"It isn't so easy as that. They have lots of fussing back and forth. We
may be here a long time. I say, Mops, you're a brick not to cry."

"I'm too mad to cry. The idea of their keeping us here like this! It's
outrageous! Why, King, by this time we would have been in Pelton. Just
think how worried Father and Mother must be!"

"Don't think about that, Mops, or you will cry sure. And I will, too!
Let's think how to get away."

But thinking was of little use, as there was no way to get away but to
run out at the door, and an attempt at that would be such certain failure
that it was not worth trying.

So the children sat there in dumb misery, silently watching the gypsy
women as they moved about preparing the mid-day meal.

Occasionally they spoke, and their manner and words were kindly, but King
and Midget could not bring themselves to respond in the same way.

"King," whispered Marjorie, "how far do you suppose we are from the
road?"

"Too far to run there, if that's what you mean. We'd be caught before we
started," was the whispered reply.

"That isn't what I mean; but how far are we?"

"Not very far, Midget; after we crossed the little bridge, the path to