Jess. That
+was a frequent occurrence. No boy ever waited
+for the fly-away Bobby; but there was with the
+two chums a tall, thin youth dressed in the most
+astonishing clothes that ever appeared in the
+corridors of a high school.</p>
+<p>“Oh me, oh my!� cried Bobby, under her
+breath. “There’s Purt Sweet—and he looks
+like a negro minstrel.�</p>
+<p>“My goodness me! He <em>is</em> dressed to kill,
+isn’t he?� giggled Jess.</p>
+<p>For Prettyman Sweet, the sartorial example
+of Central High, was more than usually gay
+upon this occasion. And he was not waiting
+there by chance, it was plain.</p>
+<p>“See! Lily is trotting off with him,� laughed
+Bobby. “They must have patched up a truce.
+Oh! and look at that collar!� and the wicked
+Bobby leaned far over the banister and sang
+gaily:</p>
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">“He wore a collar extra high,</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">He wore a purple vest;</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">He wore his father’s patience out—</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">But why tell all the rest?�</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p>“That saucy child!� exclaimed Lily, looking
+back. “She ought to be whipped.�</p>
+<p>“You never can get even with her, doncher
+know,� drawled Purt, shaking his head.
+“Weally, I’d much like to try it; but I don’t
+know what to do.�</p>
+<p>“And the rest of those girls, laughing, too,�
+snapped Lily. “Jess Morse and Laura are just
+as bad.�</p>
+<p>“Well, weally——�</p>
+<p>“Oh, if you had half the pluck of a rabbit,�
+scolded Lily, “you’d do something to get
+square.�</p>
+<p>Now, Lil Pendleton wronged Pretty Sweet.
+He was not particularly brave, it was true; but
+he would have done a good deal to “get even�
+with Bobby Hargrew for her sharp tongue. He
+had been the butt of her jokes for a long time
+and—— Well, it is said even the worm will turn.</p>
+<p>The following afternoon a sudden thunder
+shower kept some of the girls in the school
+building after most of the pupils had departed.
+It was a part of the junior class, and Bobby, as
+well as Laura and Jess, were among those kept
+by Miss Carrington after the regular session
+closed.</p>
+<p>“I believe she knew we were due at the
+athletic field this afternoon,� grumbled Bobby, as
+they stood waiting at the foot of the tower
+stairs for the shower to pass.</p>
+<p>“What good would it have done us to be at
+the gym. now?� laughed Laura. “This shower
+has spoiled open air work for the afternoon.�</p>
+<p>“Bobby doesn’t believe Gee Gee ever gives
+us extra tasks because we deserve them,� said
+Jess.</p>
+<p>“It <em>did</em> seem as though Miss Carrington was
+particularly harsh to-day,� murmured Eve.</p>
+<p>“That’s so! She was as cross as two sticks,�
+declared Bobby.</p>
+<p>“I believe something is troubling Miss Carrington’s
+mind,� said Nellie Agnew. “Have
+you noticed how thin she is getting—and that
+she starts nervously at every little thing?�</p>
+<p>“She was scared when the thunder began—I
+was glad of it,� declared Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Bad girl!� admonished Laura.</p>
+<p>“It’s her conscience,� ventured Bobby.</p>
+<p>Eve looked at her and shook her head.</p>
+<p>“Oh, I’m not going to say <em>why</em> I think her
+conscience troubles her,� laughed Bobby.</p>
+<p>Nellie was looking out of the window. “I
+say, girls! it’s breaking away, I do believe. And
+I think there’s a rainbow—yes! there’s a part
+of it.�</p>
+<p>“It is a very small part you see, Nell,�
+laughed Eve.</p>
+<p>“Let’s go up into the tower,� suggested Jess.
+“We can see it all from there.�</p>
+<p>“Let’s,� agreed Bobby.</p>
+<p>“That’s forbidden, you know,� said Laura,
+slowly.</p>
+<p>“Oh, dear, Laura! Don’t be such a mollycoddle!
+Nobody’s really told us girls not to go
+into the tower. And we won’t do any damage——�</p>
+<p>“Maybe the door is locked,� observed Nellie,
+doubtfully.</p>
+<p>But Bobby ran to the solid oak door and tried
+it. Although there was a key in the lock, the
+door opened at once to her turning of the
+knob.</p>
+<p>“Come on!� exclaimed Bobby. “You’re a
+lot of scare-cats!�</p>
+<p>“I admire your language, Bobs,� laughed
+Jess, following her.</p>
+<p>The others went, too. Of course it was forbidden
+territory, and why shouldn’t they want
+to go? That was only human nature.</p>
+<p>Besides, as they climbed the stairs, through
+the narrow windows they caught glimpses of
+the rainbow and the clouds, now breaking up
+into great beds of vari-colored mist.</p>
+<p>“Hurry up!� cried Bobby, in the lead. “It’s
+just wonderful up here.�</p>
+<p>They had left the door at the foot of the
+long, winding flight open. But scarcely had they
+disappeared when another figure appeared in the
+corridor which they had left. Purt Sweet, too,
+had been kept after school by Professor Dimp.</p>
+<p>The youth saw the girls ascend the stair.
+The chance was too obvious to neglect. Although
+usually taking Bobby’s jokes and the
+others’ laughter good-naturedly, he had been
+spurred by Lily Pendleton’s remarks to a desire
+to “get square.�</p>
+<p>And here was opportunity before him. Purt
+hurried forward, softly closed the door behind
+the girls, and turned the key in the lock.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xvifive-in-a-tower">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id16">CHAPTER XVI—FIVE IN A TOWER</a></h2>
+<p>But the girls climbing the stairs to see the
+rainbow had no idea that anybody below was
+playing a trick on them. After school was dismissed
+and the pupils left the building, and the
+teachers were gone, there was nobody but old
+John, the janitor, on the premises.</p>
+<p>From any other floor he could be summoned
+by alarm bells. But there were no push-buttons
+in the tower. Therefore, when Purt Sweet
+turned the key, and stole away from the door
+at the bottom of the tower stairs, he had imprisoned
+the five girls as effectually as though
+they were in the tower of some ancient castle.</p>
+<p>The five went up the stairs, however, without
+any suspicion that they were prisoners.</p>
+<p>“Come on! come on!� urged Bobby, who
+mounted much quicker than the others. “Oh,
+this is glorious!�</p>
+<p>They came out into a square room, through
+which the air blew freshly. The rain had evidently
+blown into the place during the shower,
+for it lay in puddles on the stone floor. The
+windows had no panes—indeed, they were
+merely narrow slits in the stone wall, like loop-holes
+in old fortresses.</p>
+<p>“Dear me!� cried Jess. “How small the
+people look in the park—do you see? Just like
+ants.�</p>
+<p>“Some of ’em are uncles, not ‘ants,’� laughed
+Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Punning again!� exclaimed Nell. “You
+should be punished for that, Bobby.�</p>
+<p>“Huh! that’s worse than mine,� declared
+Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Look at that sky!� cried Laura.</p>
+<p>“It is very beautiful,� agreed Eve, quietly.</p>
+<p>“Look at those clouds yonder—a great, pink
+bed of down!� murmured Jess.</p>
+<p>“And this arch of color,� said Laura, seriously.
+“I suppose that is just what Noah saw.
+How poetic to call it the Bow of Promise!�</p>
+<p>The girls enjoyed looking at the wild colorings
+of the clouds and the beautiful bow. A
+half an hour elapsed before they proposed descending.</p>
+<p>As they went down the stairs, Bobby still in
+the lead, she stopped suddenly with a little cry.</p>
+<p>“What’s the matter now, Bobs?� demanded
+Jess.</p>
+<p>“Oh! don’t you see it?� cried the other girl.
+“It’s a spider.�</p>
+<p>“He won’t eat you,� said Jess. “Go on.�</p>
+<p>“I know he won’t. I declare! he’s spinning
+a web.�</p>
+<p>At that moment she came to the bottom of
+the stairway.</p>
+<p>“Guess the draught pulled the door shut,�
+she exclaimed. “Hullo!�</p>
+<p>She tried the knob, but the door would not
+open.</p>
+<p>“Why, what’s the matter, Bobby?� cried
+Laura. “That is not a spring lock.�</p>
+<p>“Huh! I guess not,� returned Bobby. “But
+somebody’s sprung it on us, just the same.�</p>
+<p>“What do you mean?� demanded Nellie
+Agnew.</p>
+<p>“The door’s locked,� declared Laura, reaching
+the bottom step and trying the knob herself.</p>
+<p>“You bet it is,� said Bobby.</p>
+<p>“It’s a joke!� gasped Eve.</p>
+<p>“I should hope so,� returned Laura. “If
+they were in earnest it would be bad for us.
+John will leave the building soon, and how will
+we attract anybody to release us?�</p>
+<p>“Oh, Laura!� cried Nell. “Nobody would
+be so mean.�</p>
+<p>“It may be,� said Eve, thoughtfully, “that
+somebody went past, saw the door open, and
+closed and locked it with no idea that we were
+in the tower.�</p>
+<p>“Well!� exclaimed Bobby, at that. “We’re
+in a nice fix—yes?�</p>
+<p>“Who would have done it?� wailed Nellie
+Agnew.</p>
+<p>“Maybe the janitor himself,� observed Laura,
+thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>“My goodness! but you’re the cheerful girl,�
+returned Bobby. “Do you want to scare us to
+death right at the start, Mother Wit?�</p>
+<p>“We might as well admit the seriousness of
+the situation,� said Laura. “I can’t imagine
+that anybody would shut us up here for a joke.�</p>
+<p>“Some of the boys?� suggested Eve.</p>
+<p>“That Short and Long is full of mischief,�
+added Nell.</p>
+<p>“Chet would wring his neck for a thing like
+this,� declared Jess, with confidence.</p>
+<p>“I don’t care who did it, or what it was done
+for,� said Bobby, finally. “The fact remains:
+The door is locked!�</p>
+<p>“That is the truest thing you ever said,
+Bobby,� sighed Jess. “Come on back to the
+tower room. Do you suppose we can call loud
+enough to attract the attention of people on the
+street?�</p>
+<p>“Not in a thousand years,� groaned Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Oh, we won’t have to remain here that
+long,� said Laura, cheerfully.</p>
+<p>“Hope not,� growled Bobby. “I’m getting
+hungry.�</p>
+<p>“That won’t do you any good,� said Jess.
+“It’s useless to have an appetite when there is
+nothing in sight to satisfy it—just as useless as
+the holes in a porous plaster.�</p>
+<p>“Who says the holes in a porous plaster are
+useless?� demanded Bobby, quickly. “They’re
+not.�</p>
+<p>“What are they for, then?� asked Eve,
+mildly.</p>
+<p>“Why, to let the pain out, of course,� declared
+Bobby, boldly.</p>
+<p>“I wish there were some holes here that
+would let <em>us</em> out,� sighed Nellie Agnew.</p>
+<p>“Don’t lose heart, Nell!� advised Laura.
+“There never was a situation that didn’t offer
+some release. We’ll find a way of escape.�</p>
+<p>“Sure!� scoffed Bobby. “Any of us can
+crawl out through one of these slits in the wall.�</p>
+<p>“And then what?� demanded Jess.</p>
+<p>“Why, jump!� cried Bobby. “There’ll be
+nothing to stop you.�</p>
+<p>“Don’t talk so recklessly,� said Mother Wit.
+“This is really a very serious problem. Mother
+will be very anxious about me if I don’t come
+home by six.�</p>
+<p>“It’s an hour and a half to that yet,� said
+Nellie, looking at her watch.</p>
+<p>Bobby was striving to squeeze through one
+of the open windows in the tower and look down
+upon the street. But it was nonsense to expect
+anybody on the walk to see them up there in
+the tower.</p>
+<p>“And we could shriek our heads off without
+attracting a bit of attention,� declared Nellie,
+half crying. “What <em>shall</em> we do, Laura?�</p>
+<p>“Keep cool,� advised Laura. “Why lose all
+our courage because we are locked into this
+tower? We will be found.�</p>
+<p>“Maybe,� spoke Bobby, gloomily.</p>
+<p>“You have become a regular croaker,� declared
+Jess. “I’m ashamed of you, Bobs.�</p>
+<p>“That’s all right!� cried Bobby. “But
+hunger is an awful thing to suffer.�</p>
+<p>“Ha! you make me laugh,� cried Eve.
+“Just think of me! If I don’t catch that 5:14
+train I’ll not get supper till nine o’clock.�</p>
+<p>“But what a supper it will be when you <em>do</em>
+get it!� exclaimed Bobby. “Oh, girls! when
+I was at Eve’s house last week they had thirteen
+vegetables for supper, besides two kinds of cold
+meat, and preserves and pickles. Talk about
+the poor farmer! Why the sort of supper
+Eve’s folks have every night would cost city
+folks two dollars a plate.�</p>
+<p>“I am afraid you are stretching your imagination,
+Bobby,� laughed Eve.</p>
+<p>“Never! They’ve got bins and bins of vegetables—and
+rows and rows of ham in the meat
+house—and bar’ls and bar’ls of salt pork!
+Listen here,� cried the whimsical Bobby, who
+had a doggerel rhyme for every occasion.
+“This is just what Eve Sitz hears whenever
+she goes down into the cellar in the winter.
+She can’t deny it!� And she sang:</p>
+<blockquote><div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">“Potato gazed with frightened eyes,</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">King corn lent mournful ear,</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">The beet a blushing red did turn,</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">The celery blanched with fear,</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">The bean hid trembling in its pod,</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">The trees began to bark,</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">And on the beaten turnpike road</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">The stones for warmth did spark,</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">The brooklet babbled in its sleep</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Because the night was cold;</div>
+</div>
+<div class="line">The onion weeps within its bed</div>
+<div class="line-block">
+<div class="line">Because the year is old.�</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p>“You are so ridiculous,� said Eve. “Nobody
+believes the rigamaroles you say.�</p>
+<p>“All right!� returned Bobby, highly offended.
+“But you’re bound to believe one thing—that’s
+sure.�</p>
+<p>“What is that?� queried Nellie.</p>
+<p>“That we’re up in this tower, with the door
+locked—and I believe that John, the janitor,
+goes home about this time to supper!�</p>
+<p>“Oh, oh!� cried Nellie. “Don’t say <em>that</em>.
+However will we get away?�</p>
+<p>“Let’s bang on the door!� exclaimed Jess.</p>
+<p>So they thumped upon the thick oak door—Bobby
+even kicked it viciously; and they shouted
+until they were hoarse. But nobody heard, and
+nobody came. The only person who knew they
+were locked into the tower was a mile away
+from Central High by that time—and, anyway,
+he dared not tell of what he had done, nor did
+he dare go back to release the girls from their
+imprisonment.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xviieve-takes-a-risk">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id17">CHAPTER XVII—EVE TAKES A RISK</a></h2>
+<p>“Now, Nell!� declared Mother Wit, emphatically,
+“there isn’t the least use in your
+crying. Tears will not get us down from this
+tower.�</p>
+<p>“You—you can be just as—as brave as you
+want to be,� sobbed Nellie Agnew.
+“I—want—to—go—home!�</p>
+<p>“For goodness-gracious sake! Who doesn’t?�
+snapped Bobby. “But, just as Laura says,
+weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth
+won’t help us the tiniest bit!�</p>
+<p>“What will help us, I’d like to know?�
+grumbled Jess Morse.</p>
+<p>“Put on your thinking cap, Mother Wit,�
+cried Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Dear me!� said Eve, drawing in her head.
+“It <em>is</em> a long way from the ground—and that’s
+a fact.�</p>
+<p>“It’s a good, long jump,� chuckled Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Let’s write calls for help on pieces of paper
+and drop them down,� suggested Laura.</p>
+<p>“With the wind blowing the way it is, the
+papers would fly up, instead of down,� scoffed
+her chum.</p>
+<p>“We’ll weight ’em,� said Laura.</p>
+<p>“It would be like throwing over a bottle into
+the sea, telling how we are cast away on a desert
+island,� said Bobby. “And this is worse than
+any desert island I ever heard about. Say, girls!
+how do you suppose our boots will taste?�</p>
+<p>“What nonsense!� said Nellie, wiping her
+eyes. “We sha’n’t be hungry enough to begin
+on our shoes for a long time yet. But how
+scared our folks will be when we don’t come
+home to supper.�</p>
+<p>“And the sun’s going down,� mourned Jess.</p>
+<p>“Why, girls,� said Laura, thoughtfully, “it
+will be after dark before our folks begin to miss
+us much. And then they won’t see us up here,
+that’s sure!�</p>
+<p>“I’m going to climb out of one of these windows
+and wave something,� cried her chum.
+“Surely somebody will see me.�</p>
+<p>“And think you’re just playing up here,�
+commented Nellie, who was fast losing all hope.</p>
+<p>“My goodness!� exclaimed Jess. “They
+must think, then, that I have selected a crazy
+place to play in,� and she removed her jacket
+and began to crawl out through one of the windows
+of the tower.</p>
+<p>“Be careful, dear!� warned Laura.</p>
+<p>“Yes, do look out where you step,� said
+Bobby, grabbing Jess’s skirt with a firm grip.
+“It’s a long way down to the street.�</p>
+<p>“If we only had some means of making a
+light up here,� said Laura, in a worried tone.
+“Then, after dark, people <em>would</em> be attracted by
+our plight.�</p>
+<p>“I haven’t a match—have you?� demanded
+Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Of course not. Girls never do carry useful
+things in their pockets. Unless <em>you</em> do, Bobby.�</p>
+<p>“I’ve got about everything in my pocket but
+a match,� declared the smaller girl.</p>
+<p>“I have a good mind to drop this old coat,�
+called Jess, from outside.</p>
+<p>“And it would catch on something half-way
+down the tower, perhaps, and then you’d never
+see it again,� Bobby said.</p>
+<p>“Well, what <em>shall</em> we do?� demanded Jess,
+wriggling back into the tower room and dragging
+her jacket after her. “Nobody will even
+look up. I expect we’d look like pigeons up here
+to them.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, dear!� gasped Bobby. “I do wish
+some pigeons <em>would</em> fly up here. They do
+sometimes, you know.�</p>
+<p>“What good would they do us?� demanded
+Nellie.</p>
+<p>“Couldn’t we kill and eat them?� replied
+Bobby. “Nothing like having bright ideas
+when you are cast away on a desert tower.�</p>
+<p>“Your ideas may be bright enough,� laughed
+Laura; “but I wouldn’t care to eat pigeons
+raw.�</p>
+<p>“You may be glad to before we get down
+from here,� returned Bobby, gloomily.</p>
+<p>“Now that’s ridiculous,� said Mother Wit,
+briskly. “Don’t <em>you</em> begin to lose heart, Miss
+Hargrew.�</p>
+<p>“I’ve as good a right as the next one,�
+growled Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Speaking of pigeons,� observed Jess, ruminatively,
+“Chet’s carriers sometimes come up
+here when he lets them out. I’ve seen them.�</p>
+<p>“My goodness me!� ejaculated Mother Wit.
+“Wouldn’t that be fine?�</p>
+<p>“Wouldn’t what be fine?� queried Nellie,
+wiping her eyes.</p>
+<p>“If some of Chet’s carriers would just fly
+up here. They know me. I’ve handled them
+lots of times. And we might send a note back
+telling Chet where we are.�</p>
+<p>“And he’d find it tied under the pigeon’s
+wing in about a week,� scoffed Bobby.</p>
+<p>“What <em>are</em> we going to do, girls?� demanded
+Nellie. “And it’s chilly up here, too.�</p>
+<p>Jess pulled on her jacket again. “We can
+go down on the stairway, where it is warmer,�
+she said.</p>
+<p>“It is very annoying,� wailed the doctor’s
+daughter, “to have you girls take the matter so
+calmly. Why, the whole town will be searching
+for us by midnight.�</p>
+<p>“I hope so!� ejaculated Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Let’s all shout together. Somebody ought
+to hear us,� Eve said.</p>
+<p>“That is impossible,� objected Jess. “Sound
+doesn’t travel downward—much. Not when
+there is a sharp wind blowing, as it is now. It’s
+a good deal farther to the ground than it appears.�</p>
+<p>“That’s like what our old girl, Nora, said
+about the distance to Liverpool. When she
+came to us, she came direct from the immigrant
+ship,� laughed Bobby. “And she was telling
+about the weary way across the ‘say.’ ‘How
+far is it, Nora?’ one of the children asked her.</p>
+<p>“‘It’s fower thousan’ mile,’ declared Nora,
+‘to Liverpool.’</p>
+<p>“But the kiddies wouldn’t have that. They
+looked it up in the geography, and told her she
+was wrong—it was only three thousand.</p>
+<p>“‘Sure, that’s flatways,’ says Nora. ‘But I
+been over it, an’ wid the ups an’ the downs, sure
+I <em>know</em> ’tis another thousand!�</p>
+<p>“Dear me, Bobby,� complained Nellie.
+“I believe you’d joke if you were going to be
+hanged!�</p>
+<p>“Do you think so?� asked Bobby, seriously.
+“Much obliged. That’s a good reputation to
+have, whether I deserve it or not.�</p>
+<p>“Good for you, Bobs!� laughed Jess. “You
+keep still, old croaker!� she added, shaking Nellie
+Agnew. “Let’s look on the cheerful side of
+it. Every cloud has a silver lining.�</p>
+<p>“If you can see any silver lining to <em>this</em> cloud,
+I’d like you to show it to me, Miss!� exclaimed
+Nellie, with some warmth.</p>
+<p>Eve was going from window to window,
+thrusting her head and shoulders out of each,
+and examining the sides of the tower carefully.
+Laura asked what she was doing.</p>
+<p>“Why, dear, on this side is the roof of the
+school building,� said Eve, thoughtfully. “It
+isn’t so far below us.�</p>
+<p>“It’s much too far for us to jump,� returned
+Mother Wit.</p>
+<p>“True,� said Eve, smiling. “But see here.�</p>
+<p>“I can’t climb out of the same window you
+are at,� complained Laura.</p>
+<p>“Go to the next one, then, and I’ll point it
+out to you.�</p>
+<p>Laura did so. Sitting sideways on the sills
+the girls could thrust the upper part of their
+bodies out and obtain an unobstructed view of
+this entire wall of the tower.</p>
+<p>“See that wire?� exclaimed Eve, eagerly.</p>
+<p>Just below the level of the windows which
+pierced the upper story of the tower a heavy
+stay-wire was fastened to a staple set in the
+masonry. At some time the school building had
+been dressed with flags and bunting and this
+heavy wire had never been removed. It was
+fastened at the other end to a ring in the roof
+of the main building.</p>
+<p>“I see it, Evangeline,� admitted Mother Wit,
+with something like fear in her voice. “You
+wouldn’t do it!�</p>
+<p>“I believe I can,� declared the country girl.</p>
+<p>“Why—why—it would take a trapeze performer!�</p>
+<p>“Well, Mrs. Case has had us working on the
+ladders and the parallel bars until we ought to
+be pretty fair on a trapeze,� said Eve, laughing
+a little.</p>
+<p>“Oh, Eve! I wouldn’t try it,� cried Laura.</p>
+<p>“You see,� said the other, steadily, “if I
+can get out of the window here, and two of
+you can steady me, I can drop down upon that
+wire——�</p>
+<p>“But suppose you should fall to the roof!�</p>
+<p>“I won’t fall. That is not what I am aiming
+to do, at least.�</p>
+<p>“It is too reckless a thing to try,� cried
+Laura.</p>
+<p>“Now, wait. Nobody will see us up here.
+If we have to stay all night some of the girls
+will be sick. You know that. Now, if I can
+once get to that wire, I know I can work my
+way down it to the roof.�</p>
+<p>“You’ll slide—and cut your hands all to
+pieces.�</p>
+<p>“No, I won’t. I’ve a pair of thick gloves in
+my pocket,� declared Eve. “I am going to try
+it, Mother Wit.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, I don’t believe you had better!�</p>
+<p>Eve slid back into the tower-room, Laura following
+her. The bigger girl slipped out of her
+coat and took off her hat immediately.</p>
+<p>“Hullo!� said Bobby. “Don’t you want
+your slippers, too? You’re in for the night,
+are you?�</p>
+<p>But Eve was finding her gloves and these she
+drew on. Even Nellie began to get interested
+then.</p>
+<p>“What <em>are</em> you going to do now?� she cried.</p>
+<p>Laura explained quickly. Nellie began to
+cry again, and even Bobby looked troubled.</p>
+<p>“It isn’t worth the risk, is it?� she asked.
+“Somebody will find us some time.�</p>
+<p>“That’s just it,� Eve returned. “We don’t
+know when that <em>some time</em> will be. I can slide
+down that wire, get in by the roof opening, and
+unlock this door that shuts us up here. Of
+course, the key will be in the lock. If it isn’t,
+and there is nobody in the building, I can telephone
+for help.�</p>
+<p>“Say, that’s great!� spoke Jess. “If you can
+only do it safely, Eve.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, I’ll do it,� declared the country girl,
+confidently, and the next moment she began
+climbing out through the window nearest to the
+wire.</p>
+<p>Laura and Jess held her around the waist;
+then, as she slid out, farther and farther, they
+clung to her shoulders. But Eve had to leave
+her arms free and suddenly she panted:</p>
+<p>“Let me go! I’ve got to drop and grab the
+wire. That’s the only way.�</p>
+<p>Laura and her chum looked at each other in
+doubt and fear. It did seem as though, if they
+let go of the girl, she must fall to the foot of
+the tower!</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xviiithe-conscience-of-prettyman-sweet">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id18">CHAPTER XVIII—THE CONSCIENCE OF PRETTYMAN SWEET</a></h2>
+<p>Prettyman Sweet would never have played
+such a contemptible trick on Bobby Hargrew
+and her comrades had he not been goaded to it
+by Lily Pendleton. Purt had what the girls
+called “a dreadful crush� on Lily, and she had
+made fun of him because he took Bobby’s jokes
+so tamely.</p>
+<p>“If you had a spark of pluck you’d get square
+with that Hargrew girl,� Lily Pendleton had told
+him, and Purt thought that he was getting square
+with Bobby and her friends when he turned the
+key in the lock at the foot of the tower stairs.</p>
+<p>At first as he ran out of the school building
+into the rain that was still falling a little, his
+only fear was that he had been seen by somebody.
+But once away from the school building
+he began to giggle over the joke he had played
+on the girls.</p>
+<p>“They won’t laugh at me so much next time,�
+he thought.</p>
+<p>And then he remembered, with something of
+a shock, that he could not afford to tell anybody
+about what he had done. If he owned up to
+having locked the girls into the tower, he knew
+very well what would happen to him.</p>
+<p>If Chet Belding, or Lance Darby, did not get
+hold of him, one of the other boys would most
+certainly take him to task for the trick. And
+Purt Sweet was no fighter.</p>
+<p>He wouldn’t get much fun out of the trick
+he had played on the girls, after all! Now he
+wished he had not done it. What was the fun,
+when he had to keep it a secret?</p>
+<p>So Purt continued on this way home with
+lagging feet. And every yard, the possibilities
+that might follow his trick grew plainer in
+his mind. He saw, as he went on, that instead
+of having done something to create a
+laugh, he might have been guilty of an act that
+would start a whole lot’ of trouble.</p>
+<p>He knew, as well as did the girls shut up in
+the tower, that old John, the janitor, would go
+home to supper soon. And at this time of year,
+when there were no fires to see to, except the
+hot water heater, the old man might not come
+back at all.</p>
+<p>For, as far as Purt knew, there were no meetings
+in the building that evening. At least, he
+had heard none announced. The girls were
+likely to be left in the tower until the next day,
+while their friends were searching the city for
+them.</p>
+<p>Purt went into the square, from which point
+he could gaze up at the tower. But it was so
+far away, and so tall, that he could see nothing
+at the narrow slits of windows up there at the
+top.</p>
+<p>“If—if those girls waved a handkerchief out
+of the openings, nobody could see it down here,�
+thought the conscience-stricken youth.</p>
+<p>He had never been up in the tower himself,
+for it was forbidden territory. So he did not
+know how wide the windows were. It just
+struck home to Master Purt Sweet that the girls
+would be unable to signal their situation to anybody.</p>
+<p>But he had reached home before these
+thoughts so troubled him that he felt as though
+he <em>must</em> undo what he had done. Perhaps John
+had not gone home yet. He might still be able
+to get into the building, creep upstairs, unlock
+the door of the tower, and then run out before
+the girls could catch and identify him.</p>
+<p>For Purt had a very strong desire not to be
+suspected in this matter. Chet Belding would
+take up cudgels for his sister in a minute; and
+Chet would, Purt was sure, thrash him most
+soundly!</p>
+<p>Any of the teachers would have a pass-key to
+the building. Purt remembered that fact, too.
+Could he prevail upon one of them to lend him
+a key so that he could go into the building? Of
+course, he must have some good excuse, and
+he feared to appear before Professor Dimp with
+any such request unless he could back it with
+sound reason. And Mr. Sharp was entirely out
+of the question. Purt knew that the principal of
+Central. High would see right through him instantly.</p>
+<p>As for the lady teachers, Purt was more
+afraid of them than of Mr. Dimp and the principal.
+As it grew dark the boy sat cowering in
+his room at home, from the window of which
+he could see dimly the outlines of the schoolhouse
+tower, and he wept a few tears.</p>
+<p>He would have given a good deal had he not
+turned the key in that lock!</p>
+<p>Purt didn’t feel that he could appear at the
+dinner table; so he gave an excuse to his mother’s
+maid, and went out again. Perhaps somebody
+had discovered the girls up in the tower
+and released them. He walked up Whiffle Street
+and saw Chet Belding hanging over the front
+gate.</p>
+<p>“Hullo, Purt!� exclaimed the big fellow.
+“What’s doing?�</p>
+<p>“No—nothing,� stammered Purt.</p>
+<p>“Well, don’t be so scared about it. What’s
+got you now?�</p>
+<p>“No—nothing,� stammered Purt again.</p>
+<p>“Haven’t seen Lance, have you?�</p>
+<p>“No.�</p>
+<p>“Nor the girls?�</p>
+<p>The question scared Purt Sweet through and
+through. But he plucked up courage to ask:</p>
+<p>“How should I know anything about them?
+Hasn’t your sister come home yet?�</p>
+<p>“No. Down to that gym., I expect. Say,
+these girls are getting altogether too athletic.
+Didn’t see Jess, either, did you?�</p>
+<p>Purt shook his head and went on. He was
+afraid to stop longer with Chet—afraid that the
+latter would learn something about what he had
+done. It did seem to the culprit as though
+knowledge of the trick played on Laura Belding
+and her friends stuck out all over him.</p>
+<p>It was deep dusk now. Purt came within a
+block of the school building and looked slily
+about the corners, as though he were bent on
+mischief, instead of desirous of undoing the mischief
+he had already done.</p>
+<p>Had old John gone home yet? Would all
+the lower doors of Central High be locked?
+These were the questions that puzzled him.</p>
+<p>Purt ran into the side gate of the boys’ recreation
+ground and fumbled at the basement
+door, by which he knew the janitor usually left.
+It was locked; yet, as he rattled the knob, he
+thought he heard an answering sound within.</p>
+<p>He scuttled away to the corner and there
+waited to watch the door. Nobody came out.</p>
+<p>After half a minute of uncertainty the lad
+crept on to the boys’ entrance. The outside
+doors were closed and locked. He ran around
+to the street and entered the girls’ yard. The
+outer vestibule door was opened here and he
+ventured in, creeping along in the darkness and
+fumbling for the doorknob.</p>
+<p>And just then Purt Sweet got the scare of his
+life. A strong hand clasped his wrist and a
+sharp voice demanded:</p>
+<p>“What do you want here? Are you waiting
+for those girls, too?�</p>
+<p>“Oh, dear me!� gasped Prettyman Sweet,
+his knees trembling. “<em>Now</em> I’m in a fix, sure
+enough!�</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xixmargit-and-miss-carrington-meet">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id19">CHAPTER XIX—MARGIT AND MISS CARRINGTON MEET</a></h2>
+<p>It was several seconds before Purt realized
+just what manner of person had seized him by
+the arm in the vestibule at the girls’ entrance
+of Central High. It was so dark that Purt only
+knew it was a girl.</p>
+<p>“Who—who are you?� he stammered.</p>
+<p>“Oh! It’s only a boy,� said the girl, in a tone
+of disgust. “What do you want here?�</p>
+<p>“I—I was trying to get in,� murmured Purt.</p>
+<p>“What for? Isn’t this the girls’ entrance?
+They told me it was.�</p>
+<p>Then Purt knew that she did not belong at
+Central High. Indeed, she was a different kind
+of girl from any the youth had ever met.</p>
+<p>“Who are you, and what do <em>you</em> want?�
+asked Purt, plucking up courage. “I guess you
+don’t go to Central High.�</p>
+<p>“I never went to any school—not like this,
+anyway.�</p>
+<p>“But what do you want here? I—I left
+something in the building and wanted to get
+back and find it,� stammered Purt.</p>
+<p>“I was waiting to see those girls,� said the
+stranger.</p>
+<p>“What girls?� demanded the boy, in a panic
+again.</p>
+<p>“Some that I know. I waited and watched
+down by that place where they play——�</p>
+<p>“The athletic field?� suggested Purt.</p>
+<p>“Perhaps. And I asked another girl. She
+said they had not come down from the school
+yet. They were kept in. So I came up
+here——�</p>
+<p>“Who were the girls you want to see?�</p>
+<p>“One is named Evangeline, and she-comes
+from Switzerland. I am Austrian myself.
+And there is another girl—a little girl who always
+laughs. Her name is like a boy’s name.�</p>
+<p>“Bobby Hargrew,� said Purt, with a stifled
+groan. “And neither of those girls have come
+out of the building yet?�</p>
+<p>“No,� said the girl. “I have watched and
+waited for more than an hour.�</p>
+<p>Purt rattled the knob of the inner door desperately;
+but it was locked and evidently there
+was nobody within to hear him.</p>
+<p>“They must be away upstairs and cannot hear
+you,� said the strange girl.</p>
+<p>And <em>that</em> scared Purt, too. It seemed to him
+that this girl must know just what he had done
+to those girls whom she was waiting for. He
+started to leave the vestibule.</p>
+<p>“Hold on! Isn’t there any other door we
+can get in by?� asked the stranger.</p>
+<p>“I’m—I’m going to try the main entrance.
+Perhaps that is unlocked,� Purt replied.</p>
+<p>“I’ll go with you,� volunteered the other, and
+followed him down the steps.</p>
+<p>Purt wanted to get rid of her, whoever she
+was. He wished now that he hadn’t come back
+to the schoolhouse. He had read somewhere
+that criminals are driven by some mysterious
+power to haunt the scenes of their crimes. And
+it must be a fact, Purt told himself, for he had
+certainly been foolish to come back here to
+Central High—and go without his supper.</p>
+<p>He decided to slip out of the girls’ yard and
+run away. But when he reached the street there
+was the strange girl right at his elbow. And
+he remembered that she had a grip as firm as
+Chet Belding’s own.</p>
+<p>So nothing would do but try the front entrance.
+Of course, he knew it was ridiculous to
+go to that door. Even by day it was kept
+locked and visitors had to ring; only the teachers
+had pass-keys.</p>
+<p>But they went in at the main gate and
+mounted the steps of the portico. It was indeed
+black under here, for the street lights were too
+far away to cast any of their radiance into the
+place. Purt fumbled around, found the doorknob,
+and tried it. To his amazement it turned
+in his hand and the door swung open into the
+dark corridor.</p>
+<p>“They’re here, then,� whispered the girl.
+“Where do you suppose they are?� she continued.</p>
+<p>Now Purt had very good reason for believing
+that he knew just where the girls were whom
+this stranger wished to see; but he only said,
+gruffly:</p>
+<p>“I’m sure I don’t know. I don’t believe
+they’re in the building now.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, yes, they are. They have not come out.
+There are several beside those I named. So I
+was told at the athletic field.�</p>
+<p>“Well, I don’t know anything about them!�
+denied Purt, hurriedly. “I—I just want to go
+up for my book——�</p>
+<p>He shook himself free and ran for the front
+stairway. He knew his way in the dark and
+hoped to leave the girl behind. Once let him
+reach the foot of the tower stairs, he would unlock
+the door, fling it open so that the
+prisoners would hear him above, and then dart
+down the boys’ stairway and so out of the school
+building again.</p>
+<p>But before he reached the top of the first
+flight he heard the patter of the strange girl’s
+footsteps beside him. Through the long windows
+enough light filtered to show him her figure.
+And she ran better than he did, and without
+panting.</p>
+<p>Purt was scared now worse than he had been
+before.</p>
+<p>“She’ll tell them who unlocked the door,� he
+thought, “and so they’ll know right away who
+imprisoned them in the first place. Then Laura
+will tell her brother and Chet will thrash me—I
+know he will!�</p>
+<p>The lad was almost ready to cry now. It
+seemed to him as though every step he took got
+him deeper and deeper into trouble.</p>
+<p>He dashed up the other flight two steps at a
+time; but the girl kept on equal terms with him.
+What good wind she had! She could beat many
+of the girls of Central High in running, that
+was sure.</p>
+<p>“I don’t know what has become of Eve Sitz
+and that other girl you want to see,� exclaimed
+Purt, stopping suddenly. “And I don’t see why
+you are sticking so close to me.�</p>
+<p>“You know your way around this building;
+I don’t,� declared the girl, shortly.</p>
+<p>“I can’t help you find them——�</p>
+<p>“You seem afraid of something,� remarked
+the girl, shrewdly. “What’s the matter with
+you?�</p>
+<p>“Well, I go to school here,� complained
+Purt. “You don’t. You’ll get into trouble,
+coming into the building at night.�</p>
+<p>“I guess you’re afraid of getting into trouble
+yourself,� returned the other, quite unshaken.</p>
+<p>“Well, if one of the teachers is here and finds
+us——�</p>
+<p>“I’ll tell them just what I came for. Will
+you?� demanded the girl, quickly, and thrusting
+her face into Purt’s so as to see him better.</p>
+<p>She had him there! Purt knew it—and he
+knew <em>she</em> knew it. This strange girl was laughing
+softly to herself in the darkness.</p>
+<p>“Go on—if you’re going anywhere,� said
+she, after a minute. “I believe you know
+where those girls are. I want to see that Evangeline
+and that Hargrew girl. You show me.�</p>
+<p>“I—I don’t know!� wailed Purt, under his
+breath.</p>
+<p>Then he was sure he heard somebody’s step.
