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diff --git a/old/12091-h.zip b/old/12091-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca776f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12091-h.zip diff --git a/old/12091-h/12091-h.htm b/old/12091-h/12091-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95706b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12091-h/12091-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4877 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> +The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake, by Jane L. Stewart. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + body { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; + background-color: #ffffff; + color: #000000; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10% +} +a:link {color: #000000} +a:visited {color: #000000} +a:hover {color: #000000} +h1, h2, h3, h4 {color: #666666; text-align: center} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake, 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: The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake + Bessie King in Summer Camp + +Author: Jane L. Stewart + +Release Date: April 20, 2004 [EBook #12091] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT LONG LAKE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sjaani and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + +<img src="images/img1.gif" alt="Dolly was bound to a tree, a handkerchief over her mouth." align="left" /> +<h2>CAMP FIRE GIRLS SERIES, VOLUME III</h2> +<h1>The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake</h1> +<h3>or</h3> +<h2>Bessie King<br /> +in Summer Camp</h2> +<h3>by</h3> +<h2>JANE L. STEWART</h2> +<h4>THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY</h4> +<h4>Chicago AKRON, OHIO New York</h4> +<h4>MADE IN U.S.A.</h4> +<h4>1914</h4> +<h4>The Saalfield Publishing Co.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> +<h3>A GROUNDLESS JEALOUSY</h3> + +<p>"I told you we were going to be happy here, didn't I, Zara?"</p> + +<p>The speaker was Dolly Ransom, a black-haired, mischievous Wood Gatherer +of the Camp Fire Girls, a member of the Manasquan Camp Fire, the +Guardian of which was Miss Eleanor Mercer, or Wanaka, as she was known +in the ceremonial camp fires that were held each month. The girls were +staying with her at her father's farm, and only a few days before Zara, +who had enemies determined to keep her from her friends of the Camp +Fire, had been restored to them, through the shrewd suspicions that a +faithless friend had aroused in Bessie King, Zara's best chum.</p> + +<p>Zara and Dolly were on top of a big wagon, half filled with new-mown +hay, the sweet smell of which delighted Dolly, although Zara, who had +lived in the country, knew it too well to become wildly enthusiastic +over anything that was so commonplace to her. Below them, on the ground, +two other Camp Fire Girls in the regular working costume of the Camp +Fire—middy blouses and wide blue bloomers—were tossing up the hay, +under the amused direction of Walter Stubbs, one of the boys who worked +on the farm.</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully glad to be here with the girls again, Dolly," said Zara. +"No, that's not the way! Here, use your rake like this. The way you're +doing it the wagon won't hold half as much hay as it should."</p> + +<p>"Is Bessie acting as if she was your teacher, Margery?" Dolly called +down laughingly to Margery Burton, who, because she was always +laughing, was called Minnehaha by the Camp Fire Girls. "Zara acts just +as if we were in school, and she's as superior and tiresome as she can +be."</p> + +<p>"She's a regular farm girl, that Zara," said Walt, with a grin. "Knows +as much about packin' hay as I do—'most. Bessie, thought you'd lived on +a farm all yer life. Zara there can beat yer all hollow at this. You're +only gettin' half a pickful every time you toss the hay up. Here—let me +show you!"</p> + +<p>"I'd be a pretty good teacher if I tried to show Margery, Dolly," +laughed Bessie King. "You hear how Walter is scolding me!"</p> + +<p>"He's quite right, too," said Dolly, with a little pout. "You know too +much, Bessie—I'm glad to find there's something you don't do right. You +must she stupid about some things, just like the rest of us, if you +lived on a farm and don't know how to pitch hay properly after all these +years!"</p> + +<p>Bessie laughed. Dolly's smile was ample proof that there was nothing +ill-natured about her little gibe.</p> + +<p>"Girls on farms in this country don't work in the fields—the men +wouldn't let them," said Bessie. "They'd rather have them stay in a hot +kitchen all day, cooking and washing dishes. And when they want a +change, the men let them chop wood, and fetch water, and run around to +collect the eggs, and milk the cows, and churn butter and fix the garden +truck! Oh, it's easy for girls and women on a farm—all they have to do +is a few little things like that. The men do all the hard work. You +wouldn't let your wife do more than that, would you, Walter?"</p> + +<p>The boy flushed.</p> + +<p>"When I get married, I'm aimin' to have a hired gal to do all them +chores," he said. "They's some farmers seem to think when they marry +they're just gettin' an extra lot of hired help they don't have to pay +fer, but we don't figger that way in these parts. No, ma'am."</p> + +<p>He looked shyly at Dolly as he spoke, and Dolly, who was an +accomplished little flirt, saw the look and understood it very well. She +tossed her pretty head.</p> + +<p>"You needn't look at me that way, Walt Stubbs," she said. "I'm never +going to marry any farmer—so there! I'm going to marry a rich man, and +live in the city, and have my own automobile and all the servants I +want, and never do anything at all unless I like. So you needn't waste +your breath telling me what a good time your wife is going to have."</p> + +<p>Walter, already as brown as a berry from the hot sun under which he +worked every day, turned redder than he had been before, if that was +possible. But, wisely, he made no attempt to answer Dolly. He had +already been inveigled into two or three arguments with the sharp witted +girl from the city, and he had no mind for any more of the cutting +sarcasm with which she had withered him up each time just as he thought +he had got the best of her.</p> + +<p>Still, in spite of her sharp tongue and her fondness for teasing him, +Walt liked Dolly better than any of the girls from the city who were +staying on the farm, and he was always glad to welcome her when she +appeared where he was working, even though she interrupted his work, and +made it necessary for him to stick to his job after the others were +through in order to make up for lost time. But Dolly had little use for +him, in spite of his obvious devotion, which all the other girls had +noticed. And this time his silence didn't save him from another sharp +thrust.</p> + +<p>"Goin' to that ice-cream festival over to the Methodist Church at Deer +Crossin' to-night?" she asked him, trying to imitate his peculiar +country accent.</p> + +<p>"I'm aimin' to," he said uncomfortably. "You said you was goin' to let +me take you. Isn't that so?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes—I suppose so," she said, tossing her head again. "But I never +said I'd let you bring me home, did I? Maybe I'll find some one over +there I like better to come home with."</p> + +<p>Walter didn't answer, which proved that, young as he was, and +inexperienced in the ways of city girls like Dolly, he was learning +fast. But just then a bell sounded from the farm, and the girls dropped +their pitchforks quickly.</p> + +<p>"Dinner time!" cried Margery Burton, happily. "Come on down, you two, +and we'll go over to that big tree and eat our dinner in the shade. +Walter, if you'll go and fetch us a pail of water from the spring, we'll +have dinner ready when you get back. And I bet you'll be surprised when +you see what we've got, too—something awfully good. We got Mrs. Farnham +to let us put up the best lunch you ever saw!"</p> + +<p>"Yes you did!" gibed Walter. He wasn't half as much afraid of Margery +and the other girls who never teased him, as he was of Dolly Ransom, and +he didn't like them as well, either. Perhaps it was just because Dolly +made a point of teasing him that he was so fond of her. But he picked +up the pail, obediently enough, and went off. When he was out of hearing +Bessie shook her finger reproachfully at Dolly.</p> + +<p>"I thought you were going to be good and not tease Walter any more!" she +said, half smiling.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's so stupid—it's just fun to tease him, and he's so easy that I +just can't help it," said Dolly.</p> + +<p>"I don't think he's stupid—I think he's a very nice boy," said Bessie. +"Don't you, Margery!"</p> + +<p>"I certainly do, Bessie—much too nice for a little flirt like Dolly to +torment him the way she does."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you two like him so much you can have him, and welcome!" cried +Dolly, tossing her head. "I'm sure I don't want him tagging around after +me all the time the way he does."</p> + +<p>"Better be careful, Dolly," advised Margery, who knew her of old. "They +say pride goes before a fall, and if you're not nice to him you may +have to come home from the festival tonight without a beau—and you know +you wouldn't like that."</p> + +<p>"I'd just as soon not have a beau at all as have some of these boys +around here," declared Dolly, pugnaciously. "I like the country, but I +don't see why the people have to be so stupid. They're not half as +bright as the ones we know in the city."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that, Dolly. Bessie's from the country, but I think +she's as bright as most of the people in the city. They haven't been +able to fool her very much since she left Hedgeville, you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't mean Bessie!" cried Dolly, throwing her arms around +Bessie's neck affectionately. "You know I didn't, don't you, dear? And +I'm only joking about half the time anyhow, when I say things like +that."</p> + +<p>"Here comes Walter now—we'll see whether he doesn't admit that this is +the best dinner he ever ate in the fields!" said Margery.</p> + +<p>It was, too. There was no doubt at all about that. There were cold +chicken, and rolls, and plenty of fresh butter, and new milk, and hard +boiled eggs, that the girls had stuffed, and a luscious blueberry pie +that Bessie herself had been allowed to bake in the big farm kitchen. +They made a great dinner of it, and Walter was loud in his praises.</p> + +<p>"That certainly beats what we have out here most days!" he said. "We +have plenty—but it's just bread and cold meat and water, as a rule, and +no dessert. It's better than they get at most farms, though, at that."</p> + +<p>When the meal was finished the girls quickly made neat parcels of the +dishes that were to be taken back, and all the litter that remained +under the tree was gathered up into a neat heap and burned.</p> + +<p>"My, but you're neat!" exclaimed Walter, as he watched them.</p> + +<p>"It's one of our Camp Fire rules," explained Margery. "We're used to +camping out and eating in the open air, you know, and it isn't fair to +leave a place so that the next people who camp out there have to do a +lot of work to clean up after you before they can begin having a good +time themselves. We wouldn't like it if we had to do it after others, so +we try always to leave things just as we'd like to find them ourselves. +And it wouldn't be good for the Camp Fire Girls if people thought we +were careless and untidy."</p> + +<p>Then they got back to work again, and the long summer afternoon passed +happily, with all four of the girls doing their share of the work. The +sun was still high when they had finished their work, and Walter gave +the word to stop happily, since he wanted time to put on his best +clothes for the trip to Deer Crossing, where the ice-cream festival was +to be held. Such festivities were rare enough in the country to be made +mightily welcome when they came, especially when the date chosen was a +Saturday, since on Sunday those who worked in the fields every other +day of the week could take things easily and lie abed late.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll see all you girls again to-night," he said. "I'll be along +after supper, Dolly—don't forget. We're goin' to ride over together in +the first wagon."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Dolly, smiling at him, and winking shamelessly at +Bessie. "Don't forget to put on that new blue necktie and to wear those +pink socks, Walter."</p> + +<p>"I sure won't," he said, not having seen her wink, and, as he turned +away, Dolly looked at Bessie with a gesture of comic despair.</p> + +<p>"I think it's very mean to laugh at Walter's clothes, Dolly," said +Bessie. "They're not a bit sillier than some of the things the boys in +the city wear, are they, Margery?"</p> + +<p>"I should say not—not half as foolish. I've seen some of your pet boys +wearing the sort of clothes one would expect men at the racetrack to +wear, and nobody else, Dolly. You want to get over thinking you're so +much better than everyone else—if you don't, it's going to make; you +unhappy."</p> + +<p>Once they were at the ice-cream festival, where all the girls and young +fellows from miles around seemed to have gathered, Dolly seemed prepared +to have a very good time, however. She entered into the spirit of the +occasion, and, though she, like Bessie and most of the Camp Fire Girls, +would not take part in the kissing games that were popular, she wasn't a +bit stiff or superior.</p> + +<p>"I wonder where that nice boy that thrashed Jake Hoover is?" she asked +Bessie, after they had been there for a while.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's whom you're looking for!" exclaimed Bessie, with a laugh. +"Will Burns, you mean? That's so, Dolly—he said he was coming here, +didn't he?"</p> + +<p>"He certainly did. I'd like to see him again, Bessie. He wasn't as +stupid as most of country boys."</p> + +<p>"He was splendid," said Bessie, warmly. "If it hadn't been for him, I +might not be here now, Dolly. Jake would have got me back into the +other state—he was strong enough to make me go where he wanted. And if +I'd been caught there, they'd have made me stay."</p> + +<p>"There he is now!" exclaimed Dolly, as a tall, sunburned boy appeared in +the doorway. "I was beginning to be afraid he wasn't coming at all."</p> + +<p>Will Burns, who was a cousin of Walter Stubbs, seemed to be well known +to the young people of the neighborhood, though his home was near +Jericho, some twenty miles away. He was greeted on all sides as he made +his way through the Sunday School room, where the festival was being +held, and it was some minutes before the girls from the farm saw that he +was nearing them.</p> + +<p>"Well—well, so you got home all right?" he said, smiling at Bessie. "I +thought you wouldn't have any more trouble, once you got on the train. +I'm glad to see you again."</p> + +<p>And then Dolly's vanity got a rude shock. For Will Burns began to +devote himself at once, after he had greeted Dolly and been introduced +to Zara and some of the other girls, to Bessie. Everyone in the room +soon noticed this, and since most of the girls there had tried to make +him pay attention to them, at one time or another, his evident fondness +for Bessie caused a little sensation. Dolly, so surprised to find a boy +she fancied willing to talk to anyone else that she didn't know what to +do, stood it as long as she could, and then went in search of Walter +Stubbs, whom she had snubbed unmercifully all evening.</p> + +<p>But Walter had at last plucked up courage enough to resent the way she +treated him, and she found that he had bought two plates of ice-cream +for Margery Burton and himself, and that they were sitting in a corner, +eating their ice-cream, and talking away as merrily as if they had known +one another all their lives!</p> + +<p>Eleanor Mercer, who had come over to have an eye on the girls, saw the +little comedy. She was sorry for Dolly, who was sensitive, but she knew +that the lesson would be a wholesome one for the little flirt, who had +been flattered so much by the boys in the city that she had come to +believe that she could make any boy do just what she desired. So she +said nothing, even when Dolly, without a single boy to keep her in +countenance, was reduced to sitting with one or two other girls who were +in the same predicament, since there were more girls there than boys.</p> + +<p>Walter did not even come to get her to ride home with him. Instead, he +found a place with Margery Burton, and Dolly had to climb into her wagon +alone. There she found Bessie.</p> + +<p>"You're a mean old thing, Bessie King!" she said, half crying.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>GOOD-BYE TO THE FARM</h3> + +<p>Dolly had spoken in a low tone, her sobs seeming to strangle her speech, +and only Bessie, who was amazed by this outburst, heard her. Grieved and +astonished, she put her arm about Dolly, but the other girl threw it +off, roughly.</p> + +<p>"Don't you pretend you love me—I know the mean sort of a cat you are +now!" she said bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Why, Dolly! Whatever <i>is</i> the matter with, you? What have I done to +make you angry?"</p> + +<p>"If you were so mad at me the other day getting you into that automobile +ride with Mr. Holmes you might have said so—instead of tending that +you'd forgiven me, and then turning around and making everyone laugh at +me to-night! You're prettier than I—and clever—but I think it's +pretty mean to make that Burns boy spend the whole evening with you!"</p> + +<p>Gradually, and very faintly, Bessie began to have a glimmering of what +was wrong with her friend. She found it hard work not to smile, or even +to laugh outright, but she resisted the temptation nobly, for she knew +only too well that to Dolly, sensitive and nervous, laughter would be +just the one thing needed to make it harder than ever to patch up this +senseless and silly quarrel, which, so far, was only one sided.</p> + +<p>To Bessie, who thought little of boys, and to whom jealousy was alien, +the idea that Dolly was really jealous of her seemed absurd, since she +knew how little cause there was for such a feeling. But, very wisely, +she determined to proceed slowly, and not to do anything that could +possibly give Dolly any fresh cause of offence.</p> + +<p>"Dolly," she said, "you mustn't feel that way. Really, dear, I didn't do +that at all. I talked to him when he came to sit down by me, but that +was all. I couldn't very well tell him to go away, or not answer him +when he spoke to me, could I?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know what you're going to say—that it was all his fault. But if +you hadn't tried to make him come he wouldn't have done it."</p> + +<p>"I didn't try to make him come. Did you?"</p> + +<p>Dolly stared at her a moment. The question seemed to force her to give +attention to a new idea, to something she had not thought of before. But +when she spoke her voice was still defiant.</p> + +<p>"Suppose I did!" she said angrily. "I wanted to have a good time—and he +was the nicest boy there—"</p> + +<p>"Maybe he saw that you were waiting for him too plainly, Dolly. Maybe he +wanted to pick out someone for himself—and if you'd pretended that you +didn't care whether he talked to you or not he would have been more +anxious to be with you."</p> + +<p>Dolly blushed slightly at that, though it was too dark for Bessie to see +the color in her cheeks. She knew very well that Bessie was right, but +she wondered how Bessie knew it. That feigned indifference had brought +her the attentions of more than one boy who had boasted that he was not +going to pay any attention to her just because everyone else did.</p> + +<p>But the gradually dawning suspicion that she might, after all, have only +herself to blame for the spoiling of her evening's fun, and that she had +acted in rather a silly fashion, didn't soften Dolly particularly. Very +few people are able to recover a lost temper just because they find out, +at the height of their anger, that they are themselves to blame for what +made them angry, and Dolly was not yet one of them.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you'll tell all the other girls about this," she said. She +wasn't crying any more, but her voice was as hard as ever. "I think +you're horrid—and I thought I was going to like you so much. I think +I'll ask Miss Eleanor to let me share a room with someone else."</p> + +<p>Bessie didn't answer, though Dolly waited while the wagon drove on for +quite a hundred yards. Bessie was thinking hard. She liked Dolly; she +was sure that this was only a show of Dolly's temper, which, despite +the restrictions that surrounded her in her home, and had a good deal to +do with her mischievous ways, had never been properly curbed.</p> + +<p>But, though Bessie was not angry in her turn, she understood thoroughly +that if she and Dolly were to continue the friendship that had begun so +promisingly, this trouble between them must be settled, and settled in +the proper fashion. If Dolly were allowed to sleep on her anger, it +would be infinitely harder to restore their relations to a friendly +basis.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you don't care!" said Dolly, finally, when she decided that +Bessie was not going to answer her.</p> + +<p>And now Bessie decided on a change of tactics. She had tried arguing +with Dolly, and it had seemed to do no good at all. It was time to see +if a little ridicule would not be more useful.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say so, Dolly," she answered, very quietly. And she smiled at +her friend. "What's the use of my saying anything? I told you the truth +about what happened this evening, and you didn't believe me. So there's +not much use talking, is there?"</p> + +<p>"You know I'm right, or you'd have plenty to talk about," said Dolly, +unhappily. "Oh, I wish we'd never seen Will Burns!"</p> + +<p>"I wish we hadn't seen him until to-night, Dolly," said Bessie, gravely. +"You know, that trip in the automobile with Mr. Holmes the other day +wasn't very nice for me, Dolly. If they had caught me, as Mr. Holmes had +planned to do, I'd have been taken back to Hedgeville, and bound over to +Farmer Weeks—and he's a miser, who hates me, and would have been as +mean to me as he could possibly be. That's how we met Will Burns, you +know—because you insisted on going with Mr. Holmes in his car to get an +ice-cream soda."</p> + +<p>"That's just what I said—you pretended to forgive me for that, and you +haven't at all—you're still angry, and you humiliated me before all +those people just to get even! I didn't think you were like that, +Bessie—I thought you were nicer than I. But—"</p> + +<p>"Dolly, stop talking a little, and just think it over. You say you +didn't have a good time, and you mean that you didn't have a boy waiting +around to do what you told him all evening. Isn't that so?"</p> + +<p>"All the other girls had boys around them all the time—"</p> + +<p>"You went with Walter Stubbs, didn't you? And you told him that maybe +you'd come home with him and maybe you wouldn't—and that if anyone you +liked better came along you were going to stay with them. You didn't +know Will Burns was coming, did you?"</p> + +<p>"No, but—I thought if he did come—"</p> + +<p>"That's just it. You didn't think about Walter at all, did you. You +wanted to have a good time yourself—and you didn't care what sort of a +time he had! You just thought that if Will Burns did come he was sure to +want to be with you, and so, as soon as you saw him come in you sent +Walter off. Oh, you were silly, Dolly—and it was all your own fault. +Don't you think it's rather mean to blame me? We were together when Will +Burns was coming toward us, and I wanted to go away and let you stay +there—but you said I must stay. Don't you remember that?"</p> + +<p>Dolly, as a matter of fact, had quite forgotten it. But she remembered +well enough, now that Bessie had reminded her of it. And, though she had +a hot temper, and was fond of mischief, Dolly was not sly. She admitted +it at once.</p> + +<p>"I do remember it now, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you see how absurd it is to say that I took Will away from +you? We were both there together—I couldn't tell when we saw him coming +that he was going to talk to me, could I? And listen, Dolly—he asked me +to go home with him in his buggy, and I said I wouldn't."</p> + +<p>With some girls that would have made the chance of mending things very +remote. But Dolly, although her jealousy had been so quickly aroused, +was not the sort to get still angrier at this fresh proof that she had +been mistaken in thinking that Will Burns had liked her better than +Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Why, Bessie—why did you do that?"</p> + +<p>Bessie laughed.</p> + +<p>"We're not going to be here very much longer, are we, Dolly?" she said. +"Well—if we're not going to be here, we're not going to see much of +Will Burns. You're not the only girl who—was—who thought that he ought +to be paying more attention to her than to me. There was a pretty girl +from Jericho, and he's known her a long time. Walter told me about them.</p> + +<p>"And I could see that she wanted him to drive her home, so I asked him +why he didn't do it. And he got very much confused, but he went over to +her, finally, and she looked just as happy as she could be when he +handed her up into his buggy, and they all went off along the road +together, Will and she and two or three other fellows who had driven +over together from Jericho."</p> + +<p>Dolly's expression had changed two or three times, very swiftly, as she +listened. Now she sighed, and her hand crept out to find Bessie's.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bessie," she said, softly, "won't you forgive me, dear? I've made a +fool of myself again—I'm always doing that, it seems to me. And every +time I promise myself or you or someone not to do it again. But the +trouble is there are so many different ways of being foolish. I seem to +find new ones all the time, and every one is so different from the +others that I never know about it until it's too late."</p> + +<p>"It's never too late to find out one's been in the wrong, Dolly, if one +admits it. There aren't many girls like you, who are ready to say +they've been wrong, no matter how well they know it. I haven't anything +to forgive you for—so don't let's talk any more about that. Everyone +makes mistakes. If I thought anyone had treated me as you thought I had +treated you to-night I'd have been angry, too."</p> + +<p>Poor Dolly sighed disconsolately.</p> + +<p>"You're the best friend I ever had, Bessie," she said. "I make everyone +angry with me, and when I say I'm sorry, they pretend that they've +forgiven me, but they haven't, really, at all. That's why I said that +about your still being angry with me. I thought you must be. I really am +going to try to be more sensible."</p> + +<p>And so the little misunderstanding, which might easily, had Bessie been +less patient and tactful, have grown into a quarrel that would have +ended their friendship before it was well begun, was smoothed over, and +Dolly and Bessie, tired but happy, went upstairs to their room together, +and were asleep so quickly that they didn't even take the time to talk +matters over.</p> + +<p>Eleanor Mercer, standing in the big hall of the farm house as the girls +went upstairs, smiled after Dolly and Bessie.</p> + +<p>"I think you thought I was foolish to put those two in a room together," +she said to Mrs. Farnham, the motherly housekeeper, whom Eleanor had +known since, as a little girl, she had played about the farm.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't say that, Miss Eleanor," said Mrs. Farnham. "I didn't see +how they were going to get along together, because they were so +different. But it's not for me to say that you're foolish, no matter +what you do."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, it is," laughed Eleanor. "You used to have to tell me I was +foolish in the old days, when I wanted to eat green apples, and all +sorts of other things that would have made me sick, and just because I'm +grown up doesn't keep me from wanting to do lots of things that are just +as foolish now. But I do think I was right in that"</p> + +<p>"They do seem to get on well," agreed Mrs. Farnham.</p> + +<p>"It's just because they are so different," said Eleanor. "Dolly does +everything on impulse—she doesn't stop to think. With Bessie it's just +the opposite. She's almost too old—she isn't impulsive enough. And I +think each of them will work a little on the other, so that they'll both +benefit by being together. Bessie likes looking after people, and she +may make Dolly think a little more.</p> + +<p>"There isn't a nicer, sweeter girl in the whole Camp Fire than Dolly, +but lots of people don't like her, because they don't understand her. +Oh, I'm sure it's going to be splendid for both of them. Dolly was +awfully angry at Bessie before they started from the church—but you saw +how they were when they got here to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I did, indeed, Miss Eleanor. And I'd say; Dolly has a high temper, too, +just to look at her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she has—and Bessie never seems to get; angry. I don't understand +that—it's my worst fault, I think. Losing my temper, I mean. Though I'm +better than I used to be. Well—good-night."</p> + +<p>The next day was Sunday, and, of course, there was none of the work +about the farm that the girls of the Camp Fire enjoyed so much. They +went to church in the morning, and when they returned Bessie was +surprised to see Charlie Jamieson, the lawyer, Eleanor Mercer's cousin, +sitting on the front piazza. Eleanor took Bessie with her when she went +to greet him.</p> + +<p>"No bad news, Charlie?" she said, anxiously. He was looking after the +interests of Bessie and of Zara, whose father, unjustly accused as +Charlie and the girls believed, of counterfeiting, was in prison in the +city from which the Camp Fire Girls came. Charlie Jamieson had about +decided that his imprisonment was the result of a conspiracy in which +Farmer Weeks, from Bessie's home town, Hedgeville, was mixed up with a +Mr. Holmes, a rich merchant of the city. The reason for the persecution +of the two girls and of Zara's father was a mystery, but Jamieson had +made up his mind to solve it.</p> + +<p>"No—not bad news, exactly," he said. "But I've had a talk with Holmes, +and I'm worried, Eleanor. You know, that was a pretty bold thing he did +the other day, when he trapped Bessie into going with him for an +automobile ride and tried to kidnap her. That's a serious offense, and a +man in Holmes's position in the city wouldn't be mixed up in it unless +there was a very important reason. And from the way he talked to me I'm +more convinced than ever that he will just be waiting for a chance to +try it again."</p> + +<p>"What did he say to you, Charlie?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing very definite. He advised me to drop this case. He reminded +me that he had a good deal of influence—and that he could bring me a +lot of business, or keep it away. And he said that if I didn't quit +meddling with this business I'd have reason to feel sorry."</p> + +<p>"What did you tell him?"</p> + +<p>"To get out of my office before I kicked him out! He didn't like that, I +can tell you. But I noticed that he got out. But here's the point. Are +you still planning that camping trip to Lake?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—I think it would be splendid there."</p> + +<p>"Well, why don't you start pretty soon?" Holmes knows this country very +well, and he's got so much money that, if he spends it, he can probably +find people to do what he wants. Up there it's lonely country, and +pretty wild, and you could keep an eye on Bessie and Zara even better +than you can here. I don't know why he wants to have them in his power, +but it's quite evident that their plans depend on that for success, and +our best plan, as long as we're in the dark this way, and don't know the +answer to all these puzzling things, is to keep things as they are. I'm +convinced that they can't do anything that need worry us much as long as +we have Bessie and Zara safe and sound."</p> + +<p>"We can start to-morrow," said Eleanor. "Bessie—will you tell the girls +to get ready? I'll go and make arrangements, Charlie."</p> + +<p>And so, the next day, after lunch, the Camp Fire Girls, waving their +hands to kindly Mrs. Farnham, and making a great fuss over Walter, who +drove them to the station, said good-bye for the time, at least, to the +farm. And Dolly Ransom, Bessie noticed, took pains to be particularly +nice to Walter Stubbs.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>LONG LAKE</h3> + +<p>"I love traveling," said Dolly, when they were settled in their places +in the train that was to take them up into the hills and on the first +stage of the journey to Long Lake. "I like to see new places and new +people."</p> + +<p>"Dolly's never content for very long in one place," said Eleanor Mercer, +who overheard her remark, smiling. "If she had her way she'd be flying +all over the country all the time. Wouldn't you, Dolly?"</p> + +<p>"I don't like to know what's going to happen next all the time," said +Dolly.</p> + +<p>"I know just how you feel," Bessie surprised her by saying. "I used to +think, sometimes, when I was on Paw Hoover's farm in Hedgeville, that if +only I could go to sleep some night without knowing just what was going +to happen the next day I'd be happy. It was always the same, too—just +the same things to do, and the same places to see—"</p> + +<p>"I should think Jake Hoover would have kept you guessing what he was +going to do next," said Dolly, spitefully. "The great big bully! Oh, how +glad I was when Will Burns knocked him down the other day!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," admitted Bessie. "I didn't know just what Jake was going to tell +Maw Hoover about me next—but then, you see, I always knew it was +something that would get me into trouble, and that I'd either get beaten +or get a scolding and have to do without my supper. So even about that +it wasn't very difficult to know what was going to happen."</p> + +<p>"Heavens—I'd have run away long before you did," said Dolly, with a +shudder. "I don't see how you ever stood it as long as you did, Bessie. +It must have been awful."</p> + +<p>"It was, Dolly," said Eleanor, gravely. "I was there, and I made a point +of looking into things, so that if anyone ever blamed me for helping +Bessie and Zara to get away, I could explain that I hadn't just taken +Bessie's word for things. But running away was a pretty hard thing to +do. It's easy to talk about—but where was Bessie to go? She isn't like +you—or she wasn't.</p> + +<p>"She didn't have a lot of friends, who would have thought it was just a +fine joke for her to have to run off that way. If you did it, you'd have +a good time, and when you got tired of it, you'd go back to your Aunt +Mabel, and she'd scold you a little, and that would be the end of it. +You must have thought of trying to get away, Bessie, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I did, Miss Eleanor, often and often. When Jake was very bad, or +Maw Hoover was meaner than usual. But it's just as you say. I was afraid +that wherever I went it would be, worse than it was there. I didn't know +where to go or what to do."</p> + +<p>"Well—that's so," said Dolly. "It has been awfully hard. But then, how +did you ever get the nerve to do it at all, Bessie? That's what I don't +understand. The way you act now, it seems as if you always wanted to do +just as you are told."</p> + +<p>"I thought you'd heard all about that, Dolly. You see, when we really +did run away, we couldn't help it, Zara and I. And I don't believe we +really meant to go quite away, the way we did—not at first. You +remember when we saw you girls first—when you were in camp in the +woods?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; I remember seeing you, with your head just poking out Of the +door of that funny old hut by the lake. I thought it was awfully funny, +but I didn't know you then, of course."</p> + +<p>"I expect you'd have thought it was funny whether you knew us or not, +Dolly. Well, you see, Zara had come over to see me the day it all +happened, and Jake caught her talking with me, and locked her in the +woodshed. Maw Hoover didn't like Zara, because she was a foreigner, and +Maw thought she stole eggs and chickens—but never did such a thing in +her life. So Jake locked her in the woodshed, and said that he was going +to keep her there till Maw Hoover came home. She'd gone to town."</p> + +<p>"Why did he want to do that?"</p> + +<p>"Because Maw had said that if she ever caught Zara around, their place +again she was going to take a stick to her and beat her until she was +black and blue—and I guess she meant it, too. She liked to give people +beatings—me, I mean. She never touched Jake, though, and she never +believed he did anything wrong."</p> + +<p>Dolly whistled.</p> + +<p>"If she knew him the way I do, she would," she said. "And I've only seen +him twice—but that's two times too many!"</p> + +<p>"Well, after he'd locked her in, Jake went off, and I tried to let her +out. I couldn't find the key, and I was trying to break the lock on the +door with a stone. I'd nearly got it done, when Jake came along and +found me doing it. So he stood off and threw bits of burning wood from +the fire near me, to frighten me. That was an old trick of his.</p> + +<p>"But that time the woodshed caught fire, and he was scared. He got the +key, and we let Zara out, and then he said he was going to tell Maw +Hoover that we'd set the place on fire on purpose. I knew she'd believe +him, and we were frightened, and ran off."</p> + +<p>"Well, I should say so! Who wouldn't? Why, he's worse than I thought he +was, even, and I knew he was pretty bad."</p> + +<p>"We were going to Zara's place first, but that was the day they arrested +Zara's father. They said he'd been making bad money, but I don't believe +it. But anyhow, we heard them talking in their place—Zara's and her +father's—and they said that I'd set the barn on fire, and they were +going to have me arrested, and that Zara would have to go and live with +old Farmer Weeks, who's the meanest man in that state. And so we kept on +running away, because we knew that it couldn't be any worse for us if we +went than if we stayed. So that's how we finally came away."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how exciting! I wish I ever had adventures like that!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly, Dolly," said Eleanor, severely. "Bessie and Zara were +very lucky—they might have had a very hard time. And you had all the +adventure you need the other day when you made Bessie go off looking for +ice-cream sodas with you. You be content to go along the way you ought +to and you'll have plenty of fun without the danger of adventures. They +sound very nice, after they're all over, but when they're happening +they're not very pleasant."</p> + +<p>"That's so," admitted Dolly, becoming grave.</p> + +<p>It was late in the afternoon before they reached the station at which +they had to change from the main line. There they waited for a time +before the little two-car train on the branch line was ready to start +Short and light as it was, that train had to be drawn by two puffing, +snorting engines, for the rest of the trip was a climb, and a stiff +one, since Long Lake was fairly high, up, though the train, after it +passed the station nearest to the lake, would climb a good deal higher.</p> + +<p>Even after they left the train finally, they were still some distance +from their destination.</p> + +<p>"You needn't look at that buckboard as if you were going to ride in it, +girls," said Eleanor, laughing, as they surveyed the single vehicle that +was waiting near the track. "That's just for the baggage. Now you can +see, maybe, why you were told you couldn't bring many things with you. +And if that isn't enough, wait until you see the trail!"</p> + +<p>Soon all the baggage was stowed away on the back of the buckboard and +securely tied up, and then the driver whipped up the stocky horses, and +drove off, while the girls gave him the Wohelo cheer.</p> + +<p>"But how are we going to get to Long Lake?" asked Dolly, apprehensively.