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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20713-h.zip b/20713-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b27896 --- /dev/null +++ b/20713-h.zip diff --git a/20713-h/20713-h.htm b/20713-h/20713-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8341624 --- /dev/null +++ b/20713-h/20713-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5455 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire, by Jane L. Stewart. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire, by Jane L. Stewart + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire + The Camp Fire Girls In the Woods + +Author: Jane L. Stewart + +Release Date: March 1, 2007 [EBook #20713] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST COUNCIL FIRE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='tnote'> +<p><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> This edition had a cover and title page +entitled <i>A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire</i>. The title on the first page of +the story and the remainder of the book, however, is <i>The Camp Fire Girls +In the Woods</i>.</p></div> + +<p> </p> + + +<div class='bbox'> +<h1>A Campfire Girl's<br /> + +First Council Fire</h1> + +<h3>By</h3> + +<h2>JANE L. STEWART<br /><br /><br /><br /></h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 50px;"> +<img src="images/emblem.png" width="50" height="53" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br />CAMPFIRE GIRLS SERIES<br /> +VOLUME I<br /> + +<br /><br /><br /> +THE<br /> +SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY<br /> +AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK<br /> +<br /> +<small>Made in U. S. A.</small><br /> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'>COPYRIGHT, MCMXIV<br /> +BY<br /> +THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE CAMPFIRE GIRLS SERIES</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 50px;"> +<img src="images/divider.png" width="50" height="26" alt="Divider" title="Divider" /> +</div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="THE CAMPFIRE GIRLS SERIES"> +<tr><td align='left'>A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S FIRST COUNCIL FIRE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S CHUM</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A CAMPFIRE GIRL IN SUMMER CAMP</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S ADVENTURE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S TEST OF FRIENDSHIP</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S HAPPINESS</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 284px;"> +<img src="images/frontis.png" width="284" height="400" alt=""We'll take you over to camp and you can have dinner with us."" title=""We'll take you over to camp and you can have dinner with us."" /> +<span class="caption">"We'll take you over to camp and you can have dinner with us."</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td align='left'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I</td><td align='left'>THE ESCAPE</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_11'>11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II</td><td align='left'>AN UNJUST ACCUSATION</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III</td><td align='left'>WO-HE-LO</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_48'>48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV</td><td align='left'>AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_57'>57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V</td><td align='left'>AN ALARM IN THE WOODS</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_73'>73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI</td><td align='left'>A PIECE OF BAD LUCK</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_91'>91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII</td><td align='left'>A FRIEND IN NEED</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_105'>105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII</td><td align='left'>THE SHELTER OF THE WOODS</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_121'>121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX</td><td align='left'>A CLOSE SHAVE</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_139'>139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X</td><td align='left'>OUT OF THE WOODS</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_153'>153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI</td><td align='left'>THE CALL OF THE FIRE</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_169'>169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XII</td><td align='left'>A NEW SUSPICION</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_187'>187</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIII</td><td align='left'>A TANGLED WEB</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_205'>205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIV</td><td align='left'>THE TRUTH AT LAST</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_219'>219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XV</td><td align='left'>THE COUNCIL FIRE</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_235'>235</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> +<h2>The Camp Fire Girls<br />In the Woods</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE ESCAPE</h3> + + +<p>"Now then, you, Bessie, quit your loafin' and get them dishes washed! +An' then you can go out and chop me some wood for the kitchen fire!"</p> + +<p>The voice was that of a slatternly woman of middle age, thin and +complaining. She had come suddenly into the kitchen of the Hoover +farmhouse and surprised Bessie King as the girl sat resting for a moment +and reading.</p> + +<p>Bessie jumped up alertly at the sound of the voice she knew so well, and +started nervously toward the sink.</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am," she said. "I was awful tired—an' I wanted to rest for a +few minutes."</p> + +<p>"Tired!" scolded the woman. "Land knows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> <i>you</i> ain't got nothin' to +carry on so about! Ain't you got a good home? Don't we board you and +give you a good bed to sleep in? Didn't Paw Hoover give you a nickel for +yourself only last week?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—an' you took it away from me soon's you found it out," Bessie +flashed back. There were tears in her eyes, but she went at her dishes, +and Mrs. Hoover, after a minute in which she glared at Bessie, turned +and left the kitchen, muttering something about ingratitude as she went.</p> + +<p>As she worked, Bessie wondered why it was that she must always do the +work about the house when other girls were at school or free to play. +But it had been that way for a long time, and she could think of no way +of escaping to happier conditions. Mrs. Hoover was no relation to her at +all. Bessie had a father and mother, but they had left her with Mrs. +Hoover a long time before, and she could scarcely remember them, but she +heard about them, her father especially, whenever she did something that +Mrs. Hoover didn't like.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Take after your paw—that's what you do, good-for-nothin' little +hussy!" the farmer's wife would say. "Leavin' you here on our hands when +he went away—an' promisin' to send board money for you. Did, too, for +'bout a year—an' since then never a cent! I've a mind to send you to +the county farm, that I have!"</p> + +<p>"Now, maw," Paw Hoover, a kindly, toil-hardened farmer, would say when +he happened to overhear one of these outbursts, "Bessie's a good girl, +an' I reckon she earns her keep, don't she, helpin' you like, round the +place?"</p> + +<p>"Earn her keep?" Mrs. Hoover would shrill. "She's so lazy she'd never do +anythin' at all if I didn't stand over her. All she's good fer is to eat +an' sleep—an' to hide off som'ere's so's she can read them trashy books +when she ought to be reddin' up or doin' her chores!"</p> + +<p>And Paw Hoover would sigh and retire, beaten in the argument. He knew +his wife too well to argue with her. But he liked Bessie, and he did his +best to comfort her when he had the chance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> and thought there was no +danger of starting a dispute with his wife.</p> + +<p>Bessie finished her dishes, and then she went out obediently to the wood +pile, and set to work to chop kindling. She had been up since +daylight—and the sun rose early on those summer mornings. Every bone +and muscle in her tired little body ached, but she knew well that Mrs. +Hoover had been listening to the work of washing the dishes, and she +dared not rest lest her taskmistress descend upon her again when the +noise ceased.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hoover came out after she had been chopping wood for a few minutes +and eyed her crossly.</p> + +<p>"'Pears to me like you're mighty slow," she said, complainingly. "When +you get that done there's butter to be made. So don't be all day about +it."</p> + +<p>But the wood was hard, and though Bessie worked diligently enough, her +progress was slow. She was still at it when Mrs. Hoover, dressed in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> her +black silk dress and with her best bonnet on her head, appeared again.</p> + +<p>"I'm goin' to drive into town," she said. "An' if that butter ain't done +when I get back, I'll—"</p> + +<p>She didn't finish her threat in words, but Bessie had plenty of memories +of former punishments. She made no answer, and Mrs. Hoover, still +scowling, finally went off.</p> + +<p>As if that had been a signal, another girl appeared suddenly from the +back of the woodshed. She was as dark as Bessie was fair, a mischievous, +black-eyed girl, who danced like a sprite as she approached Bessie. Her +brown legs were bare, her dress was even more worn and far dingier than +Bessie's, which was clean and neat. She was smiling as Bessie saw her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Zara, aren't you afraid to come here?" said Bessie, alarmed, +although Zara was her best and almost her only friend. "You know what +she said she'd do if she ever caught you around here again?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," said Zara, seating herself on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> a stump and swinging her +legs to and fro, after she had kissed Bessie, still laughing. "I'm not +afraid of her, though, Bessie. She'd never catch me—she can't run fast +enough! And if she ever touched me—"</p> + +<p>The smile vanished suddenly from Zara's olive skinned face. Her eyes +gleamed.</p> + +<p>"She'd better look out for herself!" she said. "She wouldn't do it +again!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Zara, it's wrong to talk that way," said Bessie. "She's been good +to me. She's looked after me all this time—and when I was sick she was +ever so nice to me—"</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said Zara. "Oh, I know I'm not good and sweet like you, Bessie! +The teacher says that's why the nice girls won't play with me. But it +isn't. I know—and it's the same way with you. If we had lots of money +and pretty clothes and things like the rest of them, they wouldn't care. +Look at you! You're nicer than any of them, but they don't have any more +to do with you than with me. It's because we're poor."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't believe it's that, Zara. They know that I haven't got time to +play with them, and that I can't ask them here, or go to their houses if +they ask me. Some time—"</p> + +<p>"You're too good, Bessie. You never get angry at all. You act as if you +ought to be grateful to Maw Hoover for looking after you. Don't she make +you work like a hired girl, and pay you nothin' for it? You work all the +time—she'd have to pay a hired girl good wages for what you do, and +treat her decently, beside. You're so nice that everyone picks on you, +just 'cause they know they can do it and you won't hit back."</p> + +<p>Glad of a chance to rest a little, Bessie had stopped her work to talk +to Zara, and neither of the two girls heard a stealthy rustling among +the leaves back of the woodshed, nor saw a grinning face that appeared +around the corner. The first warning that they had that they were not +alone came when a long arm reached out suddenly and a skinny, powerful +hand grasped Zara's arm and dragged her from her perch.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Caught ye this time, ain't I?" said the owner of the hand and arm, +appearing from around the corner of the shed. "My, but Maw'll pickle yer +when she gits hold of yer!"</p> + +<p>"Jake Hoover!" exclaimed Bessie, indignantly. "You big sneak, you! Let +her go this instant! Aren't you ashamed of yourself, hurtin' her like +that?"</p> + +<p>Zara, caught off her guard, had soon collected herself, and begun to +struggle in his grasp like the wild thing she was. But Jake Hoover only +laughed, leering at the two girls. He was a tall, lanky, overgrown boy +of seventeen, and he was enjoying himself thoroughly. He seemed to have +inherited all his mother's meanness of disposition and readiness to find +fault and to take delight in the unhappiness of others. Now, as Zara +struggled, he twisted her wrist to make her stop, and only laughed at +her cries of pain.</p> + +<p>"Let her go! She isn't hurting you!" begged Bessie. "Please, Jake, if +you do, I'll help you do your chores to-night—I will, indeed!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You'll have to do 'em anyhow," said Jake, still holding poor Zara. +"I've got a dreadful headache. I'm too sick to do any work to-night."</p> + +<p>He made a face that he thought was comical. Zara, realizing that she was +helpless against his greater strength, had stopped struggling, and he +turned on her suddenly with a vicious glare.</p> + +<p>"I know why you're hangin' 'round here," he said. "They took that +worthless critter you call your paw off to jail jest now—and you're +tryin' to steal chickens till he comes out."</p> + +<p>"That ain't true!" she exclaimed. "My father never stole anything. +They're just picking on him because he's a foreigner and can't talk as +well as some of them—"</p> + +<p>"They've locked him up, anyhow," said Jake. "An' now I'm goin' to lock +you up, too, an' keep you here till maw comes home—right here in the +woodshed, where you'll be safe!"</p> + +<p>And despite her renewed struggling and Bessie's tearful protests, he +kept his word, thrust<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>ing her into the woodshed and locking the great +padlock on the door, while she screamed in futile rage, and kicked +wildly at the door.</p> + +<p>Then, with a parting sneer for Bessie, he went off, carrying the key +with him.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Zara," said Bessie, sobbing. "Can you hear me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I'm all right, Bessie. Don't you cry! He didn't hurt me any."</p> + +<p>"I'll try and get a key so I can let you out before she comes home. If +she finds you in there, she'll give you a beating, just like she said. +I've got to go churn some milk into butter now, but I'll be back as soon +as ever I can. Don't you worry! I'll get you out of there all right."</p> + +<p>"Please try, Bessie! I'm so worried about what he said about my father. +It can't be true—but how would he ever think of such a story? I want to +get home and find out."</p> + +<p>"You keep quiet. I'll find some way to get you out," promised Bessie, +loyally.</p> + +<p>And, stirred to a greater anger than she had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> ever felt by Jake Hoover's +bullying of poor Zara, she went off to attend to her churning.</p> + +<p>Jake, as a matter of fact, was responsible for a good deal of Bessie's +unhappiness. As a child he had been sickly, and he had continued, long +after he had outgrown his weakness, and sprouted up into a lanky, +raw-boned boy, to trade upon the fears his parents had once felt for +him. Among boys of his own age he was unpopular. He had early become a +bully, abusing smaller and weaker boys.</p> + +<p>Bessie he had long made a mark for his sallies of wit. He taunted her +interminably about the way her father and mother had left her; he pulled +her hair, and practiced countless other little tricks that she could not +resent. His father tried to reprove him at times, but his mother always +rushed to his defence, and in her eyes he could do no wrong. She upheld +him against anyone who had a bad word to say concerning him—and, of +course, Bessie got undeserved rebukes for many of his misdeeds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>He soon learned that he could escape punishment by making it seem that +she had done things of which he was accused, and, as his word was always +taken against hers, no matter what the evidence was, he had only +increased his mother's dislike for the orphaned girl.</p> + +<p>The whole village shared Maw Hoover's dislike of Zara and her father. He +had settled down two or three years before in an abandoned house, but no +one seemed to understand how he lived. He disappeared for days at a +time, but he seemed always to have money enough to pay his way, although +never any more. And in the village there were dark rumors concerning +him.</p> + +<p>Gossip accused him of being a counterfeiter, who made bad money in the +abandoned house he had taken for his own, and that seemed to be the +favorite theory. And whenever chickens were missed, dark looks were cast +at Zara and her father. He looked like a gypsy, and he would never +answer questions about himself. That was enough to condemn him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bessie finished her churning quickly, and then went back, hoping either +to make Jake relent or find some way of releasing the prisoner in the +woodshed. But she could see no sign of Jake. The summer afternoon had +become dark. In the west heavy black clouds were forming, and as Bessie +looked about it grew darker and darker. Evidently a thunder shower was +approaching. That meant that Maw Hoover would hurry home. If she was to +help Zara she must make haste.</p> + +<p>Jake, it seemed, had the only key that would open the padlock and +Bessie, though she knew that she would be punished for it, determined to +try to break the lock with a stone. She told Zara what she meant to do, +and set to work. It was hard work, but her fingers were willing, and +Zara's frightened pleading, as the thunder began to roar, and flashes of +lightning came to her through the cracks in the woodshed, urged her on. +And then, just as she was on the verge of success, she heard Jake's +coarse laugh in her ear. "Look out!" he shouted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>He stood in the kitchen door, and, as she turned, something fell, +hissing, at her feet. She started back, terrified. Jake laughed, and +threw another burning stick at her. He had taken a shovelful of embers +from the fire, and now he tossed them at her so that she had to dance +about to escape the sparks. It was a dangerous game, but one that Jake +loved to play. He knew that Bessie was afraid of fire, and he had often +teased her in that fashion. But suddenly Bessie shrieked in real terror. +As yet, though the approaching storm blackened the sky, there was no +rain. But the wind was blowing almost a gale, and Bessie saw a little +streamer of flame run up the side of the woodshed.</p> + +<p>"The shed's on fire! You've set it on fire!" she shrieked. "Quick—give +me that key!"</p> + +<p>Jake, really frightened then, ran toward her with the key in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Get some water!" Bessie called to him. "Quick!"</p> + +<p>And she unlocked the padlock and let Zara,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> terrified by the fire, out. +But Jake stood there stupidly, and, fanned by the wind, the flames +spread rapidly.</p> + +<p>"Gosh, now you have done it!" he said. "Maw'll just about skin you alive +for that when I tell her you set the shed afire!"</p> + +<p>Bessie turned a white face toward him.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't say that!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>But she saw in his scared face that he would tell any lie that would +save him from the consequences of his recklessness. And with a sob of +fright she turned to Zara.</p> + +<p>"Come, Zara!" she cried. "Get away!"</p> + +<p>"Come with me!" said Zara. "She'll believe you did it! Come with me!"</p> + +<p>And Bessie, too frightened and tired to think much, suddenly yielded to +her fright, and ran with Zara out into the woods.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>AN UNJUST ACCUSATION</h3> + + +<p>They had not gone far when the rain burst upon them. They stuck to the +woods to avoid meeting Maw Hoover on her way home, and as the first big +drops pattered down among the trees Zara called a halt.</p> + +<p>"It's going to rain mighty hard," she said. "We'd better wait here and +give it a chance to stop a little before we cross the clearing. We'll +get awful wet if we go on now."</p> + +<p>Bessie, shivering with fright, and half minded, even now, to turn back +and take any punishment Maw Hoover chose to give her, looked up through +the trees. The lightning was flashing. She turned back—and the glare of +the burning woodshed helped her to make up her mind to stay with Zara. +As they looked the fire, against the black background of the storm, was +terrifying in the extreme.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You'd never think that shed would make such a blaze, would you?" said +Zara, trembling. "I'd like to kill that Jake Hoover! How did he set it +on fire?"</p> + +<p>"He must have been watching me all the time when I was trying to help +you to get out," said Bessie. "Then, when I was nearly done, he called +to me, and then he began throwing the burning wood at me. He knows I +hate that—he's done it before. I can always get out of the way. He +doesn't throw them very near me, really. But two or three times the +sparks have burned holes in my dress and Maw Hoover's been as mad as she +could be. So she thinks anyhow that I play around the fire, and she'd +never believe I didn't do it."</p> + +<p>"The rain ought to put the fire out," said Zara presently, after they +had remained in silence for a few moments. "But I think it's beginning +to stop a little now."</p> + +<p>"It is, and the fire's still burning, Zara. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>seems to me it's +brighter than ever. And listen—when it isn't thundering. Don't you hear +a noise as if someone was shouting back there?"</p> + +<p>Zara listened intently.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said. "And it sounds as if they were chopping with axes, too. +I hope the fire hasn't spread and reached the house, Bessie."</p> + +<p>Bessie shivered.</p> + +<p>"I hope so, too, Zara. But it's not my fault, anyhow. You and I know +that, even if no one believes us. It was Jake Hoover who did it, and +he'll be punished for it some time, I guess, whether his maw ever finds +it out or not."</p> + +<p>They waited a few minutes longer for the rain to stop, and then, as it +grew lighter, they began to move on. They could see a heavy cloud of +smoke from the direction of the farmhouse, but no more flames, and now, +as the thunder grew more and more distant, they could hear shouting more +plainly. Evidently help had come—Paw Hoover, probably, seeing the fire, +and rushing up from the fields with his hired men and the neighbors to +put it out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Zara," said Bessie, suddenly, "suppose Jake was telling the truth? +Suppose they have taken your father away? You know they have said things +about him, and lots of people believe he is a bad man. I never did. But +suppose they really have taken him, what will you do?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Stay there, I suppose. But, Bessie, it can't be true!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe they wouldn't let you stay. When Mary Morton's mother died last +year and left her alone, they took her to the poorhouse. Maybe they'd +make you go there, too."</p> + +<p>"They shan't!" cried Zara, her eyes flashing through her tears. "I—I'll +run away—I'll do anything—"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to run away, myself," said Bessie, quietly. She had been +doing a lot of thinking. "No one could make me work harder than Maw +Hoover, and they'd pay me for doing it. I'm going to get as far away as +I can and get a real job."</p> + +<p>Zara looked at Bessie, usually so quiet and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> meek, in surprise. There +was a determined note in Bessie's voice that she had never heard there +before.</p> + +<p>"We'll stick together, you and I, Zara," said Bessie. "I'm afraid +something <i>has</i> happened to your father. And if that's so, we'd better +not go right up to your house. We'd better wait until it's dark, and go +there quietly, so that we can listen, and see if there's anyone around +looking for you."</p> + +<p>"But we won't get any supper!" said poor Zara. "And I'm hungry already!"</p> + +<p>"We'll find berries and nuts, and we can easily find a spring where we +can drink all we want," said Bessie. "I guess we've got to look out for +ourselves now, Zara. There's no one else to do it for us."</p> + +<p>And Bessie, the meek, the quiet, the subdued, from that moment took +command. Always before Zara had seemed the plucky one of the two. She +had often urged Bessie to rebel against Maw Hoover's harshness, and it +had been always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> Bessie who had hung back and refused to do anything +that might make trouble. But now, when the time for real action had +come, and Bessie recognized it, it was she who made the plans and +decided what was to be done.</p> + +<p>Bessie knew the woods well, far better than Zara. Unerringly she led the +way to a spot she knew, where a farm had been allowed to drift back to +wild country, and pointed out some cherry trees.</p> + +<p>"Some berries aren't good to eat, but I know those cherries," said +Bessie. "They used to be the best trees in the whole county years +ago—Paw Hoover's told me that. Some believe that they're no good now, +because no one has looked after the trees, but I know they're fine. I +ate some only the other day, and they're ripe and delicious. So we'll +have supper off these trees."</p> + +<p>Zara, as active as a little cat, climbed the tree at once, and in a +moment she was throwing down the luscious fruit to Bessie, who gathered +it in her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> apron and called to Zara when she had picked enough of the +big, round cherries.</p> + +<p>"Aren't they good, Zara? Eat as many as you want. They're not like a +real supper of meat and potatoes and things like that, you know, but +they'll keep us from feeling hungry."</p> + +<p>"They certainly will, Bessie. I'd never have known about them. But then +I haven't lived long enough in the country to know it the way you do. +I've been in cities all my life."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and if we get to the city, Zara, you'll know lots of things and be +able to tell me all about them. It must be wonderful."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is, Bessie, but I never thought of it that way. It must +have been because I was used to everything of that sort. When you see +things every day you get so that you don't think anything about them. I +used to laugh at people from the country when I'd see them staring up at +the high buildings, and jumping when an automobile horn tooted anywhere +near them."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it must have seemed funny to you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, but I was sorry when I came out here and saw that everyone was +laughing at me. There were all sorts of things I'd never seen or thought +about. I'm really only just beginning to get used to them now. Bessie, +it's getting pretty dark. Won't the moon be up soon?"</p> + +<p>"Not for an hour or two yet, Zara. But it is dark now—we'd better begin +walking toward your house. We want to get there while it stays dark, and +before the old moon does get up. It'll be just as bright as daylight +then, and they'd be able to see us. I tell you what—we want to keep off +the road. We'll go through the woods till we get a chance to cut through +Farmer Weeks' cornfield. That'll bring us out behind your place, and we +can steal up quietly."</p> + +<p>"You'd think we'd been doing something wrong, Bessie. It seems mighty +mean for us to have to sneak around that way."</p> + +<p>"It's all right as long as we know we haven't done anything that isn't +right, Zara. That's the chief thing. If you do right, people will find +it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> out sooner or later, even if they think at first that you're bad. +Sometimes it takes a long time, but Paw Hoover says he's never known it +to fail that a bad man gets found out sooner or later."</p> + +<p>"Then Jake Hoover'd better look out," said Zara, viciously. "He's lied +so much, and done so many mean things that you've got the blame for, +that he'll have an awful lot to make up for when he starts in. What +would Paw Hoover do to him if he knew he'd set the woodshed on fire, +Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. He'd be awful mad. He hasn't got so awful much money, you +know, and he needs it all for the farm. But Maw Hoover thinks Jake's all +right. She'd find some excuse for him. She always does when he does get +found out. That happens sometimes, you know. He can't always make them +think I've done it."</p> + +<p>"I guess maybe that's why he's so mean, Bessie. Don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Shouldn't wonder, Zara. I don't believe he stops to think half the +time. Here we are! We'll cut through the fence. Careful as we go +through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>—keep to the lanes between the stalks. We mustn't hurt the +corn, you know."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to pull up every stalk! These people 'round here have been +mean and ugly to my father ever since we came here."</p> + +<p>"That isn't right, though, Zara. It won't do you any good to hurt them +in return. If you do wrong, too, just because they have, you'll be just +as bad as they are."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know, but they've said all sorts of awful things, and if they've +put him in prison now—" She stopped, with a sob, and Bessie took her +hand.</p> + +<p>"Cheer up, Zara. We don't know that anything of that sort has happened +yet, and, even if it has, it will come out all right. If your father +hasn't done anything wrong, they can't punish him. He'll get a fair +trial if he's been arrested, and they can't prove he's done anything +unless he has, you know."</p> + +<p>"But if they lied about him around here, mightn't they lie the same +afterward—at the trial, Bessie? I'm frightened; really I am!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hush, Zara! There's your house, and there's a light! That means there's +someone there. I hope it's your father, but it might be someone else, +and we mustn't let them hear us."</p> + +<p>The two girls were out of the cornfield now, and, crossing a little +patch of swampy land, came to the little garden around Zara's house, +where her father had planted a few vegetables that helped to feed him +and Zara.</p> + +<p>The house was little better than a cabin, a rough affair, tumbled down +in spots, with a sagging roof, and stained and weather-worn boards. It +had no second floor at all, and it was a poor, cheap apology for a +dwelling, all around. But, after all, it was Zara's home, the only home +she knew, and she was so tired and discouraged that all she wanted was +to get safely inside and throw herself down on her hard bed to sleep.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" whispered Bessie, suddenly.</p> + +<p>From the room into which the kitchen led there came a murmur of voices. +At first, though they strained their ears, they could make nothing out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +of the confused sounds of talk. But gradually they recognized voices, +and Bessie turned pale as she heard Paw Hoover's, easy for her to know, +since his deep tones rumbled out in the quiet night. Zara recognized +them, too, and clutched Bessie's arm.</p> + +<p>"My father isn't there!" she whispered. "If he was, I'd hear him."</p> + +<p>"There's Farmer Weeks—and I believe that's Jake Hoover's voice, too," +said Bessie, also in a whisper.</p> + +<p>Then the door was opened, and the two girls huddled closer together, +shivering, afraid that they would be discovered. But it seemed that Paw +Hoover had only opened the door to get a little air, since the night was +very hot after the storm. About them the insects were making their +accustomed din, and a little breeze rustled among the treetops. But, +with the door open, they could hear what was being said plainly enough.</p> + +<p>"I ain't goin' to wait here all night, Brother Weeks," said Paw Hoover. +"Got troubles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> enough of my own, what with the woodshed settin' fire to +the house!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" whispered Bessie. "Did you hear that, Zara? It was worse than we +thought."</p> + +<p>"Huh!" said Weeks, a rough, hard man, who found it hard to get men to +work when he needed them for the harvest every summer, on account of his +reputation for treating his men badly.</p> + +<p>"I allus told you you'd have trouble with that baggage afore you got rid +of her, Paw! Lucky that she didn't burn you out when you was all +asleep—I say," said Jake.</p> + +<p>Bessie listened, every nerve and muscle in her body tense. They blamed +her for the fire, then! Her instinct when she had run away had been +right.</p> + +<p>"I swan, I dunno what all possessed her," said Paw Hoover. "We give her +a good home—but Jake here seen her do it, though he was too late to +stop her—hey, Jake?"</p> + +<p>"That's right, Pop," said Jake. "She didn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> know I was aroun' anywhere. +Say, you ought to have her pinched for doin' it, too."</p> + +<p>"I dunno—she's only a youngster," said Paw. "I guess they wouldn't hold +her responsible, somehow. But say, Brother Weeks, I hate to think of +that little Zara runnin' roun' the woods to-night. She ain't done +nothin' wrong, even if her paw's a crook. An' now they took him off, +who's a-goin' to look out for her?"</p> + +<p>"I'll drive her over to the poor-farm when she turns up," said Weeks. +"Then they'll take her, an' apprentice her to someone as wants a girl to +work aroun' his place, like. Bind her over till she's twenty-one, and +let her work for her keep. I might take her myself—guess 'twouldn't +cost such a lot to feed her. She's thin—reckon she ain't ever had much +to eat here."</p> + +<p>Bessie, feeling the tremor in Zara's rigid body at this confirmation of +her worst fears, put her hand quickly over her friend's mouth, just in +time to check a cry that was rising to her lips.</p> + +<p>"Come, Zara," she whispered, gently. "We'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> have to look out for +ourselves. Come, we'll get away. We mustn't stay around here."</p> + +<p>And, holding Zara's arm, she led her away. For a long time, until Bessie +judged that it was safe to return to the road, they kept on through the +woods. And, when they came out on the road, the moon was up.</p> + +<p>"The world's a beautiful place after all, Zara," said Bessie. "It can't +be so bad when everything's so lovely. Come on, we'll walk a little +further, and then we'll come to a place I know where we can sleep +to-night—a place where wood cutters used to stay. No one's there now, +and we'll be dry and safe."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid if I'm with you, Bessie," said Zara.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>WO-HE-LO</h3> + + +<p>Two or three miles further along the road, Bessie spied the landmark she +had been looking for.</p> + +<p>"We'll turn off here," she said, "Cheer up, Zara. It won't be long now +before we can go to sleep."</p> + +<p>The full moon made it easy to pick their way along the wood path that +Bessie followed, and before long they came to a small lake. On its far +side, among the trees near the shore, a fire was burning, flickering up +from time to time, and sending dancing shadows on the beach.</p> + +<p>"There's someone over there, Bessie," said Zara, frightened at the sign +of human habitation.</p> + +<p>"They won't hurt us, Zara," said Bessie, stoutly. "Probably they won't +even know that we're around, if we don't make any noise, or any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> fire of +our own. Here we are—here's the hut! See? Isn't it nice and +comfortable? Hurry now and help me to pick up some of these branches of +pine trees. They'll make a comfortable bed for us, and well sleep just +as well as if we were at home—or a lot better, because there'll be no +one to be cross and make trouble for us in the morning."</p> + +<p>Bessie arranged the branches, and in a few moments they were asleep, +lying close together. Pine branches make an ideal bed, but, even had +their couch been uncomfortable, the two girls would have slept well that +night; they were too tired to do anything else. It was long after +midnight, and both had been through enough to exhaust them. The sense of +peace and safety that they found in this refuge in the woods more than +made up for the strangeness of their surroundings, and when they awoke +the sun was high. It was the sound of singing in the sweet, fresh voices +of girls that aroused them in the end. And Bessie, the first to wake up, +aroused Zara, and then peeped from the door of the cabin.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<p>There on the beach, their hair spread out in the sun, were half a dozen +girls in bathing dresses. Beside them were a couple of canoes, drawn up +on the beach, and they were laughing and singing merrily as they dried +their hair. Looking over across the lake, in the direction of the fire +she had seen the night before, Bessie saw that it was still burning. A +pillar of smoke rose straight in the still air, and beyond it, gleaming +among the trees, Bessie saw the white sides of three or four tents. +Astonished, she called Zara.</p> + +<p>"They're not from around here, Zara," she whispered, not ready yet for +the strangers to discover her. "Girls around here don't swim—it's only +the boys who do that."</p> + +<p>"I'll bet they're from the city and here on a vacation," said Zara.</p> + +<p>"They look awful happy, Zara. Isn't that lady with the brown hair +pretty? And she's older than the rest, too. You can see that, can't +you?"</p> + +<p>"Listen, Bessie! She just called one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> girls. And did you hear +what she called her? Minnehaha—that's a funny name, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It's an Indian name, Zara. It means Laughing Water. That's the name of +the girl that Hiawatha loved, in the poem. I've read that, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"I've never been able to read very much, Bessie. But that girl isn't an +Indian. She's ever so much lighter than I am—she's as fair as you. And +Indians are red, aren't they?"</p> + +<p>"She's not an Indian, Zara. That's right enough. It must be some sort of +a game. Oh, listen!"</p> + +<p>For the older girl, the one Zara had pointed out, had spied Bessie's +peeping face suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Look, girls!" she cried, pointing.</p> + +<p>And then, without a word of signal all the girls suddenly broke out into +a song—a song Bessie had never heard before.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Wohelo for ay"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Wohelo for aye, Wohelo for aye,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Wohelo, Wohelo, Wohelo for aye;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Wohelo for work, Wohelo for health,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Wohelo, Wohelo, Wohelo for love!"</span></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>As they ended the song, all the girls, with laughing faces, followed the +eyes of their leader and looked at Bessie, who, frightened at first when +she saw that she had been discovered, now returned the look shyly. There +was something so kind, so friendly, about the manner of these strange +girls that her fear had vanished.</p> + +<p>"Won't you come out and talk to us?" asked the leader of the crowd.</p> + +<p>She came forward alone toward the door of the cabin, looking at Bessie +with interest.</p> + +<p>"My name is Wanaka—that is, my Camp Fire name," said the stranger. "We +are Manasquan Camp Fire Girls, you know, and we've been camping out by +this lake. Do you live here?"</p> + +<p>"No—not exactly, ma'am," said Bessie, still a little shy.</p> + +<p>"Then you must be camping out, too? It's fun, isn't it? But you're not +alone, are you? Didn't I see another head peeping out?"</p> + +<p>"That's Zara. She's my friend, and she's with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> me," said Bessie. "And my +name's Bessie King."</p> + +<p>She looked curiously at Wanaka. Bessie had never heard of the Camp Fire +Girls, and the great movement they had begun, meant to do for American +girls what the Boy Scout movement had begun so well for their brothers.</p> + +<p>"Well, won't you and Zara spend the day with us, if you are by +yourselves?" asked Wanaka. "We'll take you over to camp in the canoes, +and you can have dinner with us. We're going back now to cook it. The +other girls have begun to prepare it already."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'd like to!" cried Bessie. "I'm awfully hungry—and I'm sure Zara +is, too."</p> + +<p>Bessie hadn't meant to say that. But the thought of a real meal had been +too much for her.</p> + +<p>"Hungry!" cried Wanaka. "Why, haven't you had breakfast? Did you +oversleep?"</p> + +<p>She looked about curiously. And Bessie saw that she could not deceive +this tall, slim girl, with the wise eyes that seemed to see everything.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We—we haven't anything to eat," she said. And suddenly she was +overcome with the thought of how hard things were going to be, +especially for Zara, and tears filled her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You shall tell me all about it afterwards," said Wanaka, with decision. +"Just now you've got to come over with us and have something to eat, +right away. Girls, launch the canoes! We have two guests here who +haven't had any breakfast, and they're simply starving to death."</p> + +<p>Any girls Bessie had ever known would have rushed toward her at once, +overwhelming her with questions, fussing around, and getting nothing +done. But these girls were different. They didn't talk; they did things. +In a moment, as it seemed, the canoes were in the water, and Bessie and +Zara had been taken into different boats. Then, at a word from Wanaka, +the paddles rose and dipped into the water, and with two girls paddling +each canoe, one at the stern and one at the bow, they were soon speeding +across the lake, which, at this point, was not more than a quarter of a +mile wide.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>Once ashore, Wanaka said a few words to other girls who were busy about +the fire, and in less than a minute the savory odor of frying bacon and +steaming coffee rose from the fire. Zara gave a little sigh of perfect +content.</p> + +<p>"Oh, doesn't that smell good?" she said.</p> + +<p>Bessie smiled.</p> + +<p>"It certainly does, and it's going to taste even better than it smells," +she answered, happily.</p> + +<p>They sat down, cross-legged, near the fire, and the girls of the camp, +quiet and competent, and asking them no questions, waited on them. +Bessie and Zara weren't used to that. They had always had to wait on +others, and do things for other people; no one had ever done much for +them. It was a new experience, and a delightful one. But Bessie, seeing +Wanaka's quiet eyes fixed upon her, realized that the time for +explanations would come when their meal was over.</p> + +<p>And, sure enough, after Bessie and Zara had eaten until they could eat +no more, Wanaka came to her, gently, and took her by the hand. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +seemed to recognize that Bessie must speak for Zara as well as for +herself.</p> + +<p>"Now suppose we go off by ourselves and have a little talk, Bessie," she +suggested. "I'm sure you have something to tell me, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yea, indeed, Miss Wanaka," said Bessie. She knew that in Wanaka she had +found, by a lucky chance, a friend she could trust and one who could +give her good advice.</p> + +<p>Wanaka smiled at her as she led the way to the largest of the tents.</p> + +<p>"Just call me Wanaka, not Miss Wanaka," she said. "My name is Eleanor +Mercer, but here in the camp and wherever the Camp Fire Girls meet we +often call one another by our ceremonial names. Some of us—most of +us—like the old Indian names, and take them, but not always."</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, when they were alone together in the tent, "tell me all +about it, Bessie. Haven't you any parents? Or did they let you go out to +spend the night all alone in the woods that way?"</p> + +<p>Then Bessie told her the whole story. Wanaka<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> watched her closely as +Bessie told of her life with the Hoovers, of her hard work and drudgery, +and of Jake's persecution. Her eyes narrowed slightly as Bessie +described the scene at the woodshed, and told of how Jake had locked +Zara in to wait for her mother's return, and of his cruel and dangerous +trick with the burning embers.</p> + +<p>"Did he really tell his father that you had set the shed on fire—and on +purpose?" asked Wanaka, rather sternly.</p> + +<p>"He was afraid of what would happen to him if they knew he'd done it," +said Bessie. "I guess he didn't stop to think about what they'd do to +me. He was just frightened, and wanted to save himself."</p> + +<p>Wanaka looked at her very kindly.</p> + +<p>"These people aren't related to you at all, are they?" she asked. "You +weren't bound to them—they didn't agree to keep you any length of time +and have you work for them in return for your board?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Bessie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then, if that's so, you had a right to leave them whenever you liked," +said Wanaka, thoughtfully. "And tell me about Zara. Who is her father? +What does he do for a living?"</p> + +<p>"I don't believe she even knows that herself. They used to live in the +city, but they came out here two or three years ago, and he's never gone +around with the other men, because he can't speak English very well. +He's some sort of a foreigner, you see. And when they took him off to +prison Zara was left all alone. He used to stay around the cabin all the +time, and Zara says he would work late at night and most of the day, +too, making things she never saw. Then he'd go off for two or three days +at a time, and Zara thought he went to the city, because when he came +back he always had money—not very much, but enough to buy food and +clothes for them. And she said he always seemed to be disappointed and +unhappy when he came back."</p> + +<p>"And the people in the village thought he was a counterfeiter—that he +made bad money?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's what Maw Hoover and Jake said. <i>They</i> thought so, I know."</p> + +<p>"People think they know a lot when they're only guessing, sometimes, +Bessie. A man has a right to keep his business to himself if he wants +to, as long as he doesn't do anything that's wrong. But why didn't Zara +stay? If her father was cleared and came back, they couldn't keep her at +the poor-farm or make her go to work for this Farmer Weeks you speak +of."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. She was afraid, and so was I. They call her a gypsy +because she's so dark. And people say she steals chickens. I know she +doesn't, because once or twice when they said she'd done that, she'd +been in the woods with me, walking about. And another time I saw a hawk +swoop down and take one of Maw Hoover's hens, and she was always sure +that Zara'd done that."</p> + +<p>Wanaka had watched Bessie very closely while she told her story. +Bessie's clear, frank eyes that never fell, no matter how Wanaka stared +into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> them, seemed to the older girl a sure sign that Bessie was telling +the truth.</p> + +<p>"It sounds as if you'd had a pretty hard time, and as if you hadn't had +much chance," she said, gravely. "It's strange about your parents."</p> + +<p>Bessie's eyes filled with tears.</p> + +<p>"Oh, something must have happened to them—something dreadful," she +said. "Or else I'm sure they would never have left me that way. And I +don't believe what Maw Hoover was always saying—that they were glad to +get rid of me, and didn't care anything about me."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I," said Wanaka. "Bessie, I want to help you and Zara. And I +think I can—that we all can, we Camp Fire Girls. You know that's what +we live for—to help people, and to love them and serve them. You heard +us singing the Wohelo cheer when we first saw you. Wohelo means work, +and health, and love. You see, it's a word we made up by taking the +first two letters of each of those words. I tell you what I'm going to +do. You and Zara must stay with us here to-day. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> girls will look +after you. And I'm going into the village and while I'm there I'll see +how things are."</p> + +<p>"You won't tell Maw Hoover where we are; or Farmer Weeks?" cried Bessie.</p> + +<p>"I'll do the right thing, Bessie," said Wanaka, smiling. "You may be +sure of that. I believe what you've told me—I believe every word of it. +But you'd rather have me find out from others, too, I'm sure. You see, +it would be very wrong for us to help girls to run away from home. But +neither you nor Zara have done that, if your story is right. And I think +it is our duty to help you both, just as it is our pleasure."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND</h3> + + +<p>Bessie wasn't afraid of what Wanaka would find out in Hedgeville. Wanaka +wouldn't take Jake Hoover's word against hers, that much was sure. And +she guessed that Wanaka would have her own ways of discovering the +truth. So, as Wanaka changed from her bathing suit to a costume better +suited to the trip to the village, Bessie went out with a light heart to +find Zara. Already she thought that she saw the way clear before them. +With friends, there was no reason why they should not reach the city and +make their own way there, as plenty of other girls had done. And it +seemed to Bessie that Wanaka meant to be a good friend.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bessie, have you been hearing all about the Camp Fire, too?" asked +Zara, when she espied her friend, "It's wonderful! They do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> all sorts of +things. And Minnehaha is going to teach me to swim this afternoon. +She'll teach you, too, if you like."</p> + +<p>But Bessie only smiled in answer. She could swim already, but she said +nothing about it, since no one asked her, seeming to take it for granted +that, like Zara, she was unused to the water. Moreover, while she could +swim well enough, she was afraid that she would look clumsy and awkward +in comparison to the Camp Fire Girls. Most of them had changed their +clothes now, before dinner.</p> + +<p>Some wore short skirts and white blouses; one or two were in a costume +that Bessie recognized at once as that of Indian maidens, from the +pictures she had seen in the books she had managed to get at the Hoover +farmhouse. She noticed, too, that many of them now wore strings of +beads, and that all wore rings. Two or three of the girls, too, wore +bracelets, strangely marked, and all had curious badges on their right +sleeves.</p> + +<p>"We've got to wash the dishes, now," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> Minnehaha, who bore out her +name by laughing and smiling most of the time. She had already told Zara +that her real name was Margery Burton. "You sit down and rest, and when +we've done, we'll talk to you and tell you more about the Camp Fire +Girls and all the things we do."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," said Bessie, laughing back. "That won't do at all. You +cooked our meal; now we'll certainly help to clean up. That's something +I can do, and I'm going to help."</p> + +<p>Zara, too, insisted on doing her share, and the time passed quickly as +the girls worked. Then, when the things were cleaned and put away, and +some preparations had been made for the evening meal, Zara begged to +have her first swimming lesson at once.</p> + +<p>"No, we'll have to wait a little while for that," said Minnehaha. "We +must wait until Wanaka comes back. She's our Guardian, you see, and it's +a rule that we mustn't go into the water unless she's here, no matter +how well we swim, unless, of course, we have to, to help someone who is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +drowning. And it's too soon after dinner, too. It's bad for you to go +into the water less than two hours after a meal. We're always careful +about that, because we have to be healthy. That's one of the chief +reasons we have the Camp Fire."</p> + +<p>"Tell us about it," begged Zara, sitting down.</p> + +<p>"You see this ring?" said Minnehaha, proudly.</p> + +<p>She pointed to her ring, a silver band with an emblem,—seven fagots.</p> + +<p>"We get a ring like that when we join," she explained. "That's the +Wood-Gatherer's ring, and the National Council gives it to us. Those +seven fagots each stand for one of the seven points of the law of the +fire."</p> + +<p>"What are they, Minnehaha?"</p> + +<p>"They're easy to remember: 'Seek Beauty; Give Service; Pursue Knowledge; +Be Trustworthy; Hold on to Health; Glorify Work; Be Happy.' If you want +to do all those things—and I guess everyone does—you can be a +Wood-Gatherer. Then, later on, you get to be a Fire-Maker, and, after +that, a Torch-Bearer. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> when you get older, if you do well, you can +be a Guardian, and be in charge of a Camp Fire yourself. You see, there +are Camp Fires all over. There are a lot of them in our city, and in +every city. And there are more and more all the time. The movement +hasn't been going on very long, but it's getting stronger all the time."</p> + +<p>"Are you a Fire-Maker?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. If I were, I'd wear a bracelet, like Ayu. And instead of just +having a bunch of fagots on my sleeve, there'd be a flame coming from +them. And then, when I get to be a Torch-Bearer, I'll have a pin, as +well as the ring and the bracelet, and there'll be smoke on my badge, as +well as fire and wood. But you have to work hard before you can stop +being a Wood-Gatherer and get to the higher ranks. We all have to work +all the time, you see."</p> + +<p>"I've had to work, too," said Bessie. "But this seems different because +you enjoy your work."</p> + +<p>"That's because we like to work. We work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> because we want to do it, not +because someone makes us."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I was thinking of that. I always worked because I had to—Maw +Hoover made me."</p> + +<p>"Who's Maw Hoover, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>So Bessie told her story, or most of it, all over again, and the other +girls, seeing that she was telling a story, crowded around and listened.</p> + +<p>"I think it's a shame you were treated so badly," said Minnehaha. "But +don't you worry—Miss Eleanor will know what to do. She won't let them +treat you unfairly. Is she going to find out about things in the +village?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, you needn't worry any more, then. Why, one of the first things +she did in the city, when she started this Camp Fire, was to get us all +to work to get better milk for the babies in the poor parts, where the +tenement houses are. We all helped, but she did most of it. And now all +the milk is good and pure, and the babies don't die any more in the hot +weather in summer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's fine. I'd like to be a Camp Fire Girl."</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't you be one, then?"</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>Bessie hesitated.</p> + +<p>After all, why not? Maw Hoover would never have let her do anything like +that—but Maw Hoover couldn't stop her from doing anything she liked +now. Wanaka had told her what Zara had always said, that Maw Hoover +couldn't make her stay, couldn't make her keep on working hard every day +for nothing but her board. She had read about girls who had gone to the +city and earned money, lots of money, without working any harder than +she had always done. Perhaps could do that, too.