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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34749-8.txt b/34749-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ba5d41 --- /dev/null +++ b/34749-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5739 @@ +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. 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right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; } +.pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } +.toc-pageref { float: right } +.pgmonospaced { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } +</style> +<meta content="Project Gutenberg EPUB-Maker v0.03 by Marcello Perathoner <webmaster@gutenberg.org>" name="generator"/> +</head> +<body> + + +<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 & 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.’â€</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.â€</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——â€</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?â€</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.â€</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——â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“You’re another! Don’t you want to hear +about these Sourats?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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——â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“She’s dressed like one,†said Eve.</p> +<p>“And see how brown she is,†added Laura +Belding, otherwise “Mother Wit.â€</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?â€</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!â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“And he is acting quite as oddly as the girl +did,†remarked Bobby. “What do you suppose +it means?â€</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.â€</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——â€</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.â€</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?â€</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——â€</p> +<p>“Hark!†commanded Laura. “Listen.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“You don’t mean that, Eve?†Jess cried. “A +bloodhound?â€</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——â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“You know what I mean,†persisted Nellie, +still wrathfully. “It is a desperate shame! The +dog will hurt her——â€</p> +<p>“No, no!†said Eve. “It is trained. And +the man has it in leash——â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“All right,†agreed Laura.</p> +<p>“Forward, march!†sang out Bobby. “How’s the +way, Eve? Right down this hill?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“I do believe it will rain,†burst out Dorothy, +suddenly. “Doesn’t that look like a rain-cloud +to you, Laura?â€</p> +<p>“Pooh!†said Eve. “Don’t be afraid of a +little April shower. It won’t drown us, that’s +sure.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“I should say not!†cried Bobby. “But we +beat ’em last year on the water.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“I don’t know about that, Mother Wit,†said +the big girl, laughing. “But I’ll do my best.â€</p> +<p>“And your best will beat them all, I believe.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Oh, I hope not!†cried Jess, jumping up. +“I shouldn’t know what to do for it.â€</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.’â€</div> +</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p>“Go on!†exclaimed Jess, laughing. “You +sound like ‘Alice in Wonderland.’â€</p> +<p>“Say, rather, ‘Bobby in Blunderland,’†added +Laura. “But to get back to athletics——â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Yes. Right down to that dead oak you see +on the lower hillside.â€</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?â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Oh, Eve!†whispered Jess, behind, “did you +ever have your fortune told?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“They wouldn’t dare trouble us, anyway,†+said Eve. “And why should they?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Suppose you can’t tell us anything pleasant?†+said Bobby Hargrew, boldly. “Then +we’d rather not know it.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“You will?â€</p> +<p>“Yes, indeed, for but two shillings in your +American money.â€</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——â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“You are a shrewd lady,†said the Gypsy. +“I read character in other ways than by palmistry—it +is true.â€</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.â€</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——â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>The Gypsy queen gazed at her with lowering +brows; but Laura Belding neither “shivered nor +shook.â€</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>â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“And having got <em>from</em> her all you are likely +to get,†said Laura, coolly, “your prophecies +are ended, are they?â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Oh!†cried the disappointed Bobby “I did +so hope she could tell me—more.â€</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.â€</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>.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Are you sure?â€</p> +<p>“Positive,†Laura replied. “She caught me +with her questions. She knows I saw the girl. +I told her nothing else.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Oh, mercy me!†gasped Jess. “I had forgotten +about the bloodhound.â€</p> +<p>“Hush!†murmured Laura. “Don’t let that +woman hear you.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“My goodness!†whispered Dora. “I could +not eat any of that stuff.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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——â€</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——â€</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!â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Girls included,†murmured Dora. “I don’t +want him trailing me.â€</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.â€</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!â€</p> +<p>“What’s the matter with you, Bobby?†demanded +Jess, nervously. “You give me the +creeps.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>Bobby only sobbed.</p> +<p>“Did you tell her what direction that girl was +going—that she was wading up stream?