THE GYPSY ENCAMPMENT
Betty was ready before any one arrived that night. The boys and girls
were to meet at her house and from there go on to the gypsy encampment.
She sat on the porch with a light wrap thrown over one arm and waited
impatiently.
"Oh, why don't they come?" she thought. "The girls said they would be
early, and the boys are always away ahead of time. Oh, here come Grace
and Will, now if the others will only hurry."
"Hello, Betty! Been waiting long?" It was Will's cheery greeting.
"Oh, for hours and hours," said the Little Captain with a sigh. "I'd
begun to think everybody had forgotten all about it. I'm so glad you're
here. You can keep me company anyway."
"Oh, are we the first?" Grace was surprised. "I hurried Will till he
nearly had a fit. Said we would be ahead of everybody else, but I didn't
believe him."
"Some day," said Will in a prophetic voice, "some day, young lady, you
will learn that I _do_ know something."
"Oh, do you really think so?" said Grace, hopefully. "If that day ever
comes, Will, dear, I will be the very first to congratulate you."
"Here come some of the others," Betty cried out. "I can't quite make
them out, but it looks like Roy and Amy and--yes--there's Allen, too.
But who is the other girl? It certainly isn't Mollie. I know her walk
too well."
"No, it isn't Mollie," said Grace, slowly. "Do you know whom it looks
like, Betty?"
"No," said that young person, straining her eyes in the direction of the
newcomers. "Who is it?"
"I'm not sure but it looks like----" Grace paused a moment, then said
with conviction, "I'm right! It's Alice Jallow, and I don't like her
very much. What is she doing in our crowd anyway?"
"That's what I would like to know," growled Will. "We had just enough
before. I don't know who's going to take care of her."
"Will, don't be ungallant," warned his sister. "Play the game. Probably
there's some explanation, anyway."
But to the Little Captain, as she watched the quartette approaching,
there seemed no plausible explanation. Why should Allen be paired off
with "this Jallow girl"? Betty knew very little of the latter except
that she was always trying to get in where she was not wanted. Well, she
certainly was not wanted now. Oh, why did Allen look so happy? If "this
Jallow girl" had her, Betty's, escort, where did she come in? Hot tears
of anger and mortification rose to her eyes, but she drove them back
mercilessly and her greeting to the newcomers was as merry as ever.
"Hello, everybody!" she called. "You surely took long enough to get
here."
"Hello, Betty! This is----" Amy paused, then went on rather awkwardly.
"You see, Alice happened to be at the house when the boys came
and--well--we brought her along," she finished, lamely.
"And here I am," said Alice effusively. "I do hope I'm not putting any
one out. The idea of visiting the gypsy camp was so fascinating that I
simply couldn't resist the temptation. I think you might have let me in
on it in the first place," and she looked reproachfully at Allen.
That young gentleman had been sending imploring looks in Betty's
direction over Alice Jallow's head, which the former had chosen
absolutely to ignore. Now, being thus appealed to, he smiled down at
Alice.
"It certainly was a grave oversight on our part," he said.
Betty felt as if her little world had been turned upside down and she
wanted to shake somebody--it didn't much matter who it was--but shake
somebody she must, good and hard!
Just at this critical moment up came the two missing ones, Mollie and
Frank--and a third.
"Now, who is that?" thought the poor Little Captain in despair. "If this
keeps on, we shall have the whole town assembled pretty soon. Oh, dear!"
"Betty, this is a friend of mine, Jack Sanford," Frank introduced him in
his own pleasant way. "He's not such a bad chap when you get to know him
well," he added, while his friend thanked him, ironically.
Betty acknowledged the introduction gaily. If Allen liked "this Jallow
girl," why, he could, that was all! and she was not going to let them
spoil the evening for her. Besides, here was one providentially sent, or
so it seemed to her. And he was nice, too, very nice! He seemed to be
hail-fellow-well-met with the boys. And the girls--well, one could see
that they liked him from the start. But if only Allen would not look so
happy!
"Suppose we start, now we're all here," suggested Roy. "The sooner we
get there the more time we'll have."
"Bright boy," commented Allen. "How did you ever find that out?" Then,
under cover of the laughter and the darkness, he found Betty's hand and
held it for a moment. "Betty," he pleaded, "I----"
"May I, Miss Nelson?" It was Jack Sanford, bowing low before her.
