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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson, by
+Laura Dent Crane
+
+
+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 Automobile Girls Along the Hudson
+       Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow
+
+
+Author: Laura Dent Crane
+
+
+
+Release Date: September 16, 2011  [eBook #37454]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE
+HUDSON***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 37454-h.htm or 37454-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37454/37454-h/37454-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37454/37454-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Run! Run for Your Lives!]
+
+
+THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON
+
+Or
+
+Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow
+
+by
+
+LAURA DENT CRANE
+
+Author of The Automobile Girls at Newport, The Automobile
+Girls in the Berkshires, Etc., Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Philadelphia
+Henry Altemus Company
+
+Copyright, 1910, by Howard E. Altemus
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+          CHAPTER                                            PAGE
+               I. The Unexpected Always Happens                 7
+              II. Mr. Stuart Confides a Secret                 16
+             III. Rocking Chair Adventures                     25
+              IV. A Cry for Help                               45
+               V. The Motor Cyclist                            52
+              VI. A Forest Scrimmage                           58
+             VII. A Night with the Gypsies                     76
+            VIII. The Haunted Pool                             83
+              IX. Ten Eyck Hall                                94
+               X. An Attic Mystery                            107
+              XI. Jose Has an Enemy                           117
+             XII. Nosegays and Tennis                         129
+            XIII. Cross Questions and Crooked Answers         141
+             XIV. In the Deep Woods                           150
+              XV. The Hermit                                  158
+             XVI. A Surprise                                  168
+            XVII. Zerlina                                     180
+           XVIII. The Masquerade                              189
+             XIX. A Recognition                               195
+              XX. The Fire Brigade                            203
+             XXI. Fighting the Fire                           210
+            XXII. Explanations                                220
+           XXIII. An Old Romance                              227
+            XXIV. Good-bye To Ten Eyck Hall                   235
+             XXV. Conclusion                                  253
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I--THE UNEXPECTED ALWAYS HAPPENS
+
+
+"I think I'd make a pretty good housemaid," said Barbara, on her knees,
+energetically polishing the floor of the cottage parlor.
+
+"Only housemaids don't wear gloves and all-over aprons and mobcaps,"
+replied Mollie.
+
+"And they don't protect their skins from dust with cold cream," added
+Barbara, teasingly. "Do they, Molliekins?"
+
+"Oh well," replied Mollie, "duty and beauty rhyme, and every woman ought
+to try and keep her looks, according to the beauty pages in all the
+papers."
+
+"Poor old Molliekins!" exclaimed her sister. "Crowsfeet and gray hair at
+fifteen!"
+
+"Going on sixteen," corrected Mollie, as she gave a finishing rub to the
+mahogany center table, a relic of more prosperous days, and flourished
+an old, oily stocking that made an excellent polisher. "But the papers
+do say that automobiling is very harmful to the complexion and the face
+should be protected by layers of cold cream and powder, and a veil on
+top of that."
+
+"I'm willing to take the chance," laughed Barbara, "if ever I get
+another one."
+
+"I suppose Ruth is so busy getting ready for her six weeks' trip abroad
+that she won't have much time for her 'bubble' this August," observed
+Mollie. "But, dear knows, we can't complain. There never was a rich girl
+who knew how to make other people happy as well as she does. Sometimes I
+think she is really a fairy princess, disguised as a human being, who is
+just gratifying her desire to do nice things for girls like us."
+
+"No, she is no fairy," commented Barbara. "That is why we love her so.
+She is just a jolly, nice girl and as human as anybody. When she asked
+us to go to Newport it was because she really wanted us. She has often
+told me, since, that she had been planning the trip for months, but the
+girls she knew were not exactly the kind who would have fallen into such
+a scheme. Gladys Le Baron would never have done, you see, at that time,
+because she always wanted Harry Townsend hanging about."
+
+Harry Townsend, our readers will recall, appeared in a former volume of
+this series, "The Automobile Girls at Newport." He was the famous youth
+known to the police as "The Boy Raffles," whose mysterious thefts were
+the puzzle of the society world. It was Barbara Thurston, by her grit
+and intelligence, who finally brought the criminal to justice, though
+not before Newport had been completely bewildered by a number of
+inexplicable jewelry robberies.
+
+Following the visit to Newport came another delightful trip to the
+Berkshire Hills. The romantic rescue of a little girl whose birth had
+been concealed from her rich white relatives by her Indian grandmother;
+Mollie Thurston lost in an unexplored forest; the thrilling race between
+an air ship and an automobile--these and other exciting adventures were
+described in the second volume of the series entitled "The Automobile
+Girls in the Berkshires."
+
+"How hot it is!" continued Bab. "Suppose we have some lemonade. These
+forest fire mists are really fine ashes and they make me quite thirsty."
+
+She polished away vigorously while Mollie tripped off to make a cooling
+drink in the spotless little kitchen. Except for the tinkle of ice
+against glass the house was very still. Outside, not a breeze was
+stirring, and the meadows were draped in a curious, smoky mist. The sun
+hung like a red ball in the sky; the air was hot and heavy. The flowers
+in the garden borders drooped their heads in spite of persistent and
+frequent waterings. Three months' drought had almost made a desert of
+Kingsbridge. The neat little scrap of a lawn was turning brown in
+patches, like prematurely gray hair, Barbara said. Even the birds were
+silent, and Mollie's cherished family of bantams, a hen, a rooster and
+one chick, crouched listlessly in the shadow of the hedge.
+
+Just then the stillness was broken by the distant crunch-crunch of an
+automobile. But the girls were too intent on what they were doing to
+take any notice until it stopped at their own front gate, and the sound
+of gay laughter and voices floated up the walk. Mollie and Barbara
+rushed together to the front porch.
+
+"It's Ruth herself!" they cried in the same breath, running down the
+steps without stopping to remove their long gingham aprons and dusting
+caps. "And there's mother, too," exclaimed Mollie.
+
+"And Mr. Stuart and Aunt Sallie, all complete!" cried Barbara.
+
+In a moment the three girls were engaged in a sort of triangular embrace
+while the others looked smilingly on.
+
+"Well, young ladies," said Mr. Stuart, "are those automobile coats
+you're wearing, and bonnets, too?"
+
+"I think they would do pretty well for motoring," replied Barbara, "they
+are specially made for keeping out the dust."
+
+"They are just as cute as they can be," said loyal Ruth, who was too
+tender-hearted to let her friends be teased.
+
+"But where on earth did you come from, Ruth?" asked Mollie. "We were
+just talking about you a moment ago. We thought, of course, you were
+still in Denver, and lo and behold! you appear in person in
+Kingsbridge."
+
+"Well, papa had a call East," replied Ruth, bubbling with suppressed
+joy, "and I had a call, too. Papa's was business and mine was--well,
+just to call on you." By that time they had reached the cool,
+half-darkened little parlor whose bare floor and mahogany furniture
+reflected their faces in the recently polished surfaces.
+
+"Oho!" cried Mr. Stuart. "I see now where Queen Mab and her fairies have
+been working in their pinafores and caps."
+
+"Take them off now, girlies," said Mrs. Thurston, "and get a pitcher of
+ice water. I know our friends must be thirsty after their dusty ride."
+
+But Mollie, who had already disappeared, came back in a few minutes
+bearing a large tray of glasses and a tall glass pitcher against whose
+sides cracked ice tinkled musically.
+
+"That's the most delightful sound I've heard to-day," exclaimed Mr.
+Stuart, and even Aunt Sallie took a second glass without much urging.
+
+"Where is our little Indian Princess from the Berkshire Hills?" asked
+Mr. Stuart suddenly. "One of my reasons for coming East was to see
+Eunice. Ruth says she is the prettiest, little brown bird that ever flew
+down from a mountain to live in a gilded cage. What have you done with
+her, Mrs. Thurston?"
+
+"I have had to give her up, Mr. Stuart," Mrs. Thurston replied, sadly.
+"And I was beginning to love Eunice like one of my own children. You
+cannot guess how quickly she learned the ways of our home. She soon
+forgot the old, wild mountain life and her Indian grandmother's
+teaching. But just now and then, if one of us was the least bit cross
+with her, she would run away to the woods; and then only Mollie, whom
+she always loved best, could bring her home again."
+
+"Oh, how I hated to have her leave us!" Mollie declared. "But after the
+one winter with mother, Eunice's rich uncle, Mr. Latham, came here to
+see her. He was so charmed with her beauty and shy lovely manners that
+he took her back to his home in the Berkshires to spend the summer with
+him. This fall Mr. Latham is going to put Eunice in a girl's boarding
+school in Boston, so that she can be nearer his place at Lenox. He wants
+to be able to see her oftener. The dream of little Eunice's life is to
+some day ask 'The Automobile Girls' to visit her."
+
+"Well, girls," said Ruth, as they moved toward the front porch, leaving
+their three elders to chat in the parlor, "I suppose you know I've got
+something in my mind again."
+
+"No, honor bright, we don't," declared Barbara. "Isn't Europe about as
+much as you can support at one time?"
+
+"But Europe doesn't happen until next month, children, and after
+finishing his business in the East, papa is going to be kept very busy
+for at least a month in the West. In the meantime Aunt Sallie and I have
+no place to go but out, and nothing to do but play around until it's
+time to sail. And so, honored friends, I'm again thrown upon your
+company for as long a time as you can endure my presence. And this is
+the plan that's been working in my head all the way on the train: What
+do you say to a lovely motor trip up along the Hudson to Sleepy Hollow?
+Don't you think it would be fine? Grace can go, and we'll have our same
+old happy crowd. It's really only one day's trip to Tarrytown, where we
+will stop for as long as we like, and from there we can motor about the
+country and see some of the fine estates. It is a historic place, you
+know, girls, full of romance and old stories and legends. We can even
+motor up into the hills if we like."
+
+"It would be too perfect!" cried the other two girls.
+
+"I'm just in the mood for adventures, anyway," declared Barbara. "I've
+been feeling it coming over me for a week."
+
+"When are we going?" asked Mollie.
+
+"Well, why not to-morrow," replied Ruth, "while the spirit moves us?"
+
+"O joy, O bliss, O rapture unconfined!" sang Mollie, dancing up and down
+the porch in her delight.
+
+"You see, there is no special getting ready to do," went on Ruth. "The
+chauffeur will go over 'Mr. A. Bubble,' this afternoon, and put him in
+good shape. He's been acting excellently well for such a hardworking old
+party. I mean 'A. Bubble,' of course."
+
+"Does mother know yet, Ruth?" asked Barbara, with a sudden misgiving.
+
+"Oh, yes, she knows all about it. Papa and I laid the whole plan before
+her when we picked her up in the village. She was agreeable to
+everything, but of course she would be. She is such a dear! Aunt Sallie
+was the only one who was a bit backward about coming forward. She seemed
+to think that the forest fires would devour us if we dared venture
+outside of New York. But, of course, they are only in the mountains and
+there is no danger from them. It took me an age to gain her consent. If
+she has any more time to think about it she may back out at the eleventh
+hour."
+
+"Is it all settled, girls?" called Mr. Stuart's voice through the open
+window.
+
+"Oh, yes," chorused three gay voices at once.
+
+"Well, I think we'd better be going up to the hotel, then," cried Miss
+Sallie. "If I'm to be suffocated by smoke and cinders I think I shall
+need all the rest I can get beforehand."
+
+"But, dearest Aunt Sallie," said Ruth, patting her aunt's peach-blossom
+cheek, "the fires are nowhere near Sleepy Hollow. They are miles off in
+the mountains. And truly, in your heart, I believe you like these little
+auto jaunts better than any of us."
+
+"Not at all," replied the inflexible Miss Stuart. "I am much too old and
+rheumatic for such nonsense."
+
+Whereupon she jumped nimbly into the car.
+
+The others all laughed. They understood Miss Sallie pretty well by this
+time. "She has a stern exterior, but a very melting interior," Barbara
+used to say of her.
+
+"Don't fail to be ready by ten, girls," called Ruth as she followed her
+aunt, while Mr. Stuart was offering his adieux to Mrs. Thurston.
+
+"But, Bab," whispered Mollie, as the automobile disappeared around a
+curve in the road, "what about the forest fires?"
+
+"Sh-h!" said Barbara, with, a finger on her lip.
+
+And they followed their mother into the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II--MR. STUART CONFIDES A SECRET
+
+
+The next day was like the day before, very hot and still, the air thick
+with a smoke-like mist even in that seashore place. It hung over the sea
+like a heavy fog, and the foghorn could be heard in the distance moaning
+like a distracted animal calling for its young.
+
+Barbara had refreshed herself by an early morning dip in the ocean, but
+she felt the oppressive atmosphere in spite of the tingling the cool
+salt water had given to her skin.
+
+They were seated around the little breakfast table, always so daintily
+set, for Mrs. Thurston had never lost that quality which had
+characterized her in her youth and which still clung to her in the days
+of her hardships and troubles.
+
+"And now, girlies," she said, "you must promise me one thing. Don't lose
+your heads at the wrong time. Not that you ever have before, and I am
+sure I have no premonitions, now; but remember, my daughters, if
+anything exciting should happen, to make a little prayer to yourselves;
+then think hard and the answer is apt to come before you know it."
+
+"Do you remember how Gladys Le Baron shrieked the time the curtains in
+her room caught fire?" asked Mollie. "She didn't do anything but just
+wring her hands and scream, and it was really Barbara who put the fire
+out. Bab pulled down the curtains and threw a blanket over them. And
+then Gladys had hysterics. But Barbara always keeps her head," added
+Mollie, proudly.
+
+"Your head is all right, too, Molliekins," exclaimed Barbara. "The night
+the man tried to break in the house, don't you remember, mummie, how
+brave she was? She followed us up with a poker as bold as a lion."
+
+"So you did, my pet, and I'm not the least afraid that either one of you
+ever will be lacking in courage. But, when I was very small, my mother
+once taught me a little prayer which she made me promise to say to
+myself whenever I felt the temptation to give way to fear or anger. And
+many and many a time it has helped me. It was only a few words: 'Heaven,
+make me calm in the face of danger,' but I have never known it to fail."
+
+"Dearest little mother," cried Barbara, kissing her mother's soft cheek,
+"you're the best and sweetest little mummie in the world and I'm sure I
+can't remember ever having seen you angry or hysterical or any of those
+terrible things. But if ever I do get in a tight place I hope I shall
+not forget the little prayer."
+
+"'Heaven, make me calm in the face of danger,'" repeated Mollie, softly.
+
+"But, dear me, how gruesome we are!" exclaimed Mrs. Thurston. "It is
+time you were packing your bags, at any rate, children. Be sure and put
+in your sweaters. You may need them in spite of this hot wave. And,
+Mollie, don't forget the cold cream for your little sunburned nose."
+
+The two girls ran upstairs to their room. In a few moments they were
+deep in preparations. By the time the whir of an automobile was heard in
+the distance they had got into their fresh linen suits and broad-brimmed
+straw hats, and were waiting on the porch with suit cases and small
+satchels. Mrs. Thurston looked them over with secret pride.
+
+"Do you see anything lacking, mother?" asked Barbara.
+
+"No, Bab, my dear. I haven't a word to say. You made a very choice
+selection in that pink linen, and Mollie was just as happy in her blue
+one. I never saw neater looking dresses. I hope they won't wrinkle much.
+But you can have them pressed at the hotel, I suppose."
+
+"And don't forget our automobile coats," exclaimed Mollie proudly, as
+she shook out her long pongee duster, last year's Christmas gift from
+Ruth. "This is the first time we've had a chance to wear them. I feel so
+grand in mine!" she continued, as she slipped it on. "With all this veil
+and hat I can almost imagine I am a millionaire." And she swept up the
+porch and back with a society air that was perfect. "Good morning," she
+said to her mother in a high, affected voice. "Won't you take a little
+spin with me in my car? Life is such a bore now at these barbarous
+seaside places! There is really nothing but bridge and motoring, and one
+can't play bridge all the time. Oh, and by the way," she continued,
+pretending to look at Bab haughtily, through a lorgnette, "won't you
+bring your little girl along? She can sit with the chauffeur."
+
+They were still laughing when the automobile came spinning up with Ruth,
+Grace Carter, Miss Sallie Stuart and her brother.
+
+"On time, as usual, girls," cried Ruth gayly. "And I am late as usual.
+But who cares? It's a lovely day and we're going to have a perfect time.
+I am so glad we're going that I would like to execute a few steps on
+your front porch for joy."
+
+"Go ahead," said Barbara. "We've just been having one exhibition from
+Miss Clare Vere de Vere Thurston, who is bursting with pride over her
+automobile coat, and we would be pleased to see another."
+
+"By the way, I should like to have a few words in private with the young
+party in the pink dress," called Mr. Stuart, who was engaged in taking a
+last look at the inner workings of the automobile.
+
+"Meaning me?" asked Bab. "Come in, won't you, Mr. Stuart?"
+
+"Now, what could they be having secrets about?" exclaimed Ruth, and even
+Miss Sallie looked somewhat mystified.
+
+"I am dying to know what you two are confabbing about," cried Ruth, as
+Mr. Stuart and Barbara returned. "Have you given Bab permission to tell
+us?"
+
+"Miss Barbara Thurston is a young woman of such excellent judgment,"
+replied Mr. Stuart, "that I shall leave the secret entirely in her
+hands, and rely upon her to keep it or tell it as she thinks best."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Miss Sallie, "here's a nice mystery to commence the
+day on! But come along, girls; we had better be starting."
+
+Mr. Stuart, with Bab's assistance, gathered up the bags and suit cases
+piled on the porch, packing the cases on the back with the others where
+they were secured with straps, and putting the small hand satchels on
+the floor of the car. Barbara seized her own satchel rather hastily and
+placed it beside her on the seat.
+
+"Why, Bab, one would think you were a smuggler," cried Ruth. "Don't you
+want to put your satchel on the floor with the others?"
+
+"Oh, never mind," replied Barbara carelessly. "It's all right here," and
+she exchanged a meaning look with Mr. Stuart.
+
+"Dear me!" exclaimed Ruth. "You and papa grow 'curiouser and
+curiouser.'"
+
+Then the good-byes were said, and the big automobile went skimming down
+the road in a whirl of dust, leaving Mrs. Thurston and Mr. Stuart at the
+gate waving their handkerchiefs, until it turned the curve and was lost
+to sight.
+
+The travelers lunched at Allaire, as usual, in the little open-air
+French restaurant, and strolled about under the enormous elms of the
+deserted village while the meal was being prepared. But they did not
+linger after lunch. Ruth was hoping to make Tarrytown in time for dinner
+that evening, instead of stopping for the night in New York, which, she
+said, appeared to be suffering from the heat like a human being. "The
+poor, tired city is all fagged out and fairly panting from the humidity.
+If all goes well, I think we should get to New York by four o'clock,
+have tea at the Waldorf and start for Tarrytown at five. We ought to
+reach there by seven at the latest. It will be a long ride, but it's
+lots cooler riding than it is sitting still. Once we get to Tarrytown we
+can linger as long as we please."
+
+They whizzed along the now familiar road, through the endless chain of
+summer resorts that line the Jersey coast, up the Rumson Road between
+the homes of millionaires, and finally struck the road to New York.
+
+"It'll be easy sailing now," observed Ruth, "if we only catch the
+ferries."
+
+By a stroke of good luck they were able to do so, and actually drew up
+in front of the Waldorf at a few minutes before four o'clock.
+
+"Well, Ruth, I must say you are a pretty good calculator," exclaimed
+Miss Sallie, "harum-scarum that you are."
+
+There was a brief interval for face-washing and the smoothing of
+flattened pompadours; another longer one for consuming lettuce
+sandwiches and tea, followed by ices and cakes, and the party was off
+again, as swiftly as if it had been carrying secret government
+dispatches.
+
+Up Riverside Drive they sped, past the Palisades which loomed purple and
+amethyst in the misty light. Then eastward to Broadway, which was once
+the old Albany Post Road; along the borders of Van Courtlandt Park,
+where, even on that hot day, the golfers were out; through Yonkers, too
+citified to be interesting to the girls just then; and, finally, along
+the river through the loveliest country Barbara and Mollie had ever
+seen. Still the crags of the Palisades towered on one side, while on the
+other were beautiful estates stretching back into the hills, and little
+villages nestling down on the river front.
+
+Miss Sallie and Grace were both sound asleep on the back seat. Mollie
+had let down one of the small middle seats, and sat resting her chin on
+the back of the seat in front of her, occasionally pressing her sister's
+shoulder for sympathy.
+
+Ruth was in a brown study. She was very tired. It was no joke playing
+chauffeur for more than a hundred miles in one day.
+
+"Bab," whispered Mollie, awed by the lovely vistas of river and valley,
+"do you think the Vale of Cashmere could be more exquisite than this? Or
+the Rhine, or Lake Como, or any other wonderful place we have never
+seen?"
+
+"Isn't it marvelous, little sister? It's like an enchanted country, and
+it is full of legends and history, too. During the Revolution the two
+armies were encamped all through here."
+
+"Oh, yes," interrupted Ruth. "If I were not too tired, I might tell you
+a lot of things about this historical spot, but we must take another
+spin down here later and see it all again. This village we are now
+entering is Irvington, the home of Washington Irving. His house is no
+longer open to the public, however. Tarrytown is only a little distance
+down the river. We shall soon be there."
+
+It was not long before a tired, sleepy party of automobilists drew up in
+front of an old hotel shaded with immense elms.
+
+"Wake up, Aunt Sallie, dear," cried Ruth, giving her sleeping relative a
+gentle shake. "Bestir yourselves, sweet ladies, for food and rest are at
+hand and the hostelry is open to us."
+
+Supper was, indeed, ready, and rooms, too. For Mr. Stuart had notified
+the hotel proprietor to expect an automobile containing five women to
+descend upon him about sundown.
+
+The five travelers mounted the steps to the supper room, and refreshed
+themselves with beefsteak and hot biscuits; then mounted more steps to
+their bedrooms, where they soon fell into five untroubled slumbers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III--ROCKING CHAIR ADVENTURES
+
+
+"Well, girls," exclaimed Ruth, next morning at the breakfast table,
+"here we are ready for adventures. But they will have to be early
+morning or late evening ones. It's already too hot to breathe."
+
+"For my part," observed Miss Sallie, "the only adventure I am seeking is
+to sit on the shady side of the piazza, in a wicker chair, and read the
+morning paper."
+
+"But, Miss Sallie, even that might turn into something," said romantic
+Mollie.
+
+"Yes, indeed," pursued Ruth, "you know the way mamma met papa was by
+staying at home instead of going to a ball."
+
+"Why, Ruth!" cried Miss Sallie.
+
+"But it's quite true, dear Aunt Sallie. Mamma was visiting at a house
+party in the South, somewhere, and she had a headache and stayed home
+from a ball, and was sitting in the library. Papa came a-calling on one
+of the others, and was ushered into the library, by mistake, and
+introduced himself to mamma--and she forgot her headache and he forgot
+he was due to catch a train to New York at nine o'clock. It was simply a
+case of love at first sight."
+
+"My dear, I am not looking for any such romantic adventures," said Miss
+Sallie, bridling. "Your father was an intimate friend of the family at
+whose house your mother was stopping. It was perfectly natural they
+should have met, if not that evening, at least another one. I always
+said your mother showed extreme good sense in staying away from a party
+and nursing her headache. Not many others would have done the same."
+Miss Stuart gave her niece a meaning look, while the four girls
+suppressed their smiles and exchanged telegraphic glances of amusement.
+
+Not long before Ruth had "doctored" herself up with headache medicine,
+and had gone to a dance against her aunt's advice. As a result she had
+been obliged to leave before the evening was over, more on account of
+the medicine than the headache, Miss Sallie had believed.
+
+"Dearest little auntie, you have a touch of sun this morning, haven't
+you?" asked Ruth, leaning over and patting her aunt's soft cheek; while
+Miss Stuart, who was indeed feeling the general oppressiveness of the
+weather, melted at once into a good humor and smiled at her niece
+tenderly.
+
+Two persons were rather curiously watching this little scene from behind
+the shelter of the morning papers. One of them, a very handsome elderly
+man, seated at a table by the window, had started perceptibly when the
+party entered the room; and from that moment, he had hardly eaten a bite
+of breakfast. He was occupied in examining not the fair young girls but
+Miss Sallie herself, who was entirely unconscious of being the object of
+such scouting.
+
+The other individual was quite different in appearance. He was dressed
+in black leather from head to foot, and a motor cap and glasses lay
+beside him on the table. His evident interest in the conversation of the
+girls was impersonal, perhaps the curiosity of a foreigner in a strange
+country. There was some admiration in his eyes as they rested on pretty
+Mollie's golden curls and fresh smiling face; but his manner was
+perfectly respectful and he was careful to conceal his glances by the
+newspaper.
+
+"That man is rather good-looking in a foreign sort of way," whispered
+Mollie.
+
+"Too much blacky face and shiny eye, to suit my taste," replied Bab. "He
+looks like a pirate, or a smuggler, in that black leather suit."
+
+"Dear me, you are severe, Bab," observed Ruth. "If he were not so young,
+I should take him for an opera singer on a vacation. He would do nicely
+dressed as a cavalier."
+
+"Be careful, my dears; you are talking much too loudly," admonished Miss
+Sallie, for the young foreigner had evidently overheard the
+conversation, and had turned his face away to conceal an expression of
+amusement.
+
+"I vote we adjourn to the porch," said Ruth, "until we decide where we
+are going this morning. Come on, auntie, dear. There may be a rocking
+chair adventure waiting for you on that shady piazza. I saw a white
+haired gentleman giving you many glances of admiration, this morning,
+around the corner of his newspaper. Did you notice it, girls?"
+
+"I did," replied Grace, somewhat hesitatingly, for she was just a little
+fearful about entering into these teasing humors with Ruth.
+
+"Don't be silly, Ruth," said Miss Sallie. But she glanced quickly over
+her shoulder, nevertheless, as she led the little procession from the
+dining room, her lavender muslin draperies floating in the breeze. She
+stopped in the office and bought a newspaper, then proceeded to the
+shady piazza, where she seated herself in a rocking chair and unfolded
+the paper.
+
+The girls leaned over the railing and looked down into the street, while
+Ruth expounded her views on their morning's ride.
+
+"Suppose we have a lunch fixed up," she was saying, "and spend the
+morning at Sleepy Hollow? It's lovelier than anything you ever imagined,
+just what Washington Irving says of it, a place to dream in and see
+visions."
+
+A charming tenor voice floated out from an upper window, singing a song
+in some foreign language.
+
+The girls looked at each other and laughed.
+
+"He did hear us, and he is an opera singer," whispered Grace.
+
+"I knew it," came Miss Sallie's voice from the depths of the paper.
+
+"Knew what?" demanded the four girls somewhat guiltily, as the singing
+continued.
+
+"Knew that we would all be cremated if we came into these dreadful wild
+regions," replied Miss Sallie, as she gazed tragically down the shaded
+street lined with beautiful old homes.
+
+"But, Miss Sallie," interposed Barbara in soothing tones, "the fires are
+up in the Catskills and the Adirondacks, aren't they? It is only when
+the wind blows in this direction that we get the smoke from them. Even
+New York gets it, then; and certainly there is no danger of New York
+burning up from the forest fires."
+
+"Very well, my dears, if we do run into one of those shocking
+conflagrations, you may just recall my words to you this morning."
+
+The girls all laughed, and there is nothing prettier than the sound of
+the light-hearted laughter of young girls; at least so thought the tall,
+military-looking man they had seen at breakfast. He had strolled out on
+the piazza, and was walking straight toward Miss Sallie with an air of
+determination that was unmistakable even to the stately lady in
+lavender.
+
+A few feet from her chair he paused as if a sudden thought had arrested
+him, and the two looked straight into each other's faces for the space
+of half a minute. The girls were fairly dumb with amazement as they
+watched the little drama. Miss Sallie's face had flushed and paled
+before it resumed its natural peachy tone. They could not see the face
+of the stranger whose back was turned to them.
+
+"Is it possible," asked Miss Sallie after a moment, in a strange voice,
+"that this is John Ten Eyck?"
+
+She had risen from her chair, in her excitement, and the newspapers had
+fallen on the floor with her lavender silk reticule, her fan and
+smelling salts, her lace-edged handkerchief and spectacle case, all in a
+confused mass.
+
+"You have not forgotten me, Sallie?" the man demanded, almost
+dramatically. "I am John Ten Eyck, grown old and gray. I never dreamed
+that any of my old friends would recognize me after all these years. But
+are these your girls, Sallie?" he asked, turning with a courtly air to
+the four young women.
+
+"No, indeed, John," replied Miss Sallie, rather stiffly, "I have never
+married. This is my niece, Ruth Stuart, my only brother's child." And
+she proceeded to introduce the others in turn. "Ruth, my child, this is
+Major John Ten Eyck, an old friend of mine, whom I have not seen for
+many years. I suppose you have lived in foreign lands for so long you
+have completely lost sight of your American friends."
+
+"It has been a great many years," answered Major Ten Eyck, after he had
+taken each girl by the hand and had looked into her face with such
+gentleness and charm of manner as to win them all completely. "It's been
+thirty years, has it not, Sallie?"
+
+"Don't ask me such a question, John Ten Eyck! I'm sure I have no desire
+to be reminded of how old we are growing. Do you know, you are actually
+getting fat and bald; and here I am with hair as white as snow."
+
+"But your face is as young as ever, Sallie," declared the gallant major.
+
+"Isn't it, Major Ten Eyck?" exclaimed Ruth, who had found her voice at
+last. "She is just as pretty as she was thirty years ago, I am certain.
+Papa says she is, at any rate."
+
+"So she is, my dear," agreed the old man as he gazed with undisguised
+admiration into Miss Sallie's smiling face.
+
+"Do sit down," said Miss Sallie, slightly confused, "and tell us where
+you have been, and what you have been doing these last three decades."
+
+"It would take too long, I fear," replied the major, looking at his
+watch. "I am looking for my two nephews this morning."
+
+"You mean Martin's sons, I suppose?" asked Miss Sallie.
+
+"Yes, they are coming down to stay with me at my old place, back yonder
+in the hills. They are bringing one or two friends with them, and we
+shall motor over this afternoon if the weather permits. But tell me,
+what are you doing here? Spending the summer? Don't you find it a little
+dull, young ladies?"
+
+"Oh, we are just on a motor trip, too," replied Ruth. "We are birds of
+passage, and stop only as long as it pleases us."
+
+"And have you no men along, to look after you and protect you from
+highwaymen, or mend the tires when they are punctured?"
+
+"My dear Major," replied Miss Sallie, "you have been away from America
+for so long that you are old-fashioned. Do you think these athletic
+young women need a man to protect them? I assure you that the world has
+been changing while you have been burying yourself in Russia and Japan.
+Ruth, here, is as good a chauffeur as could be found, and Barbara
+Thurston can protect herself and us into the bargain. She rides
+horseback like a man." Barbara blushed at the memory of the stolen
+horseback ride on the way to Newport. "Grace and Mollie are a little bit
+more old-fashioned, perhaps, and I am as helpless as ever. But two are
+quite enough. They have got us out of every scrape so far, the two of
+them."
+
+The girls all laughed.
+
+Only Barbara, who was leaning on the railing facing the window, saw a
+figure move behind the curtain, which had stood so still she had not
+noticed it before.
+
+"Since you are off on a sort of wild goose chase for amusement," began
+the major (here the figure that was slipping away paused again),
+"couldn't you confer a great honor and pleasure on an old man by making
+him a visit?"
+
+"Oh!" cried the girls, breathless with delight, remembering the
+automobile full of youths that would shortly appear.
+
+"Now, Miss Sallie, you see they all want to come," continued the major.
+"Don't, I beg of you, destroy their pleasure and my happiness by
+declining this request of my old age."
+
+"Oh, do say yes, Aunt Sallie!" cried Ruth.
+
+And still Miss Sallie hesitated. She had a curious smile on her face as
+she looked out over the hills and meadows beyond.
+
+"It's an interesting old place, Sallie," continued the major. "It was
+built by my Dutch ancestors, a charming old house that has been added to
+from time to time. I would like to see it full of young faces once more.
+What do you say, Sallie? Won't you make us all happy? The boys and me,
+and the girls, too? For I can see by their faces they are eager to
+come."
+
+"How far is it from here, John," asked Miss Sallie, doubtfully. "Is it
+anywhere near those dreadful forest fires?"
+
+"It is fifteen miles back in the country, and I have heard no rumor of
+any fires in that vicinity lately. The boys and I are leaving this
+afternoon. We will see that everything is ship-shape, and you and the
+girls could follow to-morrow. I have an excellent housekeeper. She and
+her husband were a young couple when I went away, and they have lived at
+the place ever since. I am certain she can make you comfortable. I will
+give Miss Ruth explicit directions about the route. It is a fairly good
+road for motoring. We have a fine place for dancing there, young ladies.
+There's a famous floor in what, in my grandmother's time, we used to
+call the red drawing-room. There are dozens of places for picnics,
+pretty valleys and creeks that I explored and knew intimately in my
+youth. I have some good horses in my stables, Miss Barbara, if you have
+a fancy for riding," he continued, turning to Barbara with such grace of
+manner that she blushed for pleasure.
+
+Looking from one eager face to another, and finally into the major's
+kindly gray eyes, Miss Sallie melted into acquiescence and the party was
+made up forthwith.
+
+The major then pointed out to Ruth and Barbara the street they were to
+take, which would lead to the road to his old home. He drew a map on a
+piece of paper, so that they could make no mistake.