â€</p> +<p>“Oh, yes! I did!†gasped Bobby. “She +made me.â€</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——â€</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?â€</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?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Sure I can, Miss Evie,†replied the farmer. +“What are you girls doin’ with these ‘Gyptians? +Gettin’ your fortunes told?â€</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?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“I don’t know about that,†returned her +chum. “But the woman certainly managed to +frighten Bobby most thoroughly.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Wishing your life away,†laughed Laura. +“We were awfully glad to be juniors, I remember.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“True. And the champion basketball team, +too.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“She was a lucky find,†admitted Jess. “And +she wasn’t much afraid of those Gypsies last +week—did you notice?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.’â€</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?â€</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.’â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“And she was smart, too,†Laura agreed. +“Running on that wall and wading in the +stream threw the dog off the scent.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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.’â€</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!’â€</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 relayâ€â€”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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Huh?†asked Bobby. “Isn’t what the +same girl? You’re as lucid as mud, Nell.â€</p> +<p>“Out there! Quick, Laura—don’t you see +her?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“I wish I knew what it was.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Yes. Some women.â€</p> +<p>“Who are they?†asked the girl, quickly. +“What’s their names?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Gould? That’s not her whole name, is it?†+asked this curious girl.</p> +<p>“Miss Marjorie Gould.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Whose other names?â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“R-o-s-e C-a-s-e,†said Bobby, slowly.</p> +<p>“No! no!†exclaimed Margit. “Not enough. +Too short.â€</p> +<p>“But don’t you know the name of the woman +you are looking for?â€</p> +<p>“I didn’t say I was looking for anybody,†+said Margit, with suspicion. “I am just curious.â€</p> +<p>“And you can’t repeat the name?â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Two more,†said Margit, promptly.</p> +<p>“Eighteen?â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“But you don’t <em>have</em> to do things to make +Miss Carrington give you demerits.â€</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!â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Great Cæsar!†ejaculated Bobby. “How +could I ever do it?â€</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.â€</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!â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“I want to forget it,†declared Bobby, with +flushed face. “I have nothing for you. Go +away—do!â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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——â€</p> +<p>“I can have no business with you, man,†exclaimed +Miss Carrington. “Why, you’re a Gypsy!â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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?â€</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.â€</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!â€</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!â€</p> +<p>“A lot of foolishness,†croaked Otto. “You +go to the school to learn to be smart, no?â€</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.â€</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 “Egyptiansâ€; 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!â€</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?â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“There! he’s gone,†said Bobby, with a sigh. +“I feared he was following us.â€</p> +<p>“Whom do you mean?†queried Eve, rather +surprised by her manner.</p> +<p>“Jim Varey, the Gypsy.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“What was that?â€</p> +<p>“Why, what was the largest island in the +world before Australia was discovered?†queried +Bobby, giggling.</p> +<p>“Why—why—Newfoundland, perhaps?â€</p> +<p>“Nope.â€</p> +<p>“Madagascar?â€</p> +<p>“No,†said Bobby, shaking her head.</p> +<p>“England and Scotland together?â€</p> +<p>“Huh! You couldn’t divide them very well,†+jeered Bobby. “But that’s not the answer.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</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?â€</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!‘â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“I guess I can understand something of what +you mean,†observed Eve, soberly. “You see, +<em>we</em> came from Europe, too.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“But I came only last year,†explained Margit. +“And I was given to the Vareys——â€</p> +<p>“Goodness me! Don’t talk that way,†interrupted +Bobby. “It sounds just as though you +were <em>owned</em> by those Gypsies.â€</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>.â€</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——â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“But mercy on us!†cried Eve, in vast +amazement. “What name is it?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Why—Madam Salgo.â€</p> +<p>“But her first name—her intimate name? +What did your father call her? Do you not +remember?â€</p> +<p>Margit waited a moment and then nodded. +“I understand,†she said. “It was ‘Annake.’â€</p> +<p>“Anne?â€</p> +<p>“Ah, yes—in your harsh English tongue,†+returned Margit. “But why do you ask?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Well, you are only part Gypsy,†said the +practical Evangeline. “And your father was +an educated man—a great musician, you say.â€</p> +<p>“Surely!â€</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?â€</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!â€</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?â€</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!â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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——â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“I don’t think so. The seniors should have +their say. We’ll want to boss when <em>we</em> are +seniors.