said the blacksmith-constable, slowly, "let me understand
this. Your sister has been with the 'Gyptians?"

"Yes. Didn't you find Ruth with them?"

"Wait a minute. Was she with old Zelaya's tribe?"

"Yes," cried Helen. "That is the name of the Gypsy queen."

"And the other gal?" demanded the man. "Where is she?"

"That's what I ask you," said Tom, anxiously. "My sister escaped from
them, but they recaptured the other girl."

"Sure o' that?" he demanded.

"Yes, I am!" cried Helen. "I saw them drag her back through the woods to
the encampment."

"When was this?"

"Not far from six o'clock this morning."

"By gravey!" ejaculated the man. "She ain't with 'em now. I been all
through them vans, and seen the whole tribe. There ain't a white gal
with 'em," said Mr. Peck, with confidence.

CHAPTER XVI

THROUGH THE NIGHT AND THE STORM

Ruth did not really know what to think of Roberto, the Gypsy boy.

His push, as he passed her, had been most rude, but his whispered words
seemed a promise of friendship. He did not look at her again, as he went
around the encampment. Roberto seemed a privileged character, and it was
not hard to guess that he was Queen Zelaya's favorite grandchild.

As for the prisoner, she was scarcely spoken to by anybody. She was not
abused, but she felt her position keenly. Particularly was she ashamed
of her appearance--barefooted, bareheaded, and stained until she seemed
as dark as the Gypsy girls themselves. Ruth thought she looked
altogether hateful!

"I really would be ashamed to have Tom Cameron see me now," she thought.

Yet she would have been delighted indeed to see Tom! It was in her
chum's twin brother that she hoped, after all, for escape.

For Roberto, the Gypsy, ignored her completely. She feared that his
whispered words to her, when he first entered the camp, had meant
nothing after all. Why should she expect him to be different from his
tribesmen?

The Gypsies fed her well and allowed her to wander about the camp as she
pleased. There were two sentinels set to watch the northern and southern
shores of the lake. Nobody could approach the island without being
observed and warning given to the camp.

Ruth had lost hope of anybody coming to the encampment in search of her,
for the present. The constable had doubtless been sent by Tom Cameron,
and he would report that there was nobody but Gypsies in the camp.
Nobody but her immediate friends would distinguish Ruth fro