+
+"When you come to the crossroads," he added, as a parting caution, "take
+the one with the bridge, which you can see beyond. The other road is
+roundabout and full of ruts besides."
+
+Just then the horn of an automobile was heard, as a large touring car
+containing four young men and a deal of baggage, drew up in front of the
+hotel. At the same time, Barbara, who was still facing the window, saw
+the figure on the other side of the curtain steal quietly away.
+
+Major Ten Eyck went forward to meet the newcomers, and he and his two
+nephews had a little earnest conversation together for a few moments.
+The young men looked up, saw Miss Sallie and the girls, and all four
+caps came off simultaneously.
+
+"Please don't go yet," called the major, as Miss Stuart rose to leave.
+"I want to introduce the boys first."
+
+Stephen and Martin Ten Eyck were handsome, sturdy youths, with clear cut
+features. The two visitors were far different in type; one, Alfred
+Marsdale, a young English friend, who was spending the summer with the
+Ten Eycks, and the other, Jimmie Butler, who seemed to have come from
+nowhere in particular but to have been everywhere.
+
+"And now come along, boys," urged the major, after he had given the
+young people a chance to talk a few minutes. "These ladies want their
+ride, I know, and we must be off for the hall before it gets too hot for
+endurance."
+
+With a last caution to Ruth about the proper road to Ten Eyck Hall, and
+a reminder to Miss Stuart not to break her promise, the major ushered
+his boys into the hotel office, while "The Automobile Girls" went up to
+their rooms.
+
+"Isn't this perfectly jolly, girls?" called Ruth from the mirror as she
+pinned on her hat.
+
+"De-lighted!" exclaimed Barbara and Mollie, joining the others.
+
+"And listen, girlies, dear! Did you scent a romance?" whispered Ruth.
+
+"It certainly looked very much like one," replied Barbara.
+
+"They were engaged once," continued Ruth, "but they had some sort of
+lovers' quarrel. The poor major tried to make it up, but Aunt Sallie
+wouldn't forgive him, and he went away and never came back, except for
+flying trips on business. Until to-day she has never seen or heard from
+him."
+
+"But she must have cared some, because she didn't marry anyone else,"
+observed Mollie reflectively.
+
+"I wonder what he did," pondered Grace.
+
+"Flirted with another girl," answered Ruth. "Papa has often told me
+about it. Aunt Sallie had another lover, at the same time, who was very
+rich. She kept the two of them dangling on, and it was because she went
+driving with the other lover that Major Ten Eyck paid devoted attention
+to some other girl, one night at a ball. So they quarreled and
+separated."
+
+"Poor old major!" sighed tender-hearted Mollie.
+
+"But she _did_ have her rocking chair adventure after all," laughed
+Barbara, as they started downstairs in obedience to Miss Sallie's tap a
+few moments before.
+
+The lovely vistas of valley and river, with intersecting hills, were
+softened into dream pictures by a transparent curtain of mist, which hid
+the parched look of the foliage from the long drought.
+
+The five automobilists sped along over smooth roads between splendid
+estates. Most of the great houses were screened by stretches of thickly
+wooded parks, and each park was guarded by a lodge, after the English
+fashion. But there were plenty of charming old houses in full view of
+the passerby--rambling, comfortable homes set down on smooth lawns.
+
+"How beautiful all this is!" sighed Mollie, as she leaned back in her
+seat and gazed down the long avenue of trees.
+
+"Yes," called Ruth over her shoulder. "I took the longest way to the
+church, because this road is so pretty."
+
+"Here's the lane to Sleepy Hollow," cried the ever-watchful Barbara, and
+the automobile turned into a country road that appeared to lead off into
+low-lying hills beyond.
+
+"What is that cloud of dust behind us," demanded Miss Sallie, looking
+back.
+
+"It's a man on a motor cycle," replied Grace. "He is turning in here,
+too, but he is slowing up. I suppose he doesn't want to give us a
+dusting. Rather nice of him, isn't it?"
+
+"Fancy a motor cycle and a headless horseman riding in the same lane,"
+observed Ruth.
+
+"Well, if it came to a race," replied Barbara, "I think I would take the
+motor cycle. They do go like the wind."
+
+"And the noise of them is so terrifying," went on Ruth, "that the poor
+headless horseman would probably have been scared back to death again."
+
+Presently the girls came to a steep declivity in the land that seemed to
+dip and rise with equal suddenness.
+
+"Is this the Hollow?" asked Mollie a little awed.
+
+"This land is full of hollows, my dear," answered Miss Sallie, who did
+not like uneven traveling. "We have been through several already, and,
+with that hobgoblin on an infernal machine coming after us, and all
+these dense forests packing us in on every side, and nothing but a
+lonesome churchyard in front of us, it seems to me we should have
+brought along some better protectors than two slips of girls."
+
+Here Miss Sallie paused in order to regain breath.
+
+"I declare," exclaimed Ruth, "I don't know which one of these roads
+leads to the churchyard. Of course we can explore both of them, but we
+don't want to miss seeing the old church, and we certainly don't want to
+miss lunch. It will be so cheerful picnicking in a graveyard."
+
+The automobile stopped and the motor cycle, catching up with them just
+then, stopped also. The rider put his foot down to steady himself, and
+removing his black leather cap and glasses, bowed courteously to Miss
+Stuart.
+
+"Is Madame looking for the ancient church?" he asked, in very excellent
+English with just a touch of accent.
+
+The five women remembered, at once, that this was the stranger whom they
+had lately seen at breakfast. From closer quarters they saw that he was
+good-looking, not with the kind of looks they were accustomed to admire,
+but still undeniably handsome. His features had rather a haughty turn to
+them, and his black eyes had a melancholy look; but even the heavy
+leather suit he wore could not hide the graceful slenderness of his
+figure.
+
+"Yes; we were looking for the church," replied Miss Sallie in a somewhat
+mollified tone, considering she had just called him a hobgoblin on an
+infernal machine. "Will you be good enough to tell us which one of these
+roads we must take?"
+
+"If you will follow me," answered the stranger, "I also am going there.
+You will pardon me if I go in front? If you will wait a moment I will
+get somewhat ahead, so that madame and the other ladies will not be
+dusted."
+
+"I must say he is rather a polite young man," admitted Miss Sallie, "if
+he is somewhat rapid in his movements."
+
+"He is curiously good-looking," reflected Ruth. "Not exactly our kind, I
+should say; but, after all, he may be just foreign and different. Just
+because he is not an American type doesn't keep him from being nice."
+
+All the time the foliage was getting more impenetrable. Tall trees
+reared themselves on either side of the road, seeming vanguards of the
+forests behind them. A cool, woodsy breeze touched their cheeks softly,
+and Barbara closed her eyes for a moment that she might feel the
+enchantment of the place.
+
+"How many Dutch burghers and their wives must have driven up this same
+grassy road," she was thinking to herself. "How many wedding parties and
+funeral trains, too, for here is their graveyard. No wonder a traveler
+imagined he saw ghosts on this lonely road, with nothing but a cemetery
+and an old church to cheer him on his way. And here is our auto running
+in the very same ruts their funny old carriages and rockaways must have
+made, and this stranger in front of us on something queerer still. I
+wonder if ghosts of the future will ride in phantom autos or on motor
+cycles. What a fearful sight! A headless man on an infernal machine----"
+
+Her reflections were interrupted by the turning around of the
+automobile. Ruth had evidently decided to go back by the way they had
+come. Opening her eyes she saw before her a quaint and charming old
+church set in the midst of a rambling graveyard.
+
+There also stood the black cyclist, like a gruesome sentinel among the
+tombs. He lifted his cap as they drew up, and, after hesitating a
+moment, came forward to open the door and help Miss Sallie alight.
+
+"Permit me, Madam," he said, with such grace of demeanor that the lady
+thanked him almost with effusion. Grace and Mollie were assisted as if
+they had been princesses of the blood, as they described it later, while
+the other two girls leaped to the ground before he had time to make any
+overtures in their direction.
+
+There was rather an awkward pause, for a moment, as the stranger, with
+uncovered head, stood aside to let them pass. The silence was not broken
+and Miss Stuart chose to let it remain so.
+
+"One cannot be too careful," she had always said, "of chance
+acquaintances, especially men." However, she was predisposed in favor of
+the cyclist, whose manners were exceptional.
+
+The girls were strolling about among the graves, examining the stones
+with their quaint epitaphs, while the stranger leaned against a tree and
+lit a cigarette.
+
+Miss Stuart, with her lorgnette, was making a survey of the church.
+
+"From the account of the supper party at the Van Tassels' in Sleepy
+Hollow," said Ruth, "the early Dutch must have just about eaten
+themselves to death. Do you remember all the food there was piled on the
+table at the famous quilting party? Every kind of cake known to man, to
+begin with; or rather, Washington Irving began with cakes. Roast fowls
+and turkeys, hams and sausages, puddings and pies and the humming
+tea-urn in the midst of it."
+
+"I don't think the women had such big appetites as the men," observed
+Mollie. "At least Katrina Van Tassel is described as being very dainty,
+and I can't imagine a pretty young girl working straight through such a
+bill of fare, and yet looking quite the same ever after."
+
+"But remember that they took lots of exercise," put in Barbara, "of a
+kind we know nothing about. All the Dutch girls were taught to scrub and
+polish and clean."
+
+"What were we doing when Ruth and Miss Sallie and Mr. Stuart arrived,
+Bab, I'd like to know?" interrupted Mollie indignantly. "Weren't we
+rubbing the parlor furniture and polishing the floor?"
+
+"Yes," returned Barbara, "but you could put our entire house down in the
+parlor of one of those old Dutch farm houses, and still have room and to
+spare."
+
+"And think of all the copper kettles they had to keep polished," added
+Grace.
+
+"And the spinning they had to do," said Ruth.
+
+"And the cooking and butter making," continued Bab. "Yes, Mistress
+Mollie, I think there's some excuse for sausages and all the rest. And I
+am sure I could have forgiven Katrina if she ate everything in sight."
+
+"Ah, well," replied Mollie, "no doubt she was fat at thirty!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV--A CRY FOR HELP
+
+
+AS they talked the young girls wandered over the grassy sward of the
+churchyard and their voices grew fainter and fainter to the cyclist and
+Miss Sallie.
+
+The latter had seated herself on the stump of an old tree and was busily
+engaged in re-reading her mail, at which she had glanced only carelessly
+that morning.
+
+The air was very still and hot, and the hum of insects made a drowsy
+accompaniment to the songs of the birds. The cyclist had stretched
+himself at full length on the grass under an immense elm tree and was
+lazily blowing blue rings of smoke skywards.
+
+Presently there broke upon the noonday stillness a cry for help. It was
+in a high, girlish voice--Mollie's in fact--and it was followed by
+others in quick succession.
+
+Miss Stuart, scattering her mail on the ground in her fright, rushed in
+the direction of the cries, the cyclist close behind her.
+
+On a knoll near the church the sight which met Miss Sallie's eyes almost
+made her knees give way. But she had a cool head in danger, in spite of
+her lavender draperies and pretended helplessness.
+
+A tramp, who seemed to them all at the moment as big as a giant, with
+matted hair and beard and face swollen from drink, had seized Ruth and
+Barbara by the wrists with one of his enormous hands. A woman equally
+ragged in appearance was tugging at the fellow's other hand in an effort
+to quiet him.
+
+As Miss Sallie ran toward the group she heard Barbara say quietly:
+
+"Let go our wrists and we shall be glad to give you all the money we
+have with us."
+
+"I tell you I want more money than that," said the man in a hoarse,
+terrible voice. "I want enough money to keep me for the rest of my days.
+Do you think I like to sleep on the ground and eat bread and water? I
+tell you I want my rights. Why should you be rich and me poor? Why
+should you be dressed in silks while my wife wears rags?"
+
+As he raved, he jerked his hand away from the woman, almost throwing her
+forward in his violence, and gesticulated wildly.
+
+The two girls were both very pale and calm, but the poor tramp woman was
+crying bitterly.
+
+Barbara's lips were moving, but she said nothing, and only Mollie knew
+it was her mother's prayer she was repeating.
+
+"Don't be frightened, young ladies," sobbed the woman, "I will see that
+no harm comes to you, even if he kills me."
+
+"Do you call this a free country," continued the tramp, "when there are
+thousands of people like me who have no houses and must beg for food? I
+would like to kill all the rich men in this country and turn their
+children loose to beg and steal, as we must do to get a living! Do you
+think I would ever have come to this pass if a rich man had not brought
+me to it? Do you think I was always a tramp like this, and my wife
+yonder a tramp, too?"
+
+At this point the drunken wretch began to cry, but he still held the two
+girls tightly by the wrists.
+
+"I tell you I'll take a ransom for you and nothing less. I'll get out of
+the world all it's taken from me, and your father will have to do the
+paying. Come on!" he cried in a tone of command, to his trembling wife.
+
+At this critical moment Miss Stuart and the motor cyclist came running
+to the scene.
+
+There was a look of immense relief on Miss Sallie's face when she saw
+the courteous stranger at her heels. She had been about to speak, but
+was silent.
+
+"Oh, ho!" cried the tramp, "so you've got a protector, have you? Well,
+come on! I'll fight the whole lot of you, women and men, too, and with
+one hand, at that!"
+
+He loomed up like a giant beside the small, slender cyclist, but he was
+a drunken giant nevertheless and not prepared for what was about to
+happen.
+
+However, at first, it appeared to them all that a little persuasion
+might be better than force.
+
+"If you will let the young ladies go, my good man," said the cyclist,
+"you will not regret it. You will be well paid. I would advise you to
+take a sensible view of the matter. You cannot kidnap us all, and it
+would not take long to get help. Would you prefer a long term in jail to
+a sum of money?" And the cyclist drew a leather wallet from his coat
+pocket.
+
+"You think you are mighty smart, young man," sneered the tramp, "but I
+can kidnap all of you, and nobody ever be the wiser. Do you think I'd
+let a chance like this go? My pals are right over there." He pointed
+with his free hand to the woods back of him.
+
+"You will be sorry," said the cyclist.
+
+With an oath, the tramp put his finger to his mouth and gave a long,
+shrill whistle.
+
+But in that moment he was off his guard, and the cyclist leaped upon him
+like a leopard on a lion. One swift blow under the jaw and down tumbled
+the giant as Goliath fell before David.
+
+The poor woman, who was crouching in terror behind a tree, jumped to her
+feet.
+
+"Run!" she cried in a frightened whisper. "Run for your lives!"
+
+The cyclist seized Miss Sallie by the arm.
+
+"She is right. It is better to run. The others may be coming."
+
+And they did run. Terror seemed to lend wings to their feet. Even Miss
+Stuart, assisted by their rescuer, fled over the grass as swiftly as her
+charges.
+
+Ruth and Barbara reached the automobile first. In an instant Ruth had
+cranked up the machine while Barbara opened the door.
+
+Another moment, and they were off down the road, the black-clad cyclist
+following. Glancing back, they saw two other rough-looking men helping
+their comrade to rise to his feet. Then they disappeared in the woods
+while the woman, with many anxious backward glances, followed her
+companions.
+
+Nobody spoke for some time. The girls were too much terrified by the
+narrow escape to trust to their voices. The bravest women will weep
+after a danger is past, and all five of these women were very near the
+point of tears.
+
+Presently the cyclist came up alongside of the automobile, which had
+slowed down somewhat when they reached the main road.
+
+"I will go ahead and inform the police," he called over his shoulder,
+"but I fear it will not be of much use. Men like that will scatter and
+hide themselves at the first alarm."
+
+Miss Sallie smiled at him gratefully. Touching his cap, which was
+fastened under his chin with a strap and could not be lifted without
+some inconvenience, the stranger shot ahead and soon disappeared in a
+cloud of dust.
+
+Miss Sallie was thinking deeply. She wished that Major Ten Eyck and the
+boys had not left the hotel that morning. She felt need of the strong
+support of the opposite sex. She felt also the responsibility of being
+at the head of her party of young girls.
+
+Should they dare start off again next day into the wilderness after such
+an experience? Of course, as long as they were in the automobile, going
+at full speed, nothing could stop them except a puncture, and punctures
+on country roads were not as frequent as they were on city streets. What
+would her brother say? Would he sanction such a trip after this fearful
+experience? And still she hesitated.
+
+The truth was, Miss Stuart was as eager as the girls to accept the
+invitation that had been so unexpectedly made. She did not wish to
+revive the romance of her youth, but she did have an overweening desire
+to see the ancestral home of her old lover, and to talk with him on the
+thousand subjects that spring up when two old friends come together
+after many years.
+
+It was, therefore, with half-hearted vehemence that she said to the four
+rather listless girls:
+
+"My dears, don't you think it would be very dangerous for us to go over
+to Major Ten Eyck's, to-morrow, after this fearful attack?"
+
+Everybody looked relieved that somebody had had the courage to say the
+first word.
+
+"Dear auntie, we'll leave it entirely to you," replied Ruth. "Although,
+I don't believe we are likely to be kidnapped as long as we keep the
+automobile going. The fastest running tramp in Christendom couldn't keep
+up with us, even when we're going at an ordinary rate. From what Major
+Ten Eyck said, the road is pretty good. We ought to get there in an
+hour, since it's only fifteen miles from here, and the last mile or so
+is on his estate."
+
+The other girls said nothing, it being a matter for the chaperon to
+settle.
+
+"Very well, my dear," answered Miss Sallie, acquiescing so suddenly that
+the others almost smiled in spite of the seriousness of their feelings
+at the moment. "But I do feel that we had a narrow escape this morning.
+If it had not been for the young man on the motor cycle I tremble to
+think what would have been the consequences. And I certainly believe if
+we are not going back to New York, the sooner we get into the society of
+some male protectors the better for us. I am sorry that fifteen miles
+separate us. I wish those boys had thought to motor back and get us
+to-morrow."
+
+"Oh, well," observed Barbara, "fifteen miles is a mere bagatelle, when
+you come to think of it. Why, we shall be there before we know it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V--THE MOTOR CYCLIST
+
+
+By this time the automobile had reached the hotel. Miss Sallie led the
+way to the dining room and they formed rather a weak-kneed procession,
+for they were beginning to experience that all-gone feeling that comes
+after a fright.
+
+The luncheon hamper full of good things had been carried back into the
+hotel, since there had been neither time nor opportunity for the picnic
+party the girls had planned.
+
+"I think a little food is what we really need, now," exclaimed Ruth.
+"Cheer up, Mollie and Grace. Bab, smile for the ladies. It's all over.
+Here we are, safe, and we are going to have a beautiful time at Major
+Ten Eyck's. Please, dear friends, don't begin to take this gloomy view
+of life. As for the anarchist person who attacked us in the woods, you
+may depend upon it that he and his friends are so frightened they will
+be running in an opposite direction from Tarrytown for another week. As
+for the foreign young man who stepped up to the rescue, he should
+certainly be thanked."
+
+Ruth had by nature a happy temperament. She quickly threw off small
+troubles, and depression in others made her really unhappy.
+
+"It was truly a daring deed," replied Barbara, "and all the more daring
+considering that the tramp would have made about two of the cyclist. But
+the blow he gave was as swift and sure as a prize fighter's."
+
+"Did you notice that the poor woman was rather pretty?" commented
+Mollie.
+
+"My dear child," cried Miss Sallie, "I really believe you would notice
+people's looks on the way to your own execution. Now, for my part, I
+could not see anything. I was almost too frightened to breathe. I felt
+that I should faint at any moment."
+
+"Why, Aunt Sallie, you are more frightened now than you were then,"
+exclaimed her niece. "You were as calm as the night. As for Grace, she
+looked like a scared rabbit. Mollie, darling, I'm glad you had the
+presence of mind to scream. If you hadn't Aunt Sallie and the motor
+cyclist might have looked for us in vain."
+
+While she was speaking the cyclist came into the dining-room.
+
+As soon as Miss Stuart saw him she rose from the table in her most
+stately manner and walked over to meet him.
+
+"Sir," she said, and Ruth gave the merest flicker of a blink at Bab,
+"you did a very brave thing to-day, and I want to thank you for all of
+us. If you had not been there my niece and her friend would undoubtedly
+have been kidnapped. You perhaps saved their lives. They might have been
+killed by those ruffians. Won't you give us your name and address? My
+brother, I am sure, would like to write to you himself. We shall be
+indebted to you always."
+
+The young man's face flushed with embarrassment.
+
+"It was nothing, I assure you, Madam," he replied. "It was easy because
+the man was intoxicated. He went over at the first blow. My name," he
+continued, "is Martinez. Jose Martinez. My address is the Waldorf, New
+York."
+
+"I am Miss Stuart," said Miss Sallie, "and I would like to present you
+to my niece, Miss Ruth Stuart, and her friends Miss Grace Carter and
+Misses Barbara and Mollie Thurston. It would give us great pleasure if
+you would lunch with us, Mr. Martinez."
+
+"When a man saves your life you certainly can't stand on ceremony,"
+commented Miss Sallie to herself.
+
+An animated discussion followed. Mr. Martinez had been to see the chief
+of police, he said, who would call on Miss Stuart that afternoon, if
+convenient. He could not offer any hope, however, of catching the men.
+
+Miss Sallie replied that, for her part, she hoped they wouldn't take the
+creatures. It would do no good and she did not want to spend any time
+cooped up in a court room in such scorching weather. But did Mr.
+Martinez think it would be dangerous for them to take a trip up into the
+hills the next day?
+
+"It would depend upon the road," replied Mr. Martinez. "That is, if the
+trip were taken by automobile. Of course my motor cycle can run on any
+road."
+
+"It is a good road," replied Ruth. "At the crossroads there is a bad
+road; but, fortunately, we do not have to take it, since the new road
+with the bridge has been opened up, so Major Ten Eyck says."
+
+In which case Mr. Jose Martinez was of a mind with the young ladies that
+the trip would be perfectly safe.
+
+Miss Sallie gave a sigh of relief. If this estimable young man
+sanctioned the trip she felt they might take it with clear consciences.
+But she did hope her brother's views on the subject would be the same.
+
+Then the talk drifted into other channels.
+
+"You are a Spaniard, I presume, Mr. Martinez?" questioned Miss Sallie.
+
+"Yes, Madam, a Spaniard by birth, a Frenchman by education and at
+present an American by choice. I have lived in England, also, but I
+believe I prefer America to all other countries, even my own."
+
+Miss Stuart was much gratified at this avowal. She felt that in
+complimenting America he was complimenting her indirectly.
+
+"Have you seen the Alhambra and the Rock of Gibraltar?" demanded Mollie,
+her wide, blue eyes full of interest.
+
+"Oh, yes, Madamoiselle," replied the handsome Spaniard, smiling at her
+gently, "I have seen the Alhambra many times, and Gibraltar once only."
+A curious shade passed over his face as if Gibraltar held memories which
+he was not anxious to revive.
+
+"Does the Rock of Gibraltar really look like a lion?" asked Grace, who
+had not noticed his distaste to the mere mention of the name.
+
+"I do not know, Madamoiselle," he replied shortly. "I saw it only from
+land. I was," he added hesitatingly, "very ill when I was there."
+
+The waiter announced the chief of police to see Miss Sallie, and the
+luncheon party adjourned to the shady side of the piazza.
+
+All this time Barbara had been very quiet, so quiet, indeed, that Ruth
+had asked her in a whisper, as they left the dining room, if she were
+still feeling the shock of the morning.
+
+"Oh, no," replied Barbara, "I am simply trying to stifle a ridiculous
+fear I have that, maybe, we ought not to go to-morrow. It is absurd, so
+please don't mention it to the others, especially as even Miss Sallie
+thinks it safe, and little coward Mollie is not afraid."
+
+"You are just tired, poor dear," said sympathetic Ruth. "Come along up
+to your room, and we shall have a little 'relaxation,' as my old colored
+mammy used to say. We'll spend a quiet afternoon in our rooms, and at
+sunset we can take a spin along the river bank before supper. What do
+you say?"
+
+"I am agreeable," replied Bab.
+
+"Good afternoon, Mr. Martinez," said Ruth, as the others came up. "You
+will be wanting to take your siesta now, I suppose. Siestas, in Spain,
+are like afternoon tea in England, aren't they? Here in America we don't
+have either, much, but I think we shall need both to-day. Perhaps we
+shall see you at dinner?"
+
+"If I may have that pleasure," replied the Spaniard, bowing low.
+
+"Strangers of the morning are friends in the afternoon, in this, our
+life of adventure," laughed Ruth as they passed along the corridor to
+the steps.
+
+But they did not see the stranger again that day. For some mysterious
+reason he left the hotel in the afternoon, and did not return until
+nearly midnight, when Barbara, who happened to be awake, heard him
+whistling softly as he went down the hall to his room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI--A FOREST SCRIMMAGE
+
+
+It was really Miss Sallie Stuart's fault that they were so late in
+starting the next day to Major Ten Eyck's home.
+
+The automobile had been ordered to be on hand immediately after an early
+luncheon, but another call from one of the town police caused the first
+delay.
+
+The tramps had securely hidden themselves, the officer said, and no
+trace of them had been found in other towns in that vicinity.
+
+The second delay was caused by a telegram from Miss Stuart's dressmaker,
+stating that a dress had been expressed to her which would reach
+Tarrytown that morning. Bab and Mollie were also expecting an express
+package of fresh clothes and their organdie dresses, which they felt,
+now, they would assuredly need.
+
+Consequently the party waited patiently for these ever-necessary
+feminine adornments, and it was four o'clock before the girls started.
+
+A third delay was caused by the puncture of a tire just as they were
+leaving the hotel. Now they were obliged to go to the nearest garage and
+have it repaired, which consumed another three quarters of an hour.
+
+However, it was pleasanter riding in the cool of the afternoon, and they
+still hoped to reach Ten Eyck Hall long before dark. It was a very gay
+party that finally took the road, swathed in chiffon veils and dusters.
+
+"I never felt so much interested in a visit as I do in this one,"
+remarked Ruth. "Certainly we ought to be glad to get there after all
+these mishaps and delays."
+
+Barbara was still in her silent humor. She sat with her small handbag
+clasped tightly on her knees and looked straight before her, as though
+she were watching for something.
+
+"Bab, my child, what is it?" asked Ruth. "You have been in a brown study
+all day."
+
+"Nothing at all, dear," replied Bab, smiling. "Perhaps this haziness
+goes to my head a little. But I am awfully glad, too, about the visit. I
+always wanted to see an old colonial house, and the only way really is
+to stay in it. If we have the run of the rooms, and all the halls and
+galleries, we can get to know it much more intimately than if we were
+just sight-seers being conducted through by an aged housekeeper."
+
+Meanwhile, on the back seat, Miss Sallie was in a reminiscent mood. It
+was very agreeable to her to hark back to the joyous days of her youth,
+for Miss Stuart had been a belle, and the two girls were listening with
+pleasure to her accounts of the gallant major, who had been graduated
+from West Point ahead of time in order to join the army during the Civil
+War.
+
+The conversation was interrupted by the sudden stoppage of the
+automobile at the crossroads, one of which led straight into the woods,
+while the other branched off into the open, crossing the now dry bed of
+a river spanning which was the new bridge.
+
+"This is the right road, of course," said Ruth, taking the one with the
+bridge.
+
+"Wait!" cried Barbara. "There's something stretched across the bridge."
+
+Sure enough, a rope blocked all passage over the bridge, which was quite
+a long one. Secured to the rope with cords was a plank on which was
+painted:
+
+                   "DANGEROUS: TAKE THE OTHER ROAD!"
+
+"The paint on the sign is still sticky," exclaimed Barbara who had
+jumped out and run over to take a good look at it. "And the bridge is
+broken. There is a large hole, like a gash, on one side, and another
+further down."
+
+"How remarkable!" replied Ruth. "It must have happened some time this
+morning. I do not suppose Major Ten Eyck knows anything about it, or he
+would have let us know. I'll back up, anyway, to the crossroads, and we
+can decide what to do. We could go on, I suppose. The major said the
+other road passed his front gate, but it was a longer one and not such
+good traveling. What do you say, Aunt Sallie? Speak up, girls, are you
+all agreed?"
+
+Miss Sallie was much troubled. She wanted to go and she did not want to
+go, and her mind was in a turmoil.
+
+Bab was silent, and Grace and Mollie looked ready for anything.
+
+"Well," said Miss Sallie, after a moment's reflection, "it is very
+dangerous and very venturesome; but, having got thus far, let us proceed
+on our way." She folded her hands resignedly, like a martyred saint.
+
+"Then off we go!" cried Ruth. The automobile rolled into the wooded road
+that penetrated a deeper part of the forest.
+
+The dense shade was a relief after the open, dusty country. Tall trees
+interlaced their branches overhead and the ground was carpeted with fern
+and bracken.
+
+But an uneasiness had come upon the automobilists. They did not attempt
+to explain it, for there was no apparent cause. The road was excellent
+so far, smooth and level; but something was in the air. Miss Sallie was
+the first to break the silence.
+
+"I am terribly frightened," she admitted, in a low voice. "We must have
+been bewitched to have attempted this ride. Ruth, my dear, I beg of you
+to turn and go back. I feel that we are running into danger."
+
+Ruth slowed up the machine a little, and called over her shoulder:
+
+"You are right, Aunt Sallie, but I am afraid we can't turn just yet,
+because there isn't room. Anyway, we may be nearer to the other end of
+the wood by this time."
+
+The car sped on again, only to stop with such a sudden jerk, in the very
+depths of the forest, that the machinery ceased to whir and in a moment
+was silent.
+
+For a few moments all hands sat perfectly still, dumb with terror and
+amazement.
+
+Across the road was stretched another rope. There was no sign board on
+it to tell them there was danger ahead, but the girls needed none. They
+felt that there was danger ahead, behind, and all around them. They knew
+they were in a trap, and that the danger that threatened them would make
+itself known all too soon.
+
+Barbara had whispered to Ruth.
+
+"Back up as fast as you can!"
+
+Ruth had replied in another whisper:
+
+"I can't before I crank up."
+
+Regaining her nerve, Ruth was about to leap to the ground when she saw,
+and the four others saw at the same moment, the figure of a man standing
+by a tree at the roadside. It would seem that he had been standing there
+all along, but so still and motionless that he might been one of the
+trees themselves. And for two reasons he was a terrifying spectacle: one
+because his features were entirely concealed by a black mask, the other
+because he carried in one hand a gleaming and remarkably sharp looking
+knife, a kind of dagger, the blade slightly curved and pointed at the
+end, the silver handle chased all over in an intricate design.
+
+To her dying day Bab would never forget the picture he made.
+
+He wore a dark green velveteen suit, like a huntsman's, and a felt hat
+with a hanging brim that covered his head.
+
+"Pardon me, ladies," he said in a curious, false voice, "but I must
+request you to keep your places."
+
+Ruth, who was poised just over the step, fell back beside Barbara, who
+had maintained her position, and sat with blanched cheeks and tightly
+closed lips.
+
+The highwayman then deliberately slashed all four tires with his
+murderous looking weapon. At each explosion Miss Sallie gave a stifled
+groan.
+
+"Do not cry out, Madam," said the robber sternly, "or it will go hard
+with you."
+
+"Be still," whispered little Mollie, bravely taking Miss Stuart's hand
+and patting it gently.
+
+"And now, ladies," continued the man more politely, "I must ask you to
+put all your money and jewelry in a pile here. Stand up," he said to
+Barbara. "Put it on this seat and leave out nothing or you will regret
+it."
+
+The five women began mechanically to remove what simple jewelry they
+happened to be wearing, for the most part pins, rings, bracelets and
+watches, the latter Ruth's and Grace's. Then came the pocket books,
+Mollie's little blue silk knitted purse topping the pyramid.
+
+"But this is not all your money," said the robber impatiently. "Do not
+delay. It is getting late."
+
+"I have some more in my bag," said Ruth faintly. "Mollie, it is on the
+back seat. Will you hand it to me?"
+
+Mollie searched with trembling hands for the bag which was stored
+somewhere under the seat.
+
+"And have you nothing in that bag?" asked the highwayman, turning
+roughly to Barbara.
+
+She did not answer at first. Her lips were moving silently and the
+others thought she must be praying. Only Mollie knew she was repeating,
+for the second time since they had left home, the words her mother had
+taught her: "Heaven make me calm in the face of danger."
+
+The highwayman laid his hand on the bag, flourishing his knife in a
+menacing way.
+
+"Wait," she said calmly, looking at him with such contempt that his eyes
+dropped before her.
+
+Placing the bag on Ruth's lap, Bab slowly opened it, fumbled inside for
+a moment and drew out a small pistol.
+
+It caught a last ray of the setting sun, which had filtered through the
+trees and gleamed dangerously, in spite of its miniature size.
+
+Barbara pointed it deliberately at the robber, with a steady hand, and
+said quietly:
+
+"Drop that knife and run unless you want me to shoot you!"
+
+The robber stared at her in amazement.
+
+"Quick!" she said and gave the trigger an ominous click.
+
+The pistol was pointed straight at his midwaist.
+
+"Drop the knife," repeated Barbara, "and back off."
+
+He dropped the knife and started backward down the road.
+
+"Now, run!" cried Barbara. And the highwayman turned and walked swiftly
+until he was out of sight.
+
+"There's no time to be lost," cried Barbara. The other four women sat as
+if in a trance. Their deliverance had been so unexpected that they were
+still suffering from the shock.
+
+Miss Sallie began to wring her hands in frantic despair.
+
+"Girls, girls!" she wept, "I have brought you to this pass! What shall
+we do? The man is sure to come back. We can't stay here all night! Oh
+mercy! why did I ever consent to take this dangerous trip? It's all my
+fault!"
+
+[Illustration: Drop That Knife and Run!]
