The Girls of Central High on Track and Field Part 4

"What'll we do?" gasped Dorothy Lockwood, clinging to her twin's hand.

"Keep your courage, Dorry," said her sister.

"Don't let them see we're afraid of them," Nellie advised, but in a shaking voice.

"And why should we be afraid?" asked Laura, quite calmly.

"Oh, I've seen that woman before," said Eve. "She's one of the Vareys.

They are English Gypsies, like the Stanleys. She was at our place last summer."

She started down the steep hillside into the camp. The first Gypsy woman said something in the Romany dialect to the others, and the men drifted away, only the woman awaiting the coming of the girls of Central High.

As the seven friends approached they saw that the Varey woman was very handsome, in her bold, dark way. Silver ornaments were entwined in her coa.r.s.e, blue-black hair; her dress, though garish in color, was neat and of rich material. The bangle, bracelets, necklace and all were either of silver or gold--no sham about them, as Laura Belding very well knew, her father being a jeweler and she knowing something about good jewelry.

"She's queen of the tribe," whispered Eve to Laura. "And her husband, Jim Varey, is leader of this clan. He is a horse trader, and sells oilcloth and tinware, while the women sell baskets, and the like, and pick up a quarter now and then telling fortunes."

"Oh, Eve!" whispered Jess, behind, "did you ever have your fortune told?"

"Yes. It's silly," replied Eve, flushing.

"It would be lots of fun," said Bobby, quite as eager as Jess.

"Let's all do it," urged Nellie. "If we give them a little money they probably will not molest us."

"They wouldn't dare trouble us, anyway," said Eve. "And why should they?"

But the other girls, who were not so well acquainted with the Romany people, felt that the adventure in the Gypsy camp promised much excitement. In a minute they were all on the greensward in front of the tent of the Gypsy queen.

"Cross the poor Gypsy's palm with silver," whined Grace Varey, in a wheedling tone, "and each of you shall learn what the future has in store for you."

"Suppose you can't tell us anything pleasant?" said Bobby Hargrew, boldly. "Then we'd rather not know it."

"But such pretty little ladies are bound to have pretty fortunes,"

replied the Romany woman. "Come! for a shilling--two shillings, in your American money--I will tell you each what you want to know most."

"You will?"

"Yes, indeed, for but two shillings in your American money."

"She means a quarter," said Eve.

"You try it first, Mother Wit," urged Nellie, nudging Laura.

At the words Grace Varey looked sharply at Laura Belding's earnest face and thoughtful gray eyes. Instantly she said:

"You do not fear. You lead these others. You have a quick mind and you invent things. You are usually first in everything; but power does not spoil you. You win love as well as admiration--there is a difference.

You have parents and at least one brother. You have no sister. There is a----" She shut her eyes for a moment, and hesitated. "There is a black person--a woman--who has something to do with you----"

"Beware of the 'black man coming with a bundle,'" hissed Bobby, giggling.

"Hush!" exclaimed Jess. "She means Mammy Jinny, Laura's old nurse."

Grace Varey had turned swiftly to the scoffing Bobby, and she pointed at her with an accusing finger.

"You do not believe," she said, quickly. "You are light and thoughtless.

You have been spoiled by a doting father. You have no mother--poor child! You are very frivolous and light-hearted; but a great sorrow is coming into your life soon. Into your school life, I believe. It is connected with one of your teachers--a woman. Beware!"

Now, this was very melodramatic; but Bobby, for some reason, could not laugh at it. The woman was too much in earnest. Suddenly Grace Varey's manner changed, and she whined:

"Cross the poor Gypsy's palm with silver, and she will tell you more.

Only two shillings, little lady," and she urged Laura toward the tent.

"All right," said Mother Wit. "If the rest of you are game, I am. But don't back out afterward."

"Not if she is genuine," said Jess, laughing.

Bobby hadn't a word to say; for the moment she was quelled.

But all that the woman had said could be easily explained by the science of deduction--which is merely observation raised to the _nth_ power.

Mother Wit went into the tent and found it a rather gloomy place. There was a folding table and two divans, besides some dingy hangings. It was evidently arranged for the purpose of fortune telling and nothing else.

"Sit down, lady," said the Gypsy queen. "Let me see your hand. Do you believe in the reading of character by the lines of the hand?"

"I do not know whether I do or not," replied Laura, calmly.

The woman laughed lightly. She peered at the lines of Laura's palm for a moment, and then said:

"You believe nothing without investigation. For so young a person you are very cautious, and you have much good sense. You are sharp and intelligent. And you are gentle-hearted. In short, your friends love you very dearly, and you are very faithful to them. Is it not so?"

"You flatter me," said Laura, quietly.

She noted that the woman was no longer holding her hand by the fingers; that she had shifted her own hand to Laura's wrist, and that two of the queen's fingers were resting lightly on her pulse--just as Dr. Agnew held a patient's hand when he counted the throbbing of his heart.

"Oh, I know," went on the Gypsy, in her whining, sing-song way. "You would be faithful in every event. If you had a secret you could keep it--surely. For instance," she added, without changing her tone or raising her voice, "if you had seen the girl with the yellow handkerchief and green skirt, and the little, puckered blue scar high up--near the right temple--you would not tell where she was--which direction she had gone."

_That_ was why the woman was feeling her pulse! Laura knew her heart jumped at the question. She might control her features; but the woman's question had startled her, and that sudden heart-throb had told the shrewd queen what she wished to know.

She smiled lazily, in the dim light, upon the girl before her. She knew that Laura Belding and her friends had seen the fugitive from the Gypsy camp.

CHAPTER V--THE SITUATION LOOKS SERIOUS

Laura Belding was as quick to think as she was to act. She remained perfectly calm after the woman's question--calm outwardly, at least. Now she spoke: