gh it were a great joke.

But the men did not laugh. He with the squinting eye strode down to the
girl and would have slapped her with his hard palm, had not the woman
jumped in and put herself between the man and Ruth. She seemed to
threaten him in her own language, and the ruffian desisted.

One of the boys threw off his clothing--all his outer garments, at
least--and plunged right into the lake after Helen. The boat had swung
around, for there was considerable current in Long Lake.

"Don't let him come near you, Helen!" screamed Ruth. "Use your pole!"

Her friend stood very bravely in the stern of the punt and raised the
pole threateningly. The Gypsy boy could not easily overtake the boat,
which was drifting farther and farther out toward the middle of the
lake.

Some of the others began running along the shore as though to keep pace
with the boat. But suddenly a long-drawn, eerie cry resounded from the
direction of the camp. The men stopped and returned; the boy scrambled
ashore and hastily grabbed his clothing. The woman and the squint-eyed
man dragged Ruth into the bush.

The cry was a signal of some kind, and one not to be disobeyed. The
Gypsies hurried back to the vans, and Ruth did not see Helen again.

All was confusion at the camp. The horses were ready to start, and the
movables were packed. The children and women swarmed into two of the
vans. Queen Zelaya stood at the door of the other, and the moment she
saw that one of the prisoners had not been recovered, she began to
harangue her people threateningly.

The squint-eyed man pushed Ruth toward the old woman. Zelaya's claw-like
hand seized the girl's shoulder.

She was jerked forward and up the steps into the van. Almost at once the
caravan started, and Zelaya pulled the door to, and darkened the
windows.

"Quick, now!" she commanded the girl. "Take off your hat. Gypsies have
no use for hats."

She seized it and thrust it into one of her boxes. Then she commanded
Ruth to remove her frock, and that followed the hat into the same
receptacle. Afterward the girl was forced to take off her shoes and
stockings.

"Sit down here!" commanded Zelaya, as the van rolled along. The queen
had been mixing some kind of a lotion in a bowl. Now with a sponge she
anointed Ruth's face and neck, far below the collar of any gown she
would wear; likewise her arms and hands, and her limbs from the knees
down. Then Zelaya threw some earth on Ruth's feet and streaked