Ruth Fielding and the gypsiesAlice B. Emerson








THE rfEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOK. L.FN'" ANT
riLDKN FOUNDATIONS
P. L



J Hi PUSHED RUTH ROUGHLY BACK INTO HER SEAT.
Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies Page 123.


Til.. L.. . '. <r
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Snaka fur (Stria
By ALICE B. EMERSON
RUTH FIELDINO SERIES
i2mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL
Or, Jasper Parloe's Secret.
RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL
Or, Solving the Campus Mystery.
RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP
Or, Lost in the Backwoods.
RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT
Or, Nita, the Girl Castaway.
RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH
Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys-
RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND
Or, The Old Hunter's Treasure Box.
RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM
Or, What Became of the Raby Orphans.
RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
Or, The Missing Pearl Necklace.
Cupples & Leon Co., Publishers, New York.
Copyright, 1915, by
Cupples & Leon Company
Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies.
Printed in IJ- S. A-


CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGt
I. On the Lumano River ... i
II. Roberto, the Gypsy . . . . 10
III. Evening at the Red Mill . . 19
IV. The Auto Tour 27
V. A Prophecy Fulfilled . . . 37
VI. A Transaction in Mutton . 43
VII. Fellow Travelers . . . .53
VIII. What Was It All About? . 61
IX. Queen Zelaya 69
X. In the Gypsy Camp .... 80
XI. Tom on the Trail . . . .91
XII. A Break for Liberty . . .104
XIII. Ruth in the Toils . . . .111
XIV. Roberto Again 116
XV. Helen's Escape 124
XVI. Through the Night and the
Storm 133
XVII. Off for School Again . . .140
XVIII. Getting Into Harness . . .149
XIX. Can It Be Possible? . . .156
XX. He Cannot Talk . . . .164
-


CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
XXI. Ruth Intercedes . . . .169
XXII. A Great Temptation . . .175
XXIII. Nettie Parsons' Feast . . .182
XXIV. Roberto Finds His Voice . .190
XXV. Five Thousand Dollars . .198


RUTH FIELDING
AND THE GYPSIES
CHAPTER I
ON THE LUMANO RIVER
The steady turning of the grinding-stones set
the old Red Mill a-quiver in every board and
beam. The air within was full of dust—dust of
the grain, and fine, fine dust from the stones
themselves.
Uncle Jabez Potter, the miller, came to the
door and looked across the grassy yard that sepa-
rated the mill and the farmhouse attached, from
the highroad. Under a broad-spreading tree sat
two girls, busy with their needles.
One, a sharp-faced, light-haired girl, who some-
how carried a look of endured pain in her eyes in
spite of the smile she flung at the old man, cried:
"Hello, Dusty Miller! come out and fly about
a little. It will do you good."
The grim face of the miller lightened percep-
tibly. "How do you reckon a man like me kin
fly, Mercy child?" he croaked.
"I'll lend you my aeroplanes, if you like," she
t


a RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
returned, gaily, and held up the two ebony canes
which had been hidden by the tall grass. They
told the story of Mercy Curtis' look of pain, but
once she had had to hobble on crutches and, as
she pluckily declared, canes were "miles better
than crutches."
"I ain't got no time, gals, an' that's a fac\"
said the miller, his face clouding suddenly. "Ain't
ye seen hide nor hair of Ben an' them mules?"
"Why, Uncle," said the second girl, quietly,
"you know how many errands Ben had to do in
town. He couldn't do them all and get back in
so short a time."
"I dunno about that, Niece Ruth—I dunno
about that," said the old man, sharply. "Seems
ter me I could ha' gone an' been back by now.
An' hi guy! there's four sacks o' flour to take
acrost the river to Tim Lakeby—an' I kyan't do
it by meself—Ben knows that. Takes two on us
ter handle thet punt 'ith the river runnin' like she
is right now."
The girl who had last spoken folded the work
in her lap and got up agilely. Her movements
were followed—perhaps a little enviously—by the
gaze of the lame girl.
"How quick you are, Ruthie," she said. When
Ruth Fielding looked down upon Mercy Curtis,
her smile started an answering one upon the lama
girl's thin face.


RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
were none of them perfect. Her cheeks were per-
haps a little too round; her nose—well, it was not
a dignified nose at all! And her mouth was gen-
erously large, but the teeth gleaming behind her
red lips were even and white, and her smile lit up
her whole face in a most engaging manner.
"Do let me help you, Uncle. I know I can,"
she repeated, as the old miller scowled at her.
"What's that? " he said again. "Go with me
in that punt to Tim Lakeby's?"
"Why not?"
"'Tain't no job for a gal, Niece Ruth," grum-
bled the miller.
"Any job is all right for a girl—if she can do
it," said Ruth, happily. "And 1 can row, Uncle
—you know I can."
"Ha! rowing one o' them paper-shell skiffs of
Cameron's one thing; the ash oars to my punt
ain't for baby's han's," growled the miller.
"Do let me try, Uncle Jabez," said Ruth again,
when the lame girl broke in with:
"You are an awfully obstinate old Dusty
Miller! Why don't you own up that Ruthie's
more good to you than a dozen boys would be?"
"She ain't! " snarled the old man.
At that moment there appeared upon the farm-
house porch a little, bent old woman who hailed
them in a shrill, sweet voice:
"What's the matter, gals? What's the matter,


ON THE LUMANO RIVER
5
Jabez? Ain't nothin' broke down, hez there?"
"No, Aunt Alvirah," laughed Ruth. "I just
want Uncle Jabez to let me help him"
The old woman had started down the steps, her
hand upon her back as she came, and intoning in
a low voice: "Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!"
She caught up the miller's remark, as he turned
aWay again, very sharply, for he muttered some-
thing about " Silly gals' foolish idees."
"What d'ye mean by that, Jabez Potter? " she
demanded. "If Ruth says she kin help ye, she
kin. You oughter know that by this time."
"Help me row that punt across the river?"
snarled the old man, wrathfully. "What non-
sense!"
"I dunno," said the old woman, slowly. "I
see Tim's flag a-flyin'. I guess he wants his flour
bad."
"And I can pull an oar as good as you can,
Uncle Jabez," added Ruth.
"Oh, all right! Come on, then. I see I shell
hev no peace till I let ye try it. Ef we don't git
back fer supper, don't blame me, Alviry."
The miller disappeared in the gathering gloom
of the mill. Soon the jarring of the structure and
the hum of the stones grew slower—slower—
slower, and finally the machinery was altogether
still.
Ruth had run for her hat. Then, waving her


6 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
hand to Mercy and Aunt Alvirah, she ran around
to the landing.
The Lumano River was a wide stream, but at
this season of the year it was pretty shallow.
There was little navigation from Lake Osago at
any time, but now the channel was dotted with
dangerous rocks, and there were even more peril-
ous reefs just under the surface.
Uncle Jabez's boat was not really a "punt."
It was a heavy rowboat, so stained and water-
logged in appearance that it might have been
taken for a bit of drift-stuff that had been brought
in to the Red Mill landing by the current.
And truly, that is probably the means by which
the miller had originally obtained the boat. He
was of a miserly nature, was Uncle Jabez Potter,
and the old boat—which its first owner had never
considered worth coming after, following some
spring freshet—served the miller well enough to
transport his goods across the river.
Tim Lakeby's store, on the north shore of the
river, was in sight of the Red Mill. There were
four sacks of flour to be transported, and already
Uncle Jabez had placed two of them in the bottom
of the boat, upon a clean tarpaulin.
"Ef we go down the river an' swamp, I shell
lose this flour," grumbled Uncle Jabez. "Drat
that Ben! I tell ye, he'd ought to be hum by
now."


ON THE LUMANO RIVER
7
Ben was the hired man, and if the miller had
not really been kindlier underneath than he ap-
peared on the surface, Ben would never have re-
mained as long with him as he had!
Uncle Jabez balanced the weight in the boat
with judgment. Although there seemed to be no
real danger, he knew very well the nature of the
treacherous current. Ruth slipped into the bow
seat with her oar, and Uncle Jabez took stroke.
The girl unknotted the painter, and the boat
drifted out from the landing.
"Now, set yer feet square, an' pull!" ejacu-
lated her uncle, thrusting the blade of his own
oar beneath the rippling surface.
They were heavy ash oars—one was all the
girl really could manage. But she was not afraid
of a little hard work, her muscles were supple, and
she had rowed one season in the first eight at
Briarwood Hall, and so considered herself some-
thing of an oarswoman.
The miller, by stretching to see over his shoul-
der, got the boat pointed in the right direction.
"Pull, now!" he commanded, and set a long,
forceful stroke for the girl to match. With the
water slapping against the high side of the craft,
sometimes sprinkling them with spray, they drove
her forward for some minutes in silence.
The boat lumbered heavily, and it was true
that Ruth had all she could do to manage the


8 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
oars. In some places, where the eddies tugged
at the blade, it seemed as though a submerged
giant seized it and tried to twist it from her grasp!
"I guess you air gittin' yer fill-up of it, Niece
Ruth," growled the miller, with a sound in his
throat that might have been a chuckle. "Look
out, now! ye'll hev us over."
Ruth knew very well she had done nothing to
give the boat that sudden jerk. It was the cur-
rent; but she had no breath with which to argue
the matter.
On and on they pulled, while the sinking sun
gilded the little wavelets, and bathed both river
and the shores in golden glory. A homing bird
shrieked a shrill " good-night," as it passed above
them, flying from shore to shore.
Now the northern shore was nearer than the
landing they had left. Only occasionally Ruth
turned her head, for she needed her full atten-
tion upon the oar which she managed with such
difficulty.
"We gotter p'int up-stream," growled Uncle
Jabez, after wringing his neck around again to
spy out the landing near Lakeby's store. "Pesky
current's kerried us too fur down."
He gave a mighty pull to his own car to re-
head the boat. It was a perilous move, and in a
perilous place. Here the water ran, troubled and
white-capped, over a hidden reef.
"Ohl do be careful, Uncle! " cried Ruth.


CHAPTER II
ROBERTO, THE GYPSY
Ruth Fielding, following the death of her
parents and while she was still a small girl, had
left Darrowtown and Miss True Pettis, and all
her other old friends and acquaintances, to live
with her mother's uncle, at the Red Mill. Her
coming to the mill and her early adventures in
and about that charming place were related in
the first volume of this series, entitled "Ruth
Fielding of the Red Mill."
Ruth made many friends in her new home,
among them Helen and Tom Cameron, the twin,
motherless children of a wealthy dry-goods mer-
chant who had a beautiful home, called " the Out-
look," near the mill, and Mercy Curtis, the
daughter of the railroad station agent at Ches-
low, the nearest important town to Ruth's new
home. Ruth, Helen, and Mercy all went to
Briarwood Hall, a girls' school some distance
from Cheslow, while Master Tom attended a
military academy at Seven Oaks, near the girls'
institution of learning. The incidents of their first


12 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
the possibility of her ever seeing Briarwood HaJi
again was somewhat doubtful!
The hurrying water tugged at her as though a
hundred hands had laid hold of her person. She
was nearly arm-pit deep in the flood, and her
uncle's body was so heavy that she had all she
could do to hold his head above the surface.
She could not get him back into the boat, even,
and perhaps that would not have been a wise
move. For the old skiff, shaking and rocking,
was likely to be torn free by the battling current.
If it should swing into deep water, it must sink
almost at once, for the water was pouring in
through the hole that had been battered in its
side.
The flour was fast becoming saturated with the
river-water, and its increased weight would bear
the boat to the bottom, if it slipped from the reef.
Unable to see any good of boarding the boat
again, Ruth tried to work her way along the
reef until she stood upon a higher part of it.
Uncle Jabez was unconscious, blood flowed from
a deep cut on his head, and he lay a dead weight
in her arms.
Never had Ruth Fielding been in greater peril.
She was frightened, but mostly for the old man
who seemed so seriously hurt.
Tossing her loosened hair out of her eyes, she
stared longingly at the landing near Lakeby's


ROBERTO, THE GYPSY
13
store. It was some distance up-stream, and not
a person was in sight. She feared, too, that it
was too far away for her voice to carry.
Yet she must scream for help. She shouted
again and again, endeavoring to put all the
strength of her voice into the cries. Was that an
answer? The girl held her uncle high in her
arms and looked all about.
Nobody was at the store landing. Nobody was
behind on the other shore of the river—and she
was glad that Aunt Alvirah and Mercy had not
seen the accident, for neither of them could have
helped in this predicament.
Yes! there was the repeated shout—and nearer.
Ruth's eyes turned to the north shore of the Lu-
mano again. There was somebody running down
the bank—not near the store kept by Timothy
Lakeby, but directly opposite the rock on which
the old boat had stranded.
"Oh! oh! Help! help!" shrieked the girl of
the Red Mill.
"Hold on! I'm coming!"
The voice came to her more strongly than be-
fore. She could not see who the person was, but
she knew he was alone. She could not imagine
how he was to aid them.
Why did he not run to the store and bring other
men to help? There! he seemed to have leaped
right into the river!


ROBERTO, THE GYPSY
"I'll get him! Look out, now; I've got to
push off this old boat, Missy. She ain't no good,
anyway."
Ruth saw that he was a big, black-haired,
strong looking boy. His complexion was very
dark and his eyes sparkling—like cut jet beads.
He might have been seventeen or eighteen years
old, but he was fully as tall, and apparently as
strong, as an ordinary man.
His long hair curled and was tangled like a
wild man's. His beard had begun to grow on
his lip and chin. In his ears Ruth saw small gold
rings and his wrists and forearms—which were
bared—were covered with an intricate pattern of
tattooing in red and blue ink.
Altogether, she had never seen so strange a
boy in all her life—and certainly none so strong.
He leaped into the broken boat, seized Ruth's oar
that had not been lost in the overset, and bracing
it against the rock, pushed the trembling boat
free in a moment.
Ruth could not repress a scream. It looked as
though he, too, must be thrown into the river, as
the boat was caught by the current and jerked
free.
But the wild boy laughed and leaped upon the
higher part of the rock. As the miller's old boat
drifted down stream, he sprang into the water
again and reached the girl and her burden.


16 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Give him to me!" commanded the boy. "I
can bear him up better than you, Missy. We'll
get him ashore—and you can't be any wetter
than you are now."
"Oh, never mind me!" cried Ruth. "I am
not afraid of a ducking. And I can swim."
"You don't want to try swimming in this place,
Missy," he returned. "You follow right behind
me—so."
He turned, carrying the heavy figure of the
miller in his arms as though he weighed but a
hundred pounds instead of nearer two, and set
off toward the shore along the ledge of rock by
which he had come.
Ruth saw, now, that beyond where the boat
had been wrecked, the rock joined the shore,
with only here and there a place where it was
deep under water.
She saw. too, that the boat was now sinking.
It had not sailed ten yards in the fierce current
before its gunwales disappeared. It sank in a
deeper channel below—flour and all! Ruth
realized that Uncle Jabez would be sorely
troubled over the loss of those bags of flour.
Ruth paddled to the shore behind the strong
boy, but before they really reached terra firma,
she knew that Uncle Jabez was struggling back
to consciousness. The boy lowered the miller
easily to the ground.


ROBERTO, THE GYPSY
17
"He's coming 'round, Missy," he said. His
smile was broad, and the little gold rings twin-
kled in his ears.
Ruth, wet and bedrabbled as she was, did not
think of her own discomfort. She knelt beside
Uncle Jabez and spoke to him. For some sec-
onds he was so dazed that he did not seem to
recognize her. Then he stammered:
"Ha—ha I knowed we couldn't do it.
No—no gal kin do a man's work. Ha!"
This seemed rather hard on Ruth, after she
had done her best, and it had not been her fault
that the boat was wrecked, but she was too excited
just then to trouble about the miller's grumbling.
"Oh, Uncle! you're not badly hurt, are you?"
"Ha—hum! I dunno," stuttered the miller,
and sat up. He rubbed his forehead and brought
his hand, with a little blood upon it, back to the
level of his eyes. "I vum! " he ejaculated, with
more interest than before. "I must ha' cracked
my head some. Why was it I didn't drown?"
"This little missy, here," said the black-eyed
youth, quickly. "She saved you, Mister. She
held your head above water till I come."
"Why—why Niece Ruth! you did
that?"
"Oh, it was nothing, Uncle Jabez! I am so
glad you are not hurt worse. This boy really
saved you. He brought you ashore."


l8 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Who be ye, young man?" asked the miller.
"I'm obleeged to ye—if what my niece says is
true."
"Oh, I am named Roberto. You need not to
thank—no!" exclaimed the stranger, suddenly
getting up and looking all about.
"But it was very brave of him," declared
Ruth, and she seized the boy's hand. "I—I am
so glad you were near."
"Here's Tim and Joe Bascom coming," said
Uncle Jabez, who was facing the store.
Instantly Roberto, as he called himself, jerked
his hand from Ruth's grasp. He had seen the
men coming, too, and without a word he turned
and fled back into the woods.
"Why—why "began Ruth, in utter sur-
prise.
"What's the matter with that feller?" de-
manded Uncle Jabez, just as the storekeeper
and Farmer Bascom arrived.
"I seen the feller, Jabe," said the latter, eag-
erly. M He's one o' them blamed Gypsies. I
run him out o' my orchard only yisterday."


CHAPTER III
EVENING AT THE RED MILL
About this time Uncle Jabez began to wake
up to the fact that his boat and the flour were
gone.
"It's a dumbed shame, Jabez! an' I needed
that flour like tunket," said Timothy Lakeby, the
storekeeper.
"Huh!" grunted the miller. "'Tain't nothin'
out o' your pocket, Tim."
"But my customers air wantin' it."
"You lemme hev your boat, an' a boy to bring
it back, an' we'll go right hum an' load ye up
some more flour," groaned the miller. "That
dratted Ben will be back by thet time, I fancy.
Ef he'd been ter the mill I wouldn't hev been
dependent upon my niece ter help row that old
boat."
"Too heavy for her—too heavy for her,
Jabe," declared Joe Bascom.
"Huh! is thet so?" snapped the miller. He
could grumble to Ruth himself, but he would not
stand for any other person's criticism of her.
19


20 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Lemme tell ye, she worked her passage all
right. An' I vum! I b'lieve thet 'twas me, my-
self, thet run the old tub on the rock."
"Aside from the flour, Jabez," said the store-
keeper, "'tain't much of a loss. But you an'
Ruthie might ha' both been drowned."
"I would, if it hadn't been for her," declared
the miller, with more enthusiasm than he usually
showed. "She held my head up when I was
knocked out—kinder. Ye see this cut in my
head?"
"Ye got out of it lucky arter all, then," said
Bascom.
"Ya-as," drawled the miller. "But I ain't
feelin' so pert erbout losin 'thet boat an' the
flour."
"But see how much worse it might have been,
Uncle," suggested Ruth, timidly. "If it hadn't
been for that boy"
"What did he say his name was?" interrupted
Timothy.
"Roberto."
"Yah!" said Bascom. "Thet's a Gypsy
name, all right! I'd like ter got holt on him."
"I wish I could have thanked him," sighed
Ruth.
"If you see him ag'in, Joe," said the miller,
"don't you bother about a peck o' summer apples.
I'll pay for them," he added, with a sudden burst


EVENING AT THE RED MILL
rt
of generosity. "Of course—in trade," he added.
He could move about now, and the gash in
his head had ceased bleeding. It was a warm
evening, and neither Ruth nor her uncle were
likely to take cold from their ducking. But her
clothing clung to her in an uncomfortable man-
ner, and the girl was anxious to get back to the
mill.
Timothy Lakeby routed out a clerk and sent
him with them in the lighter boat that was
moored at the store landing. Ruth begged to
pull an oar again, and her uncle did not forbid
her. Perhaps he still felt a little weak and dazed.
He kept speaking of Roberto, the Gypsy boy.
"Strong as an ox, that feller," he said. "Wisht
I had a man like him at the mill. Ben ain't wuth
his salt."
"Oh, I'm sure, Uncle Jabez, Ben is very faith-
ful and good," urged Ruth.
"Wal, a feller that could carry me like that
young man done—he's jest another Sandow, he
is," said Uncle Jabez.
They easily got across the river in the store-
keeper's lighter boat, and Ruth displayed her
oarsmanship to better advantage, for the oars
were lighter. The miller noted her work and
grunted his approval.
"I vum! they did teach ye suthin' at thet school
'sides folderrols, didn't they?" he said.


