Billie gave them an account of what had happened the evening before. It was exciting enough to tell about and the girls listened breathlessly. Richard's courage and tact with the outlaws when all the time his sleeve was soaked with blood from the wound in his arm, fired her with unusual eloquence. "I don't think they intended to harm any of us," she finished. "It was Phoebe they wanted, and her father, who is hiding somewhere on the mountain. But we shall be thankful to him all our lives for what he did. Why didn't he tell you?" "It's too like him," said Maggie. "I don't know whether it's modesty or indifference, but he never, never tells stories where he figures as a hero." "Do you wish us to stop here now after so much excitement?" Amy asked. "I don't think it's any time for outsiders to intrude in spite of Maggie's rhymes about Gypsy blood and brothers of the road." "Indeed, we wouldn't think of letting you go," cried Billie hospitably. "You are not strangers to us, I assure you, after all your kindness. But I do wish I could find your brother. The place on his arm bled a lot last night. I am certain a wound like that should be washed and dressed every few hours. Do you think he could have gone very far away?" "Oh, dear," exclaimed Maggie. "Richard is incorrigible. He does make me so uneasy sometimes." "There is nothing to do but wait patiently until the spirit moves him to come back," put in Amy calmly. "He is so strong and well that perhaps his wounds don't have to be dressed as often as other people's. There seems to be a special Providence that looks after him anyhow. It would be foolish to worry." Nevertheless, Billie did worry considerably in her heart, and even Phoebe, who presently joined them and was introduced to the girls, looked startled and uneasy when she heard that Richard Hook, her deliverer, had gone away without having his wound dressed. The caravanners were greatly interested in seeing Phoebe, whose history they had heard. "She is very beautiful," Amy observed, "but she doesn't look human, somehow. She has the expression of a person who sees visions, air pictures invisible to other people." "She is very religious," Billie replied. "Not like the religious people we know, but--well like people in the time of Christ might have been. You see she got it all herself without any outside teaching. She just learned it out of the New Testament mostly, and she practices it all the time. It's part of her life. Sometimes, I think it would be a pity to interfere with it." "How can you interfere with it, Billie?" asked Nancy. "By taking her back to wicked West Haven with all its temptations," laughed Billie. "But shall you?" they asked in a chorus. "We can't leave her in this wild place." "And her father?" put in Mary. "You'll have to ask Dr. Hume about that," answered Billie, and not another word would she say on the subject.