my, her tone low and awed in the
presence of the unknown. "The boys will have to stoop to get in."

"I'll go," said Will, pushing his way past them, and in his tone was a
ring of command. "Come on, anybody that wants to. I'm going to find
what's in this place before it disappears again."

The place had a damp and earthy smell, and Amy drew back uncertainly.
"The rest of you go first," she said. "I'll come--later."

Nothing loath, Mollie, Betty and even Grace pressed into the opening
after Will, the boys standing aside--this last bit of self-control
proving that chivalry was not all dead yet. The first temptation had
been to run pell-mell after Will, regardless of girls or any other
disturbing element that might be about.

However, as has been said, they allowed the girls to go in first and
followed them as closely as they dared, Amy, however, going last of all.

After several feet of back-breaking progress the girls came out into
another portion of the cave, where the roof was high enough to admit of
an upright position. As they stood up, nerves aquiver with suppressed
excitement, Will rushed back to them.

"There is another entrance at the other end," he cried. "That must be
the one you and Allen found, Betty. Come over here where you can get
more light," he added. "It filters through the leaves and twigs at the
opening."

All this time he was leading the way to the spot that he was describing,
the others following breathlessly. Once there, he grasped Allen's arm
excitedly, crying in a tense voice: "Look here, old man, here is one of
those bags they carried the other day--the place is full of them. Now I
am going to open this one. You keep a good lookout."

"Hush!" cried Allen, and they listened, scarcely daring to breathe. From
the mouth of the cave, soft but unmistakable, came the sound of
voices--voices speaking in a tongue the boys had heard before. There
could be no mistake--the gypsies were visiting their hiding place!

"Get back," breathed Will. "Back into the other mouth of the cave." He
pushed the others before him with all his force and they obeyed without
question.

They shrank back in the darkness and waited for what was to come. They
might have fled, but curiosity held them chained to the spot.

Once Amy uttered a weak protest, saying: "Don't you think we had better
go back?" when Will silenced her, none too gently. The moment was a
critical one.

The little group of young people held their b