</p> + +<p>"We're going to walk!" laughed Eleanor. "Come on now or we won't get +there in time for supper—and I'll bet we'll all have a fine appetite +for supper to-night!"</p> + +<p>Then she took the van, and led the way across a field and into the woods +that grew thickly near the track.</p> + +<p>"This isn't the way the buckboard went!" said Dolly.</p> + +<p>"No—We'll strike the road pretty soon, though," said Eleanor. "We save +a little time by taking this trail. In the old days there wasn't any way +to get to the lake, or to carry anything there, except by walking. And +when they built the corduroy road they couldn't make it as short as the +trail, although, wherever they could they followed the old trail. So +this is a sort of short cut."</p> + +<p>"What's a corduroy road?" asked Dolly.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know that? I thought you knew something about the woods, +Dolly. My, what a lot you've got to learn. It's made of logs and they're +built in woods and places where it's hard to make a regular road, or +would cost too much. All that's needed, you see, is to chop down trees +enough to make a clear path, and then to put down the logs, close +together. It's rough going, and no wagon with springs can be driven over +it, but it's all right for a buckboard."</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" said Dolly. "I should think it would shake you to pieces."</p> + +<p>"It does, pretty nearly," said Eleanor, with a smile. "One usually only +rides over one once—after that one walks, and is glad of the chance."</p> + +<p>When, after a three-mile tramp, Eleanor, who was in front, stopped +suddenly at a point where the trees thinned out, on top of a ridge, and +called out, "Here's the lake, girls!" there was a wild rush to reach her +side. And the view, when they got the first glimpse of it, was certainly +worth all the trouble it had caused them.</p> + +<p>Before them stretched a long body of water, sapphire blue in the +twilight, with pink shadows where the setting sun was reflected. Perhaps +two miles long, the lake was, at its widest point, not more than a +quarter of a mile across, whence, of course, came its name. About it +the land sloped down on all sides, into a cup-like depression that +formed the lake, so that there was, on all four sides, a tree crowned +ridge. From a point about half way to the far end of the lake smoke rose +in the calm evening air.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how beautiful!" cried Bessie. "It's the loveliest place I ever saw. +And how wonderful the smell is."</p> + +<p>"That's from the pine trees," said Eleanor. She sighed, as if overcome +by the calm beauty of the scene, as, indeed, she was. "It's always +beautiful here—but Sometimes I think it's most beautiful in winter, +when the lake is covered with ice, and the trees are all weighed down +with snow. Then, of course, you can walk or skate all over the +lake—it's frozen four and five feet deep, as a rule, by January."</p> + +<p>Dolly shivered.</p> + +<p>"But isn't it awfully cold here?" she inquired "Oh, yes; but it's so dry +that one doesn't mind the cold half as much as we do at home when it's +really ten or fifteen degrees warmer, Dolly. One dresses for it, too, +you see, in thick, woolen things, and furs, and there's such glorious +sport. You can break holes through the ice and fish, and then there are +ice boats, and skating races, and all sorts of things. Oh, it's +glorious. I've been up here in winter a lot, and I really do think +that's best of all."</p> + +<p>Then she looked at the rising smoke.</p> + +<p>"Well, we mustn't stay here and talk any more," she said. "Come along, +girls, it's getting near to supper time."</p> + +<p>"Have we got to cook supper?" asked Dolly, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No, not to-night," said Eleanor, with a laugh. "The guides have done it +for us, because I knew we'd all be tired and ready for a good rest, +without any work to do. But with breakfast tomorrow we'll start in and +do all our own work, just as we've done when we've been in camp before."</p> + +<p>Half an hour's brisk walk took them to the site of the camp. There there +was a little sandy beach, and the tents had been pitched on ground was +slightly higher. Behind each tent a trench had been dug, so that, in +case of rain, the water flowing down from the high ground in the rear +would be diverted and carried down into the lake.</p> + +<p>Before the tents a great fire was burning, and the girls cried out +happily at the sight of plates, with knives and forks and tin pannikins +set by them, all spread out in a great circle near the fire. At the fire +itself two or three men were busy with frying pans and great coffee +pots, and the savory smell of frying bacon, that never tastes half as +good as when it is eaten in the woods, rose and mingled with the sweet, +spicy smell of the balsams and the firs, the pines and the spruces.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I'm glad we're here!" cried Dolly, with a huge sigh of content. +"And I'm glad to see supper—and smell it!"</p> + +<p>And what a supper that was! For many the girls, like Bessie, and Zara, +and Dolly, it the first woods meal. How good the bacon was, and the +raised biscuit, as light and flaky as snowflakes, cooked as only woods +guides know how to cook them! And then, afterward, the great plates +heaped high with flapjacks, that were to be eaten with butter and maple +syrup that came from the trees all about them. Not the adulterated, +wishy-washy maple syrup that is sold, as a rule, even in the best +grocery stores of the cities, but the real, luscious maple syrup that is +taken from the running sap in the first warm days of February, and +refined in great kettles, right under the trees that yielded the sap.</p> + +<p>And then, when it was time to turn in, how they did sleep! The air +seemed to have some mysterious qualities of making one want to sleep. +And the peace of the great out-of-doors brooded over the camp that +night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A RECKLESS EXCURSION</h3> + + +<p>In the morning, when the girls awoke, there was no sign of the guides +who had cooked that tempting and delicious supper the night before.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're on our own resources now, girls," said the Guardian. "This +may be a sort of Eden—I hope we'll find it so. But it's going to be a +manless one. There'll be no men here until we get ready to go away, if I +can help it—except as visitors."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess we can get along without them all right, for a change," +said Dolly, blushing a little.</p> + +<p>"Some of the men I know who are interested in the Boy Scouts think the +Camp Fire Girls are a good deal of a joke," said Eleanore, with a light +in her eyes that might have made some of the scoffers she referred to +anxious to eat their words. "They say we get along all right because we +always have some man ready to help us out if we get into any trouble. So +I planned this camp just to show them that we can do just as well as any +troop of Boy Scouts ever did."</p> + +<p>"I bet we can, too," said Dolly, eagerly. "Why, with such a lot of us to +do the work, it won't be very hard for any one of us."</p> + +<p>"Not if we all do our share, Dolly," said Eleanor, looking at her rather +pointedly. "But if some of us are always managing to disappear just when +there's work to be done, someone will have to do double duty—and that's +not fair."</p> + +<p>"I won't—really I won't, Miss Eleanor," said Dolly. "I know I've +shirked sometimes, but I'm not going to this time. I'm going to work +hard now to be a Fire Maker. I think I've been a Wood Gatherer long +enough, don't, you?"</p> + +<p>"You've served more time than is needed for promotion, Dolly. It's all +up to you, as the boys say. As soon as you win the honors you need you +can be a Fire Maker. You can have your new rank just as soon as you earn +it."</p> + +<p>"Bessie and I are going to be made Fire Makers together, if we can, Miss +Eleanor. We talked that over the other day, at the farm, and I think +well be ready at the first camp fire we have after we get home."</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll please me very much if you do. It's time the other girls +were getting up now—we've got to cook breakfast now. I'll call them +while you two build a fire—there's plenty of wood for to-day, piled up +over there."</p> + +<p>AS Dolly had said, with each girl doing her share, the work of the camp +was light. While some of the girls did the cooking, others prepared the +"dining table"—a smooth place on the ground—and others pinned up the +bottom flaps of; the tents, after turning out the bedding, so that the +floors of the tents might be well aired. And then they all sat down, +happily and hungrily, to a breakfast that tasted just as good as had +supper the night before.</p> + +<p>"Can we swim in the lake, Miss Eleanor?" asked Margery Burton.</p> + +<p>"If you want to," said Eleanor, with a smile. "It's pretty cold water, +though; a good deal colder than it was at the sea shore last year. You +see, this lake is fed by springs, and in the spring the ice melts, and +the water in April and May is just like ice water. But you'll get used +to it, if you only stay in a couple of minutes at first, and get +accustomed to the chill gradually. But remember the rule: no one is ever +to go unless I'm right at hand, and there must always be someone in a +boat, ready to help if a girl gets a cramp or any other sort of +trouble."</p> + +<p>"Oh, are there boats?" cried Dolly. "That's fine! Where are they, Miss +Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"You shall see them after we've cleared away the breakfast things and +washed up. But there's a rule about the boats, too: no one is to go out +in them except in bathing suits. And remember this, when you're out on +the lake. It's very narrow, and it looks very calm and safe, now.</p> + +<p>"But at this time of the year there are often severe squalls up here, +and they come over the hills so quickly that it's easy to get caught +unless you're very careful. I think there had better always be two girls +in each boat. We don't want any accidents."</p> + +<p>"Can we go for walks through the woods, Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; that's the most beautiful part of being up here. But it's easy +to get lost. When you start on a trail always stick to it. Don't be +tempted to go off exploring. I'm going to give you all some lessons in +finding your way in the woods. You know, the moss is always on the south +side of a tree, and there are other ways of telling direction, by the +leaves. I expect you all to be regular woodsmen when we go away from +here, and I'm sure you'll learn things about the woods that will give +you a good many pleasant times in the future"</p> + +<p>"Isn't there anyone else at all up here, Miss Eleanor? I should think +there'd be a hotel or something like that here."</p> + +<p>"No, not yet; not right near here. This lake is part of a big preserve +that is owned by a lot of men in the city. My father is one of them, and +they have tried to keep all this part of the woods just as nature left +it. There are a lot of deer here, and in the fall, when hunters come +into the woods, they have to keep out of this part of them. A few deer +are shot here, because if only a few are taken each year, it's all +right. But there will be no hotels in this tract. Hotels mean the end of +the real woods life. There are half a dozen lakes in the preserve, and +each of the families that owns a share in it has a camp at one of the +lakes. I mean a regular camp, with wooden buildings, where one can stay +in the winter, even. But this lake was set apart for trips like this, +where people can get right back to nature, and sleep in tents."</p> + +<p>"Then we can go over and see some of the other lakes?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I don't know whether we'll find anyone at home in any of the camps +or not, but they'll be glad to see us if they are there. A lot of people +wait until later in the year to come up here—until the hunting season +begins. But we can do some hunting even now, though it's against the law +to do any shooting."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know what you mean, Miss Eleanor—with a camera?"</p> + +<p>It was Margery Burton who thought of that.</p> + +<p>"Yes. And that's really the best sort of hunting, I think. If you've +ever seen a deer, and had it look at you with its big, soft eyes, I +don't see how you can kill it. It's almost as hard to get a good picture +of e deer as it is to kill it—in fact, I think it's harder, because you +have to get so much closer to it And it's awfully good fun at night.</p> + +<p>"You go to one of their runways, and settle down with your camera and a +flashlight powder, and then when the deer comes, if you're very quick, +you can get a really beautiful picture. The deer may be a little +frightened, but he isn't hurt, and you have a picture that you can keep +for years and show to people. And an experienced hunter will tell you +that any time you can get close enough to a deer to get a good +flashlight picture of him you could easily have killed him."</p> + +<p>"Why is it so very hard to do that?"</p> + +<p>"Well, for lots of reasons. You have to figure on the wind—because if +the wind is blowing away from you and toward the deer he can smell you +long before he's in sight, and off he goes, afraid to come any nearer."</p> + +<p>"But how can you tell where a deer will be?"</p> + +<p>"They have regular runways—just as we have trails. And at night they +come down to the lake to drink. So you can station yourself on one of +those runways, and be pretty sure that sooner or later a deer will come +along."</p> + +<p>The morning passed quickly and happily. To the girls who had never +before been in that country, there seemed to be an unending number of +new discoveries. Timid as the deer might be, there was nothing nervous +about the squirrels and chipmunks which abounded in the woods near the +lake, and as soon as they saw the girls they came running about, so that +there were often half a dozen or more begging noisily for dainties to +afford them a change from their diet of nuts, sitting up, and chattering +prettily as they got the morsels that were tossed to them.</p> + +<p>"I never saw them so tame, even at home," said Bessie, surprised. "We +had plenty of them there, but I suppose they were wilder because the +boys used to shoot them. They don't do that here, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No; the people who hunt around here go in for bigger game. They would +think they were wasting their time if they bothered to shoot chipmunks +and squirrels."</p> + +<p>"I've seen them tame before, but that was in the park, at home, and it +isn't the same thing at all," said Dolly.</p> + +<p>"No; though they're very cute, and I'm glad there are so many of them +there. But here, of course, they're in their real home, and it's +different, and much nicer, I think."</p> + +<p>Then, after luncheon, Miss Eleanor divided the girls into watches.</p> + +<p>"I think we'll have more fun if a certain number stay home every +afternoon to prepare dinner and cook it," she said. "Then the rest of +you can go for walks, or do anything you like, so long as you are back +in time for dinner. In that way, some of you will be free every +afternoon, and those who have to work won't mind, because they will know +that the next day they will be free, and so on."</p> + +<p>Zara was one of those who drew a piece of paper marked "work" from the +big hat in which Miss Eleanor put a slip of paper for every girl, while +Bessie and Dolly each drew a slip marked "play."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow the girls who work to-day will play," said Miss Eleanor, "and +those who play to-day will draw again. Four of them will play again +to-morrow, and the other four will work, and then, on the third day, +those who play tomorrow will work, and on the fourth day to-day's four +will work again. That will give everyone two days off and one day to +work while we're in camp. And I think that's fair."</p> + +<p>So did everyone else, and Dolly, always willing to put off work as long +as she could, was delighted.</p> + +<p>"Let's take a long walk this afternoon, Bessie," she said. "The air up +here makes me feel more like walking than I ever do when I'm at home. +There I usually take a car whenever I can, though I've been trying to +walk more lately, so as to get an honor bead."</p> + +<p>"I'll be glad to take a walk, Dolly," said Bessie, laughing. "I think +you ought to be encouraged any time you really want to do something +that's good for you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I stay with you long enough I'll be too good to keep on living," +said Dolly. "Don't you see the difference between us, Bessie? You're +good because you like to do the things you ought to do. And when anyone +tells me something's good for me, I always get so that I don't want to +do it. We'll start right after lunch, shall we?"</p> + +<p>"All right," said Bessie.</p> + +<p>But before it was time to make a start she sought out Miss Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"I'm not really afraid, Wanaka," she said, using the Indian name, since, +here in the woods, it seemed natural to do it. "But I thought I ought to +ask you if you think it's all right for me to go off with Dolly? I +suppose none of those people who were trying to get hold of me would do +anything up here, would they?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't think so, Bessie. No, I think you're just as safe anywhere +in these woods as you would be right here in the camp. There are a few +guides around—they have to be kept here to warn people who make camp +and don't put out their fires properly. You see, my father and the rest +of the people don't mind letting nice people come here into their +preserve to camp, but they've got to be careful about fire.</p> + +<p>"You can imagine what would happen here if the woods caught fire; it +would be dreadful. Further on, the woods are only just beginning to grow +up again. They were all burned out a year or so ago, and they look +horrid. This preserve is so beautiful that we all want to keep it +looking just as nice as possible. But the guides would look after you; +there's nothing to be afraid of with them.</p> + +<p>"And I don't believe that you'd be at all likely to meet anyone else. +Suppose you take the trail that starts at the far end of the lake, and +follow it straight over until you come to Little Bear Lake. That's a +very pretty walk. But don't go off the preserve. There's a trail that +leads over to Loon Pond, but you'd better not try that until we all go +as a party."</p> + +<p>So, when the midday meal had been eaten, Bessie and Dolly started off, +skirting the edge of the lake until they came to the beginning of the +trail Miss Mercer had spoken of, which was marked by a birch bark sign +on a tree. There they left the lake, and plunged so quickly into thick +woods that the water was soon out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Isn't this lovely? Oh, I could walk miles and miles here and never get +tired at all, I believe!" said Dolly. "But I do sort of wish there was a +hotel somewhere around. They have dances, and parties, and all sorts of +fun at those hotels. And, Bessie, do you know I heard there was one near +here, at a place called Loon Pond?"</p> + +<p>"Is there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I think it would be fun to go there some time."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe we can, some time, Dolly. When Miss Eleanor is along. But +we'd better not do it today. You know she said we were to stick to the +preserve."</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother; as if we could get into any mischief up here! But I suppose +there wouldn't be any use in trying to persuade you; you always do just +as you're told."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'd like to see the hotel, too, Dolly, but not today. The woods +are enough for me now. And we can go there some other time, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>Dolly said nothing more just then, and for a time they walked along +quietly.</p> + +<p>"We're about half way to Little Bear Lake now," announced Dolly, after a +spell of silence.</p> + +<p>"Why, how do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Because I saw a map, and this ridge we've just come to is half way +between the two lakes."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Yes. We've been coming up hill so far now, the rest of the way is down +hill, so it will be easier walking."</p> + +<p>"That's good; it means that when we're going home we'll be going down +for the last half of the trip, when we're tired. That's much easier than +if it was the other way, I think."</p> + +<p>"You look tired, Bessie; why don't you sit down and rest!"</p> + +<p>"Well, that's not a bad idea, Dolly. I'm not used to so much walking +lately."</p> + +<p>"All right, sit down. I'm thirsty. I think I'll just run ahead and see +if I can find a spring while you rest."</p> + +<p>So Dolly ran ahead, and disappeared after a moment. Presently, when +Bessie was rested, she started again, and soon overtook Dolly.</p> + +<p>"We turn here," said Dolly. "See, here's another trail, and the signs +show which one we're to take."</p> + +<p>"That's funny," said Bessie, puzzled. "I thought we went to Little Bear +in a perfectly straight line. Miss Eleanor didn't say anything about +changing direction."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's the sign, Bessie. If we keep straight on it says that +we'll come to Loon Pond. We turn off to the right here to get to Little +Bear."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess the sign must be right. But it certainly seems funny. I +hope there isn't any mistake."</p> + +<p>"Mistake! How can there be? Don't be silly, Bessie. There wouldn't be +any chance of that. Come on."</p> + +<p>So they turned off, and, as they followed the new trail, the trees began +to grow thinner, presently. The whole character of the woods seemed to +change, too. They passed numerous places where picnic parties had +evidently eaten their meals, and had left blackened spots, and the +remnants of their feasts.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me some of the people who've been here have been very +careless, Dolly," said Bessie, "Look, there's a place where a fire +started. It didn't get very far, but it burnt over quite a little bit of +ground before it was put out."</p> + +<p>The trail began to dip sharply, too, and before long they were walking +in what was almost open country. Stumps of trees were all about, and +evidently wood-cutters had been at work.</p> + +<p>"This isn't half as pretty as Long Lake," said Bessie. "Oh, Dolly, look! +What's that?"</p> + +<p>Dolly laughed in a peculiar fashion. For they had come in sight of a +sheet of water, and, in plain view, not far from them, by the shore of +the lake, they saw a place that could not be mistaken. It proclaimed its +nature at once—a regular summer hotel, with wide piazzas, full of +people. And on the water there were a score of boats and canoes, and one +or two launches.</p> + +<p>"This isn't Little Bear Lake!" said Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Of course it isn't, silly; it's Loon Pond. I changed the signs while +you rested, because I meant to come here, and I knew you wouldn't, if +you knew what you were doing!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE GYPSY CAMP</h3> + + +<p>Bessie grew red with indignation for a moment, but before she spoke she +was calm again.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think that's a pretty mean trick, Dolly?" she said, gently. +"It seems to me it's a good deal like lying."</p> + +<p>"Why, Bessie King! Can't you ever take a joke? I didn't say a single, +solitary thing that wasn't so. I said the signs said this was the way to +Little Bear Lake, and you never asked me if I'd changed them, did you?"</p> + +<p>Bessie laughed helplessly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dolly!" she said. "Of course I didn't; why should I? Who would ever +think of doing such a thing, except you? You don't expect people to +guess what you're going to do next, do you?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," said Dolly, impenitently, her eyes still twinkling. "I +do manage to surprise people pretty often. My aunt Mabel says that if I +spent half as much time studying as I do thinking up new sorts of +mischief I'd be at the top of every class I'm in at school."</p> + +<p>"She's perfectly right. I thought at first you had a hard time with your +aunt, Dolly, but I'm through being sorry for you. She needs all the +sympathy anyone has got for having to try to look after you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, what's the harm? We're here now, and It isn't so very dreadful, is +it? Come on, let's go over to the hotel."</p> + +<p>"Indeed we shan't do anything of the sort, Dolly Ransom! We'll turn +around and go right straight back to Long Lake, that's what we'll do."</p> + +<p>"I guess not. You don't think I've come this far and that I'm going to +turn around without seeing what the place is like, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Dolly, you know we weren't supposed to come here alone. I don't +think much of it; it isn't half as pretty as Long Lake. What's the use +of wasting our time here, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"Why—why—because there are people here! I just love seeing people, +Bessie, they're so interesting, because they're all so different, and +you never know what they're going to say or do. And there may be someone +we know here, too."</p> + +<p>"There can't be anyone I know, Dolly."</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother! Well, there may be someone I know, and that's the same +thing, isn't it? Come on, be a sport, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"That's what you said about going in the car with Mr. Holmes the other +day, too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but this isn't a bit like that, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"It might get us into just as much mischief, Dolly. No, I'm not going +over there. It's silly, and it's wrong."</p> + +<p>And this time Bessie stood firm. Despite Dolly's pleading, which turned, +presently, to angry threats, she refused absolutely to go any nearer the +hotel, and Dolly was afraid to venture there alone, though there was +very little she <i>was</i> afraid to <i>do</i>. In her inmost heart, of course, +Dolly knew that Bessie was right, and that she had had no business to +trick her chum into seeming to break her promise to Miss Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," she said, "I might have known that I couldn't always make +you do what you don't want to do, Bessie. You're not mad at me, are +you?"</p> + +<p>Bessie, pleased by this sign of surrender, returned the smile.</p> + +<p>"I ought to be, but I'm not, Dolly," she answered. "I think that is one +of the reasons you keep on doing these things—but no one ever really +does get angry with you, as they should. If someone you really cared for +got properly angry at you just once for one of your little tricks, I +think it would teach you not to do anything of the sort for a long +time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't mean any harm, Bessie, and you know it, and when people +really like you they don't get angry unless they think you're really +trying to be mean. I say, Bessie, if you won't go over to the hotel, +will you walk just a little way over to the other side, and see what +that funny looking place is where those big wagons are all spread out?"</p> + +<p>Bessie followed Dolly's pointing finger, and saw, on the side of Loon +Pond opposite the hotel, several wagons, among which smoke was rising.</p> + +<p>"It looks like a circus," said Dolly.</p> + +<p>"It isn't, though. I know what they are," said Bessie, promptly. "It's a +gypsy encampment. Do you mean you've never seen one, Dolly?"</p> + +<p>"No; and oh dear, Bessie, I've always wanted to. Surely we could go a +little nearer, couldn't we? As long as we're here?"</p> + +<p>Bessie thought it over for a moment, and, as a matter of fact, really +could see no harm in spending ten minutes or so in walking over toward +the gypsy camp. She herself had seen a few gypsies near Hedgeville in +her time, but in that part of the country those strange wanderers were +not popular.</p> + +<p>"All right," she said. "But if I do that will you promise to start for +home as soon as we've had a look at them, and never to play such a trick +on me again?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly will. Bessie, you're a darling. And I'll tell you something +else; too; you were so nice about the way I changed those signs that I'm +really sorry I did it. And I just thought it would be a good joke. +Usually I'm glad when people get angry at my jokes, it shows they were +good ones."</p> + +<p>Bessie smiled wisely to herself. Gradually she was learning that the way +to rob Dolly's jokes and teasing tricks of their sting, and the best +way, at the same time, to cure Dolly herself of her fondness for them, +was never to let the joker know that they had had the effect she +planned.</p> + +<p>Dolly, considerably relieved, as a matter of fact, when she found that +Bessie was really not angry at her for the trick she had played with the +sign post, chatted volubly as they turned to walk over toward the gypsy +camp.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why they call this a pond and the one we're on a lake," +she said. "This is ever so much bigger than Long Lake. Why, it must; be +four or five miles long, don't you think, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I guess they call it a pond because it looks just like a big, +overgrown ice pond. See, it's round. I think Long Lake is ever so much +prettier, don't you, even though it's smaller?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly do. This place isn't like the woods at all, it's more like, +regular country, that you can find by just taking a trolley car and +riding a few miles out from the city."</p> + +<p>"It used to be just as it is now around Long Lake, I suppose," said +Bessie. "But they've cut the trees down, and made room for tennis courts +and all sorts of things like that, and then, I suppose, they needed wood +to build the hotel, too. It's quite a big place, isn't it, Dolly?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I've heard of it before, too," Dolly. "A friend of mine stayed +up here for a month two or three years ago. She says they advertise +that it's wild and just like living right in the woods, but it isn't at +all. I guess it's for people who like to think they're roughing it when +they're really just as comfortable as they would be if they stayed at +home. Comfortable the same way, I mean."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's better, Dolly. Because I think we're comfortable, though +it's very different from the way we would live in the city, or even from +the way we lived at the farm. But we're really roughing it, I guess."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and it's fine, too! Tell me, Bessie, did you ever see any gypsies +like these when you lived in the country!"</p> + +<p>"There were gypsies around Hedgeville two or three times, but the +farmers all hated them, and used to try to drive them away, and Maw +Hoover told me not to go near them when they were around. She usually +gave me so many things to do that I couldn't, anyhow. You know, the +farmers say that they'll steal anything, but I think one reason for that +is that the farmers drove them into doing it, in the beginning, I mean. +They wouldn't let them act like other people, and they didn't like to +sell them things. So I think the poor gypsies wanted to get even, and +that's how they began to steal."</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose they're doing up here, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"They always go around to the summer places, and in the winter they go +south, to where the people from the north go to get warm when it's +winter at home. They tell fortunes, and they make all sorts of queer +things that people like to buy; lace, and bead things. And I suppose up +here they sell all sorts of souvenirs, too; baskets, and things like +that."</p> + +<p>"Don't they have any real homes, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"No; except in their wagons. They live in them all the time, and they +always manage to be where it's warm in the winter. They don't care where +they go, you see. One place is just like another to them. They never +have settled in towns. They've been wanderers for ages and ages, and +they have their own language. They know all sorts of things about the +weather, and they can find their way anywhere."</p> + +<p>"How do you know so much about them, Bessie, if you never saw anything +of them when you were in Hedgeville?"</p> + +<p>"I read a book about them once. It's called 'Lavengro,' and it's by a +man who's been dead a long time now; his name was Borrow."</p> + +<p>"What a funny name! I never heard of that book, but I'll get it and read +it when I get home. It tells about the gypsies, you say?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But I guess not about the gypsies as they are now, but more as +they used to be. We're getting close, now. See all the babies! Aren't +they cute and brown?"</p> + +<p>Two or three parties, evidently from the hotel, were looking about the +camp, but they paid little attention to the two Camp Fire Girls, +evidently recognizing that they did not come from the hotel. The +gypsies, however, always on the alert when they see a chance to make +money by selling their wares or by telling fortunes, flocked about +them, particularly the women. Bessie, fair haired and blond, they seemed +disposed to neglect, but Bessie noticed that several of the men looked +admiringly at Dolly, whose dark hair and eyes, though she was, of +course, much fairer than their own women, seemed to appeal to them.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to have my fortune told!" Dolly whispered.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better not do that, Dolly, really; and you remember you +said you'd stay just for a minute."</p> + +<p>"I don't see what harm it would do," Dolly pouted. But she gave in, +nevertheless. They passed the door of the strangely decorated tent +inside of which the secrets of the future were supposed to be revealed, +and, followed by a curious pack of children, walked on to a wagon where +a pretty girl, who seemed no older than themselves; but was probably, +because the gypsy women grow old so much more quickly than American +girls, actually younger, was sitting. She was sewing beads to a jacket, +and she looked up with a bright smile as they approached.</p> + +<p>"You come from the hotel?" she said. "You live there?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Dolly. "We come from a long way off. Are you going to wear +that jacket?"</p> + +<p>The gypsy girl laughed.</p> + +<p>"No. I'm making that for my man, him over there by the tree, smoking, +see? He's my man; he's goin' marry me when I get it done."</p> + +<p>Bessie laughed.</p> + +<p>"Marry you? Why, you're only a girl like me!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"No, no; me woman," protested the gypsy, eagerly. "See, I'm so tall +already!"</p> + +<p>And she sprang up to show them how tall she was. But Bessie and Dolly +only laughed the more, until Bessie saw that something like anger was +coming into her black eyes, and checked Dolly's laugh.</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll be very happy," she said. "Come on, Dolly, we really must +be going."</p> + +<p>Dolly was inclined to resist once more. She hadn't seen half as much as +she wanted to of the strange, exotic life of the gypsy caravan, so +different from the things she was used to, but Bessie was firm, and they +began to make their way back toward the trail. And, as they neared the +spot from which they had had their first view of Loon Pond and the gypsy +camp, Bessie was startled and frightened by the sudden appearance in +their path of the good looking young gypsy for whom the girl they had +been talking to was decorating the jacket.</p> + +<p>His keen eyes devoured Dolly as he stood before her, and he put out his +hand, gently enough, to bar their way.</p> + +<p>"Will you marry me?" he said, in English much better than that of most +of his tribe.</p> + +<p>Dolly laughed, although Bessie looked serious.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, of course," said Dolly. "I always marry the first man who asks +me, every day; especially if he's a gypsy and I've never seen him +before."</p> + +<p>"You're too young now; you think you are, I suppose," said the gypsy, +showing his white teeth. "You come back with me and wait; by and by we +will get married."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said Bessie, decisively. "He means it, Dolly, he's not +joking. Come, we must hurry."</p> + +<p>"Wait, stay," said the gypsy, eagerly. And he put out his hand as if to +hold Dolly. But she screamed before he could touch her, and darted past +him. And in a moment both girls, running hard, were out of sight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A SERIOUS JOKE</h3> + + +<p>Bessie, seriously alarmed, led the race through the woods and they had +gone for nearly a quarter of a mile before she would even stop to +listen. When she felt that if the gypsy were going to overtake them he +would have done it, she stopped, and, breathing hard, listened eagerly +for some sign that he was still behind them. But only the noises of the +forest came to their ears, the rustling of the leaves in the trees, the +call of a bird, the sudden sharp chattering of a squirrel or a chipmunk, +and, of course, their own breathing.</p> + +<p>"I guess we got away from him all right," she said. "Oh, Dolly, I was +frightened!"</p> + +<p>"What?" cried Dolly, amazed. "Do you mean to say that you let that silly +gypsy frighten you? I thought you were braver than that, Bessie!"</p> + +<p>"You don't know anything about it, Dolly," said Bessie, a little +irritated. "It really wasn't your fault, but those people aren't like +our men. He probably meant just what he said, and if he thought you were +laughing at him, it would have made him furious. When you said you +would marry him, of course I knew you were joking, and so would anyone +like us, but I think he took you seriously. He thought you meant it!"</p> + +<p>"Bessie! How absurd! He couldn't! Why, I won't marry anyone for ever so +long, and he surely doesn't think an American girl would ever marry one +of his nasty tribe! You're joking, aren't you! He couldn't ever have +really thought anything so perfectly absurd?"</p> + +<p>"I only hope we won't find out that he was serious, Dolly. You couldn't +be expected to understand, but people like that are very different from +ourselves. They haven't got a lot of civilized ideas to hold them in +check, the way we have, and when they want something they come right out +and say so, and if they can't get what they want by asking for it, +they're apt to take it."</p> + +<p>"But I didn't think anyone ever acted like that! And he is going to +marry that pretty gypsy girl who is putting the beads and buttons on a +jacket for him, anyhow. She said so; she said they were engaged."</p> + +<p>"Men have changed their minds about the women they were going to marry, +Dolly, even American men. And that's another thing that bothers me. I +think that girl's very much in love with him, and if she thought he was +fond of you, she'd be furious. There's no telling what a gypsy girl +might do if she was jealous. You see, she'd blame you, instead of him. +She'd say you had turned his head."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bessie, what a dreadful mess. Oh, dear! I seem to be getting into +trouble all the time! I think I'm just going to have a little harmless +fun, and then I find that I've started all sorts of trouble that I +couldn't foresee at all."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Dolly. You didn't mean to do it, and, of course, I may be +exaggerating it anyhow. I'll admit I'm frightened, but it's of what I +know about the gypsies. They're strange people and they carry a grudge a +long time. If they think anyone has hurt them, or offended them, they're +never satisfied until they have had their revenge. But, after all, he +may not do anything at all. He may have been joking. Perhaps he just +wanted to frighten you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I really do think that must have been it, Bessie. Don't you +remember that he was different from the others! He spoke just as well as +we do, as if he'd been to school, and he must know more about our +customs."