22 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
Ruth asked the store clerk if he knew anything
about the Gypsies.
"Why, yes, Miss. I hear they are camping
'way up the river—up near the lakes, beyond
Minturn's Dam. You know that's a wild coun-
try up there."
Ruth remembered. She had been a little way
in that direction with her friends, Tom and Helen
Cameron, in their auto. Minturn Dam had burst
two years before, and done much damage, but
was now repaired.
"That is a long way from here," she suggested
to the clerk.
"Yes'm. But Romany folks is gret roamers—
thet's why they're called ' Romany,' mebbe," was
the reply. "And I guess that black-eyed rascal
is a wild one."
"Never mind. He got me out o' the river,"
mumbled Uncle Jabez.
They brought the boat to the mill landing in
safety, and Ben appeared, having returned from
town and put up the mules. He gazed in blank
amazement at the condition of his employer and
Ruth.
"For the good land! " exclaimed Ben; but he
got no farther. He was not a talkative young
man, and it took considerable to wake him up
to as exciting an expression as the above.
"You kin talk!" snarled Uncle Jabez. "If


EVENING AT THE RED MILL
23
you'd been here to help me, I wouldn't ha' lost
our boat and the flour."
The miller fairly ached when he thought of
his losses, and he had to lay the blame on some-
body.
"Now you help me git four more sacks over
to Tim Lakeby's"
Ruth would not hear of his going back before
he changed his clothing and had something put
upon the cut in his head. After a little arguing,
it was agreed that Ben and the clerk should ferry
the flour across to the store, and then the clerk
would bring Ben back.
"Goodness sakes alive!" shrieked Aunt Al-
virah, when she saw them come onto the porch,
still dripping. "What you been doing to my
pretty, Jabez Potter?"
"Huh!" sniffed the miller. "Mebbe it's what
she's been doing to me?" and he wreathed his
thin lips into a wry grin.
Aunt Alvirah and Mercy must hear it all. The
lame girl was delighted. She pointed her finger
at the old man, who had now gotten into his
Sunday suit and had a bandage on his head.
"Now, tell me, Dusty Miller, what do you
think about girls being of some use? Isn't Ruth
as good as any boy?"
"She sartainly kep' me from drownin' as good
as any boy goin'," admitted the old man. "But


24 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
that was only chancey, as ye might say. When
it comes to bein' of main use in the world
Wal, it ain't gals thet makes the wheels go
'round!"
"And don't you really think, Uncle, mat girls
are any use in the world?" asked Ruth, quietly.
She had come out upon the dimly lit porch (this
was after their supper) in season to hear the
miller's final observation.
"Ha!" ejaculated Jabez. Perhaps he had
not intended Ruth to hear just that. "They're
like flowers, I reckon—mighty purty an' orna-
mental; but they ain't no manner o' re'l usel"
Mercy fairly snorted, but she was too wise to
say anything farther. Ruth, however, continued:
"That seems very unfair, Uncle. Many girls
are 1 worth their salt,' as you call it, to their
families. Why can't / be of use to you—in time,
of course?"
"Ha! everyone to his job," said Uncle Jabez,
brusquely. "You kin be of gre't help to your
Aunt Alviry, no doubt. But ye can't take a sack
of flour on your shoulders an' throw it inter a
waggin—like Ben there. Or like that Roberto
thet lugged me ashore to-night. An' I'm some
weight, I be."
"And is that all the kind of help you think
you'll ever need, Uncle?" demanded Ruth, with
rising emotion.


EVENING AT THE RED MILL
25
"I ain't expectin' ter be helpless an' want
nussin' by no gal—not yet awhile," said Uncle
Jabez, with a chuckle. "Gals is a gre't expense
—a gre't expense."
"Now, Jabez! ye don't mean thet air," ex-
claimed the little old woman, coming from the
kitchen. She lowered herself into the little
rocker nearby, with her usual moan of, "Oh, my
back! an' oh, my bones! Ye don't mean ter hurt
my pretty's feelin's, I know."
"She axed me!" exclaimed the miller, angrily.
"I vum! ain't I spendin' a fortun' on her schoolin'
at that Briarwood Hall?"
"And didn't she save ye a tiay fortun' when
she straightened out that Tintacker Mine trouble
for ye, Jabez Potter?" demanded the old wom-
an, vigorously. "An' the good Lord knows she's
been a comfort an' help to ye, right an' left, in
season an' out, ever since she fust stepped foot
inter this Red Mill What's she done for
ye this very day, Jabez, as ye said yourself?"
Aunt Alvirah was one of the very few people
who dared to talk plainly to tHe miller, when
he was in one of his tempers. Now he growled
out some rough reply, and strode into the house.
"You've driven him away, Auntie!" cried
Ruth, under her breath.
"He'd oughter be driv' away," said the old
woman, "when he's in thet mind."


26 RUTK FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"But what he says is true. I am a great ex-
pense to him. I—I wish I could earn my own
way through school."
"Don't ye worry, my pretty. Jabez Potter's
bark is wuss than his bite."
"But the bark hurts, just the same."
"He ought to be whipped! " hissed Mercy, in
her most unmerciful tone. "I'd like to whip
him, till all the dust flew out of his Dusty Miller
clothes—so I would!"
"Sh!" commanded Ruth, recovering her self-
command agair and fighting back the tears.
"Just as Aun4 -\lvirah observes, he doesn't mean
half of what ne says."
"It hurts just the same—you said it yourself,"
declared the lame girl, with a snap.
"I want to be independent, anyway," said
Ruth, with some excitement. "I want an educa-
tion so I can do something. I'd like to cultivate
my voice—the teacher says it has possibilities.
Mr. Cameron is going to let Helen go as far as
she likes with the violin, and she doesn't have
to think about making her way in the world."
"Gals ain't content now to sit down after
gittin' some schoolin'—I kin see thet," sighed
Aunt Alvirah. "It warn't so in my day. I never
see the beat of 'em for wantin' ter go out inte*
the worl' an' make a livin'—jes' like men."


CHAPTER IV
THE AUTO TOUR
"Hi, Ruth!"
"Hey, Ruth!"
"Straw, Ruthl—why don't you say?" cried
the owner of the name, running to the porch and
smiling out upon the Cameron twins, who had
stopped their automobile at the Red Mill gate
on a morning soon following that day on. which
Uncle Jabez and Ruth had undergone their in-
voluntary ducking in the Lumano.
"Aren't you ready, Ruthie?" cried Helen
from the back seat of the car.
"Do hurry up, Ruth—the horses don't want
to stand," laughed Tom, who was slim and black
haired and black eyed, like his twin. Indeed, the
two were so much alike that, dressed in each
other's clothing, it is doubtful if they could havi
been suspected in such disguise.
"But my bag isn't packed yet," cried Ruth.
"I didn't know you'd be here so soon."
"Take your toothbrush and powder puff—
that's all you girls really need," declared the
irrepressible Tom.
"I like that! And on a two days' trip into
27


28 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
the hills," said his sister, beating him soundly
with an energetic fist.
"Give him one or two good ones for me,
Helen," said Ruth, and ran in to finish her prepa-
rations for the journey she was to take with her
friends.
"Pshaw!" grumbled the impatient Tom, " go-
ing to Uncle Ike's isn't like going to a fancy hotel.
And we'll stop over to-night with Fred Larkin's
folks—the girls there would lend you and Ruth
all you need."
"Hold on!" exclaimed his sister. "Just what
have you in your bag? I know it's heavy. You
have all you want"
"Sure. Pair of socks, two collars, fishing
tackle, some books I borrowed of Fred last year,
my bicycle wrench—you never know when you
are going to need it,—a string of wampum I
promised to take to Nealy Larkin—she's a Camp-
fire girl, you know—and an Indian tomahawk
for Fred"
"But, clothes! clothes!" gasped Helen.
"Where are your shirts?"
"Oh, I'll borrow a shirt, if I need one," de*
clared Master Tom, grinning. "Uncle Ike's
Benjy is about my size, you know. What's the
use of carting around so much stuff?"
"I notice you have your bag full of trash,"
sniffed Helen. "It can plainly be seen that Mrs.


THE AUTO TOUR
39
Murchiston was called away so suddenly that
she could not oversee our packing."
"Come on, Ruth!" shouted Tom again, turn-
ing toward the farmhouse.
"Now, don't get her in a flurry," admonished
Helen. "She hasn't had but two hours' notice
to get ready for this two days' trip. It's a won-
der Uncle Jabez would let her go with us at
all."
"Oh, Uncle Jabe isn't such a bad old fellow
after all," said Tom.
"He's been just as cross and cranky as he can
be, ever since he lost his boat in the river the other
evening—you know that. And they say he would
have been drowned, too, if it hadn't been for
Ruthie. What a brave girl she is, Tom!"
"Bravest in seven states!" acknowledged
Master Tom, promptly. He had always thought
there was nobody just like Ruth, and his sister
smiled upon him approvingly.
"I guess she is!" she agreed. "There isn't
a girl at Briarwood Hall that will be her match
in anything—now that Madge Steele has gotten
through. Ruth is going to be head of the senior
class before we graduate—you see."
"She'll have to hustle some to beat little Mercy
Curtis," grinned Tom. "There's a sharp suf-
fragette for you!"
Helen laughed. "That's right. But, unfor-


3o RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
tunately for Mercy, Mrs. Tellingham considers
other work beside our books in grading us. Oh,
Tommy! we're going to have a dandy time this
coming year at school."
"You have my best wishes," returned her
brother, with a slightly clouded face. "Bobbins
and Busy Izzy and I expect to be drilled like
everything, when we get back to Seven Oaks.
Professor Darly is a terror."
Ruth came out with her bag then, and in the
doorway behind her appeared the little, stooped
figure of Aunt Alvirah. The Camerons waved
their hands and shouted greetings to her.
"Take good keer of my pretty, Master Tom,"
shrilled the old lady, hobbling out into the yard.
"Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!"
"We'll handle her as if she were made of
glass," declared Tom, laughing. "Hop in,
Ruthie!"
"Good-bye, Aunt Alvirah I" cried the girl of
the Red Mill, clasping the little old lady around
the neck and kissing her. Then she waved her
hand to Uncle Jabez, who appeared in the mill
doorway, and he nodded grimly, as the car
started.
Ben appeared at a window and bashfully
nodded to the departing pleasure party. The
car quickly passed the end of the Cheslow road
and sped up the riverside. These lowlands be-
yond the Red Mill had once been covered by


THE AUTO TOUR
31
a great flood, and the three friends would never
forget their race with the freshet from Culm
Falls, at the time the Minturn Dam burst.
"But we're bound far, far above the dam this
time," said Tom. "Fred Larkin lives farther
than that—beyond the gorge between the hills,
and at the foot of the first pond. We'll get
there long before dark unless something happens
to this old mill I'm driving."
"There! Tommy's harping on his pet trouble,"
laughed Helen. "Father won't let us use the new
car to go scooting about the country alone in, and
Tommy thinks he is abused."
"Well! that 'six' is just eating its head off
in the garage," grumbled the boy.
"Just as though it were a horse!" chuckled
Ruth.
"You wait! I bet something happens on this
trip, because of this old heap of scrap iron that
pa calls a car."
"Goodness me!" exclaimed Helen, with some
exasperation. "Don't you dare have a break-
down in the hills, Tom! I should be frightened.
It's so wild up there beyond Loon Lake."
"You needn't blame me," returned her twin.
"I shall do my best."
"And so will the auto—I have no doubt,"
added Ruth, laughingly. "Cheer up, Helen,
dear"
"I know the rest of it!" interrupted her


32 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
chum. "' The worst is yet to come!' I—hope—«
not!"
Ruth Fielding would allow no worrying of
criticism in this event. They were out for a
good time, and she at once proceeded to cheer up
the twins, and laugh at their fears, and interest
them in other things.
They crossed the river at Culm Falls—a beau-
tiful spot—and it was beyond the bridge, as the
car was mounting the first long rise, that the
party of adventurers found their first incident of
moment.
Here and there were clearings in the forest
upon the right side of the road (on the other
side the hill fell abruptly to the river), and little
farms. As the party came in sight of one of
these farms, a great cry arose from the dooryard.
The poultry was soundly disturbed—squawking,
cackling, shrieking their protests noisily—while
the deep baying of a dog rose savagely above
the general turmoil.
"Something doing there!" quoth Tom Cam-
eron, slowing down.
"A chicken hawk, perhaps?" suggested Ruth.
A woman was screaming admonition or advice;
occasionally the gruffer voice of a man added to
the turmoil. But the dog's barking was the
loudest sound.
Suddenly, from around the corner of the bam.


THE AUTO TOUR
33
appeared a figure wildly running. It was neither
the farmer, nor his wife—that was sure.
"Tramp!" exclaimed Tom, reaching for the
starting lever again.
At that moment Helen shrieked. After the
running man appeared a hound. He had broken
his leash, and a more savage brute it would be
difficult to imagine. He was following the run-
ner with great leaps, and when the fugitive
vaulted the roadside fence, the dog crashed
through the rails, tearing down a length of them,
and scrambling in the dusty road in an endeavor
to get on the trail of the man again.
Only, it was not a man; it was a boy! He was
big and strong looking, but his face was boyish.
Ruth Fielding stood up suddenly in the car and
shrieked to him:
"Come here! This way! Roberto!"
"My goodness! is he a friend of yours,
Ruthie?" gasped Tom Cameron.
"He's the Gypsy boy that saved Uncle Jabez,"
returned Ruth, in a breath.
"Take him aboard—do!" urged Helen.
"That awful dog"
Roberto had heard and leaped for the running-
hoard of the car. Tom switched on the power.
Just as the huge hound leaped, and his fore-paws
touched the step, the car darted away and the
brute was left sprawling.


34 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
The car was a left-hand drive, and Tom mo-
tioned the panting youth to get in beside him.
The dark-faced fellow did so. At first he was
too breathless to speak, but his black eyes snapped
like beads, and his lips smiled. He seemed to
have enjoyed the race with the savage dog, in-
stead of having been frightened by it.
"You save me, Missy, like I save your old
man—eh?" he panted, at last, turning his bril-
liant smile upon Ruth "Me! that dog mos'
have me, eh?"
"What was the matter? How came you to
start all that riot?" demanded Tom, looking at
the Gypsy youth askance.
Roberto's grin became expansive. The little
gold rings in his ears twinkled as well as his
eyes.
"I did them no wrong. I slept in the man's
haymow. He found me a little while ago. He
say i haf to pay for my sleep—eh? How poor
Gypsy pay?" and he opened his hands and
shrugged his shoulders to show that his pockets
were empty.
"Me, no money have got. Can I work? Of
course I work—only the farmers do not trust
pie. They call all Gypsies thieves. Isn't it so,
Missy?" and he flashed a glance at Ruth.
"I know, Mr. Joe Bascom drove you out of
his orchard," agreed the girl of the Red MilL


THE AUTO TOUR
35
"But you should have come across the river to
us. Uncle Jabez is really grateful to you."
"Oh, that? '* and the boy shrugged his shoul-
ders again. "I do not want pay for what I do—
no. I want no money. I would not work a day
for all my grandmother's wealth—and she is a
miser," and Roberto laughed again, showing all
his white, strong teeth.
"But these people back here—this man and
his woman—they want me to churn. It is a dog's
work—no? I see where the dog haf to churn,
but that dog die and they get this new, savage
one—and it will not. Me, I think this dog very
wise!" and Roberto's merriment broke out again,
and he shook with it.
"So I tell them I will not do dog's work, and
then he, the man, chases me with his pitchfork,
and the woman unloose the dog. Oh, yes! I
make a great noise in the henyard. That dog
chase me hard. So—I got away as you see," he
concluded.
"Say! you're a cool one," declared Tom, with
growing admiration.
"But you ought not to be loafing about, sleep-
ing anywhere, and without employment," (said
Helen, primly.
Roberto's black eyes sparkled. "Why does
the little missy say T should work? " he demand-
ed. "There is no need. I return to my people,


36 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
perhaps. There I curry horses and fill the water
pails for the women, and go with my uncle to
the horse-fairs where he trades, or be under my
grandmother's beck and call—the grandmother
whom I tell you is a miser. But I never have
money with them, and why should I work for
it elsewhere?"
"To get good clothes, and good food, and pay
your way everywhere," suggested Tom.
Roberto laughed again. He spread out his
strong hands. "These keep me from day to
day," he said. "But money burns a hole in
my pocket. Or, would you have me like my
grandmother? She hoards every penny-piece,
and then gloats over her money-box, by the fire-
light, when the rest of the camp is asleep. Oh,
I see her!"


CHAPTER V
A PROPHECY FULFILLED
This queer youth interested Ruth Fielding and
her friends, the Cameron twins, very much. Ro-
berto was not naturally talkative, it seemed, for
he soon dropped into silence and it was hard to
get aught out of him but " Yes " and " No." At
first, however, he had been excited, and he told
them a great deal of his life with the tribe and
along the pleasant country roads.
The cities Roberto could not bear. "There
is no breath left in them—it is used up by so
many," he explained. He did not eschew work
because he was lazy, it seemed; but he saw no
use in it.
Clothing? Money? Rich food? Other
things that people strive for in the main?
They were nothing to Roberto. He could sleep
under a haystack, crunch a crust of bread, and
wear his garments until they fell off him in rags.
But he knew the woods and fields as nobody
but a wild boy could. Every whistle and note
of every bird was as familiar to him as his own
37


A PROPHECY FULFILLED
ing her his hostess. He realized that, had it not
been for her, the Cameron^ would have been
chary of taking him aboard.
"If you are ever near the Red Mill again,"
Ruth told him, "be sure to come and speak with
Uncle Jabez. He will not forget you, I am
sure."
"Of that—pooh!" exclaimed the Gypsy. "I
do not want pay for such an act. Do you?"
And that set Ruth Fielding to thinking a bit.
Perhaps she had expected payment—of a kind—
for her action in helping Uncle Jabez in the river.
She had hoped he would more freely respond to
her affection than he did. Ah! it is hard to do
a good act and not secretly hope for some small
return. "Virtue is its own reward" is a moral
hard to understand!
After Roberto had left them, the trio of friends
were occupied in exchanging views regarding the
Gypsy boy, and in discussing their several opin-
ions as to what kind of people his folk really
were.
"It must be loads of fun to jog along the roads
in those caravans, and camp where you please,
and all that," said Helen, reflectively. "I be-
lieve I'd like it."
"About twenty miles on a fast day, eh?"
chuckled Tom, with scorn. "Not for me! When
Gypsies get to riding in autos—and six-cylinder,


40 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
up-to-date ones, too—I'll join the first tribe that
comes along."
"I declare, Tommy!" laughed his sister, "you
are getting to be a 'speed fiend.' Ruth and I
will be scared to drive with you."
"It's great to go fast," exclaimed Master
Tom. "Here's a straight piece of road ahead,
girls. Hold on!"
As he spoke, he manipulated the levers and the
car leaped ahead. Ruth's startled "Oh!" was
left a quarter of a mile behind. The girls clung
to the hand-holds, and Tom crouched behind the
windshield and "let her out."
It was a straight piece of road, as he had said.
But before they reached the first turn there was
another house beside the road—a small farm-
house. Beyond it was a field, with a stone wall,
and it chanced that just as the Camerons' car
roared down the road, clearing at least thirty
miles an hour, the leader of a flock of sheep in
that pasture, butted through a place in the stone-
fence and started to cross the highway.
One sheep would not have made much trouble;
it would have been easy to dodge just one object.
But here came a string of the woolly creatures—
and greater fools than sheep have not been dis-
covered in the animal world!
The old black-faced ram trotted across the
road and through a gap in a fence on the river


A PROPHECY FULFILLED 41
side. After him crowded the ewes and youngsters.
The roaring auto frightened the creatures, but
they would not give way before it. They knew
no better than to follow that old ram through
the gap, one after the other.
Tom had shut off the engine and applied the
brakes, as the girls shrieked. But he had been
going too fast to stop short of the place where
the sheep were passing. At the end of the flock
came a lamb, bleating and trying to keep up with
its mother.
"Oh, the lamb!" shrieked Helen.
"Look out, Toml" added Ruth.
The lamb did not get across the road. The
car struck it, and with a pitiful "baa-a-a!" it
Was knocked a dozen feet.
In a moment the car stopped. It had scarcely
run its entire length past the spot where the lamb
was struck. The poor creature lay panting,
"baa-aing" feebly, beside the road.
Ruth was out of the tonneau and kneeling be-
side the creature almost before the wheels ceased
to roll. The mother ewe had crowded through
the fence. Now she put her foolish face out, and
called to the lamb to follow.
"He can't!" almost sobbed Ruth. "He has
a broken leg. Oh! what a foolish mother you
were to lead him right into danger."
Tom was silent and looked pretty solemn,


42 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
while Helen was scolding him nervously—
although she knew that he was not really at fault.
"If you hadn't been speeding, this wouldn't
have happened, Tom Cameron!" she said. "I
told you so."
"Oh, all right. You're a fine prophetess,"
grunted her brother. "Keep on rubbing it in."
The lamb had tried to scramble up, but one of
its forelegs certainly was broken. It tumbled
over on its side again, and Ruth held it down
tenderly and tried to soothe its fear.
"Oh, dear! whatever shall we do?" she mur-
mured. "The poor, poor little thing."
"Guess we'll know pretty soon what we'll do,"
quoth Master Tom, standing beside the machine
and looking back along the road. "Here comes
the man that owns him."
"Oh, dear me!" whispered Helen. "Doesn't
he look savage?"
"Worse than the old ram there," agreed her
brother, for the black-faced leader of the flock
was eyeing them through the fence.


CHAPTER VI
A TRANSACTION IN MUTTON
The man who approached was a fierce, red-
faced individual, with long legs encased to the
knees in cowhide boots, overalls, a checked shirt,
and a whisp of yellow whisker under his chin
that parted and waved, as he strode toward the
auto party.
His pale blue eyes were ablaze, and he had
worked himself up into a towering rage. Like
many farmers (and sometimes for cause), he had
evidently sworn eternal feud against all auto-
mobilists!
"What d'ye mean, runnin' inter my sheep?"
he bawled. "I'll have the law on ye! I'll make
ye pay for ev'ry sheep ye killed! I'll attach yer
machine, by glory! I'll put ye all in jail!
I'll"
"You're going to have your hands full with
all that, Mister," interrupted Tom Cameron.
"And you're excited more than is necessary. I'll
pay for all the damage I've done—although
there would have been none at all, had your sheep
remained in their pasture. This is a county road,
I take it."
43


46 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
Tom. He really seemed disappointed. Perhaps
he wished he had said more, when Tom did not
haggle over the price.
"Wal, I'll take it along to the house then,"
said the farmer. "An' when ye come this road
ag'in, young man, ye better go a leetle slow—
yaas, a leetle slow!"
"I certainly shall—as long as you have gaps
in your sheep pasture fence," returned Tom,
promptly.
"Git out'n the way, leetle gal," said the man,
brushing Ruth aside. "I'll take him"
The lamb struggled to get on its feet. The
sudden appearance of the man frightened the
animal.
"Stop thatl" cried Ruth. "You'll hurt the
poor thing."
"I'll knock him in the head, when I git to the
chopping block," said the farmer, roughly.
"Shucks! it's only a lamb."
"Don't you dare!" Ruth cried, standing in
front of the quivering creature. "You are cruel."
"Hoity-toity! " cried the farmer. "I guess I
kin do as I please with my own."
Helen clung to Ruth's hand and tried to draw
her away from the rough man. Even Tom hesi-
tated to arouse the farmer's wrath further. But
the girl from the Red Mill stamped her foot and
refused to move.


A TRANSACTION IN MUTTON 47
"Don't you dare touch it!" she exclaimed.
"It isn't your lamb."
"What's that? " he demanded, and then broke
into a hoarse laugh. "Thet thar's a good one t
I raised thet lamb"
"And we have just bought it—paid you your
own price for it," cried Ruth.
"Crickey! that's so, Ruthie," Tom Cameron
interposed. "Of course he doesn't own it. If
you want the poor thing, we'll take it along to
Fred Larkin's place."
"Say!" exclaimed the farmer. "What does
this mean? I didn't sell ye the carcass of thet
thar lamb; I only got damages"
"You sold it. You know you did," Ruth de-
clared, firmly. "I dare you to touch the poor
little thing. It is ours—and I know its life can
be saved."
"Pick it right up, girls, and come on," advised
Tom, starting his engine. "We have the rights
of it, and it he interferes, we'll just run on to
the next town and bring a constable back with
us. I guess we can call upon the authorities, too.
What's sauce for the goose, ought to be sauce
for the gander."
The man was stammering some very impolite
words, and Tom was anxious to get his sister and
Ruth away. The girls lifted the lamb in upon
the back seat and laid it tenderly upon some


A TRANSACTION IN MUTTON 49
ing to sell it to a butcher in Littletop? That's
where Fred Larkin's folk live, you know."
"Sell it to a butcher!" exclaimed Ruth, in
scorn. "That's what the farmer would have
done—butchered it."
"It is the fate of most sheep to be turned into
mutton," returned Tom, his eyes twinkling.
"And then the mutton is turned into boys and
girlg," laughed Ruth. "But if I have my way,
this little fellow will never become either a Cam-
eron, or a Fielding."
"Oh! I wouldn't want to eat him—after see-
ing him hurt," cried Helen. "Isn't he cunning?
See! he knows we are going to be good to him."
"I hope he knows it," her chum replied.
"After all, it doesn't take much to assure domes-
tic animals of our good intentions toward them."
"Well," said Tom, grinning, "I promise not
to eat this lamb, if you make a point of it, but
if I don't get something to eat pretty soon, I
assure you he'll be in grave danger!"
They made Littletop and the Larkins' residence
before Tom became too ravenous, however; and
the younger members of the Larkin family wel-
comed the adventurers—including the lamb—
with enthusiasm.
Fred Larkin had some little aptitude for medi-
cine and surgery—so they all said, at least—and
he set the broken leg and put splints upon it.


50 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
Then they put the little creature in one of the
calf pens, fed it liberally, and Fred declared that
in ten days it would be well enough to hop around.
The little Larkin folk were delighted with the
lamb for a pet, so Ruth knew that she could
safely trust her protege to them.
There was great fun that night, for the neigh-
boring young folk were invited to meet the trio
from Cheslow and the Red Mill, and it was mid-
night before the girls and boys were still. There-
fore, there was no early start made for the sec-
ond day's run.
Breakfast was late, and it was half-past nine
before Tom started the car, and they left Little-
top amid the cheers and good wishes of their
friends.
"We must hustle, if we want to get to Uncle
Ike's before dark," Tom declared. "So you will
have to stand for some scorching, girls."
"See that you don't kill anything—or even
maim it," advised his sister. "You are out four
dollars for damages already."
"Never you mind. I reckon you girls won't
care to be marooned along some of these wild
roads all night."
"Nor to travel over them by night, either,"
advised Ruth. "My! we haven't seen a house
for ten miles."
"It's somewhere up this way that those Gypsy


A TRANSACTION IN MUTTON
friends of Roberto are encamped—as near as I
could make out," Tom remarked.
"My! I wouldn't like to meet them," his sis-
ter said.
"They wouldn't hurt us—at least, Roberto
didn't," laughed Ruth.
"That's all right. But Gypsies do carry off
people"
"And eat them?" scoffed Tom. "How silly,
Nell!"
"Well, Mr. Smartie! they might hold us for
ransom."
"Like regular brigands, eh?" returnd Tom,
lightly. "That would be an adventure worth
chronicling."
"You can laugh Oh!"
As she was speaking, Helen saw a head thrust
out of the bushes not far along the road they
traveled.
"What's the matter?" demanded Ruth, seiz-
ing her arm.
"Look there!" But the car was past the spot
in a moment. "Somebody was watching us, and
dodged back," declared Helen, anxiously.
"Oh, nonsense!" laughed her brother.
But before they took the next turn they looked
back and saw two men standing in the road, talk-
ing. They were rough-looking fellows.
"Gypsies!" cried Helen.


FELLOW TRAVELERS
55
bad been removed. These ugly, shallow caverns
gaped at them and promised refuge to spiders
and mice. On the hearth was a heap of crusted
gray ashes.
"What a lonesome, eerie sort of a place,"
shivered Helen. "Wish the old car had kept
running"
"Through the rain?" suggested Ruth, point-
ing outside, where the air was already gray with
approaching moisture.
Down from the higher hills the storm was
sweeping. They could smell it, for the wind
leaped in at the broken windows and rustled the
shreds of paper still clinging to the walls of the
dining-room.
"This isn't a fit place to eat in," grumbled
Helen.
"Let's go above stairs. Carry that alcohol
stove carefully, dear. We'll have a nice cup of
tea, even if it does"
"Oh!" shrieked Helen, as a long streak of
lightning flew across their line of vision.
"Yes. Even in spite of that," repeated Ruth,
smiling, and raising her voice that she might be
heard above the cannonade of thunder.
"I don't like it, I tell you!" declared her
chum.
"I can't say that I do myself, but I do not see
how we are to help it."


56 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"I wish Tom was inside here, too."
Ruth had glanced through the window and seen
that Master Tom had managed to get the auto
under a shed at the back. He was industriously
putting up the curtains to the car, and making all
snug against the rain, before he began to tinker
with the machinery.
There was a faint drumming in the air—the
sound of rain coming down the mountain side,
beating its " charge " upon the leaves as it came.
There were no other sounds, for the birds and
insects had sought shelter before the wrathful
face of the storm.
Yes! there was one other. The girls had not
heard it until they began climbing the stairs out
of the side entry. Helen clutched Ruth suddenly
by the skirt.
"Hear that! " she whispered.
"Say it out loud, dear, do!" exclaimed the girl
of the Red Mill. "There is never anything so
nerve-shaking as a stage whisper."
"There! you heard it?"
"The wind rustling something," said Ruth, at-
tempting to go on.
"No."
"Something squeaks—mice, I do believe."
"Mice would starve to death here," declared
Helen.
"How smart of you! That is right," agreed


FELLOW TRAVELERS
57
Ruth. "Come on. Let us see what it is—if it's
upstairs."
Helen clung close to her and trembled. There
was the rustling, squeaking sound again. Ruth
pushed on (secretly feeling rather staggered by
the strange noise), and they entered one of the
larger upper chambers.
Immediately she saw an open stovepipe hole in
the chimney. "The noise comes from that," she
declared, setting down the basket and pointing.
"But what is it? " wailed her frightened chum.
"The wind?"
"Never!"
The lightning flashed again, and the thunder
rolled nearer. Helen screamed, crouched down
upon the floor, and covered her ears, squeezing
her eyelids tight shut too.
"Dreadful! dreadful!" she gasped.
Still the silence outside between the reports of
thunder; but the rustling in the chimney continued.
Ruth looked around, found a piece of broken
window-sash on the floor, and approached the
open pipe-hole.
"Here's for stirring up Mr. Ghost," she said,
in a much braver tone than she secretly felt.
She always felt her responsibility with Helen.
The latter was of a nervous, imaginary tempera-
ment, and it was never well for her to get her-
self worked up in this way.


58 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Oh, Ruth! Don't! Suppose it bites you!"
gasped Helen.
At that Ruth did laugh. "Whoever heard of
a ghost with teeth? " she demanded, and instantly
thrust the stick into the gaping hole.
There was a stir—a flutter—a squeaking—and
out flopped a brown object about the size of a
mouse. Helen shrieked again, and even Ruth
Parted back.
"A mouse!" cried Helen.
"Right—a flittermouse!" agreed Ruth, sud-
denly bursting into a laugh. "The chimney's full
«>f them."
"Oh, let's get out!"
"In this rain?" and Ruth pointed to the win-
low, where now the drops were falling, big and
fast—the vanguard of the storm.
"But if a bat gets into your hair!" moaned
Helen, rocking herself on her knees.
Ruth opened the big hamper, seized a news-
paper, and swooped down upon the blind, flutter-
ing brown bat. Seizing it as she would a spider,
she ran to the window and flung it out, just as the
water burst into the room in a flood.
Then she ran to the pipe-hole and thrust the
paper into it, making a "stopper" which would
not easily fall out. She dragged Helen to the
other side of the room, where the floor was dry
and they were out of the draught.


FELLOW TRAVELERS
99
There the two girls cowered for some mo-
ments, hugged close together, Helen hiding her
eyes from the intermittent lightning against
Ruth's jacket. The thunder roared overhead, and
the rain dashed down in torrents. For ten min-
utes it was as hard a storm as the girl of the Red
Mill ever remembered seeing. Such tempests in
the hills are not infrequent.
When the thunder began to roll away into the
distance, and the lightning was less brilliant, the
girls could take some notice of what else went on.
The fierce drumming of the rain continued, but
there seemed to be a noise in the lower part of
the building.
"Tom has come in," said Helen, with satis-
faction.
"He must have gotten awfully wet, then, get
ting here from that shed," Roth returned.
"Hush!"
Somebody sneezed heavily. Helen opened her
mouth to cry out, but Ruth put her palm upon
her lips, effectually smothing the cry.
"Sh! *' the girl of the Red Mill admonished.
"Let him find us."
"Oh! that will be fun," agreed Helen.
Ruth did not look at her. She listened intently.
There was a heavy, scraping foot upon the floor
below. To her mind, it did not sound like Tom
at all.


CHAPTER VIII
WHAT WAS IT ALL ABOUT?
The two men were mumbling together—Ruth
could not catch the words at first. When she did,
they meant nothing to her, and she was puzzled.
But suddenly one said in clear, if peculiar, Eng-
lish:
"The old hag bags the best of the loot—al-
ways, my Carlo."
The other replied, still gruffly, yet in a musical
language that Ruth could not identify; yet some-
how she was reminded of Roberto. He, the
Gypsy lad, had formed his English sentences
much as this ruffian had formed his phrase. Were
these two of Roberto's tribesmen?
"I like it not—I like it not! " the other burst
out again, in anger. "Why should she govern?
It is an iron rod in a trembling hand."
"Psst!" snapped the other. "You respect
neither age nor wisdom." He now spoke in Eng-
lish, but later he relapsed into the Tzigane tongue.
Helen crept down to Ruth's side and listened, too;
but it was little the girls understood.
61


62 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
The angry ruffian—the complaining one-
dropped more words in English now and then,
like: "We risk all—she nothing." "There
were the pearls, my Carlo—ahl beautiful! beau-
tiful! Does she not seize them as her own?"
"I put my neck in a noose no longer for any
man but myself—surely not for a woman!"
Then it was that the man Carlo burst into a
tirade in his native speech, and under cover of his
loud talk Ruth motioned her chum to creep back
up the stairway, and she followed.
A sudden disquieting thought came to her. The
rain was growing less. Suppose Tom should come
Abruptly into the house? He might get into
"rouble with these ruffians.
She whispered this thought to Helen, and her
♦riend was panic-stricken again. "We must
ffarn Tom—oh, we must warn him somehow!"
she gasped.
"Surely we will," declared the girl from the
Red Mill. "Now, careful how you step. A
creaking board might give us away."
They crept across the upper chamber to the
rear of the house. Through another room they
went, until they could look out of a broken win-
dow upon the sheds. There was Master Tom
standing before the shed (the machine was hid-
den), wiping his hands upon a piece of waste, and
looking out upon the falling rain.


