an collecting a few
kopecks, or stealing chickens, perhaps; and who will think of searching
for her with us?'

"I saw at once the advantages of the plan proposed by the Zingari chief,
and yet I trembled at the thought of leaving Aneouta so long among his
people; not that I doubted they would protect her to the utmost of their
power, but I feared she might suffer from the hardships to which she
would be inevitably exposed. Still I felt that I must wait to decide
till I had seen my betrothed. For five days we travelled on with far
greater ease than I had been accustomed to, so that at the end of the
time I was fresher and stronger than when I fell in with the encampment.

"But I am wearying you, sirs, with my long history, and I am sure that
this kind gentleman, who has been interpreting for me, is completely out
of breath."

Mr Allwick smiled as he said this.

"Oh, no, no," exclaimed Cousin Giles, and the boys, and Mr Evergreen,
in a breath. "We are very much interested. Tell him to go on. We
would rather hear his adventures than see all the sights in the place."

The stranger bowed, and continued his narrative.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

Disguised as a Zingari--Start on the Expedition--Minetta's
Fortune-telling--Communicative Serfs--A tyrant Land-steward--Outbreak
of Peasants--Dreadful Result--Old Scratchichna--Discovery of Aneouta--
Their Flight--Stratagem of the Zingari Chief--Aneouta left in the
Gipsy Encampment--Reaches the Volga--Voyage to Nishni--Conclusion of
History--Cousin Giles promises to assist him.

"The gipsy tents were pitched on a wild moor, surrounded by low, barren
hills, about three versts distant from the estate of young Barin Peoter
Petrovitch, the owner of my poor Aneouta. Although my features are not
at all of the gipsy cast, and any one examining them narrowly would at
once have seen that I was no Zingari, yet by dressing carefully in their
style, and by having my countenance doubly dyed, and my beard shaved
off, I certainly might hope to be taken for one by the casual passer-by.

"The chief himself attended to the arrangement of my costume. He was a
widower, and childless, but he had a niece, the child of a brother, whom
he adopted. She was a clever, spirited girl, and gladly undertook to be
my companion; indeed Minetta--that was her name--fully entered into the
spirit of the undertaking. It was arranged, also, that a little lad,
her brother, should accompany us. I de