</p> + +<p>Bessie shook her head.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't mean that he isn't just as wild and untamed as the others +down at bottom, Dolly. I've heard the same thing about Indians; that +some of those who make the most trouble are the very ones who've been to +Carlisle. It isn't because they're educated, because they would have +been wild and wicked anyhow, but the very fact that they are educated +seems to make them more dangerous. I hope it isn't the same with this +gypsy; but we've got to be careful."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll be careful, Bessie," said Dolly, with a shudder. "I'll do +whatever I'm told. You needn't worry about that."</p> + +<p>"That's good, Dolly. The first thing, of course, is never to get far +away from the camp alone. We mustn't come over this way at all, or go +anywhere near Loon Pond as long as those gypsies are still there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bessie, do you think we'll have to tell Miss Eleanor about this?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so, Dolly. But there's no reason why you should mind doing +that. She won't blame you, it really wasn't your fault."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was, Bessie. Don't you remember the way I changed the signs! If +I hadn't done that we wouldn't have gone to Loon Pond, and if we hadn't +gone there—"</p> + +<p>"We wouldn't have seen the gypsies? Yes I know, Dolly. But Miss Eleanor +is fair, you know that. And she may scold you for playing trick with +the signs, but that's all. She won't blame you for having misunderstood +that gypsy."</p> + +<p>Then they came to the crossing of the trails, and Dolly replaced the +signs as they had been before she had played her thoughtless prank.</p> + +<p>"We must hurry along, Dolly," said Bessie. "It's getting dark, and we +don't want to be out here when it's too dark. I think it's safe enough, +but—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, suppose that horrid gypsy followed us through the woods, Bessie? +That's what you mean, isn't it! Let's get back to the camp just as fast +as ever we can."</p> + +<p>"Bessie, I'm an awful coward, I'm afraid," Dolly said, as the camp was +approached. "Will you tell Miss Eleanor what happened; everything! I'm +afraid that if I told her myself I wouldn't put in what I did with the +signs."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't tell her a story, Dolly?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I might just not tell her that. You see, I wouldn't have really +to tell her a story, and, oh, Bessie, I want her to know all about it. +Then if she scolds me, all right. Can't you understand?"</p> + +<p>"I'll do it if you like, Dolly, but I'm quite sure you'd tell her +everything yourself. You're not a bit of a coward, Dolly, because when +you've done something wrong you never try to pretend that it was the +fault of someone else, or an accident."</p> + +<p>"Do you think I ought to tell Miss Eleanor myself?" said Dolly, +wistfully. "I will if you say so, Bessie, but I'd much rather not."</p> + +<p>"No, I'll tell her," Bessie decided. "I think you're mistaken about +yourself, Dolly, and the reason I'm going to tell her is because I think +you'd make her think you were worse than you were, instead of not +telling her the whole thing. Do you see?"</p> + +<p>"You're ever so good, Bessie. Really, I'm going to try to stop worrying +you so much after this. It seems to me that you're always having things +to bother you on account of me."</p> + +<p>Miss Eleanor, at first, like Dolly, was inclined to laugh at what +Bessie told her of the gypsy and his absurd suggestion that Dolly should +stay with his tribe until she was old enough to be married to him.</p> + +<p>"Why, he must have been joking, Bessie," she said. "You say he talked +well; as if he were educated? Then he surely knows that no American girl +would take such an idea seriously for a moment."</p> + +<p>"But American girls do live with the gypsies and marry them, Miss +Eleanor. Often, I've heard of that. And if you'd seen him when he got in +our way on the trail you'd know why he frightened me. His face was +perfectly black, he was so angry. And when Dolly laughed at him he +looked as if he would like to beat her."</p> + +<p>"I can understand that," laughed Miss Eleanor. "I've wanted to beat +Dolly myself sometimes when she laughed when she was being scolded for +something!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but this was different," said Bessie, earnestly. "Really, Miss +Eleanor, you'd have been frightened too, if you'd seen him. And I do +think Dolly ought to be very careful until they've gone away from Loon +Pond."</p> + +<p>Bessie was so serious that Miss Eleanor was impressed, almost despite +herself.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, she must be careful, of course. I don't want the girls going +over to Loon Pond, anyway. I want them to have this time in the woods, +and live in a natural way, and the Loon Pond people at the hotel just +spoil the woods for me. But I don't believe there's any reason for being +really frightened, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"Suppose that man tried to carry her off?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he wouldn't dare to try anything like that, Bessie. I don't believe +the gypsies are half as bad as they are painted, anyhow, but, even if he +would be willing to do it, he'd be afraid. The guides would soon run him +out of the preserve if they found him here; no one is supposed to be on +it, without permission. And a gypsy couldn't get that, I know."</p> + +<p>"But it's a pretty big place, and there aren't so very many guides. We +didn't see one today, and we really took quite a long walk."</p> + +<p>"But, Bessie, what would he do with her if he did carry her off? Those +people travel along the roads, and they travel slowly. He must know that +if anything happened to Dolly, or if she disappeared, he'd be suspected +right away, and he'd be chased everywhere he went."</p> + +<p>"I think it would be easy to hide someone in their caravans, though, +Miss Eleanor. And those people stick together, so that no one would +betray him if he did anything like that. We might be perfectly sure that +he had done it, but we wouldn't be able to prove it."</p> + +<p>"I'll speak to the guides and have them keep a good watch in the +direction of Loon Pond, Bessie. There, will that make you feel any +better? And those gypsies won't stay over there very long. They never +do."</p> + +<p>"Have they been here before, Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; every year when I've been here."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll feel better when they've gone, Miss Eleanor."</p> + +<p>"So will I. You've made me quite nervous, Bessie. I think you'd better +tell Dolly, and be careful yourself, not to tell the other girls +anything about this. There's no use in scaring them, and making them +feel nervous, too."</p> + +<p>"No. I thought of that, too. Some of them would be frightened, I'm sure. +I think Zara would be. She's been very nervous, anyhow, ever since we +got her away from that awful house where Mr. Holmes had hidden her away +from us."</p> + +<p>"I don't blame her a bit; I would be, too. It was really a dreadful +experience, Bessie, and particularly because she knew it was, in a way, +her own fault."</p> + +<p>"You mean because she believed what they said about being her friends, +and that she would get you and me into trouble unless she went with them +that night when they came for her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Poor Zara! I'm afraid she guessed, somehow, that I had been angry +with her, at first. She's terribly sensitive, and she seems to be able +to guess what's in your mind when you've really scarcely thought the +things yourself."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think it will be a good thing if she doesn't know about this +gypsy trouble, Miss Eleanor. So I'll go and find Dolly, and tell her not +to say anything."</p> + +<p>"Do, Bessie. And get Dolly to come to me before dinner. She was wrong to +play that trick with the signs, but I don't mean to scold her. I want to +comfort her, instead. I think she's been punished enough already, if +she's really frightened about that gypsy."</p> + +<p>Dolly seemed to be a good deal chastened after her talk with Eleanor, +and Bessie felt glad that the Guardian, though she evidently did not +take the episode of the gypsy as seriously as did Bessie, had still +thought it worth while to let Dolly think she did.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to stay close to the camp after this, Bessie," she said. +"And, oh, Miss Eleanor said that there were footprints this morning +near the water that a deer must have made. I've got my camera here; +suppose we try to get a picture of one tonight? We could go to sleep +early, and then get up. Miss Eleanor said it would be all right, just +for the two of us. She said if any more sat up it would frighten the +deer."</p> + +<p>"All right," agreed Bessie. "That would be lots of fun."</p> + +<p>So they slept for an hour or so, and then, about midnight, got up and +went down to the shore of the lake, to a spot where a narrow trail came +out of the woods. There they hid themselves behind some brush and placed +Dolly's camera and a flashlight powder, to be ready in case the deer +appeared.</p> + +<p>They waited a long time. But at last there was a rustling in the trees, +and they could hear the branches being pushed aside as some creature +made its way slowly toward the water.</p> + +<p>"All ready, Bessie?" whispered Dolly. "When I give you a squeeze press +that button; that will set the flashlight off, and I'll take the +picture as you do it."</p> + +<p>They waited tensely, and Bessie was as excited as Dolly herself. She +felt as if she could scarcely wait for the signal. Dolly held her left +hand loosely, and two or three times she thought the grip was +tightening. But the signal came at last, and there was a blinding flash. +But it was not a deer which stood out in the glare; it was the gypsy who +had pursued Dolly!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>A THIEF IN THE NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>The glare of the explosion lasted for only a moment. Dolly's eyes were +fixed on the camera, as she bent her head down, and Bessie realized, +thankfully, that she had not seen the evil face of the gypsy. As for the +man, he cried out once, but the sound of his voice was drowned by the +noise of the explosion. And then, as soon as the flashlight powder had +burned out, the light was succeeded by a darkness so black that no one +could have seen anything, so great was the contrast between it and the +preceding illumination.</p> + +<p>"Come, Dolly! Quick! Don't stop to argue! Run!" urged Bessie.</p> + +<p>She seized Dolly's hand in hers, and made off, running down by the lake, +and, for a few steps, actually through the water. Her one object was to +get back to the camp as quickly as possible. She thought, and the event +proved that she was right, the gypsy, if he saw them nearing the camp +fire, which was still burning brightly, would not dare to follow them +very closely.</p> + +<p>He had no means of knowing that there were no men in the camp, and, +while he might not have been afraid to follow them right into camp had +he known that, Bessie judged correctly that he would take no more +chances than were necessary.</p> + +<p>"Bessie, are you crazy?" gasped Dolly, as they came into the circle of +light from the fire. "My feet are all wet! Whatever is the matter with +you? You nearly made me smash my camera!"</p> + +<p>"I don't care," said Bessie, panting, but immensely relieved. "Sit down +here by the fire and take off your shoes and stockings; they'll soon get +dry. I'm going to do it."</p> + +<p>She was as good as her word, and not until they had dried their feet and +set the shoes and stockings to dry would she explain what had caused her +wild dash from the scene of the trap they had laid for the deer, and +which had so nearly proved to be a trap for them, instead.</p> + +<p>"If you'd looked up when that powder went off you'd have run yourself, +Dolly, without being made to do it," she said, then. "That wasn't a deer +we heard, Dolly."</p> + +<p>"What was it, a bear or some sort of a wild animal?"</p> + +<p>"No, it was a man."</p> + +<p>Dolly's face was pale, even in the ruddy glow of the fire.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean—it wasn't—"</p> + +<p>"The gypsy? Yes, that's just who it was, Dolly. He's found out somehow +where we are, you see. It's just what I was afraid of, that he would +manage to follow us over here. But I'm not afraid now, as long as we +know he's around. I don't see how he can possibly do you any harm."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bessie, what a lucky, lucky thing that we saw him! If we hadn't +just happened to try to get that picture we would never have done it. +The nasty brute! The idea of his daring to follow us over here. Do you +think he would have really tried to carry me back to his tribe, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Dolly. His face looked awful when I saw it in the glare. +But then, of course, he was terribly surprised. He probably thought he +was the only soul awake for miles and miles, and to have that thing go +off in one's face would startle anybody, and make them look pretty +scary."</p> + +<p>"I should say so! You have to pucker up your face and shut your eyes. Do +you think he saw us, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think it was very likely, Dolly. You see, it's just as you +say. The glare of a flashlight is blinding, when it goes off suddenly +like that, right in front of you. I don't think you're likely to see +much of anything except the glare. And, of course, he hadn't the +slightest reason to be expecting to see us. I expect he's more puzzled +and frightened than we are; he's certainly a good deal more puzzled."</p> + +<p>"Then maybe he'll be so frightened that he'll go back to his people and +let me alone, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"I certainly hope so, Dolly. It really doesn't seem possible that he'd +dare to carry you off, even if he could get hold of you. He'd know that +we'd be sure to suspect that he was the one who had done it, and even a +gypsy ought to know what happens to people who do things like that. I +don't see how he could hope to escape."</p> + +<p>"But, Bessie, I was thinking: suppose he didn't carry me to the place +where the other gypsies are? Suppose he took me right off into the woods +somewhere, and hid?"</p> + +<p>"You'd both have to have food, Dolly. And as he couldn't get that very +easily, he'd be taking a big chance of getting caught. No, what I really +think is that he wants to see you, and try to persuade you to go with +him willingly. Then he wouldn't be in any danger, you see."</p> + +<p>"Ugh! He must be an awful fool to think he could do that!"</p> + +<p>"Well, he's not bad looking, Dolly. And he's probably vain. The chances +are that all the gypsy girls set their caps at him, because, if you +remember, he was about the only good looking young man there in their +camp. Most of the men were married. So, if he's always been popular with +the girls of his own people, he may have got the idea that he's quite +irresistible. That all he's got to do is to tell a girl he wants to +marry her to have her fall right into his arms, like a ripe apple +falling from a tree."</p> + +<p>"The horrid brute! If he ever comes near me again, I'll slap his face +for him."</p> + +<p>"You'd better not do anything of the sort. The best thing for you to do +if you ever see him anywhere near you again is to run, just as hard as +you can. Dolly, you've no idea of the rage a man like that can fly into. +If you struck him you can't tell what he might try to do. But I hope +you'll never see him again."</p> + +<p>Dolly shivered a little.</p> + +<p>"Are you sleepy, Bessie?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No, I think I'm too excited to be sleepy. It was so startling to be +expecting to see a deer, and then to see his face in the light. No, I'm +not sleepy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bessie! Isn't it possible that you were mistaken? You know, you +couldn't have seen his face for more than a moment, if you did see it. +Weren't you thinking so much of that gypsy that you just fancied you saw +him, when you really didn't at all?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, I'm quite sure, Dolly. I was perfectly certain it was a deer, +and that was all I was thinking about. And I heard him cry out, too. +That would be enough to make me certain that I was right. A deer +wouldn't have cried out, and it wouldn't have stood perfectly still, +either. It would have turned around and run as soon as it saw the light; +any animal would have. It would have been too terrified to do anything +else."</p> + +<p>"But don't you suppose he was frightened? Why didn't he run?"</p> + +<p>"Were you ever so frightened that you couldn't do a thing but just stand +still? I have been; so frightened that I couldn't even have cried out +for help, and couldn't have moved for a minute or so, for anything in +the world.</p> + +<p>"I think he may have been frightened that way. Men aren't like animals, +they're more likely to be too frightened to move than to run away +because they're afraid. And the fear that makes a man run away is a +different sort, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"It's getting cold, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the fire's burning low. We'd better get to bed, Dolly."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; I couldn't. I don't want to be there in the dark. I'm sure I +couldn't sleep if I went to bed. I'd much rather sit out here by the +fire and talk, if you're not sleepy. And you said you weren't."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we could get some more wood and throw it on the fire. It +would be warm enough then, if we got a couple of blankets to wrap around +us."</p> + +<p>"I think it's a good idea to stay awake and keep watch, anyhow, in case +he should come back. Then, if he saw someone sitting up by the fire he +would be scared off, I should think."</p> + +<p>"All right. Slip in as quietly as you can, Dolly, and get our blankets +from the tent, while I put on some more wood. There's lots of it, that's +a good thing. There's no reason why we shouldn't use it."</p> + +<p>So, while Dolly crept into their tent to get the; blankets, Bessie piled +wood high on the embers of the camp fire, until the sparks began to fly, +and the wood began to burn with a high, clear flame. And when Dolly +returned she had with her a box of marshmallows;</p> + +<p>"Now we'll have a treat," she said. "I forgot all about these. I didn't +remember I'd brought them with me. Give me a pointed stick and I'll +toast you one."</p> + +<p>Bessie looked on curiously. The joys of toasted marshmallows were new to +her, but when she tasted her first one she was prepared to agree with +Dolly that they were just the things to eat in such a spot.</p> + +<p>"I never liked them much before," said Bessie. "They're ever so much +better when they're toasted this way."</p> + +<p>"They're good for you, too," said Dolly, her mouth full of the soft +confection. "At least, that's what everyone says, and I know they've +never hurt me. Sometimes I eat so much candy that I don't feel well +afterwards, but it's never been that way with toasted marshmallows. My, +but I'm glad I found that box!"</p> + +<p>"So'm I," admitted Bessie. "It seems to make the time pass to have them +to eat. Here, let me toast some of them, now. You're doing all the +work."</p> + +<p>"I will not, you'd spoil them. It takes a lot of skill to toast +marshmallows properly," Dolly boasted. "Heavens, Bessie, when there is +something I can do well, let me do it. Aunt Mabel says she thinks I'd be +a good cook if I would put my mind to it, but that's only because she +likes the fudge I make."</p> + +<p>"How do you make fudge?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Bessie King! Do you mean to say you don't know? I thought you +were such a good cook!"</p> + +<p>"I never said so, Dolly. I had to do a lot of cooking at the farm when +Maw Hoover wasn't well, but she never let me do anything but cook plain +food. That's the only sort we ever had, anyhow. So I never got a chance +to learn to make fudge or anything like that."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll teach you, when we get a good chance, Bessie," promised +Dolly, seriously.</p> + +<p>"I'll be glad to take lessons from you, Dolly," she said. "I think it +would be fine to know how to make all sorts of candy. Then, if you did +know, and could do it really well, you could make lots of it, and sell +it. People always like candy, and in the city a lot of the shops have +signs saying that they sell Home Made Candy and Fudge. So people must +like it better than the sort they make in factories."</p> + +<p>"I should say so, Bessie. But most of those stores are just cheating +you, because the stuff they sell isn't home made at all. Everyone says +mine is much better."</p> + +<p>Bessie grew serious.</p> + +<p>"Why, Dolly," she said, "I think it would be a fine idea to make candy +to sell! I really believe I'd like to do that—"</p> + +<p>"I bet you would make just lots and lots of money if you did," said +Dolly, taking hold of a new idea, as she always did, with enthusiasm. +"And we could get one of the stores to sell it for us and keep some of +the money for their trouble. Suppose we sold it for fifty cents a pound, +the store would get twenty or twenty-five cents and we'd get the rest. +And—"</p> + +<p>Bessie laughed.</p> + +<p>"You're not forgetting that it costs something to make, are you!" she +asked. "You have to allow for what it costs before you begin to think of +how you're going to spend your profits. But I really do think it would +work, Dolly. When we get back to town we'll figure it all out, and see +how much it would cost for butter and sugar and nuts and chocolate and +all the things we'd need."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and if we used lots of things we'd get them cheaper, too, Bessie," +said Dolly, surprising Bessie by this exhibition of her business +knowledge. "Oh, I think that would be fine. I'd just love to have money +that I'd earned myself. Some of the other girls have been winning honor +beads by earning money, but I never could think of any way that I could +do it."</p> + +<p>Dolly was beginning to yawn, and Bessie herself felt sleepy. But when +she proposed that they should go into the tent now Dolly protested.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let's stay outside, Bessie," she said. "If we went in now we'd just +wake ourselves up. We can sleep out here just as well as not. What's +the difference!"</p> + +<p>And Bessie was so sleepy that she was glad to agree to that. In a few +moments they were sound asleep, with no thought of the exciting episodes +of the day and night to disturb them.</p> + +<p>The fire was low when Bessie awoke with a start. At first everything +seemed all right; she could hear nothing. But then, suddenly, she looked +over to where Dolly had been lying. There was no sign of her chum! And, +just as Bessie herself was about to cry out, she heard a muffled call, +in Dolly's tones, and then a loud crashing through the undergrowth near +the camp, as someone or something made off swiftly through the woods! +The gypsy had come back!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE PURSUIT</h3> + + +<p>For a moment Bessie was too paralyzed with fear even to cry but. It was +plain that the gypsy had carried poor Dolly away with him, and that, +moreover, he had muffled her one cry for help. For a moment Bessie stood +wondering what to do. To alarm the camp would be almost useless, she +felt; the girls, waking up out of a sound sleep, could do nothing until +they understood what had happened, and even then the chances were +against their being able to help in any practical manner.</p> + +<p>And so Bessie fought down that blind instinct to scream out her terror, +and, in a moment, throwing off her blanket, she began to creep out into +the black woods, dark now as pitch, and as impenetrable, it seemed, as +one of the tropical jungles she had read of.</p> + +<p>One thing Bessie felt to be, above everything, necessary. She must find +out what the gypsy meant to do, and where he was taking Dolly. If, by +some lucky chance, she could track him, there would be a far better +opportunity to rescue Dolly in the morning, when the guides would be +called to help, and, if necessary, men from the hotel at Loon Pond and +other places in the woods. To such a call for help, Bessie knew well +there would be an instant response.</p> + +<p>"He'll never go back to the camp," Bessie told herself, trying to argue +the problem out, so that she might overlook none of the points that were +involved, and that might make so much difference to poor Dolly, who was +paying so dear a price for her prank. "If he did, he'd be sure that +there would be people there, looking for him, as soon as the word got +around that Dolly was missing."</p> + +<p>She stopped for a moment, to listen attentively, but though the woods +were full of slight noises, she heard nothing that she could decide +positively was the gypsy. Still, burdened as he was with Dolly, it +seemed to Bessie that he must make some noise, no matter how skilled a +woodsman he might be, and how much training he had had in silent +traveling in his activities as a poacher and hunter of game in woods +where keepers were on guard.</p> + +<p>"He'll find out some place where they're not likely to look for him, and +stay there until the people around here have given up the idea of +finding him," said Bessie to herself. "That's why I've got to follow him +now. And I'm sure he's on one of the trails; he couldn't carry Dolly +through the thick woods, no one could. Oh, I wish I could hear +something!"</p> + +<p>That wish, for the time, at least, was to be denied, but it was not long +before Bessie, still tramping through thick undergrowth in the direction +she was sure her quarry had taken, came to a break in the woods, where +it was a little lighter, and she could see her way.</p> + +<p>She saw at once that she had come to a trail, and, though she had never +seen it before, she guessed that it was the one that led to Deer +Mountain, from what Miss Eleanor had told her about the trails about +the camp. And, moreover, as she started to follow it, convinced that the +gypsy, on finding it, would have abandoned the rougher traveling of the +uncut woods, she saw something that almost wrung a cry of startled joy +from her.</p> + +<p>It was not much that she saw, only a fragment of white cloth, caught in +the branches of a bush that had pushed itself out onto the trail. But it +was as good as a long letter, for the cloth was from Dolly's dress, and +it was plain and unmistakable evidence that her chum had been carried +along this trail.</p> + +<p>She walked on more quickly now, pausing about once in a hundred yards to +listen for sounds of those who were, as she was convinced, ahead of her, +and, about half a mile beyond the spot where she had found that white +pointer, she saw another piece of mute but convincing evidence, of +exactly the same sort, and caught in the same way.</p> + +<p>As Bessie kept on, the ground continued to rise, and she realized that +she must be on the crest of Deer Mountain, one of the heights that +lifted itself above the level of the surrounding woods. Although a high +mountain, the climb from Long Lake was not a particularly severe one, +for all the ground was so high that even the highest peaks in the range +that was covered by these woods did not seem, unless one were looking at +them from a distance of many miles, in the plain below, to be as high as +they really were.</p> + +<p>The trail that Bessie followed, as she knew, was leading her directly +away from Loon Pond and the gypsy camp, but that did not disturb her, +since she had expected the gypsy to bear away from his companions. Her +mind was working quickly now, and she wondered just how far the gypsies +were likely to go in support of their reckless companion.</p> + +<p>She knew that the bonds among these nomads were very strong, but there +was another element in this particular case that might, she thought, +complicate matters. The man who had carried Dolly off was engaged to be +married to the dark-eyed girl they had talked with, and it was possible +that that fact might make trouble for him, and prevent him from +receiving the aid of his tribe, as he would surely have done in any +ordinary struggle with the laws of the people whom the gypsies seemed to +despise and dislike.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly the girl's parents, if she had any, would resent the slight +he was casting upon their daughter, and if they were powerful or +influential in the tribe, they would probably try to get him cast out, +and cause the other gypsies to refuse him the aid he was probably +counting upon.</p> + +<p>The most important thing, Bessie still felt, was to find out where Dolly +was to be hidden. And, as she pressed on, tired, but determined not to +give up what seemed to her to be the best chance of rescuing her chum, +Bessie looked about constantly for some fresh evidence of Dolly's +presence.</p> + +<p>But luck was not to favor her again. Sharp as was her watch, there were +no more torn pieces of Dolly's dress to guide her, and, even had Bessie +been an expert in woodcraft, and so able to follow their tracks, it was +too dark to use that means of tracing them.</p> + +<p>Bessie did, indeed, think of that, and of waiting until some guide +should come, who might be able to read the message of the trail. But she +reflected that it was more than possible that none of the men in the +neighborhood might be able to do so, and it seemed to her that it was +better to take the slim chance she had than abandon it in favor of +something that might, after all, turn out to be no chance at all.</p> + +<p>The darkness was beginning to yield now to the first forerunners of the +day. In the east there was a faint radiance that told of the coming of +the sun, and Bessie hurried on, since she felt sure that the gypsy would +not venture to travel in daylight, and must mean to hide Dolly before +the coming of the sun lightened the task of his pursuers, since he must +feel certain that he would be pursued, although he might have no inkling +that anyone was already on his trail.</p> + +<p>But now Bessie had to face a new problem that did, indeed, force her to +rest. For suddenly the well defined, broad trail ended, and broke up +into a series of smaller paths. Evidently this was a spot at which those +who wished to reach the summit of the mountain took diverging paths, +according to the particular spot they wanted to reach, and whether they +were bound on a picnic or merely wanted to get to a spot whence they +might see the splendid view for which Deer Mountain was famed.</p> + +<p>In the darkness there was absolutely no way of telling which of these +many diverging trails the gypsy had followed, and Bessie, ready to cry +with disappointment and anxiety for Dolly, was forced to sit down on a +stump and wait for daylight. Even that might not help her.</p> + +<p>Her best chance, however, was to wait until the light came, and then, +despite her lack of acquaintance with the art of reading footprints, to +try to distinguish those of the gypsy. All that she needed was some clue +to enable her to guess which path her quarry had taken; beyond that the +message of the footprints was not necessary.</p> + +<p>As she sat there, watching the slow, slow lightening in the east, Bessie +wondered if the day was ever coming. She had seen the sun rise before, +but never had it seemed so lazy, so inclined to linger in its couch of +night.</p> + +<p>But every wait comes to an end at last, and finally Bessie was able to +go back a little way, before the other trails began to branch off, and +bending over, to try to pick out the footprints of the man who had +carried Dolly off. It was easy to do, fortunately, or Bessie could +scarcely have hoped to accomplish it.</p> + +<p>There had been a light rain the previous morning, enough to soften the +ground and wipe out the traces of the numerous parties that had made +Deer Mountain the objective point of a tramp in the woods, and, mingled +with her own small footsteps, Bessie soon found the marks of hobnailed +feet, that must, she was sure, have been made by the gypsy.</p> + +<p>Step by step she followed them, and she was just about at the first of +the diverging trails when a sound behind her made her turn, terrified, +to see who was approaching.</p> + +<p>But it was not the man who had so frightened her whom she saw as she +turned. It was a girl—a gypsy, to be sure—but a girl, and Bessie had +no fear of her, even when she saw that it was the same girl the scamp +she was pursuing was to marry. Moreover, the girl seemed as surprised +and frightened at the sight of Bessie, crouching there? as Bessie +herself had been at the other's coming.</p> + +<p>"Where is he; that wicked man you are to marry?" cried Bessie, fiercely, +springing to her feet, and advancing upon the trembling gypsy girl. "You +shall tell me, or I will—"</p> + +<p>She seized the gypsy girls shoulders, and shook her, before she realized +that the girl, whose eyes were filled with tears, probably knew as +little as she herself. Then, repentant, she released her shoulders, but +repeated her question.</p> + +<p>"You mean John, my man?" said the girl, a quiver in her tones. "I do +not know, he was not at the camp last night. I was afraid. I think he +does not love me any more."</p> + +<p>Something about the way she spoke made Bessie pity her.</p> + +<p>"What is your name?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Lolla," said the gypsy.</p> + +<p>"I believe you do not know, Lolla," said Bessie, kindly. "And you do not +want him to be sent to prison, perhaps for years and years, do you? You +love this John?"</p> + +<p>"Prison? They would send him there? What for? No, no—yes, I love him. +Do you know where he is; where he was last night?"</p> + +<p>"I know where he was last night, Lolla, yes. He came to our camp and +carried my friend away. You remember, the one who was with me yesterday, +when we looked at your camp? That is why I am looking for him. He says +he will make her marry him later on; that he will keep her with your +tribe until she is ready."</p> + +<p>Lolla's tears ceased suddenly, and there was a gleam of passionate +anger in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"He will do that?" she said, angrily. "My brothers, they will kill him +if he does that. He is to marry me, we are betrothed. You do not know +where he is? You would like to find your friend?"</p> + +<p>"I must, Lolla."</p> + +<p>"Then I will help you, if you will help me. Will you?"</p> + +<p>Lolla looked intently at Bessie, as if she were trying to tell from her +eyes whether she really meant what she said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish I knew whether you are good; whether you speak the truth," +cried the gypsy girl, passionately. "That other girl, your friend. She +wants my John. So—"</p> + +<p>Bessie, serious as the situation was, could not help laughing.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Lolla," she said. "You mustn't think that. Dolly—that's my +friend—thinks John is good looking, perhaps, but she hasn't even +thought of marrying anyone yet, oh, for years. She's too young. +We don't get married as early as you. So you may be sure that if John +has her, all she wants is to get away and get back to her friends."</p> + +<p>Lolla's eyes lighted with relief.</p> + +<p>"That is good," she said. "Then I will help, for that is what I want, +too. I do not want her to live in the tribe, and to be with us. You are +sure John has taken her?"</p> + +<p>Then Bessie told her of the face they had seen in the flashlight, and of +how Dolly had been spirited away from the camp fire afterward. And as +she spoke, she was surprised to see that Lolla's eyes shone, as if she +were delighted by the recital.</p> + +<p>"Why, Lolla, you look pleased!" said Bessie. "As if you were glad it had +happened. How can that be; how can you seem as if you were happy about +it?"</p> + +<p>Lolla blushed slightly.</p> + +<p>"He is my man," she said, simply. "He is strong and brave, do you not +see? If he were not brave he would not dare to act so. He is a fine +man. If I were bad, he would beat me. And he will beat anyone who is not +good to me. Of course, I am glad that he was brave enough to act so, +though I did not want him to do it."</p> + +<p>Bessie laughed. The primitive, elemental idea that was expressed in +Lolla's words was beyond her comprehension, and, in fact, a good many +people older and wiser than Bessie do not understand it.</p> + +<p>But Lolla did not mind the laugh. She did not understand what was in +Bessie's mind; what she had said seemed so simple to her that it +required no explanation. And now her mind was bent entirely upon the +problem of getting Dolly back to her friends, in order that John might +turn back to her and forget the American girl whose appeal to him had +lain chiefly in the fact that she was so different from the women of his +own race.</p> + +<p>"He will not take her back to camp," said Lolla, thoughtfully. "He knows +they would look there first."</p> + +<p>"But will the others—your people—help him?"</p> + +<p>"He may tell them that he has stolen her to get a ransom; to keep her +until her friends pay well for her to be returned. Our old men do not +like that, they say it is too dangerous. But if he were to say that he +had done so, they might help him, because our people stand and fall +together. But," and her eyes shone, "I will tell my brothers the truth. +They will believe me, and—Quick! Hide in those bushes; someone is +coming!"</p> + +<p>Bessie obeyed instantly. But, once she had hidden herself, she heard +nothing. It was not for a minute or more after she had slipped into the +bushes that she heard the sound that had disturbed Lolla. But then, +looking out, she saw John coming down one of the paths, peering about +him cautiously.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>AN UNEXPECTED ALLY</h3> + + +<p>Bessie's heart leaped at the sight of the man who had given her her wild +tramp through the night, and it was all she could do to resist her +impulse to rush out, accuse him of the crime she knew he had committed, +and demand that he give Dolly up to her at once. It was hard to believe +that he was really dangerous.</p> + +<p>Here, in the early morning light, his clothes soaked by the wet woods, +as were Bessie's for that matter, he looked very cheap and tawdry, and +not at all like a man to be feared. But a moment's reflection convinced +Bessie that, for the time at least, it would be far wiser to leave +matters in the hands of Lolla, the gypsy girl, who understood this man, +and, if she feared him, and with cause, did so from reasons very +different from Bessie's.</p> + +<p>For a moment after he came in sight John did not see Lolla. Bessie +watched the pair, so different from any people she had ever seen at +close range before, narrowly. She was intensely interested in Lolla, and +wondered mightily what the gypsy girl intended to do. But she did not +have long to wait.</p> + +<p>Lolla, with a little cry, rushed forward, and, casting herself on the +ground at her lover's feet, seized his hand and kissed it. At first she +said not a word; only looked up at him with her black, brilliant eyes, +in which Bessie could see that a tear was glistening.</p> + +<p>"Lolla! What are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>At the sight of the girl John had started, nervously. It was plain that +he did not feel secure; that he thought his pursuers might, even thus +early, have tracked him down, and, in the moment before he had +recognized Lolla, Bessie saw him quail, while his face whitened, so that +Bessie knew he was afraid.