“Hush!” whispered Ned. “There’s Urania!”
CHAPTER II
THE GYPSY GIRL
With a gait that betokened indolence, and her entire appearance bearing out that suggestion, a girl with a bright-colored handkerchief on her head, sauntered along the path in the direction of the little party, who had been conferring in the “enclosure.” Her feet seemed weighed down with shoes many sizes beyond her real need, and her dress was so long that she looked as if she might have been playing grandmother up in some attic, and had forgotten to leave the things behind after the game.
“Well, Urania,” began Dorothy, smiling, “you are out early, aren’t you?”
“Haven’t been in yet,” drawled the girl. “So much fussin’ around the camp last night I just left the wagon to little Tommie, and made a bed out under the pines.”
“Fussing?” inquired Nat, showing keen interest in the girl’s remarks.
“Yes, comin’ and goin’ and—” She shot a quick glance at the boy who was listening so intently to her words. Then she peered through the wire cage over to the dove cote. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “Your birds sick?”
“Worse,” spoke up Tavia. “They’re gone, stolen!”
“Flew the coop?” said the gypsy girl, with a grim smile. “Them pretty ones, with the pleated tails?”