at?" gasped Flossie.

"It was somebody talking to us," whispered Helen.

"And it wasn't the echo, either," went on Flossie.

"Maybe it was your doll," suggested Freddie. "Did it sound like her
voice?"

"A--a little," said Helen slowly.

"We'll call again," suggested Flossie, and once more the children cried
aloud:

"Mollie! Mollie! Where are you?"

"Wait a minute. Stand still so I can find you! I'm coming!" was the
answer.

The three little ones looked at one another in surprise, and they were,
moreover, a little frightened. Was it possible that the missing, talking
doll was really in the woods and had answered them? That it could talk,
because it had a phonograph inside, they all knew. But would it answer
when spoken to?

"It didn't sound like Mollie," whispered Helen, after a bit. "Her voice
wasn't as loud as that."

"Oh-o-o-o-o!" suddenly gasped Flossie. "Maybe it was--the gypsies!"

That was something the children had not thought of before. Suppose it
should be the same gypsy man who had taken away the doll?

"It couldn't be the gypsies," said Freddie, looking around him. "They
all went away. Daddy said so."

"But maybe there was _one_ left," suggested his sister.

"Pooh! I'm not afraid of _one_ gypsy," declared Freddie. "If he bothers
me I'll sic Whisker on him."

"You can't sic a goat--they can't bite or bark like a dog," retorted
Flossie.

"No, but Whisker can butt with his horns!" cried Freddie. "That's what
I'll do! If it's a gypsy I'll sic Whisker on him!"

Just then the children heard the voice again, calling:

"Where are you? I want to find you!"

Once more they looked at one another rather afraid. And then came a
loud "Baa-a-a-a-a!" from Whisker.

"Come on!" cried Freddie. "Maybe they're trying to take our goat away!"

He started on a run through the woods toward the place where they had
left Whisker and the wagon, now out of sight behind some bushes.

"Wait! Wait for me!" cried Flossie, who was left behind with Helen.
"Don't run off without us, Freddie!"

"Oh, excuse me," he said, politely enough. "But we don't want those
gypsies to take Whisker."

"Whisker'll butt 'em," said Flossie. "Wait for us."

"Yes, I guess our goat won't let anybody take him," went on Freddie,
walking now, instead of running. "Come on, Flossie and Helen! Maybe it's
your doll talking and maybe it isn't. But we'll soon see!"

Together the three children hurried on, soon coming within sight of the
go