Chapter XVIII: The Queen Takes a Hand

A strange figure stepped into the light of the campfire. It was the figure of an old woman, bent with age. Her face was yellow and wrinkled, her eyes, black and piercing. She hobbled a few steps toward them, using a long stick as though for support.

"Out with you, villains!" she screamed, brandishing the stick threateningly. "My curses be upon your vile heads! Rob, would you? You shall burn in the fire from the clouds," she hissed, pointing to the spokesman. "And you," pointing to another, "shall wither in the pit with the iron doors, where all evil doers shall come sooner or later. You shall perish as you deserve. Sybarina says it. So it shall be. Out with you!"

"It's the Gipsy Queen," screamed Hazel.

For a moment the tramps stood utterly dumbfounded. They realized that the old Gipsy was laying a curse upon them. More or less superstitious, they stood in considerable awe of Sybarina and her supposedly supernatural powers. The tramp who had pinioned Harriet's arms behind her back involuntarily relaxed his hold. Harriet made a dash for freedom. In an instant her captor was at her heels.

"Don't pay any attention to that old lunatic," he shouted to his companions. "She can't hurt you. Get the stuff and be quick about it."

But he had reckoned without his host. Raising her head, Sybarina sent a long shrill call echoing across the fields. Even in the excitement of the moment Harriet realized that it was a signal. A second later the call was answered.

"Skip!" warned the leader of the tramps. "It's Gipsies. We'll have the whole lot to fight if we don't light out!"

At this juncture five dark swarthy men came running across the fields. With one accord the tramps took to their heels. The Gipsies started in pursuit of them, but the tramps had a lead of several yards and fear lending wings to their feet, they soon outdistanced their pursuers who finally abandoned the chase and returned to where Sybarina stood, surrounded by the Meadow-Brook Girls and their guardian.

Harriet sprang eagerly forward to thank their rescuers, but Sybarina waved her aside. Turning to the Gipsy men she spoke a few sharp words in the Romany tongue. The men nodded, talked among themselves for a moment then turned and strolled off in the direction whence they had come.

"Oh, Sybarina!" cried Harriet disappointedly. "Why didn't you let me thank them for chasing those tramps away?"

"I, their queen, have commended them. That is sufficient," returned Sybarina proudly. "They need no thanks for obeying my commands."

"Then we must thank you doubly," smiled Harriet, holding out her hand to the old Gipsy. "What would we have done if you had not been near?"

"It is well," replied Sybarina earnestly, taking Harriet's hand in both of hers. "But you must come with Sybarina. You must not stay here alone this night. The bad men will return again. But Sybarina's men will stay here and watch for them. You and your kind friends will go with Sybarina to her camp."

"But how did you happen to find us?" questioned Miss Elting.

"Sybarina has eyes. Did those eyes not see the patteran (trail of grass)? Did she not read the message of the patteran that all of her tribe know? Where did you learn to make the patteran that leads the Gipsy toward the land where the sun goes down?"

"She means the grass that we dropped in the road," explained Harriet.

The old woman nodded.

"The patteran," she reiterated.

"Why," laughed Harriet. "We did that so that our friend Jane McCarthy would know where we had gone."

"Then there is Romany in your blood. None but the people of the Romany would think of such a thing. Where is the other princess?" questioned the queen, glancing about.

"Miss McCarthy has gone to meet her father," Miss Elting informed the old woman. "But we have not thanked you enough for the great service that you have done us."

"It is nothing. Did not the princess save Sybarina's miserable life? The debt is still unpaid. Many summers will come, and many summers will go, ere the debt is paid. Sybarina never will live to pay it. Her people will remember. The Romany has a long memory, princess. Come, pretty ladies, come to the camp of the Gipsy. It is not good that you should stay the night here. To-morrow night, yes, but not this night."

"What do you say, girls?" questioned Miss Elting.

"Spend a night in a Gipsy camp?" asked Harriet.

"Yes."

"I think that would be fine."

"But, Sybarina, what of our own camp? Will not the men return and rob us?"

"I have told you. Sybarina's people will be on guard. You need have no fear. And when the princess with the fair hair returns, she shall be led to the Gipsy camp. Come."

"Wait please, until we fix our camp and leave a message for Miss McCarthy," said Miss Elting.

So excited were the Meadow-Brook Girls at the prospect of spending a night in a Gipsy camp that they almost forgot the thrilling experiences through which they had passed. There were few preparations to be made. Miss Elting pocketed her revolver, though she had no idea that she would need it. She knew that the old Gipsy woman might be trusted; that a Gipsy never forgets a favor--nor a wrong. Sybarina felt under deep obligations to them for what they had done for her. By inviting them to her camp she was conferring upon them the highest possible mark of her regard, as the guardian who knew something of the wandering tribes of Gipsies was well aware.

The camp was some little distance from where the Meadow-Brook tent was pitched. A note for Jane was pinned to the tent flap on the same spot where she had pinned hers; then the party set out through the darkness. Not a man of the tribe was to be seen. The guardian asked no questions. She knew that Sybarina's word was law and that keen eyes were upon the Meadow-Brook camp, that no marauders would be permitted to enter there that night. Sybarina led the way as if it were a familiar path, calling out now and then to warn the travelers of a root or a stone that lay unseen in the path they were following. How she was aware of the presence of the obstacles the girls could not imagine.

They came in sight of the dull glow of the Gipsy campfire after a quarter of an hour's walking. Then as they stepped into the circle of light, many inquiring eyes were fixed upon them. There were dark-eyed, olive-complexioned women of various ages, children clad in bright colors, some sitting under wagons eating bread and butter, others peering from the gaudily painted wagons, and still others lying asleep upon the ground just outside the circle. Horses might have been heard munching at the foliage out in the bushes, occasionally neighing or stamping. The fire crackled merrily. It was a bright but unfamiliar scene to the Meadow-Brook Girls.

Tommy and Margery were a trifle apprehensive.

"Where are we going to thleep?" questioned Tommy cautiously.

"I don't know, dear," returned Miss Elting. "Sybarina will provide a place when the time comes. We have our own blankets. I think we may sleep out of doors if we wish to do so. But we have a long evening before us yet. It is your opportunity to learn something of the life and habits of the Gipsies."

"Thay, Mith Elting do--do you think it thafe to thtay here?" questioned Tommy.

"Perfectly so. Much more so than in our own camp this evening."

Sybarina was brewing the tea with her own hands. Miss Elting stepped over to her.

"May I assist you?" she asked.

The Gipsy queen shook her head.

"Sybarina will make the tea for her friends, her good friends, the pretty ladies. Sybarina will have other guests this evening."

"Oh, will you?" questioned the guardian, in a surprised tone.

"Yes. Pretty ladies will come to cross the Gipsy's palm with silver. Sybarina will read the future and the past for them. Sybarina will read your future too, but you and your friends need not cross her palm with silver. Sybarina is your friend."

Harriet had been an interested listener to the brief dialogue. She drew a little closer.

"I should like to learn to read the past and future, Sybarina. Will you teach me?" asked Harriet.

The old woman fixed her piercing eyes upon the eager face before her.

"The princess shall be taught to read the future this very night. The stars have said it."

"I'm afraid I never could learn to read palms in one night," laughed Harriet.

"The stars and the voices of the air will help you. Be not afraid. But you must be a Gipsy true."

"How do you mean?"

"You must be like other Gipsies."

"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 passed 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 tithes, 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.