+It was in one of the classrooms opening into this
+corridor.</p>
+<p>At the sound, spurred by sudden terror, the
+boy leaped away. He was half-way down the
+corridor. Around the corner was the door of
+the tower.</p>
+<p>And then, just as he dashed past a door on
+his right, it opened. A broad band of light
+streamed out, and to Purt’s ears came the quick
+demand:</p>
+<p>“What’s this? Who are you?�</p>
+<p>“It’s Gee Gee!� thought the boy, but he
+never stopped. In a moment he realized that
+Miss Carrington had not addressed her question
+to him, but to the girl.</p>
+<p>He ran on, as softly as possible, and rounded
+the corner, knowing that the strange girl had
+been caught by the teacher, who repeated her
+demand in a louder and more emphatic tone.</p>
+<p>“Who are you? What are you doing here in
+the schoolhouse?� Then Miss Carrington saw
+that the girl was not one of her scholars—indeed,
+no girl of Central High was ever dressed
+so gaily, unless it was at a masquerade.</p>
+<p>“For goodness sake, child!� exclaimed the
+teacher, still more sharply. “Come in here and
+explain yourself.�</p>
+<p>She drew her inside the classroom and closed
+the door. In the full light the strange girl was
+revealed in a purple velvet skirt, a green bodice,
+a yellow silk scarf, or handkerchief, around her
+neck, and with a net, on which steel beads were
+sewed, over her hair. With her dark complexion
+and high color she was indeed a striking
+figure as she stood there, hands on her hips,
+and panting slightly as she gazed back bravely
+into Miss Carrington’s spectacled eyes.</p>
+<p>“For goodness sake, child!� repeated the
+teacher. “Who and what are you?�</p>
+<p>“My name is Margit Salgo,� said the Gypsy
+girl, watching Miss Carrington, with her sharp
+black eyes.</p>
+<p>“Salgo?� whispered the teacher, and for a
+moment the girl thought that Miss Carrington
+would sink into the nearest chair. Then she
+drew herself up and, although her pallor remained,
+her eyes sparkled behind the thick lenses
+of her spectacles.</p>
+<p>“I suppose you are here to tell me your
+father was Belas Salgo?� demanded the lady,
+harshly.</p>
+<p>“I don’t know who you are, Madam,� said
+the Gypsy girl. “Are you the lady whom the
+Vareys say knows all about me?�</p>
+<p>“Who are the Vareys?� returned Miss Carrington,
+quickly.</p>
+<p>“They are English Gypsies. I was placed in
+their care when my father’s friends brought me
+to this country. They have held me prisoner
+but I have got away from them——�</p>
+<p>“I do not understand you—I do not understand
+you,� insisted Miss Carrington, weakly.
+And now she did grope her way to a seat.</p>
+<p>“Are you the teacher here whose name has
+in it eighteen letters?� asked the girl, anxiously.
+“I do not read your English, although I speak
+it. I learn to speak languages easily—it is a
+gift. My father had it.�</p>
+<p>“True,� murmured Miss Carrington. “Belas
+Salgo was a wonderful linguist.�</p>
+<p>“Does your name have the eighteen letters?�
+pursued Margit, eagerly. She repeated her story
+about the card on which was printed, or written,
+the name of the lady whom the Vareys had
+come to Centerport to see. Miss Carrington listened
+more quietly, and finally bowed.</p>
+<p>“Yes. I am the lady. I am Miss Carrington,�
+she admitted.</p>
+<p>“That is what those girls called you,� muttered
+Margit, but the teacher did not hear.</p>
+<p>“You claim to be Belas Salgo’s daughter?�
+repeated Miss Carrington, at last.</p>
+<p>“I am his daughter. I cannot remember my
+mother—much. But my father I remember
+very well. Why, I traveled everywhere with
+him! All over southern Europe we went. And
+to Algiers, and the other north coast cities. He
+played everywhere about the Mediterranean
+until he died. And then,� said the girl, simply,
+“I lost all happiness—and I was brought to this
+great, cold country.�</p>
+<p>Miss Carrington had listened with her head
+resting on her hand and her eyes watching the
+girl from behind her glasses. Now she said:</p>
+<p>“Well, I do not believe you are Belas Salgo’s
+child—not the Belas Salgo I have good reason
+to remember. No. But I will take you home
+with me and we will talk this matter over.</p>
+<p>“I was correcting some examination papers,�
+she added, going to the desk and turning out
+the student lamp. “But they may go until another
+time,� and with a sigh she put on her hat
+and cloak, and taking the Gypsy girl’s hand led
+her out of the school building, the darkened
+corridors of which she knew so well.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xxinter-class-rivalry">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id20">CHAPTER XX—INTER-CLASS RIVALRY</a></h2>
+<p>If Eve Sitz had been outside of the schoolhouse
+tower, being held by the girls all of this
+time, she must certainly have been by now at
+the point of exhaustion, and so must they.</p>
+<p>But Eve had dropped just right, had caught
+the wire with her gloved hands just as she had
+expected to, and then swung down and hung
+from the steel strand for a few seconds to get
+her breath.</p>
+<p>Nellie and Bobby, leaning out of neighboring
+windows, cheered her on.</p>
+<p>“Hurrah, girls!� declared the irrepressible.
+“She’s going to do it. There she goes—hand
+under hand!�</p>
+<p>“Oh, if she doesn’t slip,� wailed Nellie.</p>
+<p>“She’s not going to slip,� cried Bobby.
+“Hurrah! She’s on the roof.�</p>
+<p>Once on the main building Eve did not waste
+time. She ran to the door, which she knew
+would be open, and so darted down the stairs
+to the corridor out of which the tower stairway
+opened. There was the key in the lock as they
+had expected, and in a few moments she was
+calling the other four girls down.</p>
+<p>“My goodness!� exclaimed Nellie, kissing
+Eve when she reached the foot of the stairs.
+“Aren’t you just the brave, brave girl! And
+whatever should we have done without you?�</p>
+<p>“I guess one of the others would have done
+the same had I not first thought of it,� returned
+Eve, modestly.</p>
+<p>“Hush!� exclaimed Laura, suddenly. “I
+hear somebody.�</p>
+<p>A door opened below, and then somebody
+came up stairs. The girls crowded back into
+the corner and waited.</p>
+<p>“I know that step,� whispered Jess.</p>
+<p>“Fee, fi, fo, fum!� murmured Bobby.</p>
+<p>“And well may you say it is your ‘foe,’
+Bobby,� giggled Jess. “It’s Miss Carrington.�</p>
+<p>“Never!� gasped Nell.</p>
+<p>“Yes, it is. I am sure,� agreed Laura.</p>
+<p>“Oh, dear! if she catches us here we’ll have
+to tell where we have been and all about it,�
+groaned Eve.</p>
+<p>“And demerits to work off to-morrow,�
+moaned Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Back into the stairway and keep still,� whispered
+Laura.</p>
+<p>They all crowded back. Miss Carrington
+came along the gloomy corridor and entered
+a classroom. She did not turn the corner.</p>
+<p>“Good! Now let’s creep down and make our
+escape,� whispered Bobby.</p>
+<p>“But not by the front door. She came in
+that way.�</p>
+<p>“But the other doors will be locked—both
+the boys’ and ours,� urged Jess.</p>
+<p>“I know the way out through the basement,�
+spoke Bobby, with determination. “I can open
+John’s door. Come on.�</p>
+<p>So, at the very moment Prettyman Sweet tried
+the basement door, the girls on whom he had
+played his trick were about to come out. Purt
+was scared and ran away. Later, when he escaped
+from Margit, the Gypsy girl, and ran to
+the foot of the tower stairs, Purt was scared
+again.</p>
+<p>He found the door open and the girls gone.
+Who could have released them? He slunk
+home in the darkness, taking the back alleys
+instead of Whiffle Street, and the next day he
+scarcely dared go to school for fear the girls
+had found out who played the trick on them.</p>
+<p>But Laura and her mates all thought that
+either John, the janitor, or one of the teachers
+had chanced to close the tower door and lock it.
+And, as they had been where they were forbidden
+to go, they said very little about their fright
+and anxiety.</p>
+<p>But Eve was quite a heroine among them.
+The girl from the farm was a deal more muscular
+than most of her mates; perhaps no girl at
+Central High could have climbed out of that
+tower window and worked her way down the
+wire in just that manner.</p>
+<p>And Eve was showing herself, as time went
+on, to be the best girl at the broad jump and at
+putting the twelve-pound shot, too. Lou Potter,
+of the senior class, did well; but after a
+time she seemed to have reached her limit in
+both the jumping and shot-putting.</p>
+<p>Then it was that Eve took a spurt and went
+ahead. She left all other competitors but Lou
+far behind.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Case did not approve of inter-class competition
+in athletics; but the managing committee
+of the June meet had made such competition
+necessary to a degree. The upper classes
+of Central High had to choose their champions,
+and those champions in the foot races, from the
+100-yard dash to the quarter-mile, had to compete
+the first week in June to arrange which
+should represent the school on the big day.</p>
+<p>In other trials it was the same—broad jump,
+shot-putting, relay race teams, and all the rest.
+There was developed in the freshman class a
+sprinter who almost bested Bobby Hargrew at
+first; but the freshmen had little, after all, to do
+when the big day came.</p>
+<p>The main contestants for athletic honors were
+bound to be drawn from the junior and sophomore
+classes. It was a fact that the present
+senior class of Central High had not been as
+imbued with the spirit of after-hour athletics, or
+with loyalty to the school, as had the younger
+classes.</p>
+<p>And the seniors had awakened too late to
+the importance of leaving a good record in athletics
+behind them when they were graduated.
+There was not a girl in the class the equal of
+Mary O’Rourke, or Celia Prime, who had been
+graduated the year before.</p>
+<p>Lou Potter, however, had many supporters,
+not alone among her own class. The freshies
+and sophs of course were jealous of the prominence
+of the juniors in athletics, so they centered
+their loyalty upon Lou.</p>
+<p>Eve could do nothing that Lou Potter
+couldn’t do! That was the cry, and the feeling
+ran quite high for a while. Besides, another
+thing came to make Eve rather unpopular with a
+certain class of girls.</p>
+<p>“Touch Day�—that famous occasion when
+candidates for membership in the M. O. R.’s
+were chosen—came in May, and Eve was one of
+the lucky girls to receive the magic “touch.�
+The fact that she had not been attending Central
+High a year aroused bitter feeling, although Eve
+was a junior in good standing.</p>
+<p>“Say!� cried Bobby Hargrew, “if they had
+kicked about <em>me</em> being an M. O. R. there would
+have been some sense in it. For I never really
+thought I’d arrive at such an honor.�</p>
+<p>For Bobby had really been drawn as a member
+of the secret society, and she never ceased to be
+surprised at the fact. But this school year—especially
+since early spring—Bobby Hargrew had
+been much changed. Not that she was not cheerful,
+and full of fun; but she had settled down
+to better work in her classes, and there was a
+steadiness about her that had been missing in
+the old Bobby Hargrew.</p>
+<p>They were talking this change over one evening
+around the Belding dinner table.</p>
+<p>“Bobby wouldn’t be herself if she got too
+strait-laced,� remarked Chetwood. “That’s the
+main good thing about her—the ginger in her.�</p>
+<p>“Chetwood!� exclaimed his mother,
+admonishingly. “You speak of the girl as though she
+were a horse—or a dog. ‘Ginger’ indeed!�</p>
+<p>“Well, Little Mum,� said her big son.
+“That’s exactly what I mean. She’s no namby-pamby,
+Miss Sissy kind of a girl; but a good fellow——�</p>
+<p>“I cannot allow you to talk that way about
+one of your young lady friends,� declared Mrs.
+Belding, with heat. “I am surprised, Chetwood.�</p>
+<p>Mr. Belding began to chuckle, and she turned
+on him now with some exasperation.</p>
+<p>“James!� she said, warmly. “I believe you
+support these children in their careless use of
+English, and in their other crimes against the
+niceties of our existence. Chet is as boisterous
+and rough as—as a street boy. And Laura uses
+most shocking language at times, I declare.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, Mother Mine! why drag me into it?�
+laughed Laura, while her father added:</p>
+<p>“Isn’t ‘crimes’ a rather strong word in this
+instance, Mother?�</p>
+<p>“I do not care!� cried the good lady, much
+disturbed. “Chetwood uses language that I
+know my mother would never have allowed at
+Her table. And Laura is so taken up with these
+dreadful athletics that she cares nothing for the
+things which used to interest me when I was a
+girl. She really doesn’t like to pour tea for me
+Wednesday afternoons.�</p>
+<p>“I admit it,� said Laura, <em>sotto voce</em>.</p>
+<p>“Do you blame her?� added Chet, grumblingly.</p>
+<p>“Thank goodness! I was brought up differently,�
+declared Mrs. Belding, sternly. “We
+girls were not allowed to do such awful things-even
+in private—as you do, Laura, in your gymnasium——�</p>
+<p>“Hear! hear!� cried Father Belding, finally
+rapping on the table with the handle of his knife.
+“I must say a word here. Mother, you are too
+hard on the young folks.�</p>
+<p>“No I am not, James,� said the good lady,
+bridling.</p>
+<p>“You force me to say something that may
+hurt your feelings; but I believe you have forgotten
+it. You complain of Laura’s athletics
+and gymnasium work. Don’t you see that it is
+an escape valve for the overflow of animal
+spirits that the girls of our generation, Mother,
+missed?�</p>
+<p>“I deny that the girls of <em>my</em> day possessed
+such ‘animal spirits,’ as you call them,� declared
+Mrs. Belding, vehemently.</p>
+<p>“You force me,� said Mr. Belding, gravely,
+yet with a twinkle in his eyes, “to prove my
+case. Children! did I ever tell you about the
+first view I had of your dear mother?�</p>
+<p>“No, Pop! Tell us,� urged Chet, who kept
+on eating despite his interest in the discussion.</p>
+<p>“Mr. Belding!� gasped his wife, suddenly.
+“What are you——�</p>
+<p>“Sorry, my dear; you force me to it,� said
+her husband, with continued gravity. “But the
+first sight I ever had of your mother, children,
+was when she was six or seven years old. I
+was working for old Mr. Cummings, whose business
+I finally bought out, and I came to your
+mother’s house on an errand.�</p>
+<p>“James!� cried Mrs. Belding. “I cannot
+allow you to tell that foolish thing. It—it is
+disgraceful.�</p>
+<p>“It is indeed,� admitted her husband, nodding.
+“But if you and your school girl friends
+had been as much devoted to athletics as Laura
+and her little friends, I doubt if you would have
+needed the front stairs bannisters as an escape
+valve for your animal spirits.</p>
+<p>“For, children,� added Mr. Belding, as his
+wife, her face very rosy, got up to come around
+the table to him, “my first view of your mother
+was her coming down stairs at express train
+speed, a-straddle of the bannisters!�</p>
+<p>Mrs. Belding reached him then, and any
+further particulars of this “disgraceful� story,
+were smothered promptly. But Laura and Chet
+enjoyed immensely the fact that—once upon a
+time, at least—there had been some little element
+of tomboyishness in their mother’s character.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xximargits-mystery">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id21">CHAPTER XXI—MARGIT’S MYSTERY</a></h2>
+<p>To the amazement of the girls of Central
+High—particularly those seven who had been on
+the early Spring tramp to Fielding and had first
+seen the Gypsy girl when she ran away from
+Queen Grace Varey and the other Romany folk—Margit
+Salgo, as she called herself, appeared
+suddenly in the class rooms of the school. And,
+to complete their bewilderment, she appeared as
+the attendant of Miss Carrington!</p>
+<p>Margit spoke little to any of the other girls.
+She came to Eve and Bobby and told them how
+she had been made to leave the farmhouse by the
+Vareys, who had come after her in the night; but
+how she had finally got away from them, and
+her connection with Miss Carrington, she would
+not explain, although Bobby was very curious.</p>
+<p>“Well, doesn’t that beat all!� ejaculated
+Bobby, to Eve Sitz. “And we thought we
+might be able to help Margit. She seems to
+have helped herself, all right.�</p>
+<p>“I am glad, if she is now in good hands; but
+I do not understand it,� rejoined Eve.</p>
+<p>“Say! there can’t be any mistake about her
+wanting to get to Miss Carrington before. Now
+she’s got to Gee Gee, all right. Guess there’s
+nothing to be said by outside parties, eh?�</p>
+<p>“Well, we can wonder—eh?�</p>
+<p>“Oh, there’s no law against it. Take it out
+in wondering. You can be sure that Gee Gee
+will be as mum as an oyster.�</p>
+<p>“But where is Queen Grace—and the
+others?� added Eve.</p>
+<p>“That’s so,� Bobby returned. “If Miss Carrington
+hasn’t settled with the Romanies and
+given them what they wanted, you can make sure
+that they will take a hand in the matter again.�</p>
+<p>Margit, however, seemed to have cut loose
+from the Gypsies altogether. When she appeared
+at Central High with the teacher she was
+dressed like any other girl coming from a well-to-do
+home. Her Gypsy garb had been discarded.</p>
+<p>Margit sat by herself and she had special lessons.
+She did not recite with the other girls,
+nor did she have much to say to any of them,
+save to Eve and Bobby. Even Mother Wit was
+not very successful in scraping an acquaintance
+with the Austro-Hungarian.</p>
+<p>Indeed, when one of the girls tried to talk
+with her, Margit answered in German; or, if
+the girl was taking German and could understand
+the spoken language pretty well, Margit
+used the outlandish dialect of the Romany folk,
+and that settled it.</p>
+<p>Either she did not wish to make acquaintances,
+or she had been warned by Miss Carrington not
+to satisfy the curiosity of the girls of Central
+High about herself.</p>
+<p>Of course nobody dared to question Gee Gee.
+If Mr. Sharp understood the reason for the new
+girl’s presence he gave no sign—ignored her
+entirely, in fact. So the girls were vastly excited
+about Margit Salgo, her presence at Central
+High, where she came from, and—particularly—what
+relationship she bore to Gee Gee.</p>
+<p>One day the teacher was particularly short-tempered
+and found reason for taking Bobby
+Hargrew to task over some trivial fault.</p>
+<p>“I am amazed, Miss Hargrew, that so light-minded
+a girl as you ever won your way into the
+M. O. R. chapter. I do not see, Miss, but that
+you are just as mischievous as ever. Neither
+time nor place changes you.�</p>
+<p>She said it very spitefully, and some of the
+other girls laughed. But suddenly Margit
+popped up and said something vigorously in
+German—speaking so quickly that the other girls
+did not understand her; but Gee Gee evidently
+understood.</p>
+<p>Her face flamed and she glared at the Gypsy
+girl in a way that would have quelled any other
+in the room. But Margit did not wither under
+her glance. She stared back, her head up and
+shoulders squared; and it was plain by her attitude
+that she defied Gee Gee.</p>
+<p>Bobby was as amazed as the others. Margit
+had taken her part against the teacher. And for
+the moment it seemed as though there would be
+a serious breach between Gee Gee and her protégé.</p>
+<p>However, the incident effectually called Gee
+Gee’s attention away from Bobby, and the latter
+heard nothing more of <em>her</em> fault. But it seemed
+that the connection between the teacher and Margit
+Salgo was not founded upon <em>love</em>. There
+was some other reason than affection that made
+Gee Gee care for the half-wild Gypsy girl. Some
+of the others whispered that Gee Gee must have
+done some awful thing, and Margit knew it and
+so held the teacher in her power. But that, of
+course, was a silly explanation of the mystery.</p>
+<p>It was plain, too, that the teacher would not
+let Margit out of her sight on the street. They
+came and went to school together, walking side
+by side. At the place where Miss Carrington
+had boarded so long, nobody ever saw Margit
+in the yard, but Miss Carrington was with her.</p>
+<p>One might have thought the girl a prisoner.</p>
+<p>Bobby was hurrying over to Laura’s house
+with her books, one morning, wishing for a little
+help in one of the problems to be discussed that
+day, and she started through the grounds surrounding
+the Widow Boyce’s house, from the
+back street.</p>
+<p>Suddenly she saw a man crouching in the
+shrubbery. Weeks before she had seen a man
+spying about the house, and believed him to be
+one of the Gypsies. Now Bobby halted and
+spied on the Peeping Tom himself.</p>
+<p>In a moment she saw that it was the man with
+the gold rings in his ears whom Eve had told her
+was Jim Varey, the husband of the Gypsy Queen.
+He was lurking there for no good purpose, that
+was sure.</p>
+<p>Having carried Margit off from Farmer Sitz’s
+house in the middle of the night, the Gypsies
+would doubtless attempt to steal the girl away
+from Gee Gee, as well. The school teacher had
+evidently not settled with the Romany folk.
+They had not yet got money through the girl, as
+Margit had said they hoped to do.</p>
+<p>Bobby turned back toward the street,
+intending to look for a policeman, or for some neighbor;
+but as she did so she heard wheels grating
+against the curb, and there stood a covered
+wagon, with two sleek horses attached, and another
+Gypsy man driving them.</p>
+<p>The man on the seat of the wagon whistled,
+and Jim Varey raised his hand as a signal. Then
+the latter darted around the corner of the house
+toward the front.</p>
+<p>These manœuvers were only too plain to
+Bobby. There was not time to look for a policeman—and,
+in any case, an officer was hard to
+find in the Hill section of Centerport.</p>
+<p>Bobby ran along the hedge, stooping so as not
+to be seen by the man on the wagon seat, and
+came around to the front of the house from
+the direction opposite that which Jim Varey had
+taken.</p>
+<p>Just as she reached the front porch there was
+a wild scream from Miss Carrington, and Bobby
+saw the man leap from the far end of the porch
+with Margit in his arms.</p>
+<p>Margit did not scream; she only beat the man
+about the head and—perhaps—left the marks
+of her nails in his dark face.</p>
+<p>It was plain that she was being carried away
+from Gee Gee against her will. She had no desire
+to go back to the Gypsies.</p>
+<p>Now, Miss Carrington could not run. She
+had been brought up in no athletic school, that
+was sure. She followed the kidnapper clumsily
+enough, and he would have gotten well away in
+the covered wagon with the girl, had it remained
+to Gee Gee to intervene.</p>
+<p>But Bobby screamed, dropped her books, and
+went at the fellow as though she were playing
+football. She “tackled low,� seizing with both
+arms about the knees, and Jim Varey, screeching
+and threatening, fell forward on the sward—and
+Margit escaped from his arms.</p>
+<p>“Oh!� gasped the girl.</p>
+<p>“Quick! get into the house!� cried Bobby,
+bounding to her feet.</p>
+<p>Margit whisked past her, and past Miss Carrington,
+and fled indoors as she was advised.
+Jim Varey leaped up and confronted the little
+girl who had overturned him. His fists were
+clenched and he gabbled in the Romany tongue
+a string of what were evidently threats and vituperation.</p>
+<p>“Now, it isn’t me you want to carry off,�
+said Bobby, bravely. “I wouldn’t be any good
+to you. Get away, now, for I see Mr. Sharp
+coming down the street.�</p>
+<p>Which was true enough—although the school
+principal was still a long way off. Jim Varey
+seemed to see the wisdom of the girl’s remarks,
+however, for he turned and fled.</p>
+<p>The next minute they heard the heavy wagon
+being driven furiously away from the garden
+gate, and Bobby turned to find Gee Gee, sitting
+very faint and white, upon the porch steps.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xxiilou-potter-scores-one">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id22">CHAPTER XXII—LOU POTTER SCORES ONE</a></h2>
+<p>“Has he gone?� gasped Gee Gee, weakly.</p>
+<p>“They’ve driven off, Miss Carrington. Margit
+is in no danger now,� said Bobby, eyeing the
+teacher curiously.</p>
+<p>“You—you know about it, too, do you?� murmured
+the teacher.</p>
+<p>“I guess I know something about it,� replied
+Bobby, promptly. “We girls saw Margit up
+there in the hills when she ran away from the
+Gypsies the first time. And I was over to Eve
+Sitz’s the night the Vareys stole Margit away
+again. I’d see the police if I were you, Miss
+Carrington.�</p>
+<p>“The police—yes!� returned the lady. “It
+will all have to be dragged into publicity,
+I suppose.�</p>
+<p>Bobby didn’t know what to say, for she did
+not understand Gee Gee’s present character, anyway!
+Nobody before had ever seen Miss Grace
+Gee Carrington so disturbed in her mind.</p>
+<p>Bobby saw the front door open again, and
+Margit appeared on the porch.</p>
+<p>“Come in! Come in! It’s all right now,�
+said the Gypsy girl. “There is nothing to fear
+from them now—— Ah! who is this?�</p>
+<p>Bobby turned quickly and saw a little, stooped
+old man, turning in at the gate. Miss Carrington
+saw him, too, and she came to her feet in a
+moment. The color came back into her face and
+she began to look very grim again—more like
+her usual self.</p>
+<p>“Morning! morning!� cackled the old gentleman,
+nodding at the school teacher, but looking
+hard at Bobby. And the latter recognized him
+as Eben Chumley, a queer, miserly old man who
+owned a great deal of property on the Hill.</p>
+<p>“Good morning, Mr. Chumley,� said Miss
+Carrington, quietly.</p>
+<p>“Now, don’t tell me <em>this</em> is the gal,� said Mr.
+Chumley, pointing a long finger at Bobby. “For
+that’s Tom Hargrew’s young ’un—I know her
+well enough.�</p>
+<p>“<em>This</em> is the girl I wish you to see and talk
+with, Mr. Chumley,� said Miss Carrington,
+beckoning Margit forward. Then she added,
+in her severest tone: “Miss Hargrew! you are
+excused.�</p>
+<p>“Well, the mean cat!� muttered Bobby, as
+she went out of the yard. “I had no intention
+of listening to their private affairs. But she
+might at least have thanked me for tumbling
+over that Gypsy.�</p>
+<p>Margit came to her, however, that morning,
+and thanked her warmly.</p>
+<p>“You’re a brave girl, Miss Hargrew,� she
+said. “And I think that Jim Varey will let me
+alone hereafter. At least, he had better keep his
+distance.�</p>
+<p>And so it seemed, for thereafter, when Miss
+Carrington and her charge walked to and from
+school, a policeman strolled behind them. The
+girls—especially those of the junior class,
+however—were almost eaten up with curiosity.</p>
+<p>Luckily, as June approached, they had something
+else to think about out of regular recitation
+hours. The rivalry on the athletic field became
+very keen indeed. Mrs. Case did her best
+to impress upon the girls’ minds that a spirit of
+rivalry between classes would perhaps injure the
+chances of the school at large at the final meet.</p>
+<p>“Loyalty to Central High!� was her battle
+cry. But all of the girls—especially a certain
+portion of the seniors—forgot the “good of the
+greater number� in the petty class differences.</p>
+<p>Lou Potter, the senior, was backed strongly
+for first place in putting the shot and for the
+broad jump. Nobody but Mrs. Case, indeed,
+knew just how Lou and Eve Sitz stood in those
+two events.</p>
+<p>The Saturday afternoon came when Mrs. Case
+was to try out the girls with the highest scores
+in the various events to be featured on the Big
+Day. Relay teams from each class had been
+gradually made up, and now these were to compete
+for the honor of representing Central High
+at the meet.</p>
+<p>The Junior Four was made up of Laura Belding,
+Jess Morse, and Dora and Dorothy Lockwood,
+with Bobby Hargrew as substitute.
+They were not only all fast, but they were quick-witted.
+A relay race isn’t altogether won with
+one’s feet.</p>
+<p>The seniors averaged taller girls, and heavier.
+The sophomores were nearer the weight and size
+of Laura and her mates; and of course, it was
+scarcely to be expected that the freshman four
+would stand a chance at all.</p>
+<p>When the three heats were run off, however,
+the freshmen proved better than the seniors once,
+and surpassed the sophomores in two of the
+heats. The juniors won all three heats in fast
+time.</p>
+<p>“Those squabs are coming on to be jimdandies!�
+declared Bobby, enthusiastically.
+“They’re going to be just such another class in
+athletics as ours.�</p>
+<p>“And of course,� remarked Lou Potter, who
+overheard her, “the junior class of Central High
+is just the most wonderful crowd of girls that
+was ever brought together.�</p>
+<p>“Now you’ve said it,� admitted Bobby, with
+satisfaction. “But I never did expect to hear
+a senior say that about us!�</p>
+<p>Mrs. Case came over and her presence halted
+further bickering. But the rivalry of the two
+upper classes rankled.</p>
+<p>Bobby took the hundred-yard dash from all
+competitors. Later she easily beat all the other
+entries in the quarter-mile race.</p>
+<p>Interest centered after that in the broad jump
+and the shot-putting contest. Eve was in her
+usual good form and equalled, in her three trials,
+her best previous record. Just what that record
+had been the girls as a body did not know; but
+on this occasion the distance was made public.
+Eve had bested all competitors by a full inch
+and a half. Her nearest rival was Lou Potter.</p>
+<p>“Favoritism!� was the cry among the seniors,
+but they were very careful not to allow their
+physical instructor hear it.</p>
+<p>In truth, Mrs. Case, as she always had been,
+was opposed to inter-class trials on the field or
+track. It lowered the standard of loyalty to the
+school as a whole, and was frequently the cause
+of bickerings and heart-burnings, as in this present
+case.</p>
+<p>But she was bound by the rules of a committee
+in which she had but one vote. She was glad to
+learn, however, that other instructors in other
+schools were having the same trouble. The
+Girls’ Branch Athletic League is truly against
+rivalry between classes of the same school.</p>
+<p>In putting the shot the same unfortunate feeling
+arose between backers of Lou Potter and
+Evangeline Sitz. Eve carried the day; she put
+the twelve-pound shot far ahead of her rival.
+But the seniors were not satisfied. Their class
+would make a poor showing indeed at the meet.</p>
+<p>“I’d just like to get square with that Swiss
+doll!� exclaimed Lou Potter, as she turned out
+of the gate of the athletic field, after it was all
+over and Mrs. Case had announced who would
+be the representatives of the school in each department
+of athletics, at the June meet.</p>
+<p>“She is a foreigner, anyway. Laura Belding
+got her to come to this school. She’d much better
+have gone to Keyport, where she belongs,�
+cried one of Lou’s classmates.</p>
+<p>They could not see that Eve’s presence at
+Central High was likely to give the school at
+least two points in athletics; that Keyport might
+have won had the country girl attended the Keyport
+High, as she had first intended.</p>
+<p>“There she goes now—aiming for the railroad
+station,� said Lou Potter. “I wish something
+would keep her from getting to the field
+on the day of the meet.�</p>
+<p>It was this mean thought in her mind, perhaps,
+that made Miss Potter notice Eve particularly
+as she followed behind the country girl.
+Lou’s friends separated from her, but her way
+led toward the railroad station, too.</p>
+<p>And before that was reached Miss Potter suddenly
+became aware of the fact that a woman
+and a man were following Eve Sitz.</p>
+<p>She saw them first standing at a corner, and
+whispering, and pointing after Eve. They were
+dark-faced people, foreign-looking, and the man
+wore hoops of gold in his ears.</p>
+<p>“There are a lot of those Gypsies around this
+Spring,� was Lou’s first thought. “Hullo!
+those people are watching that Sitz girl.�</p>
+<p>She became curious, as she saw the Gypsies dog
+Eve’s footsteps for block after block.
+Whether they wished to speak to the big girl, or
+were just watching her, Lou could not tell.</p>
+<p>She was a bold girl herself, and not at all
+afraid of the Romany folk. When Eve
+disappeared into the railroad station and the man and
+woman remained outside, Lou walked up to
+them.</p>
+<p>“What are you following that girl for?� she
+asked, and when Queen Grace and her husband
+would have denied it, Lou made her reason for
+asking plain.</p>
+<p>“If you don’t like her, neither do I. I’d like
+to have her out of the way for at least one
+day—one day next week,� and she named the day
+of the Athletic Meet.</p>
+<p>“This is a plot to trap us,� growled Jim
+Varey to his wife.</p>
+<p>But the Gypsy Queen was, as we have seen,
+a very shrewd student of human nature. She
+could see just how bad a heart Lou Potter had.
+Queen Grace possessed no occult power. No
+so-called fortune-teller has. They are all wicked
+people, and liars. But she had long made a
+study of the worst side of human nature.</p>
+<p>She saw that Lou Potter was ripe for mischief.
+She talked to her softly and insinuatingly,
+putting Jim out of the way. Then she
+agreed to meet the senior again and learn just
+what she wished done to Eve Sitz.</p>
+<p>For the Gypsy Queen saw a chance to make
+a few dollars and, as Margit Salgo had said,
+the woman was very avaricious. She and her
+husband had been following Eve idly enough.
+They dared not approach Margit while she was
+under the protection of Miss Carrington and the
+police; but they laid to Eve a part of the blame
+for the Gypsy girl’s escape from their hands before
+they had made any money out of her.</p>
+<p>Lou Potter went away from her conference
+with the Gypsies very much delighted.</p>
+<p>“I guess we’ll show them that the seniors
+have something to say about athletics at Central
+High,� she muttered, over and over again. “I
+reckon I’ve scored one on Miss Eve Sitz, too!�</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xxiiithe-field-day">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id23">CHAPTER XXIII—THE FIELD DAY</a></h2>
+<p>There was a tall, gaunt, gray man who came
+to the Widow Boyce’s to see Miss Carrington on
+certain occasions. He always carried a blue
+bag, stuffed with papers and books, and it was
+well known by the neighbors that he was Miss
+Carrington’s lawyer.</p>
+<p>There was nothing suggestive of romance
+about Aaron MacCullough; but like all old attorneys
+he had dabbled in many, many romances.
+There were a score of old families of Centerport
+who had entrusted their cupboard secrets to Mr.
+MacCullough.</p>
+<p>He came in one evening, with his blue bag,
+and sat down in Gee Gee’s sitting room. The
+Central High teacher was quite as dry in appearance,
+and as grim as the lawyer himself. She
+sat on one side of the table, and he on the other,
+and the papers which he first examined and read
+aloud he passed to her, and she scrutinized them
+through her spectacles.</p>
+<p>“So,� she said, at length, “these correspondents
+of yours in Buda-Pesth seem to know all
+about Salgo’s affairs, do they?�</p>
+<p>“It is notorious, Miss Carrington,� said the
+old man, nodding. “There can be no mistake.
+Belas Salgo was a strange man. All geniuses,
+perhaps, are strange——�</p>
+<p>“He was a wicked foreigner!� declared Miss
+Carrington, sharply.</p>
+<p>“Wicked in your eyes, perhaps. He married
+and carried away with him your dearest friend.�</p>
+<p>“My cousin Anne—yes,� said she, slowly.
+“She had been in my care. She was musical.
+She went mad over the man—and he no better
+than a Gypsy.�</p>
+<p>“Gypsy blood he confessed to—yes,� said the
+lawyer, shaking his head. “But he could make
+wonderful music. I remember hearing him once
+in this very town.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, he charmed everybody—but me,� said
+Miss Carrington, vigorously. “And he would
+have charmed me, perhaps, with his fiddle if
+Anne had not gone mad over him. I knew how
+it would be for her—misery and trouble!�</p>
+<p>“We do not know that,� said the old gentleman,
+shaking his head. “Her few years with
+Belas Salgo were happy enough, by all account.�</p>
+<p>“But she never wrote to me!� cried the Central
+High teacher.</p>
+<p>“Nor she never wrote to her father’s partner,
+Mr. Chumley. Eben Chumley, by the way,
+is for denying the identity of this girl, Margit?�</p>
+<p>“Well! so was I,� admitted Miss Carrington.
+“Though heaven knows it was for another reason!
+I did not think poor Anne would have had
+a daughter and never written me a word about
+it.�</p>
+<p>“Ahem!� said Mr. MacCullough, clearing his
+throat significantly, “your last word to her, I
+understand, was a harsh one?�</p>
+<p>“Ah! But I never meant it. She must have
+known I never meant it,� exclaimed Miss Carrington,
+her voice trembling.</p>
+<p>The old lawyer shook his head. “We never
+do mean the harsh words,� he murmured.</p>
+<p>“However,� he added, after a moment’s silence.
+“The fact remains that this girl, Margit
+Salgo, is assuredly the daughter of Belas
+Salgo and Anne Carrington. The money—what
+there was of it—left in the hands of Eben
+Chumley by his partner, Anne’s father, belongs
+to the child, and Eben must be made to disgorge.�</p>
+<p>“It will hurt Chumley dreadfully to give up
+the money,� said Gee Gee, quickly. “How
+much is there?�</p>
+<p>“Less than a thousand dollars. You know,
+Chumley &amp; Carrington were in the real estate
+business in only a small way, back in those days.
+With interest, and all, it will be but a modest
+fortune.�</p>
+<p>“I suppose those Gypsies thought the child
+was a great heiress,� said the teacher.</p>
+<p>“That is probable. They undoubtedly think
+so now. It is my advice that you allow me to
+go to the police and explain the matter fully.
+Let them gather in this Jim Varey, and the
+others, and tell them just how little the sum is
+that is coming to Margit Salgo. It is about
+enough for her education—and that’s all.�</p>
+<p>Miss Carrington nodded. “Nevertheless,�
+she said, with finality, “she is Cousin Anne’s
+child. I shall make her education and future
+keeping my affair. I have not worked, and
+taught, all these years for nothing, Mr. MacCullough.�</p>
+<p>“Quite true—quite true,� admitted the old
+man, briskly. “And if you wish to adopt the
+girl——�</p>
+<p>“I intend to do so,� announced Gee Gee.</p>
+<p>“Then there is nobody to gainsay you, I am
+certain,� declared the lawyer, rising. “I congratulate
+the child upon falling in with so good
+a guardian, Miss Carrington. And—perhaps—you
+are to be congratulated, too,� he added to
+himself as he left her sitting grimly by the table.</p>
+<p>For more than Lawyer MacCullough noted the
+change that was gradually coming over the martinet
+teacher of Central High. Whether it was
+the influence of Margit’s presence, or not, it was
+true that Miss Carrington was not half so harsh
+as she used to be.</p>
+<p>“Change of heart—she’s sure to die, I’m
+afraid,� announced Bobby Hargrew, one day,
+when Gee Gee had failed to seize the opportunity
+to berate that young lady for a certain fault.</p>
+<p>But later, Miss Carrington put herself out to
+speak to Bobby on the street, and upon matters
+not connected with the school work.</p>
+<p>“Clara, I never properly thanked you for taking
+my ward’s part the other morning when that
+dreadful man attacked her,� said Miss Carrington,
+quietly. “But I am grateful, nevertheless.�</p>
+<p>“Your ward!� gasped Bobby, her curiosity
+and wonder passing all bounds of politeness.