</p> + +<p>"You talk to Wanaka about that when she comes back," said Minnehaha, who +guessed what Bessie was thinking. "You see her. She'll explain it to +you. And you're going to be happy, Bessie. I'm sure of that. When people +do right, and still aren't happy for a while, it's always made up to +them some way. And usually when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> they do wrong they have to pay for it, +some way or another. That's one of the things we learn in the Camp +Fire."</p> + +<p>"Here comes Wanaka now," said one of the other girls. "There's someone +with her."</p> + +<p>Bessie looked frightened.</p> + +<p>"I don't want anyone from Hedgeville to see me," she said. "Do you +suppose they're coming here?"</p> + +<p>"Wanaka will come first. See, she's staying on the other side of the +lake. It's a man. He's carrying her things. I'll paddle over for her in +a canoe. I don't think the man will come with her, but you and Zara go +into the tent there. Then you'll be all right. No one would ever think +of your being here, or asking any questions."</p> + +<p>But Bessie watched anxiously. She couldn't make out the face of the man +with Wanaka, as she peered from the door of the tent, but if he was from +Hedgeville he would know her. Everyone knew the girl at Hoovers', whose +father and mother had deserted her. Bessie had long been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> one of the +most interesting people in town to the farmers and the villagers, who +had little to distract or amuse them.</p> + +<p>"Stay quiet, Bessie," warned Minnehaha, as she stepped into the canoe. +"You'll be all right if you're not seen. I'll bring Wanaka back right +away."</p> + +<p>With swift, sure strokes, Minnehaha sent the canoe skimming over the +water. The other girls were busy in various ways. Some were in the +tents, changing their clothes for bathing suits; some had gone into the +woods to get fresh water from a spring. For the moment no one was in +sight. And suddenly, out of a clear sky, as it seemed, disaster +threatened. Clouds had been gathering for some time but the sun was +still out, and there seemed no reason to fear any storm.</p> + +<p>But now there was a sudden roughening of the smooth surface of the +water; white caps were lashed up by a squall that broke with no warning +at all. And Bessie, filled with horror, saw the canoe overturned by the +wind. She saw, too, what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> eyes less quick would have missed—that the +paddle, released from Minnehaha's grasp as the boat upset, struck her on +the head.</p> + +<p>For a moment Bessie stood rooted to the spot in terror. And then, when +Minnehaha did not appear, swimming, Bessie acted. Forgotten was the +danger that she would be discovered—her fear of the man on the other +side of the lake. Wanaka might not have seen, and there was no time to +lose. The accident had occurred in the middle of the lake, and Bessie, +rushing to the beach, pushed off a canoe and began to drive it toward +the other canoe, floating quietly now, bottom up. The squall had passed +already.</p> + +<p>Bessie had never been in a canoe before that day. She made clumsy work +of the paddling. But fear for Minnehaha and the need of reaching her at +once made up for any lack of skill. Somehow she reached the spot. By +that time the other girls had seen what was going on, and help was +coming quickly. Some swam and some were in one of the other canoes. But +Bessie, catching a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> one of the most interesting people in town to the +farmers and the villagers, who had little to distract or amuse them.</p> + +<p>"Stay quiet, Bessie," warned Minnehaha, as she stepped into the canoe. +"You'll be all right if you're not seen. I'll bring Wanaka back right +away."</p> + +<p>With swift, sure strokes, Minnehaha sent the canoe skimming over the +water. The other girls were busy in various ways. Some were in the +tents, changing their clothes for bathing suits; some had gone into the +woods to get fresh water from a spring. For the moment no one was in +sight. And suddenly, out of a clear sky, as it seemed, disaster +threatened. Clouds had been gathering for some time but the sun was +still out, and there seemed no reason to fear any storm.</p> + +<p>But now there was a sudden roughening of the smooth surface of the +water; white caps were lashed up by a squall that broke with no warning +at all. And Bessie, filled with horror, saw the canoe overturned by the +wind. She saw, too, what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> busy with Minnehaha, who soon showed signs of +returning consciousness. So Bessie did not see or hear what was going on +outside.</p> + +<p>For the man who had been standing with Wanaka on the other shore had +seen Bessie, and he had known her. No wonder, since it was Paw Hoover +himself, from whom Wanaka had bought fresh vegetables for the camp. He +had insisted on helping her to carry them out, although Wanaka, thinking +of Bessie and Zara, had told him she needed no help. But she could not +shake him off, and on the way he had told her about the exciting +happenings of the previous day, of which, she told him, she had already +heard in the village.</p> + +<p>"By Godfrey!" said Paw Hoover, as he saw the rescue of Minnehaha, "that +young one's got pluck, so she has! And, what's more, Miss, I've a +suspicion I've seen her before!"</p> + +<p>Wanaka said nothing, but smiled. What Paw Hoover had told her had done +more to confirm the truth of Bessie's story than all the talk she had +heard in Hedgeville. She liked the old farmer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>—and she wondered what he +meant to do. He didn't leave her long in doubt.</p> + +<p>"I'll just go over with you," he said, "if you'll make out to ferry me +back here again."</p> + +<p>And Wanaka dared not refuse.</p> + +<p>"Had an idea you was askin' a lot of questions," said Paw Hoover, with a +chuckle. "Got lots of ideas I keep to myself—'specially at home. An' +say, if that's Bessie, I want to see her."</p> + +<p>Wanaka saw that there was some plan in his mind, and she knew that to +try to ward him off would be dangerous. There was nothing to prevent him +from returning, later, with Weeks or anyone else.</p> + +<p>"Bessie!" she called. "Can you come out here a minute?"</p> + +<p>And Bessie, coming out, came face to face with Paw Hoover! She stared at +him, frightened and astonished, but she held her ground. And Paw +Hoover's astonishment was as great as her own. This was a new Bessie he +had never seen before. She was neatly dressed now in one of Ayu's blue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +skirts and white blouses, and one of the girls had done up her hair in a +new way.</p> + +<p>"Well, I swan!" he said. "You've struck it rich, ain't you, Bessie? +Aimin' to run away and leave us?"</p> + +<p>Bessie couldn't answer, but Wanaka spoke up.</p> + +<p>"You haven't any real hold on her, Mr. Hoover," she said.</p> + +<p>"That's right, that's right!" said Paw Hoover. "I cal'late you've had a +hard time once in a while, Bessie. An' I don't believe you ever set that +shed afire on purpose. If you hadn't jumped into the water after that +other girl I'd never have suspicioned you was here, Bessie. You stay +right with these young ladies, if they'll have you. I'll not say a word. +An' if you ever get into trouble, you write to me—see?"</p> + +<p>He looked at her, and sighed. Then he beckoned to her, and took her +aside.</p> + +<p>"Maw's right set on havin' her own way, Bessie," he said. "But she's my +wife, an' she's a good one, an' if she makes mistakes, I've got<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> to let +her have her way. Reckon I've made enough on 'em myself. Here, you take +this. I guess you've earned it, right enough. That fire didn't do no +real damage—nothin' we can't fix up in a day or two."</p> + +<p>Bessie's eyes filled with tears. Paw Hoover was simply proving again +what she had always known—that he was a really good and kindly man. She +longed to tell him that she hadn't set the barn on fire, that it had +been Jake. But she knew he would find it hard to believe that of his +son, and that, even if he took her word for it, the knowledge would be a +blow. And it would do her no good, so she said nothing of that.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Paw," she said. "You always were good to me. I'll never +forget you, and sometime I'll come back to see you and all the others. +Good-bye!"</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Bessie," he said. "You be a good girl and you'll get along +all right. And you stick to Miss Mercer there. She'll see that you get +along."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not until he had gone did Bessie open her hand and look at the crumpled +bill that Paw Hoover had left in it. And then, to her amazed delight, +she saw that it was a five-dollar note—more money than she had ever +had. She showed it to Wanaka.</p> + +<p>"I oughtn't to take it," she said. "He thinks I burned his woodshed +and—"</p> + +<p>"But you know you didn't, and I think maybe he knows it, too," said +Wanaka, "You needn't think anything of taking that money. You've worked +hard enough to earn a lot more than that. Now I've found out that what +you told me was just right. I knew it all the time, but I made sure. +Bessie, how would you and Zara like to stay with us, and come back to +the city when we go? I'll be able to find some way to look after you. +You can find work to do that won't be so hard, and you can study, too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'd love that, Wanaka," For the first time Bessie used the name +freely. "And can we be Camp Fire Girls?"</p> + +<p>"You certainly can," said Wanaka.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>AN ALARM IN THE NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>Bessie, overjoyed by Paw Hoover's kindness and his promise to do nothing +toward having her taken back to Hedgeville, spent the rest of the +afternoon happily. Indeed, she was happier than she could ever remember +having been before. But her joy was dashed when, a little while before +supper, she came upon Zara, crying bitterly. Zara had gone off by +herself, and Bessie, going to the spring for water, came upon her.</p> + +<p>"Why, Zara, whatever is the matter? We're all right now," cried Bessie.</p> + +<p>"I—I know that, Bessie! But I'm so worried about my father!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Zara, what a selfish little beast I am! I was so glad to think that +I wasn't going to be taken back that I forgot all about him. But cheer +up! I'm sure he's done nothing wrong, and I'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> talk to Wanaka, and see +if there isn't something I can do or that she can do. I believe she can +do anything if she makes up her mind she will."</p> + +<p>"Did she hear anything about him in Hedgeville?"</p> + +<p>"Only what we knew before, Zara, that they'd come for him and taken him +to the city. But Wanaka said she was sure that it is only gossip, and +that he needn't be afraid. And we're going to the city, too, you know, +so you'll be able to see him."</p> + +<p>"Will I, Bessie? Then that won't be so bad. If I could only talk to him +I'm sure it would seem better. And you must be right—they can't punish +a man when he hasn't done anything wrong, can they?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Bessie, laughing.</p> + +<p>"In the country where we came from they do, sometimes," said Zara, +thoughtfully. "My father has told me about things like that."</p> + +<p>"In Italy, Zara?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes. We're not Italians, really, but that's where we lived."</p> + +<p>"But you don't remember anything about that, do you?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I've been told all about it. We used to live in a white house, +on a hillside. And there were lemon trees and olive trees growing there, +and all sorts of beautiful things. And you could look out over the blue +sea, and see the boats sailing, and away off there was a great +mountain."</p> + +<p>"I should think you'd want to go back there, Zara. It must have been +beautiful."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've always wanted to see that place, Bessie. Sometimes, my father +says, the mountain, would smoke, and fire would come out of it, and the +ground would shake. But it never hurt the place where we lived."</p> + +<p>"That must have been a volcano, Zara."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's what he used to call it."</p> + +<p>"Why did you come over here?"</p> + +<p>"Because my father was always afraid over there. There were some bad men +who hated him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> and he said that if he stayed there they would hurt him. +And he heard that over here everyone was welcome, and one man was as +good as another. But he wasn't, or they never seemed to think so, if he +was."</p> + +<p>Bessie looked very thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"This is the finest country in the world, Zara," she said. "I've heard +that, and I've read it in books, too. But I guess that things go wrong +here sometimes. You see, it's this way. Just think of Jake Hoover."</p> + +<p>"But I don't want to think about him! I want to forget him!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Jake Hoover explains what I'm thinking about. He's an American, +but that isn't the reason he was so mean to us. He'd be mean anywhere, +no matter whether he was an American or what. He just can't help it. And +I think he'll get over it, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"There you go, Bessie! He's made all this trouble for you, and you're +standing up for him already."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, I'm not. But what trouble has he made for me, Zara? I'm going to be +happier than I ever was back there in Hedgeville—and if it hadn't been +for him I'd still be there, and I'd be chopping wood or something right +now."</p> + +<p>"But he didn't mean to make you happier, Bessie. He thought he could get +you punished for something he'd done."</p> + +<p>"Well, I wasn't, so why should I be angry at him, Zara? Even if he did +mean to be nasty, he wasn't."</p> + +<p>"But suppose he'd hurt you some way, without meaning to at all? Would +you be angry at him then for hurting you, when he didn't mean to do it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not—just because he didn't mean to."</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said Zara, triumphantly, "you ought to be angry now, if +it's what one means to do, and not what one does that counts. I would +be."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bessie laughed. For once Zara seemed to have trapped her and beaten her +in an argument.</p> + +<p>"But I don't like to be angry, and to feel revengeful," she said. "It +hurts me more than it does the other person. When anything happens that +isn't nice it only bothers you as long as you keep on thinking about it, +Zara. Suppose someone threw a stone at you, and hit you?"</p> + +<p>"It would hurt me—and I'd want to throw it back."</p> + +<p>"But then suppose the stone was thrown, and it didn't hit you, and you +didn't even know it had been thrown, you wouldn't be angry then, would +you?"</p> + +<p>"Why, how could I be, Bessie, if I didn't know anything about it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you see how it worked out, Zara? If you refuse to notice +the mean things people do when they don't succeed in hurting you, it's +just as if you didn't know anything about it, isn't it? And if the stone +was thrown, and you saw it, and knew who'd thrown it, you'd be +angry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>—but you could get over it by just making up your mind to forget +it, and acting as if they'd never done it at all."</p> + +<p>Zara didn't answer for a minute. She was thinking that over.</p> + +<p>"I guess you're right, Bessie," she said, finally. "That <i>is</i> the best +way to do. When I get angry I get all hot inside, and I feel dreadful. +I'm going to try not to lose my temper any more."</p> + +<p>"You'll be a lot happier if you do that," said Bessie. "Now, let's get +back to the fire. I've got this water, and they must be waiting for it."</p> + +<p>So Zara, happy again, and laughing now, helped Bessie with the pail of +water, and they went back to the fire together. Everyone was busy, each +with some appointed task. Two of the girls were spreading knives and +forks, and laying out cups and dishes in a great circle near the water, +since all the meals were eaten Indian fashion, sitting on the ground. +Others, who had been fishing, were displaying their catch, and cleaning +the gleaming trout, soon to be cooked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> with crisp bacon, and to form the +chief dish of the evening meal.</p> + +<p>Wanaka smiled at them as the two girls appeared with the water.</p> + +<p>"You're making a good start as Camp Fire Girls," she told them. "We all +try to help. Later on, if you like, I'll give you a lesson in cooking."</p> + +<p>Bessie smiled, but said nothing. And presently she called to Zara and +disappeared with her in the woods.</p> + +<p>"I want to give them a surprise, Zara," she said. "There's quite a long +time yet before supper. And I saw an apple tree when I was walking +through the woods. Let's go and get some of them."</p> + +<p>Zara was quite willing, and in half an hour or less the two girls were +back in camp with a good load of apples. Then Bessie spoke to Wanaka +when the Guardian was alone for the moment.</p> + +<p>"May I have some flour and sugar?" she said.</p> + +<p>Wanaka looked at her curiously, but gave her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> what she wanted. And +Bessie, finding a smooth white board, was soon busy rolling pastry. Then +when she had made a great deep dish pie, and filled it with the apples, +which Zara, meanwhile, had pared and cut, Bessie set to work on what was +the most difficult part of her task. First she dug out a hole in the +ground and made a fire, small, but very hot, and, in a short time, with +the aid of two flat stones, she had constructed a practicable outdoor +oven, in which the heat of the embers and cinders was retained by +shutting out the air with earth. Then the pie was put in and covered at +once, so that no heat could escape, and Bessie, saying nothing about +what she had done, went back to help the others.</p> + +<p>Obeying the unwritten rule of the Camp Fire, which allows the girls to +work out their ideas unaided if they possibly can, so as to encourage +self-reliance and independence, Wanaka did not ask her what she had +done. But when the meal was over Bessie slipped away, while Wanaka was +serving out some preserves, and returned in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> moment, bearing her +pie—nobly browned, with crisp, flaky crust.</p> + +<p>"I've only made one pie like this before and I never used that sort of +an oven," she said, shyly. "So I don't know if it's very good. But I +thought I would try it."</p> + +<p>Bessie, however, need not have worried about the quality of that pie. +The rapidity with which it disappeared was the best possible evidence of +its goodness, and Wanaka commended her before all the girls, who were +willing enough to join the leader in singing Bessie's praises.</p> + +<p>"My, but that was good!" said Minnehaha. "I wish I could make a pie like +that! My pastry is always heavy. Will you show me how when we get home, +Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I will!" promised Bessie.</p> + +<p>And that night, after a spell of singing and story telling about the +great fire on the beach, Bessie and Zara went to bed with thoughts very +different from those they had had the night before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Aren't they good to us, Zara?" said Bessie.</p> + +<p>"They're simply wonderful," said Zara, with shining eyes. "And Wanaka +talked to me about my father. She says she has a friend in the city +who's a lawyer, and that as soon as we get back she'll speak to him, and +get him to see that he is fairly treated. I feel ever so much better."</p> + +<p>The voices of the girls all about them, laughing and singing as they +made ready for the night, and the kindly words of Wanaka, made a great +contrast to their loneliness of the night before. Then everything had +seemed black and dismal. They hadn't known what they were going to do, +or what was to happen to them; they had been hungry and tired, and with +no prospect of breakfast when they got up. But now they had more +friends, gained in one wonderful day, than they had made before in all +their lives, and Wanaka had promised to see that in the future there +should always be someone to guide them and see that no one abused them +any more. No wonder that they looked on the bright camp fire, symbol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> of +all the happiness that had come to them, with happy eyes. And they +listened in delight as the girls gathered, just before they went to bed, +and sang the good-night song:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Lay me to sleep in sheltering flame"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Lay me to sleep in sheltering flame,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Oh, Master of the Hidden Fire.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Wash pure my heart and cleanse for me</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">My soul's desire.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In flame of sunrise bathe my mind,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Oh, Master of the Hidden Fire,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That when I wake, clear eyed may be</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">My soul's desire."</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>And so, with the flames' light flickering before them, Bessie and Zara +went to sleep sure of happiness and companionship when they awoke in the +morning, with the first rays of the rising sun shining into the tents.</p> + +<p>But Bessie was to awake before that. She lay near the door of one of the +tents, which she shared with Zara, Minnehaha, and two other girls, and +she awoke suddenly, coming at once to full consciousness, as anyone who +had been brought up with Maw Hoover to wake her every morning was pretty +certain to do at any unusual sound. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> a moment, so deep was the +silence, she thought that she had been deceived. In the distance an owl +called; much nearer, there was an answer. A light wind rustled in the +trees, stirring the leaves gently as it moved. Looking out, she saw that +a faint, silvery sheen still bathed the ground outside, showing that the +moon, which had risen late, was not yet set.</p> + +<p>And then the sound that had awakened her came again—a curious, hoarse +call, given in imitation of a whip-poor-will, but badly done. No bird +had uttered that cry, and Bessie, country bred, listening intently, knew +it. Silently she rose and slipped on moccasins that belonged to +Minnehaha, and a dress. And then, making no more noise than a cat would +have done, she crept to the opening in the front of the tent and peeped +out. For Bessie had recognized the author of that imitation of the +bird's call, and she knew that there was mischief afoot.</p> + +<p>Still intent on keeping the alarm she felt from the others, until she +knew whether there was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> real cause for it, Bessie slipped out of the +tent and into the shadow of the trees. The camp fire still burned, +flickering in the darkness, and making great, weird shadows, as the +light fell upon the trees. It had been built up and banked before the +camp went to sleep, and in the morning it would still be burning, +although faintly, ready for the first careful attentions of the +appointed Wood-Gatherers, whose duty it was to see that the fire did not +die.</p> + +<p>Bessie, fearing that she might be spied upon, had to keep in the +darkness, and she twisted and turned from the trunk of one tree to the +next, bending over close to the ground when she had to cross an open +space where firelight or moonbeams might reveal her to watching eyes.</p> + +<p>And now and again, crudely given, as crudely answered, from further down +the lake, the call of the mock whip-poor-will guided her in her quest. +And Bessie, plucking up all the courage she could muster, still trembled +slightly, more from nervousness than from actual fear, for she knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +whose voice it was that was imitating the plaintive bird—Jake Hoover's!</p> + +<p>All Hedgeville, as she well knew, must know that this camp of girls was +at the lake—and it would be just like Jake and some of the bullying, +reckless crowd of boys that he made his chief friends, to think that it +would be a fine joke to play some tricks on the sleeping camp, and alarm +these girls who were trying to enjoy themselves with outdoor life, just +as if they had been boys. Bessie, setting her teeth, determined that +they shouldn't succeed, that in some fashion she would turn the joke on +them.</p> + +<p>Gradually she drew nearer to the sound, and she made up her mind, +thankfully, that she had waked in time, before all the jokers had +arrived. She had snatched up a sheet as she left the camp, without a +clear idea of what she meant to do with it, but now, as she stole among +the trees, a dim figure, flitting from one dark place to the next, a +wild idea formed in her mind.</p> + +<p>It was risky—but Bessie was not timid. If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> Jake Hoover caught +her—well, she knew what that would mean. He would not spare her, as his +father had done, and there would be trouble for her, and for Zara and, +worst of all, for Wanaka and her other new friends. And there was +another danger. It might not, after all, be Jake Hoover that she heard.</p> + +<p>At the Hoovers' she had heard stories of tramps and wandering gypsies, +and she had been warned, whenever there was a report that any such +vagrants were about, to keep off the roads and stay near the house. +Jake, after all, could only betray her to his mother and the others who +were after her, but a tramp or a gypsy might do far worse than that. +But, though the solitude and the darkness were enough to frighten people +older and stronger than Bessie, she kept on. And at last, before her, +she heard footsteps tramping down the dry leaves and branches, and she +heard a murmur of voices, too.</p> + +<p>At once part of her fears fled, for it was Jake Hoover's voice that came +to her ears.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ha-ha!" he was laughing. "Gee, it took you fellers long enough to git +here. But, say, boys, won't we have some fun with them girls? Actin' up +just like they was boys, sleepin' out in the woods an' pretendin' +they're as brave as anythin'. I saw that one that bought a lot of truck +from Paw to-day. Bet she'll scream as loud as any of them."</p> + +<p>"Bet she will," said another voice. "Say, Jake, we won't hurt 'em none, +will we? Jest throw a scare into them, like?"</p> + +<p>"Sure, that's all!"</p> + +<p>"'Cause I wouldn't want to hurt 'em none. They're jest girls, after +all."</p> + +<p>"All we'll do will be just to get around them tents an' start yellin' +all at once—an' I'll bet they'll come a-runnin'. Ha-ha!"</p> + +<p>But the laugh was frozen on his lips. As he spoke he looked behind him, +warned by a faint sound—and his hair rose. For waving its arms wildly, +a figure, all in white, was running toward him. As it came it made +strange, unearthly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> sounds—horrid noises, such as Jake had never heard.</p> + +<p>For a moment Jake and the two boys with him stood rooted to the spot, +paralyzed with fear. Then they yelled together, and, the sound of their +own voices seeming to release their imprisoned feet, turned and ran +wildly, not knowing where they were going.</p> + +<p>They tripped over roots, fell, then stumbled to their feet again, and +continued their flight, shrieking. And behind them the ghost, weak with +laughter, collapsed on a fallen tree trunk and laughed silently as they +fled—for the ghost that had frightened these bold raiders was only +Bessie, wrapped in the sheet she had so luckily snatched up when they +had given her the alarm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A PIECE OF BAD LUCK</h3> + + +<p>Bessie laughed until she cried as the bold raiders who had been so sure +that they could scare the camp of girls dashed madly off. She could hear +them long after they had vanished from sight, crying out in their fear, +plunging among the trees, but gradually the sounds grew fainter, and +Bessie, sure that they need fear no more disturbance from Jake Hoover +and his brave companions, set out on her return to the camp. This time +she had no need of the precautions she had taken as she crept in the +direction of the disturbing sounds, and she made no effort to conceal +herself.</p> + +<p>Wanaka was outside, looking about anxiously, when Bessie came again into +the firelight. Always a light sleeper, and especially so when she was +responsible for the safety of the girls who were in her charge, Eleanor +Mercer had waked at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> first of Bessie's terrifying shrieks, almost as +frightened, for the moment, as Jake himself. She had risen at once, and +a glance in the various tents, where the girls still lay sound asleep, +showed her that Bessie alone was missing.</p> + +<p>Naturally enough, she could not guess the meaning of the outcry. The +cries of the frightened jokers puzzled her, and there was nothing about +the din that Bessie made to enable the Guardian to recognize the voice +of her newest recruit. But she had realized, too, that to go out in the +woods in search of Bessie and of an explanation, was not likely to do +much good. Her duty, too, was with the girls who remained, and she could +only wait, wondering. She greeted Bessie with a glad cry when she saw +her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "But what are you doing with that +sheet? And—why, you're crying!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not—really," said Bessie. "But I laughed so hard that it made the +tears come—that's all, Wanaka."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then she told her story, and Wanaka had to laugh, too. She was greatly +relieved.</p> + +<p>"But you ought to have called me, Bessie," she said. "That's why I'm +here, you know—to look out for things when there seems to be any +danger, or anything you girls don't quite understand."</p> + +<p>"But I wasn't quite sure, you see," said Bessie. "And if it had really +been a bird, it would have been awfully foolish to wake everyone up just +because I thought I heard something."</p> + +<p>"You'll be able to win a lot of honors easily, Bessie, when you come +into the Camp Fire. That's one of the things the girls do—they learn +the calls of the birds, and to describe them and all sorts of things +about the trees and the flowers. You must know a lot of them already."</p> + +<p>"I guess everyone does who's lived in the country. Some people can +imitate a bird so it would almost fool another bird—but not Jake. He's +stupid."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, and like most people who try to frighten others, he's a coward, +too, Bessie. He showed that to-night."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of him any more. If I'd known before how easy it was to +frighten him I'd have done it. Then he'd have let me alone, probably."</p> + +<p>"Well, you go to bed now, and get to sleep again. And try to forget +about Jake and all the other people who have been unkind to you. +Remember that you're safe with us now. We'll look after you."</p> + +<p>"I know that, and I can't tell you how good it makes me feel."</p> + +<p>Wanaka laughed then, to herself.</p> + +<p>"I say we'll look after you," she said, still smiling. "But so far it +looks more as if you were going to look after us. You saved Minnehaha in +the lake—and to-night you saved all the girls from being frightened. +But we'll have to begin doing our share before long."</p> + +<p>"As if you hadn't done a lot more for me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> already than I'll ever be able +to repay!" said Bessie. "And I know it, too. Please be sure of that. +Good-night."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Bessie."</p> + +<p>In the morning Bessie and Zara woke with the sun shining in their faces, +and for a long minute they lay quiet, staring out at the dancing water, +and trying to realize all that happened since they had said good-bye to +Hedgeville.</p> + +<p>"Just think, Zara, it's only the day before yesterday that all those +things happened, and it seems like ever so long to me."</p> + +<p>"It does to me, too, Bessie. But I'll be glad when we get away from +here. It's awfully close."</p> + +<p>"And, Zara, Jake Hoover was around here last night!"</p> + +<p>"Does he know you're here? Was that why he came?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Bessie, laughing again at the memory of the ghost. And she +told Zara what had happened.</p> + +<p>"He won't come around again at night, but it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> would be just like him to +snoop around here in the daytime, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"I hadn't thought of that, Zara. But he might. If he stops to think and +realizes that someone turned his own trick against him, or if he tells +someone, and they laugh at him, he'll want to get even. I'd certainly +hate to have him see one of us."</p> + +<p>But their fears were groundless. For, as soon as breakfast was over, +Wanaka called all the girls together.</p> + +<p>"We're going to move," she said. "I know we meant to stay here longer, +but Bessie and Zara will be happier if we're somewhere else. So we will +go on to-day, instead of waiting. And I've a pleasant surprise for you, +too, I think. No, I won't tell you about it now. You'll have to wait +until you see it. Hurry up and clean camp now, and begin packing. We +want to start as soon as we can."</p> + +<p>Bessie was amazed to see how complete the arrangements for packing were. +Everything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> seemed to have its place, and to be so made that it could go +into the smallest space imaginable. The tents were taken down, divided +into single sections that were not at all heavy, and everything else had +been made on the same plan.</p> + +<p>"But how about the canoes?" asked Bessie. "We can't carry those with us, +can we?"</p> + +<p>"I've often carried one over a portage—a short walk from one lake to +the next in the woods," said Minnehaha, laughing. "It's a lot easier +than it looks. Once you get it on your back, it balances so easily that +it isn't hard at all. And up in the woods the guides have boats that +they carry that way for miles, and they say they're easier to handle +than a heavy pack. But those boats are very light."</p> + +<p>"But we'll leave them here, anyhow," said another girl. "They don't +belong to us. They were just lent to us by some people from the city who +come here to camp every summer. They own this land, too, and they let us +use it."</p> + +<p>And then Bessie saw, as the first canoe was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> brought in, the clever +hiding-place that had been devised for the boats. They were dragged up, +and carried into the woods a little way, and there a couple of fallen +trees had been so arranged that they made a shelter for the canoes. A +few boards were spread between the trunks, and covered with earth and +branches so it seemed that shrubbery had grown up over the place where +the canoes lay.</p> + +<p>"In the winter, of course, the people that own them take them away where +they'll be safe. But they leave them out like that most of the summer. +Some of them come here quite often, and it would be a great nuisance to +have to drag the canoes along every time they come and go."</p> + +<p>Long before noon everything was ready, and Wanaka, who had gone away for +a time, returned.</p> + +<p>"You and Zara look so different that I don't believe anyone would +recognize either of you," she told Bessie. "You look just like the rest +of the girls. So, even if we should meet anyone who knows you, I think +you'd be safe enough."</p> + +<p>"Not if it was Maw Hoover," said Zara so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> earnestly that Wanaka laughed, +although she felt that there was something pathetic about Zara's fear of +the farmer's wife, too.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're not going to meet her, anyhow, Zara. And she'd never expect +to find you and Bessie among us, anyhow. We aren't going across the lake +and over to the main road. We're going right through the woods to the +next valley. It's going to be a long day's trip, but it's cool, and I +think a good long tramp will do us all good."</p> + +<p>"That's fine," said Bessie. "No one over there will know anything about +us. Is that why we made so many sandwiches and things like that—so that +we could eat our lunch on the way?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and we'll build a fire and have something hot, too. Now you can +watch us put out the fire."</p> + +<p>"I hate to see it go out," said Zara. "I love the fire."</p> + +<p>"We all do, but we must never leave a fire without someone to tend it. +Fire is a great servant, but we must use it properly. And a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +fire, even this one of ours, might start a bad blaze in the woods here +if we left it behind us."</p> + +<p>Bessie nodded wisely.</p> + +<p>"We had an awful bad fire here two or three years ago. It was just +before Zara came out here. Someone was out in the woods hunting, or +something like that, and they left a fire, and the wind came up and set +the trees on fire. It burned for three or four days, and all the men in +the town had to turn out to save some of the places near the woods."</p> + +<p>"Almost all the big fires in the forests start because someone is +careless just like that, Bessie. They don't mean any harm—but they +don't stop to think."</p> + +<p>Then all the girls gathered about the fire, and each in turn did her +part in stamping out the glowing embers. They sang as they did this +duty, and Bessie felt again the curious thrill that had stirred her when +she had heard the good-night song the evening before.</p> + +<p>"I know what it is that is so splendid about the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> Camp Fire Girls, +Zara," she said, suddenly. "They belong to one another, and they do +things together. That's what counts—that's why they look so happy. +We've never had anything to belong to, you and I, anything like this. +Don't you see what I mean?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do, Bessie. And that's what makes it seem so easy when they +work. They're doing things together, and each of them has something to +do at the same time that all the others are working, too."</p> + +<p>"Why, I just loved washing the dishes this morning," said Bessie, +smiling at the thought. "I never felt like that before, when Maw Hoover +was always at me to do them, so that I could hurry up and do something +else when I got through. And I did them faster here, too—much faster. +Just because I enjoyed it, and it seemed like the most natural thing to +do."</p> + +<p>"I always did feel that way, but then I only worked for myself and my +father," said Zara.</p> + +<p>Then the walk through the cool, green woods<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> began. The girls started +out in Indian file, but presently the trail broadened, so that they +could walk two or three abreast. It was not long before they came into +country that Bessie had never seen, well as she knew the woods near the +Hoover farmhouse.</p> + +<p>Wanaka, careful lest too steady a walk should tire the girls, called a +halt at least once an hour, and, when the trail led up hill, oftener. +And at each halt one girl or another, who had been detailed at the last +stop, reported on the birds and wild animals she had seen since the last +check, and, when she had done, all the others were called on to tell if +they had seen any that she had missed.</p> + +<p>"It's just like a game, isn't it?" said Zara. "I think it's great fun!"</p> + +<p>The halt for lunch was made after they had come out of the woods, by the +side of a clear spring. They were on a bluff, high above a winding +country road, with a path worn by the feet of thirsty passersby who knew +of the spring, and some thoughtful person had piped the water down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> to a +big trough where horses could drink. But they could not, from the place +where the fire had been made, see the road or the carriages.</p> + +<p>"I don't think anyone will come along looking for you," Wanaka told +Bessie, "but if we stay out of sight we'll surely be on the safe side."</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as they were about to sit down, Zara cried out.</p> + +<p>"My handkerchief!" she said. "It's gone—and I had it just before we +crossed the road. I must have dropped it there. I'll go back and see."</p> + +<p>"I'll go with you," cried Bessie, jumping up. But before she could move, +Zara, laughing, had dashed off, and Bessie dropped back to her place +with a smile.</p> + +<p>"She's as quick as a flash," she said. "She always could beat me in a +race. There's no use in my going after her."</p> + +<p>But, even as she spoke, a wild cry of terror reached their ears—that +and the sound of a man's coarse laughter. Bessie started to her feet, +her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> eyes staring in fright. And she led the rush of the whole party to +the edge of the bluff.</p> + +<p>Driving swiftly down the road away from Hedgeville was a runabout. And +in it Bessie saw Zara, held fast by a big man whose back she recognized +at once. It was Farmer Weeks!</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's Farmer Weeks!" she cried "He'll get them to give Zara to +him, and he'll beat her and treat her terribly."</p> + +<p>Despairingly she made to run after the disappearing horse. But Wanaka +checked her, gently.</p> + +<p>"We must be careful—and slow," she said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>A FRIEND IN NEED</h3> + + +<p>"But we must do something, really we must, Miss Eleanor!" cried Bessie. +"I must, I mean. Zara trusted me, and if I don't help her now, just +think of what will happen."</p> + +<p>"You must keep calm, Bessie, that's the first thing to think of. If you +let yourself get excited and worked up you won't help Zara, and you'll +only get into trouble yourself. You say she trusted you—now you must +trust me a little. Tell me, first, just what this man will do and if he +has any right at all to touch her."</p> + +<p>"Why, he's the meanest man in town, Wanaka! He really is—everyone says +so! None of the men would work for him in harvest time. They said he +worked them to death and wouldn't give them enough to eat."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but why should he pick Zara up that way and carry her off?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Because he wants to make her work for him. He's awfully rich, and Paw +Hoover said he'd lent money to so many men in the village and all around +that they had to do just what he told them, or he'd sell their land and +their horses and cattle. And he said he'd make the people at the +poor-farm bind Zara over to him and then she'd have to work for him +until she was twenty-one, just for her board."</p> + +<p>"That's pretty serious, Bessie. I'm sure he wouldn't be a good guardian, +but if he had such influence over the men, maybe they wouldn't stop to +think about that."</p> + +<p>She was silent for a minute, thinking hard.</p> + +<p>"Where was he going with her, Bessie? He seemed to be driving away from +Hedgeville."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he was. I suppose he was going over to Zebulon. That's the county +seat, and he goes over there quite often. Almost every time they hold +court, I guess. Paw Hoover said he was a mighty bad neighbor, always +getting into lawsuits."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I think I'd better go to Zebulon. If I talk to him, perhaps I can +make him give Zara up. How far is it, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"Only about two miles. But if you go, can't I go with you?"</p> + +<p>"I think I'd better go alone, Bessie. If he saw you, he might try to +take you back to the Hoovers, you know. No, I'll go alone. If it's only +two miles, it won't take me long to walk there, and I can get someone to +drive me back. Girls!"</p> + +<p>They crowded about her.</p> + +<p>"I'm going away for a little while. You are to stay here and wait for +me. And keep close together. I'll get back as soon as I can. And while +I'm gone you can clear up the mess we made with luncheon—when you've +finished it, I mean. Now, you'd better hurry up and eat it. I won't +wait."</p> + +<p>And the guardian hurried off, determined to rescue Zara from the +clutches of the old miser who was so anxious to make her work for him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +because he saw a chance to get a good deal for nothing, or almost +nothing. If the general opinion about Silas Weeks was anywhere near +true, it would cost him mighty little to satisfy himself that he was +keeping faith with the county and giving Zara, in return for her +services, good board, lodging, and clothing.</p> + +<p>Bessie watched Wanaka go off, and she tried to convince herself that +everything would be all right. But, strong as was the faith she already +had in Miss Mercer, she knew the ways of Silas Weeks too well to be +really confident. And she couldn't get rid of the feeling that she, and +no one else, was responsible for Zara. It was because of her that Zara +had come away, and Bessie felt that she should make sure, herself, that +Zara didn't have cause to regret the decision.</p> + +<p>And then, suddenly, too, another thought struck her. What if she had, +without intention, misled Miss Eleanor? Suppose Farmer Weeks didn't go +to Zebulon at all? It was possible, for Bessie remembered now that +three-quarters of a mile or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> so along the road was a crossroad that +would lead him, should he turn there, back to Hedgeville.</p> + +<p>With the thought Bessie could no longer remain still. She knew the +roads, and she determined that she must at least find out where Zara had +been taken. She might not be able to help her herself, but she could get +the news, the true news, for those who could. And, saying nothing to any +of the other girls, lest they should want to come with her, she slipped +off silently.</p> + +<p>She did not descend to the road. If one farmer from Hedgeville had +passed already, others might follow in his wake, and Bessie was fiercely +determined not to let anything check her or interfere with her until she +knew what had become of Zara.</p> + +<p>So, although she might have been able to travel faster by the road, +Bessie stayed above, and hurried along, making the best progress she +could, although the going was rough. She could see, without being seen. +If anyone who threatened her liberty came along, she could hide easily +enough behind a tree or a clump of bushes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the crossroad she hesitated. She wasn't sure that Farmer Weeks had +turned off. He might very well, as she had thought at first, have been +on his way to Zebulon.</p> + +<p>"What a stupid I am!" she thought in a moment, however. "Of course I +ought to take the crossroad! If he's gone to Zebulon Wanaka will find +him, and if he hasn't, he must have gone this way. If I turn off here, +there'll be someone after him, no matter which way he's gone."</p> + +<p>So, still keeping to the side of the road, she followed the pointer on +the signboard which said, "Hedgeville, six miles."</p> + +<p>About a mile and a half from the crossroads the road Bessie was now +following crossed a railroad, and as she neared that spot she moved as +carefully as she could, for a suspicion that gave her a ray of hope was +rising in her mind. At the railroad crossing there was a little +settlement and an inn that was very popular with automobilists. And +Bessie thought it was possible that Farmer Weeks might have stopped +there. Miser as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> was, he was fond of good food, and, since he was his +own cook most of the time when he was at home, he didn't get much of it +except when he was away, as he was now. Bessie had heard Maw Hoover +sneer at him more than once for the way he hinted for an invitation to +dinner or supper.</p> + +<p>"Old skinflint!" Bessie had heard Maw say. "I notice he has a way of +forgettin' anythin' he wants to tell Paw till jest before meal time. +Then he comes over post haste, and nothin'll do but Paw's got to stand +out there listenin' to him, when all he wants, really, is to have me +ring the bell, so's Paw'll have to ask him to stay."</p> + +<p>Even in her sorrow at Zara's plight, Bessie couldn't help laughing at +the remembrance of those times. But then the smoke of the inn came in +sight, and Bessie forgot everything but the need of caution. If Farmer +Weeks were there, he must on no account see her. That would end any +chance she had of helping Zara.</p> + +<p>She crept through a grove of trees that sur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>rounded the inn, to work up +behind it. In the rear, as she knew, were the stables, and the place +where the automobiles of the guests were kept. She wanted to get a look +at the horses and carriages that were tied in the shed for she would +know Farmer Weeks' rig anywhere, she was sure. But she had to be +careful, for the inn was a busy spot, and around the horses and the +autos, especially, were lots of men, working, smoking, loafing—and any +one of them, Bessie felt sure, was certain to question her if they saw +her prowling about.</p> + +<p>She got behind the shed, and then she had to work along to the end +farthest from the direction of the road she had left, since, at the near +end, a group of men were sitting down and eating their lunch. But, with +the shed full of horses making plenty of noise, to screen her movements, +that wasn't so difficult. Bessie managed it all right, and, when she got +to the far end, and had a chance to peep at the horses, her heart leaped +joyfully, for she saw within a few feet of her Farmer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> Weeks' horse and +buggy, the buggy sadly in need of paint and repairs, and the harness a +fair indication of the miserly nature of its owner, since it was patched +in a dozen places and tied together with string in a dozen others.</p> + +<p>"Well, I know that much, anyhow!" said Bessie to herself. "He didn't +take her to Zebulon, and he can't have done anything yet. I don't +believe he's got any right to keep her that way, not unless the people +at the poor-farm give him the right to take her. Zara hasn't done +anything—it isn't as if she'd been arrested, and were running away from +that."</p> + +<p>Suddenly Bessie started with alarm. She had drawn back among the trees +to hide while she tried to think out the best course of action for her +to take, and she heard someone moving quite close to her. But then, as +the one who had frightened her came into view, she smiled, for it was +only a small boy, very dirty and red of face, his white clothes soiled, +but looking thoroughly happy, just the same.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hello!" he said, staring at her.</p> + +<p>"Hello, yourself! Where did you come from? And wherever did you get all +that dirt on yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, in the woods," said the small boy. "Say, my name's Jack Roberts, +and my pop owns that hotel there. What's your name? Do you like +cherries? Can you climb a tree? Did you ever go out in the woods all +alone? Can you swim?"</p> + +<p>"My, my! One question at a time," laughed Bessie. "I love cherries. Have +you got some?"</p> + +<p>"Bet I have!" he said. The single answer to all his questions seemed to +satisfy him thoroughly, and he pulled out a great handful of cherries +from his straw hat, which he had been using for a basket.</p> + +<p>"Here you are," he said. "Say, do you know that other girl?"</p> + +<p>Bessie's heart leaped again. She felt that she had struck real luck at +last.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What other girl?" she asked, but even as she asked the question, her +heart sank again. He couldn't mean Zara. How could he possibly know +anything about her?</p> + +<p>"She was dressed just like you," he said. "And she had black hair and +her skin was dark. So she didn't look like you at all, you see. She was +crying, too. Say, aren't those cherries good? Why don't you eat them?"</p> + +<p>Bessie was so interested and excited when she heard him speak of Zara +that she forgot to eat the cherries. But she saw that she had hurt his +feelings by her neglect of his present, and she made amends at once. She +ate several of them, and smacked her lips.</p> + +<p>"They're splendid, Jack! They're the best I've eaten this year. I think +you're lucky to be able to get them."</p> + +<p>Jack was delighted.</p> + +<p>"You come here again later on and I'll give you some of the best pears +you ever tasted."</p> + +<p>"Tell me some more about the girl, Jack—the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> other girl, with black +hair. I think perhaps she's a friend of mine. Why was she crying?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know but she was. She was going on terrible. And she was with +her pop, I guess. So I s'pose she'd just been naughty, and he'd punished +her."</p> + +<p>"What makes you think that, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he came in, and he talked to my pop, and they both laughed and +looked at her. He had her by the hand, and she didn't say anything—she +just cried. And my pop says, 'Well, I've got just the place for her. Too +bad to send her off without her dinner, but when they're bad they've got +to be punished.' And he winked at her, but she didn't wink back."</p> + +<p>"What happened then, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"They put her up in my room. See, you can see it there, right over the +tree with the branch torn off. See that branch? It was torn off in that +storm yesterday."</p> + +<p>"And didn't she have any dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. My pop, he sent her some dinner,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> of course. He was just +joking. That's why he winked at her. He'd never let anyone go hungry, my +pop wouldn't!"</p> + +<p>"What sort of looking man brought her here, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he—he was just a man. He had white hair, and eye-glasses. Say, +that's his rig right there in the corner of the shed. I don't think much +of it, do you?"</p> + +<p>Bessie wondered what she should do. She liked Jack, and she was sure he +would do anything he could for her. But he was only a little boy, and it +seemed as if that would not be very much. But he was her only hope, and +she decided to trust him.</p> + +<p>"Jack," she said, soberly, "that is my friend, and I've been looking for +her. And that old man isn't her father at all. He wants to make her do +something horrid—something she doesn't want to do at all. And if she +doesn't get away, I'm afraid he will, too."</p> + +<p>"Say, I didn't like him when I first saw him!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> I'd hate to have him for +a pop. Why doesn't she run away?"</p> + +<p>"How can she, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"Huh, that's just as easy! Why, I never go down the stairs at all, +hardly, from my room. The branches of that big tree stick right over to +the window, and it's awful easy to climb down."</p> + +<p>"She could do that, too, Jack, but she doesn't know I'm here to help +her. She'd think there wasn't any use getting down."</p> + +<p>"Say, I'll climb up and tell her, if you like. Shall I?"</p> + +<p>"Will you, really, Jack? And tell her Bessie is waiting here for her? +Will you show her how to get down, and how to get here? And don't you +think someone will see her?"</p> + +<p>"No, an' if they do, they can't catch us. I've got a cave back here +that's the peachiest hiding-place you ever saw! I'll show you. They'll +never find you there. You just wait!"</p> + +<p>He was off like a flash, and Bessie, terribly anxious, but hopeful, too, +saw him run up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> tree like a squirrel. Then the branches hid him from +her, and she couldn't see what happened at the window. But before she +had waited more than two minutes, although it seemed like hours to poor +Bessie, Jack was in sight again, and behind him came Zara. She dropped +easily to the ground, and ran toward Bessie, behind Jack, like a scared +rabbit.