rom the women of his
own race.

"He will not take her back to camp," said Lolla, thoughtfully. "He knows
they would look there first."

"But will the others--your people--help him?"

"He may tell them that he has stolen her to get a ransom; to keep her
until her friends pay well for her to be returned. Our old men do not
like that, they say it is too dangerous. But if he were to say that he
had done so, they might help him, because our people stand and fall
together. But," and her eyes shone, "I will tell my brothers the truth.
They will believe me, and--Quick! Hide in those bushes; someone is
coming!"

Bessie obeyed instantly. But, once she had hidden herself, she heard
nothing. It was not for a minute or more after she had slipped into the
bushes that she heard the sound that had disturbed Lolla. But then,
looking out, she saw John coming down one of the paths, peering about
him cautiously.

CHAPTER IX

AN UNEXPECTED ALLY

Bessie's heart leaped at the sight of the man who had given her her wild
tramp through the night, and it was all she could do to resist her
impulse to rush out, accuse him of the crime she knew he had committed,
and demand that he give Dolly up to her at once. It was hard to believe
that he was really dangerous.

Here, in the early morning light, his clothes soaked by the wet woods,
as were Bessie's for that matter, he looked very cheap and tawdry, and
not at all like a man to be feared. But a moment's reflection convinced
Bessie that, for the time at least, it would be far wiser to leave
matters in the hands of Lolla, the gypsy girl, who understood this man,
and, if she feared him, and with cause, did so from reasons very
different from Bessie's.

For a moment after he came in sight John did not see Lolla. Bessie
watched the pair, so different from any people she had ever seen at
close range before, narrowly. She was intensely interested in Lolla, and
wondered mightily what the gypsy girl intended to do. But she did not
have long to wait.

Lolla, with a little cry, rushed forward, and, casting herself on the
ground at her lover's feet, seized his hand and kissed it. At first she
said not a word; only looked up at him with her black, brilliant eyes,
in which Bessie could see that a tear was glistening.

"Lolla! What are you doing here?"

At the sight of the girl John had started, nervously. It was plain that
he did not feel secure; that he thought his pursuers might, even th