+“Oh, Miss Carrington! is she really related to
+you?�</p>
+<p>“Margit? Not in the least—at least, no relation
+that the law would allow. For that reason
+I propose to adopt her. She will be known as
+Margaret Carrington—and I hope, Miss Clara,
+that you and the other girls of Central High
+will be kind to her.�</p>
+<p>Bobby smiled. “I think Margit will take care
+of herself, Miss Carrington, if we don’t treat
+her right. But I know all the girls will be glad
+to have her join.�</p>
+<p>“Thank you. She is foreign to your ways,
+as yet,� pursued the teacher, a little doubtfully.
+“From what she says, she is much interested in
+Mrs. Case’s classes—in the physical culture
+classes, and the like. I—I expect you will introduce
+her at the gymnasium, Miss Clara?�</p>
+<p>“Of course!� exclaimed Bobby, half stunned.
+“Why—why Margit’s the surest-footed girl I
+ever saw. You ought to see her running that
+day along the top of the stone wall!�</p>
+<p>“Er—I presume that such unseemly conduct
+will not be necessary if Margaret becomes a
+votary of athletics as taught the young ladies
+of Central High,� returned Miss Carringtan,
+stiffly.</p>
+<p>“Just the same,� Bobby said, in talking over
+the matter with Laura and the rest of the girls,
+afterwards, “just the same, Margit Salgo will be
+a splendid addition to our fighting force some
+day. Why, she’s got biceps like a boy, and she
+says she can swim, and skate, and ride. We’re
+going to have another A-1 champion for Central
+High in Margit Salgo some day!�</p>
+<p>It must be confessed that, about this time,
+many of the Central High girls gave more
+thought to athletic matters than they did to their
+lessons. Still, the unbending rule that only
+those who kept up with their studies would have
+a part in the after-hour athletic contests was a
+solvent for any serious trouble.</p>
+<p>The day of the meet was at hand. The athletic
+teams of the five high schools—three of
+Centerport and one each from Lumberport and
+Keyport—were to meet on the Central High
+field. There were several important trophies, as
+well as the usual league pins for the winners,
+and interest in the field day—not alone among
+the girls themselves—ran high.</p>
+<p>Laura Belding and her mates had figured out
+very carefully just what events Central High
+was sure to win, and how many of the “uncertain�
+points were needed to clinch the championship.</p>
+<p>They felt sure of the hundred-yard dash; as
+far as they could learn no girl in any of the five
+schools had developed the speed of Bobby Hargrew
+over that short course.</p>
+<p>The two hundred and twenty-yard dash and
+the quarter-mile run were doubtful, despite
+Bobby’s splendid showing in the latter. The
+hurdle races were doubtful, too, as well as the
+shuttle and potato relays.</p>
+<p>In the high and broad jumps, as well as the
+shot-putting, there was serious doubt. The best
+Laura could figure, Central High would go into
+the contest needing four points more than they
+were <em>sure</em> of winning.</p>
+<p>Those four points might be supplied by Bobby
+in the quarter-mile run, one of the chief events
+of the day, and Eve Sitz in the broad jump and
+putting the shot.</p>
+<p>“You girls have got to do your very best—don’t
+forget that!� Laura told them, as they
+separated the night before the meet. “Central
+High just about leans her whole weight on you.�</p>
+<p>It was on Friday and the whole school was
+excused at noon; but those taking part in the
+events of the day were not obliged to report
+until one o’clock—and then only to the committee
+at the gymnasium building.</p>
+<p>The crowds from Lumberport and from Keyport
+came in chartered steamers. They marched
+into the field just before one o’clock, and the
+classes from the East and West Highs followed
+them a few minutes later. The girls in their
+light dresses, and with the flags fluttering, were
+a pretty sight.</p>
+<p>Of course, the grandstand was rapidly filling
+with adult spectators, and with the boys, when
+the girls of Central High came in. There was
+some marching and counter-marching, before all
+were seated. Already some of the girls, in their
+gymnasium clothes, began to appear on the
+courts for warming-up practice.</p>
+<p>Suddenly Bobby Hargrew burst into a knot of
+Central High girls gathered around Mrs. Case,
+on the main floor of the gym. building, and
+fairly shouted:</p>
+<p>“Where is she?�</p>
+<p>“Where’s who?� asked Laura, curiously.
+“Is this one of your jokes? Who are you looking
+for?�</p>
+<p>“Where’s Eve? Who’s seen Eve Sitz?� repeated
+Bobby, anxiously.</p>
+<p>“Why, I think you’ll find her around somewhere.
+What’s the matter? Got to see her right
+this moment, Bobby?�</p>
+<p>Bobby’s tone of tragic despair stopped the
+joking at last, however, as she cried:</p>
+<p>“She’s not reported. She isn’t here. Nobody’s
+seen her. She hasn’t come into town, as
+far as I can find out. And certain sure she
+hasn’t come into this building—and it’s one
+o’clock now!�</p>
+<p>“Why, Clara! what do you mean?� asked the
+physical instructor of Central High. “It is not
+possible that Evangeline Sitz would fail to appear
+at such a time as this?�</p>
+<p>“And with so much depending on her?�
+shrieked Jess Morse. “Impossible!�</p>
+<p>“Something has happened to her,� said
+Laura, aghast.</p>
+<p>“Has nobody seen her?� demanded Mrs.
+Case.</p>
+<p>Nobody had.</p>
+<p>“I’ll run to father’s office and telephone,� suggested
+Nellie Agnew. “They have a telephone
+at the Sitz farm, haven’t they?�</p>
+<p>“Of course,� rejoined Laura. “Do run,
+Nell!�</p>
+<p>The group, mostly made up of juniors, was
+horror-stricken by the fact that one of the most
+dependable of the girls was missing. But a
+senior who stood near said, scoffingly:</p>
+<p>“Oh, I guess that girl won’t be missed. We’ve
+got Lou Potter to put right in her place—in both
+the shot-put and the broad jump. And the
+chance belonged to Lou, anyway. Now she’ll
+get her rights, perhaps.�</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xxivmargit-pays-a-debt">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id24">CHAPTER XXIV—MARGIT PAYS A DEBT</a></h2>
+<p>“Did you hear what that girl said, Laura?�
+demanded Bobby, in a whisper, clinging to the
+arm of Mother Wit. “It sounded as though she
+knew something about Eve’s absence.�</p>
+<p>“No. Just jealousy,� returned Laura.</p>
+<p>“I—don’t—know—— Here’s Nell!� exclaimed
+the smaller girl, eagerly.</p>
+<p>The doctor’s daughter ran up, very much
+excited.</p>
+<p>“Otto was on the ’phone,� she said. “He
+says that Eve left for town in time to catch the
+nine-twenty-seven. Why, she should have been
+here two hours ago!�</p>
+<p>“What do you suppose has happened?�
+wailed Jess.</p>
+<p>“I will see the committee at once,� said Mrs.
+Case, quietly. “Of course, if Evangeline does
+not report in time, we shall have to put in a
+substitute.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, Mrs. Case!� cried Bobby. “<em>Don’t</em> put
+in that Lou Potter!�</p>
+<p>“What, Clara? Is that your loyalty to Central
+High?� demanded the athletic instructor,
+sternly.</p>
+<p>“Well, she’s been so mean——�</p>
+<p>“But if she is the next best girl we have in
+training, and Eve does not appear, would you
+cripple Central High’s chances for a petty feud
+like this?�</p>
+<p>Mrs. Case spoke warmly and Bobby fell back
+abashed. But all the juniors were amazed and
+troubled by the emergency which had so suddenly
+arisen.</p>
+<p>The attitude of some seniors surprised Eve’s
+friends, too. They were seen to gather in
+groups, and giggle and whisper, and when the
+troubled juniors passed these seniors made remarks
+which suggested that they knew more
+about Eve’s absence than her own friends.</p>
+<p>Especially was Lou Potter in high feather
+over something. She sneered at Laura Belding,
+when the latter went about asking everybody if
+they had seen or heard of Eve that morning.</p>
+<p>Time approached for the early events of the
+afternoon, and the relay teams were called out
+for the first event. About that time Margit
+Salgo, who had been moving about in the crowd
+of Central High competitors, suddenly broke
+away from a group, of whom Lou Potter was
+the center, and ran hurriedly for the exit.</p>
+<p>At the gate the ticket-taker had just allowed
+Mr. and Mrs. Belding to enter and Margit saw
+Chet—whom she now knew very well—beside
+their automobile outside.</p>
+<p>“Chetwood!� she gasped, running out to him.
+“There has something happened that will make
+Central High lose to-day—it is a plot—it is a
+meanness——�</p>
+<p>She broke into German, as she did when she
+was excited, and Chet literally “threw up his
+hands.�</p>
+<p>“Hold your horses, Miss Margaret,� he
+begged. “I can’t follow you when you talk like
+that. My German’s lame in both feet, anyway—like
+the son of Jonathan.�</p>
+<p>“I do not know your Jonathan,� she cried,
+when Chet, grinning, interrupted:</p>
+<p>“You’re weak in your Scripture, then. But
+what about it? What’s happened?�</p>
+<p>“They have got Eve Sitz!� declared Margit,
+tragically.</p>
+<p>“Who’s got her?�</p>
+<p>“I do not know for sure. I only suspect,�
+declared the girl. “But quick! drive where I
+shall say. We may be in time.�</p>
+<p>“Do you mean to say that Eve hasn’t got here
+yet?�</p>
+<p>“I do.�</p>
+<p>“Yet she’s already left home?�</p>
+<p>“Oh, yes, indeed!�</p>
+<p>“And she’s an important figure in to-day’s
+events, I understand,� quoth Master Chet.
+“You think you know where she is?�</p>
+<p>“Oh, yes!� cried Margit.</p>
+<p>“Hop in, then. Tell me where to go, and
+we’ll get there if a policeman doesn’t hold us up
+on the way.�</p>
+<p>Margit whispered in his ear. Chet looked
+surprised; then nodded and helped her into the
+seat beside him. In a minute they were out of
+the crowd of other autos and were speeding down
+Whiffle Street and into Market.</p>
+<p>When they struck the main thoroughfare the
+young fellow had to drive the car more circumspectly;
+but he made such time that more than
+one traffic officer held up a warning hand and
+shook his head at them.</p>
+<p>“Sure you know where you want to go, Margaret?�
+Chet asked his companion once, as they
+dodged around a truck and turned off into a long
+and narrow side street where the class of
+tenements on either hand were of the cheaper
+quality.</p>
+<p>“Yes,� nodded the girl. “I should know.
+I was there myself.�</p>
+<p>“Oh! that’s where the Gyps, have their encampment
+in town?� exclaimed Chet.</p>
+<p>“Yes.�</p>
+<p>“And you think Eve has been caught by the
+same people who held you?�</p>
+<p>“Yes. I believe so.�</p>
+<p>“Then take it from me, Margaret,� declared
+Chet, decidedly, “a policeman goes into the
+house with us. I don’t take any chances with
+those people.�</p>
+<p>She nodded again and a few moments later
+she told him to stop before a certain number.
+This was, indeed, a crowded and mean section of
+the town.</p>
+<p>“I thought Romany folk lived in the open air
+and were bold and free—and all that?� said
+Chet, in disgust, as he stopped the engine and
+prepared to get out after removing certain plugs
+so that the car could not be started during their
+absence.</p>
+<p>“In town they live like other poor people.
+They camp in a cheap flat. But they would not
+remain here long if they did not hope to get hold
+of me,� replied Margit, quietly.</p>
+<p>“Hullo! You’re running right into trouble,
+perhaps,� said Chet, doubtfully.</p>
+<p>“What if I am? That girl, Eve, was good
+to me. And those other girls are my friends.
+We will get her free so that she may get to the
+athletic field in time. What?�</p>
+<p>“I guess it <em>is</em> what,� admitted Chet, to himself.</p>
+<p>Then he saw an officer and beckoned to the
+man. A few words explained their need.</p>
+<p>“Ha! I was told to keep an eye on those folk.
+I know ’em,� said the policeman. “And this
+is the girl who was with them before?� and he
+stared curiously at Margit Salgo.</p>
+<p>They went quickly into the house and up to
+the floor that the girl remembered very well indeed.
+She pointed out the door of the flat and
+Chet rapped upon it. The officer kept in the
+shadow.</p>
+<p>The door opened a trifle, after the second
+knock, and a voice whispered some word which
+Chet could not understand. Instantly Margit
+hissed a reply—it was in Romany.</p>
+<p>The door opened a bit wider. Somebody inside
+saw the girl; but Chet was seen, too.</p>
+<p>“What did Ah tell ’ee?� demanded Jim
+Varey’s gruff voice. “This is a business tae
+bring trouble tae us, says I—and I was right.�</p>
+<p>Before he had ceased speaking the policeman
+sprang forward and with knee and shoulder
+forced the door wide open. He had drawn his
+club.</p>
+<p>“Keep still—all you here! If you give me
+trouble I’ll arrest all of you instead of this man
+and his wife,� and he seized Jim by the shoulder.</p>
+<p>“Where’s the girl?� cried Chet. “Eve! Eve
+Sitz! Are you here?�</p>
+<p>There was an answering cry from back in
+some other room. Margit darted past the struggling
+people in the kitchen and opened a door beyond.</p>
+<p>“Here I am!� cried Eve Sitz.</p>
+<p>The country girl was tied to a chair, but not
+tightly enough to cramp her limbs. Nor had she
+been really ill-treated.</p>
+<p>“Run down,� said the officer to Chet, “and
+blow this whistle. Tell my partner, when he
+comes, to send for the wagon. We’ll give these
+folks a ride.�</p>
+<p>“Oh, but I must get to the field, Chetwood!�
+cried Eve, in despair. “They told me Margit
+was here and needed me, and I came right from
+the train. I don’t know what it means——�</p>
+<p>Chet had darted down the stairs and he soon
+came back with the other policeman. The officers
+agreed that the boy and two girls need not
+accompany them to the station; the Gypsy Queen
+and her husband, with the other Romany folk
+at home in the flat, could be held until later in
+the day for somebody to appear against them.</p>
+<p>And that somebody was Miss Carrington’s
+lawyer, Aaron MacCullough. Eve had no more
+trouble with the Gypsies—nor did Margit. Mr.
+MacCullough took the opportunity of showing
+the roaming folk that they could make little out
+of Margit or her friends, and then the Centerport
+police warned them out of town.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Chet, with the two girls, got into
+the automobile, and started back toward the Central
+High athletic field. It was already two
+o’clock, and on the program of the day the event
+of the broad jump would be called in less than
+half an hour!</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="chapter-xxvthe-winning-points">
+<h2 class="title section-title level-2"><a class="toc-backref pginternal" href="#id25">CHAPTER XXV—THE WINNING POINTS</a></h2>
+<p>That first relay race, in which the Junior Four
+of Central High took part, passed like a night-mare
+for Laura Belding and her companions.
+Every one of them was worried about Eve’s
+disappearance—so worried that they came perilously
+near not doing their very best.</p>
+<p>But the rooters for their school got off with a
+splendid chorus when the girls came on the field,
+and with all that enthusiasm Laura and her comrades
+could not fail “to pull off some brilliant
+running,� as Bobby slangily expressed it.</p>
+<p>And they did so. The four won the point
+for Central High, and next in line was the one
+hundred-yard dash. Bobby, as fresh as a lark,
+came to the scratch and prepared to do her very
+best against the representatives from the four
+other high schools. There was a girl from Lumberport
+whom she had been told to look out
+for. But Bobby proposed to “look out� for
+nobody on this short dash. The girl who got
+off in the best form was almost sure to win.</p>
+<p>And that girl was Bobby. At the word she
+shot away like an arrow, and a roar of approval
+burst from the seats occupied by the boys of
+Central High.</p>
+<div class="align-center line-block">
+<div class="line">“C—e—n, Central High!</div>
+<div class="line">C—e—n—t—r—a—l, Central High!</div>
+<div class="line">C—e—n—t—r—a—l—h—i—g—h, Central High!</div>
+<div class="line">Ziz—z—z—z——</div>
+<div class="line">Boom!�</div>
+</div>
+<p>Bobby seemed to be fairly borne along on that
+yell. She started ahead and she kept ahead.
+Like a flash she went down the track and breasted
+the tape quicker than it takes to tell it.</p>
+<p>“Bobby Hargrew! She’s all right!� sang the
+girls of Central High on the benches.</p>
+<p>Then girls and boys joined in, and finally the
+other schools added their cheers to the paean of
+praise that sent Bobby back to the gym. building
+with a delightful glow at her heart.</p>
+<p>“Good for you, Bobs!� cried Jess, who stood
+in the sun in her blanket coat. “That’s another
+of the points we need. Why, we’re going to
+wipe up the field with them.�</p>
+<p>“But where’s Eve?� panted Bobby. “Has
+anybody seen her?�</p>
+<p>“No. She didn’t come. She’s left us in the
+lurch——�</p>
+<p>“Not intentionally, I am sure,� declared
+Bobby, quickly.</p>
+<p>“Well, Mrs. Case is going to put Lou in for
+the broad jump if Eve doesn’t show up. And
+that miserable senior is as perky about it as she
+can be. There she is yonder, all ready for the
+event, although it’s not due for an hour yet,�
+added Jess.</p>
+<p>The field was next cleared for folk dancing,
+taking part in which were most of the freshman
+and sophomore classes of all five schools. This
+attracted the adult spectators more than it did
+the girls themselves; the latter’s keenest interest
+was centered in the all-absorbing athletic
+events.</p>
+<p>One of the juniors kept watch at the entrance
+to the field, and sent in word now and then that
+nothing had been heard or seen of Eve Sitz.
+Laura and her other friends did not know that
+Margit had gone away with Chet fielding to hunt
+for the missing girl.</p>
+<p>“If she doesn’t come pretty soon all will be
+lost!� groaned Nellie Agnew as the field cleared
+after the folk dancing.</p>
+<p>“Maybe Lou can carry the points for us,� suggested
+Dora Lockwood, doubtfully.</p>
+<p>“Never in this world!� cried Bobby.</p>
+<p>“Nor does Mrs. Case believe it. But it’s
+the best she can do,� said Jess. “There! after
+this event comes the broad jump.�</p>
+<p>“See that nasty Lou Potter!� complained
+Bobby. “She’s standing there, grinning just
+like a Chessy-cat——�</p>
+<p>“Hold on, Bobby, hold on!� exclaimed Nellie
+Agnew, admonishingly. “Remember!�</p>
+<p>“Remember what?� snapped Bobby.</p>
+<p>“‘Loyalty to Central High!’ That’s the battle
+cry.�</p>
+<p>“And right Nell is, Bobs,� interposed Jess.
+“We’ve got to give that girl the finest kind of a
+send-off when she goes into the field. Hearten
+her up! Never mind how mean we think her,
+remember she represents Central High, and the
+old school needs the points.�</p>
+<p>“Quite true, girls,� said Laura. “When Lou
+goes out to jump, pass the word to the boys to
+give her an ovation.�</p>
+<p>And just then there was some shouting at the
+gate, the crowd opened, and a figure dashed
+through wildly and made for the gym.</p>
+<p>“It’s Eve! It’s Eve!� shouted Bobby, fairly
+dancing up and down.</p>
+<p>Margit Salgo was right behind the country
+girl. She hurried with her to the dressing rooms,
+and before the broad jump was called, Eve appeared,
+cool, smiling, and quite like her usual
+self.</p>
+<p>“Mrs. Case! I protest!� declared Lou Potter,
+standing before the physical instructor of
+Central High, as Eve approached. “This is my
+chance. I demand the right to make this jump.�</p>
+<p>But the instructor only smiled and shook her
+head.</p>
+<p>“Evangeline is in plenty of time,� she said.
+“You are merely a substitute, Miss Potter. Are
+you ready, Eve? Then, take your place with
+the other contestants. You are Number 3.�</p>
+<p>News of Eve’s nick o’ time appearance had
+been circulated by Chet Belding when he joined
+the Central High boys. When it came the girl’s
+turn to jump she received an ovation that startled
+the echoes.</p>
+<p>And Eve did not disappoint her friends. She
+carried off the honors of the broad jump by two
+inches over every other competitor, beating the
+record established two years before.</p>
+<p>Bobby did equally as well in the quarter-mile
+race. That was a trial of greater endurance
+than her winning dash, but she came along ahead
+of all the other sprinters, and won by a clean
+two yards.</p>
+<p>Then Eve went into the field again and beat
+the famous Magdeline Spink, of Lumberport,
+putting the shot, by ten and a quarter inches—making
+a remarkable score for Central High, and
+establishing a record for following classes to attempt
+to beat for some years to come.</p>
+<p>Of course, the girls as a whole did not know
+for sure that any of the seniors had had anything
+to do with Eve’s being abducted to the
+Varey flat; but because Lou Potter, and others,
+had been so positive that Eve would not appear,
+the juniors could not help feeling suspicious.</p>
+<p>Had it not been for Laura Belding, ever the
+peace-maker, friction might have resulted that
+would have lasted through the remainder of the
+term and spoiled the graduation exercises for
+Central High that year.</p>
+<p>“We can afford to let the matter rest as it
+is,� said Mother Wit, to her junior class friends.
+“Central High won—we got the winning points—and
+we stand at the head of our school athletic
+league. We can be satisfied with our score.</p>
+<p>“As far as these seniors go—— Well, the bad
+ones are not the entire class. And, anyway,
+they will soon be graduated and we shall have
+no more trouble from them. Let them be an
+example to us——�</p>
+<p>“An example!� cried the irrepressible Bobby.
+“I guess you mean a horrible example.�</p>
+<p>“Perhaps. At least, let us remember, when
+we are seniors, not to do as they have done,� concluded
+Mother Wit.</p>
+<p>“If I’m any prophet,� said Jess. “We won’t
+be like them.�</p>
+<p>“Well, you are no prophet!� cried Bobby.
+“And don’t talk to me any more about prophets
+and fortune-tellers.�</p>
+<p>“Oh-ho!� mocked Nellie. “Bobby no longer
+believes in the Gypsy Queen!�</p>
+<p>“I believe in nothing of the kind. I was a
+dreadfully foolish girl to pay any attention to
+that wicked woman. You see, she was wrong.
+I got into no trouble this term with Gee Gee,
+after all.�</p>
+<p>But Bobby said nothing to her friends about
+the greater fear that she had had for weeks—the
+fear that her father might bring home a new
+wife. She knew now that that had been merely
+a spiteful guess of the Gypsy Queen, who knew
+Mr. Hargrew’s circumstances, and thought it
+safe to warn his daughter that he might marry
+again.</p>
+<p>“The wicked old witch—that’s what she is!�
+thought Bobby. “Father Tom would never do
+that. I am going to be his housekeeper as well
+as his partner.� And nothing in the future
+could ever make Bobby Hargrew doubt her father’s
+word.</p>
+<p>The girls of Central High—especially the
+juniors—carried off greater honors after that
+Field Day; but never did they win trophies that
+gave them more satisfaction than these.</p>
+<p>Eve was sure to make a name for herself in
+the league in the future; and Bobby had developed
+into quite a sprinter. Laura Belding
+looked forward in the next year to developing
+other girls into all-round athletes who would
+win points for Central High.</p>
+<p>And indeed, they all—girls and instructors
+alike—looked forward to immense benefit as well
+as pleasure to be derived from the future athletic
+activities of the Girls of Central High.</p>
+<p class="align-center">THE END</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High on Track and
+Field, by Gertrude W. Morrison
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High on Track and Field, by
+Gertrude W. Morrison
+
+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: The Girls of Central High on Track and Field
+       The Champions of the School League
+
+Author: Gertrude W. Morrison
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2010 [EBook #34749]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: BOBBY WON BY A CLEAN TWO YARDS]
+
+
+
+
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD
+
+OR
+
+THE CHAMPIONS OF THE SCHOOL LEAGUE
+
+by
+
+GERTRUDE W. MORRISON
+
+  Author of The Girls of Central High,
+  The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna, etc.
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.
+
+AKRON, OHIO -- NEW YORK
+
+MADE IN U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1914 by
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+
+
+
+Table of Contents
+
+  - CHAPTER I--THE GIRL ON THE STONE FENCE
+  - CHAPTER II--HIDE AND SEEK
+  - CHAPTER III--THE GYPSY CAMP
+  - CHAPTER IV--THE GYPSY QUEEN
+  - CHAPTER V--THE SITUATION LOOKS SERIOUS
+  - CHAPTER VI--PRESSING HOSPITALITY
+  - CHAPTER VII--THE YELLOW KERCHIEF AGAIN
+  - CHAPTER VIII--THE GIRL IN THE STORM
+  - CHAPTER IX--THE GYPSIES AGAIN
+  - CHAPTER X--EVE'S ADVENTURE
+  - CHAPTER XI--BOBBY IS INTERESTED
+  - CHAPTER XII--THE RACES
+  - CHAPTER XIII--WHAT MARGIT SAID
+  - CHAPTER XIV--ANOTHER FLITTING
+  - CHAPTER XV--ANOTHER RIVALRY ON THE FIELD
+  - CHAPTER XVI--FIVE IN A TOWER
+  - CHAPTER XVII--EVE TAKES A RISK
+  - CHAPTER XVIII--THE CONSCIENCE OF PRETTYMAN SWEET
+  - CHAPTER XIX--MARGIT AND MISS CARRINGTON MEET
+  - CHAPTER XX--INTER-CLASS RIVALRY
+  - CHAPTER XXI--MARGIT'S MYSTERY
+  - CHAPTER XXII--LOU POTTER SCORES ONE
+  - CHAPTER XXIII--THE FIELD DAY
+  - CHAPTER XXIV--MARGIT PAYS A DEBT
+  - CHAPTER XXV--THE WINNING POINTS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I--THE GIRL ON THE STONE FENCE
+
+
+The roads were muddy, but the uplands and the winding sheep-paths across
+them had dried out under the caressing rays of the Spring sun and, with
+the budding things of so many delicate shades of green, the groves and
+pastures--all nature, indeed--were garbed in loveliness.
+
+The group of girls had toiled up the ascent to an overhanging rock on
+the summit of a long ridge. Below--in view from this spot for some
+rods--wound the brown ribbon of road which they had been following until
+the upland paths invited their feet to firmer tread.
+
+There were seven of the girls and every one of the seven--in her
+way--was attractive. But the briskest, and most eager, and most
+energetic, was really the smaller--a black-eyed, be-curled, laughing
+miss who seemed bubbling over with high spirits.
+
+"Sit down--do, Bobby! It makes me simply _ache_ to see you flitting
+around like a robin. And I'm tired to death!" begged one girl, who had
+dropped in weariness on the huge, gray rock.
+
+"How can you expect to dance half the night, Jess Morse, and then start
+off on a regular walking 'tower?'" demanded the girl addressed. "_I_
+didn't go to Mabel Boyd's party last night. As Gee Gee says, 'I
+conserved my energies.'"
+
+"I don't believe anything ever tires you, Bobs," said the girl who sat
+next to Jess--a vigorous, good looking maid with a very direct gaze, who
+was attractively gowned in a brown walking dress. "You are next door to
+perpetual motion."
+
+"How'd you know who I was next door to?" laughed Clara Hargrew, whom her
+friends insisted on calling "Bobby" because her father, Tom Hargrew, had
+nicknamed her that when she was little, desiring a boy in the family
+when only girls had been vouchsafed to him.
+
+"And it is a fact that that French family who have moved into the little
+house next us are just as lively as fleas. They could be called
+'perpetual motion,' all right.
+
+"And oh, say!" cried the lively Bobby, "we had the greatest joke the
+other night on Lil Pendleton. You know, she thinks she's some French
+scholar--and she _does_ speak high school French pretty glibly----"
+
+"How's that, young lady?" interposed the girl in brown. "Put away your
+hammer. Do you _dare_ knock anything taught in Central High?"
+
+"That's all right, Mother Wit," drawled Bobby Hargrew. "But any brand of
+French that one learns out of a book is bound to sound queer in the ears
+of the Parisian born--believe me! And these Sourat people are the real
+thing."
+
+"But what about Lily Pendleton?" demanded one of the two girls who were
+dressed exactly alike and looked so much alike that one might have been
+the mirrored reflection of the other.
+
+"Why," replied Bobby, thus urged by one of the Lockwood twins, "Lil had
+some of us over to her house the other evening, and she is forever
+getting new people around her--like her mother, you know. Mrs. Pendleton
+has the very _queerest_ folk to some of her afternoons-long-haired
+pianists, and long-haired Anarchists, and once she had a short-haired
+pugilist--only he was reformed, I believe, and called himself a physical
+instructor, or a piano-mover, or something----"
+
+"Stop, stop!" cried Jess Morse, making a grab at Bobby. "You're running
+on like Tennyson's brook. You're a born gossip."
+
+"You're another! Don't you want to hear about these Sourats?"
+
+"I don't think any of us will hear the end of your story if you don't
+stick to the text a little better, Bobby," remarked a quiet, graceful
+girl, who stood upright, gazing off over the hillside and wooded valley
+below, to the misty outlines of the city so far away.
+
+"Then keep 'em still, will you, Nell?" demanded Bobby, of the last
+speaker. "Listen: The Sourats were invited with the rest of us over to
+Lily's, and Lil sang us some songs in American French. Afterward I heard
+Hester Grimes ask the young man, Andrea Sourat, if the songs did not
+make him homesick, and with his very politest bow, he said:
+
+"'No, Mademoiselle! Only seek.'
+
+"I don't suppose the poor fellow knew how it sounded in English, but it
+certainly was an awful slap at Lil," giggled Bobby.
+
+"Well, I wish they wouldn't give us languages at High," sighed Nellie
+Agnew, Dr. Arthur Agnew's daughter, when the laugh had subsided, and
+still looking off over the prospect. "I know my German is dreadful."
+
+"Let's petition to do away with Latin and Greek, too," suggested Bobby,
+who was always deficient in those studies. "'Dead languages'--what's the
+good of 'em if they are deceased, anyway? I've got a good mind to ask
+Old Dimple a question next time."
+
+"What's the question, Bobby?" asked Jess, lazily.
+
+"Why, if they're 'dead languages,' who killed 'em? He ought to have a
+monument, whoever he was--and if he'd only buried them good and deep he
+might have had _two_ monuments."
+
+"If you gave a little more time to studying books and less time to
+studying mischief----" began the girl in brown, when suddenly Nellie
+startled them all by exclaiming:
+
+"Look there! See that girl down there? What do you suppose she is
+doing?"
+
+Some of them jumped up to look over the edge of the rock on which they
+rested; but Jess Morse refused to be aroused.
+
+"What's the girl doing?" she drawled. "It's got to be something awfully
+funny to get me on my feet again----"
+
+"Hush!" commanded the girl in brown.
+
+"Can she hear us, 'way down there, Laura Belding?" asked Nellie Agnew,
+anxiously. "See here! Something's chasing her--eh?"
+
+The girl who had attracted their attention was quite unknown to any of
+the walking party. And she was, at first sight, an odd-looking person.
+She wore no hat, and her black hair streamed behind her in a wild tangle
+as she ran along the muddy road. She had a vivid yellow handkerchief
+tied loosely about her throat, and her skirt was green--a combination of
+colors bound to attract attention at a distance.
+
+When the girls first saw this fugitive--for such she seemed to be--she
+was running from the thick covert of pine and spruce which masked the
+road to the west, and now she leaped upon the stone fence which bordered
+the upper edge of the highway as far as the spectators above could trace
+its course.
+
+The stone wall was old, and broken in places. It must have offered very
+insecure footing; but the oddly dressed girl ran along it with the
+confidence of a chipmunk.
+
+"Did you ever see anything like that?" gasped Bobby. "I'd like to have
+her balance."
+
+"And her feet!" agreed Jess, struggling to her knees the better to see
+the running girl.
+
+"She's bound to fall!" gasped Nellie.
+
+"Not she!" said Eve Sitz, the largest and quietest girl of the group.
+"Those Gypsies run like dogs and are just as sure-footed as--as
+chamois," added the Swiss girl, harking back to a childhood memory of
+her own mountainous country.
+
+"A Gypsy!" asked Bobby, in a hushed voice. "You don't mean it?"
+
+"She's dressed like one," said Eve.
+
+"And see how brown she is," added Laura Belding, otherwise "Mother Wit."
+
+"There! she almost fell," gasped one of the twins who stood now, with
+arms entwined, looking at the flying girl with nervous expectancy. It
+did not seem as though she could run the length of the stone fence
+without coming to grief.
+
+But it was a quick journey. With a flying leap the girl in the green
+skirt and yellow scarf disappeared in a clump of brush which masked the
+wall at its easterly end, just where the road dipped toward the noisy
+brook which curved around that shoulder of the ridge and, later, fell
+over a ledge into a broad pool--the murmur of the cascade being faintly
+audible to the spectators on the summit of the ridge.
+
+"She's gone!" spoke Bobby, finally, breaking the silence.
+
+"But who's that coming after her?" demanded Nellie, looking back toward
+the West. "There! down in the shadow of the trees. Isn't that a figure
+moving, too?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II--HIDE AND SEEK
+
+
+"It's a man!"
+
+Dora Lockwood said it so tragically that Bobby was highly amused.
+
+"My goodness me!" she chortled. "You said that with all the horrified
+emphasis of a spinster lady."
+
+"It _is_ a man--isn't it?" whispered the other twin.
+
+"I--I guess so," Laura Belding said, slowly.
+
+"It is," declared Jess. "And he's a tough looking character."
+
+"And he is acting quite as oddly as the girl did," remarked Bobby. "What
+do you suppose it means?"
+
+"He's a Gypsy, too, I believe," put in Eve Sitz, suddenly.
+
+"Say! this is getting melodramatic," laughed Laura Belding.
+
+"Just like 'The Gypsy's Warning,' or something quite as hair-raising,
+eh?" agreed Bobby.
+
+"There! he's coming out," gasped Jess.
+
+The man appeared for half a minute in the clearer space of the open
+road. He was staring all about, up and down the road, along the edge of
+the woods, and even into the air. The seven girls were behind the fringe
+of bushes that edged the huge rock, and he could not see them.
+
+"What an evil-faced fellow he is!" whispered Dora Lockwood.
+
+"And see the big gold rings in his ears," added her twin, Dorothy.
+
+"Do you suppose he is really after that girl?" observed Laura,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Whether he is, or not, it's none of our business, I suppose," returned
+Jess, who was Mother Wit's closest chum.
+
+"I'm not so sure of that."
+
+"My goodness! if they're Gypsies, we don't want to have anything to do
+with them," exclaimed Dorothy.
+
+"Oh, the Romany people aren't so bad," said Eve Sitz, easily. "They have
+customs of their own, and live a different life from we folk----"
+
+"Or 'us folk?'" suggested Nellie, smiling.
+
+"From other folk, anyway!" returned the big girl, cheerfully. "They come
+through this section every Spring--and sometimes later in the year, too.
+We have often had them at the house," she added, for Eve's father had a
+large farm, and from that farm the seven girls had started on this long
+walk early in the morning.
+
+It was the Easter vacation at Central High and these friends were all
+members of the junior class. Centerport, the spires and tall buildings
+of which they could now see in the distance, was a wealthy and lively
+city of some hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, situated on the
+southern shore of Lake Luna, a body of water of considerable size.
+
+At either end of the lake was another large town--namely Lumberport and
+Keyport. In each of these latter cities was a well conducted high
+school, and in Centerport there were three--the East and West Highs, and
+Central High, the newest and largest.
+
+For a year now the girls of all these five high schools had been deeply
+interested in athletics, including the games usually played upon the
+Girls' Branch Athletic League grounds--canoeing, rowing, ski running,
+and lastly, but not least in value according to the estimation of their
+instructors, walking. Usually the physical instructor of Central High,
+Mrs. Case, accompanied her pupils on their walking tours; but this
+vacation the seven friends who now stood upon the summit of this big,
+gray rock, had determined to indulge in a long walk by themselves, and
+they had come over to Eve Sitz's house the night before so as to get an
+early start on the mountain road to Fielding, twenty miles away. From
+that place they would take the train back to Centerport, and Eve was to
+remain all night with Laura at the Belding home.
+
+These girls, although of strongly marked and contrasting characters,
+were intimate friends. They had been enthusiastic members of the girls'
+athletic association from its establishment; and they had, individually
+and together, taken an important part in the athletic activities of
+Central High.
+
+For instance, in the first volume of this series, entitled, "The Girls
+of Central High; Or, Rivals for All Honors," Laura Belding was able to
+interest one of the wealthiest men of Centerport, Colonel Richard
+Swayne, in the girls' athletic association, then newly formed, so that
+he gave a large sum of money toward a proper athletic field and
+gymnasium building for their sole use.
+
+In "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna; Or, the Crew That Won," the
+second story of the series, the girls were mainly centering their
+attention upon aquatic sports; and the Lockwood twins--Dora and
+Dorothy--were particularly active in this branch of athletics. They won
+honorable mention if not the prize in the canoe event, and were likewise
+members of the Central High girls' crew that won the cup in the contest
+of eight-oared shells.
+
+The third volume of the series, named "The Girls of Central High at
+Basketball; Or, The Great Gymnasium Mystery," particularly related the
+fortunes of the representative basketball team of Central High, and of
+which each girl now gathered here on the ridge was a member.
+
+Not long previous to this day in the Spring vacation when the seven were
+tramping toward Fielding, Jess Morse had made a great hit with her
+school friends and instructors, as well. She had written a play, which
+was performed by members of the girls' secret society of the school and
+some of their boy friends, and so good was it that it not only won a
+prize of two hundred dollars for which many of the girls of Central High
+had competed, but it attracted the attention of a professional
+theatrical producer, who had made a contract with Mrs. Morse, Jess's
+mother, for the use of the play in a revised form upon the professional
+stage. The details of all this are to be found in the fourth volume of
+the series, entitled, "The Girls of Central High on the Stage; Or, The
+Play That Took the Prize."
