Chapter XXIV: The Knocking at Midnight

"I think I know his name," said Cora quietly.

The girl looked at her in surprise.

"How can you know?" she asked.

"Because you nearly fainted the other day when you heard it mentioned," returned Cora, "and we saw that same man over at the camp to-day. His name is Higby."

The girl started violently, but whether she would have admitted it they did not know, for just at that moment a call came from the depths of the woods:

"Nina, Nina!"

"My people are looking for me!" exclaimed Nina. "It wouldn't do for them to find me here talking with you. They're suspicious of everybody. I'll have to go."

"But we must see you again," said Cora. "We simply must. Can't you come over to our place and have a long talk with us? We live at Camp Kill Kare, only about four miles from here." And she hastily gave the needed directions for finding the way.

Again the cry arose from the woods, but nearer this time.

"Nina, Nina!"

"Perhaps I will come," said Nina hurriedly. "But you had better not come over to the camp again. If they suspect anything they will shut me up in one of the vans until they go away. Good-bye," and she scurried away into the woods.

The girls looked after her regretfully and then climbed into their car and drove ahead to where the boys were waiting for them with more or less patience.

"Well, how did you amateur sleuths make out?" asked Jack, as they drew alongside.

"Foiled again, judging from their faces," observed Paul.

"The committee reports progress and asks to be continued," chimed in Walter in his best parliamentary manner.

"I thought only women were curious," said Belle scathingly.

"You boys drive on," directed Bess. "This is a matter for us girls to settle."

"We're clearly in the second-fiddle class," grumbled Jack, as he threw in the clutch and took the lead.

"Wasn't it the most exasperating thing?" observed Bess, as the girls settled down for a "comfy" talk. "Just as we were on the very point of finding out perhaps about that Higby, she had to go."

"Goodness knows when we'll see her again, if ever," sighed Belle pessimistically.

"I'm glad she has the Kill Kare address anyway," replied Cora. "She may come over to see us. But if she doesn't, I'll find out some way of getting in touch with her again."

"Well, as Walter said, the committee has made some progress anyway," said Bess.

"I don't see where," put in her sister. "We don't really know any more of her story than we did before."

"Not of the real story, perhaps," admitted Cora, "but we know some things now, where formerly we only suspected them. We know, for instance, that Higby is the man she's afraid of. She didn't actually admit it, though I think she was about to, but his being there to-day and her hiding make it practically certain. It just couldn't be a mere coincidence.

"Then too," Cora continued, "we know that she can speak perfect English when she wants to. And she has the accent of an educated girl."

"But that doesn't prove she isn't a gypsy," said Belle. "I've heard sometimes of gypsy fathers, especially the chiefs of tribes, sending their daughters to good schools. I suppose at the time they intend to keep them away from gypsy surroundings altogether. But then the wild feeling in their blood comes out and they drift back to the camp life again."

"I know that happens sometimes," agreed Cora thoughtfully, "but it's very rare, and all the chances are against it's being true in this particular case. And then, too, the blue eyes the girl has show that she isn't of gypsy birth."

"But even if that is true," objected Belle, "I don't see what good we can do the girl by getting mixed up in this. If she's with the gypsies, she may be there of her own accord. She seems to be treated well enough. She didn't say anything about wanting to get away from them."

"She hasn't had time to tell us very much yet," answered Cora. "But we're letting the boys get too far ahead of us," and she put more speed into her car and soon caught up with them.

The next day the rain came down in torrents. It beat in a perfect deluge on roof and windows, and even swept in on the big capacious porch, so that outdoor life of any kind was out of the question.

But it could not dampen the high spirits of the party at Camp Kill Kare. They had been so constantly on the go that the little interval of forced inactivity was not after all unwelcome. The girls were able to catch up with neglected bits of sewing. Then there was the library stocked with choice books, and one of the girls read aloud while the others worked.

The boys ensconced themselves in the barn with Joel, where the old backwoodsman regaled them with stories of his adventures in the earlier days when he had been one of the most noted guides in the Adirondack region.

After supper a big wood fire blazed on the open hearth and took the edge from the damp chill that sought to invade the house. The girls furnished music, and boys and girls together sang songs until they were tired.

The girls had been asleep for an hour or more when Cora was awakened by a knocking on the front door.

"Who on earth can that be at this hour of the night?" she wondered, as she raised herself on her elbow to listen.

The knocking continued, and as nobody else seemed awake to answer it, Cora slipped out of bed, donned a kimono, and softly woke Bess and Belle.

"What is it?" asked Belle drowsily.

"Go away and let me sleep," murmured Bess, turning over on her pillow.

"There's somebody knocking at the front door," explained Cora. "I'm going down to see who it is, and I want you girls to go with me."

"It may be a burglar!" exclaimed Belle.

"You might get hurt!" protested Bess, wide awake now.

"Nonsense!" laughed Cora. "Burglars don't usually announce their coming by knocking at the door. Besides, I'll find out who it is before I open. Slip on your kimonos and come along."

They obeyed, not without some inward shrinking.

"Don't you think you ought to wake the boys?" asked Belle, hesitating on the landing.

"I couldn't do that without waking the whole house, Aunt Betty and all," answered Cora. "Besides, the boys would have the laugh on us and try to patronize us. We don't want to be looked on as a lot of cowards."

Both of the sisters seemed to be perfectly willing just at that moment to be included in that ignominious category, but they were accustomed to follow where Cora led, and they went down the stairs, their slippered feet making no noise.

The knocking still continued, though it seemed weaker than at first.

Cora, with her lighted bedroom candle in her hand, softly approached the door, which was secured by a double lock and also by a heavy chain.

"Who is there?" she asked.

"Please let me in," came in a woman's voice from outside.

"Who are you?" Cora repeated.

"Nina," was the answer. "Oh, please let me in!"

Cora unfastened the chain and turned the key, and as she opened the door the gypsy girl staggered into the bungalow.