The Meadow Brook Girls Across Country Part 30

"Oh! You mean dress like them?"

"Yes. After the tea you shall see."

Tea was a most formal affair. Sybarina first took a sip from her own cup then pa.s.sed the cup to the others, each girl taking a sip in turn, after which cups were served to each member of the party. By this time the other members of the tribe appeared to have lost interest in the visitors.

"My girls would know something of your people, Sybarina," suggested Miss Elting after the formalities of the tea drinking had been finished and the girls had settled down to their own cups of tea.

She regarded her teacup frowningly, as though she were seeking light in the amber fluid.

"My daughters," said the old woman. "It takes many years to earn the confidence of a Romany. You have done so in a hour. All are Gorgios to the Gipsy."

"What ith a Gorgio?" piped Tommy.

"Any one not Romany is a Gorgio. Forever has the Gorgio hounded the Gipsy. The Gorgio thinks the Gipsy a thief, but the Gipsy is not a thief. The Gipsy has little history, my daughters, but the Gipsy dates back to antiquity, to the famed Kings of Egypt. He keeps his sacred tongue-the Romany. It is his secret language. Through it he can hold converse with the Romanys of the world. Ages and ages ago, the Romany was called a Jat. That was in far off India. Then came a bad king from Persia who stole ten thousand of them to make music for him. There they remained until nine hundred years after the Son of Man came, when they were taken captive again and held in bondage until at last they separated and journeyed to the far places of the world. To-day the Gipsy is the only free man who wanders the earth. He pays no t.i.thes, he has no cares."

"But you have a ruler, a head of all the Gipsies, have you not?"

interjected Miss Elting.

"There is the queen of all," answered the old woman softly. "She now is one hundred years old. She lives in Roumania. Each year are her commands received by all her peoples throughout the world. How, I cannot tell you. It is a secret of the Romanys. We love, we hate, but not as do the Gorgios. But see! The princess has returned. She seeks her friends."

"You-you mean Miss McCarthy?" questioned Harriet.

The Gipsy nodded gravely.

"Good grathiouth," exclaimed Tommy. "Thhe'th got eyeth in the top of her head. How doeth thhe know that Jane hath come back?"

"I read the message in the teacup," answered Sybarina. "It is time, fair daughter to begin, if you would read the secrets of the stars. Come with me and you shall be prepared."

Harriet rose and followed the old woman to one of the gaudily painted wagons, without the slightest hesitancy.

CHAPTER XIX-DELVING INTO THE MYSTERIES

"Oh, good gracious! Where are they?" cried Crazy Jane, as she walked into the Gipsy camp.

The girls glanced at each other wonderingly. Had not the Gipsy queen just told them that Jane had arrived at the Meadow-Brook camp? The mystery was too great for them to solve.

"But darlin's, what does it mean? The Gipsy girl who came for me, said you were staying here for the night."

"We have been invited to be the guests of the tribe for this night, Jane. Sybarina is the queen of these Gipsies, you know. She is the one we rescued from the burning barn."

"Of course. Why are you here?"

The guardian explained how they had been attacked by tramps and how the Gipsy woman and her companions had come to their rescue.

Jane was amazed, then her face flushed with anger. She wanted to know if the Tramp Club had been seen. Miss Elting said they had not.

"But where is my darlin' Harriet?" questioned Jane, gazing at her inquiringly.

"She has gone with the queen into one of the wagons. You will see her soon."

"Won't it be jolly, Jane, to spend a night in a Gipsy camp?" cried Hazel.

"Well, that depends. I've heard the tribes weren't overly clean."

"Sh-h-h!" warned Miss Elting. "You mustn't say such things here.

Remember we are guests."

"I'm not likely to forget it. Oh, look at that pretty Gipsy girl! What a beauty!" cried Jane delightedly.

The Gipsy girl who had emerged from one of the wagons was indeed pretty.

Her hands were demurely folded, her head lowered, and her eyes veiled by drooping lashes, as she moved slowly toward the group. She came to a halt directly in front of Crazy Jane.

"Cross my palm with silver and I'll read your past and your future,"

invited the pretty Gipsy girl.

Crazy Jane leaned forward regarding the Gipsy girl with keen, searching eyes.

"Indeed I will. Yes, darlin', you can read my future and my past. How much silver shall I cross your palm with?"

"What you will, pretty lady."

Jane placed a shining fifty cent piece on the open palm. Something about the palm appeared to interest her very much. Just at this juncture, the Gipsy girl chanced to look up. The eyes of the two girls met. Jane uttered a whoop and embraced the girl in a bearlike hug.

"If it isn't my own darlin' Harriet," she cried. "But who would have thought it. Hurrah for Harriet, the Gipsy!"

"Ah, daughter, she is the true Romany," interrupted Sybarina, suddenly appearing behind Harriet. "None but a true daughter of Romany could have said those words so well." The old woman's eyes gleamed with pride. Then she exclaimed: "I see strangers coming to the camp of the Gipsy! Would you have them see you, or would you watch them from the wagons?"

"From the wagons," chorused the girls.

"The Romany princess, she of the brown eyes, may wander at will. The strangers will not think her a Gorgio. She is a true Romany."

"Thank you, Sybarina, I will go with my friends. Perhaps I may come out later," answered Harriet. She was dressed in Gipsy costume, and her face, already dark, had been slightly stained with herbs which the old woman had rubbed on both her face and hands.

The young men and women from nearby farms began to stroll into the camp to have their fortunes told. With them came several keen-eyed farmers, leading horses which they had brought in for a chance at a trade. The Gipsy men quickly gathered about the animals, then began the incessant talk of the horse trader, the Gipsies being particularly shrewd in that line of business. In the meantime Sybarina and several other women of the tribe were reading the futures of the giggling country girls. It was all very interesting to the girls in the nearby wagon. They were peering out from the darkened interior, unseen. Never before had they experienced anything so romantic or so picturesque.

Harriet finally wandered out into the field. She attracted attention only because of her slender figure and pretty face. She had no fear of being recognized, for no one there ever had seen her before.

"Isn't she a typical Gipsy, though?" chuckled Jane, gazing admiringly at Harriet.

"Unless one knew she were not, one couldn't tell the difference,"

answered Miss Elting. "Just look at that girl for whom the queen is telling a fortune. See how eagerly she drinks in every word. Every word is true to her. She believes it all."

"So does Sybarina," replied Hazel.

"Yes, I think she does. Do you know, Jane, she told us when you arrived at the tent. I think it must have been at the moment when you reached there. I can't imagine how she knew."