WHAT WAS IT ALL, ABOUT?
He saw the girls almost instantly, and opened
his mouth to shout to them, but Ruth clapped her
own hand to her lips and motioned with the other
for him to be silent. Tom understood.
He looked more than surprised—not a little
startled, in fact.
"What will he think?" murmured Helen.
"He's so reckless!"
"Leave it to me," declared Ruth, leaning out
of the window into the still falling rain.
She caught the boy's eye. He watched her
motions. There was built at this end of the house
an outside stairway, and although it was in bad
repair, she saw that an agile fellow like Tom could
mount the steps without any difficulty.
Pointing to this flight, she motioned him to-
come by that means to their level, still warning
him by gesture to make no sound. The boy under-
stood and immediately darted across the interven-
ing space to the house.
Ruth knew there was no dining-room window
from which the ruffians downstairs could see him.
And they had made no move as far as she had
heard.
She left Helen to meet Tom when he came in
through the sagging door at the top of the outside
flight of stairs, and tiptoed back into that room
where they had been frightened by the bat.
It was directly over the dining-room. The


64 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
same chimney was built into each room. This
thought gave Ruth's active mind food for fur-
ther reflection.
The rumble of the men's voices continued from
below. Tom and Helen followed her so softly
into the room that Ruth did not hear them until
they stood beside her. Tom touched her arm
and pointed downward:
"Tramps?" he asked.
"Those Gypsies, I believe," whispered Ruth,
in return.
Helen was just as scared as she could be, and
clung tightly to Tom's hand. "Wish we could
scare them away," suggested the boy, with knitted
brow.
"Perhaps we can!" uttered Ruth, suddenly
eager, and her brown eyes dancing. "Shi Wait!
Let me try."
She went to the paper-stuffed stovepipe hole,
out of which the bat had fallen. Helen would
have exclaimed aloud, had not Tom seen her lips
open and squeezed her hand warningly.
"What is it?" he hissed.
"Don't! don't!" begged Helen. "You'll let
those bats all out here"
"Bats?" queried Tom, in wonder.
"In the chimney," whispered Ruth. "Listen!"
The stir and squeaking of the bats were audi-
ble. Enough rain had come in at the top of the


WHAT WAS IT ALI, ABOUT? 65
broken chimney to disturb the nocturnal creatures.
"Just the thing!" giggled Tom, seeing what
Ruth would do. "Frighten them to pieces!"
The girl of the Red Mill had secured the stick
she used before. She pulled aside the " stopper"
of newspaper and thrust in the stick. At once the
rustling and squeaking increased.
She worked the stick up and down insistently.
Scale from the inside of the. chimney began to
rattle down to the hearth below. The voices
ceased. Then the men were heard to scramble up.
The bats were dislodged—perhaps many of
them! There was a scuffling and scratching inside
the flue.
Below, the men broke out into loud cries. They
shouted their alarm in the strange language the
girls had heard before. Then their feet stamped
over the floor.
Tom ran lightly to the window. He saw a bat
wheel out of the window below, and disappear.
The rain had almost stopped.
It was evident that many of the creatures were
flapping about that deserted dining-room. The
two ruffians scrambled to the door, through the
entry, and out upon the porch.
The sound of their feet did not hold upon the
porch. They leaped down the steps, and Tom
beckoned the girls eagerly to join him at the
window. The two men were racing down the


66 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
lane toward the muddy highroad, paying little
attention to their steps or to the last of the rain-
storm.
"Panic-stricken, sure enough! Smart girl,
Ruthie," was Master Tom's comment. "Now
tell a fellow all about it."
The girls did so, while Ruth lit the alcohol
lamp and made the tea. Tom was ravenous—
nothing could spoil that boy's appetite.
"Gyps., sure enough," was his comment. "But
what you heard them say wasn't much."
"They'd been robbing somebody—or were go-
ing to rob," said Helen, shaking her head. " What
frightful men they are!"
"Pooh! they've gone now, and the old machine
is fixed. We'll plow on through the mud as soon
as you like."
"I shall be glad, when we get to civilization
again," said his sister.
"And I'd like very much to understand what
those men were talking about," Ruth observed.
"Do you suppose Roberto knows about it?
Pearls—beautiful pearls, that fellow spoke of."
"I tell you they are thieves!" declared Helen.
"We'll probably never know," Tom said, con-
fidently. "So let's not worry!"
Master Tom did not prove a good prophet oft
this point, although he had foreseen the breaking
down of the automobile before they started from


7<J RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
siderable part of Long Lake, a stretch of its dis-
tant southern shore, and several islands.
The edge of the water was perhaps half a mile
away, and the ground sloped abruptly from this
road toward the lake. Following the very edge
of the water was another road, but one which
the girls knew nothing about and could scarcely
see from the auto.
It was merely a brown ribbon of cart-path
through the second-growth timber, and it wound
along the hillside, sometimes approaching very
close to the main highway. Before the county
had built the better road, this path had been tht
trail to Boise Landing.
Had the girls been looking that way, they might
have seen, through a small break in the trees,
some minutes after Tom left them, a string of
odd-looking wagons moving slowly along this
lower trail.
First two men walked ahead, smoking their
pipes and plowing through the mud and water
without regard to where they stepped. Then
followed three freshly painted green wagons—
vehicles something like old-fashioned omnibuses,
but with windows in the sides and front, and a
door and steps behind. Through the roof of one
a stovepipe was thrust.
Behind followed a troop of horses, with two
bare-legged, wild-looking youngsters astride each


QUEEN ZELAYA
a barebacked steed, and holding the others with
leading-reins. These horses, as well as those
drawing the wagons, were sleek and well curried.
A multitude of dogs ran in the mud and water,
too, but there were no women and children about,
save upon the front seats of each van with the
drivers. Sounds from within the green vehicles,
however, proclaimed the presence of a number of
others.
They were a strange-looking people—all
swarthy, dark-haired, red-lipped, men and women
alike having their ears pierced. The rings in the
lobes of the women's ears were much larger than
the ornaments in those of the men.
At a certain opening in the shrubbery, the men
ahead, looking upward, beheld the stalled auto
and the two girls in it. One man held up his
hand and the first wagon stopped. So did the
remainder of the caravan.
The two spoke together, and then strode back
to the first green van. The window behind the
driver's seat was already open and a strange face
appeared at it.
The man driving this van was young and rather
handsome—in the same wild way that Roberto
was handsome. Beside him sat a comely young
woman, buxom of figure, with a child in her lap.
Her head was encircled with a yellow silk ker-
chief, she wore a green, tight-fitting bodice, and


72 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
her short skirt was of a peculiar purple. She
wore black stockings and neat black pumps on
her feet.
Between these two on the seat, from the open
window, was thrust the wicked, haggard head of
a woman who might have been a hundred from
the network of wrinkles in her face, and her gen-
erally aged appearance. But her eyes—black as
sloes—were as sharp as a bird's. Her lips were
gray, thin, and drew back when she spoke, dis-
playing several strong, yellow fangs rather than
teeth!
When she spoke, it was with a hissing sound.
She used the speech of the Gypsy folk, and the
others—even the rough men in the road—were
very respectful to her. They explained the stop-
page of the caravan, and pointed out the auto
and the girls above.
It was evident that one of the men had sug-
gested something which pleased the hag, in regard
to the strangers in the motor-car. She grinned
suddenly, displaying gums and fangs in a most
horrible grimace.
Nodding vigorously, she gave them some com-
mands, and then spoke to the comely woman be-
side the driver. The latter passed the sleeping
infant back to the old woman, who disappeared
into the interior of the van. The younger woman
leaped down into the road, and waiting beside


QUEEN ZELAYA
73
the two rough men, allowed the entire caravan to
pass on, leaving them behind.
It was fast growing dark. The sun had dis-
appeared behind the hills in the west, and long
shadows were stretching their gaunt hands out
for the girls in the auto. The chill wind which
came after the tempest made them shiver, al-
though they were somewhat sheltered by the
curtains which Tom had arranged.
"I suppose we could snugglf down here with
the robes, in the tonneau, and spend the night in
some comfort," suggested Ruth Fielding.
"Oh! don't menticn it!" exclaimed her
friend. "If Tom doesn't come back with a team,
or with another auto, I'll never forgive him."
"Of course he will return. But he may be
delayed, Helen."
"This auto-touring isn't as much fun as I
thought it would be," groaned Helen Cameron.
"Oh! what's that?"
She peered out of the automobile. There was
a handsome, smiling, dark young woman standing
in the road beside the car.
"Young ladies," said the stranger, in a pleas-
ant voice, "are you in trouble? Can I help you
at all?"
"My goodness me! do you live near here?
Can we go home with you?" cried Helen, in
excitement.


74 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Wait!" breathed Ruth, seizing her chum's
arm, but Helen was too anxious to escape from
her present situation to listen to Ruth.
"For if you'll take us in till my brother gets
back from Severn Corners"
"We are going to Severn Corners—my hus-
band and I," said the woman, smiling.
"Oh! then you do not live near here?" cried
Helen, in disappointment.
"Nobody lives near here, little lady," explained
the stranger. "Nobody lives nearer than Severn
Corners. *But it is lonesome here. We will take
you both on in our wagon—nobody shall hurt
you. There is only my husband and baby and
die old grandmother."
"Where is your wagon?" demanded Ruth,
suddenly hopping out into the road and looking
all about.
"Down yonder," *aid the woman, pointing
below. "We follow the lower road. Just there.
You can see the top of it."
"Oh! A bus! It's like Uncle Noah's," de-
clared Helen, referring to the ancient vehicle
much patronized by the girls at Briarwood HalL
"Who are you? " demanded Ruth, again, with
keen suspicion.
"We are pedlars. We are good folks,"
laughed the woman. She did, indeed, seem very
pleasant, and even Ruth's suspicions were allayed


76 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
that this meant the tempest was raging at a dis-
tance and that it might return to this side of the
lake.
The thought of being marooned on this moun-
tain road, at night, in such a storm as that which
they had experienced two or three hours before,
was more than Ruth Fielding could endure witt
calmness.
So she agreed to go with the woman. Tom
would know where they had gone when he re-
turned, for he could not miss the note his sister
had left.
At least, that is what both girls believed. Only,
they were scarcely out of sight of the car with
the woman, when one of the rough-looking men,
who had walked ahead of the Gypsy caravan,
appeared from the bushes, stepped into the auto,
tore the note from where it had been pinned, and
at once slipped back into the shadows, with the
crumpled paper in his pocket!
Now the girls and their guide were down ofc
the lower road. There was a twinkling light
that showed the green van, horses, and the hand-
some driver—and the man looked like Roberto.
"They are Gypsies, I believe," whispered
Ruth.
"Oh! you have Gypsies on the brain," flung
back her chum. "At least, we shall be dry in
that bus, if it rains. And we can find somebody


QUEEN ZELAYA
77
at Severn Corners to put us up, even if there is
no hotel."
Ruth sighed, and agreed. The woman had
been speaking to the man on the seat. Now she
took the lantern and went around to the back of
the van.
"This way, little ladies," she said, in her most
winning tone. "You may rest in comfort inside
here. Nobody but the good old grandmother and
my bebe."
"Come onl " said Helen to Ruth, leading the
way.
There was a light in the interior and it dazzled
the girls' eyes, as they climbed in. The door
snapped to behind them, and the horses started
along the road before either Ruth or Helen were
able to see much of their surroundings.
And strange enough their surroundings were;
berths on either side of the strange cart, made
up for sleeping and covered with gay quilts.
There were chests and boxes, some of them pad-
locked, and all with cushions on them for seats.
There was a table, and a hanging lamp, and a
stove. A child was asleep in one of the bunks;
a white-haired poodle lay crouched at the child's
feet, and showed its teeth and snarled at the two
visitors.
But the appearance that amazed—and really
•tarried—the girls most was the figure that sat


CHAPTER X
IN THE GYPSY CAMP
Ruth remembered what Roberto had said
about his miserly grandmother. She believed
these people who had offered her and Helen a
ride were of the same tribe as Roberto, and the
way Queen Zelaya spoke, caused the girl to be-
lieve that this old woman and Roberto's grand-
mother, were one and the same person.
She could say nothing to Helen at the moment.
Personally she felt more afraid of this Gypsy
Queen than she had of the two rough men in the
abandoned house that afternoon!
"Come!" repeated Zelaya. "Tell me of all
the riches and jewels—the gold and silver plates
you eat from, the jewelry you have to wear, the
rich silks—all of it! I love to hear of such
things," exclaimed the woman, grinning again in
her terrible way.
Helen opened her lips to speak, but Ruth
pinched her. "Tell her nothing," the girl of
the Red Mill whispered. "I am afraid we have
said too much already."
"Why?" queried Helen, wonderingly
80


IN THE GYPSY CAMP
81
*' Pshaw! this old woman can't hurt us. Isn't
she funny?"
"Speak up, my little ladies!" commanded
Queen Zelaya. "My will is law here. Do not
forget that."
"I guess your will isn't much law to us," re-
plied Helen, laughing and tossing her head.
"You see, we do not know you"
"You shall!" hissed the horrible old creature,
suddenly stretching forth one of her claw-like
hands. "Come here!"
Ruth seized her friend tightly. Helen was
laughing, but suddenly she stopped. The queen's
terrible eyes seemed to hold the girl in a spell.
Involuntarily Helen's limbs bore her toward the
far end of the van.
The girl's face became pale; her own eyes pro-
truded from their sockets; the Gypsy Queen
charmed her, just as a snake is said to charm a
young bird in its nest.
But Ruth sprang after her, seized Helen's arm
again, and shook her.
"You stop that! " she cried, to the old woman.
"Don't you mind her, Helen. She has some
Wicked power in her eyes, my dear!"
Her cry broke the hypnotic spell the woman
had cast over Helen Cameron. The latter sank
down, trembling and sobbing, with her hands over
her face.


82 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Oh, dear, Ruthie! I wish we hadn't gotten
into this wagon," she moaned.
"I am sure I wish so, too," returned her chunij
in a low voice, while the old woman rocked her-
self to and fro in her seat, and cackled her horrid
laughter.
"Aren't we ever going to get to that town?
Tom said it was only two miles or a little
over."
"I wish we could speak to that other woman,"
muttered Ruth.
"Do you suppose this old thing is crazy?''
whispered Helen.
"Worse than that," returned Ruth. "I am
afraid of them all. I don't believe they mean ufr
well. Let's get out, Helen."
"Oh! where shall we go?" returned he
friend, in a tone quite as soft as Ruth's own
"We must be somewhere near the town."
"It is pitch dark outside the windows," com-
plained Helen.
"Let's try it. Pitch dark is not as bad as thir
wicked old creature"
The hag laughed again, although she was not
looking at them. Surely she could not hear the
girls' whispers, yet her cackling laugh sent a
shiver over both girls. It was just as though
Queen Zelaya, as she called herself, could read
what was in their minds.


84 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
eling much faster than Ruth and Helen had sup-
posed.
Lights flashed outside, and dogs barked, while
the voices of men, women and children rose in a
chorus of shouts and cries.
"Oh, thank goodness!" exclaimed Helen.
"They have gotten into town at last."
Ruth feared this was not so. She tried to peer
out of one of the windows. There was a bonfire
at one side, and she thought she saw a tent.
There were other wagons like the one in which
they seemed to be imprisoned.
"Now they'll have to let us out," repeated
Helen.
"I am afraid not," returned the girl of the
Red Mill. "This is the Gypsy camp, I am sure,
dear. Do try to be brave! I think they never
meant to take us after Tom, at all. We are
prisoners, dear."
At once Helen's spirits sank, but she grew
angry.
"You'd better not keep us here," she cried,
looking again at the old woman. "My father
has plenty of money and he will spend it all to
get me back—and to punish you."
"We will not take all his money from him, my
pretty little lady," returned Zelaya. "Only a
part of it. And the poor Gypsy has nothing,"
and once more she cackled.


IN THE GYPSY CAMP
85
The door of the van was unlocked and opened.
In the lamplight appeared a rough-looking man,
with an evil face and a squint in one eye. He
said something to the queen in their own tongue,
but he spoke with great respect, and removed his
hat and bowed to her, when she replied.
Ruth and Helen started for the door, but the
man motioned them back and scowled at them in
an evil manner. They could see a crowd of curi-
ous faces without, and behind this man were chil-
dren, women both old and young, and a few men.
Zelaya lifted the child from its bed, and passed
her into the arms of the woman who had guided
Ruth and Helen to the van. She smiled upou
the girls just as pleasantly as before, but now
they knew that she was false and cruel.
Then the queen waved her hand and the door
was closed. "You remain with me to-night, little
ladies. Oh! Zelaya would let nothing trouble
you—no, no!"
Helen burst into wild sobs at this, and threw
herself upon the floor of the van. Ruth faced
the old woman with wrathful sparks in her brown
eyes.
"You are acting very foolishly, indeed, who-
ever you are. You Gypsies cannot carry things
with such a high hand in this otate of New York.
You'll find out—"
"I am Zelaya, the Queen," interrupted the old


IN THE GYPSY CAMP 87
and sat down beside her. By and by the door
of the van opened again and a bold-looking young
woman—not the one that had brought them to
the van—came in with three wooden bowls of a
savory stew. She offered the tray to the visitors
at a motion from old Zelaya, so that they had
their choice before the queen received her own
supper.
"Let's eat it," whispered Ruth to Helen, when
she saw that Zelaya plunged her own tin spoon
into the stew. "It surely isn't drugged, or she
wouldn't touch it."
They ate greedily, for both were hungry. It
lakes more than fear to spoil the healthy appetite
of youth 1
"Do you suppose," whispered Helen, "that
we could climb out of one of these windows after
she falls asleep?"
"I am sure I couldn't get through one," re-
turned Ruth. "And I doubt if you could. Be-
sides, there will be guards, and the dogs are
awake. We've got to wait for help from out-
side, my dear."
"Do you suppose Tom will find us?"
"I hope notl" exclaimed Ruth. "Not while
he is alone. But he certainly will give the alarm,
and the whole countryside will be aroused."
"Oh, dear, me! this old woman seems so sure
that she can hold us captive."


88 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"I think she is crazy," Ruth declared. "And
the other Gypsies must lack good sense, too, or
they would not be governed by her."
The queen gobbled down her supper and then
prepe«-ed to retire to her own bunk. She told the
girls to do the same, and they removed their shoes
and outer garments and lay down—one on one
side of ths 'cwagon, and one on the other.
Ruth's head was toward the door. She could
watch the movements of the old Gypsy vt oman.
Zelaya did not go to sleep at all, but seemed to
be waiting for the camp to get quiet and for her
two visitors to fall into slumber.
She kept raising her head and looking first at
Helen, then at Ruth. The latter knew by her
chum's breathing that, despite her fears, Helen
had fallen asleep almost instantly.
So Ruth began to breathe deeply and regularly,
too. She closed her eyes—almost entirely. This
was what Zelaya had been waiting for.
Silently the old woman arose and turned up
the lampwick a little. She knelt down before one
of the padlocked boxes and unlocked it softly.
Then she rummaged in the box—seemingly be-
neath a lot of rubbish that filled it, and drew
forth a japanned box—like a cashbox. This was
locked, too, and Zelaya wore the key of it on a
string about her neck.
Silently, with a glance at the two girls now and


po RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
something that made her own heart beat faster
and brought the perspiration out upon her limbs.
Above the old woman's head, and behind her,
was a window. Pressed close to the pane of the
window Ruth saw a face—dark, evil, be-mus-
tached. It was one of the Gypsy men.
She remembered now what she had overheard
between the two supposed tramps who had taken
shelter in the deserted house during the tempest.
Was this one of those two ruffians? And was he
the one who had railed at the division of some
stolen treasure, and had spoken with covetousness
of the beautiful pearls?
The thought made Ruth tremble. His wicked
face withdrew, but all the time the Gypsy queen
was admiring the necklace, Ruth felt that the evil
eyes of the man were also gloating over the
pearls.


96 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"What's the matter, Sairy?" he demanded
"Who's this?"
"Thet's what / wanter know," snapped the
Uroman. "It 'pears like he's one o' these run-
iway boys ye read about in the papers—an' he's
stole some money."
"I haven't either! " cried Tom, in some exas-
peration. "I don't have to steal money—or any-
thing else, I hope. I showed her that I had some
money, so that she would believe I could pay you
for some work I wanted done"
"What work?" interposed the farmer.
Tom told him about the stalled auto and what
he wanted.
"How much'H ye give?" shot in the farmer,
right to the point.
"What do you ask to drag the machine to town
—to the Corners, I mean?"
"If it's where ye say it is, ten dollars!"
"All right," agreed the boy. "Your wife
knows I have the money. I'll pay you when we
get to the Corners."
"I know ye got the money," said the woman.
"But I don't know how ye got it. And if you'vs
got an ortermobile, too, I bet ye stole that!"
"You hesh up, Sairy," advised Mr. Blodgett
"No need of your sp'ilin' a trade. Gimme my
supper. I'll hafter eat b'fore I go with ye, younp
man."


