, Roberto crossed the encampment
directly toward Ruth. The girl, fearful, yet hoping he would see and
know her, rose to her feet and took a single step toward him.

Roberto turned upon her fiercely. He struck at her with his arm and
pushed Ruth roughly back into her seat. But although the action was so
cruel and his look so hateful, the girl heard him whisper:

"Wait! Let the little lady have no fear!"

Then he passed on to greet his friends about the nearest campfire.

CHAPTER XV

HELEN'S ESCAPE

Helen Cameron was so fearful at first of the Gypsies overtaking her,
that she had no thought of any peril which might lie ahead of the
drifting punt, into which she had scrambled. She realized that Ruth had
sacrificed herself in their attempt to escape, but she could render her
chum no help now. Indeed, the current which had seized the boat was so
strong that she could not have gotten back to the shore, had she tried.

When the Gypsies disappeared into the wood, taking Ruth with them, Helen
realized her helplessness and loneliness, and she wept. She sat in the
stern of the punt and floated on and on, without regard to where she was
going.

She could not have changed the course of the punt, however. She was now
in too deep water; the guiding pole was of no use to her, and there were
no oars, of course. She was drifting toward the middle of the lake, it
seemed, yet the general direction was eastward.

There, at the lower end of the lake, a wide stream carried its waters
toward the distant Minturn Dam. But long before the stream came to that
place, there was much of what the local guides called "white water."

These swift rapids Helen thought little about at first. She had had no
experience to warn her of her peril. At this moment she was fearful only
of the wild Gypsy clan that had tried to keep her prisoner and that had,
indeed, succeeded in carrying away her dear friend, Ruth Fielding.

As she floated on, she saw nothing more of the Gypsies. She began to
believe that they had not turned back to follow her along the edge of
the lake. They were satisfied with their single prisoner!

"But father will see to that!" sobbed Helen. "He won't let them run away
with Ruth Fielding--I know he won't! Dear, dear! what would I ever do if
Ruth disappeared and we shouldn't meet each other again--or not until we
were quite grown up?

"Such things _have_ happened! I've read about it in books. And those
dreadful Gypsies ma