've got my camera here;
suppose we try to get a picture of one tonight? We could go to sleep
early, and then get up. Miss Eleanor said it would be all right, just
for the two of us. She said if any more sat up it would frighten the
deer."

"All right," agreed Bessie. "That would be lots of fun."

So they slept for an hour or so, and then, about midnight, got up and
went down to the shore of the lake, to a spot where a narrow trail came
out of the woods. There they hid themselves behind some brush and placed
Dolly's camera and a flashlight powder, to be ready in case the deer
appeared.

They waited a long time. But at last there was a rustling in the trees,
and they could hear the branches being pushed aside as some creature
made its way slowly toward the water.

"All ready, Bessie?" whispered Dolly. "When I give you a squeeze press
that button; that will set the flashlight off, and I'll take the
picture as you do it."

They waited tensely, and Bessie was as excited as Dolly herself. She
felt as if she could scarcely wait for the signal. Dolly held her left
hand loosely, and two or three times she thought the grip was
tightening. But the signal came at last, and there was a blinding flash.
But it was not a deer which stood out in the glare; it was the gypsy who
had pursued Dolly!

CHAPTER VII

A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

The glare of the explosion lasted for only a moment. Dolly's eyes were
fixed on the camera, as she bent her head down, and Bessie realized,
thankfully, that she had not seen the evil face of the gypsy. As for the
man, he cried out once, but the sound of his voice was drowned by the
noise of the explosion. And then, as soon as the flashlight powder had
burned out, the light was succeeded by a darkness so black that no one
could have seen anything, so great was the contrast between it and the
preceding illumination.

"Come, Dolly! Quick! Don't stop to argue! Run!" urged Bessie.

She seized Dolly's hand in hers, and made off, running down by the lake,
and, for a few steps, actually through the water. Her one object was to
get back to the camp as quickly as possible. She thought, and the event
proved that she was right, the gypsy, if he saw them nearing the camp
fire, which was still burning brightly, would not dare to follow them
very closely.

He had no means of knowing that there were no men in the camp, and,
while he might not have been afraid to follow them right into camp had
he known