TOM ON THE TRAIL
97
"Oh, all right," sighed Tom, remembering
how the girls must be very much frightened by
this time.
The man tramped into the house with the milk
and the lantern. Neither he nor his wife asked
Tom inside—or mentioned supper to him. The
woman put it steaming on the table and Tom—
Eke the dog—might stand and look on.
At last the farmer was finished. "Guess the
team's eat by now," he remarked, and came out
with the lantern hung on his arm. All this time
the dog had had "fits and starts" of wanting to
get at Tom and eat him up. Now he slipped past
his master and ran at the visitor with a savage
growl.
The boy had no idea of being made the supper
of the brute, no matter how hungry Fido might be.
So he kicked out and barely touched him. In-
stantly the brute set up a terrible "ki-yi-ing!"
and shot off the porch and disappeared into the
darkness. Evidently the Blodgetts kept the ani-
mal for its bark, for it did not have the pluck of
a woodchuck!
"Come on," advised Sam, as the woman began
to rail again. "She's wound up an' ain't likely
to run down again for a week. You sure you
wanter pay ten dollars for this job?"
"I'm sure I will pay that for it, whether I want
to or not," declared Tom, with confidence.


TOM ON THE TRAIL
99
so it seemed to Master Tom. He was not wise
enough to suspect that the goods in the car had
been left alone to mislead him. The Gypsies had
been after bigger game than a few dollars' worth
of auto furnishings.
"Come now!" exclaimed Sam Blodgett. "I
can't wait here all night. I only agreed to drag
the car ter town."
"But where could those girls have gone? My
sister and Ruth Fielding?"
"Ye ain't payin' me ter be no detectif,"
drawled the man. "Come! Shell I hitch on?"
"Oh, yes! I don't know what else to do,"
groaned the boy. "I've got to get the car fixed
first of all. Then I will find help and follow the
girls."
The farmer was as unsympathetic as a man
possibly could be. He started the car and let
Tom ride in it. But he had no word of advice
to give about the absent girls.
Perhaps, like his wife, he believed that Tom
was not honest, that the car was stolen, and that
Tom's companions were mythical!
They rolled into Severn Corners at ten o'clock.
Of course, in a hamlet of that kind, there was
scarcely a light burning. Tom had learned from
Blodgett that the local blacksmith sometimes
"monkeyed with ortermobiles that come erlong
busted."
101281K


TOM ON THE TRAIL
103
again, removing his apron, and the constable
donned his vest and got into the car beside the
troubled Tom.
"Now let her out, son!" advised the official.
"You've got all the law with ye that there is in
this section, and ye kin go as fast as ye please."
Tom needed no urging. He shot the repaired
car over the road at a pace that would have made
his sister and her chum scream indeed!
Once at the bottom of the hill where the car
had been stalled, they stopped and got out, each
taking a lantern by the constable's advice. Blod-
gett and his horses had done their best to trample
out the girls' footsteps, but there had been no
other vehicle along the road, and the searchers
managed to find footprints of the girls at one side.
"Sure them's them?" asked Mr. Peck.
"You can see they are not the prints of men's
ihoes," said Tom, confidently.
"Right ye air! And here's another woman's
shoe—only larger. They went away with some
woman, that's sure."
"A woman?" muttered Tom, greatly amazed.
"Whoever could she be—and where have they
gone with her?"


CHAPTER XII
A BREAK FOR LIBERTY
Ruth finally slept in the Gypsy van as sweetly
as though she were in her own little bed in the
gable room at the Red Mill. She was bodily
wearied, and she had lost herself while yet she
was watching the Gypsy Queen worshipping the
pearl necklace, and fearing that the man with the
evil eyes was peering into the interior of the van.
A hundred noises of the Gypsy camp awakened
her when the sun was scarcely showing his face.
Dogs barked and scampered about; horses
neighed and stamped; roosters crowed and hens
cackled. The children were crying, or laughing,
and the women chattering as they went about the
getting of breakfast at the fires.
The fires crackled; the men sat upon the van
tongues cleaning harness after the rain and mud
of the afternoon before. The boys were polish-
ing the coats of the beautiful horses, till they
shone again.
All these activities Ruth Fielding could see
through the tiny windows of the queen's van, in-
104


A BREAK FOR LIBERTY log
which she and Helen Cameron were imprisoned.
Her chum roused, too, but was half tempted to
cry, when she remembered their circumstances.
Queen Zelaya had gone out.
"Come on!" exclaimed Ruth. "We've got
to make the best of it. Get on your dress and
shoes, and perhaps they will let us out, too."
"Let's run away, Ruthie," whispered Helen,
"The very first chance we get—sure we willl"
agreed her chum.
They found the door unlocked, and, as nobody
stayed them, the two girls descended the steps to
the ground. A cross-looking dog came and
smelled of them, but the bold-looking girl who
had brought the supper the night before drove
him away.
Ruth essayed to speak to her, but she shook
her head and laughed. Perhaps she did not under-
stand much English.
Ruth was looking around eagerly for Ro-
berto. Had she seen the Gypsy boy, she would
certainly have thrown herself—and Helen—upon
him for protection. But although not many of
the Gypsies looked unkindly toward the girls,
none appeared really friendly.
The woman who had aided in their capture
the night before took them down to the water,
where they might wash their faces and hands and
comb their hair, using the toilet requisites from


A BREAK FOR LIBERTY
"Did you look along the shore when we were
down there to the lake just now?"
"Yes. In both directions. There wasn't a
soul in sight but you and myself and that woman,"
returned Helen, showing that she had been ob-
servant to a degree, at least.
"You are right. It is a lonely spot. I saw
nobody. But I saw a fishing punt."
"A fishing punt?"
"Yes. Pulled up on the shore a little way.
There is a pole in it, too. It can be pushed off
into the water easily, and I did not see another
boat of any kind in either direction."
"Oh, Ruth! Neither did I. I didn't even sea
the boat you speak of."
"It is there just the same. We can reach it in
one minute from here—by running."
"Let's run, then!" whispered Helen, energet-
ically.
"We'll wait our chance. They are watchingf
too closely now. By and by they must get more
careless. Then we'll try it."
"But I don't just see what we can do in that,
boat," queried Helen, after a moment's thought.
"Push out into the lake, so that they can't
reach us. Then risk being seen by Tom or some-
body else who will help us escape the Gypsies."
"But these men will follow us," said Helen,


108 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
with a shudder. "They can swim—some of them
—surely."
"And if they try it, we'll beat them off with
the push-pole," declared Ruth. "Keep up your
pluck, Helen. They will not really dare hurt
us—especially if they expect to get money for
our release. And I'd like to know," added Ruth,
with rather a bitter little laugh, "who will pay
my ransom?"
"I'll make father pay whatever they ask,"
whispered Helen. "Oh, dear! won't he be just
mad when he hears about it?"
Soon the activities of the camp changed. It
was plain to the two girls that their captors had
no intention of spending the day in this dell by
the lake side.
A number of the men and boys had gone off
with some of the horses early. Now they re-
turned, and it was evident that the men were
angry, if not a little frightened. They talked
loudly with Zelaya, and the Queen of the Gypsies
seemed to be scolding them soundly.
It was surprising to the visitors at the camp
that the old woman should have such influence
over these black-browed ruffians. But she did
possess a power; it was self-evident!
Soon preparations were begun for shifting
camp. The tents were struck and all the para*
phernalia of the camp was returned to the threw
vans.


A BREAK FOR LIBERTY 109
"Something has happened," whispered Ruth
io Helen. "Perhaps Tom has raised the hue
and cry for us, and they are afraid of being
caught here with us in their possession."
"Mean old things!" snapped Helen. "I wish
they would all be caught and put into jail."
"The little children, too?"
"The little ones will grow up to be big ones—
and they are all bad," declared Helen, with con-
fidence.
"I can't believe that Roberto is bad," said
Ruth, thoughtfully. "I wish he was with them
now. I believe he would help us get away."
"Maybe these are not his people."
"I think they are," returned Ruth. But she
did not say anything then to Helen about the
pearl necklace, and the cashbox of Queen Zelaya.
The necklace was never out of Ruth's thought,
however, for she was sure it had been stolen. The
girl of the Red Mill would know the necklace
again, wherever she might see it.
In the first place it was the most beautiful neck-
lace she had ever seen. But there was a peculiar
pendant attached to it—in the shape of a fleur-
de-lis—of larger pearls, that would distinguish
it among any number of such articles of adorn-
ment.
Ruth kept in mind the chance she hoped would
arise for their escape. Helen was hopeless; but
she had agreed to make the attempt, if Ruth did.


HO RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
The whole camp was busy in preparing for de-
parture. There were not so many eyes now upon
the girls. And—therefore—there being no reg-
ular guard set over them, the opportunity Ruth
hoped for arose.
In harnessing one of the horses to a van, some-
thing happened to call most of the excited crowd
together. The horse kicked, and one of the men
was hurt.
The moment the shouting over this incident
arose, Ruth pinched Helen and they both got up
and slipped into the wood. They were out of
sight in a moment, and having chosen the side
toward the lake, they set off at top speed through
the underbrush for the spot where Ruth had seen
the fishing punt.
"Suppose it leaks?" gasped Helen, running
hard beside her friend.
"Well! we'll know it when we're in deep
water," grimly returned Ruth.
At that moment they heard a great hullabaloo
at the camp behind them.
"They've discovered we're missing," gasped
Helen.
"Come on, then!" cried Ruth. "Let's see if
we can outwit them. We've got a chance for
liberty, my dear. Don't lose heart."


CHAPTER XIII
RUTH IN THE TOILS
The lake shore was just ahead of the fugi-
tives. Ruth had been but a few yards out of
the way in her calculations. She and Helen came
out upon the beach almost at the spot where the
fishing punt lay.
The boat appeared to be sound, and the pole
lying in it was a straight, peeled ash sapling, not
too heavy for either of the girls to handle.
"Jump in, Helen!" commanded Ruth. "Take
the pole and push off. I'll push here at the bow."
"But you'll get all wet!" quavered her chum.
"As though that mattered," returned the other,
mth a chuckle, as she leaned against the bow of
the punt and braced her feet for the grand effort.
"Now!"
Helen had scrambled in and seized the pole.
She thrust it against the shore, her own weight
bearing down the stern, which was in the water,
and thus raising the bow a trifle.
"All-to-geth-er!" gasped Ruth, as though
they were at "tug-of-war" in the Briarwood
gymnasium.
in


112 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
The boat moved. Ruth's feet slipped and she
scrambled to get a fresh brace for them.
"Now, again!" she cried.
At that moment a great hound came rushing
out of the wood upon their trail, raised his red
eyes, saw them, and uttered a mournful bay.
"We're caught!" wailed Helen.
"We're nothing of the kind!" returned her
friend. "Push again, Helen!"
One more effort and Ruth was ankle deep in
the water. The boat floated free!
But before the brave girl could scramble
aboard, the hound leaped for her. Helen
screamed. That shriek was enough, without the
baying of the hound, to bring their enemies to
the water's edge.
Ruth Fielding was terrified—of course! But
she gave a final push to the boat as the hound
grabbed her. Fortunately the beast seized only
her skirt. Perhaps he had been taught not to
actually worry his prey.
However, the girl was dragged to her knees,
and she could not escape. The punt shot out into
the lake, and Ruth shouted to her chum:
"Keep on! keep on! Never mind mel Find
Tom and bring help Oh!"
The weight of the big dog had cast her into
the shallow water. She immediately scrambled
to her feet again. The hound held onto the


114 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
shore as though to keep pace with the boat. But
suddenly a long-drawn, eerie cry resounded from
the direction of the camp. The men stopped and
returned; the boy scrambled ashore and hastily
grabbed his clothing. The woman and the squint-
eyed man dragged Ruth into the bush.
The cry was a signal of some kind, and one
not to be disobeyed. The Gypsies hurried back
to the vans, and Ruth did not see Helen again.
All was confusion at the camp. The horses
were ready to start, and the movables were
packed. The children and women swarmed into
two of the vans. Queen Zelaya stood at the door
of the other, and the moment she saw that one of
the prisoners had not been recovered, she begar.
to harangue her people threateningly.
The squint-eyed man pushed Ruth toward the
old woman. Zelaya's claw-like hand seized the
girl's shoulder.
She was jerked forward and up the steps into
the van. Almost at once the caravan started, and
Zelaya pulled the door to, and darkened the win-
dows.
"Quick, now!" she commanded the girl.
"Take off your hat. Gypsies have no use for
hats."
She seized it and thrust it into one of her boxes.
Then she commanded Ruth to remove her frock,
and that followed the hat into the same recep<


ROBERTO AGAIN
117
tured the two girls, Ruth was sure that the wan-
derers would get into trouble very quickly.
"Why, even Uncle Jabez would 'start some-
thing,' as Tom would say, if he learned of this.
I believe, even if I am not1 as good as a boy', that
Uncle Jabez loves me and would not let a parcel
of tramps carry me off like this."
She wiped away the tears, therefore, and in
looking into a cloudy little mirror screwed to the
wall of the vehicle, she found that the tears did
not wash off the walnut stain. She had been
dyed with a "fast color," sure enough!
"If Heavy and The Fox, or Belle and Lluella
could see me now!" thought Ruth Fielding.
Suddenly the caravan halted. There were
shouts and cries, and evidently the other vans
were being emptied of their occupants in a hurry.
Some of the men seemed to be arguing in Eng-
lish at the head of the queen's van.
Ruth believed that a searching party had over-
taken the Gypsies. She feared there would be a
fight, and she was anxious to show herself, so that
her unknown rescuers might see her.
But she dared not scream. Old Zelaya scowled
at her so savagely and threatened her so angrily
with her clenched fist, that Ruth dared not speak.
Finally the old woman opened the door of the
van and flung her down the steps.
The act was so unexpected th*t Ruth fell Into


Ii8 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
the arms of the crowd waiting for her. It was
evidently ready for her appearance. The boys
and girls, and some of the women, received her
into their midst, and they made so much noise,
chattering and shrieking, and dancing about her,
that Ruth was both confused and frightened.
Had she herself shrieked aloud, her voice
would have been drowned in the general hulla-
baloo. This noise was all intentional on the part
of the Gypsies, for up at the head of the caravan
Ruth caught a glimpse of a big man standing with
a stout oak club in his hand and a big shiny star
pinned to his vest near the armhole.
A constable! Whether he was there searching
for her and Helen, or was merely making in-
quiries about a robbed hen-roost, the girl from
the Red Mill could not guess. There was so
much confusion about her, that she could not hear
a word the constable said!
She waved her hand to him and tried to attract
his attention. The girls and boys laughed at her,
and pulled her about, and the bold girl she had
seen before almost tore the frock from her shoul-
ders.
Suddenly Ruth realized that, even did the con-
stable look right at her, he would not discover
that she was a white girl. She looked just as dis-
reputable in every way as the Gypsy children
themselves!


120 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"You do that ageen—I keel you!" he hissed.
It was the evil-eyed man who had spied upon
Queen Zelaya, as she had worshipped the pearl
necklace in the van the evening before. Ruth was
stricken dumb and motionless. The man looked
wicked enough to do just what he said he would.
She saw the constable depart. Then the Gyp-
sies huddled into the wagons, and she was seized
by Zelaya and put into the first van. The old
witch was grinning broadly.
"Ah, ha!" she chuckled. "What does the
Gentile girl think now? That she shall escape
so easily Zelaya? Ha! she is already like one of
our own kind. Her own parents would not know
her—nor shall they see her again until they have
paid, and paid in full!"
"You are holding the wrong girl, Zelaya,"
murmured Ruth. "My parents are dead, and
there is nobody to pay you a great ransom for
me.
"False!" croaked the hag, and struck her
again.
The caravan rolled on after that for a long
way. It did not stop for dinner, and Ruth grew
very hungry, for she and Helen had been too
excited that morning to eat much breakfast.
Through the open door and the forward win-
dow Ruth saw considerable of the road. They
were seldom out of sight of the lake. By and


ROBERTO AGAIN
121
by they turned right down to the water's edge
and she heard the horses' feet splashing through
the shallow water.
She could not imagine where they were going.
Out of the door she saw that they seemed to be
leaving the land and striking right out into the
lake. The water grew deeper slowly, rising first
over one step and then another, while the shore
of the lake receded behind them. The other
vans and the boys driving the horses, followed
in their wake.
Curious, Ruth arose and went to the forward
end of the van. She could see out between the
driver and his wife, and over the heads of the
horses. The latter were almost shoulder deep
now, and were advancing very slowly.
Some rods ahead she saw that there was a
wooded island. It was of good size and seemed
to be densely covered with trees and brush. Yet,
there was a patch of sandy shore toward which
the horses were being urged.
The lake was so low, that there was a ford-
able stretch of its bottom between the mainland
and this island. These Gypsies seemed to know
this bar perfectly, and the driver of the queen's
van made no mistake in guiding his span.
In half an hour the horses were trotting
through the shallows again. They rolled out
spon the white beach, and then Ruth saw that a


ROBERTO AGAIN
The newcomer was Roberto. He strode
swiftly across the camp to the queen's van. Ze-
laya sat upon the steps and when he came before
her, he bowed very respectfully.
The old woman showed more emotion at his
appearance than Ruth believed possible. She got
up quickly and kissed the boy on both of his
cheeks. Her eyes sparkled and she talked with
him for some time in the Tzigane tongue.
Once or twice Roberto glanced in Ruth's direc-
tion, as though he and the old woman had been
speaking of the captive girl. But, to the latter's-
surprise, she saw no look of recognition in the
Gypsy boy's eyes.
Finally, when he parted from the queen, Ro-
berto crossed the encampment directly toward
Ruth. The girl, fearful, yet hoping he would see
and know her, rose to her feet and took a single
step toward him.
Roberto turned upon her fiercely. He struck
at her with his arm and pushed Ruth roughly
back into her seat. But although the action was
so cruel and his look so hateful, the girl heard
him whisper:
"Wait! Let the little lady have no fear!"
Then he passed on to greet his friends about
the nearest campfire.


