She came racing up, yelling at the top of her voice. “Dick! DICK! Hey, DICK!”

Dick turned and stared in amazement.

“Why — it’s Jo! JO! The gypsy girl who once got mixed up with us in an adventure! Julian, it’s Jo!”

There was no doubt about it at all. It was Jo! She came tearing up, her face glowing with the utmost delight and flung herself excitedly on Dick. She had always liked him best.

“Dick! I didn’t know you were here! Julian! Are the others here too? Oh, Timmy, dear old Timmy! Dick, are you camping here? Oh, this is really too marvellous to be true!”

Jo seemed to be about to fling herself on Dick again, and he fended her off. “Jo! Where in the world have you come from?”

“Well, you see,” said Jo, “I’ve got school holidays like you — and I thought I’d go and visit you at Kirrin Cottage. So I did. But you had all gone away together. That was yesterday.”

“Go on,” said Dick, as Jo stopped, out of breath.

“Well, I didn’t want to go back home again straight-away,” said Jo. “So I thought I’d pay a visit to my uncle — he’s my mother’s brother — and I knew he was camping here so I hitch-hiked all the way yesterday, and came late last night.”

“Well, I’m blessed,” said Julian. “And who is your uncle, may I ask?”

“Oh Alfredo — the Fire-Eater,” was Jo’s astonishing reply. “Didn’t you know? Oh, Dick! Oh, Julian! Can I stay here while you’re here? Do, DO say I can! You haven’t forgotten me, have you?”

“Of course not,” said Dick, thinking that nobody could possibly forget this wild little gypsy girl, with her mad ways and her staunch affection.

Then for the first time Jo realized that something was going on! What was this crowd doing round Julian and Dick?

She looked round, and immediately sensed that the fair people were not friendly to the two boys — although the main expression on their faces now was one of astonishment!

How did Jo know these boys? they wondered. How was it she was so very friendly with them? They were puzzled and suspicious.

“Uncle Alfredo, where are you?” demanded Jo, looking all round. “Oh, there you are! Uncle, these are my very best friends — and so are the girls too, wherever they are. I’ll tell you all about them, and how nice they were to me! I’ll tell everybody!”

“Well,” said Julian, feeling rather embarrassed at what Jo might reveal, “well, you tell them, Jo, and I’ll just pop back and break the news to George and Anne. They will be surprised to find you are here — and that Alfredo is your uncle!”

The two boys and Timmy turned to go. The little crowd opened to let them pass. It closed up again round the excited Jo, whose high voice the boys could hear all the way across the field.