The Motor Girls in the Mountains or The Gypsy Girl's Secret Part 32

"You boys drive on a little way and wait for us," she directed. "We'll be with you in a few minutes."

The boys looked at each other and laughed, but they obeyed. Then Cora turned to the girl.

"You seem to be in trouble of some kind," she said gently. "I wonder if we couldn't help you?"

The gypsy hesitated.

"Don't be afraid," urged Cora. "We're all girls together here, and we'll do anything we can to help you if you'll only let us."

The girl started to speak in her gypsy patter, and here Cora hazarded a bold stroke.

"Don't talk that way," she said with a winning smile. "I'm sure you can use as good English as we can if you want to."

The shot went home, and the girl flushed under the tan that bronzed her cheeks.

"I don't know why you think that," she said in a low voice.

"It was from something you said the other day when you were off your guard," replied Cora. "Of course I don't want to meddle with your affairs, but I do want that we should be friends. My name is Cora and this is Bess and this Belle. What is your name?"

"They call me Nina," replied the girl, who was visibly melting under the charm of Cora's personality.

"Now won't you tell us just what the matter is?" continued Cora. "I can see that you have been crying."

"I was frightened," answered the girl.

"Do the gypsies treat you badly?" asked Cora.

"No," replied Nina. "They're rough sometimes, but they're kindly at heart. But there was some one over at the camp to-day that I haven't seen for a long time, and that I hoped I never would see. I'm afraid of him.

He didn't see me, but I saw him, and I ran away to hide in the woods till he should be gone."

The girls looked at each other, and the same name came to the minds of all three.

CHAPTER XXIV THE KNOCKING AT MIDNIGHT

"I think I know his name," said Cora quietly.

The girl looked at her in surprise.

"How can you know?" she asked.

"Because you nearly fainted the other day when you heard it mentioned,"

returned Cora, "and we saw that same man over at the camp to-day. His name is Higby."

The girl started violently, but whether she would have admitted it they did not know, for just at that moment a call came from the depths of the woods:

"Nina, Nina!"

"My people are looking for me!" exclaimed Nina. "It wouldn't do for them to find me here talking with you. They're suspicious of everybody. I'll have to go."

"But we must see you again," said Cora. "We simply must. Can't you come over to our place and have a long talk with us? We live at Camp Kill Kare, only about four miles from here." And she hastily gave the needed directions for finding the way.

Again the cry arose from the woods, but nearer this time.

"Nina, Nina!"

"Perhaps I will come," said Nina hurriedly. "But you had better not come over to the camp again. If they suspect anything they will shut me up in one of the vans until they go away. Good-bye," and she scurried away into the woods.

The girls looked after her regretfully and then climbed into their car and drove ahead to where the boys were waiting for them with more or less patience.

"Well, how did you amateur sleuths make out?" asked Jack, as they drew alongside.

"Foiled again, judging from their faces," observed Paul.

"The committee reports progress and asks to be continued," chimed in Walter in his best parliamentary manner.

"I thought only women were curious," said Belle scathingly.

"You boys drive on," directed Bess. "This is a matter for us girls to settle."

"We're clearly in the second-fiddle cla.s.s," grumbled Jack, as he threw in the clutch and took the lead.

"Wasn't it the most exasperating thing?" observed Bess, as the girls settled down for a "comfy" talk. "Just as we were on the very point of finding out perhaps about that Higby, she had to go."

"Goodness knows when we'll see her again, if ever," sighed Belle pessimistically.

"I'm glad she has the Kill Kare address anyway," replied Cora. "She may come over to see us. But if she doesn't, I'll find out some way of getting in touch with her again."

"Well, as Walter said, the committee has made some progress anyway," said Bess.

"I don't see where," put in her sister. "We don't really know any more of her story than we did before."

"Not of the real story, perhaps," admitted Cora, "but we know some things now, where formerly we only suspected them. We know, for instance, that Higby is the man she's afraid of. She didn't actually admit it, though I think she was about to, but his being there to-day and her hiding make it practically certain. It just couldn't be a mere coincidence.

"Then too," Cora continued, "we know that she can speak perfect English when she wants to. And she has the accent of an educated girl."

"But that doesn't prove she isn't a gypsy," said Belle. "I've heard sometimes of gypsy fathers, especially the chiefs of tribes, sending their daughters to good schools. I suppose at the time they intend to keep them away from gypsy surroundings altogether. But then the wild feeling in their blood comes out and they drift back to the camp life again."

"I know that happens sometimes," agreed Cora thoughtfully, "but it's very rare, and all the chances are against it's being true in this particular case. And then, too, the blue eyes the girl has show that she isn't of gypsy birth."

"But even if that is true," objected Belle, "I don't see what good we can do the girl by getting mixed up in this. If she's with the gypsies, she may be there of her own accord. She seems to be treated well enough. She didn't say anything about wanting to get away from them."

"She hasn't had time to tell us very much yet," answered Cora. "But we're letting the boys get too far ahead of us," and she put more speed into her car and soon caught up with them.

The next day the rain came down in torrents. It beat in a perfect deluge on roof and windows, and even swept in on the big capacious porch, so that outdoor life of any kind was out of the question.