+
+"There! the fellow's going back," said Jess Morse, suddenly calling
+attention to the dark man on the road below.
+
+"If he was after the girl he has given up the chase. I am glad of that,"
+added her chum.
+
+"But where did the girl go?" demanded Bobby Hargrew, craning her neck to
+peer toward the bushes on the easterly side of the rock.
+
+"There she is!" ejaculated Dora Lockwood, grabbing Bobby by the arm.
+
+She pointed down the side of the ridge, where the rough pasture land
+dropped to the verge of the brook. The other girls came running and
+gazed in the direction she pointed out.
+
+The green skirt and the yellow scarf appeared. The girl was wading in
+the stream, and she passed swiftly along, seen by the spectators at
+every opening in the fringe of trees and brush that bordered the brook.
+
+"In the water at this time of the year!" gasped Jess.
+
+"And in her shoes and stockings! She wouldn't have had time to stop to
+take them off and get so far up stream," declared Bobby, almost dancing
+up and down in her eagerness.
+
+"What do you suppose it means?" cried Nellie.
+
+"She is running away from the man, I guess," admitted Laura, slowly.
+
+"And trying to hide her trail," added Eve.
+
+"Hide her trail! Is this the Indian country? Are the Gypsies savages?"
+demanded Nellie. "Has she got to run along the top of a stone fence and
+then take to a running stream to throw off pursuit?"
+
+"That is her hope, I expect," Laura said.
+
+"But _why?_" cried Bobby. "You can't tell me that even Gypsies are as
+keen on a trail as all that----"
+
+"Hark!" commanded Laura. "Listen."
+
+"It's dogs," spoke Bobby, in a moment.
+
+"O--o--o--o! sounds like a wolf," shuddered Dora.
+
+"It is worse," said Eve Sitz, her face flushing. "That is the bay of a
+bloodhound. I remember that we saw one of the great, lop-eared animals
+in leash when that party of Romanys went past our place last week."
+
+"You don't mean that, Eve?" Jess cried. "A bloodhound?"
+
+"And they have put him on the trail of that girl--sure as you live!"
+declared the farmer's daughter, with decision.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III--THE GYPSY CAMP
+
+
+"Why! I think this is outrageous," said Nellie Agnew. "We ought to find
+a constable and have such a thing stopped. Think of chasing that poor
+girl with a mad dog----"
+
+"I guess he isn't mad," ventured Eve, soberly.
+
+Bobby laughed. "Even if he's only vexed I wouldn't want a bloodhound
+tearing after me over these hills."
+
+"You know what I mean," persisted Nellie, still wrathfully. "It is a
+desperate shame! The dog will hurt her----"
+
+"No, no!" said Eve. "It is trained. And the man has it in leash----"
+
+"Hush! here they are!" warned Laura, and the girls hid themselves behind
+the fringe of bushes.
+
+The dog gave tongue just as it came in sight, and the sound sent a
+shiver over the watchers. The baying of a bloodhound is a very
+terrifying sound indeed.
+
+With the dogs were three men--one of them the same the girls of Central
+High had seen before. The other two were fully as rough-looking.
+
+"I hope they don't find her!" exclaimed Bobby.
+
+"They'll find you if you don't keep still," warned Jess.
+
+But it appeared to the girls that the Gypsies were having considerable
+difficulty in following the trail of the girl who had fled along the top
+of the old stone wall. The dog searched from side to side of the road.
+He leaped the wall, dragging one of the men after him, and ran about the
+lower field. That she had traversed the stone fence, like a fox, never
+seemed to enter the men's minds, nor the dog's either.
+
+For some time the party of hunters were in sight; but finally they went
+off in an easterly direction along the road, passing over the brook in
+which the strange girl had left her "water trail," and the girls of
+Central High believed that the fugitive was safe--for the time being, at
+least.
+
+"I wish we knew where she was going," said Nellie. "I'd help her, for
+one."
+
+"Me, too," agreed Bobby Hargrew.
+
+"If she should get as far as our house, mother would take her in," said
+Eve, in her placid way. "But the Romany folk are peculiar people, and
+they have laws of their own and do not like to be brought under those of
+other countries."
+
+"Why, they're just tramps, aren't they? Sort of sublimated tramps,
+perhaps," said Jess.
+
+"Not the real Gypsies," said Laura. "They are very jealous, I have read,
+of their customs, their laws, and their language. They claim descent in
+direct line from early Egyptian times. The name of Stanley alone, which
+is common with them, dates back to William the Conqueror."
+
+"Well, come on!" sighed Jess. "We don't care anything about the Gypsies,
+and we can't help that girl--just now. If we tried to follow her up
+stream we would only give those men the idea of the direction in which
+we went. Let's get on, or we'll never get to Fielding."
+
+"All right," agreed Laura.
+
+"Forward, march!" sang out Bobby. "How's the way, Eve? Right down this
+hill?"
+
+"Keep parallel with the road. We'll strike another path later," said the
+Swiss girl, who had rambled all over these hills with her brother.
+
+"Oh, these shoes!" groaned Jess.
+
+"I told you so," exclaimed Laura.
+
+"Bah! what good does it do to repeat _that?_" snapped her chum. "I hate
+those old mud-scows of mine that Mrs. Case makes me wear when she goes
+walking with us."
+
+"Well, you certainly wore a fine pair to-day," scoffed Bobby. "I guess
+it doesn't do to do what Mrs. Case advises against."
+
+"Not if we want to make points for Central High," said Laura, laughing.
+
+"That's so! Where would Jess be to-day if this was a regular scheduled
+walk, to count for our school in June?" cried Dora.
+
+"Now, rub it in! rub it in!" exclaimed Jess. "Don't you suppose I know
+I've been a chump without you all telling me so?"
+
+"I do believe it will rain," burst out Dorothy, suddenly. "Doesn't that
+look like a rain-cloud to you, Laura?"
+
+"Pooh!" said Eve. "Don't be afraid of a little April shower. It won't
+drown us, that's sure."
+
+"That's all right," agreed Dora, the other twin. "But we don't want to
+get soaked. If it should start to rain, is there any shelter near?"
+
+"The Gypsy camp, maybe," laughed Bobby, and then went on ahead, singing:
+
+    "'April showers bring May flowers
+      And sometimes more than that;
+    For the unexpected downpour
+      Often ruins the Easter hat.'
+
+"Say, girls, we _would_ be in a mess if it should start to rain hard."
+
+"And that cloud looks threatening," admitted Nellie Agnew.
+
+"I believe I felt a drop then," gasped Dora.
+
+"What's the matter, Chicken Little?" laughed Laura. "Is the sky
+falling?"
+
+"You can laugh! Maybe it will be a regular flood," said Jess, ruefully.
+
+"By the way, what caused the flood?" asked Bobby, soberly.
+
+"Folks were so wicked--all but Noah," replied Dora.
+
+"No," said Bobby.
+
+"It's one of Bobby's 'burns,'" declared Jess. "What _did_ cause the
+flood, then?"
+
+"It rained," said the irrepressible one.
+
+"Come on under this tree, girls!" cried Eve, striding ahead down the
+hill. "It will only be a passing shower."
+
+They ran for cover, and the broad branching limbs of the huge cedar Eve
+had selected faithfully covered them as the brief spring shower went
+drumming by.
+
+Meanwhile Laura was saying, more thoughtfully:
+
+"We've got to give our best attention to the inter-class and
+inter-school athletics when school opens again, girls, if we want
+Central High to stand first at the end of the year. You know we are
+being beaten right along by the East High and Keyport Just think!
+Central High only Number 3 in points that count when the June field day
+comes. We can't stand for that, can we?"
+
+"I should say not!" cried Bobby. "But we beat 'em last year on the
+water."
+
+"And we stand first in basketball," added Dora Lockwood.
+
+"But the fact remains we haven't got the championship of the League
+cinched by any manner of means," returned Laura. "Eve is going to win, I
+believe, in the shot-putting contests. Mrs. Case says that is on the
+doubtful list of girls' athletics. But throwing weights isn't going to
+hurt Eve, or Hester Grimes, that's sure. And look at that girl at
+Vassar! She put the shot thirty-two feet and three-quarters of an inch
+when she was only sixteen. Eve can do almost as well."
+
+"I don't know about that, Mother Wit," said the big girl, laughing. "But
+I'll do my best."
+
+"And your best will beat them all, I believe."
+
+"She'll beat Magdeline Spink, of Lumberport, I know," cried Bobby. "And
+_she_ did all the big 'throws' last year--baseball, basketball, putting
+the shot, and all of 'em."
+
+"I hope you are right, Bobby," returned the country girl, smiling. She
+was proud of her strength and physique. Her outdoor life since she was a
+little child, and what she had inherited from a long line of peasant
+ancestors was coming into play now for the benefit of Central High's
+athletic score.
+
+"Now, don't sit down there on the damp ground, Jess. You'll get a case
+of rheumatism--and a bad case, too."
+
+"Oh, I hope not!" cried Jess, jumping up. "I shouldn't know what to do
+for it."
+
+"You'd have to take mud baths," giggled Dorothy.
+
+"That road below is in fine shape for that purpose, then," said Jess,
+looking through the pouring rain at the puddles in the roadway.
+
+"You'd have to wear flannels," said Dora.
+
+"Hah!" cried Bobby. "That's it. Flannels are a sure cure. You know,
+
+    "'Although it caused within his home
+      A very serious schism,
+    He still insisted flannel-cakes
+      Were good for rheumatism.'"
+
+"Go on!" exclaimed Jess, laughing. "You sound like 'Alice in
+Wonderland.'"
+
+"Say, rather, 'Bobby in Blunderland,'" added Laura. "But to get back to
+athletics----"
+
+"'To return to our muttons,'" quoth Bobby, unrepressed.
+
+"We have a chance to win the championship--our school has--if we can
+bring the relay teams up to the mark, and win the jumping events. It is
+on field and track that we have got to gain the points. No doubt of
+that."
+
+"Then our track teams need strengthening--much," said Nellie Agnew,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"I should say so!" exclaimed Bobby. "I could put on one of Lil
+Pendleton's peg-top skirts and beat most of the junior runners right
+now!"
+
+"If it's as bad as that, we have all got to go into the track athletics,
+and pull up our score," declared Laura.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Dorothy, suddenly. "It's stopped raining."
+
+"That little shower didn't even wet under the bushes," said Eve, with
+satisfaction.
+
+"Let's get along, then, before another comes and washes us away," said
+Bobby. "Straight ahead, Evangeline?"
+
+"Yes. Right down to that dead oak you see on the lower hillside."
+
+"Good! A mark is set before me, and if my luck holds good I'll reach it.
+But why prate of 'luck'? Is there such a thing?"
+
+"Give it up. What's the answer?" asked Dora Lockwood, directly behind
+her.
+
+"Luck is a foolish thing--or a belief in it is," complained Bobby. "List
+to my tale of woe:
+
+    "Why wear a rabbit foot for luck
+      Or nail a horseshoe on the sill?
+    For if upon the ice you slip
+      You'll surely get a spill.
+
+    "Why cross your fingers in the dark
+      To keep the witches from your track,
+    When if, in getting out of bed,
+      You step upon a tack?"
+
+"Don't sing us any more doggerel, but lead on!" commanded Laura.
+
+Bobby was first at the dead tree. There she stopped, not for breath, but
+because, below her, in a sheltered hollow, where a spring drifted away
+across a grassy lawn, there was an encampment. She held up her hand and
+motioned for silence.
+
+There were three large, covered wagons such is Gypsies usually drive. A
+dozen horses were tethered where the young grass was particularly lush.
+A fire over which a big kettle of some savory stew bubbled, burned in
+the midst of the encampment. There were two gaudily painted canvas tents
+staked on the green, too, although from the opened doors of the wagons
+it was evident that the Gypsies, at this time of year, mainly lived
+within their vehicles.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Bobby, when the other girls were crowding about her, and
+looking as hard as she was at the camp. "This is what the girl we saw,
+ran away from."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV--THE GYPSY QUEEN
+
+
+"Isn't that romantic?" cried Jess, under her breath. "Wouldn't you like
+to live in the open like that, Laura?"
+
+"Sometimes. Then again I might want a steam-heated house," laughed
+Mother Wit.
+
+"And see that darling little baby!" gasped Nellie Agnew, as a little
+fellow in gay apparel ran out of one of the tents.
+
+A young woman followed him. She had black hair, and very black eyes, and
+wore a necklace, and earrings, and bracelets galore. When she ran after
+the crowing little one the tinkling of these ornaments was audible to
+the group of girls on the hillside.
+
+This gaily dressed woman caught up the laughing child, and as she turned
+her gaze went over his head and struck full upon the seven girls.
+
+She set the little boy down quietly, said something to him, and he ran
+to cover like a frightened chicken. She spoke another word--aloud--and
+two men and three other women appeared from the wagons, or tents. They
+all gazed up at the half-frightened girls.
+
+"Come down, pretty young ladies," said the gaily bedecked Gypsy woman,
+in a wheedling tone. "We will not harm you. If you cross our palms with
+silver we may be able to tell you something pleasant."
+
+She spoke English well enough; but her address mainly was a formula
+used; to attract trade.
+
+"What'll we do?" gasped Dorothy Lockwood, clinging to her twin's hand.
+
+"Keep your courage, Dorry," said her sister.
+
+"Don't let them see we're afraid of them," Nellie advised, but in a
+shaking voice.
+
+"And why should we be afraid?" asked Laura, quite calmly.
+
+"Oh, I've seen that woman before," said Eve. "She's one of the Vareys.
+They are English Gypsies, like the Stanleys. She was at our place last
+summer."
+
+She started down the steep hillside into the camp. The first Gypsy woman
+said something in the Romany dialect to the others, and the men drifted
+away, only the woman awaiting the coming of the girls of Central High.
+
+As the seven friends approached they saw that the Varey woman was very
+handsome, in her bold, dark way. Silver ornaments were entwined in her
+coarse, blue-black hair; her dress, though garish in color, was neat and
+of rich material. The bangle, bracelets, necklace and all were either of
+silver or gold--no sham about them, as Laura Belding very well knew, her
+father being a jeweler and she knowing something about good jewelry.
+
+"She's queen of the tribe," whispered Eve to Laura. "And her husband,
+Jim Varey, is leader of this clan. He is a horse trader, and sells
+oilcloth and tinware, while the women sell baskets, and the like, and
+pick up a quarter now and then telling fortunes."
+
+"Oh, Eve!" whispered Jess, behind, "did you ever have your fortune
+told?"
+
+"Yes. It's silly," replied Eve, flushing.
+
+"It would be lots of fun," said Bobby, quite as eager as Jess.
+
+"Let's all do it," urged Nellie. "If we give them a little money they
+probably will not molest us."
+
+"They wouldn't dare trouble us, anyway," said Eve. "And why should
+they?"
+
+But the other girls, who were not so well acquainted with the Romany
+people, felt that the adventure in the Gypsy camp promised much
+excitement. In a minute they were all on the greensward in front of the
+tent of the Gypsy queen.
+
+"Cross the poor Gypsy's palm with silver," whined Grace Varey, in a
+wheedling tone, "and each of you shall learn what the future has in
+store for you."
+
+"Suppose you can't tell us anything pleasant?" said Bobby Hargrew,
+boldly. "Then we'd rather not know it."
+
+"But such pretty little ladies are bound to have pretty fortunes,"
+replied the Romany woman. "Come! for a shilling--two shillings, in your
+American money--I will tell you each what you want to know most."
+
+"You will?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, for but two shillings in your American money."
+
+"She means a quarter," said Eve.
+
+"You try it first, Mother Wit," urged Nellie, nudging Laura.
+
+At the words Grace Varey looked sharply at Laura Belding's earnest face
+and thoughtful gray eyes. Instantly she said:
+
+"You do not fear. You lead these others. You have a quick mind and you
+invent things. You are usually first in everything; but power does not
+spoil you. You win love as well as admiration--there is a difference.
+You have parents and at least one brother. You have no sister. There is
+a----" She shut her eyes for a moment, and hesitated. "There is a black
+person--a woman--who has something to do with you----"
+
+"Beware of the 'black man coming with a bundle,'" hissed Bobby,
+giggling.
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed Jess. "She means Mammy Jinny, Laura's old nurse."
+
+Grace Varey had turned swiftly to the scoffing Bobby, and she pointed at
+her with an accusing finger.
+
+"You do not believe," she said, quickly. "You are light and thoughtless.
+You have been spoiled by a doting father. You have no mother--poor
+child! You are very frivolous and light-hearted; but a great sorrow is
+coming into your life soon. Into your school life, I believe. It is
+connected with one of your teachers--a woman. Beware!"
+
+Now, this was very melodramatic; but Bobby, for some reason, could not
+laugh at it. The woman was too much in earnest. Suddenly Grace Varey's
+manner changed, and she whined:
+
+"Cross the poor Gypsy's palm with silver, and she will tell you more.
+Only two shillings, little lady," and she urged Laura toward the tent.
+
+"All right," said Mother Wit. "If the rest of you are game, I am. But
+don't back out afterward."
+
+"Not if she is genuine," said Jess, laughing.
+
+Bobby hadn't a word to say; for the moment she was quelled.
+
+But all that the woman had said could be easily explained by the science
+of deduction--which is merely observation raised to the _nth_ power.
+
+Mother Wit went into the tent and found it a rather gloomy place. There
+was a folding table and two divans, besides some dingy hangings. It was
+evidently arranged for the purpose of fortune telling and nothing else.
+
+"Sit down, lady," said the Gypsy queen. "Let me see your hand. Do you
+believe in the reading of character by the lines of the hand?"
+
+"I do not know whether I do or not," replied Laura, calmly.
+
+The woman laughed lightly. She peered at the lines of Laura's palm for a
+moment, and then said:
+
+"You believe nothing without investigation. For so young a person you
+are very cautious, and you have much good sense. You are sharp and
+intelligent. And you are gentle-hearted. In short, your friends love you
+very dearly, and you are very faithful to them. Is it not so?"
+
+"You flatter me," said Laura, quietly.
+
+She noted that the woman was no longer holding her hand by the fingers;
+that she had shifted her own hand to Laura's wrist, and that two of the
+queen's fingers were resting lightly on her pulse--just as Dr. Agnew
+held a patient's hand when he counted the throbbing of his heart.
+
+"Oh, I know," went on the Gypsy, in her whining, sing-song way. "You
+would be faithful in every event. If you had a secret you could keep
+it--surely. For instance," she added, without changing her tone or
+raising her voice, "if you had seen the girl with the yellow
+handkerchief and green skirt, and the little, puckered blue scar high
+up--near the right temple--you would not tell where she was--which
+direction she had gone."
+
+_That_ was why the woman was feeling her pulse! Laura knew her heart
+jumped at the question. She might control her features; but the woman's
+question had startled her, and that sudden heart-throb had told the
+shrewd queen what she wished to know.
+
+She smiled lazily, in the dim light, upon the girl before her. She knew
+that Laura Belding and her friends had seen the fugitive from the Gypsy
+camp.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V--THE SITUATION LOOKS SERIOUS
+
+
+Laura Belding was as quick to think as she was to act. She remained
+perfectly calm after the woman's question--calm outwardly, at least. Now
+she spoke:
+
+"You have spoken a very true thing now. If I had seen such a girl I
+should not tell you. And this has nothing to do with my own fortune. I
+have paid you to tell me something about my future--which you seem to
+know so well."
+
+This spurring phrase put the woman on her mettle. She flushed slowly
+under her dark skin.
+
+"You are a heretic--you do not believe," she said.
+
+"I must be shown before I believe," returned Laura, confidently.
+
+"Then what comes to you in the future will only prove the case," laughed
+the Gypsy queen. "You do not believe in palmistry," and she tossed the
+hand from her lightly.
+
+"Neither do you," said Laura, bluntly. "You did not hold my hand then to
+enable you to read my palm, but for another purpose."
+
+"You are a shrewd lady," said the Gypsy. "I read character in other ways
+than by palmistry--it is true."
+
+She looked at Laura for some seconds very earnestly. Of course, Mother
+Wit did not believe this Gypsy had any occult power; but her deep black
+eyes were wonderfully compelling, and it might be that there was
+something in "mind reading."
+
+"You have an intention now that, if followed to its conclusion, will
+bring you trouble, young lady. Just what that intention may be, or what
+trouble it may bring, I cannot say exactly," declared the woman, slowly
+and impressively. "But it deals with a person you have never seen but
+once--I believe, recently. It seems that you may think you are helping
+her----"
+
+"That is not prophesying," said Laura, quickly, and interrupting the
+Gypsy queen. "I shall scarcely think your information worth what I have
+paid you if you do not do better than that."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded the woman, hastily, and with a flush coming
+into her cheek again.
+
+"You know very well that you are warning me not to assist the girl who
+has run away from this camp," Mother Wit said, boldly.
+
+"Ha! Then you _did_ see her?" cried the Gypsy.
+
+"You know I did. You played a trick on me to find out. You are not
+telling my fortune, but you are endeavoring to find out, through me,
+about the girl who has run away. And I tell you right now, you will not
+learn anything further from me--or from the other girls."
+
+The Gypsy queen gazed at her with lowering brows; but Laura Belding
+neither "shivered nor shook."
+
+"You are quite courageous--for a girl," observed the woman, at last.
+
+"I may be, or not. But I am intelligent enough to know when I am being
+fooled. Unless you have something of importance to tell me I shall
+conclude that this fortune-telling seance is ended," and Laura rose from
+her seat.
+
+"Wait," said the woman, in a low voice. "I will tell you one thing. You
+may not consider it worth your attention now, little lady; but it will
+prove so in the end. _Do not cross the Romany folk--it is bad luck!_"
+
+"And I do not believe in 'luck,'" rejoined Laura, smiling. She was
+determined not to let the woman see that she was at all frightened.
+Surely these people would not dare detain, or injure, seven girls.
+
+"An unbeliever!" muttered the Gypsy woman. "We can tell nothing to an
+unbeliever."
+
+"And having got _from_ her all you are likely to get," said Laura,
+coolly, "your prophecies are ended, are they?"
+
+Queen Grace waved her hand toward the tent flap. "Send in one of your
+companions," she said. "Any one of them. I am angry with you, and when
+passion controls me I can see nothing, little lady."
+
+But Laura Belding went forth, fully determined that none of her friends
+should waste their money upon the chance that the Gypsy queen might see
+into the future for them.
+
+"It's wicked, anyway," decided Mother Wit. "If God thought it best for
+us to know what the future had in store for us, he would have put it
+within the power of every person to know what was coming. Professional
+palmists, and fortune-tellers of all sorts, are merely wicked persons
+who wish to get foolish people's money!"
+
+She found the six other girls grouped in the middle of the camp, trying
+to understand one of the women, who was talking to them, and evidently
+not a little frightened.
+
+"Oh, Laura! How did it go?" demanded Jess, running to her.
+
+"Very bad. She is a fraud," whispered Mother Wit. "And look out! they
+think we have seen the girl who ran away and they will try to pump us
+about her."
+
+"That's what I thought," declared Jess.
+
+"Know all about your past and future, Laura?" asked Bobby Hargrew.
+
+"Dear me! it makes me shiver to think of it," said Nellie. "Does she
+stir a cauldron, and call on the spirits of the earth and air?"
+
+"She calls on nothing but her own shrewd sense," replied Laura, shortly.
+"And she can tell you really nothing. Take my advice, girls, and don't
+try it."
+
+"Oh!" cried the disappointed Bobby "I did so hope she could tell
+me--more."
+
+"Don't you believe a thing she told you about trouble coming to you at
+school," said Eve, quietly.
+
+"You needn't worry about that, Bobs," drawled Dora Lockwood. "You know
+you are always getting into trouble with Gee Gee."
+
+"Maybe she could tell me how to circumvent her," sighed Bobby.
+
+"You'll never get the best of Miss Grace Carrington," said Jess,
+decidedly; "so give up all hope of _that_."
+
+"Let the little lady try it--do," whined one of the women. "She can
+learn much, perhaps. Because one fails, that is no reason why another
+should not succeed."
+
+"I'd like to try it," said Bobby, earnestly.
+
+Laura whispered: "What they want to find out is if we saw the girl who
+has run away from them, and if we know where she is. Be careful."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Positive," Laura replied. "She caught me with her questions. She knows
+I saw the girl. I told her nothing else."
+
+The queen came to the opening of the tent and beckoned to Bobby. She
+seemed to know instinctively which girl was anxious to try her arts.
+
+"Oh, Bobby," whispered Dorothy. "Maybe you'd better not--as Laura says."
+
+"I want to see for myself," said the other girl, doggedly.
+
+And she moved toward the Gypsy's tent. Laura gathered the other girls
+about her. One of the women was so near that she could overhear anything
+said louder than a whisper.
+
+"I want to get away from here at once," said Laura, quietly. "Let us buy
+any little things they may have for sale, and go on our way. We can get
+away better now when there are only two men in the camp than we can when
+those other three--and the bloodhound--get back."
+
+"Oh, mercy me!" gasped Jess. "I had forgotten about the bloodhound."
+
+"Hush!" murmured Laura. "Don't let that woman hear you."
+
+But it was evident that the Gypsy woman had heard. She uttered a
+sentence or two in Romany and the two men whom the girls had seen before
+at the camp appeared. They did not come near, but sat by the roadside
+that passed through the hollow, and filled their pipes and smoked. It
+was quite evident that they were on guard.
+
+"We are prisoners!" whispered Nellie, seizing Eve's arm.
+
+"Sh!" admonished Laura again. "Don't let them see that you're afraid.
+That will only make them the bolder."
+
+But all of the six girls outside the Gypsy's tent were more than a
+little disturbed. The situation did seem serious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI--PRESSING HOSPITALITY
+
+
+The other woman had been stirring the great pot of stew. It certainly
+_did_ throw off a delicious odor. Each girl carried a lunch box and they
+had been about to hunt a pretty spot, near a spring, and satisfy their
+appetites. Now the woman at the cauldron, who looked a deal like an old
+witch, turned and waved her spoon, grinned, and said something to the
+half-frightened visitors.
+
+The younger Gypsy woman interpreted:
+
+"She says you can have some dinner, if you will stay."
+
+"My goodness!" whispered Dora. "I could not eat any of that stuff."
+
+"Some of the Gypsies are good cooks--and that smells delicious," Eve
+said.
+
+Laura shook her head, but tried to speak kindly. "We could not stop long
+enough to eat with you," she said. "We must go just as soon as the other
+girl comes out."
+
+"Better think twice of it, little lady," said the Gypsy woman. "When you
+eat the bread and salt of the Romany folk they remain your friends."
+
+"And chase you with bloodhounds if you try to get away," spoke Nellie,
+unguardedly.
+
+It was an unfortunate remark. The woman must have heard it. She turned
+and spoke to the men again. They rose and stood ready to oppose the
+departure of the girls of Central High.
+
+Even Laura and Eve felt their courage waver at this. The latter knew
+that there were no farms near--no inhabited dwellings. The nearest
+family must be at least two miles away. And this road was lonely at
+best--and this time of year, when the farmers were just beginning to get
+their plows into the ground, everybody was busy and there would not be
+much driving on any of the ridge roads.
+
+"What can we do?" moaned Dorothy Lockwood.
+
+"Will they dare keep us here, Eve?" demanded her twin.
+
+At this strained point in the proceedings there was a sudden excitement
+among the Gypsies. One of the men started up the road in an easterly
+direction. The girls looked in some worriment of mind to see what was to
+happen.
+
+"They've caught the girl!" muttered Jess.
+
+"No, But the dog's coming back," said Laura.
+
+There appeared almost at once the three men who had hunted with the
+bloodhound--and the hound himself. He was more ferocious-looking close
+to than at a distance. The six girls shrank together when he passed
+them, his great dewlaps slobbering and dripping, and his red eyes
+glancing sullenly from side to side.
+
+The Gypsies laughed when they saw fear so plainly displayed in the
+countenances of the six girls. The bloodhound was fastened to one of the
+wagon wheels, and then the Romany folk paid no particular attention to
+their visitors.
+
+It was plain that they considered the girls would not go far when they
+saw that the dog could be unleashed and set upon their trail. Nellie
+Agnew began to cry, but Laura was growing angry.
+
+"Just wait till Bobby comes out of that tent. I'm going to start right
+off along the road----"
+
+"You won't ever dare to!" gasped Dora.
+
+"Yes, I will. They won't dare set a dog like that on us----"
+
+Just then the little boy they had first seen ran out of the other tent.
+He was evidently aiming for his father, who was a low-browed man with
+huge hoops of gold in his ears, and a ferocious mustache.
+
+But the little one had to pass the dog. He saw him, gave a shriek of
+delight, and ran straight at the huge and savage-looking creature!
+
+The girls were, for an instant, greatly startled. Then they were amazed
+to see the little fellow roll the bloodhound over and laugh and shriek
+in delight--while the dog nuzzled the baby and seemed to like the play.
+
+"My goodness!" cried Jess. "That dog's nothing but a bluff!"
+
+"I believe you," said Laura. "I've heard of a dog's bark being worse
+than his bite; but in this case his appearance is a whole lot worse than
+his real nature. I guess they just keep him for his fearful looks and
+his ability to trail anything."
+
+"Girls included," murmured Dora. "I don't want him trailing me."
+
+The Gypsies had tried to call the little boy away from the huge dog. But
+they knew that the appearance of the hound would no longer strike terror
+to the hearts of their visitors.
+
+Indeed, Laura, who was naturally unafraid of dogs, as she was of horses,
+went over to the big, ugly-looking brute, and patted his head. He raised
+up and looked at her, and his bloodshot eyes _did_ have a fearful
+appearance; but he lapped her hand with his soft tongue--and _that_
+bogey was laid!
+
+"Just as soon as Bobby comes out, we'll go, girls," said Laura,
+confidently. "They won't dare lay a finger on us."
+
+At that moment Bobby burst from the fortune-teller's tent. She presented
+a wonderful and a shocking sight to her friends, for usually they saw
+her laughing. She was in tears and she ran to Laura and clung to her in
+a frightened way.
+
+"Oh! oh!" she cried. "I want to get away from this horrid place. Do
+let's go, Mother Wit! Please do!"
+
+"What's the matter with you, Bobby?" demanded Jess, nervously. "You give
+me the creeps."
+
+"These hateful people----" began Dora Lockwood, when the Gypsy queen
+appeared at the tent entrance. Her eyes sparkled and her handsome face
+was flushed. She called something in a low, clear voice, and the men,
+who had gathered in a knot at one side, started toward her.
+
+One of them unfastened the dog again and held the end of the chain. The
+queen was talking excitedly in their own tongue to the others.
+
+Laura shook Bobby a little and said, shrewdly:
+
+"I guess she got out of you what she wanted to know, eh?"
+
+Bobby only sobbed.
+
+"Did you tell her what direction that girl was going--that she was
+wading up stream?"
+
+"Oh, yes! I did!" gasped Bobby. "She made me."
+
+"Well, it can't be helped. It's really none of our business," said
+Laura. "But if they try to stop us from going away now, we've got to
+scatter and run. They can't hold us all very well, and one of us will
+surely find some house----"
+
+"They won't dare stop us," said Eve, decidedly.
+
+At that moment Nell held up her hand. "Hark!" she exclaimed. "What is
+that?"
+
+The rattling of a heavy wagon coming down the road from the east was
+audible. Eve instantly ran out to the edge of the road. One of the
+Gypsies uttered a shrill, warning cry, and the men turned to intercept
+the girls.
+
+But into view came the heads of a team of bay horses, and then a
+farm-wagon, with a bewhiskered man in high boots on the seat, driving
+the team.
+
+"Hullo! Whoa!" exclaimed the farmer, when he saw Eve. "I declare I Is
+that you, Evie?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Crook! how glad I am to see you," said the Swiss girl. "What
+have you got in the wagon? Just a few bags? Then you can give us a lift,
+can't you? We are tired walking."
+
+"Sure I can, Miss Evie," replied the farmer. "What are you girls doin'
+with these 'Gyptians? Gettin' your fortunes told?"
+
+"Oh, we just stopped here for a minute," said Eve, carelessly.
+
+The Gypsies had hesitated to approach closer. The men began to slip
+away, one after the other.
+
+"Pile in, girls," said the farmer, hospitably. "I'm going five or six
+miles on this road. Bound for Fielding?"
+
+"Yes, we are," replied Eve, as her friends gratefully clambered into the
+end of the wagon.
+
+"Oh, dear me!" whispered Jess. "What luck this is! I believe those folks
+would have tried to keep us."
+
+"I don't know about that," returned her chum. "But the woman certainly
+managed to frighten Bobby most thoroughly."
+
+Bobby had hushed her sobs. But even when the wagon had started again and
+the Gypsy camp was out of sight, she was not willing to talk about what
+the Varey woman had told her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII--THE YELLOW KERCHIEF AGAIN
+
+
+School opened the next Monday and the girls of Central High took up
+their tasks "for the last heat" of the year, as Jess Morse expressed it.
+
+"And I'm glad," she told her chum, Laura Belding, "Just think! next Fall
+we'll be seniors."
+
+"Wishing your life away," laughed Laura. "We were awfully glad to be
+juniors, I remember."
+
+"Sure. But we'll boss the school next fall," said Jess.
+
+"We've done very well for juniors, especially in athletics," observed
+Laura. "Why, practically, our bunch has dominated athletics for a year,
+now. We made the eight-oared shell in our sophomore year."
+
+"True. And the champion basketball team, too."
+
+"And Eve is going to qualify for the broad jump as well as the shot-put,
+I verily believe," said Laura. "I'm glad I found that girl and got her
+to come to Central High instead of going to Keyport."
+
+"She was a lucky find," admitted Jess. "And she wasn't much afraid of
+those Gypsies last week--did you notice?"
+
+"Of course she wasn't. She told me this morning that the constable over
+there looked for the camp, but the Romany folk had moved on."
+
+"I wonder if they caught that girl in the yellow kerchief," said Jess,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Don't know. But they managed to scare Bobby pretty thoroughly," said
+Laura. "I never did see Bobby Hargrew quite so impressed."
+
+Jess smiled. "She seemed to know something about you, too, Laura--that
+Gypsy queen. She knew you had a negro mammy at home."
+
+"I don't know how she guessed that," admitted Laura. "But I believe all
+that fortune telling is foolishness. If she came to the house and told
+Mammy Jinny half what she did us, Mammy would be scared to death. We had
+a good laugh on the dear old thing yesterday. She's had a cold for
+several days and mother insisted upon calling Dr. Agnew in to see her.
+You know how Nellie's father is--always joking and the like; and he
+enjoys puzzling Mammy Jinny. So when he had examined her he said:
+
+"'Mammy, the trouble is in your thorax, larynx and epiglottis.'
+
+"'Ma soul an' body, Doctor!' exclaimed Mammy, turning gray. 'An' I only
+t'ought I had a so' t'roat.'"
+
+"But Mammy does like to use long words herself," chuckled Jess. "She
+will remember those words and spring them on you some time. Remember
+when her nephew had the rheumatism?"
+
+"Of course," Laura replied. "We asked her if it was the inflammatory
+kind and she said:
+
+"'Sho' it's exclamatory rheumatism. He yells all de time.'"
+
+"But I _do_ wonder," said Jess, again, "if the Gypsies caught that girl.
+She must have wanted badly to get away from them to have run the risk of
+being chased by a bloodhound."
+
+"And she was smart, too," Laura agreed. "Running on that wall and wading
+in the stream threw the dog off the scent."
+
+"If one of us had done such a thing as that when the water was so cold
+we would have got our 'never-get-over,'" declared Jess.
+
+"I believe you. And a lot of us girls are 'tender-feet,' as Chet says,
+at this time of year. We have been in the house too much. I tell you,
+Jess, we've got to get 'em out in the field just as soon as it's dry
+enough. Bill Jackway is working on the track and Mrs. Case says she
+thinks we can start outdoor relay practice and quarter-mile running on
+Saturday--if it's pleasant."
+
+"That's what we have got to practice up on, too, if we want to win the
+points we need to put Central High at the top of the list," agreed her
+chum.
+
+"I should say!"
+
+The moment they were freed from the regular lessons of the day Laura and
+Jess and their particular friends made for the handsome gym, building
+and athletic field that Colonel Richard Swayne had made possible for
+them. Bobby Hargrew was very much down in the mouth, for she had gone up
+against Miss Carrington at several points and the martinet had been very
+severe with the irrepressible.
+
+"I tell you what," growled Bobby, "I believe that little brother of
+Alice Long hit it off about right when it comes to teachers."
+
+"How is that?" asked Laura.
+
+"Why, he came home after going to school a few days last Fall, and says
+he: 'I don't think teachers know much, anyway. They keep asking you
+questions all the time.'"
+
+"I agree with you there," Jess said. "And such useless questions! Why,
+if you answered them literally half the time you'd be swamped in
+demerits. For instance, did you notice that one to-day: 'Why did
+Hannibal cross the Alps?' I felt just like answering: 'For the same
+reason the chicken crossed the road!'"
+
+The girls got into their gym. suits in a hurry and then played passball
+for a while, and, when well warmed up, went out on the field. Mrs. Case
+appeared and tried some of the younger ones out in relay running, while
+several of the bigger ones, including Eve, tried the broad jump, and
+Laura, and Jess, and more of the juniors trotted around the cinder path.
+
+Central High had to develop a first-class sprinter to win that event at
+the June tourney, and, as Laura said, "it was a question where the
+lightning would strike." Every girl who _would_ run--even down to the
+freshies--was to be tried out. As for the relay races, that was a matter
+of general interest. To-day Mrs. Case's whistle blew in half an hour,
+and every girl oh the field lined up for a "shuttle relay"--half of them
+on one line and half on the other, fifty yards apart.
+
+At the sound of the whistle Number 1 girl shot off across the running
+space and touched Number 2, the latter dashing back to touch Number 3,
+and so on until the last girl crossed the line at the finish. This is a
+splendid form of relay-racing, for it keeps the girls on the alert, and
+the distance is not too great for any girl, who has a physician's
+approval, to run.
