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."

"Maybe she heard the car," suggested Margery.

"No she didn't," declared Jane. "I drove into the camp without making a sound. I wanted to give you a surprise. I wonder how she knew I was near."

Neither Jane nor any of her companions had thought of the big headlights on the car, the glint of which had flashed on the foliage of a tree near the gipsy camp just as Jane was swinging into the byway that led down to the Meadow-Brook camp. Perhaps the old gipsy's keen eyes had caught this flash and read it aright. But this the girls were never to know. Their attention, just now, was attracted by the sound of loud talking. Voices were heard approaching the camp.

"I guess we are going to have quite a party this evening," said Harriet, stepping into the wagon. "Oh, this is simply great! What a pity we aren't all made up to look like Gipsies."

"Look, girls!" exclaimed the guardian.

They did look, with widening eyes.

"My grathiouth, if it ithn't thothe Tramp boyth," breathed Tommy.

"It certainly is the Tramp Club. There's Captain Baker and Sammy and Dill and Davy. Where could they have come from?" wondered Hazel.

"Oh, let's go out and call to them," suggested Margery enthusiastically.

"Wait," warned Harriet. "I have a plan that I think will work to perfection. If it does, we'll have some fun with the Tramp Club this evening."

"What is it, darlin'?"

Harriet whispered in Jane's ear. Crazy Jane uttered a loud laugh.

"Sh-h-h!" warned the guardian. "You will betray our hiding place to those boys."

"I must get word to Sybarina. I wish she would come over here," mused Harriet.

As though in answer to her wish, Sybarina rose and hobbled toward the wagon. She halted at the step without looking up.

"The friends of the pretty ladies are here. What do the pretty ladies wish to do?"

"Oh, Sybarina! I want to read the future for that boy yonder on the right, the one with the reddish hair. May I? Please let me."

"It shall be as the Romany girl wishes, but she must be grave, she must not make her real self known to the laughing boy."

"No, no, no! I promise not to betray my identity. But what shall I say? I don't know what to say," begged Harriet.

"The words will come unbidden to the lips of the Romany girl. Fear not. Come." There was a suspicion of a twinkle in the piercing black eyes as Sybarina stretched forth her hand to Harriet Burrell. Harriet's heart thumped violently as she stepped down from the wagon. "If I get a chance to read George Baker's palm I will make him stand as near to the wagon as possible, so you girls can hear what I say to him, but don't you dare make a sound."

"Isn't she the clever darlin'?" chuckled Crazy Jane.

"Harriet is a very resourceful girl," answered Hazel admiringly.

"Yes; Harriet has added a good many honor beads to her string during this hike," replied the guardian. "I think, too, that she is going to pay those boys the debt that we owe them."

"Listen!" commanded Jane. Sybarina was speaking.

"Behold before you the Star of the East. Behold one who has come out of the East to read the future true. Cross her palm with silver and the Oracle will speak, revealing the past and foretelling the future."

The Gipsy queen had not led Harriet into the bright light. Instead the girl, in the fainter light at the outer edge of the circle, stood with downcast eyes, hands folded before her.

"Who shall be the first to hear the future and the past from the Star of the East?"

"Say, fellows, now is the time to find out a few things," laughed Captain George Baker. "Here's where I consult the Star of the East. Here, young woman, read my palm. I don't know anything about this fortune-telling business, and I don't believe in it, but I'm willing to take a chance on it. How much does it cost to consult the stars?"

"For a silver quarter I will reveal the past only. Cross my hand with a silver dollar and both the past and future shall be as an open book," answered Harriet, speaking in a low tone, disguising her voice as much as possible.

George uttered a low whistle.

"A dollar! Whew! Isn't that pretty high?"

"The stars are higher," was the curt reply of the Star of the East.

There was an audible giggle from the interior of the nearby wagon. Harriet heard it, but Captain Baker was too much interested in the prospect of having his fortune told to give heed to the sound.

"Isn't she the clever darlin'?" reiterated Crazy Jane, restraining herself from shouting only by a great effort of will.

"All right. Here's your money. But, mind you, I'll expect a lot of information for a dollar."

"The past and future are not measured by silver," retorted Harriet. "That which is past the Oracle has revealed to me. That which is to be, I alone can tell. I am but the mouthpiece of the Oracle, but the Oracle cannot lie."

"I'm glad to be assured of hearing the truth, at any rate," replied George flippantly.

"Be at rest. You shall hear the truth," promised the Star of the East dryly. Then taking George's hand in hers she gravely scrutinized the lines of his palm.

"The lines of your hand tell me many things," she began.

"Then be sure that you tell me all about them. I want my money's worth," urged the captain.

"The past and future shall be fully revealed to you," promised the supposed Gipsy. Captain George Baker of the Tramp Club then listened to a fortune that, though it did not wholly please, amazed him beyond measure.