uld not forget
things, and it is too late for lessons."

"But the man--Jensen--says I must get it. He is my teacher, and he is
below."

"Tell him Helka says you must go to bed: to bed, do you hear? At once!
I will have Lena see how you obey me."

The girl turned away. Helka locked the door.

"What does that mean?" asked Cora anxiously.

"They are watching us. We must be very cautious. But she is only a
timid child and she will go to bed. I do wonder what is keeping Lena?"

"If they should keep her down stairs all night, then could we not
venture to leave?" asked Cora.

"I don't know. They might suspect, and they might keep Lena. You take
up the guitar and I will ring."

Cora obeyed. How her hands trembled! To be found out would almost
mean death to both of them.

Helka pulled the cord that rang the hall bell. Then they waited, but
there was no answer. She pulled it again, and after a few minutes she
heard the familiar step of Lena.

She opened the door before the Gypsy girl had a chance to knock.

A wild gesture of the girl's hands told Helka not to speak. Then she
entered the room.

"They are watching," she whispered, and without waiting for a reply she
darted out into the hall again and crept down the stairs.

"Can't we----"

"Hush!" cautioned the queen as she pressed Cora's hands to bid her keep
up her courage.

It seemed hours. Would the trees never stop rustling, and would the
steps below never cease their shuffling?

"I have said that this was to be my night of music," whispered Helka.
"The night of the full moon always is. So we must have music!"

A long line of automobiles had rumbled along the narrow road. Not a
horn sounded, not one of the cars gave any warning. It was night in
the White Mountains, and besides the party from the Tip-Top, who had
been searching from late that afternoon, there were also, on Mr. Rand's
orders, two officers in a runabout.

"Which way?" called the boys from their car. "Sounds like water!"

"Oh, mercy!" exclaimed Bess, who was quite near. "Don't let us run
over a falls!"

"No danger!" came back from the Rand car. "That water is half a mile
away."

"This is rather unsafe for the girls, though," said Jack to Ed. "I
wonder if they don't want to change cars?"

"I have just asked Bess and Betty," replied Ed, "and they would not
hear of it. Strange that such timid girls can be so plucky on
occasions."

"They're game all right," observe