"Oh, oh! You would give me orders when I bring you breakfast? No, no,
Peter; that won't do. Come, she is safe there; come and eat with me,
where she cannot put a spell on your food to make it choke you."

"Do you think she would do that?"

That was Peter's voice, stupid and filled with doubt. Bessie laughed at
Lolla's cleverness. Peter, she thought, would be just the sort of man to
yield to the fears of superstition.

"I know she would; she hates us. Come, Peter; does it not look good?"

"Give it to me. There, I'll catch you--"

Then there was a sound of scuffling and running, but Bessie, noticing
that it drew further and further away, laughed. Lolla was a real
strategist. She understood how to handle the big gypsy, evidently. And a
moment later Bessie, her nerves quivering, all alert as she waited for
the signal, heard the notes of Lolla's song. At once she rushed down,
broke through the tangled growth, and was at Dolly's side, cutting away
at the cords that bound Dolly, and, first of all, tearing the
handkerchief from her mouth.

"It's all right now, we're safe, Dolly. Only you'll have to come
quickly, dear, when I get you free. There, that's it. Are you stiff? Can
you Stand up?"

"I guess so," gasped Dolly. "Oh, I'd do anything to get away from here.
Bessie, look!"