"Mr. Morley said that Mr. Baxter was doing some special work for him and that he was very clever," said Cora.
"Mr. Morley may have been robbed, and he may be trying to trace the robbers," suggested Belle.
"If it were only that, there wouldn"t be much romance or interest about it," mused Cora. "But I have an idea it"s something more intimate and personal than that."
"It seems to me that a robbery is a pretty personal and intimate thing,"
laughed Walter.
"Cora means that there"s a heart interest somewhere in Mr. Morley"s life," put in Bess, "but of course you boys are too sordid to understand anything like that."
As they pa.s.sed the barn on their way to the bungalow they met Joel, who had just put up his horse. He seemed a bit out of sorts, and as this was unusual for him, it attracted their attention.
"What"s the matter, Joel?" asked Jack.
"Nuthin" much," answered Joel. "But I jest heerd thet them pesky gypsies hez pitched their camp over near Wilton, an" it"s kinda rubbed my fur the wrong way. I won"t hev an easy minute till I know they"ve packed up their kits an" hit the trail again."
"The gypsies!" exclaimed Cora. "I wonder if it is the same camp we saw before."
"I suppose that"s likely," returned Jack. "There isn"t usually more than one camp in the same part of the country. They spread out pretty thin and keep apart. Besides, this fits in with the old pirate we saw the other day. He was prospecting, all right, and he picked out the vicinity of Wilton because he saw good graft in the town and the big hotel."
"Are you sure the news is straight?" asked Paul. "How did you hear about it?"
"Thet Baxter feller wuz drivin" by, an" he told me," replied Joel. "Wuss news I"ve heerd in a dog"s age."
But if the news disgruntled Joel, it gave immense satisfaction to the rest of the party, especially the girls. They restrained their jubilation, however, until they got beyond Joel"s hearing.
"Isn"t it darling!" exclaimed Cora. "Now we"ll have a chance to see that gypsy girl again!"
"All the good it will do you," jeered Walter. "That old horse thief will be on the job again, and keep her from talking with you. For some reason he seems to have it in for us."
"Let"s drive over to-morrow," suggested Bess.
"I"d like nothing better," agreed her sister.
"Let"s give Joel a pleasure and take him along," put in Walter with a wicked grin.
"It would make him froth at the mouth just to look at them," laughed Jack. "I guess in the interest of the public peace we"d better keep Joel as far away from them as possible."
"I"m just going to make that girl talk!" declared Cora emphatically.
"Not a very hard thing as a rule," chaffed Walter. "The difficulty is usually to keep the girls from talking. But these gypsies are a canny lot. For some reason or other they"re suspicious of us, and they"ll keep their eyes on us as long as we"re in camp."
"Let"s go in disguise," laughed Paul. "I"ll make up as a clown."
"That wouldn"t be any disguise," jabbed Bess.
"That ought to hold you for a while, old man," laughed Jack. "But let"s go in to supper. I"m ravenous. We"ll have plenty of time to think of the gypsies later on."
The next day was bright and clear, and shortly after lunch the cars were brought out and the party of young people started for Wilton.
There was a fairly good road most of the way, but there were patches that led through the woods that were rather rough, and over these the cars had to move more slowly.
"Suppose that bear of ours should turn up now," suggested Walter, as they pa.s.sed through an especially dense portion of the forest.
"Don"t speak of it," shivered Bess, looking fearfully on either side.
"What on earth would we do?"
"Run for it, I guess," replied Paul laconically. "He"d have to be pretty fast to overtake us."
"But suppose he jumped out in front of us," said Belle.
"Then we"d have to put on full speed ahead and b.u.mp him," laughed Jack.
"He"d be as surprised as the bull that tried to throw the locomotive off the track."
"And about as badly mussed up, I imagine," added Walter.
But at the same time he reflected that it might have been just as well to have brought Joel"s rifle along, and in his secret heart he was relieved when the cars got out again on the open road.
They slowed up a little as they drew near Wilton, and scanned narrowly both sides of the road.
"There it is!" exclaimed Bess eagerly, pointing to a large opening in the woods a little to the right.
"So it is," acquiesced Belle. "I can see the vans through the trees."
"And we"re not the only visitors, either," remarked Jack, as they caught sight of a number of well dressed people walking about the camp.
"So much the better," replied Cora. "We won"t be so conspicuous, and the gypsies will be so busy with the crowd that they"ll take no special notice of us."
They left their cars under the shade of some trees and mingled with the throng.
"I give them credit for having picked out a good place," remarked Jack.
"They seem to be doing a land-office business," observed Walter.
"I don"t see that old fellow around that has such a grudge against us,"
said Paul.
"Probably off somewhere cheating some farmer in a horse trade," grinned Jack.
They pa.s.sed a group of rather fast-looking young men, who were talking and laughing loudly, and Bess suddenly plucked Cora by the sleeve.
"Don"t look now," she murmured, "but after we get behind that clump of trees, take a look at that crowd we"ve just pa.s.sed. There"s an old acquaintance of yours there."
Cora did as directed and gave a start of surprise.
"Why," she exclaimed, "it"s the man who tried to steal my purse!"