CHAPTER XXIV--MARGIT PAYS A DEBT

"Did you hear what that girl said, Laura?" demanded Bobby, in a whisper, clinging to the arm of Mother Wit. "It sounded as though she knew something about Eve's absence."

"No. Just jealousy," returned Laura.

"I--don't--know---- Here's Nell!" exclaimed the smaller girl, eagerly.

The doctor's daughter ran up, very much excited.

"Otto was on the 'phone," she said. "He says that Eve left for town in time to catch the nine-twenty-seven. Why, she should have been here two hours ago!"

"What do you suppose has happened?" wailed Jess.

"I will see the committee at once," said Mrs. Case, quietly. "Of course, if Evangeline does not report in time, we shall have to put in a substitute."

"Oh, Mrs. Case!" cried Bobby. "_Don't_ put in that Lou Potter!"

"What, Clara? Is that your loyalty to Central High?" demanded the athletic instructor, sternly.

"Well, she's been so mean----"

"But if she is the next best girl we have in training, and Eve does not appear, would you cripple Central High's chances for a petty feud like this?"

Mrs. Case spoke warmly and Bobby fell back abashed. But all the juniors were amazed and troubled by the emergency which had so suddenly arisen.

The attitude of some seniors surprised Eve's friends, too. They were seen to gather in groups, and giggle and whisper, and when the troubled juniors passed these seniors made remarks which suggested that they knew more about Eve's absence than her own friends.

Especially was Lou Potter in high feather over something. She sneered at Laura Belding, when the latter went about asking everybody if they had seen or heard of Eve that morning.

Time approached for the early events of the afternoon, and the relay teams were called out for the first event. About that time Margit Salgo, who had been moving about in the crowd of Central High competitors, suddenly broke away from a group, of whom Lou Potter was the center, and ran hurriedly for the exit.

At the gate the ticket-taker had just allowed Mr. and Mrs. Belding to enter and Margit saw Chet--whom she now knew very well--beside their automobile outside.

"Chetwood!" she gasped, running out to him. "There has something happened that will make Central High lose to-day--it is a plot--it is a meanness----"

She broke into German, as she did when she was excited, and Chet literally "threw up his hands."

"Hold your horses, Miss Margaret," he begged. "I can't follow you when you talk like that. My German's lame in both feet, anyway--like the son of Jonathan."

"I do not know your Jonathan," she cried, when Chet, grinning, interrupted:

"You're weak in your Scripture, then. But what about it? What's happened?"

"They have got Eve Sitz!" declared Margit, tragically.

"Who's got her?"

"I do not know for sure. I only suspect," declared the girl. "But quick! drive where I shall say. We may be in time."

"Do you mean to say that Eve hasn't got here yet?"

"I do."

"Yet she's already left home?"

"Oh, yes, indeed!"

"And she's an important figure in to-day's events, I understand," quoth Master Chet. "You think you know where she is?"

"Oh, yes!" cried Margit.

"Hop in, then. Tell me where to go, and we'll get there if a policeman doesn't hold us up on the way."

Margit whispered in his ear. Chet looked surprised; then nodded and helped her into the seat beside him. In a minute they were out of the crowd of other autos and were speeding down Whiffle Street and into Market.

When they struck the main thoroughfare the young fellow had to drive the car more circumspectly; but he made such time that more than one traffic officer held up a warning hand and shook his head at them.

"Sure you know where you want to go, Margaret?" Chet asked his companion once, as they dodged around a truck and turned off into a long and narrow side street where the class of tenements on either hand were of the cheaper quality.

"Yes," nodded the girl. "I should know. I was there myself."

"Oh! that's where the Gyps, have their encampment in town?" exclaimed Chet.

"Yes."

"And you think Eve has been caught by the same people who held you?"

"Yes. I believe so."

"Then take it from me, Margaret," declared Chet, decidedly, "a policeman goes into the house with us. I don't take any chances with those people."

She nodded again and a few moments later she told him to stop before a certain number. This was, indeed, a crowded and mean section of the town.

"I thought Romany folk lived in the open air and were bold and free--and all that?" said Chet, in disgust, as he stopped the engine and prepared to get out after removing certain plugs so that the car could not be started during their absence.

"In town they live like other poor people. They camp in a cheap flat. But they would not remain here long if they did not hope to get hold of me," replied Margit, quietly.

"Hullo! You're running right into trouble, perhaps," said Chet, doubtfully.

"What if I am? That girl, Eve, was good to me. And those other girls are my friends. We will get her free so that she may get to the athletic field in time. What?"

"I guess it _is_ what," admitted Chet, to himself.

Then he saw an officer and beckoned to the man. A few words explained their need.

"Ha! I was told to keep an eye on those folk. I know 'em," said the policeman. "And this is the girl who was with them before?" and he stared curiously at Margit Salgo.

They went quickly into the house and up to the floor that the girl remembered very well indeed. She pointed out the door of the flat and Chet rapped upon it. The officer kept in the shadow.

The door opened a trifle, after the second knock, and a voice whispered some word which Chet could not understand. Instantly Margit hissed a reply--it was in Romany.

The door opened a bit wider. Somebody inside saw the girl; but Chet was seen, too.

"What did Ah tell 'ee?" demanded Jim Varey's gruff voice. "This is a business tae bring trouble tae us, says I--and I was right."

Before he had ceased speaking the policeman sprang forward and with knee and shoulder forced the door wide open. He had drawn his club.

"Keep still--all you here! If you give me trouble I'll arrest all of you instead of this man and his wife," and he seized Jim by the shoulder.

"Where's the girl?" cried Chet. "Eve! Eve Sitz! Are you here?"

There was an answering cry from back in some other room. Margit darted past the struggling people in the kitchen and opened a door beyond.

"Here I am!" cried Eve Sitz.

The country girl was tied to a chair, but not tightly enough to cramp her limbs. Nor had she been really ill-treated.

"Run down," said the officer to Chet, "and blow this whistle. Tell my partner, when he comes, to send for the wagon. We'll give these folks a ride."

"Oh, but I must get to the field, Chetwood!" cried Eve, in despair. "They told me Margit was here and needed me, and I came right from the train. I don't know what it means----"

Chet had darted down the stairs and he soon came back with the other policeman. The officers agreed that the boy and two girls need not accompany them to the station; the Gypsy Queen and her husband, with the other Romany folk at home in the flat, could be held until later in the day for somebody to appear against them.

And that somebody was Miss Carrington's lawyer, Aaron MacCullough. Eve had no more trouble with the Gypsies--nor did Margit. Mr. MacCullough took the opportunity of showing the roaming folk that they could make little out of Margit or her friends, and then the Centerport police warned them out of town.

Meanwhile Chet, with the two girls, got into the automobile, and started back toward the Central High athletic field. It was already two o'clock, and on the program of the day the event of the broad jump would be called in less than half an hour!