"Sounds like a dance," laughed Betty, and added: "Indeed you may. Oh,
isn't it a wonderful night?"
Allen ground his teeth and once more submitted to the effusive
attentions of Alice Jallow. If Betty could have seen him then she would
have been moved to pity.
"Is it very far to the camp?" Mollie asked, after they had been walking
some time. "I'm anxious to get there."
"Not very far, now," Roy assured her. "It's just on the outskirts of the
town. Just wait till you get there. When you see how interesting it is
you won't mind the walk."
"I guess you don't know whom you are talking to," called Betty, just
behind them. "You forget that walking is our middle name."
"Pardon, fair damsel," said Roy in mock humility. "I must confess I had
forgotten for the moment that----"
"Oh, look! look! All the bonfires and things and people sitting around
them!" Mollie interrupted. "That must be the camp, isn't it, Roy?"
It really was the camp. The young people drew closer together as they
neared it, fascinated, yet half afraid. There were huge bulky objects in
the background beyond the illuminated circle of firelight.
"Those are the caravan wagons, aren't they?" demanded the Little Captain
in hushed tones. "Oh, I wish I could see inside one of them."
"Yes, they are the Pullman cars of the gypsies," laughed Jack. "Perhaps
you wouldn't like them so much inside if you did see them," he added.
"Oh, let's go on," urged Grace at Betty's elbow. "I'm dying to see more
of them, even if I am horribly afraid. Just look at all the tents they
have put up. They must expect to stay a long time."
The girls' eyes grew wider and wider as they advanced toward the circle
of flickering firelight. It seemed they were not the gypsies' only
visitors, for there were many residents of Deepdale, some of whom the
girls recognized.
The roving folk had set forth their wares upon rudely constructed
tables, ready for the first purchaser. Some of the things were truly
beautiful--pieces of rare old lace, chains and chains of many-colored
beads, silver that was polished till it reflected dazzlingly the dancing
firelight. There were rude tents set aside for the telling of fortunes,
and somewhere further back in the camp the wild, sweet strains of a
violin mingled with a man's sweet tenor voice.
"Some of those fellows surely can sing," Frank remarked. "I'd give a
good hundred dollars this minute if I had his voice."
"I wish I could find one for you, Frank," said Grace. "I need the
hundred badly."
The young people spent over an hour wandering about the place, enjoying
to the full the novelty and the romance of it all.
Just as they had about made up their minds that it was time to go home,
Betty, who had exclaimed more than once over the beauty of some of the
young gypsy girls, their beauty being emphasized by the picturesque
clothes they wore, stepped back to look into a tent they had passed a
moment before.
Allen saw his opportunity and was quick to improve it.
"You must be careful how you trot about alone here, Betty. You know----"
he began, when she interrupted him.
"Oh, it is!" she said. "It is!"
"What?" asked Allen, mystified.
She drew him back into the shadows before she answered. "I wasn't sure,
but now I know," she said. "That's the very old woman who wanted to tell
our fortunes at Grace's this afternoon."
"Well, what of it?" he inquired, with an attempt to be reassuring. "She
won't hurt you--not while I'm around."
"Oh, but I don't like her looks," and the girl shivered slightly.
"You need your coat, Betty," said Allen. "Where is it?"
"Jack--Mr. Sanford has it. I'll get it."
She started forward, but he laid a restraining hand on her arm. "Betty,
Betty," he whispered. "You're not going to keep this up, are you?"
"What do you mean?" she questioned, with an attempt at dignity that was
not a very great success.
"You know as well as I do," he answered. "It wasn't my fault. Amy
introduced her and I--well, I had to be decent. Betty, don't you know
me well enough----"
"Where have you people been anyway?" It was Amy's voice. "We've been
looking all over for you."
"Right here, every minute," said Allen cheerily, and the little party
started on again. Not, however, before Mollie and Grace had exchanged
very significant glances.
The young people turned for a last look at the gypsy rendezvous before a
bend in the road shut it from view.
"I've had an awfully good time," said Grace, then added, irrelevantly:
"I only hope those gypsies don't steal anything."
"That's a good hope," whispered Allen in Betty's ear. "They are dabsters
when it comes to getting away with other people's property."