+
+Mrs. Case, however, was extremely careful--as was Dr. Agnew, the medical
+inspector--as to the condition of the girls before they entered upon any
+very serious training. The afternoons of this first week of school were
+spent in working out the girls gradually, the instructor learning what
+they really could do. Nor were any of the girls allowed to work on the
+track, or in the gym., two days in succession.
+
+But Saturday afternoon was devoted to real work and the making up of the
+relay teams for practice during the spring. It chanced to be a glorious
+day, too, and the field was well attended. Bobby Hargrew was faithfully
+practicing for the quarter-mile sprint. She was as fast as anybody in
+the junior class, and for once was really putting her mind to the work.
+
+"If Gee Gee doesn't hamper me too much with conditions and extra work,
+maybe I can be of some help to the school," spoke Miss Bobby. "But I can
+see plainly she's got it in for me."
+
+"That's what the Gypsy fortune-teller told you," returned Jess. "Didn't
+she warn you to beware of one of your teachers--and a woman?"
+
+Bobby's light-hearted chatter was stilled and she paled as Jess reminded
+her of the Gypsy woman.
+
+"Pooh!" Laura quickly said. "There is nothing in that foolishness."
+Bobby had utterly refused to tell them what Grace Varey, the Gypsy
+queen, had told her in the tent. "She could easily see that Bobby was
+full of good spirits and that she must always be in difficulties with
+her teachers--and of course it was safe to guess that she would have
+trouble with a female teacher. I wouldn't give a minute's thought to
+such foolishness."
+
+But Bobby would not be led to say anything farther, and was very quiet
+for a time.
+
+She was with Laura and the other juniors, however, over by the gate,
+when Nell Agnew made her great discovery. The girls had been playing
+captain's ball on one of the courts, and they were all warm and tired.
+Wrapped in their blanket coats, on which Mrs. Case insisted at this time
+of the year, they were resting on the bench which faced the gateway, and
+the gate was open.
+
+"My goodness me!" gasped the doctor's daughter, suddenly, "isn't that
+the same girl?"
+
+"Huh?" asked Bobby. "Isn't what the same girl? You're as lucid as mud,
+Nell."
+
+"Out there! Quick, Laura--don't you see her?"
+
+Laura Belding craned her neck to see outside the yard. Across the street
+a girl was passing slowly. They could not see her face, and she was
+wrapped in a long cloak--or waterproof garment.
+
+"Look at that yellow handkerchief!" exclaimed Jess.
+
+"I saw it--and I saw her face," said Nellie.
+
+"That's like the girl we saw up there on the ridge," admitted Laura,
+slowly.
+
+"The Gypsy girl!" exclaimed Jess, in excitement.
+
+"It _was_ she. I saw her face," repeated Nell.
+
+"Now, what do you know about that?" cried Jess. "Why, she must have
+gotten away from those people, after all. I'm glad of it."
+
+Bobby said never a word, but she stared after the yellow kerchief, which
+showed plainly above the collar of the mantle the strange girl wore. And
+while her mates discussed with interest the appearance in town of the
+fugitive from the Gypsy camp, Bobby was only thoughtful.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII--THE GIRL IN THE STORM
+
+
+Now, Bobby Hargrew was not naturally a secretive girl. Far from it. Her
+mates noted, however, that of late she had grown quieter. Ever since
+their adventure with the Gypsies she had seemed distraught at times, and
+not at all like her usual merry, light-hearted self.
+
+"That horrid Gypsy woman told her something that scared her," Jess Morse
+said to Laura Belding. "I didn't think Bobby would be so easily gulled."
+
+"Those people know how to make things seem awful real, I expect,"
+returned her chum, thoughtfully. "If I had not been on my guard, and had
+the woman not tried to learn something from me, instead of attempting to
+mystify me, I expect I would have fallen under her spell."
+
+"Nonsense!" laughed Jess.
+
+"Well, it seems Bobby was impressed," said Laura.
+
+"I should say she was. And whatever the woman told her, it is something
+that is supposed to happen in the future. Bobby is looking forward to it
+with terror."
+
+"I wish I knew what it was."
+
+"But Bobs won't take you into her confidence," sighed Jess.
+
+"No. I've sounded her. And it is no mere trouble that she expects in
+school. It is something more serious than Miss Carrington's severity,"
+Laura rejoined.
+
+Clara Hargrew probably had more friends among the girls of Central High
+than any other girl on the Hill; yet she had not one "crush." She was
+"hail-fellow-well-met" with all her schoolmates, and never paired off
+with any particular girl. She had nobody in whom she would naturally
+confide--not even at home.
+
+For there had been no mother in the Hargrew home for several years. Mr.
+Hargrew idolized Bobby, who was the oldest of his three girls; but a
+father can never be like a mother to a girl. Her two sisters were
+small--the youngest only six years old. The housekeeper and nurse looked
+out for the little girls; but Bobby was answerable to nobody but her
+father, and he was a very easy-going man indeed. He was proud of Bobby,
+and of her smartness and whimsicality; and about everything she did was
+right in his eyes.
+
+The fact that his oldest daughter had been a good deal of a tomboy never
+troubled the groceryman in the least. "She was as good as any boy," he
+often laughingly said, and it was he who had nicknamed her "Bobby."
+
+But the girl was just now at the age and stage of growth when she needed
+a mother's advice and companionship more than any other time in her
+life. And she felt woefully alone these days.
+
+She was usually the life of the house when she was indoors, and the
+little girls, Elsie and Mabel, loved to have her as their playmate. In
+the evenings, too, she was used to being much with her father. But of
+late Mr. Hargrew had been going out one or two evenings each week--a new
+practice for him--and on these evenings when her father was absent,
+Bobby was so gloomy that it was not long before the little girls
+complained.
+
+"You're sick, child," declared Mrs. Ballister, the old lady who had been
+with them since long before Mrs. Hargrew died.
+
+"No, I'm not," declared Bobby.
+
+"Then you've done something that's settin' heavy on your conscience,"
+declared the old lady, nodding. "Nothing else would make you so quiet,
+Clara."
+
+And Bobby felt too miserable to "answer back," and swallowed the
+accusation without comment.
+
+It was early in the week following the Saturday on which the girls had
+seen the fugitive from the Gypsy camp passing the athletic field. Soon
+after the mid-day recess a sudden spring thunder storm came up, the sky
+darkened, the air grew thick, and sharp lightning played across the
+clouds before the threatened downpour.
+
+Some of the girls were so frightened that they ran in from the
+recreation ground before the gong rang. The heavens were overcast and
+the trees before the schoolhouse began to writhe in the rising wind.
+
+The first heavy drops were falling when Bobby, who had been excused by
+Miss Carrington to do an errand during the recess, turned the corner and
+faced the sudden blast. It swooped down upon her with surprising power,
+whirled her around, flung her against the fence, and then, in
+rebounding, she found herself in another person's arms.
+
+"Oh, dear me! Excuse me--do!" gasped Bobby, blinded for the moment and
+clinging to the person with whom she had collided. "I--I didn't mean to
+run you down."
+
+At that instant there was a blinding flash followed by a roll of thunder
+that seemed to march clear across the sky. Bobby felt this girl whom she
+clung to shrink and tremble at the sound. Now, Bobby herself was not
+particularly afraid of thunder and lightning, and she immediately grew
+braver.
+
+"Come on!" she said. "We'll get wet here. Let's run into the boys'
+vestibule--that's nearest."
+
+The boys' yard was empty; indeed, the afternoon session had been called
+to order now in all the classrooms. Bobby and the strange girl ran, half
+blindly, into the graveled yard and up the steps.
+
+Just as they entered the vestibule the downpour came. The flood
+descended and had they been out in it half a minute longer the fugitives
+would have been saturated.
+
+"Just in time!" cried Bobby, attempting to open the inner door.
+
+"Oh! I can't go in there," stammered the strange girl.
+
+"Nor I guess I can't, either," said Bobby, half laughing, half
+breathless. "It's locked--and the wind is blowing the rain right into
+this vestibule. Come on! Let's shut this outside door."
+
+The half of the two-leaved door of the vestibule which had been open was
+heavy; but Bobby's companion proved to be a strong and rugged girl, and
+together they managed to close it. Then, with the rain and wind shut
+out, although the roar of the elements was still loud in their ears, the
+two girls were able to examine each other.
+
+And instantly Bobby Hargrew forgot all about the thunder, and lightning,
+and rain. She stared at the girl cowering in the corner, who winced
+every time the lightning played across the sky, and closed her eyes with
+her palms to the reverberation of the thunder.
+
+The girl was perhaps a couple of years older Bobby herself. She was dark
+and had a tangle of black hair which was dressed indifferently. A woolen
+cap was drawn down almost to her ears. She was rather scrubbily dressed,
+and nothing that she wore looked very clean or very new. The waist she
+had on was cut low at the neck--so low that the girl had tied loosely
+around her throat a soft, yellow muffler.
+
+Although the old brown cloak she wore hid her green skirt, Bobby knew
+that the girl before her was the one she and her friends had seen
+escaping from the Gypsy camp nearly a fortnight before. The girl who had
+been unafraid of pursuit by the bloodhound, and had run upon stone
+fences and waded in an ice-cold mountain brook to hide her trail, now
+cowered in the vestibule of the schoolhouse, in a nervous tremor because
+of the thunderstorm.
+
+"My! but you _are_ scared of lightning, aren't you?" exclaimed Bobby,
+after a minute, and when the noise of the elements had somewhat ceased.
+
+"I--I always am," gasped the girl.
+
+"The lightning won't hurt you--at least, the lightning you _see_ will
+never hurt you, my father says," added Bobby. "The danger is all past by
+the time you see the flash of it."
+
+"But I can't help being frightened," replied the girl.
+
+"No. I suppose not. And I guess you are brave enough about other things
+to make up, eh?"
+
+The girl looked up at her, but was evidently puzzled. She glanced
+through the glass doors of the building into the corridor.
+
+"Is this the school building?" she asked, quickly.
+
+"Yes. But this is the boys' entrance, so I don't want to ring. I'd get
+scolded for coming here," said Bobby.
+
+"Oh, don't ring!" exclaimed the girl, putting a timid hand upon Bobby's
+arm. "This is the big school, isn't it?"
+
+"It's the biggest in town. It's Central High," said Bobby, proudly.
+
+"You go here to school, of course?" asked the girl, somewhat wistfully.
+
+"Yes. I'm a junior."
+
+The other shook her head. The grading of the school was evidently not
+understood by the Gypsy girl.
+
+"Say! do you have many teachers in this school?" she asked.
+
+"Yes. There's enough of them," replied Bobby, grumblingly.
+
+"Women, too?"
+
+"Yes. Some women."
+
+"Who are they?" asked the girl, quickly. "What's their names?"
+
+The thunder was rolling away now, but the rain was still beating down in
+such volume that the girls could not venture forth. Bobby would have
+gotten wet in running around to the girls' entrance.
+
+"Why," she said, studying the Gypsy's face in a puzzled way. "There's
+Miss Gould."
+
+"Gould? That's not her whole name, is it?" asked this curious girl.
+
+"Miss Marjorie Gould."
+
+"Say it slow--say the letters," commanded the Gypsy girl.
+
+Bobby, much amazed, began:
+
+"M-a-r-j-o-r-i-e G-o-u-l-d."
+
+The strange girl shook her head. Bobby saw that she had been counting
+the letters of Miss Gould's name on her fingers, and she asked:
+
+"Don't you read English?"
+
+"No. I'm Austrian. I know some German. A woman taught me. But I never
+went to school--never to a school like this," said the Gypsy girl, with
+a sigh.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Bobby, deeply interested.
+
+"You--you can call me Margit--Margit Salgo, from Austria."
+
+Now, this puzzled Bobby Hargrew more than ever, for she knew that the
+Gypsies the girl had been with were English. Yet she was afraid of
+frightening the girl by telling her what she already knew about her. And
+immediately the Gypsy girl asked her another question:
+
+"Spell me some of their other names, will you?"
+
+"Whose other names?"
+
+"The lady teachers," replied Margit, her black eyes flashing eagerly.
+
+"Why--why, there's Mrs. Case," stammered Bobby.
+
+"How do you spell the letters?"
+
+"R-o-s-e C-a-s-e," said Bobby, slowly.
+
+"No! no!" exclaimed Margit. "Not enough. Too short."
+
+"But don't you know the name of the woman you are looking for?"
+
+"I didn't say I was looking for anybody," said Margit, with suspicion.
+"I am just curious."
+
+"And you can't repeat the name?"
+
+"I never heard it repeated. I only know how many letters there are. I
+saw it on a card. I counted the letters," said the girl, with a shrewd
+light in her eyes. "Now! haven't you any more lady teachers here?"
+
+"There's Gee Gee!" exclaimed Bobby, with half a chuckle, amused at the
+thought of Miss Carrington being mixed up in any manner with this
+half-wild Gypsy girl.
+
+"Too short," said the other, shaking her head decidedly.
+
+"Oh, her real name is long enough. It's Grace G. Carrington."
+
+"Spell it out," commanded Margit Salgo, eagerly.
+
+Bobby did so, but the girl shook her head. "Not enough letters," she
+declared.
+
+"Why--there are sixteen letters to Miss Carrington's name," said Bobby,
+wonderingly. "How many are there to the name you are hunting for?"
+
+"Two more," said Margit, promptly.
+
+"Eighteen?"
+
+"Yes. Now, don't you tell anybody what I say. That's a good girl," urged
+the other.
+
+"You're not afraid of me, are you?" asked Bobby, in wonder.
+
+"I'm afraid of everybody," muttered the girl.
+
+"You've--you've run away from somebody?" ventured Bobby, fearing to
+startle the fugitive by telling her just how much she _did_ know.
+
+"Never you mind about me. Thank you for what you've told me. I--I guess
+the worst of it's over now, and I'll go," said Margit, and she tugged at
+the knob of the outer door.
+
+The rain was still falling fast; but the thunder only muttered in the
+distance and the electric display had entirely passed.
+
+"Wait!" cried Bobby, earnestly. "Maybe I can help you some more."
+
+"No. I don't need anybody to help me. I can take care of myself,"
+replied the Gypsy girl, sullenly.
+
+She mastered the door-latch, pulled the door open, and ran out into the
+rain. In half a minute she was flying up the street, and not until she
+was out of sight did Bobby remember something that might be of great
+importance in explaining the mystery.
+
+"Why, Miss Carrington always writes her name 'Grace _Gee_ Carrington,'"
+exclaimed Bobby. "There's the eighteen letters that the girl is looking
+for. I never thought of that!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX--THE GYPSIES AGAIN
+
+
+When the rain stopped, Bobby went around to the other entrance and
+reported herself to Miss Carrington. That teacher always doubted Bobby's
+excuses, and this time she shook her head over the girl's tardiness.
+
+"You told me you had plenty of time to do your errand within the limit
+of the recess, Miss Hargrew," said Gee Gee. "Do better next time,
+please."
+
+"She always acts as though she thought I had an India rubber
+imagination," muttered Bobby, to her nearest seatmate, "and that I was
+always stretching it."
+
+"Miss Hargrew, please refrain from communicating in lesson time!"
+snapped the ever-watchful teacher.
+
+"Dear me!" murmured Bobby. "She's got me again. I _do_ have the worst
+luck."
+
+And then she wondered what Miss Carrington knew about the strange Gypsy
+girl, or what Margit knew about Gee Gee.
+
+"I'd like to get better acquainted with that girl," thought Bobby.
+"There is a mystery about her--and Gee Gee is in it."
+
+But she said nothing to any of the other juniors, judging it best to
+keep her own counsel. Meanwhile she kept a keen lookout for the girl to
+appear about the school building again. Several days passed, however,
+and Bobby saw nothing of her.
+
+Meanwhile the girls who were earnest in the work of putting Central High
+ahead in the inter-school athletic competition worked hard on the field
+and under Mrs. Case's eye in the gymnasium.
+
+Bobby was really doing her best on the track. Never had she settled down
+to such thorough work in any branch of athletics as she had in this
+effort to make a record for the quarter-mile. Central High needed the
+points that a champion sprinter could win, just as the school needed the
+points putting the shot, and the broad jump, would add to its record.
+
+Bobby, the year before, had acted as coxswain of the eight-oared crew;
+and she had played all season on the big basketball team--the champion
+nine. But this running was different work.
+
+Now she had no teammates to encourage her, or to keep her up to the
+mark. It was just what she could do for the school by herself.
+
+"Just by your lonesome, Bobby," Laura Belding told her. "To win the
+quarter-mile will mean two whole points in June. Think of that! And you
+can do it."
+
+"I don't know," returned the other girl, in some despondency. "Gee
+Gee'll likely get something on me before the June meet, and then
+where'll we be?"
+
+"But you don't _have_ to do things to make Miss Carrington give you
+demerits."
+
+"Bah! I don't have to do anything at all to get demerits. She's just
+expecting me to do something all the time, and she 'jumps' me without
+giving me a chance. Any other girl in the school can cut up much worse
+than I do and never get a sour look; but I--oh, dear!"
+
+"You see what it is to have a reputation for mischief," said Laura, half
+inclined to laugh. "Can't you cut out the frolic for this one term? Cure
+yourself of practical joking and 'joshing' poor Miss Carrington."
+
+"Great Caesar!" ejaculated Bobby. "How could I ever do it?"
+
+Nevertheless, with all her reckless talk, she was really trying her very
+best to keep out of difficulties in school, and on the other hand to
+make the best time possible on the cinder track.
+
+Mrs. Case began to try her out now and then, and held the watch on her.
+Bobby wanted to know how fast she made the quarter; but the instructor
+put up her watch with a smile and a head-shake.
+
+"That I sha'n't tell you, Miss Hargrew. Not yet. You do your best;
+that's what you are to do. If you fall back, or I see you losing form,
+you'll hear about it soon enough."
+
+One morning before school-time Bobby heard Mrs. Ballister scolding at
+the back door. The old housekeeper did not often scold the maid, for she
+was a dear old lady and, as Bobby herself said, "as mild-tempered as a
+lamb." But she heard her say:
+
+"Be off with you! We've nothing for you. Scalawags like you shouldn't
+prosper--filling a girl's silly head full of more silliness. Go on at
+once!"
+
+Somehow Bobby had a premonition of what the trouble was about. She ran
+out upon the side porch and saw two Gypsy women coming around the path
+from the fear of the house. They were the two who had been at Queen
+Grace Varey's camp that day on the ridge when the girls of Central High
+had had their adventure.
+
+"Here is a little lady," whined the old woman. "She will buy of us,"
+lifting up her baskets.
+
+"No, no," said Bobby, shaking her head vigorously.
+
+The other woman recognized her and touched the arm of her companion
+warningly.
+
+"Surely the little lady will not be unkind to the poor Romany," she
+whined. "She does not forget what Queen Grace told her?"
+
+"I want to forget it," declared Bobby, with flushed face. "I have
+nothing for you. Go away--do!"
+
+"Ah-ha, little lady!" chuckled the woman, with a leer. "You are mistress
+here now--and you can send us away. But remember! Your father will bring
+home another mistress before mid-summer."
+
+The two women laughed harshly, and turned away, going slowly out of the
+yard. Bobby remained upon the porch until she had winked back the
+tears--and bitter tears they were, indeed--and so went slowly in to
+breakfast.
+
+"Those horrid 'Gyptians," Mrs. Ballister was saying. "I caught them out
+there trying to tell Sally's fortune. They'd make her believe she was
+going to fall heir to a fortune, or get a husband, or something, and
+then we'd lose the best kitchen girl we ever had."
+
+But Bobby felt too serious to smile at the old lady's sputtering.
+Despite what Laura Belding said, there _must_ be something in the
+fortunes the Gypsy queen told! How did she know so much about _her?_
+Bobby asked herself.
+
+She knew that Bobby had no mother and that she was sure to get into
+trouble with her teachers. And now the prophecy she had made that her
+father would bring home a new wife before mid-summer rankled in Bobby
+Hargrew's mind like a barbed arrow.
+
+For Bobby loved her father very dearly, and had been for years his
+confidante. It had long been agreed between them that she was going to
+be his partner in the grocery business, just as though she had been born
+a boy. And as soon as the little girls were big enough they were to go
+away to boarding school, Mrs. Ballister should be relieved of the
+responsibility of the house, and Bobby was going to be the real mistress
+of the Hargrew home.
+
+And suppose, instead of all these things Father Tom should bring home a
+new mother to reign over them? The thought was ever in Bobby's mind
+these days. Not that she had any reason to fear the coming of a
+step-mother. The only girl at Central High whom she knew that had a
+step-mother loved her very dearly and made as much of her as though she
+had been two real mothers. Sue Blakesley had been without a mother long
+enough to appreciate even a substitute.
+
+But Bobby and Mr. Hargrew had been such close friends and comrades that
+the girl was jealous of such a possibility as anybody coming into her
+father's life who could take her place in any degree. She worried over
+the Gypsy's prophecy continually; she wet her pillow at night with
+bitter tears because of it, and it sobered and changed her to her
+schoolmates, as we have seen.
+
+It was a very serious and imminent trouble indeed to the warm-hearted,
+impulsive girl.
+
+On her way to school that morning she chanced to turn the corner into
+Whiffle Street just as a dark-browed, shuffling fellow crossed from the
+other side and trailed along ahead of her toward the schoolhouse. Bobby
+knew that black face, and the huge gold hoops in his ears, at once. It
+was the husband of the Gypsy queen.
+
+"Oh, I wonder if the whole encampment is in town hunting for that poor
+girl, Margit?" thought Bobby. "They are such strange, wicked folk. And
+look at him--why, that's Gee Gee!"
+
+The lady ahead on the walk, behind whom the Gypsy was walking so
+stealthily, was none other than Miss Carrington herself. Instantly
+Bobby's thought flashed to the mysterious inquiries of the girl, Margit
+Salgo, about the teacher at Central High.
+
+Bobby involuntarily quickened her steps. She was afraid of these
+Gypsies; but she was curious, too. The whole block was deserted, it
+seemed, save for herself, Gee Gee, and the man.
+
+Suddenly he hastened his long stride and overtook the teacher. Bobby
+knew that the fellow accosted Miss Carrington. The lady halted, and
+shrank a little. But she did not scream, or otherwise betray fear.
+
+"No, lady. Ah'm no beggar. Ma nyme's Jim Varey an' ah'm honest man, so I
+be. Ah come out o' Leeds, in Yorkshire, an' we be travelin', me an'
+mine. Wait, lady! Ah've summat tae show ye."
+
+He fumbled in his pocket and brought out a card. He held this card so
+that Miss Carrington could read what was printed, or written, on it. And
+she did so, as was evident to Bobby, for she started back a little and
+uttered a murmured exclamation.
+
+"Ah sees ye knaw ye'r awn nyme, lidy," said Jim Varey, shrewdly. "Yer
+the lady we're lookin' for, mayhap. 'Tis private business----"
+
+"I can have no business with you, man," exclaimed Miss Carrington. "Why,
+you're a Gypsy!"
+
+"Aye. I'm Gypsy. An' so was ma fawther an' mither, an' their fawthers
+an' mithers before 'em. We'm proud of the Romany blood. An' more'n 'us,
+lady, has mixed with the Romany--an' in other climes aside Yorkshire.
+But all Romany is one, wherever vound. Ye knaw that, lidy."
+
+"I don't know what you mean! I don't know what you are talking about!
+What do you want of me?" cried Miss Carrington, quite wildly.
+
+The man drew closer. Bobby was really frightened, too. She opened her
+own mouth to shriek for help. But the Gypsy did not touch the teacher.
+Instead, he said in a low, but perfectly clear, voice, so that Bobby
+heard it plainly:
+
+"I would speak to you, lidy, of the child of Belas Salgo."
+
+Miss Carrington uttered a stifled shriek. Bobby sprang forward, finding
+her own voice now, and using it to good purpose, too. A door banged, and
+a gentleman ran out of his house and down to the gate, where the Gypsy
+had stopped Miss Carrington.
+
+It chanced to be Franklin Sharp, the principal of Central High. Jim
+Varey saw him coming, glanced swiftly around, evidently considered the
+time and place unfavorable for further troubling the teacher, and so
+broke into a run and disappeared.
+
+Mr. Sharp caught Gee Gee before she fell. But she did not utterly lose
+consciousness. Bobby had caught her hand and clung to it. The girl heard
+Gee Gee murmur:
+
+"There was no child! There was no child! Oh! Poor Anne! Poor Anne!"
+
+"Let us take her into the house," said Mr. Sharp, kindly. "That ruffian
+has scared her, I believe. Could you identify him, do you think, Miss
+Hargrew?"
+
+"Yes, sir," declared Bobby, tremblingly.
+
+But Miss Carrington cried: "Oh, no! Oh, no! Don't go after him--do
+nothing to him."
+
+And she continued to cry and moan while they took her into the house and
+put her in the care of Mrs. Sharp. That forenoon Gee Gee did not appear
+before her classes at Central High. But she was present at the afternoon
+session and Bobby thought her quite as stern and hard as ever. Nor did
+the teacher say a word to the girl about the Gypsy, or mention the
+occasion in any way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X--EVE'S ADVENTURE
+
+
+Eve Sitz had plenty to do out of school hours when she was at home.
+Nobody could afford to be idle at the Sitz farm. But she found time,
+too, to put on an old skirt, gym. shoes, and a sweater, and go down
+behind the barn to practice her broad jump and to throw a baseball at
+the high board fence behind the sheepfold.
+
+She grew expert indeed in ball throwing, and occasionally when Otto, her
+brother, caught her at this exercise, he marvelled that his sister could
+throw the horsehide farther and straighter than he.
+
+"Dot beats it all, mein cracious!" gasped Otto, who was older than Eve
+by several years, had never been to school in this new country, and was
+one who would never be able to speak English without a strong accent.
+"How a girl can t'row a pall like dot. I neffer!"
+
+"You wait till June, Otto," replied his sister, in German. "If you come
+to the big field the day of the Centerport High Schools, you will see
+that girls can do quite well in athletics. You know how we can row, and
+you saw us play basketball. Wait till you see the Central High girls on
+track and field!"
+
+"A lot of foolishness," croaked Otto. "You go to the school to learn to
+be smart, no?"
+
+"No," replied Eve, laughing at him. "I am smart in the first place, or I
+would not go. And don't I help mother just as much--and milk--and feed
+the pigs and chickens--and all that? Wait till you see me put the shot.
+I am going to win a whole point for the school if I am champion
+shot-putter."
+
+"Ach! It is beyond me," declared Otto, walking off to attend to his
+work.
+
+The family--plain Swiss folk as they were--thought Eve quite mad over
+these "foolish athletics." They had no such things in the schools at
+home--in the old country. Yet Father and Mother Sitz were secretly proud
+of their big and handsome daughter. She was growing up "American." That
+was something to be achieved. They had come of peasant stock, and hoped
+that their girl, at least, would mix with a more highly educated class
+of young folk in this new country.
+
+So, if Eve thought that the tasks which usually fell to her nights and
+mornings, and on Saturdays, were not sufficient to keep her in what she
+called "condition," her parents made no objection to her throwing
+baseballs, or jumping, or taking long walks, or riding on the old gray
+mare's back over the North pasture.
+
+And it was upon one of these rides that she fell upon her second
+adventure that Spring with the Gypsies--or, at least, with one of the
+tribe.
+
+It occurred on the Saturday morning following Miss Carrington's meeting
+with Jim Varey, husband of the Gypsy queen. Of course, Bobby Hargrew had
+said nothing about this mysterious connection of the martinet teacher
+with the roving band of "Egyptians"; it was not her secret, and although
+Bobby might be an innocent gossip, she was no tale-bearer.
+
+Eve finished her morning's work, "pegged" the baseball at the target she
+had marked with a brush on the sheep fold fence, managing to scare all
+the woolly muttons out of at least half of their senses, and then
+grabbed up a bridle and ran down to the pasture bars and whistled for
+the mare.
+
+The old horse came cantering across the field. Eve never failed to have
+a lump of sugar in her pocket, and the old girl nuzzled around for it
+and would not be content until she had munched it. Meanwhile Eve slipped
+on the bridle and sprang upon the creature's back.
+
+Hester Grimes, and Lily Pendleton, and some of the wealthier girls who
+went to Central High, rode horseback in the parks. They went to a riding
+school and cantered around a tanbark ring, and then rode, very demurely,
+two and two, upon old broken-kneed hacks through the bridle-paths. Mrs.
+Case approved of horseback exercise for girls, either astride or
+side-saddle, as they pleased; but she certainly would have held her
+breath in fear had she seen Eve Sitz career down the rocky pasture upon
+her mount on this keen-aired morning.
+
+It had rained over night and the bushes were still dripping. Every time
+a sharp hoof of the unshod mare tore up a clod as she cantered, Eve got
+the scent of the wet earth in her nostrils, and drank it in with long
+and deep inhalations. She rode the mare with a loose rein and let her
+take her head.
+
+They dashed down the hill and through the narrow path that crossed a
+piece of Mr. Sitz's swamp land. Here the dogwood was budding and a few
+Judas-trees displayed a purple blush, as though a colored mist hung
+about them. In a few days the bushes would burst forth in full flower.
+Eve rode fast along the swamp path. It was narrow, and to have ventured
+three yards upon either side would have been to sink, horse and all,
+into the quagmire. This was a waste piece of the farm that her father
+hoped to drain at some time, but now it was only a covert for birds and
+frogs.
+
+But suddenly, as the girl rode fast, she thought she heard a cry. She
+half checked her mount; but the sound was not repeated.
+
+A minute later the gray mare was through the marsh-piece and out upon
+the field beyond. Eve intended circling around by Peveril Pond and so
+reach home again by another path; yet the mysterious cry she had heard
+back there in the swamp-piece kept returning to her mind.
+
+Suppose it had been a real cry--a human cry--a cry for help?
+
+The thought came back to her again and again. She was in sight of the
+pond, when she could stand it no longer, but pulled the mare about.
+
+"Come, old girl! We've got to be sure of this," cried Eve. "Back you
+go!"
+
+Her mount cantered back again. They reached the edge of the swamp and
+Eve pulled the mare down to a walk. Stepping daintily, the steed
+followed the narrow path through the over-bushed swamp. One could not
+see a dozen feet on either hand, so tall were the bushes, and so
+thick--not even at the height Eve rode.
+
+She halted her horse and called aloud:
+
+"Ahoy! Hullo! Who called?"
+
+No answer--for half a minute. The farmer's daughter shouted again. Then
+she heard it again--a half-stifled cry--a cry that ended in a choking
+gasp and which chilled the blood in her veins and made her hold her own
+breath for a moment.
+
+Was it an actual voice calling for help that had answered her? Or had
+she imagined the cry?
+
+She held in the anxious horse, and waited. Again the muffled shriek
+reached her ears. Somebody was caught in the quagmire--in the quicksand.
+It was off to the left, and not many yards from the path.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI--BOBBY IS INTERESTED
+
+
+Indeed, one could not have ventured many feet from the path at this
+season of the year, when the heavy Spring rains had filled the swamp,
+without sinking into the mire. Eve knew this very well, and it was with
+fast-beating heart that she slipped from her horse, tied the bridle-rein
+to a sapling, and ventured cautiously in the direction of the
+half-choked cries.
+
+"I'm coming! Where are you?" she called.
+
+The cry for help came for a third time. Eve parted the bushes before
+her, and then shrank back. She had been about to put her foot upon a bit
+of shaking moss which, when she disturbed the branches of the bush, sank
+completely out of sight in the black mire.
+
+Another step might have proved her own undoing!
+
+But on the other side of this dimpling pool of mire a willow tree of the
+"weeping" variety stood with its roots deep in the swamp. And clinging
+to a drooping branch of this tree were two sun-browned hands--muscular,
+but small.
+
+"A woman!" gasped Eve. Then, the next moment, she added: "A girl!"
+
+And a girl it was--a girl no older than herself. The victim was all but
+shoulder deep in the mire. She was clinging desperately to the branch of
+the tree. Her face was half hidden by the twigs and leaves, and by her
+own disarranged hair, which hung in black elf-locks about it.
+
+But even in that moment of surprise and fear, Eve identified her. It was
+the girl who had been a fugitive from the Gypsy camp.
+
+The identity of the person in peril did not claim Eve's attention for
+half a moment, however. It was her necessity, and the fact that she must
+be rescued immediately that spurred the farm girl to action.
+
+"Hold on! I'll save you!" she shouted, and even as she spoke she saw the
+girl slip down a hand's breadth deeper into the ooze. If she was to save
+the victim Eve must indeed work rapidly, and to the purpose.
+
+She saw how the girl had come into her evil plight. Beside the tree ran
+a narrow strip of grassy hummock. It looked sound, but Eve well knew
+that all such places were treacherous.
+
+The Gypsy girl had trusted to it, venturing off the regular and beaten
+path. She had slipped, or the edge of the hummock had caved in with her.
+Only by chance had she caught at the branch of the willow and so stayed
+her descent into the bottomless morass.
+
+Fleet of foot, Eve sprang back to the bridle-path where the mare was
+tied. She wanted the only thing which, in this emergency, could be of
+help to her--and to the girl sinking in the mire.
+
+There was no time to go for help. There was no fence near where she
+could obtain rails, even. Nor did she have anything with which to cut
+down saplings to aid the girl.
+
+Quickly her nimble fingers unbound the leather bridle from the tree.
+Then she unbuckled the reins and removed them entirely, letting the mare
+go free if she would. But the wise old horse stood and watched her,
+without offering to run away.
+
+"That's right! Stand still, old girl!" exclaimed Eve Sitz. "I'll want
+you mighty bad in a minute, or two, perhaps."
+
+She sprang upon the tussock on which the victim of the accident had
+evidently been before her. But she was cautious. She came to the place
+where the poor girl clung to the tree branch. Those twigs were slowly
+slipping through her cramped fingers. In a few seconds she would slip
+entirely from her hold. Already she was too far gone to speak, and her
+eyes were closed.
+
+It was no use calling again. Eve bent forward and with a little prayer
+for help, cast the loop of the strong rein over the victim's head and
+shoulders.
+
+As she did so the girl's hands slipped entirely from the tree branch.
+
+Eve screamed. But she threw herself back, too, as the weight of the
+sinking girl came upon the bridle-rein. Eve easily held her up. She
+could sink no farther. But the question that troubled the farmer's
+daughter was: Could she draw the unconscious girl out of the mire?
+
+But Eve was the heavier of the two, and far stronger. The Gypsy girl
+could run and leap like a hare--as she had proven the day the girls of
+Central High had seen her escaping from the encampment of her Romany
+companions. But she had not been strong enough to scramble out of the
+mud when she had once fallen into it.
+
+Now Eve, sure that the bridle-rein would hold, flung herself back and
+dragged the girl up. She came out upon the narrow tussock slowly, but
+surely.
+
+Eve wrapped the lines about her wrists and tugged with all her weight
+and strength; and she was not many seconds in accomplishing the rescue.
+
+The unfortunate girl lay helpless on the edge of the morass. She was a
+mass of mud, and her eyes were still closed. Eve seized her under the
+arms and dragged her across the trembling hummock to firmer ground. Once
+Eve herself stepped over the edge of the solid ground and
+plunged--knee-deep--into the mire.
+
+But she recovered herself and quickly brought her burden, breathless
+though she herself was, to the bridle-path. The old gray mare looked
+upon the muddy figure on the ground with ears pricked forward. But Eve
+spoke softly to her, and the creature stood still, as though she knew
+her help was needed.
+
+Eve did not trouble to put on the rein again. When she got her breath
+she raised the girl, who was still only half conscious, in her arms, and
+managed to get her on the horse.
+
+"You've got to carry double; but you can go just as slow as you want to,
+old girl!" Eve exclaimed, as she leaped upon the mare herself, sitting
+behind the other girl, and holding her on.
+
+Then she spoke again to the mare, and the latter picked her way
+carefully over the narrow path and so to the North pasture. In fifteen
+minutes Eve had the strange girl at the farmhouse, where her
+kind-hearted mother helped put the visitor to bed. They were true
+Samaritans in that house. They reserved all questioning until after the
+needy had been aided.
+
+Eve went to town that afternoon, for she was due for practice at the
+athletic field, full of this adventure. The strange girl had not said a
+word about herself save that she had been traveling through the marsh
+early that morning and had mistaken the path.
+
+Eve had told her mother her suspicions as to who the girl was, and it
+was plain that the young Gypsy would be unfit for travel for some days.
+The Sitzes would try to find out something about her condition and why
+she was striving to escape from her companions.
+
+"But, it's plain why she left town so hurriedly," declared Jess Morse,
+one of those to whom Eve told her story. "I've seen those Gypsy women in
+town myself this week. I saw the queen--Grace Varey, did you say her
+name is?"
+
+"That's the name she gave us last year," said Eve.
+
+"Well, I saw her only this morning. The Gypsies have come to town to
+search for that girl. She knows it and was escaping into the country
+when she got into that swamp. My! It was lucky you rode that way, Eve."
+
+But it was Bobby Hargrew who showed the most interest in the affairs of
+the mysterious Gypsy girl. She asked Eve a hundred questions about her
+and finally admitted that she had reasons for wishing to know all about
+her that she did not feel free to divulge.
+
+"I tell you honestly, Eve, I wish you'd let me go home with you so that
+I can see that girl before Monday morning," said Bobby, bluntly.
+
+"Well, why not?" returned the farm girl, laughing. "You'd be welcome,
+Clara."
+
+"I'll telephone father at the store and run home and pack a bag and meet
+you at the station," announced Bobby, greatly excited.
+
+"Why, we'll be more than pleased," urged Eve. "I'd like to know what the
+matter is with that girl, too. If you find out, will you tell me?" and
+she laughed again.
+
+"If it's only _my_ secret I'll tell you in a minute," promised Bobby.
+But in her heart she believed that it would prove to be partly Miss
+Carrington's secret, and she could not speak of _her_ affairs, that was
+sure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII--THE RACES
+
+
+Bobby, as she said, "fished" for this invitation and got it while the
+girls were dressing in the gym. building, before the try-out work on the
+field that Saturday afternoon. Eve went to her broad jump, while Bobby
+lined up with a lot of the would-be sprinters from all four classes, to
+try their speed from the fifty-yard dash up to the quarter-mile.