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</div> +</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p>“That saucy child!†exclaimed Lily, looking +back. “She ought to be whipped.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“And the rest of those girls, laughing, too,†+snapped Lily. “Jess Morse and Laura are just +as bad.â€</p> +<p>“Well, weally——â€</p> +<p>“Oh, if you had half the pluck of a rabbit,†+scolded Lily, “you’d do something to get +square.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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——â€</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!â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Some of ’em are uncles, not ‘ants,’†laughed +Bobby.</p> +<p>“Punning again!†exclaimed Nell. “You +should be punished for that, Bobby.â€</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!â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“He won’t eat you,†said Jess. “Go on.â€</p> +<p>“I know he won’t. I declare! he’s spinning +a web.â€</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!â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Huh! I guess not,†returned Bobby. “But +somebody’s sprung it on us, just the same.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Oh, Laura!†cried Nell. “Nobody would +be so mean.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Well!†exclaimed Bobby, at that. “We’re +in a nice fix—yes?â€</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?â€</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.â€</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!â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Who says the holes in a porous plaster are +useless?†demanded Bobby, quickly. “They’re +not.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Sure!†scoffed Bobby. “Any of us can +crawl out through one of these slits in the wall.â€</p> +<p>“And then what?†demanded Jess.</p> +<p>“Why, jump!†cried Bobby. “There’ll be +nothing to stop you.â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Keep cool,†advised Laura. “Why lose all +our courage because we are locked into this +tower? We will be found.â€</p> +<p>“Maybe,†spoke Bobby, gloomily.</p> +<p>“You have become a regular croaker,†declared +Jess. “I’m ashamed of you, Bobs.â€</p> +<p>“That’s all right!†cried Bobby. “But +hunger is an awful thing to suffer.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</div> +</div> +</div> +</div></blockquote> +<p>“You are so ridiculous,†said Eve. “Nobody +believes the rigamaroles you say.â€</p> +<p>“All right!†returned Bobby, highly offended. +“But you’re bound to believe one thing—that’s +sure.â€</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!â€</p> +<p>“Oh, oh!†cried Nellie. “Don’t say <em>that</em>. +However will we get away?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“You—you can be just as—as brave as you +want to be,†sobbed Nellie Agnew. +“I—want—to—go—home!â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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!â€</p> +<p>“I’m going to climb out of one of these windows +and wave something,†cried her chum. +“Surely somebody will see me.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Oh, dear!†gasped Bobby. “I do wish +some pigeons <em>would</em> fly up here. They do +sometimes, you know.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Your ideas may be bright enough,†laughed +Laura; “but I wouldn’t care to eat pigeons +raw.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“My goodness me!†ejaculated Mother Wit. +“Wouldn’t that be fine?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</p> +<p>“Dear me, Bobby,†complained Nellie. +“I believe you’d joke if you were going to be +hanged!â€</p> +<p>“Do you think so?†asked Bobby, seriously. +“Much obliged. That’s a good reputation to +have, whether I deserve it or not.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“It’s much too far for us to jump,†returned +Mother Wit.</p> +<p>“True,†said Eve, smiling. “But see here.â€</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.â€</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!â€</p> +<p>“I believe I can,†declared the country girl.</p> +<p>“Why—why—it would take a trapeze performer!â€</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——â€</p> +<p>“But suppose you should fall to the roof!â€</p> +<p>“I won’t fall. That is not what I am aiming +to do, at least.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“You’ll slide—and cut your hands all to +pieces.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Oh, I don’t believe you had better!â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Say, that’s great!†spoke Jess. “If you can +only do it safely, Eve.â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“No—nothing,†stammered Purt.</p> +<p>“Well, don’t be so scared about it. What’s +got you now?â€</p> +<p>“No—nothing,†stammered Purt again.</p> +<p>“Haven’t seen Lance, have you?â€</p> +<p>“No.â€</p> +<p>“Nor the girls?â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“No. Down to that gym., I expect. Say, +these girls are getting altogether too athletic. +Didn’t see Jess, either, did you?â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Oh, dear me!†gasped Prettyman Sweet, +his knees trembling. “<em>Now</em> I’m in a fix, sure +enough!â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“I never went to any school—not like this, +anyway.â€</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——â€</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——â€</p> +<p>“Who were the girls you want to see?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Bobby Hargrew,†said Purt, with a stifled +groan. “And neither of those girls have come +out of the building yet?â€</p> +<p>“No,†said the girl. “I have watched and +waited for more than an hour.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Well, I don’t know anything about them!†+denied Purt, hurriedly. “I—I just want to go +up for my book——â€</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!â€</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.â€</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——â€</p> +<p>“You seem afraid of something,†remarked +the girl, shrewdly. “What’s the matter with +you?â€</p> +<p>“Well, I go to school here,†complained +Purt. “You don’t. You’ll get into trouble, +coming into the building at night.