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bessie, I'm so glad—so glad!" she cried. "I was so frightened—"</p> + +<p>From the inn there was a shout of anger.</p> + +<p>"Gee! He's found out already," cried Jack. "Come on! Don't be scared! +I'll show you where to hide so he'll never find you. Run—run, just as +fast as you can!"</p> + +<p>And they were off, while Farmer Weeks shouted behind them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE SHELTER OF THE WOODS</h3> + + +<p>For the first few minutes as they ran, the three of them were too busy +to talk, and they needed their breath too much to be anxious to say +anything. Jack, his little legs flying, covered ground at an astonishing +pace. Zara had always been a speedy runner, and now, clutching Bessie's +hand tightly, she helped her over some of the harder places.</p> + +<p>They were running right into the woods, as it seemed to Bessie, and more +than once, as she heard sounds of pursuit behind, she was frightened. It +seemed to her impossible that little Jack, mean he never so well, could +possibly enable them to escape from angry Farmer Weeks, who, for an old +man, seemed to be keeping up astonishingly well in the race. But soon +the noises behind them grew fainter, and it was not long before the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +ground began to rise sharply. Jack dropped to a walk, and the two girls, +panting from the hard run, were not slow to follow his example.</p> + +<p>"This is like playing Indians," said Jack, happily. "It's lots of +fun—much better than playing by myself. Here's my cave."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we'd better go on, Bessie?" panted Zara. "We're ahead +of them now, and they might find us here."</p> + +<p>"No, I think we'd better stop right here. Would you ever know there was +a cave here if Jack hadn't uncovered the entrance? And see, it's so wild +that we'd have to stick to the path, and we don't know the way. I'm +afraid they'd be sure to catch us sooner or later if we went on."</p> + +<p>"Listen!" said Jack. "They're getting nearer again!"</p> + +<p>And sure enough, they could hear the shouts of those who were following +them, and the noise was getting louder. Bessie hesitated no longer, but +pushed Zara before her into the cave. Jack followed them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + +<p>"See," he said, "I can pull those branches over, and they'll never see +the mouth of the cave. They'll think these are just bushes growing here. +Isn't it a bully place? I've played it was a smuggler's cave, and all +sorts of things, but it never was as good fun as this."</p> + +<p>"Just think that way," said Bessie to poor Zara, who was trembling like +a leaf. "When we get back with the girls, we'll think this is just good +fun—a fine adventure. So cheer up, we're safe now."</p> + +<p>"But how will we ever get back to them, even if they don't catch us +now?" asked Zara. "We'll be seen when we go out, won't we?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," said Bessie. "I'll bet Jack's thought about that, haven't +you, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"You bet!" he said, proudly. "They'll go by, and they'll keep on for a +long way, and then they'll think they've gone so far that a girl +couldn't ever have done it. And then they'll decide they've missed her, +and they'll turn around<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> and come back again, and hunt around near the +hotel. And when they do that—"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" said Bessie. "Here they come! Keep quiet, now, both of you! +Don't even breathe hard—and don't sneeze, whatever you do!"</p> + +<p>And then, lying down close to one another, at full length on the floor +of the cave, which Jack, for his play, had covered with soft branches of +evergreen trees, they peeped out through the leafy covering of the cave +while Farmer Weeks went by, snorting and puffing angrily, like some wild +animal, his eyes straight ahead. He never looked at the cave, or in +their direction, but the next man, one employed about the hotel, seemed +to have his eyes fixed directly on the branches. Bessie thought he +looked suspicious. She was sure that he had spied the device, and was +about to call to Farmer Weeks. But, when he was still a few feet off, he +tripped over a root, and sprawled on his face, and, if he had ever +really had any suspicions at all, the fall seemed to drive them from his +mind effectually. He picked himself up,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> laughing, since the fall had +not hurt him, and, after he had shouted back a warning to two men who +followed him, he went on, dusting himself off.</p> + +<p>The root had been good to the fugitives, sure enough, for the men who +followed kept their eyes on the ground, looking out for it, since they +had no desire to share the tumble of the man in front, and neither of +them so much as looked at the cave.</p> + +<p>"My, but they're brave men!" said Jack. "Three of them, all to chase one +little girl!"</p> + +<p>Zara, her fears somewhat relieved, laughed as she looked at her rescuer.</p> + +<p>"I'm bigger than you are," she said, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you're a girl," said Jack, in a lordly fashion that would have +made Bessie laugh if she hadn't been afraid of hurting his feelings. +"And I've rescued you, haven't I? Did you ever read about the Knights of +the Round Table, and how they rescued ladies in distress? I'm your +knight, and you ought to give me a knot of ribbon. They always do in the +books."</p> + +<p>Zara looked puzzled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Haven't you ever read about them?" said Jack, looking disappointed. But +then he turned to Bessie. "You have, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly have, Jack, and Zara shall, soon. They were brave men, +Zara, who lived centuries ago. And whenever they saw a lady who needed +help they gave it to her. Jack's quite right; he is like them."</p> + +<p>Jack flushed with pleasure. He had liked Bessie from the start and now +he adored her.</p> + +<p>"You're Zara's true knight, Jack, and she'll give you that ribbon from +her hair. But you mustn't let anyone see it, or tell about this +adventure, unless your father asks you. You mustn't say anything that +isn't true, but only answer questions. Don't offer to tell people, or +else you may be punished, because Farmer Weeks would say we were bad, +and that it was wrong to help us."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't believe him, and neither would my pop, I know that. He's the +greatest man that ever lived—greater than George Washington.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> And he'll +say I was just right if I tell him. I just know he will."</p> + +<p>"But maybe he and Farmer Weeks are friends, Jack. Then he'd think it was +all wrong, wouldn't he?"</p> + +<p>"My pop wouldn't have him for a friend, Bessie, don't you believe he +would! My pop would never lock a girl up in a room by herself without +her dinner, even if she'd been bad."</p> + +<p>"I wonder why they're so long coming back," said Bessie, finally. "Won't +they miss you, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"Not if I get back in time for supper. They don't care what I do when +it's a holiday, like this. They know I know my way around here, and +there aren't any wild animals. I wish there were!"</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you be afraid of them?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it! I'd have a gun, and I'd shoot them, just as quick as +quick!"</p> + +<p>"Even if they weren't trying to hurt you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, why shouldn't I? Everyone does, in all the books."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But we don't act the way people in books do, Jack. We can't. Things +aren't just that way. Books are to read, to learn things, and for fun, +but we've got to remember that real life's different."</p> + +<p>"Well, I bet if I saw a lion coming through that wood there I'd kill +him."</p> + +<p>"Suppose he ate you up first?" asked Zara.</p> + +<p>"He'd better not! My pop'd catch and make him sorry he ever did anything +like that! Say, it is taking them a long time to come back. Maybe +they've lost their way."</p> + +<p>"Could they around here?"</p> + +<p>"You bet they could! Lots of people do, from the hotel, and we have to +send out and find them, so's they don't have to stay out all night. Say, +did you hear something just then?"</p> + +<p>They listened attentively, and presently Zara keen ears detected a +sound.</p> + +<p>"There's someone coming," she said. "Listen! You can hear them quite +plainly now."</p> + +<p>They were quiet for a minute.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They must be quite close," said Zara, then. "We heard them much further +off than that when they were coming after us. I wonder why they got so +near before we heard them this time?"</p> + +<p>"That's easily explained, Zara," said Bessie. "When they were going the +wind was behind them. Now it's in front of them. And they were going up +hill, too, so there may have been an echo, because they were shouting +toward the rocks upon the hill. Now that's changed, too."</p> + +<p>"Say, you're a regular scout!" said Jack approvingly. "<i>I</i> knew all +that, but I didn't suppose girls knew things like that. Say, when I get +old enough I'm going to be a Boy Scout. That'll be fine, won't it? I'll +have a uniform, and a badge, and everything."</p> + +<p>"Splendid, Jack! We're going to be Camp Fire Girls, and we'll have +rings, and badges, too."</p> + +<p>"What are Camp Fire Girls? Are they like the Boy Scouts?"</p> + +<p>"Something like them, Jack. Sometime, when I know more about them, I'll +come back and tell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> you all about it. I know it's nice—but I don't +really know much more than that yet."</p> + +<p>Then they had to be still again, for the voices of the returning hunters +were very plain. They could hear Farmer Weeks, loud and angry, in the +lead.</p> + +<p>"Ain't it the beatin'est thing you ever heard of?" he was asking one of +his companions. "How do you guess that little varmint ever got away?"</p> + +<p>"Better give it up as a bad job, old hayseed," said another voice. +"She's too slick for you—and I can't say I'm sorry, either. Way you've +been goin' on here makes me think anyone'd be glad to dig out and run +away from a chance to work for you."</p> + +<p>"Any lazy good-for-nothing like you would—yes," said Farmer Weeks, +enraged by the taunt. "I make anyone that gits my pay or my vittles +work—an' why shouldn't they? If you'd gone on, like I wanted you to, +we'd have caught her."</p> + +<p>"We ain't workin' for you, an' we never will,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> neither," said the other +man, laughing. "Better be careful how you start callin' us names, I can +tell you. If you ain't you may go home with a few of them whiskers of +your'n pulled out."</p> + +<p>"You shut your trap!"</p> + +<p>"Sure! I'd rather hear you talk, anyhow. You're so elegant and refined +like. Makes me sorry I never went to collidge, so's I could talk that +way, too."</p> + +<p>They couldn't make out what Farmer Weeks replied to that. He was so +angry that he just mumbled his words, and didn't get them out properly. +Zara was smiling, her eyes shining. But then the old farmer's voice rose +loud and clear again, just as he passed the cave.</p> + +<p>"I'll git her yet," he said, vindictively. "I know what she's done, all +right. She's gone traipsin' off with that passel of gals that Paw Hoover +sold his garden truck to yesterday. I heard 'em laughin' and chatterin' +back there on the road where I found her. She'll go runnin' back to +'em—and I'll show 'em, I will!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Aw, you're all talk and no do," said the other man, contemptuously. +"You talk big, but you don't do a thing."</p> + +<p>"I'll have the law on 'em. That gal's as good as mine for the time till +she's twenty-one, an' I'll show 'em whether they can run off that way +with a man's property. Guess even a farmer's got some rights—an' I can +afford to pay for lawin' when I need it done."</p> + +<p>"I s'pose you can afford to pay us for runnin' off on this wild goose +chase for you, then? Hey?"</p> + +<p>"Not a cent—not a cent!" they heard Farmer Weeks say, angrily. "I ain't +a-goin' to give none of my good money that I worked for to any low-down +shirkers like you—hey, what are you doin' there, tryin' to trip me up?"</p> + +<p>A chorus of laughter greeted his indignant question, but he seemed to +take the hint, for the fugitives in the cave heard no more talk from +him, although for some time after that the sounds in the direction the +pursuers had taken on their return to the inn were plain enough.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<p>When the last sounds had died away, and they were quite sure that they +were safe, for the time, at least, Bessie got up.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we follow this trail right up the way they went?" Bessie asked +Jack. "Where will it bring us?"</p> + +<p>"To the top of the mountain," said Jack. "But if you want to go off that +way I'll walk a way with you, and show you where you can strike off and +come to another trail that will bring you out on the main road to +Zebulon."</p> + +<p>"That'll be fine, Jack. If you'll do that, you'll help us ever so much, +and we'll be able to get along splendidly."</p> + +<p>"We'd better start," said Zara, nervously. "I want to get away as soon +as ever I can. Don't you, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do, Zara. I'm just as afraid of having Farmer Weeks catch us +as you are. If he found me he'd take me back to Maw Hoover, I know. And +she'd be awfully angry with me."</p> + +<p>"I'm all ready to start whenever you are," an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>nounced Jack. "Come on. It +gets dark early in the woods, you know. They're mighty thick when you +get further up the mountain. But if you walk along fast you'll get out +of them long before it's really dark."</p> + +<p>So they started off. Little Jack seemed to be a thorough woodsman and to +know almost every stick and stone in the path. And presently they came +to a blazed tree—a tree from which a strip of bark had been cut with a +blow from an axe.</p> + +<p>"That's my mark. I made it myself," said Jack, proudly. "Here's where we +leave this trail. Be careful now. Look where I put my feet, and come +this same way."</p> + +<p>Then he struck off the trail, and into the deep woods themselves where +the moss and the carpet of dead leaves deadened their footsteps. +Although the sun was still high, the trees were so thick that the light +that came down to them was that of twilight, and Zara shuddered.</p> + +<p>"I'd hate to be lost in these woods," she said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then, abruptly, they were on another trail. Jack had been a true guide.</p> + +<p>"You can't lose your way now," he said. "Keep to the trail and go +straight ahead."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Jack," said Bessie. "You're just as true and brave as any of +the knights you ever read about, and if you keep on like this you'll be +a great man when you grow up—as great as your father. Good-bye!"</p> + +<p>"Good-bye and thank you ever so much," called Zara.</p> + +<p>"Come again!" said Jack, and stood there until they were out of sight.</p> + +<p>It was not long before they came out near the main road, and now Zara +gave a joyful cry.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad to be here!" she exclaimed. "Those woods frightened me, +Bessie. They were so dark and gloomy. And it's so good to see the sun +again, and the fields and the blue sky!"</p> + +<p>Bessie looked about her curiously as she strove to get her bearings. +Then her face cleared.</p> + +<p>"I know where we are now," she said. "We're<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> still quite a little +distance from where we stopped for lunch and Farmer Weeks got hold of +you, Zara. We'll have to go up the road. You see, it brought us quite a +little out of our direct way—going back in the woods as we did. But it +was worth it—to get away from Farmer Weeks."</p> + +<p>"I should think it was!" said Zara. "I'd walk on my hands for a mile to +be free from him. He was awful. He drove up just as I got down to the +road, and as soon as I saw him I started to run. But I was so frightened +that my knees shook, and he jumped out and caught me."</p> + +<p>"What did he say to you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, everything! He said he could have me put in prison for running +away, and he asked me where you were, but I wouldn't say a thing. I +wouldn't even answer him when he asked me if I'd seen you. And he said +that when I came to work for him, he'd see that I got over my laziness +and my notions."</p> + +<p>"Well, you're free of him now, Zara. Oh!"</p> + +<p>"What is it, Bessie?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Zara, don't you remember what he said? That he'd find us through the +Camp Fire Girls? He knows about them! If we go right back to them now, +we may be walking right into his arms. Oh, how I wish I could get hold +of Miss Eleanor—of Wanaka!"</p> + +<p>They stared at one another in consternation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A CLOSE SHAVE</h3> + + +<p>"I never thought of that, Bessie! Do you suppose he'd really go after +the girls and look for us there?"</p> + +<p>"You could hear how mad he was, Zara. I think he'd do anything he could +to get even with you for running away like that. It made him look +foolish before all those men and it'll be a long time before folks let +him forget how he was fooled by a girl."</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do?"</p> + +<p>"I'm trying to think. If I could get word to Miss Eleanor, she'd know +what to tell us, I'm sure. I'm afraid she'll be wondering what's become +of me—and maybe she'll think I just ran away, and think I was wrong to +do it."</p> + +<p>"But she'll understand when you tell her about it, Bessie, and if you +hadn't come I never would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> have got away by myself. I'd have been afraid +even to try, if there'd been a chance."</p> + +<p>"The worst part of it is that if Farmer Weeks really has any right to +keep you, or if you were wrong to run away, it might get Miss Eleanor +into trouble if they could find out that she's been helping you to get +away."</p> + +<p>They were walking along the road, but now Bessie, who had forgotten the +need of caution in her consternation at the thought of the new plight +they faced, pulled Zara after her into the bushes beside the highway.</p> + +<p>"I heard wheels behind us," she explained. "We mustn't take any +chances."</p> + +<p>They stopped to let the wagon they had heard pass by, but as it came +along Bessie cried out suddenly.</p> + +<p>"That's Paw Hoover!" she said. "And I'm going to speak to him, and ask +him what he thinks we ought to do. I'm sure he'll give us good advice, +and that he's friendly to us."</p> + +<p>She hailed him, and the old farmer, mightily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> surprised at the sound of +her voice, pulled up his horses.</p> + +<p>"Whoa!" he shouted. "Well, Bessie! Turning up again like a bad penny. +What's the matter now?"</p> + +<p>Breathlessly Bessie told him what had happened, and of Zara's escape +from Farmer Weeks, while Zara interrupted constantly to supply some +detail her chum had forgotten.</p> + +<p>"Well, by gravy, I dunno what to say!" said Paw Hoover, scratching his +head and looking at them with puzzled eyes. "I don't like Silas +Weeks—never did! I'd hate to have a girl of mine bound over to +him—that I would! But these lawyers beat me! I ain't never had no truck +with them."</p> + +<p>"Will the law make Zara go to him, Paw?" asked Bessie.</p> + +<p>"I dunno, Bessie—I declare I dunno!" he answered, slowly. "He seems +almighty anxious to get hold of her—an' I declare I dunno why. Seems +like there must be lots of other girls over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> there at the poor-farm he +could take if he's so powerful anxious, all of a sudden, to have a girl +to work for him. I did hear say, though, that he'd got some sort of a +paper signed by the judge—an' if that's so, there ain't no tellin' what +he can do. Made him her gardeen, I guess, whatever that is."</p> + +<p>"But Zara doesn't need a guardian! She's got her father," said Bessie.</p> + +<p>Paw shook his head. He looked as if he didn't think much of the sort of +guardianship Zara's father would give her. He was a good, just man, but +he shared the Hedgeville prejudice against the foreigner.</p> + +<p>"I reckon you're right about not wantin' to get those young ladies I saw +you with mixed up with Silas, Bessie," he went on, reflectively. "Too +bad you can't get hold of that Miss Mercer. She's as bright as a button, +she is. Now, if she were here, she'd find a way out of this hole before +you could say Jack Robinson!"</p> + +<p>"I believe she could, too," said Bessie. "If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> you'd seen the way she +started out after Farmer Weeks when I told her I thought he must have +gone to Zebulon!"</p> + +<p>"Zebulon? Was she a goin' there? Then maybe she ain't come back yet, an' +we could meet her on the way. Eh?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm afraid she must have gone back to the girls long ago," said +Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Well, you jump in behind there, and get under cover. Ain't no one goin' +to look in—you'll be snug there, if it is a mite hot. An' I'll just +drive along an' see if I can't meet your Miss Mercer. Then we'll know +what to do. An' I'll spell it over, an' maybe I'll hit on some way to +help you out myself, even if we don't meet her. Like as not I'll come +across Silas Weeks, too, but he'll never suspicion that you're in here +with me. Ha! Ha! Not in a million years, he won't. No, sir!"</p> + +<p>Bessie laughed, and she and Zara jumped in happily.</p> + +<p>"We've got ever so many friends, after all, Zara," she said, in a +whisper, as they drove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> along. "Look at Paw Hoover. He's been as nice as +he can be, and he thinks I set his place on fire, too! I'm sure things +will be all right. We'll find the girls again, and everything will be +just as we had planned."</p> + +<p>"Bessie, why do you suppose Farmer Weeks is so set on having me to work +for him? Doesn't that seem funny to you? I'm not as clever as lots of +girls he could get, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"I can't guess, Zara. But we'll find out sometime, never fear. Did he +and your father ever have anything to do with one another?"</p> + +<p>"They did just at first when we came out here. He came over to our place +in the evenings a good deal, and he and my father used to talk together. +But I never knew what they talked about."</p> + +<p>"Did they seem friendly?"</p> + +<p>"They were at first."</p> + +<p>"Then I should think he would have tried to help your father when there +was trouble."</p> + +<p>"No, no! They had an awful quarrel one night, and my father said he was +as bad as some of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> the people who hated him in Europe, and that he'd +have to look out for him. He said he was so rich that people would do +what he wanted, and after that he was afraid, and whenever he did any +work, he used to get me to stay around outside the house and tell him if +anyone came. And he always used to say that it was Farmer Weeks he +wanted me to look out for most."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's not much use in our thinking about it, Zara. The more we +puzzle our brains over it, the less we'll know about it, I'm afraid."</p> + +<p>"That's so, too, Bessie. I'm awfully sleepy. I can hardly keep my eyes +open."</p> + +<p>"Don't try. You've had a hard time to-day. Get to sleep if you can. I'll +wake you up if there's any need for it. I'm tired, but I'm not sleepy at +all, and this ride will rest me splendidly."</p> + +<p>Bessie peeped out now and then, and she kept her eyes open on the +lookout for the spring where Farmer Weeks had surprised Zara. But when +they passed it, although she looked out and lis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>tened hard, she couldn't +tell whether the Camp Fire Girls were on the bluff above the roadside or +not, and she was afraid to ask Paw Hoover to stop and let her find out +for certain, since there was the chance that Farmer Weeks might have +returned with the idea that Zara, having escaped his clutches, would +naturally have come back to the place of her capture.</p> + +<p>Bessie understood very well that, while Paw Hoover was proving himself a +true friend, and was evidently willing to do all he could for them, it +would never do for Silas Weeks or anyone else from Hedgeville to know +that he was befriending the two fugitives. She could guess what Maw +Hoover would say to him if she learned that he had helped her, and if +there was the chance that Farmer Weeks might get Miss Mercer into +trouble through her friendship for them, Paw Hoover was running the same +risk.</p> + +<p>Until after they reached the crossroads where Bessie had so fortunately +been led to take the right turn in her pursuit of Zara earlier in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +day, they did not pass or meet a single vehicle of any sort, nor even +anyone on foot. Zara slept soundly, and Bessie, soothed by the motion of +the wagon, was beginning to nod sleepily.</p> + +<p>She had almost dozed off when she was aroused sharply by a sudden shout +to his horses from Paw Hoover, and she heard him call out laughingly:</p> + +<p>"Hello, there, Miss Mercer! Didn't expect to see me again so soon, did +you? I'll bet I've got the surprise of your life for you."</p> + +<p>Then she heard Wanaka's clear voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Hoover! You don't mean—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do—and the pair of them, too," he said.</p> + +<p>"Well, really? Oh, I'm so relieved! I've been half wild about poor +little Zara. I wasn't so afraid for Bessie—she's better able to care +for herself."</p> + +<p>How proud Bessie was when she heard that!</p> + +<p>"Jump up, Miss Mercer. Then you can talk to Bessie. She's keeping under +cover, like the wise young one she is. I'm afraid there's still trouble +stirring, Miss Mercer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I know there is, Mr. Hoover," Eleanor answered, gravely. And then she +looked through to see Bessie, and in a moment they were in one another's +arms.</p> + +<p>"I've been to Zebulon, and I've found out lots of things," said Eleanor. +"Bessie, unless we're very careful that horrid old Mr. Weeks will get +hold of Zara again, and the law will help him to keep her. I don't know +how you got her away from him; you can tell me that later. But just now +I've thought of a way to beat him."</p> + +<p>"I knew you would," said Bessie.</p> + +<p>"The law is wrong, sometimes, I'm sure," said Eleanor. "And I'm just as +sure that this is one of the times. I've seen Mr. Weeks, and no one +would trust Zara to him. He'd treat her harshly, I know, and I don't +believe it would be easy to get him punished for it—around here, at +least."</p> + +<p>"You're right there, ma'am," said Paw Hoover. "Silas Weeks has got too +many mortgages around here not to be able to have his own way when he's +really sot on getting it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now, listen," said Eleanor quickly to Bessie. "I'm going to change all +our plans because I'm sure we can do more good than if we stuck to what +we meant to do. Mr. Hoover, can you spare the time to drive Bessie and +Zara to the road that crosses this about half a mile before you come to +Zebulon, and then a little way down that road, too?"</p> + +<p>"I'll make the time," said Paw, heartily.</p> + +<p>"Then it's going to be easy. I want them to get to the railroad. There +are too many people around the station in Zebulon, and there'd almost +surely be someone there who knew them. I'm not sure of just where Mr. +Weeks is right now. He might even be there himself. So that's too +risky—"</p> + +<p>"I see what you're driving at," said Paw, suddenly. His face broke into +a smile. "There's a station further down the line—a little no-account +station, ain't there? I've seen it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Perryville. But the down train stops there, and it isn't just a +flag stop, either. Now,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> listen, Bessie. Mr. Hoover will take you there, +or nearly there, so that you can easily walk the rest of the way. And +when you get there don't get by the track until you hear the train +coming. Stay where no one is likely to see you, and then, when the train +whistles, run over and be ready to get on board. And get off at Pine +Bridge—Pine Bridge, do you hear? Will you remember that? When you get +there, just wait. I'll be there almost as soon as you are."</p> + +<p>Paw Hoover burst into a roar of laughter as he listened.</p> + +<p>"Bessie said you'd have a way to beat Silas Weeks, and, great Godfrey, +you sure have!" he said. "I never thought of that—but you're right. Get +her out of the state, and there ain't no way under heaven that Silas can +get hold of the girl unless she comes back of her own accord. Court +writs don't run beyond state lines, not unless they're in the Federal +court. Godfrey, but you're smart all right, young lady!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Eleanor, smiling at him in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> return for the compliment. +"You're sure you understand, Bessie? Here's the money for your fare. You +won't have time to buy tickets, so just give the money to the +conductor."</p> + +<p>Then she dropped from the wagon to the road and Paw Hoover whipped up +his horses.</p> + +<p>"You sleep, if you can, Bessie," he said. "I'll wake you up when it's +time to get down."</p> + +<p>And Bessie, her mind relieved, was glad to obey. It seemed to her that +she had only just gone to sleep when Paw Hoover shook her gently to +arouse her.</p> + +<p>"Here we are," he said. "Station's just over there—see, beyond the +bend. Remember what Miss Mercer told you, now, and good luck, Bessie! I +reckon we'll see you again sometime."</p> + +<p>There were tears in Bessie's eyes as she said good-bye. She watched him +drive off, and then she and Zara sat down to wait for the coming of the +train. They sat on the grass, behind a cabin that had been abandoned, +where they could see the track while they themselves were hidden from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +anyone approaching by the road they had come. And before long the rails +began to hum. Then, in the distance, there was the shriek of a whistle.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Zara," cried Bessie, and they ran toward the station, just as +the train came into sight, its brakes grinding as it slowed down.</p> + +<p>And then, as they climbed aboard, there was the sudden sound of +galloping hoofs, and of hoarse shouting. Farmer Weeks, in his buggy, +raced toward the train, his hands lifted as he called wildly to the +conductor to stop.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>OUT OF THE WOODS</h3> + + +<p>The train only stopped for a moment at the little station. Seldom, +indeed, did it take on any passengers. And on that trip it was already +late. Even as the two girls climbed up the steps the brakeman gave his +signal, the conductor flung out his hand, and the wheels began to move. +And Farmer Weeks, jumping out of his buggy, raced after it, yelling, but +in vain.</p> + +<p>Swiftly the heavy cars gathered speed. And Bessie and Zara, frightened +by their narrow escape, were still too delighted by the way in which +Farmer Weeks had been baffled to worry. They felt that they were safe +now.</p> + +<p>"I suppose that old hick thought we'd stop the train for him," they +heard the conductor say to the brakeman. "Well, he had another guess +coming! Look at him, will you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He's mad all through!" said the brakeman, laughing, "Well, he had a +right to be there when the train got in. If we waited for every farmer +that gets to the station late, we'd be laid off in a hurry, I'll bet."</p> + +<p>Bessie and Zara were in the last car of the train, and they could look +back as it sped away.</p> + +<p>"See, Zara, he's standing there, waving his arms and shaking his fist at +us," she said.</p> + +<p>"He can't hurt us that way, Bessie. Well, all I hope is that we've seen +the last of him. Is it true that he can't touch me except in this +state?"</p> + +<p>"That's what Wanaka said, Zara. And she must know."</p> + +<p>Then the conductor came around.</p> + +<p>"We didn't get our tickets, so here's the money," said Bessie. "We want +to get to Pine Bridge."</p> + +<p>"You didn't have much more time than you needed to catch this train," +said the conductor, as he took the money. "Pine Bridge, eh? That's our +first stop. You can't make any mistake."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How soon do we cross the state line, Mr. Conductor?" asked Zara, +anxiously.</p> + +<p>The conductor looked out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Right now," he said. "See that white house there? Well, that's almost +on the line. The house is in one state, and the stable's in the other. +Why are you so interested in that?" He looked at them in sudden +suspicion. "Here, was that your father who was so wild because he didn't +catch the train? Were you running away from him?"</p> + +<p>Bessie's heart sank. She wondered if the conductor, should be really be +suspicious, could make them go back, or keep them from getting off the +train at Pine Bridge.</p> + +<p>"No, he wasn't any relative of ours at all," she said.</p> + +<p>"Seems to me he was shouting about you two, though," said the conductor. +"Hey, Jim!"</p> + +<p>He called the brakeman.</p> + +<p>"Say, Jim, didn't it look to you like that hayseed was trying to stop +these two from gettin'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> aboard instead of tryin' to catch the train +himself?"</p> + +<p>"Never thought of that," said Jim, scratching his head. "Guess maybe he +was, though. Maybe we'd better send 'em back from Pine Bridge."</p> + +<p>"That's what I'm thinking," said the conductor.</p> + +<p>"We've paid our fare. You haven't any right to do that," said Bessie, +stoutly, although she was frightened. "And I tell you that man isn't our +father. He hasn't got anything to do with us—"</p> + +<p>"He seemed to think so, and I believe that was why you came running that +way to catch the train, without any tickets. You say he's not your +father. Who is he? Do you know him at all?"</p> + +<p>Bessie wished she could say that she did not; wished she could, +truthfully, deny knowing Farmer Weeks at all. But not even to avert what +looked like a serious danger would she lie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we know him," she said. "He's a farmer from Hedgeville. And—"</p> + +<p>"Hedgeville, eh? What's his name?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Weeks—Silas Weeks."</p> + +<p>The effect of the name was extraordinary. Conductor and brakeman doubled +up with laughter, and for a moment, while the two girls stared, neither +of them could speak at all. Then the conductor found his voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho-ho," he said, still laughing. "I wouldn't have missed that for a +week's pay! If I could only have seen his face! Don't you worry any +more! We'll not send you back to him, even if you were running from him. +Don't blame anyone for tryin' to get away from that old miser!"</p> + +<p>"Wish he'd tried to jump aboard after we started," said Jim, the +brakeman. "I'd have kicked him off, and I wouldn't have done it gently, +either!"</p> + +<p>"We know Silas Weeks," explained the conductor. "He's the worst kicker +and trouble maker that ever rode on this division. Every time he's +aboard my train he gives us more trouble in one trip than all the other +passengers give us in ten. He's always trying to beat his way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> without +payin' fare, and scarcely a time goes by that he don't write to the +office about Jim or me."</p> + +<p>"Lot of good that does him," said Jim. "They don't pay any attention to +him."</p> + +<p>"No, not now. They're getting used to him, and they know what sort of a +mischief maker he is. But he's a big shipper, an' at first they used to +get after me pretty hard when he wrote one of his kicks."</p> + +<p>"Before I came on the run, you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Sure! He'd been at it a long time before I got you, Jim. You see, he +sends so much stuff by freight they had to humor him—and they still do. +But now they just write him a letter apologizin' and don't bother me +about it at all. Bet I've lost as much as a week's pay, I guess, goin' +to headquarters in workin' time to explain his kicks. He's got a swell +chance of gettin' help from me!"</p> + +<p>Then the two trainmen passed on, but not until they had promised to see +the two girls safe off the car at Pine Bridge.</p> + +<p>"People usually get paid back when they do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> something mean, Zara," said +Bessie. "If Farmer Weeks hadn't treated those men badly, they would +probably have sent us back. But as soon as they heard who he was, you +saw how they acted."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Bessie. I bet he'd be madder than ever if he knew that. +Someone ought to tell him."</p> + +<p>"He'd only try to make more trouble for them, and perhaps he could, too. +No, I don't want to bother about him any more, Zara. I just want to +forget all about him. I wonder how long we'll have to wait at Pine +Bridge."</p> + +<p>"Miss Eleanor didn't say what she was going to do, did she?"</p> + +<p>"No; she just said that she'd get there, and that she had decided to +change all her plans on our account."</p> + +<p>"We're making an awful lot of trouble for her, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"I know we are, and we've got to show her that we're grateful and do +anything we can to help her, if she ever needs our help. I thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> when +we started from Hedgeville after the fire that we would be able to get +along together somehow, Zara, but I see now how foolish that was."</p> + +<p>"I believe you'd have managed somehow, Bessie. You can do 'most +anything, I believe."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you'll find out that I can't before we're done, Zara. We +didn't have any money, or any plans, or anything. It certainly was lucky +for us that we went to that lake where the Camp Fire Girls were. If it +hadn't been for them we'd be back in Hedgeville now, and much worse off +than if we hadn't tried to get away."</p> + +<p>"There's the whistle, Bessie. I guess that means we're getting near Pine +Bridge."</p> + +<p>"Well, here you are! Going to meet your friends here?" said the +conductor.</p> + +<p>"Yes; thank you," said Bessie. "We're ever so much obliged, and we'll be +all right now."</p> + +<p>"You sit right down there on that bench in front of the station," +advised the conductor. "Don't move away, or you'll get lost. Pine Bridge +is quite a place. Bigger than Hedgeville<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>—quite a bit bigger. And if +anyone tries to bother you, just you run around to the street in front +of the station, and you'll find a fat policeman there. He's a friend of +mine, and he'll look after you if you tell him Tom Norris sent you. +Remember my name—Tom Norris."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, and good-bye, Mr. Norris," they called to him together, as +they stepped off the car. Then the whistle blew again, and the train was +off.</p> + +<p>Although there were a good many people around, no one seemed to pay much +attention to the two girls. Everyone seemed busy, and to be so occupied +with his own affairs that he had no time to look at strangers or think +about what they were doing.</p> + +<p>"We're a long way from home now, Zara, you see," said Bessie. "I guess +no one here will know us, and we'll just wait till Miss Eleanor comes."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she's here already, waiting for us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'd better look around, though. How is she going to get here, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. She never told me about that. We were talking as fast as +we could because we were afraid Farmer Weeks might come along any time, +and that would have meant a lot of trouble."</p> + +<p>"Suppose he follows us here, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"He won't! He'll know that we're safe from him as soon as we're out of +the state. I'm not afraid of him now—not a bit, and you needn't be, +either."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you're not, I'll try not to be. But I wish Miss Eleanor would +come along, Bessie. I'll feel safer then, really."</p> + +<p>"You've been brave enough so far, Zara. You mustn't get nervous now that +we're out of the woods. That would be foolish."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so, but I wasn't really brave before, Bessie. I was terribly +frightened when he locked me in that room. I didn't see how anyone would +know what had become of me, or how they could find out where I was in +time to help me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Did you think about trying to run away by yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, but I was afraid I'd get lost. I didn't know where we +were. I'd never been that way before."</p> + +<p>"It's a good thing you waited, Zara. Even if you had got away and got +into those woods where Jack took us, it would have been dangerous. You +might easily have got lost, and it's the hardest thing to find people +who are in the woods."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because they get to wandering around in circles. If you can see the +sun, you can know which way you're going, and you can be sure of getting +somewhere, if you only keep on long enough. But in the woods, unless you +know a lot of things, there's nothing to guide you, and people just +seem, somehow, bound to walk in a circle. They keep on coming back to +the place they started from."</p> + +<p>Pine Bridge was a junction point, and while the girls waited, patiently +enough, it began to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> grow dark. Several trains came in, but, though they +looked anxiously at the passengers who descended from each one of them, +there was no sign of Miss Mercer.</p> + +<p>"I hope nothing's happened to her," said Zara anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we mustn't worry, Zara. She's all right, and she'll come along +presently."</p> + +<p>"But suppose she didn't, what should we do?"</p> + +<p>"We'd be able to find a place to spend the night. I've got money, you +know, and the policeman would tell us where to go, if we went to him, as +the conductor told us to do."</p> + +<p>Another train came in on the same track as the one that had brought +them. Again they scanned its passengers anxiously, but no one who looked +at all like Miss Mercer got off, and they both sighed as they leaned +back against the hard bench. Neither of them had paid any attention to +the other passengers, and they were both startled and dismayed when a +tall, gaunt figure loomed up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> suddenly before them, and they heard the +harsh voice of Farmer Weeks, chuckling sardonically as he looked down on +them.</p> + +<p>"Caught ye, ain't I?" he said. "You've given me quite a chase—but I've +run you down now. Come on, you Zara!"</p> + +<p>He seized her hand, but Bessie snatched it from him.</p> + +<p>"You let her alone!" she said, with spirit. "You've no right to touch +her!"</p> + +<p>"I'll show you whether I've any right or not, and I'm going to take her +back with me!" Farmer Weeks said, furiously. "Come on, you baggage! +You'll not make a fool of me again, I'll promise you that!"</p> + +<p>"Come on," said Bessie, suddenly. She still held Zara's hand, and before +the surprised farmer could stop them, Bessie had dragged Zara to her +feet, and they had dashed under his outstretched arm and got clear away, +while the loafers about the station laughed at him.</p> + +<p>"Come back! You can't get away!" he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> shouted, as he broke into a clumsy +run after them. "Come back, or I'll make you sorry—"</p> + +<p>But Bessie knew what she was about. Without paying the slightest +attention to his angry cries, she ran straight around to the front of +the station, and there she found the fat policeman.</p> + +<p>"Won't you help us?" she cried. "Mr. Norris, the conductor, said you +would—"</p> + +<p>"What's wrong?" said the policeman, starting. He had been dozing. "Any +friend of Tom's is a friend of mine—here, here, none of that!"</p> + +<p>The last remark was addressed to Farmer Weeks, who had come up and +seized Zara.</p> + +<p>"I've got an order saying I've a right to take her," exclaimed Weeks.</p> + +<p>"But it's not good in this state—" interrupted Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Let's see it," said the policeman.</p> + +<p>Weeks, storming and protesting, showed him the court order.</p> + +<p>"That's no good here. You'll have to get her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> into the state where it +was issued before you can use that," said the policeman.</p> + +<p>"You're a liar! I'll take her now—"</p> + +<p>The policeman's club was out, and he threatened Weeks with it.</p> + +<p>"You touch her and I'll run you in," he said, angrily. "We don't stand +for men laying their hands on girls and women in this town. Get away +with you now! If I catch you hanging around here five minutes from now, +I'll take you to the lock-up, and you can spend the night in a cell."</p> + +<p>"But—" began Weeks.</p> + +<p>"Not a word more—or I'll do as I say," said the policeman. He was +energetic, if he was fat, and he had put a protective arm about Zara. +Weeks looked at him and then he slunk off.</p> + +<p>And, as he went, the girls heard a merry chorus, "Wo-he-lo, Wo-he-lo," +just as another train puffed in.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>THE CALL OF THE FIRE</h3> + + +<p>"Wo-he-lo!"</p> + +<p>How they did thrill at the sound of the watchword of the Camp Fire! How +clearly, now, they understood the meaning of the three syllables, that +had seemed to them so mysterious, so utterly without meaning, when they +had first heard them on the shores of the lake, as, surprised, they +peeped out and saw the merry band of girls who had awakened them after +their flight from Hedgeville.</p> + +<p>For a moment, so overjoyed were they, they couldn't move at all. But +then the spell was broken, as the call sounded again, loud and clear, +rising above the noises of the engine that was puffing and snorting on +the other side of the station. Farmer Weeks, a black look in his eyes as +he shot them a parting glance full of malice, was forgotten as he slunk +off.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Thank you, oh, thank you!" cried Bessie to the astonished policeman, +who looked as if he were about to begin asking them questions. "Come on, +Zara!"</p> + +<p>And, hand in hand, they raced around to the other side of the station +again, but blithely, happily this time, and not in terror of their +enemy, as they had come. And there, looking about her in all directions, +was Eleanor Mercer, and behind her all the girls of the Manasquan Camp +Fire.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad! I was afraid something had happened to you!" cried +Eleanor. "But now it's all right! We're all here, and safe. In this +state no one can hurt you—either of you!"</p> + +<p>Laughing and full of questions, the other girls crowded around Zara and +Bessie, so happily restored to them.</p> + +<p>"We feel as if you were real Camp Fire Girls already!" said Eleanor +Mercer, half crying with happiness. "The girls were wild with anxiety +when they found you had gone away, too, Bessie, even though we hadn't +told them everything. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> they were delighted when I got back and told +them you were safe."</p> + +<p>"We were, indeed," said Minnehaha. "But it was awful, Bessie, not to +know what had become of you, or how to help you! We'd have done anything +we could, but we didn't know a single thing to do. So we had just to +wait, and that's the hardest thing there is, when someone you love is in +trouble."</p> + +<p>Bessie almost broke down at that. Until this wonderful meeting with the +Camp Fire Girls no one but Zara had loved her, and the idea that these +girls really did love her as they said—and had so nobly proved—was +almost too much for her. She tried to say so.</p> + +<p>"Of course we love one another," said Eleanor. "That's one of the laws +of the Fire, and it's one of the words we use to make up Wo-he-lo, too. +So you see that it's just as important as it can be, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, I do see that. I'd be awfully stupid if I didn't, after +the splendid way you've<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> helped us, Miss Eleanor. What are we going to +do now?"</p> + +<p>"We're going to join the big camp not far from here. Three or four Camp +Fires are there together, and Mrs. Chester, who is Chief Guardian in the +city, wants us to join them. I talked to her about you two over the +long-distance telephone before we got on the train, and she's so anxious +to see you, and help me to decide what is best for you to do. You'll +love her, Bessie; you're sure to. She's so good and sweet to everyone. +All the girls just worship her."</p> + +<p>"If she's half as nice as you, we're sure to love her," said Zara.</p> + +<p>Eleanor laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'm not half as wonderful as you think I am, Zara. But I'm nicer than I +used to be, I think."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed! I used to be selfish and thoughtless, caring only about +having a good time myself, and never thinking about other people at all. +But Mrs. Chester talked to me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'll bet she never had a chance to scold you."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid she did, Zara; but she didn't want to. That's not her way. +She never scolds people. She just talks to them in that wonderful, quiet +way of hers, and makes them see that they haven't been doing right."</p> + +<p>"But I don't believe you ever did anything that wasn't right."</p> + +<p>"Maybe I didn't mean to, and maybe it wasn't what I did that was wrong. +It was more what I didn't do."</p> + +<p>"I don't see what you mean."</p> + +<p>"Well, I was careless and thoughtless, just as I said. I used to dance, +and play games, and go to parties all the time."</p> + +<p>"I think that must be fine! Didn't you have to work at home, though?"</p> + +<p>"No; and that was just the trouble, you see. My people had plenty of +money, and they just wanted me to have a good time. And I did—but I've +had a better one since I started doing things for other people."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I bet you always did, really—"</p> + +<p>"I'm not an angel now, Zara, and I certainly never used to be, nor a bit +like one. Just because I've happened to be able to help you two a +little, you think altogether too much of me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; we couldn't—"</p> + +<p>"Well, as I was saying, Mrs. Chester saw how things were going, and she +started to talk to me. I was horrid to her at first, and wouldn't pay +any attention to her at all."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to ask her about that. I don't believe you ever were horrid +to anyone."</p> + +<p>"Probably Mrs. Chester won't admit it, but it's true, just the same, +Bessie. But she talked to me, and kept on talking, and she made me think +about all the poorer girls who had to work so hard and couldn't go to +parties. And I began to feel sorry, and wonder what I could do to make +them happier."</p> + +<p>"You see, that's just what we said! You weren't selfish at all!"</p> + +<p>"I tried to stop as soon as I found out that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> had been, Zara; that's +all. And I think anyone would do that. It's because people don't think +of the unhappiness and misery of others that there's so much suffering, +not because they really want other people to be unhappy."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's so. I suppose even Farmer Weeks wouldn't be mean if he +really thought about it."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure he wouldn't—and we'll have to try to reform him, too, before +we're done with him. You see, if there were more people like Mrs. +Chester, things would be ever so much nicer. She heard about the Camp +Fire Girls, and she saw right away that it meant a chance to make things +better, right in our home town."</p> + +<p>"Is that how it all started?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, with us. And it was the same way all over the country, because, +really, there are lots and lots of noble, unselfish women like Mrs. +Chester, who want everyone to be happy."</p> + +<p>"Is she as pretty as you, Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Much prettier, Zara; but you won't think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> about that after you've +talked to her. She got hold of me and some of the other girls like me, +who had lots of time and money, and she made us see that we'd be twice +as happy if we spent some of our time doing things for other people, +instead of thinking about ourselves the whole time. And she's been +perfectly right."</p> + +<p>"I knew you enjoyed doing things like that—"</p> + +<p>"Yes; so you see it isn't altogether unselfish, after all. But Mrs. +Chester says that we ought all try to be happy ourselves, because that's +the best way to make other people happy, after all, as long as we never +forget that there are others, and that we ought to think of serving +them."</p> + +<p>"That's like in the Bible where it says, 'It is more blessed to give +than to receive,' isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"That's the very idea, Bessie! I'm glad you thought of that yourself. +That's just the lesson we've all got to learn."</p> + +<p>"But we haven't been able to help anyone yet, Miss Eleanor. Everyone's +helping us—"</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry about that, Bessie. You'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> have lots of chances to +help others—ever so many! Just you wait until you get to the city. +There are lots of girls there who are more wretched than you—girls who +don't get enough to eat, and have to work so hard that they never have +any fun at all, because when they get through with their work they're so +tired they have to go right to sleep."</p> + +<p>"Bessie was like that, Miss Eleanor."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid she was, Zara. But we're going to change all that. Mrs. +Chester has promised to help, and that means that everything will be all +right."</p> + +<p>"Do you think I could ever do anything to help anyone else, Miss +Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you have already, Zara. You've been a good friend to Bessie, +and I know you've cheered her up and helped her to get through days when +she was feeling pretty bad."</p> + +<p>"Indeed she has, Miss Eleanor! Many and many a time! Since I've known +her I've often wondered how I ever got along at all before she came to +Hedgeville!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You see, Zara, doing things for others doesn't mean always that you're +spending money or actually doing something. Sometimes the very best help +you can give is by just being cheerful and friendly."</p> + +<p>"I hadn't thought of that. But I'm going to try always to be like that. +Miss Eleanor, when can we be real Camp Fire Girls?"</p> + +<p>"I talked to Mrs. Chester about that to-day, and I think it will be +to-night, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that will be splendid!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, won't it? You see, it's the night for our Council Fire—that's +when we take in new members, and award honors and report what we've +done. We hold one every moon. That's the Indian name for month. You see, +month just means moon, really. This is the Thunder Moon of the Indians, +the great copper red moon. It's our month of July."</p> + +<p>"And will we learn to sing the songs like the other girls?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed. You'll find them very easy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> They're very beautiful songs +and I think we're very lucky to have them."</p> + +<p>"Who wrote them? Girls that belong?"</p> + +<p>"Some of them, but not all, or nearly all. We have found many beautiful +songs about fire and the things we love that were written by other poets +who never heard of the Camp Fire Girls at all. And yet they seem to be +just the right songs for us."</p> + +<p>"That's funny, isn't it, Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit, Zara. Because the Camp Fire isn't a new thing, really. Not +the big idea that's back of it, that you'll learn as you stay with us, +and get to know more about us. All we hope to do is to make our girls +fine, strong women when they get older, like all the great brave women +that we read about in history. They've all been women who loved the +home, and all it means—and the fire is the great symbol of the home. It +was fire that made it possible for people to have real homes."</p> + +<p>"I've read lots and lots of things about fire,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> said Bessie. +"Longfellow, and Tennyson, and other poets."</p> + +<p>But then her face darkened suddenly.</p> + +<p>"It was fire that got me into trouble, though," she said. "The fire that +Jake Hoover used to set the woodshed afire."</p> + +<p>"That was because he was misusing the fire, Bessie. Fire is a great +servant. It's the most wonderful thing man ever did—learning to make a +fire, and tend it, and control it. Have you heard what it says in the +Fire-Maker's Desire? But, of course, you haven't. You haven't been at a +Council Fire yet. Listen:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="For I will tend"> +<tr><td align='left'>"For I will tend,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">As my fathers have tended</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And my father's fathers</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Since Time began</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The Fire that is called</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The love of man for man—</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The love of man for God."</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>"That's a great promise, you see, Bessie. It's a great honor to be a +Fire-Maker."</p> + +<p>"I see, Miss Eleanor. Yes, it must be. How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> does one get to be a +Fire-Maker? One begins by being a Wood-Gatherer, doesn't one?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and all one has to do to be a Wood-Gatherer is to want to obey the +law of the Fire—the seven points of the law. I'll teach you that Desire +before the Council Fire to-night. To be a Fire-Maker you have to serve +faithfully as a Wood-Gatherer, and you have to do a lot of things that +aren't very easy—though they're not very hard, either."</p> + +<p>"And you talked about awarding honors. What are they?"</p> + +<p>"Have you seen the necklaces the girls wear?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! They're beautiful. They look like the ones I've seen in +pictures of Indians. But I never thought they were so pretty before, +because I've only seen pictures, and they didn't show the different +colors of the beads."</p> + +<p>"That's just it, Bessie. Those beads are given for honors, and when a +girl has enough of them they make the necklaces. They're awarded for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +all sorts of things—for knowing them, and for doing them, too. And +you'll learn to tell by the colors of the beads just what sort of honors +they are—why the girl who wears them got them, and what she did to earn +them."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to work awfully hard to get honors," said Zara, impulsively. +"Then, when I can wear the beads, everyone will know about it, and about +how I worked to get them. Won't they, Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you mustn't think about it just that way, Zara. You won't, +either, when you've earned them. You'll know then that the pleasure of +working for the honors is much greater than being able to wear the +beads."</p> + +<p>"I know why—because it means something!"</p> + +<p>"That's just it, Bessie. I can see that you're going to be just the sort +of girl I want in my Camp Fire. Anyone who had the money—and they don't +cost much—could buy the beads and string them together. But it's only a +Camp Fire Girl, who's worked for honors herself, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> knows what it +really means, and sees that the beads are just the symbol of something +much better."</p> + +<p>"Aren't there Torch-Bearers, too, Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. That's the highest rank of all. We haven't any Torch-Bearer in our +Camp Fire yet, but we will have soon, because when you girls join us +there'll be nineteen girls, and there ought to be a Torch-Bearer."</p> + +<p>"She'd help you, wouldn't she, Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she'd act as Guardian if I were away, and she'd be my assistant. +This is her desire, you know, 'That light which has been given to me, I +desire to pass undimmed to others.'"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to try to be a Torch-Bearer whenever I can," said Zara.</p> + +<p>"There's no reason why you shouldn't be, Zara. That ought to be the +ambition of every Camp Fire Girl—to be able, sometime, to help others +to get as much good from the Camp Fire as she has herself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> + +<p>While they talked it had been growing darker. And now Miss Mercer called +to the girls.</p> + +<p>"We're going to be driven over to the big camp, girls," she said. "I +think we've had quite enough tramping for one day. I don't want you to +be so tired that you won't enjoy the Council Fire to-night."</p> + +<p>There was a chorus of laughter at that, as if the idea that they could +ever be too tired to enjoy a Council Fire was a great joke—as, indeed, +it was.</p> + +<p>But, just the same, the idea of a ride wasn't a bit unwelcome. The +troubles of Bessie and Zara had caused a sudden change in the plans of +the Camp Fire, as Miss Mercer had made them originally, and they had had +a long and strenuous day. So they greeted the big farm wagons that +presently rolled up with a chorus of laughs and cheers, and the drivers +blinked with astonishment as they heard the Wohelo cheer ring out.</p> + +<p>There were two of the wagons, so that there was room for all of them +without crowding.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> Bessie and Zara rode in the first one, close to +Wanaka, who had, of course, taken them under her wing.</p> + +<p>"You stay close by me," she said to them. "I want you to meet Mrs. +Chester as soon as we get to the camp."</p> + +<p>"Where is it?"</p> + +<p>"That's the surprise I told the girls I had for them this morning. A +friend of Mrs. Chester, who has a beautiful place near here, has let us +use it for a camping ground. It's the most wonderful place you ever saw. +There are deer, quite tame, and all sorts of lovely things. But you'll +see more of that in the morning, of course. We've all got to be ever so +careful, though, not to frighten the deer or to hurt anything about the +place. It's very good of General Seeley to let us be there at all, and +we must show him that we are grateful. For the girls who couldn't get +far away from the city it's been particularly splendid, because they +couldn't possibly have such a good time anywhere else that's near by."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Bessie, a moment later, as the wagons turned from the road +into a lane that was flanked on both sides by great trees. "I never saw +a place so pretty!"</p> + +<p>Wide lawns stretched all around them. But in the distance a pink glow, +among a grove of trees, marked the real home of the Camp Fire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>A NEW SUSPICION</h3> + + +<p>"I think the fire is more beautiful than anything else, almost," said +the Guardian, as she looked at it and pointed it out to Bessie and Zara. +"It means so much."</p> + +<p>"It looks like a welcome, Wanaka."</p> + +<p>"That's just what it is—a real, hearty welcome. It shows us that our +sisters of the fire are there waiting for us, ready to make us +comfortable after the trouble of the day. Around the fire we can forget +all the bad things that have happened, and think only of the good."</p> + +<p>"It's easy to do that now. I've been frightened since Jake locked Zara +up in the woodshed, awfully frightened. And I've been unhappy, too. But +I've been happier in these last two days than I ever was before."</p> + +<p>"That's the right spirit, Bessie. Make your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> misfortunes work out so +that you think only of the good they bring. That's the way to be happy, +always. You know, it's an old, old saying that every cloud has a silver +lining, but it's just as true as it's old, too. People laugh at those +old proverbs sometimes,—people who think they know more than anyone +else ever did—but in the end they usually admit that they don't really +know much more about life and happiness than the people who discovered +those great truths first, or spoke about them first, even if someone +else had discovered them."</p> + +<p>"I've been happy, too," said Zara, but there was a break in her voice. +"If I only knew that my father was all right, then I wouldn't be able to +be anything but happy, now that I know Farmer Weeks can't take me with +him."</p> + +<p>"You must try not to worry about your father, Zara. I'm sure that all +his troubles will be mended soon, just like yours. Don't you feel that +someone has been looking after you in all your troubles?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I never, never would have been able to get away from Farmer +Weeks except for that—"</p> + +<p>"Well, just try to think that He will look after your father, too, Zara. +If he has done nothing wrong he can't be punished, you may be sure of +that. This isn't Russia, or one of those old countries where people can +be sent to prison without having done anything to deserve it, just +because other people with more money or more power don't like them. We +live in a free country. Be sure that all will turn out right in the +end."</p> + +<p>"I feel cramped, Miss Eleanor. May I get out and run along by the horses +for a little while?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, Zara."</p> + +<p>And Wanaka stopped the wagon, so that she could get out.</p> + +<p>"Do you want to go, too, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"I think I'd rather ride, Miss Eleanor. I'm awfully tired."</p> + +<p>"You shall, then. I want you to do whatever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> you like to-night. You've +certainly done enough to-day to earn the right to rest."</p> + +<p>They rode along in silence for a few minutes, while the glow of the +great welcoming fire grew brighter.</p> + +<p>"Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it's very strange that Farmer Weeks should take so much +trouble to try to get hold of Zara?"</p> + +<p>"I do, indeed, Bessie. I've been puzzling about that."</p> + +<p>"I believe he knows something about her and her father that no one else +knows, something that even Zara doesn't know about, I mean. You know, he +and Zara's father were very friendly at first—or, at least, they used +to see one another a good deal."</p> + +<p>"Yes? Bessie, what sort of man is Zara's father? You have seen a good +deal of him, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"I used to go to see Zara sometimes, when I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> was able to get away. And +unless he was away on one of his trips he was always around, but he +never said much."</p> + +<p>"He could speak English, couldn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but not a bit well. And when I first went there he was awfully +funny. He seemed to be quite angry because I was there, and as soon as I +came, he rushed into one of the rooms, and put a lot of things away, and +covered them so I couldn't see them. But Zara talked to him in their own +language, and then he was very nice, and he gave me a penny. I didn't +want it, but he made me take it and Zara said I ought to have it, too."</p> + +<p>"It looks as if he had had something to hide, Bessie. But then a man +might easily want to keep people from finding out all about his business +without there being anything wrong."</p> + +<p>"If you'd seen him, Miss Eleanor, I'm sure you wouldn't think he'd do +anything wrong. He had the nicest face, and his eyes were kind. And +after that, sometimes, I'd go there when Zara was out, and he was always +just as nice and kind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> as he could be. He used to get me to talk to him, +too, so that he could learn to speak English."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's something very strange and mysterious about it all. You +found this Mr. Weeks there the night he was taken away, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"That looks as if he had something to do with it. I don't know—but +we'll find out the truth some time, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"I hope it will be soon. And, Miss Eleanor, I've been waiting a long +time to find out about myself, too. Sometimes I think I'm worse off than +Zara, because I don't know where my father and mother are, or even what +became of them."</p> + +<p>The Guardian started.</p> + +<p>"Poor Bessie!" she said. "But we'll have to try to find out for you. +There are ways of doing that that the Hoovers would never think of. And +I'm sure there'll be some explanation. They'd never just go away and +leave you, without try<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>ing to find out if you were well and look after +you."</p> + +<p>"Not if they could help it, Miss Eleanor." Bessie's eyes filled with +tears. "But perhaps they couldn't. Perhaps they are—dead."</p> + +<p>"We must try to be cheerful, Bessie. After all, you know, they say no +news is good news, and when you don't positively know that something +dreadful has happened, you can always go on hoping."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do, Miss Eleanor! Sometimes I've felt so bad that if I hadn't +been able to hope, I don't know what I'd have done. And Jake Hoover, he +used to laugh at me, and say that I'd never see them again. He said they +were just bad people, glad to get rid of me, but I never believed that."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Bessie. You keep on hoping, and we'll do all we can to +make your hopes true. Hope is a wonderful thing for people who are in +trouble. They can always hope that things will be better, and if they +only hope hard enough, they will come to believe it. And once you +believe a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> thing, it's half true, especially when it's a question of +doing something."</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I'll try to explain. When Mrs. Chester first wanted me to take +charge of a Camp Fire, I thought I was just a silly, stupid, useless +girl. But she said she knew I wasn't, and that I could make myself +useful."</p> + +<p>"You certainly have."</p> + +<p>"I'm trying, Bessie, all the time. Well, she told me to wish that I +might succeed. And I did. And then I began to hope for it and to want it +so much that gradually I believed I could. And as soon as I believed it +myself, why, it began to come."</p> + +<p>"You wanted to so much—that's why, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Yes. You see, when you believe you can do a thing, you don't get +discouraged when you fail at first. It's when you're doubtful and think +you can't do a thing at all, that it's hardest. Then when anything goes +wrong, it's just what you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> expected, and it makes you surer than ever +that you're going to fail."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see that! I understand now, I think."</p> + +<p>"Remember that, Bessie. It's done me more good, knowing that, than +almost anything else I can think of. When you start to do a thing, no +matter how hard it is, be hopeful and confident. Then the set-backs +won't bother you, because you'll know that it's just because you've +chosen the wrong way, and you go back and start again, looking for the +right way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, look!" said Bessie, suddenly. "Isn't it growing black? Do you see +that big cloud? And I'm sure I felt drops of rain just then."</p> + +<p>"I believe it is going to rain. That's too bad. It will spoil the great +Council Fire."</p> + +<p>"Won't they have it if it rains?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure whether there's a big enough place inside or not. But, +even if there is, it's much better fun to have it out of doors—a great +big fire always seems more cheerful if it's under the trees, so that the +great shadows can dance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> about. And the singing sounds so much better in +the open air, too. Oh, I do hope this won't be a real storm!"</p> + +<p>But that hope was doomed to disappointment. The rain came down slowly at +first, and in great drops, but as the wagons neared the fire and got +under the shelter of the trees, the wind rose, and soon the rain was +pouring down in great sheets, with flashes of lightning now and then. As +they climbed out by the fire it hissed and spluttered as the rain fell +into it. No girls were in sight.</p> + +<p>"They must all have gone in to get out of the rain, or else they'd be +out here to welcome us," said the Guardian. "Oh, there's Mrs. Chester! I +knew she wouldn't let the rain keep her!"</p> + +<p>And Wanaka ran forward to greet a sweet-faced woman whose hair was +slightly tinged with grey, but whose face was as rosy and as smiling as +that of a young girl. Bessie and Zara followed Eleanor shyly, but Mrs. +Chester put them at their ease in a moment.</p> + +<p>"I've heard all about you," she said. "And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> I'm not going to start in by +telling you I'm sorry for you, either, because I'm not!"</p> + +<p>Had it not been for the laugh that was in her eyes, and her smile, the +words might have seemed unkind.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe in being sorry for what's past," the Chief Guardian +explained at once. "If people are brave and good, trouble only helps +them. And it's the future we must think about, always. That is in your +own hands now, and I'm sure you're going to deserve to be happy—and if +you do, you can't help finding happiness. That's what I mean."</p> + +<p>The two girls liked her at once. There was something so motherly, so +kind and wholesome about Mrs. Chester, that they felt as if they had +known her a long time.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about the Council Fire to-night, Eleanor," she said, +looking doubtfully at the rain. "It's too damp, I'm afraid, to have it +outdoors, and you know that there are so many times when we have to hold +the ceremonial fires indoors, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> I hate to do it when, by waiting a +day, we can have it in this beautiful place."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's so," said Eleanor. "It's almost sure to be clear to-morrow. +And in winter, when it gets cold, we can't even hope to be outdoors very +much, except for skating and snowshoeing. Do you know, girls, that in +winter we sometimes use three candles instead of a real fire?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Chester. "Of course, after all, it's the meaning of the +fire, and not just the fire itself that counts. But I think it's better +to have both when we can. So I'm afraid you'll have to wait until +to-morrow night for your first Council Fire, girls."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked at them. Then she laughed.</p> + +<p>"Really, it's a good thing, after all," she said. "They're so tired that +they can hardly keep their eyes open now, Mrs. Chester. I hope there's +going to be a good, hot supper."</p> + +<p>"There certainly is, my dear! And your girls won't have to cook it, +either. Just for to-night you're to be guests of honor. And the new +Camp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> Fire—the Snug Harbor camp, you know—begged me so hard to be +allowed to cook the meal and serve it, that I agreed. Julia Kent has +done wonders with those girls. You'd think they'd been cooking and +working all their lives, instead of it having been just the other way +'round. And they simply worship her. Well, there are your tents over +there. You'll hear the call to supper in a few minutes."</p> + +<p>She turned and left them, and Eleanor led the way to the tents she had +pointed out.</p> + +<p>"I'm so delighted to hear about the Snug Harbor girls," she told Bessie +and Zara. "You know we've wondered how that was going to turn out. There +are about a dozen of them, and they're all girls whose parents are rich. +They go to Europe, and have motor cars, and lovely clothes, and +servants—two or three of them have their own maids, and they've never +even learned to keep their own rooms neat."</p> + +<p>"But if they're going to cook our supper—"</p> + +<p>"That's just it, Bessie. That's what the Camp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> Fire has done for them. +It has taught them that instead of being proud of never having to do +anything for themselves, they ought to be ashamed of not knowing how. +And before the summer's over I believe they'll be the best of all the +Camp Fires in the whole city."</p> + +<p>Supper, in spite of the storm that raged outside, was a jolly, happy +meal. The girls were tired, but they brightened as the meal was served, +and the few mistakes of the amateur waitresses only made everyone laugh.</p> + +<p>Taps, the signal for bedtime, sounded early. All the girls, from the +different Camp Fires, were together for a moment.</p> + +<p>"We'll have the Council Fire to-morrow night," said Mrs. Chester. "And +the longer you sleep to-night, the readier you'll be to-morrow for all +the things we have to do. Good-night!"</p> + +<p>And then, after all the girls together had sung the beautiful "Lay me to +sleep in sheltering flame," silence rested on the camp.</p> + +<p>Bessie slept like a log. But in the morning she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> awoke while everyone +else was still asleep. In the east the sky was just turning pink, with +the first signs of the coming day. The sky was a deep, beautiful blue, +and in the west, where it was still dark, the last stars were still +twinkling. Bessie sighed with the beauty of everything, and the sense of +comfort and peace that she enjoyed. Then she tried to go to sleep again, +but she could not. She had too many things to think about. Zara, +disturbed by her movements, woke up too, and looked at her sleepily.</p> + +<p>"You remember," said Bessie, "that Wanaka told us last night that in a +field not far away there were loads and loads of wild strawberries that +we could pick? I think I'll get dressed and see if I can't get enough +for breakfast, as a surprise."</p> + +<p>"Shall I come with you?" asked Zara.</p> + +<p>"No," said Bessie, laughing. "You go to sleep again—you're only half +awake now!"</p> + +<p>She had no trouble in finding the strawberries, although, just because +it was so beautiful, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> walked around the great estate for quite a +while first. It was a wonderful place. Parts of it were beautifully +cared for, with smooth, well clipped lawns, and a few old trees; parts +were left just as nature had meant them to be, and to Bessie they seemed +even more beautiful. And still other acres were turned into farm lands, +where there were all sorts of growing crops.</p> + +<p>A few gardeners were about, and they smiled at Bessie as they saw her. +She saw some of the deer that Eleanor had spoken of, too, who were so +tame that they let her come as close as she liked. But she spent little +time in looking at them, and when she found the field where the berries +grew she had soon picked a great apronful of them. When she returned +everyone was up, and she was greeted with cries of joy when the girls +saw her burden.</p> + +<p>"They'll make our breakfast ever so much nicer," said Eleanor. "It was +good of you to think of them."</p> + +<p>Not until after breakfast did they see Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> Chester—not, indeed, until +all the dishes had been washed and put away. And then she approached +with a grave face, and called the Guardian aside. They talked together +earnestly for a few minutes, and Eleanor's face grew as serious as the +Chief Guardian's. Bessie saw that they looked at her more than once as +they spoke, and that Eleanor shook her head repeatedly.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what can be wrong, Zara," she said. "Do you suppose that +Farmer Weeks has been making trouble for us again?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope not! Do you think it's about us they're talking?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so. See, they're calling me. We'll soon know."</p> + +<p>Bessie did indeed, soon know what had happened.</p> + +<p>"Bessie," said Mrs. Chester, "did you go anywhere else this morning when +you went for berries?"</p> + +<p>"I just walked about the place, Mrs. Chester, and looked around. That's +all."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But you were quite alone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, quite alone. I only saw a few men who were working, cutting the +grass, and trimming hedges."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm sorry! Bessie, over there in the woods there's a place that's +fenced off, where General Seeley keeps a lot of pheasants. And some time +since last night someone has been in there and frightened the mother +birds and taken a lot of the eggs. Some of them were broken—and it was +not an animal."</p> + +<p>Bessie looked frightened and concerned.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a shame! But, Mrs. Chester, you don't think I did it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>A TANGLED WEB</h3> + + +<p>Bessie's eyes were full of fear and dismay as she looked at Mrs. Chester +and Eleanor. At first she hadn't thought it even possible that they +could think she had done anything so cruel as to frighten the birds and +steal their eggs, but there was a grave look on their faces that +terrified her.</p> + +<p>"No, Bessie," said Mrs. Chester, "I don't believe you did—certainly, I +don't want to believe anything of the sort."</p> + +<p>"I <i>know</i> you didn't do it, Bessie!" cried Eleanor Mercer.</p> + +<p>"But General Seeley is very indignant about it, Bessie," Mrs. Chester +went on to say. "And some of the men told him that one of the girls from +the camp was around very early this morning, before anyone else was up, +walking about, and looking at things. So he seemed to think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> right away +that she must have done it. And he sent for me and asked me if I could +find out which of you girls had been out."</p> + +<p>"Bessie went out openly, and she came back when we were all up," said +Eleanor, stoutly. "If she'd been doing anything wrong, Mrs. Chester, she +would have tried to get here without being seen, wouldn't she?"</p> + +<p>"I know, Eleanor, I know," said Mrs. Chester, kindly. "You think she +couldn't have had anything to do with it—and so do I, really. But for +Bessie's own sake we want to clear it up, don't we?"</p> + +<p>Bessie stood her ground bravely, and kept back the tears, although it +hurt her more to have these friends who had been so good to her bothered +about her than it would had almost anything happened to her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish I'd never seen you, Miss Eleanor!" she cried. "I've done +nothing but make trouble for you ever since you found us. I'm so sorry! +Zara wanted to come with me this morning, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> if I'd let her, she could +have told you that I didn't even see the birds."</p> + +<p>"It'll all come out right, Bessie," said Mrs. Chester. "I thought +perhaps you might have done it by accident, but if you weren't there +we'll find out who really did do it, never fear. Now, you had better +come with me. General Seeley asked me to bring any of the girls who had +been out this morning with me when I went to see him. He will want to +talk to you himself, I think."</p> + +<p>So Bessie, tears in her eyes, which she tried bravely to keep back, had +to go up to the big house that they could see through the trees. It was +a big, rambling house, built of grey stone, with many windows, and all +about it were beds of flowers. Bessie had never seen a house that was +even half so fine.</p> + +<p>"General Seeley is very particular about his birds, and all the animals +on the place," explained Mrs. Chester, as they made their way toward the +house. "Some men keep pheasants just so that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> they can shoot them in the +autumn, and they call that sport. But General Seeley doesn't allow that. +He's a kind and gentle man, although he's a soldier."</p> + +<p>"Has he ever been in a war, Mrs. Chester?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He's a real patriot, and when his country needed him he went out +to fight, like many other brave and gentle men. But, like most men who +are really brave, he hates to see anyone or even any animal, hurt. +Soldiers aren't rough and brutal just because they sometimes have to go +to war and fight. They know so much about how horrible war is that +they're really the best friends of peace."</p> + +<p>"I never knew that. I thought they liked to fight."</p> + +<p>"No, it's just the other way round. When you hear men talk about how +fine war is, and how they hope this country will have one some time +soon, you can make up your mind that they are boasters and bullies, and +that if a war really came they'd stay home and let someone else do the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +fighting. It isn't the people who talk the most and brag the loudest who +step to the front when there's something really hard to be done. They +leave that to the quiet people."</p> + +<p>Then they walked along in silence. The place seemed even more beautiful +now, but Bessie was too upset to appreciate its loveliness. She wondered +if General Seeley would believe her, or if he would be more like Maw +Hoover than Mrs. Chester.</p> + +<p>"We'll find him on the porch in the back of the house, I think, Bessie. +If he's there we can find him without going inside and bothering the +servants. So we'll go around and see."</p> + +<p>General Seeley was a small man, with white beard and moustache, and at +her first look at him Bessie thought he looked very fierce indeed, and +every inch a soldier, though there were so few inches. He had sharp blue +eyes that were keen and piercing, and after he had risen and bowed to +Mrs. Chester, which he did as soon as he saw her, he looked sharply at +Bessie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>—so sharply that she was sure at once that he had judged her +already, and was very angry at her.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, so you've found the poacher and brought her with you, eh?" +he said. "Sit down, ma'am, sit down, while I talk to her!"</p> + +<p>And now Bessie saw that there was really a twinkle in the keen eyes, and +that he wasn't as angry as he looked.</p> + +<p>"What's her name? Bessie, eh? Bessie King? Well, sit down, Bessie, and +we'll have a talk. No use standing up—none at all! Might as well be +comfortable!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir," said Bessie, and sat down. She was still nervous, but +her fright was lessened. He was much more kindly than she had expected +him to be, somehow.</p> + +<p>"Now, let's find out all about this, Bessie. Didn't you know you +oughtn't to frighten the birds? Or didn't you think they'd be +frightened—eh, what?"</p> + +<p>Bessie didn't understand, fully, at first.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I didn't frighten them, sir," she said.</p> + +<p>"They thought so. Stupid birds, eh, to think they were frightened when +they weren't? But you remember they didn't know any better."</p> + +<p>He laughed merrily at his own joke, and glanced at Mrs. Chester, as if +he expected her to laugh, too, and to be amused, but her eyes were +troubled, and she was very thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," he went on. "It's not so very terrible, after all! We've +all of us done things we were sorry for—eh, Mrs. Chester? I'll wager +that even you have—and I know very well that there are lots of things I +can think of that I did just because I didn't think there was any harm +in them."</p> + +<p>"Some people wouldn't admit that, General Seeley, but it's very true," +said Mrs. Chester. "I know it is in my case."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, can't you talk, Bessie? Aren't you going to tell me you're +sorry and that you won't do it again?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry the birds were frightened," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> Bessie, bravely. "But I +can't say that I won't do it again—"</p> + +<p>"What's that? What's that? Bless me, what's the use of saying you're +sorry if you mean to do it the next time you get a chance?"</p> + +<p>The general was flushed as he spoke, and his eyes held the same angry +look they had worn at first. Mrs. Chester sighed and decided that it was +time for her to speak.</p> + +<p>"I don't think that was just what Bessie meant, General. I think you +didn't understand her—"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, perhaps not! What do you mean, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"I mean I can't promise not to do it again, sir, because I didn't do it +at all, in the first place. Really, I didn't—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nonsense!" said the general, testily. "I'm ready to overlook +it—don't you understand that? All I want you to do is to confess, and +to say you're sorry. Nothing's going to happen to you!"</p> + +<p>"I can't confess when I didn't do it," pleaded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> Bessie. "And if I had +done it, I'd say so, whether anything was going to happen to me or not. +That wouldn't make any difference."</p> + +<p>General Seeley jumped to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come, come! That's nonsense!" he said. "Who else could have done +it, eh? Answer me that! I've said I'd forgive you—"</p> + +<p>"But, General," protested Mrs. Chester, "if Bessie didn't do it, she'd +be telling you an untruth if she said she had—and you wouldn't have her +do that?"</p> + +<p>"I'm a just man, Mrs. Chester, but I know what's what. She must have +done it—she was around the place. And I know that none of my men did +it. They know better! No one but the game-keepers are allowed to go into +the preserve, and they all know they'd be dismissed at once if they +disobeyed my rules about that. I'm strict—very strict! I insist upon +obedience of orders and truthfulness—learned the need of them when I +was in the army. Don't you think I can tell what's going on here, +ma'am?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think you're mistaken, General—that's all. I'm sure Bessie is +telling the truth. Why shouldn't she? You've told her that she needn't +be afraid to confess if she did frighten the birds, and that was very +kind and generous of you. So, if she had, she wouldn't have anything to +lose by saying so, and promising not to be careless that way again."</p> + +<p>"What do you know about her, ma'am? Isn't it true that she's one of the +two girls you told me about last night—that Miss Mercer had found? +If—"</p> + +<p>"I know she's a brave, honest girl, General. She's proved that already."</p> + +<p>"I disagree with you, Mrs. Chester," said the general, stiffly. "You're +a lady, and you naturally think well of everyone. I've learned by bitter +experience that we can't always do that. I've trusted men, and had them +go wrong, despite that. If she was one of the girls like the others, +that you'd always known about, it would be different. Then I'd be happy +to take your word for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> it. But when I think you aren't in any better +position to judge than I am, I've got to use my own judgment."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, General," said Mrs. Chester. "I can't tell you how sorry I +am—but I'm sure you're wrong."</p> + +<p>"She can't stay here, that's certain," said the general, testily. "I +can't have a girl about the place who frightens my birds and then +tells—lies—"</p> + +<p>Bessie cried out sharply at that word.</p> + +<p>"Oh—oh!" she said. "Really, I've told the truth—I have, indeed! If I +said what you want me to say, than I'd be lying—but I'm not."</p> + +<p>"Silence, please!" said General Seeley, sternly. "I'm talking with Mrs. +Chester now, young woman. You've had your chance—and you wouldn't take +it. Now I'm done with you!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, General?" asked Mrs. Chester, looking very grave.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to send her away—where she came from, Mrs. Chester. You +and the girls you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> can vouch for are welcome, but I can't have her +here."</p> + +<p>"I can't do that, General," said Mrs. Chester, not angrily, but gravely, +and looking him straight in the eyes.</p> + +<p>"But you must! I won't let her stay here! And these are my grounds, +aren't they?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly! But if Bessie goes, we all go with her. It's not our way to +desert those we've once befriended and taken in, General."</p> + +<p>"That is for you to decide, ma'am," he said, stiffly. He got up and +bowed to her. "I'm sorry that this should cause a quarrel—"</p> + +<p>"It hasn't," said Mrs. Chester, smiling. "It takes two to make a +quarrel, and I simply won't quarrel with you, General. I know you'll be +sorry for what you've said when you think it over. Come, Bessie!"</p> + +<p>Bessie, quite stunned by the trouble that had come upon them so suddenly +out of a clear sky, couldn't speak for a minute.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she said, then, "you don't mean that all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> the girls will have to +leave this lovely place because of me?"</p> + +<p>"Not because of you, but because of a mistake that's not your fault, +Bessie. You mustn't worry about it. Just leave it to me. I'm sure you're +telling the truth, and I'm going to stick by you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE TRUTH AT LAST</h3> + + +<p>But Bessie, despite Mrs. Chester's kind words, was terribly downcast.</p> + +<p>"Really, Mrs. Chester," she said miserably, "it's awfully unfair to make +all the other girls suffer on account of me."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't look at it that way, Bessie. You couldn't tell a lie, you +know, even to prevent this trouble."</p> + +<p>"No, but I'm sure he thinks I did that. He's not an unkind man, and he +really doesn't want to make me unhappy, and drive you all away, I know. +Mrs. Chester, won't you send me away?"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Bessie! If you haven't done anything wrong, why shouldn't we +stand by you? Even if you had, we'd do that, and we ought to do it all +the more when you're in the right, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> unjustly suspected. Don't you +worry about it a bit! Everything will be all right."</p> + +<p>"But I really think you ought to let me go. I'm just a trouble maker—I +make trouble for everyone! If it hadn't been for me, Jake Hoover would +never have burnt his father's barn—don't you know that?"</p> + +<p>"That isn't so, Bessie. If you hadn't been there, something else would +have happened. And it's the same way here. You haven't anything to do +with all this trouble here. It would have come just the same if you +hadn't arrived at all, I'm sure of that. And then one of the girls would +have been accused, and everything would have happened just the same."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm afraid not!"</p> + +<p>"But I'm sure of it, Bessie, and I really know better than you. You +mustn't take it so hard. No one is going to blame you. Rest easy about +that. I'll see to it that they all understand just how it is."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could believe that!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Chester told Eleanor what General Seeley had said as soon as they +returned to the camp, and Eleanor, after a moment, just laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well, it can't be helped," she said. "If he wants to act that way, we +can't stop him, can we? And I'm so glad that you're going to stick by +poor Bessie. I know she feels as bad as she can feel about it—and it's +so fine for her to know that she really has some friends who will trust +her and believe her at last. She's never had them before."</p> + +<p>"She has them now, Eleanor. And it's because you're so fond of her +already that I'm so sure she's telling the truth. I think I'd trust her, +anyhow, but, even if I'd never seen her, I'd take your word."</p> + +<p>"Will you tell all the girls why we're going?"</p> + +<p>"I think not—just at first, anyhow. We'll just say that we're going to +move on. I'm pretty sure that the people over at Pine Bridge will have +some place where we can make camp, and that we can have our Council Fire +to-night just the same.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> It won't be as nice as it is here, of course, +but we'll make it do, somehow."</p> + +<p>So Mrs. Chester went around to the different Guardians of the Camp +Fires, and told them of the change in the plans. At once the order to +strike the tents and pack was given, and then Mrs. Chester went to make +arrangements for carrying the baggage over to Pine Bridge and for +getting a camping place there.</p> + +<p>"I'll get back as soon as I can, Eleanor," she said, "but I may be +delayed in finding a camping place. If I am, I'll send the wagons +over—I don't want to use General Seeley's, while he's angry at us. And +you can take charge and see that everything goes as it should. You'll +just take my place."</p> + +<p>"No one can do that, Mrs. Chester, but I'll do my best."</p> + +<p>Bessie, forlorn and unhappy, helped in the work of packing, and longed +for someone to talk to. She didn't want to tell Zara, who had troubles +enough of her own to worry her, and Eleanor, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> course, was too busy, +with all the work of seeing that everything was done properly. She had +to keep a watchful eye on the preparations of the other Camp Fires as +well as of her own. And then, suddenly, Bessie got a new idea.</p> + +<p>"All this trouble is for me," she said. "Suppose I weren't here—suppose +I just went away? Then they could all stay."</p> + +<p>The more she thought of that, the more the idea grew upon her.</p> + +<p>"I will do that—I will!" she said to herself, with sudden +determination. "I'm just like a sign of bad luck—I make trouble for +everyone who's good to me. Like Paw Hoover! He was always good—and the +fire hurt him more than it did anyone else, though it was Maw Hoover and +Jake who made all my trouble. I won't stay here and let them suffer for +me any longer."</p> + +<p>And, very quietly, since she wanted no one to know what she was doing, +Bessie went into the tent, which had not yet been taken down, and +changed from the blouse and skirt, which had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> been lent to her, into the +old dress she had worn when she had jumped into the water to rescue +Minnehaha.</p> + +<p>Then, moving as silently and as cautiously as she could, Bessie slipped +into the woods behind the camp. She dared not go the other way, which +was the direct route to the main road outside of General Seeley's +estate, because she knew that if any of the girls, or one of the +Guardians saw her, she would be stopped. She didn't know the way by the +direction she had to take, but she was sure that she could find it, and +she wasn't afraid. Her one idea was to get away and save trouble for the +others.</p> + +<p>Of course, if Bessie had stopped to think, she would have known that it +was wrong to do what she planned. But her aim was unselfish, and she +didn't think of the grief and anxiety that would follow her +disappearance. She was sensitive, in any case, and General Seeley's +stern manner, although he had not really meant to be unkind, had upset +her dreadfully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>To her surprise, the woods that she followed grew very thick. And she +was still more surprised, presently, to come upon a wire fence. In such +woods, it seemed very strange to her. Then, as she saw a bird with a +long, brilliantly colored tail strutting around on the other side of the +fence, she suddenly understood. This must be the place where the +precious pheasants she was supposed to have frightened were kept. And +she hadn't even known where they were!</p> + +<p>Bessie wondered, as she looked at the beautiful bird, how anyone could +have the heart to frighten it, or any like it.</p> + +<p>"I don't blame General Seeley a bit for being angry if he really thought +I had done that," she said to herself. "And he did, of course. They +don't know anything about me, really. He was quite right."</p> + +<p>Then she remembered, too, what he had said about the game-keepers. +Probably, after what had happened, they would be more careful than ever, +and Bessie decided that she had better move<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> along as fast as she could, +lest someone find her and think she was trying to get at the birds +again.</p> + +<p>But, anxious as she was to get away from the dangerous neighborhood, she +found that, to move at all, she had to stick close to the fence, since +the going beyond it was too rough for her. Then, too, as she went along, +she heard strange noises—as if someone was moving in the woods near +her, and trying not to make a noise. That frightened and puzzled her, so +she moved very quietly herself, anxious to find out who it was. A wild +thought came to her, too—perhaps it was the real poacher, for whom she +had been mistaken, that she heard!</p> + +<p>Presently the fence turned out, and she had to circle around, following +it, to keep to the straight path. And, as the fence turned in again, she +gave a sudden gasping little cry, that she had the greatest difficulty +in choking down, lest it betray her at once.</p> + +<p>For she saw a dark figure against the green<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> background, bending over, +and plucking at something that lay on the ground.</p> + +<p>"It is! It really is—the poacher!" she whispered to herself.</p> + +<p>She longed to know what to do. There was no way of telling whether there +was anyone about. If she lifted her voice and called for help, it might +bring a game-keeper quickly—and it might simply give the poacher the +alarm, and enable him to escape, leaving the evidence of the crime to be +turned against her. And this time no one, not even Mrs. Chester, would +believe in her innocence.</p> + +<p>Slowly Bessie crept toward the crouching figure. At least she would try +to see his face, so that she would recognize him again, if she was lucky +enough to see him. For Bessie was determined that some time, no matter +how far in the future, she would clear herself, and make General Seeley +admit that he had wronged her.</p> + +<p>And then, when she was scarcely ten feet from him, she stepped on a +branch that crackled under her feet, and the poacher turned and faced +her,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> springing to his feet. Bessie screamed as she saw his face, for it +was her old enemy—Jake Hoover!</p> + +<p>For a moment he was far more frightened than she. He stared at her +stupidly. Then he recognized her, and his face showed his evil triumph.</p> + +<p>"Ah, here, are yer?" he cried, and sprang toward her, his hands full of +the feathers he had plucked from the tail of the pheasant he had snared.</p> + +<p>That move was Jake's fatal mistake. Had he run at once, he might have +been able to escape. But now, Bessie, brave as ever, sprang to meet him. +He was far stronger than she, but she had seen help approaching—a man +in velveteens, and for just a moment after Jake, too, had seen the +game-keeper, Bessie was able to keep him from running. She clung to his +arms and legs, and though Jake struck at her, she would not let go. And +then, just in time, the game-keeper's heavy hand fell on Jake's +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"So you're the poacher, my lad?" he said. "Well I've caught you this +time, dead to rights."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<p>Squirm and wriggle as he would, Jake couldn't escape now. He was trapped +at last, and for once Bessie saw that he was going to reap the reward of +his evil doing.</p> + +<p>The game-keeper lifted a whistle to his lips, and blew a loud, long +blast upon it. In a moment the wood filled with the noise of men +approaching, and, to Bessie's delight, she saw General Seeley among +them.</p> + +<p>"What? At it again?" he said, angrily, as he saw Bessie. Jake was hidden +by the game-keeper, and General Seeley thought at first that it was +Bessie who had fallen to the trap he had set. Bessie said nothing—she +couldn't.</p> + +<p>"No, General. It wasn't the girl, after all," said the game-keeper. +"Never did seem to me as if it could be, anyhow. Here's the lad that did +it all—and I caught him in the act. The feathers are all over him +still."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't me! She did it! I saw her, and I took the feathers from her," +wailed Jake, anxious, as ever, to escape himself, no matter how many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +lies he had to tell, or who had to suffer for his sins. But the +game-keeper only laughed roughly.</p> + +<p>"That won't do you no good, my boy. You'd better own up and take your +medicine. Here, see this, General."</p> + +<p>He plunged his hands into Jake's pockets, and produced the wire and +other materials Jake had used in making his snare.</p> + +<p>"I guess that's pretty good evidence, ain't it, sir?"</p> + +<p>"It is, indeed," said the general, grimly. "Take him up to the house, +Tyler. I'll attend to his case later. Go on, now. I want to talk to this +girl."</p> + +<p>Then he turned to Bessie and took off his hat.</p> + +<p>"I was wrong and you were right this morning," he said, pleasantly. "I +want to apologize to you, Bessie. And I shall try to make up to you for +having treated you so badly. How can I do that?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's nothing to make up, General," said Bessie, tearfully. "I'm +so glad you know I didn't do that!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But what are you doing here—and in that dress?"</p> + +<p>"I—I was going away—so that the others could stay."</p> + +<p>"I see—so that they wouldn't have to suffer because I was so brutally +unkind to you. Well, you come with me! Why didn't you wear the other +clothes, though? They're nicer than these."</p> + +<p>"They're not mine. These are all I have, of my own."</p> + +<p>"Is that so? Well, you shall have the best wardrobe money can buy, +Bessie, just as soon as Mrs. Chester can get it for you. I'll make that +my present to you—as a way of making up, partly, for the way I behaved +to you. How will you like that?"</p> + +<p>"That's awfully good of you, but you mustn't—really, you mustn't!"</p> + +<p>"I guess I can do as I like with my own money, Bessie. And I'm going to +be one of your friends—one of your best friends, if you'll let me. +Will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> you shake hands, to show that you don't bear any hard feelings?"</p> + +<p>And Bessie, unable to speak, held out her hand.</p> + +<p>General Seeley wrung it—then he started, suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Here, here, what am I thinking of?" he said, briskly. "I must find Mrs. +Chester and ask her to forgive me. Do you think she will do it, Bessie? +Or haven't you known her long enough—"</p> + +<p>"Why should she forgive you, sir? You just thought what anyone else +would have thought. What I don't understand is why she was willing to +believe me. She didn't know anything about me—"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you why, Bessie. It's because she knows human nature, and I, +like the old fool I am, wouldn't acknowledge it! But I've learned my +lesson—I'll never venture to disagree with her again. And I'm going to +hunt her up and tell her so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<p>So Bessie, as happy as she had been miserable a few minutes before, went +with the general, while he looked for Mrs. Chester. She returned from +Pine Bridge just as they reached the camp, and she listened to General +Seeley's apologies with smiling eyes.</p> + +<p>"I knew I was right," was all she said. "And I'm more than glad that the +real culprit was found. But, my dear, you oughtn't to have tried to +leave us that way. It wasn't your fault, and we should have gone, just +the same, and we would have had to look for you until we found you. When +we once make friends of anyone, we don't let them get away from us. That +wouldn't be true to the spirit of the Camp Fire—not a bit of it!"</p> + +<p>Then, while Bessie changed again into the clothes Ayu had lent her, Mrs. +Chester gave the welcome order to unpack, and explained to the Guardians +that Bessie was cleared, and they were going to stay in camp, and have +the Council Fire just as it had been planned. Everyone was de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>lighted, +Eleanor Mercer most of all, because she had had real faith in Bessie, +and it was a triumph for her to know that her faith had not been +misplaced.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE COUNCIL FIRE</h3> + + +<p>The girls of the Manasquan Camp Fire did little that day except to cook +their meals and keep the camp in order. The order to unpack had come, +fortunately, in time to save a lot of trouble, since very little had +been done toward preparing to move, and, when it was all over, Eleanor +called the girls together, and told them just what had happened.</p> + +<p>"There is a fine lesson for all of us in that," she said. "If Bessie had +been weak, she might very well have been tempted to say what General +Seeley wanted her to say. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong—and +she said so. But she was told that if she would confess she wouldn't be +punished, or even scolded, and still she would not do it, even when she +found that it meant trouble for her and for us. And, you see, she earned +the reward of doing the right thing, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> the truth came out. And it +will happen that way most of the time—ninety-nine times out of a +hundred, I believe."</p> + +<p>"I should think you'd be perfectly furious at Jake Hoover, Bessie," said +Zara. "He makes trouble for you all the time. Here he got you blamed for +something he'd done again, and nearly spoiled things just when they were +beginning to look better."</p> + +<p>"But he didn't know that, Zara. He did something wrong, but he couldn't +have known that I was going to be blamed for it, you know."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you angry at him at all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, for killing that beautiful bird with his horrid snare. But I'm +sorry for him, too. I think he didn't know any better."</p> + +<p>"What will happen to him, do you think, Bessie! Will he be sent to +prison?"</p> + +<p>"I don't believe so. General Seeley is a kind man, and I think he'll try +to make Jake understand how wrong it was to act so, and send him home. I +certainly hope so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't see why. I should think you'd want him to be punished. He's +done so many mean things without being found out that when he is caught, +he ought to get what he deserves."</p> + +<p>"But it wouldn't be punishing just him, you see, Zara. It would be hard +for Paw Hoover, too, and you know how good he was to us. If it hadn't +been for him I don't believe we'd ever have got to Pine Bridge at all."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's so. He was good to us, Bessie. I'd like to see him again, +and tell him so. But I can't—not if Farmer Weeks can get me if I ever +go back into that state."</p> + +<p>"There's another thing to think of, too, Zara, about Jake. He's more +likely to be found out now, when he does something wrong."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, that's true, isn't it? I hadn't thought of that. He won't be +able to make Maw Hoover think you did everything now, when you're not +there, will he?"