+
+Only the very best of the candidates were allowed to try the longer
+races, and they had all to go to Dr. Agnew's office first. The doctor
+spent the most of every Saturday afternoon at the gym. building, and he
+doled out good advice to the girls while he prodded them, and listened
+to their heart and lung action, and otherwise discovered if they were
+"fit."
+
+Laura had been delegated by Mrs. Case to watch the sprinters, and most
+of them were quickly sent to the courts to play tennis, or basketball,
+or some other game, and the cinder track was soon devoted to those only
+who were earnestly endeavoring to develop their speed as runners--and
+who had some small chance, at least, to make a good record.
+
+Bobby tried the first short dash, and then the third. There was some
+crowding on the track and she could not do her best--nor did she wish
+to. As long as she made a good enough showing to be advised to wait for
+the finals, she was content, and so was Laura.
+
+"Hold yourself in," advised Mother Wit, smiling on her. "If you spend
+your best wind trying to beat these others at first you'll be lost when
+it comes to the quarter-mile, and be retired."
+
+So Bobby bided her time until the quarter-mile was called. There were
+but six contestants. It was the longest trial of speed that Mrs. Case
+would allow on the track. The Girls' Branch Athletic League gave but a
+doubtful approval, at most, to the quarter-mile trial.
+
+The six were "set" on the line and Laura, watch in hand, waited for the
+arrow to touch the mark, her hand raised.
+
+"Go!" she shouted, and the girls sprang away, each doing her very best
+from the start. For the quarter-mile run leaves little space for
+jockeying. It is soon over, and the contestant who gets off ahead is
+quite frequently the winner.
+
+The six girls were not so unevenly matched; and they started well on a
+line. For the first few yards they kept together.
+
+But then the pace began to tell. For fifty yards, say, they were matched
+to a degree; then it was plain that only two of them had the "sand" to
+keep up that killing pace for long.
+
+Bobby and one other forged ahead. Breast to breast, their arms working
+in unison, their stride equal, the two girls passed ahead of the others
+and shot along the track with unabated swiftness.
+
+The girls behind were panting, and falling back. One wavered and dropped
+out entirely when she had run but a furlong. The others clung to the
+track, however, doing their very best to record a fair time, at least.
+They had learned under Mrs. Case to play the game out, no matter how
+badly they seemed to be beaten.
+
+Bobby and the girl with her felt the strain growing, however. Unless the
+runner is experienced, the dogged perseverance of a close opponent is
+likely to rattle one at the last moment. As the two came down the
+stretch and the watching girls began to cheer and "root" for their
+favorite contestant, the runners felt their nerve going.
+
+A misstep now would cause the loss of the race to one, or to the other.
+Bobby tried not to see the girls along the track, or to think of the one
+pounding away beside her.
+
+She was breathing with comparative ease herself; but the sound of the
+other girl's breathing pumped in her ears, louder and louder! And how
+loudly her footbeats were, too!
+
+Could she only get away from those sounds--leave them behind her--clear
+the rushing air about her of those noises!
+
+There was the line stretched across the track. She knew it was there
+because Laura stood with it in her hand. If she could only breast that
+ribbon first!
+
+Somewhere--it seemed to be a cry from the air right over her head--a
+shrill voice kept repeating:
+
+"Come on! Come on, Bobs!"
+
+And Bobby called up that reserve strength that Mrs. Case had talked so
+much about in her little lectures to the girls, and sprang ahead of her
+rival. She was unconscious of the fact that she was ahead. It seemed to
+her that the other girl was still clinging to her. She could hear the
+footsteps and the heavy breathing.
+
+But suddenly she was aware that it was her own feet spurning the cinders
+that she heard--and her own breathing. She was winning!
+
+And then the tape snapped across her chest and Jess and Eve Sitz, who
+had run over to watch the finish of the race, caught her in their arms.
+
+"Splendid! Bully for you, Bobs!" cried Jess. "Why, there isn't any other
+quarter-mile runner in Central High. You take the palm!"
+
+And not until then did Bob understand that the girl she thought she had
+run so closely was a hallucination. The second runner was yards behind
+her at the finish!
+
+They bore Bobby into the gym. building and Mrs. Case insisted upon Dr.
+Agnew's seeing her again almost immediately. The physician was still in
+the building, and he came when called. The physical instructor was
+examining the time card Laura and her assistants had made out. She would
+not divulge their time to the runners, and the time keepers were sworn
+to secrecy; but everybody knew that Bobby Hargrew had made a good
+showing.
+
+"There's nothing the matter with that little girl," said the doctor,
+confidently. "Only, these sudden strains are not valuable. Yes, once, by
+the way, is all right. As long as one does not go beyond that reserve
+strength that your instructor harps upon," and he laughed.
+
+Bobby was naturally proud over her achievement, for she knew that she
+had run a very fast quarter. She was only sorry that she could not know
+herself just how fast she was. But that was a secret Mrs. Case kept from
+her.
+
+"The worst possible thing for a runner in training to know is how fast,
+or how slow, he is," she often declared, "Do your best each time; that
+is your business."
+
+So Bobby got into her street clothes and, having telephoned to her
+father as she had promised Eve Sitz, she ran home to pack her bag. On
+the way she passed by the house where Miss Carrington boarded. Gee Gee
+had two rooms in a wing of the old Boyce house, in which the Widow Boyce
+kept lodgers. Her front room had long, French windows which swung
+outward like doors upon the porch. And as Bobby ran by she saw a man
+come down from this porch, as though he had been listening at the
+windows, and hurry around the corner of the house and behind the thick
+hedge of the kitchen garden.
+
+"That was the Gypsy--Jim Varey," Bobby thought, hesitating before the
+house. "What is he haunting Gee Gee for? Ought she to know that he is
+hanging around?"
+
+But the girl hesitated about going in and speaking to the teacher. Gee
+Gee, she considered, was really her arch-enemy. Why should she try to
+shield her from any trouble? And, too, Miss Carrington might not thank
+her for interfering in her private affairs.
+
+So Bobby ran on home and told Mrs. Ballister where she was going,
+huddled a few things into her bag, kissed "the kids," as she termed her
+sisters, and ran off for the station, there to meet Eve for the 5:14
+train to Keyport.
+
+And while she waited who should appear but that black-faced man with the
+gold hoops in his ears--Jim Varey!
+
+The Gypsy saw her--Bobby knew he did. But he paid her no attention,
+slinking into the men's room and not appearing again until Eve arrived
+and the two girls went aboard the train. Then Bobby saw him once more.
+
+"Do you see that fellow, Eve?" she demanded, whispering into the bigger
+girl's ear.
+
+"What fellow?"
+
+"There! he's gone," said Bobby, with a sigh. "I feared he was following
+us."
+
+"Whom do you mean?" queried Eve, rather surprised by her manner.
+
+"Jim Varey, the Gypsy."
+
+"Why! is he about?" asked Eve. "You mean the husband of Queen Grace?
+Well, he's a bad egg, he is! I hope he won't dog us to the house, for he
+might learn then where that poor girl is hiding."
+
+When they were in the car Bobby stuck her head out of the window to look
+along the platform. She did not see Jim Varey in the crowd; but she
+might better have kept in her head--for he saw her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII--WHAT MARGIT SAID
+
+
+The two girls settled back into their seats, each having one to herself,
+for the car was not filled. Bobby was soon laughing and joking in her
+usual way.
+
+"If I ride backward like this, will I get to the same place you do,
+Eve?" she asked.
+
+"What a ridiculous question!" exclaimed Eve.
+
+"I don't know. One of the 'squabs' was going around yesterday asking
+everybody a much more foolish one."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"Why, what was the largest island in the world before Australia was
+discovered?" queried Bobby, giggling.
+
+"Why--why--Newfoundland, perhaps?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+"Madagascar?"
+
+"No," said Bobby, shaking her head.
+
+"England and Scotland together?"
+
+"Huh! You couldn't divide them very well," jeered Bobby. "But that's not
+the answer."
+
+"What _was_ the biggest island, then? I give, it up," said Eve.
+
+"Why, Australia, of course," chuckled Bobby. "It was there all the time,
+even if it wasn't discovered. Don't you see?"
+
+And so she passed the time without betraying the fact that she had a
+very serious reason for wishing to see and talk with Margit Salgo.
+
+When the girls left the train they had no idea that Jim Varey got out of
+the smoking car on the wrong side from the station and hid in the
+bushes. When the girls started across the fields toward the Sitz place,
+the Gypsy dogged them.
+
+In half an hour Eve and her guest reached the house, never suspecting
+that they had been the subject of attention.
+
+Bobby was welcome at the farmhouse. She had been there several times
+before and from Farmer Sitz down they enjoyed the whimsical,
+irrepressible girl. The expectation that she would be "good fun" put
+Bobby on her mettle, despite the fact that, secretly, she did not feel
+cheerful.
+
+Margit Salgo was better and seemed content enough to occupy the
+comfortable bed in the room next Eve's own. She knew Bobby immediately,
+and looked a bit disturbed. But Bobby gave her to understand that she
+had told nobody about what the Gypsy girl had said the day they were
+caught together in the rain.
+
+"But to-night, when the other folks are abed, I want you to tell Eve and
+me what you care to about yourself, Margit," said Bobby, when the others
+were out of the room. "Perhaps we can help you. All we girls are
+interested in you, for, you see, at least seven of us saw you that day
+when you ran away from your friends."
+
+"No friends of mine! no friends of mine!" gasped the girl, half in fear.
+
+"All right. You tell us all about it this evening," whispered Bobby and
+then whisked out to help Eve with her duties.
+
+Not that she was of much help when she followed Eve out to the clean and
+modern barn where Eve had her own six cows to milk, while Otto or the
+hired man milked the rest of the herd. But she _was_ amusing.
+
+"Goodness me!" was Bobby's first comment, when she came into the shed
+and saw the row of mild-eyed cattle standing in their stalls. "What a
+lot of cows--and every one of them chewing gum! Can you beat it?"
+
+"What do you suppose Miss Carrington would say to a row of girls who
+chewed their cud as seriously as these bossies?" laughed Eve.
+
+Bobby arched her brows, screwed up her mouth, and replied, in a stilted
+manner:
+
+"'Young ladies! I _am_ surprised. Do my eyes deceive me? Do you consider
+it polite to wag your jaws like that in public? Fie, for shame!' And
+much more to the same purpose," added Bobby, laughing. "Oh, Gee Gee and
+her lessons in politeness make me tired. She's so polite herself that
+she'd even return a telephone call! Hullo! what's this?"
+
+"A bridle," said Eve, as Bobby took it down from its hook.
+
+"Oh! Sure! You see, I'm a regular green-horn when it comes to country
+things. Of course, that's the bit. But say! _how_ do you ever get it
+into the horse's mouth? _I'd_ have to wait for him to yawn, I expect,"
+and she laughed.
+
+She was great fun at supper, too, to the delight of the family. Otto,
+with his queer notions of the English language, made Bobby very gay; and
+the young man complained of his difficulties with the English language
+just for the sake of encouraging Bobby to correct his speech. Finally
+she made up one of her little doggerel verses for him, to Otto's great
+delight:
+
+    "Otto saw a sausage in a pan,
+      He smelled a smelt a-frying;
+    He saw the sheep that had been dyed
+      Look not the least like dying.
+
+    "He saw a hen sit on an egg,
+      Although she had been set;
+    Heard Eve complain of being dry
+      Though plainly she was wet.
+
+    "He looked upon the window pane,
+      Quite sure no pain it had;
+    Then sighed, and shook his head, and said:
+      'Dot English, she iss pad!'"
+
+Good Mrs. Sitz had not allowed Margit to get out of bed, but Eve and
+Bobby took supper in to the Gypsy girl on a tray. She protested that she
+was not an invalid, and after Otto and the old folks had gone to bed,
+Margit, well wrapped in shawls and a comforter, came out to sit in a big
+chair before Eve's fire.
+
+"I am not like you girls," she said, wistfully. "You go to school and
+learn things out of books, eh? Well, I never went to school. And then,
+this big America is so different from my country. You do not
+understand."
+
+"I guess I can understand something of what you mean," observed Eve,
+soberly. "You see, _we_ came from Europe, too."
+
+"Not from Hungary--Austria-Hungary?" cried Margit Salgo, with
+excitement.
+
+"No, no. From Switzerland," replied Eve, smiling. "And I was very small
+when we came, so I do not remember much about it."
+
+"But I came only last year," explained Margit. "And I was given to the
+Vareys----"
+
+"Goodness me! Don't talk that way," interrupted Bobby. "It sounds just
+as though you were _owned_ by those Gypsies."
+
+"Well, it is so," said Margit. "I am a Gypsy, too. My father was Belas
+Salgo. He was a musician--a wonderful musician, I believe. But he was a
+Gypsy. And all the Romany are kin, in some way. These Vareys are English
+Gypsies. They are kind enough to me. But I sure believe they hide from
+me _who I am_."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" asked Eve, in surprise, although Bobby said
+not a word, but listened, eagerly.
+
+"Only my father, you see, was a Gypsy. My mother----"
+
+"Who was she?" asked Bobby, suddenly.
+
+"I--I do not know. But she was not of those people--no. I am sure of
+that. She died when I was very little. I went about in many lands with
+my father. Then he died--very suddenly. Gypsy friends took me for a
+while, but they all said I belonged over here--in America. So they sent
+me here finally."
+
+"Your mother was American, then, perhaps?" said Eve, shrewdly.
+
+"That may be it. But these Vareys care nothing about my finding any
+relatives, save for one thing," said Margit, shaking her head, gloomily.
+
+"What is that?" asked Bobby.
+
+"If there is money. They believe my mother's people might be rich, or
+something of the kind. Then they would make them pay to get hold of me.
+But suppose my mother's people do not want me?" slowly added the
+fugitive, sadly.
+
+"You are quite sure this is the idea the Vareys have?" asked Bobby.
+
+"Oh, yes. I heard them talking. Then I saw a--a card with a name written
+on it. They said, when they were looking at the card, '_She_ will know
+all about it. It is to her we must go.' So I know it was a woman's
+name."
+
+"But how did you know--or suspect--that the name was that of any teacher
+in our school?" demanded Bobby, much to Eve's surprise.
+
+"Ah! I learned much--here a word, there a word--by listening. I knew we
+were coming to Centerport for the purpose of getting speech with this
+woman whose name had been given them by the Hungarian people who brought
+me over here to America."
+
+"But mercy on us!" cried Eve, in vast amazement. "What name is it?"
+
+"She can't explain, for she cannot pronounce it," said Bobby, instantly.
+
+"Grace, or Jim Varey, never spoke the name aloud," said Margit, shaking
+her head. "But I know there are eighteen letters in the name. I counted
+them."
+
+"And what teacher at Central High has eighteen letters in her name?"
+murmured Eve, staring at Bobby.
+
+Bobby took a pencil and wrote Miss Carrington's full name slowly on a
+piece of paper. She put it before the Gypsy girl.
+
+"Is _that_ the name?" she asked. "When we spoke together before I had
+forgotten that Miss Carrington always spells her middle name out in full
+when she writes it at all."
+
+"Miss Carrington!" gasped Eve, and, like Bobby, looked in the Gypsy
+girl's face questioningly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV--ANOTHER FLITTING
+
+
+"Is she nice?" asked Margit Salgo, eagerly, looking at the two Central
+High girls.
+
+"Bless us!" muttered Bobby.
+
+"She is a very well educated lady," said Eve, seriously. "I cannot tell
+whether you would like her. But--but do you really believe that she
+knows anything about you, Margit?"
+
+"I do not know how much she knows of _me_," said the Gypsy girl,
+quickly. "But of my mother's people she knows. That I am sure. She--she
+holds the key, you would say, to the matter. It is through her, I am
+sure, that the Vareys expect to get money for me."
+
+"To sell you to Miss Carrington?" gasped Eve.
+
+"I do not know," replied the Gypsy girl, shaking her head. "But there is
+money to be made out of me, I know. And Queen Grace is--is very eager to
+get money."
+
+"She's avaricious, is she?" said Eve, thoughtfully.
+
+But Bobby Hargrew's mind was fixed upon another phase of the subject.
+She took Margit's hand and asked, softly:
+
+"What was your mother's name, dear?"
+
+"Why--Madam Salgo."
+
+"But her first name--her intimate name? What did your father call her?
+Do you not remember?"
+
+Margit waited a moment and then nodded. "I understand," she said. "It
+was 'Annake.'"
+
+"Anne?"
+
+"Ah, yes--in your harsh English tongue," returned Margit. "But why do
+you ask?"
+
+Bobby was not willing to tell her that--then.
+
+"At any rate, Margit," Eve told her, soothingly, "you will stay here
+with us just as long as you like." The girl had narrated her flight from
+Centerport when she saw the Gypsies in that town and knew they would
+hunt her down. "And we girls will help you find your friends."
+
+"This Miss Carrington," spoke Margit, eagerly. "She knows. I must meet
+her. But do you not tell her anything about me. Let me meet and judge
+her for myself."
+
+"Don't you think we'd better tell her something about you?" asked Eve,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Perhaps she might not want to know me," replied the Gypsy girl,
+anxiously. "Who am I? A Romany! All you other people look down on the
+Romany folk."
+
+"Well, you are only part Gypsy," said the practical Evangeline. "And
+your father was an educated man--a great musician, you say."
+
+"Surely!"
+
+"Then I wouldn't class myself with people who would chase me with a
+bloodhound, and only wanted to make money out of me," said Eve,
+sensibly.
+
+"Ah! but all the Romany folk are not like, the Vareys," returned Margit.
+
+Eve would not allow the girl to talk until late, for her experience in
+the swamp had been most exhausting. They bundled her into bed, and laid
+all her poor clothing--which Mrs. Sitz had washed and ironed with her
+own hands--on the chair beside her.
+
+Bobby had one more question to ask the Gypsy girl before she went to
+sleep, and she asked that in secret.
+
+"How did that Varey woman--that Gypsy queen--know so much about me, and
+about Laura Belding, and our affairs?"
+
+"Did she?" returned Margit, sleepily. "She is a sharp one! But, then,
+the Vareys have worked through this part of the country for years and
+years. That is why I was given to them, I think. Perhaps Grace Varey has
+been to Centerport many times--I do not know. We Romany folk pick up all
+sorts of information--yes!"
+
+Bobby stole into bed beside Eve. She could not sleep for some time; but
+finally her eyes closed and--for some hours, or some minutes, she never
+knew which--she slept. Then, a dog's howling broke her rest.
+
+Bobby sat up and listened. The dog's mournful howling sounded nearer.
+Some dog about the Sitz premises answered with several savage barks.
+But, as nothing followed, the city girl dropped back upon her pillows
+again.
+
+The night noises of the country, however, disturbed her. She could not
+sleep soundly. Once she thought she heard voices--and so clearly that it
+seemed as though they must be in the bedroom.
+
+But it was still dark. Nobody could be astir, she told herself, at such
+a dark hour. A rooster crowed, and then several others followed. She
+fell asleep again slowly counting the chanticleers.
+
+And then--suddenly, it seemed--Eve was shaking her and calling in her
+ear:
+
+"Oh, Bobby! Bobby! Wake up--do! What do you suppose has happened?"
+
+It was broad daylight. Eve was more than half dressed and the door
+between their room and that occupied by the Gypsy girl was open.
+
+"What's the matter?" gasped Bobby.
+
+"She's gone!" wailed Eve.
+
+"Who's gone?" and Bobby leaped out of bed.
+
+"That girl. Out of the window. She's run away!"
+
+Bobby ran to look into the room. The window sash was up and the blinds
+wide open. The girls had slept on the ground floor, and alone in this
+wing of the rambling old farmhouse.
+
+"What did she run away for?" demanded Bobby, slowly. "She could have
+_walked_ away, had she wanted to, couldn't she? Nobody would have
+stopped her."
+
+"But she's gone!" cried Eve.
+
+"So I see," Bobby admitted, grimly. "She didn't go of her own free will,
+you can just bet!"
+
+"I didn't think of that," cried Eve, running to the window.
+
+It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and even farmer folk remain an hour
+longer in bed on that day. The sun, which had just risen, revealed the
+hillside fields and pastures clearly. There was not an object in sight
+which suggested the missing girl's escape, saving just beneath the
+window. There several planks had been laid upon the soft earth, to make
+a walk to the hard path. This had been done by those who had come after
+Margit Salgo, so as to leave no footprints.
+
+Eve finished dressing in a hurry and ran to tell her parents and Otto.
+Mr. and Mrs. Sitz slept at the other end of the house, and Otto and the
+hired man on the floor above.
+
+Whoever had kidnapped the girl--for such it seemed to be--had worked
+very circumspectly. The watchdog, chained by his hutch, had been caught
+and a strong rubber band fastened about his jaws so that he could not
+bark. This had evidently been the first work of the marauders.
+
+Then they had gone about taking out the girl coolly enough. There were
+few footprints anywhere. And in the roadway they found where a wagon had
+been turned around. In this wagon, it was likely, Margit had been
+carried away, and it had started along the road in the direction of
+Centerport.
+
+"They have got her again," sighed Bobby. "And goodness only knows what
+they will do with her, or where they will hide her away." "Perhaps we
+will never see the poor girl again," ventured Eve.
+
+But Bobby did not believe that. She knew now, for sure, that Margit
+Salgo was in some manner closely connected with the private affairs of
+Miss Carrington. She was sure that both the Gypsies and Margit would
+appear near the high school again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV--ANOTHER RIVALRY ON THE FIELD
+
+
+Eve Sitz had no rival at Central High when it came to putting the shot;
+but there were plenty of girls who essayed the broad jump--and some did
+almost if not quite as well as Eve. Notably Lou Potter, a senior who
+practiced assiduously and who had many friends who believed she would,
+in the end, best the Swiss girl.
+
+"The meet is a long way off yet," said one of Lou's friends to Laura
+Belding. "That girl you juniors are boosting isn't the only 'hope' of
+Central High."
+
+"Whom do you mean?" returned Mother Wit.
+
+"That girl whose name sounds like a glass of vichy--what is it? Eve----"
+
+"And what about Eve Sitz?" demanded Bobby, who chanced to arrive in time
+to hear the senior's remark.
+
+"And here's another fresh one," said the senior, eyeing Bobby coolly.
+"Thinks she is going to grab off the quarter-mile."
+
+"You make me tired!" returned Bobby, promptly. "Is that what you call
+loyalty to the school? If you've got another girl faster than I am, trot
+her out. I won't stand in her light."
+
+"Nor will Eve interfere with any girl who can beat her in jumping, or
+put the shot farther," declared Laura, quickly.
+
+"Oh, yes! That's all very pretty talk. But Mrs. Case is favoring you.
+She is favoring the whole junior class. _We_ weren't doing all the
+athletic stunts last year when we were juniors--no, indeed!"
+
+"Well, whose fault is it if the junior class stands better in after-hour
+athletics than the senior?" demanded Bobby, laughing.
+
+"And you pushed yourselves into the basketball team even before you were
+juniors," declared the other girl, angrily.
+
+"Come, now!" returned Laura, warmly. "That's not fair at all. If any of
+you seniors had shown any desire to play the game to win, Mrs. Case
+would have put you on the first team--you know that. But your class, as
+a whole, would rather dance, and go to parties, and attend the theatre,
+and all that. You know very well that Mrs. Case has often called our
+attention to the fact that late hours takes the vitality out of us, and
+makes success in the gym. and on the field impossible."
+
+"Thanks for your lecture, Mother Witless!" snapped the other girl. "But
+I don't care for it. And let me tell you that Lou Potter is going to
+make your soda-water champion look cheap."
+
+"Dear me!" exclaimed Bobby, as the older girl turned away. "Do you
+suppose we'll be as high and mighty as all that when we get to be
+seniors, Laura?"
+
+"I hope not--not even if we get to be patriarchs," laughed Mother Wit.
+"But Miss Potter is making a good jump, just the same, Bobby. Eve isn't
+going to have it all her own way."
+
+"Why, Eve'll beat her easily," declared Bobby, with confidence.
+
+Eve Sitz did not find it so easy to score ahead of all her rivals,
+however. And Lou Potter's record steadily grew better. Eve knew that she
+was doing her very best right along, whereas the senior was creeping up,
+creeping up--showing almost as good a record as Eve, and still forging
+on.
+
+Magdeline Spink, of Lumberport, held the championship for putting the
+shot, and Eve knew that she had surpassed her score. In the broad jump
+it was almost as difficult for the contestants to learn their exact
+record as it was for the sprinters to learn theirs. If Mrs. Case
+measured the distance she kept the record secret.
+
+Some of the seniors, especially those who were backing Lou Potter, began
+to make trouble in the meetings of the athletic committee, too.
+Heretofore no point had been made of the fact that the after-hour
+athletics were dominated by the junior class of Central High. That it
+was the fault of the present class of seniors if they were not in
+control of the League, did not now appeal to the disaffected.
+
+Some of the junior and sophomore girls who, as Bobby said, were inclined
+to "toady" to members of the first class, took up cudgels for the
+seniors, too. Notably Lily Pendleton, who was forever aping the manners
+of her elders and always liked to associate with more mature girls.
+
+And so, when there was friction in the committee meetings, Lily usually
+sided with the senior members.
+
+"Why don't you stick by your classmates, Lil?" demanded the hot-tempered
+Bobby, one afternoon, when the committee had been discussing plans for
+the June meet. It had already been decided that the inter-school field
+day exercises should be held on the grounds of Central High, that being
+by far the best field.
+
+"Have I got to stick by you whether you're right, or not, Bob Hargrew?"
+demanded Lily.
+
+"But we're right--of course."
+
+"I don't think so. The seniors should have their say. We'll want to boss
+when _we_ are seniors."
+
+"They haven't shown much interest in the scoring of Central High in
+athletic matters until lately," Jess Morse said, quickly. "Why should
+they want to come in now and run it all?"
+
+"They have the right," declared Lily.
+
+"Don't see it--do you, Laura?" cried Bobby.
+
+"If they only wouldn't try to go against Mrs. Case's wishes so
+frequently," sighed Mother Wit, who would have conceded much for peace.
+
+"They don't propose to be bossed by the teachers all the time," declared
+Lily. "And they're right."
+
+Now, this attitude would have appealed to Bobby Hargrew a few months
+before. But she had learned a good bit of late.
+
+"There is no use in our trying to run athletics in opposition to Mrs.
+Case--or Mr. Sharp," she said.
+
+"Or Gee Gee; eh, Bobby?" added Hester Grimes, slily.
+
+As the girls crowded out of the committee room some of the boys were
+grouped at the corridor's end, plainly waiting for their appearance.
+Chet Belding and Launcelot Darby, his chum, were waiting for Laura and
+Jess. That was a frequent occurrence. No boy ever waited for the
+fly-away Bobby; but there was with the two chums a tall, thin youth
+dressed in the most astonishing clothes that ever appeared in the
+corridors of a high school.
+
+"Oh me, oh my!" cried Bobby, under her breath. "There's Purt Sweet--and
+he looks like a negro minstrel."
+
+"My goodness me! He _is_ dressed to kill, isn't he?" giggled Jess.
+
+For Prettyman Sweet, the sartorial example of Central High, was more
+than usually gay upon this occasion. And he was not waiting there by
+chance, it was plain.
+
+"See! Lily is trotting off with him," laughed Bobby. "They must have
+patched up a truce. Oh! and look at that collar!" and the wicked Bobby
+leaned far over the banister and sang gaily:
+
+    "He wore a collar extra high,
+      He wore a purple vest;
+    He wore his father's patience out--
+      But why tell all the rest?"
+
+"That saucy child!" exclaimed Lily, looking back. "She ought to be
+whipped."
+
+"You never can get even with her, doncher know," drawled Purt, shaking
+his head. "Weally, I'd much like to try it; but I don't know what to
+do."
+
+"And the rest of those girls, laughing, too," snapped Lily. "Jess Morse
+and Laura are just as bad."
+
+"Well, weally----"
+
+"Oh, if you had half the pluck of a rabbit," scolded Lily, "you'd do
+something to get square."
+
+Now, Lil Pendleton wronged Pretty Sweet. He was not particularly brave,
+it was true; but he would have done a good deal to "get even" with Bobby
+Hargrew for her sharp tongue. He had been the butt of her jokes for a
+long time and---- Well, it is said even the worm will turn.
+
+The following afternoon a sudden thunder shower kept some of the girls
+in the school building after most of the pupils had departed. It was a
+part of the junior class, and Bobby, as well as Laura and Jess, were
+among those kept by Miss Carrington after the regular session closed.
+
+"I believe she knew we were due at the athletic field this afternoon,"
+grumbled Bobby, as they stood waiting at the foot of the tower stairs
+for the shower to pass.
+
+"What good would it have done us to be at the gym. now?" laughed Laura.
+"This shower has spoiled open air work for the afternoon."
+
+"Bobby doesn't believe Gee Gee ever gives us extra tasks because we
+deserve them," said Jess.
+
+"It _did_ seem as though Miss Carrington was particularly harsh to-day,"
+murmured Eve.
+
+"That's so! She was as cross as two sticks," declared Bobby.
+
+"I believe something is troubling Miss Carrington's mind," said Nellie
+Agnew. "Have you noticed how thin she is getting--and that she starts
+nervously at every little thing?"
+
+"She was scared when the thunder began--I was glad of it," declared
+Bobby.
+
+"Bad girl!" admonished Laura.
+
+"It's her conscience," ventured Bobby.
+
+Eve looked at her and shook her head.
+
+"Oh, I'm not going to say _why_ I think her conscience troubles her,"
+laughed Bobby.
+
+Nellie was looking out of the window. "I say, girls! it's breaking away,
+I do believe. And I think there's a rainbow--yes! there's a part of it."
+
+"It is a very small part you see, Nell," laughed Eve.
+
+"Let's go up into the tower," suggested Jess. "We can see it all from
+there."
+
+"Let's," agreed Bobby.
+
+"That's forbidden, you know," said Laura, slowly.
+
+"Oh, dear, Laura! Don't be such a mollycoddle! Nobody's really told us
+girls not to go into the tower. And we won't do any damage----"
+
+"Maybe the door is locked," observed Nellie, doubtfully.
+
+But Bobby ran to the solid oak door and tried it. Although there was a
+key in the lock, the door opened at once to her turning of the knob.
+
+"Come on!" exclaimed Bobby. "You're a lot of scare-cats!"
+
+"I admire your language, Bobs," laughed Jess, following her.
+
+The others went, too. Of course it was forbidden territory, and why
+shouldn't they want to go? That was only human nature.
+
+Besides, as they climbed the stairs, through the narrow windows they
+caught glimpses of the rainbow and the clouds, now breaking up into
+great beds of vari-colored mist.
+
+"Hurry up!" cried Bobby, in the lead. "It's just wonderful up here."
+
+They had left the door at the foot of the long, winding flight open. But
+scarcely had they disappeared when another figure appeared in the
+corridor which they had left. Purt Sweet, too, had been kept after
+school by Professor Dimp.
+
+The youth saw the girls ascend the stair. The chance was too obvious to
+neglect. Although usually taking Bobby's jokes and the others' laughter
+good-naturedly, he had been spurred by Lily Pendleton's remarks to a
+desire to "get square."
+
+And here was opportunity before him. Purt hurried forward, softly closed
+the door behind the girls, and turned the key in the lock.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI--FIVE IN A TOWER
+
+
+But the girls climbing the stairs to see the rainbow had no idea that
+anybody below was playing a trick on them. After school was dismissed
+and the pupils left the building, and the teachers were gone, there was
+nobody but old John, the janitor, on the premises.
+
+From any other floor he could be summoned by alarm bells. But there were
+no push-buttons in the tower. Therefore, when Purt Sweet turned the key,
+and stole away from the door at the bottom of the tower stairs, he had
+imprisoned the five girls as effectually as though they were in the
+tower of some ancient castle.
+
+The five went up the stairs, however, without any suspicion that they
+were prisoners.
+
+"Come on! come on!" urged Bobby, who mounted much quicker than the
+others. "Oh, this is glorious!"
+
+They came out into a square room, through which the air blew freshly.
+The rain had evidently blown into the place during the shower, for it
+lay in puddles on the stone floor. The windows had no panes--indeed,
+they were merely narrow slits in the stone wall, like loop-holes in old
+fortresses.
+
+"Dear me!" cried Jess. "How small the people look in the park--do you
+see? Just like ants."
+
+"Some of 'em are uncles, not 'ants,'" laughed Bobby.
+
+"Punning again!" exclaimed Nell. "You should be punished for that,
+Bobby."
+
+"Huh! that's worse than mine," declared Bobby.
+
+"Look at that sky!" cried Laura.
+
+"It is very beautiful," agreed Eve, quietly.
+
+"Look at those clouds yonder--a great, pink bed of down!" murmured Jess.
+
+"And this arch of color," said Laura, seriously. "I suppose that is just
+what Noah saw. How poetic to call it the Bow of Promise!"
+
+The girls enjoyed looking at the wild colorings of the clouds and the
+beautiful bow. A half an hour elapsed before they proposed descending.
+
+As they went down the stairs, Bobby still in the lead, she stopped
+suddenly with a little cry.
+
+"What's the matter now, Bobs?" demanded Jess.
+
+"Oh! don't you see it?" cried the other girl. "It's a spider."
+
+"He won't eat you," said Jess. "Go on."
+
+"I know he won't. I declare! he's spinning a web."
+
+At that moment she came to the bottom of the stairway.
+
+"Guess the draught pulled the door shut," she exclaimed. "Hullo!"
+
+She tried the knob, but the door would not open.
+
+"Why, what's the matter, Bobby?" cried Laura. "That is not a spring
+lock."
+
+"Huh! I guess not," returned Bobby. "But somebody's sprung it on us,
+just the same."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Nellie Agnew.
+
+"The door's locked," declared Laura, reaching the bottom step and trying
+the knob herself.
+
+"You bet it is," said Bobby.
+
+"It's a joke!" gasped Eve.
+
+"I should hope so," returned Laura. "If they were in earnest it would be
+bad for us. John will leave the building soon, and how will we attract
+anybody to release us?"
+
+"Oh, Laura!" cried Nell. "Nobody would be so mean."
+
+"It may be," said Eve, thoughtfully, "that somebody went past, saw the
+door open, and closed and locked it with no idea that we were in the
+tower."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Bobby, at that. "We're in a nice fix--yes?"
+
+"Who would have done it?" wailed Nellie Agnew.
+
+"Maybe the janitor himself," observed Laura, thoughtfully.
+
+"My goodness! but you're the cheerful girl," returned Bobby. "Do you
+want to scare us to death right at the start, Mother Wit?"
+
+"We might as well admit the seriousness of the situation," said Laura.
+"I can't imagine that anybody would shut us up here for a joke."
+
+"Some of the boys?" suggested Eve.
+
+"That Short and Long is full of mischief," added Nell.
+
+"Chet would wring his neck for a thing like this," declared Jess, with
+confidence.
+
+"I don't care who did it, or what it was done for," said Bobby, finally.
+"The fact remains: The door is locked!"
+
+"That is the truest thing you ever said, Bobby," sighed Jess. "Come on
+back to the tower room. Do you suppose we can call loud enough to
+attract the attention of people on the street?"
+
+"Not in a thousand years," groaned Bobby.
+
+"Oh, we won't have to remain here that long," said Laura, cheerfully.
+
+"Hope not," growled Bobby. "I'm getting hungry."
+
+"That won't do you any good," said Jess. "It's useless to have an
+appetite when there is nothing in sight to satisfy it--just as useless
+as the holes in a porous plaster."
+
+"Who says the holes in a porous plaster are useless?" demanded Bobby,
+quickly. "They're not."
+
+"What are they for, then?" asked Eve, mildly.
+
+"Why, to let the pain out, of course," declared Bobby, boldly.
+
+"I wish there were some holes here that would let _us_ out," sighed
+Nellie Agnew.
+
+"Don't lose heart, Nell!" advised Laura. "There never was a situation
+that didn't offer some release. We'll find a way of escape."
+
+"Sure!" scoffed Bobby. "Any of us can crawl out through one of these
+slits in the wall."
+
+"And then what?" demanded Jess.
+
+"Why, jump!" cried Bobby. "There'll be nothing to stop you."
+
+"Don't talk so recklessly," said Mother Wit. "This is really a very
+serious problem. Mother will be very anxious about me if I don't come
+home by six."
+
+"It's an hour and a half to that yet," said Nellie, looking at her
+watch.
+
+Bobby was striving to squeeze through one of the open windows in the
+tower and look down upon the street. But it was nonsense to expect
+anybody on the walk to see them up there in the tower.
+
+"And we could shriek our heads off without attracting a bit of
+attention," declared Nellie, half crying. "What _shall_ we do, Laura?"
+
+"Keep cool," advised Laura. "Why lose all our courage because we are
+locked into this tower? We will be found."
+
+"Maybe," spoke Bobby, gloomily.
+
+"You have become a regular croaker," declared Jess. "I'm ashamed of you,
+Bobs."
+
+"That's all right!" cried Bobby. "But hunger is an awful thing to
+suffer."
+
+"Ha! you make me laugh," cried Eve. "Just think of me! If I don't catch
+that 5:14 train I'll not get supper till nine o'clock."
+
+"But what a supper it will be when you _do_ get it!" exclaimed Bobby.
+"Oh, girls! when I was at Eve's house last week they had thirteen
+vegetables for supper, besides two kinds of cold meat, and preserves and
+pickles. Talk about the poor farmer! Why the sort of supper Eve's folks
+have every night would cost city folks two dollars a plate."
+
+"I am afraid you are stretching your imagination, Bobby," laughed Eve.
+
+"Never! They've got bins and bins of vegetables--and rows and rows of
+ham in the meat house--and bar'ls and bar'ls of salt pork! Listen here,"
+cried the whimsical Bobby, who had a doggerel rhyme for every occasion.
+"This is just what Eve Sitz hears whenever she goes down into the cellar
+in the winter. She can't deny it!" And she sang:
+
+    "Potato gazed with frightened eyes,
+      King corn lent mournful ear,
+    The beet a blushing red did turn,
+      The celery blanched with fear,
+    The bean hid trembling in its pod,
+      The trees began to bark,
+    And on the beaten turnpike road
+      The stones for warmth did spark,
+    The brooklet babbled in its sleep
+      Because the night was cold;
+    The onion weeps within its bed
+      Because the year is old."