HELEN'S ESCAPE
turn Dam. But long before the stream cam* to
that place, there was much of what the local
guides called "white water."
These swift rapids Helen thought little about
at first. She had had no experience to warn her
of her per<2. At this moment she was fearful
only of the wild Gypsy clan that had tried to
keep hei prisoner and that had, indeed, succeeded
in carrying away her dear friend, Ruth Fielding,
As she floated on, she saw nothing more of the
Gypsies. She began to believe that they had not
turned back to follow her along the edge of the
lake. They were satisfied with their single pris-
oner!
"But father will see to that!" sobbed Helen.
"He won't let them run away with Ruth Field-
ing—I know he won't! Dear, dear! what would
I ever do if Ruth disappeared and we shouldn't
meet each other again—or not until we were quite
grown up?
"Such things have happened! I've read about
*t in books. And those dreadful Gypsies make
the children they capture become Gypsies, too.
Suppose, years and years hence, I should meet
Ruth and she should ask to tell my fortune as
Gypsy women do—and she shouldn't know
Helen began to sob again. She was working
herself up into a highly nervous state and her


126 RUTH WELDING AND THE GYPSIES
imagination was "running away with her," as
Ruth often said.
Just then she almost lost the punt-pole, and
this near-accident startled her. She might need
that pole yet—especially if the boat drifted into
shallow water.
She looked all around. She stood up, so as
to see farther. Not a moving object appeared
along either shore of the lake. This was a ver-
itable wilderness, and human habitations were
far, far away.
She raised her eyes to the chain of hills over
which she and her brother and Ruth had ridden
the day before. At one point she could see the
road itself, and just then there flashed into view
an auto, traveling eastward at a fast clip.
"But, of course, they can't see me 'way down
here," said Helen, shaking her head. "They
wouldn't notice such a speck on the lake."
So she did not even try to signal to the motor-
car, and it was quickly out of sight.
The current was now stronger, it seemed. The
punt drifted straight down the lake toward the
broad stream through which Long Lake was
drained. Helen hoped the boat would drift in
near one shore, or the other, but it entered the
stream as near the middle as though it had been
aimed for that point!
V-S«.re the water gripped the heaw boat and


HELEN'S ESCAPE
127
drew it onward, swifter and swifter. At first
Helen was not afraid. She saw the banks slip-
ping by on either hand, and was now so far from
the Gypsies, that she would have been glad to
get ashore. Yet she did not think herself in any
increased danger.
Suddenly, however, an eddy gripped the boat.
To her amazement the craft swung around
swiftly and she was floating down stream, stern
foremost!
"Oh, dear me! I wish I had a pair of oars.
Then I could manage this thing," she told herselL
Then the boat scraped upon a rock. The blow
was a glancing one, but it drove the craft around
again. She was glad, however, to see the bow
aimed properly.
From moment to moment the boat now moved
more swiftly. It seemed that the foam-streaked
water tore at its sides as though desiring to
swamp it. Helen sat very quietly in the middle
«eat, and watched the dimpling, eddying stream
ivith increasing anxiety.
Suddenly the punt darted shoreward. It
looked just as though it must be cast upon the
beach. Helen raised herself stiffly, seized the
pole more firmly, and prepared to leap ashore
with its aid.
And just as she was about to risk the feat, the
tow of the boat whirled outward again, she was


128 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
almost cast into the water, and once more the
boat whirled down the middle current.
She dropped back into her seat with a gasp.
*This was terrible! She could not possibly con-
trol the craft in the rapids, and she was travel-
ing faster and faster.
The boat came to another eddy, and was
whirled around and around, so swiftly, that
Helen's poor head swam, too! She raised her
voice in a cry for help, but it was likewise a cry
of despair. She had no idea that there was a soul
within the sound of her voice.
Crash! the boat went against an outcropping
rock. It spun around again and darted down
the current. It was leaking now; the water
poured into it between the sprung planks.
The river widened suddenly into a great pool,
fringed with trees. At one point a rock was
out-thrust into the river and Helen saw—dimly
enough at first—a figure spring into view upon
this boulder.
"Help! help!" shrieked the girl, as the boat
spun about.
"Hi! catch that!"
It was dear old Tom's, voice! The shout
brought hope to Helen's heart.
"Oh, Tom! Tom!" she cried. "Save me!"
"Bet you I will!" returned the boy. "Just
grab this rope Now!"


130 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"I know it. We saw them at the encamp-
ment."
"But if Ruth is still with them," Tom said,
"Peck will get her. He said he knew how to
handle Gyps. He's been used to them all his
life. And this tribe often come through this re*
gion, he told me."
"Who is Mr. Peck? " asked Helen, puzzled.
Tom told her of his adventures on the previous
night. After returning to the spot where the auto
had been stalled earlier in the evening, Tom and
the constable had searched with the lanterns all
about the place, and had followed the footsteps
of the girls and the strange woman to the lower
road.
"I had no idea then that the wagon you had
evidently gotten into was a Gypsy cart," pursued
Tom. "We saw you'd gone on toward Severn
Corners, however, and we went back. But you
come along with me, now, Helen, and we'll re-
turn to that very place. I expect Uncle Ike will
be waiting for us. I telephoned him before day-
light this morning—and it's now ten o'clock. The
car is right back here on the road."
"Oh! I am so glad!"
"Yes. Soon after breakfast Peck and I sepa-
rated! I came this way in the car, hoping to find
dome trace of you. Peck made inquiries and said
he'd follow the Gyps. Ruth will be *aken awa*


132 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Look here," said the blacksmith-constable,
slowly, "let me understand this. Your sister has
been with the 'Gyptians?"
"Yes. Didn't you find Ruth with them?"
"Wait a minute. Was she with old Zelaya's
tribe?"
"Yes," cried Helen. "That is the name of
the Gypsy queen."
"And the other gal?" demanded the man.
"Where is she?"
"That's what I ask you," isaid Tom, anx-
iously. "My sister escaped from them, but they
recaptured the other girl."
"Sure o' that?" he demanded.
"Yes, I am!" cried Helen. "I saw them drag
her back through the woods to the encampment."
"When was this?"
"Not far from six o'clock this morning."
"By gravey!" ejaculated the man. "She
ain't with 'em now. I been all through them
vans, and seen the whole tribe. There ain't a
white gal with 'em," said Mr. Peck, with confix
dence.


CHAPTER XVI
THROUGH THE NIGHT AND THE STORM
Ruth did not really know what to think of
Roberto, the Gypsy boy.
His push, as he passed her, had been most
rude, but his whispered words seemed a promise
of friendship. He did not look at her again, as
he went around the encampment. Roberto
seemed a privileged character, and it was not
hard to guess that he was Queen Zelaya's fa-
vorite grandchild.
As for the prisoner, she was scarcely spoken
to by anybody. She was not abused, but she felt
her position keenly. Particularly was she
ashamed of her appearance—barefooted, bare-
headed, and stained until she seemed as dark as
the Gypsy girls themselves. Ruth thought she
looked altogether hateful!
"I really would be ashamed to have Tom Cam-
eron see me now," she thought.
Yet she would have been delighted indeed to
see Toml It was in her chum's twin brother that
she hoped, after all, for escape.
For Roberto, the Gypsy, ignored her com-
133


134 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
pletely. She feared that his whispered words to
her, when he first entered the camp, had meant
nothing after all. Why should she expect him to
be different from his tribesmen?
The Gypsies fed her well and allowed her to
wander about the camp as she pleased. There
were two sentinels set to watch the northern and
southern shores of the lake. Nobody could ap-
proach the island without being observed and
warning given to the camp.
Ruth had lost hope of anybody coming to the
encampment in search of her, for the present.
The constable had doubtless been sent by Tom
Cameron, and he would report that there was
nobody but Gypsies in the camp. Nobody but her
immediate friends would distinguish Ruth from
a Gypsy now.
If Helen had found Tom, the situation could
not be changed much for Ruth—and the latter
realized that. Mr. Cameron and Uncle Jabez
would have to be communicated with, before a
general alarm could be sent out and detectives
put on the case.
By that time, where would the girl from the
Red Mill be?
This question was no easy one to answer. Ruth
did not believe the Gypsies would remain on this
island for any length of time. Queen Zelaya was
doubtless shrewd enough to plan a long jump next
time, and so throw off pursuit.


THROUGH TH£ NIGHT AND THE STORM 137
There could be no doubt that she was sound
asleep! He slipped in and closed the door. At
first he did not say a word to Ruth.
He went to Zelaya's side and shook her lightly.
She did not awake. As though she were a child,
the strong youth lifted her and placed her in the
bed. Then he locked the small box, put the key
again around Zelaya's neck, and lowered the
rreasure box into the chest. The padlock of this
he snapped and then turned cheerfully to the
watchful Ruth.
"Come!" he whispered. "Missy not afraid
of Roberto? Come!"
No. Ruth was not afraid of him. She rose
quickly and preceded him, as he directed by a
gesture, out of the door of the van. There was
neither light nor sound in the whole camp.
Once they were free, Roberto seized the girl's
hand and led her through the darkness and the
rain. Ruth's tender feet stumbled painfully over
the rough ground, but the boy was not impatient.
He seemed to know his way in the dark by
distinct. Certainly, Ruth could scarcely see her
hand before her face!
However, it was not long before she realized
*hat they had come out upon the shore of the
island. There was a vast, empty-looking place
before them, which Ruth knew must be the open
lake.
Where the sentinels had gone, she could not


138 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
guess, unless Roberto had managed to drug them,
too!
However, there was not a word said, save
when Roberto led her down to the water and
she felt it lave her feet. Then he muttered, in
a low tone:
"Don't fear, little Missy."
As they waded deeper and deeper into the lake,
following as she supposed the track by which the
wagons had come to the island, Ruth was more
than a little frightened. Yet she would not show
Roberto it was so.
Once she whispered to him: "I can swinv,
Roberto."
"Good! But I will carry you," and he sud-
denly stooped, slung her across his shoulder as
though she had been a feather-weight, and
marched on through the water.
It was plain that the Gypsy boy knew this ford
better than the drivers of the vans, for he found
no spot that he could not wade through and carry
Ruth, as well. It was nearly an hour before they
reached the land.
The rain beat upon them and the wind soughed
in the trees. It seemed to get darker and darker,
yet Roberto never hesitated for direction, and
setting Ruth down upon her own feet, helped her
on till they came to a well-traveled road.
Not far ahead was a light. Ruth knew at once


THROUGH THE NIGHT AND THE STORM 139
that it was a lamp shining through the windows
of some farmhouse kitchen.
"There they will take you in," Roberto said.,
"They are kind people. I am sorry I could not
bring away your own clothes and your bag. But
it could not be, Missy."
"Oh! you have been so good to me, Roberto!"
she cried, seizing both of his hands. "However
can I thank you—or repay you?"
"Don't be too hard on Gypsy—on my old
grandmother. She is old and she is a miser.
She thought she could make your friends pay her
money. But now we will all leave here in the
morning and you shall never be troubled by us
again."
"I will do nothing to punish her, Roberto,"
promised Ruth. "But I hope I shall see you at
the Red Mill some time."
"Perhaps—who knows?" returned the youth,
with a smile that she could see in the dark, his
teeth were so white. "Now run to the door and
knock. When I see it opened and you go in, I
will return."
Ruth Fielding did as she was bidden. She
entered the gate, mounted the porch, and rapped
upon the kitchen door. The moment she looked
into the motherly face of the woman who an-
swered her knock, the girl knew that her troubles
were over.


CHAPTER XVII
OFF FOR SCHOOL AGAIN
There was much bustle about the old Red
Mill. The first tang of frost was in the air,
and September was lavishly painting the trees and
bushes along the banks of the Lumano with crim-
son and yellow.
A week had elapsed since Ruth and Helen had
been prisoners in the Gypsies' encampment, up
in the hills. That week had been crowded with
excitement and adventure for the chums and Tom
Cameron. They would all three have much to
talk about regarding the Gypsies and their ways,
for weeks to come.
Uncle Ike Cameron had roused up the County
Sheriff and all his minions, before Ruth appeared
at Severn Corners, driven by the kindly farmer
to whose door Roberto had brought her through
the darkness and rain.
Constable Peck, having searched the Gypsy
camp, believed that Ruth must have escaped from
the Romany people at the same time as Helen.
Therefore, it was not until Ruth's complete story
was told, that actual pursuit of the Gypsies by
the county authorities was begun.
140


OFF FOR SCHOOL AGAIN
fuse to take this that he has given me and then
I"
"Tut, tut, my pretty! don't say that," said the
little old woman, soothingly. "It does him good
to put his hand in his pocket—it does, indeed. If
it is a sad wrench for him ter git it out ag'in—
all the better!" and she chuckled a little as she
lowered herself into her rocker. "Oh, my back I
and oh, my bones!
"Ye don't understand yer uncle's nater like I
do, Ruthie. You bein' his charge has been the
salvation of him—yes, it has! Don't worry when
he gives ye money; it's all thet keeps his old heart
from freezin' right up solid."
Now the Cameron automobile was at the gate,
and Helen and Tom were calling to Ruth to
hurry. Ben had taken her trunk to the Cheslow
station the day before. Ruth appeared with her
new handbag (the Gypsies had the old one), flung
her arms about Aunt Alvirah's neck as she sat
on the porch, and then ran swiftly to the door of
the mill.
"Uncle! I'm going!" she called into the brown
dusk of the place.
He came slowly to the door. His gray, grim
fa,ce was unlighted by even an attempt at a smile,
as he shook hands with her.
111 know ye'll be a good gal," he said, sourly.
"Ye alius be. But be savin' with—with all thet


144 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
money I gave ye. It's enough to be the ruination
of a young gal to hev so much."
He repented of his gift, she knew. Yet she
remembered what Aunt Alvirah had said, and
refrained from handing it back to him. She
determined, however, if she could, to never touch
the five gold pieces, aj.d some time, when she was
self-supporting, she would hand the very same
coins back to himl
This was in her thought as she moved away.
So, on this occasion, Ruth Fielding did not leave
the Red Mill with a very happy feeling at her
heart.
The automobile sped away along the shady1
road into Cheslow. At the station Mercy Curtis,
the lame girl, was awaiting them, although it was
still some time before the train was due that
would bear them away to Lake Osago.
When it did steam into view and come to a slow
stop beside the platform, there was Heavy Stone
and The Fox with their hands out of the windows,
shouting to them. They had secured two seats
facing each other, and Ruth and Mercy joined
them, while Tom and Helen took the seat behind.
Such a chattering as there was! The fleshy
girl and Mary Cox had not seen Ruth and Helen
and Mercy since they had all returned from the
Steeles' summer home at Sunrise Farm, and you
may believe there was plenty to talk about.


OFF FOR SCHOOL AGAIN 145
"Who else is here?" demanded Ruth, stand-
ing up to search the length of the car for fa-
miliar faces.
"Look out, Miss!" cried Heavy, producing
her first joke of the fall term. "Remember Lot's
wife!"
"Why so?" asked Helen.
"Goodness me! how ignorant you are—and
you took chemistry last year, too," declared
Jennie Stone.
"I—don't—just—see," admitted Helen.
"You mean to say you don't know what two-
fold chemical change Lot's wife underwent?"
"Give it up!"
"Why," giggled Heavy, "first she turned to
rubber, and then she turned to salt!"
When the crowd had shown their appreciation,
The Fox said:
"We're going to pick up an Infant at Max-
well. Heard about her?"
"No. Who is she?" asked Helen. "Not
that Infants interest me much now. We can let
the juniors take them in hand. Remember, girls,
we are full-fledged seniors this year."
"You'll have an interest in this new girl," said
Miss Cox, with assurance.
"Why?"
"She is Nettie Parsons. You know her father
Is the big sugar man. He has oodles of money'''


'146 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Lot's of sugar, eh?" chuckled Heavy.
"Hope she'll bring some to school with her. I
have a sweet tooth, I hope you know."
"A tooth! a whole set of sweet teeth, you
mean! " cried Ruth.
"I only hope she is nice. I don't care how
much money she has," said Helen, smiling. "We
won't hold her wealth up against her, vf she's
the right sort."
"Oh, I'm not fooling," said The Fox, rather
sharply, for she had a short temper, "to match
her red hair," as Heavy said. "She'll probably
bring trunks full of nice dresses to school and
loads of jewelry"
"Won't that be silly? For Mrs. Tellingham
won't let her wear them."
"Only on state and date occasions," put in
Mercy.
"At any rate, her folks have splendid things.
Why! don't you remember about her aunt losing
that be-a-utiful necklace last spring?"
"Necklace?" repeated Ruth. "What sort of
a necklace?"
"One of the finest pearl collars in the world,
they say. Worth maybe fifty thousand dollars.
Wonderful!"
"A pearl necklace? " queried the girl from Vhe
Red Mill, her interest growing.
"Yes, indeed."


OFF FOR SCHOOL AGAIN
"How careless of her!" said Heavy, with a
yawn.
"Silly!" exclaimed The Fox. "It was stolen,
of course."
"By whom?" demanded Ruth.
"Why, if the police knew that, they'd get back
the necklace, wouldn't they?" demanded Mary
Cox, with scorn.
"But I didn't know—they might suspect?"
suggested Ruth, meekly.
"They do. Gypsies."
"Gypsies!" cried Ruth and Helen together.
And then the latter began: "Oh, girls! listen to
what happened to Ruth and me only a week ago!"
"Wait a bit, dear," broke in Ruth. "Let us
know a little more about the lost necklace. Why
do they think the Gypsies took it?"
"I'll tell you," said The Fox. "You see, this
aunt of Nettie's is very, very rich. She comes
from California, and she was on to visit the Par-
sons last spring.
"There was a tribe of Gypsies camping near
the Parsons estate. They all went over to have
their fortunes told—just for a lark, you know.
It was after dinner one evening, and there was
company. Nettie's Aunt Rachel had dressed her
best, and she wore the necklace to the Gypsy camp.
"That very night the Parsons' house was
robbed. Not much was taken except the aunt's


148 RUTH FlELDiNG AND THE GYPSIES
jewel-box and some money she had in her desk.
The robbers were frightened away before they
could go to any of the other suites
"The next day the Gypsies had left their
encampment, too. Of course, there was nothing
to connect the robbery with the Gyps., save circum-
stantial evidence. The police didn't find either the
Gypsies or the necklace. But Aunt Rachel offered
five thousand dollars' reward for the return of
the pearls."
"Just think of that!" gasped Helen. "Five
thousand dollars. My, Ruthie! wouldn't you like
to win that? n
"Indeed I would," returned her chum, with
longing.
"But I guess the Gypsies we were mixed up
with never owned a pearl necklace like that. They
didn't look as though they had anything but the
gaily colored rags they stood in—and their
horses."
"What do you know about Gypsies?" asked
The Fox.
"A whole lot," cried Helen. "Let me tell
you," and she proceeded to repeat the story of
their adventure with Queen Zelaya and her tribe.
Ruth said nothing during the story; her mind was
busy with the mystery of the missing necklace.


CHAPTER XVIII
GETTING INTO HARNESS
Nettie Parsons proved to be a very sweet,
quiet girl, when she came aboard the train at
Maxwell. She was rather older than the major-
ity of girls who entered Briarwood Hall as
"Infants." It seemed that she had suffered con-
siderable illness and that had made her backward
in her books.
"Never mind! She'll be company for Ann
Hicks," said Helen. "Won't that be fine?
Neither of them will feel so badly, then, because
they are in the lower classes."
"We'll get the Sweetbriars to make her feel
at home," said Ruth, to her chum. "No hazing
this term, girlie! Let's welcome the newcomers
like friends and sisters."
"Sure, my dear," agreed Helen. "We haven't
forgotten what they did to us, when we first
landed at Briarwood Hall."
When the train ran down to the dock where
they were to take the steamboat Lanawaxa for
the other side of the lake, there was a crowd of
ft dozen or more girls in waiting. A welcoming
shout greeted Ruth as she headed the party from
the vestibule coach:
149


GETTING INTO HARNESS 153
"The Sweetbriars get in, one by one—
One wide river to cross!
The last in line is Heavy Stone—
One wide river to cross!"
And the plump girl was the last one to pop into
the ancient equipage, filling the very last seat—
tight!
"Lucky you brought along another wagon,
Uncle Noah," said The Fox, as the remainder of
the girls ran to the second vehicle.
Both of the wagons soon started. It was a hot
and dusty afternoon and the girls were really
crowded.
"I'm squeezed in so tight I can't think,"
moaned Helen.
"Ouch!" cried Belle Tingley. "That's my
funny-bone you hit, Lluella, with your hand-bag.
Oh! how funny it feels."
"Did you ever know why they call that thing
in your elbow the funny bone?" asked Heavy,
mighty serious.
"No," said Belle, rubbing the elbow vigorously.
"Why, it's what makes folks 'laugh in their
sleeves,'" chuckled the plump girl.
"Oh, dear me! isn't she smart?" groaned
Lluella.
"Almost as smart as my Cousin Bill," said The
Fox, breaking into the conversation. "He won't


154 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
be called ' Willie ' and he'll answer only to ' Bill,''
or ' William.'
"' William,' said the teacher one day to him
in school, 'spell "ibex."'
"Bill jumps up and begins: 'I-b'
"' Stop! stop, William!' cries the teacher.
'Where did you learn such grammar? Always
say, 1 am.
"And do you know," chuckled Mary, " Bill sat
down and gave up spelling the word—and he
doesn't know how to spell 'ibex' yet!"
The sun had set, when they got out at the end
of the Cedar Walk. Ruth, who had sat beside
Nettie Parsons, went with her to the principal's
office and introduced her to Mrs. Grace Telling-
ham.
Later Ruth joined her chums in the old West
Dormitory. There were two quartette rooms
side by side, in which were hatched most of the
fun and good times that happened at Briarwood
Hall. In one were Ruth, Helen, Mercy, and Ann
Hicks, the girl from the west. The other had
long been the room of The Fox, Heavy, Belle
Tingley, and Lluella Fairfax.
Ann Hicks, right from Silver Ranch, was on
hand to greet Ruth and the others, she having
arrived at Briarwood the day before. She brought
greetings from her Uncle Bill, Bashful Ike and
his Sally.


