Chapter XX: Getting Even with George

"Your hand tells me that you travel not alone," continued Harriet. "Other youths are with you. Together you have journeyed for many days along the highway."

"Well? That's nothing. Anybody could see that," jeered George.

"If you would listen to the word of the Oracle, be silent. On your journey, maidens have crossed your path. They, too, are wayfarers along the trail. You have held out the hand of fellowship to them, but your friendship is false and your hearts are full of guile."

"That's just where you're wrong," interrupted George. "Those girls are all right and we like them a lot. I'd like to know how you know so much about them."

"The Gipsy knows many things," replied Harriet enigmatically. "Your hand reveals to her the grievous wrong you have done these trusting maidens."

"Oh, that's not so," contradicted George.

"None can deceive the Oracle," was the stern answer. "I see here a camp. The campfire burns brightly. About it sit the maidens. Look! Six youths approach. With them they bear a sack filled with the melons of the field. The maidens welcome them with smiles and pleasant words. They little know whence came these melons. They little know that before them lies the bitter fruit of lawless thievery."

"Oh, that's putting it altogether too strong," expostulated George. "How can you tell anything about where those melons came from by the lines of my hand?"

"To the Prophet of the Oracle all things are plain," replied the Star of the East. "In the early darkness of the night, ere the moon rose, the evildoers stole forth, and robbed the farmer of his melons."

"This is becoming too personal," gasped George, mopping his forehead.

"Word was brought to the farmer of this wicked deed and he hurried forth to catch the thieves," continued Harriet. "Long did he search for them. Then seeing the camp of the maidens he approached, and finding them innocently eating his melons, he poured forth the vials of his wrath upon their defenseless heads. He branded them as thieves and demanded settlement. They crossed the farmer's palm with much silver to pay for the stolen melons. They were too noble to betray the real thieves."

Captain George shifted uneasily. "That's really too bad. I'm sorry they got into such a mess," he muttered. "I wonder what they think of us."

"Their hearts are filled with shame and sorrow at the deceitfulness of those whom they supposed were their friends."

"But--but the boys didn't intend to make trouble for the girls," protested the captain. "They thought it would be great fun to forage for melons, and at the same time to give the girls a treat."

The supposed gipsy shook her head slowly.

"It makes no difference what they thought. The deed is done. There is only one way in which the wrong can be righted."

"How can these boys square themselves with the girls?" questioned George eagerly.

"I will consult the Oracle." The Gipsy girl stood with head bent as though in deep thought. Then she said solemnly: "If the wicked boys will go to those whom they have so cruelly wronged and ask pardon for their unmanly behavior perhaps forgiveness may be theirs."

"I--I guess I'd better," returned George earnestly. At this juncture a smothered giggle from the darkened Gipsy wagon came near breaking up the seance. He glanced up suspiciously. Harriet's face was grave.

"You have chosen wisely. Will you obey the command of the Oracle?"

"Oh, ye--es. I'll apologize. I'll do it. It's wonderful. I never thought there was so much to fortune telling."

"There is more to it than you dream," answered Harriet Burrell, and with much truth on her side. There was indeed more to it than Captain George Baker dreamed. In the Gipsy wagon four girls and their guardian were making desperate efforts to control their laughter that the sounds of their merriment might not be heard by the young man outside.

"Can you answer any question I ask you?" queried George, after thinking deeply.

"The Oracle knows all things, if it will but speak," answered the Gipsy girl, leaving an avenue of escape if he should ask her something that she was unable to answer.

"Where are the girls now?"

"They are near at hand. Would you see them?"

"No, no. Not to-night," hastily interposed Captain Baker. "What I wish to know is where they are."

"You would know if they have outwitted you in the race?"

"Yes, yes. But how do you know what I am thinking about?"

"The mouthpiece of the Oracle knows all things," crooned the fortune teller. "No, they have not yet won the race. You shall see them on the morrow."

"Where? Tell me where?"

"A short span of twelve miles hence there is a spring. The spring is known as Granite Spring."

"Yes, yes? Will they be there?" he asked eagerly.