+
+"You are so ridiculous," said Eve. "Nobody believes the rigamaroles you
+say."
+
+"All right!" returned Bobby, highly offended. "But you're bound to
+believe one thing--that's sure."
+
+"What is that?" queried Nellie.
+
+"That we're up in this tower, with the door locked--and I believe that
+John, the janitor, goes home about this time to supper!"
+
+"Oh, oh!" cried Nellie. "Don't say _that_. However will we get away?"
+
+"Let's bang on the door!" exclaimed Jess.
+
+So they thumped upon the thick oak door--Bobby even kicked it viciously;
+and they shouted until they were hoarse. But nobody heard, and nobody
+came. The only person who knew they were locked into the tower was a
+mile away from Central High by that time--and, anyway, he dared not tell
+of what he had done, nor did he dare go back to release the girls from
+their imprisonment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII--EVE TAKES A RISK
+
+
+"Now, Nell!" declared Mother Wit, emphatically, "there isn't the least
+use in your crying. Tears will not get us down from this tower."
+
+"You--you can be just as--as brave as you want to be," sobbed Nellie
+Agnew. "I--want--to--go--home!"
+
+"For goodness-gracious sake! Who doesn't?" snapped Bobby. "But, just as
+Laura says, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth won't help us the
+tiniest bit!"
+
+"What will help us, I'd like to know?" grumbled Jess Morse.
+
+"Put on your thinking cap, Mother Wit," cried Bobby.
+
+"Dear me!" said Eve, drawing in her head. "It _is_ a long way from the
+ground--and that's a fact."
+
+"It's a good, long jump," chuckled Bobby.
+
+"Let's write calls for help on pieces of paper and drop them down,"
+suggested Laura.
+
+"With the wind blowing the way it is, the papers would fly up, instead
+of down," scoffed her chum.
+
+"We'll weight 'em," said Laura.
+
+"It would be like throwing over a bottle into the sea, telling how we
+are cast away on a desert island," said Bobby. "And this is worse than
+any desert island I ever heard about. Say, girls! how do you suppose our
+boots will taste?"
+
+"What nonsense!" said Nellie, wiping her eyes. "We sha'n't be hungry
+enough to begin on our shoes for a long time yet. But how scared our
+folks will be when we don't come home to supper."
+
+"And the sun's going down," mourned Jess.
+
+"Why, girls," said Laura, thoughtfully, "it will be after dark before
+our folks begin to miss us much. And then they won't see us up here,
+that's sure!"
+
+"I'm going to climb out of one of these windows and wave something,"
+cried her chum. "Surely somebody will see me."
+
+"And think you're just playing up here," commented Nellie, who was fast
+losing all hope.
+
+"My goodness!" exclaimed Jess. "They must think, then, that I have
+selected a crazy place to play in," and she removed her jacket and began
+to crawl out through one of the windows of the tower.
+
+"Be careful, dear!" warned Laura.
+
+"Yes, do look out where you step," said Bobby, grabbing Jess's skirt
+with a firm grip. "It's a long way down to the street."
+
+"If we only had some means of making a light up here," said Laura, in a
+worried tone. "Then, after dark, people _would_ be attracted by our
+plight."
+
+"I haven't a match--have you?" demanded Bobby.
+
+"Of course not. Girls never do carry useful things in their pockets.
+Unless _you_ do, Bobby."
+
+"I've got about everything in my pocket but a match," declared the
+smaller girl.
+
+"I have a good mind to drop this old coat," called Jess, from outside.
+
+"And it would catch on something half-way down the tower, perhaps, and
+then you'd never see it again," Bobby said.
+
+"Well, what _shall_ we do?" demanded Jess, wriggling back into the tower
+room and dragging her jacket after her. "Nobody will even look up. I
+expect we'd look like pigeons up here to them."
+
+"Oh, dear!" gasped Bobby. "I do wish some pigeons _would_ fly up here.
+They do sometimes, you know."
+
+"What good would they do us?" demanded Nellie.
+
+"Couldn't we kill and eat them?" replied Bobby. "Nothing like having
+bright ideas when you are cast away on a desert tower."
+
+"Your ideas may be bright enough," laughed Laura; "but I wouldn't care
+to eat pigeons raw."
+
+"You may be glad to before we get down from here," returned Bobby,
+gloomily.
+
+"Now that's ridiculous," said Mother Wit, briskly. "Don't _you_ begin to
+lose heart, Miss Hargrew."
+
+"I've as good a right as the next one," growled Bobby.
+
+"Speaking of pigeons," observed Jess, ruminatively, "Chet's carriers
+sometimes come up here when he lets them out. I've seen them."
+
+"My goodness me!" ejaculated Mother Wit. "Wouldn't that be fine?"
+
+"Wouldn't what be fine?" queried Nellie, wiping her eyes.
+
+"If some of Chet's carriers would just fly up here. They know me. I've
+handled them lots of times. And we might send a note back telling Chet
+where we are."
+
+"And he'd find it tied under the pigeon's wing in about a week," scoffed
+Bobby.
+
+"What _are_ we going to do, girls?" demanded Nellie. "And it's chilly up
+here, too."
+
+Jess pulled on her jacket again. "We can go down on the stairway, where
+it is warmer," she said.
+
+"It is very annoying," wailed the doctor's daughter, "to have you girls
+take the matter so calmly. Why, the whole town will be searching for us
+by midnight."
+
+"I hope so!" ejaculated Bobby.
+
+"Let's all shout together. Somebody ought to hear us," Eve said.
+
+"That is impossible," objected Jess. "Sound doesn't travel
+downward--much. Not when there is a sharp wind blowing, as it is now.
+It's a good deal farther to the ground than it appears."
+
+"That's like what our old girl, Nora, said about the distance to
+Liverpool. When she came to us, she came direct from the immigrant
+ship," laughed Bobby. "And she was telling about the weary way across
+the 'say.' 'How far is it, Nora?' one of the children asked her.
+
+"'It's fower thousan' mile,' declared Nora, 'to Liverpool.'
+
+"But the kiddies wouldn't have that. They looked it up in the geography,
+and told her she was wrong--it was only three thousand.
+
+"'Sure, that's flatways,' says Nora. 'But I been over it, an' wid the
+ups an' the downs, sure I _know_ 'tis another thousand!"
+
+"Dear me, Bobby," complained Nellie. "I believe you'd joke if you were
+going to be hanged!"
+
+"Do you think so?" asked Bobby, seriously. "Much obliged. That's a good
+reputation to have, whether I deserve it or not."
+
+"Good for you, Bobs!" laughed Jess. "You keep still, old croaker!" she
+added, shaking Nellie Agnew. "Let's look on the cheerful side of it.
+Every cloud has a silver lining."
+
+"If you can see any silver lining to _this_ cloud, I'd like you to show
+it to me, Miss!" exclaimed Nellie, with some warmth.
+
+Eve was going from window to window, thrusting her head and shoulders
+out of each, and examining the sides of the tower carefully. Laura asked
+what she was doing.
+
+"Why, dear, on this side is the roof of the school building," said Eve,
+thoughtfully. "It isn't so far below us."
+
+"It's much too far for us to jump," returned Mother Wit.
+
+"True," said Eve, smiling. "But see here."
+
+"I can't climb out of the same window you are at," complained Laura.
+
+"Go to the next one, then, and I'll point it out to you."
+
+Laura did so. Sitting sideways on the sills the girls could thrust the
+upper part of their bodies out and obtain an unobstructed view of this
+entire wall of the tower.
+
+"See that wire?" exclaimed Eve, eagerly.
+
+Just below the level of the windows which pierced the upper story of the
+tower a heavy stay-wire was fastened to a staple set in the masonry. At
+some time the school building had been dressed with flags and bunting
+and this heavy wire had never been removed. It was fastened at the other
+end to a ring in the roof of the main building.
+
+"I see it, Evangeline," admitted Mother Wit, with something like fear in
+her voice. "You wouldn't do it!"
+
+"I believe I can," declared the country girl.
+
+"Why--why--it would take a trapeze performer!"
+
+"Well, Mrs. Case has had us working on the ladders and the parallel bars
+until we ought to be pretty fair on a trapeze," said Eve, laughing a
+little.
+
+"Oh, Eve! I wouldn't try it," cried Laura.
+
+"You see," said the other, steadily, "if I can get out of the window
+here, and two of you can steady me, I can drop down upon that wire----"
+
+"But suppose you should fall to the roof!"
+
+"I won't fall. That is not what I am aiming to do, at least."
+
+"It is too reckless a thing to try," cried Laura.
+
+"Now, wait. Nobody will see us up here. If we have to stay all night
+some of the girls will be sick. You know that. Now, if I can once get to
+that wire, I know I can work my way down it to the roof."
+
+"You'll slide--and cut your hands all to pieces."
+
+"No, I won't. I've a pair of thick gloves in my pocket," declared Eve.
+"I am going to try it, Mother Wit."
+
+"Oh, I don't believe you had better!"
+
+Eve slid back into the tower-room, Laura following her. The bigger girl
+slipped out of her coat and took off her hat immediately.
+
+"Hullo!" said Bobby. "Don't you want your slippers, too? You're in for
+the night, are you?"
+
+But Eve was finding her gloves and these she drew on. Even Nellie began
+to get interested then.
+
+"What _are_ you going to do now?" she cried.
+
+Laura explained quickly. Nellie began to cry again, and even Bobby
+looked troubled.
+
+"It isn't worth the risk, is it?" she asked. "Somebody will find us some
+time."
+
+"That's just it," Eve returned. "We don't know when that _some time_
+will be. I can slide down that wire, get in by the roof opening, and
+unlock this door that shuts us up here. Of course, the key will be in
+the lock. If it isn't, and there is nobody in the building, I can
+telephone for help."
+
+"Say, that's great!" spoke Jess. "If you can only do it safely, Eve."
+
+"Oh, I'll do it," declared the country girl, confidently, and the next
+moment she began climbing out through the window nearest to the wire.
+
+Laura and Jess held her around the waist; then, as she slid out, farther
+and farther, they clung to her shoulders. But Eve had to leave her arms
+free and suddenly she panted:
+
+"Let me go! I've got to drop and grab the wire. That's the only way."
+
+Laura and her chum looked at each other in doubt and fear. It did seem
+as though, if they let go of the girl, she must fall to the foot of the
+tower!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII--THE CONSCIENCE OF PRETTYMAN SWEET
+
+
+Prettyman Sweet would never have played such a contemptible trick on
+Bobby Hargrew and her comrades had he not been goaded to it by Lily
+Pendleton. Purt had what the girls called "a dreadful crush" on Lily,
+and she had made fun of him because he took Bobby's jokes so tamely.
+
+"If you had a spark of pluck you'd get square with that Hargrew girl,"
+Lily Pendleton had told him, and Purt thought that he was getting square
+with Bobby and her friends when he turned the key in the lock at the
+foot of the tower stairs.
+
+At first as he ran out of the school building into the rain that was
+still falling a little, his only fear was that he had been seen by
+somebody. But once away from the school building he began to giggle over
+the joke he had played on the girls.
+
+"They won't laugh at me so much next time," he thought.
+
+And then he remembered, with something of a shock, that he could not
+afford to tell anybody about what he had done. If he owned up to having
+locked the girls into the tower, he knew very well what would happen to
+him.
+
+If Chet Belding, or Lance Darby, did not get hold of him, one of the
+other boys would most certainly take him to task for the trick. And Purt
+Sweet was no fighter.
+
+He wouldn't get much fun out of the trick he had played on the girls,
+after all! Now he wished he had not done it. What was the fun, when he
+had to keep it a secret?
+
+So Purt continued on this way home with lagging feet. And every yard,
+the possibilities that might follow his trick grew plainer in his mind.
+He saw, as he went on, that instead of having done something to create a
+laugh, he might have been guilty of an act that would start a whole lot'
+of trouble.
+
+He knew, as well as did the girls shut up in the tower, that old John,
+the janitor, would go home to supper soon. And at this time of year,
+when there were no fires to see to, except the hot water heater, the old
+man might not come back at all.
+
+For, as far as Purt knew, there were no meetings in the building that
+evening. At least, he had heard none announced. The girls were likely to
+be left in the tower until the next day, while their friends were
+searching the city for them.
+
+Purt went into the square, from which point he could gaze up at the
+tower. But it was so far away, and so tall, that he could see nothing at
+the narrow slits of windows up there at the top.
+
+"If--if those girls waved a handkerchief out of the openings, nobody
+could see it down here," thought the conscience-stricken youth.
+
+He had never been up in the tower himself, for it was forbidden
+territory. So he did not know how wide the windows were. It just struck
+home to Master Purt Sweet that the girls would be unable to signal their
+situation to anybody.
+
+But he had reached home before these thoughts so troubled him that he
+felt as though he _must_ undo what he had done. Perhaps John had not
+gone home yet. He might still be able to get into the building, creep
+upstairs, unlock the door of the tower, and then run out before the
+girls could catch and identify him.
+
+For Purt had a very strong desire not to be suspected in this matter.
+Chet Belding would take up cudgels for his sister in a minute; and Chet
+would, Purt was sure, thrash him most soundly!
+
+Any of the teachers would have a pass-key to the building. Purt
+remembered that fact, too. Could he prevail upon one of them to lend him
+a key so that he could go into the building? Of course, he must have
+some good excuse, and he feared to appear before Professor Dimp with any
+such request unless he could back it with sound reason. And Mr. Sharp
+was entirely out of the question. Purt knew that the principal of
+Central. High would see right through him instantly.
+
+As for the lady teachers, Purt was more afraid of them than of Mr. Dimp
+and the principal. As it grew dark the boy sat cowering in his room at
+home, from the window of which he could see dimly the outlines of the
+schoolhouse tower, and he wept a few tears.
+
+He would have given a good deal had he not turned the key in that lock!
+
+Purt didn't feel that he could appear at the dinner table; so he gave an
+excuse to his mother's maid, and went out again. Perhaps somebody had
+discovered the girls up in the tower and released them. He walked up
+Whiffle Street and saw Chet Belding hanging over the front gate.
+
+"Hullo, Purt!" exclaimed the big fellow. "What's doing?"
+
+"No--nothing," stammered Purt.
+
+"Well, don't be so scared about it. What's got you now?"
+
+"No--nothing," stammered Purt again.
+
+"Haven't seen Lance, have you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor the girls?"
+
+The question scared Purt Sweet through and through. But he plucked up
+courage to ask:
+
+"How should I know anything about them? Hasn't your sister come home
+yet?"
+
+"No. Down to that gym., I expect. Say, these girls are getting
+altogether too athletic. Didn't see Jess, either, did you?"
+
+Purt shook his head and went on. He was afraid to stop longer with
+Chet--afraid that the latter would learn something about what he had
+done. It did seem to the culprit as though knowledge of the trick played
+on Laura Belding and her friends stuck out all over him.
+
+It was deep dusk now. Purt came within a block of the school building
+and looked slily about the corners, as though he were bent on mischief,
+instead of desirous of undoing the mischief he had already done.
+
+Had old John gone home yet? Would all the lower doors of Central High be
+locked? These were the questions that puzzled him.
+
+Purt ran into the side gate of the boys' recreation ground and fumbled
+at the basement door, by which he knew the janitor usually left. It was
+locked; yet, as he rattled the knob, he thought he heard an answering
+sound within.
+
+He scuttled away to the corner and there waited to watch the door.
+Nobody came out.
+
+After half a minute of uncertainty the lad crept on to the boys'
+entrance. The outside doors were closed and locked. He ran around to the
+street and entered the girls' yard. The outer vestibule door was opened
+here and he ventured in, creeping along in the darkness and fumbling for
+the doorknob.
+
+And just then Purt Sweet got the scare of his life. A strong hand
+clasped his wrist and a sharp voice demanded:
+
+"What do you want here? Are you waiting for those girls, too?"
+
+"Oh, dear me!" gasped Prettyman Sweet, his knees trembling. "_Now_ I'm
+in a fix, sure enough!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX--MARGIT AND MISS CARRINGTON MEET
+
+
+It was several seconds before Purt realized just what manner of person
+had seized him by the arm in the vestibule at the girls' entrance of
+Central High. It was so dark that Purt only knew it was a girl.
+
+"Who--who are you?" he stammered.
+
+"Oh! It's only a boy," said the girl, in a tone of disgust. "What do you
+want here?"
+
+"I--I was trying to get in," murmured Purt.
+
+"What for? Isn't this the girls' entrance? They told me it was."
+
+Then Purt knew that she did not belong at Central High. Indeed, she was
+a different kind of girl from any the youth had ever met.
+
+"Who are you, and what do _you_ want?" asked Purt, plucking up courage.
+"I guess you don't go to Central High."
+
+"I never went to any school--not like this, anyway."
+
+"But what do you want here? I--I left something in the building and
+wanted to get back and find it," stammered Purt.
+
+"I was waiting to see those girls," said the stranger.
+
+"What girls?" demanded the boy, in a panic again.
+
+"Some that I know. I waited and watched down by that place where they
+play----"
+
+"The athletic field?" suggested Purt.
+
+"Perhaps. And I asked another girl. She said they had not come down from
+the school yet. They were kept in. So I came up here----"
+
+"Who were the girls you want to see?"
+
+"One is named Evangeline, and she-comes from Switzerland. I am Austrian
+myself. And there is another girl--a little girl who always laughs. Her
+name is like a boy's name."
+
+"Bobby Hargrew," said Purt, with a stifled groan. "And neither of those
+girls have come out of the building yet?"
+
+"No," said the girl. "I have watched and waited for more than an hour."
+
+Purt rattled the knob of the inner door desperately; but it was locked
+and evidently there was nobody within to hear him.
+
+"They must be away upstairs and cannot hear you," said the strange girl.
+
+And _that_ scared Purt, too. It seemed to him that this girl must know
+just what he had done to those girls whom she was waiting for. He
+started to leave the vestibule.
+
+"Hold on! Isn't there any other door we can get in by?" asked the
+stranger.
+
+"I'm--I'm going to try the main entrance. Perhaps that is unlocked,"
+Purt replied.
+
+"I'll go with you," volunteered the other, and followed him down the
+steps.
+
+Purt wanted to get rid of her, whoever she was. He wished now that he
+hadn't come back to the schoolhouse. He had read somewhere that
+criminals are driven by some mysterious power to haunt the scenes of
+their crimes. And it must be a fact, Purt told himself, for he had
+certainly been foolish to come back here to Central High--and go without
+his supper.
+
+He decided to slip out of the girls' yard and run away. But when he
+reached the street there was the strange girl right at his elbow. And he
+remembered that she had a grip as firm as Chet Belding's own.
+
+So nothing would do but try the front entrance. Of course, he knew it
+was ridiculous to go to that door. Even by day it was kept locked and
+visitors had to ring; only the teachers had pass-keys.
+
+But they went in at the main gate and mounted the steps of the portico.
+It was indeed black under here, for the street lights were too far away
+to cast any of their radiance into the place. Purt fumbled around, found
+the doorknob, and tried it. To his amazement it turned in his hand and
+the door swung open into the dark corridor.
+
+"They're here, then," whispered the girl. "Where do you suppose they
+are?" she continued.
+
+Now Purt had very good reason for believing that he knew just where the
+girls were whom this stranger wished to see; but he only said, gruffly:
+
+"I'm sure I don't know. I don't believe they're in the building now."
+
+"Oh, yes, they are. They have not come out. There are several beside
+those I named. So I was told at the athletic field."
+
+"Well, I don't know anything about them!" denied Purt, hurriedly. "I--I
+just want to go up for my book----"
+
+He shook himself free and ran for the front stairway. He knew his way in
+the dark and hoped to leave the girl behind. Once let him reach the foot
+of the tower stairs, he would unlock the door, fling it open so that the
+prisoners would hear him above, and then dart down the boys' stairway
+and so out of the school building again.
+
+But before he reached the top of the first flight he heard the patter of
+the strange girl's footsteps beside him. Through the long windows enough
+light filtered to show him her figure. And she ran better than he did,
+and without panting.
+
+Purt was scared now worse than he had been before.
+
+"She'll tell them who unlocked the door," he thought, "and so they'll
+know right away who imprisoned them in the first place. Then Laura will
+tell her brother and Chet will thrash me--I know he will!"
+
+The lad was almost ready to cry now. It seemed to him as though every
+step he took got him deeper and deeper into trouble.
+
+He dashed up the other flight two steps at a time; but the girl kept on
+equal terms with him. What good wind she had! She could beat many of the
+girls of Central High in running, that was sure.
+
+"I don't know what has become of Eve Sitz and that other girl you want
+to see," exclaimed Purt, stopping suddenly. "And I don't see why you are
+sticking so close to me."
+
+"You know your way around this building; I don't," declared the girl,
+shortly.
+
+"I can't help you find them----"
+
+"You seem afraid of something," remarked the girl, shrewdly. "What's the
+matter with you?"
+
+"Well, I go to school here," complained Purt. "You don't. You'll get
+into trouble, coming into the building at night."
+
+"I guess you're afraid of getting into trouble yourself," returned the
+other, quite unshaken.
+
+"Well, if one of the teachers is here and finds us----"
+
+"I'll tell them just what I came for. Will you?" demanded the girl,
+quickly, and thrusting her face into Purt's so as to see him better.
+
+She had him there! Purt knew it--and he knew _she_ knew it. This strange
+girl was laughing softly to herself in the darkness.
+
+"Go on--if you're going anywhere," said she, after a minute. "I believe
+you know where those girls are. I want to see that Evangeline and that
+Hargrew girl. You show me."
+
+"I--I don't know!" wailed Purt, under his breath.
+
+Then he was sure he heard somebody's step. It was in one of the
+classrooms opening into this corridor.
+
+At the sound, spurred by sudden terror, the boy leaped away. He was
+half-way down the corridor. Around the corner was the door of the tower.
+
+And then, just as he dashed past a door on his right, it opened. A broad
+band of light streamed out, and to Purt's ears came the quick demand:
+
+"What's this? Who are you?"
+
+"It's Gee Gee!" thought the boy, but he never stopped. In a moment he
+realized that Miss Carrington had not addressed her question to him, but
+to the girl.
+
+He ran on, as softly as possible, and rounded the corner, knowing that
+the strange girl had been caught by the teacher, who repeated her demand
+in a louder and more emphatic tone.
+
+"Who are you? What are you doing here in the schoolhouse?" Then Miss
+Carrington saw that the girl was not one of her scholars--indeed, no
+girl of Central High was ever dressed so gaily, unless it was at a
+masquerade.
+
+"For goodness sake, child!" exclaimed the teacher, still more sharply.
+"Come in here and explain yourself."
+
+She drew her inside the classroom and closed the door. In the full light
+the strange girl was revealed in a purple velvet skirt, a green bodice,
+a yellow silk scarf, or handkerchief, around her neck, and with a net,
+on which steel beads were sewed, over her hair. With her dark complexion
+and high color she was indeed a striking figure as she stood there,
+hands on her hips, and panting slightly as she gazed back bravely into
+Miss Carrington's spectacled eyes.
+
+"For goodness sake, child!" repeated the teacher. "Who and what are
+you?"
+
+"My name is Margit Salgo," said the Gypsy girl, watching Miss
+Carrington, with her sharp black eyes.
+
+"Salgo?" whispered the teacher, and for a moment the girl thought that
+Miss Carrington would sink into the nearest chair. Then she drew herself
+up and, although her pallor remained, her eyes sparkled behind the thick
+lenses of her spectacles.
+
+"I suppose you are here to tell me your father was Belas Salgo?"
+demanded the lady, harshly.
+
+"I don't know who you are, Madam," said the Gypsy girl. "Are you the
+lady whom the Vareys say knows all about me?"
+
+"Who are the Vareys?" returned Miss Carrington, quickly.
+
+"They are English Gypsies. I was placed in their care when my father's
+friends brought me to this country. They have held me prisoner but I
+have got away from them----"
+
+"I do not understand you--I do not understand you," insisted Miss
+Carrington, weakly. And now she did grope her way to a seat.
+
+"Are you the teacher here whose name has in it eighteen letters?" asked
+the girl, anxiously. "I do not read your English, although I speak it. I
+learn to speak languages easily--it is a gift. My father had it."
+
+"True," murmured Miss Carrington. "Belas Salgo was a wonderful
+linguist."
+
+"Does your name have the eighteen letters?" pursued Margit, eagerly. She
+repeated her story about the card on which was printed, or written, the
+name of the lady whom the Vareys had come to Centerport to see. Miss
+Carrington listened more quietly, and finally bowed.
+
+"Yes. I am the lady. I am Miss Carrington," she admitted.
+
+"That is what those girls called you," muttered Margit, but the teacher
+did not hear.
+
+"You claim to be Belas Salgo's daughter?" repeated Miss Carrington, at
+last.
+
+"I am his daughter. I cannot remember my mother--much. But my father I
+remember very well. Why, I traveled everywhere with him! All over
+southern Europe we went. And to Algiers, and the other north coast
+cities. He played everywhere about the Mediterranean until he died. And
+then," said the girl, simply, "I lost all happiness--and I was brought
+to this great, cold country."
+
+Miss Carrington had listened with her head resting on her hand and her
+eyes watching the girl from behind her glasses. Now she said:
+
+"Well, I do not believe you are Belas Salgo's child--not the Belas Salgo
+I have good reason to remember. No. But I will take you home with me and
+we will talk this matter over.
+
+"I was correcting some examination papers," she added, going to the desk
+and turning out the student lamp. "But they may go until another time,"
+and with a sigh she put on her hat and cloak, and taking the Gypsy
+girl's hand led her out of the school building, the darkened corridors
+of which she knew so well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX--INTER-CLASS RIVALRY
+
+
+If Eve Sitz had been outside of the schoolhouse tower, being held by the
+girls all of this time, she must certainly have been by now at the point
+of exhaustion, and so must they.
+
+But Eve had dropped just right, had caught the wire with her gloved
+hands just as she had expected to, and then swung down and hung from the
+steel strand for a few seconds to get her breath.
+
+Nellie and Bobby, leaning out of neighboring windows, cheered her on.
+
+"Hurrah, girls!" declared the irrepressible. "She's going to do it.
+There she goes--hand under hand!"
+
+"Oh, if she doesn't slip," wailed Nellie.
+
+"She's not going to slip," cried Bobby. "Hurrah! She's on the roof."
+
+Once on the main building Eve did not waste time. She ran to the door,
+which she knew would be open, and so darted down the stairs to the
+corridor out of which the tower stairway opened. There was the key in
+the lock as they had expected, and in a few moments she was calling the
+other four girls down.
+
+"My goodness!" exclaimed Nellie, kissing Eve when she reached the foot
+of the stairs. "Aren't you just the brave, brave girl! And whatever
+should we have done without you?"
+
+"I guess one of the others would have done the same had I not first
+thought of it," returned Eve, modestly.
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed Laura, suddenly. "I hear somebody."
+
+A door opened below, and then somebody came up stairs. The girls crowded
+back into the corner and waited.
+
+"I know that step," whispered Jess.
+
+"Fee, fi, fo, fum!" murmured Bobby.
+
+"And well may you say it is your 'foe,' Bobby," giggled Jess. "It's Miss
+Carrington."
+
+"Never!" gasped Nell.
+
+"Yes, it is. I am sure," agreed Laura.
+
+"Oh, dear! if she catches us here we'll have to tell where we have been
+and all about it," groaned Eve.
+
+"And demerits to work off to-morrow," moaned Bobby.
+
+"Back into the stairway and keep still," whispered Laura.
+
+They all crowded back. Miss Carrington came along the gloomy corridor
+and entered a classroom. She did not turn the corner.
+
+"Good! Now let's creep down and make our escape," whispered Bobby.
+
+"But not by the front door. She came in that way."
+
+"But the other doors will be locked--both the boys' and ours," urged
+Jess.
+
+"I know the way out through the basement," spoke Bobby, with
+determination. "I can open John's door. Come on."
+
+So, at the very moment Prettyman Sweet tried the basement door, the
+girls on whom he had played his trick were about to come out. Purt was
+scared and ran away. Later, when he escaped from Margit, the Gypsy girl,
+and ran to the foot of the tower stairs, Purt was scared again.
+
+He found the door open and the girls gone. Who could have released them?
+He slunk home in the darkness, taking the back alleys instead of Whiffle
+Street, and the next day he scarcely dared go to school for fear the
+girls had found out who played the trick on them.
+
+But Laura and her mates all thought that either John, the janitor, or
+one of the teachers had chanced to close the tower door and lock it.
+And, as they had been where they were forbidden to go, they said very
+little about their fright and anxiety.
+
+But Eve was quite a heroine among them. The girl from the farm was a
+deal more muscular than most of her mates; perhaps no girl at Central
+High could have climbed out of that tower window and worked her way down
+the wire in just that manner.
+
+And Eve was showing herself, as time went on, to be the best girl at the
+broad jump and at putting the twelve-pound shot, too. Lou Potter, of the
+senior class, did well; but after a time she seemed to have reached her
+limit in both the jumping and shot-putting.
+
+Then it was that Eve took a spurt and went ahead. She left all other
+competitors but Lou far behind.
+
+Mrs. Case did not approve of inter-class competition in athletics; but
+the managing committee of the June meet had made such competition
+necessary to a degree. The upper classes of Central High had to choose
+their champions, and those champions in the foot races, from the
+100-yard dash to the quarter-mile, had to compete the first week in June
+to arrange which should represent the school on the big day.
+
+In other trials it was the same--broad jump, shot-putting, relay race
+teams, and all the rest. There was developed in the freshman class a
+sprinter who almost bested Bobby Hargrew at first; but the freshmen had
+little, after all, to do when the big day came.
+
+The main contestants for athletic honors were bound to be drawn from the
+junior and sophomore classes. It was a fact that the present senior
+class of Central High had not been as imbued with the spirit of
+after-hour athletics, or with loyalty to the school, as had the younger
+classes.
+
+And the seniors had awakened too late to the importance of leaving a
+good record in athletics behind them when they were graduated. There was
+not a girl in the class the equal of Mary O'Rourke, or Celia Prime, who
+had been graduated the year before.
+
+Lou Potter, however, had many supporters, not alone among her own class.
+The freshies and sophs of course were jealous of the prominence of the
+juniors in athletics, so they centered their loyalty upon Lou.
+
+Eve could do nothing that Lou Potter couldn't do! That was the cry, and
+the feeling ran quite high for a while. Besides, another thing came to
+make Eve rather unpopular with a certain class of girls.
+
+"Touch Day"--that famous occasion when candidates for membership in the
+M. O. R.'s were chosen--came in May, and Eve was one of the lucky girls
+to receive the magic "touch." The fact that she had not been attending
+Central High a year aroused bitter feeling, although Eve was a junior in
+good standing.
+
+"Say!" cried Bobby Hargrew, "if they had kicked about _me_ being an M.
+O. R. there would have been some sense in it. For I never really thought
+I'd arrive at such an honor."
+
+For Bobby had really been drawn as a member of the secret society, and
+she never ceased to be surprised at the fact. But this school
+year--especially since early spring--Bobby Hargrew had been much
+changed. Not that she was not cheerful, and full of fun; but she had
+settled down to better work in her classes, and there was a steadiness
+about her that had been missing in the old Bobby Hargrew.
+
+They were talking this change over one evening around the Belding dinner
+table.
+
+"Bobby wouldn't be herself if she got too strait-laced," remarked
+Chetwood. "That's the main good thing about her--the ginger in her."
+
+"Chetwood!" exclaimed his mother, admonishingly. "You speak of the girl
+as though she were a horse--or a dog. 'Ginger' indeed!"
+
+"Well, Little Mum," said her big son. "That's exactly what I mean. She's
+no namby-pamby, Miss Sissy kind of a girl; but a good fellow----"
+
+"I cannot allow you to talk that way about one of your young lady
+friends," declared Mrs. Belding, with heat. "I am surprised, Chetwood."
+
+Mr. Belding began to chuckle, and she turned on him now with some
+exasperation.
+
+"James!" she said, warmly. "I believe you support these children in
+their careless use of English, and in their other crimes against the
+niceties of our existence. Chet is as boisterous and rough as--as a
+street boy. And Laura uses most shocking language at times, I declare."
+
+"Oh, Mother Mine! why drag me into it?" laughed Laura, while her father
+added:
+
+"Isn't 'crimes' a rather strong word in this instance, Mother?"
+
+"I do not care!" cried the good lady, much disturbed. "Chetwood uses
+language that I know my mother would never have allowed at Her table.
+And Laura is so taken up with these dreadful athletics that she cares
+nothing for the things which used to interest me when I was a girl. She
+really doesn't like to pour tea for me Wednesday afternoons."
+
+"I admit it," said Laura, _sotto voce_.
+
+"Do you blame her?" added Chet, grumblingly.
+
+"Thank goodness! I was brought up differently," declared Mrs. Belding,
+sternly. "We girls were not allowed to do such awful things-even in
+private--as you do, Laura, in your gymnasium----"
+
+"Hear! hear!" cried Father Belding, finally rapping on the table with
+the handle of his knife. "I must say a word here. Mother, you are too
+hard on the young folks."
+
+"No I am not, James," said the good lady, bridling.
+
+"You force me to say something that may hurt your feelings; but I
+believe you have forgotten it. You complain of Laura's athletics and
+gymnasium work. Don't you see that it is an escape valve for the
+overflow of animal spirits that the girls of our generation, Mother,
+missed?"
+
+"I deny that the girls of _my_ day possessed such 'animal spirits,' as
+you call them," declared Mrs. Belding, vehemently.
+
+"You force me," said Mr. Belding, gravely, yet with a twinkle in his
+eyes, "to prove my case. Children! did I ever tell you about the first
+view I had of your dear mother?"
+
+"No, Pop! Tell us," urged Chet, who kept on eating despite his interest
+in the discussion.
+
+"Mr. Belding!" gasped his wife, suddenly. "What are you----"
+
+"Sorry, my dear; you force me to it," said her husband, with continued
+gravity. "But the first sight I ever had of your mother, children, was
+when she was six or seven years old. I was working for old Mr. Cummings,
+whose business I finally bought out, and I came to your mother's house
+on an errand."
+
+"James!" cried Mrs. Belding. "I cannot allow you to tell that foolish
+thing. It--it is disgraceful."
+
+"It is indeed," admitted her husband, nodding. "But if you and your
+school girl friends had been as much devoted to athletics as Laura and
+her little friends, I doubt if you would have needed the front stairs
+bannisters as an escape valve for your animal spirits.
+
+"For, children," added Mr. Belding, as his wife, her face very rosy, got
+up to come around the table to him, "my first view of your mother was
+her coming down stairs at express train speed, a-straddle of the
+bannisters!"
+
+Mrs. Belding reached him then, and any further particulars of this
+"disgraceful" story, were smothered promptly. But Laura and Chet enjoyed
+immensely the fact that--once upon a time, at least--there had been some
+little element of tomboyishness in their mother's character.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI--MARGIT'S MYSTERY
+
+
+To the amazement of the girls of Central High--particularly those seven
+who had been on the early Spring tramp to Fielding and had first seen
+the Gypsy girl when she ran away from Queen Grace Varey and the other
+Romany folk--Margit Salgo, as she called herself, appeared suddenly in
+the class rooms of the school. And, to complete their bewilderment, she
+appeared as the attendant of Miss Carrington!
+
+Margit spoke little to any of the other girls. She came to Eve and Bobby
+and told them how she had been made to leave the farmhouse by the
+Vareys, who had come after her in the night; but how she had finally got
+away from them, and her connection with Miss Carrington, she would not
+explain, although Bobby was very curious.
+
+"Well, doesn't that beat all!" ejaculated Bobby, to Eve Sitz. "And we
+thought we might be able to help Margit. She seems to have helped
+herself, all right."
+
+"I am glad, if she is now in good hands; but I do not understand it,"
+rejoined Eve.
+
+"Say! there can't be any mistake about her wanting to get to Miss
+Carrington before. Now she's got to Gee Gee, all right. Guess there's
+nothing to be said by outside parties, eh?"
+
+"Well, we can wonder--eh?"
+
+"Oh, there's no law against it. Take it out in wondering. You can be
+sure that Gee Gee will be as mum as an oyster."
+
+"But where is Queen Grace--and the others?" added Eve.
+
+"That's so," Bobby returned. "If Miss Carrington hasn't settled with the
+Romanies and given them what they wanted, you can make sure that they
+will take a hand in the matter again."
+
+Margit, however, seemed to have cut loose from the Gypsies altogether.
+When she appeared at Central High with the teacher she was dressed like
+any other girl coming from a well-to-do home. Her Gypsy garb had been
+discarded.
+
+Margit sat by herself and she had special lessons. She did not recite
+with the other girls, nor did she have much to say to any of them, save
+to Eve and Bobby. Even Mother Wit was not very successful in scraping an
+acquaintance with the Austro-Hungarian.
+
+Indeed, when one of the girls tried to talk with her, Margit answered in
+German; or, if the girl was taking German and could understand the
+spoken language pretty well, Margit used the outlandish dialect of the
+Romany folk, and that settled it.
+
+Either she did not wish to make acquaintances, or she had been warned by
+Miss Carrington not to satisfy the curiosity of the girls of Central
+High about herself.
+
+Of course nobody dared to question Gee Gee. If Mr. Sharp understood the
+reason for the new girl's presence he gave no sign--ignored her
+entirely, in fact. So the girls were vastly excited about Margit Salgo,
+her presence at Central High, where she came from,
+and--particularly--what relationship she bore to Gee Gee.
+
+One day the teacher was particularly short-tempered and found reason for
+taking Bobby Hargrew to task over some trivial fault.
+
+"I am amazed, Miss Hargrew, that so light-minded a girl as you ever won
+your way into the M. O. R. chapter. I do not see, Miss, but that you are
+just as mischievous as ever. Neither time nor place changes you."
+
+She said it very spitefully, and some of the other girls laughed. But
+suddenly Margit popped up and said something vigorously in
+German--speaking so quickly that the other girls did not understand her;
+but Gee Gee evidently understood.