</p> + +<p>That knowledge, somehow, comforted her vastly. It removed at once some +of the formidable quality which John had acquired in her eyes when he +stole Dolly after the fright that he must have had when the flashlight +powder exploded, almost in his face. But Bessie remembered that he had +plucked up his courage after that scare; the chances were that he would +do so again now.</p> + +<p>But, if Bessie was afraid of the kidnapper, Lolla was not. She rose, and +faced him defiantly. Bessie thought there was something splendid about +the gypsy girl, and she wondered why John, with such a girl ready and +anxious to marry him, had been diverted from her by Dolly, charming +though she was.</p> + +<p>"I have come to save you, John," said Lolla. "Where is the American girl +you stole from her friends!"</p> + +<p>John started, evidently surprised by Lolla's knowledge of what he had +done, and said something, sharply, in the gypsy tongue, which Bessie, of +course, could not understand. Her question, it was plain, had +frightened, as well as startled him; but it had also made him very +angry. Lolla, however, did not seem to mind his anger. She faced him +boldly, without giving ground, although he had moved toward her with a +threatening gesture of his uplifted hand.</p> + +<p>"Hit me, if you will," she said. "I am not your wife yet, but when I am +it will be your right to strike me if you wish. But I know what you have +done. I know, too, that the Americans know it. Do you think you can +escape from these woods without being caught?"</p> + +<p>John stared at her angrily.</p> + +<p>"I am going now to the camp," he said. "If. they come looking for news +of the girl, they will find me there, and plenty to swear that I have +been there all this night, and so could not have done what they charge. +My tribe will help me; it is my right to call upon it for help."</p> + +<p>"You forget me," said Lolla, dangerously. "I will swear that I saw you +here, where I came to look for you because you had stayed away from the +camp all the night. And when I tell my brothers, what will they swear?"</p> + +<p>Again the man muttered something in the gypsy-tongue, but under his +breath. When he spoke aloud to Lolla it was in English.</p> + +<p>"They are Barlomengri; they will support me. They will never let the +policemen take me away. They are my brothers—"</p> + +<p>"Do you think you can jilt their sister, the girl you asked for as your +wife before all the tribe, and escape their vengeance? Do you think they +will not punish you, even by seeing that you die in a prison, in a +cell?"</p> + +<p>And now John, beside himself with anger, fulfilled the threat of his +uplifted hand, and struck Lolla sharply.</p> + +<p>"Strike me again!" cried Lolla, furiously. "I have done no wrong! I am +trying only to save you from your own folly. Tell me, at least, where +you have hidden the girl? Would you have her starve? You will be +watched, so that you may not bring her food. Had you thought of that?"</p> + +<p>"Will you betray me? If you do not I shall not be watched! They will +know as soon as they look for me that I was in the camp all through the +night. Lolla, you fool, I love you, only you. I want her to win a +ransom. They will pay to have her back, those Americans."</p> + +<p>Lolla had guessed right when she had said that this would be his plea. +But Bessie was surprised, and thought Lolla must also wonder at his +telling her such a story. Lolla looked scornfully at John.</p> + +<p>"I am no baby that I should believe such a tale as that," she said +witheringly. "I give you your chance, John, your last chance. Will you +take this girl back to her people, or set her free and show her the +road? Or must I bear witness against you, and tell the tribe that you +would shame me by forsaking me even before I am your wife?"</p> + +<p>"Let me go," said John furiously. "We shall see if a woman's talk is to +be taken before mine. You fool! Even your brothers will laugh at your +Jealousy, and rejoice with me over the money this girl will bring us. +Let me pass—"</p> + +<p>"Tell me, at least, where you have hidden her! She will starve, I tell +you—"</p> + +<p>"She will not starve. Think you I know no more than that of doing such a +piece of work! It is not the first time we have made anxious fathers pay +to win their children back! Ha-ha! Peter, my friend, comes to take my +watch. He will see to it that she does not suffer for food. And he will +keep her safe for me. Out of my way!"</p> + +<p>He brushed Lolla aside roughly, and strode off down the trail that +Bessie had followed. For a moment, while she could hear the sound of his +retreating footsteps, Lolla did not move. But then she raised herself, a +smile in her eyes, and beckoned to Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Go up that path, quickly," she whispered. "Somewhere up there, hidden, +you will find your friend. Comfort her, but do not let her move. If she +is tied up, leave her so. Tell her that help is near. I will free her."</p> + +<p>"But why—why not come with me, and free her now!" protested Bessie, +eagerly. "We can find her, for he came down that path, so he must have +left her somewhere up there. Oh, come, Lolla, you will never regret it!"</p> + +<p>"Did you not hear him say that Peter was coming? Peter is his best +friend; they are closer together, and are more to one another, than +brothers. If we tried to escape with her now, Peter would find us, and +his hand is heavy. We should do your friend no good, and be punished +ourselves. We must wait. But hurry, before he comes. Tell her to be +happy, and not to fear. I will save her, and you. We will work together +to save her."</p> + +<p>And with that Bessie, much as she would have liked to get Dolly out of +the clutches of her captor at once, had to be content. She realized +fully that in Lolla she had gained an utterly unexpected ally, in whom +lay the best possible chance for the immediate release of her chum, and +the mere knowledge of where Dolly was hidden would be extremely +valuable.</p> + +<p>After all, it was all, and, possibly, more, than she had expected to +accomplish when she had plunged into the woods after the gypsy and his +prisoner, and she felt that she ought to be satisfied. So she hurried at +once up the path that Lolla pointed out, leaving the gypsy girl below as +a guard.</p> + +<p>The path was rough and steep, rising sharply, but Bessie paid little +heed to its difficulties, since she felt that it was taking her to +Dolly. She kept her eyes and ears open for any sight or sound that might +make it easier to find Dolly, but she did not call out, since she felt +that it was practically certain the gypsy had managed, in some manner, +to make it impossible for poor Dolly to cry out, lest, in his absence, +she alarm some passerby and so obtain her freedom.</p> + +<p>Bessie was sure that Dolly would not be left in some place that could +be seen from the path, but she was also sure that she could not be far +from it, since there had not been time for the gypsy to make any +extended trip through the woods off the trail. Bessie had traveled fast +through the night, and she was sure that John, with the weight of Dolly +to carry, had not been able to move as fast as she, and could not, +therefore, have been more than twenty minutes or half an hour ahead of +her in reaching the trail she was now following.</p> + +<p>So she watched carefully for some break in the thick undergrowth that +lined the trail, for some opening through which John might have gone +with his burden. There might even, she thought, be another of those +precious sign posts that, back on the other trail, had been made by the +torn pieces from Dolly's skirt.</p> + +<p>But, careful as was her search, she reached the end of the trail without +finding anything that looked like a promising place, or seeing anything +that made her think Dolly was within a short distance of her. The trail +led to an exposed peak, a ragged outcrop of rock, bare of trees, and +covered only with a slight undergrowth.</p> + +<p>Once there Bessie understood why the trail had been made through the +woods. The view was wonderful. Below her were the waving tops of +countless trees, and beyond them she could look down and over the +cultivated valleys, full of farms, whose fields, marked off by stone +fences, looked small and insignificant from her high perch.</p> + +<p>Bessie, however, was in no mood to enjoy a view. She wasted no time in +admiring it, but only peered over the edge of the peak on which she +stood, to satisfy herself that Dolly was not hidden just below her. One +look was enough to do that. There was a way, she soon saw, of +descending, and reaching the woods again, but no man, carrying any sort +of a burden, could have accomplished that descent.</p> + +<p>It was a task that called for the use of feet and hands and Bessie +turned desperately, convinced that she must, in some manner, have +overlooked the place at which John had turned off the main trail with +his burden.</p> + +<p>Now, as she went downward, she searched the woods at each side with +redoubled care, and at last she found what she had been looking for, or +what, it seemed to her, must be the place, since she had seen no other +that offered even a chance for a successful passage through the thick +growth of trees and underbrush.</p> + +<p>Without hesitation she turned off the trail, and, though the going was +rough, and her hands and face were scratched, while her clothes were +torn, she was rewarded at last by finding that the ground below her grew +smooth, showing that human feet had passed that way often enough to wear +the faintest sort of a path.</p> + +<p>Once she became aware of the path her heart grew light, for she was sure +now that she was going in the right direction at last. And, indeed, it +was not more than five minutes before she almost stumbled over Dolly +herself, bound to a tree, and with a handkerchief stuffed in her mouth +so that she could not cry out.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dolly! I'm so glad, so glad! Listen, dear; I can't stay. You'll +have to be here a little while longer, but we will soon have you back at +the camp, as safe and well as ever. Are you hurt? Does it give you pain? +If it doesn't shake your head sideways."</p> + +<p>Dolly managed to shake her head, and in her eyes Bessie saw that now +that she knew help was near Dolly's courage would sustain her.</p> + +<p>"That gypsy girl we saw is near, but the man who carried you off is +going to send another man to watch, and if I let you go now we'd only +meet him, and be in more trouble than ever. But be brave, dear! it won't +be long now."</p> + +<p>Poor Dolly could not answer, for Bessie, remembering that Lolla had +seemed to fear the man Peter more than she did John, dared not even +loosen the gag. She saw, however, that while it must be making Dolly +terribly uncomfortable, she could breathe, and that it was probably +worse in appearance than in fact. So she leaned down and kissed her +chum, and whispered in her ear.</p> + +<p>"I'm going back to Lolla now, dear, but I'll soon be back with enough +help so that we needn't care how many of the gypsies there are near us. +If I stay now I'm afraid they'll catch me, too, and then no one would +know where you were. They can't get you away from here, so you're sure +to be safe soon."</p> + +<p>Dolly nodded to show that she understood, and Bessie moved silently +away. But, as she turned down the trail that would take her back to the +spot where she had left Lolla, she had a new cause for fright. She heard +Lolla's voice, raised loudly, arguing with a man who answered in low, +guttural tones. What they were saying she could not distinguish, but +somehow she understood that Peter had come even sooner than Lolla had +feared, and the gypsy girl, at the risk of angering him, was trying to +warn her, so that she might not descend the trail and so stumble right +into his arms.</p> + +<p>So, although the prospect frightened her, she turned and made her way +swiftly up to the peak again, determined that if the man should go past +the opening that led to the place where Dolly lay, she would risk the +danger and the difficulty of the rocky descent from the peak itself.</p> + +<p>As she hastened along silence fell behind her, and she knew that Peter +must have started. He was whistling a queer gypsy tune and Bessie heard +him pass the partly masked opening that she had herself found with so +much difficulty.</p> + +<p>After that she hesitated no longer, but rushed to the rocky top of the +peak, and in a moment she was making her way down, with as much caution +as possible, swinging from one ledge to the next, hanging on to a bush +here, and a projecting piece of rock there.</p> + +<p>Even an expert climber, equipped with rope and sharp pointed stick, +would have found the descent difficult. And all that enabled Bessie to +succeed was her knowledge that she must.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>A TERRIBLE SURPRISE</h3> + + +<p>Bessie, though she had to pause more than once in her wild descent of +the rocks, dared not look back to see if the gypsy, Peter, was pursuing +her, or even whether he was looking down after her. She had two reasons. +For one thing, the task was difficult and terrifying enough as it was, +and to know that there was danger from behind, as well as the peril +involved in the descent itself, would, she feared, unnerve her.</p> + +<p>And, moreover, even if Peter saw her, he might not, if she paid no +attention to him, suspect that she had anything to do with Dolly, or +that he and his companion had anything to dread from her. Bessie did not +know whether he would recognize her as having been at the gypsy camp +with Dolly, but she felt that it would be as well not to take the +chance. Things were bad enough without running the risk of complicating +them still further.</p> + +<p>The descent was a long and hard one, but when she was about half way +down to the comparatively level ground at the foot of the peak, all real +danger of a crippling fall was over, since there a path began. Evidently +some trampers who were fond of climbing had worn it through the rough +surface to a point where a good view was to be had, and had stopped +there, content with the distance they had gone, and not disposed to try +the further ascent. And as soon as Bessie reached that point she was +able to stop and get her breath.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile she wondered what had become of Lolla. The gypsy girl, as +Bessie understood thoroughly, was running severe risks. If the two men +knew that she was in league with Dolly's friends they would certainly +take some steps to silence her. But John, Bessie felt sure, did not +believe that Lolla, no matter how jealous she might be, would actually +betray her own people to the hated Americans. He had smiled in a +confident manner while Lolla had made her threats, and Bessie thought he +regarded the girl as a child in a temper, but sure to come to her senses +before she actually put him in danger.</p> + +<p>What to do next was a problem. Bessie, when she had followed the rough +path until it led to a trail, was completely lost. She knew, roughly, +and in a general way, the direction of Camp Manasquan, as the camp at +Long Lake was called, but that was about all.</p> + +<p>"If I go straight ahead I may be going just as straight as I can away +from anyone who can help Dolly," she reflected. "Or I may get over +toward Loon Pond, and run into that awful gypsy, and then I'd be worse +off than ever! Oh, I do wish I knew where I was, or how I can find +Lolla. She must know these woods, and she'd be able to help me, I'm +sure."</p> + +<p>Finally, however, Bessie determined to move slowly along the trail in a +direction that would, she thought, take her around the bottom of Deer +Mountain. She remembered that just a little while before she had come +to the place where she had first seen Lolla, a side path had crossed the +trail on which she had followed Dolly and her captor, and it seemed +likely to her that that path would also cross the trail she was now on.</p> + +<p>If it did she could work back to a spot she knew, and so find her +bearings, at least. Then, if there was nothing else to be done, she +would certainly be able to get back to Long Lake. For her to stay in the +woods, lost and hungry, would not help Dolly.</p> + +<p>So she set out bravely, walking as fast as she could. The sun was high +in the heavens now, and it was long after breakfast time, so that Bessie +was hungry, but she thought little of that.</p> + +<p>As she had hoped, and half expected, she came, presently, and at what +seemed to her the proper place, upon a trail that crossed the one she +was following, and she turned to the left without hesitation. She might, +she felt, be going in the wrong direction altogether, but she could not +very well be more hopelessly lost she was already; and, if she had to +be out in the woods without a clue to the proper way to turn, she felt +it made very, little difference whether she was in one place or in +another.</p> + +<p>The new trail was one evidently little used, and when Bessie had been on +it for perhaps ten minutes, and was beginning to think that it was time +she came in sight of the larger trail from Long Lake to Deer Mountain, +she heard someone coming toward her, and, rounding a bend, came into +sight of Lolla.</p> + +<p>The gypsy girl seemed overwhelmed with joy at the sight of Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how glad I am!" she exclaimed. "I was afraid that Peter had caught +you and tied you up with your friend, and that you would think I had +sent you up there so that he would trap you! How did you escape?"</p> + +<p>"I climbed down the rocks," said Bessie simply, and smiled at Lolla's +gasp of astonishment.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> climbed down the rocks!" cried the gypsy. "However did you do +that? There ain't many men—not even many of our men—would try that, I +can tell you. I thought perhaps you would try to do that, and I was +coming around this way to get to the foot of the rocks and see if I +could find out what had become of you."</p> + +<p>"You know where we are and how to get back, then?" asked Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Of course I do. I know all these woods." Lolla laughed. "I have set +traps for partridges and rabbits here many and many a time, but the +guides never saw me. You knew where you were going, didn't you? If you'd +kept on as you were going when you met me you would have come to the +main trail in a minute or two, and then, if you'd turned to the right, +and kept straight on, you'd have come to Long Lake, where you started +from."</p> + +<p>"I thought that was what would happen, Lolla, but I wasn't quite sure."</p> + +<p>"Did you hear me shouting when Peter came along? I hoped you would +understand and bide yourself some way, so that he wouldn't find you. +What I was most afraid of was that you would be in the woods with your +friend, and that you wouldn't hear us."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I heard you, and I knew what you were doing, Lolla; that you meant +to warn me that Peter had come sooner than you thought he would. I was +grateful, too, but I was afraid just to hide myself and let him go by, +because the woods were so thick on each side of the trail that I was +afraid he would see where I had broken through and catch me."</p> + +<p>Lolla nodded her head.</p> + +<p>"You are wise. You would be a good gypsy, Bessie. You would soon learn +all the things we know ourselves. Peter has very quick eyes, and he is +very suspicious, too. He saw you at the camp, you know, and he would +have guessed right away, if he had seen you there, that you were looking +for Dolly."</p> + +<p>"That was just what I was afraid of, Lolla. He would have tied me up +with her if he had found me, wouldn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He's a bad man, that Peter. I think if John and he were not so +friendly John would not have done this. He is kind, and brave, and he +always tried to stop anyone who wanted to steal children. He would steal +a horse, or a deer, but never a child; that was cowardly, he said."</p> + +<p>"He didn't hurt you, did he, Lolla?"</p> + +<p>The gypsy girl laughed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. He tried to hit me, but I got away from him too quickly. I +would not let him touch me. With John it is different. He is my man; he +may beat me if he likes. But not Peter; I hate him. If he beat me I +would put this into him."</p> + +<p>Bessie, surprised by the look of hate in Lolla's eyes, drew back in fear +as Lolla produced a long, sharp knife from the folds of her dress, and +flourished it for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lolla, please put that away!" she exclaimed. "There's no one here +to be afraid of." Lolla laughed.</p> + +<p>"No, but I have it if I need it," she said meaningly.</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do now, Lolla? We can't leave Dolly up there much +longer. They've got her tied up, and gagged, so that she can't call out, +and she's terribly uncomfortable, though I don't think she's suffering +much."</p> + +<p>"We will get her soon," said Lolla, confidently.</p> + +<p>"You stay near where she is, so that they can't get her away," said +Bessie, "and I'll go and get help. Then we shan't have any trouble."</p> + +<p>But Lolla frowned at the suggestion.</p> + +<p>"You would get those guides, and they would catch my man and put him in +prison, oh, for years, perhaps! No, no; I will get her away, with you to +help me. Leave that to me. Peter is stupid. Come with me now; I know +what we must do."</p> + +<p>"Where are you going? This isn't the way back to where Dolly is," +protested Bessie, as Lolla pressed on in the direction from which +Bessie had come. "We can never get up those rocks, Lolla; it was hard +enough to come down."</p> + +<p>"We are not going there, not yet," said Lolla. "I must go to the camp +and find out what John is doing. If he comes back to watch her himself +it will be harder. But if he has to stay, and Peter looks after her, +then we shall have no trouble. You shall see; only trust me. I managed +so that you saw her, didn't I? Doesn't that show you that I can do what +I say?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," sighed Bessie. "I should think you wouldn't care if that +man does go to prison, though, Lolla. He isn't nice to you, and you say +he'll beat you when you're married. American men don't beat their wives. +If they did they would be sent to prison. I should think you'd give him +up—"</p> + +<p>Lolla's dark eyes flamed for a moment, but then she smiled, as if she +had remembered that Bessie, not being a gypsy, could not be expected to +understand the gypsy ways.</p> + +<p>"He is a good man," she said. "He will always see that I have enough to +eat, and pretty things to wear. And if he beats me, it will be because I +have been wicked, and deserve to be beaten. When I am his wife he will +be like my father; if I am bad he will punish me. Is it not so among +your people?"</p> + +<p>Bessie struggled with a laugh at the thought of the only married couple +she had ever known at all well: Paw and Maw Hoover. The idea that Paw +Hoover, the mildest and most inoffensive of men, might ever beat his +wife would have made anyone who knew that couple laugh.</p> + +<p>Instead of turning when they reached the trail which Bessie had followed +after her descent from the rocks, Lolla led the way straight on.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you know where you are going, Lolla!" asked Bessie.</p> + +<p>Lolla smiled at her scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it is not the way you would go," she said. "The trail to the +camp will be full of people. They will be out all over the camp +particularly. We must come to it from another direction. That is why we +are going this way."</p> + +<p>It was not long before Bessie was as thoroughly lost as if she had been +in a maze. Lolla, however, seemed to know just where she was going. She +left one trail to turn into another without ever showing the slightest +doubt of her direction, and, at times, when the woods were thin, she +would take short cuts, leading the way through entirely pathless +portions of the forest with as much assurance as if she had been walking +through the streets of a city where she had lived all her life. Even +Bessie, used to long walks around Hedgeville, in which she had learned +the country thoroughly, was surprised.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I'd ever get to know these woods as well as you do," +she said admiringly. "Why, you never seem even to hesitate."</p> + +<p>"I've been here every summer since I was born," said Lolla, in a +laughing tone. "I ought to know these woods pretty well, I think."</p> + +<p>"I hope no one sees us now," said Bessie, nervously. "I really do feel +as if it were wrong for me to keep away. Miss Mercer must be as anxious +about me as she is about Dolly."</p> + +<p>"Is she the lady who is with you girls?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. You see, she probably thinks that was carried off, as well as +Dolly."</p> + +<p>"She will stop being anxious all the sooner for not knowing where you +are. I think it will not be long now before we get your friend away from +that place where she is hidden."</p> + +<p>"Well, I certainly hope so. Listen! I think I can hear voices in front +of us."</p> + +<p>"I heard them two or three minutes ago," said Lolla, with a smile. "Stay +here, now; hide behind that clump of bushes. I will go ahead and see +what I can find. Even if it is some of your friends they would not +suspect me; they would think I was just out for a walk."</p> + +<p>So Bessie waited for perhaps ten minutes, while Lolla crept forward +alone. But the gypsy was back soon, smiling.</p> + +<p>"All is safe now," she said. "Come quickly, though, so we shall get +behind them and be able to get near the camp. There is a place there +where you may hide while I find out what is going on."</p> + +<p>They reached the spot Lolla meant in a few minutes more, and again +Bessie had to play the inactive part and wait while Lolla went on to +gain the information she needed. When she came back she was smiling +happily.</p> + +<p>"That John is stupid, though he is so brave," she said to Bessie. "He +went back there to the camp, and he is sitting in front of his wagon. +There is a guide with a gun sitting near him, and my sister tells me +that the guide says he will follow him and shoot him if he tries to get +away.</p> + +<p>"There are many people there, and the whole camp is angry and +frightened. The king says he will punish John, but John will not admit +that he knows where your friend is. We are safe from him. They will not +let him get away for a long time."</p> + +<p>Bessie was comforted by the news. With her captor under guard, Dolly +had nothing to fear from him, and, though Peter might be a sullen and +dangerous man, Bessie felt that Lolla was right, and that he was too +thick witted to be greatly feared.</p> + +<p>They made the return trip with hearts far lighter than they had been as +they made their way to the gypsy camp. Bessie had seen that Lolla was +afraid of John, though now that he, had been over-reached she was ready +enough to laugh at him.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do! How are you going to get her away, Lolla?" +asked Bessie, as they neared the point where she had first seen her +ally."</p> + +<p>"I don't know yet," said Lolla, frankly. "If Peter is on the trail it +will be harder. I hope he will be inside, so that we can slip by without +his seeing us. If he is, and we get by, then you are to wait until you +hear me sing. So."</p> + +<p>She sang a bar or two of a gypsy melody, and repeated it until Bessie, +too, could hum it, to prove that she had it right, and would not fail to +recognize it.</p> + +<p>"When you hear me sing that, remember that you must run down and go to +your friend. Here is nay knife. Use it to cut the cords that tie her. +Then you and she must go back toward the rocks where you went down. And +when you hear me sing again you are to go down, as quickly as you can, +but quietly, and, as soon as you are past the place where she was +hidden, you must start running. I will try to catch up with you and go +with you, but do not wait for me."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand," Bessie began.</p> + +<p>But now Lolla was the general, brooking no defiance. She stamped her +foot.</p> + +<p>"It does not matter whether you understand or not," she said sharply. +"If you want me to save your friend and get back to the others you must +do as you are told, and quickly. Now, come."</p> + +<p>They went on up the trail, and, at the bend just below the spot where +she had broken through to reach Dolly before, Bessie waited while Lolla, +who had recognized the place from Bessie's description of it, crept +forward to make sure that the way was clear.</p> + +<p>"All right," she whispered. "Come on."</p> + +<p>Silently, but as swiftly as they could, they crept past the place, and, +when they were out of sight stopped.</p> + +<p>"Now, you will know my song when you hear it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, Lolla. Why, what have you got there?"</p> + +<p>"What I need to make Peter come with me," laughed Lolla. "See, a fine +meal, is it not? I got it at the camp. Let him smell that stew and he +would follow me out of the woods."</p> + +<p>Bessie began to understand Lolla's plan at last. She was going to tempt +Peter to betray his orders from his friend by appealing to his stomach. +And Bessie wondered again, as she had many times since she had met +Lolla, at the cunning of the gypsy girl.</p> + +<p>Her confidence in Lolla was complete by now, and she did not at all mind +waiting as she saw the little brightly clad figure disappear amidst the +green of the trail.</p> + +<p>It was some time, however, before she heard any signs that indicated +that Lolla had obtained any results. And then it was not the song she +heard, but Lolla's clear laugh, rising above the heavy tones of Peter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh! You would give me orders when I bring you breakfast? No, no, +Peter; that won't do. Come, she is safe there; come and eat with me, +where she cannot put a spell on your food to make it choke you."</p> + +<p>"Do you think she would do that?"</p> + +<p>That was Peter's voice, stupid and filled with doubt. Bessie laughed at +Lolla's cleverness. Peter, she thought, would be just the sort of man to +yield to the fears of superstition.</p> + +<p>"I know she would; she hates us. Come, Peter; does it not look good?"</p> + +<p>"Give it to me. There, I'll catch you—"</p> + +<p>Then there was a sound of scuffling and running, but Bessie, noticing +that it drew further and further away, laughed. Lolla was a real +strategist. She understood how to handle the big gypsy, evidently. And a +moment later Bessie, her nerves quivering, all alert as she waited for +the signal, heard the notes of Lolla's song. At once she rushed down, +broke through the tangled growth, and was at Dolly's side, cutting away +at the cords that bound Dolly, and, first of all, tearing the +handkerchief from her mouth.</p> + +<p>"It's all right now, we're safe, Dolly. Only you'll have to come +quickly, dear, when I get you free. There, that's it. Are you stiff? Can +you Stand up?"</p> + +<p>"I guess so," gasped Dolly. "Oh, I'd do anything to get away from here. +Bessie, look!"</p> + +<p>Bessie turned, to face Peter and Lolla, their faces twisted into +malignant grins. Lolla had betrayed her!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>THE MYSTERIOUS VOICE</h3> + + +<p>For a moment Bessie stared at the two gypsies, their eyes glowing with +malicious triumph, and delight at her shocked face, in such dazed +astonishment that she could not speak at all. She had been completely +outwitted and hoodwinked. She had trusted Lolla utterly; had made up her +mind that the girl's jealousy was not feigned.</p> + +<p>Even now, for a wild moment, the thought flashed through her mind that +perhaps Lolla had been unable to help herself; that Peter might have +insisted on coming back, and that Lolla was forced, in order to be of +help later on, to seem to fall in with his plans.</p> + +<p>But Lolla herself soon robbed her of the comfort that lay in such a +thought.</p> + +<p>"You thought I would betray my people!" she cried, shrilly. "We do not +do that; no, no! Ah, but it was easy to deceive you! When I saw you I +knew you would be dangerous. I could not hold you by force until John +came, I had to trick you. I thought we would catch you when you went up +there. I did not think you would be brave enough to go down the rocks."</p> + +<p>Bessie said not a word, but only clung to Dolly's hand and stared at the +treacherous gypsy.</p> + +<p>"So then, when you had gone, I had to find you again, and send word to +Peter to do as I said, so that we could catch you, and stop you from +going to your friends and telling them where we had hidden your friend +who is there with you now. Now we have two, instead of one. Oh, I have +done well, have I not, Peter?"</p> + +<p>Peter grinned, and grunted something in his own tongue that made Lolla +smile.</p> + +<p>"Tie them up again, Peter," said Lolla, looking viciously at Bessie, and +obviously gloating over the way in which she had tricked the American +girl. And Peter, nothing loath, advanced to do so. But Bessie had stood +all she could.</p> + +<p>Dolly, terribly cast down by this sudden upsetting of all the hopes of +rescue that the coming of Bessie and her release from the cords that +bound her had raised, was close beside her, shivering with fright and +despair.</p> + +<p>And Bessie, with a sudden cry of anger, seized the knife Lolla had given +her, which had been lying at her feet. Furiously she brandished it.</p> + +<p>"If either of you come a step nearer I'll use it!" she said, scarcely +able to recognize her own voice, so changed was it by the anger that +Lolla's treachery had aroused in her. "You'd better not think I'm +joking. I mean it!"</p> + +<p>Peter hesitated, but Lolla, her eyes flashing, urged him on.</p> + +<p>"Go on! Do you want me to tell all the women that you were frightened by +a little girl; a girl you could crush with one hand?" she cried, +angrily. "You coward! Tie them up, I tell you! Oh, if my man John were +here he'd show you! Here—"</p> + +<p>Peter, stung by her taunts, made a quick rush forward. For a moment +Bessie did not know what to do. She wondered if, when it came to the +test, she would really be able to use the knife; to try to cut or stab +this man. He was getting nearer each moment, and, just as she was almost +within his grasp she darted back and aimed a blow at him with the knife.</p> + +<p>There was no danger that it would strike him; Bessie thought that, if +she could only convince him that she had meant what she said, he would +hesitate. And she was right. He gave a cry of alarm as he saw the steel +flash toward him and drew back.</p> + +<p>"She would stab me!" he exclaimed furiously, to Lolla. "I was not to be +struck with a knife. John said nothing about that. He told me only to +guard this girl—"</p> + +<p>"She wouldn't really touch you with it," screamed Lolla, so furious that +she forgot the need of keeping her voice low. "John wouldn't let her +frighten him that way, he is too brave. Oh, how the women will laugh +when they hear how the brave Peter was frighted by a girl with a little +knife!"</p> + +<p>But Bessie, in spite of her own indecision, had managed, somehow, to +convince the man that she was serious, and Lolla's taunts no longer +affected him. He drew back still farther, and stood looking stupidly at +the two girls.</p> + +<p>"You're wiser than she," said Bessie approvingly. "I meant just what I +said. Keep as far as that from me, and you'll be safe. I'm not afraid of +you any more."</p> + +<p>Nor was she. Her victory, brief though it might be, had encouraged her, +and revived her drooping spirits. Dolly, too, seemed to have gained new +life from the sight of the big gypsy quailing before her chum. She had +stopped trembling, and stood up bravely now, ready to face whatever +might come.</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Bessie!" she exclaimed. She darted a vicious look at +Lolla. "I wish that treacherous little gypsy would come somewhere near +me," she went on, angrily. "I'd pull her hair and make her sorry she +ever tried to help those villains to keep us. When they put her in +prison I'm going to see her, and jeer at her!"</p> + +<p>Lolla, looking helpless now in her anger, said nothing, but she glared +at the two girls.</p> + +<p>"I think these people are very superstitious," whispered Dolly to +Bessie, when it became plain that, for the moment, the two gypsies +intended only to watch them, without making any further attempt to tie +them up.</p> + +<p>"I think so too," returned Bessie, in the same tone. "But I don't see +what good that is going to do us, Dolly."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I, just yet, Bessie. But I can't help thinking that there +must be some way that we could frighten them, if we could only think of +it; so that they would be frightened and run away."</p> + +<p>"We might tell them—Oh, I've got an idea, Dolly."</p> + +<p>She looked at Peter and Lolla. They were at the very edge of the little +clearing in which Dolly had been imprisoned.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Lolla," said Bessie, calmly. "I believe that you are a good +girl, though you have lied to me, and tried to make me think you were my +friend, when all the time you were planning, you could betray me. This +place is dangerous."</p> + +<p>Lolla looked at her scornfully and tossed head.</p> + +<p>"Don't think you can frighten me with your stories," she said, with a +laugh. "It is dangerous—for you. When my man comes you will find that +he is not a coward, like Peter, to be frightened with your knife. He +will take it away from you and beat you, too, for trying to frighten +Peter with it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is brave, Lolla. We saw that when he ran away from the fire +that he saw last night near the lake."</p> + +<p>Bessie was taking a chance when she said that. She did not know whether +Lolla had heard of the mysterious flashlight explosion or not, but she +thought it more than probable that John had told her of it. And she was +reasonably sure that he was still wondering what had caused the light +that had so suddenly blinded him. Her swift look at Lolla showed her +that her blow had struck home.</p> + +<p>"He is a brave man, indeed, to keep on with his wicked plan to steal my +friend after such a warning," Bessie went on sternly. "But his bravery +will do him no good. There is a spirit looking after us. It made the +fire that frightened him, and the next time he will not only see the +fire; he will feel it, too."</p> + +<p>Now she looked not only at Lolla, who seemed shaken, but at Peter, who +was staring at her as if fascinated. Evidently he, too, had heard of the +strange fire. Bessie had reckoned on the probability, that seemed almost +a certainty, that John would not have been able to explain, even to +himself, the nature of the flashlight explosion. And evidently she was +right. Then she took another chance, guessing at what she thought John +would probably have said to explain the fire.</p> + +<p>"I know what he told you," she said slowly. "He said that the fire came +from a spirit that was guiding him, and was trying to help him. But he +only said that because he did not understand. It meant just the +opposite; that it would be better for him to go home, and forget the +wicked plot he had thought of."</p> + +<p>Peter seemed to be weakening, but Lolla tossed her head again.</p> + +<p>"Are you a baby? Do you think that is true?" she said to him. "Don't you +see that she is only trying to frighten you, as she did with the knife?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I am not," said Bessie, earnestly. "I am not angry with you, any +more than I am afraid of you now. If you stay here something dreadful +will happen to you both. You would not like to go to prison, would you, +and stay there all through this summer, and the next winter, and the +summer of next year, when you might be traveling the road with your +brothers?"</p> + +<p>"Make them keep quiet, Peter," cried Lolla, furiously. "She is quite +right There is danger here, but it comes from her friends. She thinks +that if she can fool us into letting her talk, they may pass by and hear +her voice."</p> + +<p>"You keep quiet," said Peter, doggedly, evidently deciding that, this +time, he could safely obey Lolla's orders, and quite ready to do so. "If +you make any more noise I will—"</p> + +<p>He left the sentence uncompleted, but a savage gesture showed what he +meant. He had a stout stick, and this he now swung with a threatening +air.