CHAPTER XIV
ROBERTO AGAIN
Ruth cried a little. But, after all, it was more because she was lonelythan for any other reason. What would eventually happen to her in theGypsy queen's toils she did not know. She had not begun to worry aboutthat as yet.
Helen had gotten clear away. She was confident of that, and was likewisesure that her chum would rouse the authorities and come in search ofher. Tom, too, was faithful; he must already be stirring up the wholeneighborhood to find his sister and Ruth.
How far the caravan had traveled the night before, after the girls hadjoined the Gypsies, Ruth could not guess. But she realized that now theywere making very good time up the road leading to Boise Landing, alongthe edge of Long Lake.
There might be some pursuit already. If Tom had telegraphed his father,Mr. Cameron would come looking for Helen "on the jump"! And had thesearchers any idea the Gypsies had captured the two girls, Ruth wassure that the wanderers would get into trouble very quickly.
"Why, even Uncle Jabez would 'start something,' as Tom would say, if helearned of this. I believe, even if I am not 'as good as a boy,' thatUncle Jabez loves me and would not let a parcel of tramps carry me offlike this."
She wiped away the tears, therefore, and in looking into a cloudy littlemirror screwed to the wall of the vehicle, she found that the tears didnot 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!" thoughtRuth Fielding.
Suddenly the caravan halted. There were shouts and cries, and evidentlythe other vans were being emptied of their occupants in a hurry. Some ofthe men seemed to be arguing in English at the head of the queen's van.
Ruth believed that a searching party had overtaken the Gypsies. Shefeared there would be a fight, and she was anxious to show herself, sothat her unknown rescuers might see her.
But she dared not scream. Old Zelaya scowled at her so savagely andthreatened her so angrily with her clenched fist, that Ruth dared notspeak. Finally the old woman opened the door of the van and flung herdown the steps.
The act was so unexpected that Ruth fell into the arms of the crowdwaiting for her. It was evidently ready for her appearance. The boys andgirls, and some of the women, received her into their midst, and theymade 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 thegeneral hullabaloo. This noise was all intentional on the part of theGypsies, for up at the head of the caravan Ruth caught a glimpse of abig man standing with a stout oak club in his hand and a big shiny starpinned to his vest near the armhole.
A constable! Whether he was there searching for her and Helen, or wasmerely making inquiries about a robbed hen-roost, the girl from the RedMill could not guess. There was so much confusion about her, that shecould not hear a word the constable said!
She waved her hand to him and tried to attract his attention. The girlsand boys laughed at her, and pulled her about, and the bold girl she hadseen before almost tore the frock from her shoulders.
Suddenly Ruth realized that, even did the constable look right at her,he would not discover that she was a white girl. She looked just asdisreputable in every way as the Gypsy children themselves!
The constable came toward the first van. Zelaya now sat upon the topstep, smoking a cheroot, and nodding in the sun as though she were tooold and too feeble to realize what was going on. Yet Ruth was sure thatthe sly old queen had planned this scene and told her tribesmen what todo.
Ruth was whisked away from the steps of the queen's van, and borne offby the shouting, dancing children. She tried to cry out so that theconstable would hear her, but the crowd drowned her cries.
She saw the constable search each of the three vans. Of course, he foundno girls answering to the descriptions of Ruth and Helen--and it was thegirls that he was searching for. He was Sim Peck, theblacksmith-constable from Severn Corners. It was a pity Tom Cameron hadnot been with him!
Finally Ruth saw that the man had given up the search, and the Gypsieswere going to depart. She determined to make a desperate attempt toattract his attention to herself.
She suddenly sprang through the group of children, knocking the boldgirl down in her effort, and started, yelling, for the constable.Instantly one of the men halted her, swung her about, clapped a palmover her mouth, and she saw him staring balefully down into her face.
"You do that ageen--I keel you!" he hissed.
It was the evil-eyed man who had spied upon Queen Zelaya, as she hadworshipped the pearl necklace in the van the evening before. Ruth wasstricken dumb and motionless. The man looked wicked enough to do justwhat he said he would.
She saw the constable depart. Then the Gypsies huddled into the wagons,and she was seized by Zelaya and put into the first van. The old witchwas grinning broadly.
"Ah, ha!" she chuckled. "What does the Gentile girl think now? That sheshall escape so easily Zelaya? Ha! she is already like one of our ownkind. Her own parents would not know her--nor shall they see her againuntil they have paid, and paid in full!"
"You are holding the wrong girl, Zelaya," murmured Ruth. "_My_ parentsare 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 fordinner, and Ruth grew very hungry, for she and Helen had been tooexcited that morning to eat much breakfast.
Through the open door and the forward window Ruth saw considerable ofthe road. They were seldom out of sight of the lake. By and by theyturned right down to the water's edge and she heard the horses' feetsplashing through the shallow water.
She could not imagine where they were going. Out of the door she sawthat they seemed to be leaving the land and striking right out into thelake. The water grew deeper slowly, rising first over one step and thenanother, while the shore of the lake receded behind them. The other vansand the boys driving the horses followed in their wake.
Curious, Ruth arose and went to the forward end of the van. She couldsee out between the driver and his wife, and over the heads of thehorses. The latter were almost shoulder deep now, and were advancingvery slowly.
Some rods ahead she saw that there was a wooded island. It was of goodsize and seemed to be densely covered with trees and brush. Yet, therewas a patch of sandy shore toward which the horses were being urged.
The lake was so low, that there was a fordable stretch of its bottombetween the mainland and this island. These Gypsies seemed to know thisbar perfectly, and the driver of the queen's van made no mistake inguiding his span.
In half an hour the horses were trotting through the shallows again.They rolled out upon the white beach, and then Ruth saw that a faintwagon trail led into the interior of the island.
The Gypsies had been there before. There, in the middle of the woodedisle, was a clearing. The moment the vans arrived, all the people jumpedout, laughing and talking, and the usual preparations for an encampmentwere begun. Only, in this case, Queen Zelaya sent the squint-eyed manand the ruffian who had so frightened Ruth to either shore of theisland to keep watch.
Tents were set up, fires kindled, a great supper begun, and the poultrywas set loose to roam at will. Somewhere the Gypsy children had pickedup a kid and a little calf. Both of these were freed, and at once beganto butt each other, to the vast delight of the little ones.
All about, under-foot and growling if they were disturbed, were the uglydogs. Ruth was afraid of them!
Now that they were on the island, the Gypsies gave her slight attention.The children did not come near her, and she was glad of that. Of course,the adults knew she could not escape.
Later she heard one of the men on the shore shout. Nobody was disturbedat the camp, but after a little, there was some loud conversation andthen somebody broke through the bushes and appeared suddenly in thelittle c
learing.
Ruth Fielding gasped and sprang to her feet. Nobody noticed her.
The newcomer was Roberto. He strode swiftly across the camp to thequeen's van. Zelaya sat upon the steps and when he came before her, hebowed very respectfully.
The old woman showed more emotion at his appearance than Ruth believedpossible. 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 Tziganetongue.
Once or twice Roberto glanced in Ruth's direction, as though he and theold woman had been speaking of the captive girl. But, to the latter'ssurprise, she saw no look of recognition in the Gypsy boy's eyes.
Finally, when he parted from the queen, Roberto crossed the encampmentdirectly toward Ruth. The girl, fearful, yet hoping he would see andknow her, rose to her feet and took a single step toward him.
Roberto turned upon her fiercely. He struck at her with his arm andpushed Ruth roughly back into her seat. But although the action was socruel 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.
Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies; Or, The Missing Pearl Necklace Page 14
