CHAPTER III.
THE CHASTISEMENT.
A band of gypsies seated on the grass about a mile from the city limits, were lazily washing their breakfast dishes. Two or three young girls were laughing and chatting merrily as they sat in the shade together. Farther away was an old woman, wrinkled, and with a sour look on her face, working at a beaded cushion. Her black uncombed hair hung down her back and around a face ugly in the extreme. A large, broad nose, and a wide, ill-shaped mouth, the latter of which often resembled that of a snarling hyena, gave her a look from which anyone would well turn in disgust. Her dirt-begrimed fingers were covered with rings of every conceivable design. She looked up as she heard footsteps in the grass, and saw Zula standing before her.
“So you are here at last, you young gypsy?”
“Yes.”
“And there is a good flogging here for you, too. Did you find anything on your travels?”
“Yes, I got some money.”
“Ah, ha! You did, did you? Well, but you was gone all night; how so?”