</p> + +<p>Bessie had hoped to work on the superstitious nature of the gypsy man, +and to frighten him, perhaps, if she had good luck, into letting her go +off with Dolly. But Lolla's interference had put that out of the +question. She turned sadly to Dolly, to see her companion's eyes +twinkling.</p> + +<p>"Never you mind, Bessie," she said. "They're stupid, anyhow. And as long +as they don't tie us up we're all right. I'd just as soon be here as +anywhere. Someone will go along that trail presently looking for us, and +when they do we can shout. They'll probably make a noise themselves, so +as to let us know they are near. And I'm not frightened any more; really +I'm not."</p> + +<p>But Bessie, tired and disappointed, was nearer to giving in than she had +been since the moment when she had awakened and found that Dolly was +missing. She felt that she ought to have distrusted Lolla; that she had +made a great mistake in thinking, even for a moment, that the gypsy girl +meant to betray her own people.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly a strange thing happened. A new voice, that belonged to +none of the four who were in the clearing, suddenly broke the silence. +It seemed to come from a tree directly over the heads of Lolla and +Peter, and, as it spoke, they stared upward with one accord, listening +intently to what it said.</p> + +<p>"Will you make me come down and punish you?" said the voice. It was that +of an old, old man, feeble with age, but still clear.</p> + +<p>Bessie stared too, as surprised as the gypsy, and the voice went on:</p> + +<p>"I gave your companion a sign last night that should have warned him. I +speak to you now, to warn you again. The next time I shall not give a +warning; I shall act, and your punishment will be swift and terrible. +Take heed; go, while there is time."</p> + +<p>For a moment the two gypsies were speechless, looking at one another in +wonder, and Bessie was not disposed to blame them. Her own head was in a +whirl.</p> + +<p>"Quick; it is in that tree!" said Lolla, easily the braver of the two of +them. "Climb up there, and see who it is that is trying to frighten us, +Peter."</p> + +<p>But Peter was not prepared to do anything of the sort. He was trembling, +and casting nervous glances behind him, as if he were more minded to +make a break and run down the trail.</p> + +<p>"Climb yourself! I shall stay here," he retorted.</p> + +<p>And Lolla, without further hesitation, sprang into the branches of the +tree and began to climb.</p> + +<p>As she did so the mysterious voice sounded again.</p> + +<p>"You cannot see me, yet," it said. "You can only hear me. See, my voice +is in your ears, but you cannot see as much as my little finger. Beware; +go before you <i>do</i> see me. For when you do, you will regret it; regret +it as long as you live!"</p> + +<p>When Lolla, a moment later, reached firm ground again, she was +trembling, and Bessie saw that her courage was beginning to fail. She +looked about her nervously, as Peter was doing. And suddenly the voice +spoke again, but this time it shouted, and it was in a stronger, more +vigorous tone, and one of great anger.</p> + +<p>"Must I show myself! Must I punish you?" it said, furiously. "Fear me; +you will do well! Go—GO!"</p> + +<p>With a yell of terror Peter turned suddenly, and ran through the thick +bushes toward the trail, crying out as he went, and stumbling.</p> + +<p>"Come; it is the devil! I saw his horns and his tail then," he +screamed. "Come, Lolla, this is an accursed place. I told John it was +wrong to try to do this; that he would get into trouble."</p> + +<p>"He is wise; he is safe!" said the mysterious voice. "Go too, Lolla; I +am growing impatient. Go, if you want to see John, your lover, and the +brothers that you love, again. The time is growing short. I come; I +come; and when I come—"</p> + +<p>And then at last Lolla's nerves, too, gave way, and she followed Peter, +screaming, as he had done, while she ran. Bessie, as astonished and +almost as frightened as the two gypsies had been, turned then to see how +Dolly was bearing this extraordinary affair, to see her chum rolling +about on the ground, with tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was funny!" Dolly exclaimed. "They were easy, after all, +Bessie."</p> + +<p>"They've gone! It's all right now," said Bessie. "But who was it, Dolly? +Who could it have been?"</p> + +<p>"It was me!" exclaimed Dolly, weakly, between gasps of laughter, +forgetting her grammar altogether. "I learned that trick last summer. +They call it ventriloquism. It just means throwing your voice out so +that it doesn't seem to come from you at all, and changing it, so that +people won't recognize it."</p> + +<p>Bessie stared at her, in wonder and admiration. "Why, Dolly Ransom!" she +said. "However do you do it? I never heard of such a thing!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know how I do it," said Dolly, recovering her breath. "No one +who can does, I guess. It's just something you happen to be able to do."</p> + +<p>"You certainly frightened them," said Bessie. "And you saved us with +your trick, Dolly. I think they've run clear away. We can follow them +down the trail; they won't stick to it, and I think we can go right back +to Long Lake, now, without being afraid any more. Come on, we'd better +start. I don't want to stay here."</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>OUT OF THE FRYING PAN</h3> + + +<p>"Stay here? I should say not!" exclaimed Dolly. "I'm almost +starved—and, Bessie, they must be terribly worried about us, too. And +now tell me, as we go along, how you ever found me. I don't see how you +managed that."</p> + +<p>So, as they made their way down the trail, Bessie told her of all that +had happened since her rude awakening at the camp fire, just after the +gypsy had carried Dolly off.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bessie, it was perfectly fine of you, and it's only because of you +that we're safe now! But you oughtn't to have taken such a risk! Just +think of what might have happened!"</p> + +<p>"That's just it, Dolly. I've got time to think about it now, but then I +could only think of you, and what was happening to you. If I'd stopped +to think about the danger I'm afraid I wouldn't have come."</p> + +<p>"But you must have known it was dangerous! I don't know anyone else who +would have done it for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, they would, Dolly. That's one of the things we promise when we +join the Camp Fire Girls—always to help another member of the Camp Fire +who is in trouble or in danger."</p> + +<p>"Yes—but not like that. It doesn't say anything about going into danger +yourself, you know."</p> + +<p>"Listen, Dolly. If you saw me drowning in the water, you'd jump in after +me, wouldn't you? Or after any of the girls—if there wasn't time to get +help?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so—but that's different. It just means going in quickly, +without time to think very much about it. And you had plenty of time to +think while you were tramping along that horrid dark trail after me."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's all over now, Dolly, and, after all, you had to save both of +us in the end."</p> + +<p>"That was just a piece of luck, and a trick, Bessie. It didn't take any +courage to do that—and, beside, if it hadn't been for you I would never +have had the chance to do that. I wonder why Lolla let you have her +knife to cut those cords about me?"</p> + +<p>"I think she's a regular actress, Dolly, and that she wanted to make me +feel absolutely sure she was on our side, so that we would both be there +in that trap when she and Peter came back."</p> + +<p>"It's a good thing he was such a coward, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I think he'd be brave enough if he just had to fight with a man, so +that it was the sort of fighting he was used to. You see it wasn't his +plan, and when I said I'd use that knife he couldn't see why he should +run any risk when all the profit was for the other man."</p> + +<p>"And when you played that trick with your voice he was frightened, +because he'd never heard of anything of that sort, and he didn't know +what was coming next. I think that would frighten a good many people who +are really brave."</p> + +<p>"Bessie, why do I always get into so much trouble? All this happened +just because I changed those signs that day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know about that, Dolly. It might have happened anyhow. I've +got an idea now that they knew we were around, and that John planned to +kidnap one of us and keep us until someone paid him a lot of money to +let us go. Something Lolla said made me think that."</p> + +<p>"Then he was just playing a joke when he said he wanted to marry me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so, because I don't think he was foolish enough to think +he could ever really get you to do that. I did think so at first, but if +that had been so I'm quite sure that Lolla wouldn't have helped him."</p> + +<p>"She'd have been jealous, you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm quite sure, you see, that she saw him and talked to him when +we went over to their camp that time, so that she could take orders from +him to Peter. He knew he'd be watched, so he must have made up his mind +from the first that he would have to have help."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what he is doing now, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"I certainly hope he's still over there at the camp, sitting near that +guide. The guide said he would shoot him if he tried to get away, you +know."</p> + +<p>"My, but I'll bet there's been a lot of commotion over this."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure there has, Dolly. Probably all the people at the hotel heard +about it, too. I'll bet they've got people out all through the woods +looking for us."</p> + +<p>"I wish we'd meet some of them—and that they'd have a lot of sandwiches +and things. Bessie, I've simply got to sit down and rest. I want to get +back to Miss Eleanor and the girls, but if I keep on any longer I'll +drop just where we are. I'm too tired to take another step without a +rest."</p> + +<p>"I am, too, Dolly. Here—here's a good place to sit down for a little +while. We really can't be so very far from Long Lake now."</p> + +<p>"No," said a voice, behind them. "But you're so far that you'll never +reach there, my dears!"</p> + +<p>And, turning, they saw John, the gypsy, leering at them. His clothes +were torn, and he was hot and dirty, so that it was plain that he had +had a long run, and a narrow escape from capture. But at the sight of +them he smiled, evilly and triumphantly, as if that repaid him amply for +any hardships he had undergone.</p> + +<p>"Don't you dare touch us!" said Bessie, shrilly.</p> + +<p>She realized even as she said it, that he was not likely to pay any +attention to her, but the sight of his grinning face, when she had been +so sure that their troubles were over at last, was too much for her.</p> + +<p>She sank down on a log beside Dolly, and hid her face in her hands, +beginning to cry. Most men, no matter how bad, would have been moved to +pity by the sight of her sufferings. But John was not.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry," he said, with mock sympathy. "I am not going to treat you +badly. You shall stay in the woods with me. I have a good hiding place, +a place where your friends will never find you until I am ready. You are +tired. So am I. We will rest here. It is quite safe. A party of your +friends passed this way five minutes ago. They will not come again—not +soon. I was within a few feet of them, but they did not see me."</p> + +<p>Bessie groaned at the news. Had they only reached the place five minutes +earlier, then, they would have been safe. She was struck by an idea, +however, and lifted her voice in a shout for aid. In a moment the +gypsy's hand covered her mouth and he was snarling in her ear.</p> + +<p>"None of that," he said, grittingly, "or I will find a way to make you +keep still. You must do as I tell you now, or it will be the worse for +you. Will you promise to keep quiet?"</p> + +<p>Bessie realized that there was no telling what this man would do if she +did not promise—and keep her promise. He was cleverer than Peter, and, +therefore, much more dangerous. She felt, somehow, that the trick which +had worked so well when Dolly had used it before would be of no avail +now. He might even understand it; he was most unlikely, she was sure, to +yield to superstitious terror as Peter and Lolla had done. And, leaning +over to Dolly, she whispered to her.</p> + +<p>"Don't try that trick, Dolly. You see, if the others had dared the voice +to do something they would have found out that there was really nothing +to be afraid of—and I'm afraid he'd wait. It may be useful again, but +not with him, now. If we tried it, and it didn't work—"</p> + +<p>"I understand," Dolly whispered back. "I think you are right, too, +Bessie. We'd be worse off than ever. I was thinking that if only some of +the other gypsies were here we might frighten them so much with it that +they'd make him let us go."</p> + +<p>"Yes. We'll save it for that."</p> + +<p>The gypsy was still breathing hard. He looked at the two girls +malignantly, but he saw that they were too tired to walk much unless he +let them rest, and, purely out of policy, and not at all because he was +sorry for them, and for the hardships he had made them endure, he let +them sit still for a while. But finally he rose.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said. "You've been loafing here long enough. Get up now, and +walk in front of me—back, the way you came."</p> + +<p>They groaned at the prospect of retracing their footsteps once more, but +he held the upper hand, and there was nothing for it but obedience. That +much was plain. Desperately, as they began to drag their tired feet once +more along the trail, they listened, hoping against hope for the sounds +that would indicate that some of the searchers they were sure filled the +woods were in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>But no comforting shouts greeted them. The woods were silent, save for +the calls of birds and animals, which, friendly though they might be, +were powerless to aid the two girls against this traditional enemy of +every furred and feathered creature in the forest.</p> + +<p>Steadily they plodded on. Bessie knew the ground well by this time, and, +one by one they passed the landmarks she knew so well, until they came +at last to the cross path which had brought Bessie back to the trap +Lolla had prepared for her. And there they came upon a startling +interruption of their journey.</p> + +<p>For suddenly Lolla herself, who had evidently been hiding there when +they had passed, alone, before their meeting with John, sprang out and +stood in front of them. Long as she had resisted her fear of the +supernatural force that had come to the aid of the girls, she was +plainly afraid of it still, for at sight of them her cheeks paled, and +she cried out in terror. And behind her, as scared as she was herself, +came Peter, the big gypsy, shaking in every limb.</p> + +<p>"A fine mess you made of things—letting them escape," growled John, as +he saw his two compatriots. "If I hadn't found them on the trail, by +sheer luck, they'd have been back at the lake by this time."</p> + +<p>"Let them go—for heaven's sake, let them go, John," wailed Lolla. +"There is a devil fighting for them—he will kill you if you try any +longer to keep them from their friends."</p> + +<p>"Pah! What child's talk is this? Be thankful that I do not beat you with +my stick for letting them get free!"</p> + +<p>"Listen to her, John," said Peter, warningly. "She speaks the truth. It +was a devil that spoke from the air. I saw his horns and his red tail. +Be careful—he may be here now."</p> + +<p>John laughed, scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Run away, if you are afraid," he said. "I will manage alone now. I +would not trust you—you have failed me once, both of you. Do not think +you can frighten me into failure because you are as brave as +a—chicken!"</p> + +<p>"Let them go, I say," said Peter, with a sternness in his voice that +gave Bessie a new ray of hope. "I have had my warning, I will profit by +it."</p> + +<p>"You coward!" sneered John.</p> + +<p>But that was too much for Peter. With a cry of rage he sprang forward.</p> + +<p>"I fear no man, no man I can see or touch," he cried. "And no man shall +call me coward!"</p> + +<p>In a moment the two were grappling in a furious fight. John was smaller +than Peter, but he was wiry and as lithe and powerful as a trained +athlete, so that he was a match, at first, for the rugged strength of +Peter. But he had had a hard day, and gradually Peter's strength wore +him down, and, as they crashed to the ground together, Peter was on top, +and plainly destined to be victor in the fight. He looked up at the two +girls.</p> + +<p>"Go!" he said. "I will have nothing to do with you. I am fighting with +my friend to save him, not for your sakes, you who have a devil to help +you. If he keeps you harm will come to him. John, listen to me: I do +this because you are my friend."</p> + +<p>Bessie and Dolly needed no second invitation. Amazing as was this +latest intervention in favor, they were too happy to stop to question +it. It was their chance to escape, and five minutes later they were out +of sight, and making their way, as fast as their tired bodies would +allow them to do, toward Long Lake and safety.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>SAFE AT LAST</h3> + + +<p>Indeed, any lingering fear Bessie and Dolly might have had that John had +succeeded in escaping from his two anxious friends who were so +determined to protect him against his own recklessness, was dissipated +before they came in sight of the lake, when, at a crossing of the trail, +a glad cry hailed them and a sturdy guide stepped across their path.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll be hornswoggled!" he exclaimed. "Ain't you the two that was +lost, or stolen by that gypsy critter?"</p> + +<p>"We certainly are," said Dolly and Bessie, in one breath. "Were you +looking for us?"</p> + +<p>"Lookin' fer you!" he exclaimed. "Every one in these here woods has been +a-lookin' fer you two since sun-up, I guess. Godfrey, but we was scared! +Didn't know but that there gypsy might have sneaked you clean out of +the woods! How did you all ever come to get loose? Or was you just plain +lost?"</p> + +<p>"No, we weren't lost," said Bessie. "He carried Dolly off all right; +this is Dolly Ransom, you know. But he didn't catch me."</p> + +<p>"Then how in tarnation did you come to be lost, too? You was, wasn't +you? They told us two girls was missin'."</p> + +<p>"Well, we were asleep in the open air, outside the tent, and I woke up +just as he was carrying Dolly off. I didn't wake up until he'd got out +of the firelight, and there wasn't any use calling anyone else. So I +just followed myself."</p> + +<p>"She says anyone would have done it," Dolly broke in, her eyes shining. +"But I don't believe it, do you?"</p> + +<p>"No, by Godfrey!" he said, emphatically. "A greenhorn, goin' out in them +woods at night, in the dark, and a girl, at that? I guess not!"</p> + +<p>He looked at Bessie, as if puzzled to learn that she had actually done +such a thing.</p> + +<p>"Well, you're all right now," he said. "Here, I'll just give the signal +we fixed up. Listen, now!"</p> + +<p>He raised his rifle, and, pointing it straight in the air, fired two +shots, and then, after a brief interval, two more.</p> + +<p>"The sound of that'll carry a long way," he explained, "and that means +that you're both found. The other fellows who are searchin' for you will +quit lookin', now, and come into Long Lake. If I'd fired just two shots, +and hadn't fired the second two, that would have meant that one of you +was found, and they'd have kept right on a-lookin' fer the other. I'll +walk along with you now, an' I guess that varmint won't bother you no +more. If he does—"</p> + +<p>He patted his rifle with a gesture that spoke more plainly than words +could have done.</p> + +<p>"Tell me all about it as we go along," he said. "I guess maybe there'll +be some work for us to do after we all get together—runnin' those +gypsies out. They're a bad lot, but this is the fust time they ever +done anythin' around here that give us a real chance to get even with +them. We've suspected them of doin' lots of things, but a deer can't +tell you who killed him out o' season, 'specially when all you find of +the deer is a little skin and bones."</p> + +<p>He listened admiringly as Bessie told her story. At the tale of Lolla's +treachery he laughed.</p> + +<p>"They're all tarred with the same brush," he said. "One's as bad as +another."</p> + +<p>And when he heard of the trick by which Dolly had worked on the +superstitious fears of Lolla and Peter his merriment knew no bounds, and +he absolutely refused to keep on the trail until Dolly had given him a +demonstration of just how she had managed it.</p> + +<p>"Well, by Godfrey!" he said, when she had thrown her voice far overhead, +and once so that it seemed to come from just above his shoulder. "Don't +that beat the Dutch! I don't wonder you skeered 'em! You'd have had me +goin', I guess, an' I ain't no chicken, nor easy to skeer, neither. You +two certainly done a smart job gettin' away from them."</p> + +<p>And so, when they reached Long Lake, the girls and the guides, who had +scattered all over the woods searching for them, agreed, when they +straggled in, one party after another. Eleanor Mercer was one of the +first to return, and when she had finished proving her gratitude for +their safe return, she turned a laughing face toward the chief guide.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the thing that pleases me best about this, Andrew?" she +asked him.</p> + +<p>"I can guess, ma'am," he said, with a grin. "You told us when you come +up here that you was goin' to prove that a party of girls could get +along without help from men. And I reckon it looked to you this morning +as if you was goin' to need us pretty bad, didn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly did, Andrew," she answered, gravely. "And I don't want you +to think for a moment that we're not grateful to you for the way you +turned out and scoured the woods."</p> + +<p>"Don't talk of gratitude, Miss Eleanor. We've known you for years, but +even if we'd never seen you before, and didn't know nothin' about the +girls that thief had stolen, we'd ha' turned out jest the same way to +rescue them. An' I guess any white men anywhere would ha' done the same +thing.</p> + +<p>"But if it was only us you'd had to depend on, I'm afraid the young +lady'd still be out there. It was her friend that saved her. Too bad she +trusted that Lolla witch. If she'd gone to Jim Skelly when she was near +the gypsy camp that time, an' told him where her chum was, he'd have had +her free in two shakes of a lamb's tail."</p> + +<p>"I think Dolly and Bessie must be awfully hungry," said Zara, who had +listened with shining eyes to the tale of her friends' adventures.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they must, indeed!" said Eleanor, remorsefully. "And here we've +been listening to them, and letting them talk while they were starving."</p> + +<p>She turned toward the fire, but already two of the guides had leaped +forward, and in a moment the smell of crisp bacon filled the air, and +coffee was being made.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how good that smells!" said Dolly. "I <i>am</i> hungry, but it was so +exciting, remembering everything that happened, that I forgot all about +it! Isn't it funny? I was dreadfully scared when I was alone there, and +again afterward, when we thought we were safe, and that horrid man +caught us.</p> + +<p>"But now that it's all over, it seems like good fun. If one only knew +that everything was coming out all right when things like that happen, +one could enjoy them while they were going on, couldn't one? But when +one is frightened half to death there isn't much chance to think of how +nice it's going to be when it's all over, and you're safe at home +again."</p> + +<p>"That's just the trouble with adventures, Dolly," said Eleanor. "You +never can be sure that they will come out all right, and lots of times +they don't. It's like the thrilling story that the man told about being +chased by the bear."</p> + +<p>"What was that, Miss Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Well, he told about how the bear chased him, and he got into a trap, +and the bear was between him and the only way of getting out, and it +seemed to him as if he was going to be killed. So they asked him what +happened; how he got away?"</p> + +<p>"And how did he?"</p> + +<p>"He said he didn't; that the bear ate him up!"</p> + +<p>"Miss Eleanor," said Andrew, the old chief guide, as the two girls began +ravenously to eat the tempting camp meal that the other guides had so +quickly prepared, "we've got something more to do here."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked at him questioningly.</p> + +<p>"We've got to find that gypsy," he said, "and see that he spends the +night in jail, where he belongs. If I'm not mistaken, he'll spend a good +many nights and days there, too, after he's been tried."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he must be caught and taken to a place where he can be +tried," said Eleanor. "I don't like the idea of revenge, but—"</p> + +<p>"But this ain't revenge, Miss Eleanor. If you was a-goin' to say that +you was quite right. It's self protection, and protection for young +girls everywhere."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you're right, Andrew. Well, what do you want me to do? I am +afraid I wouldn't be touch good in helping you to catch him."</p> + +<p>Andrew laughed heartily.</p> + +<p>"I ain't sayin' that, ma'am, but there's men enough of us to catch him, +all right. Maybe you didn't notice it, but I sent out some of the men +'most as soon as they got here, just so's they'd be able to fix things +for him to have to stay where we could catch him. Trouble is, none of us +don't know him when we see him. I was wonderin'—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not now, Andrew. I know what you mean. You want the girls to go +with you, so as to point him out, don't you? But they're so tired, I'm +sure they couldn't do any more tramping today."</p> + +<p>"I know they're tired, ma'am, and I wasn't aimin' to let them do any +more walkin'. I've got more sense than that. But we could rig up a sort +of a swing chair, so's two of the boys could carry one of them, easily. +Then we could take her over there, and she could tell us which was him, +and never be tired at all. She'd be jest as comfortable, ma'am, as if +she was a settin' here by the lake, watchin' the water."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose we can manage it if you do it that way, Andrew, if you +think it's really necessary."</p> + +<p>When it came to a choice, since it was necessary for only one of the +girls to go, Dolly insisted on being the one.</p> + +<p>"Bessie is much more tired than I am," she said, stoutly. "I was carried +a good part of the way and she tramped all around with that wretched +little Lolla, when she thought Lolla wanted to help her get me away. So +I'm going, and Bessie shall stay here and rest"</p> + +<p>"Don't, make no difference to me," said Andrew "Let the other girls come +along with us, if you like, Miss Eleanor. And you can stay hind here +with the one that stays to rest. See!"</p> + +<p>And so it was arranged. Bessie, lying on a cot that had been brought +from Eleanor's tent, watched Dolly being carried off in the litter that +had been hastily improvised, and Eleanor sat beside her.</p> + +<p>"You've certainly earned a rest, Bessie," said Eleanor, happily. It +delighted her to think that Bessie, whom she had befriended, should +prove herself so well worthy of her confidence. "I don't know what we'd +have done without you. I'm afraid that Dolly would still be there in the +woods if you'd just called us, as most girls would have done."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand one thing, even yet, Bessie," continued +Eleanor, frowning, "You know, at first, it seemed as if the idea we had +was right; that this man had some crazy idea that he might be able to +make a gypsy of Dolly.</p> + +<p>"I'm beginning to think that there was some powerful reason back of what +he did; that he expected to make a great deal of money out of kidnapping +her. It seems, too, as if he knew where we were going to be, and who we +all were, more than he had had any chance to find out."</p> + +<p>"I thought of that, too," said Bessie. "If it had been Zara he tried to +steal—but it was Dolly. And she hasn't been mixed up at all in our +affairs."</p> + +<p>"I know, and that's what is so puzzling, Bessie. Maybe if they catch +him, though, he'll tell why he did it. I think those guides will +frighten him. They're all perfectly furious, and they'll make him sorry +he ever tried to do anything of the sort, I think—Why, Bessie! What's +the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Don't turn around, Miss Eleanor. But I saw a pair of eyes, just behind +you. I wonder if he could have sneaked back around and come here?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish we'd had one of the men stay, I was afraid of something +like that, Bessie."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to find out, Miss Eleanor. I'll pretend I don't suspect +anything, and get up to go into the tent. Then, if it's John, I think +he'll show himself."</p> + +<p>She rose, and in a moment their fears were confirmed. John, his eyes +triumphant, stepped out, abandoning the concealment of the hushes.</p> + +<p>"Where is the other?" he said. "The one called Bessie—Bessie King? It's +not you I want—"</p> + +<p>"Hands up!" cried the voice of Andrew, the chief guide.</p> + +<p>And the gypsy, wheeling with a savage cry, faced a half circle of +grinning faces. He made one wild dash to escape, but it was useless, and +in a moment he was on the ground, and his hands were tied. In the +struggle a letter fell from his pocket, and Bessie picked it up. +Suddenly, as she was looking at it idly, she saw something that made her +cry out in surprise, and the next moment she and Miss Mercer were +reading it together.</p> + +<p>"Get this girl, Bessie King, and I will pay you a thousand dollars," it +read. "She is dark, and goes around with a fair girl called Dolly. It +will be easy, and if you once get them to me and out of the woods, I +will pay you the money, and see that you are not in danger of being +arrested. I will back you up."</p> + +<p>"Who wrote that letter? Turn over, quickly!" cried Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"I know without looking," said Bessie. "Now we can guess why he was so +reckless; why he took such chances! He thought I was Dolly, because of +that mistake about our hair! Yes, see; it is Mr. Holmes who sent him +this letter!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE GYPSY'S MOTIVE</h3> + + +<p>But, despite the revelation of that letter, the gypsy himself maintained +a sullen silence when efforts were made to make him tell all he knew and +the reason for his determined effort to kidnap Dolly. He snarled at his +captors when they, asked him questions, and so enraged Andrew and the +other guides by his refusal to answer that only Eleanor's intervention +saved him from rough handling.</p> + +<p>"No I won't let you use violence, Andrew," said Eleanor, firmly. "It +would do no good. He won't talk; that is his nature. You have him now, +and the law will take him from you. There isn't any question of his +guilt; there will be evidence enough to convict him anywhere, and he +will go to prison, as he deserves to do. All I hope is that he won't be +the only one, that we can get the man who bribed him to do this, and +see that he gets punished properly, too."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure with you there, ma'am," said old Andrew. "He's a worthless +critter enough, I know, but he ain't as bad as the man that set him on. +If the law lets that other snake go, ma'am, jest you get him to come up +here for a little hunting, and we'll make him sorry he ever went into +such business, I'd like to get my hands on him. I'm an old man, but I +reckon I'm strong enough to thrash any imitation of a man what would +play such a cowardly trick as that. Afraid to do his own dirty work, is +he? So he hires it done. Well, much good it's done him this time."</p> + +<p>"I'll keep this letter," said Eleanor. "I think it was mighty foolish of +him to sign his name to it. It's a pretty good piece of evidence against +the man, if he is rich and powerful. If there's any justice to be had, I +think he'll suffer this time."</p> + +<p>"How did you ever get back here, just when you were so badly needed?" +Bessie asked Andrew.</p> + +<p>He smiled at that.</p> + +<p>"Well, we get sort o' used to readin' tracks in our work around here, +Miss, and we seen that someone who might be this feller was doublin' +around mighty suspicious. So, bein' some worried about leavin' you two +here alone anyhow, I decided to come back with three or four of the men +here, an' we did it, leavin' the others to go on an' see if they could +pick up the other two gypsies.</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth, I thought it'd be mighty strange if we found him +anywhere near that camp. Seemed like he must know that we'd be lookin' +fer him, and that there was the fust place we'd go to. So here we were, +and mighty timely, as you say, Miss."</p> + +<p>It was no great while before the sounds of the other party, returning, +resounded through the woods, and soon Lolla and Peter, the man bound, +and the girl carefully guarded by two guides, each of whom held one of +her arms, were brought into the clearing about the camp. Lolla, at the +sight of John, lying against a tree, his arms and his feet bound, gave +a cry of rage, and, snatching her arms from her guardians, ran toward +him, wailing.</p> + +<p>"Go away, you fool!" muttered John. "This is your doing. If you and +Peter had not been afraid of your own shadow, this would not have +happened. I am glad they have caught you; you will go to prison now, +like me."</p> + +<p>"Look here, young feller," said Andrew, angrily, "that ain't no way to +talk to a lady, hear me! She may be a bad one, but she's stuck to you. +If you get off any more talk like that I'll see if a dip in the lake +will make you feel more polite like. See?"</p> + +<p>John gave no answer, but relapsed into his sullen silence again.</p> + +<p>Eleanor approached Lolla gently.</p> + +<p>"We are not angry with you, Lolla," she said, kindly. "No, nor with +John. You love him, do you?"</p> + +<p>Lolla gave no answer, but looked up into Eleanor's face with eyes that +spoke plainly enough.</p> + +<p>"I thought so. Then you do not want him to go to prison? Try to make him +tell why he did this. If he will do that, perhaps he can go free, and +you and Peter, too. You wouldn't like to have to leave your people, and +not be able to travel along the road, and do all the things you are used +to doing, would you?</p> + +<p>"Well, I am afraid that is what will happen to you, unless John will +tell all he knows. They will take you away, soon now, and you will go +down to the town and there you will be locked up, all three of you, and +you and John will not even see one another, for a long time—two or +three years, maybe, or even longer—"</p> + +<p>Still Lolla could not speak. But she began to cry, quietly, but with a +display of suffering that moved Eleanor. After all, she felt Lolla was +little more than a girl, and, though she had done wrong, very wrong, she +had never had a proper chance to learn how to do what was right.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry for you, Lolla," said Eleanor. "We all are. We think you +didn't know what you were doing, and how wicked it was. I will do my +best for you, but your best chance is to make John tell all he knows."</p> + +<p>"How can I? He blames me. He says if I and Peter hadn't been such +cowards all would have been well. He is angry at me; he will not forgive +me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, he will, Lolla. I am sure he loves you, and that he did this +wicked thing because he wanted to have much money to spend buying nice +things for you; pretty dresses, and a fine wagon, with good horses. So +he will be sorry for speaking angrily to you, soon, and you will be able +to make him tell the truth, if you only try. Will you try?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," decided Lolla, suddenly. "I think you are good—that you forgive +us. Do you?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly do. After all, you see, Lolla, you haven't done us any +harm."</p> + +<p>Lolla pointed to Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Will she forgive me?" she inquired. "I tricked her—made a fool of +her—but she made a fool of me afterward. I lied to her; will she +forgive me, too, like you?"</p> + +<p>"Did you hear that, Bessie?" asked Eleanor, by way of answer to the +gypsy girl's question.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Bessie. "I'm sorry you did it, Lolla, because I only wanted +to help your man, and if you hadn't done what you said you were going to +do, and helped me to get Dolly away from him, he wouldn't be in all this +trouble now.</p> + +<p>"But you didn't understand about that, and you helped your own people +instead of a stranger. I don't think that's such a dreadful thing to do. +It's something like a soldier in a war. He may think his country is +wrong, but if there's a battle he has to fight for it, just the same."</p> + +<p>"But remember that the best way to help John now is to make him see that +he has been wrong, and to try to make him understand that he can make up +for his wickedness by helping us to punish the bad man who got him to do +this," said Eleanor. "That man, you see, was too much of a coward to do +his work himself, so he got your man to do it, knowing that if anyone +was to be punished he would escape, and John would get into trouble.</p> + +<p>"John doesn't owe anything to a man like that; he needn't think he's got +to keep him out of trouble. The man wouldn't do it for him. He won't +help him now. He'll pretend he doesn't know anything about this at all."</p> + +<p>"I will try," promised Lolla. "But I think John is angry with me, and +will not listen. But I will do my best."</p> + +<p>And, after a little while, which the guides used to cook a meal, and to +rest after their strenuous tramping in the effort to find the missing +girls, Andrew told off half a dozen of them to make their way to the +county seat, a dozen miles away, with the three gypsies.</p> + +<p>"Just get them there and turn them over to the sheriff, boys," said the +old guide. "He'll hold them safe until they've been tried, and we won't +have any call to worry about them no more. But be careful while you're +on your way down. They're slippery customers, and as like as not to try +to run away from you and get to their own people."</p> + +<p>"You leave that to me," said the guide who was to be in charge of the +party. "If they get away from us, Andrew, they'll be slicker than anyone +I ever heard tell of, anywhere. We won't hurt them none, but they'll +walk a chalk line, right in front of us, or I'll know the reason why."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Andrew. "Better be getting started, then. Don't want +to make it too late when you get into town with them. Let the girl rest +once in a while; she looks purty tired to me."</p> + +<p>Bessie and Dolly and the other girls watched the little procession start +off on the trail, and Bessie, for one, felt sorry for Lolla, who looked +utterly disconsolate and hopeless.</p> + +<p>"We couldn't let them go free, I suppose," said Eleanor, regretfully. +"But I do feel sorry for that poor girl. I don't think she liked the +idea from the very first, but she couldn't help herself. She had to do +what the men told her. Women don't rank very high among the gypsies; +they have to do what the men tell them, and they're expected to do all +the work and take all the hard knocks beside."</p> + +<p>"You're right; there's nothing else to do, ma'am," said old Andrew. +"Well, guess the rest of us guides had better be gettin' back to work. +Ain't nothin' else we can do fer you, is there, ma'am?