â€</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——â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</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?â€</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——â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“True,†murmured Miss Carrington. “Belas +Salgo was a wonderful linguist.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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 Dayâ€â€”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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Chetwood!†exclaimed his mother, +admonishingly. “You speak of the girl as though she +were a horse—or a dog. ‘Ginger’ indeed!â€</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——â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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——â€</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.â€</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?â€</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?â€</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——â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“James!†cried Mrs. Belding. “I cannot +allow you to tell that foolish thing. It—it is +disgraceful.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Well, we can wonder—eh?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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 manÅ“uvers 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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“The police—yes!†returned the lady. “It +will all have to be dragged into publicity, +I suppose.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Now you’ve said it,†admitted Bobby, with +satisfaction. “But I never did expect to hear +a senior say that about us!â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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?â€</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——â€</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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Ahem!†said Mr. MacCullough, clearing his +throat significantly, “your last word to her, I +understand, was a harsh one?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“It will hurt Chumley dreadfully to give up +the money,†said Gee Gee, quickly. “How +much is there?â€</p> +<p>“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.â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Quite true—quite true,†admitted the old +man, briskly. “And if you wish to adopt the +girl——â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Your ward!†gasped Bobby, her curiosity +and wonder passing all bounds of politeness. +“Oh, Miss Carrington! is she really related to +you?â€</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.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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!â€</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!â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Where’s who?†asked Laura, curiously. +“Is this one of your jokes? Who are you looking +for?â€</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?â€</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!â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“And with so much depending on her?†+shrieked Jess Morse. “Impossible!â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“Of course,†rejoined Laura. “Do run, +Nell!â€</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.â€</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.â€</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!â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Oh, Mrs. Case!†cried Bobby. “<em>Don’t</em> put +in that Lou Potter!â€</p> +<p>“What, Clara? Is that your loyalty to Central +High?†demanded the athletic instructor, +sternly.</p> +<p>“Well, she’s been so mean——â€</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?â€</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——â€</p> +<p>She broke into German, as she did when she +was excited, and Chet literally “threw up his +hands.â€</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.â€</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?â€</p> +<p>“They have got Eve Sitz!†declared Margit, +tragically.</p> +<p>“Who’s got her?â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Do you mean to say that Eve hasn’t got here +yet?â€</p> +<p>“I do.â€</p> +<p>“Yet she’s already left home?â€</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, indeed!â€</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?â€</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.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Oh! that’s where the Gyps, have their encampment +in town?†exclaimed Chet.</p> +<p>“Yes.â€</p> +<p>“And you think Eve has been caught by the +same people who held you?â€</p> +<p>“Yes. I believe so.â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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?â€</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.â€</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——â€</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!â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“But where’s Eve?†panted Bobby. “Has +anybody seen her?â€</p> +<p>“No. She didn’t come. She’s left us in the +lurch——â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“See that nasty Lou Potter!†complained +Bobby. “She’s standing there, grinning just +like a Chessy-cat——â€</p> +<p>“Hold on, Bobby, hold on!†exclaimed Nellie +Agnew, admonishingly. “Remember!â€</p> +<p>“Remember what?†snapped Bobby.</p> +<p>“‘Loyalty to Central High!’ That’s the battle +cry.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Quite true, girls,†said Laura. “When Lou +goes out to jump, pass the word to the boys to +give her an ovation.â€</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.â€</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.â€</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——â€</p> +<p>“An example!†cried the irrepressible Bobby. +“I guess you mean a horrible example.â€</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.â€</p> +<p>“Well, you are no prophet!†cried Bobby. +“And don’t talk to me any more about prophets +and fortune-tellers.â€</p> +<p>“Oh-ho!†mocked Nellie. “Bobby no longer +believes in the Gypsy Queen!â€</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.â€</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. 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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. 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