GETTING INTO HARNESS 155
The crowd quieted down at last. The last
guilty shadows stole from room to room, and
finally every girl sought her own bed. Ruth and
Helen shared one of the big beds in their room,
but they did not go to sleep at once. They could
hear the quiet breathing of Mercy and Ann, but
the chum's eyes were still wide open.
"That Nettie Parsons is a much nicer girl than
I expected," whispered Helen.
"That is something I want to talk with you
about," said Ruth, quickly.
"What?"
"Nettie Parsons. At least, something about
her Aunt Rachel."
"Ohl the necklace," laughed Helen. "Are
you really interested in it, Ruth?"
"She offered five thousand dollars' reward for
it," continued Ruth, breathlessly. "She really did.
And the reward still stands."
"Why, Ruthie!" exclaimed Helen, astonished.
"Do you mean to say"
"This is what I mean to say," said Ruth, with
energy. "I mean that I'd love to win that reward.
I believe I know what has become of the pearl
necklace. In fact, Helen, I am very sure that I
have seen the necklace."


CHAPTER XIX
CAN IT BE POSSIBLE?
Ruth was thinking a great deal—it must bf
confessed!—about money during the first days
of this new term at Briarwood Hall, and yet she
was not naturally of a mercenary nature. Nor
was she alone in this, for the advent of Nettie
Parsons into the school quite turned the heads
of many.
Nettie Parsons was the first multi-millionaire's
daughter who had ever come to Briarwood Hall.
Most of the girls' parents were well-to-do; other-
wise they could not have afforded to pay the tui-
tion fees, for Mrs. Grace Tellingham's institution
was of considerable importance on the roster oi
boarding schools.
Many of the girls' parents, like Helen Cam-
eron's father, were really wealthy. But Mr. Par-
sons was way above that! And with a certain
class the mere fact of money as money, is cause
enough for them to kneel down and worship!
After a time these " toadies " were disappointed
in the daughter of the "sugar king." Nettie
Parsons was a very commonplace, kindly girl, not


CAN IT BE ,*OSSIBLE?
157
at all brilliant, and dressed more plainly than tht
majority of the girls at Briarwood Hall.
Ruth's thoughts about money were not in the
tame lines as the thoughts of those girls so much
interested in Nettie Parsons' riches., She neither
envied the wealthy girl her possessions, nor de-
sired to be like her.
What Ruth Fielding desired so keenly was
independence. She wanted to control her own
destiny, instead of being so beholden to Uncle
Jabez Potter for everything. The sting of being
an object of charity had gotten deeply into Ruth's
heart. The old miller had an unfortunate way
with him, which made the proud girl feel keenly
her situation.
There was really no reason at all why the
miller should take care of, and educate, his niece's
child. He was not legally bound to do it. The
kinship was not close enough for people to really
expect Uncle Jabez to do all that he had for Ruth
Fielding!
There had been times when the girl, through
several fortunate circumstances, had been of real
help to the miller. She had once helped recover
some money he had lost when the freshet wrecked
a part of the Red Mill. Again, it was through
her that an investment in a mine in Montana had
proved productive of gain for Uncle Jabez, in-
stead of loss.


CAN IT BE POSSIBLE? 159
Uncle Jabez had said that girls were of little
use in the world, anyway—unless they settled
down to housekeeping. The times Ruth had
been of aid to him were, as he said, "just
chancey."
It was of the reward for the return of the
missing pearl necklace to Nettie Parsons' Aunt
Rachel, that the girl of the Red Mill was think-
ing so continually, while the first days of this
term at Briarwood slipped by. But five thou-
sand dollars would grant Ruth Fielding the inde-
pendence she craved!
Ruth and Helen Cameron had discussed the
mystery of the pearl necklace in all its bearings—
over and over again. All the "pros" and
"cons " in the case had " been before the house,"
as Helen said, and it all came to the same an-
swer: Could it be possible that Queen Zelaya,
Roberto's grandmother, now had in her posses-
sion the necklace rightfully the property of Net-
tie Parsons' Aunt Rachel?"
"That is, she had it," said Ruth, believing fully
't was so, "if that awful man I saw spying on
hor, has not robbed the old woman and gotten
away with the necklace. You know how he talked
that day in the deserted house to the other
Gypsy?"
"I guess I do!" exclaimed Helen. "Could I
•ver forget a single detail of that awful time?"


CAN IT BE POSSIBLE?
necklace! Nettie Parsons had described the
jewel so clearly that the girl of the Red Mill
could not for a moment doubt that the necklace
in Zelaya's possession was the one for which the
reward was offered.
"I tell you what I'll do, if you say the word,"
Helen said at last, seeing that her friend was
really so much troubled about the affair.
"What's that, dear?"
"I'll write to father. Let me tell him all about
you seeing the old woman handling the pearls,
and then about this necklace that was lost by
Nettie's aunt. He can advise you, at any rate."
So it was agreed. Helen wrote that very day.
Inside of a week an answer came, and it quite
excited Helen.
"What do you think?" she demanded of her
chum. "Father has business that calls him to
Lumberton in a few days. He will come here to
see us. And he says for me to tell you to be sure
and say nothing to anybody else about the missing
necklace until he sees you."
"Of course I won't speak of it," replied Ruth.
"I am not likely to. Oh, dear, Helen! if I could
only win the reward that woman offers for the re-
turn of her necklace 1"
It was not many days before Helen received
the telegram announcing her father's coming to
Lumberton, which was the nearest town to Briar-


CAN IT BE POSSIBLE? 163
"Who wouldn't be?" gasped Ruth. "Just
think of five thousand dollars!"
They were driving through a fine piece of
chestnut wood as she said this. The blight had
not struck these beautiful trees and they hung full
of the prickly burrs. The frost of the previous
night had opened many of these, and the brown
nuts smiled at once through the openings.
"There's a boy knocking them down!" cried
Helen. "Let's stop and get some, Father. See
them rain down!"
At that moment a shower of chestnuts fell and
a prickly burr landed on the back of one of the
team. The beast rose on his hind legs and pawed
the air, snorting.
"Look out!" exclaimed the boy in the tree.
Mr. Cameron was a good horseman and he
had the animals well in hand. The boy, however,
was so anxious to see what went on below, that
he strained forward too far. With a scream, and
the snap of broken boughs, he plunged forward,
shot through the leafy canopy, and landed with
a sickening thud upon the ground!
Mr. Cameron had halted fhe horses dead.
Ruth was out of the carriage like a flash and
dropped on her knees by the boy's side. She was
horror-striken and speechless; yet she had made
a great discovery as the boy fell.
He was Roberto, the Gypsy!


CHAPTER XX
HE CANNOT TALK
"Is he badly hurt?" cried Mr. Cameron,
who dared not get down and leave the horses
just then.
"Don't tell us he is killed, Ruthie!" wailed
Helen, clasping her hands and unable to leave the
carriage.
The Gypsy boy lay very still. One arm was
bent under him in such a queer position that the
girl of the Red Mill knew it must be broken. His
olive face was pallid, and there was a little blood
on his lips.
She dared not move him. She bent down and
put her ear to his chest. His heart was beating—
he breathed!
"He's alive!" she said, turning to her friends
in the carriage. "But I am afraid he is badly
hurt. At least, one arm"
The youth groaned. Ruth turned toward him
with a tender little cry. She thought his eyelids
quivered, but they were not opened.
"What will we do with him? He ought to
164


166 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
Roberto gave no sign of returning conscious*
ness now. That puzzled the girl of the Red
Mill, for she had thought he was just about to
come to.
Mr. Cameron turned the carriage and halted
it beside the spot where the boy lay. "Of course
you two girls can't lift him?" he said.
"Of course we can!" returned his daughter,
promptly. "Oh! Ruth and I haven't been doing
gym. work for two years for nothing. Just
watch us."
"Easy! " murmured Ruth, warningly, as Helen
seized the youth's legs. "Perhaps he has more
than a broken arm."
"But he must be lifted," said Helen. "Come
on, now! He isn't conscious, and perhaps we can
get him into the carriage before he wakes up."
And they did. Roberto did not seem to be
conscious, and yet, to Ruth's surprise, the color
came and went in the boy's cheeks, and his black
brows knitted a little. It was just as though he
were conscious and was endeavoring to endure the
pain he felt without moaning.
They got him into the carriage in as comfort-
able a position as possible. Ruth sat beside him,
while Helen joined her father on the front seat.
Then the gentleman let the spirited team go, anrt
they dashed off over the road toward Lumberton.
At once Helen told her father who the injured


168 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
good, and he may help us learn about the neck-
lace."
"You want to be very careful in trying to
pump the lad," said Mr. Cameron, with a smile.
He need not have feared on this point, how-
ever, as it turned out. The very next afternoon
Ruth and Helen hurried in to Lumberton to make
inquiries at the hospital. They saw the head
physician and he was frankly puzzled about Ro-
berto.
"I thought I had had every kind of a case in
my experience," said the surgeon, "but there's
something about this one that puzzles me."
"Is he more hurt than you thought?" cried
Ruth, anxiously.
"I don't know. It seems that we have found
all his injuries that are apparent. But there is
one we cannot reach. Something is the matter
with his speech."
1' His speech?" gasped Helen.
"You have heard him speak?"
"Of course!"
"Then he is not naturally dumb —"
"Dumb?" repeated Helen, in wonderment.
"You don't mean that he is dumb?"
"I mean just that. It appears that since his
fall yesterday, he. cannot talk at all," said the
doctor.


172 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
fully good actor. The next time you come, we
shall try him."
So on a subsequent call of the two girls at the
hospital, the doctor entered the ward at the same
time they did and likewise approached Roberto's
bed, only on the opposite side. Ruth had brought
more flowers, and the boy was evidently delighted.
"Are you sure you can't speak to me, Ro-
berto?" asked Ruth, softly, as he nodded and
smiled and clasped the flowers to his breast with
his one good hand.
Roberto shook his head" sadly, and his black
eyes showed every indication of sorrow. But of
a sudden he jumped, and a spasm of pain crossed
his face. The doctor straightened up and Ro-
berto scowled at him wrathfully. The boy had
not uttered a sound.
"I jabbed him with this needle," said the doc-
tor, with disgust. "You see, either he has per-
fect control over himself, or he absolutely can-
not speak. While I was setting his arm and fix-
ing up his smashed ribs, he only moaned a little."
"Oh! " Helen had gasped, looking at the med-
ical man in some wrath.
"Don't do it again—not for me" urged Ruth.
"I am sorry I said anything about it."
"Oh, he isn't seriously injured by that," said
the surgeon, holding up the needle. "But I do
not think he is 1 playing possum.'"


RUTH INTERCEDES
"It isn't possible!" exclaimed Helen, confi-
dently.
"And how long must he lie here?" Ruth asked.
"Oh, in a fortnight he'll be as fine as a fiddle.
Of course, he won't be able to use his arm much
for several weeks. But the ribs will knit all right.
Maybe he can find some light job"
"We'll see about that," Helen interrupted.
"I can see you young ladies are much interested
in him," chuckled the doctor. "And not entirely
because he is a handsome, black-eyed rascal, eh?"
Ruth knew that old Tony Foyle, the gardener
at Briarwood Hall, was interested in the lad. He
had gone up to the ward to see Roberto several
times, and came away enthusiastic in the Gypsy's
praise.
"Sure," said Tony, to Ruth, " he's jist the bye
after me hear-r-t. Herself would like him, he's
that doomb!"
"Herself " was Tony's wife, who was the cook
at Briarwood Hall.
"And the way that boy do be lovin' flowers!
Sure, his bed in the horspital is jest covered wid
'em. He'd be a handy lad to have here ter give
me aid, so he would. An' I been tellin' Mis'
Tellingham that I need another helper."
"We'll get him the job, Tony!" cried Ruth,
in delight. "I believe he would like to help
around your hothouse and the beds. I'll see."


174 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
She interceded with the principal for Roberto,
and obtained her promise that the Gypsy boy
should have the job. Then she sounded Roberto
himself, and by the way his eyes lit up and he
smiled and nodded, Ruth knew he would be de-
lighted to be Tony Foyle's assistant.
"At least," thought Ruth, " I can keep in sight
of him for a time. Perhaps he couldn't tell us,
anyway, where Queen Zelaya has hidden herself.
But I believe he knows, and I haven't much faith
in the results those detectives get."
Roberto mended rapidly. He was soon up and
about the ward, when the girls called. He was
less restless than Ruth expected him to be, and
he still signified his intention of coming to help
the little old Irish gardener at Briarwood Hall.
"When he recovers his powers of speech," said
the doctor, "it will be as suddenly as he lost
them. No doubt of that. But it is a most puz-
zling case. I am glad he is not going far from
Lumberton. I want to watch the progress of the
affair."
The naoct day Roberto came to Briarwood.


176 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
have a brand new costume, although this was no
suggestion of either the teacher or Mrs. Telling-
ham.
The class invented this idea itself. It was
agreed—nineteen in favor, at least—to appear at
the entertainment in a brand new outfit. And
how could Ruth say " No?"
Every girl in the class but herself had only to
write home for money and order the uniform. As
it chanced, Ruth had plenty of money to pay for
a costume. Helen, who was one of the number,
knew Ruth had that fifty dollars in gold that
Uncle Jabez had given the girl of the Red Mill
the day she left home.
This was the temptation: Ruth had promised
herself never to use that money. She had a small
sum left from her vacation money, and she was
making that do for incidentals, until she could
earn more in some way. She was already tutor-
ing both Nettie Parsons and Ann Hicks in their
more advanced textbooks, and they were paying
her small sums for this help.
But she could not earn enough in this way—
nor in any other—to buy the new gymnasium cos-
tume. And there were the five ten-dollar gold
pieces lying in a little jeweler's box in the bottom
of her trunk.
She went with Helen to the dressmaker in
Lumberton, when Helen ordered her new cos*


178 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
day she was worrying about the new gymnasium
costume.
Should she order one, or should she not?
Could she buy a little of the crimson ribbon and
put it on her old uniform and thus pass muster?
What would the girls say, if she did that?
And what would they say if she appeared at
the exhibition in her old costume? Was she
purely selfish in trying to get out of buying the
new dress? Was her reason for not wishing to
break into that roll of coin a bad one, after all?
Those questions kept coming to Ruth Fielding,
and got between her and her books. Mrs. Tell-
ingham called her into the office early in October
and pointed out to her that, unless her averages
increased, her standing in her class would be
greatly changed.
"You are doing no outside work, Miss Field-
ing?" inquired the principal.
"No, Ma'am."
"I hear you are helping two of the other girls
—in a perfectly legitimate way, of course. It is
not taking too much out of you?"
"Oh, no, dear Mrs. Tellingham!" cried Ruth,
fearful that her tutoring would be forbidden.
"You are not working too hard in the gym.?"
"I do not think so," stammered Ruth.
"And this is ridiculous," said Mrs. Telling-
ham, with a smile. "I do not think there is a


A GREAT TEMPTATION
more robust looking girl in my school. But, there
must be something."
"I suppose so," murmured Ruth.
"But you do not know what it is? If you do,
tell me."
"I study just as hard, Mrs. Tellingham," said
Ruth, non-committally. "I spend quite as much
thought over my books. Really, I think I shall
do better again."
"I hope so. I do not want to see any bright
girl like you fall behind. There is always some
reason for such changes, but sometimes we teach-
ers have hard work to get at it. I want all my
girls to have confidence in me and to tell me if
anything goes wrong with them."
"Yes, Ma'am," said Ruth, guiltily.
But she could not take the principal of Briar-
wood Hall into her confidence—she positively
could not do it! How ridiculous it would seem
to the dignified Mrs. Grace Tellingham that she
did not dip into the money her uncle had given
her to buy that costume!
And she was losing her standing, and worry-
ing everybody who cared, because of this tempta-
tion. She knew she was doing wrong in falling
behind in her studies.
Surely that was not the way to give Uncle Jabez
the best return possible for his investment. If
she fell back in her books this year, Ruth knew


Ifc4 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
"Or with indigestion," snapped Mercy. "The
girl will positively burst some day!"
"I don't care," mourned Heavy, shaking her
head. "It isn't what I get to eat at Briarwood
that makes me fat—that's sure."
"No," chuckled Ruth. "You grow plump on
the remembrance of what you have already eaten,
dear. Who was it ate three plates of floating
island last night for supper?"
"Well!" cried Heavy, with wide open eyes,
"you wouldn't want me to leave them and let
them go to waste, would you? Both you and
Helen left your shares, and the cook would have
been hurt, if the pudding had come back un-
touched."
"Kind-hearted girl!" laid The Fox, with a
sniff.
After-hour parties were frowned upon by Mrs.
Tellingham and the teachers, of course; not for
the mild breaking of the school rules entailed, but
because the girls' stomachs were apt to suffer.
In the West Dormitory, too, Miss Picolet was
known to be very sharp-eyed and sharp-eared for
such occasions. It took some wit to circumvent
Miss Picolet; perhaps that is why the girls on
Ruth's corridor so delighted in holding orgies
unbeknown to the little French teacher.
Miss Scrimp, the matron, was a heavy sleeper
The girls did not worry about her.


NETTIE PARSONS' FEAST 187
"That's the one. And he'll do anything for
Ruth," declared Helen, promptly.
"Anything but talk!" thought Ruth, to her-
self, but she did not say it aloud.
"I don't see how he can help us," Ann Hicks
said. "He can't come into the dormitory."
"I—guess—not!" cried Helen.
"But he won't mind watching outside," Ruth
explained. "At least, I'll ask him"
"But what good will that do?" demanded
Heavy. "If Miss Picolet gets up out of her
warm nest, he won't know it."
"Yes, he will," said Ruth, nodding.
The Fox began to laugh. "Dont' let her hear
you say that, Fielding. Picolet is an awful old
maid. She would be horrified, if she thought a
male person even imagined her in bed!"
"But how will he know?" demanded Ann.
"That's easy," laughed Ruth. "He will stand
where he can watch her window. If he sees her
candle lit, he will give the alarm."
"How?" asked Nettie.
"We'll rig a 'tick-tack'—y«u know what I
mean?"
"Oh, don't I!" giggled Heavy.
"Roberto can pull the string below, and that
will make a tick-tack rap on Nettie's window."
"Splendid!" cried the giver of the feast.
"You just see if he will do it, Miss Fielding.