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so. I don't suppose we need be afraid of the other +gypsies, Andrew? Are they likely to try to get revenge for what has +happened to their companions?"</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! They'll be as quiet as lambs for a long time now. They was a +breakin' up camp over there by Loon Pond when the boys come away last +time. Truth is, I reckon they're madder at John and his pals for gettin' +the whole camp into trouble than they are at us.</p> + +<p>"You see, they know they needn't show their noses around here fer a +long time now; not until this here shindy's had a chance to blow over +an' be forgotten. And there ain't many places where they've been as +welcome as over to the pond."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think they'd be very popular here in the woods."</p> + +<p>"They ain't, ma'am; they ain't, fer a fact. More'n once we've tried to +make the hotel folks chase them away, but they sort of tickled the +summer boarders over there, and so the hotel folks made out as they +weren't as bad as they were painted, and was entitled to a chance to +make camp around there as long as they behaved themselves."</p> + +<p>"I suppose they never stole any stuff from the hotel?"</p> + +<p>"That's jest it. They knew enough to keep on the right side of them +people, you see, an' they did their poachin' in our woods. Any time +they've been around it's always meant more work for us, and hard work, +too."</p> + +<p>"Well, I should think that after this experience the people at the +hotel would see that the gypsies aren't very good neighbors, after all."</p> + +<p>"That's what we're counting on, ma'am. Seems to me, from what I just +happened to pick up, that there was some special reason, like, for this +varmint to have acted that way today, or last night, maybe it was. Some +feller in the city as was back of him."</p> + +<p>"There was, Andrew, I'm afraid; a man who ought to know better, and whom +you wouldn't suspect of allowing such a dreadful thing to be done."</p> + +<p>Andrew shook his head wisely.</p> + +<p>"It's hard to know what to wish," she said. "Sometimes a man is much +worse when he comes out of prison than he was when he went in. It seems +just to harden them, and make it impossible for them to get started on +the right road again."</p> + +<p>"It's their fault for going wrong in the fust place," said the old +guide, sternly. "That's what I say. I don't take any stock in these new +fangled notions of makin' the jail pleasant for them as does wrong. +Make 'em know they're goin' to have a hard time, an' they'll be lest +willin' to take chances of goin' wrong and bein' caught with the goods, +like this feller here today. I bet you when he gets out of jail he'll be +so scared of gettin' back that he'll be pretty nearly as good as a white +man."</p> + +<p>"Of course, the main thing is to frighten any of the others from acting +the same way," said Eleanor. "I think the hotel will be sorry it let +those gypsies stay around there. Because it's very sure that mothers who +have children there will be nervous, and they'll go away to some place +where they can feel their children are safe.</p> + +<p>"Well, good-bye, Andrew. I'm glad you think it's safe now. I really +would like to feel that we can get along by ourselves here, but, of +course, I wouldn't let any pride stand in the way of safety, and if you +thought it was better I'd ask you to leave one of the men here."</p> + +<p>"No call for that, ma'am. You've shown you can get along all right. We +didn't have nothin' to do with gettin' Miss Dolly away from that scamp +today. It was her chum done that. Goodbye."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>A FRIENDLY CONTEST</h3> + + +<p>Morning found both Dolly and Bessie refreshed, and, though the other +girls asked them anxiously about themselves, neither seemed to feel any +ill effects after the excitement of the previous day, with its series of +surprising events. Dolly, at first, was a little chastened, and seemed +wholly ready to stay quietly in camp. And, indeed, all the girls decided +that it would be better, for the time at least, not to venture far into +the woods.</p> + +<p>"I think it's as safe as ever now, along the well-known trails that are +used all the time," said Miss Eleanor, "but, after all, we don't know +much about the gypsies. Some of them may be hanging around still, even +if the main party of them has moved on, and we do know that they are a +revengeful race; that when one of them is hurt, or injured in any way, +they are very likely not to rest until the injury is avenged. They don't +care much whether they hurt the person who is guilty or not; his +relatives or his friends will satisfy them equally well"</p> + +<p>"I'm perfectly willing to stay right here by the lake," said Margery +Burton, "for one. It's as nice here as it can possibly be anywhere else. +I'd like someone to go in swimming with me."</p> + +<p>"If it isn't too cold I will," cried Dolly, cheerfully.</p> + +<p>And so, after the midday meal—two hours afterward, too, for Eleanor +Mercer was too wise a Guardian to allow them to run any risk by going +into the water before their food had been thoroughly digested—bathing +suits were brought out, and Margery Burton, or Minnehaha, as the one who +had proposed the sport, was unanimously elected a committee of one to +try the water, and see if it was warm enough for swimming.</p> + +<p>"And no tricks, Margery!" warned Dolly. "I know you, and if you found it +was cold it would be just like you to pretend it was fine so that we'd +all get in and be as cold as you were yourself!"</p> + +<p>"I'll be good! I promise," laughed Margery, and, without any preliminary +hesitation on the water's edge, she walked to the end of the little dock +that was used for the boats and plunged boldly in. She was a splendid +swimmer, a fact that had once, when Bessie had first joined the Camp +Fire, nearly cost her her life, for, seeing her upset, no one except +Bessie had thought it necessary to jump in after her, and she had +actually been slightly stunned, so that she had been unable to swim.</p> + +<p>But this time there was no accident. She disappeared under the water +with a beautiful forward dive, and plunged along for many feet before +she rose to the surface, laughing, and shaking the water out of her +eyes. Then, treading water, she called to the group on the dock.</p> + +<p>"It's all right for everyone but Dolly, I think," she cried. "I'm afraid +it would be too cold for her. I like it; I think it's great!"</p> + +<p>"You can't fool me," said Dolly, and, without any more delay, she too +plunged in. But she rose to the surface at once, gasping for breath, and +looking about for Margery.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's as cold as ice!" she exclaimed. "Ugh! I'm nearly frozen to +death! Margery, why didn't you tell me it was so cold?"</p> + +<p>"I did, stupid!" laughed Margery. "I said it was warm enough for me, but +that I was afraid it would be too cold for you, didn't I?"</p> + +<p>"I—I thought you were just fooling me; you knew I'd never let the +others go in if I didn't!"</p> + +<p>"It's not my fault if you wouldn't believe me. All I promised was to +tell you whether it was cold or not! Come on, you girls! It <i>is</i> cold, +but you won't mind it after you've been in for a minute!"</p> + +<p>"Look out! Give me room for a dive!" cried Eleanor Mercer, suddenly +appearing from her tent. "I know this water; I've been in it every year +since I was a lot smaller than you. I'm afraid of it every year the +first time I go in, but how I do love it afterward!"</p> + +<p>And, running at full speed, she sped down to the edge of the dock, +leaped up and turned a somersault, making a beautiful dive that filled +the girls who were still dry with envy. And a moment later they were all +in, swimming happily and enjoying themselves immensely. All, that is, +except Zara, who could not swim.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish I could dive like that, Miss Eleanor!" exclaimed Bessie, who +had been one of the first to go into the water.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's nothing; you can learn easily, Bessie. You swim better than +any of us. Isn't this water cold for you? I should think you wouldn't be +used to it. All the others have been in pretty cold water before now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, so have I! You see, around Hedgeville we used to go into the +regular swimming holes, and they never get very warm. There's no beach, +you just go in off the bank, and most of the swimming holes have trees +all around them so that they're shady, and the sun doesn't strike them. +They're in the shade all the time, and that keeps the water cold. This +is warmer than that, ever so much."</p> + +<p>"I tell you what we'll do, girls; we'll fix up a spring-board and have +some lessons in real diving. Wouldn't that be fun?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly would! I'd love to be able to do a backward dive!"</p> + +<p>"Well, this is a good place to learn; no one around to make you nervous, +and good deep water. It's sixteen or seventeen feet off that dock, all +the time, and that's deep enough for almost any diving; for any that +we're likely to do, certainly."</p> + +<p>Later they talked it over again, when they had dried and resumed the +clothes they wore about the camp, and Eleanor Mercer, her enthusiasm +warming her cheeks, told them something they had not heard even a hint +of as yet.</p> + +<p>"A friend of mine is scoutmaster of a troop of Boy Scouts," she said. +"And he has teased me, sometimes, about our work. He says we just +imitate the Boy Scouts, and that we just pretend we're camping out and +doing all the things they do. Well, I told him that some time we'd have +a contest with them, and show them; a regular field day. And, just for +fun, we made up a sort of list of events."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what were they?"</p> + +<p>"Well, we planned to start in, all morning, and make a regular trip, +cook meals, and come back. And on the way we to divide into parties; +there are three patrols his troop, you know, and we could divide up the +same way. The parties were to keep in touch with one another by smoke +signals—they're made with blankets—and there was to be a fire-making +contest, to see which could make fire quickest without matches. And, oh, +lots of other things."</p> + +<p>"That would be fine."</p> + +<p>"Then I got reckless, I think. I said my girls could beat his boys in +the water—that we could swim better—I meant more usefully, not just +faster, in a race, because I think they'd beat us easily in just a +plain race. And I'm afraid I boasted a little."</p> + +<p>"I bet you didn't; I bet we can do just as well as any old Boy Scouts!" +exclaimed Dolly. "I wish we just had the chance, that's all."</p> + +<p>"Well, you have," said Eleanor, with a smile. "That's what I'm trying to +tell you, girls. Mr. Hastings is over at Third Lake right now with one +patrol of his troop. He got there yesterday and the way I happened to +hear about it was that he was on his way over yesterday morning—he got +in ahead of the boys—to help us look for Dolly and Bessie, when they +were found."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's fine! And shall we have that field day?"</p> + +<p>"Later on, before we go home, yes. But he began teasing me again +yesterday, and I told him we'd have a water carnival any time he wanted +to bring his boys over. And he said they'd come Saturday."</p> + +<p>"We'll have to get ready and show them what we can do, then," said +Margery Burton, with determination in her voice. "My brother's a Boy +Scout, and I know just what they're like; they think we're just the same +as all the other girls they know. I tell you what would be fun; to get +up a baseball team."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we'll try that later," said Eleanor. "But right now we want to be +ready for Saturday. So I'll teach you everything I can. And I'm quite +sure we can beat them in a life-saving drill; their three best against +our three. We'd have you, Margery, and Bessie, and Dolly Ransom."</p> + +<p>So it was agreed, and they all began to practice.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could do something," said Zara, wistfully. "But I don't +believe I could learn to swim before Saturday."</p> + +<p>"You could learn to keep yourself afloat," said Margery. "But that +wouldn't be much good, of course. You'd rather not go in at all, I +suppose, unless you could really swim."</p> + +<p>"I know what I could do, though," said Zara, suddenly, after she had +watched Bessie go through the life saving drill. But she would not +confide her idea to anyone but Miss Mercer, who looked more than +doubtful when she heard it.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Zara," she said, "I'll see. It seems a little risky. But +I'll think it over. It would be splendid, but, well, we'll see."</p> + +<p>Speed swimming, pure racing, was barred when Saturday came. But with +Scoutmaster Hastings and Miss Mercer as referees, and three summer +visitors from the Loon Pond Hotel, who had no prejudice in favor of +either side as judges, several contests were arranged that called for +skill rather than strength.</p> + +<p>"In this diving," Hastings explained to the judges, "what we want to +figure on is the way they do it. If a dive is graceful, and the diver +strikes the water true, going straight down, with arms and legs held +close together, you give so many points for that. I'll make each dive +first; that will serve as a model, you see."</p> + +<p>Scoutmaster Hastings was not speaking in a boastful manner. He was a +noted diver, and had won prizes and medals in many meets for his skill. +And, when everything was arranged, he did all the standard dives from +the spring-board at the end of the dock, and three members of each +organization followed him.</p> + +<p>Bessie had taken remarkably well to these new tricks, as she considered +them. Her powers as a swimmer no one had questioned, but it was +remarkable to see how quickly she had acquired the ability to dive well +and gracefully. And, to the surprise and chagrin of the Boy Scouts, who +had expected, as boys always do, when they are pitted against girls, to +win so easily that they could afford to be magnanimous, and to abstain +from gloating, the judges were unanimous in deciding that she had done +better than any of the six competitors in all five of the standard dives +in which Hastings showed the way.</p> + +<p>As there were six competitors, the judges awarded six points for first +place in each dive, five for second, four for third, three for fourth, +two for fifth, and one for sixth place. And in two of the dives second +place went to Margery Burton, while one of the Boy Scouts, Jack Perry, +was second in the other four.</p> + +<p>To the disgust of the other boys, Margery was placed third in the four +dives in which Jack Perry beat her, and Dolly, a good, but not a really +wonderful diver, was fifth in every one of the dives, beating at least +one boy in each. So sixty-six points altogether went to the Camp Fire +Girls, while the Boy Scouts, who had expected to finish one, two, three, +had to be content with forty-eight, and were soundly beaten.</p> + +<p>"That girl that was first is a wonder," said Hastings admiringly to Miss +Mercer. "I take it all back, Eleanor. But I didn't think you'd have +anyone as good as she is. Why, she's better than you are, and I always +thought you were the nearest to a fish of any girl I ever saw in the +water. She could win the woman's championship with a little more +practice."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you won't crow so much over us after this," said Eleanor, with a +laugh.</p> + +<p>"Not about the diving, certainly," said Hastings, generously, "But +that's tricky, after all. The life saving is going to be different There +strength figures more. I really think my boys ought to give a handicap +in that."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it," said Eleanor. "Women have been taking handicaps from +men too long. They've got so that they think they can't do anything as +well as a man. This Camp Fire movement is going to show you that that's +all over and done with."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll go through the tests first," said Hastings. "Then your +girls will know what they've got to beat, anyhow."</p> + +<p>The tests for life saving were to be conducted on a time basis. From a +boat a certain distance out in the lake a boy or girl was to be thrown +overboard, and, at the same moment, the competitor was to leap in after +the one who represented the victim and take him or her to shore, the +winners being those who did it in the shortest time. Again, as there +were to be six competitors, the first place was to count six points, the +second, five, and so on.</p> + +<p>First, the boys went out and went through their exercise in fine style. +Although the boy who played the part of victim could swim, he made no +move to help himself, simply staying perfectly still and letting his +"rescuer" take him in.</p> + +<p>Then, when the three boys had finished, with only five seconds between +the fastest and the slowest, Eleanor and Hastings rowed out with the +three who represented the Camp Fire Girls, and, as "victim," Zara!</p> + +<p>Zara had insisted.</p> + +<p>"I really would be drowned if they didn't save me," she said, "so it +will be a real test."</p> + +<p>And, with that added spur, each of the three girls actually managed to +beat the fastest time of the boys. Margery was first, Bessie was second, +and Dolly third. Hastings, as soon as he discovered that Zara could not +swim, was full of admiration.</p> + +<p>"That's the nerviest thing I ever heard of," he said. "Of course they +did better. But it's your 'victim' that deserves the credit. She's +certainly plucky."</p> + +<p>"So I really did help, didn't I!" said Zara. "My, I was scared at first. +But then I knew the girls wouldn't let me go down, and, after the first +time, it wasn't so bad."</p> + +<p>"Well, you gave us a surprise, and a licking," said Scoutmaster +Hastings. "But we'll be ready for you when we have that field day. How +about some day next week!"</p> + +<p>"Splendid," said Eleanor. "And we'll give you a chance to get even."</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake +by Jane L. 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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: The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake + Bessie King in Summer Camp + +Author: Jane L. Stewart + +Release Date: April 20, 2004 [EBook #12091] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT LONG LAKE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sjaani and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +[Illustration: Dolly was bound to a tree, a handkerchief over her mouth.] + +CAMP FIRE GIRLS SERIES, VOLUME III + + +The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake + +or + +Bessie King in Summer Camp + +by + +JANE L. STEWART + +THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + +Chicago AKRON, OHIO New York + +MADE IN U.S.A. + +1914 + +The Saalfield Publishing Co. + + + + +The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A GROUNDLESS JEALOUSY + + +"I told you we were going to be happy here, didn't I, Zara?" + +The speaker was Dolly Ransom, a black-haired, mischievous Wood Gatherer +of the Camp Fire Girls, a member of the Manasquan Camp Fire, the +Guardian of which was Miss Eleanor Mercer, or Wanaka, as she was known +in the ceremonial camp fires that were held each month. The girls were +staying with her at her father's farm, and only a few days before Zara, +who had enemies determined to keep her from her friends of the Camp +Fire, had been restored to them, through the shrewd suspicions that a +faithless friend had aroused in Bessie King, Zara's best chum. + +Zara and Dolly were on top of a big wagon, half filled with new-mown +hay, the sweet smell of which delighted Dolly, although Zara, who had +lived in the country, knew it too well to become wildly enthusiastic +over anything that was so commonplace to her. Below them, on the ground, +two other Camp Fire Girls in the regular working costume of the Camp +Fire--middy blouses and wide blue bloomers--were tossing up the hay, +under the amused direction of Walter Stubbs, one of the boys who worked +on the farm. + +"I'm awfully glad to be here with the girls again, Dolly," said Zara. +"No, that's not the way! Here, use your rake like this. The way you're +doing it the wagon won't hold half as much hay as it should." + +"Is Bessie acting as if she was your teacher, Margery?" Dolly called +down laughingly to Margery Burton, who, because she was always +laughing, was called Minnehaha by the Camp Fire Girls. "Zara acts just +as if we were in school, and she's as superior and tiresome as she can +be." + +"She's a regular farm girl, that Zara," said Walt, with a grin. "Knows +as much about packin' hay as I do--'most. Bessie, thought you'd lived on +a farm all yer life. Zara there can beat yer all hollow at this. You're +only gettin' half a pickful every time you toss the hay up. Here--let me +show you!" + +"I'd be a pretty good teacher if I tried to show Margery, Dolly," +laughed Bessie King. "You hear how Walter is scolding me!" + +"He's quite right, too," said Dolly, with a little pout. "You know too +much, Bessie--I'm glad to find there's something you don't do right. You +must she stupid about some things, just like the rest of us, if you +lived on a farm and don't know how to pitch hay properly after all these +years!" + +Bessie laughed. Dolly's smile was ample proof that there was nothing +ill-natured about her little gibe. + +"Girls on farms in this country don't work in the fields--the men +wouldn't let them," said Bessie. "They'd rather have them stay in a hot +kitchen all day, cooking and washing dishes. And when they want a +change, the men let them chop wood, and fetch water, and run around to +collect the eggs, and milk the cows, and churn butter and fix the garden +truck! Oh, it's easy for girls and women on a farm--all they have to do +is a few little things like that. The men do all the hard work. You +wouldn't let your wife do more than that, would you, Walter?" + +The boy flushed. + +"When I get married, I'm aimin' to have a hired gal to do all them +chores," he said. "They's some farmers seem to think when they marry +they're just gettin' an extra lot of hired help they don't have to pay +fer, but we don't figger that way in these parts. No, ma'am." + +He looked shyly at Dolly as he spoke, and Dolly, who was an +accomplished little flirt, saw the look and understood it very well. She +tossed her pretty head. + +"You needn't look at me that way, Walt Stubbs," she said. "I'm never +going to marry any farmer--so there! I'm going to marry a rich man, and +live in the city, and have my own automobile and all the servants I +want, and never do anything at all unless I like. So you needn't waste +your breath telling me what a good time your wife is going to have." + +Walter, already as brown as a berry from the hot sun under which he +worked every day, turned redder than he had been before, if that was +possible. But, wisely, he made no attempt to answer Dolly. He had +already been inveigled into two or three arguments with the sharp witted +girl from the city, and he had no mind for any more of the cutting +sarcasm with which she had withered him up each time just as he thought +he had got the best of her. + +Still, in spite of her sharp tongue and her fondness for teasing him, +Walt liked Dolly better than any of the girls from the city who were +staying on the farm, and he was always glad to welcome her when she +appeared where he was working, even though she interrupted his work, and +made it necessary for him to stick to his job after the others were +through in order to make up for lost time. But Dolly had little use for +him, in spite of his obvious devotion, which all the other girls had +noticed. And this time his silence didn't save him from another sharp +thrust. + +"Goin' to that ice-cream festival over to the Methodist Church at Deer +Crossin' to-night?" she asked him, trying to imitate his peculiar +country accent. + +"I'm aimin' to," he said uncomfortably. "You said you was goin' to let +me take you. Isn't that so?" + +"Oh, yes--I suppose so," she said, tossing her head again. "But I never +said I'd let you bring me home, did I? Maybe I'll find some one over +there I like better to come home with." + +Walter didn't answer, which proved that, young as he was, and +inexperienced in the ways of city girls like Dolly, he was learning +fast. But just then a bell sounded from the farm, and the girls dropped +their pitchforks quickly. + +"Dinner time!" cried Margery Burton, happily. "Come on down, you two, +and we'll go over to that big tree and eat our dinner in the shade. +Walter, if you'll go and fetch us a pail of water from the spring, we'll +have dinner ready when you get back. And I bet you'll be surprised when +you see what we've got, too--something awfully good. We got Mrs. Farnham +to let us put up the best lunch you ever saw!" + +"Yes you did!" gibed Walter. He wasn't half as much afraid of Margery +and the other girls who never teased him, as he was of Dolly Ransom, and +he didn't like them as well, either. Perhaps it was just because Dolly +made a point of teasing him that he was so fond of her. But he picked +up the pail, obediently enough, and went off. When he was out of hearing +Bessie shook her finger reproachfully at Dolly. + +"I thought you were going to be good and not tease Walter any more!" she +said, half smiling. + +"Oh, he's so stupid--it's just fun to tease him, and he's so easy that I +just can't help it," said Dolly. + +"I don't think he's stupid--I think he's a very nice boy," said Bessie. +"Don't you, Margery!" + +"I certainly do, Bessie--much too nice for a little flirt like Dolly to +torment him the way she does." + +"Well, if you two like him so much you can have him, and welcome!" cried +Dolly, tossing her head. "I'm sure I don't want him tagging around after +me all the time the way he does." + +"Better be careful, Dolly," advised Margery, who knew her of old. "They +say pride goes before a fall, and if you're not nice to him you may +have to come home from the festival tonight without a beau--and you know +you wouldn't like that." + +"I'd just as soon not have a beau at all as have some of these boys +around here," declared Dolly, pugnaciously. "I like the country, but I +don't see why the people have to be so stupid. They're not half as +bright as the ones we know in the city." + +"I don't know about that, Dolly. Bessie's from the country, but I think +she's as bright as most of the people in the city. They haven't been +able to fool her very much since she left Hedgeville, you know." + +"Oh, I didn't mean Bessie!" cried Dolly, throwing her arms around +Bessie's neck affectionately. "You know I didn't, don't you, dear? And +I'm only joking about half the time anyhow, when I say things like +that." + +"Here comes Walter now--we'll see whether he doesn't admit that this is +the best dinner he ever ate in the fields!" said Margery. + +It was, too. There was no doubt at all about that. There were cold +chicken, and rolls, and plenty of fresh butter, and new milk, and hard +boiled eggs, that the girls had stuffed, and a luscious blueberry pie +that Bessie herself had been allowed to bake in the big farm kitchen. +They made a great dinner of it, and Walter was loud in his praises. + +"That certainly beats what we have out here most days!" he said. "We +have plenty--but it's just bread and cold meat and water, as a rule, and +no dessert. It's better than they get at most farms, though, at that." + +When the meal was finished the girls quickly made neat parcels of the +dishes that were to be taken back, and all the litter that remained +under the tree was gathered up into a neat heap and burned. + +"My, but you're neat!" exclaimed Walter, as he watched them. + +"It's one of our Camp Fire rules," explained Margery. "We're used to +camping out and eating in the open air, you know, and it isn't fair to +leave a place so that the next people who camp out there have to do a +lot of work to clean up after you before they can begin having a good +time themselves. We wouldn't like it if we had to do it after others, so +we try always to leave things just as we'd like to find them ourselves. +And it wouldn't be good for the Camp Fire Girls if people thought we +were careless and untidy." + +Then they got back to work again, and the long summer afternoon passed +happily, with all four of the girls doing their share of the work. The +sun was still high when they had finished their work, and Walter gave +the word to stop happily, since he wanted time to put on his best +clothes for the trip to Deer Crossing, where the ice-cream festival was +to be held. Such festivities were rare enough in the country to be made +mightily welcome when they came, especially when the date chosen was a +Saturday, since on Sunday those who worked in the fields every other +day of the week could take things easily and lie abed late. + +"Well, I'll see all you girls again to-night," he said. "I'll be along +after supper, Dolly--don't forget. We're goin' to ride over together in +the first wagon." + +"All right," said Dolly, smiling at him, and winking shamelessly at +Bessie. "Don't forget to put on that new blue necktie and to wear those +pink socks, Walter." + +"I sure won't," he said, not having seen her wink, and, as he turned +away, Dolly looked at Bessie with a gesture of comic despair. + +"I think it's very mean to laugh at Walter's clothes, Dolly," said +Bessie. "They're not a bit sillier than some of the things the boys in +the city wear, are they, Margery?" + +"I should say not--not half as foolish. I've seen some of your pet boys +wearing the sort of clothes one would expect men at the racetrack to +wear, and nobody else, Dolly. You want to get over thinking you're so +much better than everyone else--if you don't, it's going to make; you +unhappy." + +Once they were at the ice-cream festival, where all the girls and young +fellows from miles around seemed to have gathered, Dolly seemed prepared +to have a very good time, however. She entered into the spirit of the +occasion, and, though she, like Bessie and most of the Camp Fire Girls, +would not take part in the kissing games that were popular, she wasn't a +bit stiff or superior. + +"I wonder where that nice boy that thrashed Jake Hoover is?" she asked +Bessie, after they had been there for a while. + +"Oh, that's whom you're looking for!" exclaimed Bessie, with a laugh. +"Will Burns, you mean? That's so, Dolly--he said he was coming here, +didn't he?" + +"He certainly did. I'd like to see him again, Bessie. He wasn't as +stupid as most of country boys." + +"He was splendid," said Bessie, warmly. "If it hadn't been for him, I +might not be here now, Dolly. Jake would have got me back into the +other state--he was strong enough to make me go where he wanted. And if +I'd been caught there, they'd have made me stay." + +"There he is now!" exclaimed Dolly, as a tall, sunburned boy appeared in +the doorway. "I was beginning to be afraid he wasn't coming at all." + +Will Burns, who was a cousin of Walter Stubbs, seemed to be well known +to the young people of the neighborhood, though his home was near +Jericho, some twenty miles away. He was greeted on all sides as he made +his way through the Sunday School room, where the festival was being +held, and it was some minutes before the girls from the farm saw that he +was nearing them. + +"Well--well, so you got home all right?" he said, smiling at Bessie. "I +thought you wouldn't have any more trouble, once you got on the train. +I'm glad to see you again." + +And then Dolly's vanity got a rude shock. For Will Burns began to +devote himself at once, after he had greeted Dolly and been introduced +to Zara and some of the other girls, to Bessie. Everyone in the room +soon noticed this, and since most of the girls there had tried to make +him pay attention to them, at one time or another, his evident fondness +for Bessie caused a little sensation. Dolly, so surprised to find a boy +she fancied willing to talk to anyone else that she didn't know what to +do, stood it as long as she could, and then went in search of Walter +Stubbs, whom she had snubbed unmercifully all evening. + +But Walter had at last plucked up courage enough to resent the way she +treated him, and she found that he had bought two plates of ice-cream +for Margery Burton and himself, and that they were sitting in a corner, +eating their ice-cream, and talking away as merrily as if they had known +one another all their lives! + +Eleanor Mercer, who had come over to have an eye on the girls, saw the +little comedy. She was sorry for Dolly, who was sensitive, but she knew +that the lesson would be a wholesome one for the little flirt, who had +been flattered so much by the boys in the city that she had come to +believe that she could make any boy do just what she desired. So she +said nothing, even when Dolly, without a single boy to keep her in +countenance, was reduced to sitting with one or two other girls who were +in the same predicament, since there were more girls there than boys. + +Walter did not even come to get her to ride home with him. Instead, he +found a place with Margery Burton, and Dolly had to climb into her wagon +alone. There she found Bessie. + +"You're a mean old thing, Bessie King!" she said, half crying. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GOOD-BYE TO THE FARM + + +Dolly had spoken in a low tone, her sobs seeming to strangle her speech, +and only Bessie, who was amazed by this outburst, heard her. Grieved and +astonished, she put her arm about Dolly, but the other girl threw it +off, roughly. + +"Don't you pretend you love me--I know the mean sort of a cat you are +now!" she said bitterly. + +"Why, Dolly! Whatever _is_ the matter with, you? What have I done to +make you angry?" + +"If you were so mad at me the other day getting you into that automobile +ride with Mr. Holmes you might have said so--instead of tending that +you'd forgiven me, and then turning around and making everyone laugh at +me to-night! You're prettier than I--and clever--but I think it's +pretty mean to make that Burns boy spend the whole evening with you!" + +Gradually, and very faintly, Bessie began to have a glimmering of what +was wrong with her friend. She found it hard work not to smile, or even +to laugh outright, but she resisted the temptation nobly, for she knew +only too well that to Dolly, sensitive and nervous, laughter would be +just the one thing needed to make it harder than ever to patch up this +senseless and silly quarrel, which, so far, was only one sided. + +To Bessie, who thought little of boys, and to whom jealousy was alien, +the idea that Dolly was really jealous of her seemed absurd, since she +knew how little cause there was for such a feeling. But, very wisely, +she determined to proceed slowly, and not to do anything that could +possibly give Dolly any fresh cause of offence. + +"Dolly," she said, "you mustn't feel that way. Really, dear, I didn't do +that at all. I talked to him when he came to sit down by me, but that +was all. I couldn't very well tell him to go away, or not answer him +when he spoke to me, could I?" + +"Oh, I know what you're going to say--that it was all his fault. But if +you hadn't tried to make him come he wouldn't have done it." + +"I didn't try to make him come. Did you?" + +Dolly stared at her a moment. The question seemed to force her to give +attention to a new idea, to something she had not thought of before. But +when she spoke her voice was still defiant. + +"Suppose I did!" she said angrily. "I wanted to have a good time--and he +was the nicest boy there--" + +"Maybe he saw that you were waiting for him too plainly, Dolly. Maybe he +wanted to pick out someone for himself--and if you'd pretended that you +didn't care whether he talked to you or not he would have been more +anxious to be with you." + +Dolly blushed slightly at that, though it was too dark for Bessie to see +the color in her cheeks. She knew very well that Bessie was right, but +she wondered how Bessie knew it. That feigned indifference had brought +her the attentions of more than one boy who had boasted that he was not +going to pay any attention to her just because everyone else did. + +But the gradually dawning suspicion that she might, after all, have only +herself to blame for the spoiling of her evening's fun, and that she had +acted in rather a silly fashion, didn't soften Dolly particularly. Very +few people are able to recover a lost temper just because they find out, +at the height of their anger, that they are themselves to blame for what +made them angry, and Dolly was not yet one of them. + +"I suppose you'll tell all the other girls about this," she said. She +wasn't crying any more, but her voice was as hard as ever. "I think +you're horrid--and I thought I was going to like you so much. I think +I'll ask Miss Eleanor to let me share a room with someone else." + +Bessie didn't answer, though Dolly waited while the wagon drove on for +quite a hundred yards. Bessie was thinking hard. She liked Dolly; she +was sure that this was only a show of Dolly's temper, which, despite +the restrictions that surrounded her in her home, and had a good deal to +do with her mischievous ways, had never been properly curbed. + +But, though Bessie was not angry in her turn, she understood thoroughly +that if she and Dolly were to continue the friendship that had begun so +promisingly, this trouble between them must be settled, and settled in +the proper fashion. If Dolly were allowed to sleep on her anger, it +would be infinitely harder to restore their relations to a friendly +basis. + +"I suppose you don't care!" said Dolly, finally, when she decided that +Bessie was not going to answer her. + +And now Bessie decided on a change of tactics. She had tried arguing +with Dolly, and it had seemed to do no good at all. It was time to see +if a little ridicule would not be more useful. + +"I didn't say so, Dolly," she answered, very quietly. And she smiled at +her friend. "What's the use of my saying anything? I told you the truth +about what happened this evening, and you didn't believe me. So there's +not much use talking, is there?" + +"You know I'm right, or you'd have plenty to talk about," said Dolly, +unhappily. "Oh, I wish we'd never seen Will Burns!" + +"I wish we hadn't seen him until to-night, Dolly," said Bessie, gravely. +"You know, that trip in the automobile with Mr. Holmes the other day +wasn't very nice for me, Dolly. If they had caught me, as Mr. Holmes had +planned to do, I'd have been taken back to Hedgeville, and bound over to +Farmer Weeks--and he's a miser, who hates me, and would have been as +mean to me as he could possibly be. That's how we met Will Burns, you +know--because you insisted on going with Mr. Holmes in his car to get an +ice-cream soda." + +"That's just what I said--you pretended to forgive me for that, and you +haven't at all--you're still angry, and you humiliated me before all +those people just to get even! I didn't think you were like that, +Bessie--I thought you were nicer than I. But--" + +"Dolly, stop talking a little, and just think it over. You say you +didn't have a good time, and you mean that you didn't have a boy waiting +around to do what you told him all evening. Isn't that so?" + +"All the other girls had boys around them all the time--" + +"You went with Walter Stubbs, didn't you? And you told him that maybe +you'd come home with him and maybe you wouldn't--and that if anyone you +liked better came along you were going to stay with them. You didn't +know Will Burns was coming, did you?" + +"No, but--I thought if he did come--" + +"That's just it. You didn't think about Walter at all, did you. You +wanted to have a good time yourself--and you didn't care what sort of a +time he had! You just thought that if Will Burns did come he was sure to +want to be with you, and so, as soon as you saw him come in you sent +Walter off. Oh, you were silly, Dolly--and it was all your own fault. +Don't you think it's rather mean to blame me? We were together when Will +Burns was coming toward us, and I wanted to go away and let you stay +there--but you said I must stay. Don't you remember that?" + +Dolly, as a matter of fact, had quite forgotten it. But she remembered +well enough, now that Bessie had reminded her of it. And, though she had +a hot temper, and