“Mother Domoza and a tall gypsy, who we found out was Tony Bopeppo, the man you were just talking to. The fellow who drove the car was the chap we afterward suspected of being Jasniff. He wore a false mustache and a wig, and I am sure he had his face stained.”
“Didn’t you struggle or cry out?” questioned Roger.
“To be sure we did! But the old gypsy hag had something on a handkerchief which she placed to our faces, and then we went off into something like a swoon. When we recovered, we found we were bound hands and feet with pieces of clothes-line. The automobile was going along at a lively rate, and we bumped over some terrible rocks. Then we began to climb a long hill, and after a little while the automobile came to a stop among some trees. There we were met by several other gypsies, and the whole crowd made us walk to this house and marched us up to these rooms—and here we are!”
“And now they have captured you, too!” cried Jessie. “Oh, this is worse than ever!”
“Don’t you worry too much,” whispered Dave, lowering his voice so that anybody outside the door might not hear. “When we were at a town a few miles away from here, we sent word to Crumville, and Uncle Dunston is coming out to this neighborhood.”
And then in a low voice Dave and Roger related how they had been following up the trail from Frytown, and had captured one of the gypsies and tied him to a tree.
“Oh, if we could only get word to Uncle Dunston!” murmured Laura.
The girls had had no food since early morning, and so they were hungry. Nevertheless they insisted upon it that the boys share what was on the tin plates left by Mother Domoza, and each washed down the scanty meal with a draught of water from the tin kettle.
“Dave, what do you think they will do with all of us?” questioned his sister, after the situation had been discussed from several angles. The gypsies were still downstairs and in the woods surrounding the bungalow.
“Their idea is to make a lot of money out of this,” was the reply. “But they are not going to do so if I can prevent it. I’m going to get out of here somehow, and then notify the authorities, and have these rascals rounded up.”