CHAPTER XXIV
ROBERTO FINDS HIS VOICE
That settled it! There was a full-fledged panic in that quartette roomin an instant. It bade fair, too, to spread to the whole building.
Ruth, who had been busy distributing cakes before the accident, sprangto 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 backagainst it.
"Stop!" she cried, yet in a low voice. "Don't be foolish. It's only alittle fire. We can put it out. Don't rouse the whole house and frighteneverybody."
"Oh, Ruth! I can't reach it!" wailed Helen, who was really trying topull down the curtain.
Ann ran with a bowl of water and tried to splash it over the burningcurtain. But the bowl tipped backwards and part of the water went overHeavy, who was just trying to struggle to her feet.
"Oh! oh! wow!" gasped the plump girl. "I'm drowning! Do you think I'mafire, Ann Hicks?"
Some of the others were sane enough to laugh, but the more nervous girlswere already in tears, and the fire _was_ spreading from one curtain tothe other. There was a smell of scorching varnish, too. The window framewas catching!
In the very midst of the confusion, when it seemed positive that thewhole school must be aroused, there came a commanding rap upon thewindow 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 inall my life! Let him in--do!"
No sooner said than done. The girl from Silver Ranch had her wits abouther. She snapped open the catch and raised the sash.
Into the room bounded the Gypsy lad. He had seen the flames from theground and he immediately knew what to do when he got inside.
He seized a chair, leaped up into it, and with his long arms was enabledto tear down the blazing hangings. These he thrust into the bowl ofwater.
"Oh, Roberto! your hands are burned!" cried Ruth, darting to his side,as the fire was quenched.
"Never you mind, little Missy----"
He halted, staring at her. Then his face flushed like fire and his eyesdropped before her accusing gaze.
"You _can_ speak!" exclaimed the girl from the Red Mill. "You _can_!"
"He's gotten back his tongue!" cried Helen, in surprise. "Isn't thatwonderful?"
But Ruth was sure, by the Gypsy boy's shamefaced look, that there wasnothing wonderful about it at all. Roberto had been able to speak allthe time, but he did not wish to. Now, in his excitement, he hadbetrayed the fact.
There was too much confusion just then for the matter to be discussed orexplained. The girls, seeing that the fire was out, scattered at once totheir rooms. Roberto left instantly by the window, and Ruth helpedNettie and her roommates repair the damage as well as possible.
"I'll buy new curtains for the windows," said the "sugar king's"daughter. "And I'm only glad nothing worse happened."
"The worst hasn't happened yet," giggled one of her roommates.
"What do you mean?"
"I saw Jennie Stone take a bag of pickles, some seed cakes, a citronbun, and about half a pound of candy with her, when she flew. If sheabsorbs 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. MissScrimp will find out about the fire, anyway. The best thing to do is tomake 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 bravethat 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 totalk to Roberto myself."
When she got back to her excited roommates, she said little about thewonderful recovery of the Gypsy boy's power of speech, until Mercy andAnn were asleep. Then she said to Helen Cameron:
"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 beenable to talk all the time."
"You don't really think so, dear?" asked Helen.
"I do. He must have been conscious when we picked him up that time andcarried him to the carriage. And we mentioned his grandmother then andthe necklace. He's just as sharp as a knife, you know; he's been dumbfor a purpose. He did not want to be questioned about Zelaya and themissing 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 betterif he entirely left his thieving relatives."
"Maybe he'll run away," suggested Helen.
But Roberto would have been obliged to start very early that nextmorning to have run away. Ruth Fielding was the first person up in theschool, and she was standing outside Tony's door, when the littleIrishman first appeared.
"Helen Cameron wants you to take this telegram down to the office atonce, Tony," she said. "Mrs. Tellingham knows about it. We are in adreadful hurry. Is Roberto inside?"
"Sure he is, Miss----"
"You take the message; don't let Roberto see it, and you keep your eyeon 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 thewarm-hearted Irishman.
"Not much. Only he's suddenly recovered the use of his tongue, Tony, andMr. Cameron wants to talk with him."
"Gracious powers!" murmured Tony. "Recovered his spache, has he? Thesaints be praised!"
He obeyed Ruth, however, in each particular. If Roberto had it in hismind to run away, he had no chance to do so that day. Tony watched himsharply, 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 interviewed Roberto, it was downstairs in Tony Foyle'srooms.
The girls saw Mr. Cameron only for a moment after that. He was juststarting 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 hisgrandmother did not go south at all. He says she often spends the winterin New York City as do other Gypsies. She is really a great characteramong her people, and with the information I have gathered, I believethe New York police will be able to locate her.
"I shall hang on to Master Roberto until the matter is closed up. Hewill say nothing about the necklace. He'll not even own up that he eversaw it. But he tells me that his grandmother is a miser and hoards upvaluables just like a magpie."
Helen's father and the Gypsy boy went away then, and the chums had topossess their souls with patience, and attend strictly to their schoolwork, until they could hear how the matter turned out.
Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies; Or, The Missing Pearl Necklace Page 24