was fond of mischief, Dolly was not sly. She admitted +it at once. + +"I do remember it now, Bessie." + +"Well, don't you see how absurd it is to say that I took Will away from +you? We were both there together--I couldn't tell when we saw him coming +that he was going to talk to me, could I? And listen, Dolly--he asked me +to go home with him in his buggy, and I said I wouldn't." + +With some girls that would have made the chance of mending things very +remote. But Dolly, although her jealousy had been so quickly aroused, +was not the sort to get still angrier at this fresh proof that she had +been mistaken in thinking that Will Burns had liked her better than +Bessie. + +"Why, Bessie--why did you do that?" + +Bessie laughed. + +"We're not going to be here very much longer, are we, Dolly?" she said. +"Well--if we're not going to be here, we're not going to see much of +Will Burns. You're not the only girl who--was--who thought that he ought +to be paying more attention to her than to me. There was a pretty girl +from Jericho, and he's known her a long time. Walter told me about them. + +"And I could see that she wanted him to drive her home, so I asked him +why he didn't do it. And he got very much confused, but he went over to +her, finally, and she looked just as happy as she could be when he +handed her up into his buggy, and they all went off along the road +together, Will and she and two or three other fellows who had driven +over together from Jericho." + +Dolly's expression had changed two or three times, very swiftly, as she +listened. Now she sighed, and her hand crept out to find Bessie's. + +"Oh, Bessie," she said, softly, "won't you forgive me, dear? I've made a +fool of myself again--I'm always doing that, it seems to me. And every +time I promise myself or you or someone not to do it again. But the +trouble is there are so many different ways of being foolish. I seem to +find new ones all the time, and every one is so different from the +others that I never know about it until it's too late." + +"It's never too late to find out one's been in the wrong, Dolly, if one +admits it. There aren't many girls like you, who are ready to say +they've been wrong, no matter how well they know it. I haven't anything +to forgive you for--so don't let's talk any more about that. Everyone +makes mistakes. If I thought anyone had treated me as you thought I had +treated you to-night I'd have been angry, too." + +Poor Dolly sighed disconsolately. + +"You're the best friend I ever had, Bessie," she said. "I make everyone +angry with me, and when I say I'm sorry, they pretend that they've +forgiven me, but they haven't, really, at all. That's why I said that +about your still being angry with me. I thought you must be. I really am +going to try to be more sensible." + +And so the little misunderstanding, which might easily, had Bessie been +less patient and tactful, have grown into a quarrel that would have +ended their friendship before it was well begun, was smoothed over, and +Dolly and Bessie, tired but happy, went upstairs to their room together, +and were asleep so quickly that they didn't even take the time to talk +matters over. + +Eleanor Mercer, standing in the big hall of the farm house as the girls +went upstairs, smiled after Dolly and Bessie. + +"I think you thought I was foolish to put those two in a room together," +she said to Mrs. Farnham, the motherly housekeeper, whom Eleanor had +known since, as a little girl, she had played about the farm. + +"I wouldn't say that, Miss Eleanor," said Mrs. Farnham. "I didn't see +how they were going to get along together, because they were so +different. But it's not for me to say that you're foolish, no matter +what you do." + +"Oh, yes, it is," laughed Eleanor. "You used to have to tell me I was +foolish in the old days, when I wanted to eat green apples, and all +sorts of other things that would have made me sick, and just because I'm +grown up doesn't keep me from wanting to do lots of things that are just +as foolish now. But I do think I was right in that" + +"They do seem to get on well," agreed Mrs. Farnham. + +"It's just because they are so different," said Eleanor. "Dolly does +everything on impulse--she doesn't stop to think. With Bessie it's just +the opposite. She's almost too old--she isn't impulsive enough. And I +think each of them will work a little on the other, so that they'll both +benefit by being together. Bessie likes looking after people, and she +may make Dolly think a little more. + +"There isn't a nicer, sweeter girl in the whole Camp Fire than Dolly, +but lots of people don't like her, because they don't understand her. +Oh, I'm sure it's going to be splendid for both of them. Dolly was +awfully angry at Bessie before they started from the church--but you saw +how they were when they got here to-night?" + +"I did, indeed, Miss Eleanor. And I'd say; Dolly has a high temper, too, +just to look at her." + +"Oh, she has--and Bessie never seems to get; angry. I don't understand +that--it's my worst fault, I think. Losing my temper, I mean. Though I'm +better than I used to be. Well--good-night." + +The next day was Sunday, and, of course, there was none of the work +about the farm that the girls of the Camp Fire enjoyed so much. They +went to church in the morning, and when they returned Bessie was +surprised to see Charlie Jamieson, the lawyer, Eleanor Mercer's cousin, +sitting on the front piazza. Eleanor took Bessie with her when she went +to greet him. + +"No bad news, Charlie?" she said, anxiously. He was looking after the +interests of Bessie and of Zara, whose father, unjustly accused as +Charlie and the girls believed, of counterfeiting, was in prison in the +city from which the Camp Fire Girls came. Charlie Jamieson had about +decided that his imprisonment was the result of a conspiracy in which +Farmer Weeks, from Bessie's home town, Hedgeville, was mixed up with a +Mr. Holmes, a rich merchant of the city. The reason for the persecution +of the two girls and of Zara's father was a mystery, but Jamieson had +made up his mind to solve it. + +"No--not bad news, exactly," he said. "But I've had a talk with Holmes, +and I'm worried, Eleanor. You know, that was a pretty bold thing he did +the other day, when he trapped Bessie into going with him for an +automobile ride and tried to kidnap her. That's a serious offense, and a +man in Holmes's position in the city wouldn't be mixed up in it unless +there was a very important reason. And from the way he talked to me I'm +more convinced than ever that he will just be waiting for a chance to +try it again." + +"What did he say to you, Charlie?" + +"Oh, nothing very definite. He advised me to drop this case. He reminded +me that he had a good deal of influence--and that he could bring me a +lot of business, or keep it away. And he said that if I didn't quit +meddling with this business I'd have reason to feel sorry." + +"What did you tell him?" + +"To get out of my office before I kicked him out! He didn't like that, I +can tell you. But I noticed that he got out. But here's the point. Are +you still planning that camping trip to Lake?" + +"Yes--I think it would be splendid there." + +"Well, why don't you start pretty soon?" Holmes knows this country very +well, and he's got so much money that, if he spends it, he can probably +find people to do what he wants. Up there it's lonely country, and +pretty wild, and you could keep an eye on Bessie and Zara even better +than you can here. I don't know why he wants to have them in his power, +but it's quite evident that their plans depend on that for success, and +our best plan, as long as we're in the dark this way, and don't know the +answer to all these puzzling things, is to keep things as they are. I'm +convinced that they can't do anything that need worry us much as long as +we have Bessie and Zara safe and sound." + +"We can start to-morrow," said Eleanor. "Bessie--will you tell the girls +to get ready? I'll go and make arrangements, Charlie." + +And so, the next day, after lunch, the Camp Fire Girls, waving their +hands to kindly Mrs. Farnham, and making a great fuss over Walter, who +drove them to the station, said good-bye for the time, at least, to the +farm. And Dolly Ransom, Bessie noticed, took pains to be particularly +nice to Walter Stubbs. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LONG LAKE + + +"I love traveling," said Dolly, when they were settled in their places +in the train that was to take them up into the hills and on the first +stage of the journey to Long Lake. "I like to see new places and new +people." + +"Dolly's never content for very long in one place," said Eleanor Mercer, +who overheard her remark, smiling. "If she had her way she'd be flying +all over the country all the time. Wouldn't you, Dolly?" + +"I don't like to know what's going to happen next all the time," said +Dolly. + +"I know just how you feel," Bessie surprised her by saying. "I used to +think, sometimes, when I was on Paw Hoover's farm in Hedgeville, that if +only I could go to sleep some night without knowing just what was going +to happen the next day I'd be happy. It was always the same, too--just +the same things to do, and the same places to see--" + +"I should think Jake Hoover would have kept you guessing what he was +going to do next," said Dolly, spitefully. "The great big bully! Oh, how +glad I was when Will Burns knocked him down the other day!" + +"Yes," admitted Bessie. "I didn't know just what Jake was going to tell +Maw Hoover about me next--but then, you see, I always knew it was +something that would get me into trouble, and that I'd either get beaten +or get a scolding and have to do without my supper. So even about that +it wasn't very difficult to know what was going to happen." + +"Heavens--I'd have run away long before you did," said Dolly, with a +shudder. "I don't see how you ever stood it as long as you did, Bessie. +It must have been awful." + +"It was, Dolly," said Eleanor, gravely. "I was there, and I made a point +of looking into things, so that if anyone ever blamed me for helping +Bessie and Zara to get away, I could explain that I hadn't just taken +Bessie's word for things. But running away was a pretty hard thing to +do. It's easy to talk about--but where was Bessie to go? She isn't like +you--or she wasn't. + +"She didn't have a lot of friends, who would have thought it was just a +fine joke for her to have to run off that way. If you did it, you'd have +a good time, and when you got tired of it, you'd go back to your Aunt +Mabel, and she'd scold you a little, and that would be the end of it. +You must have thought of trying to get away, Bessie, didn't you?" + +"Oh, I did, Miss Eleanor, often and often. When Jake was very bad, or +Maw Hoover was meaner than usual. But it's just as you say. I was afraid +that wherever I went it would be, worse than it was there. I didn't know +where to go or what to do." + +"Well--that's so," said Dolly. "It has been awfully hard. But then, how +did you ever get the nerve to do it at all, Bessie? That's what I don't +understand. The way you act now, it seems as if you always wanted to do +just as you are told." + +"I thought you'd heard all about that, Dolly. You see, when we really +did run away, we couldn't help it, Zara and I. And I don't believe we +really meant to go quite away, the way we did--not at first. You +remember when we saw you girls first--when you were in camp in the +woods?" + +"Oh, yes; I remember seeing you, with your head just poking out Of the +door of that funny old hut by the lake. I thought it was awfully funny, +but I didn't know you then, of course." + +"I expect you'd have thought it was funny whether you knew us or not, +Dolly. Well, you see, Zara had come over to see me the day it all +happened, and Jake caught her talking with me, and locked her in the +woodshed. Maw Hoover didn't like Zara, because she was a foreigner, and +Maw thought she stole eggs and chickens--but never did such a thing in +her life. So Jake locked her in the woodshed, and said that he was going +to keep her there till Maw Hoover came home. She'd gone to town." + +"Why did he want to do that?" + +"Because Maw had said that if she ever caught Zara around, their place +again she was going to take a stick to her and beat her until she was +black and blue--and I guess she meant it, too. She liked to give people +beatings--me, I mean. She never touched Jake, though, and she never +believed he did anything wrong." + +Dolly whistled. + +"If she knew him the way I do, she would," she said. "And I've only seen +him twice--but that's two times too many!" + +"Well, after he'd locked her in, Jake went off, and I tried to let her +out. I couldn't find the key, and I was trying to break the lock on the +door with a stone. I'd nearly got it done, when Jake came along and +found me doing it. So he stood off and threw bits of burning wood from +the fire near me, to frighten me. That was an old trick of his. + +"But that time the woodshed caught fire, and he was scared. He got the +key, and we let Zara out, and then he said he was going to tell Maw +Hoover that we'd set the place on fire on purpose. I knew she'd believe +him, and we were frightened, and ran off." + +"Well, I should say so! Who wouldn't? Why, he's worse than I thought he +was, even, and I knew he was pretty bad." + +"We were going to Zara's place first, but that was the day they arrested +Zara's father. They said he'd been making bad money, but I don't believe +it. But anyhow, we heard them talking in their place--Zara's and her +father's--and they said that I'd set the barn on fire, and they were +going to have me arrested, and that Zara would have to go and live with +old Farmer Weeks, who's the meanest man in that state. And so we kept on +running away, because we knew that it couldn't be any worse for us if we +went than if we stayed. So that's how we finally came away." + +"Oh, how exciting! I wish I ever had adventures like that!" + +"Don't be silly, Dolly," said Eleanor, severely. "Bessie and Zara were +very lucky--they might have had a very hard time. And you had all the +adventure you need the other day when you made Bessie go off looking for +ice-cream sodas with you. You be content to go along the way you ought +to and you'll have plenty of fun without the danger of adventures. They +sound very nice, after they're all over, but when they're happening +they're not very pleasant." + +"That's so," admitted Dolly, becoming grave. + +It was late in the afternoon before they reached the station at which +they had to change from the main line. There they waited for a time +before the little two-car train on the branch line was ready to start +Short and light as it was, that train had to be drawn by two puffing, +snorting engines, for the rest of the trip was a climb, and a stiff +one, since Long Lake was fairly high, up, though the train, after it +passed the station nearest to the lake, would climb a good deal higher. + +Even after they left the train finally, they were still some distance +from their destination. + +"You needn't look at that buckboard as if you were going to ride in it, +girls," said Eleanor, laughing, as they surveyed the single vehicle that +was waiting near the track. "That's just for the baggage. Now you can +see, maybe, why you were told you couldn't bring many things with you. +And if that isn't enough, wait until you see the trail!" + +Soon all the baggage was stowed away on the back of the buckboard and +securely tied up, and then the driver whipped up the stocky horses, and +drove off, while the girls gave him the Wohelo cheer. + +"But how are we going to get to Long Lake?" asked Dolly, apprehensively. + +"We're going to walk!" laughed Eleanor. "Come on now or we won't get +there in time for supper--and I'll bet we'll all have a fine appetite +for supper to-night!" + +Then she took the van, and led the way across a field and into the woods +that grew thickly near the track. + +"This isn't the way the buckboard went!" said Dolly. + +"No--We'll strike the road pretty soon, though," said Eleanor. "We save +a little time by taking this trail. In the old days there wasn't any way +to get to the lake, or to carry anything there, except by walking. And +when they built the corduroy road they couldn't make it as short as the +trail, although, wherever they could they followed the old trail. So +this is a sort of short cut." + +"What's a corduroy road?" asked Dolly. + +"Don't you know that? I thought you knew something about the woods, +Dolly. My, what a lot you've got to learn. It's made of logs and they're +built in woods and places where it's hard to make a regular road, or +would cost too much. All that's needed, you see, is to chop down trees +enough to make a clear path, and then to put down the logs, close +together. It's rough going, and no wagon with springs can be driven over +it, but it's all right for a buckboard." + +"Ugh!" said Dolly. "I should think it would shake you to pieces." + +"It does, pretty nearly," said Eleanor, with a smile. "One usually only +rides over one once--after that one walks, and is glad of the chance." + +When, after a three-mile tramp, Eleanor, who was in front, stopped +suddenly at a point where the trees thinned out, on top of a ridge, and +called out, "Here's the lake, girls!" there was a wild rush to reach her +side. And the view, when they got the first glimpse of it, was certainly +worth all the trouble it had caused them. + +Before them stretched a long body of water, sapphire blue in the +twilight, with pink shadows where the setting sun was reflected. Perhaps +two miles long, the lake was, at its widest point, not more than a +quarter of a mile across, whence, of course, came its name. About it +the land sloped down on all sides, into a cup-like depression that +formed the lake, so that there was, on all four sides, a tree crowned +ridge. From a point about half way to the far end of the lake smoke rose +in the calm evening air. + +"Oh, how beautiful!" cried Bessie. "It's the loveliest place I ever saw. +And how wonderful the smell is." + +"That's from the pine trees," said Eleanor. She sighed, as if overcome +by the calm beauty of the scene, as, indeed, she was. "It's always +beautiful here--but Sometimes I think it's most beautiful in winter, +when the lake is covered with ice, and the trees are all weighed down +with snow. Then, of course, you can walk or skate all over the +lake--it's frozen four and five feet deep, as a rule, by January." + +Dolly shivered. + +"But isn't it awfully cold here?" she inquired "Oh, yes; but it's so dry +that one doesn't mind the cold half as much as we do at home when it's +really ten or fifteen degrees warmer, Dolly. One dresses for it, too, +you see, in thick, woolen things, and furs, and there's such glorious +sport. You can break holes through the ice and fish, and then there are +ice boats, and skating races, and all sorts of things. Oh, it's +glorious. I've been up here in winter a lot, and I really do think +that's best of all." + +Then she looked at the rising smoke. + +"Well, we mustn't stay here and talk any more," she said. "Come along, +girls, it's getting near to supper time." + +"Have we got to cook supper?" asked Dolly, anxiously. + +"No, not to-night," said Eleanor, with a laugh. "The guides have done it +for us, because I knew we'd all be tired and ready for a good rest, +without any work to do. But with breakfast tomorrow we'll start in and +do all our own work, just as we've done when we've been in camp before." + +Half an hour's brisk walk took them to the site of the camp. There there +was a little sandy beach, and the tents had been pitched on ground was +slightly higher. Behind each tent a trench had been dug, so that, in +case of rain, the water flowing down from the high ground in the rear +would be diverted and carried down into the lake. + +Before the tents a great fire was burning, and the girls cried out +happily at the sight of plates, with knives and forks and tin pannikins +set by them, all spread out in a great circle near the fire. At the fire +itself two or three men were busy with frying pans and great coffee +pots, and the savory smell of frying bacon, that never tastes half as +good as when it is eaten in the woods, rose and mingled with the sweet, +spicy smell of the balsams and the firs, the pines and the spruces. + +"Oh, but I'm glad we're here!" cried Dolly, with a huge sigh of content. +"And I'm glad to see supper--and smell it!" + +And what a supper that was! For many the girls, like Bessie, and Zara, +and Dolly, it the first woods meal. How good the bacon was, and the +raised biscuit, as light and flaky as snowflakes, cooked as only woods +guides know how to cook them! And then, afterward, the great plates +heaped high with flapjacks, that were to be eaten with butter and maple +syrup that came from the trees all about them. Not the adulterated, +wishy-washy maple syrup that is sold, as a rule, even in the best +grocery stores of the cities, but the real, luscious maple syrup that is +taken from the running sap in the first warm days of February, and +refined in great kettles, right under the trees that yielded the sap. + +And then, when it was time to turn in, how they did sleep! The air +seemed to have some mysterious qualities of making one want to sleep. +And the peace of the great out-of-doors brooded over the camp that +night. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A RECKLESS EXCURSION + + +In the morning, when the girls awoke, there was no sign of the guides +who had cooked that tempting and delicious supper the night before. + +"Well, we're on our own resources now, girls," said the Guardian. "This +may be a sort of Eden--I hope we'll find it so. But it's going to be a +manless one. There'll be no men here until we get ready to go away, if I +can help it--except as visitors." + +"Well, I guess we can get along without them all right, for a change," +said Dolly, blushing a little. + +"Some of the men I know who are interested in the Boy Scouts think the +Camp Fire Girls are a good deal of a joke," said Eleanore, with a light +in her eyes that might have made some of the scoffers she referred to +anxious to eat their words. "They say we get along all right because we +always have some man ready to help us out if we get into any trouble. So +I planned this camp just to show them that we can do just as well as any +troop of Boy Scouts ever did." + +"I bet we can, too," said Dolly, eagerly. "Why, with such a lot of us to +do the work, it won't be very hard for any one of us." + +"Not if we all do our share, Dolly," said Eleanor, looking at her rather +pointedly. "But if some of us are always managing to disappear just when +there's work to be done, someone will have to do double duty--and that's +not fair." + +"I won't--really I won't, Miss Eleanor," said Dolly. "I know I've +shirked sometimes, but I'm not going to this time. I'm going to work +hard now to be a Fire Maker. I think I've been a Wood Gatherer long +enough, don't, you?" + +"You've served more time than is needed for promotion, Dolly. It's all +up to you, as the boys say. As soon as you win the honors you need you +can be a Fire Maker. You can have your new rank just as soon as you earn +it." + +"Bessie and I are going to be made Fire Makers together, if we can, Miss +Eleanor. We talked that over the other day, at the farm, and I think +well be ready at the first camp fire we have after we get home." + +"Well, you'll please me very much if you do. It's time the other girls +were getting up now--we've got to cook breakfast now. I'll call them +while you two build a fire--there's plenty of wood for to-day, piled up +over there." + +AS Dolly had said, with each girl doing her share, the work of the camp +was light. While some of the girls did the cooking, others prepared the +"dining table"--a smooth place on the ground--and others pinned up the +bottom flaps of; the tents, after turning out the bedding, so that the +floors of the tents might be well aired. And then they all sat down, +happily and hungrily, to a breakfast that tasted just as good as had +supper the night before. + +"Can we swim in the lake, Miss Eleanor?" asked Margery Burton. + +"If you want to," said Eleanor, with a smile. "It's pretty cold water, +though; a good deal colder than it was at the sea shore last year. You +see, this lake is fed by springs, and in the spring the ice melts, and +the water in April and May is just like ice water. But you'll get used +to it, if you only stay in a couple of minutes at first, and get +accustomed to the chill gradually. But remember the rule: no one is ever +to go unless I'm right at hand, and there must always be someone in a +boat, ready to help if a girl gets a cramp or any other sort of +trouble." + +"Oh, are there boats?" cried Dolly. "That's fine! Where are they, Miss +Eleanor?" + +"You shall see them after we've cleared away the breakfast things and +washed up. But there's a rule about the boats, too: no one is to go out +in them except in bathing suits. And remember this, when you're out on +the lake. It's very narrow, and it looks very calm and safe, now. + +"But at this time of the year there are often severe squalls up here, +and they come over the hills so quickly that it's easy to get caught +unless you're very careful. I think there had better always be two girls +in each boat. We don't want any accidents." + +"Can we go for walks through the woods, Miss Eleanor?" + +"Oh, yes; that's the most beautiful part of being up here. But it's easy +to get lost. When you start on a trail always stick to it. Don't be +tempted to go off exploring. I'm going to give you all some lessons in +finding your way in the woods. You know, the moss is always on the south +side of a tree, and there are other ways of telling direction, by the +leaves. I expect you all to be regular woodsmen when we go away from +here, and I'm sure you'll learn things about the woods that will give +you a good many pleasant times in the future" + +"Isn't there anyone else at all up here, Miss Eleanor? I should think +there'd be a hotel or something like that here." + +"No, not yet; not right near here. This lake is part of a big preserve +that is owned by a lot of men in the city. My father is one of them, and +they have tried to keep all this part of the woods just as nature left +it. There are a lot of deer here, and in the fall, when hunters come +into the woods, they have to keep out of this part of them. A few deer +are shot here, because if only a few are taken each year, it's all +right. But there will be no hotels in this tract. Hotels mean the end of +the real woods life. There are half a dozen lakes in the preserve, and +each of the families that owns a share in it has a camp at one of the +lakes. I mean a regular camp, with wooden buildings, where one can stay +in the winter, even. But this lake was set apart for trips like this, +where people can get right back to nature, and sleep in tents." + +"Then we can go over and see some of the other lakes?" + +"Yes; I don't know whether we'll find anyone at home in any of the camps +or not, but they'll be glad to see us if they are there. A lot of people +wait until later in the year to come up here--until the hunting season +begins. But we can do some hunting even now, though it's against the law +to do any shooting." + +"Oh, I know what you mean, Miss Eleanor--with a camera?" + +It was Margery Burton who thought of that. + +"Yes. And that's really the best sort of hunting, I think. If you've +ever seen a deer, and had it look at you with its big, soft eyes, I +don't see how you can kill it. It's almost as hard to get a good picture +of e deer as it is to kill it--in fact, I think it's harder, because you +have to get so much closer to it And it's awfully good fun at night. + +"You go to one of their runways, and settle down with your camera and a +flashlight powder, and then when the deer comes, if you're very quick, +you can get a really beautiful picture. The deer may be a little +frightened, but he isn't hurt, and you have a picture that you can keep +for years and show to people. And an experienced hunter will tell you +that any time you can get close enough to a deer to get a good +flashlight picture of him you could easily have killed him." + +"Why is it so very hard to do that?" + +"Well, for lots of reasons. You have to figure on the wind--because if +the wind is blowing away from you and toward the deer he can smell you +long before he's in sight, and off he goes, afraid to come any nearer." + +"But how can you tell where a deer will be?" + +"They have regular runways--just as we have trails. And at night they +come down to the lake to drink. So you can station yourself on one of +those runways, and be pretty sure that sooner or later a deer will come +along." + +The morning passed quickly and happily. To the girls who had never +before been in that country, there seemed to be an unending number of +new discoveries. Timid as the deer might be, there was nothing nervous +about the squirrels and chipmunks which abounded in the woods near the +lake, and as soon as they saw the girls they came running about, so that +there were often half a dozen or more begging noisily for dainties to +afford them a change from their diet of nuts, sitting up, and chattering +prettily as they got the morsels that were tossed to them. + +"I never saw them so tame, even at home," said Bessie, surprised. "We +had plenty of them there, but I suppose they were wilder because the +boys used to shoot them. They don't do that here, I suppose?" + +"No; the people who hunt around here go in for bigger game. They would +think they were wasting their time if they bothered to shoot chipmunks +and squirrels." + +"I've seen them tame before, but that was in the park, at home, and it +isn't the same thing at all," said Dolly. + +"No; though they're very cute, and I'm glad there are so many of them +there. But here, of course, they're in their real home, and it's +different, and much nicer, I think." + +Then, after luncheon, Miss Eleanor divided the girls into watches. + +"I think we'll have more fun if a certain number stay home every +afternoon to prepare dinner and cook it," she said. "Then the rest of +you can go for walks, or do anything you like, so long as you are back +in time for dinner. In that way, some of you will be free every +afternoon, and those who have to work won't mind, because they will know +that the next day they will be free, and so on." + +Zara was one of those who drew a piece of paper marked "work" from the +big hat in which Miss Eleanor put a slip of paper for every girl, while +Bessie and Dolly each drew a slip marked "play." + +"To-morrow the girls who work to-day will play," said Miss Eleanor, "and +those who play to-day will draw again. Four of them will play again +to-morrow, and the other four will work, and then, on the third day, +those who play tomorrow will work, and on the fourth day to-day's four +will work again. That will give everyone two days off and one day to +work while we're in camp. And I think that's fair." + +So did everyone else, and Dolly, always willing to put off work as long +as she could, was delighted. + +"Let's take a long walk this afternoon, Bessie," she said. "The air up +here makes me feel more like walking than I ever do when I'm at home. +There I usually take a car whenever I can, though I've been trying to +walk more lately, so as to get an honor bead." + +"I'll be glad to take a walk, Dolly," said Bessie, laughing. "I think +you ought to be encouraged any time you really want to do something +that's good for you." + +"Oh, if I stay with you long enough I'll be too good to keep on living," +said Dolly. "Don't you see the difference between us, Bessie? You're +good because you like to do the things you ought to do. And when anyone +tells me something's good for me, I always get so that I don't want to +do it. We'll start right after lunch, shall we?" + +"All right," said Bessie. + +But before it was time to make a start she sought out Miss Eleanor. + +"I'm not really afraid, Wanaka," she said, using the Indian name, since, +here in the woods, it seemed natural to do it. "But I thought I ought to +ask you if you think it's all right for me to go off with Dolly? I +suppose none of those people who were trying to get hold of me would do +anything up here, would they?" + +"Oh, I don't think so, Bessie. No, I think you're just as safe anywhere +in these woods as you would be right here in the camp. There are a few +guides around--they have to be kept here to warn people who make camp +and don't put out their fires properly. You see, my father and the rest +of the people don't mind letting nice people come here into their +preserve to camp, but they've got to be careful about fire. + +"You can imagine what would happen here if the woods caught fire; it +would be dreadful. Further on, the woods are only just beginning to grow +up again. They were all burned out a year or so ago, and they look +horrid. This preserve is so beautiful that we all want to keep it +looking just as nice as possible. But the guides would look after you; +there's nothing to be afraid of with them. + +"And I don't believe that you'd be at all likely to meet anyone else. +Suppose you take the trail that starts at the far end of the lake, and +follow it straight over until you come to Little Bear Lake. That's a +very pretty walk. But don't go off the preserve. There's a trail that +leads over to Loon Pond, but you'd better not try that until we all go +as a party." + +So, when the midday meal had been eaten, Bessie and Dolly started off, +skirting the edge of the lake until they came to the beginning of the +trail Miss Mercer had spoken of, which was marked by a birch bark sign +on a tree. There they left the lake, and plunged so quickly into thick +woods that the water was soon out of sight. + +"Isn't this lovely? Oh, I could walk miles and miles here and never get +tired at all, I believe!" said Dolly. "But I do sort of wish there was a +hotel somewhere around. They have dances, and parties, and all sorts of +fun at those hotels. And, Bessie, do you know I heard there was one near +here, at a place called Loon Pond?" + +"Is there?" + +"Yes; I think it would be fun to go there some time." + +"Well, maybe we can, some time, Dolly. When Miss Eleanor is along. But +we'd better not do it today. You know she said we were to stick to the +preserve." + +"Oh, bother; as if we could get into any mischief up here! But I suppose +there wouldn't be any use in trying to persuade you; you always do just +as you're told." + +"Oh, I'd like to see the hotel, too, Dolly, but not today. The woods +are enough for me now. And we can go there some other time, I'm sure." + +Dolly said nothing more just then, and for a time they walked along +quietly. + +"We're about half way to Little Bear Lake now," announced Dolly, after a +spell of silence. + +"Why, how do you know?" + +"Because I saw a map, and this ridge we've just come to is half way +between the two lakes." + +"Oh," said Bessie. + +"Yes. We've been coming up hill so far now, the rest of the way is down +hill, so it will be easier walking." + +"That's good; it means that when we're going home we'll be going down +for the last half of the trip, when we're tired. That's much easier than +if it was the other way, I think." + +"You look tired, Bessie; why don't you sit down and rest!" + +"Well, that's not a bad idea, Dolly. I'm not used to so much walking +lately." + +"All right, sit down. I'm thirsty. I think I'll just run ahead and see +if I can find a spring while you rest." + +So Dolly ran ahead, and disappeared after a moment. Presently, when +Bessie was rested, she started again, and soon overtook Dolly. + +"We turn here," said Dolly. "See, here's another trail, and the signs +show which one we're to take." + +"That's funny," said Bessie, puzzled. "I thought we went to Little Bear +in a perfectly straight line. Miss Eleanor didn't say anything about +changing direction." + +"Well, there's the sign, Bessie. If we keep straight on it says that +we'll come to Loon Pond. We turn off to the right here to get to Little +Bear." + +"Well, I guess the sign must be right. But it certainly seems funny. I +hope there isn't any mistake." + +"Mistake! How can there be? Don't be silly, Bessie. There wouldn't be +any chance of that. Come on." + +So they turned off, and, as they followed the new trail, the trees began +to grow thinner, presently. The whole character of the woods seemed to +change, too. They passed numerous places where picnic parties had +evidently eaten their meals, and had left blackened spots, and the +remnants of their feasts. + +"It seems to me some of the people who've been here have been very +careless, Dolly," said Bessie, "Look, there's a place where a fire +started. It didn't get very far, but it burnt over quite a little bit of +ground before it was put out." + +The trail began to dip sharply, too, and before long they were walking +in what was almost open country. Stumps of trees were all about, and +evidently wood-cutters had been at work. + +"This isn't half as pretty as Long Lake," said Bessie. "Oh, Dolly, look! +What's that?" + +Dolly laughed in a peculiar fashion. For they had come in sight of a +sheet of water, and, in plain view, not far from them, by the shore of +the lake, they saw a place that could not be mistaken. It proclaimed its +nature at once--a regular summer hotel, with wide piazzas, full of +people. And on the water there were a score of boats and canoes, and one +or two launches. + +"This isn't Little Bear Lake!" said Bessie. + +"Of course it isn't, silly; it's Loon Pond. I changed the signs while +you rested, because I meant to come here, and I knew you wouldn't, if +you knew what you were doing!