+
+"Don't cry, Aunt Sallie, dearest! It's everybody's fault, and you
+mustn't waste your strength," urged Ruth, trying to comfort her aunt,
+whose nerves had had about all they could endure by now. "What do you
+think we'd better do?" continued Ruth, turning to Barbara, who, with her
+pistol was keeping watch at the back of the automobile.
+
+"I think we shall have to walk," replied Barbara. "There is no other
+way, and we must start at once, before it gets dark. Ruth, you and Grace
+help Miss Sallie. Mollie, put all the valuables on the seat into my bag.
+There is no time to divide them now. We had better not try to carry
+anything except the small bags."
+
+The little company seemed to feel a kind of relief in submitting itself
+to Barbara's direction. Each doing as she was bid, they started down the
+wood road, leaving the car with all their baggage behind them.
+
+Miss Sallie had recovered her composure. The necessity of moving
+quickly, had taken her mind off the situation for the present, and she
+walked at as brisk a pace as did the girls.
+
+Barbara had directed Mollie to walk a little in front and to keep a
+sharp lookout, while Bab brought up the rear and watched the sides of
+the road as vigilantly as a guard in war time, her pistol cocked, ready
+to defend and fight for her friends and sister to her last breath.
+
+Presently curiosity got the better of Ruth.
+
+"Bab," she asked, "where on earth did you get that pistol?"
+
+"From your father," answered Bab. "That was the secret. Don't you
+remember? But we must not risk talking now. The quieter we are the
+better. Voices carry in these woods."
+
+"You are quite right, Bab, dear," replied Ruth, under her breath, and
+not another word was spoken.
+
+Each one was engaged in her own thoughts as the silent procession moved
+swiftly on.
+
+Miss Sallie was wondering whether they would ever see morning alive.
+
+Grace, who was very devout, was praying softly to herself.
+
+Ruth, in the innermost depths of her mind, was secretly enjoying the
+whole adventure, dangerous as it was.
+
+Mollie was feeling homesick for her mother, while Bab had no time for
+any thought than the one that the highwayman might appear at any moment,
+and from any direction. Who knew but that he had turned and doubled on
+them, and would spring at them from the next tree?
+
+Presently Mollie, who was a few feet in advance of the others, paused.
+
+"Look!" she whispered as the others came up. "I see the light of a fire
+through the trees. I hear voices, too."
+
+Sure enough, through the interlacing branches of the trees, they could
+distinctly see the glow of a large fire.
+
+"Wait," exclaimed Bah under her breath. "Stand here at the side of the
+road, where you will be hidden. Perhaps we may find help at last."
+Creeping cautiously among the trees she disappeared in the darkness. It
+seemed an age to the others, waiting on the edge of the narrow woodland
+road, but it was only a few minutes, in reality, before Bab was back
+again.
+
+"They are Gypsies," she whispered. "I can tell by their wagons and
+tents."
+
+"Gypsies!" exclaimed Miss Sallie, with a tragic gesture of both hands.
+"We shall all be murdered as well as robbed!"
+
+"No, no," protested Mollie. "I have a friend who is a Gypsy. This may be
+her tribe. Suppose I go and see. Let me go. Now, Bab," as her sister
+touched her with a detaining hand, "I want to do something."
+
+And little Mollie, with set lips and pale cheeks, her courageous heart
+throbbing with repressed excitement, stole off into the dense shadows of
+the forest.
+
+It seemed another age before the stillness was broken again by the sound
+of crackling underbrush, and Mollie's figure was gradually outlined in
+the blackness.
+
+"I couldn't tell," she said. "They seemed to be only men sitting around
+the fire smoking. I was afraid to get any nearer for fear one of them
+might be the robber. They say Gypsies can be very kind, but I think it
+would be better if we all went together and asked for help, if we go at
+all. The men looked very fierce," she added faintly, slipping her hand
+into her sister's for sympathy.
+
+"Dearest little sister," whispered Bab, kissing her, "don't ever say
+again you are a coward."
+
+Then two persons emerged from between the trees on the other side of the
+road.
+
+The five women held their breath in fear and suspense as the figures
+approached, evidently without having seen these women standing in the
+shadow. They were close enough now for the automobilists to make out
+that they were two women, one young and the other old apparently.
+
+Suddenly, with a cry of joy and relief, Mollie sprang upon the elder of
+the two women, threw her arms about the stranger's neck and burst into
+uncontrollable sobs.
+
+"O Granny Ann, Granny Ann!" cried Mollie. "At the very time we needed
+your help most you have come to us. I hoped and prayed it was your
+tribe, but I couldn't tell. There were only men."
+
+The old Gypsy woman patted Mollie's cheek tenderly, while the little
+girl sobbed out the story of their evening's adventure.
+
+The others had been so surprised at Mollie's sudden outburst that they
+stood silently by without interrupting the story; but all felt that a
+light was beginning to break on what a short time before had looked like
+a hopeless situation.
+
+Granny Ann, the sixty years of whose life had been spent in wandering
+over many countries, was as unperturbed as if they had met by
+appointment. Her companion, a young Gypsy girl, stood quietly by without
+speaking a word.
+
+"The ladies will be safe with us," said the old Gypsy, taking them all
+in with a comprehensive sweep of her small beady eyes; "as safe as if
+they were in their own homes. I have had shelter and food from the young
+lady, and a Gypsy never forgets a kindness. Come with me," she added,
+with a commanding gesture, and led the way to the encampment.
+
+The Gypsy girl brought up the rear and the others trailed along in
+between, Ruth and Grace still assisting Miss Sallie over the rough
+places.
+
+When they reached the camp the four Gypsy men, picturesquely grouped
+around the fire, rose to their feet and looked curiously but
+imperturbably at the party of women.
+
+Granny Ann called a grizzled old man from the fireside speaking rapidly
+in a strange language, her own Romany tongue, in fact. After conferring
+with him a few moments, she turned to Miss Sallie.
+
+"My rom," she said (which in Gypsy language means husband), "thinks you
+had better stay here to-night. It would not be easy to find the
+gentleman's house on such a dark night, but we can make you comfortable
+in one of our tents. He and the other men will take the horses and draw
+the steam carriage down the road until it is near enough to be
+guarded--if one of the young ladies will show the way. There is no
+danger," she continued, sternly, as Miss Sallie began to protest at the
+idea of one of her girls going off with all those strange men. "A Gypsy
+does not repay a kindness with a blow. Come," she called to the men,
+"that young lady will show the way." And she pointed at Barbara, who had
+slipped the pistol into her belt, and was talking to Ruth in a low
+voice.
+
+Miss Sallie explained to the girls what Granny Ann had decided was the
+best course for them to take, while the four men untethered the four
+lean horses and half-harnessed them, and the old Gypsy man gathered some
+coils of rope together.
+
+Ruth insisted on accompanying Barbara, and the two girls led the way
+through the wood to the road, the men following with the horses.
+
+They found the automobile exactly as it had been left, save in one
+particular. The murderous-looking dagger was gone. But the suit cases
+and numerous dress boxes were untouched.
+
+The girls waited at one side while the Gypsies secured the ropes to the
+car and then to the collars of the horses. Two Gypsies walked on either
+side, holding the reins, while the other two ran to the back and began
+to push the machine. The horses strained at the ropes; then in an
+instant the automobile was moving easily, urged from the back and pulled
+from the front like a stubborn mule.
+
+When the girls again reached that part of the road opposite the camp,
+the caravan came to a full stop.
+
+Ruth directed that all the cushions be carried to the tent, together
+with the steamer rugs stored under the seats, the tea-basket and other
+luggage. The dismantled automobile was then left for the night.
+
+Ruth and Bab found Miss Sallie waiting at the tent, a tragic figure in
+the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII--A NIGHT WITH THE GYPSIES
+
+
+"I think we shall be comfortable enough, Aunt Sallie," said her niece,
+after their belongings had been deposited in the tent. "We will fix you
+a nice bed, auntie, dearest, with steamer rugs and your rubber air
+cushion, and for the first time in your life you will be almost sleeping
+under the stars."
+
+But poor Miss Sallie only smiled in reply. She was too weary and
+exhausted to trust the sound of her own voice, now that danger was over
+and they had found protectors.
+
+While Grace and Ruth arranged three beds inside the tent (Ruth and Bab
+having joyfully elected to sleep just outside) the two sisters made tea
+and opened up boxes of tea biscuits and Swiss chocolate which were
+always kept in the provision basket for emergencies.
+
+Granny Ann had offered them food, but they had courteously declined,
+remembering tales they had heard of the unclean Gypsy, and giving as an
+excuse that they had a light supper with them. "Very light indeed,"
+commented Ruth later; "but I don't think we'll starve."
+
+"Now that everything is comfy," observed Grace, "I, for one, think it is
+great fun. Our little house in the woods! For one night, it is almost as
+good as the cabin in the Berkshires."
+
+"Yes, for one night; but give me a roof when the rain comes," cried
+Ruth.
+
+"You are safe for to-night, at any rate, Ruth," said Barbara, looking up
+at the sky through the branches of the tall forest trees. "There's not a
+cloud, even as small as a man's hand. And how bright the stars are!
+There comes the harvest moon. It looks like a great, red lantern."
+
+"Money, money!" cried Mollie excitedly.
+
+"What is the matter with you, child?" said Miss Sallie, startled into
+finding her voice at last.
+
+"Didn't you see it?" said Mollie. "It was a splendid shooting star. It
+had a tail that reached halfway across the heavens. Don't you know that,
+if you remember to say 'money, money, money,' before it fades out of
+sight or goes wherever it disappears to----"
+
+"'Oh, mother, where do the shooting stars go'?" laughed Ruth, breaking
+in upon Mollie--"you will inherit a large sum of money," continued
+Mollie.
+
+"We shall be sleeping at the feet of an heiress, then," said Bab. "Or
+did the star fade out before you had finished, Molliekins?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Mollie. "I was so excited that I forgot to
+look."
+
+By this time tea was ready and a rug had been spread in front of the
+tent for the guests to sit upon. Miss Sallie with her air cushion
+between her shoulders and the trunk of a tree that spread its branches
+over the tent, was beginning to feel that life, after all, held a number
+of pleasant things, including a certain favorite blend of tea that was
+as delicious, fragrant and expensive as heart could wish.
+
+The night breeze touched their faces gently, and the stillness and sweet
+scents of the woods soothed them into forgetfulness of their troubles.
+While they sipped their tea and talked, in subdued voices, of the
+mystery of the forest at night, the Gypsy girl crept up and gazed
+curiously, almost wistfully, at them.
+
+"Do have some chocolate," called Ruth, as she held the box toward the
+girl. "Come over and sit down, won't you? What is your name?"
+
+"My name is Zerlina," replied the Gypsy, as she nibbled gingerly at a
+piece of chocolate.
+
+"And is Granny Ann your mother?" asked Ruth.
+
+"She is my grandmother," replied Zerlina. "My mother died many years
+ago."
+
+Ruth looked at her sympathetically. They had, she thought, at least one
+thing in common in their widely separated circumstances.
+
+"Would you like," she asked gently, "to live in a city and go to
+school?"
+
+For a moment Zerlina's face flushed with a deep glow of color. Her eyes
+traveled from one to another of the automobile party. She noted their
+refined, well-bred faces, their dainty dresses, the luxurious pile of
+long silk coats and chiffon veils. Nothing escaped the child, not even
+the elegant little tea basket with its fittings of silver and French
+china.
+
+"There are times when I hate this life," Zerlina said finally, turning
+to Ruth, who was watching her curiously. "There are times in the winter
+when we have been too poor to go far enough South to keep warm. It is
+then that I would like the city and the warm houses. But my grandmother
+is very strict."
+
+She paused and bit her lip. She had spoken so fiercely that the girls
+had felt somewhat embarrassed at their own prosperity. "But," continued
+Zerlina in a quieter tone, "when summer comes, I would rather be here in
+the woods. Gypsies do not live in houses," she went on a little proudly.
+"My grandmother has told me that they have been wanderers for thousands
+of years. They do not go to school. They teach each other. My
+grandmother has taught me to read and write. She was taught by her
+mother, who was adopted and educated by a noble lady. But she came back
+to the Gypsies afterwards."
+
+"And your mother?" asked Mollie.
+
+"My mother is dead," returned Zerlina, and closed her lips tightly, as
+if to block all further inquiries in that direction.
+
+"It is very interesting!" exclaimed Ruth. "And your education is then
+really inherited from your great-grandmother."
+
+"Yes," assented the girl, "but I have inherited more than that--from my
+mother."
+
+The girls waited for Zerlina to finish. They hesitated to question her
+about her mother since it was evidently a forbidden subject with her.
+
+"I have inherited her voice," she added confidentially. "It may be that
+I shall be a singer some day."
+
+"Oh, really?" cried all the girls in unison.
+
+"You will sing for us now, won't you?" added Ruth.
+
+"If you wish," said Zerlina. "I will get my guitar." And she disappeared
+in the darkness.
+
+"Isn't she pretty?" commented Mollie.
+
+"How soft her voice is, and what good English she speaks," marveled
+Ruth. "But then, we must remember her great-grandmother was educated by
+a noble lady and transmitted her learning and manners straight to her."
+
+"Poor thing!" exclaimed Bab. "I am really very sorry for her. The
+instincts of her great-grandmother and her grandmother keep up a sort of
+warring inside of her. In the winter time she's her great-grandmother,
+and in the summer time she's a real Gypsy. There are times when she
+sighs for a steam-heated house, and times when she sighs for the open."
+
+"But it's mostly the open she gets," said Grace. "What do you suppose
+she meant when she said that Granny Ann was very strict?"
+
+"I can't imagine," replied Ruth, "unless Granny Ann refuses to allow her
+to buy herself a warm house. Seriously, though, I should like to do
+something for a girl like Zerlina. She strikes me as being far from
+ordinary. But here she comes. We will hear her sing first. This beggar
+girl may be a future prima-donna."
+
+Zerlina emerged from the darkness, with an old guitar, and, sitting
+crosslegged on the ground, began to thrum an accompaniment. Then she
+sang in a deep, rich voice a song of the Gypsies. The song was in
+Spanish and the beat of the music was so weird and insistent that the
+listeners could hardly restrain themselves from joining hands and
+dancing in time to the rhythm.
+
+They were thrilled by the romance of the Gypsy camp and the charm of the
+girl's singing. When she had finished they begged for more, and Zerlina
+was about to comply when a voice called her from the encampment. It was
+her grandmother's, and what she said was not understood, since it was in
+the Romany language. But the girl leaped hurriedly to her feet.
+
+"I will not sing again to-night," she said. "The ladies are tired.
+Another time. Good-night," And she slipped away in the darkness.
+
+"Granny Ann is strict," said Ruth. "You wouldn't think she would object
+to Zerlina's associating with a few girls her own age. I wonder why she
+doesn't like to have her sing? Perhaps she is afraid she will run away,
+some day, and go on the stage."
+
+"I wish I had her beautiful voice," sighed Grace. "Think what it could
+be made with proper training."
+
+"If she does not coarsen in feature, as so many of these dark women do,"
+observed Miss Sallie, "she will be very handsome some day."
+
+"And now for our lowly beds," cried Ruth. "Barbara, you and I will sleep
+at the door of the tent like faithful slaves guarding their noble
+ladies. Nobody need be afraid. Granny Ann has promised to have a Gypsy
+man keep watch, and I have pinned my faith to Granny Ann. I believe
+she's a woman of her word."
+
+"Mollie, you seem to be on such friendly terms with these people. What
+is your opinion?" asked Miss Sallie.
+
+"I believe we shall be as safe as if we were in our own homes," replied
+Mollie. "Granny Ann will keep faith with us. You will see. Perhaps she
+wouldn't if she didn't feel under obligations for a few sandwiches and
+lemonades, and things that I have made for her occasionally in the
+summer on hot days. But I know she's a kind of queen in the tribe, and
+used to being obeyed."
+
+Fifteen minutes had hardly slipped past when Miss Sallie and "The
+Automobile Girls" were sound asleep, Bab with her pistol at her side.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII--THE HAUNTED POOL
+
+
+To be awakened early in the morning by the songs of birds and
+innumerable woodland sounds, and find one's self in the very center of a
+forest, is no common experience. To the girls, as they looked up through
+the leafy canopies, and then across the green aisles formed by trees
+that looked as if they might have stood there since the beginning of
+time--it was all very wonderful.
+
+"How beautiful this is!" exclaimed each one, as she opened her eyes upon
+the wooded scene.
+
+"Girls," cried Ruth, "I wouldn't have missed this for worlds! No wonder
+Zerlina hates to live in a house in the summer time. Isn't this fun?
+Shall we go over there and wash our faces in that little brook!"
+
+Off they scampered, a curious procession for the deep woods, each with a
+burden of toilet articles, soaps and sponges, wash rags, mirrors and
+brushes.
+
+"Well," exclaimed Miss Sallie Stuart as she knelt beside the stream and
+dipped her hands into its cool depths, "I never expected to come to
+this; but it is very refreshing, nevertheless."
+
+"This is Nature's bathtub, auntie, dear. We should be thankful to have
+it so near. I suppose that is the reason the Gypsies chose this spot to
+camp in," said Ruth.
+
+"My dear child," replied her aunt, "I know very little about the Gypsy
+race; but I do know one thing: that a Gypsy never took advantage of any
+kind of a bathtub, wooden, tin, porcelain or Nature's."
+
+The girls all laughed joyously.
+
+The fright of the day before had not left a very deep impression. Sleep
+and a feeling of safety had almost effaced it.
+
+Presently they were back at the tent making tea and boiling eggs
+supplied by Granny Ann from the Gypsy larder. Ruth wanted to build a
+fire, but they decided that the ground was too dry to risk it. The
+Gypsies had dug a small trench all around their camp fire. If they had
+not, those splendid old woods would have been in serious danger of
+burning, explained Barbara, who had been reading a great deal in the
+papers about forest fires.
+
+It was arranged, after breakfast, that one of the men should ride over
+with a note to Major Ten Eyck's, asking the major to send for them at
+once, and also to dispatch his chauffeur to mend the slashed tires.
+
+The Gypsy camp had been astir long before the automobilists arose, and
+the men were now sitting at their ease around the clearing, smoking
+silently, while Granny Ann and two other women were moving about the
+tents, "cleaning up," as Ruth expressed it.
+
+"They have a lovely chance to learn housework," said Grace. "But they do
+seem to air their bedclothes. Look at all those red comforts hanging on
+the bushes."
+
+"It's easier to air them than to make up the beds," observed Mollie.
+"All you have to do in the morning, is to hang your blanket on a hickory
+limb, and when you go to bed, snatch it off the limb and wrap up in it
+for the night."
+
+"Do you suppose they sleep in their clothes?" pondered Barbara.
+
+"Why, of course they do," replied Ruth. "You don't for a moment imagine
+they would ever go to the trouble of undressing, only to dress again in
+the morning?"
+
+"Girls, girls," remonstrated Miss Sallie, "we must not forget that we
+are accepting their hospitality. Besides, here comes that young woman
+with the voice."
+
+"Let's take Zerlina as a guide, and go for a walk," cried Ruth. "I'm so
+full of life and spirits this morning that I couldn't possibly sit down
+like those lazy men over there, who seem to have nothing to do but smoke
+and talk. Auntie, dear, will you go, or shall we fix you a comfortable
+seat with the cushions under this tree and leave you to read your book?"
+
+"I certainly have no idea of going for a walk," replied Miss Stuart,
+"after what I've been through with these last two days. Nor do I want
+you to go far, either, or I shall be terribly uneasy."
+
+But Miss Sallie was not really uneasy. It was one of those enchanting
+mornings when the mind is not troubled with unpleasant feelings. Perhaps
+the Gypsies had bewitched her. At any rate she sat back comfortably
+among the cushions and rugs, with her writing tablet, the new magazines
+and the latest novel all close at hand, and watched the girls until they
+disappeared down the leafy aisles of the forest. How charming their
+voices sounded in the distance! How sweet was the sound of their young
+laughter! Miss Stuart closed her eyes contentedly. The spell of the
+place was upon her, and she fell asleep before she had opened a single
+magazine or cut one leaf of the new novel.
+
+In the meantime, the four girls, led by Zerlina and her dog, were
+following the little stream in its capricious windings through the
+forest.
+
+A squirrel darted in front of them with a flash of gray and jumped to
+the limb of a tree.
+
+Zerlina made a sign for the girls to be silent. Then speaking to her dog
+in her own language, he sat down immediately on his haunches and never
+moved a muscle until she spoke to him again. She walked slowly toward
+the tree, where the squirrel sat watching them uneasily. A few feet off
+she paused and gave a shrill, peculiar whistle. The squirrel pricked up
+his ears and cocked his head on one side. Zerlina whistled again and
+held out her hand. The charm was complete. Down the limb he crept until
+he reached the ground, paused again, surveyed the scene with his little
+black eyes, and with one leap, settled himself on her shoulder.
+
+"Oh!" cried the impulsive Ruth and the spell was broken.
+
+Away scampered the frightened little animal.
+
+"How wonderful!" exclaimed the others as they gathered around Zerlina,
+who held herself with a sort of proud reserve as they plied her with
+questions.
+
+"It is because I have lived in the woods so much of the time," she
+explained. "One makes friends with animals when one has no other
+friends."
+
+"Zerlina," said Ruth, "let me be your friend."
+
+"Thank you," replied the girl simply, "but perhaps we shall not meet
+again. You will be going away in a little while."
+
+"You must come and sing for us at Major Ten Eyck's," said Ruth, "and
+then we shall see if we cannot meet again."
+
+They were walking in single file, now, along the stream. Mollie was
+gathering ferns which grew in profusion on the bank. Barbara, who was
+behind the others, had stopped to look at a bird's nest that had fallen
+to the ground and shattered the little blue eggs it had held.
+
+As she knelt on the ground, something impelled her to look over her
+shoulder. At first Bab saw only the green depths of the forest, but in a
+moment her eyes had found what had attracted them. Stifling a cry she
+rose to her feet. What she had seen was gone in an instant, so quickly
+that she wondered if she had not been dreaming. Peering at her through
+the leaves of parted branches she had seen a face, a very strange, old
+face, as white as death. It was the face of an old person, she felt
+instinctively, but the eyes had something childlike in their expression
+of wonder and surprise.
+
+When it was gone, Barbara felt almost as if she had seen a ghost. She
+leaned over and dipped her hands into the stream to quiet her throbbing
+veins.
+
+"Truly this wood is full of mysteries," she thought to herself as she
+turned to follow the others. But she decided not to say anything about
+it. They had had enough frights lately, and she was determined not to
+add another to the list.
+
+By this time the girls had reached a lovely little pool set like a
+mirror in a mossy frame. On one side the bank had flattened out and was
+carpeted with luxuriant, close-cropped grass, almost as smooth as the
+lawn of a city park. The trees had crowded themselves to the very edge
+of the greensward. They closed up on the strip of lawn like a wall and
+stretched their branches over it, as if to shield it from the sun.
+
+"Did you ever see anything so sweet in all your life?" cried Ruth, as
+she flung herself on the turf.
+
+"Never!" agreed the others with enthusiasm, following her example.
+
+"This pool is supposed to be haunted," said Zerlina, and Bab started,
+remembering the face she had just seen.
+
+"Haunted by what, Zerlina?" she asked.
+
+"It is not known," replied the Gypsy girl, mysteriously; "but on
+moonlight nights some one is often seen sitting on this bank."
+
+"What some one--a man or a woman?" persisted Bab.
+
+"It is not known," repeated Zerlina. "But it has been seen,
+nevertheless. Besides," she continued, "this is supposed to be the
+meeting-place of fairies. Though people do not believe in fairies in
+this country."
+
+"I do," declared Mollie, and the other girls laughed light-heartedly.
+
+"And," went on Zerlina, "the deer who live in this wood come here to
+graze and drink water from the pool."
+
+"Now, that I can believe," said Ruth.
+
+"Well, it is an enchanted spot," cried Mollie. "It must be. Look at
+Zerlina's dog."
+
+The shepherd dog had taken his tail in his mouth and was circling
+slowly. The girls watched him breathlessly as he turned faster and
+faster. Once he fell into the stream, but he never stopped and continued
+to circle so rapidly, as he clambered out, that he lost all sense of
+direction and waltzed over the girls' laps, staining their dresses with
+his wet feet, while they laughed until the tears rolled down their
+cheeks, and the woods rang with the merry sound.
+
+At a word from the Gypsy girl the dog stopped and stretched himself
+exhausted, on the ground.
+
+"Zerlina, you must have bewitched that animal," cried Ruth. "But wasn't
+it beautiful? If we had been lying down he would have waltzed right over
+our faces."
+
+"Girls," proposed Grace, after they had recovered from the exhibition of
+the waltzing dog, "let's go in wading."
+
+"What a great idea, Grace!" cried Ruth. In a jiffy they had their shoes
+and stockings piled together on the bank and had slipped into the little
+pool of clear, running water.
+
+Zerlina watched them from the bank. Perhaps Miss Sallie was right, and
+water had no charms for this Gypsy child.
+
+As they clung to each other, giving little shrieks of pleasure and
+making a great splashing, Mollie exclaimed suddenly:
+
+"Look, look! Here comes a man!"
+
+Sure enough there was a man emerging from the trees on the other side of
+the stream. The girls scampered excitedly out of the water, giggling, as
+girls will do, and sat in a row on the bank, tailor-fashion, hiding
+their wet feet under their skirts.
+
+By this time the stranger had come up to the pool and stood gazing in
+amazement at the party of young women.
+
+"Well, for the love of Mike!" he exclaimed.
+
+It was Jimmie Butler, one of the major's house party.
+
+Then he caught sight of the pyramid of shoes and stockings; his face
+broke into a smile and he laughed so contagiously that everybody joined
+in. Once more the enchanted pool was given over to merriment.
+
+"Where on earth did you come from?" demanded Ruth.
+
+"And where have you been?" he echoed.
+
+Whereupon everybody talked at once, until all the adventures had been
+related.
+
+"And you're actually alive, after all these hairbreadth escapes, and
+able to amuse yourselves in this simple fashion?" gasped Jimmie Butler.
+"Ladies, putting all joking aside, permit me to compliment you on your
+amazing nerve. I don't think I ever met a really brave woman before, and
+to be introduced to five at once! Why, I feel as if I were at a meeting
+of suffragettes!"
+
+"But how did you happen to be here?" repeated Ruth.
+
+"Oh, I'm just out for a morning stroll," he replied. "I came to see the
+haunted pool."
+
+"Just take another little stroll, for five minutes, until we get on our
+shoes and stockings. Then we'll all go back to our home of canvas," said
+Ruth.
+
+By the time they had reached the encampment Bab had almost forgotten
+about the strange face she had seen, and they were all talking happily
+together about Ten Eyck Hall, which, according to Jimmie Butler, was the
+finest old house in that part of the country.
+
+In the meantime the major himself had arrived in his automobile, while
+the boys had ridden over on horseback. When the others came up, they
+found the chauffeur busily engaged in repairing the tires of Ruth's
+automobile. Miss Stuart and Major Ten Eyck were deep in conversation,
+while the Gypsies stood about in groups, looking at the strangers
+indifferently.
+
+"Miss Ruth," said the major, after greetings had been exchanged, "if you
+can run this machine, suppose we start at once and leave my chauffeur to
+follow with yours. You ladies must be very hungry. We will have an early
+luncheon."
+
+The girls said good-bye to the Gypsies and thanked them graciously. Ruth
+had tried to compensate Granny Ann, but the old woman had haughtily
+refused to accept a cent.
+
+"A Gypsy takes nothing from his guest," she said, and Ruth was obliged
+to let the matter drop. However, she made the old Gypsy promise to bring
+her granddaughter over to see them very soon, and as they disappeared
+down the road, they saw Zerlina leaning against a tree, watching them
+wistfully.
+
+At last, the journey which had been so full of peril and adventure was
+ended, and "The Automobile Girls" arrived safely at Ten Eyck Hall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX--TEN EYCK HALL
+
+
+Ten Eyck Hall, with its high-peaked roofs, its rambling wings and
+innumerable dormer windows, seemed to the four girls the very home of
+romance.
+
+It was an enormous house built of brick, turned a faded pink, now, from
+age, which made a delicate background for the heavy vines that shaded
+the piazzas and balconies and clambered up to the roof itself.
+
+The handsome old master of this charming house leaped to the ground as
+lightly as one of his nephews, the moment the automobile drew up at the
+front door. Lifting his hat he made a low, old-fashioned bow.
+
+"Dear ladies," he said, "you are as welcome to my home as the flowers in
+spring!" Giving his arm to Miss Stuart, he conducted her up the front
+steps. The great double doors flew open as if by magic, and the party
+filed into the vast center hall, on each side of which stood the
+servants of the household, headed by the butler and his wife, the
+housekeeper.
+
+"Dear me," exclaimed Miss Sallie, "I feel as if I were entering a
+baronial castle. Why did you never tell me years ago you owned such a
+fine place, John Ten Eyck?"
+
+"Because I didn't in those days, Sallie," answered the major. "There
+were several heirs ahead of me then. But I always wanted you to come and
+see it. Don't you remember my mother wrote and asked you to make us a
+visit? But you were going abroad, that summer, and couldn't come."
+
+"Well, I was a very foolish girl," replied Miss Sallie. "But better late
+than never, John, and it will be a pleasure to see the young people
+enjoy themselves in this beautiful house."
+
+Some of the young people were already plainly showing their delight and
+pleasure in the visit. The major made a smiling gesture toward the four
+young girls, who, with arms around each other's waists, were strolling
+up the great hall toward the fireplace at the far end, pausing here and
+there to look at the fine old portraits and curious carved cabinets and
+settees. Many of the latter had been collected by the major during his
+travels abroad.
+
+"I feel like a princess in a castle, Major," called Ruth.
+
+"And here comes one of the princes, my dear," answered the major,
+glancing up at the broad staircase which occupied one side of the hall.
+All eyes followed the direction of his gaze, and an exclamation of
+surprise escaped the lips of the automobilists. For there, on the
+landing of the staircase, looking down at the little group of people
+below as calmly as a real prince might regard his subjects, was the
+motor cyclist.
+
+"Why, it's Mr. Martinez!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "How are you?" she said
+graciously, as he descended the broad staircase. "We had no idea you
+were a friend of the major's, too."
+
+"Nor had I, Madam," replied the young man, as he bowed low over Miss
+Stuart's hand and acknowledged the greetings of the girls. "I did not
+know who Major Ten Eyck was when he was stopping at the hotel, or I
+should have presented my letter there. It was a surprise to find in him
+the same gentleman I had come down to meet, and it is, indeed, a great
+pleasure and surprise to meet you and the young ladies so soon again."
+
+"Martinez is the son of an old friend of mine, Jose Martinez of Madrid,"
+broke in the major. "But how did you happen to meet him?"
+
+Miss Stuart explained that he was the brave young man who had saved them
+from the attack of the drunken tramp.
+
+"My dear Jose," exclaimed the major, grasping him cordially by the hand,
+"you were brave. It was an act worthy of your father, and I can say no
+more for you than that."
+
+The young man flushed, and for the first time in their acquaintance
+showed signs of real embarrassment.
+
+"It was nothing," he said. "The man was drunk and drunken men are easy
+to manage."
+
+"But he was not easy to manage," exclaimed Ruth. "He was a giant in size
+and strength."
+
+The young foreigner shrugged his shoulders and the flush deepened on his
+face.
+
+"Well, well," laughed Major Ten Eyck, "we won't embarrass you any more
+by insisting on your being a hero whether you will or no. Here comes
+Mary to show you to your rooms, ladies. You look as fresh as the
+morning, but after a night spent in a Gypsy camp perhaps you would like
+to spruce up a bit before luncheon. Come along, Jose, and let me show
+you my library. I am very proud of my collection of Spanish books. I
+want your opinion of them."
+
+The major waved his hand gallantly to the five women who were following
+the housekeeper up the carved oak staircase to the regions above.
+
+"Am I awake, or asleep?" asked Mollie. "This whole morning has seemed
+like a dream, and now this lovely old house----"
+
+"And the lovely old major, in the lovely old house," added Ruth.
+
+"Isn't he a dear!" pursued Mollie. "I wonder if Miss Sallie is sorry
+now," she continued to herself. "If he were as gentle and charming when
+he was young as he is now, I don't think I could have been cross with
+him, ever."
+
+Meanwhile, Barbara was saying to Miss Stuart:
+
+"No; we never told Mr. Martinez where we were going, or mentioned the
+major's name, so of course he had no way of knowing that we were coming
+here. It is curious, though," she went on thoughtfully, "our meeting him
+here. I wonder when he arrived?"
+
+"Yesterday, I suppose," replied Miss Sallie. "Or it may have been this
+morning. However, it doesn't make any difference. I am glad, at least,
+that a friend of ours can show him some hospitality in return for his
+courageous act."
+
+By this time they had reached the top of the stairs and had a glimpse of
+another hall corresponding to the one below, at one end of which was a
+great casement window with a broad cushioned window-seat under it. The
+other end, where the stairs turned, was lighted by an enormous stained
+glass window.
+
+Little exclamations of rapture escaped the girls as they tripped over
+the softly carpeted floors to their rooms, which were on the left side
+of the hall. Opposite were the major's rooms, so Mary explained, while
+the young men were all quartered in the right wing except Mr. Martinez,
+who had a room at the end of the hall on the same side as the major's
+suite.
+
+"I could live and die in a house like this, and never want to leave it,"
+cried Bab, her eyes sparkling with pleasure as Mary opened the door
+leading to the room that had been assigned to Ruth and her.
