rb of the gypsy
queen!

CHAPTER XXI

MOTHER HULL

"Mother Hull wants to talk with you, Helka."

"She must send her message by you," said Helka to Lena. "I never get
along with Mother Hull."

Cora gasped, and then sighed the sigh of relief. Would that dreadful
old woman enter the room and perhaps insult her?

"She is very--cross," ventured Lena.

"No more so than I am. Tell her to send her message."

"But if she will not?"

"Then I will not hear it."

"There may be trouble."

"I have my laws."

The girl left the room, evidently not satisfied.

Presently there was a shuffling of aged feet in the big, bare outside
hall. Helka turned, and her eyes flashed angrily.

"Go behind the screen," she said to Cora. "If she wants to see you,
she must have my permission."

At that the door opened, and the old gypsy woman entered.

"I told you not to come," said Helka.

"But I had to. It is----"

She stopped and looked over the room carefully.

"Oh, she is here," said the queen, "but you are not to see her."

"Why?"

"Because I have said so. You know my laws."

The old woman looked as if she would like to have struck down the
daring young queen. But her clinched fist was hidden in her apron.

"Helka, if they take this house they take you."

"Who is going to take it now?"

"The new tribe. They have sent word. We must give in or they govern."

The new tribe! That might mean more freedom for Helka. But she must
be cautious--this old woman was the backbone of all the tribes, and
every word she spoke might mean good or evil to all the American
gypsies. She was all-powerful, in spite of Helka's pretended power.

"They cannot take my house," said Helka finally. "I have the oath of
ownership."

The woman shook her head. All the while her eyes were searching for
Cora, and she knew very well that the stolen girl was back of that
screen. She wanted to see her, to know what she looked like in
daylight; also to know how she was behaving.

"What did she say about Salvo?" hissed the woman.

"She says nothing of him. Why should she? Salvo did wrong. He should
be sent to jail."

This was a daring remark, and Helka almost wished she had not made it.
The eyes of the old woman fairly blazed with anger.

"You--you dare--to speak that way!"

Helka nodded her head with apparent unconcern.

"Why not?"

"There is always--revenge. I might take your girl friend farther into
the mountains.