188 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
And I'll give him a dollar—or more, if he wants
it."
"A dollar will be a lot of money for Roberto,"
laughed Helen. "But he won't do it for that."
"No?"
"Of course not. He'll only do it because Rutb
asks him."
Which was really the fact. Roberto under-
stood well enough what was desired of him.
Ruth pointed out the French teacher's window,
and the windows of Nettie Parsons' quartette
room. From one of them would hang a weighted
string on that night. Everything was agreed, and
the feast planned.
It was a starlight night, when it arrived, but
Roberto could find a place to hide in the shrub-
bery, where he could watch both windows, as
agreed. He slept in a little back room of Tony
Foyle's suite in the basement of the main build-
ing, and could get out and in without disturbing
Mr. and Mrs. Foyle.
If he were caught out of his room after hours,
Ruth knew that Tony would be angry, but she had
great influence with the little Irishman and prom-
ised Roberto that she would " make it all right"
for him, if he were caught.
The hour of the party came. The West Dor-
mitory had apparently been "in the arms of
Morpheus" for half an hour, at least.


CHAPTER XXIV
ROBERTO FINDS HIS VOICE
That settled it! There was a full-fledged
panic in that quartette room in an instant. It
bade fair, too, to spread to the whole building.
Ruth, who had been busy distributing cakes be-
fore the accident, sprang to the open door, seized
the girl who had yelled, and literally "yanked"
her back into the room. Then she banged the
door to and placed her back against it.
"Stop!" she cried, yet in a low voice. "Don't
be foolish. It's only a little fire. We can put
it out. Don't rouse the whole house and frighten
everybody."
"Oh, Ruth! I can't reach it! " wailed Helen,
who was really trying to pull down the curtain.
Ann ran with a bowl of water and tried to
splash it over the burning curtain. But the bowl
tipped backwards and part of the water went
over Heavy, who was just trying to struggle to
her feet.
"Oh! oh! wow!" gasped the plump girl.
"I'm drowning! Do you think I'm afire, Ann
Hicks?"
190


ROBERTO FINDS HIS VOICE
Some of the others were sane enough to laugh,
but the more nervous girls were already in tears,
and the fire was spreading from one curtain to
the other. There was a smell of scorching var-
nish, too. The window frame was catching!
In the very midst of the confusion, when it
seemed positive that the whole school must be
aroused, there came a commanding rap upon the
window pane. It was not the gentle signal of
the tick-tack—no, indeed!
"Will you hear that?" gasped Belle Tingley.
"Miss Picolet's up."
"No!" cried Ruth, from the other end of the
room. "Open that window, Ann! It's Roberto.
He's climbed the fire-escape."
"My goodness me!" gasped The Fox. "I
never was so glad to see a boy in all my life!
Let him in—do!"
No sooner said than done. The girl from Sil-
ver Ranch had her wits about her. She snapped
open the catch and raised the sash.
Into the room bounded the Gypsy lad. He
had seen the flames from the ground and he im-
mediately knew what to do when he got inside.
He seized a chair, leaped up into it, and with
his long arms was enabled to tear down the blaz-
ing hangings. These he thrust into the bowl of
water.
"Oh, Roberto! your hands are burned!" cried


ROBERTO FINDS HIS VOICE
all that to-night, she will be sick to-morrow, that's
all!"
"Well," Ruth advised, "the best we can do
won't hide the damage. Miss Scrimp will find
out about the fire, anyway. The best thing to do
is to make a clean breast of it, Nettie. I'm sorry
the feast was a failure, but we all know you did
your best."
"I'm thankful it was no worse," returned the
new girl. "And how brave that Gypsy boy was,
Ruth! I must thank him to-morrow."
"You leave him to me," said the girl of the
Red Mill, grimly. "I want to talk to Roberto
myself."
When she got back to her excited roommates,
she said little about the wonderful recovery of the
Gypsy boy's power of speech, until Mercy and
Ann were asleep. Then she said to Helen Cam-
eron:
"I am going to telegraph to your father the
first thing in the morning. Roberto has been
fooling us all. You can't tell me! I know he's
been able to talk all the time."
"You don't really think so, dear?" asked
Helen.
"I do. He must have been conscious when
he picked him up that time and carried him to
the carriage. And we mentioned his grandmother
then and the necHace. He's just as sharp as a


194 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
knife, you know; he's been dumb for a purpose.
He did not want to be questioned about Zelaya
and the missing pearl necklace."
"My goodness me! Father will be so angry,"
cried Helen.
"Roberto will have to tell. I like him, and
he was very brave to-night. But I do not believe
the boy is a thief himself, and he would be better
if he entirely left his thieving relatives."
"Maybe he'll run away," suggested Helen.
But Roberto would have been obliged to start
very early that next morning to have run away.
Ruth Fielding was the first person up in the school,
and she was standing outside Tony's door, when
the little Irishman first appeared.
"Helen Cameron wants you to take this tele-
gram down to the office at once, Tony," she said.
"Mrs. Tellingham knows about it. We are in
a dreadful hurry. Is Roberto inside?"
"Sure he is, Miss"
"You take the message; don't let Roberto see
it, and you keep your eye on that boy to-day, until
Mr. Cameron arrives. He'll want to see him."'
"Now, don't be tellin' me th' bye has been
inter mischief?" cried the warm-hearted Irish-
man.
"Not much. Only he's suddenly recovered the
use of his tongue, Tony, and Mr. Cameron wants
to talk with him."


ROBERTO FINDS HIS VOICE 195
"Gracious powers!" murmured Tony. "Re-
covered his spache, has he? The saints be
praised!"
He obeyed Ruth, however, in each particular.
If Roberto had it in his mind to run away, he had
no chance to do so that day. Tony watched him
sharply, and in the evening Mr. Cameron arrived
at Briarwood Hall.
The gentleman greeted his daughter and Ruth
in Mrs. Tellingham's parlor, but when he inter-
viewed Roberto, it was downstairs in Tony
Foyle's rooms.
The girls saw Mr. Cameron only for a moment
after that. He was just starting for the train, and
Roberto was going with him.
"The young rascal has admitted just what
Ruth suspected," said Mr. Cameron, chuckling a
little. "He fooled us all—including the doctor.
Though the Doc, I reckon, suspected strongly
that the boy could talk, if he desired to.
"Roberto did not want to be questioned. Now
he has told me that his grandmother did not go
south at all. He says she often spends the winter
in New York City as do other Gypsies. She is
really a great character among her people, and
with the information I have gathered, I believe
the New York police will be able to locate her.
trl shall hang on to Master Roberto until the
matter is closed up. He will say nothing about


CHAPTER XXV
FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS
It was not likely that Ruth found it any easier,
after this, to attend strictly to her school duties,
out after her conversation with Mrs. Tellingham
she had put forth a greater effort to recover her
standing in her class.
Whether Mrs. Parsons' necklace was found, or
not; whether Ruth obtained a portion of the re-
ward in pay for the information she had lodged,
the girl realized that she had no right to neglect
her studies.
She had come to one conclusion at least i
whether or no, she would not break into that
fifty dollars Uncle Jabez had given her so un-
willingly. And she would use no more of his
money for vacation jaunts, or for luxuries.
"I must accept his help in gaining my educa-
tion," she told herself. "But beyond that, I need
not go. I have gone about, and had good times,
and bought many things just as though I really
had a right to expect Uncle Jabez to supply every
need.
"No more of that, Ruth Fielding! You prate
197


igS RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
of wishing to be independent: be so in any event!"
She was young to come to such a determination;
yet Ruth's experiences since her parents had died
were such as would naturally make her self-
assertive. She knew what she wanted, and she
went after it!
As for the matter of the new gymnasium suit—
why! that Ruth gave up entirely. She decided
that she had no business to use Uncle Jabez's
money for it, and of course she could not go into
debt for a new costume.
No matter what the other girls thought, or
what they did, she would have to be content with
her old uniform when it came to the exhibition
games.
She did not have the courage yet to tell even
Helen of this decision; nevertheless she was deter-
mined to stick to it. At once she had begun to
pick up in recitation marks, and Miss Gould no
longer scowled over Ruth's reports.
The strain of mind had been considerable,
however; Ruth had much to make up in her
studies; she wasted no time and began to forge
ahead again.
She would not even think of Roberto and Mr.
Cameron's search for Queen Zelaya. Helen was
full of the topic, and often tried to discuss it with
Ruth, but the latter put it aside.
She had done all she could (or so she thought)


FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS 199
to help restore the missing pearl necklace to Net-
tie's aunt. Worrying about it any more was not
going to help a bit.
It seemed too ridiculous to think of her ever
obtaining five thousand dollars—or any part of
that generous reward!
So the busy days passed. Helen heard from
her father several times, but although she knew
he was in New York, ostensibly buying goods,
and that he had Roberto with him, the gentleman
said very little about the other Gypsies and the
missing necklace.
Then one day Mrs. Tellingham sent for Ruth.
To be sent for by the principal never frightened
the girl of the Red Mill—much. She stood well
on the principal's books, she knew.
But the lady had called her to discuss nothing
about the school work. She had a letter and a
railroad ticket in her hand.
"Tony has telephoned for Dolliver to come for
you, Ruth," said Mrs. Tellingham. "You must
go away"
"Nothing has happened at home? Uncle
Jabez—Aunt Alvirah?"
"Nothing is wrong with them at all, my dear,"
declared the lady, kindly. "It is Mr. Cameron.
He wants you to come to New York at once.
Here is transportation for you. He will meet
your train at the Grand Central Station."


FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS 201
indeed—more so now than when he had been a
wild boy!
"You do not know me, Miss Fielding?" he
said, his eyes twinkling and a warm blush rising
in his cheeks.
"You—you are so changed! " gasped Ruth.
"Yes. Mr. Cameron is a fine man," said the
boy, nodding. "I like him. He do all this for
me," and he made a gesture that included his new
outfit, and flashed her another brilliant smile.
"Oh! how it does improve you, Roberto!"
she cried.
"Robert, if you please," he said, laughing. "I
am going to be American boy—yes. I have left
the Gypsy boy forever behind—eh?"
Ruth fairly clapped her hands. "Do you mean
all that, Robert?" she cried.
"Sure!" he said proudly. "I like America.
Yes! I have been here now ten years, and it suit
me. And Mr. Cameron say I can go to school
and learn to be American business man. That is
better than trading horses—eh?"
"Oh, isn't that fine!" cried the girl of the Red
Mill. "Now, where are you going to take me?"
"To the hotel. Mr. Cameron will wait break-
fast for us," declared the lad, and in ten minutes
Ruth was greeting her chum's father across the
restaurant table.
"And I suppose you are just about eaten up


202 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
with curiosity as to why I sent for you?" Mr.
Cameron asked her, smiling, when Robert had
gone out on an errand.
"Just about, sir," admitted the girl.
"Why, I want to tell you, my dear, that you
are likely to be a very lucky girl indeed. The five
thousand dollars reward"
"You haven't found the necklace?"
"Yes, indeed. That has been found and iden-
tified. What I want you for is so you can identify
that old Gypsy, Queen Zelaya. I did not want to
force her grandson to appear against her before
the authorities. But you can do so with a clear
conscience.
"Queen Zelaya will be sent back to Bohemia.
She has a bad record, and entered the country
secretly some years ago. Your evidence will en-
able the Federal authorities to clinch their case,
and return the old woman to the country of her
birth.
"It is not believed that she actually stole the
pearl necklace, but it is plain she shared in the
proceeds of all the Gypsies' plundering, and in
this case she took the giant's portion.
"We could not prove robbery upon her, but she
can be transported, and she shall be," concluded
Mr. Cameron, firmly.
This was what finally happened to Queen Ze-
laya. Her clan was broken up, and not one of


204 RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
Her life stretched before her over a much
pleasanter path than ever before. There were
kind friends whom she could help in the future,
as they needed help—and that delighted Rutb
Fielding.
Her own future seemed secuic. She could pre-
pare herself for college and could gain the educa-
tion she craved. It seemed that nothing could
balk her ambition in that direction. And so—
this seems to be a very good place indeed in which
to bid good-bye for a time to Ruth Fielding of
the Red Mill.
THE END


THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES
By ALICE B. EMERSON
12mo. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors*
Price SO cents per volume. Postage 10
cents additional.
Ruth Fielding was an orphan and came
to live with her miserly uncle. Her ad-
ventures and travels make stories that
will hold the interest of every reader.
Ruth Fielding is a character that will
live in juvenile fiction.
1. RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED/
MILL
2. RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL
3. RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP
4. RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT
5. RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH
6. RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND
7. RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM
8. RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
9. RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES
10. RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE
11. RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE
12. RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE
13. RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS
14. RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT
15. RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND
16. RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST
17. RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST
18. RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE
19. RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING
20. RUTH FIELDING IN THE FAR NORTH
21. RUTH FIELDING AT GOLDEN PASS
22. RUTH FIELDING IN ALASKA
23. RUTH FIELDING AND HER GREAT SCENARIO
24. RUTH FIELDING AT CAMERON HALL
25. RUTH FIELDING CLEARING HER NAME
26. RUTH FIELDING IN TALKING PICTURES
27. RUTH FIELDING AND BABY JUNE
28. RUTH FIELDING AND HER DOUBLE
29. RUTH FIELDING AND HER GREATEST TRIUMPH
30. RUTH FIELDING AND HER CROWNING VICTORY
These books may be purchased wherever books are sold
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THE BARTON BOOKS FOR GIRLS
By MAY HOLLIS BARTON
i2mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With colored
Jacket.
Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents
additional.
May Hollis Barton is a new writer for
girls who is bound to win instant popularity.
Her style is somewhat of a reminder of that
of Louisa M. Alcott, but thoroughly up-to-
date in plot and action. Clean tales that all
j the girls will enjoy reading.
1. THE QIRL FROM THE COUNTRY
2. THREE QIRL CHUMS AT LAUREL HALL
3. NELL GRAYSON'S RANCHING DAYS
4. FOUR LITTLE WOMEN OF ROXBY
5. PLAIN JANE AND PRETTY BETTY
6. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
7. HAZEL HOOD'S STRANGE DISCOVERY
8. TWO GIRLS AND A MYSTERY
9. THE GIRLS OF LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND
10. KATE MARTIN'S PROBLEM
11. THE GIRL IN THE TOP FLAT
12. THE SEARCH FOR PEGGY ANN
13. SALLIE'S TEST OF SKILL
14. CHARLOTTE CROSS AND AUNT DEB
15. VIRGINIA'S VENTURE
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CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers
New York


PEGGY LEE SERIES
By ANNA ANDREWS

12mo. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.
Price SO cents per volume.
Postage 10 cents additional.
A charming series of stories of a young American girl, Peggy
Lee, living with her family (including many unusual pets) on a
large coffee plantation in Central America, and her many adven-
tures there and in New York.
The action is rapid, full of fun, and takes the reader not only
to many interesting places in Central America, but in this country
as well, where Peggy attends a school for girls. The incidents are
cleverly brought out, and Peggy in her wistful way, proves in her
many adventures to be a brave girl and an endearing heroine to
her friends and readers.
1. PEGGY AND MICHAEL OF THE COFFEE PLANTA-
TION
2. PEGGY LEE OF THE GOLDEN THISTLE PLANTA-
TION
3. PEGGY LEE AND THE MYSTERIOUS ISLANDS
4. PEGGY LEE, SOPHOMORE
These books may be purchased wherever books are sold
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue


MYSTERY BOOKS FOR GIRLS
12mo. Illustrated. Colored jackets.
Price 50 cents per volume.
Postage 10 cents additional.
THE JADE NECKLACE,
by Pemberton Ginther
Roslyn Blake possesses a necklace of ancient
Chinese design and of mysterious origin. It
brings both hope and fear. Strange events result
in its loss, but her courage and the friendship
of Dr. Briggs help her to solve the mystery.
THE THIRTEENTH SPOON,
by Pemberton Ginther
A mystery story for girls, that holds the interest from the first word to
the last. Twelve famous Apostle spoons, and the thirteenth, the Master
Spoon vanish. Who has stolen them? Carol's courage solves the mystery
in an original and exciting story.
THE SECRET STAIR,
by Pemberton Ginther
The 'Van Dirk Treasure' is a manuscript jewelled and illuminated. The
treasure is hidden in the old family mansion where Sally Shaw goes to
live. Strange events occur. The house is thought to be haunted. The
Book vanishes. Its recovery makes a most unusual story.
THE DOOR IN THE MOUNTAIN,
by Isola L. Forrester
The four McLeans, three boys and a plucky girl, lived just outside of
Frisbee, Arizona, on Los Flores Canyon, thirty miles from even the railroad.
But adventure lurks in unexpected places, and when Katherine and Peter
chanced on the Door in the Mountain, a legend that held considerable mystery
for the community, the adventure proved the courage and ingenuity of all
the McLeans.
SECRET OF THE DARK HOUSE,
by Frances Y. Young
Jean had an inquiring mind, and any event that she could not under-
stand aroused her curiosity to the 'nth degree. A charming stranger in the
schoolroom, a taciturn chauffeur, a huge dark house, strange robberies in
the neighborhood, and a secretive old man who always wore a disguise, com-
bined to put Jean on a hunt that before it was over involved brothers, sisters,
police, famous detectives, Smuff, her dog, in one grand mystery story that
every girl will enjoy reading.
These books may be purchased wherever books are sold
Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers
New York


THE MAXIE SERIES
By ELSIE B. GARDNER
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With col-
ored Jacket.
Price 50 cents per volume. Postage
10 cents additional.
MAXIE is such an interesting,
delightful, amusing character that
everyone will love and long re-
member her. She has the ability of turning every event in
her life into the most absorbing and astounding adven-
tures, and when she is sent to visit her only other Uncle in
the British West Indies, it proves to be the beginning of
not only an entirely new mode of living, but a series of
tremendously thrilling adventures and stirring deeds that
every girl will thoroughly enjoy.
1. MAXIE, AN ADORABLE GIRL
or Her Adventures in the British West Indies
2. MAXIE IN VENEZUELA
or The Clue to the Diamond Mine
3. MAXIE, SEARCHING FOR HER PARENTS
or The Mystery in Australian Waters
4. MAXIE AT BRINKSOME HALL
or Strange Adventures with Her Chums
These books may be purchased wherever books are sold
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CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York


THE BETTY GORDON SERIES
By ALICE B. EMERSON
Author of the "Ruth Fielding Semes"
izmo. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.
Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents
additional.
A new series of stories bound to make
this writer more popular than ever with her
host of girl readers. Every one will want
to know Betty Gordon, and every one will
be sure to love her.
1. BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM
2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON
3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL
4. BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL
5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP
6. BETTY GORDON AT OCEAN PARK
7. BETTY GORDON AND HER SCHOOL CHUMS
8. BETTY GORDON AT RAINBOW RANCH
9. BETTY GORDON IN MEXICAN WILDS
10. BETTY GORDON AND THE LOST PEARLS
11. BETTY GORDON ON THE CAMPUS
12. BETTY GORDON AND THE HALE TWINS
13. BETTY GORDON AT MYSTERY FARM
14. BETTY GORDON ON NO-TRAIL ISLAND
15. BETTY GORDON AND THE MYSTERY GIRL
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CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers
New York