"No, not there," replied the Gipsy. "But you will find them near at hand. Seek and you shall find, but go with humble spirit, else disaster may overtake you."

"Thank you, I'll do as you say. This is wonderful. I want my friends to have their fortunes told by you. You are the right kind. I wonder if you can tell me just what these girls are going to do to get ahead of us in the race."

"I will consult the Oracle once more," replied the fortune teller.

It was fully two minutes before Harriet raised her head. George stood eagerly awaiting her answer.

"The Oracle knows but will not say," replied Harriet coldly. "The Oracle is ever fair and just. It will not reveal the plans of the maidens to their enemies. The Star of the East is weary. She cannot read the palms of your friends. Your way lies yonder. Your companions await you."

Captain George, very red of face, a sheepish expression in his eyes, got up hastily and walked over to his companions who were sitting on the ground awaiting him.

"Come on, fellows. Let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

"You seemed mighty interested in what that Gipsy girl had to say. Did she tell you anything remarkable?" asked Dill laughingly.

"Did she? I should say she did."

"Then you did better than the rest of us. That other young Gipsy woman didn't tell me a single thing."

"The old Gipsy woman gave it to me red hot!" exclaimed Sam. "She told me some things I'd just as soon not have heard. She said I was started on the road to thievery. Now what do you think of that?"

"That's nothing," replied George. "The young one told me all about it."

"About what?" questioned Davy.

"That melon business."

"You don't mean it?"

"Yes, I do. She told me about the whole affair."

"Well, what do you think of that?" wondered Fred.

"I didn't think much of it."

"How do you suppose she found out about it?"

"Don't ask me," replied George gloomily. "She said that the Oracle told her."

"You don't believe such nonsense as that, do you?" asked Davy.

"I don't know what to think about it. Gipsies are queer folks. They're too mysterious to suit me. I've got all I want of them. They know too much," declared the captain. "Why, they can read one's thoughts."

In the meantime, Harriet gleefully watched the departure of the boys from the camp. There was laughter in her eyes. She turned to the wagon where her companions were now giving expression to uncontrolled merriment. Few visitors remained in the camp, and these were some distance away.

"Well, I think I have evened up matters with that young man," declared Harriet. "What do you say, girls?" she asked, thrusting a laughing face into the wagon.

"Oh, Harriet!" gasped Miss Elting. "It was the funniest thing I ever heard. And he believed every word of it."

"Why shouldn't he? It was the truth. By the way, Miss Elting--I have collected one dollar of that four dollars and eighty cents that you paid for the melons," said Harriet, extending a hand in the palm of which lay Captain Baker's silver dollar.

"Oh, no, no," protested the guardian, drawing back. "I could not think of accepting the money."

"Why not? I can collect the whole amount in a very short time at this rate," laughed Harriet.

"Oh, darlin'! What a girl, what a girl!" laughed Crazy Jane.

"No. You must not keep it. It does not rightfully belong to you."

"Then if you refuse to accept the money I shall give it to Sybarina. She'll take it. Trust a Gipsy to take everything that is offered."

Sybarina graciously accepted the money. Her eyes shone as she hobbled over to Harriet Burrell and exclaimed earnestly: "I said you were the true Romany. Now I know it. Did I not tell you the power to foretell both the past and future would come to you unbidden?"

"Yes," laughed Harriet, "but I happened to know considerable about the Tramp Club's affairs particularly since they visited a certain melon patch. Is there any danger of those boys returning to-night?"

Sybarina shook her head. "They have returned to their camp."

"Where are they camping?"

"On yonder hillside. Even now you can catch the glow of their campfire. But you shall see them again and you shall make them red of face for the trick which they played on you and your friends, my Romany girls. You would outwit them?"

"We are trying to get home ahead of them."

The old woman nodded.

"The way shall be made clear to you. Sybarina will tell the Romany girl how to defeat her rivals, to show them that the Romany tribes know the secret bypaths as the birds know the trail to the sunny land when the frost is in the air. Come, child. Come, sit by the fire, while Sybarina tells you that which shall make the way clear."