+
+They could have a room apiece, if they wished it, the housekeeper said,
+but when it was discovered that this would necessitate two of the girls
+taking rooms in the right wing, many passages and corridors away from
+the others, all said they would rather share the rooms on the main hall.
+Mary looked somewhat relieved at this. It was evident she was not in
+favor of the right wing for the girls, either; although she did not
+explain her reasons.
+
+In the large old-fashioned bedrooms, hung with chintz curtains and
+furnished with mahogany that would have been the joy of the antique
+dealers, were already placed the boxes and satchels of the
+automobilists. Two neat housemaids were engaged in unpacking their
+things and placing them in the drawers of the massive highboys and
+wardrobes.
+
+"Bab," exclaimed Ruth, giving her friend an affectionate little shake,
+"this is worth two highwaymen and a night in a Gypsy camp. I feel as if
+I were in an English country house. I feel we are going to have a
+perfectly wonderful time. And, somehow, the young Spaniard adds muchly
+to the whole thing. He seems to belong in the midst of carved oak and
+Persian rugs, doesn't he, Barbara, dear? As he stood on those steps he
+looked like an old Spanish portrait. All he needed was a velvet cape, a
+sword and a plumed hat."
+
+"Well, that seems a good deal to complete the picture, considering he
+was wearing an ordinary pepper and salt suit," observed Barbara.
+
+"I don't believe you like Senor Jose Martinez," said Ruth.
+
+"Oh, yes I do," replied the other. "I like him and I don't like him. His
+eyes are just a bit too close together, and still he is very handsome.
+But give me time, give me time. I don't enjoy having my likes hurried
+along like this. If he can play tennis, ride horseback and dance as well
+as he can knock down a tramp, he will be a perfect paragon among men.
+Look here, Ruth," she continued, exploring the various closets, "do you
+know we have a bathroom all to ourselves? Did you say that Major Ten
+Eyck was poor when Miss Sallie threw him over?"
+
+"Well, he wasn't rich at that time," replied Ruth; "that is, not
+according to Aunt Sallie's ideas, but since then, she tells me, an uncle
+has left him lots of money."
+
+"Now, for a bath!" cried Barbara, as she turned the water on in the tub.
+
+"Don't use too much of it," called Ruth. "I never saw a country house
+where the water didn't run short, no matter how grand a place it was.
+Remember the drought, Bab, and leave a little for your fainting friend."
+
+The girls had barely time to bathe and dress, when a deep gong sounded
+in the hall. The five automobilists, refreshed by their belated baths,
+and dainty in crisp ducks and muslins, filed down the great staircase at
+the sound. Miss Stuart, in a lavender organdie, her white hair piled on
+top of her head, led the procession.
+
+The major, waiting for them at the foot of the steps, smiled rather
+sadly as he watched the charming picture. The five young men grouped
+together at the end of the hall, came forward at sight of the ladies.
+Three of them at least were rather shy in their greetings, especially
+the English boy, Alfred Marsdale, who was only seventeen and still
+afraid of American girls. Stephen and Martin Ten Eyck, boys of sixteen
+and seventeen, were also rather green in the society of girls. They had
+no sisters and their vacations had been spent either at Ten Eyck Hall or
+out West on their father's ranch. And an avalanche of four pretty,
+vivacious young women, advancing upon them in this way, was enough to
+make them tongue-tied for the moment. Jimmie Butler, who was nineteen
+and had seen a deal of life all over the world with his mother, a
+well-to-do widow, was proof against embarrassment, and the young
+Spaniard also seemed perfectly at his ease.
+
+"Come along, young people," said the major, giving his arm to Miss
+Sallie and leading the way to the dining room.
+
+Soon they were all gayly chatting at an immense, round table of black
+oak, so highly polished that it reflected the silver and china and the
+faces of the guests in its shining board.
+
+"Miss Barbara," said the major, "suppose you let us have a history of
+the attempt at robbery? Since it was your courage and presence of mind
+that drove the robber away you ought to be the one to give the most
+connected account. Miss Stuart tells me that he was a giant with a deep
+bass voice, but that the sight of a pistol made him cut and run like a
+rabbit. You have not heard, Jose," continued the major, turning to
+Martinez, "that our ladies were in danger of being robbed last night and
+would have been but for Miss Barbara, who drove off the robber with a
+pistol?"
+
+"Is it possible?" replied Jose, looking at Barbara with admiration. "But
+there must be a great many robbers in this country. Almost as numerous
+as in the mountains of my own country. And what was the appearance of
+the robber, may I ask, Miss Thurston? Was he again a tramp?"
+
+"He was not a giant," answered Barbara. "He struck me as being rather
+short and very slender, so slender that it made him appear taller than
+he was. His voice was curious. I could not describe it, and I think
+really it was disguised. He spoke only a few times. He wore a mask that
+completely covered his face, and a slouch hat, so there was no telling
+what his hair was like; but he gave me the impression of being dark. I
+think he was a coward, because he ran so fast when I pointed the pistol
+at him."
+
+"Do you suppose he's hiding in the woods now, Major?" asked Mollie. "We
+were walking there all morning, but we had nothing to be robbed of."
+
+"Oh, he is probably running still," replied the major. "But what is
+quite plain to me is that it was somebody who knew you expected to make
+the trip. This robber had evidently prepared beforehand for the attack.
+He had chopped holes in the bridge, painted the sign, fastened the ropes
+across, and had arranged the whole thing during the morning. But he had
+not reckoned on your little pistol, Miss Barbara, had he? Ah, you are a
+brave girl, my dear, and they tell me that this is only one among many
+acts of heroism of yours."
+
+Barbara blushed.
+
+"I am sure any of the others would have done the same thing, Major, if
+Mr. Stuart had given them the pistol."
+
+"Do the ladies in America carry firearms?" asked Alfred Marsdale,
+looking from one to another in a hesitating, embarrassed way.
+
+"Why, certainly, Alfred, my boy," replied Jimmie Butler. "Don't you know
+it's dangerous, in this country, for a woman to walk on the streets
+unarmed unless she is dressed like a suffragette? And then she doesn't
+need a pistol to make people run from her."
+
+"Now, you're joking, Jimmie," said Alfred.
+
+At which everybody laughed until they all felt that they had known each
+other much longer than just a few hours.
+
+"While I think of it," observed the major, "I have only one request to
+make of my guests, and that may seem like a very inhospitable one, but
+you will all understand, I know. Don't be too lavish with the water."
+
+Ruth and Barbara looked at each other and smiled.
+
+"I mean," continued the major, "don't fill the tubs to the brim. A
+hand's depth is the allowance; or we shall be high and dry without any
+water and no prospect of any unless a rain comes. This interminable
+drought has dried up every brook on the place and the cisterns are lower
+than they have ever been before. We keep one cistern always full--not so
+much in case of drought as in case of fire; it might be needed some
+day."
+
+They all promised to bathe in what Jimmie Butler called "two-fingers of
+water."
+
+"If the water gives out," said Jimmie, "we'll beautify our complexions
+by bathing in milk. I think I need a lotion for a delicate skin,
+anyhow." Jimmie's nose was a mass of freckles.
+
+"You would have to have your face peeled, Jimmie," said Stephen, "before
+you could call it delicate."
+
+"Excuse me," replied Jimmie, "my indelicate skin then."
+
+"I have not made any plans for your entertainment this afternoon, young
+ladies," the major was saying. "Miss Stuart is determined that you must
+lie down and sleep off the effects of the Gypsy camp. But to-morrow we
+shall have a picnic to make up for it, and Miss Ruth may take her tea
+basket, since we have none in this household."
+
+"I'm not a bit tired now," said Ruth.
+
+"Neither are we," echoed the other girls as they rose from the table.
+
+"Well, suppose we make a compromise," said the major, "by showing you
+over the house? After that sleep must be your portion, eh, Sallie?"
+
+"It must, indeed," replied that lady firmly, and all adjourned to the
+library.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X--AN ATTIC MYSTERY
+
+
+The library of Ten Eyck Hall was, to Bab, the most beautiful of all the
+rooms. The walls were literally lined with books from floor to ceiling,
+and there were little galleries halfway up for the convenience of
+getting books that were too high to reach from the floor. Big leather
+chairs and couches were scattered about and heavy curtains seemed to
+conceal entrances to mysterious doors and passages leading off somewhere
+into the depths of the old house.
+
+"This is just the place for a secret door or a staircase in the wall,"
+exclaimed Grace.
+
+"There is a secret door, I believe, in this very room," replied the
+major; "but it is really a secret, for the location was lost long ago
+and nobody has ever been able to find it since."
+
+"How interesting!" said Ruth. "Can't you thump the walls and locate it
+by a hollow sound?"
+
+"But, even if you discovered a hollow sound, you wouldn't know how to
+open the door," said Martin.
+
+"Press a panel, my boy. That is all that is necessary," replied Jimmie.
+"With a wild shriek Lady Gwendolyn rushed through the portals of the
+lofty chamber. With trembling hands she pressed a panel in the wainscot.
+Instantly it flew back and disclosed a secret passage. Another instant
+and she had disappeared. The panel was restored to its place and Sir
+Marmanduke and her pursuers were foiled."
+
+All this, the irrepressible Jimmie had acted out with wild
+gesticulations.
+
+They all laughed except Alfred Marsdale, who stood looking at Jimmie in
+a dazed sort of way.
+
+"Wake up, Al, old man! What's the matter with you?"
+
+"Oh, nothing," replied Alfred, "I was only wondering where I had read
+that before."
+
+There was another laugh, and the major led the way to the red drawing
+room. It had been the ball room in the old days.
+
+"It's a long time," observed the major, "since anyone has danced on
+these floors."
+
+The room took its name, evidently, from the red damask hangings and
+upholstering of the furniture. The walls were paneled in white and gold
+and there was a grand piano at one end.
+
+"We'll have to take turn about playing," said Ruth. "Grace and I each
+play a little."
+
+"Oh, Jimmie can play," replied Martin. "Is there anything Jimmie can't
+do?"
+
+"Jimmie, you're a brick," said Alfred.
+
+Back of the red drawing room was another smaller room which, the major
+said, had always been called a morning parlor, but it had been a
+favorite room of the family when he was a young man, and had been used
+as a gathering place in the evening as well as after breakfast.
+
+"This is the prettiest room of all, I think," observed Mollie.
+
+And it was certainly the most cheerful, with its brightly flowered
+chintz curtains and shining mahogany chairs and tables.
+
+After that came a billiard room, a small den used as a smoking room, and
+a breakfast room.
+
+"Who wants to see the attic?" said Martin.
+
+"We all do?" came in a chorus from the young people.
+
+"Now, girls," protested Miss Sallie, "remember you were to take your
+rest this afternoon."
+
+"Oh, we shan't be up there long," said Martin. "We promise you to bring
+them back in time for the beauty sleep."
+
+"Very well," answered Miss Sallie; "go along with you. It's very hard to
+be strict, Major. Don't you find it so!"
+
+"I never even tried the experiment, Sallie," replied the gentle old
+soldier, "because I always found it harder on me than on the boys. It's
+really a certain sort of selfishness on my part, I suppose. Cut along
+now, boys, and don't keep the girls from their rest too long."
+
+The pilgrimage started up the great front staircase, led by Martin and
+his older brother, who together had made many excursions to the attic
+and knew the way by heart.
+
+On the second floor the explorers followed a passage that led to another
+flight of stairs, and this in turn to another passage, and finally to
+one last narrow flight of steps with a mysterious door at the top.
+
+"This reminds me of the House of Usher," said Jimmie, "only it goes up
+instead of down. Can't you imagine all these doors opening and closing,
+and the sound of footsteps on the stairs, down, down?"
+
+Just then Martin opened the door and a gust of wind blew in their faces.
+Something flashed past that almost made the whole party fall backwards
+down the steps.
+
+Mollie gave a little shriek.
+
+"Don't be frightened," said Jose, who was standing just behind her. "It
+is only a bird."
+
+"Somebody must have left the window open," exclaimed Stephen in
+surprise. "I wonder who it was? The servants are afraid to come up here.
+They believe it is haunted. Lights have been seen at midnight, shining
+through some of these windows, and the only persons who are not afraid
+are the housekeeper and the butler, who come twice a year, and clean out
+the dust."
+
+The young people found themselves in a vast attic whose edges were
+hidden by dense shadows. The center was lighted by dormer windows, here
+and there, that gleamed like so many eyes from the high sloping roof.
+Scattered about were all sorts of odds and ends of antiquated furniture,
+chests of drawers, hair trunks, carved boxes and spinning wheels.
+
+"Isn't this great!" cried Jimmie Butler. "Just the place for
+handsprings," and he began to turn somersaults like a professional,
+while the girls looked on delighted.
+
+"Stop that, Jim," protested Stephen. "You'll get yourself filthy and
+break your neck into the bargain. You are much too old for such child's
+play. You'll have rush of blood to the head and strain a nerve, and
+heaven knows you've got enough to strain."
+
+  "'In my youth, Father William replied to his son,
+  I feared it would injure the brain,
+  But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none;
+  Why, I do it again and again!'"
+
+sang Jimmie as he wheeled over the floor toward a partition wall which
+cut off one end of the great room. Over and over he circled, without
+looking where he was going, until suddenly, bang, his heels hit against
+the wall.
+
+There was a curious grating noise, a creaking of rafters, and before
+their amazed eyes the wall slid along and disclosed another attic as
+large as the first.
+
+Jimmie was so bewildered he forgot to pull himself up from the dusty
+floor, and lay with his head propped against an old trunk looking across
+the enormous space.
+
+Then everybody began talking at once.
+
+"This looks to me like smugglers," cried Alfred. "I was in an old house
+in England, where there was the same sort of wall, only not so large."
+
+"And look," called Bab, "there are footsteps in the dust. Who could have
+been here lately, to have left those marks. Do you see? They come from
+over there in the right hand corner."
+
+"Yes, is it not curious," replied Jose, "that they are going away from
+the wall and not approaching it? He must have walked out of the wall.
+Perhaps there is a secret door there, too."
+
+They rushed across pell mell, and began thumping the walls, but nothing
+happened.
+
+"I say, Stephen," said Martin, "do you suppose we had smugglers in our
+family?"
+
+"I don't know," answered Stephen. "They managed to keep it secret if
+they had."
+
+"I'd like to be a smuggler," cried Martin. "There would be some
+excitement in life then. But how did you manage to do it, Jimmie? You
+are always having things happen to you."
+
+"I don't know," replied Jimmie. "I must have kicked the panel that
+worked the spring. Let's see if we can move it back again. Here's the
+place in the floor," and bending over he pressed on a sliding board in
+the floor. Instantly the wall began slipping back in place. The others
+leaped back into the first attic, and in a moment the partition had
+fitted itself as snugly as if it never had been moved.
+
+"All is as if it never had been," exclaimed Jimmie. "Now let's find the
+place I kicked."
+
+But try as they would, no one could locate the spot again.
+
+"Well, of all that's curious and mysterious!" said Stephen. "Jimmie, go
+and turn a few more wheels and see if it happens again."
+
+Jimmie did as he was bade, and kicked the wall vociferously from one end
+to the other but it never budged an inch.
+
+In the meantime, Martin and the girls were diving into some old trunks
+and carved chests which were filled with clothes of another date,
+old-fashioned silks and dimities that had been worn by the major's
+grandmother and aunts.
+
+"There is a trunkful of men's things, too," called Stephen, leaving the
+sliding partition, to join in the rummage.
+
+"I say, girls," cried Jimmie, "wouldn't it be fun to give a fancy dress
+party some day, and surprise the major and Miss Stuart?"
+
+"How delightful!" exclaimed the girls in one voice.
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" said Martin, disgusted.
+
+"Oh, I say now, Jimmie, what a beastly idea!" exclaimed Alfred, equally
+disgusted.
+
+"Come on, fellows; don't throw cold water on the scheme if the girls
+like it," put in Stephen.
+
+And so the party was arranged.
+
+All this time Jose had never left the partition, but had kept up a
+continuous thumping to find the sliding panel.
+
+"Everybody take a hand, and we will carry down everything we can find,
+and then we won't have to make another trip," called Stephen. "Come,
+Jose, we're going to dress up. You'll have to be a pirate. Here's a red
+sash and a three cornered hat that will just suit your style."
+
+So saying, the cavalcade departed from the dark old attic, laden with
+spoils.
+
+"If this is to be a surprise on uncle and Miss Stuart, we had better
+hide the things, hadn't we?" observed Martin, who was very cautious and
+always thought ahead, once he had decided to do a thing.
+
+"Very well. We'll let Mary take charge of them and divide them later,"
+replied Stephen. "You had better go take your naps now, girls," he added
+in a whisper, "or we'll have the old lady and gentleman on our necks."
+
+The young people separated, the boys taking a corridor leading to the
+left wing, the girls following the main hall. Bab left the others and
+started downstairs.
+
+"I'll be right back," she called. "I left my handkerchief in the
+library."
+
+She confessed to herself, as she descended the stairs, that she was
+rather tired. The excitement of the two past days, her uncomfortable bed
+made of a steamer rug spread on the ground, the night before, and
+finally the close, dusty air of the attic had combined to give her a
+headache and a feeling of extreme weariness.
+
+When she reached the cool, darkened library, she sat down for a moment
+in one of the big chairs and closed her eyes. It was very restful in
+there. The sun had left that side of the house in the shade and the room
+with its heavy hangings, its dark leather furniture and rich rugs was
+full of shadows.
+
+She was almost asleep, a slender little figure in a great armchair of
+carved black oak. Her head dropped to one side and her eyes closed, when
+she was awakened with a start by a draught of cold air. One of the
+curtains next the book shelves bulged out for a moment and Barbara's
+eyes were fastened on a long, white hand that drew them aside. Then a
+face she had seen in the wood looked from around the curtain. The eyes
+met hers, and again that strange, childlike look of sorrow and amazement
+filled them.
+
+A dizziness came over Barbara. She closed her eyes for a moment, and,
+when she opened them again, the face, or phantom, or whatever it was,
+had gone.
+
+Holding her breath to keep from crying out, Barbara ran from the room as
+fast as her trembling knees could carry her. In the hall she met Jose.
+He looked at her curiously.
+
+"Mademoiselle, have you seen a ghost?" he asked as he stood aside to let
+her pass.
+
+She was afraid to answer, for fear of bursting into tears.
+
+"I am sorry," he continued. "Has anything really happened?"
+
+But still she refused to speak, and ran up the stairs.
+
+He turned and went into the library, closing the door after him.
+
+There was a queer little smile on his face. Perhaps he, too, had seen
+the old man and understood her look of terror.
+
+By the time she reached her room, Bab had regained her self-composure,
+and had again determined to say nothing about the adventure. It would
+only frighten the girls and take away from the pleasure of the visit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI--JOSE HAS AN ENEMY
+
+
+  "I like them all, the pretty girls,
+  I like them all whether dark or fair,
+  But above the rest, I like the best
+  The girl with the golden hair!"
+
+rang out the charming tenor voice of Jose, while he thrummed a
+delightful accompaniment on the piano.
+
+Dinner was over, and the major, and his guests were sitting in the
+moonlight on the broad piazza. Windows and doors were stretched as wide
+as possible; the curtains in the red drawing room were drawn back and
+Jose was entertaining the company.
+
+"I sing it translated," he called, as he finished the song, "that it may
+be understood."
+
+Whereupon Jimmie winked at Stephen, and looked at Mollie; the major
+smiled indulgently, and the others were all more or less conscious that
+Spaniards always liked blond girls because they were so rare in Spain.
+
+Mollie herself, however, was unconscious that she was being sung about.
+She was looking out across the moonlit stretches of lawn and meadows,
+her little hands folded placidly in her lap.
+
+"Do you dance as well as sing, Mr. Martinez?" she asked in her high,
+sweet voice.
+
+"I can dance, yes," replied Jose, "but I like best dancing with another.
+I do not like to dance alone."
+
+"But there is no one else here who dances Spanish fancy dances, is
+there?" demanded Miss Sallie.
+
+There was a silence.
+
+"Don't all speak at once," cried Jimmie. "I will play for you, Jose, if
+you will try dancing alone," he added. "I am afraid we can't help you in
+any of your Spanish dances."
+
+"Very well," replied Jose. "I will, then, try a dance of the Basque
+country, if Madamoiselle Mollie will be so kind as to lend me her scarf.
+I must have a hat also."
+
+He disappeared through the window and returned in a moment with a
+broad-brimmed felt hat he had found in the hall. Mollie handed him her
+pink scarf with a border of wild roses, and walking composedly up to the
+end of the long piazza he stood perfectly still, waiting for the music
+to begin. Jimmie struck up a Spanish dance with the sound of castanets
+in the bass.
+
+"How's that for a tune?" he called out.
+
+"Very good, very good," answered Jose. Then he started the strange dance
+while the others watched spellbound.
+
+The boys, who had been rather scornful of a man's dancing fancy dances,
+confessed afterwards that there was nothing effeminate in Jose's
+dancing, no pirouetting and twisting on one toe like Jimmie Butler's one
+accomplishment in ballet-dancing. They gathered that it was a sort of
+bullbaiting dance. It began with a series of advances and retreats, with
+a springy step always in time to the throb of the music.
+
+The young Spaniard was very graceful and lithe. He seemed to have
+forgotten that he was on the piazza of foreigners in a strange country.
+The dance grew quicker and quicker. Suddenly he drew a long curved
+dagger from his belt and made a lunge at some imaginary obstacle,
+probably the bull he was baiting.
+
+Bab, who was nearest the dancer, rose to her feet quickly, and then sat
+down rather limply.
+
+"The knife, the knife!" she said to herself. "It is the highwayman's
+knife!"
+
+And now the handsome dancer was kneeling at Mollie's feet offering her
+the scarf.
+
+He had risen and was bowing to the company, when whir-r-r! something had
+whizzed past his head, just scratched his forehead and then planted
+itself in the wooden frame of the window behind him.
+
+Was Barbara dreaming; or had she lost her senses?
+
+The knife in the wall was the same, or exactly like the knife Jose had
+been using in the dance.
+
+In a moment everything was in wild confusion.
+
+"Go into the house, ladies!" commanded the major.
+
+The four boys leaped from the piazza, to run down the assassin, so they
+thought, but the figure vaguely outlined for an instant in the shadows
+of the trees, was as completely hidden as if the earth had opened and
+swallowed it up.
+
+Jose, in a big chair in the drawing room, was being ministered to by
+Miss Sallie and the girls, while the major, with a glass of water, was
+standing over him on one side and the housekeeper, on the other, was
+binding his head with a linen handkerchief.
+
+[Illustration: Whir-r-r! Something Whizzed Past His Head.]
+
+"Major," Miss Sallie was saying, "this country is full of assassins and
+robbers. I believe we shall all be murdered in our beds. I am really
+terribly frightened. We have had nothing but attacks since we left New
+York. And, now, this poor young man is in danger. Who could it have
+been, do you suppose, and what good did it do to hurl a knife into the
+midst of a perfectly harmless company like that!"
+
+"The country is a little wild, Sallie," replied the major
+apologetically, "but I have never heard of anything like this happening
+before. Of course, there are highwaymen everywhere. There are those
+Gypsies in the forest. Perhaps it was one of them."
+
+Just then the boys returned, and the attention of the others was
+distracted from Jose, who still sat quietly, his lips pressed together.
+
+Barbara, who had been standing a little way off, turned to him quickly.
+
+"The knife?" she asked, but stopped without finishing, for Jose had
+fixed her glance with a look of such appeal that she could say no more.
+
+"By the way," observed Jimmie Butler, "where is the knife?"
+
+"Sticking in the wall of course," replied Stephen.
+
+The two boys ran out on the piazza, but returned empty-handed.
+
+"Mystery of mysteries!" cried Jimmie, "the knife is gone!"
+
+"It is impossible," exclaimed the major. "We have not left this room. We
+could see anyone who came upon the piazza."
+
+"Well, it's gone," said Jimmie. "While you were nursing Jose, somebody
+must have crept up and got it."
+
+"Good heavens!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "Do you mean to say that the
+murderer has been that close to us again? Do close those windows and
+draw the curtains."
+
+"Yes, do so," said the major. "Mary," he continued to the housekeeper,
+who was entering at that moment with a basin of water, "I wish you would
+have all the men on the place sent to me. Some of them may be asleep,
+but wake them up. We shall scour every part of the estate to-night. If
+there's anybody hiding around here we shall rout him out."
+
+Mary hurried off to deliver her orders, while the boys ran to their
+rooms to get on tennis shoes and collect various weapons.
+
+"I am sorry Jose was scratched," Martin confided to Alfred, "but--well,
+this is pretty good sport, old man. Don't you think so?"
+
+"By Jove, it is," replied Alfred with enthusiasm. "If that assassin
+should leap at us in the dark I should like to give him a nip with this
+shillalah. What a beastly coward he was to attack a man when his back
+was turned!"
+
+And with that, he waved a big knotted club, one of Stephen's
+possessions, around his head, and glared ferociously.
+
+"Come on, boys," called Stephen. "We haven't a moment to lose. The man
+will be well away if we don't hurry. We are going to ride in twos and
+divide the place in sections."
+
+In another ten minutes a company of horsemen rode off in the moonlight,
+two by two, while the frightened maid-servants locked and barred the
+house doors and windows.
+
+Jose had begged to be allowed to go along, but the major had silenced
+him by saying that Miss Sallie and the girls needed a protector, and
+that under the circumstances it was better for him to stay at home and
+look after them. Even the old major was rather enjoying the zest of a
+man-hunt, and his eyes flashed with a new fire under his grizzled
+eyebrows.
+
+But nothing happened and the assassin remained at large. The hunters
+scoured the country, searched the forest on the outskirts of the Ten
+Eyck estate, and woke the sleeping Gypsies to demand what they knew. The
+Gypsies knew nothing, and at midnight the horsemen returned.
+
+The house was silent. Everyone had gone to bed except Jose, who sat in
+the library listening for every sound that creaked through the old
+place. He met Major Ten Eyck and the boys at the front door, holding a
+candle high and peering anxiously into the dark to see what quarry they
+had brought home.
+
+And, when he saw they had no prisoner bound to the horse with the ropes
+that the major had ordered his man to take along, a look of strange
+relief came into the Spaniard's face. He breathed a deep sigh, smiled as
+he thanked them, said good-night and went up the broad stairway with the
+same smile still clinging to his lips.
+
+In the meantime Bab was stretched out beside the sleeping Ruth, wide
+awake, going over the events of that tumultuous day.
+
+She felt that these events had no connection with each other, and yet
+deep down in her inner consciousness she was searching for the link that
+bound all the strange happenings together. She was not quite sure now
+whether she had seen the face in the library or not. She had been so
+tired and hot. It might, after all, have been a dream. But the footsteps
+in the dust on the attic floor, coming from the wall, what of them?
+
+And last, though most strange and mysterious of all, the two daggers?
+Jose had been saved just in time from the stigma of suspicion by the
+appearance of the other dagger, for, in the moment she had seen the two,
+Bab had realized they were absolutely alike.
+
+She could not believe Jose was a highwayman, and yet there were certain
+things that looked very black. It was true he had not known where they
+were going, but she imagined he could have found it out.
+
+Was it his figure she had seen behind the curtain that morning,
+listening? Whoever it was heard the exact route of their trip, with
+explicit directions from the major. Undoubtedly, Bab believed, the
+eavesdropper was the highwayman.
+
+Furthermore, what did they know about Jose? It is true he had come
+bearing credentials, but such things were easily fixed up by experts,
+and the major was a simple old fellow who never doubted anybody until he
+had to.
+
+On the other hand, Jose had every appearance of being a gentleman. He
+had proved himself to be brave by knocking down the tramp twice his size
+at Sleepy Hollow. There was an air of sincerity about him which she
+could not fail to recognize. He was graceful and charming. Everybody
+liked him, even those who had been inclined to feel prejudiced at first.
+
+Would the Spaniard have dared to use the same dagger in the dance that
+he had used to slash their tires with? It was assuredly amazingly
+reckless, and yet he might have trusted to the darkness and risked it.
+
+But the look he gave her when she started to speak of the twin daggers!
+What could that have meant? Was he trying to shield his own enemy?
+
+Should she speak to the major or should she say nothing?
+
+On the whole, Barbara thought it would be better to keep quiet for a day
+or two. It might be that Miss Sallie would insist on taking them away
+after this last attack; but she believed Ruth's and the major's prayers
+would prevail, and that they would all stay through the visit.
+
+They had planned so many delightful parties it seemed a shame to break
+up on the very first day of their visit. And, after all, Miss Sallie had
+a great tenderness for the major, a tenderness lasting through thirty
+years.
+
+Then Barbara dropped off to sleep, and in the old house only one other
+soul was still awake as the clock in the hall chimed the hour of two.
+
+In his room, by the light of a flickering candle, Jose sat examining the
+dagger that had so baffled Bab's curiosity. On his face was an
+expression of sorrow and bitterness that would certainly have aroused
+her pity had she seen him that moment. At last he shook his head
+hopelessly, muttered something in Spanish, and blew out the candle.
+
+But before getting into bed he picked up the dagger again.
+
+"Even in America," he said in English, "even in this far country it is
+the same. But I will not endure it," he muttered. "It is too much!"
+
+Putting his dagger under the pillow, he crept to bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII--NOSEGAYS AND TENNIS
+
+
+The household was late in pulling itself together next morning. At
+half-past nine, Mary and her husband, John, had carried trays of coffee
+and rolls to the rooms of the guests, informing them, at the same time,
+that luncheon would be served at half-past twelve.
+
+Mollie and Grace, in dressing gowns and slippers, had carried their
+trays into the room shared by Ruth and Barbara. Miss Sallie had
+followed, looking so charming in her lavender silk wrapper, elaborately
+trimmed with lace and ribbons that all the girls had exclaimed with
+admiration; which put the lady in a very good humor at the outset. Who
+does not like to be complimented, especially in the early morning when
+one is not apt to feel at one's best?
+
+To add to the gayety of the company there was a knock on the door,
+which, when opened, disclosed John bearing a large tray of flowers, a
+small nosegay for each of the girls and a large bunch of dewy sweet peas
+for Miss Sallie, all with the major's compliments.
+
+"What a man he is!" she cried. "He disarms me with his bunches of
+flowers just as I was about to tell him something very disagreeable. I
+really don't see how I can do it."
+
+"Oh, please don't, auntie, dear!" exclaimed Ruth. "I know what it is. We
+all do. But if we broke up the party, and went trailing off home, now
+that the worst is over, it wouldn't do anybody much good, and think of
+what a beautiful time we would be missing. To tell you the truth,
+auntie, we are just dying to stay. In spite of everything we are. Aren't
+we, girls?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," came in a chorus from the other three girls, a little
+faintly from Bab perhaps, but very eagerly from Mollie and Grace.
+
+"Well, we'll see," replied Miss Sallie. "But it does seem to me that
+this trip has started off very badly. Three attacks in as many days."
+
+"That's true," said Ruth. "Yet by the magic Rule of Three we should have
+no more. We have finished now and the curse is lifted."
+
+"When Mollie's old Gypsy comes over we must ask her to tell a few
+things," observed Grace. "I believe she really can predict the future.
+That night when you and Bab had gone with the Gypsies to get the
+automobile I asked her if she told fortunes, and all she said was: 'I
+can tell when there is blood on the moon.'"
+
+"What a horrible idea!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "Weren't you frightened?"
+
+"No, I wasn't frightened, because she seemed to have forgotten me
+entirely. I really thought, at the time, she must be talking about her
+own affairs. She looked so black and fierce."
+
+"Perhaps she meant Jose's blood," remarked Mollie from behind her
+nosegay of honeysuckle and mignonette.
+
+"Well, there wasn't much of it," replied Bab, "because Jose received
+only a scratch, and lost scarcely any blood. It was a close shave,
+though. Just half an inch nearer and it would have gone straight through
+his head."
+
+"He seems to be a very remarkable young man," said Miss Sallie. "Did you
+notice he never said one word? Just sat there as quietly as if nothing
+had happened."
+
+"He was thinking," answered Barbara. "But of course most people would
+have been too frightened to think. Did you notice the knife?" she
+ventured.
+
+But nobody had, evidently. They had all been too excited and
+horror-struck at the time to have noticed anything.
+
+"I saw it was a knife, and that was all," said Ruth.
+
+"I never saw a man dance before," observed Mollie, as if following aloud
+a train of thoughts she had been pursuing while the others talked. "I
+was almost sorry he said he would, but when I saw what kind of dancing
+it was I was glad. It was really and truly a man's dance. I think it
+must have been a toreador's dance, don't you?"
+
+"Something like this," said Ruth, using a towel for a scarf and a comb
+for a dagger. "And, by the way," she continued, pausing as she pranced
+around the room, "how did he happen to have a dagger so handy!"
+
+"That's because he is a Spaniard, my dear," remarked Miss Sallie. "These
+foreigners carry anything from dynamite bombs to carving knives. They
+are always murdering and slashing one another."
+
+"Perhaps," cried Mollie, excitedly, "it was the Black Hand that tried to
+kill him."
+
+The others all laughed.
+
+"Really, Mollie," cried Miss Sallie, "don't add any more horrors to the
+situation. We are already surrounded by Gypsies, and tramps and
+assassins."
+
+"But protected, Aunt Sallie, dear," protested Ruth, "protected by five
+'gintlemin frinds,' as Irish Nora used to say."
+
+"Well, dress yourselves now," said Miss Stuart, making for the door with
+her silken draperies trailing after her. "And remember, Ruth, dear, if
+your father scolds us for staying I shall lay all the blame on you."
