"Oh, I am named Roberto. You need not to thank—no!" exclaimed the stranger, suddenly getting up and looking all about.
"But it was very brave of him," declared Ruth, and she seized the boy's hand. "I—I am so glad you were near."
"Here's Tim and Joe Bascom coming," said Uncle Jabez, who was facing the store.
Instantly Roberto, as he called himself, jerked his hand from Ruth's grasp. He had seen the men coming, too, and without a word he turned and fled back into the woods.
"Why—why——" began Ruth, in utter surprise.
"What's the matter with that feller?" demanded Uncle Jabez, just as the storekeeper and Farmer Bascom arrived.
"I seen the feller, Jabe," said the latter, eagerly. "He's one o' them blamed Gypsies. I run him out o' my orchard only yisterday."