again, she was
trembling, and Bessie saw that her courage was beginning to fail. She
looked about her nervously, as Peter was doing. And suddenly the voice
spoke again, but this time it shouted, and it was in a stronger, more
vigorous tone, and one of great anger.

"Must I show myself! Must I punish you?" it said, furiously. "Fear me;
you will do well! Go--GO!"

With a yell of terror Peter turned suddenly, and ran through the thick
bushes toward the trail, crying out as he went, and stumbling.

"Come; it is the devil! I saw his horns and his tail then," he
screamed. "Come, Lolla, this is an accursed place. I told John it was
wrong to try to do this; that he would get into trouble."

"He is wise; he is safe!" said the mysterious voice. "Go too, Lolla; I
am growing impatient. Go, if you want to see John, your lover, and the
brothers that you love, again. The time is growing short. I come; I
come; and when I come--"

And then at last Lolla's nerves, too, gave way, and she followed Peter,
screaming, as he had done, while she ran. Bessie, as astonished and
almost as frightened as the two gypsies had been, turned then to see how
Dolly was bearing this extraordinary affair, to see her chum rolling
about on the ground, with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, that was funny!" Dolly exclaimed. "They were easy, after all,
Bessie."

"They've gone! It's all right now," said Bessie. "But who was it, Dolly?
Who could it have been?"

"It was me!" exclaimed Dolly, weakly, between gasps of laughter,
forgetting her grammar altogether. "I learned that trick last summer.
They call it ventriloquism. It just means throwing your voice out so
that it doesn't seem to come from you at all, and changing it, so that
people won't recognize it."

Bessie stared at her, in wonder and admiration. "Why, Dolly Ransom!" she
said. "However do you do it? I never heard of such a thing!"

"I don't know how I do it," said Dolly, recovering her breath. "No one
who can does, I guess. It's just something you happen to be able to do."

"You certainly frightened them," said Bessie. "And you saved us with
your trick, Dolly. I think they've run clear away. We can follow them
down the trail; they won't stick to it, and I think we can go right back
to Long Lake, now, without being afraid any more. Come on, we'd better
start. I don't want to stay here."

CHAPTER XII

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN

"Stay here? I should say not!" exclaimed Dolly. "I'm almost
starv