</p> + +<p>"That's just what I mean. And maybe, when she finds that the things she +used to blame me for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> keep on happening just the same, though I'm not +there, she'll see that I never did do them at all. It looked pretty bad +for me this morning, Zara, but you see it came out all right. And I'm +beginning to think now that other things will turn out right, too, just +as Miss Eleanor's been saying they would."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do hope so! There's Miss Eleanor coming now."</p> + +<p>"Well, girls, have you chosen your fire names yet?" asked the Guardian. +"You'll have to be ready to tell us to-night at the big fire you know, +when you get your rings."</p> + +<p>"Why, I hadn't thought about it, even. Had you, Zara?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I had. I think I'd like to be called by a name that would make +people think of being happy and cheerful. Is there an Indian word that +would do that?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. But why don't you make up a new word for yourself, as we made +up Wo-he-lo? You could take the first letters of happy and cheerful,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +and call yourself Hachee. That sounds like an Indian word, though it +really isn't. And what for a symbol?"</p> + +<p>"I think a chipmunk is the happiest, cheerfulest thing I know."</p> + +<p>"That's splendid! You can be Hachee, and your symbol shall be the +chipmunk. You've done well, Zara. I don't think you'll ever want to burn +your name."</p> + +<p>"What is that? Burning one's name?" inquired Zara.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes a girl chooses a name and later she doesn't like it. Then, at +a Council Fire, she writes that name, the one she wants to give up, on a +slip of paper, and it's thrown into the fire. And after that she is +never called by it again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see. No, I like my new name and I'll want to keep that, I know."</p> + +<p>"I've always liked the name of Stella—that means a star, doesn't +it?—so that my name and my symbol could be the same, if I took that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Bessie. That's a good choice, too. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> shall be Stella, when we +are using the ceremonial names. Well, that's settled, then. You must +learn to repeat the Wood-Gatherer's desire to-night—and after that you +will get your rings, and then you will be real Camp Fire Girls, like the +rest of us."</p> + +<p>Then she left them, because there was much for her to do, and that +afternoon Bessie and Zara made very sure that they knew the +Wood-Gatherer's desire, and learned all that the other girls could tell +them about the law of the fire, and all the other things they wanted to +know. But they waited anxiously for it to be time to light the great +Council Fire.</p> + +<p>All afternoon the Wood-Gatherers worked, gathering the fagots for the +fire, and arranging them neatly. They were built up so that there was a +good space for a draught under the wood, in order that the fire, once it +was lighted, might burn clear and bright. A cloudless summer sky gave +promise of a beautiful starlit night, so that there was no danger of a +repetition of the disap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>pointment of the previous night—which, however, +everyone had already forgotten.</p> + +<p>After supper, when it was quite dark, the space around the pile was left +empty. Then Mrs. Chester, in her ceremonial Indian robes, stood up in +the centre, near the fire, and one by one the different Camp Fires, led +by their Guardians, came in, singing slowly.</p> + +<p>As each girl passed before her, Mrs. Chester made the sign of the Fire, +by raising her right hand slowly, in a sweeping gesture, after first +crossing its fingers against those of the left hand. Each girl returned +the sign and then passed to her place in the great circle about the +fagots, where she sat down.</p> + +<p>When all the girls were seated, Mrs. Chester spoke.</p> + +<p>"The Manasquan Camp Fire has the honor of lighting our Council Fire +to-night," she said. "Ayu!"</p> + +<p>And Ayu stepped forward. She had with her the simple tools that are +required for making fire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> in the Indian fashion. It is not enough, as +some people believe, to rub two sticks together, and Bessie and Zara, +who had never seen this trick played before, watched her with great +interest. Ayu had, first, a block of wood, not very thick, in which a +notch had been cut. In this notch she rested a long, thin stick, and on +top of that was a small piece of wood, in which the stick or drill +rested. And, last of all, she had a bow, with a leather thong, which was +slipped around the drill.</p> + +<p>When everything was ready Ayu, holding down the fire block with one +foot, held the socket of the drill with the left hand, while with the +right she drew the bow rapidly back and forth. In less than a minute +there was a tiny spark. Then rapidly growing, flame appeared and a +moment later, along the carefully prepared tinder, the fire ran to the +kindling beneath the fagots. And then, as the flames rose and began to +curl about the fagots all the girls began to sing together the Camp Fire +Girl Ode to Fire:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Oh Fire!"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Oh Fire!</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Long years ago when our fathers fought with great animals you were their protection.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From the cruel cold of winter you saved them.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>When they needed food you changed the flesh of beasts into savory food for them.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>During all the ages your mysterious flame has been a symbol to them for Spirit.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>So to-night we light our fire in remembrance of the Great Spirit who gave you to us."</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Then each Guardian called the roll of her Camp Fire, and as each girl's +ceremonial name was called she answered, "Kolah!"</p> + +<p>"That means <i>friend</i>," someone whispered to Bessie and Zara.</p> + +<p>"We are to receive two new members to-night," said Mrs. Chester, then. +"Wanaka, they come in your Camp Fire. Will you initiate them into the +Camp Fire circle?"</p> + +<p>Then she sat down, and Wanaka took her place in the centre. Bessie and +Zara understood that it was time for them to step forward, and they +stood out in the dancing light of the fire, which was roaring up now, +and casting its light into the shadows about the circle. All the girls +stood up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bessie came first, and Wanaka turned to her.</p> + +<p>"Is it your desire to become a Camp Fire Girl and follow the law of the +Fire?"</p> + +<p>And Bessie, who had been taught the form to be followed, answered:</p> + +<p>"It is my desire to become a Camp Fire Girl and to obey the law of the +Camp Fire, which is to Seek Beauty, Give Service, Pursue Knowledge, Be +Trustworthy, Hold on to Health, Glorify Work, Be Happy. This law of the +Camp Fire I will strive to follow."</p> + +<p>Then she held out her left hand, and Eleanor took it, saying:</p> + +<p>"In the name of the Camp Fire Girls of America, I place on the little +finger of your left hand this ring, with its design of seven fagots, +symbolic of the seven points of the law of the Fire, which you have +expressed your desire to follow, and of the three circles on either +side, symbolic of the three watchwords of this organization—Work, +Health, and Love. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>—</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="As fagots are brought from the forest"> +<tr><td align='left'>"As fagots are brought from the forest</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Firmly held by the sinews which bind them,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">So cleave to these others, your sisters,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whoever, whenever, you find them.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><br />"Be strong as the fagots are sturdy;</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Be pure in your deepest desire;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Be true to the truth that is in you;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And—follow the law of the Fire."</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Then, as Bessie, or Stella, as, at the Council Fire she was to be known +thereafter, made her way back to her place, all the girls sang the +Wo-he-lo song by way of welcoming her as one of them.</p> + +<p>Then it was Zara's turn, and the same beautiful ceremony was repeated +for her.</p> + +<p>"Now the Snug Harbor Camp Fire is going to entertain us with some new +Indian dances they have learned," said Mrs. Chester. "I am sure we will +all enjoy that."</p> + +<p>And they did. No Indian girls ever danced with the grace and beauty that +those young American girls put into their interpretation of the +old-fashioned dances, which made all the other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> Camp Fires determine to +try to learn them, too. And after that there was a talk from Mrs. +Chester on the purpose of the organization. Then, finally, taps sounded, +and the Council Fire was over.</p> + +<p>"So you really are Camp Fire Girls," said Eleanor, to the two new +members. "Soon we shall be back in the city and there I am sure that +many things will happen to you. Some of them will be hard, but you will +get through them all right. And remember we mean to help you, no matter +what happens. Zara shall have her father back, and we will do all we +can, Bessie, to help you find your parents. Good-night!"</p> + +<p>"Good-night!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>Every Child's<br />Library</h1> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>No child has come into his full and rightful heritage in the world of +books until he has read the stories comprising</div> + +<h3>Every Child's Library</h3> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Every Child's Library"> +<tr><td align='left'>HEIDI—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TREASURE ISLAND—<i>Stevenson</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>EAST O' THE SUN AND WEST O' THE MOON—<i>Dasent</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>HANS BRINKER—<i>Dodge</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON—<i>Wyss</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>ROBINSON CRUSOE—<i>Defoe</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PINOCCHIO—<i>D. Collodi</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>ROBIN HOOD—<i>Gilbert</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>KING ARTHUR FOR BOYS—<i>Gilbert</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>ANIMAL STORIES—<i>P. T. Barnum</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>KIDNAPPED—<i>Stevenson</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>CORNELLI, HER CHILDHOOD—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A CHRISTMAS CAROL—<i>Dickens</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A DOG OF FLANDERS—<i>Ouida</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE CUCKOO CLOCK—<i>Molesworth</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>JIM DAVIS—<i>Masefield</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND—<i>MacDonald</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE—<i>MacDonald</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN—<i>MacDonald</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BLACK BEAUTY—<i>Sewell</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>MAXA'S CHILDREN—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A LITTLE SWISS BOY—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>UNCLE TITUS IN THE COUNTRY—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BLACK ARROW—<i>Stevenson</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE RED FAIRY BOOK—<i>Lang</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BLUE FAIRY BOOK—<i>Lang</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>GRANNY'S WONDERFUL CHAIR—<i>Browne</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>LITTLE MEN—<i>Alcott</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL—<i>Alcott</i></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'><br /><small>Each volume is well illustrated, is bound in cloth and has a jacket in +colors.</small></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h3>THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.<br /> +AKRON, OHIO</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class='bbox'> +<h1>The Companion<br />Series</h1> + +<div class='blockquot'> +These books will in truth prove companions to the child through many a +happy reading hour and grow into memory companions for later life, +enriching all the years.<br /> +<br /> +The type is large and plain, the books are exceptionally +illustrated—most of them having a hundred or more illustrations which +add keen zest to the stories.<br /><br /></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="The Companion Series"> +<tr><td align='left'>LITTLE WOMEN—<i>Alcott</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>LITTLE MEN—<i>Alcott</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL—<i>Alcott</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>HEIDI—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES—<i>Stevenson</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>CORNELLI, HER CHILDHOOD—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>MAXA'S CHILDREN—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>UNCLE TITUS IN THE COUNTRY—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A LITTLE SWISS BOY—<i>Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>EVERY DAY BIBLE STORIES—<i>Pollard</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>ARABIAN NIGHTS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND—<i>Carroll</i></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='center'><br />Bound in boards, frontispiece in colors, cover and jacket in colors, +size 6-3/4 x 9 inches.</div> + +<h4>THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.<br /> +AKRON, OHIO</h4> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class='bbox'> +<h1>John Newbery<br />Series</h1> + +<div class='blockquot'> +Early in the 18th century John Newbery was born in a little Berkshire +village in England, and became a bookman in the old St. Paul's +churchyard.<br /> +<br /> +It was he who first believed children needed books of their own, and he +set about to supply that need. Many of the old stories, quaint jingles +and nursery rhymes we have today are due to him. It is therefore +peculiarly fitting this series, comprising the best written for +childhood, should bear his name.<br /><br /></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="John Newbery Series"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN—<i>Robert Browning</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER—<i>John Ruskin</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>MONI, THE GOAT BOY—<i>Johanna Spyri</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>FAIRY TALE GIANTS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>FAIRY TALE PRINCES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>FAIRY TALE PRINCESSES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A DOG OF FLANDERS—<i>Louisa de la Ramee</i> (<i>Ouida</i>)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW—<i>Washington Irving</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>RIP VAN WINKLE—<i>Washington Irving</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE NURNBERG STOVE—<i>Louisa de la Ramee</i> (<i>Ouida</i>)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE—<i>Miss Mulock</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>CHILD VERSES—<i>Eugene Field</i></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='blockquot'><br />These books are well bound in cloth, are profusely illustrated, have a +colored frontispiece and a colored jacket, and contain 92 pages each.</div> + +<h4>THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.<br /> +AKRON, OHIO</h4></div> + + + + +<h1>The Billy Whiskers<br />Series</h1> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>As Originated by</div> + +<h3>FRANCES TREGO MONTGOMERY</h3> + +<div class='blockquot'>Mrs. Montgomery has the happy faculty of knowing just what the small boy +and his sister like in stories, and the added ability of giving it to +them. Her ideas are touched with the sparkle of real genius and little +folks find it a delight to travel in her company. These adventures of a +frolicsome goat never fail to please.</div> + +<h3>Twenty-five Volumes</h3> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="The Billy Whiskers Series"> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' KIDS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS, JUNIOR</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' TRAVELS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS AT THE CIRCUS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS AT THE FAIR</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' FRIENDS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS, JR., AND HIS CHUMS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' GRANDCHILDREN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' VACATION</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS KIDNAPPED</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' TWINS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS IN AN AEROPLANE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS IN TOWN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS OUT WEST</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS IN THE SOUTH</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' ADVENTURES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS IN THE MOVIES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS OUT FOR FUN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' FROLICS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS AT HOME</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' PRANKS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS IN MISCHIEF</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS AND THE RADIO</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BILLY WHISKERS' TREASURE HUNT</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'><small>Quarto, six full color illustrations and many black-and-white drawings, +bound<br />in cloth, colored jacket. Price, $1.25 each.</small></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h4>THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY,<br /> +AKRON, OHIO</h4> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>The original text does not include a table of contents. One was created for +this html version.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire, by +Jane L. 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Stewart + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire + The Camp Fire Girls In the Woods + +Author: Jane L. Stewart + +Release Date: March 1, 2007 [EBook #20713] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST COUNCIL FIRE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: This edition had a cover and title page entitled +_A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire_. The title on the first page of +the story and the remainder of the book, however, is _The Camp Fire +Girls In the Woods_. + + + + + +A Campfire Girl's +First Council Fire + +By +JANE L. STEWART + +CAMPFIRE GIRLS SERIES + +VOLUME I + + THE + SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + AKRON, OHIO + NEW YORK + + Made in U. S. A. + +COPYRIGHT, MCMXIV + +BY + +THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO. + + + + +THE CAMPFIRE GIRLS SERIES + +[Illustration] + + A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S FIRST COUNCIL FIRE + A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S CHUM + A CAMPFIRE GIRL IN SUMMER CAMP + A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S ADVENTURE + A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S TEST OF FRIENDSHIP + A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S HAPPINESS + +[Illustration: "We'll take you over to camp and you can have dinner with +us."] + + + + +The Camp Fire Girls In the Woods + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ESCAPE + + +"Now then, you, Bessie, quit your loafin' and get them dishes washed! +An' then you can go out and chop me some wood for the kitchen fire!" + +The voice was that of a slatternly woman of middle age, thin and +complaining. She had come suddenly into the kitchen of the Hoover +farmhouse and surprised Bessie King as the girl sat resting for a moment +and reading. + +Bessie jumped up alertly at the sound of the voice she knew so well, and +started nervously toward the sink. + +"Yes, ma'am," she said. "I was awful tired--an' I wanted to rest for a +few minutes." + +"Tired!" scolded the woman. "Land knows _you_ ain't got nothin' to +carry on so about! Ain't you got a good home? Don't we board you and +give you a good bed to sleep in? Didn't Paw Hoover give you a nickel for +yourself only last week?" + +"Yes--an' you took it away from me soon's you found it out," Bessie +flashed back. There were tears in her eyes, but she went at her dishes, +and Mrs. Hoover, after a minute in which she glared at Bessie, turned +and left the kitchen, muttering something about ingratitude as she went. + +As she worked, Bessie wondered why it was that she must always do the +work about the house when other girls were at school or free to play. +But it had been that way for a long time, and she could think of no way +of escaping to happier conditions. Mrs. Hoover was no relation to her at +all. Bessie had a father and mother, but they had left her with Mrs. +Hoover a long time before, and she could scarcely remember them, but she +heard about them, her father especially, whenever she did something that +Mrs. Hoover didn't like. + +"Take after your paw--that's what you do, good-for-nothin' little +hussy!" the farmer's wife would say. "Leavin' you here on our hands when +he went away--an' promisin' to send board money for you. Did, too, for +'bout a year--an' since then never a cent! I've a mind to send you to +the county farm, that I have!" + +"Now, maw," Paw Hoover, a kindly, toil-hardened farmer, would say when +he happened to overhear one of these outbursts, "Bessie's a good girl, +an' I reckon she earns her keep, don't she, helpin' you like, round the +place?" + +"Earn her keep?" Mrs. Hoover would shrill. "She's so lazy she'd never do +anythin' at all if I didn't stand over her. All she's good fer is to eat +an' sleep--an' to hide off som'ere's so's she can read them trashy books +when she ought to be reddin' up or doin' her chores!" + +And Paw Hoover would sigh and retire, beaten in the argument. He knew +his wife too well to argue with her. But he liked Bessie, and he did his +best to comfort her when he had the chance, and thought there was no +danger of starting a dispute with his wife. + +Bessie finished her dishes, and then she went out obediently to the wood +pile, and set to work to chop kindling. She had been up since +daylight--and the sun rose early on those summer mornings. Every bone +and muscle in her tired little body ached, but she knew well that Mrs. +Hoover had been listening to the work of washing the dishes, and she +dared not rest lest her taskmistress descend upon her again when the +noise ceased. + +Mrs. Hoover came out after she had been chopping wood for a few minutes +and eyed her crossly. + +"'Pears to me like you're mighty slow," she said, complainingly. "When +you get that done there's butter to be made. So don't be all day about +it." + +But the wood was hard, and though Bessie worked diligently enough, her +progress was slow. She was still at it when Mrs. Hoover, dressed in her +black silk dress and with her best bonnet on her head, appeared again. + +"I'm goin' to drive into town," she said. "An' if that butter ain't done +when I get back, I'll--" + +She didn't finish her threat in words, but Bessie had plenty of memories +of former punishments. She made no answer, and Mrs. Hoover, still +scowling, finally went off. + +As if that had been a signal, another girl appeared suddenly from the +back of the woodshed. She was as dark as Bessie was fair, a mischievous, +black-eyed girl, who danced like a sprite as she approached Bessie. Her +brown legs were bare, her dress was even more worn and far dingier than +Bessie's, which was clean and neat. She was smiling as Bessie saw her. + +"Oh, Zara, aren't you afraid to come here?" said Bessie, alarmed, +although Zara was her best and almost her only friend. "You know what +she said she'd do if she ever caught you around here again?" + +"Yes, I know," said Zara, seating herself on a stump and swinging her +legs to and fro, after she had kissed Bessie, still laughing. "I'm not +afraid of her, though, Bessie. She'd never catch me--she can't run fast +enough! And if she ever touched me--" + +The smile vanished suddenly from Zara's olive skinned face. Her eyes +gleamed. + +"She'd better look out for herself!" she said. "She wouldn't do it +again!" + +"Oh, Zara, it's wrong to talk that way," said Bessie. "She's been good +to me. She's looked after me all this time--and when I was sick she was +ever so nice to me--" + +"Pooh!" said Zara. "Oh, I know I'm not good and sweet like you, Bessie! +The teacher says that's why the nice girls won't play with me. But it +isn't. I know--and it's the same way with you. If we had lots of money +and pretty clothes and things like the rest of them, they wouldn't care. +Look at you! You're nicer than any of them, but they don't have any more +to do with you than with me. It's because we're poor." + +"I don't believe it's that, Zara. They know that I haven't got time to +play with them, and that I can't ask them here, or go to their houses if +they ask me. Some time--" + +"You're too good, Bessie. You never get angry at all. You act as if you +ought to be grateful to Maw Hoover for looking after you. Don't she make +you work like a hired girl, and pay you nothin' for it? You work all the +time--she'd have to pay a hired girl good wages for what you do, and +treat her decently, beside. You're so nice that everyone picks on you, +just 'cause they know they can do it and you won't hit back." + +Glad of a chance to rest a little, Bessie had stopped her work to talk +to Zara, and neither of the two girls heard a stealthy rustling among +the leaves back of the woodshed, nor saw a grinning face that appeared +around the corner. The first warning that they had that they were not +alone came when a long arm reached out suddenly and a skinny, powerful +hand grasped Zara's arm and dragged her from her perch. + +"Caught ye this time, ain't I?" said the owner of the hand and arm, +appearing from around the corner of the shed. "My, but Maw'll pickle yer +when she gits hold of yer!" + +"Jake Hoover!" exclaimed Bessie, indignantly. "You big sneak, you! Let +her go this instant! Aren't you ashamed of yourself, hurtin' her like +that?" + +Zara, caught off her guard, had soon collected herself, and begun to +struggle in his grasp like the wild thing she was. But Jake Hoover only +laughed, leering at the two girls. He was a tall, lanky, overgrown boy +of seventeen, and he was enjoying himself thoroughly. He seemed to have +inherited all his mother's meanness of disposition and readiness to find +fault and to take delight in the unhappiness of others. Now, as Zara +struggled, he twisted her wrist to make her stop, and only laughed at +her cries of pain. + +"Let her go! She isn't hurting you!" begged Bessie. "Please, Jake, if +you do, I'll help you do your chores to-night--I will, indeed!" + +"You'll have to do 'em anyhow," said Jake, still holding poor Zara. +"I've got a dreadful headache. I'm too sick to do any work to-night." + +He made a face that he thought was comical. Zara, realizing that she was +helpless against his greater strength, had stopped struggling, and he +turned on her suddenly with a vicious glare. + +"I know why you're hangin' 'round here," he said. "They took that +worthless critter you call your paw off to jail jest now--and you're +tryin' to steal chickens till he comes out." + +"That ain't true!" she exclaimed. "My father never stole anything. +They're just picking on him because he's a foreigner and can't talk as +well as some of them--" + +"They've locked him up, anyhow," said Jake. "An' now I'm goin' to lock +you up, too, an' keep you here till maw comes home--right here in the +woodshed, where you'll be safe!" + +And despite her renewed struggling and Bessie's tearful protests, he +kept his word, thrusting her into the woodshed and locking the great +padlock on the door, while she screamed in futile rage, and kicked +wildly at the door. + +Then, with a parting sneer for Bessie, he went off, carrying the key +with him. + +"Listen, Zara," said Bessie, sobbing. "Can you hear me?" + +"Yes. I'm all right, Bessie. Don't you cry! He didn't hurt me any." + +"I'll try and get a key so I can let you out before she comes home. If +she finds you in there, she'll give you a beating, just like she said. +I've got to go churn some milk into butter now, but I'll be back as soon +as ever I can. Don't you worry! I'll get you out of there all right." + +"Please try, Bessie! I'm so worried about what he said about my father. +It can't be true--but how would he ever think of such a story? I want to +get home and find out." + +"You keep quiet. I'll find some way to get you out," promised Bessie, +loyally. + +And, stirred to a greater anger than she had ever felt by Jake Hoover's +bullying of poor Zara, she went off to attend to her churning. + +Jake, as a matter of fact, was responsible for a good deal of Bessie's +unhappiness. As a child he had been sickly, and he had continued, long +after he had outgrown his weakness, and sprouted up into a lanky, +raw-boned boy, to trade upon the fears his parents had once felt for +him. Among boys of his own age he was unpopular. He had early become a +bully, abusing smaller and weaker boys. + +Bessie he had long made a mark for his sallies of wit. He taunted her +interminably about the way her father and mother had left her; he pulled +her hair, and practiced countless other little tricks that she could not +resent. His father tried to reprove him at times, but his mother always +rushed to his defence, and in her eyes he could do no wrong. She upheld +him against anyone who had a bad word to say concerning him--and, of +course, Bessie got undeserved rebukes for many of his misdeeds. + +He soon learned that he could escape punishment by making it seem that +she had done things of which he was accused, and, as his word was always +taken against hers, no matter what the evidence was, he had only +increased his mother's dislike for the orphaned girl. + +The whole village shared Maw Hoover's dislike of Zara and her father. He +had settled down two or three years before in an abandoned house, but no +one seemed to understand how he lived. He disappeared for days at a +time, but he seemed always to have money enough to pay his way, although +never any more. And in the village there were dark rumors concerning +him. + +Gossip accused him of being a counterfeiter, who made bad money in the +abandoned house he had taken for his own, and that seemed to be the +favorite theory. And whenever chickens were missed, dark looks were cast +at Zara and her father. He looked like a gypsy, and he would never +answer questions about himself. That was enough to condemn him. + +Bessie finished her churning quickly, and then went back, hoping either +to make Jake relent or find some way of releasing the prisoner in the +woodshed. But she could see no sign of Jake. The summer afternoon had +become dark. In the west heavy black clouds were forming, and as Bessie +looked about it grew darker and darker. Evidently a thunder shower was +approaching. That meant that Maw Hoover would hurry home. If she was to +help Zara she must make haste. + +Jake, it seemed, had the only key that would open the padlock and +Bessie, though she knew that she would be punished for it, determined to +try to break the lock with a stone. She told Zara what she meant to do, +and set to work. It was hard work, but her fingers were willing, and +Zara's frightened pleading, as the thunder began to roar, and flashes of +lightning came to her through the cracks in the woodshed, urged her on. +And then, just as she was on the verge of success, she heard Jake's +coarse laugh in her ear. "Look out!" he shouted. + +He stood in the kitchen door, and, as she turned, something fell, +hissing, at her feet. She started back, terrified. Jake laughed, and +threw another burning stick at her. He had taken a shovelful of embers +from the fire, and now he tossed them at her so that she had to dance +about to escape the sparks. It was a dangerous game, but one that Jake +loved to play. He knew that Bessie was afraid of fire, and he had often +teased her in that fashion. But suddenly Bessie shrieked in real terror. +As yet, though the approaching storm blackened the sky, there was no +rain. But the wind was blowing almost a gale, and Bessie saw a little +streamer of flame run up the side of the woodshed. + +"The shed's on fire! You've set it on fire!" she shrieked. "Quick--give +me that key!" + +Jake, really frightened then, ran toward her with the key in his hand. + +"Get some water!" Bessie called to him. "Quick!" + +And she unlocked the padlock and let Zara, terrified by the fire, out. +But Jake stood there stupidly, and, fanned by the wind, the flames +spread rapidly. + +"Gosh, now you have done it!" he said. "Maw'll just about skin you alive +for that when I tell her you set the shed afire!" + +Bessie turned a white face toward him. + +"You wouldn't say that!" she exclaimed. + +But she saw in his scared face that he would tell any lie that would +save him from the consequences of his recklessness. And with a sob of +fright she turned to Zara. + +"Come, Zara!" she cried. "Get away!" + +"Come with me!" said Zara. "She'll believe you did it! Come with me!" + +And Bessie, too frightened and tired to think much, suddenly yielded to +her fright, and ran with Zara out into the woods. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN UNJUST ACCUSATION + + +They had not gone far when the rain burst upon them. They stuck to the +woods to avoid meeting Maw Hoover on her way home, and as the first big +drops pattered down among the trees Zara called a halt. + +"It's going to rain mighty hard," she said. "We'd better wait here and +give it a chance to stop a little before we cross the clearing. We'll +get awful wet if we go on now." + +Bessie, shivering with fright, and half minded, even now, to turn back +and take any punishment Maw Hoover chose to give her, looked up through +the trees. The lightning was flashing. She turned back--and the glare of +the burning woodshed helped her to make up her mind to stay with Zara. +As they looked the fire, against the black background of the storm, was +terrifying in the extreme. + +"You'd never think that shed would make such a blaze, would you?" said +Zara, trembling. "I'd like to kill that Jake Hoover! How did he set it +on fire?" + +"He must have been watching me all the time when I was trying to help +you to get out," said Bessie. "Then, when I was nearly done, he called +to me, and then he began throwing the burning wood at me. He knows I +hate that--he's done it before. I can always get out of the way. He +doesn't throw them very near me, really. But two or three times the +sparks have burned holes in my dress and Maw Hoover's been as mad as she +could be. So she thinks anyhow that I play around the fire, and she'd +never believe I didn't do it." + +"The rain ought to put the fire out," said Zara presently, after they +had remained in silence for a few moments. "But I think it's beginning +to stop a little now." + +"It is, and the fire's still burning, Zara. It seems to me it's +brighter than ever. And listen--when it isn't thundering. Don't you hear +a noise as if someone was shouting back there?" + +Zara listened intently. + +"Yes," she said. "And it sounds as if they were chopping with axes, too. +I hope the fire hasn't spread and reached the house, Bessie." + +Bessie shivered. + +"I hope so, too, Zara. But it's not my fault, anyhow. You and I know +that, even if no one believes us. It was Jake Hoover who did it, and +he'll be punished for it some time, I guess, whether his maw ever finds +it out or not." + +They waited a few minutes longer for the rain to stop, and then, as it +grew lighter, they began to move on. They could see a heavy cloud of +smoke from the direction of the farmhouse, but no more flames, and now, +as the thunder grew more and more distant, they could hear shouting more +plainly. Evidently help had come--Paw Hoover, probably, seeing the fire, +and rushing up from the fields with his hired men and the neighbors to +put it out. + +"Zara," said Bessie, suddenly, "suppose Jake was telling the truth? +Suppose they have taken your father away? You know they have said things +about him, and lots of people believe he is a bad man. I never did. But +suppose they really have taken him, what will you do?" + +"I don't know. Stay there, I suppose. But, Bessie, it can't be true!" + +"Maybe they wouldn't let you stay. When Mary Morton's mother died last +year and left her alone, they took her to the poorhouse. Maybe they'd +make you go there, too." + +"They shan't!" cried Zara, her eyes flashing through her tears. "I--I'll +run away--I'll do anything--" + +"I'm going to run away, myself," said Bessie, quietly. She had been +doing a lot of thinking. "No one could make me work harder than Maw +Hoover, and they'd pay me for doing it. I'm going to get as far away as +I can and get a real job." + +Zara looked at Bessie, usually so quiet and meek, in surprise. There +was a determined note in Bessie's voice that she had never heard there +before. + +"We'll stick together, you and I, Zara," said Bessie. "I'm afraid +something _has_ happened to your father. And if that's so, we'd better +not go right up to your house. We'd better wait until it's dark, and go +there quietly, so that we can listen, and see if there's anyone around +looking for you." + +"But we won't get any supper!" said poor Zara. "And I'm hungry already!" + +"We'll find berries and nuts, and we can easily find a spring where we +can drink all we want," said Bessie. "I guess we've got to look out for +ourselves now, Zara. There's no one else to do it for us." + +And Bessie, the meek, the quiet, the subdued, from that moment took +command. Always before Zara had seemed the plucky one of the two. She +had often urged Bessie to rebel against Maw Hoover's harshness, and it +had been always Bessie who had hung back and refused to do anything +that might make trouble. But now, when the time for real action had +come, and Bessie recognized it, it was she who made the plans and +decided what was to be done. + +Bessie knew the woods well, far better than Zara. Unerringly she led the +way to a spot she knew, where a farm had been allowed to drift back to +wild country, and pointed out some cherry trees. + +"Some berries aren't good to eat, but I know those cherries," said +Bessie. "They used to be the best trees in the whole county years +ago--Paw Hoover's told me that. Some believe that they're no good now, +because no one has looked after the trees, but I know they're fine. I +ate some only the other day, and they're ripe and delicious. So we'll +have supper off these trees." + +Zara, as active as a little cat, climbed the tree at once, and in a +moment she was throwing down the luscious fruit to Bessie, who gathered +it in her apron and called to Zara when she had picked enough of the +big, round cherries. + +"Aren't they good, Zara? Eat as many as you want. They're not like a +real supper of meat and potatoes and things like that, you know, but +they'll keep us from feeling hungry." + +"They certainly will, Bessie. I'd never have known about them. But then +I haven't lived long enough in the country to know it the way you do. +I've been in cities all my life." + +"Yes, and if we get to the city, Zara, you'll know lots of things and be +able to tell me all about them. It must be wonderful." + +"I suppose it is, Bessie, but I never thought of it that way. It must +have been because I was used to everything of that sort. When you see +things every day you get so that you don't think anything about them. I +used to laugh at people from the country when I'd see them staring up at +the high buildings, and jumping when an automobile horn tooted anywhere +near them." + +"I suppose it must have seemed funny to you." + +"Yes, but I was sorry when I came out here and saw that everyone was +laughing at me. There were all sorts of things I'd never seen or thought +about. I'm really only just beginning to get used to them now. Bessie, +it's getting pretty dark. Won't the moon be up soon?" + +"Not for an hour or two yet, Zara. But it is dark now--we'd better begin +walking toward your house. We want to get there while it stays dark, and +before the old moon does get up. It'll be just as bright as daylight +then, and they'd be able to see us. I tell you what--we want to keep off +the road. We'll go through the woods till we get a chance to cut through +Farmer Weeks' cornfield. That'll bring us out behind your place, and we +can steal up quietly." + +"You'd think we'd been doing something wrong, Bessie. It seems mighty +mean for us to have to sneak around that way." + +"It's all right as long as we know we haven't done anything that isn't +right, Zara. That's the chief thing. If you do right, people will find +it out sooner or later, even if they think at first that you're bad. +Sometimes it takes a long time, but Paw Hoover says he's never known it +to fail that a bad man gets found out sooner or later." + +"Then Jake Hoover'd better look out," said Zara, viciously. "He's lied +so much, and done so many mean things that you've got the blame for, +that he'll have an awful lot to make up for when he starts in. What +would Paw Hoover do to him if he knew he'd set the woodshed on fire, +Bessie?" + +"I don't know. He'd be awful mad. He hasn't got so awful much money, you +know, and he needs it all for the farm. But Maw Hoover thinks Jake's all +right. She'd find some excuse for him. She always does when he does get +found out. That happens sometimes, you know. He can't always make them +think I've done it." + +"I guess maybe that's why he's so mean, Bessie. Don't you think so?" + +"Shouldn't wonder, Zara. I don't believe he stops to think half the +time. Here we are! We'll cut through the fence. Careful as we go +through--keep to the lanes between the stalks. We mustn't hurt the +corn, you know." + +"I'd like to pull up every stalk! These people 'round here have been +mean and ugly to my father ever since we came here." + +"That isn't right, though, Zara. It won't do you any good to hurt them +in return. If you do wrong, too, just because they have, you'll be just +as bad as they are." + +"Oh, I know, but they've said all sorts of awful things, and if they've +put him in prison now--" She stopped, with a sob, and Bessie took her +hand. + +"Cheer up, Zara. We don't know that anything of that sort has happened +yet, and, even if it has, it will come out all right. If your father +hasn't done anything wrong, they can't punish him. He'll get a fair +trial if he's been arrested, and they can't prove he's done anything +unless he has, you know." + +"But if they lied about him around here, mightn't they lie the same +afterward--at the trial, Bessie? I'm frightened; really I am!" + +"Hush, Zara! There's your house, and there's a light! That means there's +someone there. I hope it's your father, but it might be someone else, +and we mustn't let them hear us." + +The two girls were out of the cornfield now, and, crossing a little +patch of swampy land, came to the little garden around Zara's house, +where her father had planted a few vegetables that helped to feed him +and Zara. + +The house was little better than a cabin, a rough affair, tumbled down +in spots, with a sagging roof, and stained and weather-worn boards. It +had no second floor at all, and it was a poor, cheap apology for a +dwelling, all around. But, after all, it was Zara's home, the only home +she knew, and she was so tired and discouraged that all she wanted was +to get safely inside and throw herself down on her hard bed to sleep. + +"Listen!" whispered Bessie, suddenly. + +From the room into which the kitchen led there came a murmur of voices. +At first, though they strained their ears, they could make nothing out +of the confused sounds of talk. But gradually they recognized voices, +and Bessie turned pale as she heard Paw Hoover's, easy for her to know, +since his deep tones rumbled out in the quiet night. Zara recognized +them, too, and clutched Bessie's arm. + +"My father isn't there!" she whispered. "If he was, I'd hear him." + +"There's Farmer Weeks--and I believe that's Jake Hoover's voice, too," +said Bessie, also in a whisper. + +Then the door was opened, and the two girls huddled closer together, +shivering, afraid that they would be discovered. But it seemed that Paw +Hoover had only opened the door to get a little air, since the night was +very hot after the storm. About them the insects were making their +accustomed din, and a little breeze rustled among the treetops. But, +with the door open, they could hear what was being said plainly enough. + +"I ain't goin' to wait here all night, Brother Weeks," said Paw Hoover. +"Got troubles enough of my own, what with the woodshed settin' fire to +the house!" + +"Oh!" whispered Bessie. "Did you hear that, Zara? It was worse than we +thought." + +"Huh!" said Weeks, a rough, hard man, who found it hard to get men to +work when he needed them for the harvest every summer, on account of his +reputation for treating his men badly. + +"I allus told you you'd have trouble with that baggage afore you got rid +of her, Paw! Lucky that she didn't burn you out when you was all +asleep--I say," said Jake. + +Bessie listened, every nerve and muscle in her body tense. They blamed +her for the fire, then! Her instinct when she had run away had been +right. + +"I swan, I dunno what all possessed her," said Paw Hoover. "We give her +a good home--but Jake here seen her do it, though he was too late to +stop her--hey, Jake?" + +"That's right, Pop," said Jake. "She didn't know I was aroun' anywhere. +Say, you ought to have her pinched for doin' it, too." + +"I dunno--she's only a youngster," said Paw. "I guess they wouldn't hold +her responsible, somehow. But say, Brother Weeks, I hate to think of +that little Zara runnin' roun' the woods to-night. She ain't done +nothin' wrong, even if her paw's a crook. An' now they took him off, +who's a-goin' to look out for her?" + +"I'll drive her over to the poor-farm when she turns up," said Weeks. +"Then they'll take her, an' apprentice her to someone as wants a girl to +work aroun' his place, like. Bind her over till she's twenty-one, and +let her work for her keep. I might take her myself--guess 'twouldn't +cost such a lot to feed her. She's thin--reckon she ain't ever had much +to eat here." + +Bessie, feeling the tremor in Zara's rigid body at this confirmation of +her worst fears, put her hand quickly over her friend's mouth, just in +time to check a cry that was rising to her lips. + +"Come, Zara," she whispered, gently. "We'll have to look out for +ourselves. Come, we'll get away. We mustn't stay around here." + +And, holding Zara's arm, she led her away. For a long time, until Bessie +judged that it was safe to return to the road, they kept on through the +woods. And, when they came out on the road, the moon was up. + +"The world's a beautiful place after all, Zara," said Bessie. "It can't +be so bad when everything's so lovely. Come on, we'll walk a little +further, and then we'll come to a place I know where we can sleep +to-night--a place where wood cutters used to stay. No one's there now, +and we'll be dry and safe." + +"I'm not afraid if I'm with you, Bessie," said Zara. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WO-HE-LO + + +Two or three miles further along the road, Bessie spied the landmark she +had been looking for. + +"We'll turn off here," she said, "Cheer up, Zara. It won't be long now +before we can go to sleep." + +The full moon made it easy to pick their way along the wood path that +Bessie followed, and before long they came to a small lake. On its far +side, among the trees near the shore, a fire was burning, flickering up +from time to time, and sending dancing shadows on the beach. + +"There's someone over there, Bessie," said Zara, frightened at the sign +of human habitation. + +"They won't hurt us, Zara," said Bessie, stoutly. "Probably they won't +even know that we're around, if we don't make any noise, or any fire of +our own. Here we are--here's the hut! See? Isn't it nice and +comfortable? Hurry now and help me to pick up some of these branches of +pine trees. They'll make a comfortable bed for us, and well sleep just +as well as if we were at home--or a lot better, because there'll be no +one to be cross and make trouble for us in the morning." + +Bessie arranged the branches, and in a few moments they were asleep, +lying close together. Pine branches make an ideal bed, but, even had +their couch been uncomfortable, the two girls would have slept well that +night; they were too tired to do anything else. It was long after +midnight, and both had been through enough to exhaust them. The sense of +peace and safety that they found in this refuge in the woods more than +made up for the strangeness of their surroundings, and when they awoke +the sun was high. It was the sound of singing in the sweet, fresh voices +of girls that aroused them in the end. And Bessie, the first to wake up, +aroused Zara, and then peeped from the door of the cabin. + +There on the beach, their hair spread out in the sun, were half a dozen +girls in bathing dresses. Beside them were a couple of canoes, drawn up +on the beach, and they were laughing and singing merrily as they dried +their hair. Looking over across the lake, in the direction of the fire +she had seen the night before, Bessie saw that it was still burning. A +pillar of smoke rose straight in the still air, and beyond it, gleaming +among the trees, Bessie saw the white sides of three or four tents. +Astonished, she called Zara. + +"They're not from around here, Zara," she whispered, not ready yet for +the strangers to discover her. "Girls around here don't swim--it's only +the boys who do that." + +"I'll bet they're from the city and here on a vacation," said Zara. + +"They look awful happy, Zara. Isn't that lady with the brown hair +pretty? And she's older than the rest, too. You can see that, can't +you?" + +"Listen, Bessie! She just called one of the girls. And did you hear +what she called her? Minnehaha--that's a funny name, isn't it?" + +"It's an Indian name, Zara. It means Laughing Water. That's the name of +the girl that Hiawatha loved, in the poem. I've read that, haven't you?" + +"I've never been able to read very much, Bessie. But that girl isn't an +Indian. She's ever so much lighter than I am--she's as fair as you. And +Indians are red, aren't they?" + +"She's not an Indian, Zara. That's right enough. It must be some sort of +a game. Oh, listen!" + +For the older girl, the one Zara had pointed out, had spied Bessie's +peeping face suddenly. + +"Look, girls!" she cried, pointing. + +And then, without a word of signal all the girls suddenly broke out into +a song--a song Bessie had never heard before. + + "Wohelo for aye, Wohelo for aye, + Wohelo, Wohelo, Wohelo for aye; + Wohelo for work, Wohelo for health, + Wohelo, Wohelo, Wohelo for love!" + +As they ended the song, all the girls, with laughing faces, followed the +eyes of their leader and looked at Bessie, who, frightened at first when +she saw that she had been discovered, now returned the look shyly. There +was something so kind, so friendly, about the manner of these strange +girls that her fear had vanished. + +"Won't you come out and talk to us?" asked the leader of the crowd. + +She came forward alone toward the door of the cabin, looking at Bessie +with interest. + +"My name is Wanaka--that is, my Camp Fire name," said the stranger. "We +are Manasquan Camp Fire Girls, you know, and we've been camping out by +this lake. Do you live here?" + +"No--not exactly, ma'am," said Bessie, still a little shy. + +"Then you must be camping out, too? It's fun, isn't it? But you're not +alone, are you? Didn't I see another head peeping out?" + +"That's Zara. She's my friend, and she's with me," said Bessie. "And my +name's Bessie King." + +She looked curiously at Wanaka. Bessie had never heard of the Camp Fire +Girls, and the great movement they had begun, meant to do for American +girls what the Boy Scout movement had begun so well for their brothers. + +"Well, won't you and Zara spend the day with us, if you are by +yourselves?" asked Wanaka. "We'll take you over to camp in the canoes, +and you can have dinner with us. We're going back now to cook it. The +other girls have begun to prepare it already." + +"Oh, we'd like to!" cried Bessie. "I'm awfully hungry--and I'm sure Zara +is, too." + +Bessie hadn't meant to say that. But the thought of a real meal had been +too much for her. + +"Hungry!" cried Wanaka. "Why, haven't you had breakfast? Did you +oversleep?" + +She looked about curiously. And Bessie saw that she could not deceive +this tall, slim girl, with the wise eyes that seemed to see everything. + +"We--we haven't anything to eat," she said. And suddenly she was +overcome with the thought of how hard things were going to be, +especially for Zara, and tears filled her eyes. + +"You shall tell me all about it afterwards," said Wanaka, with decision. +"Just now you've got to come over with us and have something to eat, +right away. Girls, launch the canoes! We have two guests here who +haven't had any breakfast, and they're simply starving to death." + +Any girls Bessie had ever known would have rushed toward her at once, +overwhelming her with questions, fussing around, and getting nothing +done. But these girls were different. They didn't talk; they did things. +In a moment, as it seemed, the canoes were in the water, and Bessie and +Zara had been taken into different boats. Then, at a word from Wanaka, +the paddles rose and dipped into the water, and with two girls paddling +each canoe, one at the stern and one at the bow, they were soon speeding +across the lake, which, at this point, was not more than a quarter of a +mile wide. + +Once ashore, Wanaka said a few words to other girls who were busy about +the fire, and in less than a minute the savory odor of frying bacon and +steaming coffee rose from the fire. Zara gave a little sigh of perfect +content. + +"Oh, doesn't that smell good?" she said. + +Bessie smiled. + +"It certainly does, and it's going to taste even better than it smells," +she answered, happily. + +They sat down, cross-legged, near the fire, and the girls of the camp, +quiet and competent, and asking them no questions, waited on them. +Bessie and Zara weren't used to that. They had always had to wait on +others, and do things for other people; no one had ever done much for +them. It was a new experience, and a delightful one. But Bessie, seeing +Wanaka's quiet eyes fixed upon her, realized that the time for +explanations would come when their meal was over. + +And, sure enough, after Bessie and Zara had eaten until they could eat +no more, Wanaka came to her, gently, and took her by the hand. She +seemed to recognize that Bessie must speak for Zara as well as for +herself. + +"Now suppose we go off by ourselves and have a little talk, Bessie," she +suggested. "I'm sure you have something to tell me, haven't you?" + +"Yea, indeed, Miss Wanaka," said Bessie. She knew that in Wanaka she had +found, by a lucky chance, a friend she could trust and one who could +give her good advice. + +Wanaka smiled at her as she led the way to the largest of the tents. + +"Just call me Wanaka, not Miss Wanaka," she said. "My name is Eleanor +Mercer, but here in the camp and wherever the Camp Fire Girls meet we +often call one another by our ceremonial names. Some of us--most of +us--like the old Indian names, and take them, but not always." + +"Now," she said, when they were alone together in the tent, "tell me all +about it, Bessie. Haven't you any parents? Or did they let you go out to +spend the night all alone in the woods that way?" + +Then Bessie told her the whole story. Wanaka watched her closely as +Bessie told of her life with the Hoovers, of her hard work and drudgery, +and of Jake's persecution. Her eyes narrowed slightly as Bessie +described the scene at the woodshed, and told of how Jake had locked +Zara in to wait for her mother's return, and of his cruel and dangerous +trick with the burning embers. + +"Did he really tell his father that you had set the shed on fire--and on +purpose?" asked Wanaka, rather sternly. + +"He was afraid of what would happen to him if they knew he'd done it," +said Bessie. "I guess he didn't stop to think about what they'd do to +me. He was just frightened, and wanted to save himself." + +Wanaka looked at her very kindly. + +"These people aren't related to you at all, are they?" she asked. "You +weren't bound to them--they didn't agree to keep you any length of time +and have you work for them in return for your board?" + +"No," said Bessie. + +"Then, if that's so, you had a right to leave them whenever you liked," +said Wanaka, thoughtfully. "And tell me about Zara. Who is her father? +What does he do for a living?" + +"I don't believe she even knows that herself. They used to live in the +city, but they came out here two or three years ago, and he's never gone +around with the other men, because he can't speak English very well. +He's some sort of a foreigner, you see. And when they took him off to +prison Zara was left all alone. He used to stay around the cabin all the +time, and Zara says he would work late at night and most of the day, +too, making things she never saw. Then he'd go off for two or three days +at a time, and Zara thought he went to the city, because when he came +back he always had money--not very much, but enough to buy food and +clothes for them. And she said he always seemed to be disappointed and +unhappy when he came back." + +"And the people in the village thought he was a counterfeiter--that he +made bad money?" + +"That's what Maw Hoover and Jake said. _They_ thought so, I know." + +"People think they know a lot when they're only guessing, sometimes, +Bessie. A man has a right to keep his business to himself if he wants +to, as long as he doesn't do anything that's wrong. But why didn't Zara +stay? If her father was cleared and came back, they couldn't keep her at +the poor-farm or make her go to work for this Farmer Weeks you speak +of." + +"I don't know. She was afraid, and so was I. They call her a gypsy +because she's so dark. And people say she steals chickens. I know she +doesn't, because once or twice when they said she'd done that, she'd +been in the woods with me, walking about. And another time I saw a hawk +swoop down and take one of Maw Hoover's hens, and she was always sure +that Zara'd done that." + +Wanaka had watched Bessie very closely while she told her story. +Bessie's clear, frank eyes that never fell, no matter how Wanaka stared +into them, seemed to the older girl a sure sign that Bessie was telling +the truth. + +"It sounds as if you'd had a pretty hard time, and as if you hadn't had +much chance," she said, gravely. "It's strange about your parents." + +Bessie's eyes filled with tears. + +"Oh, something must have happened to them--something dreadful," she +said. "Or else I'm sure they would never have left me that way. And I +don't believe what Maw Hoover was always saying--that they were glad to +get rid of me, and didn't care anything about me." + +"Neither do I," said Wanaka. "Bessie, I want to help you and Zara. And I +think I can--that we all can, we Camp Fire Girls. You know that's what +we live for--to help people, and to love them and serve them. You heard +us singing the Wohelo cheer when we first saw you. Wohelo means work, +and health, and love. You see, it's a word we made up by taking the +first two letters of each of those words. I tell you what I'm going to +do. You and Zara must stay with us here to-day. The girls will look +after you. And I'm going into the village and while I'm there I'll see +how things are." + +"You won't tell Maw Hoover where we are; or Farmer Weeks?" cried Bessie. + +"I'll do the right thing, Bessie," said Wanaka, smiling. "You may be +sure of that. I believe what you've told me--I believe every word of it. +But you'd rather have me find out from others, too, I'm sure. You see, +it would be very wrong for us to help girls to run away from home. But +neither you nor Zara have done that, if your story is right. And I think +it is our duty to help you both, just as it is our pleasure." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND + + +Bessie wasn't afraid of what Wanaka would find out in Hedgeville. Wanaka +wouldn't take Jake Hoover's word against hers, that much was sure. And +she guessed that Wanaka would have her own ways of discovering the +truth. So, as Wanaka changed from her bathing suit to a costume better +suited to the trip to the village, Bessie went out with a light heart to +find Zara. Already she thought that she saw the way clear before them. +With friends, there was no reason why they should not reach the city and +make their own way there, as plenty of other girls had done. And it +seemed to Bessie that Wanaka meant to be a good friend. + +"Oh, Bessie, have you been hearing all about the Camp Fire, too?" asked +Zara, when she espied her friend, "It's wonderful! They do all sorts of +things. And Minnehaha is going to teach me to swim this afternoon. +She'll teach you, too, if you like." + +But Bessie only smiled in answer. She could swim already, but she said +nothing about it, since no one asked her, seeming to take it for granted +that, like Zara, she was unused to the water. Moreover, while she could +swim well enough, she was afraid that she would look clumsy and awkward +in comparison to the Camp Fire Girls. Most of them had changed their +clothes now, before dinner. + +Some wore short skirts and white blouses; one or two were in a costume +that Bessie recognized at once as that of Indian maidens, from the +pictures she had seen in the books she had managed to get at the Hoover +farmhouse. She noticed, too, that many of them now wore strings of +beads, and that all wore rings. Two or three of the girls, too, wore +bracelets, strangely marked, and all had curious badges on their right +sleeves. + +"We've got to wash the dishes, now," said Minnehaha, who bore out her +name by laughing and smiling most of the time. She had already told Zara +that her real name was Margery Burton. "You sit down and rest, and when +we've done, we'll talk to you and tell you more about the Camp Fire +Girls and all the things we do." + +"No, indeed," said Bessie, laughing back. "That won't do at all. You +cooked our meal; now we'll certainly help to clean up. That's something +I can do, and I'm going to help." + +Zara, too, insisted on doing her share, and the time passed quickly as +the girls worked. Then, when the things were cleaned and put away, and +some preparations had been made for the evening meal, Zara begged to +have her first swimming lesson at once. + +"No, we'll have to wait a little while for that," said Minnehaha. "We +must wait until Wanaka comes back. She's our Guardian, you see, and it's +a rule that we mustn't go into the water unless she's here, no matter +how well we swim, unless, of course, we have to, to help someone who is +drowning. And it's too soon after dinner, too. It's bad for you to go +into the water less than two hours after a meal. We're always careful +about that, because we have to be healthy. That's one of the chief +reasons we have the Camp Fire." + +"Tell us about it," begged Zara, sitting down. + +"You see this ring?" said Minnehaha, proudly. + +She pointed to her ring, a silver band with an emblem,--seven fagots. + +"We get a ring like that when we join," she explained. "That's the +Wood-Gatherer's ring, and the National Council gives it to us. Those +seven fagots each stand for one of the seven points of the law of the +fire." + +"What are they, Minnehaha?" + +"They're easy to remember: 'Seek Beauty; Give Service; Pursue Knowledge; +Be Trustworthy; Hold on to Health; Glorify Work; Be Happy.' If you want +to do all those things--and I guess everyone does--you can be a +Wood-Gatherer. Then, later on, you get to be a Fire-Maker, and, after +that, a Torch-Bearer. And when you get older, if you do well, you can +be a Guardian, and be in charge of a Camp Fire yourself. You see, there +are Camp Fires all over. There are a lot of them in our city, and in +every city. And there are more and more all the time. The movement +hasn't been going on very long, but it's getting stronger all the time." + +"Are you a Fire-Maker?" + +"Not yet. If I were, I'd wear a bracelet, like Ayu. And instead of just +having a bunch of fagots on my sleeve, there'd be a flame coming from +them. And then, when I get to be a Torch-Bearer, I'll have a pin, as +well as the ring and the bracelet, and there'll be smoke on my badge, as +well as fire and wood. But you have to work hard before you can stop +being a Wood-Gatherer and get to the higher ranks. We all have to work +all the time, you see." + +"I've had to work, too," said Bessie. "But this seems different because +you enjoy your work." + +"That's because we like to work. We work because we want to do it, not +because someone makes us." + +"Yes, I was thinking of that. I always worked because I had to--Maw +Hoover made me." + +"Who's Maw Hoover, Bessie?" + +So Bessie told her story, or most of it, all over again, and the other +girls, seeing that she was telling a story, crowded around and listened. + +"I think it's a shame you were treated so badly," said Minnehaha. "But +don't you worry--Miss Eleanor will know what to do. She won't let them +treat you unfairly. Is she going to find out about things in the +village?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, you needn't worry any more, then. Why, one of the first things +she did in the city, when she started this Camp Fire, was to get us all +to work to get better milk for the babies in the poor parts, where the +tenement houses are. We all helped, but she did most of it. And now all +the milk is good and pure, and the babies don't die any more in the hot +weather in summer." + +"That's fine. I'd like to be a Camp Fire Girl." + +"Why shouldn't you be one, then?" + +"But--" + +Bessie hesitated. + +After all, why not? Maw Hoover would never have let her do anything like +that--but Maw Hoover couldn't stop her from doing anything she liked +now. Wanaka had told her what Zara had always said, that Maw Hoover +couldn't make her stay, couldn't make her keep on working hard every day +for nothing but her board. She had read about girls who had gone to the +city and earned money, lots of money, without working any harder than +she had always done. Perhaps could do that, too. + +"You talk to Wanaka about that when she comes back," said Minnehaha, who +guessed what Bessie was thinking. "You see her. She'll explain it to +you. And you're going to be happy, Bessie. I'm sure of that. When people +do right, and still aren't happy for a while, it's always made up to +them some way. And usually when they do wrong they have to pay for it, +some way or another. That's one of the things we learn in the Camp +Fire." + +"Here comes Wanaka now," said one of the other girls. "There's someone +with her." + +Bessie looked frightened. + +"I don't want anyone from Hedgeville to see me," she said. "Do you +suppose they're coming here?" + +"Wanaka will come first. See, she's staying on the other side of the +lake. It's a man. He's carrying her things. I'll paddle over for her in +a canoe. I don't think the man will come with her, but you and Zara go +into the tent there. Then you'll be all right. No one would ever think +of your being here, or asking any questions." + +But Bessie watched anxiously. She couldn't make out the face of the man +with Wanaka, as she peered from the door of the tent, but if he was from +Hedgeville he would know her. Everyone knew the girl at Hoovers', whose +father and mother had deserted her. Bessie had long been one of the +most interesting people in town to the farmers and the villagers, who +had little to distract or amuse them. + +"Stay quiet, Bessie," warned Minnehaha, as she stepped into the canoe. +"You'll be all right if you're not seen. I'll bring Wanaka back right +away." + +With swift, sure strokes, Minnehaha sent the canoe skimming over the +water. The other girls were busy in various ways. Some were in the +tents, changing their clothes for bathing suits; some had gone into the +woods to get fresh water from a spring. For the moment no one was in +sight. And suddenly, out of a clear sky, as it seemed, disaster +threatened. Clouds had been gathering for some time but the sun was +still out, and there seemed no reason to fear any storm. + +But now there was a sudden roughening of the smooth surface of the +water; white caps were lashed up by a squall that broke with no warning +at all. And Bessie, filled with horror, saw the canoe overturned by the +wind. She saw, too, what eyes less quick would have missed--that the +paddle, released from Minnehaha's grasp as the boat upset, struck her on +the head. + +For a moment Bessie stood rooted to the spot in terror. And then, when +Minnehaha did not appear, swimming, Bessie acted. Forgotten was the +danger that she would be discovered--her fear of the man on the other +side of the lake. Wanaka might not have seen, and there was no time to +lose. The accident had occurred in the middle of the lake, and Bessie, +rushing to the beach, pushed off a canoe and began to drive it toward +the other canoe, floating quietly now, bottom up. The squall had passed +already. + +Bessie had never been in a canoe before that day. She made clumsy work +of the paddling. But fear for Minnehaha and the need of reaching her at +once made up for any lack of skill. Somehow she reached the spot. By +that time the other girls had seen what was going on, and help was +coming quickly. Some swam and some were in one of the other canoes. But +Bessie, catching a one of the most interesting people in town to the +farmers and the villagers, who had little to distract or amuse them. + +"Stay quiet, Bessie," warned Minnehaha, as she stepped into the canoe. +"You'll be all right if you're not seen. I'll bring Wanaka back right +away." + +With swift, sure strokes, Minnehaha sent the canoe skimming over the +water. The other girls were busy in various ways. Some were in the +tents, changing their clothes for bathing suits; some had gone into the +woods to get fresh water from a spring. For the moment no one was in +sight. And suddenly, out of a clear sky, as it seemed, disaster +threatened. Clouds had been gathering for some time but the sun was +still out, and there seemed no reason to fear any storm. + +But now there was a sudden roughening of the smooth surface of the +water; white caps were lashed up by a squall that broke with no warning +at all. And Bessie, filled with horror, saw the canoe overturned by the +wind. She saw, too, what busy with Minnehaha, who soon showed signs of +returning consciousness. So Bessie did not see or hear what was going on +outside. + +For the man who had been standing with Wanaka on the other shore had +seen Bessie, and he had known her. No wonder, since it was Paw Hoover +himself, from whom Wanaka had bought fresh vegetables for the camp. He +had insisted on helping her to carry them out, although Wanaka, thinking +of Bessie and Zara, had told him she needed no help. But she could not +shake him off, and on the way he had told her about the exciting +happenings of the previous day, of which, she told him, she had already +heard in the village. + +"By Godfrey!" said Paw Hoover, as he saw the rescue of Minnehaha, "that +young one's got pluck, so she has! And, what's more, Miss, I've a +suspicion I've seen her before!" + +Wanaka said nothing, but smiled. What Paw Hoover had told her had done +more to confirm the truth of Bessie's story than all the talk she had +heard in Hedgeville. She liked the old farmer--and she wondered what he +meant to do. He didn't leave her long in doubt. + +"I'll just go over with you," he said, "if you'll make out to ferry me +back here again." + +And Wanaka dared not refuse. + +"Had an idea you was askin' a lot of questions," said Paw Hoover, with a +chuckle. "Got lots of ideas I keep to myself--'specially at home. An' +say, if that's Bessie, I want to see her." + +Wanaka saw that there was some plan in his mind, and she knew that to +try to ward him off would be dangerous. There was nothing to prevent him +from returning, later, with Weeks or anyone else. + +"Bessie!" she called. "Can you come out here a minute?" + +And Bessie, coming out, came face to face with Paw Hoover! She stared at +him, frightened and astonished, but she held her ground. And Paw +Hoover's astonishment was as great as her own. This was a new Bessie he +had never seen before. She was neatly dressed now in one of Ayu's blue +skirts and white blouses, and one of the girls had done up her hair in a +new way. + +"Well, I swan!" he said. "You've struck it rich, ain't you, Bessie? +Aimin' to run away and leave us?" + +Bessie couldn't answer, but Wanaka spoke up. + +"You haven't any real hold on her, Mr. Hoover," she said. + +"That's right, that's right!" said Paw Hoover. "I cal'late you've had a +hard time once in a while, Bessie. An' I don't believe you ever set that +shed afire on purpose. If you hadn't jumped into the water after that +other girl I'd never have suspicioned you was here, Bessie. You stay +right with these young ladies, if they'll have you. I'll not say a word. +An' if you ever get into trouble, you write to me--see?" + +He looked at her, and sighed. Then he beckoned to her, and took her +aside. + +"Maw's right set on havin' her own way, Bessie," he said. "But she's my +wife, an' she's a good one, an' if she makes mistakes, I've got to let +her have her way. Reckon I've made enough on 'em myself. Here, you take +this. I guess you've earned it, right enough. That fire didn't do no +real damage--nothin' we can't fix up in a day or two." + +Bessie's eyes filled with tears. Paw Hoover was simply proving again +what she had always known--that he was a really good and kindly man. She +longed to tell him that she hadn't set the barn on fire, that it had +been Jake. But she knew he would find it hard to believe that of his +son, and that, even if he took her word for it, the knowledge would be a +blow. And it would do her no good, so she said nothing of that. + +"Thank you, Paw," she said. "You always were good to me. I'll never +forget you, and sometime I'll come back to see you and all the others. +Good-bye!" + +"Good-bye, Bessie," he said. "You be a good girl and you'll get along +all right. And you stick to Miss Mercer there. She'll see that you get +along." + +Not until he had gone did Bessie open her hand and look at the crumpled +bill that Paw Hoover had left in it. And then, to her amazed delight, +she saw that it was a five-dollar note--more money than she had ever +had. She showed it to Wanaka. + +"I oughtn't to take it," she said. "He thinks I burned his woodshed +and--" + +"But you know you didn't, and I think maybe he knows it, too," said +Wanaka, "You needn't think anything of taking that money. You've worked +hard enough to earn a lot more than that. Now I've found out that what +you told me was just right. I knew it all the time, but I made sure. +Bessie, how would you and Zara like to stay with us, and come back to +the city when we go? I'll be able to find some way to look after you. +You can find work to do that won't be so hard, and you can study, too." + +"Oh, I'd love that, Wanaka," For the first time Bessie used the name +freely. "And can we be Camp Fire Girls?" + +"You certainly can," said Wanaka. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AN ALARM IN THE NIGHT + + +Bessie, overjoyed by Paw Hoover's kindness and his promise to do nothing +toward having her taken back to Hedgeville, spent the rest of the +afternoon happily. Indeed, she was happier than she could ever remember +having been before. But her joy was dashed when, a little while before +supper, she came upon Zara, crying bitterly. Zara had gone off by +herself, and Bessie, going to the spring for water, came upon her. + +"Why, Zara, whatever is the matter? We're all right now," cried Bessie. + +"I--I know that, Bessie! But I'm so worried about my father!" + +"Oh, Zara, what a selfish little beast I am! I was so glad to think that +I wasn't going to be taken back that I forgot all about him. But cheer +up! I'm sure he's done nothing wrong, and I'll talk to Wanaka, and see +if there isn't something I can do or that she can do. I believe she can +do anything if she makes up her mind she will." + +"Did she hear anything about him in Hedgeville?" + +"Only what we knew before, Zara, that they'd come for him and taken him +to the city. But Wanaka said she was sure that it is only gossip, and +that he needn't be afraid. And we're going to the city, too, you know, +so you'll be able to see him." + +"Will I, Bessie? Then that won't be so bad. If I could only talk to him +I'm sure it would seem better. And you must be right--they can't punish +a man when he hasn't done anything wrong, can they?" + +"Of course not," said Bessie, laughing. + +"In the country where we came from they do, sometimes," said Zara, +thoughtfully. "My father has told me about things like that." + +"In Italy, Zara?" + +"Yes. We're not Italians, really, but that's where we lived." + +"But you don't remember anything about that, do you?" + +"No, but I've been told all about it. We used to live in a white house, +on a hillside. And there were lemon trees and olive trees growing there, +and all sorts of beautiful things. And you could look out over the blue +sea, and see the boats sailing, and away off there was a great +mountain." + +"I should think you'd want to go back there, Zara. It must have been +beautiful." + +"Oh, I've always wanted to see that place, Bessie. Sometimes, my father +says, the mountain, would smoke, and fire would come out of it, and the +ground would shake. But it never hurt the place where we lived." + +"That must have been a volcano, Zara." + +"Yes, that's what he used to call it." + +"Why did you come over here?" + +"Because my father was always afraid over there. There were some bad men +who hated him, and he said that if he stayed there they would hurt him. +And he heard that over here everyone was welcome, and one man was as +good as another. But he wasn't, or they never seemed to think so, if he +was." + +Bessie looked very thoughtful. + +"This is the finest country in the world, Zara," she said. "I've heard +that, and I've read it in books, too. But I guess that things go wrong +here sometimes. You see, it's this way. Just think of Jake Hoover." + +"But I don't want to think about him! I want to forget him!" + +"Well, Jake Hoover explains what I'm thinking about. He's an American, +but that isn't the reason he was so mean to us. He'd be mean anywhere, +no matter whether he was an American or what. He just can't help it. And +I think he'll get over it, anyhow." + +"There you go, Bessie! He's made all this trouble for you, and you're +standing up for him already." + +"No, I'm not. But what trouble has he made for me, Zara? I'm going to be +happier than I ever was back there in Hedgeville--and if it hadn't been +for him I'd still be there, and I'd be chopping wood or something right +now." + +"But he didn't mean to make you happier, Bessie. He thought he could get +you punished for something he'd done." + +"Well, I wasn't, so why should I be angry at him, Zara? Even if he did +mean to be nasty, he wasn't." + +"But suppose he'd hurt you some way, without meaning to at all? Would +you be angry at him then for hurting you, when he didn't mean to do it?" + +"Of course not--just because he didn't mean to." + +"Well, then," said Zara, triumphantly, "you ought to be angry now, if +it's what one means to do, and not what one does that counts. I would +be." + +Bessie laughed. For once Zara seemed to have trapped her and beaten her +in an argument. + +"But I don't like to be angry, and to feel revengeful," she said. "It +hurts me more than it does the other person. When anything happens that +isn't nice it only bothers you as long as you keep on thinking about it, +Zara. Suppose someone threw a stone at you, and hit you?" + +"It would hurt me--and I'd want to throw it back." + +"But then suppose the stone was thrown, and it didn't hit you, and you +didn't even know it had been thrown, you wouldn't be angry then, would +you?" + +"Why, how could I be, Bessie, if I didn't know anything about it?" + +"Well, don't you see how it worked out, Zara? If you refuse to notice +the mean things people do when they don't succeed in hurting you, it's +just as if you didn't know anything about it, isn't it? And if the stone +was thrown, and you saw it, and knew who'd thrown it, you'd be +angry--but you could get over it by just making up your mind to forget +it, and acting as if they'd never done it at all." + +Zara didn't answer for a minute. She was thinking that over. + +"I guess you're right, Bessie," she said, finally. "That _is_ the best +way to do. When I get angry I get all hot inside, and I feel dreadful. +I'm going to try not to lose my temper any more." + +"You'll be a lot happier if you do that," said Bessie. "Now, let's get +back to the fire. I've got this water, and they must be waiting for it." + +So Zara, happy again, and laughing now, helped Bessie with the pail of +water, and they went back to the fire together. Everyone was busy, each +with some appointed task. Two of the girls were spreading knives and +forks, and laying out cups and dishes in a great circle near the water, +since all the meals were eaten Indian fashion, sitting on the ground. +Others, who had been fishing, were displaying their catch, and cleaning +the gleaming trout, soon to be cooked with crisp bacon, and to form the +chief dish of the evening meal. + +Wanaka smiled at them as the two girls appeared with the water. + +"You're making a good start as Camp Fire Girls," she told them. "We all +try to help. Later on, if you like, I'll give you a lesson in cooking." + +Bessie smiled, but said nothing. And presently she called to Zara and +disappeared with her in the woods. + +"I want to give them a surprise, Zara," she said. "There's quite a long +time yet before supper. And I saw an apple tree when I was walking +through the woods. Let's go and get some of them." + +Zara was quite willing, and in half an hour or less the two girls were +back in camp with a good load of apples. Then Bessie spoke to Wanaka +when the Guardian was alone for the moment. + +"May I have some flour and sugar?" she said. + +Wanaka looked at her curiously, but gave her what she wanted. And +Bessie, finding a smooth white board, was soon busy rolling pastry. Then +when she had made a great deep dish pie, and filled it with the apples, +which Zara, meanwhile, had pared and cut, Bessie set to work on what was +the most difficult part of her task. First she dug out a hole in the +ground and made a fire, small, but very hot, and, in a short time, with +the aid of two flat stones, she had constructed a practicable outdoor +oven, in which the heat of the embers and cinders was retained by +shutting out the air with earth. Then the pie was put in and covered at +once, so that no heat could escape, and Bessie, saying nothing about +what she had done, went back to help the others. + +Obeying the unwritten rule of the Camp Fire, which allows the girls to +work out their ideas unaided if they possibly can, so as to encourage +self-reliance and independence, Wanaka did not ask her what she had +done. But when the meal was over Bessie slipped away, while Wanaka was +serving out some preserves, and returned in a moment, bearing her +pie--nobly browned, with crisp, flaky crust. + +"I've only made one pie like this before and I never used that sort of +an oven," she said, shyly. "So I don't know if it's very good. But I +thought I would try it." + +Bessie, however, need not have worried about the quality of that pie. +The rapidity with which it disappeared was the best possible evidence of +its goodness, and Wanaka commended her before all the girls, who were +willing enough to join the leader in singing Bessie's praises. + +"My, but that was good!" said Minnehaha. "I wish I could make a pie like +that! My pastry is always heavy. Will you show me how when we get home, +Bessie?" + +"Indeed I will!" promised Bessie. + +And that night, after a spell of singing and story telling about the +great fire on the beach, Bessie and Zara went to bed with thoughts very +different from those they had had the night before. + +"Aren't they good to us, Zara?" said Bessie. + +"They're simply wonderful," said Zara, with shining eyes. "And Wanaka +talked to me about my father. She says she has a friend in the city +who's a lawyer, and that as soon as we get back she'll speak to him, and +get him to see that he is fairly treated. I feel ever so much better." + +The voices of the girls all about them, laughing and singing as they +made ready for the night, and the kindly words of Wanaka, made a great +contrast to their loneliness of the night before. Then everything had +seemed black and dismal. They hadn't known what they were going to do, +or what was to happen to them; they had been hungry and tired, and with +no prospect of breakfast when they got up. But now they had more +friends, gained in one wonderful day, than they had made before in all +their lives, and Wanaka had promised to see that in the future there +should always be someone to guide them and see that no one abused them +any more. No wonder that they looked on the bright camp fire, symbol of +all the happiness that had come to them, with happy eyes. And they +listened in delight as the girls gathered, just before they went to bed, +and sang the good-night song: + + "Lay me to sleep in sheltering flame, + Oh, Master of the Hidden Fire. + Wash pure my heart and cleanse for me + My soul's desire. + In flame of sunrise bathe my mind, + Oh, Master of the Hidden Fire, + That when I wake, clear eyed may be + My soul's desire." + +And so, with the flames' light flickering before them, Bessie and Zara +went to sleep sure of happiness and companionship when they awoke in the +morning, with the first rays of the rising sun shining into the tents. + +But Bessie was to awake before that. She lay near the door of one of the +tents, which she shared with Zara, Minnehaha, and two other girls, and +she awoke suddenly, coming at once to full consciousness, as anyone who +had been brought up with Maw Hoover to wake her every morning was pretty +certain to do at any unusual sound. For a moment, so deep was the +silence, she thought that she had been deceived. In the distance an owl +called; much nearer, there was an answer. A light wind rustled in the +trees, stirring the leaves gently as it moved. Looking out, she saw that +a faint, silvery sheen still bathed the ground outside, showing that the +moon, which had risen late, was not yet set. + +And then the sound that had awakened her came again--a curious, hoarse +call, given in imitation of a whip-poor-will, but badly done. No bird +had uttered that cry, and Bessie, country bred, listening intently, knew +it. Silently she rose and slipped on moccasins that belonged to +Minnehaha, and a dress. And then, making no more noise than a cat would +have done, she crept to the opening in the front of the tent and peeped +out. For Bessie had recognized the author of that imitation of the +bird's call, and she knew that there was mischief afoot. + +Still intent on keeping the alarm she felt from the others, until she +knew whether there was a real cause for it, Bessie slipped out of the +tent and into the shadow of the trees. The camp fire still burned, +flickering in the darkness, and making great, weird shadows, as the +light fell upon the trees. It had been built up and banked before the +camp went to sleep, and in the morning it would still be burning, +although faintly, ready for the first careful attentions of the +appointed Wood-Gatherers, whose duty it was to see that the fire did not +die. + +Bessie, fearing that she might be spied upon, had to keep in the +darkness, and she twisted and turned from the trunk of one tree to the +next, bending over close to the ground when she had to cross an open +space where firelight or moonbeams might reveal her to watching eyes. + +And now and again, crudely given, as crudely answered, from further down +the lake, the call of the mock whip-poor-will guided her in her quest. +And Bessie, plucking up all the courage she could muster, still trembled +slightly, more from nervousness than from actual fear, for she knew +whose voice it was that was imitating the plaintive bird--Jake Hoover's! + +All Hedgeville, as she well knew, must know that this camp of girls was +at the lake--and it would be just like Jake and some of the bullying, +reckless crowd of boys that he made his chief friends, to think that it +would be a fine joke to play some tricks on the sleeping camp, and alarm +these girls who were trying to enjoy themselves with outdoor life, just +as if they had been boys. Bessie, setting her teeth, determined that +they shouldn't succeed, that in some fashion she would turn the joke on +them. + +Gradually she drew nearer to the sound, and she made up her mind, +thankfully, that she had waked in time, before all the jokers had +arrived. She had snatched up a sheet as she left the camp, without a +clear idea of what she meant to do with it, but now, as she stole among +the trees, a dim figure, flitting from one dark place to the next, a +wild idea formed in her mind. + +It was risky--but Bessie was not timid. If Jake Hoover caught +her--well, she knew what that would mean. He would not spare her, as his +father had done, and there would be trouble for her, and for Zara and, +worst of all, for Wanaka and her other new friends. And there was +another danger. It might not, after all, be Jake Hoover that she heard. + +At the Hoovers' she had heard stories of tramps and wandering gypsies, +and she had been warned, whenever there was a report that any such +vagrants were about, to keep off the roads and stay near the house. +Jake, after all, could only betray her to his mother and the others who +were after her, but a tramp or a gypsy might do far worse than that. +But, though the solitude and the darkness were enough to frighten people +older and stronger than Bessie, she kept on. And at last, before her, +she heard footsteps tramping down the dry leaves and branches, and she +heard a murmur of voices, too. + +At once part of her fears fled, for it was Jake Hoover's voice that came +to her ears. + +"Ha-ha!" he was laughing. "Gee, it took you fellers long enough to git +here. But, say, boys, won't we have some fun with them girls? Actin' up +just like they was boys, sleepin' out in the woods an' pretendin' +they're as brave as anythin'. I saw that one that bought a lot of truck +from Paw to-day. Bet she'll scream as loud as any of them." + +"Bet she will," said another voice. "Say, Jake, we won't hurt 'em none, +will we? Jest throw a scare into them, like?" + +"Sure, that's all!" + +"'Cause I wouldn't want to hurt 'em none. They're jest girls, after +all." + +"All we'll do will be just to get around them tents an' start yellin' +all at once--an' I'll bet they'll come a-runnin'. Ha-ha!" + +But the laugh was frozen on his lips. As he spoke he looked behind him, +warned by a faint sound--and his hair rose. For waving its arms wildly, +a figure, all in white, was running toward him. As it came it made +strange, unearthly sounds--horrid noises, such as Jake had never heard. + +For a moment Jake and the two boys with him stood rooted to the spot, +paralyzed with fear. Then they yelled together, and, the sound of their +own voices seeming to release their imprisoned feet, turned and ran +wildly, not knowing where they were going. + +They tripped over roots, fell, then stumbled to their feet again, and +continued their flight, shrieking. And behind them the ghost, weak with +laughter, collapsed on a fallen tree trunk and laughed silently as they +fled--for the ghost that had frightened these bold raiders was only +Bessie, wrapped in the sheet she had so luckily snatched up when they +had given her the alarm. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A PIECE OF BAD LUCK + + +Bessie laughed until she cried as the bold raiders who had been so sure +that they could scare the camp of girls dashed madly off. She could hear +them long after they had vanished from sight, crying out in their fear, +plunging among the trees, but gradually the sounds grew fainter, and +Bessie, sure that they need fear no more disturbance from Jake Hoover +and his brave companions, set out on her return to the camp. This time +she had no need of the precautions she had taken as she crept in the +direction of the disturbing sounds, and she made no effort to conceal +herself. + +Wanaka was outside, looking about anxiously, when Bessie came again into +the firelight. Always a light sleeper, and especially so when she was +responsible for the safety of the girls who were in her charge, Eleanor +Mercer had waked at first of Bessie's terrifying shrieks, almost as +frightened, for the moment, as Jake himself. She had risen at once, and +a glance in the various tents, where the girls still lay sound asleep, +showed her that Bessie alone was missing. + +Naturally enough, she could not guess the meaning of the outcry. The +cries of the frightened jokers puzzled her, and there was nothing about +the din that Bessie made to enable the Guardian to recognize the voice +of her newest recruit. But she had realized, too, that to go out in the +woods in search of Bessie and of an explanation, was not likely to do +much good. Her duty, too, was with the girls who remained, and she could +only wait, wondering. She greeted Bessie with a glad cry when she saw +her. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "But what are you doing with that +sheet? And--why, you're crying!" + +"I'm not--really," said Bessie. "But I laughed so hard that it made the +tears come--that's all, Wanaka." + +Then she told her story, and Wanaka had to laugh, too. She was greatly +relieved. + +"But you ought to have called me, Bessie," she said. "That's why I'm +here, you know--to look out for things when there seems to be any +danger, or anything you girls don't quite understand." + +"But I wasn't quite sure, you see," said Bessie. "And if it had really +been a bird, it would have been awfully foolish to wake everyone up just +because I thought I heard something." + +"You'll be able to win a lot of honors easily, Bessie, when you come +into the Camp Fire. That's one of the things the girls do--they learn +the calls of the birds, and to describe them and all sorts of things +about the trees and the flowers. You must know a lot of them already." + +"I guess everyone does who's lived in the country. Some people can +imitate a bird so it would almost fool another bird--but not Jake. He's +stupid." + +"Yes, and like most people who try to frighten others, he's a coward, +too, Bessie. He showed that to-night." + +"I'm not afraid of him any more. If I'd known before how easy it was to +frighten him I'd have done it. Then he'd have let me alone, probably." + +"Well, you go to bed now, and get to sleep again. And try to forget +about Jake and all the other people who have been unkind to you. +Remember that you're safe with us now. We'll look after you." + +"I know that, and I can't tell you how good it makes me feel." + +Wanaka laughed then, to herself. + +"I say we'll look after you," she said, still smiling. "But so far it +looks more as if you were going to look after us. You saved Minnehaha in +the lake--and to-night you saved all the girls from being frightened. +But we'll have to begin doing our share before long." + +"As if you hadn't done a lot more for me already than I'll ever be able +to repay!" said Bessie. "And I know it, too. Please be sure of that. +Good-night." + +"Good-night, Bessie." + +In the morning Bessie and Zara woke with the sun shining in their faces, +and for a long minute they lay quiet, staring out at the dancing water, +and trying to realize all that happened since they had said good-bye to +Hedgeville. + +"Just think, Zara, it's only the day before yesterday that all those +things happened, and it seems like ever so long to me." + +"It does to me, too, Bessie. But I'll be glad when we get away from +here. It's awfully close." + +"And, Zara, Jake Hoover was around here last night!" + +"Does he know you're here? Was that why he came?" + +"No," said Bessie, laughing again at the memory of the ghost. And she +told Zara what had happened. + +"He won't come around again at night, but it would be just like him to +snoop around here in the daytime, Bessie." + +"I hadn't thought of that, Zara. But he might. If he stops to think and +realizes that someone turned his own trick against him, or if he tells +someone, and they laugh at him, he'll want to get even. I'd certainly +hate to have him see one of us." + +But their fears were groundless. For, as soon as breakfast was over, +Wanaka called all the girls together. + +"We're going to move," she said. "I know we meant to stay here longer, +but Bessie and Zara will be happier if we're somewhere else. So we will +go on to-day, instead of waiting. And I've a pleasant surprise for you, +too, I think. No, I won't tell you about it now. You'll have to wait +until you see it. Hurry up and clean camp now, and begin packing. We +want to start as soon as we can." + +Bessie was amazed to see how complete the arrangements for packing were. +Everything seemed to have its place, and to be so made that it could go +into the smallest space imaginable. The tents were taken down, divided +into single sections that were not at all heavy, and everything else had +been made on the same plan. + +"But how about the canoes?" asked Bessie. "We can't carry those with us, +can we?" + +"I've often carried one over a portage--a short walk from one lake to +the next in the woods," said Minnehaha, laughing. "It's a lot easier +than it looks. Once you get it on your back, it balances so easily that +it isn't hard at all. And up in the woods the guides have boats that +they carry that way for miles, and they say they're easier to handle +than a heavy pack. But those boats are very light." + +"But we'll leave them here, anyhow," said another girl. "They don't +belong to us. They were just lent to us by some people from the city who +come here to camp every summer. They own this land, too, and they let us +use it." + +And then Bessie saw, as the first canoe was brought in, the clever +hiding-place that had been devised for the boats. They were dragged up, +and carried into the woods a little way, and there a couple of fallen +trees had been so arranged that they made a shelter for the canoes. A +few boards were spread between the trunks, and covered with earth and +branches so it seemed that shrubbery had grown up over the place where +the canoes lay. + +"In the winter, of course, the people that own them take them away where +they'll be safe. But they leave them out like that most of the summer. +Some of them come here quite often, and it would be a great nuisance to +have to drag the canoes along every time they come and go." + +Long before noon everything was ready, and Wanaka, who had gone away for +a time, returned. + +"You and Zara look so different that I don't believe anyone would +recognize either of you," she told Bessie. "You look just like the rest +of the girls. So, even if we should meet anyone who knows you, I think +you'd be safe enough." + +"Not if it was Maw Hoover," said Zara so earnestly that Wanaka laughed, +although she felt that there was something pathetic about Zara's fear of +the farmer's wife, too. + +"Well, we're not going to meet her, anyhow, Zara. And she'd never expect +to find you and Bessie among us, anyhow. We aren't going across the lake +and over to the main road. We're going right through the woods to the +next valley. It's going to be a long day's trip, but it's cool, and I +think a good long tramp will do us all good." + +"That's fine," said Bessie. "No one over there will know anything about +us. Is that why we made so many sandwiches and things like that--so that +we could eat our lunch on the way?" + +"Yes, and we'll build a fire and have something hot, too. Now you can +watch us put out the fire." + +"I hate to see it go out," said Zara. "I love the fire." + +"We all do, but we must never leave a fire without someone to tend it. +Fire is a great servant, but we must use it properly. And a little +fire, even this one of ours, might start a bad blaze in the woods here +if we left it behind us." + +Bessie nodded wisely. + +"We had an awful bad fire here two or three years ago. It was just +before Zara came out here. Someone was out in the woods hunting, or +something like that, and they left a fire, and the wind came up and set +the trees on fire. It burned for three or four days, and all the men in +the town had to turn out to save some of the places near the woods." + +"Almost all the big fires in the forests start because someone is +careless just like that, Bessie. They don't mean any harm--but they +don't stop to think." + +Then all the girls gathered about the fire, and each in turn did her +part in stamping out the glowing embers. They sang as they did this +duty, and Bessie felt again the curious thrill that had stirred her when +she had heard the good-night song the evening before. + +"I know what it is that is so splendid about the Camp Fire Girls, +Zara," she said, suddenly. "They belong to one another, and they do +things together. That's what counts--that's why they look so happy. +We've never had anything to belong to, you and I, anything like this. +Don't you see what I mean?" + +"Yes, I do, Bessie. And that's what makes it seem so easy when they +work. They're doing things together, and each of them has something to +do at the same time that all the others are working, too." + +"Why, I just loved washing the dishes this morning," said Bessie, +smiling at the thought. "I never felt like that before, when Maw Hoover +was always at me to do them, so that I could hurry up and do something +else when I got through. And I did them faster here, too--much faster. +Just because I enjoyed it, and it seemed like the most natural thing to +do." + +"I always did feel that way, but then I only worked for myself and my +father," said Zara. + +Then the walk through the cool, green woods began. The girls started +out in Indian file, but presently the trail broadened, so that they +could walk two or three abreast. It was not long before they came into +country that Bessie had never seen, well as she knew the woods near the +Hoover farmhouse. + +Wanaka, careful lest too steady a walk should tire the girls, called a +halt at least once an hour, and, when the trail led up hill, oftener. +And at each halt one girl or another, who had been detailed at the last +stop, reported on the birds and wild animals she had seen since the last +check, and, when she had done, all the others were called on to tell if +they had seen any that she had missed. + +"It's just like a game, isn't it?" said Zara. "I think it's great fun!" + +The halt for lunch was made after they had come out of the woods, by the +side of a clear spring. They were on a bluff, high above a winding +country road, with a path worn by the feet of thirsty passersby who knew +of the spring, and some thoughtful person had piped the water down to a +big trough where horses could drink. But they could not, from the place +where the fire had been made, see the road or the carriages. + +"I don't think anyone will come along looking for you," Wanaka told +Bessie, "but if we stay out of sight we'll surely be on the safe side." + +Suddenly, as they were about to sit down, Zara cried out. + +"My handkerchief!" she said. "It's gone--and I had it just before we +crossed the road. I must have dropped it there. I'll go back and see." + +"I'll go with you," cried Bessie, jumping up. But before she could move, +Zara, laughing, had dashed off, and Bessie dropped back to her place +with a smile. + +"She's as quick as a flash," she said. "She always could beat me in a +race. There's no use in my going after her." + +But, even as she spoke, a wild cry of terror reached their ears--that +and the sound of a man's coarse laughter. Bessie started to her feet, +her eyes staring in fright. And she led the rush of the whole party to +the edge of the bluff. + +Driving swiftly down the road away from Hedgeville was a runabout. And +in it Bessie saw Zara, held fast by a big man whose back she recognized +at once. It was Farmer Weeks! + +"Oh, that's Farmer Weeks!" she cried "He'll get them to give Zara to +him, and he'll beat her and treat her terribly." + +Despairingly she made to run after the disappearing horse. But Wanaka +checked her, gently. + +"We must be careful--and slow," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A FRIEND IN NEED + + +"But we must do something, really we must, Miss Eleanor!" cried Bessie. +"I must, I mean. Zara trusted me, and if I don't help her now, just +think of what will happen." + +"You must keep calm, Bessie, that's the first thing to think of. If you +let yourself get excited and worked up you won't help Zara, and you'll +only get into trouble yourself. You say she trusted you--now you must +trust me a little. Tell me, first, just what this man will do and if he +has any right at all to touch her." + +"Why, he's the meanest man in town, Wanaka! He really is--everyone says +so! None of the men would work for him in harvest time. They said he +worked them to death and wouldn't give them enough to eat." + +"Yes, but why should he pick Zara up that way and carry her off?" + +"Because he wants to make her work for him. He's awfully rich, and Paw +Hoover said he'd lent money to so many men in the village and all around +that they had to do just what he told them, or he'd sell their land and +their horses and cattle. And he said he'd make the people at the +poor-farm bind Zara over to him and then she'd have to work for him +until she was twenty-one, just for her board." + +"That's pretty serious, Bessie. I'm sure he wouldn't be a good guardian, +but if he had such influence over the men, maybe they wouldn't stop to +think about that." + +She was silent for a minute, thinking hard. + +"Where was he going with her, Bessie? He seemed to be driving away from +Hedgeville." + +"Yes, he was. I suppose he was going over to Zebulon. That's the county +seat, and he goes over there quite often. Almost every time they hold +court, I guess. Paw Hoover said he was a mighty bad neighbor, always +getting into lawsuits." + +"Well, I think I'd better go to Zebulon. If I talk to him, perhaps I can +make him give Zara up. How far is it, Bessie?" + +"Only about two miles. But if you go, can't I go with you?" + +"I think I'd better go alone, Bessie. If he saw you, he might try to +take you back to the Hoovers, you know. No, I'll go alone. If it's only +two miles, it won't take me long to walk there, and I can get someone to +drive me back. Girls!" + +They crowded about her. + +"I'm going away for a little while. You are to stay here and wait for +me. And keep close together. I'll get back as soon as I can. And while +I'm gone you can clear up the mess we made with luncheon--when you've +finished it, I mean. Now, you'd better hurry up and eat it. I won't +wait." + +And the guardian hurried off, determined to rescue Zara from the +clutches of the old miser who was so anxious to make her work for him, +because he saw a chance to get a good deal for nothing, or almost +nothing. If the general opinion about Silas Weeks was anywhere near +true, it would cost him mighty little to satisfy himself that he was +keeping faith with the county and giving Zara, in return for her +services, good board, lodging, and clothing. + +Bessie watched Wanaka go off, and she tried to convince herself that +everything would be all right. But, strong as was the faith she already +had in Miss Mercer, she knew the ways of Silas Weeks too well to be +really confident. And she couldn't get rid of the feeling that she, and +no one else, was responsible for Zara. It was because of her that Zara +had come away, and Bessie felt that she should make sure, herself, that +Zara didn't have cause to regret the decision. + +And then, suddenly, too, another thought struck her. What if she had, +without intention, misled Miss Eleanor? Suppose Farmer Weeks didn't go +to Zebulon at all? It was possible, for Bessie remembered now that +three-quarters of a mile or so along the road was a crossroad that +would lead him, should he turn there, back to Hedgeville. + +With the thought Bessie could no longer remain still. She knew the +roads, and she determined that she must at least find out where Zara had +been taken. She might not be able to help her herself, but she could get +the news, the true news, for those who could. And, saying nothing to any +of the other girls, lest they should want to come with her, she slipped +off silently. + +She did not descend to the road. If one farmer from Hedgeville had +passed already, others might follow in his wake, and Bessie was fiercely +determined not to let anything check her or interfere with her until she +knew what had become of Zara. + +So, although she might have been able to travel faster by the road, +Bessie stayed above, and hurried along, making the best progress she +could, although the going was rough. She could see, without being seen. +If anyone who threatened her liberty came along, she could hide easily +enough behind a tree or a clump of bushes. + +At the crossroad she hesitated. She wasn't sure that Farmer Weeks had +turned off. He might very well, as she had thought at first, have been +on his way to Zebulon. + +"What a stupid I am!" she thought in a moment, however. "Of course I +ought to take the crossroad! If he's gone to Zebulon Wanaka will find +him, and if he hasn't, he must have gone this way. If I turn off here, +there'll be someone after him, no matter which way he's gone." + +So, still keeping to the side of the road, she followed the pointer on +the signboard which said, "Hedgeville, six miles." + +About a mile and a half from the crossroads the road Bessie was now +following crossed a railroad, and as she neared that spot she moved as +carefully as she could, for a suspicion that gave her a ray of hope was +rising in her mind. At the railroad crossing there was a little +settlement and an inn that was very popular with automobilists. And +Bessie thought it was possible that Farmer Weeks might have stopped +there. Miser as he was, he was fond of good food, and, since he was his +own cook most of the time when he was at home, he didn't get much of it +except when he was away, as he was now. Bessie had heard Maw Hoover +sneer at him more than once for the way he hinted for an invitation to +dinner or supper. + +"Old skinflint!" Bessie had heard Maw say. "I notice he has a way of +forgettin' anythin' he wants to tell Paw till jest before meal time. +Then he comes over post haste, and nothin'll do but Paw's got to stand +out there listenin' to him, when all he wants, really, is to have me +ring the bell, so's Paw'll have to ask him to stay." + +Even in her sorrow at Zara's plight, Bessie couldn't help laughing at +the remembrance of those times. But then the smoke of the inn came in +sight, and Bessie forgot everything but the need of caution. If Farmer +Weeks were there, he must on no account see her. That would end any +chance she had of helping Zara. + +She crept through a grove of trees that surrounded the inn, to work up +behind it. In the rear, as she knew, were the stables, and the place +where the automobiles of the guests were kept. She wanted to get a look +at the horses and carriages that were tied in the shed for she would +know Farmer Weeks' rig anywhere, she was sure. But she had to be +careful, for the inn was a busy spot, and around the horses and the +autos, especially, were lots of men, working, smoking, loafing--and any +one of them, Bessie felt sure, was certain to question her if they saw +her prowling about. + +She got behind the shed, and then she had to work along to the end +farthest from the direction of the road she had left, since, at the near +end, a group of men were sitting down and eating their lunch. But, with +the shed full of horses making plenty of noise, to screen her movements, +that wasn't so difficult. Bessie managed it all right, and, when she got +to the far end, and had a chance to peep at the horses, her heart leaped +joyfully, for she saw within a few feet of her Farmer Weeks' horse and +buggy, the buggy sadly in need of paint and repairs, and the harness a +fair indication of the miserly nature of its owner, since it was patched +in a dozen places and tied together with string in a dozen others. + +"Well, I know that much, anyhow!" said Bessie to herself. "He didn't +take her to Zebulon, and he can't have done anything yet. I don't +believe he's got any right to keep her that way, not unless the people +at the poor-farm give him the right to take her. Zara hasn't done +anything--it isn't as if she'd been arrested, and were running away from +that." + +Suddenly Bessie started with alarm. She had drawn back among the trees +to hide while she tried to think out the best course of action for her +to take, and she heard someone moving quite close to her. But then, as +the one who had frightened her came into view, she smiled, for it was +only a small boy, very dirty and red of face, his white clothes soiled, +but looking thoroughly happy, just the same. + +"Hello!" he said, staring at her. + +"Hello, yourself! Where did you come from? And wherever did you get all +that dirt on yourself?" + +"Oh, in the woods," said the small boy. "Say, my name's Jack Roberts, +and my pop owns that hotel there. What's your name? Do you like +cherries? Can you climb a tree? Did you ever go out in the woods all +alone? Can you swim?" + +"My, my! One question at a time," laughed Bessie. "I love cherries. Have +you got some?" + +"Bet I have!" he said. The single answer to all his questions seemed to +satisfy him thoroughly, and he pulled out a great handful of cherries +from his straw hat, which he had been using for a basket. + +"Here you are," he said. "Say, do you know that other girl?" + +Bessie's heart leaped again. She felt that she had struck real luck at +last. + +"What other girl?" she asked, but even as she asked the question, her +heart sank again. He couldn't mean Zara. How could he possibly know +anything about her? + +"She was dressed just like you," he said. "And she had black hair and +her skin was dark. So she didn't look like you at all, you see. She was +crying, too. Say, aren't those cherries good? Why don't you eat them?" + +Bessie was so interested and excited when she heard him speak of Zara +that she forgot to eat the cherries. But she saw that she had hurt his +feelings by her neglect of his present, and she made amends at once. She +ate several of them, and smacked her lips. + +"They're splendid, Jack! They're the best I've eaten this year. I think +you're lucky to be able to get them." + +Jack was delighted. + +"You come here again later on and I'll give you some of the best pears +you ever tasted." + +"Tell me some more about the girl, Jack--the other girl, with black +hair. I think perhaps she's a friend of mine. Why was she crying?" + +"I don't know but she was. She was going on terrible. And she was with +her pop, I guess. So I s'pose she'd just been naughty, and he'd punished +her." + +"What makes you think that, Jack?" + +"Oh, he came in, and he talked to my pop, and they both laughed and +looked at her. He had her by the hand, and she didn't say anything--she +just cried. And my pop says, 'Well, I've got just the place for her. Too +bad to send her off without her dinner, but when they're bad they've got +to be punished.' And he winked at her, but she didn't wink back." + +"What happened then, Jack?" + +"They put her up in my room. See, you can see it there, right over the +tree with the branch torn off. See that branch? It was torn off in that +storm yesterday." + +"And didn't she have any dinner?" + +"Oh, yes. My pop, he sent her some dinner, of course. He was just +joking. That's why he winked at her. He'd never let anyone go hungry, my +pop wouldn't!" + +"What sort of looking man brought her here, Jack?" + +"Oh, he--he was just a man. He had white hair, and eye-glasses. Say, +that's his rig right there in the corner of the shed. I don't think much +of it, do you?" + +Bessie wondered what she should do. She liked Jack, and she was sure he +would do anything he could for her. But he was only a little boy, and it +seemed as if that would not be very much. But he was her only hope, and +she decided to trust him. + +"Jack," she said, soberly, "that is my friend, and I've been looking for +her. And that old man isn't her father at all. He wants to make her do +something horrid--something she doesn't want to do at all. And if she +doesn't get away, I'm afraid he will, too." + +"Say, I didn't like him when I first saw him! I'd hate to have him for +a pop. Why doesn't she run away?" + +"How can she, Jack?" + +"Huh, that's just as easy! Why, I never go down the stairs at all, +hardly, from my room. The branches of that big tree stick right over to +the window, and it's awful easy to climb down." + +"She could do that, too, Jack, but she doesn't know I'm here to help +her. She'd think there wasn't any use getting down." + +"Say, I'll climb up and tell her, if you like. Shall I?" + +"Will you, really, Jack? And tell her Bessie is waiting here for her? +Will you show her how to get down, and how to get here? And don't you +think someone will see her?" + +"No, an' if they do, they can't catch us. I've got a cave back here +that's the peachiest hiding-place you ever saw! I'll show you. They'll +never find you there. You just wait!" + +He was off like a flash, and Bessie, terribly anxious, but hopeful, too, +saw him run up the tree like a squirrel. Then the branches hid him from +her, and she couldn't see what happened at the window. But before she +had waited more than two minutes, although it seemed like hours to poor +Bessie, Jack was in sight again, and behind him came Zara. She dropped +easily to the ground, and ran toward Bessie, behind Jack, like a scared +rabbit. + +"Oh, Bessie, I'm so glad--so glad!" she cried. "I was so frightened--" + +From the inn there was a shout of anger. + +"Gee! He's found out already," cried Jack. "Come on! Don't be scared! +I'll show you where to hide so he'll never find you. Run--run, just as +fast as you can!" + +And they were off, while Farmer Weeks shouted behind them. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SHELTER OF THE WOODS + + +For the first few minutes as they ran, the three of them were too busy +to talk, and they needed their breath too much to be anxious to say +anything. Jack, his little legs flying, covered ground at an astonishing +pace. Zara had always been a speedy runner, and now, clutching Bessie's +hand tightly, she helped her over some of the harder places. + +They were running right into the woods, as it seemed to Bessie, and more +than once, as she heard sounds of pursuit behind, she was frightened. It +seemed to her impossible that little Jack, mean he never so well, could +possibly enable them to escape from angry Farmer Weeks, who, for an old +man, seemed to be keeping up astonishingly well in the race. But soon +the noises behind them grew fainter, and it was not long before the +ground began to rise sharply. Jack dropped to a walk, and the two girls, +panting from the hard run, were not slow to follow his example. + +"This is like playing Indians," said Jack, happily. "It's lots of +fun--much better than playing by myself. Here's my cave." + +"Don't you think we'd better go on, Bessie?" panted Zara. "We're ahead +of them now, and they might find us here." + +"No, I think we'd better stop right here. Would you ever know there was +a cave here if Jack hadn't uncovered the entrance? And see, it's so wild +that we'd have to stick to the path, and we don't know the way. I'm +afraid they'd be sure to catch us sooner or later if we went on." + +"Listen!" said Jack. "They're getting nearer again!" + +And sure enough, they could hear the shouts of those who were following +them, and the noise was getting louder. Bessie hesitated no longer, but +pushed Zara before her into the cave. Jack followed them. + +"See," he said, "I can pull those branches over, and they'll never see +the mouth of the cave. They'll think these are just bushes growing here. +Isn't it a bully place? I've played it was a smuggler's cave, and all +sorts of things, but it never was as good fun as this." + +"Just think that way," said Bessie to poor Zara, who was trembling like +a leaf. "When we get back with the girls, we'll think this is just good +fun--a fine adventure. So cheer up, we're safe now." + +"But how will we ever get back to them, even if they don't catch us +now?" asked Zara. "We'll be seen when we go out, won't we?" + +"No, indeed," said Bessie. "I'll bet Jack's thought about that, haven't +you, Jack?" + +"You bet!" he said, proudly. "They'll go by, and they'll keep on for a +long way, and then they'll think they've gone so far that a girl +couldn't ever have done it. And then they'll decide they've missed her, +and they'll turn around and come back again, and hunt around near the +hotel. And when they do that--" + +"Hush!" said Bessie. "Here they come! Keep quiet, now, both of you! +Don't even breathe hard--and don't sneeze, whatever you do!" + +And then, lying down close to one another, at full length on the floor +of the cave, which Jack, for his play, had covered with soft branches of +evergreen trees, they peeped out through the leafy covering of the cave +while Farmer Weeks went by, snorting and puffing angrily, like some wild +animal, his eyes straight ahead. He never looked at the cave, or in +their direction, but the next man, one employed about the hotel, seemed +to have his eyes fixed directly on the branches. Bessie thought he +looked suspicious. She was sure that he had spied the device, and was +about to call to Farmer Weeks. But, when he was still a few feet off, he +tripped over a root, and sprawled on his face, and, if he had ever +really had any suspicions at all, the fall seemed to drive them from his +mind effectually. He picked himself up, laughing, since the fall had +not hurt him, and, after he had shouted back a warning to two men who +followed him, he went on, dusting himself off. + +The root had been good to the fugitives, sure enough, for the men who +followed kept their eyes on the ground, looking out for it, since they +had no desire to share the tumble of the man in front, and neither of +them so much as looked at the cave. + +"My, but they're brave men!" said Jack. "Three of them, all to chase one +little girl!" + +Zara, her fears somewhat relieved, laughed as she looked at her rescuer. + +"I'm bigger than you are," she said, smiling. + +"Yes, but you're a girl," said Jack, in a lordly fashion that would have +made Bessie laugh if she hadn't been afraid of hurting his feelings. +"And I've rescued you, haven't I? Did you ever read about the Knights of +the Round Table, and how they rescued ladies in distress? I'm your +knight, and you ought to give me a knot of ribbon. They always do in the +books." + +Zara looked puzzled. + +"Haven't you ever read about them?" said Jack, looking disappointed. But +then he turned to Bessie. "You have, haven't you?" + +"I certainly have, Jack, and Zara shall, soon. They were brave men, +Zara, who lived centuries ago. And whenever they saw a lady who needed +help they gave it to her. Jack's quite right; he is like them." + +Jack flushed with pleasure. He had liked Bessie from the start and now +he adored her. + +"You're Zara's true knight, Jack, and she'll give you that ribbon from +her hair. But you mustn't let anyone see it, or tell about this +adventure, unless your father asks you. You mustn't say anything that +isn't true, but only answer questions. Don't offer to tell people, or +else you may be punished, because Farmer Weeks would say we were bad, +and that it was wrong to help us." + +"I wouldn't believe him, and neither would my pop, I know that. He's the +greatest man that ever lived--greater than George Washington. And he'll +say I was just right if I tell him. I just know he will." + +"But maybe he and Farmer Weeks are friends, Jack. Then he'd think it was +all wrong, wouldn't he?" + +"My pop wouldn't have him for a friend, Bessie, don't you believe he +would! My pop would never lock a girl up in a room by herself without +her dinner, even if she'd been bad." + +"I wonder why they're so long coming back," said Bessie, finally. "Won't +they miss you, Jack?" + +"Not if I get back in time for supper. They don't care what I do when +it's a holiday, like this. They know I know my way around here, and +there aren't any wild animals. I wish there were!" + +"Wouldn't you be afraid of them?" + +"Not a bit of it! I'd have a gun, and I'd shoot them, just as quick as +quick!" + +"Even if they weren't trying to hurt you?" + +"Yes, why shouldn't I? Everyone does, in all the books." + +"But we don't act the way people in books do, Jack. We can't. Things +aren't just that way. Books are to read, to learn things, and for fun, +but we've got to remember that real life's different." + +"Well, I bet if I saw a lion coming through that wood there I'd kill +him." + +"Suppose he ate you up first?" asked Zara. + +"He'd better not! My pop'd catch and make him sorry he ever did anything +like that! Say, it is taking them a long time to come back. Maybe +they've lost their way." + +"Could they around here?" + +"You bet they could! Lots of people do, from the hotel, and we have to +send out and find them, so's they don't have to stay out all night. Say, +did you hear something just then?" + +They listened attentively, and presently Zara keen ears detected a +sound. + +"There's someone coming," she said. "Listen! You can hear them quite +plainly now." + +They were quiet for a minute. + +"They must be quite close," said Zara, then. "We heard them much further +off than that when they were coming after us. I wonder why they got so +near before we heard them this time?" + +"That's easily explained, Zara," said Bessie. "When they were going the +wind was behind them. Now it's in front of them. And they were going up +hill, too, so there may have been an echo, because they were shouting +toward the rocks upon the hill. Now that's changed, too." + +"Say, you're a regular scout!" said Jack approvingly. "_I_ knew all +that, but I didn't suppose girls knew things like that. Say, when I get +old enough I'm going to be a Boy Scout. That'll be fine, won't it? I'll +have a uniform, and a badge, and everything." + +"Splendid, Jack! We're going to be Camp Fire Girls, and we'll have +rings, and badges, too." + +"What are Camp Fire Girls? Are they like the Boy Scouts?" + +"Something like them, Jack. Sometime, when I know more about them, I'll +come back and tell you all about it. I know it's nice--but I don't +really know much more than that yet." + +Then they had to be still again, for the voices of the returning hunters +were very plain. They could hear Farmer Weeks, loud and angry, in the +lead. + +"Ain't it the beatin'est thing you ever heard of?" he was asking one of +his companions. "How do you guess that little varmint ever got away?" + +"Better give it up as a bad job, old hayseed," said another voice. +"She's too slick for you--and I can't say I'm sorry, either. Way you've +been goin' on here makes me think anyone'd be glad to dig out and run +away from a chance to work for you." + +"Any lazy good-for-nothing like you would--yes," said Farmer Weeks, +enraged by the taunt. "I make anyone that gits my pay or my vittles +work--an' why shouldn't they? If you'd gone on, like I wanted you to, +we'd have caught her." + +"We ain't workin' for you, an' we never will, neither," said the other +man, laughing. "Better be careful how you start callin' us names, I can +tell you. If you ain't you may go home with a few of them whiskers of +your'n pulled out." + +"You shut your trap!" + +"Sure! I'd rather hear you talk, anyhow. You're so elegant and refined +like. Makes me sorry I never went to collidge, so's I could talk that +way, too." + +They couldn't make out what Farmer Weeks replied to that. He was so +angry that he just mumbled his words, and didn't get them out properly. +Zara was smiling, her eyes shining. But then the old farmer's voice rose +loud and clear again, just as he passed the cave. + +"I'll git her yet," he said, vindictively. "I know what she's done, all +right. She's gone traipsin' off with that passel of gals that Paw Hoover +sold his garden truck to yesterday. I heard 'em laughin' and chatterin' +back there on the road where I found her. She'll go runnin' back to +'em--and I'll show 'em, I will!" + +"Aw, you're all talk and no do," said the other man, contemptuously. +"You talk big, but you don't do a thing." + +"I'll have the law on 'em. That gal's as good as mine for the time till +she's twenty-one, an' I'll show 'em whether they can run off that way +with a man's property. Guess even a farmer's got some rights--an' I can +afford to pay for lawin' when I need it done." + +"I s'pose you can afford to pay us for runnin' off on this wild goose +chase for you, then? Hey?" + +"Not a cent--not a cent!" they heard Farmer Weeks say, angrily. "I ain't +a-goin' to give none of my good money that I worked for to any low-down +shirkers like you--hey, what are you doin' there, tryin' to trip me up?" + +A chorus of laughter greeted his indignant question, but he seemed to +take the hint, for the fugitives in the cave heard no more talk from +him, although for some time after that the sounds in the direction the +pursuers had taken on their return to the inn were plain enough. + +When the last sounds had died away, and they were quite sure that they +were safe, for the time, at least, Bessie got up. + +"Suppose we follow this trail right up the way they went?" Bessie asked +Jack. "Where will it bring us?" + +"To the top of the mountain," said Jack. "But if you want to go off that +way I'll walk a way with you, and show you where you can strike off and +come to another trail that will bring you out on the main road to +Zebulon." + +"That'll be fine, Jack. If you'll do that, you'll help us ever so much, +and we'll be able to get along splendidly." + +"We'd better start," said Zara, nervously. "I want to get away as soon +as ever I can. Don't you, Bessie?" + +"Indeed I do, Zara. I'm just as afraid of having Farmer Weeks catch us +as you are. If he found me he'd take me back to Maw Hoover, I know. And +she'd be awfully angry with me." + +"I'm all ready to start whenever you are," announced Jack. "Come on. It +gets dark early in the woods, you know. They're mighty thick when you +get further up the mountain. But if you walk along fast you'll get out +of them long before it's really dark." + +So they started off. Little Jack seemed to be a thorough woodsman and to +know almost every stick and stone in the path. And presently they came +to a blazed tree--a tree from which a strip of bark had been cut with a +blow from an axe. + +"That's my mark. I made it myself," said Jack, proudly. "Here's where we +leave this trail. Be careful now. Look where I put my feet, and come +this same way." + +Then he struck off the trail, and into the deep woods themselves where +the moss and the carpet of dead leaves deadened their footsteps. +Although the sun was still high, the trees were so thick that the light +that came down to them was that of twilight, and Zara shuddered. + +"I'd hate to be lost in these woods," she said. + +Then, abruptly, they were on another trail. Jack had been a true guide. + +"You can't lose your way now," he said. "Keep to the trail and go +straight ahead." + +"Good-bye, Jack," said Bessie. "You're just as true and brave as any of +the knights you ever read about, and if you keep on like this you'll be +a great man when you grow up--as great as your father. Good-bye!" + +"Good-bye and thank you ever so much," called Zara. + +"Come again!" said Jack, and stood there until they were out of sight. + +It was not long before they came out near the main road, and now Zara +gave a joyful cry. + +"Oh, I'm so glad to be here!" she exclaimed. "Those woods frightened me, +Bessie. They were so dark and gloomy. And it's so good to see the sun +again, and the fields and the blue sky!" + +Bessie looked about her curiously as she strove to get her bearings. +Then her face cleared. + +"I know where we are now," she said. "We're still quite a little +distance from where we stopped for lunch and Farmer Weeks got hold of +you, Zara. We'll have to go up the road. You see, it brought us quite a +little out of our direct way--going back in the woods as we did. But it +was worth it--to get away from Farmer Weeks." + +"I should think it was!" said Zara. "I'd walk on my hands for a mile to +be free from him. He was awful. He drove up just as I got down to the +road, and as soon as I saw him I started to run. But I was so frightened +that my knees shook, and he jumped out and caught me." + +"What did he say to you?" + +"Oh, everything! He said he could have me put in prison for running +away, and he asked me where you were, but I wouldn't say a thing. I +wouldn't even answer him when he asked me if I'd seen you. And he said +that when I came to work for him, he'd see that I got over my laziness +and my notions." + +"Well, you're free of him now, Zara. Oh!" + +"What is it, Bessie?" + +"Zara, don't you remember what he said? That he'd find us through the +Camp Fire Girls? He knows about them! If we go right back to them now, +we may be walking right into his arms. Oh, how I wish I could get hold +of Miss Eleanor--of Wanaka!" + +They stared at one another in consternation. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A CLOSE SHAVE + + +"I never thought of that, Bessie! Do you suppose he'd really go after +the girls and look for us there?" + +"You could hear how mad he was, Zara. I think he'd do anything he could +to get even with you for running away like that. It made him look +foolish before all those men and it'll be a long time before folks let +him forget how he was fooled by a girl." + +"What are we going to do?" + +"I'm trying to think. If I could get word to Miss Eleanor, she'd know +what to tell us, I'm sure. I'm afraid she'll be wondering what's become +of me--and maybe she'll think I just ran away, and think I was wrong to +do it." + +"But she'll understand when you tell her about it, Bessie, and if you +hadn't come I never would have got away by myself. I'd have been afraid +even to try, if there'd been a chance." + +"The worst part of it is that if Farmer Weeks really has any right to +keep you, or if you were wrong to run away, it might get Miss Eleanor +into trouble if they could find out that she's been helping you to get +away." + +They were walking along the road, but now Bessie, who had forgotten the +need of caution in her consternation at the thought of the new plight +they faced, pulled Zara after her into the bushes beside the highway. + +"I heard wheels behind us," she explained. "We mustn't take any +chances." + +They stopped to let the wagon they had heard pass by, but as it came +along Bessie cried out suddenly. + +"That's Paw Hoover!" she said. "And I'm going to speak to him, and ask +him what he thinks we ought to do. I'm sure he'll give us good advice, +and that he's friendly to us." + +She hailed him, and the old farmer, mightily surprised at the sound of +her voice, pulled up his horses. + +"Whoa!" he shouted. "Well, Bessie! Turning up again like a bad penny. +What's the matter now?" + +Breathlessly Bessie told him what had happened, and of Zara's escape +from Farmer Weeks, while Zara interrupted constantly to supply some +detail her chum had forgotten. + +"Well, by gravy, I dunno what to say!" said Paw Hoover, scratching his +head and looking at them with puzzled eyes. "I don't like Silas +Weeks--never did! I'd hate to have a girl of mine bound over to +him--that I would! But these lawyers beat me! I ain't never had no truck +with them." + +"Will the law make Zara go to him, Paw?" asked Bessie. + +"I dunno, Bessie--I declare I dunno!" he answered, slowly. "He seems +almighty anxious to get hold of her--an' I declare I dunno why. Seems +like there must be lots of other girls over there at the poor-farm he +could take if he's so powerful anxious, all of a sudden, to have a girl +to work for him. I did hear say, though, that he'd got some sort of a +paper signed by the judge--an' if that's so, there ain't no tellin' what +he can do. Made him her gardeen, I guess, whatever that is." + +"But Zara doesn't need a guardian! She's got her father," said Bessie. + +Paw shook his head. He looked as if he didn't think much of the sort of +guardianship Zara's father would give her. He was a good, just man, but +he shared the Hedgeville prejudice against the foreigner. + +"I reckon you're right about not wantin' to get those young ladies I saw +you with mixed up with Silas, Bessie," he went on, reflectively. "Too +bad you can't get hold of that Miss Mercer. She's as bright as a button, +she is. Now, if she were here, she'd find a way out of this hole before +you could say Jack Robinson!" + +"I believe she could, too," said Bessie. "If you'd seen the way she +started out after Farmer Weeks when I told her I thought he must have +gone to Zebulon!" + +"Zebulon? Was she a goin' there? Then maybe she ain't come back yet, an' +we could meet her on the way. Eh?" + +"Oh, I'm afraid she must have gone back to the girls long ago," said +Bessie. + +"Well, you jump in behind there, and get under cover. Ain't no one goin' +to look in--you'll be snug there, if it is a mite hot. An' I'll just +drive along an' see if I can't meet your Miss Mercer. Then we'll know +what to do. An' I'll spell it over, an' maybe I'll hit on some way to +help you out myself, even if we don't meet her. Like as not I'll come +across Silas Weeks, too, but he'll never suspicion that you're in here +with me. Ha! Ha! Not in a million years, he won't. No, sir!" + +Bessie laughed, and she and Zara jumped in happily. + +"We've got ever so many friends, after all, Zara," she said, in a +whisper, as they drove along. "Look at Paw Hoover. He's been as nice as +he can be, and he thinks I set his place on fire, too! I'm sure things +will be all right. We'll find the girls again, and everything will be +just as we had planned." + +"Bessie, why do you suppose Farmer Weeks is so set on having me to work +for him? Doesn't that seem funny to you? I'm not as clever as lots of +girls he could get, I'm sure." + +"I can't guess, Zara. But we'll find out sometime, never fear. Did he +and your father ever have anything to do with one another?" + +"They did just at first when we came out here. He came over to our place +in the evenings a good deal, and he and my father used to talk together. +But I never knew what they talked about." + +"Did they seem friendly?" + +"They were at first." + +"Then I should think he would have tried to help your father when there +was trouble." + +"No, no! They had an awful quarrel one night, and my father said he was +as bad as some of the people who hated him in Europe, and that he'd +have to look out for him. He said he was so rich that people would do +what he wanted, and after that he was afraid, and whenever he did any +work, he used to get me to stay around outside the house and tell him if +anyone came. And he always used to say that it was Farmer Weeks he +wanted me to look out for most." + +"Well, there's not much use in our thinking about it, Zara. The more we +puzzle our brains over it, the less we'll know about it, I'm afraid." + +"That's so, too, Bessie. I'm awfully sleepy. I can hardly keep my eyes +open." + +"Don't try. You've had a hard time to-day. Get to sleep if you can. I'll +wake you up if there's any need for it. I'm tired, but I'm not sleepy at +all, and this ride will rest me splendidly." + +Bessie peeped out now and then, and she kept her eyes open on the +lookout for the spring where Farmer Weeks had surprised Zara. But when +they passed it, although she looked out and listened hard, she couldn't +tell whether the Camp Fire Girls were on the bluff above the roadside or +not, and she was afraid to ask Paw Hoover to stop and let her find out +for certain, since there was the chance that Farmer Weeks might have +returned with the idea that Zara, having escaped his clutches, would +naturally have come back to the place of her capture. + +Bessie understood very well that, while Paw Hoover was proving himself a +true friend, and was evidently willing to do all he could for them, it +would never do for Silas Weeks or anyone else from Hedgeville to know +that he was befriending the two fugitives. She could guess what Maw +Hoover would say to him if she learned that he had helped her, and if +there was the chance that Farmer Weeks might get Miss Mercer into +trouble through her friendship for them, Paw Hoover was running the same +risk. + +Until after they reached the crossroads where Bessie had so fortunately +been led to take the right turn in her pursuit of Zara earlier in the +day, they did not pass or meet a single vehicle of any sort, nor even +anyone on foot. Zara slept soundly, and Bessie, soothed by the motion of +the wagon, was beginning to nod sleepily. + +She had almost dozed off when she was aroused sharply by a sudden shout +to his horses from Paw Hoover, and she heard him call out laughingly: + +"Hello, there, Miss Mercer! Didn't expect to see me again so soon, did +you? I'll bet I've got the surprise of your life for you." + +Then she heard Wanaka's clear voice. + +"Oh, Mr. Hoover! You don't mean--" + +"Yes, I do--and the pair of them, too," he said. + +"Well, really? Oh, I'm so relieved! I've been half wild about poor +little Zara. I wasn't so afraid for Bessie--she's better able to care +for herself." + +How proud Bessie was when she heard that! + +"Jump up, Miss Mercer. Then you can talk to Bessie. She's keeping under +cover, like the wise young one she is. I'm afraid there's still trouble +stirring, Miss Mercer." + +"I know there is, Mr. Hoover," Eleanor answered, gravely. And then she +looked through to see Bessie, and in a moment they were in one another's +arms. + +"I've been to Zebulon, and I've found out lots of things," said Eleanor. +"Bessie, unless we're very careful that horrid old Mr. Weeks will get +hold of Zara again, and the law will help him to keep her. I don't know +how you got her away from him; you can tell me that later. But just now +I've thought of a way to beat him." + +"I knew you would," said Bessie. + +"The law is wrong, sometimes, I'm sure," said Eleanor. "And I'm just as +sure that this is one of the times. I've seen Mr. Weeks, and no one +would trust Zara to him. He'd treat her harshly, I know, and I don't +believe it would be easy to get him punished for it--around here, at +least." + +"You're right there, ma'am," said Paw Hoover. "Silas Weeks has got too +many mortgages around here not to be able to have his own way when he's +really sot on getting it." + +"Now, listen," said Eleanor quickly to Bessie. "I'm going to change all +our plans because I'm sure we can do more good than if we stuck to what +we meant to do. Mr. Hoover, can you spare the time to drive Bessie and +Zara to the road that crosses this about half a mile before you come to +Zebulon, and then a little way down that road, too?" + +"I'll make the time," said Paw, heartily. + +"Then it's going to be easy. I want them to get to the railroad. There +are too many people around the station in Zebulon, and there'd almost +surely be someone there who knew them. I'm not sure of just where Mr. +Weeks is right now. He might even be there himself. So that's too +risky--" + +"I see what you're driving at," said Paw, suddenly. His face broke into +a smile. "There's a station further down the line--a little no-account +station, ain't there? I've seen it." + +"Yes, Perryville. But the down train stops there, and it isn't just a +flag stop, either. Now, listen, Bessie. Mr. Hoover will take you there, +or nearly there, so that you can easily walk the rest of the way. And +when you get there don't get by the track until you hear the train +coming. Stay where no one is likely to see you, and then, when the train +whistles, run over and be ready to get on board. And get off at Pine +Bridge--Pine Bridge, do you hear? Will you remember that? When you get +there, just wait. I'll be there almost as soon as you are." + +Paw Hoover burst into a roar of laughter as he listened. + +"Bessie said you'd have a way to beat Silas Weeks, and, great Godfrey, +you sure have!" he said. "I never thought of that--but you're right. Get +her out of the state, and there ain't no way under heaven that Silas can +get hold of the girl unless she comes back of her own accord. Court +writs don't run beyond state lines, not unless they're in the Federal +court. Godfrey, but you're smart all right, young lady!" + +"Thank you," said Eleanor, smiling at him in return for the compliment. +"You're sure you understand, Bessie? Here's the money for your fare. You +won't have time to buy tickets, so just give the money to the +conductor." + +Then she dropped from the wagon to the road and Paw Hoover whipped up +his horses. + +"You sleep, if you can, Bessie," he said. "I'll wake you up when it's +time to get down." + +And Bessie, her mind relieved, was glad to obey. It seemed to her that +she had only just gone to sleep when Paw Hoover shook her gently to +arouse her. + +"Here we are," he said. "Station's just over there--see, beyond the +bend. Remember what Miss Mercer told you, now, and good luck, Bessie! I +reckon we'll see you again sometime." + +There were tears in Bessie's eyes as she said good-bye. She watched him +drive off, and then she and Zara sat down to wait for the coming of the +train. They sat on the grass, behind a cabin that had been abandoned, +where they could see the track while they themselves were hidden from +anyone approaching by the road they had come. And before long the rails +began to hum. Then, in the distance, there was the shriek of a whistle. + +"Come on, Zara," cried Bessie, and they ran toward the station, just as +the train came into sight, its brakes grinding as it slowed down. + +And then, as they climbed aboard, there was the sudden sound of +galloping hoofs, and of hoarse shouting. Farmer Weeks, in his buggy, +raced toward the train, his hands lifted as he called wildly to the +conductor to stop. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +OUT OF THE WOODS + + +The train only stopped for a moment at the little station. Seldom, +indeed, did it take on any passengers. And on that trip it was already +late. Even as the two girls climbed up the steps the brakeman gave his +signal, the conductor flung out his hand, and the wheels began to move. +And Farmer Weeks, jumping out of his buggy, raced after it, yelling, but +in vain. + +Swiftly the heavy cars gathered speed. And Bessie and Zara, frightened +by their narrow escape, were still too delighted by the way in which +Farmer Weeks had been baffled to worry. They felt that they were safe +now. + +"I suppose that old hick thought we'd stop the train for him," they +heard the conductor say to the brakeman. "Well, he had another guess +coming! Look at him, will you?" + +"He's mad all through!" said the brakeman, laughing, "Well, he had a +right to be there when the train got in. If we waited for every farmer +that gets to the station late, we'd be laid off in a hurry, I'll bet." + +Bessie and Zara were in the last car of the train, and they could look +back as it sped away. + +"See, Zara, he's standing there, waving his arms and shaking his fist at +us," she said. + +"He can't hurt us that way, Bessie. Well, all I hope is that we've seen +the last of him. Is it true that he can't touch me except in this +state?" + +"That's what Wanaka said, Zara. And she must know." + +Then the conductor came around. + +"We didn't get our tickets, so here's the money," said Bessie. "We want +to get to Pine Bridge." + +"You didn't have much more time than you needed to catch this train," +said the conductor, as he took the money. "Pine Bridge, eh? That's our +first stop. You can't make any mistake." + +"How soon do we cross the state line, Mr. Conductor?" asked Zara, +anxiously. + +The conductor looked out of the window. + +"Right now," he said. "See that white house there? Well, that's almost +on the line. The house is in one state, and the stable's in the other. +Why are you so interested in that?" He looked at them in sudden +suspicion. "Here, was that your father who was so wild because he didn't +catch the train? Were you running away from him?" + +Bessie's heart sank. She wondered if the conductor, should be really be +suspicious, could make them go back, or keep them from getting off the +train at Pine Bridge. + +"No, he wasn't any relative of ours at all," she said. + +"Seems to me he was shouting about you two, though," said the conductor. +"Hey, Jim!" + +He called the brakeman. + +"Say, Jim, didn't it look to you like that hayseed was trying to stop +these two from gettin' aboard instead of tryin' to catch the train +himself?" + +"Never thought of that," said Jim, scratching his head. "Guess maybe he +was, though. Maybe we'd better send 'em back from Pine Bridge." + +"That's what I'm thinking," said the conductor. + +"We've paid our fare. You haven't any right to do that," said Bessie, +stoutly, although she was frightened. "And I tell you that man isn't our +father. He hasn't got anything to do with us--" + +"He seemed to think so, and I believe that was why you came running that +way to catch the train, without any tickets. You say he's not your +father. Who is he? Do you know him at all?" + +Bessie wished she could say that she did not; wished she could, +truthfully, deny knowing Farmer Weeks at all. But not even to avert what +looked like a serious danger would she lie. + +"Yes, we know him," she said. "He's a farmer from Hedgeville. And--" + +"Hedgeville, eh? What's his name?" + +"Weeks--Silas Weeks." + +The effect of the name was extraordinary. Conductor and brakeman doubled +up with laughter, and for a moment, while the two girls stared, neither +of them could speak at all. Then the conductor found his voice. + +"Oh, ho-ho," he said, still laughing. "I wouldn't have missed that for a +week's pay! If I could only have seen his face! Don't you worry any +more! We'll not send you back to him, even if you were running from him. +Don't blame anyone for tryin' to get away from that old miser!" + +"Wish he'd tried to jump aboard after we started," said Jim, the +brakeman. "I'd have kicked him off, and I wouldn't have done it gently, +either!" + +"We know Silas Weeks," explained the conductor. "He's the worst kicker +and trouble maker that ever rode on this division. Every time he's +aboard my train he gives us more trouble in one trip than all the other +passengers give us in ten. He's always trying to beat his way without +payin' fare, and scarcely a time goes by that he don't write to the +office about Jim or me." + +"Lot of good that does him," said Jim. "They don't pay any attention to +him." + +"No, not now. They're getting used to him, and they know what sort of a +mischief maker he is. But he's a big shipper, an' at first they used to +get after me pretty hard when he wrote one of his kicks." + +"Before I came on the run, you mean?" + +"Sure! He'd been at it a long time before I got you, Jim. You see, he +sends so much stuff by freight they had to humor him--and they still do. +But now they just write him a letter apologizin' and don't bother me +about it at all. Bet I've lost as much as a week's pay, I guess, goin' +to headquarters in workin' time to explain his kicks. He's got a swell +chance of gettin' help from me!" + +Then the two trainmen passed on, but not until they had promised to see +the two girls safe off the car at Pine Bridge. + +"People usually get paid back when they do something mean, Zara," said +Bessie. "If Farmer Weeks hadn't treated those men badly, they would +probably have sent us back. But as soon as they heard who he was, you +saw how they acted." + +"That's right, Bessie. I bet he'd be madder than ever if he knew that. +Someone ought to tell him." + +"He'd only try to make more trouble for them, and perhaps he could, too. +No, I don't want to bother about him any more, Zara. I just want to +forget all about him. I wonder how long we'll have to wait at Pine +Bridge." + +"Miss Eleanor didn't say what she was going to do, did she?" + +"No; she just said that she'd get there, and that she had decided to +change all her plans on our account." + +"We're making an awful lot of trouble for her, Bessie." + +"I know we are, and we've got to show her that we're grateful and do +anything we can to help her, if she ever needs our help. I thought when +we started from Hedgeville after the fire that we would be able to get +along together somehow, Zara, but I see now how foolish that was." + +"I believe you'd have managed somehow, Bessie. You can do 'most +anything, I believe." + +"I'm afraid you'll find out that I can't before we're done, Zara. We +didn't have any money, or any plans, or anything. It certainly was lucky +for us that we went to that lake where the Camp Fire Girls were. If it +hadn't been for them we'd be back in Hedgeville now, and much worse off +than if we hadn't tried to get away." + +"There's the whistle, Bessie. I guess that means we're getting near Pine +Bridge." + +"Well, here you are! Going to meet your friends here?" said the +conductor. + +"Yes; thank you," said Bessie. "We're ever so much obliged, and we'll be +all right now." + +"You sit right down there on that bench in front of the station," +advised the conductor. "Don't move away, or you'll get lost. Pine Bridge +is quite a place. Bigger than Hedgeville--quite a bit bigger. And if +anyone tries to bother you, just you run around to the street in front +of the station, and you'll find a fat policeman there. He's a friend of +mine, and he'll look after you if you tell him Tom Norris sent you. +Remember my name--Tom Norris." + +"Thank you, and good-bye, Mr. Norris," they called to him together, as +they stepped off the car. Then the whistle blew again, and the train was +off. + +Although there were a good many people around, no one seemed to pay much +attention to the two girls. Everyone seemed busy, and to be so occupied +with his own affairs that he had no time to look at strangers or think +about what they were doing. + +"We're a long way from home now, Zara, you see," said Bessie. "I guess +no one here will know us, and we'll just wait till Miss Eleanor comes." + +"Maybe she's here already, waiting for us." + +"Oh, I don't think so." + +"We'd better look around, though. How is she going to get here, Bessie?" + +"I don't know. She never told me about that. We were talking as fast as +we could because we were afraid Farmer Weeks might come along any time, +and that would have meant a lot of trouble." + +"Suppose he follows us here, Bessie?" + +"He won't! He'll know that we're safe from him as soon as we're out of +the state. I'm not afraid of him now--not a bit, and you needn't be, +either." + +"Well, if you're not, I'll try not to be. But I wish Miss Eleanor would +come along, Bessie. I'll feel safer then, really." + +"You've been brave enough so far, Zara. You mustn't get nervous now that +we're out of the woods. That would be foolish." + +"I suppose so, but I wasn't really brave before, Bessie. I was terribly +frightened when he locked me in that room. I didn't see how anyone would +know what had become of me, or how they could find out where I was in +time to help me." + +"Did you think about trying to run away by yourself?" + +"Yes, indeed, but I was afraid I'd get lost. I didn't know where we +were. I'd never been that way before." + +"It's a good thing you waited, Zara. Even if you had got away and got +into those woods where Jack took us, it would have been dangerous. You +might easily have got lost, and it's the hardest thing to find people +who are in the woods." + +"Why?" + +"Because they get to wandering around in circles. If you can see the +sun, you can know which way you're going, and you can be sure of getting +somewhere, if you only keep on long enough. But in the woods, unless you +know a lot of things, there's nothing to guide you, and people just +seem, somehow, bound to walk in a circle. They keep on coming back to +the place they started from." + +Pine Bridge was a junction point, and while the girls waited, patiently +enough, it began to grow dark. Several trains came in, but, though they +looked anxiously at the passengers who descended from each one of them, +there was no sign of Miss Mercer. + +"I hope nothing's happened to her," said Zara anxiously. + +"Oh, we mustn't worry, Zara. She's all right, and she'll come along +presently." + +"But suppose she didn't, what should we do?" + +"We'd be able to find a place to spend the night. I've got money, you +know, and the policeman would tell us where to go, if we went to him, as +the conductor told us to do." + +Another train came in on the same track as the one that had brought +them. Again they scanned its passengers anxiously, but no one who looked +at all like Miss Mercer got off, and they both sighed as they leaned +back against the hard bench. Neither of them had paid any attention to +the other passengers, and they were both startled and dismayed when a +tall, gaunt figure loomed up suddenly before them, and they heard the +harsh voice of Farmer Weeks, chuckling sardonically as he looked down on +them. + +"Caught ye, ain't I?" he said. "You've given me quite a chase--but I've +run you down now. Come on, you Zara!" + +He seized her hand, but Bessie snatched it from him. + +"You let her alone!" she said, with spirit. "You've no right to touch +her!" + +"I'll show you whether I've any right or not, and I'm going to take her +back with me!" Farmer Weeks said, furiously. "Come on, you baggage! +You'll not make a fool of me again, I'll promise you that!" + +"Come on," said Bessie, suddenly. She still held Zara's hand, and before +the surprised farmer could stop them, Bessie had dragged Zara to her +feet, and they had dashed under his outstretched arm and got clear away, +while the loafers about the station laughed at him. + +"Come back! You can't get away!" he shouted, as he broke into a clumsy +run after them. "Come back, or I'll make you sorry--" + +But Bessie knew what she was about. Without paying the slightest +attention to his angry cries, she ran straight around to the front of +the station, and there she found the fat policeman. + +"Won't you help us?" she cried. "Mr. Norris, the conductor, said you +would--" + +"What's wrong?" said the policeman, starting. He had been dozing. "Any +friend of Tom's is a friend of mine--here, here, none of that!" + +The last remark was addressed to Farmer Weeks, who had come up and +seized Zara. + +"I've got an order saying I've a right to take her," exclaimed Weeks. + +"But it's not good in this state--" interrupted Bessie. + +"Let's see it," said the policeman. + +Weeks, storming and protesting, showed him the court order. + +"That's no good here. You'll have to get her into the state where it +was issued before you can use that," said the policeman. + +"You're a liar! I'll take her now--" + +The policeman's club was out, and he threatened Weeks with it. + +"You touch her and I'll run you in," he said, angrily. "We don't stand +for men laying their hands on girls and women in this town. Get away +with you now! If I catch you hanging around here five minutes from now, +I'll take you to the lock-up, and you can spend the night in a cell." + +"But--" began Weeks. + +"Not a word more--or I'll do as I say," said the policeman. He was +energetic, if he was fat, and he had put a protective arm about Zara. +Weeks looked at him and then he slunk off. + +And, as he went, the girls heard a merry chorus, "Wo-he-lo, Wo-he-lo," +just as another train puffed in. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CALL OF THE FIRE + + +"Wo-he-lo!" + +How they did thrill at the sound of the watchword of the Camp Fire! How +clearly, now, they understood the meaning of the three syllables, that +had seemed to them so mysterious, so utterly without meaning, when they +had first heard them on the shores of the lake, as, surprised, they +peeped out and saw the merry band of girls who had awakened them after +their flight from Hedgeville. + +For a moment, so overjoyed were they, they couldn't move at all. But +then the spell was broken, as the call sounded again, loud and clear, +rising above the noises of the engine that was puffing and snorting on +the other side of the station. Farmer Weeks, a black look in his eyes as +he shot them a parting glance full of malice, was forgotten as he slunk +off. + +"Thank you, oh, thank you!" cried Bessie to the astonished policeman, +who looked as if he were about to begin asking them questions. "Come on, +Zara!" + +And, hand in hand, they raced around to the other side of the station +again, but blithely, happily this time, and not in terror of their +enemy, as they had come. And there, looking about her in all directions, +was Eleanor Mercer, and behind her all the girls of the Manasquan Camp +Fire. + +"Oh, I'm so glad! I was afraid something had happened to you!" cried +Eleanor. "But now it's all right! We're all here, and safe. In this +state no one can hurt you--either of you!" + +Laughing and full of questions, the other girls crowded around Zara and +Bessie, so happily restored to them. + +"We feel as if you were real Camp Fire Girls already!" said Eleanor +Mercer, half crying with happiness. "The girls were wild with anxiety +when they found you had gone away, too, Bessie, even though we hadn't +told them everything. But they were delighted when I got back and told +them you were safe." + +"We were, indeed," said Minnehaha. "But it was awful, Bessie, not to +know what had become of you, or how to help you! We'd have done anything +we could, but we didn't know a single thing to do. So we had just to +wait, and that's the hardest thing there is, when someone you love is in +trouble." + +Bessie almost broke down at that. Until this wonderful meeting with the +Camp Fire Girls no one but Zara had loved her, and the idea that these +girls really did love her as they said--and had so nobly proved--was +almost too much for her. She tried to say so. + +"Of course we love one another," said Eleanor. "That's one of the laws +of the Fire, and it's one of the words we use to make up Wo-he-lo, too. +So you see that it's just as important as it can be, Bessie." + +"Yes, indeed, I do see that. I'd be awfully stupid if I didn't, after +the splendid way you've helped us, Miss Eleanor. What are we going to +do now?" + +"We're going to join the big camp not far from here. Three or four Camp +Fires are there together, and Mrs. Chester, who is Chief Guardian in the +city, wants us to join them. I talked to her about you two over the +long-distance telephone before we got on the train, and she's so anxious +to see you, and help me to decide what is best for you to do. You'll +love her, Bessie; you're sure to. She's so good and sweet to everyone. +All the girls just worship her." + +"If she's half as nice as you, we're sure to love her," said Zara. + +Eleanor laughed. + +"I'm not half as wonderful as you think I am, Zara. But I'm nicer than I +used to be, I think." + +"Oh!" + +"Yes, indeed! I used to be selfish and thoughtless, caring only about +having a good time myself, and never thinking about other people at all. +But Mrs. Chester talked to me." + +"I'll bet she never had a chance to scold you." + +"I'm afraid she did, Zara; but she didn't want to. That's not her way. +She never scolds people. She just talks to them in that wonderful, quiet +way of hers, and makes them see that they haven't been doing right." + +"But I don't believe you ever did anything that wasn't right." + +"Maybe I didn't mean to, and maybe it wasn't what I did that was wrong. +It was more what I didn't do." + +"I don't see what you mean." + +"Well, I was careless and thoughtless, just as I said. I used to dance, +and play games, and go to parties all the time." + +"I think that must be fine! Didn't you have to work at home, though?" + +"No; and that was just the trouble, you see. My people had plenty of +money, and they just wanted me to have a good time. And I did--but I've +had a better one since I started doing things for other people." + +"I bet you always did, really--" + +"I'm not an angel now, Zara, and I certainly never used to be, nor a bit +like one. Just because I've happened to be able to help you two a +little, you think altogether too much of me." + +"Oh, no; we couldn't--" + +"Well, as I was saying, Mrs. Chester saw how things were going, and she +started to talk to me. I was horrid to her at first, and wouldn't pay +any attention to her at all." + +"I'm going to ask her about that. I don't believe you ever were horrid +to anyone." + +"Probably Mrs. Chester won't admit it, but it's true, just the same, +Bessie. But she talked to me, and kept on talking, and she made me think +about all the poorer girls who had to work so hard and couldn't go to +parties. And I began to feel sorry, and wonder what I could do to make +them happier." + +"You see, that's just what we said! You weren't selfish at all!" + +"I tried to stop as soon as I found out that I had been, Zara; that's +all. And I think anyone would do that. It's because people don't think +of the unhappiness and misery of others that there's so much suffering, +not because they really want other people to be unhappy." + +"I guess that's so. I suppose even Farmer Weeks wouldn't be mean if he +really thought about it." + +"I'm sure he wouldn't--and we'll have to try to reform him, too, before +we're done with him. You see, if there were more people like Mrs. +Chester, things would be ever so much nicer. She heard about the Camp +Fire Girls, and she saw right away that it meant a chance to make things +better, right in our home town." + +"Is that how it all started?" + +"Yes, with us. And it was the same way all over the country, because, +really, there are lots and lots of noble, unselfish women like Mrs. +Chester, who want everyone to be happy." + +"Is she as pretty as you, Miss Eleanor?" + +"Much prettier, Zara; but you won't think about that after you've +talked to her. She got hold of me and some of the other girls like me, +who had lots of time and money, and she made us see that we'd be twice +as happy if we spent some of our time doing things for other people, +instead of thinking about ourselves the whole time. And she's been +perfectly right." + +"I knew you enjoyed doing things like that--" + +"Yes; so you see it isn't altogether unselfish, after all. But Mrs. +Chester says that we ought all try to be happy ourselves, because that's +the best way to make other people happy, after all, as long as we never +forget that there are others, and that we ought to think of serving +them." + +"That's like in the Bible where it says, 'It is more blessed to give +than to receive,' isn't it?" + +"That's the very idea, Bessie! I'm glad you thought of that yourself. +That's just the lesson we've all got to learn." + +"But we haven't been able to help anyone yet, Miss Eleanor. Everyone's +helping us--" + +"Don't you worry about that, Bessie. You'll have lots of chances to +help others--ever so many! Just you wait until you get to the city. +There are lots of girls there who are more wretched than you--girls who +don't get enough to eat, and have to work so hard that they never have +any fun at all, because when they get through with their work they're so +tired they have to go right to sleep." + +"Bessie was like that, Miss Eleanor." + +"I'm afraid she was, Zara. But we're going to change all that. Mrs. +Chester has promised to help, and that means that everything will be all +right." + +"Do you think I could ever do anything to help anyone else, Miss +Eleanor?" + +"I'm sure you have already, Zara. You've been a good friend to Bessie, +and I know you've cheered her up and helped her to get through days when +she was feeling pretty bad." + +"Indeed she has, Miss Eleanor! Many and many a time! Since I've known +her I've often wondered how I ever got along at all before she came to +Hedgeville!" + +"You see, Zara, doing things for others doesn't mean always that you're +spending money or actually doing something. Sometimes the very best help +you can give is by just being cheerful and friendly." + +"I hadn't thought of that. But I'm going to try always to be like that. +Miss Eleanor, when can we be real Camp Fire Girls?" + +"I talked to Mrs. Chester about that to-day, and I think it will be +to-night, Bessie." + +"Oh, that will be splendid!" + +"Yes, won't it? You see, it's the night for our Council Fire--that's +when we take in new members, and award honors and report what we've +done. We hold one every moon. That's the Indian name for month. You see, +month just means moon, really. This is the Thunder Moon of the Indians, +the great copper red moon. It's our month of July." + +"And will we learn to sing the songs like the other girls?" + +"Yes, indeed. You'll find them very easy. They're very beautiful songs +and I think we're very lucky to have them." + +"Who wrote them? Girls that belong?" + +"Some of them, but not all, or nearly all. We have found many beautiful +songs about fire and the things we love that were written by other poets +who never heard of the Camp Fire Girls at all. And yet they seem to be +just the right songs for us." + +"That's funny, isn't it, Miss Eleanor?" + +"Not a bit, Zara. Because the Camp Fire isn't a new thing, really. Not +the big idea that's back of it, that you'll learn as you stay with us, +and get to know more about us. All we hope to do is to make our girls +fine, strong women when they get older, like all the great brave women +that we read about in history. They've all been women who loved the +home, and all it means--and the fire is the great symbol of the home. It +was fire that made it possible for people to have real homes." + +"I've read lots and lots of things about fire," said Bessie. +"Longfellow, and Tennyson, and other poets." + +But then her face darkened suddenly. + +"It was fire that got me into trouble, though," she said. "The fire that +Jake Hoover used to set the woodshed afire." + +"That was because he was misusing the fire, Bessie. Fire is a great +servant. It's the most wonderful thing man ever did--learning to make a +fire, and tend it, and control it. Have you heard what it says in the +Fire-Maker's Desire? But, of course, you haven't. You haven't been at a +Council Fire yet. Listen: + + "For I will tend, + As my fathers have tended + And my father's fathers + Since Time began + The Fire that is called + The love of man for man-- + The love of man for God." + +"That's a great promise, you see, Bessie. It's a great honor to be a +Fire-Maker." + +"I see, Miss Eleanor. Yes, it must be. How does one get to be a +Fire-Maker? One begins by being a Wood-Gatherer, doesn't one?" + +"Yes, and all one has to do to be a Wood-Gatherer is to want to obey the +law of the Fire--the seven points of the law. I'll teach you that Desire +before the Council Fire to-night. To be a Fire-Maker you have to serve +faithfully as a Wood-Gatherer, and you have to do a lot of things that +aren't very easy--though they're not very hard, either." + +"And you talked about awarding honors. What are they?" + +"Have you seen the necklaces the girls wear?" + +"Oh, yes! They're beautiful. They look like the ones I've seen in +pictures of Indians. But I never thought they were so pretty before, +because I've only seen pictures, and they didn't show the different +colors of the beads." + +"That's just it, Bessie. Those beads are given for honors, and when a +girl has enough of them they make the necklaces. They're awarded for +all sorts of things--for knowing them, and for doing them, too. And +you'll learn to tell by the colors of the beads just what sort of honors +they are--why the girl who wears them got them, and what she did to earn +them." + +"I'm going to work awfully hard to get honors," said Zara, impulsively. +"Then, when I can wear the beads, everyone will know about it, and about +how I worked to get them. Won't they, Miss Eleanor?" + +"Yes, but you mustn't think about it just that way, Zara. You won't, +either, when you've earned them. You'll know then that the pleasure of +working for the honors is much greater than being able to wear the +beads." + +"I know why--because it means something!" + +"That's just it, Bessie. I can see that you're going to be just the sort +of girl I want in my Camp Fire. Anyone who had the money--and they don't +cost much--could buy the beads and string them together. But it's only a +Camp Fire Girl, who's worked for honors herself, who knows what it +really means, and sees that the beads are just the symbol of something +much better." + +"Aren't there Torch-Bearers, too, Miss Eleanor?" + +"Yes. That's the highest rank of all. We haven't any Torch-Bearer in our +Camp Fire yet, but we will have soon, because when you girls join us +there'll be nineteen girls, and there ought to be a Torch-Bearer." + +"She'd help you, wouldn't she, Miss Eleanor?" + +"Yes, she'd act as Guardian if I were away, and she'd be my assistant. +This is her desire, you know, 'That light which has been given to me, I +desire to pass undimmed to others.'" + +"I'm going to try to be a Torch-Bearer whenever I can," said Zara. + +"There's no reason why you shouldn't be, Zara. That ought to be the +ambition of every Camp Fire Girl--to be able, sometime, to help others +to get as much good from the Camp Fire as she has herself." + +While they talked it had been growing darker. And now Miss Mercer called +to the girls. + +"We're going to be driven over to the big camp, girls," she said. "I +think we've had quite enough tramping for one day. I don't want you to +be so tired that you won't enjoy the Council Fire to-night." + +There was a chorus of laughter at that, as if the idea that they could +ever be too tired to enjoy a Council Fire was a great joke--as, indeed, +it was. + +But, just the same, the idea of a ride wasn't a bit unwelcome. The +troubles of Bessie and Zara had caused a sudden change in the plans of +the Camp Fire, as Miss Mercer had made them originally, and they had had +a long and strenuous day. So they greeted the big farm wagons that +presently rolled up with a chorus of laughs and cheers, and the drivers +blinked with astonishment as they heard the Wohelo cheer ring out. + +There were two of the wagons, so that there was room for all of them +without crowding. Bessie and Zara rode in the first one, close to +Wanaka, who had, of course, taken them under her wing. + +"You stay close by me," she said to them. "I want you to meet Mrs. +Chester as soon as we get to the camp." + +"Where is it?" + +"That's the surprise I told the girls I had for them this morning. A +friend of Mrs. Chester, who has a beautiful place near here, has let us +use it for a camping ground. It's the most wonderful place you ever saw. +There are deer, quite tame, and all sorts of lovely things. But you'll +see more of that in the morning, of course. We've all got to be ever so +careful, though, not to frighten the deer or to hurt anything about the +place. It's very good of General Seeley to let us be there at all, and +we must show him that we are grateful. For the girls who couldn't get +far away from the city it's been particularly splendid, because they +couldn't possibly have such a good time anywhere else that's near by." + +"Oh!" cried Bessie, a moment later, as the wagons turned from the road +into a lane that was flanked on both sides by great trees. "I never saw +a place so pretty!" + +Wide lawns stretched all around them. But in the distance a pink glow, +among a grove of trees, marked the real home of the Camp Fire. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A NEW SUSPICION + + +"I think the fire is more beautiful than anything else, almost," said +the Guardian, as she looked at it and pointed it out to Bessie and Zara. +"It means so much." + +"It looks like a welcome, Wanaka." + +"That's just what it is--a real, hearty welcome. It shows us that our +sisters of the fire are there waiting for us, ready to make us +comfortable after the trouble of the day. Around the fire we can forget +all the bad things that have happened, and think only of the good." + +"It's easy to do that now. I've been frightened since Jake locked Zara +up in the woodshed, awfully frightened. And I've been unhappy, too. But +I've been happier in these last two days than I ever was before." + +"That's the right spirit, Bessie. Make your misfortunes work out so +that you think only of the good they bring. That's the way to be happy, +always. You know, it's an old, old saying that every cloud has a silver +lining, but it's just as true as it's old, too. People laugh at those +old proverbs sometimes,--people who think they know more than anyone +else ever did--but in the end they usually admit that they don't really +know much more about life and happiness than the people who discovered +those great truths first, or spoke about them first, even if someone +else had discovered them." + +"I've been happy, too," said Zara, but there was a break in her voice. +"If I only knew that my father was all right, then I wouldn't be able to +be anything but happy, now that I know Farmer Weeks can't take me with +him." + +"You must try not to worry about your father, Zara. I'm sure that all +his troubles will be mended soon, just like yours. Don't you feel that +someone has been looking after you in all your troubles?" + +"Oh, yes! I never, never would have been able to get away from Farmer +Weeks except for that--" + +"Well, just try to think that He will look after your father, too, Zara. +If he has done nothing wrong he can't be punished, you may be sure of +that. This isn't Russia, or one of those old countries where people can +be sent to prison without having done anything to deserve it, just +because other people with more money or more power don't like them. We +live in a free country. Be sure that all will turn out right in the +end." + +"I feel cramped, Miss Eleanor. May I get out and run along by the horses +for a little while?" + +"Yes, indeed, Zara." + +And Wanaka stopped the wagon, so that she could get out. + +"Do you want to go, too, Bessie?" + +"I think I'd rather ride, Miss Eleanor. I'm awfully tired." + +"You shall, then. I want you to do whatever you like to-night. You've +certainly done enough to-day to earn the right to rest." + +They rode along in silence for a few minutes, while the glow of the +great welcoming fire grew brighter. + +"Miss Eleanor?" + +"Yes, Bessie?" + +"Don't you think it's very strange that Farmer Weeks should take so much +trouble to try to get hold of Zara?" + +"I do, indeed, Bessie. I've been puzzling about that." + +"I believe he knows something about her and her father that no one else +knows, something that even Zara doesn't know about, I mean. You know, he +and Zara's father were very friendly at first--or, at least, they used +to see one another a good deal." + +"Yes? Bessie, what sort of man is Zara's father? You have seen a good +deal of him, haven't you?" + +"I used to go to see Zara sometimes, when I was able to get away. And +unless he was away on one of his trips he was always around, but he +never said much." + +"He could speak English, couldn't he?" + +"Yes, but not a bit well. And when I first went there he was awfully +funny. He seemed to be quite angry because I was there, and as soon as I +came, he rushed into one of the rooms, and put a lot of things away, and +covered them so I couldn't see them. But Zara talked to him in their own +language, and then he was very nice, and he gave me a penny. I didn't +want it, but he made me take it and Zara said I ought to have it, too." + +"It looks as if he had had something to hide, Bessie. But then a man +might easily want to keep people from finding out all about his business +without there being anything wrong." + +"If you'd seen him, Miss Eleanor, I'm sure you wouldn't think he'd do +anything wrong. He had the nicest face, and his eyes were kind. And +after that, sometimes, I'd go there when Zara was out, and he was always +just as nice and kind as he could be. He used to get me to talk to him, +too, so that he could learn to speak English." + +"Well, there's something very strange and mysterious about it all. You +found this Mr. Weeks there the night he was taken away, didn't you?" + +"Yes." + +"That looks as if he had something to do with it. I don't know--but +we'll find out the truth some time, Bessie." + +"I hope it will be soon. And, Miss Eleanor, I've been waiting a long +time to find out about myself, too. Sometimes I think I'm worse off than +Zara, because I don't know where my father and mother are, or even what +became of them." + +The Guardian started. + +"Poor Bessie!" she said. "But we'll have to try to find out for you. +There are ways of doing that that the Hoovers would never think of. And +I'm sure there'll be some explanation. They'd never just go away and +leave you, without trying to find out if you were well and look after +you." + +"Not if they could help it, Miss Eleanor." Bessie's eyes filled with +tears. "But perhaps they couldn't. Perhaps they are--dead." + +"We must try to be cheerful, Bessie. After all, you know, they say no +news is good news, and when you don't positively know that something +dreadful has happened, you can always go on hoping." + +"Oh, I do, Miss Eleanor! Sometimes I've felt so bad that if I hadn't +been able to hope, I don't know what I'd have done. And Jake Hoover, he +used to laugh at me, and say that I'd never see them again. He said they +were just bad people, glad to get rid of me, but I never believed that." + +"That's right, Bessie. You keep on hoping, and we'll do all we can to +make your hopes true. Hope is a wonderful thing for people who are in +trouble. They can always hope that things will be better, and if they +only hope hard enough, they will come to believe it. And once you +believe a thing, it's half true, especially when it's a question of +doing something." + +"How do you mean?" + +"Why, I'll try to explain. When Mrs. Chester first wanted me to take +charge of a Camp Fire, I thought I was just a silly, stupid, useless +girl. But she said she knew I wasn't, and that I could make myself +useful." + +"You certainly have." + +"I'm trying, Bessie, all the time. Well, she told me to wish that I +might succeed. And I did. And then I began to hope for it and to want it +so much that gradually I believed I could. And as soon as I believed it +myself, why, it began to come." + +"You wanted to so much--that's why, I suppose." + +"Yes. You see, when you believe you can do a thing, you don't get +discouraged when you fail at first. It's when you're doubtful and think +you can't do a thing at all, that it's hardest. Then when anything goes +wrong, it's just what you expected, and it makes you surer than ever +that you're going to fail." + +"Oh, I see that! I understand now, I think." + +"Remember that, Bessie. It's done me more good, knowing that, than +almost anything else I can think of. When you start to do a thing, no +matter how hard it is, be hopeful and confident. Then the set-backs +won't bother you, because you'll know that it's just because you've +chosen the wrong way, and you go back and start again, looking for the +right way." + +"Oh, look!" said Bessie, suddenly. "Isn't it growing black? Do you see +that big cloud? And I'm sure I felt drops of rain just then." + +"I believe it is going to rain. That's too bad. It will spoil the great +Council Fire." + +"Won't they have it if it rains?" + +"I'm not sure whether there's a big enough place inside or not. But, +even if there is, it's much better fun to have it out of doors--a great +big fire always seems more cheerful if it's under the trees, so that the +great shadows can dance about. And the singing sounds so much better in +the open air, too. Oh, I do hope this won't be a real storm!" + +But that hope was doomed to disappointment. The rain came down slowly at +first, and in great drops, but as the wagons neared the fire and got +under the shelter of the trees, the wind rose, and soon the rain was +pouring down in great sheets, with flashes of lightning now and then. As +they climbed out by the fire it hissed and spluttered as the rain fell +into it. No girls were in sight. + +"They must all have gone in to get out of the rain, or else they'd be +out here to welcome us," said the Guardian. "Oh, there's Mrs. Chester! I +knew she wouldn't let the rain keep her!" + +And Wanaka ran forward to greet a sweet-faced woman whose hair was +slightly tinged with grey, but whose face was as rosy and as smiling as +that of a young girl. Bessie and Zara followed Eleanor shyly, but Mrs. +Chester put them at their ease in a moment. + +"I've heard all about you," she said. "And I'm not going to start in by +telling you I'm sorry for you, either, because I'm not!" + +Had it not been for the laugh that was in her eyes, and her smile, the +words might have seemed unkind. + +"I don't believe in being sorry for what's past," the Chief Guardian +explained at once. "If people are brave and good, trouble only helps +them. And it's the future we must think about, always. That is in your +own hands now, and I'm sure you're going to deserve to be happy--and if +you do, you can't help finding happiness. That's what I mean." + +The two girls liked her at once. There was something so motherly, so +kind and wholesome about Mrs. Chester, that they felt as if they had +known her a long time. + +"I don't know about the Council Fire to-night, Eleanor," she said, +looking doubtfully at the rain. "It's too damp, I'm afraid, to have it +outdoors, and you know that there are so many times when we have to hold +the ceremonial fires indoors, that I hate to do it when, by waiting a +day, we can have it in this beautiful place." + +"Yes, that's so," said Eleanor. "It's almost sure to be clear to-morrow. +And in winter, when it gets cold, we can't even hope to be outdoors very +much, except for skating and snowshoeing. Do you know, girls, that in +winter we sometimes use three candles instead of a real fire?" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Chester. "Of course, after all, it's the meaning of the +fire, and not just the fire itself that counts. But I think it's better +to have both when we can. So I'm afraid you'll have to wait until +to-morrow night for your first Council Fire, girls." + +Eleanor looked at them. Then she laughed. + +"Really, it's a good thing, after all," she said. "They're so tired that +they can hardly keep their eyes open now, Mrs. Chester. I hope there's +going to be a good, hot supper." + +"There certainly is, my dear! And your girls won't have to cook it, +either. Just for to-night you're to be guests of honor. And the new +Camp Fire--the Snug Harbor camp, you know--begged me so hard to be +allowed to cook the meal and serve it, that I agreed. Julia Kent has +done wonders with those girls. You'd think they'd been cooking and +working all their lives, instead of it having been just the other way +'round. And they simply worship her. Well, there are your tents over +there. You'll hear the call to supper in a few minutes." + +She turned and left them, and Eleanor led the way to the tents she had +pointed out. + +"I'm so delighted to hear about the Snug Harbor girls," she told Bessie +and Zara. "You know we've wondered how that was going to turn out. There +are about a dozen of them, and they're all girls whose parents are rich. +They go to Europe, and have motor cars, and lovely clothes, and +servants--two or three of them have their own maids, and they've never +even learned to keep their own rooms neat." + +"But if they're going to cook our supper--" + +"That's just it, Bessie. That's what the Camp Fire has done for them. +It has taught them that instead of being proud of never having to do +anything for themselves, they ought to be ashamed of not knowing how. +And before the summer's over I believe they'll be the best of all the +Camp Fires in the whole city." + +Supper, in spite of the storm that raged outside, was a jolly, happy +meal. The girls were tired, but they brightened as the meal was served, +and the few mistakes of the amateur waitresses only made everyone laugh. + +Taps, the signal for bedtime, sounded early. All the girls, from the +different Camp Fires, were together for a moment. + +"We'll have the Council Fire to-morrow night," said Mrs. Chester. "And +the longer you sleep to-night, the readier you'll be to-morrow for all +the things we have to do. Good-night!" + +And then, after all the girls together had sung the beautiful "Lay me to +sleep in sheltering flame," silence rested on the camp. + +Bessie slept like a log. But in the morning she awoke while everyone +else was still asleep. In the east the sky was just turning pink, with +the first signs of the coming day. The sky was a deep, beautiful blue, +and in the west, where it was still dark, the last stars were still +twinkling. Bessie sighed with the beauty of everything, and the sense of +comfort and peace that she enjoyed. Then she tried to go to sleep again, +but she could not. She had too many things to think about. Zara, +disturbed by her movements, woke up too, and looked at her sleepily. + +"You remember," said Bessie, "that Wanaka told us last night that in a +field not far away there were loads and loads of wild strawberries that +we could pick? I think I'll get dressed and see if I can't get enough +for breakfast, as a surprise." + +"Shall I come with you?" asked Zara. + +"No," said Bessie, laughing. "You go to sleep again--you're only half +awake now!" + +She had no trouble in finding the strawberries, although, just because +it was so beautiful, she walked around the great estate for quite a +while first. It was a wonderful place. Parts of it were beautifully +cared for, with smooth, well clipped lawns, and a few old trees; parts +were left just as nature had meant them to be, and to Bessie they seemed +even more beautiful. And still other acres were turned into farm lands, +where there were all sorts of growing crops. + +A few gardeners were about, and they smiled at Bessie as they saw her. +She saw some of the deer that Eleanor had spoken of, too, who were so +tame that they let her come as close as she liked. But she spent little +time in looking at them, and when she found the field where the berries +grew she had soon picked a great apronful of them. When she returned +everyone was up, and she was greeted with cries of joy when the girls +saw her burden. + +"They'll make our breakfast ever so much nicer," said Eleanor. "It was +good of you to think of them." + +Not until after breakfast did they see Mrs. Chester--not, indeed, until +all the dishes had been washed and put away. And then she approached +with a grave face, and called the Guardian aside. They talked together +earnestly for a few minutes, and Eleanor's face grew as serious as the +Chief Guardian's. Bessie saw that they looked at her more than once as +they spoke, and that Eleanor shook her head repeatedly. + +"I wonder what can be wrong, Zara," she said. "Do you suppose that +Farmer Weeks has been making trouble for us again?" + +"Oh, I hope not! Do you think it's about us they're talking?" + +"I'm afraid so. See, they're calling me. We'll soon know." + +Bessie did indeed, soon know what had happened. + +"Bessie," said Mrs. Chester, "did you go anywhere else this morning when +you went for berries?" + +"I just walked about the place, Mrs. Chester, and looked around. That's +all." + +"But you were quite alone?" + +"Yes, quite alone. I only saw a few men who were working, cutting the +grass, and trimming hedges." + +"Oh, I'm sorry! Bessie, over there in the woods there's a place that's +fenced off, where General Seeley keeps a lot of pheasants. And some time +since last night someone has been in there and frightened the mother +birds and taken a lot of the eggs. Some of them were broken--and it was +not an animal." + +Bessie looked frightened and concerned. + +"Oh, what a shame! But, Mrs. Chester, you don't think I did it?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A TANGLED WEB + + +Bessie's eyes were full of fear and dismay as she looked at Mrs. Chester +and Eleanor. At first she hadn't thought it even possible that they +could think she had done anything so cruel as to frighten the birds and +steal their eggs, but there was a grave look on their faces that +terrified her. + +"No, Bessie," said Mrs. Chester, "I don't believe you did--certainly, I +don't want to believe anything of the sort." + +"I _know_ you didn't do it, Bessie!" cried Eleanor Mercer. + +"But General Seeley is very indignant about it, Bessie," Mrs. Chester +went on to say. "And some of the men told him that one of the girls from +the camp was around very early this morning, before anyone else was up, +walking about, and looking at things. So he seemed to think right away +that she must have done it. And he sent for me and asked me if I could +find out which of you girls had been out." + +"Bessie went out openly, and she came back when we were all up," said +Eleanor, stoutly. "If she'd been doing anything wrong, Mrs. Chester, she +would have tried to get here without being seen, wouldn't she?" + +"I know, Eleanor, I know," said Mrs. Chester, kindly. "You think she +couldn't have had anything to do with it--and so do I, really. But for +Bessie's own sake we want to clear it up, don't we?" + +Bessie stood her ground bravely, and kept back the tears, although it +hurt her more to have these friends who had been so good to her bothered +about her than it would had almost anything happened to her. + +"Oh, I wish I'd never seen you, Miss Eleanor!" she cried. "I've done +nothing but make trouble for you ever since you found us. I'm so sorry! +Zara wanted to come with me this morning, and if I'd let her, she could +have told you that I didn't even see the birds." + +"It'll all come out right, Bessie," said Mrs. Chester. "I thought +perhaps you might have done it by accident, but if you weren't there +we'll find out who really did do it, never fear. Now, you had better +come with me. General Seeley asked me to bring any of the girls who had +been out this morning with me when I went to see him. He will want to +talk to you himself, I think." + +So Bessie, tears in her eyes, which she tried bravely to keep back, had +to go up to the big house that they could see through the trees. It was +a big, rambling house, built of grey stone, with many windows, and all +about it were beds of flowers. Bessie had never seen a house that was +even half so fine. + +"General Seeley is very particular about his birds, and all the animals +on the place," explained Mrs. Chester, as they made their way toward the +house. "Some men keep pheasants just so that they can shoot them in the +autumn, and they call that sport. But General Seeley doesn't allow that. +He's a kind and gentle man, although he's a soldier." + +"Has he ever been in a war, Mrs. Chester?" + +"Yes. He's a real patriot, and when his country needed him he went out +to fight, like many other brave and gentle men. But, like most men who +are really brave, he hates to see anyone or even any animal, hurt. +Soldiers aren't rough and brutal just because they sometimes have to go +to war and fight. They know so much about how horrible war is that +they're really the best friends of peace." + +"I never knew that. I thought they liked to fight." + +"No, it's just the other way round. When you hear men talk about how +fine war is, and how they hope this country will have one some time +soon, you can make up your mind that they are boasters and bullies, and +that if a war really came they'd stay home and let someone else do the +fighting. It isn't the people who talk the most and brag the loudest who +step to the front when there's something really hard to be done. They +leave that to the quiet people." + +Then they walked along in silence. The place seemed even more beautiful +now, but Bessie was too upset to appreciate its loveliness. She wondered +if General Seeley would believe her, or if he would be more like Maw +Hoover than Mrs. Chester. + +"We'll find him on the porch in the back of the house, I think, Bessie. +If he's there we can find him without going inside and bothering the +servants. So we'll go around and see." + +General Seeley was a small man, with white beard and moustache, and at +her first look at him Bessie thought he looked very fierce indeed, and +every inch a soldier, though there were so few inches. He had sharp blue +eyes that were keen and piercing, and after he had risen and bowed to +Mrs. Chester, which he did as soon as he saw her, he looked sharply at +Bessie--so sharply that she was sure at once that he had judged her +already, and was very angry at her. + +"Well, well, so you've found the poacher and brought her with you, eh?" +he said. "Sit down, ma'am, sit down, while I talk to her!" + +And now Bessie saw that there was really a twinkle in the keen eyes, and +that he wasn't as angry as he looked. + +"What's her name? Bessie, eh? Bessie King? Well, sit down, Bessie, and +we'll have a talk. No use standing up--none at all! Might as well be +comfortable!" + +"Thank you, sir," said Bessie, and sat down. She was still nervous, but +her fright was lessened. He was much more kindly than she had expected +him to be, somehow. + +"Now, let's find out all about this, Bessie. Didn't you know you +oughtn't to frighten the birds? Or didn't you think they'd be +frightened--eh, what?" + +Bessie didn't understand, fully, at first. + +"But I didn't frighten them, sir," she said. + +"They thought so. Stupid birds, eh, to think they were frightened when +they weren't? But you remember they didn't know any better." + +He laughed merrily at his own joke, and glanced at Mrs. Chester, as if +he expected her to laugh, too, and to be amused, but her eyes were +troubled, and she was very thoughtful. + +"Come, come," he went on. "It's not so very terrible, after all! We've +all of us done things we were sorry for--eh, Mrs. Chester? I'll wager +that even you have--and I know very well that there are lots of things I +can think of that I did just because I didn't think there was any harm +in them." + +"Some people wouldn't admit that, General Seeley, but it's very true," +said Mrs. Chester. "I know it is in my case." + +"Well, well, can't you talk, Bessie? Aren't you going to tell me you're +sorry and that you won't do it again?" + +"I'm sorry the birds were frightened," said Bessie, bravely. "But I +can't say that I won't do it again--" + +"What's that? What's that? Bless me, what's the use of saying you're +sorry if you mean to do it the next time you get a chance?" + +The general was flushed as he spoke, and his eyes held the same angry +look they had worn at first. Mrs. Chester sighed and decided that it was +time for her to speak. + +"I don't think that was just what Bessie meant, General. I think you +didn't understand her--" + +"Well, well, perhaps not! What do you mean, Bessie?" + +"I mean I can't promise not to do it again, sir, because I didn't do it +at all, in the first place. Really, I didn't--" + +"Oh, nonsense!" said the general, testily. "I'm ready to overlook +it--don't you understand that? All I want you to do is to confess, and +to say you're sorry. Nothing's going to happen to you!" + +"I can't confess when I didn't do it," pleaded Bessie. "And if I had +done it, I'd say so, whether anything was going to happen to me or not. +That wouldn't make any difference." + +General Seeley jumped to his feet. + +"Oh, come, come! That's nonsense!" he said. "Who else could have done +it, eh? Answer me that! I've said I'd forgive you--" + +"But, General," protested Mrs. Chester, "if Bessie didn't do it, she'd +be telling you an untruth if she said she had--and you wouldn't have her +do that?" + +"I'm a just man, Mrs. Chester, but I know what's what. She must have +done it--she was around the place. And I know that none of my men did +it. They know better! No one but the game-keepers are allowed to go into +the preserve, and they all know they'd be dismissed at once if they +disobeyed my rules about that. I'm strict--very strict! I insist upon +obedience of orders and truthfulness--learned the need of them when I +was in the army. Don't you think I can tell what's going on here, +ma'am?" + +"I think you're mistaken, General--that's all. I'm sure Bessie is +telling the truth. Why shouldn't she? You've told her that she needn't +be afraid to confess if she did frighten the birds, and that was very +kind and generous of you. So, if she had, she wouldn't have anything to +lose by saying so, and promising not to be careless that way again." + +"What do you know about her, ma'am? Isn't it true that she's one of the +two girls you told me about last night--that Miss Mercer had found? +If--" + +"I know she's a brave, honest girl, General. She's proved that already." + +"I disagree with you, Mrs. Chester," said the general, stiffly. "You're +a lady, and you naturally think well of everyone. I've learned by bitter +experience that we can't always do that. I've trusted men, and had them +go wrong, despite that. If she was one of the girls like the others, +that you'd always known about, it would be different. Then I'd be happy +to take your word for it. But when I think you aren't in any better +position to judge than I am, I've got to use my own judgment." + +"I'm sorry, General," said Mrs. Chester. "I can't tell you how sorry I +am--but I'm sure you're wrong." + +"She can't stay here, that's certain," said the general, testily. "I +can't have a girl about the place who frightens my birds and then +tells--lies--" + +Bessie cried out sharply at that word. + +"Oh--oh!" she said. "Really, I've told the truth--I have, indeed! If I +said what you want me to say, than I'd be lying--but I'm not." + +"Silence, please!" said General Seeley, sternly. "I'm talking with Mrs. +Chester now, young woman. You've had your chance--and you wouldn't take +it. Now I'm done with you!" + +"What do you mean, General?" asked Mrs. Chester, looking very grave. + +"You'll have to send her away--where she came from, Mrs. Chester. You +and the girls you can vouch for are welcome, but I can't have her +here." + +"I can't do that, General," said Mrs. Chester, not angrily, but gravely, +and looking him straight in the eyes. + +"But you must! I won't let her stay here! And these are my grounds, +aren't they?" + +"Certainly! But if Bessie goes, we all go with her. It's not our way to +desert those we've once befriended and taken in, General." + +"That is for you to decide, ma'am," he said, stiffly. He got up and +bowed to her. "I'm sorry that this should cause a quarrel--" + +"It hasn't," said Mrs. Chester, smiling. "It takes two to make a +quarrel, and I simply won't quarrel with you, General. I know you'll be +sorry for what you've said when you think it over. Come, Bessie!" + +Bessie, quite stunned by the trouble that had come upon them so suddenly +out of a clear sky, couldn't speak for a minute. + +"Oh," she said, then, "you don't mean that all the girls will have to +leave this lovely place because of me?" + +"Not because of you, but because of a mistake that's not your fault, +Bessie. You mustn't worry about it. Just leave it to me. I'm sure you're +telling the truth, and I'm going to stick by you." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE TRUTH AT LAST + + +But Bessie, despite Mrs. Chester's kind words, was terribly downcast. + +"Really, Mrs. Chester," she said miserably, "it's awfully unfair to make +all the other girls suffer on account of me." + +"You mustn't look at it that way, Bessie. You couldn't tell a lie, you +know, even to prevent this trouble." + +"No, but I'm sure he thinks I did that. He's not an unkind man, and he +really doesn't want to make me unhappy, and drive you all away, I know. +Mrs. Chester, won't you send me away?" + +"Nonsense, Bessie! If you haven't done anything wrong, why shouldn't we +stand by you? Even if you had, we'd do that, and we ought to do it all +the more when you're in the right, and unjustly suspected. Don't you +worry about it a bit! Everything will be all right." + +"But I really think you ought to let me go. I'm just a trouble maker--I +make trouble for everyone! If it hadn't been for me, Jake Hoover would +never have burnt his father's barn--don't you know that?" + +"That isn't so, Bessie. If you hadn't been there, something else would +have happened. And it's the same way here. You haven't anything to do +with all this trouble here. It would have come just the same if you +hadn't arrived at all, I'm sure of that. And then one of the girls would +have been accused, and everything would have happened just the same." + +"Oh, I'm afraid not!" + +"But I'm sure of it, Bessie, and I really know better than you. You +mustn't take it so hard. No one is going to blame you. Rest easy about +that. I'll see to it that they all understand just how it is." + +"I wish I could believe that!" + +Mrs. Chester told Eleanor what General Seeley had said as soon as they +returned to the camp, and Eleanor, after a moment, just laughed. + +"Well, it can't be helped," she said. "If he wants to act that way, we +can't stop him, can we? And I'm so glad that you're going to stick by +poor Bessie. I know she feels as bad as she can feel about it--and it's +so fine for her to know that she really has some friends who will trust +her and believe her at last. She's never had them before." + +"She has them now, Eleanor. And it's because you're so fond of her +already that I'm so sure she's telling the truth. I think I'd trust her, +anyhow, but, even if I'd never seen her, I'd take your word." + +"Will you tell all the girls why we're going?" + +"I think not--just at first, anyhow. We'll just say that we're going to +move on. I'm pretty sure that the people over at Pine Bridge will have +some place where we can make camp, and that we can have our Council Fire +to-night just the same. It won't be as nice as it is here, of course, +but we'll make it do, somehow." + +So Mrs. Chester went around to the different Guardians of the Camp +Fires, and told them of the change in the plans. At once the order to +strike the tents and pack was given, and then Mrs. Chester went to make +arrangements for carrying the baggage over to Pine Bridge and for +getting a camping place there. + +"I'll get back as soon as I can, Eleanor," she said, "but I may be +delayed in finding a camping place. If I am, I'll send the wagons +over--I don't want to use General Seeley's, while he's angry at us. And +you can take charge and see that everything goes as it should. You'll +just take my place." + +"No one can do that, Mrs. Chester, but I'll do my best." + +Bessie, forlorn and unhappy, helped in the work of packing, and longed +for someone to talk to. She didn't want to tell Zara, who had troubles +enough of her own to worry her, and Eleanor, of course, was too busy, +with all the work of seeing that everything was done properly. She had +to keep a watchful eye on the preparations of the other Camp Fires as +well as of her own. And then, suddenly, Bessie got a new idea. + +"All this trouble is for me," she said. "Suppose I weren't here--suppose +I just went away? Then they could all stay." + +The more she thought of that, the more the idea grew upon her. + +"I will do that--I will!" she said to herself, with sudden +determination. "I'm just like a sign of bad luck--I make trouble for +everyone who's good to me. Like Paw Hoover! He was always good--and the +fire hurt him more than it did anyone else, though it was Maw Hoover and +Jake who made all my trouble. I won't stay here and let them suffer for +me any longer." + +And, very quietly, since she wanted no one to know what she was doing, +Bessie went into the tent, which had not yet been taken down, and +changed from the blouse and skirt, which had been lent to her, into the +old dress she had worn when she had jumped into the water to rescue +Minnehaha. + +Then, moving as silently and as cautiously as she could, Bessie slipped +into the woods behind the camp. She dared not go the other way, which +was the direct route to the main road outside of General Seeley's +estate, because she knew that if any of the girls, or one of the +Guardians saw her, she would be stopped. She didn't know the way by the +direction she had to take, but she was sure that she could find it, and +she wasn't afraid. Her one idea was to get away and save trouble for the +others. + +Of course, if Bessie had stopped to think, she would have known that it +was wrong to do what she planned. But her aim was unselfish, and she +didn't think of the grief and anxiety that would follow her +disappearance. She was sensitive, in any case, and General Seeley's +stern manner, although he had not really meant to be unkind, had upset +her dreadfully. + +To her surprise, the woods that she followed grew very thick. And she +was still more surprised, presently, to come upon a wire fence. In such +woods, it seemed very strange to her. Then, as she saw a bird with a +long, brilliantly colored tail strutting around on the other side of the +fence, she suddenly understood. This must be the place where the +precious pheasants she was supposed to have frightened were kept. And +she hadn't even known where they were! + +Bessie wondered, as she looked at the beautiful bird, how anyone could +have the heart to frighten it, or any like it. + +"I don't blame General Seeley a bit for being angry if he really thought +I had done that," she said to herself. "And he did, of course. They +don't know anything about me, really. He was quite right." + +Then she remembered, too, what he had said about the game-keepers. +Probably, after what had happened, they would be more careful than ever, +and Bessie decided that she had better move along as fast as she could, +lest someone find her and think she was trying to get at the birds +again. + +But, anxious as she was to get away from the dangerous neighborhood, she +found that, to move at all, she had to stick close to the fence, since +the going beyond it was too rough for her. Then, too, as she went along, +she heard strange noises--as if someone was moving in the woods near +her, and trying not to make a noise. That frightened and puzzled her, so +she moved very quietly herself, anxious to find out who it was. A wild +thought came to her, too--perhaps it was the real poacher, for whom she +had been mistaken, that she heard! + +Presently the fence turned out, and she had to circle around, following +it, to keep to the straight path. And, as the fence turned in again, she +gave a sudden gasping little cry, that she had the greatest difficulty +in choking down, lest it betray her at once. + +For she saw a dark figure against the green background, bending over, +and plucking at something that lay on the ground. + +"It is! It really is--the poacher!" she whispered to herself. + +She longed to know what to do. There was no way of telling whether there +was anyone about. If she lifted her voice and called for help, it might +bring a game-keeper quickly--and it might simply give the poacher the +alarm, and enable him to escape, leaving the evidence of the crime to be +turned against her. And this time no one, not even Mrs. Chester, would +believe in her innocence. + +Slowly Bessie crept toward the crouching figure. At least she would try +to see his face, so that she would recognize him again, if she was lucky +enough to see him. For Bessie was determined that some time, no matter +how far in the future, she would clear herself, and make General Seeley +admit that he had wronged her. + +And then, when she was scarcely ten feet from him, she stepped on a +branch that crackled under her feet, and the poacher turned and faced +her, springing to his feet. Bessie screamed as she saw his face, for it +was her old enemy--Jake Hoover! + +For a moment he was far more frightened than she. He stared at her +stupidly. Then he recognized her, and his face showed his evil triumph. + +"Ah, here, are yer?" he cried, and sprang toward her, his hands full of +the feathers he had plucked from the tail of the pheasant he had snared. + +That move was Jake's fatal mistake. Had he run at once, he might have +been able to escape. But now, Bessie, brave as ever, sprang to meet him. +He was far stronger than she, but she had seen help approaching--a man +in velveteens, and for just a moment after Jake, too, had seen the +game-keeper, Bessie was able to keep him from running. She clung to his +arms and legs, and though Jake struck at her, she would not let go. And +then, just in time, the game-keeper's heavy hand fell on Jake's +shoulder. + +"So you're the poacher, my lad?" he said. "Well I've caught you this +time, dead to rights." + +Squirm and wriggle as he would, Jake couldn't escape now. He was trapped +at last, and for once Bessie saw that he was going to reap the reward of +his evil doing. + +The game-keeper lifted a whistle to his lips, and blew a loud, long +blast upon it. In a moment the wood filled with the noise of men +approaching, and, to Bessie's delight, she saw General Seeley among +them. + +"What? At it again?" he said, angrily, as he saw Bessie. Jake was hidden +by the game-keeper, and General Seeley thought at first that it was +Bessie who had fallen to the trap he had set. Bessie said nothing--she +couldn't. + +"No, General. It wasn't the girl, after all," said the game-keeper. +"Never did seem to me as if it could be, anyhow. Here's the lad that did +it all--and I caught him in the act. The feathers are all over him +still." + +"It wasn't me! She did it! I saw her, and I took the feathers from her," +wailed Jake, anxious, as ever, to escape himself, no matter how many +lies he had to tell, or who had to suffer for his sins. But the +game-keeper only laughed roughly. + +"That won't do you no good, my boy. You'd better own up and take your +medicine. Here, see this, General." + +He plunged his hands into Jake's pockets, and produced the wire and +other materials Jake had used in making his snare. + +"I guess that's pretty good evidence, ain't it, sir?" + +"It is, indeed," said the general, grimly. "Take him up to the house, +Tyler. I'll attend to his case later. Go on, now. I want to talk to this +girl." + +Then he turned to Bessie and took off his hat. + +"I was wrong and you were right this morning," he said, pleasantly. "I +want to apologize to you, Bessie. And I shall try to make up to you for +having treated you so badly. How can I do that?" + +"Oh, there's nothing to make up, General," said Bessie, tearfully. "I'm +so glad you know I didn't do that!" + +"But what are you doing here--and in that dress?" + +"I--I was going away--so that the others could stay." + +"I see--so that they wouldn't have to suffer because I was so brutally +unkind to you. Well, you come with me! Why didn't you wear the other +clothes, though? They're nicer than these." + +"They're not mine. These are all I have, of my own." + +"Is that so? Well, you shall have the best wardrobe money can buy, +Bessie, just as soon as Mrs. Chester can get it for you. I'll make that +my present to you--as a way of making up, partly, for the way I behaved +to you. How will you like that?" + +"That's awfully good of you, but you mustn't--really, you mustn't!" + +"I guess I can do as I like with my own money, Bessie. And I'm going to +be one of your friends--one of your best friends, if you'll let me. +Will you shake hands, to show that you don't bear any hard feelings?" + +And Bessie, unable to speak, held out her hand. + +General Seeley wrung it--then he started, suddenly. + +"Here, here, what am I thinking of?" he said, briskly. "I must find Mrs. +Chester and ask her to forgive me. Do you think she will do it, Bessie? +Or haven't you known her long enough--" + +"Why should she forgive you, sir? You just thought what anyone else +would have thought. What I don't understand is why she was willing to +believe me. She didn't know anything about me--" + +"I'll tell you why, Bessie. It's because she knows human nature, and I, +like the old fool I am, wouldn't acknowledge it! But I've learned my +lesson--I'll never venture to disagree with her again. And I'm going to +hunt her up and tell her so." + +So Bessie, as happy as she had been miserable a few minutes before, went +with the general, while he looked for Mrs. Chester. She returned from +Pine Bridge just as they reached the camp, and she listened to General +Seeley's apologies with smiling eyes. + +"I knew I was right," was all she said. "And I'm more than glad that the +real culprit was found. But, my dear, you oughtn't to have tried to +leave us that way. It wasn't your fault, and we should have gone, just +the same, and we would have had to look for you until we found you. When +we once make friends of anyone, we don't let them get away from us. That +wouldn't be true to the spirit of the Camp Fire--not a bit of it!" + +Then, while Bessie changed again into the clothes Ayu had lent her, Mrs. +Chester gave the welcome order to unpack, and explained to the Guardians +that Bessie was cleared, and they were going to stay in camp, and have +the Council Fire just as it had been planned. Everyone was delighted, +Eleanor Mercer most of all, because she had had real faith in Bessie, +and it was a triumph for her to know that her faith had not been +misplaced. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE COUNCIL FIRE + + +The girls of the Manasquan Camp Fire did little that day except to cook +their meals and keep the camp in order. The order to unpack had come, +fortunately, in time to save a lot of trouble, since very little had +been done toward preparing to move, and, when it was all over, Eleanor +called the girls together, and told them just what had happened. + +"There is a fine lesson for all of us in that," she said. "If Bessie had +been weak, she might very well have been tempted to say what General +Seeley wanted her to say. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong--and +she said so. But she was told that if she would confess she wouldn't be +punished, or even scolded, and still she would not do it, even when she +found that it meant trouble for her and for us. And, you see, she earned +the reward of doing the right thing, for the truth came out. And it +will happen that way most of the time--ninety-nine times out of a +hundred, I believe." + +"I should think you'd be perfectly furious at Jake Hoover, Bessie," said +Zara. "He makes trouble for you all the time. Here he got you blamed for +something he'd done again, and nearly spoiled things just when they were +beginning to look better." + +"But he didn't know that, Zara. He did something wrong, but he couldn't +have known that I was going to be blamed for it, you know." + +"Aren't you angry at him at all?" + +"Yes, for killing that beautiful bird with his horrid snare. But I'm +sorry for him, too. I think he didn't know any better." + +"What will happen to him, do you think, Bessie! Will he be sent to +prison?" + +"I don't believe so. General Seeley is a kind man, and I think he'll try +to make Jake understand how wrong it was to act so, and send him home. I +certainly hope so." + +"I don't see why. I should think you'd want him to be punished. He's +done so many mean things without being found out that when he is caught, +he ought to get what he deserves." + +"But it wouldn't be punishing just him, you see, Zara. It would be hard +for Paw Hoover, too, and you know how good he was to us. If it hadn't +been for him I don't believe we'd ever have got to Pine Bridge at all." + +"Yes, that's so. He was good to us, Bessie. I'd like to see him again, +and tell him so. But I can't--not if Farmer Weeks can get me if I ever +go back into that state." + +"There's another thing to think of, too, Zara, about Jake. He's more +likely to be found out now, when he does something wrong." + +"Oh, yes, that's true, isn't it? I hadn't thought of that. He won't be +able to make Maw Hoover think you did everything now, when you're not +there, will he?" + +"That's just what I mean. And maybe, when she finds that the things she +used to blame me for keep on happening just the same, though I'm not +there, she'll see that I never did do them at all. It looked pretty bad +for me this morning, Zara, but you see it came out all right. And I'm +beginning to think now that other things will turn out right, too, just +as Miss Eleanor's been saying they would." + +"Oh, I do hope so! There's Miss Eleanor coming now." + +"Well, girls, have you chosen your fire names yet?" asked the Guardian. +"You'll have to be ready to tell us to-night at the big fire you know, +when you get your rings." + +"Why, I hadn't thought about it, even. Had you, Zara?" + +"Yes, I had. I think I'd like to be called by a name that would make +people think of being happy and cheerful. Is there an Indian word that +would do that?" + +"Perhaps. But why don't you make up a new word for yourself, as we made +up Wo-he-lo? You could take the first letters of happy and cheerful, +and call yourself Hachee. That sounds like an Indian word, though it +really isn't. And what for a symbol?" + +"I think a chipmunk is the happiest, cheerfulest thing I know." + +"That's splendid! You can be Hachee, and your symbol shall be the +chipmunk. You've done well, Zara. I don't think you'll ever want to burn +your name." + +"What is that? Burning one's name?" inquired Zara. + +"Sometimes a girl chooses a name and later she doesn't like it. Then, at +a Council Fire, she writes that name, the one she wants to give up, on a +slip of paper, and it's thrown into the fire. And after that she is +never called by it again." + +"Oh, I see. No, I like my new name and I'll want to keep that, I know." + +"I've always liked the name of Stella--that means a star, doesn't +it?--so that my name and my symbol could be the same, if I took that." + +"Yes, Bessie. That's a good choice, too. You shall be Stella, when we +are using the ceremonial names. Well, that's settled, then. You must +learn to repeat the Wood-Gatherer's desire to-night--and after that you +will get your rings, and then you will be real Camp Fire Girls, like the +rest of us." + +Then she left them, because there was much for her to do, and that +afternoon Bessie and Zara made very sure that they knew the +Wood-Gatherer's desire, and learned all that the other girls could tell +them about the law of the fire, and all the other things they wanted to +know. But they waited anxiously for it to be time to light the great +Council Fire. + +All afternoon the Wood-Gatherers worked, gathering the fagots for the +fire, and arranging them neatly. They were built up so that there was a +good space for a draught under the wood, in order that the fire, once it +was lighted, might burn clear and bright. A cloudless summer sky gave +promise of a beautiful starlit night, so that there was no danger of a +repetition of the disappointment of the previous night--which, however, +everyone had already forgotten. + +After supper, when it was quite dark, the space around the pile was left +empty. Then Mrs. Chester, in her ceremonial Indian robes, stood up in +the centre, near the fire, and one by one the different Camp Fires, led +by their Guardians, came in, singing slowly. + +As each girl passed before her, Mrs. Chester made the sign of the Fire, +by raising her right hand slowly, in a sweeping gesture, after first +crossing its fingers against those of the left hand. Each girl returned +the sign and then passed to her place in the great circle about the +fagots, where she sat down. + +When all the girls were seated, Mrs. Chester spoke. + +"The Manasquan Camp Fire has the honor of lighting our Council Fire +to-night," she said. "Ayu!" + +And Ayu stepped forward. She had with her the simple tools that are +required for making fire in the Indian fashion. It is not enough, as +some people believe, to rub two sticks together, and Bessie and Zara, +who had never seen this trick played before, watched her with great +interest. Ayu had, first, a block of wood, not very thick, in which a +notch had been cut. In this notch she rested a long, thin stick, and on +top of that was a small piece of wood, in which the stick or drill +rested. And, last of all, she had a bow, with a leather thong, which was +slipped around the drill. + +When everything was ready Ayu, holding down the fire block with one +foot, held the socket of the drill with the left hand, while with the +right she drew the bow rapidly back and forth. In less than a minute +there was a tiny spark. Then rapidly growing, flame appeared and a +moment later, along the carefully prepared tinder, the fire ran to the +kindling beneath the fagots. And then, as the flames rose and began to +curl about the fagots all the girls began to sing together the Camp Fire +Girl Ode to Fire: + + "Oh Fire! + Long years ago when our fathers fought with great + animals you were their protection. + From the cruel cold of winter you saved them. + When they needed food you changed the flesh of beasts + into savory food for them. + During all the ages your mysterious flame has been a + symbol to them for Spirit. + So to-night we light our fire in remembrance of the + Great Spirit who gave you to us." + +Then each Guardian called the roll of her Camp Fire, and as each girl's +ceremonial name was called she answered, "Kolah!" + +"That means _friend_," someone whispered to Bessie and Zara. + +"We are to receive two new members to-night," said Mrs. Chester, then. +"Wanaka, they come in your Camp Fire. Will you initiate them into the +Camp Fire circle?" + +Then she sat down, and Wanaka took her place in the centre. Bessie and +Zara understood that it was time for them to step forward, and they +stood out in the dancing light of the fire, which was roaring up now, +and casting its light into the shadows about the circle. All the girls +stood up. + +Bessie came first, and Wanaka turned to her. + +"Is it your desire to become a Camp Fire Girl and follow the law of the +Fire?" + +And Bessie, who had been taught the form to be followed, answered: + +"It is my desire to become a Camp Fire Girl and to obey the law of the +Camp Fire, which is to Seek Beauty, Give Service, Pursue Knowledge, Be +Trustworthy, Hold on to Health, Glorify Work, Be Happy. This law of the +Camp Fire I will strive to follow." + +Then she held out her left hand, and Eleanor took it, saying: + +"In the name of the Camp Fire Girls of America, I place on the little +finger of your left hand this ring, with its design of seven fagots, +symbolic of the seven points of the law of the Fire, which you have +expressed your desire to follow, and of the three circles on either +side, symbolic of the three watchwords of this organization--Work, +Health, and Love. And-- + + "As fagots are brought from the forest + Firmly held by the sinews which bind them, + So cleave to these others, your sisters, + Whoever, whenever, you find them. + + "Be strong as the fagots are sturdy; + Be pure in your deepest desire; + Be true to the truth that is in you; + And--follow the law of the Fire." + +Then, as Bessie, or Stella, as, at the Council Fire she was to be known +thereafter, made her way back to her place, all the girls sang the +Wo-he-lo song by way of welcoming her as one of them. + +Then it was Zara's turn, and the same beautiful ceremony was repeated +for her. + +"Now the Snug Harbor Camp Fire is going to entertain us with some new +Indian dances they have learned," said Mrs. Chester. "I am sure we will +all enjoy that." + +And they did. No Indian girls ever danced with the grace and beauty that +those young American girls put into their interpretation of the +old-fashioned dances, which made all the other Camp Fires determine to +try to learn them, too. And after that there was a talk from Mrs. +Chester on the purpose of the organization. Then, finally, taps sounded, +and the Council Fire was over. + +"So you really are Camp Fire Girls," said Eleanor, to the two new +members. "Soon we shall be back in the city and there I am sure that +many things will happen to you. Some of them will be hard, but you will +get through them all right. And remember we mean to help you, no matter +what happens. Zara shall have her father back, and we will do all we +can, Bessie, to help you find your parents. Good-night!" + +"Good-night!" + + + + +Every Child's Library + + * * * * * + +No child has come into his full and rightful heritage in the world of +books until he has read the stories comprising + +Every Child's Library + + HEIDI--_Spyri_ + TREASURE ISLAND--_Stevenson_ + EAST O' THE SUN AND WEST O' THE MOON--_Dasent_ + HANS BRINKER--_Dodge_ + THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON--_Wyss_ + ROBINSON CRUSOE--_Defoe_ + PINOCCHIO--_D. Collodi_ + ROBIN HOOD--_Gilbert_ + KING ARTHUR FOR BOYS--_Gilbert_ + ANIMAL STORIES--_P. T. 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