“I don’t know what to think about it. Gipsies are queer folks. They’re too mysterious to suit me. I’ve got all I want of them. They know too much,” declared the captain. “Why, they can read one’s thoughts.”
In the meantime, Harriet gleefully watched the departure of the boys from the camp. There was laughter in her eyes. She turned to the wagon where her companions were now giving expression to uncontrolled merriment. Few visitors remained in the camp, and these were some distance away.
“Well, I think I have evened up matters with that young man,” declared Harriet. “What do you say, girls?” she asked, thrusting a laughing face into the wagon.
“Oh, Harriet!” gasped Miss Elting. “It was the funniest thing I ever heard. And he believed every word of it.”
“Why shouldn’t he? It was the truth. By the way, Miss Elting—I have collected one dollar of that four dollars and eighty cents that you paid for the melons,” said Harriet, extending a hand in the palm of which lay Captain Baker’s silver dollar.
“Oh, no, no,” protested the guardian, drawing back. “I could not think of accepting the money.”
“Why not? I can collect the whole amount in a very short time at this rate,” laughed Harriet.
“Oh, darlin’! What a girl, what a girl!” laughed Crazy Jane.
“No. You must not keep it. It does not rightfully belong to you.”
“Then if you refuse to accept the money I shall give it to Sybarina. She’ll take it. Trust a Gipsy to take everything that is offered.”