frightened that he'll go back to his people and
let me alone, Bessie."

"I certainly hope so, Dolly. It really doesn't seem possible that he'd
dare to carry you off, even if he could get hold of you. He'd know that
we'd be sure to suspect that he was the one who had done it, and even a
gypsy ought to know what happens to people who do things like that. I
don't see how he could hope to escape."

"But, Bessie, I was thinking: suppose he didn't carry me to the place
where the other gypsies are? Suppose he took me right off into the woods
somewhere, and hid?"

"You'd both have to have food, Dolly. And as he couldn't get that very
easily, he'd be taking a big chance of getting caught. No, what I really
think is that he wants to see you, and try to persuade you to go with
him willingly. Then he wouldn't be in any danger, you see."

"Ugh! He must be an awful fool to think he could do that!"

"Well, he's not bad looking, Dolly. And he's probably vain. The chances
are that all the gypsy girls set their caps at him, because, if you
remember, he was about the only good looking young man there in their
camp. Most of the men were married. So, if he's always been popular with
the girls of his own people, he may have got the idea that he's quite
irresistible. That all he's got to do is to tell a girl he wants to
marry her to have her fall right into his arms, like a ripe apple
falling from a tree."

"The horrid brute! If he ever comes near me again, I'll slap his face
for him."

"You'd better not do anything of the sort. The best thing for you to do
if you ever see him anywhere near you again is to run, just as hard as
you can. Dolly, you've no idea of the rage a man like that can fly into.
If you struck him you can't tell what he might try to do. But I hope
you'll never see him again."

Dolly shivered a little.

"Are you sleepy, Bessie?" she asked.

"No, I think I'm too excited to be sleepy. It was so startling to be
expecting to see a deer, and then to see his face in the light. No, I'm
not sleepy."

"Oh, Bessie! Isn't it possible that you were mistaken? You know, you
couldn't have seen his face for more than a moment, if you did see it.
Weren't you thinking so much of that gypsy that you just fancied you saw
him, when you really didn't at all?"

"No, no, I'm quite sure, Dolly. I was perfectly certain it was a deer,
and that was all I was thinking about. And I heard him cry out, too.
That would be enough to make me