"Oh, no, we won't," answered Ruth. "If there's enough water left to wash in I would rather dress and come downstairs for food."
"So would we all," chorused the others, except Miss Sallie, who took to her bed immediately, and dropped off to sleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
"Stephen," asked Ruth at dinner, "do you believe poor José was caught in the fire?"
"It's rather a horrible idea," said Stephen, "yet I don't know what else to think. He must have caught wind, somehow, that we had found him out and concluded to hide in the woods."
"Old Jennie wishes to speak to you, sir," announced John.
"Bring her in here," ordered the major, and Jennie was ushered into the dining-room. "How are you, Jennie? I am glad to see you," said the major, leading her to a chair. "I hope you were not injured by the fire?"
"Be there anyone here but friends?" whispered Jennie.
"When the storm came up I went straight to the forest," said the old woman. "Adam went with me and we took his horse and wagon. The fire had not touched the road and the ground was wet where we walked. As we passed by the place----" here she put her finger to her lips and gazed wildly about, "you remember, young ladies? I went over to see if all was well. The door was open and on the floor lay the young man. He is not dead, but he is very ill here," old Jennie pressed her hand to her chest. "He has swallowed the smoke. We put him in the wagon and he is outside."
"José here? Outside?" they all cried at once, rushing to the front door.
In the pouring rain, Zerlina and her grandmother were leaning over a young man stretched out prone in Adam's wagon. He wore the green velveteen suit now so familiar to "The Automobile Girls," and through his belt gleamed the dagger he had used to slash the tires with. When he was lifted out, they caught a glimpse of his face. José it was, but José grown thin and haggard in a day and a night. The boys carried him tenderly upstairs and laid him on his own bed. Zerlina and her grandmother followed close at their heels.
"Do you know him, then?" asked Stephen of the Gypsy girl.
"Yes," she replied defiantly. "He is my brother. Antonio is his name."
"Whew-w-w," whistled Stephen under his breath. "So José was an impostor after all. I must say I hoped till the last."