+
+Her face flamed and she glared at the Gypsy girl in a way that would
+have quelled any other in the room. But Margit did not wither under her
+glance. She stared back, her head up and shoulders squared; and it was
+plain by her attitude that she defied Gee Gee.
+
+Bobby was as amazed as the others. Margit had taken her part against the
+teacher. And for the moment it seemed as though there would be a serious
+breach between Gee Gee and her protege.
+
+However, the incident effectually called Gee Gee's attention away from
+Bobby, and the latter heard nothing more of _her_ fault. But it seemed
+that the connection between the teacher and Margit Salgo was not founded
+upon _love_. There was some other reason than affection that made Gee
+Gee care for the half-wild Gypsy girl. Some of the others whispered that
+Gee Gee must have done some awful thing, and Margit knew it and so held
+the teacher in her power. But that, of course, was a silly explanation
+of the mystery.
+
+It was plain, too, that the teacher would not let Margit out of her
+sight on the street. They came and went to school together, walking side
+by side. At the place where Miss Carrington had boarded so long, nobody
+ever saw Margit in the yard, but Miss Carrington was with her.
+
+One might have thought the girl a prisoner.
+
+Bobby was hurrying over to Laura's house with her books, one morning,
+wishing for a little help in one of the problems to be discussed that
+day, and she started through the grounds surrounding the Widow Boyce's
+house, from the back street.
+
+Suddenly she saw a man crouching in the shrubbery. Weeks before she had
+seen a man spying about the house, and believed him to be one of the
+Gypsies. Now Bobby halted and spied on the Peeping Tom himself.
+
+In a moment she saw that it was the man with the gold rings in his ears
+whom Eve had told her was Jim Varey, the husband of the Gypsy Queen. He
+was lurking there for no good purpose, that was sure.
+
+Having carried Margit off from Farmer Sitz's house in the middle of the
+night, the Gypsies would doubtless attempt to steal the girl away from
+Gee Gee, as well. The school teacher had evidently not settled with the
+Romany folk. They had not yet got money through the girl, as Margit had
+said they hoped to do.
+
+Bobby turned back toward the street, intending to look for a policeman,
+or for some neighbor; but as she did so she heard wheels grating against
+the curb, and there stood a covered wagon, with two sleek horses
+attached, and another Gypsy man driving them.
+
+The man on the seat of the wagon whistled, and Jim Varey raised his hand
+as a signal. Then the latter darted around the corner of the house
+toward the front.
+
+These maneuvers were only too plain to Bobby. There was not time to
+look for a policeman--and, in any case, an officer was hard to find in
+the Hill section of Centerport.
+
+Bobby ran along the hedge, stooping so as not to be seen by the man on
+the wagon seat, and came around to the front of the house from the
+direction opposite that which Jim Varey had taken.
+
+Just as she reached the front porch there was a wild scream from Miss
+Carrington, and Bobby saw the man leap from the far end of the porch
+with Margit in his arms.
+
+Margit did not scream; she only beat the man about the head
+and--perhaps--left the marks of her nails in his dark face.
+
+It was plain that she was being carried away from Gee Gee against her
+will. She had no desire to go back to the Gypsies.
+
+Now, Miss Carrington could not run. She had been brought up in no
+athletic school, that was sure. She followed the kidnapper clumsily
+enough, and he would have gotten well away in the covered wagon with the
+girl, had it remained to Gee Gee to intervene.
+
+But Bobby screamed, dropped her books, and went at the fellow as though
+she were playing football. She "tackled low," seizing with both arms
+about the knees, and Jim Varey, screeching and threatening, fell forward
+on the sward--and Margit escaped from his arms.
+
+"Oh!" gasped the girl.
+
+"Quick! get into the house!" cried Bobby, bounding to her feet.
+
+Margit whisked past her, and past Miss Carrington, and fled indoors as
+she was advised. Jim Varey leaped up and confronted the little girl who
+had overturned him. His fists were clenched and he gabbled in the Romany
+tongue a string of what were evidently threats and vituperation.
+
+"Now, it isn't me you want to carry off," said Bobby, bravely. "I
+wouldn't be any good to you. Get away, now, for I see Mr. Sharp coming
+down the street."
+
+Which was true enough--although the school principal was still a long
+way off. Jim Varey seemed to see the wisdom of the girl's remarks,
+however, for he turned and fled.
+
+The next minute they heard the heavy wagon being driven furiously away
+from the garden gate, and Bobby turned to find Gee Gee, sitting very
+faint and white, upon the porch steps.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII--LOU POTTER SCORES ONE
+
+
+"Has he gone?" gasped Gee Gee, weakly.
+
+"They've driven off, Miss Carrington. Margit is in no danger now," said
+Bobby, eyeing the teacher curiously.
+
+"You--you know about it, too, do you?" murmured the teacher.
+
+"I guess I know something about it," replied Bobby, promptly. "We girls
+saw Margit up there in the hills when she ran away from the Gypsies the
+first time. And I was over to Eve Sitz's the night the Vareys stole
+Margit away again. I'd see the police if I were you, Miss Carrington."
+
+"The police--yes!" returned the lady. "It will all have to be dragged
+into publicity, I suppose."
+
+Bobby didn't know what to say, for she did not understand Gee Gee's
+present character, anyway! Nobody before had ever seen Miss Grace Gee
+Carrington so disturbed in her mind.
+
+Bobby saw the front door open again, and Margit appeared on the porch.
+
+"Come in! Come in! It's all right now," said the Gypsy girl. "There is
+nothing to fear from them now---- Ah! who is this?"
+
+Bobby turned quickly and saw a little, stooped old man, turning in at
+the gate. Miss Carrington saw him, too, and she came to her feet in a
+moment. The color came back into her face and she began to look very
+grim again--more like her usual self.
+
+"Morning! morning!" cackled the old gentleman, nodding at the school
+teacher, but looking hard at Bobby. And the latter recognized him as
+Eben Chumley, a queer, miserly old man who owned a great deal of
+property on the Hill.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Chumley," said Miss Carrington, quietly.
+
+"Now, don't tell me _this_ is the gal," said Mr. Chumley, pointing a
+long finger at Bobby. "For that's Tom Hargrew's young 'un--I know her
+well enough."
+
+"_This_ is the girl I wish you to see and talk with, Mr. Chumley," said
+Miss Carrington, beckoning Margit forward. Then she added, in her
+severest tone: "Miss Hargrew! you are excused."
+
+"Well, the mean cat!" muttered Bobby, as she went out of the yard. "I
+had no intention of listening to their private affairs. But she might at
+least have thanked me for tumbling over that Gypsy."
+
+Margit came to her, however, that morning, and thanked her warmly.
+
+"You're a brave girl, Miss Hargrew," she said. "And I think that Jim
+Varey will let me alone hereafter. At least, he had better keep his
+distance."
+
+And so it seemed, for thereafter, when Miss Carrington and her charge
+walked to and from school, a policeman strolled behind them. The
+girls--especially those of the junior class, however--were almost eaten
+up with curiosity.
+
+Luckily, as June approached, they had something else to think about out
+of regular recitation hours. The rivalry on the athletic field became
+very keen indeed. Mrs. Case did her best to impress upon the girls'
+minds that a spirit of rivalry between classes would perhaps injure the
+chances of the school at large at the final meet.
+
+"Loyalty to Central High!" was her battle cry. But all of the
+girls--especially a certain portion of the seniors--forgot the "good of
+the greater number" in the petty class differences.
+
+Lou Potter, the senior, was backed strongly for first place in putting
+the shot and for the broad jump. Nobody but Mrs. Case, indeed, knew just
+how Lou and Eve Sitz stood in those two events.
+
+The Saturday afternoon came when Mrs. Case was to try out the girls with
+the highest scores in the various events to be featured on the Big Day.
+Relay teams from each class had been gradually made up, and now these
+were to compete for the honor of representing Central High at the meet.
+
+The Junior Four was made up of Laura Belding, Jess Morse, and Dora and
+Dorothy Lockwood, with Bobby Hargrew as substitute. They were not only
+all fast, but they were quick-witted. A relay race isn't altogether won
+with one's feet.
+
+The seniors averaged taller girls, and heavier. The sophomores were
+nearer the weight and size of Laura and her mates; and of course, it was
+scarcely to be expected that the freshman four would stand a chance at
+all.
+
+When the three heats were run off, however, the freshmen proved better
+than the seniors once, and surpassed the sophomores in two of the heats.
+The juniors won all three heats in fast time.
+
+"Those squabs are coming on to be jimdandies!" declared Bobby,
+enthusiastically. "They're going to be just such another class in
+athletics as ours."
+
+"And of course," remarked Lou Potter, who overheard her, "the junior
+class of Central High is just the most wonderful crowd of girls that was
+ever brought together."
+
+"Now you've said it," admitted Bobby, with satisfaction. "But I never
+did expect to hear a senior say that about us!"
+
+Mrs. Case came over and her presence halted further bickering. But the
+rivalry of the two upper classes rankled.
+
+Bobby took the hundred-yard dash from all competitors. Later she easily
+beat all the other entries in the quarter-mile race.
+
+Interest centered after that in the broad jump and the shot-putting
+contest. Eve was in her usual good form and equalled, in her three
+trials, her best previous record. Just what that record had been the
+girls as a body did not know; but on this occasion the distance was made
+public. Eve had bested all competitors by a full inch and a half. Her
+nearest rival was Lou Potter.
+
+"Favoritism!" was the cry among the seniors, but they were very careful
+not to allow their physical instructor hear it.
+
+In truth, Mrs. Case, as she always had been, was opposed to inter-class
+trials on the field or track. It lowered the standard of loyalty to the
+school as a whole, and was frequently the cause of bickerings and
+heart-burnings, as in this present case.
+
+But she was bound by the rules of a committee in which she had but one
+vote. She was glad to learn, however, that other instructors in other
+schools were having the same trouble. The Girls' Branch Athletic League
+is truly against rivalry between classes of the same school.
+
+In putting the shot the same unfortunate feeling arose between backers
+of Lou Potter and Evangeline Sitz. Eve carried the day; she put the
+twelve-pound shot far ahead of her rival. But the seniors were not
+satisfied. Their class would make a poor showing indeed at the meet.
+
+"I'd just like to get square with that Swiss doll!" exclaimed Lou
+Potter, as she turned out of the gate of the athletic field, after it
+was all over and Mrs. Case had announced who would be the
+representatives of the school in each department of athletics, at the
+June meet.
+
+"She is a foreigner, anyway. Laura Belding got her to come to this
+school. She'd much better have gone to Keyport, where she belongs,"
+cried one of Lou's classmates.
+
+They could not see that Eve's presence at Central High was likely to
+give the school at least two points in athletics; that Keyport might
+have won had the country girl attended the Keyport High, as she had
+first intended.
+
+"There she goes now--aiming for the railroad station," said Lou Potter.
+"I wish something would keep her from getting to the field on the day of
+the meet."
+
+It was this mean thought in her mind, perhaps, that made Miss Potter
+notice Eve particularly as she followed behind the country girl. Lou's
+friends separated from her, but her way led toward the railroad station,
+too.
+
+And before that was reached Miss Potter suddenly became aware of the
+fact that a woman and a man were following Eve Sitz.
+
+She saw them first standing at a corner, and whispering, and pointing
+after Eve. They were dark-faced people, foreign-looking, and the man
+wore hoops of gold in his ears.
+
+"There are a lot of those Gypsies around this Spring," was Lou's first
+thought. "Hullo! those people are watching that Sitz girl."
+
+She became curious, as she saw the Gypsies dog Eve's footsteps for block
+after block. Whether they wished to speak to the big girl, or were just
+watching her, Lou could not tell.
+
+She was a bold girl herself, and not at all afraid of the Romany folk.
+When Eve disappeared into the railroad station and the man and woman
+remained outside, Lou walked up to them.
+
+"What are you following that girl for?" she asked, and when Queen Grace
+and her husband would have denied it, Lou made her reason for asking
+plain.
+
+"If you don't like her, neither do I. I'd like to have her out of the
+way for at least one day--one day next week," and she named the day of
+the Athletic Meet.
+
+"This is a plot to trap us," growled Jim Varey to his wife.
+
+But the Gypsy Queen was, as we have seen, a very shrewd student of human
+nature. She could see just how bad a heart Lou Potter had. Queen Grace
+possessed no occult power. No so-called fortune-teller has. They are all
+wicked people, and liars. But she had long made a study of the worst
+side of human nature.
+
+She saw that Lou Potter was ripe for mischief. She talked to her softly
+and insinuatingly, putting Jim out of the way. Then she agreed to meet
+the senior again and learn just what she wished done to Eve Sitz.
+
+For the Gypsy Queen saw a chance to make a few dollars and, as Margit
+Salgo had said, the woman was very avaricious. She and her husband had
+been following Eve idly enough. They dared not approach Margit while she
+was under the protection of Miss Carrington and the police; but they
+laid to Eve a part of the blame for the Gypsy girl's escape from their
+hands before they had made any money out of her.
+
+Lou Potter went away from her conference with the Gypsies very much
+delighted.
+
+"I guess we'll show them that the seniors have something to say about
+athletics at Central High," she muttered, over and over again. "I reckon
+I've scored one on Miss Eve Sitz, too!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII--THE FIELD DAY
+
+
+There was a tall, gaunt, gray man who came to the Widow Boyce's to see
+Miss Carrington on certain occasions. He always carried a blue bag,
+stuffed with papers and books, and it was well known by the neighbors
+that he was Miss Carrington's lawyer.
+
+There was nothing suggestive of romance about Aaron MacCullough; but
+like all old attorneys he had dabbled in many, many romances. There were
+a score of old families of Centerport who had entrusted their cupboard
+secrets to Mr. MacCullough.
+
+He came in one evening, with his blue bag, and sat down in Gee Gee's
+sitting room. The Central High teacher was quite as dry in appearance,
+and as grim as the lawyer himself. She sat on one side of the table, and
+he on the other, and the papers which he first examined and read aloud
+he passed to her, and she scrutinized them through her spectacles.
+
+"So," she said, at length, "these correspondents of yours in Buda-Pesth
+seem to know all about Salgo's affairs, do they?"
+
+"It is notorious, Miss Carrington," said the old man, nodding. "There
+can be no mistake. Belas Salgo was a strange man. All geniuses, perhaps,
+are strange----"
+
+"He was a wicked foreigner!" declared Miss Carrington, sharply.
+
+"Wicked in your eyes, perhaps. He married and carried away with him your
+dearest friend."
+
+"My cousin Anne--yes," said she, slowly. "She had been in my care. She
+was musical. She went mad over the man--and he no better than a Gypsy."
+
+"Gypsy blood he confessed to--yes," said the lawyer, shaking his head.
+"But he could make wonderful music. I remember hearing him once in this
+very town."
+
+"Oh, he charmed everybody--but me," said Miss Carrington, vigorously.
+"And he would have charmed me, perhaps, with his fiddle if Anne had not
+gone mad over him. I knew how it would be for her--misery and trouble!"
+
+"We do not know that," said the old gentleman, shaking his head. "Her
+few years with Belas Salgo were happy enough, by all account."
+
+"But she never wrote to me!" cried the Central High teacher.
+
+"Nor she never wrote to her father's partner, Mr. Chumley. Eben Chumley,
+by the way, is for denying the identity of this girl, Margit?"
+
+"Well! so was I," admitted Miss Carrington. "Though heaven knows it was
+for another reason! I did not think poor Anne would have had a daughter
+and never written me a word about it."
+
+"Ahem!" said Mr. MacCullough, clearing his throat significantly, "your
+last word to her, I understand, was a harsh one?"
+
+"Ah! But I never meant it. She must have known I never meant it,"
+exclaimed Miss Carrington, her voice trembling.
+
+The old lawyer shook his head. "We never do mean the harsh words," he
+murmured.
+
+"However," he added, after a moment's silence. "The fact remains that
+this girl, Margit Salgo, is assuredly the daughter of Belas Salgo and
+Anne Carrington. The money--what there was of it--left in the hands of
+Eben Chumley by his partner, Anne's father, belongs to the child, and
+Eben must be made to disgorge."
+
+"It will hurt Chumley dreadfully to give up the money," said Gee Gee,
+quickly. "How much is there?"
+
+"Less than a thousand dollars. You know, Chumley & Carrington were in
+the real estate business in only a small way, back in those days. With
+interest, and all, it will be but a modest fortune."
+
+"I suppose those Gypsies thought the child was a great heiress," said
+the teacher.
+
+"That is probable. They undoubtedly think so now. It is my advice that
+you allow me to go to the police and explain the matter fully. Let them
+gather in this Jim Varey, and the others, and tell them just how little
+the sum is that is coming to Margit Salgo. It is about enough for her
+education--and that's all."
+
+Miss Carrington nodded. "Nevertheless," she said, with finality, "she is
+Cousin Anne's child. I shall make her education and future keeping my
+affair. I have not worked, and taught, all these years for nothing, Mr.
+MacCullough."
+
+"Quite true--quite true," admitted the old man, briskly. "And if you
+wish to adopt the girl----"
+
+"I intend to do so," announced Gee Gee.
+
+"Then there is nobody to gainsay you, I am certain," declared the
+lawyer, rising. "I congratulate the child upon falling in with so good a
+guardian, Miss Carrington. And--perhaps--you are to be congratulated,
+too," he added to himself as he left her sitting grimly by the table.
+
+For more than Lawyer MacCullough noted the change that was gradually
+coming over the martinet teacher of Central High. Whether it was the
+influence of Margit's presence, or not, it was true that Miss Carrington
+was not half so harsh as she used to be.
+
+"Change of heart--she's sure to die, I'm afraid," announced Bobby
+Hargrew, one day, when Gee Gee had failed to seize the opportunity to
+berate that young lady for a certain fault.
+
+But later, Miss Carrington put herself out to speak to Bobby on the
+street, and upon matters not connected with the school work.
+
+"Clara, I never properly thanked you for taking my ward's part the other
+morning when that dreadful man attacked her," said Miss Carrington,
+quietly. "But I am grateful, nevertheless."
+
+"Your ward!" gasped Bobby, her curiosity and wonder passing all bounds
+of politeness. "Oh, Miss Carrington! is she really related to you?"
+
+"Margit? Not in the least--at least, no relation that the law would
+allow. For that reason I propose to adopt her. She will be known as
+Margaret Carrington--and I hope, Miss Clara, that you and the other
+girls of Central High will be kind to her."
+
+Bobby smiled. "I think Margit will take care of herself, Miss
+Carrington, if we don't treat her right. But I know all the girls will
+be glad to have her join."
+
+"Thank you. She is foreign to your ways, as yet," pursued the teacher, a
+little doubtfully. "From what she says, she is much interested in Mrs.
+Case's classes--in the physical culture classes, and the like. I--I
+expect you will introduce her at the gymnasium, Miss Clara?"
+
+"Of course!" exclaimed Bobby, half stunned. "Why--why Margit's the
+surest-footed girl I ever saw. You ought to see her running that day
+along the top of the stone wall!"
+
+"Er--I presume that such unseemly conduct will not be necessary if
+Margaret becomes a votary of athletics as taught the young ladies of
+Central High," returned Miss Carringtan, stiffly.
+
+"Just the same," Bobby said, in talking over the matter with Laura and
+the rest of the girls, afterwards, "just the same, Margit Salgo will be
+a splendid addition to our fighting force some day. Why, she's got
+biceps like a boy, and she says she can swim, and skate, and ride. We're
+going to have another A-1 champion for Central High in Margit Salgo some
+day!"
+
+It must be confessed that, about this time, many of the Central High
+girls gave more thought to athletic matters than they did to their
+lessons. Still, the unbending rule that only those who kept up with
+their studies would have a part in the after-hour athletic contests was
+a solvent for any serious trouble.
+
+The day of the meet was at hand. The athletic teams of the five high
+schools--three of Centerport and one each from Lumberport and
+Keyport--were to meet on the Central High field. There were several
+important trophies, as well as the usual league pins for the winners,
+and interest in the field day--not alone among the girls themselves--ran
+high.
+
+Laura Belding and her mates had figured out very carefully just what
+events Central High was sure to win, and how many of the "uncertain"
+points were needed to clinch the championship.
+
+They felt sure of the hundred-yard dash; as far as they could learn no
+girl in any of the five schools had developed the speed of Bobby Hargrew
+over that short course.
+
+The two hundred and twenty-yard dash and the quarter-mile run were
+doubtful, despite Bobby's splendid showing in the latter. The hurdle
+races were doubtful, too, as well as the shuttle and potato relays.
+
+In the high and broad jumps, as well as the shot-putting, there was
+serious doubt. The best Laura could figure, Central High would go into
+the contest needing four points more than they were _sure_ of winning.
+
+Those four points might be supplied by Bobby in the quarter-mile run,
+one of the chief events of the day, and Eve Sitz in the broad jump and
+putting the shot.
+
+"You girls have got to do your very best--don't forget that!" Laura told
+them, as they separated the night before the meet. "Central High just
+about leans her whole weight on you."
+
+It was on Friday and the whole school was excused at noon; but those
+taking part in the events of the day were not obliged to report until
+one o'clock--and then only to the committee at the gymnasium building.
+
+The crowds from Lumberport and from Keyport came in chartered steamers.
+They marched into the field just before one o'clock, and the classes
+from the East and West Highs followed them a few minutes later. The
+girls in their light dresses, and with the flags fluttering, were a
+pretty sight.
+
+Of course, the grandstand was rapidly filling with adult spectators, and
+with the boys, when the girls of Central High came in. There was some
+marching and counter-marching, before all were seated. Already some of
+the girls, in their gymnasium clothes, began to appear on the courts for
+warming-up practice.
+
+Suddenly Bobby Hargrew burst into a knot of Central High girls gathered
+around Mrs. Case, on the main floor of the gym. building, and fairly
+shouted:
+
+"Where is she?"
+
+"Where's who?" asked Laura, curiously. "Is this one of your jokes? Who
+are you looking for?"
+
+"Where's Eve? Who's seen Eve Sitz?" repeated Bobby, anxiously.
+
+"Why, I think you'll find her around somewhere. What's the matter? Got
+to see her right this moment, Bobby?"
+
+Bobby's tone of tragic despair stopped the joking at last, however, as
+she cried:
+
+"She's not reported. She isn't here. Nobody's seen her. She hasn't come
+into town, as far as I can find out. And certain sure she hasn't come
+into this building--and it's one o'clock now!"
+
+"Why, Clara! what do you mean?" asked the physical instructor of Central
+High. "It is not possible that Evangeline Sitz would fail to appear at
+such a time as this?"
+
+"And with so much depending on her?" shrieked Jess Morse. "Impossible!"
+
+"Something has happened to her," said Laura, aghast.
+
+"Has nobody seen her?" demanded Mrs. Case.
+
+Nobody had.
+
+"I'll run to father's office and telephone," suggested Nellie Agnew.
+"They have a telephone at the Sitz farm, haven't they?"
+
+"Of course," rejoined Laura. "Do run, Nell!"
+
+The group, mostly made up of juniors, was horror-stricken by the fact
+that one of the most dependable of the girls was missing. But a senior
+who stood near said, scoffingly:
+
+"Oh, I guess that girl won't be missed. We've got Lou Potter to put
+right in her place--in both the shot-put and the broad jump. And the
+chance belonged to Lou, anyway. Now she'll get her rights, perhaps."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV--MARGIT PAYS A DEBT
+
+
+"Did you hear what that girl said, Laura?" demanded Bobby, in a whisper,
+clinging to the arm of Mother Wit. "It sounded as though she knew
+something about Eve's absence."
+
+"No. Just jealousy," returned Laura.
+
+"I--don't--know---- Here's Nell!" exclaimed the smaller girl, eagerly.
+
+The doctor's daughter ran up, very much excited.
+
+"Otto was on the 'phone," she said. "He says that Eve left for town in
+time to catch the nine-twenty-seven. Why, she should have been here two
+hours ago!"
+
+"What do you suppose has happened?" wailed Jess.
+
+"I will see the committee at once," said Mrs. Case, quietly. "Of course,
+if Evangeline does not report in time, we shall have to put in a
+substitute."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Case!" cried Bobby. "_Don't_ put in that Lou Potter!"
+
+"What, Clara? Is that your loyalty to Central High?" demanded the
+athletic instructor, sternly.
+
+"Well, she's been so mean----"
+
+"But if she is the next best girl we have in training, and Eve does not
+appear, would you cripple Central High's chances for a petty feud like
+this?"
+
+Mrs. Case spoke warmly and Bobby fell back abashed. But all the juniors
+were amazed and troubled by the emergency which had so suddenly arisen.
+
+The attitude of some seniors surprised Eve's friends, too. They were
+seen to gather in groups, and giggle and whisper, and when the troubled
+juniors passed these seniors made remarks which suggested that they knew
+more about Eve's absence than her own friends.
+
+Especially was Lou Potter in high feather over something. She sneered at
+Laura Belding, when the latter went about asking everybody if they had
+seen or heard of Eve that morning.
+
+Time approached for the early events of the afternoon, and the relay
+teams were called out for the first event. About that time Margit Salgo,
+who had been moving about in the crowd of Central High competitors,
+suddenly broke away from a group, of whom Lou Potter was the center, and
+ran hurriedly for the exit.
+
+At the gate the ticket-taker had just allowed Mr. and Mrs. Belding to
+enter and Margit saw Chet--whom she now knew very well--beside their
+automobile outside.
+
+"Chetwood!" she gasped, running out to him. "There has something
+happened that will make Central High lose to-day--it is a plot--it is a
+meanness----"
+
+She broke into German, as she did when she was excited, and Chet
+literally "threw up his hands."
+
+"Hold your horses, Miss Margaret," he begged. "I can't follow you when
+you talk like that. My German's lame in both feet, anyway--like the son
+of Jonathan."
+
+"I do not know your Jonathan," she cried, when Chet, grinning,
+interrupted:
+
+"You're weak in your Scripture, then. But what about it? What's
+happened?"
+
+"They have got Eve Sitz!" declared Margit, tragically.
+
+"Who's got her?"
+
+"I do not know for sure. I only suspect," declared the girl. "But quick!
+drive where I shall say. We may be in time."
+
+"Do you mean to say that Eve hasn't got here yet?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Yet she's already left home?"
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed!"
+
+"And she's an important figure in to-day's events, I understand," quoth
+Master Chet. "You think you know where she is?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" cried Margit.
+
+"Hop in, then. Tell me where to go, and we'll get there if a policeman
+doesn't hold us up on the way."
+
+Margit whispered in his ear. Chet looked surprised; then nodded and
+helped her into the seat beside him. In a minute they were out of the
+crowd of other autos and were speeding down Whiffle Street and into
+Market.
+
+When they struck the main thoroughfare the young fellow had to drive the
+car more circumspectly; but he made such time that more than one traffic
+officer held up a warning hand and shook his head at them.
+
+"Sure you know where you want to go, Margaret?" Chet asked his companion
+once, as they dodged around a truck and turned off into a long and
+narrow side street where the class of tenements on either hand were of
+the cheaper quality.
+
+"Yes," nodded the girl. "I should know. I was there myself."
+
+"Oh! that's where the Gyps, have their encampment in town?" exclaimed
+Chet.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you think Eve has been caught by the same people who held you?"
+
+"Yes. I believe so."
+
+"Then take it from me, Margaret," declared Chet, decidedly, "a policeman
+goes into the house with us. I don't take any chances with those
+people."
+
+She nodded again and a few moments later she told him to stop before a
+certain number. This was, indeed, a crowded and mean section of the
+town.
+
+"I thought Romany folk lived in the open air and were bold and free--and
+all that?" said Chet, in disgust, as he stopped the engine and prepared
+to get out after removing certain plugs so that the car could not be
+started during their absence.
+
+"In town they live like other poor people. They camp in a cheap flat.
+But they would not remain here long if they did not hope to get hold of
+me," replied Margit, quietly.
+
+"Hullo! You're running right into trouble, perhaps," said Chet,
+doubtfully.
+
+"What if I am? That girl, Eve, was good to me. And those other girls are
+my friends. We will get her free so that she may get to the athletic
+field in time. What?"
+
+"I guess it _is_ what," admitted Chet, to himself.
+
+Then he saw an officer and beckoned to the man. A few words explained
+their need.
+
+"Ha! I was told to keep an eye on those folk. I know 'em," said the
+policeman. "And this is the girl who was with them before?" and he
+stared curiously at Margit Salgo.
+
+They went quickly into the house and up to the floor that the girl
+remembered very well indeed. She pointed out the door of the flat and
+Chet rapped upon it. The officer kept in the shadow.
+
+The door opened a trifle, after the second knock, and a voice whispered
+some word which Chet could not understand. Instantly Margit hissed a
+reply--it was in Romany.
+
+The door opened a bit wider. Somebody inside saw the girl; but Chet was
+seen, too.
+
+"What did Ah tell 'ee?" demanded Jim Varey's gruff voice. "This is a
+business tae bring trouble tae us, says I--and I was right."
+
+Before he had ceased speaking the policeman sprang forward and with knee
+and shoulder forced the door wide open. He had drawn his club.
+
+"Keep still--all you here! If you give me trouble I'll arrest all of you
+instead of this man and his wife," and he seized Jim by the shoulder.
+
+"Where's the girl?" cried Chet. "Eve! Eve Sitz! Are you here?"
+
+There was an answering cry from back in some other room. Margit darted
+past the struggling people in the kitchen and opened a door beyond.
+
+"Here I am!" cried Eve Sitz.
+
+The country girl was tied to a chair, but not tightly enough to cramp
+her limbs. Nor had she been really ill-treated.
+
+"Run down," said the officer to Chet, "and blow this whistle. Tell my
+partner, when he comes, to send for the wagon. We'll give these folks a
+ride."
+
+"Oh, but I must get to the field, Chetwood!" cried Eve, in despair.
+"They told me Margit was here and needed me, and I came right from the
+train. I don't know what it means----"
+
+Chet had darted down the stairs and he soon came back with the other
+policeman. The officers agreed that the boy and two girls need not
+accompany them to the station; the Gypsy Queen and her husband, with the
+other Romany folk at home in the flat, could be held until later in the
+day for somebody to appear against them.
+
+And that somebody was Miss Carrington's lawyer, Aaron MacCullough. Eve
+had no more trouble with the Gypsies--nor did Margit. Mr. MacCullough
+took the opportunity of showing the roaming folk that they could make
+little out of Margit or her friends, and then the Centerport police
+warned them out of town.
+
+Meanwhile Chet, with the two girls, got into the automobile, and started
+back toward the Central High athletic field. It was already two o'clock,
+and on the program of the day the event of the broad jump would be
+called in less than half an hour!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV--THE WINNING POINTS
+
+
+That first relay race, in which the Junior Four of Central High took
+part, passed like a night-mare for Laura Belding and her companions.
+Every one of them was worried about Eve's disappearance--so worried that
+they came perilously near not doing their very best.
+
+But the rooters for their school got off with a splendid chorus when the
+girls came on the field, and with all that enthusiasm Laura and her
+comrades could not fail "to pull off some brilliant running," as Bobby
+slangily expressed it.
+
+And they did so. The four won the point for Central High, and next in
+line was the one hundred-yard dash. Bobby, as fresh as a lark, came to
+the scratch and prepared to do her very best against the representatives
+from the four other high schools. There was a girl from Lumberport whom
+she had been told to look out for. But Bobby proposed to "look out" for
+nobody on this short dash. The girl who got off in the best form was
+almost sure to win.
+
+And that girl was Bobby. At the word she shot away like an arrow, and a
+roar of approval burst from the seats occupied by the boys of Central
+High.
+
+"C--e--n, Central High!
+C--e--n--t--r--a--l, Central High!
+C--e--n--t--r--a--l--h--i--g--h, Central High!
+Ziz--z--z--z----
+Boom!"
+
+Bobby seemed to be fairly borne along on that yell. She started ahead
+and she kept ahead. Like a flash she went down the track and breasted
+the tape quicker than it takes to tell it.
+
+"Bobby Hargrew! She's all right!" sang the girls of Central High on the
+benches.
+
+Then girls and boys joined in, and finally the other schools added their
+cheers to the paean of praise that sent Bobby back to the gym. building
+with a delightful glow at her heart.
+
+"Good for you, Bobs!" cried Jess, who stood in the sun in her blanket
+coat. "That's another of the points we need. Why, we're going to wipe up
+the field with them."
+
+"But where's Eve?" panted Bobby. "Has anybody seen her?"
+
+"No. She didn't come. She's left us in the lurch----"
+
+"Not intentionally, I am sure," declared Bobby, quickly.
+
+"Well, Mrs. Case is going to put Lou in for the broad jump if Eve
+doesn't show up. And that miserable senior is as perky about it as she
+can be. There she is yonder, all ready for the event, although it's not
+due for an hour yet," added Jess.
+
+The field was next cleared for folk dancing, taking part in which were
+most of the freshman and sophomore classes of all five schools. This
+attracted the adult spectators more than it did the girls themselves;
+the latter's keenest interest was centered in the all-absorbing athletic
+events.
+
+One of the juniors kept watch at the entrance to the field, and sent in
+word now and then that nothing had been heard or seen of Eve Sitz. Laura
+and her other friends did not know that Margit had gone away with Chet
+fielding to hunt for the missing girl.
+
+"If she doesn't come pretty soon all will be lost!" groaned Nellie Agnew
+as the field cleared after the folk dancing.
+
+"Maybe Lou can carry the points for us," suggested Dora Lockwood,
+doubtfully.
+
+"Never in this world!" cried Bobby.
+
+"Nor does Mrs. Case believe it. But it's the best she can do," said
+Jess. "There! after this event comes the broad jump."
+
+"See that nasty Lou Potter!" complained Bobby. "She's standing there,
+grinning just like a Chessy-cat----"
+
+"Hold on, Bobby, hold on!" exclaimed Nellie Agnew, admonishingly.
+"Remember!"
+
+"Remember what?" snapped Bobby.
+
+"'Loyalty to Central High!' That's the battle cry."
+
+"And right Nell is, Bobs," interposed Jess. "We've got to give that girl
+the finest kind of a send-off when she goes into the field. Hearten her
+up! Never mind how mean we think her, remember she represents Central
+High, and the old school needs the points."
+
+"Quite true, girls," said Laura. "When Lou goes out to jump, pass the
+word to the boys to give her an ovation."
+
+And just then there was some shouting at the gate, the crowd opened, and
+a figure dashed through wildly and made for the gym.
+
+"It's Eve! It's Eve!" shouted Bobby, fairly dancing up and down.
+
+Margit Salgo was right behind the country girl. She hurried with her to
+the dressing rooms, and before the broad jump was called, Eve appeared,
+cool, smiling, and quite like her usual self.
+
+"Mrs. Case! I protest!" declared Lou Potter, standing before the
+physical instructor of Central High, as Eve approached. "This is my
+chance. I demand the right to make this jump."
+
+But the instructor only smiled and shook her head.
+
+"Evangeline is in plenty of time," she said. "You are merely a
+substitute, Miss Potter. Are you ready, Eve? Then, take your place with
+the other contestants. You are Number 3."
+
+News of Eve's nick o' time appearance had been circulated by Chet
+Belding when he joined the Central High boys. When it came the girl's
+turn to jump she received an ovation that startled the echoes.
+
+And Eve did not disappoint her friends. She carried off the honors of
+the broad jump by two inches over every other competitor, beating the
+record established two years before.
+
+Bobby did equally as well in the quarter-mile race. That was a trial of
+greater endurance than her winning dash, but she came along ahead of all
+the other sprinters, and won by a clean two yards.
+
+Then Eve went into the field again and beat the famous Magdeline Spink,
+of Lumberport, putting the shot, by ten and a quarter inches--making a
+remarkable score for Central High, and establishing a record for
+following classes to attempt to beat for some years to come.
+
+Of course, the girls as a whole did not know for sure that any of the
+seniors had had anything to do with Eve's being abducted to the Varey
+flat; but because Lou Potter, and others, had been so positive that Eve
+would not appear, the juniors could not help feeling suspicious.
+
+Had it not been for Laura Belding, ever the peace-maker, friction might
+have resulted that would have lasted through the remainder of the term
+and spoiled the graduation exercises for Central High that year.
+
+"We can afford to let the matter rest as it is," said Mother Wit, to her
+junior class friends. "Central High won--we got the winning points--and
+we stand at the head of our school athletic league. We can be satisfied
+with our score.
+
+"As far as these seniors go---- Well, the bad ones are not the entire
+class. And, anyway, they will soon be graduated and we shall have no
+more trouble from them. Let them be an example to us----"
+
+"An example!" cried the irrepressible Bobby. "I guess you mean a
+horrible example."
+
+"Perhaps. At least, let us remember, when we are seniors, not to do as
+they have done," concluded Mother Wit.
+
+"If I'm any prophet," said Jess. "We won't be like them."
+
+"Well, you are no prophet!" cried Bobby. "And don't talk to me any more
+about prophets and fortune-tellers."
+
+"Oh-ho!" mocked Nellie. "Bobby no longer believes in the Gypsy Queen!"
+
+"I believe in nothing of the kind. I was a dreadfully foolish girl to
+pay any attention to that wicked woman. You see, she was wrong. I got
+into no trouble this term with Gee Gee, after all."
+
+But Bobby said nothing to her friends about the greater fear that she
+had had for weeks--the fear that her father might bring home a new wife.
+She knew now that that had been merely a spiteful guess of the Gypsy
+Queen, who knew Mr. Hargrew's circumstances, and thought it safe to warn
+his daughter that he might marry again.
+
+"The wicked old witch--that's what she is!" thought Bobby. "Father Tom
+would never do that. I am going to be his housekeeper as well as his
+partner." And nothing in the future could ever make Bobby Hargrew doubt
+her father's word.
+
+The girls of Central High--especially the juniors--carried off greater
+honors after that Field Day; but never did they win trophies that gave
+them more satisfaction than these.
+
+Eve was sure to make a name for herself in the league in the future; and
+Bobby had developed into quite a sprinter. Laura Belding looked forward
+in the next year to developing other girls into all-round athletes who
+would win points for Central High.
+
+And indeed, they all--girls and instructors alike--looked forward to
+immense benefit as well as pleasure to be derived from the future
+athletic activities of the Girls of Central High.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High on Track and
+Field, by Gertrude W. Morrison
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