+
+"Oh, I will manage Dad," replied Ruth.
+
+When the two girls were left alone they did not speak for a little
+while. Barbara, who was sitting on the floor near the window with her
+head propped against a pillow, closed her eyes, and for a moment Ruth
+thought she was asleep. A breeze laden with the perfume of the
+honeysuckle vines stirred the curtain. Barbara took in a deep breath,
+opened her eyes and sat up.
+
+"Ruth," she said, "do you know, the smell of the honeysuckles gives me
+the queerest sensation? I feel as if I had been here before, once long
+ago, ever so long. I can't remember when, and of course I haven't been,
+but isn't it curious? These old rooms are as familiar to me as if I had
+lived in them. I believe I could find my way blindfolded around the
+house."
+
+"I should like to see you try it," replied Ruth, "especially when you
+struck one of those back passages that lead off into nowhere in
+particular. But you are tired, Bab, dear," continued her friend, leaning
+over and patting her on the cheek. "Come along, now, and get dressed. I
+told Stephen and Alfred we would play them a game of tennis some time
+this morning."
+
+The girls found the two boys waiting in the hall to keep their
+appointment. Alfred was fast losing his shyness in the presence of these
+two wholesome and unaffected girls who could play tennis almost as well
+as he could, ride horseback, run a motor car, repel a highwayman with a
+pistol and not lose their heads when they needed to keep them most. But,
+what was more to the purpose, they were not in the least shy or afraid
+to speak out. They were full of high spirits and knew how to have a good
+time without appealing constantly to some everlasting governess who was
+always tagging after them, or asking mamma's permission. In fact, Alfred
+had suffered a change of heart. When he had heard the house party was to
+be increased by a number of girls he had bitterly repented ever having
+left England. By this time, however, he could not imagine a house party
+without girls, especially American girls.
+
+"I say, you know," he said to Ruth as they strolled toward the beautiful
+tennis court that was shaded, at one side, by a row of tall elm trees,
+"must I call you Ruth? I notice the other fellows do?"
+
+"Oh, well," replied Ruth, "we are none of us actually grown yet and what
+is the use of so much formality before it is really necessary? What do
+you do in England?"
+
+"In England," replied Alfred, "we don't call them anything. We don't see
+them except in the holidays, and then they are only sisters and
+cousins."
+
+"Isn't there any fun in sisters and cousins?" asked Ruth.
+
+"Well, they're not very jolly," replied the candid youth; "not as jolly
+as you, that is."
+
+Ruth laughed. By this time they had reached the court and were selecting
+racquets and tossing for sides.
+
+"Stephen, Ruth and I will play against you and Barbara," said Alfred
+rather testily. "What is the use of tossing when it was arranged
+beforehand?"
+
+"You seem rather eager, Alfred, my boy," replied Stephen. "I'm sure we
+have no objections, have we, Barbara?"
+
+"None," said Barbara, "At least I haven't. You may, however, when you
+hear that Ruth won the championship at Newport last summer."
+
+"You look to me like a pretty good player, too," said Stephen.
+
+Just then Jimmie Butler appeared, bearing a hammock and a book.
+
+"You can get in the next set, Jimmie," called Stephen. "We are just
+starting in on this one."
+
+"I don't care for the game," replied Jimmie. "I prefer a book 'neath the
+bough, especially as this house party seems to go in companies of twos.
+Every laddie has a lassie but me, so I've taken to literature."
+
+He waved his hand toward the garden, and then toward the walk leading
+from the house.
+
+In the old-fashioned flower garden, a stone's throw from the court,
+could be seen Miss Sallie and the major strolling along the paths,
+stopping occasionally to examine the late roses and smell the
+honeysuckle trained over wicker arches.
+
+In the direction of the house appeared Mollie and Grace, followed by
+Martin and Jose. The sound of their laughter floated over to Jimmie as
+he swung in his hammock.
+
+"Keep away, all," he called as he spread himself comfortably among the
+cushions and opened his book. "I intend to enter a monastery and take
+the vow of silence, and this is a good time to begin. It's easy because
+I have nobody to talk to."
+
+"What are you grumbling about, Jimmie?" asked the major, who came up
+just then with Miss Sallie.
+
+"Oh, nothing at all, Major," replied Jimmie. "I was only saying how
+delightful it was to see all you young people walking around this sylvan
+place in couples. It reminds me of my lost youth."
+
+"Jimmie's lonesome," exclaimed Martin. "We'll have to get up some more
+excitement if we want to keep him happy."
+
+"Very well," replied the major. "We will. The most exciting thing I can
+think of, just now, is to take a long ride in the automobiles, or go
+driving, whichever the ladies prefer, and wind up at the forest pool for
+tea. How does that strike you, Jimmie?"
+
+"It sounds fine," said Jimmie, "if you mean the haunted pool. It is a
+beautiful spot, and it has a new haunt since last you saw it, Major.
+It's haunted by water nymphs now."
+
+"Only nymphs in wading," cried Mollie, blushing. "Jimmie caught us in
+the act yesterday morning."
+
+"Oho!" exclaimed the major. "You really are little girls, after all, are
+you?"
+
+"Think of going in wading in that lonesome spot," said Grace, "and
+actually meeting somebody as casually as if you were walking up Fifth
+Avenue?"
+
+"You're likely to meet Jimmie anywhere," said Martin. "He's a regular
+Johnnie-on-the-spot. He is the first person to get up and the last one
+to go to bed. Excitements have a real attraction for him. Haven't they,
+Jimsy?" and Martin gave the hammock such an affectionate shake that
+Jimmie nearly fell out on his face.
+
+The luncheon gong rang out in the summer stillness, and they started
+toward the house, leaving the players to finish the game.
+
+"Jose," asked the major, putting his arm through the young Spaniard's,
+"have you any theories about last night?"
+
+"Yes," replied Jose. "I do not think it will do any good to hunt for the
+one who threw the knife. I have, in my country, an enemy. I believe it
+was he."
+
+"What?" cried the major. "He has followed you all the way to America,
+and your life is constantly in danger?"
+
+"I do not think he will come again," answered Jose. "At any rate, I am
+not afraid," he added, shrugging his shoulders, "and I can do nothing."
+
+"You could have him arrested," said Miss Sallie.
+
+"Yes, Madam, I could. But it would not be easy to catch him."
+
+"Dear, dear!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "What a dangerous country Spain
+must be to live in!"
+
+"No more dangerous than America, Madam, I find," replied Jose.
+
+"True enough," assented Miss Sallie, "since this is America and not
+Spain, and we find ourselves in a perfect hotbed of criminals. My dear
+John, I think we shall need a body-guard if we go out in the open this
+afternoon."
+
+"Well, Sallie," answered the courteous old man, "you shall have one in
+me and my nephews and their friends--a devoted body-guard, I assure
+you."
+
+At luncheon the feeling of good will which comes to friends who have
+just found each other, so to speak, had spread itself. Enjoyment was in
+the air and there were no discordant elements. All their troubles were
+of the past, and Bab determined to cast aside her suspicions and regard
+Jose in the light of a mysterious but otherwise exceedingly attractive
+foreigner. When she looked across the table into his clear, brown eyes,
+which regarded her sadly but without a single guilty quiver of the lids,
+she could not but believe that there had been some bitter mistake
+somewhere. He was lonely and strange, and there was something about him
+that aroused her pity. Everybody liked him; even Miss Sallie was
+attracted by his graceful and gentle manners.
+
+Luncheon over, everyone made ready for the auto trip, and it was not
+long before the two autos carrying a merry party, had set forth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII--CROSS QUESTIONS AND CROOKED ANSWERS
+
+
+After a long ride through the country, skirting the edge of the forest
+in which the highwayman had lurked, and where the smoke from the
+Gypsies' camp fire could be seen curling up in the distance, the two
+automobiles took to the river road.
+
+Ruth was steering her own car with Alfred beside her; behind them on the
+small seat sat Jose and Mollie, and on the back seat were Bab and
+Stephen. As they skimmed over the bridge, which had been repaired by the
+major's men, Mollie said to Jose:
+
+"Was the bridge all right, Mr. Martinez, when you came over it the other
+day?"
+
+The Spaniard flushed and his eye caught Bab's, who was gazing at him
+curiously.
+
+"Yes, no--or rather, I do not know," he stammered. "I did not come by
+the bridge but through the forest."
+
+"But how did you find the way?" asked Mollie, wondering a little at his
+embarrassment.
+
+"I asked it," he replied, "of a Gypsy."
+
+"Oh, really?" cried Mollie. "And did she tell you?"
+
+"It was not a woman," went on Jose. "It was a man."
+
+"And did he know the way? Because they told us they did not, perhaps
+because they didn't want to be disturbed so late in the evening."
+
+"Perhaps," said Jose, and changed the subject by asking Stephen whose
+was the large estate they were now approaching. It was that of a famous
+millionaire, and their attention was for the moment distracted. Jose
+seemed to breath a sigh of relief and engaged Mollie in conversation for
+the rest of the ride, telling her about his own country, the bull fights
+and carnivals and a hundred other things of interest until the little
+girl had quite forgotten his confusion at the mention of the damaged
+bridge.
+
+On the way back the automobiles turned into the wooded road, but before
+they reached the Gypsy camp they turned again into another road pointed
+out by Martin in the first car. The road led directly through the forest
+to the haunted pool, where the automobiles drew up. The pool, in the
+late afternoon sunlight, was more enchanting than ever.
+
+"This is a famous spot in the neighborhood," observed the major. "When I
+was a boy it was the scene of many a picnic and frolic. People in these
+parts were more neighborly in those days. The girls and boys used to
+meet and ride in wagons or on horseback over here. We ate our luncheons
+on this mossy bank; then strolled about in couples until dark and drove
+home by moonlight."
+
+"The Gypsy girl told us it was really haunted, Major," said Ruth. "She
+even said she had seen the ghost."
+
+"Indeed," replied the major, looking up a little startled, "and what
+sort of ghost was it?"
+
+"Just a figure sitting here on the bank," answered Ruth.
+
+"Oh!" he exclaimed in a tone of evident relief.
+
+"Why, Major," cried Miss Sallie, "one would think you believed in
+ghosts."
+
+"And so I do, Sallie, my dear," declared the gentle old major, "but only
+in the ghosts of my lost youth, which seem to appear to me to-day in the
+forms of all these delightful young people. What about tea, Miss Ruth
+Stuart?" he demanded, turning to Ruth.
+
+The chauffeur brought out the elaborate tea basket which had served them
+so well at the Gypsy camp and Ruth and Barbara proceeded to make the tea
+while the other girls unpacked boxes of delicious sandwiches and tea
+cakes.
+
+"This is a very beautiful spot," observed Jose. "If it were perpetual
+summer I could live and die on this mossy bank and never tire of it!"
+Walking a little apart from the others he stretched himself out at full
+length on the ground, staring up into the branches overhead.
+
+Then the other boys, who had been strolling about under the trees,
+returned, but they were not alone. They had espied Zerlina in the depths
+of the woods, with her guitar slung over her shoulder, and persuaded her
+to go back with them to the pool.
+
+"You see we've brought a wandering minstrel with us," cried Jimmie. "She
+has promised to sing us a song of the Romany Rye, haven't you, Zerlina?"
+
+The girls greeted Zerlina cordially. She was presented to the major, but
+Jose, as she approached, had turned over on his side and flung his arm
+over his head, as if he were asleep.
+
+"Leave him alone. He's dreaming," said Jimmie. "Give Zerlina some tea
+and cake, and then we'll have a song."
+
+Zerlina ate the cake greedily and drank her tea in silence. She examined
+the fresh summer dresses of "The Automobile Girls," and a look of envy
+came into her eyes as she cast them down on her cotton skirt full of
+tatters from the briars and faded from red into a soft old pink shade.
+But she was very pretty, even in her ragged dress, which was turned in
+at the collar showing her full, rounded throat and shapely neck. She was
+lithe and graceful, and as she thrummed on the guitar with her slender,
+brown fingers her ragged dress and rough shoes faded into
+insignificance. The group of people sitting on the bank saw only a
+beautiful, dark-haired girl with a glowing face and eyes that shone with
+a smouldering fire. After a few preliminary chords she began to sing in
+a rich contralto voice. The song again was in the Romany tongue. It
+seemed to convey to the listeners a note of sadness and loneliness.
+
+The kind old major was much impressed by the performance.
+
+"Zerlina," he said, "you have a very beautiful voice, much too beautiful
+to be wasted. You must ask your grandmother to bring you over to Ten
+Eyck Hall. I should like to hear you sing again."
+
+"Zerlina will be a great opera singer, one of these days," predicted
+Jimmie. "She will be singing Carmen, yet, at the Manhattan Opera House.
+How would you like that, Zerlina?"
+
+The Gypsy girl made no reply. Her eyes were fastened on Jose, who still
+lay as if asleep, his back turned to the circle.
+
+"She can dance, too," cried Ruth. "She told me she could. This would be
+a pretty place to dance, Zerlina, where the fairies dance by moonlight."
+
+"I have no music," objected Zerlina.
+
+"Oh, I can make the music all right," said the irrepressible Jimmie,
+seizing the guitar and tuning it up. Then he began to whistle. The tone
+was clear and flute-like and the tune the same Spanish dance he had
+played for Jose. Zerlina pricked up her ears when she heard the music
+and the rhythm of the guitar. It is said that no Gypsy can ever resist
+the sound of music. Now the body of the girl began swaying to the beat
+of the accompaniment. Presently she began to dance, a real Spanish dance
+full of gestures and movement. They half guessed the story woven in, a
+lover repelled and called back, coquetted with and threatened;
+threatened with a knife which she drew from the blouse of her dress and
+then restored to its hiding place; for the dance ended quickly without
+disaster, imaginary or otherwise. Miss Sallie had given a little cry at
+sight of another murderous weapon. But the knife! Had no one seen it, no
+one recognized the chased silver handle and the slightly curved blade?
+Bab sat as if rooted to the spot, waiting for somebody to speak, to cry
+out that the knife was the same that had whizzed past Jose's head the
+other night. After all, nobody had really seen it but herself. She had
+learned by a former experience to keep her own counsel, and she decided
+to wait, and not to tell until matters took a more definite turn.
+
+Was it possible this beautiful Gypsy girl could be a murderess, or one
+at heart? But, on the other hand, would she have dared to display the
+mysterious dagger in the presence of the same company? Bab was puzzled
+and worried. Was Zerlina a robber also, or was Jose, after all, the
+robber? Perhaps there was some connection between them. There must be,
+since they had exchanged knives on several occasions.
+
+Her reflections were interrupted by a general movement toward the
+automobiles. Zerlina was evidently pleased at the praises she had
+received, for her cheeks were flushed with pride.
+
+"Won't you let us see your dagger, Zerlina?" asked Bab.
+
+"Oh, yes, do!" begged Mollie. "It will be the third dagger we have seen
+this week; but this is the first chance we have had to take a good look
+at any of them."
+
+Zerlina looked at them darkly. Her lips drew themselves together in a
+stubborn line.
+
+"I cannot, now," she said. "Perhaps, another time. Good-bye." She
+slipped off into the woods as quietly as one of the spirits which were
+said to haunt the place.
+
+"Gypsies are so tiresome," exclaimed Miss Sallie. "Why shouldn't she
+show her dagger, I'd like to know? And who cares whether she does or
+not, anyhow?"
+
+"If you had ever read any books on Gypsies, Sallie," replied the major,
+"you would know that their lives are full of things they must keep
+secret if they want to keep out of jail. However, these Gypsies seem
+peaceable enough," he added, his kindly spirit never liking to condemn
+anything until it was necessary. "But what a beautiful girl she is!" he
+continued. "If she were properly dressed she would be as noble and
+elegant looking as"--he paused for a comparison--"as our own young
+ladies here. I wonder if her grandmother would ever consent to her being
+educated and taught singing?"
+
+"Now, Major," cried the impetuous Ruth, "keep on your own preserves! I
+asked her first, and I'm just dying to do it. I know papa would let me,
+and wouldn't it be a beautiful thing to launch a great singer upon the
+public?"
+
+"It certainly would, my dear," replied the major, "and I promise not to
+meddle, if you had first choice."
+
+"Why, where's Mr. Martinez?" asked Mollie, as they climbed into the
+automobiles and she missed her companion of the ride over.
+
+One of the boys gave a shrill whistle and the others began calling and
+shouting. Presently the answer came from up the stream. "I'm coming," he
+called and Jose appeared. "I was only taking a little stroll."
+
+"Why did you wish to miss the Gypsy song and dance?" demanded Mollie.
+"It was charming."
+
+"Pardon, Mademoiselle," he replied, stiffly, "but I do not care to hear
+the songs of my country, or to see its dances in a foreign land."
+
+Mollie was a little piqued by Jose's short answer, but she forgave him
+when he said sadly:
+
+"Did you ever know, Madamoiselle, what it is to be homesick?"
+
+"But I thought you said you liked America?" she persisted.
+
+"So I do," he replied; "nevertheless, there are times when I feel very
+lonely. You will forgive me, will you not. Was I rude?"
+
+In the meantime Stephen said to Barbara:
+
+"Bab, are you a good walker? How would you like to take a short cut
+through the woods to-morrow morning, and visit the hermit who lives on
+the other side? We can't ride or drive very well, because it is too far
+by the road, but it is only about five miles when we walk. I haven't
+been there for several years, but I know the way well. I suppose the
+hermit is still alive. At least, he was all right last summer, so John
+the butler told me. Anybody else who wishes may go along, but nobody
+shall come who will lag behind and complain of the distance."
+
+"I am good for a ten mile walk," replied Barbara. "I have done it many a
+time at home."
+
+"The woods grow more and more interesting the deeper you go into them,"
+continued Stephen. "There are places where the sun never comes through,
+and the whole way is cool and shaded. It is full of people, too. You
+would be surprised to find how many people make a living in a forest.
+They are perfectly harmless, of course, or else I wouldn't be taking you
+among them. Besides the Gypsies, there are woodcutters, old men and
+women who gather herbs, and a few lonely people who live in cabins on
+the edge of the forest and have little gardens. Uncle has always helped
+them, in the winter, without asking who they were or why they were
+there. Then there's the hermit. He is the most interesting of the lot.
+He is as old as the hills and he has a secret that he would never tell,
+the secret of who he is and why he has lived alone for some forty
+years."
+
+"How interesting!" exclaimed Bab. "I hope Miss Sallie won't object."
+
+"We shall have to get the major on our side," replied Stephen, "and
+perhaps win her over, too."
+
+"Oh, she is not really so strict," replied Bab, "but she feels the
+responsibility of looking after other peoples' children, she says."
+
+"Here we are," said Stephen, as the cars stopped at Ten Eyck Hall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV--IN THE DEEP WOODS
+
+
+It was not such a difficult matter, after all, to win permission from
+Miss Sallie and the major to take the walk through the forest. The major
+explained to Miss Sallie that Stephen was a safe and careful guide who
+knew the country by heart, and that if the girls were equal to the walk
+there would be no danger in the excursion. The party, however, dwindled
+to five persons, Bab and Ruth, Stephen, Jimmie and Alfred. The latter
+appeared early, equipped for the walk, carrying a heavy cane, his
+trousers turned up over stout boots.
+
+"Now, Stephen," said Miss Sallie, "I want you to promise me to take good
+care of the girls. You say the woods are not dangerous, although a
+highwayman stepped out of them one evening and attacked us with a knife.
+But I take your word for it, since the major says it is safe and I see
+Alfred is armed."
+
+Everybody laughed at this, and Alfred looked conscious and blushed.
+
+"Doesn't one carry a cane in this country?" he asked.
+
+"Not often at your age, my boy," replied Jimmie. "But I daresay it will
+serve to beat a trail through the underbrush."
+
+"Come along, girls; let's be off," cried Stephen, who at heart was
+almost a Gypsy, and loved a long tramp through the woods. He had
+strapped over his shoulder a goodly sized box of lunch, and the
+cavalcade started cheerfully down the walk that led toward the forest, a
+compact mass of foliage lying to the left of them.
+
+"Isn't this fun?" demanded Jimmie. "I feel just in the humor for a
+lark."
+
+"I hope you can climb fences, girls," called Stephen over his shoulder,
+as he trudged along, ahead of the others.
+
+"We could even climb a tree if we had to," answered Bab, "or swim a
+creek."
+
+"Or ride a horse bareback," interrupted Jimmie, who had heard the story
+of Bab's escapade on the road to Newport.
+
+"This is the end of uncle's land," said Stephen, at last. "We now find
+ourselves entering the black forest. Here's the trail," he called as the
+others helped the two girls over the dividing fence.
+
+"All right, Scout Stephen," replied Jimmie. "We are following close
+behind. Proceed with the march."
+
+Sure enough, there was a distinct road leading straight into the forest,
+formed by ruts from cartwheels, probably the carts of the woodcutters,
+Stephen explained. The edges of the wood were rather thin and scant,
+like the meagre fringe on a man's head just beginning to turn bald at
+the temples; but as they marched deeper into the forest, the trees grew
+so thickly that their branches overhead formed a canopy like a roof.
+Squirrels and chipmunks scampered across their path and occasionally a
+rabbit could be seen scurrying through the underbrush.
+
+"Isn't this great!" exclaimed Stephen, after they had been walking for
+some time. "Uncle says there's scarcely such another wood in this part
+of the country."
+
+"Don't speak so loud, Stephen," said Jimmie. "It is so quiet here, I
+feel as if we would wake something, if we spoke above a whisper."
+
+"Let's wake the echoes," replied Stephen and he gave a yodel familiar to
+all boys, a sort of trilling in the head and throat that is melodious in
+sound and carries further than an ordinary call. Immediately there was
+an answer to the yodel. It might have seemed an echo, only there was no
+place for an echo in this shut-in spot.
+
+They all stopped and listened as the answer died away among the branches
+of the trees.
+
+"Curious," said Jimmie. "It was rather close, too. Perhaps one of your
+woodcutters is playing a trick on us, Stephen. Suppose we try again, and
+see what happens!" Jimmie gave another yodel, louder and longer than the
+first. As they paused and listened, the answer came again like an echo,
+this time even nearer.
+
+"Let's investigate," proposed Alfred. "I think it came from over there,"
+and he led the way through the trees toward the echo.
+
+"Halloo-o," he called, "who are you?" and the answer came back
+"Halloo-o, who are you?" followed by a mocking laugh.
+
+"Well, after all, it isn't any of our business who you are," cried
+Stephen, exasperated, "and I don't think we had better leave the trail
+just here for a fellow who is afraid to come out and show himself," he
+added in a lower tone.
+
+There was no reply and they returned to the cartwheel road and began the
+march again.
+
+"You were quite right, Stephen," said Ruth, "why should we waste our
+time over an idler who plays tricks on people?"
+
+There was another laugh, which seemed to come from high up in the
+branches; then sounds like the chattering of squirrels, followed by low
+whistles and bird calls. They examined the branches of the trees around
+them, but there was nothing in sight.
+
+"Oh, go along!" exclaimed Alfred angrily. "Only cowards hide behind
+trees. Brave men show themselves."
+
+Silence greeted this sally, also, and they trudged on through the forest
+without any further effort to see the annoyer. Several times acorn
+shells whizzed past their heads, and once Jimmie made a running jump,
+thinking he saw some one behind a tree, but returned crestfallen. A
+surprise was in store for them, however. They had been walking for some
+time when the trail, which hitherto had run straight through the middle
+of the wood, gave a sudden and unexpected turn, to avoid a depression in
+the land, overgrown with vines and small trees, and now dry from the
+drought.
+
+They paused a moment on the curve of the path to look across at the
+graceful little hollow which seemed to be the meeting place of slender
+young pine trees and silver birches gleaming white among the dark green
+branches.
+
+"How like people they look," Bab whispered. She never knew just why she
+did so. "Like girls in white dresses at a party."
+
+"And the pine trees are the men," whispered Jimmie. "Look," he said
+excitedly, under his breath, "there's a man! Perhaps it's the----"
+
+He stopped short and his voice died away in amazement. Barbara said
+"Sh-h-h!" and the others paused in wonder. Just emerging from the hollow
+on the other side, was the figure of a man. All eyes saw him at the same
+moment and two pairs of eyes at least recognized a green velveteen
+hunting suit. As the figure turned for one brief instant and scanned the
+forest they saw his face in a flash.
+
+"It's Jose!" they gasped.
+
+"Bab," exclaimed Ruth, "he is wearing the green velveteens!"
+
+"I know it," replied her friend. "But are we sure it was Jose?"
+
+"No; we aren't sure," answered Stephen. "It certainly looked like Jose,
+but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, at any rate."
+
+From beyond the hollow came another yodel.
+
+"By Jove!" said Jimmie, "nothing but a tricky foreigner, after all, and
+I was just beginning to like him too."
+
+"He's more than a trickster," Bab whispered. "He's wearing a green
+velveteen suit."
+
+"Well, what of it?" asked Stephen.
+
+"It's the same suit the highwayman wore who slashed the tires of the
+automobile."
+
+"Whew-w-w!" cried the boys.
+
+"Be careful," whispered Ruth. "Don't let him hear us. Do you think he
+saw us?"
+
+"No," replied Alfred, "or he would never have yodeled."
+
+Barbara began to consider. Should she tell about the knife, or should
+she wait? She believed that if she told it would only complicate matters
+and bring Zerlina, the Gypsy girl, into the muddle. Suppose she told,
+and then, when they reached home, they found that Jose had been away
+that morning? It would immediately call down upon him the suspicions of
+the whole party, suspicions perhaps undeserved. Bab had never had cause
+to regret her ability to keep a secret, and she concluded to test it
+again by holding her peace a little longer.
+
+"Jose or no Jose, let's go on and have our good time," exclaimed
+Stephen. "Everything depends on whether Jose was at home or not this
+morning. If he wasn't, why, then he'll have to give an account of
+himself. And if he was, we shall have to consult uncle about what to do.
+We will hunt the man out of these woods, anyway. He has no business
+lurking around here."
+
+Once more they started off, and were not troubled again by the yodler.
+
+Presently the jangle of a bell was heard in the distance, a pleasant
+musical tinkle in the midst of the green stillness of the forest.
+
+"What on earth is _that_?" exclaimed Ruth, a little nervous now from the
+nearness of the robber.
+
+"If I am not mistaken," replied Stephen, "that is old Adam, the
+woodcutter. He has been living in these woods all his life, seventy
+years or more. He looks almost like a tree himself, he is so gnarled and
+weather-beaten and bent."
+
+In a few moments the woodman's cart hove into sight, drawn by a bony old
+horse from whose collar jangled the little bell. The cart was loaded
+with bundles of wood, and Adam walked at the side holding the rope lines
+in one hand and flourishing a whip in the other, the lash of which he
+carefully kept away from his horse, which was ambling along at its
+pleasure.
+
+"Good day, Adam," said Stephen. "How are you, and how is the wood
+business?"
+
+"Why, it's Mr. Stephen!" cried the old man, touching his cap with one of
+his knotted hands. "The wood business is good, sir. We manage to live,
+my wife and I. Although I'm wishin' t'was something else kept us going.
+I never fell a tree, sir, I don't feel I'm killin' something alive. They
+are fine old trees," he went on, patting the bark of a silver birch
+affectionately. "I would not kill one of these white ladies, sir, if you
+was to pay me a hundred dollars!"
+
+"It's a shame, Adam," replied Stephen. "It must be like cutting down
+your own family, you have lived among them for so many years. How is the
+hermit? Do you give him enough wood to keep him alive in the winter?"
+
+"He's not been himself of late," answered Adam, lowering his voice.
+"He's always strange at this time of the year."
+
+"Do you think he'll see us if we go over?" asked Stephen.
+
+"I think so, sir," replied Adam. "No matter how bad off he is, he's
+always kind. I never see him angry."
+
+"Well, good-bye, Adam, and good luck to you," said Stephen, dropping a
+piece of money into the wrinkled palm, and they continued their journey
+through the wood.
+
+The little bell resumed its tinkle, and the cart was soon out of sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV--THE HERMIT
+
+
+"Do you know," exclaimed Ruth, "I feel as if I were in an enchanted
+forest, and these strange people were witches and wizards! The robber
+might have been a wood-elf, and now here comes the old witch. Perhaps
+she will turn us into trees and animals."
+
+"Oh, that is old Jennie, who gathers herbs and sells them at all the
+drugstores in the towns around here," replied Stephen, as a strange
+figure came into view.
+
+The gatherer of herbs and roots was not, however, very witchlike in
+appearance. She was tall and erect, and walked with long strides like a
+grenadier. What was most remarkable about her were her wide, staring
+blue eyes, like patches of sky, that looked far beyond the young people
+who had grouped themselves at the side of the path almost timidly,
+waiting for her to come up. She carried with her a staff, and as she
+walked she poked the bushes and grasses with it as if it had been a long
+finger feeling for trophies. The other hand grasped the end of an apron
+made of an old sack, stuffed full of herbs still green, and fragrant
+from having been bruised as she crushed them into the bag.
+
+"She is blind," whispered Stephen, "but in a minute she will perceive
+that some one is near. She has a scent as keen as a hunting dog's."
+
+A few yards away from them old Jennie paused and sniffed the air like an
+animal. Reaching out with her stick she felt around her. Presently the
+staff pointed in the direction of the boys and girls, and she came
+toward them as straight as a hunter after his quarry. The girls, a
+little frightened, started to draw back.
+
+"She won't hurt you," whispered Stephen. "Why, Jennie," he said in a
+louder voice, "don't you know your old friend and playmate?"
+
+A smile broke out on Jennie's handsome face, which, in spite of her age,
+was as smooth and placid as a child's.
+
+"It's Master Stephen!" she cried, in a strange voice that sounded rusty
+from lack of use. "I be glad to hear you, sir. It's a long time since
+we've had a frolic in the woods. You don't hunt birds' nests in the
+summer now, or go wading in the streams. I found a wasps' nest for you,
+perhaps it was a month, perhaps a year ago, I cannot remember. But I
+saved it for you. And how is young Master Martin? He was a little fellow
+to climb so high for the nests."
+
+"We are both well, Jennie, and you must come over to the hall and see
+us. We may have something nice for you, there, that will keep you warm
+when the snow comes."
+
+"Ah, you're a good boy, Master Stephen, and I'll bid ye good day now,
+and good day to your friends. There be four with you I think," she added
+in a lower voice, sniffing the air again. "I'll be over on my next trip
+to the village." Old Jennie moved off as swiftly as she had come,
+tapping the path with her long stick, her head thrown back as if to see
+with her nostrils, since her eyes were without sight.
+
+"What a strange old woman!" cried Stephen's companions in one voice.
+
+"And the strangest thing about her," replied Stephen, "is that she has
+no sense of time. She can't remember whether a thing happened a year ago
+or month ago, and she thinks Martin and I are still little boys. We
+haven't hunted birds' nests with her for six years. I have not even seen
+her for two or three years, but she sniffed me out as quickly as if I
+always used triple extract of tuberose."
+
+"Where does she live?" asked Bab.
+
+"She lives in a little cabin off in the forest somewhere. Her father and
+mother were woodcutters. She was born and brought up right here. She
+doesn't know anything but herbs and roots, and night and day are the
+same to her. She knows every square foot of this country, and never gets
+lost. Martin and I used to go about with her when we were little boys,
+and she was as faithful a nurse as you could possibly find."
+
+"No wonder you love these woods, Stephen," said Bab. "There is so much
+to do and see in them. I wish we had something better than scrub oak
+around Kingsbridge."
+
+"Wait until you see the chief treasure of the woods, Barbara, and you'll
+have even more respect for them."
+
+"Meaning the hermit?" asked Jimmie.
+
+"But he won't tell anything, will he?" demanded Ruth. "Didn't you say he
+was a mystery?"
+
+"The greatest mystery of the countryside," replied Stephen. "Nobody
+knows where he came from, nor why he has been living here all these
+years--it's about fifty, they say. You see, he is not ignorant, like the
+other wood people. He is a gentleman. His manners are as fine as
+uncle's, and the people who live in the woods all love him. They come to
+him when they are sick or in trouble."
+
+"How does he live?" asked Alfred.
+
+"He must have some money hidden away somewhere, for he always has enough
+to eat, and even to give when others need help. But nobody knows where
+he keeps it. In a hole in the ground somewhere, I suppose."
+
+While they were talking they had approached a clearing on the side of a
+hill. Most of the big trees had been cut away, and only the silver
+birch, "the white ladies," as old Adam had christened them, and the
+dogwood, mingled their shade over the smooth turf. The grass was as
+thick and well kept as on the major's lawn, only somewhat browned now
+for lack of water. All the bushes and undergrowth had been cleared away
+years before, and the place had a lived-in, homelike look in contrast to
+the great black forest that seemed to be crouching at its feet like a
+monster guarding it from the enemy. And indeed, that must have been what
+the mysterious man had intended when he built his little house at the
+top of the hill, for five miles of woods intervened between him and the
+outer world on one side, while on the other, was a high precipice that
+marked the end of the forest.
+
+The house, a log cabin with a big stone chimney at one end, commanded a
+view, from the back, of a long stretch of valley. The portico in front
+was shaded by honeysuckle vines. Here, in an old-fashioned armchair, sat
+the master smoking a meerschaum pipe.
+
+Stephen approached somewhat diffidently, taking off his cap.
+
+"May we rest here a little, sir?" he asked. "We have walked a long way
+this morning."
