“I’ll tell you,” put in Ned, “Dorothy you tell your part of the story, and now Urania is here she can tell hers. We are anxious to hear it all. Talk about Wild West shows! If this isn’t about the limit. Go ahead Doro.”
At this all made themselves comfortable, Urania sitting in real gypsy fashion, her elbows resting lazily on her knees and her feet crossed under her.
“Well,” began Dorothy, “I found Urania some time after I left Tavia. She was picking berries near the spring. I asked her about the message the pigeon brought, and she told me that the men who stole the birds and silver had been arrested this morning, but that she knew where the things were.”
“And didn’t I?” interrupted Urania, more to confirm Dorothy’s statement than to ask the question.
“Indeed you did,” went on Dorothy. “Then we went to the swamp.”
“Not when Urania declared the men were safe in jail,” explained Dorothy.
“But they were not safe in jail,” insisted Tavia, “didn’t we see them in the gully?”
“Those wasn’t the guys,” answered Urania, “them was the other fellers’ pals. They didn’t know much about the game, they were just sneaking around trying to get next.”
“Oh,” replied Tavia, vaguely, in a tone of voice that might have suited the entire list of interjections with equal indifference.
“Yes,” went on Dorothy, “we went to the hill and Urania showed me the ice house where she told me the things were put by the men who had taken them. She said her father knew they were there, but that he would not touch them.”
“Dad’s no thief,” spoke up the gypsy girl, “but he’s no sneak either, and he wants me to mind my own business. But I thought I could find the stuff and wanted to get the things back to you--you had treated me white, and I--I don’t go back on my friends.”
“Three cheers for Urania!” Nat exclaimed in a hoarse subdued yell, “and three more cheers for her friends!”
When the “cheering” was over Dorothy again tried to tell her story.
“At the cave,” replied Tavia, eager to hear the “real hold up,” part of the play.
“Yes, Urania went in first and assured me it was all right. Then I went in--and then--”
“Next!” called off Nat. “Now Urania it’s up to you! You’ve got her in the cave now.”
“That’s right,” answered the gypsy girl, showing her enjoyment at the little farce. “Yes, she went in and I stayed out. Next moment I sees them guys over back of the big tree--!”