the
walls of trusting Troy. He frequently devoted himself to other young
ladies, and our guileless little heroine joyfully reached the conclusion
that she no longer reigned queen of his cultured heart. For this reason
she became genuinely kind to him, and he accordingly gave her much of
his company during the month of Sukey's visit.

One day a nutting party, including our four friends, set forth on their
way up White River. At the mouth of Fall Creek was a gypsy camp, and the
young folks stopped to have their fortunes told. The camp consisted of a
dozen covered wagons, each containing a bed, a stove, and cooking
utensils. To each wagon belonged a woman who was able and anxious to
foretell the future for the small sum of two bits. Our friends selected
the woman who was oldest and ugliest, those qualities having long been
looked upon as attributes of wisdom. Rita, going first, climbed over the
front wheel of the ugliest old woman's covered wagon, and entered the
temple of its high priestess. The front curtain was then drawn. The
interior of the wagon was darkened, and the candle in a small red
lantern was lighted. The hag took a cage from the top of the wagon where
it had been suspended, and when she opened the door a small screech owl
emerged and perched upon the shoulders of its mistress. There it
fluttered its wings and at short intervals gave forth a smothered
screech, allowing the noise to die away in its throat in a series of
disagreeable gurgles. When the owl was seated upon the hag's shoulder,
she took from a box a half-torpid snake, and entwined it about her neck.
With the help of these symbols of wisdom and cunning she at once began
to evoke her familiar spirits. To this end she made weird passes through
the air with her clawlike hands, crying in a whispered, high-pitched
wail the word, "Labbayk, labbayk," an Arabian word meaning "Here am I."

Rita was soon trembling with fright, and begged the hag to allow her to
leave the wagon.

"Sit where you are, girl," commanded the gypsy in sepulchral tones. "If
you attempt to pass, the snake will strike you and the owl will tear
you. The spirit of wisdom is in our presence. The Stone God has already
told me your fate. It is worth your while to hear it."

Rita placed her trembling hand in the hag's claw.

"No purer woman ever lived than you," began the sorceress; "but if you
marry the dark man who awaits you outside, you will become evil; you
will be untrue to him; y