+
+"You are most welcome," said the old man in a deep, musical voice that
+gave the young people a thrill of pleasure. They looked at him
+curiously. He was tall and erect, with a beak-nose and black eyes that
+still had some of their youthful fire in them, despite the man's great
+age and his snow white hair.
+
+"Come in, and we will bring some chairs out for the young ladies."
+
+Stephen followed their host into the house while, through the open door,
+the others caught a glimpse of an enormous open fireplace and walls
+lined with books. The girls took the proffered chairs and sat down
+rather stiffly, while the old man reappeared, carrying a bucket and a
+gourd.
+
+"Perhaps you are thirsty. Will you draw some water from the well?" he
+asked, turning to Stephen. He stopped abruptly and looked closely at the
+boy. "Why, it's little Stephen," he exclaimed, and with an expression
+half of pain, half pleasure, he added, "grown to be a man and how
+like"----But he paused and turned hastily away.
+
+"I am glad to see you, sir," replied Stephen, politely. He never knew
+exactly how to address the hermit, and he found not knowing his name
+somewhat awkward. "May I introduce my friends? Miss Ruth Stuart, Miss
+Barbara Thurston, Alfred Marsdale and Jimmie Butler."
+
+The old man bowed to the company as gracefully as if he had been
+receiving guests in a fine mansion.
+
+"The names are," he repeated gently, "Miss Ruth Stuart and--did I hear
+you aright--Miss----?"
+
+"Barbara Thurston," finished Stephen.
+
+"Barbara Thurston?" repeated the old man under his breath. "Barbara
+Thurston! Come here, my child, and let me look at you," he added, in an
+agitated voice.
+
+Barbara obediently came forward and stood before the hermit, who had
+covered his eyes with his hand for a moment, as if he were afraid to see
+her face.
+
+"Barbara Thurston!" he exclaimed again. "Little Barbara!" And drawing
+from his pocket a pair of horn spectacles, he put them on and examined
+her features. He seemed to have forgotten the others. Suddenly he
+removed the spectacles and looked up in a dazed way.
+
+"On the very day! The very day!" he cried, and waving his arms over his
+head in a wild appeal to heaven, he turned and rushed down the hillside.
+In another moment the forest had swallowed him up, while the five young
+people stood staring after him in amazement.
+
+"Well, of all the rummy old chaps!" exclaimed Alfred.
+
+"Oh, he's touched of course," said Stephen, tapping his head. "He must
+be. You know old Adam said he's always pretty bad at this time of the
+year. I suppose it is the anniversary of something. But, Barbara, what
+do you mean by going and stirring up memories?"
+
+"It wasn't I; it was my name," replied Barbara. "Once there was a girl
+named Barbara, but the rest of the story can never be written, because
+he won't tell what it is."
+
+"Let's have a peep at the house before we go," said Jimmie, "and then
+let's eat. I'm starving."
+
+"All right," said Stephen. "Step right in and have a look for
+yourselves, but hurry up before the old gentleman comes back."
+
+The place was certainly comfortable and cosy-looking, in spite of the
+wooden walls and bare floors. It was spick and span and clean, kept that
+way by Adam's wife, Stephen explained. There were a great many books,
+some of them in foreign languages, two big easy-chairs near the open
+fireplace, and on an old mahogany table, the only other piece of
+furniture in the room, a brown earthenware jar filled with honeysuckle.
+Only one picture hung on the wall, a small miniature suspended from a
+nail just over the pot of flowers. Ruth examined the picture closely.
+Besides his books, she thought, this little miniature was perhaps the
+only link with the outer world that the old man had permitted himself to
+keep.
+
+"Come here, everybody, quick," she called, "and look at this miniature.
+As I live, it's enough like Bab to be a picture of her, except for the
+old-fashioned dress and long ringlets."
+
+They looked at the picture carefully, taking it down from its nail in
+order to see it in the light.
+
+"My word!" exclaimed Jimmie. "It's as good a likeness as you could wish
+to find. It must have been the resemblance that gave the old man the
+fit, then, and not the name."
+
+The miniature showed the face of a young girl, somewhat older than
+Barbara, but certainly very like her in features and expression. She had
+the same laughing mouth and frank, brown eyes, the same chestnut hair
+curling in crisp ringlets around the forehead, but caught up loosely in
+the back in a net and tied with a velvet snood. She wore a bodice of
+rose-colored taffeta cut low in the neck, and fastened coquettishly
+among the curls was a pink flower.
+
+"Who is it, Barbara?" asked Stephen. "Have you any idea?"
+
+"I can't imagine," replied Bab. "Perhaps it's just a coincidence. I am
+not an uncommon type and may have lots of doubles. There are many people
+in this world who have brown eyes and brown hair. You meet them at every
+turn."
+
+"Yes," said Ruth, "but all of them haven't regular features and little
+crisp curls, and just that particular expression. However, we must go.
+We shouldn't like the hermit to come back and find us prying into his
+affairs. And that is why he is here, evidently--to hide from pryers."
+
+"Yes," agreed Stephen, "I really do think we had better be going. I know
+a pretty little dell where we can eat lunch if Jimmie can restrain his
+appetite until we get there."
+
+"Well, cut along, then," ordered Jimmie, "and let us hasten to the
+banquet hall."
+
+Closing the door carefully behind them the young folks hurried toward
+the woodcutters' road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI--A SURPRISE
+
+
+When the last sandwich had been eaten, and the last crumb of cake
+disposed of, the picnic party leaned lazily against the moss-covered
+trunk of a fallen tree to discuss the events of the morning.
+
+Jose was the subject of the talk. All were inclined to believe, now,
+that they had been deceived by the strong resemblance between the young
+Spaniard and the mischievous person who had mystified them in the woods
+that morning. It seemed impossible that Jose was a thief, or that he
+could have been guilty of such trifling trickery as the individual in
+the robber's clothes. Jose, quiet and reserved though he was, had become
+a favorite with the young people.
+
+"It is strange," said Ruth. "He must have the nameless charm, because
+there is not one of us who does not like him. As for me, I feel sorry
+for him. And why, I'd like to know?"
+
+"It's his mournful black eye, my dear young lady," replied Jimmie.
+
+"Whatever it is," said Stephen, decisively, "we must not make any
+accusations without knowing, for certain, that we are right. It is
+rather an uncomfortable situation, I think, considering he is uncle's
+guest."
+
+"It is, indeed," replied Alfred, "and I vote that we say not a word to
+anyone until we find out where Jose spent the morning."
+
+"Agreed by all," cried Jimmie. "Am I right, girls?"
+
+The two girls assented, and the matter was settled.
+
+"I think we had better be moving on toward home, now," said Stephen, "if
+we want to escape a scolding from Miss Stuart."
+
+"All right, general," replied Jimmie. "The bivouac is at an end. Rise,
+soldiers, and follow your leader." He cocked his hat, turned up his coat
+collar and struck a Napoleon pose.
+
+There was a stifled laugh, from behind a clump of alder bushes--a coarse
+laugh that made the boys look up quickly and uneasily.
+
+"What was that?" asked Ruth, frightened.
+
+Without waiting for a reply, Alfred divided the bushes with his cane
+disclosing three pairs of eyes gazing impudently at them. Three figures
+untangled themselves from the bushes and rose stiffly, as if they had
+been lying concealed there for a long time. The girls gave a stifled cry
+of alarm, for each recognized the giant tramp, who had attacked them
+near the churchyard of Sleepy Hollow; and his companions were probably
+the same, although the girls had not seen them at that time. The leader
+of the three roughs did not recognize them, however. He had been too
+much intoxicated to remember their faces; but he was sober, now, and in
+an uglier mood than when he had been in his cups.
+
+"So ho!" he cried. "We have here five rich, young persons--rich with the
+money they have no right to--stolen money--stolen from me and mine.
+While we beg and tramp, and dress in rags, you throw away the money we
+have earned for you. Well, we won't have it. Will we, pals? We'll get
+back some of the money that belongs to us by rights. You'll hand out
+what you've got in your pockets, and, if it ain't enough, we'll keep you
+into the bargain until your fathers they pays for your release. D'ye
+see? Ho! Ho!" He roared out a terrible laugh until the woods resounded.
+
+The three boys had lined up in front of the two girls and Stephen had
+called to them reassuringly over his shoulder:
+
+"Start on, girls. You know the path. Follow it the way we came. If you
+meet Adam, ask him to go with you, or even old Jennie. Don't be
+frightened. It'll be all right, but we've got to fight."
+
+Barbara and Ruth, both very calm and pale, were standing silently,
+waiting for orders.
+
+"Do you think we could help by staying, Bab?" asked Ruth.
+
+"I don't know, dear," replied Bab. "Wait, and let me think a moment."
+She closed her eyes and her moving lips repeated the little prayer:
+"Heaven, make me calm in the face of danger," but in that moment the
+fight had begun. The two girls stood fascinated, rooted to the spot.
+
+Stephen, who was a trained boxer, had tackled the leader and had managed
+to give him several straight blows, at the same time dodging the
+badly-aimed blows from the big fist of his opponent. Alfred had
+purposely chosen the next largest tramp, leaving a small, wiry man for
+Jimmie to grapple with. Alfred, also, had been carefully trained in the
+arts of boxing and wrestling; but his opponent was no mean match for
+him, and the two presently were rolling over and over on the ground,
+their faces covered with dust and blood. Poor Jimmie was not a fighter.
+All his life he had shunned gymnasiums, preferring to thrum the piano or
+the guitar, or invent models for airships. However, the boy was no
+coward and he went at his enemy with a will that was lacking in force
+only because he himself lacked the muscle to give it. But the wiry
+fellow who had been his portion was evidently the best-trained fighter
+of the three tramps, and it was only a few moments before Jimmie was
+bleeding from the nose and one eye was blacked. It looked as if Alfred,
+too, were getting the worst of it, while Stephen and his tramp were
+still raining blows upon each other, jumping about in a circle. Bab
+longed to help Jimmie, but she saw, and Ruth agreed, that they would do
+more harm than good.
+
+The two girls decided to run for help, even if they had to run all the
+way to Ten Eyck Hall, especially as, in the midst of the scrimmage,
+Stephen had called out to them to hurry up.
+
+Making the best speed they could through the brambles and ferns, they
+had gone not more than a few rods when, pausing in their flight, they
+found themselves face to face with blind Jennie.
+
+"What is happening?" demanded the old woman in a terrified whisper. "I
+hear the sound of blows. I smell blood."
+
+"There is a fight, Jennie," replied Bab, almost sobbing in her
+excitement. "We must get help quickly from somewhere. Are the Gypsies
+far from here?"
+
+"Yes," answered Jennie. "Not so near as the hall. But wait! Come with
+me," and her face was illumined by the expression of one who is about to
+reveal a well-kept secret.
+
+"But, Jennie, is it help you are bringing us?" asked Ruth, demurring a
+little.
+
+"You may trust old Jennie," exclaimed the blind woman. "Be ye not the
+friends of young Master Stephen?"
+
+The two girls followed without a word.
+
+Almost in sight of the fighters, she paused by the stump of a hollow
+tree which, when rolled away by her strong arm, disclosed a sort of
+trapdoor underneath. Lifting the door, crudely constructed with strips
+of wood, the bark still on, the girls saw a small underground chamber
+dug out like a cellar. The walls were shored up with split trees which
+also did duty as cross beams. There was a rough, hand-made ladder at the
+opening, and at one side a shelf on which was neatly folded--could they
+believe their eyes--the suit of green velveteen. Old Jennie, who seemed
+to be peering down into the cavity with her sightless blue eyes, shook
+Bab's arm impatiently.
+
+"Get the firearms," she whispered. "They be on the shelf. I felt them
+there last time."
+
+Sure enough, lying in the shadow at the far end of the shelf the girls
+made out two pistols gleaming ominously in the dark. Without a word, Bab
+bounded down the ladder, and seizing the pistols was up again almost as
+quickly.
+
+"Ruth," she said, "have you forgotten our rifle practice in the
+Berkshires?"
+
+"No," replied her friend. "All you have to do is to cock it and pull the
+trigger, isn't it?"
+
+"That's right," answered Bab. "Take this one and come on. They are both
+loaded, I see. Don't fire unless I tell you, and be careful where you
+aim. You had better point up so as not to hit anybody. Jennie, wait for
+us over here. I believe you have saved us all."
+
+So saying, Bab ran, followed by Ruth, to the scene of the battle. And it
+was indeed a battle! Jimmie was lying insensible on the ground, while
+his opponent had joined in the fight against Stephen, who was rapidly
+losing strength. Alfred and his tramp were still rolling over and over,
+locked in each other's arms.
+
+A few feet away from the fighters Bab fired her pistol in the air. The
+explosion stopped the fight. So intent had the combatants been that they
+had forgotten time and place. At the report of the pistol they came to
+themselves almost with a jump. Everybody, except poor, unconscious
+Jimmie, paused breathless, perspiration pouring from their faces. Alfred
+had got the better of his opponent and his hands gripped the man's
+throat. Bab, followed by Ruth, dashed up, and both girls pointed their
+pistols at the two tramps who were engaging Stephen.
+
+"Shall we shoot them, Stephen?" asked Bab as calmly as if nothing had
+happened.
+
+"Throw up your hands," cried Stephen to the tramps; which they proceeded
+to do in prompt order. "Now, give me your pistol, Ruth; give yours to
+Alfred, Bab."
+
+In the meantime, Alfred had risen, hardly recognizable in a coating of
+dust and blood, ordering his man to lie quiet or be killed.
+
+"Suppose we herd them together, Stephen," he suggested, "and drive them
+up to the hall like the cattle they are?"
+
+"Just what I was thinking," replied Stephen, "only what about Jimmie?"
+
+"The girls will see to him," answered Alfred.
+
+"No, no," retorted Stephen. "We can't leave the girls here alone with
+him in that condition, not after this. There may be more tramps lurking
+around, for all we know."
+
+Just then an exclamation from Ruth, who was kneeling beside the
+prostrate Jimmie, caused the two boys to turn their heads involuntarily,
+and in that moment, the two men who were standing with their arms up at
+the point of Stephen's pistol, ran for the underbrush, Stephen shot and
+missed his aim. He shot again and hit the small fellow in the leg,
+having aimed low; not wishing to kill even in self-defense. But the
+tramps had plunged into the woods, and were out of sight in an instant.
+
+"Better not go after them, Stephen," called Alfred. "We've got one here
+and we may catch the others later. I wish we had a rope to tie this
+fellow's hands with."
+
+"Try this," suggested Ruth, and she calmly tore the muslin ruffle off
+her petticoat and handed the strip to Alfred, who bound the man's hands
+behind his back and ordered him to sit still until he was wanted.
+
+Meanwhile, the two girls had turned their attention to Jimmie, who
+showed no signs of returning consciousness, but lay battered and
+bleeding, a sad sight in comparison to the joyous Jimmie of half an hour
+before. Blind Jennie had come from her hiding place behind a tree, and
+was kneeling beside the wounded boy. Feeling the abrasions on his face
+with her sensitive fingers, she shuddered.
+
+"He should have water," she whispered. "There is a brook not far from
+here. I will show you," and she turned her sightless eyes in the
+direction of Stephen, who was guarding the remaining tramp.
+
+"Ruth, you and Alfred take our three hats and go with Jennie for the
+water. Alfred, take the pistol with you in case of another attack. Bab,
+you stay and look after Jimmie, please."
+
+Ruth and Alfred followed after old Jennie, while Bab, kneeling beside
+Jimmie, began chafing his wrists. Not a sound broke the stillness.
+Stephen, on a log, had his pistol cocked and pointed straight at the
+tramp who was huddled in a heap on the ground, gazing sullenly into the
+barrel of the pistol. Bab had not looked around for some time, so intent
+was she on her efforts to bring some life back into poor Jimmie. But
+feeling a sudden, unaccountable loneliness, she called:
+
+"Stephen, aren't you curious to know where we found the pistols?"
+
+There was no answer, and, looking over her shoulder, Bab was horrified
+to see Stephen lying prone on the ground in a dead faint, the pistol
+still grasped tightly in his hand, while the tramp had evidently lost no
+time in joining his pals.
+
+Leaving Jimmie, Bab rushed to Stephen. First releasing the pistol from
+his hand, she laid it on a stump. Then she began rubbing his wrists and
+temples.
+
+"Poor old Stephen!" she murmured. "You were hurt all the time and never
+said a word."
+
+Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at Bab in a sort of shamefaced way.
+
+"I suppose the tramp got away?" he asked.
+
+"Who cares," replied his friend, "if you aren't hurt?"
+
+"Oh, I'm not," he answered. "I was only winded. That big fellow gave me
+a blow, just as you shot the pistol off, that nearly did for me. But I
+thought I could keep up until the others came back. I knew I couldn't go
+for the water. How did you get the pistols?"
+
+By the time Bab had finished her story the others had come up with the
+water.
+
+"It's just as well the tramp has gone," said Alfred, when he had heard
+what had happened. "I don't believe we could have managed him and
+Jimmie, too."
+
+They bathed Jimmie's face and wrists with the cold spring water, and it
+was a battered and disconsolate young man who finally opened his one
+good eye on the company.
+
+"I think," said Stephen, "we had better put these pistols back where
+they were. If they are gone, the robber will take alarm and we'll never
+catch him. I don't think we'll be attacked by those tramps any more
+to-day. They'll never imagine we have left the pistols."
+
+The others agreed, and the pistols were left on the shelf by Bab, who
+remembered exactly where they had been when she found them. All the
+others, even Jimmie, peered curiously down into the underground room.
+
+"I don't think it's been very long dug," observed Alfred. "There is so
+much fresh earth around the door. The fellow carted most of it away, I
+suppose, and put leaves and sticks over what was left. But there is
+plenty of evidence of fresh earth, just the same."
+
+"So there is," replied Stephen. "Jennie, you did a good day's work when
+you found that hole in the ground. You may have saved our lives, for all
+we can tell."
+
+But the old woman only muttered, as she punched the leaves with her
+staff. The somewhat dilapidated picnic party resumed its homeward
+journey, Jimmie supported by his two friends and stopping often to rest,
+while the two girls followed, keeping a sharp lookout on both sides. Old
+Jennie brought up the rear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII--ZERLINA
+
+
+When they reached Ten Eyck Hall, it was with relief that the young
+people learned that the others had gone motoring for the afternoon, and
+would probably not be back until dinner time. Stephen put Jimmie under
+the care of the housekeeper, who bound up his wounds in absorbent cotton
+saturated with witch hazel. The girls disappeared into their own room,
+but not before Bab had cautioned Stephen to bring them word about Jose.
+
+The information came in the form of a few scribbled lines on the tea
+tray.
+
+"John tells me," the note ran, "that Jose was off on his motor cycle
+until lunch time. S."
+
+The two girls read the note excitedly.
+
+"Bab, dear," cried Ruth, "I simply can't believe it of that nice boy,
+can you?"
+
+"I don't want to believe it," replied Bab, "even though appearances are
+against him."
+
+"But who could the joker in the woods have been, if not Jose?" continued
+Ruth. "And, come to think of it, he might have been the highwayman, too.
+It would not have been difficult for him to have found out at the hotel
+where we were going. I am afraid he is in an awful mess, yet, in spite
+of everything, there is something about him that disarms suspicion."
+
+Ruth was a loyal friend to people she liked. She believed that her
+chosen circle consisted of a superior class of beings, and she was as
+blind to their faults as a mother to those of her favorite child. There
+was a tap on the door, and the maid informed them that Zerlina, the
+Gypsy girl, wished to speak to them.
+
+"Send her up," said Ruth, and presently Zerlina was ushered into the
+room.
+
+There was a scared look in her eyes as they wandered hastily around the
+charming apartment and finally rested on the two girls who were
+stretched on the bed in muslin kimonos.
+
+"How do you do, Zerlina?" said Ruth. "Excuse our not getting up. We are
+just dead tired. Won't you have a cup of tea?"
+
+"Thank you," replied the Gypsy stiffly, "I do not care for tea. I
+came----" she paused. "I thought----" she hesitated again.
+
+"Well, Zerlina, what did you think?" asked Ruth.
+
+Bab was looking at the girl curiously.
+
+"I came because you asked me," she said finally.
+
+"So we did," replied Ruth, "and we are delighted to see you. Did your
+grandmother come with you?"
+
+"No," answered Zerlina and paused again.
+
+"Perhaps you had some special reason for coming, Zerlina," hinted Bab.
+"Was it to ask us a question?"
+
+The girl's face took on the same stubborn expression it had worn when
+Bab had asked her to show the knife used in the dance.
+
+"I came because you asked me," she repeated, in the same sing-song tone.
+
+Again there was a tap at the door and Bridget appeared, bringing a note
+for Bab.
+
+"Another note from Stephen," observed Bab, reading it carefully and
+handing it to Ruth. The note said:
+
+"If you and Ruth don't mind, kindly keep the fight, if possible, a
+secret from everybody for a day or two. It would be necessary to explain
+about the pistols, and if Jose is the man who owns them, telling would
+give everything away. I shall tell uncle, of course. People will think
+that Jimmie fell out of a tree or down into a hollow. Keep as quiet as
+possible about the particulars of our adventure. S."
+
+"I'm sorry," exclaimed Ruth; "it would have been such fun to tell it
+all."
+
+"The telling is only a pleasure deferred for a while," said her friend.
+
+In the meantime, the Gypsy girl had lost nothing of the conversation
+except the contents of the note, which Bab had rolled into a little ball
+and thrown into a waste paper basket.
+
+"Will the ladies not show me some of their beautiful dresses?" asked
+Zerlina presently.
+
+"We haven't much to show," replied Ruth, "but we'll be glad to show what
+we have." She pulled herself lazily from the bed and opened the door of
+a wardrobe at one side of the room.
+
+"Ruth, you show her your fine things," called Bab. "I haven't a rag
+worth seeing. Get out your pink lingerie and your leghorn with the
+shaded roses. They would please her eye."
+
+"Why don't you show her your organdie, Bab?" asked Ruth. "It's just as
+pretty as my pink, any day."
+
+"Oh, very well," returned Bab, opening her side of the massive clothes
+press and spreading the dress on the bed before the admiring eyes of
+Zerlina. "'A poor thing, but mine own,'" she said. "I certainly never
+thought to be displaying my rich wardrobe to anyone. It's entirely a new
+sensation."
+
+In the meantime Ruth had piled her own gauzy finery on the bed beside
+Bab's, and Zerlina feasted her gaze on the pink lace-trimmed princess
+dresses and the flower bedecked hats.
+
+"Some day you must have pretty dresses, too, Zerlina," said Ruth from
+the depths of the wardrobe, as she replaced the things; "some day when
+you are a great singer."
+
+There was no reply, and Bab, who was busy folding her dress, looked
+quickly around. Zerlina's arm was in the scrap basket. She had looked up
+as Ruth spoke, and catching Bab's eye, dropped the crumpled note she had
+just seized. An angry blush overspread her face and she bit her lip in
+embarrassment.
+
+"I must be going," she said. "It is late."
+
+Bab did not answer. She was thinking deeply. Here was positive proof
+that Zerlina and Jose were working together in some way.
+
+"Wait a minute, Zerlina," called Ruth, kindly. "Won't you accept this
+red velvet bow? It would look pretty in your black hair."
+
+"Thank you," exclaimed the girl, her eyes filling with tears. "You are
+very good to me." Her lip trembled as if she were about to burst into
+tears, but she conquered them with an effort and started to the door.
+"Good-bye," she said, looking at Bab so reproachfully that the latter's
+heart was melted to pity.
+
+At dinner that night there was much concern expressed for poor Jimmie
+who, with his face swathed in bandages, was sound asleep in his own
+room. Stephen had been closeted with his uncle for half an hour before
+the gong sounded, and the major's usually placid face was haunted by an
+expression of deep worry.
+
+"Do tell us about the hermit, Stephen," cried Grace, and that being a
+safe subject the four adventurers plunged into a description of the
+strange old man and the miniature that so resembled Bab.
+
+"Do you remember when he came, Major?" asked Miss Stuart.
+
+"Only vaguely," replied the major, "I was quite a little chap then,
+eight or ten, I think I was, and we were living in France at the time.
+He had become a fixture when we came back, but he always shunned
+advances from my family. Undoubtedly he was a fugitive from somewhere.
+However, this is not such an out-of-the-way place but that he could have
+been found if they had looked for him very hard. I have not seen him for
+many years. How does he look?"
+
+"Like an exiled prince," answered Ruth. "He is a very noble looking old
+man."
+
+"Jose, did you play croquet with the girls this morning?" asked Stephen.
+
+"Wasn't he mean?" interrupted Mollie. "No sooner had you gone than he
+was off on his motor cycle."
+
+The young Spaniard's face had flushed scarlet at the question, but he
+smiled at Mollie's teasing reply and looked Stephen squarely in the eye.
+
+"It must have been rather hot work motoring this morning, wasn't it,
+Jose?" went on Stephen.
+
+"I went only to the forest," answered Jose.
+
+The four friends stirred uneasily, and the major looked down at his
+plate. It hurt him deeply to see Jose put on the rack in this way.
+
+"How far did you go into the woods, Jose? It's curious we didn't meet
+you."
+
+"Only to the haunted pool," replied Jose.
+
+"You were not far off, then," said Stephen. "Did you hear us yodeling?"
+
+"No," answered Jose; "er--that is, yes. I did hear something like that,
+but I was not there long." His face was still flushed and he looked as
+if he would like to run away from his inquisitors; but the soft-hearted
+major could endure the painful situation no longer and he changed the
+conversation to another topic.
+
+"Why don't you young people ever dance?" he asked. "I had planned to see
+young couples whirling around the red drawing room. It would be a pretty
+sight, Sallie. Would it not?"
+
+"I have a plan," broke in Mollie, "but I can't tell it now. It's to be a
+surprise for Miss Sallie and the major."
+
+"Dear me!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "Are we to feel honored or slighted,
+Major?"
+
+"Oh, not slighted," protested Mollie. "It is something that will amuse
+you."
+
+"What is it?" asked a voice from the doorway. "I am palpitating to
+know."
+
+Everybody looked up in surprise at the apparition of Jimmie regarding
+the company gravely with his one good eye. His other eye was swathed in
+a bandage, and his nose was swollen and red. There was a joyous peal of
+laughter from the assembled party.
+
+"Why, Jimmie," cried Martin, "you look like an exhausted Dutchman."
+
+"Don't throw stones, my son," replied Jimmie. "You're a Dutchman
+yourself, remember."
+
+"Come in and have some dinner, Jimmie," coaxed the major.
+
+"I've dined, thank you, sir. My kind nurse saw to that, and I feel
+considerably better."
+
+"How did you happen to black your eye, you poor boy?" asked Mollie.
+
+Stephen cleared his throat audibly. Why on earth had he not cautioned
+Mollie not to ask Jimmie any questions? But Ruth came to the rescue and
+he breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"You mustn't ask Jimmie embarrassing questions, Mollie. A black eye and
+a red nose are enough to bear for the present."
+
+The major relieved the situation by saying:
+
+"Now, Mistress Mollie, we are ready to be surprised."
+
+"Come on," said Stephen, taking Jimmie by the arm, and as they stood
+aside, he whispered into his ear: "Keep it dark about the tramps. Uncle
+will explain."
+
+"The surprise is this," explained Mollie, detaining the young people in
+the hall. "Why not give our masquerade to-night?"
+
+"This is as good a time as any other," agreed Martin.
+
+"Oh, you children!" exclaimed Stephen.
+
+"Don't be a wet blanket, Stephen," said Martin.
+
+"Oh, I simply thought perhaps the girls might be tired or something,"
+replied Stephen. "We'll all dress up if you like."
+
+"What fun!" cried Mollie. "Jose, you're to be a pirate, remember."
+
+"I think Jose would make a good highwayman," observed Bab, "with a knife
+in his belt and a slouch hat on." She had no sooner spoken than she
+repented her words.
+
+"Perhaps I would, Mademoiselle," he replied gently, with a deep sigh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII--THE MASQUERADE
+
+
+The picture they made as they filed down the oak staircase two by two
+and all attired in their antique costumes was one long remembered by the
+servants of Ten Eyck Hall, who had gathered below to see the
+masqueraders. Miss Stuart and the major, standing together at the door
+of the red drawing room, were amazed and delighted.
+
+"Is this a company of ghosts," cried the major, "ghosts of my dear
+departed ancestors returned to the halls of their youth?"
+
+"Look at the dears!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "How pretty they are in
+their ancient finery! Ruth, my child, you are the very image of the
+portrait of your great-grandmother at home. And here is Bab, who might
+have stepped out of an old miniature."
+
+"So she has," replied Ruth. "In that pink dress she is a perfect
+likeness of the miniature the hermit had."
+
+"Jose," said the major kindly, for he could not insult a guest by
+believing evil of him until it had been actually proved, "you do not
+belong to this company of belles and beaux. You look more like a Spanish
+gallant of an earlier day, in that velvet coat and cavalier hat. As for
+you two slips of girls," he continued, smiling at Mollie and Grace, "you
+might be my two colonial great-aunts stepped down from their frames. But
+come along, now. We must have a little fun, after all this trouble you
+have taken to amuse us. Strike up, my poor bruised Jimmie, and we'll
+have a dance."
+
+Jimmie had volunteered to furnish the music. His face, in its present
+state, needed no further disguise, he said. The furniture was moved
+back, the rugs rolled up, and in a few minutes the dancers were whirling
+in a waltz. There was a change of partners at the second dance, and Bab
+found herself dancing with Jose. He was not familiar with the American
+two-step, so, after a few rounds, they stepped out upon the piazza for a
+breath of the cool evening air.
+
+"Aren't you afraid to stay out here, Jose, after your experience of the
+other night?" Bab asked.
+
+"Are you afraid, Barbara?" he replied.
+
+"Why should I be?" she answered. "It was evidently you the assassin was
+after."
+
+He winced at the word "assassin," and did not reply. The two stood
+gazing silently out onto the stretch of lawn in front of the house.
+Presently Jose sighed deeply.
+
+"I am afraid you are unhappy," said Bab sympathetically.
+
+"Madamoiselle Barbara," he replied, "I am in great trouble. I tell you
+because you have already been more observing than the others, and
+because I see you keep your counsel."
+
+"Why don't you ask Major Ten Eyck's advice, Jose?" asked Barbara, "he is
+so kind and gentle. I know he would love to help you."
+
+"In this case," replied the Spaniard, with a frightened look in his
+eyes, "he might not be so kind. I am afraid to tell him. To-night I
+shall decide what to do. It may be that it would be better to go away. I
+cannot tell, now."
+
+"Tell me, Jose, have your troubles any connection with the Gypsies?"
+
+"Yes," he assented.
+
+A shadowy figure moved up the lawn and approached the house. Jose
+stirred uneasily.
+
+"Who is that?" he whispered. "Don't you think you had better go in?"
+
+"No," replied Barbara. "I am not afraid, if you are not."
+
+It was Zerlina, and, seeing the two people on the porch, she paused
+irresolutely.
+
+"What is it, Zerlina?" called Barbara. "Do you want to see anyone?"
+
+"My grandmother is over there," replied the girl, pointing to the
+shrubbery. "She has come to tell fortunes, if it pleases the ladies."
+
+Zerlina did not look at Bab, as she spoke. She was looking at Jose, long
+and curiously. And he returned the gaze with interest.
+
+"You have not seen Mr. Martinez, Zerlina?" asked Bab, recalling how he
+had stolen away in the woods when the Gypsy danced for them.
+
+Zerlina bowed coldly, and Jose took off his cavalier hat; but neither
+said a word, and Bab felt somewhat embarrassed at the silence.
+
+"Wait a moment, Zerlina, and I will ask the major about the fortunes,"
+she said, stepping through the French window. Just as she parted the
+curtain, she turned to say something to Jose, and saw Zerlina quickly
+hand him a note. Bab's face flushed angrily.
+
+"This business ought to be stopped," she said to herself. "We'll all be
+slain in our beds some fine night. Why can't Jose be frank? The entire
+band of Gypsies might be a lot of robbers, for all we know."
+
+The revelers inside were all interested to know that Granny Ann had come
+at last to tell fortunes, and Zerlina was dispatched at once to bring
+her grandmother back. When the old woman passed through the room on her
+way to the library, where the fortunes were to be told, she took a rapid
+survey of everybody there. She examined the girls and boys in their
+masquerade costumes, looked curiously at Jimmie's bandaged countenance,
+and finally her eyes rested on Jose leaning on a balcony rail outside.
+
+While the fortunes were being told, there was a concert in the drawing
+room. Grace sang in her high, sweet soprano voice, followed by another
+of Zerlina's Gypsy songs. Then Jose was induced to sing a beautiful
+Spanish love song, and finally Jimmie gave a comic version of "The Old
+Homestead" in which he himself acted every part.
+
+After the fortunes were told Granny Ann sent word that there was one
+person she had not seen, and go she would not until she had seen him.
+
+"Who has not yet been in?" demanded the major.
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"Jose, you have not seen her, have you?" asked Mollie.
+
+"No," replied Jose; "I do not wish to go."
+
+Word was sent in to Granny Ann, who sent a message back that she
+insisted on seeing the young man.
+
+"Oh, go ahead, Jose," urged Stephen. "It's only for a few minutes, and
+we want to have another dance before bedtime."
+
+Jose bowed and disappeared from the room. Soon after Mollie touched Bab
+on the arm.
+
+"Bab," she whispered, "come out on the porch. I have something to tell
+you."
