ing to let them
spoil the evening for her. Besides, here was one providentially sent, or
so it seemed to her. And he was nice, too, very nice! He seemed to be
hail-fellow-well-met with the boys. And the girls--well, one could see
that they liked him from the start. But if only Allen would not look so
happy!

"Suppose we start, now we're all here," suggested Roy. "The sooner we
get there the more time we'll have."

"Bright boy," commented Allen. "How did you ever find that out?" Then,
under cover of the laughter and the darkness, he found Betty's hand and
held it for a moment. "Betty," he pleaded, "I----"

"May I, Miss Nelson?" It was Jack Sanford, bowing low before her.

"Sounds like a dance," laughed Betty, and added: "Indeed you may. Oh,
isn't it a wonderful night?"

Allen ground his teeth and once more submitted to the effusive
attentions of Alice Jallow. If Betty could have seen him then she would
have been moved to pity.

"Is it very far to the camp?" Mollie asked, after they had been walking
some time. "I'm anxious to get there."

"Not very far, now," Roy assured her. "It's just on the outskirts of the
town. Just wait till you get there. When you see how interesting it is
you won't mind the walk."

"I guess you don't know whom you are talking to," called Betty, just
behind them. "You forget that walking is our middle name."

"Pardon, fair damsel," said Roy in mock humility. "I must confess I had
forgotten for the moment that----"

"Oh, look! look! All the bonfires and things and people sitting around
them!" Mollie interrupted. "That must be the camp, isn't it, Roy?"

It really was the camp. The young people drew closer together as they
neared it, fascinated, yet half afraid. There were huge bulky objects in
the background beyond the illuminated circle of firelight.

"Those are the caravan wagons, aren't they?" demanded the Little Captain
in hushed tones. "Oh, I wish I could see inside one of them."

"Yes, they are the Pullman cars of the gypsies," laughed Jack. "Perhaps
you wouldn't like them so much inside if you did see them," he added.

"Oh, let's go on," urged Grace at Betty's elbow. "I'm dying to see more
of them, even if I am horribly afraid. Just look at all the tents they
have put up. They must expect to stay a long time."

The girls' eyes grew wider and wider as they advanced toward the circle
of flickering firelight. It seemed they were not the gypsies' only
visitors, for there were man