+
+The two girls stole out onto the moonlit piazza, while Mollie continued
+in a low voice: "I know I should not have done it, but I followed Jose
+into the library, by the dining-room door, and hid behind a curtain. I
+was curious to see what Granny Ann would do. He had hardly got into the
+room before she commenced talking in a loud voice. She spoke in a
+foreign language, but she seemed terribly angry, and shook her fist in
+his face. He was quite gentle with her, and just stood there, pale and
+quiet. I felt so sorry for him. Once I thought she would strike him, but
+he never flinched or dodged. What do you suppose it means, Bab, dear?"
+
+"I don't know, Mollie," replied Barbara, "There is some mystery about
+Jose. Something happened to-day that put him in a very unfortunate
+light, but I'd rather not tell you until to-morrow. Don't dance with him
+any more to-night, but be kind to him, little sister," Bab added, "for I
+do feel sorry for him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX--A RECOGNITION
+
+
+The masqueraders had separated for the night; Bab, however, had asked to
+speak with the major before he went to his room. For half an hour she
+was closeted with him in his library. The time had arrived to tell him
+everything she knew about Jose.
+
+The major had listened to her attentively. He had felt reluctance to
+believe anything against a guest, just on a mere chance resemblance, but
+certainly the circle was closing in around Jose.
+
+"Do you think we had better do anything about it to-night?" he asked the
+girl, almost childishly. He felt obliged to ask advice in this very
+difficult situation, and who could give any better counsel than this
+fine, young woman, who had been able to keep a secret, and who was so
+wholesome and sweet with all her reserve?
+
+"I don't see what you could do, Major, in case he admitted he was
+guilty. You couldn't arrest him very well to-night, unless you wanted to
+bind his arms and feet and take him to the nearest town. I don't believe
+he has any idea of running away, because he doesn't know we suspect him.
+At least he only vaguely knows it."
+
+"And, after all," said the kindly old major, "it's a pity to rout him
+out of his comfortable bed to-night. We will give the poor fellow
+another good night's rest, and take one ourselves, too. Shall we not,
+little woman?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, Major," agreed Barbara, looking into his kindly, troubled
+eyes with respect and admiration. "And who knows? Maybe, in the morning,
+he can explain everything."
+
+"Indeed, my dear, I hope so," he replied, opening the door for her and
+bowing good-night as if she had been Miss Sallie herself.
+
+As Barbara started up the long staircase she felt lonely. The hall below
+looked vast and dark. Only a dim light was burning and every door was
+closed. Emerging from the shadows around the staircase she might have
+been a ghost of one of the early Ten Eycks in her old-fashioned
+peach-colored silk, with its full trailing skirt and pointed bodice. She
+hurried a little and wished she had got over the long space of hall
+which lay between her and her room; but she had scarcely taken a dozen
+steps before the door behind her opened. She stopped and looked back,
+thinking perhaps it was one of the servants waiting to put out the
+lights.
+
+Standing in the doorway was a very old man. He carried a candle in one
+hand, and was peering at her in the darkness with that same expression
+of wonder and surprise on his face that she had remembered to have seen
+before, for this was their third encounter, once in the woods, once in
+the library, and now.
+
+"Barbara! Barbara Thurston!" he called in a quavering voice. "I have
+been waiting for you so long, so many years. I am old now and you are
+still young." He stretched out his arms and came toward her.
+
+Bab flew and almost ran into Jose, who opened his door at that moment.
+When they recovered themselves the old man was gone.
+
+"Which way did he go?" asked Jose.
+
+Bab pointed to the door without speaking, and, still trembling from
+fright, burst into her own room, where a strange scene was taking place.
+Three high-backed chairs were arranged in a row. Ruth in a dressing gown
+was crouching behind them, while Mollie and Grace sat hand in hand on
+the bed, giving little gasps of excitement and horror.
+
+"This is the clump of bushes," Ruth was saying, "and the three fights
+took place here and here, and here," she went on, marking the spots with
+her toe. "Stephen and his man, who was none other than the giant tramp,
+fought straight out from the shoulder like this," and she hit the air
+furiously with her doubled fists. "Then came Alfred and his friend. They
+didn't hit. They gripped and rolled over and over in the dust. And last
+of all, poor Jimmie, who, in five minutes, lay like a warrior taking his
+rest."
+
+"Why, Ruth Stuart," interrupted Bab, "I thought we were not to tell."
+
+"Sh-h! Don't make so much noise, Bab. Aunt Sallie thinks we were safe in
+bed long ago. I'm not betraying confidence. Stephen told me I could tell
+Mollie and Grace if he could tell Martin. But, Bab, dear, what is the
+matter? Have you seen a ghost?"
+
+"Yes," replied Bab, "or rather the next thing to one. Really, girls, I'm
+getting more than my fair share this time. Ruth was in the fight, of
+course, but none of you have seen the old man who haunts the place, and
+I have seen him three times. He seems to be a perfectly harmless old
+man, but it does give one a start to meet him at midnight in a dark
+hall."
+
+"Why, Barbara, are you dreaming? What does it mean?" cried Mollie,
+seizing her sister's hand and pulling her over on the bed beside them.
+"Why haven't you told us before?" she added with a sisterly reproach.
+"It's no fair keeping secrets all the time."
+
+"I am tired of secrets, too," said Bab, "I started with major and I'll
+just finish the thing before I lay me down this night to rest."
+
+When Bab had concluded her ghostly tale the girls were really
+frightened. They tried the doors, opened all the closets and wardrobes
+and peered under the beds of both rooms.
+
+"No one could climb up to these windows," exclaimed Mollie. "But suppose
+there should be a secret door into one of these rooms?"
+
+"What a horrible idea, Mollie Thurston!" exclaimed Ruth.
+
+There was a sharp tap on the door. The four girls jumped as if they had
+been shot, and rushed together like frightened chickens.
+
+"Girls," said Miss Sallie's voice, "go to bed this instant!"
+
+"Right away, Aunt Sallie, dear," answered her niece. When they were
+comfortably tucked in for the night, Ruth said to Bab:
+
+"How do you suppose he knew your name?"
+
+"I don't know," replied her friend, "unless I had a twin ancestor."
+
+At eleven o'clock the next morning the major's guests assembled for a
+late breakfast. The boys were stiff from their encounters with the
+tramps, and Jimmie, especially, was an object of pity. The major looked
+serious. He had a disagreeable duty to perform, and he wished to avoid
+it as long as possible. Miss Sallie, alone, was animated and talkative.
+She had been entrusted with no confidences, and she felt the burden of
+no secrets. Neither did she guess that something was impending that was
+bound to surprise and horrify her.
+
+Jose had not made his appearance and the major was relieved. The hour of
+reckoning was at hand, and he wished it over and done with. His old
+friend's son! Was it possible that a child of Jose Martinez could have
+so far forgotten the laws of hospitality as to rob and intrigue, and
+play tricks on his fellow guests?
+
+"What a quiet, dull lot of people you are," exclaimed Miss Sallie, who
+at last began to notice the gloom that had settled on the party. "What
+is the matter?"
+
+"I think it must be the weather, Miss Stuart," replied Stephen, coming
+to the rescue of the others. "It's a very oppressively warm day, and the
+air is so dry it makes me thirsty."
+
+"It's the sort of weather, I imagine, they must have in plague-stricken
+southern countries," observed Ruth, "where there's no water," she
+continued drawing the picture which held her imagination, "and people
+are dropping around with cholera or the bubonic plague."
+
+"Cheerful!" exclaimed Jimmie.
+
+"I wonder where Jose is this morning," said Stephen, voicing the thought
+of everybody in the room except the unconscious Miss Sallie.
+
+"Suppose you run up and see," suggested the major. "Tell him, Steenie,"
+he added, patting his nephew affectionately on the shoulder, "that I
+wish to see him in the morning room when he finishes his breakfast. And,
+Stephen, my boy, don't be rough with him. Remember what an ordeal we'll
+have to put him through later. Good heavens!" he groaned, "such a lovely
+boy! If it only had not happened in my house!"
+
+"Perhaps he can explain, in spite of everything," replied Stephen.
+
+Presently he returned to the library.
+
+"Jose is not in his room. He didn't sleep there last night. His bed is
+made up and there's not a wrinkle on it."
+
+"Why, where can he be?" cried the major. "He couldn't have run away,
+could he?"
+
+"Perhaps he is taking a morning walk," suggested Martin.
+
+"Did he take anything with him!" asked Jimmie. "I mean are his things in
+his room?"
+
+"I didn't notice," replied Stephen. "We'd better ask some of the
+servants, first, if they have seen him this morning, and then go back
+and have a look for ourselves."
+
+But the servants could give no information. On examining Jose's room
+they found everything just as he had left it. He had taken nothing in
+his flight, not even a comb and brush.
+
+"Even his pearl shirt studs are here," said Jimmie.
+
+"How about his leather motor clothes?" asked Stephen.
+
+"Here they are," replied his friend.
+
+"How about his motor cycle?" asked the major with a sudden thought.
+
+They ran down stairs and through the open door, followed by "The
+Automobile Girls," who were filled with excitement. At the garage the
+chauffeur was busy cleaning the motor cars.
+
+"Is Mr. Martinez's motor cycle here, Josef?" demanded the major.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the chauffeur looking up from his work, surprised
+at the visit of so many people at once.
+
+"Have you see him this morning?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Strange," said the major. "I can't understand it. He must simply have
+slipped out of the house and gone for a long walk."
+
+"Uncle," said Stephen, "suppose we wait until after lunch."
+
+"Wait for what, my boy?"
+
+"Why, for Jose, I mean. And then, if he doesn't turn up, we had better
+search for him."
+
+The party sat about listlessly until lunch time. It was too hot to talk
+and the oppressiveness of the atmosphere gave them an uneasy feeling.
+Jose had not taken even a hat, so Stephen said, and it turned out that
+only the day before the Spaniard had entrusted the major with a large
+sum of money to be locked in the family strong box until his visit was
+over.
+
+"Stephen," exclaimed the major, finally, as the afternoon began to wane,
+"I can't stand this any longer. The boy may have wandered into the woods
+and been attacked by some of those tramp ruffians. Order the horses.
+We'll ride to the Gypsy camp and take the road to town. Tell the girls
+to explain the situation to Miss Sallie while we are gone."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX--THE FIRE BRIGADE
+
+
+Ruth and Barbara related to Miss Sallie their adventures of the day
+before. She went through a dozen stages of emotion, and fairly wrung her
+hands over the tramps. The part about Jose she could not believe.
+
+"That nice boy!" she exclaimed. "It is impossible." Then she grew
+indignant. "What does John Ten Eyck mean by bringing us into this
+lawless country, I should like to know?"
+
+"But, auntie, the major declares it was never like this before. The
+woods have always been perfectly safe. When Stephen and Martin were
+little boys they used to play in them with only Old Jennie to look after
+them."
+
+"Ruth," cried Miss Sallie, "the major is one of the nicest men in the
+world, but he always would overlook disagreeable things. He runs away
+from anything that hurts. He may have overlooked the tramps and robbers,
+just as he has been blind to ugliness whenever he could."
+
+"He's a dear," said Mollie.
+
+"Dear or no dear," cried Miss Sallie, "this time we really must go. Tell
+the chauffeur to fix up the machine, Ruth, my child, for to-morrow we
+shall leave this barbarous place."
+
+"All right, auntie," replied her niece, relieved that they were not to
+go immediately, since they all wanted to see the episode of Jose
+through.
+
+Time passed, but the four horsemen did not return. The girls were
+sitting with Miss Sallie at the shady end of the piazza, watching the
+sun sink behind the forest. There was a smell of burning in the air that
+the sensitive nostrils of the chaperon had sniffed immediately.
+
+"The wind must be blowing from the mountains to-day," she observed. "I
+smell burning as plainly as if it were at our gates."
+
+"But, Miss Sallie," said Grace, "remember that it smelt like this in New
+York last week."
+
+"My dear," replied Miss Sallie, "I am perfectly familiar with the smell
+of burning forests, I have smelt them so often in imagination. Why, see,
+the air is filled with fine ashes," she exclaimed, shaking out her
+lavender skirts with disgust. She had hardly spoken before a tall figure
+was seen hurrying across the lawn.
+
+"It's blind Jennie," cried Ruth. "Perhaps she can give us news of the
+major or Jose."
+
+As old Jennie approached they could see she was fearfully excited. Her
+face was working and several times she waved her stick wildly in the
+air. Just then a strange thing happened. Half a dozen terrified deer
+appeared from the direction of the forest, dashed madly across the lawn
+and disappeared in a grove on the other side. Squirrels and rabbits
+followed by the dozens, while distracted birds flew in groups and
+circled around and around the tops of the trees.
+
+"What has happened, Jennie?" cried Ruth, shaking the blind woman by the
+arm.
+
+Jennie seemed to scan the company with her sightless eyes, sniffing the
+air wildly.
+
+"The woods are burning," she said. "The flames are coming nearer. They
+are slow, but they are sure. Everything is so dry. You must hurry, if
+you would save the house!"
+
+"Save the house?" repeated Miss Stuart mechanically. "Do you mean to say
+there is danger of this house being burned down? Is the fire coming this
+way? Great heavens! Order the car at once, children. We must leave at
+any cost. This is the last straw!"
+
+"But, Aunt Sallie," urged Ruth, laying a detaining hand on her aunt's
+arm, "you wouldn't have us desert the major's house, would you, and
+leave all these beautiful things to burn? Besides, we may be running
+away from the major and the boys. How do we know but that they are in
+the woods? They may need our help."
+
+"My child, we are not a fire department," exclaimed Miss Sallie, "and if
+we are to save this beautiful house, how do you propose to do it?"
+
+"If worse comes to worst," cried Bab, "we can form a bucket brigade
+here, and keep the fire from getting to the house."
+
+"What about water?" demanded Miss Sallie.
+
+"Don't you remember the major said he had a well of water reserved for
+fires?" said Ruth.
+
+"It may not be necessary to use the water," Bab continued. "The first
+thing to do is to cut off the forest fire by having a trench dug on that
+side of the house. Everybody will have to get to work. Come on! We must
+not lose time."
+
+Miss Sallie ran into the hall and rang a bell violently. John, the
+butler, came at once.
+
+"John," she cried, speaking very rapidly, "the forest is on fire. Get
+every available person on the place as fast as you can, with shovels and
+hoes and help the young ladies dig a trench to protect the major's
+house."
+
+John looked dazed, sniffed the air and ran without a word. Presently a
+bell thundered out in the stillness. It had not been rung for many
+years, but the employees on the place knew what it meant, and came
+running from their cottages, and the work of digging a trench beyond Ten
+Eyck Hall was begun. Each moment the air was growing more dense and a
+darkness was settling down which was lit up, toward the west, by a lurid
+glow. The heat was intense and fine ashes filled the toilers' throats
+and nostrils. Birds, blinded by the smoke dashed past, almost hitting
+the workers' faces. People came running from the burning forest, the old
+Gypsy woman and her granddaughter and other women from the Gypsy band.
+The men were bringing the wagons around by the road; old Adam and his
+wife, driving their wood cart and frantically beating the worn-out
+horse; and finally, the hermit, with his white locks flying. Ten Eyck
+Hall would seem to have been the refuge of all these terrified dwellers
+in the forest. They regarded it with pride and love. Even the Gypsies
+had sought its protection, and the gray, rambling old place appeared to
+stretch out its arms to them. Blind Jennie strode up and down the lawn,
+wildly waving her stick, while old Adam called to Miss Sallie:
+
+"Where is the master? Where are the young masters?"
+
+And where were the old master and the young ones? If ever they were
+needed, it was now!
+
+In the meantime, the girls, leaving Miss Sallie to direct the digging of
+the trench, had run to the house.
+
+"I think, Ruth," called Bab, "we had better collect all the buckets and
+pails we can find."
+
+"Yes," replied Ruth, "and the hose should be attached to the reserve
+well. John is attending to that. Mollie and Grace, run and get whatever
+blankets there are in the bed rooms, and close the windows all over the
+house."
+
+While John was attaching the hose to the faucet of the reserve well,
+Ruth and Bab invaded the enormous kitchen of the hall. The servants had
+fled. Only Mary and John could be depended upon. The pumping engine had
+been started and the tank was rapidly filling.
+
+"O Ruth," exclaimed Bab, "how careless of us to have forgotten the cars!
+The garage is nearest to the forest and the automobiles should be run
+out right off. We may need them if things get very bad."
+
+"Of course," replied Ruth. "Where is the chauffeur? Did you ever know
+any of these people to be on hand when they were needed?"
+
+Dashing to the garage, they cranked up the two machines and ran them out
+onto the lawn in an open space. Jose's motor cycle came next.
+
+"The fire has come," cried Grace and Mollie running up with their arms
+full of blankets. They could hear the roaring, crackling sound as the
+flames licked their way through the dry underbrush.
+
+"Where is Miss Sallie?" demanded Ruth. "She will faint in this terrible
+atmosphere."
+
+"There she is," answered Grace; "she is overseeing the trench-digging. I
+think she has ordered them to make it broader."
+
+Miss Sallie, her lavender skirts caught up over her arm, was standing
+near the men, giving her orders as calmly as if she were in her own
+drawing room.
+
+The line of forest about a quarter of a mile distant began to glow red.
+The girls clutched each other.
+
+"There it is!" they cried. "And now to save the major's house!"
+
+Bab organized a bucket brigade with Mollie, Grace and the Gypsy women.
+John was ordered to manipulate the hose, while Bab and Ruth carried wet
+blankets over to the garage, the building nearest the line of fire. Then
+a cry went up from the men who were digging the trench. The flames,
+which had been steadily devouring the dried grass of the meadow dividing
+the garden from the wood, had reached the trench. A sudden gust of wind
+carried them over. Instantly a group of bushes caught fire; and, like an
+angry animal seeking its prey, a long, forked tongue licked the ground
+hungrily for a moment, paused at the gravel walk, followed its edge,
+eating up the short, dry grass in its path, and made for the garage. All
+this happened in much quicker time than it takes to tell it--too
+quickly, in fact for any precaution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI--FIGHTING THE FLAMES
+
+
+Never had "The Automobile Girls" displayed greater courage than at this
+critical moment. It was the time for quick action and quicker thought.
+The men who were digging the trench could not leave their work. They saw
+that, unless the trench were dug wider, it would be necessary to fight
+the flames back, and they were digging like mad to keep the fire from
+leaping the ditch again.
+
+It was Mollie who saved them from a terrible explosion by remembering
+the house where the gasoline was stored just behind the garage, and John
+and Adam rolled the tank to a distance temporarily safe at least.
+
+Bab had found a ladder somewhere. Placing it against the garage she had
+scaled it like a monkey, carrying under one arm a wet blanket the weight
+of which she was too excited to notice. She never quite knew how she
+shinned up the roof, but presently she found herself astride the
+pinnacle. Zerlina had followed close behind, with more blankets and
+together the two girls spread them over the smoking shingles. When the
+roof was covered, they let themselves down and began dashing water on
+the smouldering walls. The bucket brigade was working well under the
+direction of Ruth, and the garage was saved.
+
+Then a line of clipped bushes running from the garden to the forest,
+suddenly burst into flames. A cry went up from the workers at this
+terrifying spectacle. To the girls, it seemed like a gigantic boa
+constrictor racing toward them, and, for a moment, they turned cold with
+fear.
+
+"All hands must help here!" cried Bab, taking command, as she naturally
+did in times of danger. "Zerlina, tell the men to come from the trench
+with their shovels. Bring pails of water, all of you," she called to the
+Gypsies, "and the rest of the wet blankets."
+
+There was a rush and a scramble. They tried to beat down the angry
+little flames, dashed water on to them, choked them with wet blankets,
+trampled on them, and finally fell back, stifled and blinded with smoke
+and ashes, only to find the gasoline house a burning mass. It had gone
+up like a tinder box in an instant, and was reduced to ruins.
+
+"If we have any more gusts of wind like that last, Bab, we are lost!"
+cried Ruth, sobbing a little under her breath. "But, of course, if the
+worst happens, we can always take the automobiles. They can run faster
+than the flames."
+
+Back of the garage they could see another line of flames advancing like
+a regiment of cavalry.
+
+"Great heavens!" cried Grace. "What shall we do now?"
+
+"Don't despair, yet," answered Bab. "Those dividing hedges are very dry,
+but the flames don't spread from them so quickly; and, besides, I
+believe the trench will stop them."
+
+"O Bab," exclaimed Ruth, "do you think there will ever be an end to
+this? We are too tired to dig trenches, and the water is getting
+alarmingly low."
+
+"But there are two more cisterns," replied the undaunted Bab.
+
+Just then the wind, which, up to this time, except for a few brief
+gusts, had been merely a breeze, gathered new strength. Sparks began to
+fly from the burning underbrush in the wood. It had been a ground fire,
+owing to the long drought, and the trees still waved their green
+branches over the ruins at their feet.
+
+Ruth seized Bab's hand convulsively.
+
+"Young ladies!" called a voice behind them. Turning, they confronted the
+hermit. "I am a very old man, but, if you will permit me, I will make a
+suggestion. Save what water is left for the roof, which should be
+deluged as soon as possible. The trench will stop the fire, but it
+cannot keep back the sparks and I see a wind has come up that is most
+dangerous."
+
+"Oh, thank you," cried the two girls, seeing the wisdom of his
+suggestion immediately.
+
+Miss Sallie, a tragic spectacle, came from around the house; her white
+hair tumbling down her back, her face gray with ashes and her lavender
+garments torn and wet.
+
+"Girls," she murmured, her voice trembling, from fatigue and excitement,
+"we have done all we could do for the major. I think we had better give
+it up and go while we can get away."
+
+"Let us have one more chance. Aunt Sallie, dearest," begged Ruth, "and
+if that fails there will still be time to get away in the motor car."
+
+"What are you going to do now, child?" asked the poor woman
+distractedly.
+
+"You go and sit down in one of the long chairs on the piazza and rest,"
+replied her niece, patting her hand tenderly, "and leave everything to
+us."
+
+The girls could hear the throbbing of the pumping engine somewhere
+below, as they dashed up the steps. John had connected all the cisterns
+and the machinery was working in good order. The candles and lanterns
+they carried hardly made an impression in the blackness of the great
+empty garret, but an exclamation from John called attention to the fact
+that the sliding partition was down.
+
+"I never knew it to happen before," he said, "except once when I was too
+small to understand."
+
+"How are we going to manage?" asked Grace, looking overhead.
+
+"Through the scuttle to the roof," replied Barbara, pointing to a ladder
+leading to a trapdoor.
+
+John climbed up first, opening the scuttle, and everybody lent a hand in
+lifting out the hose he had brought along. Barbara and Zerlina followed
+to the roof, which was steep and much broken by pinnacles and turrets;
+yet in contrast with the attic it was quite light outside, and the girls
+could see perfectly where to step without slipping.
+
+Only two people were needed, it was decided. Bab would not hear of
+Ruth's coming, on account of the latter's horror of high places. It was
+certain that Mollie and Grace were not agile enough for the experiment,
+and Bab and Zerlina had already proved what they could do when they
+scaled the garage roof.
+
+The three girls left behind climbed onto a balcony just outside one of
+the attic windows and watched, with tremulous interest, what was
+happening on the roof.
+
+Thus Zerlina and Barbara, with old John, were left alone on top of Ten
+Eyck Hall. They had a wonderful view of the smoking forest, the tops of
+whose trees were waving in the steadily rising wind. The trench had,
+indeed, stopped the course of the flames which had run along the meadow
+hedges, and there were no more lines of fire to be seen; but there was a
+bright glow toward the back and a sound of crackling wood. Then came a
+burst of flames and the onlooker saw that the stable was burning. A
+spark lit on Bab's wrist; another touched her on the cheek, and
+presently a gust of wind brought dozens of them twinkling like shooting
+stars at night. They fell on the shingled roof, smouldered for a moment
+and went out. Others followed. It could be only a matter of a little
+while, thought Bab, before the hall would be in flames if they were not
+prompt with the water.
+
+"It's all right, Miss," called John's voice from behind the tank on the
+part of the roof over the attic. There was a gurgling noise and a swift
+jet of water burst from the nozzle of the hose.
+
+With Zerlina's assistance, Bab began watering the roof. But the tallest
+peak was beyond reach of the hose. There the sparks were smouldering
+into life and Bab distinctly saw a a little puff of flame lick out and
+then go back again like a cunning animal biding its time.
+
+Bab ran over to the tank.
+
+"John," she called, "get a ladder and a pail."
+
+Together they unhooked the ladder attached to the tank and dragged it
+over to the high center peak of the roof. There was a pail, also, which
+they filled with water. While the old man held the ladder Bab climbed
+up, taking the pail from Zerlina. Several times the brave girl dashed
+water over the smoking shingles until every spark was dead. Then,
+standing on one foot, on the top rung of the ladder, Bab braced herself
+with a lightning rod running up the side of the turret, and leaned over
+to see if all were well on its other section. Below her she could see
+the girls on the balcony peering up at her with frightened eyes. Lifting
+herself entirely off the ladder, for an instant, Bab glanced around the
+turret. In slipping back, her foot missed the rung. The shock made her
+lose her grip on the lightning rod, and like a flash she slid down the
+steepest part of the roof now slippery from its recent wetting. There
+was nothing to hold to, nothing to cling to, and she closed her eyes
+from the horror that was before her.
+
+[Illustration: Like a Flash She Slid Down the Steepest Part of the
+Roof.]
+
+It is said that a great many things pass through one's mind at such
+brief, tense moments as these, when death is almost certain.
+
+The thought that came to Bab's mind, however, was her mother's prayer,
+"Heaven make me calm in the face of danger."
+
+There was, of course, a shudder of horror, a wild, ineffectual effort to
+save herself--a shock.
+
+When she opened her eyes, three pairs of arms encircled her, and three
+sobbing faces hovered over her. She had landed upon the roof of the
+balcony where the girls were waiting. Except for a bruised arm, she had
+met with no harm.
+
+"Why, girlies," she said, smiling a little weakly, "were you so
+frightened?" and then closed her eyes again.
+
+Zerlina and John came tumbling down the ladder. The Gypsy girl was as
+white as a sheet and old John was openly sobbing.
+
+"I'm all right," Bab assured them, standing up and shaking herself to
+bring her senses back. She bathed her throbbing wrists and temples, and
+all climbed down into the lower regions of the house. It was decided to
+water the side of the house, and after that nothing more could be done.
+The whole place was lit up with the burning stable, and sparks were
+flying in every direction. The wind had risen to a gale and the skies
+were overhung with a black canopy of clouds kindled by occasional
+flashes of lightning. There was a low grumbling sound of thunder. Down
+the avenue came the clatter of horses' hoofs. At the same time there was
+a terrific clap, and the rain poured down in torrents.
+
+"Here they are!" cried the girls as Major Ten Eyck and the boys leaped
+from their horses and dashed up the piazza steps. Jose was not with
+them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII--EXPLANATIONS
+
+
+The major and his nephews were shocked at the appearance of their
+guests, who were hardly recognizable. Jimmie Butler retired behind a
+curtain and give vent to one little chuckle. He would not, for anything,
+have let them know how funny they looked.
+
+"I shall never forgive myself for leaving you," groaned Major Ten Eyck.
+"Why did you not take the car and leave the old place to burn? How can
+the boys and I ever thank you?" he continued, with emotion.
+
+Before Stephen would give an account of the search for Jose he made Ruth
+repeat the history of the afternoon from beginning to end. The major and
+the boys were filled with admiration and wonder for these four brave
+"Automobile Girls" and Miss Stuart.
+
+"There is nothing we can do," exclaimed Jimmie, "to show what we feel,
+except to lie down and let you walk over us."
+
+"And now for Jose," prompted Ruth, when she had finished her story.
+
+"Well," replied Stephen, "we got news of Jose almost as soon as we had
+passed the Gypsy camp. A man on the road told us he had seen a boy who
+answered the description exactly, walking on the edge of the forest. We
+traced him back into the country to a farm house, where according to the
+farmer, he had stopped for a drink of water and turned back again toward
+the forest. It was necessary to come back by a roundabout way because of
+the cliffs on the outer edge, and not until we reached the hermit's
+house did we realize there was a fire that must have been started by
+those tramps, for it was at its worst about where they were yesterday.
+We were frantic when we saw that it was blowing in the direction of the
+hall, but we couldn't get through and had to go the whole way around.
+Our only comfort, when we saw the glow of the burning stable, was that
+you had taken the automobile and gone back to Tarrytown."
+
+The faithful old butler appeared with lights, and informed the major
+that the other servants had returned very repentant, and if agreeable,
+dinner would be served in half an hour.
+
+"But I think the ladies will be much too tired to come down again,"
+protested the major.
+
+"Oh, no, we won't," answered Ruth. "If there's enough water left to wash
+in I would rather dress and come downstairs for food."
+
+"So would we all," chorused the others, except Miss Sallie, who took to
+her bed immediately, and dropped off to sleep as soon as her head
+touched the pillow.
+
+"Stephen," asked Ruth at dinner, "do you believe poor Jose was caught in
+the fire?"
+
+"It's rather a horrible idea," said Stephen, "yet I don't know what else
+to think. He must have caught wind, somehow, that we had found him out
+and concluded to hide in the woods."
+
+"Old Jennie wishes to speak to you, sir," announced John.
+
+"Bring her in here," ordered the major, and Jennie was ushered into the
+dining-room. "How are you, Jennie? I am glad to see you," said the
+major, leading her to a chair. "I hope you were not injured by the
+fire?"
+
+"Be there anyone here but friends?" whispered Jennie.
+
+"No one, Jennie. What is it?"
+
+"When the storm came up I went straight to the forest," said the old
+woman. "Adam went with me and we took his horse and wagon. The fire had
+not touched the road and the ground was wet where we walked. As we
+passed by the place----" here she put her finger to her lips and gazed
+wildly about, "you remember, young ladies? I went over to see if all was
+well. The door was open and on the floor lay the young man. He is not
+dead, but he is very ill here," old Jennie pressed her hand to her
+chest. "He has swallowed the smoke. We put him in the wagon and he is
+outside."
+
+"Jose here? Outside?" they all cried at once, rushing to the front door.
+
+In the pouring rain, Zerlina and her grandmother were leaning over a
+young man stretched out prone in Adam's wagon. He wore the green
+velveteen suit now so familiar to "The Automobile Girls," and through
+his belt gleamed the dagger he had used to slash the tires with. When he
+was lifted out, they caught a glimpse of his face. Jose it was, but Jose
+grown thin and haggard in a day and a night. The boys carried him
+tenderly upstairs and laid him on his own bed. Zerlina and her
+grandmother followed close at their heels.
+
+"Do you know him, then?" asked Stephen of the Gypsy girl.
+
+"Yes," she replied defiantly. "He is my brother. Antonio is his name."
+
+"Whew-w-w," whistled Stephen under his breath. "So Jose was an impostor
+after all. I must say I hoped till the last."
+
+"Well, well," answered the major, "we won't hit a man when he is down,
+my son, and this boy is pretty sick. The girl is his sister, you say?
+She and her grandmother had better nurse him, then. Send the old woman
+to me. I want to speak with her in the library."
+
+After being closeted with Granny Ann for half an hour the major flung
+wide the library door and called to the others to come in. His
+good-natured, handsome face was wrinkled into an expression of utter
+bewilderment, but relief gleamed through his troubled eyes.
+
+"Children," he cried, "come here, every one of you. Jose is vindicated.
+Thank heavens for that. The boy upstairs is not our Jose at all, but his
+half-brother, Antonio. Now, where do you suppose Jose has hidden
+himself? I trust, I earnestly hope, not in the woods."
+
+"It seems," continued the major, "Jose's father was married twice. A
+nice chap, Jose. I trust he is safe to-night, for his poor father's sake
+as well as for his own."
+
+"And his second wife, uncle?" interrupted Stephen.
+
+"Yes, yes, my boy," continued the major, patting his nephew
+affectionately on the shoulder, "and the second wife was a beautiful
+Gypsy singer, who had two children, Zerlina and Antonio, the unfortunate
+young man now occupying Jose's room. A Gypsy rarely marries outside her
+own people and this one longed to return to her tribe. One day she ran
+away taking her children with her, and Martinez never saw his wife
+again, for she died soon after. He has tried, in every way, to recover
+the children, but until now the Gypsies have always managed to hide them
+effectually. Since they were children Antonio has hated his half brother
+Jose and from time to time has threatened his life. Once, in Gibraltar,
+the brother almost succeeded in killing him." (The girls remembered how
+much Jose had disliked the mention of Gibraltar.) "Antonio was a bad
+boy, utterly undisciplined. He ran about Europe and this country, seeing
+what harm he could do, but neither his father nor his brother could ever
+locate him. Jose finally heard that the children were in America and
+came over to try to reason with the Gypsies to let Zerlina, at least, go
+to school. I do not suppose he reckoned on finding them so near, and,
+when Antonio tried to rob and murder, Jose was divided in his mind as to
+whether to give his brother up or let him go. He must have suffered a
+good deal, poor fellow. I wish Jose had confided his troubles to me.
+Now, maybe, it's too late to help him."
+
+"And the knife?" asked Bab.
+
+"There were two knives which belonged to the Martinez family. The Gypsy
+took one away with her when she left her husband."
+
+"Will Antonio stay here to-night, Major?" said Mollie, timidly,
+remembering the masked robber and his murderous weapon.
+
+"He is too ill, now, to do any harm, little one," replied the major,
+taking her hand. "Besides, his grandmother and sister will watch over
+him I feel certain, and who knows but the boy may have some good in him
+after all?" he added, always trying to see the best in everybody.
+
+"Nevertheless, we'll lock our doors," exclaimed Ruth. "It's not so easy
+to forget that our highwayman is sleeping across the hall."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII--AN OLD ROMANCE
+
+
+Bab had hardly reached her room before she was summoned to the door by
+Stephen, looking so serious and unhappy that she felt at once something
+had happened.
+
+"Bab," he said, "I am afraid you are not done with your day's work yet
+for the Ten Eyck family. I am about to ask you a favor, and I must
+confide something to you that has been a secret with us now for three
+generations. First, are you afraid to go with me over to the right wing?
+John and Mary will go, too, and you need really have nothing to fear,
+but the dread----" he paused and bit his lip.
+
+"Why, no, Stephen, I am not afraid," replied Bab, "and I promise to
+guard faithfully any secret you want to tell me," she added, giving him
+her hand in token of her pledge. She suspected they were going to visit
+the old man she had seen wandering about the house and forest.
+
+"I will tell you the secret as we go along," Stephen said, leading the
+way to the end of the hall, where they found Mary and John waiting. The
+four started down a long passage opening into the right wing of the
+building. "We are going, now," continued Stephen, "to visit a very old
+man who lives in the right wing. He is my great-uncle, Stephen Ten Eyck.
+When he was quite a young man he met with a sorrow that unhinged his
+mind and he--well, he committed a crime. It was never proved that he had
+done it, but the Ten Eyck family knew he had. However, his most intimate
+friend took the blame upon his shoulders."
+
+"Why did he do that?" asked Bab.
+
+"Because, Bab," replied Stephen, "they both loved a girl, and the girl's
+name was Barbara Thurston. She must have been your great-great-aunt. Did
+you ever hear of her?"
+
+"If I ever did, I have forgotten," answered Bab. "You see, after
+father's death, we had no way to learn much about his family and mother
+knew very little, I suppose."
+
+"Well, Barbara Thurston was engaged to marry my great-uncle. They were
+all staying at the same hotel, somewhere in the Italian lake
+country--Barbara and her mother and my great-uncle Stephen and his
+friend. One day the friend persuaded Barbara to go out rowing with him.
+There was a storm and the boat upset, and Barbara was drowned. It was
+said that the friend and the boatman swam ashore and left her, but that
+is hard to believe. Anyway, when my uncle got the news, something
+snapped in his brain and he killed the boatman with an oar. The friend
+made his escape and the flight proved to the authorities that he had
+committed the crime. The Ten Eycks all knew that Uncle Stephen had done
+it, but it seemed of little use, I suppose, to tell the truth, because
+the slayer, Uncle Stephen, had gone clean crazy, and his friend could
+not be found. They have never seen each other since, until----"
+
+Stephen paused.
+
+"Until when, Stephen?"
+
+"Until to-night, Barbara. Can you guess who the friend is?"
+
+"The hermit?" asked Barbara, with growing excitement.
+
+"Yes," replied Stephen; "the poor old hermit who has lived near his
+friend all these years without ever letting anybody know."
+
+"And your uncle has been living in the right wing ever since?" asked
+Bab.
+
+"Yes. It was his father's wish that the right wing be absolutely his for
+life and that the secret be kept in the family. The old fellow has never
+hurt a fly since the night he killed the Italian boatman. His attendant
+is as old as he, almost, and sometimes Uncle Stephen gets away from him.
+Have you ever seen him?" Stephen looked at her curiously.
+
+"Yes," replied Bab, "several times."
+
+"And never mentioned it? Really Bab, you are great."
+
+"Oh, I finally did tell the girls, only last night. I was just a little
+frightened. Your Uncle Stephen called me by name. But, by the way, none
+of you knew about the name before. How was that?"
+
+"To tell the truth, I had never heard the girl's name in my life, and it
+was so long ago that Uncle Stephen had forgotten it. It was the hermit
+who revealed the whole thing. He took refuge here from the fire, and
+after you girls had gone upstairs he sent for Uncle John. It seems the
+hermit has been with Uncle Stephen most of the afternoon, keeping him
+quiet and away from the fire. The poor old fellow was scared, he said,
+but he is himself again and they both want to see you. But that is not
+the chief reason you are sent for. Uncle Stephen insists that he has
+something he will tell only to you. All day long he has been calling for
+you, and Uncle John Ten Eyck thinks it may quiet him if you will consent
+to see him for a few minutes."
+
+The two had paused outside of a door at the end of the passage, to
+finish the conversation, while Mary and John had gone quietly inside.
+Presently John opened the door.
+
+"It's all right, sir," he whispered. "You and the young lady may come
+in."
+
+They entered a large room, furnished with heavy old-fashioned chairs and
+tables. There were bowls of flowers about and Bab heard afterwards that
+the poor, crazed old man loved flowers and arranged them himself.
+Standing near the window was the hermit. When he saw Bab his face was
+radiated by such a beautiful smile that tears sprang to the girl's eyes.
+Lying on a couch, somewhat back in the shadow, was Stephen's uncle of
+the same name. His attendant, also an old man, who had been with him
+from the beginning, was sitting beside him.
+
+Stephen Ten Eyck the elder opened his eyes when the door closed. He also
+smiled, as the hermit had done, and Bab felt that she could have wept
+aloud for the two pathetic old men.
+
+"My little Barbara has come back at last," Uncle Stephen said, taking
+her hand. "I am very happy. And my old friend Richard, too," he went on,
+stretching the other hand toward the hermit. "Dick," he went on, "I
+always loved you so. I don't know which I loved the most, you or sweet
+Barbara here. Heaven is good to bring me all these blessings at once.
+Don't cry, little girl," he added, tenderly, for the tears were rolling
+down Barbara's cheeks and dropping on his hand. "But I must not forget,"
+he exclaimed suddenly. "I have something to tell you, Barbara, before it
+clouds over here," he tapped his brow. "Go away all of you. This is for
+her ears alone. It is a secret."
+
+The others moved off to a corner of the room and the old man went on
+whispering mysteriously. "We were the last who saw him, you and I. He
+followed me that night. Do you remember? He fell. He is lying at the
+foot of the stairs now. There is a gash in his head and--blood!" "Press
+the panel in the attic----" The old man's voice died away in a gasp.
+
+"Which panel?" asked Bab, in an agony for fear he would not finish.
+
+"The one with the knot hole in the right hand corner," he added and fell
+back on the couch.
+
+Bab tried to make him tell more, but his mind was clouded over and he
+had already forgotten she was there.
+
+"Has he finished?" asked Stephen.
+
+"Yes," replied Bab, "but come quickly. We have no time to lose. Jose is
+lying somewhere, dead or half dead, in the secret passage."
+
+Too much excited and amazed to say good-night to the hermit, the callers
+rushed down the passage, followed by the two servants. At the foot of
+the attic stairs they waited while John brought lights, and for the
+second time that day Bab climbed into the vast old attic.
+
+"Thank fortune the partition is down," exclaimed Stephen. "I suppose
+Uncle Stephen forgot to slide it back, he was in such a hurry to get
+away from Jose." Bab had explained the situation, to Stephen while they
+waited for the candles. "Which panel did he say, Bab?"
+
+"This must be it," she answered; "the panel in the right-hand corner
+that has a knot hole in it. Here is the knot hole all right. We are to
+press it, he said."
+
+They pressed, but nothing happened.
+
+"Press the knot hole, why don't you?" suggested Bab.
+
+One touch was enough. The panel opened and disclosed a long passage cut
+apparently through the wall. There were several branch passages leading
+off from the main one, marked with faded handwriting on slips of paper,
+one "To the Cellar," another "To the Library" and finally the last one
+"To the Right Wing."
+
+"This must be the one," said Stephen, as they groped their way along
+single file. "Be careful," he called; "there should be a flight of steps
+along here somewhere."
+
+Presently they came to the steps. Up through the dense blackness they
+could faintly hear a sound of moaning.
+
+"All right, Jose, old fellow, we are coming to you," cried Stephen,
+while Bab's heart beat so loud she could not trust herself to speak.
+
+Groping their way down the narrow stairway, they came to a landing
+almost on a level with the ceilings of the first floor rooms. At the far
+end of the passage they could hear a voice calling faintly.
+
+"He probably fell the length of the steps, and dragged himself across,"
+exclaimed Stephen, holding his lantern high above his head.
+
+They found Jose stretched out by a narrow door opening directly into the
+right wing. There was a gash just above his temple which he himself had
+bound with his handkerchief and his leg appeared to be broken at the
+ankle.
+
+"Jose, my poor boy," cried Stephen, "we have found you at last!"
+
+Jose smiled weakly and fainted dead away.
+
+The two men carried him back up the flight of steps, not daring to try
+the experiment of the passage leading to the library.
+
+"I suppose Uncle Stephen has known these passages since he was a child,"
+said Stephen in a low voice to Bab as they passed through the attic,
+"and when his attendant is asleep, no doubt he steals off and wanders
+about the house. I believe he has always had a mania that he was being
+pursued by the Italian boatman; and when Jose followed him, right on top
+of his meeting with you, it was too much for the old fellow."
+
+"He's a dear old man," returned Bab, "and how he must have suffered all
+these years; that is, whenever his memory returned."
+
+"And think of the hermit, too, who sacrificed his entire career for you,
+Miss, just because you never learned to swim."
+
+Bab smiled. "If my Aunt Barbara had lived by the sea as I have, she
+would never have had to wait for boatmen and lovers to pull her out of
+the deep water. Swimming is as easy as walking to me."
+
+"I am glad you've learned wisdom in your old age," replied Stephen as
+they paused at the door of the bedroom given to Jose.
+
+"There is one thing I cannot believe," declared Bab, "and that is that
+the hermit swam off and left Aunt Barbara to drown."
+
+"Who knows?" answered Stephen. "People lose their heads strangely
+sometimes."
+
+It was Alfred, destined to be a great doctor, who set Jose's leg that
+night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV--GOOD-BYE TO TEN EYCK HALL
+
+
+Four days had passed since the exciting happenings of that eventful day
+that had begun with the disappearance of Jose, and had ended with his
+discovery.
+
+"I have much to be thankful for," said the major to Miss Sallie, who was
+reclining in a steamer chair on the piazza. She had not left her bed
+until the afternoon of the third day, and was still a little shaky and
+nervous.
+
+"I can't think what they are, John," she replied severely. "You have had
+nothing but misfortunes since we came to stay under your roof. I hope
+they may end when we leave."
+
+"The first one," said the major, smiling good-humoredly, "is that I have
+had the privilege of knowing how splendid American women can be in time
+of danger. I always admired the women of my country, but never so much
+as now," he added, looking fondly at his old friend.
+
+"Yes," assented Miss Sallie proudly, "my girls are about as fine as any
+to be found in the world, I think. They are wholesome, sensible, and
+never cowardly. Undoubtedly they saved Ten Eyck Hall for you, Major, by
+their combined efforts, and by Bab's bravery in watering the roof when
+the sparks began to fly."
+
+"You were just as wonderful as the girls, Sallie, my dear. They tell me
+you superintended the digging of the trench and managed your men with
+the coolness of a general; and that when the fire leaped over the trench
+you were there with the bucket brigade to put it out. The girls were no
+whit less courageous in your day than they are now, Sallie."
+
+"And what is the second blessing you have to be thankful for, John?"
+interrupted Miss Sallie.
+
+"That Jose is the boy I took him to be--a good, honest, noble fellow."
+
+"I must say I liked him from the first moment I set eyes upon him," said
+Miss Stuart.
+
+"Yes," continued the major; "his father might well be proud of him. He
+deserves the highest commendation for his forbearance and unselfishness
+in regard to that brother of his."
+
+"How is the brother, by the way?" asked Miss Sallie.
+
+"You know he was taken to the hospital the day after he was brought
+here; well, the boys went over in the car yesterday. Antonio is much
+better. His sister is tending him. He is very repentant, she says, and
+has consented to go to school and turn over a new leaf. In fact, I
+myself have had a long talk with him. I can see that there is great good
+in the boy. It has simply been perverted by evil associations."
+
+"Ah, Major," exclaimed his old friend, smiling indulgently as she tapped
+his arm with her fan, "you are truly the most optimistic soul in the
+world. I hope all your golden dreams about this wretched boy's future
+will come true. But what about his sister!"
+
+"Jose is anxious for her to go to a school in America. He believes she
+could not endure the restraint of a European school after her free,
+open-air life. She is only too anxious. She wants to cultivate her
+voice, and the old grandmother appears really relieved at the turn
+affairs have taken. She was willing to concede anything to keep the
+grandson out of jail."
+
+"Then my Ruth will not be able to gratify her whim to educate the Gypsy
+girl," pursued Miss Sallie.
+
+"Not exactly," replied the major. "Jose's father is very well-to-do, as
+the world goes, but Ruth is to take charge of Zerlina's education and
+look after her generally. She has asked Jose to allow her that
+privilege, as she put it."
+
+Just then the girls came around the corner of the piazza, after a stroll
+in the garden.
+
+"How fresh and delicious the air is since the rain!" exclaimed Barbara.
+"There is still a faint smell of burning. Do you think all the trees in
+the forest will die, Major?"
+
+"Old Adam says they will not," answered the major. "A three months'
+unbroken drought will dry up almost anything but trees. Now, while the
+underbrush and dried fern burned like tinder, the fire hardly touched
+the trees. It was those dead bramble hedges dividing the fields and the
+dried meadow grass that did the most damage, because the sparks from
+them ignited the garage and the roof of the stable."
+
+"I am glad papa and Mrs. Thurston were not uneasy about us," observed
+Ruth. "If they had read the papers before you telegraphed, Major, they
+would have been frantic, I suppose."
+
+"Make way for the Duke of Granada," called Jimmie's cheerful voice from
+the hall, and presently he appeared, pushing Jose, done up in bandages
+and lying flat on his back, on a rolling cot used by some invalid of the
+Ten Eyck family long since dead and gone.
+
+"Jose, my boy," exclaimed the major, going to the foot of the cot to
+ease it as it passed over the door sill, "do you think this is safe?"
+
+"The doctor says it will not hurt him," replied Jimmie. "He needs
+company, but we won't let him stay long."
+
+Jose smiled up at the faces leaning over him.
+
+"You have all been so good to me," he said. "I want to thank you for
+your kindness and for believing in me when my character looked black
+enough to have condemned me without any more proof. And I want to thank
+you for my brother, too, and my poor little sister."
+
+His eyes filled with tears.
+
+"There, there," cried the major, pressing the boy's hand. "It's a little
+enough we have done, I'm sure. I only wish we could have saved you from
+your tumble," he added, gazing sadly toward the right wing of Ten Eyck
+Hall.
+
+"And is it really true that our friends are going to leave us this
+afternoon?" asked Jose.
+
+"Yes," answered the major; "all our girls and boys are going. We shall
+be lonesome enough when they are gone."
+
+There was the sound of a motor horn down the avenue.
+
+"Ah, here comes Stephen at last. I was afraid he would be late," said
+Major Ten Eyck, as his automobile pulled up at the door and Stephen,
+Martin and Alfred jumped out.
+
+"I've got them, uncle," cried Stephen. "They arrived this morning." And
+he handed his uncle a registered package carefully done up and sealed
+with red sealing wax.
+
+The major took the box and disappeared into the house while the boys
+exchanged significant looks.
+
+"Stephen," said Bab, as they strolled down to the end of the-piazza
+while the others were examining the morning papers and reading their
+mail, "did you ever ask Jose where he was the morning we went to see the
+hermit!"
+
+"Oh, yes," replied her friend; "or, rather, he told me without being
+asked. He was to meet his brother by appointment at the haunted pool. I
+suppose he was there too soon, because Antonio chose to inflict us with
+his antics before he went to see Jose, who heard a great deal of the
+nonsense, so he said, and there was a quarrel afterwards, a very bitter
+one, and Jose threatened to give Antonio over to the authorities unless
+he consented to give up his lawless life. Zerlina was hovering around
+later, and heard the pistol shots after the fight with the tramps. She
+thought, of course, it was a duel between her two brothers. That is why
+she paid you the mysterious visit and tried to read the note."
+
+"How does Antonio strike you?" asked Bab.
+
+"Just as a mischievous boy might. I think he will outgrow his vicious
+tendencies now that he has been taken hold of. For one thing he no
+longer hates poor old Jose. I told him, plainly, what a fine fellow his
+brother was, and that it was only on Jose's account we were not going to
+have him arrested. He seemed to be a good deal impressed, I think."
+
+"A note for you, Miss," said John, handing Bab a three-cornered missive
+on a tray.
+
+"Will Miss Barbara Thurston grant one last interview to an old admirer?"
+the note ran.
+
+"It's from your great-uncle," exclaimed Bab, giving Stephen the note to
+read.
+
+Stephen smiled as his eye took in the crabbed, old-fashioned
+handwriting.
+
+"The poor old fellow can't quite get the proper focus as to who you
+really are," he said. "You appear to represent two Barbaras to him. But
+you will go over for a few minutes, won't you, Bab? I doubt if Uncle
+Stephen will last much longer, and seeing you may be a great comfort to
+him."
+
+"Of course I will," Bab replied. "If seeing me can bring a ray of
+pleasure into his life, I am glad enough to be able to do it. I should
+like to take him a few flowers. I know he loves them. Suppose we get
+some honeysuckle and late roses out of the garden before we go."
+
+Together they strolled toward the major's garden, which the flames had
+spared, partly because it was protected by a high brick wall on three
+sides, and partly owing to a daily watering it had received from the
+gardener.
+
+With Stephen's penknife they clipped a bunch of dewy white roses with
+yellow centers, and a few sprays of honeysuckle whose fragrance was
+overpoweringly sweet.
+
+The old man was watching for the young people at the window when the
+attendant opened the door for them. He came forward with some of the
+major's grace and took Barbara's hand in his.
+
+"It was very good of you to come," he said. "I heard you were going, and
+I wanted to say a last good-bye. I feel happier than I have felt in many
+years. You have forgiven me, have you not, little Barbara?" he went on,
+his mind confusing her again with that other Barbara whose tragic death
+had bereft him of his reason. "And you have brought me the roses, too?"
+
+She nodded her head.
+
+"Did they come from the bush near the arbor?"
+
+"Yes," she replied, wondering a little.
+
+"Don't you remember that it was our bush, the one we chose when you were
+here on a visit? Our white rose bush, Barbara. That you should not have
+forgotten, after all these years!" Then his memory came back. "But what
+am I saying?" he exclaimed. "My mind often gets confused. It was the
+likeness, I suppose. I want you to see this portrait of your
+grand-aunt."
+
+He went over to a desk near the window and drew from one of its drawers
+an old daguerreotype.
+
+"It is very, very like," he murmured, as he handed it to Barbara.
+
+It was, indeed, even more like the present Bab than the miniature which
+the hermit had treasured during his years of solitude.
+
+"I want you to keep this picture, Barbara," said Stephen's uncle. "I
+have another one, and it will be a pleasure to me, at the last, to know
+that it belongs to another Barbara Thurston. This ring must also be
+yours." He drew from the desk a little black velvet case. "It was a ring
+I gave to her after we were engaged. Will you wear it for me!"
+
+Barbara opened the case and slipped the ring on her finger. It was a
+very old ring of beaten silver with a sapphire setting.
+
+"Thank you," she said and gave him her hand.
+
+"Good-bye, little Barbara!" cried the old man. "You have brought peace
+to me at last. You and my dear friend, Richard. I have changed a great
+deal, you see," he was lapsing back into the old mania, "but you are as
+young and pretty as ever, Barbara."
+
+"It is time to go," whispered Stephen, hurriedly. The attendant had
+already opened the door for them and they slipped out together.
+
+"The hermit has promised to come and see him every day," said Stephen,
+as they hastened through the passage. "Indeed, Uncle John has invited
+the hermit to live at Ten Eyck Hall for the rest of his days, and he has
+all but consented. He is a wonderful old man, I think, and whether he
+swam off and left 'you' or not, he has atoned for it after all these
+years."
+
+"Stephen," replied Barbara, "I shall never believe that he did that, no
+matter if he were to tell me so himself."
+
+They reached the piazza just in time to hear Miss Sallie saying:
+
+"Girls, I think we had better go up and get ready for the trip, before
+luncheon is announced. We want to start promptly, this time, even if we
+shall have such an excellent guard of young men. Jose, I am sorry you
+are not well enough to come in to our last meal," she added, turning to
+the sick boy and taking his hand. "But we shall run up and say good-bye
+to you before we leave, and if ever you go as far west as Chicago, I
+want you to come and see us. Perhaps Ruth and I shall see you and your
+father this autumn when we are in Europe."
+
+"Indeed, I hope you will come to Madrid and visit at my home," cried
+Jose. "Will you not arrange it?"
+
+"That would be delightful" said Miss Sallie, "but we shall be over only
+for six weeks. We must return in time for Ruth's school, you know."
+
+The last luncheon at Ten Eyck Hall was a very gay one. The dangers of
+the previous week were over and the mysteries cleared away.
+
+The major fairly beamed on his guests across the hospitable board.
+
+"It must have been Miss Sallie's fault," thought Mollie, watching his
+handsome face with a secret admiration. "He is certainly the dearest old
+man alive. I wonder if she isn't sorry now?"
+
+And as if in answer to her unspoken question, she heard Miss Sallie
+saying:
+
+"John, I hope this is not the last visit you will let us make to Ten
+Eyck Hall. In spite of its fires and tramps I should like to come
+again."
+
+"I should be the happiest man in the world if you only would," he
+answered. "I am greatly relieved that you haven't got an everlasting
+prejudice against it."
+
+"When I settle down for the winter," Jimmie Butler was heard to remark
+above the hum of conversation, "I mean to take up a certain study and
+not leave off studying it until I have graduated with diploma and
+honors."
+
+"What is it, Jimmie?" demanded the others.
+
+"Prize fighting," he replied. "I intend to learn wrestling and boxing,
+likewise just plain hair-pulling and scratching. Prize fighting in all
+its varieties for me before another year rolls round."
+
+"You will have to go into training, then, Jim," exclaimed Alfred. "You
+will not be permitted to eat anything you like and not too much of
+anything else."
+
+"No more hot bread for you, Jimmie," continued Stephen. "No more waffles
+and Johnnie-cakes. You will have to punch the bag mornings, when you
+would rather be sleeping, and give up theatres in the evenings for early
+bedtime. It's a fearful life, my boy."
+
+"Be that as it may," persisted Jimmie, "I'm going to learn how to deal a
+blow that will give a man a black eye the first time, and if ever I get
+hold of that wiry individual who gave me these in the woods, yonder," he
+pointed to his red nose and discolored eye, "he'll get such a 'licking'
+as he'll remember to his last hour. Even Stephen's giant won't be a
+match for me."
+
+There was joyous laughter at this, followed by remarks from Martin and
+Alfred of a rather sarcastic character, such as "Give it to him, Jimmie!
+Give him a bump in the ribs!"
+
+"I am going to have the woods patrolled, hereafter, in the summer time,"
+observed the major, "and all dangerous characters will be excluded. The
+next time we have a house party there will be no tramps to threaten my
+guests."
+
+"By the way," said Stephen, "the giant tramp is in the hospital now. He
+was drunk when the fire started, and fell asleep. He was badly burned
+and almost suffocated, but his poor, long-suffering wife managed to save
+him somehow. The other two had left him to die."
+
+"Will you have him arrested when he gets well, Major?" asked Ruth.
+
+"No," replied the major, somewhat confused. "I suppose I should, but he
+tells me he was despoiled of his living by a dishonest master, and I
+have concluded to make it up to him for being richer than he is by
+giving him something to do. We have several farms back in the country
+and I have put him in charge of the smallest one. It seems that farming
+is the very thing he wants to do more than anything else in life. He
+will have to travel a good distance before he can get anything to drink,
+and his wife is the happiest woman over the prospect you ever saw."
+
+"Major, major!" protested Miss Sallie. "What will you do next?"
+
+"Ah, well," exclaimed the major, "it is good to be able to give a man a
+chance to earn an honest living, especially if he wants to take it. And,
+when this poor wretch heard about that bit of land and little cottage
+back yonder in the hills, he looked as if he had had a glimpse of
+heaven. His wife told me that he had really tried, again and again to
+find something to do; but indoor life was very irksome to him because he
+had been brought up on a farm, and working in factories and foundries
+had been his undoing."
+
+"Stephen, how do you feel about it?" asked Alfred. "He was your opponent
+in the fight, you know."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind," replied Stephen. "He didn't give me a black eye, and
+I am glad for him to earn an honest living. Uncle's a brick."
+
+When the meal was over Major Ten Eyck rose from the table, clearing his
+throat as if he were about to make a speech, which indeed he was.
+
+"I have something to say before this party breaks up, for myself and the
+boys. We want to express to you, how deeply grateful we feel to you,
+Miss Sallie and 'The Automobile Girls,' for what you have done for us.
+
+"You have saved our old home for us, at the risk of your own precious
+lives, and there is nothing we can really do or say to show how much we
+appreciate it. The place has been in the family ever since there were
+any Ten Eycks to live in it. I was born here and I love it, and I hope
+to end my days here----"
+
+"Don't speak as if you were on the brink of the grave, Major, I beg of
+you," protested Miss Sallie. "You are not many years older than I am,
+and I certainly will not allow such mournful thoughts to trouble me so
+soon."
+
+"You will always be young, Sallie," replied the gallant major.
+
+"You are nothing but a boy yourself, John," replied Miss Stuart,
+blushing in spite of herself, while the young people exchanged stealthy
+smiles at these elderly compliments.
+
+"I was saying," continued the major, who remained standing to finish his
+speech, "that there was nothing we could do, the boys and I, to show how
+we feel in this matter. But when you wear these little ornaments" (here
+the major handed Miss Sallie and each of the girls a little jeweler's
+box) "we hope you will remember that we are your devoted friends always.
+It was Stephen's idea, and there was not much time to get them, but the
+jeweler undertook a rush order for us, and I hope they are all right."
+
+"Hurray!" cried Jimmie, rolling his napkin into a ball and tossing it
+into the air.
+
+There were cries of pleasure when the boxes gave up their treasures,
+small gold firemen's helmets studded with pearls and a row of rubies on
+the curve of the brim.
+
+As if this were not enough, John came in with a tray of bouquets, each
+one different, as on a former occasion. The major had picked and
+arranged the flowers himself for Miss Sallie and "The Automobile Girls,"
+as a last reminder of Ten Eyck Hall, he said.
+
+"It is worth while going into the firemen's business, if one is to be so
+well repaid," exclaimed Ruth.
+
+Bab felt particularly rich in souvenirs of her visit, with a picture of
+a new and hitherto unknown great-aunt, a ring and a beautiful pin.
+
+"We are all much too excited to thank you properly, Major," she said.
+
+"I don't want any thanks, my dear child," replied the major. "I wish to
+avoid them."
+
+"Somebody should make a speech," cried Jimmie's voice above the jollity.
+"I think I'll be the one." He cleared his throat. "Major John Ten Eyck,"
+he said bowing toward the major, "I know these young ladies appreciate
+deeply the handsome souvenirs you have bestowed upon them, but youth and
+inexperience have tied their tongues. However, mine is loosened and I
+wish to thank you a thousand times for the souvenirs which I also am
+carrying away from Ten Eyck Hall, namely my beautiful ruby nose and my
+blue enameled eyes."
+
+There was more laughter and more exchange of jokes and fun, when Martin
+who had slipped out of the room for a moment, returned with a small
+bundle which he handed to Jimmie.
+
+"We'll give you a booby prize, Jimmie," he said, "since the ladies have
+been awarded the first prize."
+
+Jimmie opened the bundle and drew forth a boxing glove which he put on
+immediately and chased Martin out of the room. This was the signal for
+the breaking up of the lunch party.
+
+The boxes and suit cases were already piled in their accustomed place on
+the back of the car and there was nothing for the girls to do but to pin
+on their hats and veils, slip on their silk dusters and go.
+
+The servants had lined up in the hall to say good-bye. Jose had begged
+to be permitted to remain downstairs until after the visitors had gone.
+As the automobiles sped down the avenue, the major, standing by the sick
+boy's cot, waved good-bye from the piazza.
+
+Only Bab saw another handkerchief waving its pathetic farewell from a
+window in the right wing. She gave an answering wave with her own little
+handkerchief which she hoped the old man would not miss.
+
+"Good-bye to Ten Eyck Hall," she said to herself as she looked back at
+the beautiful old house. "You are full of tragic memories, but I love
+you and I would have risked much to have saved you from crumbling to a
+heap of ashes."
+
+As they passed over the bridge and came to the crossroads by the woods,
+they were stopped by blind Jennie, who silently presented Bab and Ruth
+each with a small cross she herself had carved from wood. Then to Bab
+she gave a beautiful bunch of yellow roses, which the hermit had begged
+the girl to accept with his best wishes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV--CONCLUSION
+
+
+In spite of the strange chain of events following so closely on each
+other's heels, "The Automobile Girls" had only pleasant memories of Ten
+Eyck Hall and its occupants.
+
+Among their trips they counted this as one of the most interesting, but
+Ruth, who was ever planning future surprises, had a plan that would
+outdo all other visits. This was nothing less than a journey to her own
+home, Chicago.
+
+This excursion, every moment of which was to throb with interest for our
+four girls, involved the attempt to discover a hidden treasure buried in
+what had once been the prairie home of an old Illinois family. These
+adventures, with exciting scenes on the Stock Exchange where Barbara
+Thurston learned of a plot to ruin her friends, and much more, all is
+vividly described in the next volume of this series:
+
+"The Automobile Girls at Chicago; or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds."
+
+                                THE END.
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
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+
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+  the U. S. Naval Academy.
+
+  2 DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Midshipmen as
+  Naval Academy "Youngsters."
+
+  3 DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Leaders of the Second
+  Class Midshipmen.
+
+  4 DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Headed for Graduation
+  and the Big Cruise.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Young Engineers Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys
+Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of
+all the traditions of Dick & Co.
+
+  1 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; Or, At Railroad Building in
+  Earnest.
+
+  2 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA; Or, Laying Tracks on the
+  "Man-Killer" Quicksand.
+
+  3 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA; Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of
+  a Pick.
+
+  4 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO; Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+Boys of the Army Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States Army of
+to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master pen.
+
+  1 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS; Or, Two Recruits in the United
+  States Army.
+
+  2 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons.
+
+  3 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; Or, Handling Their First Real
+  Commands.
+
+  4 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; Or, Following the Flag
+  Against the Moros.
+
+_(Other volumes to follow rapidly.)_
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+Battleship Boys Series
+
+By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge
+drab Dreadnaughts.
+
+  1 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's
+  Navy.
+
+  2 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD; Or, Winning Their Grades as
+  Petty Officers.
+
+  3 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; Or, Earning New Ratings in
+  European Seas.
+
+  4 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS; Or, Upholding the American
+  Flag in a Honduras Revolution.
+
+_(Other volumes to follow rapidly.)_
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls Series
+
+By JANET ALDRIDGE
+
+Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life.
+
+  1 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS; Or, Fun and Frolic in the
+  Summer Camp.
+
+  2 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY; Or, The Young Pathfinders
+  on a Summer Hike.
+
+  3 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT; Or, The Stormy Cruise of the Red
+  Rover.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+High School Boys Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+In this series of bright, crisp books a new note has been struck. Boys
+of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating
+volumes.
+
+  1 THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and
+  Sports.
+
+  2 THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER; Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond.
+
+  3 THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END; Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football
+  Gridiron.
+
+  4 THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM; Or, Dick & Co. Leading the
+  Athletic Vanguard.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+Grammar School Boys Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar school
+boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy.
+
+  1 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; Or, Dick & Co. Start Things
+  Moving.
+
+  2 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; Or, Dick & Co. at Winter
+  Sports.
+
+  3 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and
+  Knowledge.
+
+  4 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS; Or, Dick & Co. Make
+  Their Fame Secure.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+High School Boys' Vacation Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+"Give us more Dick Prescott books!"
+
+This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the country
+over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the publishers,
+making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, Tom Reade, and
+the other members of Dick & Co. are the most popular high school boys in
+the land. Boys will alternately thrill and chuckle when reading these
+splendid narratives.
+
+  1 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB; Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake
+  Pleasant.
+
+  2 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP; Or, The Dick Prescott Six
+  Training for the Gridley Eleven.
+
+  3 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP; Or, Dick & Co. in the
+  Wilderness.
+
+  4 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE; Or, Dick & Co. Making
+  Themselves "Hard as Nails."
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Circus Boys Series
+
+By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON
+
+Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely
+interesting and exciting life.
+
+  1 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; Or, Making the Start in the
+  Sawdust Life.
+
+  2 THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; Or, Winning New Laurels on
+  the Tanbark.
+
+  3 THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; Or, Winning the Plaudits of the
+  Sunny South.
+
+  4 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; Or, Afloat with the Big Show
+  on the Big River.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The High School Girls Series
+
+By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.
+
+These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the reader
+fairly by storm.
+
+  1 GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Merry Doings of
+  the Oakdale Freshman Girls.
+
+  2 GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Record of
+  the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics.
+
+  3 GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, Fast Friends in
+  the Sororities.
+
+  4 GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Parting of the
+  Ways.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Automobile Girls Series
+
+By LAURA DENT CRANE
+
+No girl's library--no family book-case can be considered at all complete
+unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books.
+
+  1 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; Or, Watching the Summer Parade.
+
+  2 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; Or, The Ghost of Lost
+  Man's Trail.
+
+  3 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy
+  Hollow.
+
+  4 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; Or, Winning Out Against Heavy
+  Odds.
+
+  5 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH; Or, Proving Their Mettle Under
+  Southern Skies.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated
+
+Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE
+HUDSON***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 37454.txt or 37454.zip *******
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