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GYPSY CAMP + + +Bessie grew red with indignation for a moment, but before she spoke she +was calm again. + +"Don't you think that's a pretty mean trick, Dolly?" she said, gently. +"It seems to me it's a good deal like lying." + +"Why, Bessie King! Can't you ever take a joke? I didn't say a single, +solitary thing that wasn't so. I said the signs said this was the way to +Little Bear Lake, and you never asked me if I'd changed them, did you?" + +Bessie laughed helplessly. + +"Oh, Dolly!" she said. "Of course I didn't; why should I? Who would ever +think of doing such a thing, except you? You don't expect people to +guess what you're going to do next, do you?" + +"I suppose not," said Dolly, impenitently, her eyes still twinkling. "I +do manage to surprise people pretty often. My aunt Mabel says that if I +spent half as much time studying as I do thinking up new sorts of +mischief I'd be at the top of every class I'm in at school." + +"She's perfectly right. I thought at first you had a hard time with your +aunt, Dolly, but I'm through being sorry for you. She needs all the +sympathy anyone has got for having to try to look after you!" + +"Oh, what's the harm? We're here now, and It isn't so very dreadful, is +it? Come on, let's go over to the hotel." + +"Indeed we shan't do anything of the sort, Dolly Ransom! We'll turn +around and go right straight back to Long Lake, that's what we'll do." + +"I guess not. You don't think I've come this far and that I'm going to +turn around without seeing what the place is like, do you?" + +"Why, Dolly, you know we weren't supposed to come here alone. I don't +think much of it; it isn't half as pretty as Long Lake. What's the use +of wasting our time here, anyhow?" + +"Why--why--because there are people here! I just love seeing people, +Bessie, they're so interesting, because they're all so different, and +you never know what they're going to say or do. And there may be someone +we know here, too." + +"There can't be anyone I know, Dolly." + +"Oh, bother! Well, there may be someone I know, and that's the same +thing, isn't it? Come on, be a sport, Bessie." + +"That's what you said about going in the car with Mr. Holmes the other +day, too." + +"Oh, but this isn't a bit like that, Bessie." + +"It might get us into just as much mischief, Dolly. No, I'm not going +over there. It's silly, and it's wrong." + +And this time Bessie stood firm. Despite Dolly's pleading, which turned, +presently, to angry threats, she refused absolutely to go any nearer the +hotel, and Dolly was afraid to venture there alone, though there was +very little she _was_ afraid to _do_. In her inmost heart, of course, +Dolly knew that Bessie was right, and that she had had no business to +trick her chum into seeming to break her promise to Miss Eleanor. + +"Oh, well," she said, "I might have known that I couldn't always make +you do what you don't want to do, Bessie. You're not mad at me, are +you?" + +Bessie, pleased by this sign of surrender, returned the smile. + +"I ought to be, but I'm not, Dolly," she answered. "I think that is one +of the reasons you keep on doing these things--but no one ever really +does get angry with you, as they should. If someone you really cared for +got properly angry at you just once for one of your little tricks, I +think it would teach you not to do anything of the sort for a long +time." + +"Oh, I don't mean any harm, Bessie, and you know it, and when people +really like you they don't get angry unless they think you're really +trying to be mean. I say, Bessie, if you won't go over to the hotel, +will you walk just a little way over to the other side, and see what +that funny looking place is where those big wagons are all spread out?" + +Bessie followed Dolly's pointing finger, and saw, on the side of Loon +Pond opposite the hotel, several wagons, among which smoke was rising. + +"It looks like a circus," said Dolly. + +"It isn't, though. I know what they are," said Bessie, promptly. "It's a +gypsy encampment. Do you mean you've never seen one, Dolly?" + +"No; and oh dear, Bessie, I've always wanted to. Surely we could go a +little nearer, couldn't we? As long as we're here?" + +Bessie thought it over for a moment, and, as a matter of fact, really +could see no harm in spending ten minutes or so in walking over toward +the gypsy camp. She herself had seen a few gypsies near Hedgeville in +her time, but in that part of the country those strange wanderers were +not popular. + +"All right," she said. "But if I do that will you promise to start for +home as soon as we've had a look at them, and never to play such a trick +on me again?" + +"I certainly will. Bessie, you're a darling. And I'll tell you something +else; too; you were so nice about the way I changed those signs that I'm +really sorry I did it. And I just thought it would be a good joke. +Usually I'm glad when people get angry at my jokes, it shows they were +good ones." + +Bessie smiled wisely to herself. Gradually she was learning that the way +to rob Dolly's jokes and teasing tricks of their sting, and the best +way, at the same time, to cure Dolly herself of her fondness for them, +was never to let the joker know that they had had the effect she +planned. + +Dolly, considerably relieved, as a matter of fact, when she found that +Bessie was really not angry at her for the trick she had played with the +sign post, chatted volubly as they turned to walk over toward the gypsy +camp. + +"I don't see why they call this a pond and the one we're on a lake," +she said. "This is ever so much bigger than Long Lake. Why, it must; be +four or five miles long, don't you think, Bessie?" + +"Yes. I guess they call it a pond because it looks just like a big, +overgrown ice pond. See, it's round. I think Long Lake is ever so much +prettier, don't you, even though it's smaller?" + +"I certainly do. This place isn't like the woods at all, it's more like, +regular country, that you can find by just taking a trolley car and +riding a few miles out from the city." + +"It used to be just as it is now around Long Lake, I suppose," said +Bessie. "But they've cut the trees down, and made room for tennis courts +and all sorts of things like that, and then, I suppose, they needed wood +to build the hotel, too. It's quite a big place, isn't it, Dolly?" + +"Yes, and I've heard of it before, too," Dolly. "A friend of mine stayed +up here for a month two or three years ago. She says they advertise +that it's wild and just like living right in the woods, but it isn't at +all. I guess it's for people who like to think they're roughing it when +they're really just as comfortable as they would be if they stayed at +home. Comfortable the same way, I mean." + +"Yes, that's better, Dolly. Because I think we're comfortable, though +it's very different from the way we would live in the city, or even from +the way we lived at the farm. But we're really roughing it, I guess." + +"Yes, and it's fine, too! Tell me, Bessie, did you ever see any gypsies +like these when you lived in the country!" + +"There were gypsies around Hedgeville two or three times, but the +farmers all hated them, and used to try to drive them away, and Maw +Hoover told me not to go near them when they were around. She usually +gave me so many things to do that I couldn't, anyhow. You know, the +farmers say that they'll steal anything, but I think one reason for that +is that the farmers drove them into doing it, in the beginning, I mean. +They wouldn't let them act like other people, and they didn't like to +sell them things. So I think the poor gypsies wanted to get even, and +that's how they began to steal." + +"What do you suppose they're doing up here, Bessie?" + +"They always go around to the summer places, and in the winter they go +south, to where the people from the north go to get warm when it's +winter at home. They tell fortunes, and they make all sorts of queer +things that people like to buy; lace, and bead things. And I suppose up +here they sell all sorts of souvenirs, too; baskets, and things like +that." + +"Don't they have any real homes, Bessie?" + +"No; except in their wagons. They live in them all the time, and they +always manage to be where it's warm in the winter. They don't care where +they go, you see. One place is just like another to them. They never +have settled in towns. They've been wanderers for ages and ages, and +they have their own language. They know all sorts of things about the +weather, and they can find their way anywhere." + +"How do you know so much about them, Bessie, if you never saw anything +of them when you were in Hedgeville?" + +"I read a book about them once. It's called 'Lavengro,' and it's by a +man who's been dead a long time now; his name was Borrow." + +"What a funny name! I never heard of that book, but I'll get it and read +it when I get home. It tells about the gypsies, you say?" + +"Yes. But I guess not about the gypsies as they are now, but more as +they used to be. We're getting close, now. See all the babies! Aren't +they cute and brown?" + +Two or three parties, evidently from the hotel, were looking about the +camp, but they paid little attention to the two Camp Fire Girls, +evidently recognizing that they did not come from the hotel. The +gypsies, however, always on the alert when they see a chance to make +money by selling their wares or by telling fortunes, flocked about +them, particularly the women. Bessie, fair haired and blond, they seemed +disposed to neglect, but Bessie noticed that several of the men looked +admiringly at Dolly, whose dark hair and eyes, though she was, of +course, much fairer than their own women, seemed to appeal to them. + +"I'd like to have my fortune told!" Dolly whispered. + +"I think we'd better not do that, Dolly, really; and you remember you +said you'd stay just for a minute." + +"I don't see what harm it would do," Dolly pouted. But she gave in, +nevertheless. They passed the door of the strangely decorated tent +inside of which the secrets of the future were supposed to be revealed, +and, followed by a curious pack of children, walked on to a wagon where +a pretty girl, who seemed no older than themselves; but was probably, +because the gypsy women grow old so much more quickly than American +girls, actually younger, was sitting. She was sewing beads to a jacket, +and she looked up with a bright smile as they approached. + +"You come from the hotel?" she said. "You live there?" + +"No," said Dolly. "We come from a long way off. Are you going to wear +that jacket?" + +The gypsy girl laughed. + +"No. I'm making that for my man, him over there by the tree, smoking, +see? He's my man; he's goin' marry me when I get it done." + +Bessie laughed. + +"Marry you? Why, you're only a girl like me!" she exclaimed. + +"No, no; me woman," protested the gypsy, eagerly. "See, I'm so tall +already!" + +And she sprang up to show them how tall she was. But Bessie and Dolly +only laughed the more, until Bessie saw that something like anger was +coming into her black eyes, and checked Dolly's laugh. + +"I hope you'll be very happy," she said. "Come on, Dolly, we really must +be going." + +Dolly was inclined to resist once more. She hadn't seen half as much as +she wanted to of the strange, exotic life of the gypsy caravan, so +different from the things she was used to, but Bessie was firm, and they +began to make their way back toward the trail. And, as they neared the +spot from which they had had their first view of Loon Pond and the gypsy +camp, Bessie was startled and frightened by the sudden appearance in +their path of the good looking young gypsy for whom the girl they had +been talking to was decorating the jacket. + +His keen eyes devoured Dolly as he stood before her, and he put out his +hand, gently enough, to bar their way. + +"Will you marry me?" he said, in English much better than that of most +of his tribe. + +Dolly laughed, although Bessie looked serious. + +"Oh, yes, of course," said Dolly. "I always marry the first man who asks +me, every day; especially if he's a gypsy and I've never seen him +before." + +"You're too young now; you think you are, I suppose," said the gypsy, +showing his white teeth. "You come back with me and wait; by and by we +will get married." + +"Nonsense," said Bessie, decisively. "He means it, Dolly, he's not +joking. Come, we must hurry." + +"Wait, stay," said the gypsy, eagerly. And he put out his hand as if to +hold Dolly. But she screamed before he could touch her, and darted past +him. And in a moment both girls, running hard, were out of sight. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A SERIOUS JOKE + + +Bessie, seriously alarmed, led the race through the woods and they had +gone for nearly a quarter of a mile before she would even stop to +listen. When she felt that if the gypsy were going to overtake them he +would have done it, she stopped, and, breathing hard, listened eagerly +for some sign that he was still behind them. But only the noises of the +forest came to their ears, the rustling of the leaves in the trees, the +call of a bird, the sudden sharp chattering of a squirrel or a chipmunk, +and, of course, their own breathing. + +"I guess we got away from him all right," she said. "Oh, Dolly, I was +frightened!" + +"What?" cried Dolly, amazed. "Do you mean to say that you let that silly +gypsy frighten you? I thought you were braver than that, Bessie!" + +"You don't know anything about it, Dolly," said Bessie, a little +irritated. "It really wasn't your fault, but those people aren't like +our men. He probably meant just what he said, and if he thought you were +laughing at him, it would have made him furious. When you said you +would marry him, of course I knew you were joking, and so would anyone +like us, but I think he took you seriously. He thought you meant it!" + +"Bessie! How absurd! He couldn't! Why, I won't marry anyone for ever so +long, and he surely doesn't think an American girl would ever marry one +of his nasty tribe! You're joking, aren't you! He couldn't ever have +really thought anything so perfectly absurd?" + +"I only hope we won't find out that he was serious, Dolly. You couldn't +be expected to understand, but people like that are very different from +ourselves. They haven't got a lot of civilized ideas to hold them in +check, the way we have, and when they want something they come right out +and say so, and if they can't get what they want by asking for it, +they're apt to take it." + +"But I didn't think anyone ever acted like that! And he is going to +marry that pretty gypsy girl who is putting the beads and buttons on a +jacket for him, anyhow. She said so; she said they were engaged." + +"Men have changed their minds about the women they were going to marry, +Dolly, even American men. And that's another thing that bothers me. I +think that girl's very much in love with him, and if she thought he was +fond of you, she'd be furious. There's no telling what a gypsy girl +might do if she was jealous. You see, she'd blame you, instead of him. +She'd say you had turned his head." + +"Oh, Bessie, what a dreadful mess. Oh, dear! I seem to be getting into +trouble all the time! I think I'm just going to have a little harmless +fun, and then I find that I've started all sorts of trouble that I +couldn't foresee at all." + +"Never mind, Dolly. You didn't mean to do it, and, of course, I may be +exaggerating it anyhow. I'll admit I'm frightened, but it's of what I +know about the gypsies. They're strange people and they carry a grudge a +long time. If they think anyone has hurt them, or offended them, they're +never satisfied until they have had their revenge. But, after all, he +may not do anything at all. He may have been joking. Perhaps he just +wanted to frighten you." + +"Oh, I really do think that must have been it, Bessie. Don't you +remember that he was different from the others! He spoke just as well as +we do, as if he'd been to school, and he must know more about our +customs." + +Bessie shook her head. + +"That doesn't mean that he isn't just as wild and untamed as the others +down at bottom, Dolly. I've heard the same thing about Indians; that +some of those who make the most trouble are the very ones who've been to +Carlisle. It isn't because they're educated, because they would have +been wild and wicked anyhow, but the very fact that they are educated +seems to make them more dangerous. I hope it isn't the same with this +gypsy; but we've got to be careful." + +"Oh, I'll be careful, Bessie," said Dolly, with a shudder. "I'll do +whatever I'm told. You needn't worry about that." + +"That's good, Dolly. The first thing, of course, is never to get far +away from the camp alone. We mustn't come over this way at all, or go +anywhere near Loon Pond as long as those gypsies are still there." + +"Oh, Bessie, do you think we'll have to tell Miss Eleanor about this?" + +"I'm afraid so, Dolly. But there's no reason why you should mind doing +that. She won't blame you, it really wasn't your fault." + +"Yes, it was, Bessie. Don't you remember the way I changed the signs! If +I hadn't done that we wouldn't have gone to Loon Pond, and if we hadn't +gone there--" + +"We wouldn't have seen the gypsies? Yes I know, Dolly. But Miss Eleanor +is fair, you know that. And she may scold you for playing trick with +the signs, but that's all. She won't blame you for having misunderstood +that gypsy." + +Then they came to the crossing of the trails, and Dolly replaced the +signs as they had been before she had played her thoughtless prank. + +"We must hurry along, Dolly," said Bessie. "It's getting dark, and we +don't want to be out here when it's too dark. I think it's safe enough, +but--" + +"Oh, suppose that horrid gypsy followed us through the woods, Bessie? +That's what you mean, isn't it! Let's get back to the camp just as fast +as ever we can." + +"Bessie, I'm an awful coward, I'm afraid," Dolly said, as the camp was +approached. "Will you tell Miss Eleanor what happened; everything! I'm +afraid that if I told her myself I wouldn't put in what I did with the +signs." + +"You wouldn't tell her a story, Dolly?" + +"No, but I might just not tell her that. You see, I wouldn't have really +to tell her a story, and, oh, Bessie, I want her to know all about it. +Then if she scolds me, all right. Can't you understand?" + +"I'll do it if you like, Dolly, but I'm quite sure you'd tell her +everything yourself. You're not a bit of a coward, Dolly, because when +you've done something wrong you never try to pretend that it was the +fault of someone else, or an accident." + +"Do you think I ought to tell Miss Eleanor myself?" said Dolly, +wistfully. "I will if you say so, Bessie, but I'd much rather not." + +"No, I'll tell her," Bessie decided. "I think you're mistaken about +yourself, Dolly, and the reason I'm going to tell her is because I think +you'd make her think you were worse than you were, instead of not +telling her the whole thing. Do you see?" + +"You're ever so good, Bessie. Really, I'm going to try to stop worrying +you so much after this. It seems to me that you're always having things +to bother you on account of me." + +Miss Eleanor, at first, like Dolly, was inclined to laugh at what +Bessie told her of the gypsy and his absurd suggestion that Dolly should +stay with his tribe until she was old enough to be married to him. + +"Why, he must have been joking, Bessie," she said. "You say he talked +well; as if he were educated? Then he surely knows that no American girl +would take such an idea seriously for a moment." + +"But American girls do live with the gypsies and marry them, Miss +Eleanor. Often, I've heard of that. And if you'd seen him when he got in +our way on the trail you'd know why he frightened me. His face was +perfectly black, he was so angry. And when Dolly laughed at him he +looked as if he would like to beat her." + +"I can understand that," laughed Miss Eleanor. "I've wanted to beat +Dolly myself sometimes when she laughed when she was being scolded for +something!" + +"Oh, but this was different," said Bessie, earnestly. "Really, Miss +Eleanor, you'd have been frightened too, if you'd seen him. And I do +think Dolly ought to be very careful until they've gone away from Loon +Pond." + +Bessie was so serious that Miss Eleanor was impressed, almost despite +herself. + +"Well, yes, she must be careful, of course. I don't want the girls going +over to Loon Pond, anyway. I want them to have this time in the woods, +and live in a natural way, and the Loon Pond people at the hotel just +spoil the woods for me. But I don't believe there's any reason for being +really frightened, Bessie." + +"Suppose that man tried to carry her off?" + +"Oh, he wouldn't dare to try anything like that, Bessie. I don't believe +the gypsies are half as bad as they are painted, anyhow, but, even if he +would be willing to do it, he'd be afraid. The guides would soon run him +out of the preserve if they found him here; no one is supposed to be on +it, without permission. And a gypsy couldn't get that, I know." + +"But it's a pretty big place, and there aren't so very many guides. We +didn't see one today, and we really took quite a long walk." + +"But, Bessie, what would he do with her if he did carry her off? Those +people travel along the roads, and they travel slowly. He must know that +if anything happened to Dolly, or if she disappeared, he'd be suspected +right away, and he'd be chased everywhere he went." + +"I think it would be easy to hide someone in their caravans, though, +Miss Eleanor. And those people stick together, so that no one would +betray him if he did anything like that. We might be perfectly sure that +he had done it, but we wouldn't be able to prove it." + +"I'll speak to the guides and have them keep a good watch in the +direction of Loon Pond, Bessie. There, will that make you feel any +better? And those gypsies won't stay over there very long. They never +do." + +"Have they been here before, Miss Eleanor?" + +"Oh, yes; every year when I've been here." + +"Well, I'll feel better when they've gone, Miss Eleanor." + +"So will I. You've made me quite nervous, Bessie. I think you'd better +tell Dolly, and be careful yourself, not to tell the other girls +anything about this. There's no use in scaring them, and making them +feel nervous, too." + +"No. I thought of that, too. Some of them would be frightened, I'm sure. +I think Zara would be. She's been very nervous, anyhow, ever since we +got her away from that awful house where Mr. Holmes had hidden her away +from us." + +"I don't blame her a bit; I would be, too. It was really a dreadful +experience, Bessie, and particularly because she knew it was, in a way, +her own fault." + +"You mean because she believed what they said about being her friends, +and that she would get you and me into trouble unless she went with them +that night when they came for her?" + +"Yes. Poor Zara! I'm afraid she guessed, somehow, that I had been angry +with her, at first. She's terribly sensitive, and she seems to be able +to guess what's in your mind when you've really scarcely thought the +things yourself." + +"Well, I think it will be a good thing if she doesn't know about this +gypsy trouble, Miss Eleanor. So I'll go and find Dolly, and tell her not +to say anything." + +"Do, Bessie. And get Dolly to come to me before dinner. She was wrong to +play that trick with the signs, but I don't mean to scold her. I want to +comfort her, instead. I think she's been punished enough already, if +she's really frightened about that gypsy." + +Dolly seemed to be a good deal chastened after her talk with Eleanor, +and Bessie felt glad that the Guardian, though she evidently did not +take the episode of the gypsy as seriously as did Bessie, had still +thought it worth while to let Dolly think she did. + +"I'm going to stay close to the camp after this, Bessie," she said. +"And, oh, Miss Eleanor said that there were footprints this morning +near the water that a deer must have made. I've got my camera here; +suppose we try to get a picture of one tonight? We could go to sleep +early, and then get up. Miss Eleanor said it would be all right, just +for the two of us. She said if any more sat up it would frighten the +deer." + +"All right," agreed Bessie. "That would be lots of fun." + +So they slept for an hour or so, and then, about midnight, got up and +went down to the shore of the lake, to a spot where a narrow trail came +out of the woods. There they hid themselves behind some brush and placed +Dolly's camera and a flashlight powder, to be ready in case the deer +appeared. + +They waited a long time. But at last there was a rustling in the trees, +and they could hear the branches being pushed aside as some creature +made its way slowly toward the water. + +"All ready, Bessie?" whispered Dolly. "When I give you a squeeze press +that button; that will set the flashlight off, and I'll take the +picture as you do it." + +They waited tensely, and Bessie was as excited as Dolly herself. She +felt as if she could scarcely wait for the signal. Dolly held her left +hand loosely, and two or three times she thought the grip was +tightening. But the signal came at last, and there was a blinding flash. +But it was not a deer which stood out in the glare; it was the gypsy who +had pursued Dolly! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A THIEF IN THE NIGHT + + +The glare of the explosion lasted for only a moment. Dolly's eyes were +fixed on the camera, as she bent her head down, and Bessie realized, +thankfully, that she had not seen the evil face of the gypsy. As for the +man, he cried out once, but the sound of his voice was drowned by the +noise of the explosion. And then, as soon as the flashlight powder had +burned out, the light was succeeded by a darkness so black that no one +could have seen anything, so great was the contrast between it and the +preceding illumination. + +"Come, Dolly! Quick! Don't stop to argue! Run!" urged Bessie. + +She seized Dolly's hand in hers, and made off, running down by the lake, +and, for a few steps, actually through the water. Her one object was to +get back to the camp as quickly as possible. She thought, and the event +proved that she was right, the gypsy, if he saw them nearing the camp +fire, which was still burning brightly, would not dare to follow them +very closely. + +He had no means of knowing that there were no men in the camp, and, +while he might not have been afraid to follow them right into camp had +he known that, Bessie judged correctly that he would take no more +chances than were necessary. + +"Bessie, are you crazy?" gasped Dolly, as they came into the circle of +light from the fire. "My feet are all wet! Whatever is the matter with +you? You nearly made me smash my camera!" + +"I don't care," said Bessie, panting, but immensely relieved. "Sit down +here by the fire and take off your shoes and stockings; they'll soon get +dry. I'm going to do it." + +She was as good as her word, and not until they had dried their feet and +set the shoes and stockings to dry would she explain what had caused her +wild dash from the scene of the trap they had laid for the deer, and +which had so nearly proved to be a trap for them, instead. + +"If you'd looked up when that powder went off you'd have run yourself, +Dolly, without being made to do it," she said, then. "That wasn't a deer +we heard, Dolly." + +"What was it, a bear or some sort of a wild animal?" + +"No, it was a man." + +Dolly's face was pale, even in the ruddy glow of the fire. + +"You don't mean--it wasn't--" + +"The gypsy? Yes, that's just who it was, Dolly. He's found out somehow +where we are, you see. It's just what I was afraid of, that he would +manage to follow us over here. But I'm not afraid now, as long as we +know he's around. I don't see how he can possibly do you any harm." + +"Oh, Bessie, what a lucky, lucky thing that we saw him! If we hadn't +just happened to try to get that picture we would never have done it. +The nasty brute! The idea of his daring to follow us over here. Do you +think he would have really tried to carry me back to his tribe, Bessie?" + +"I don't know, Dolly. His face looked awful when I saw it in the glare. +But then, of course, he was terribly surprised. He probably thought he +was the only soul awake for miles and miles, and to have that thing go +off in one's face would startle anybody, and make them look pretty +scary." + +"I should say so! You have to pucker up your face and shut your eyes. Do +you think he saw us, Bessie?" + +"I shouldn't think it was very likely, Dolly. You see, it's just as you +say. The glare of a flashlight is blinding, when it goes off suddenly +like that, right in front of you. I don't think you're likely to see +much of anything except the glare. And, of course, he hadn't the +slightest reason to be expecting to see us. I expect he's more puzzled +and frightened than we are; he's certainly a good deal more puzzled." + +"Then maybe he'll be so frightened that he'll go back to his people and +let me alone, Bessie." + +"I certainly hope so, Dolly. It really doesn't seem possible that he'd +dare to carry you off, even if he could get hold of you. He'd know that +we'd be sure to suspect that he was the one who had done it, and even a +gypsy ought to know what happens to people who do things like that. I +don't see how he could hope to escape." + +"But, Bessie, I was thinking: suppose he didn't carry me to the place +where the other gypsies are? Suppose he took me right off into the woods +somewhere, and hid?" + +"You'd both have to have food, Dolly. And as he couldn't get that very +easily, he'd be taking a big chance of getting caught. No, what I really +think is that he wants to see you, and try to persuade you to go with +him willingly. Then he wouldn't be in any danger, you see." + +"Ugh! He must be an awful fool to think he could do that!" + +"Well, he's not bad looking, Dolly. And he's probably vain. The chances +are that all the gypsy girls set their caps at him, because, if you +remember, he was about the only good looking young man there in their +camp. Most of the men were married. So, if he's always been popular with +the girls of his own people, he may have got the idea that he's quite +irresistible. That all he's got to do is to tell a girl he wants to +marry her to have her fall right into his arms, like a ripe apple +falling from a tree." + +"The horrid brute! If he ever comes near me again, I'll slap his face +for him." + +"You'd better not do anything of the sort. The best thing for you to do +if you ever see him anywhere near you again is to run, just as hard as +you can. Dolly, you've no idea of the rage a man like that can fly into. +If you struck him you can't tell what he might try to do. But I hope +you'll never see him again." + +Dolly shivered a little. + +"Are you sleepy, Bessie?" she asked. + +"No, I think I'm too excited to be sleepy. It was so startling to be +expecting to see a deer, and then to see his face in the light. No, I'm +not sleepy." + +"Oh, Bessie! Isn't it possible that you were mistaken? You know, you +couldn't have seen his face for more than a moment, if you did see it. +Weren't you thinking so much of that gypsy that you just fancied you saw +him, when you really didn't at all?" + +"No, no, I'm quite sure, Dolly. I was perfectly certain it was a deer, +and that was all I was thinking about. And I heard him cry out, too. +That would be enough to make me certain that I was right. A deer +wouldn't have cried out, and it wouldn't have stood perfectly still, +either. It would have turned around and run as soon as it saw the light; +any animal would have. It would have been too terrified to do anything +else." + +"But don't you suppose he was frightened? Why didn't he run?" + +"Were you ever so frightened that you couldn't do a thing but just stand +still? I have been; so frightened that I couldn't even have cried out +for help, and couldn't have moved for a minute or so, for anything in +the world. + +"I think he may have been frightened that way. Men aren't like animals, +they're more likely to be too frightened to move than to run away +because they're afraid. And the fear that makes a man run away is a +different sort, anyhow." + +"It's getting cold, isn't it?" + +"Yes, the fire's burning low. We'd better get to bed, Dolly." + +"Oh, no; I couldn't. I don't want to be there in the dark. I'm sure I +couldn't sleep if I went to bed. I'd much rather sit out here by the +fire and talk, if you're not sleepy. And you said you weren't." + +"I suppose we could get some more wood and throw it on the fire. It +would be warm enough then, if we got a couple of blankets to wrap around +us." + +"I think it's a good idea to stay awake and keep watch, anyhow, in case +he should come back. Then, if he saw someone sitting up by the fire he +would be scared off, I should think." + +"All right. Slip in as quietly as you can, Dolly, and get our blankets +from the tent, while I put on some more wood. There's lots of it, that's +a good thing. There's no reason why we shouldn't use it." + +So, while Dolly crept into their tent to get the; blankets, Bessie piled +wood high on the embers of the camp fire, until the sparks began to fly, +and the wood began to burn with a high, clear flame. And when Dolly +returned she had with her a box of marshmallows; + +"Now we'll have a treat," she said. "I forgot all about these. I didn't +remember I'd brought them with me. Give me a pointed stick and I'll +toast you one." + +Bessie looked on curiously. The joys of toasted marshmallows were new to +her, but when she tasted her first one she was prepared to agree with +Dolly that they were just the things to eat in such a spot. + +"I never liked them much before," said Bessie. "They're ever so much +better when they're toasted this way." + +"They're good for you, too," said Dolly, her mouth full of the soft +confection. "At least, that's what everyone says, and I know they've +never hurt me. Sometimes I eat so much candy that I don't feel well +afterwards, but it's never been that way with toasted marshmallows. My, +but I'm glad I found that box!" + +"So'm I," admitted Bessie. "It seems to make the time pass to have them +to eat. Here, let me toast some of them, now. You're doing all the +work." + +"I will not, you'd spoil them. It takes a lot of skill to toast +marshmallows properly," Dolly boasted. "Heavens, Bessie, when there is +something I can do well, let me do it. Aunt Mabel says she thinks I'd be +a good cook if I would put my mind to it, but that's only because she +likes the fudge I make." + +"How do you make fudge?" + +"Why, Bessie King! Do you mean to say you don't know? I thought you +were such a good cook!" + +"I never said so, Dolly. I had to do a lot of cooking at the farm when +Maw Hoover wasn't well, but she never let me do anything but cook plain +food. That's the only sort we ever had, anyhow. So I never got a chance +to learn to make fudge or anything like that." + +"Well, I'll teach you, when we get a good chance, Bessie," promised +Dolly, seriously. + +"I'll be glad to take lessons from you, Dolly," she said. "I think it +would be fine to know how to make all sorts of candy. Then, if you did +know, and could do it really well, you could make lots of it, and sell +it. People always like candy, and in the city a lot of the shops have +signs saying that they sell Home Made Candy and Fudge. So people must +like it better than the sort they make in factories." + +"I should say so, Bessie. But most of those stores are just cheating +you, because the stuff they sell isn't home made at all. Everyone says +mine is much better." + +Bessie grew serious. + +"Why, Dolly," she said, "I think it would be a fine idea to make candy +to sell! I really believe I'd like to do that--" + +"I bet you would make just lots and lots of money if you did," said +Dolly, taking hold of a new idea, as she always did, with enthusiasm. +"And we could get one of the stores to sell it for us and keep some of +the money for their trouble. Suppose we sold it for fifty cents a pound, +the store would get twenty or twenty-five cents and we'd get the rest. +And--" + +Bessie laughed. + +"You're not forgetting that it costs something to make, are you!" she +asked. "You have to allow for what it costs before you begin to think of +how you're going to spend your profits. But I really do think it would +work, Dolly. When we get back to town we'll figure it all out, and see +how much it would cost for butter and sugar and nuts and chocolate and +all the things we'd need." + +"Yes, and if we used lots of things we'd get them cheaper, too, Bessie," +said Dolly, surprising Bessie by this exhibition of her business +knowledge. "Oh, I think that would be fine. I'd just love to have money +that I'd earned myself. Some of the other girls have been winning honor +beads by earning money, but I never could think of any way that I could +do it." + +Dolly was beginning to yawn, and Bessie herself felt sleepy. But when +she proposed that they should go into the tent now Dolly protested. + +"Oh, let's stay outside, Bessie," she said. "If we went in now we'd just +wake ourselves up. We can sleep out here just as well as not. What's +the difference!" + +And Bessie was so sleepy that she was glad to agree to that. In a few +moments they were sound asleep, with no thought of the exciting episodes +of the day and night to disturb them. + +The fire was low when Bessie awoke with a start. At first everything +seemed all right; she could hear nothing. But then, suddenly, she looked +over to where Dolly had been lying. There was no sign of her chum! And, +just as Bessie herself was about to cry out, she heard a muffled call, +in Dolly's tones, and then a loud crashing through the undergrowth near +the camp, as someone or something made off swiftly through the woods! +The gypsy had come back! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PURSUIT + + +For a moment Bessie was too paralyzed with fear even to cry but. It was +plain that the gypsy had carried poor Dolly away with him, and that, +moreover, he had muffled her one cry for help. For a moment Bessie stood +wondering what to do. To alarm the camp would be almost useless, she +felt; the girls, waking up out of a sound sleep, could do nothing until +they understood what had happened, and even then the chances were +against their being able to help in any practical manner. + +And so Bessie fought down that blind instinct to scream out her terror, +and, in a moment, throwing off her blanket, she began to creep out into +the black woods, dark now as pitch, and as impenetrable, it seemed, as +one of the tropical jungles she had read of. + +One thing Bessie felt to be, above everything, necessary. She must find +out what the gypsy meant to do, and where he was taking Dolly. If, by +some lucky chance, she could track him, there would be a far better +opportunity to rescue Dolly in the morning, when the guides would be +called to help, and, if necessary, men from the hotel at Loon Pond and +other places in the woods. To such a call for help, Bessie knew well +there would be an instant response. + +"He'll never go back to the camp," Bessie told herself, trying to argue +the problem out, so that she might overlook none of the points that were +involved, and that might make so much difference to poor Dolly, who was +paying so dear a price for her prank. "If he did, he'd be sure that +there would be people there, looking for him, as soon as the word got +around that Dolly was missing." + +She stopped for a moment, to listen attentively, but though the woods +were full of slight noises, she heard nothing that she could decide +positively was the gypsy. Still, burdened as he was with Dolly, it +seemed to Bessie that he must make some noise, no matter how skilled a +woodsman he might be, and how much training he had had in silent +traveling in his activities as a poacher and hunter of game in woods +where keepers were on guard. + +"He'll find out some place where they're not likely to look for him, and +stay there until the people around here have given up the idea of +finding him," said Bessie to herself. "That's why I've got to follow him +now. And I'm sure he's on one of the trails; he couldn't carry Dolly +through the thick woods, no one could. Oh, I wish I could hear +something!" + +That wish, for the time, at least, was to be denied, but it was not long +before Bessie, still tramping through thick undergrowth in the direction +she was sure her quarry had taken, came to a break in the woods, where +it was a little lighter, and she could see her way. + +She saw at once that she had come to a trail, and, though she had never +seen it before, she guessed that it was the one that led to Deer +Mountain, from what Miss Eleanor had told her about the trails about +the camp. And, moreover, as she started to follow it, convinced that the +gypsy, on finding it, would have abandoned the rougher traveling of the +uncut woods, she saw something that almost wrung a cry of startled joy +from her. + +It was not much that she saw, only a fragment of white cloth, caught in +the branches of a bush that had pushed itself out onto the trail. But it +was as good as a long letter, for the cloth was from Dolly's dress, and +it was plain and unmistakable evidence that her chum had been carried +along this trail. + +She walked on more quickly now, pausing about once in a hundred yards to +listen for sounds of those who were, as she was convinced, ahead of her, +and, about half a mile beyond the spot where she had found that white +pointer, she saw another piece of mute but convincing evidence, of +exactly the same sort, and caught in the same way. + +As Bessie kept on, the ground continued to rise, and she realized that +she must be on the crest of Deer Mountain, one of the heights that +lifted itself above the level of the surrounding woods. Although a high +mountain, the climb from Long Lake was not a particularly severe one, +for all the ground was so high that even the highest peaks in the range +that was covered by these woods did not seem, unless one were looking at +them from a distance of many miles, in the plain below, to be as high as +they really were. + +The trail that Bessie followed, as she knew, was leading her directly +away from Loon Pond and the gypsy camp, but that did not disturb her, +since she had expected the gypsy to bear away from his companions. Her +mind was working quickly now, and she wondered just how far the gypsies +were likely to go in support of their reckless companion. + +She knew that the bonds among these nomads were very strong, but there +was another element in this particular case that might, she thought, +complicate matters. The man who had carried Dolly off was engaged to be +married to the dark-eyed girl they had talked with, and it was possible +that that fact might make trouble for him, and prevent him from +receiving the aid of his tribe, as he would surely have done in any +ordinary struggle with the laws of the people whom the gypsies seemed to +despise and dislike. + +Undoubtedly the girl's parents, if she had any, would resent the slight +he was casting upon their daughter, and if they were powerful or +influential in the tribe, they would probably try to get him cast out, +and cause the other gypsies to refuse him the aid he was probably +counting upon. + +The most important thing, Bessie still felt, was to find out where Dolly +was to be hidden. And, as she pressed on, tired, but determined not to +give up what seemed to her to be the best chance of rescuing her chum, +Bessie looked about constantly for some fresh evidence of Dolly's +presence. + +But luck was not to favor her again. Sharp as was her watch, there were +no more torn pieces of Dolly's dress to guide her, and, even had Bessie +been an expert in woodcraft, and so able to follow their tracks, it was +too dark to use that means of tracing them. + +Bessie did, indeed, think of that, and of waiting until some guide +should come, who might be able to read the message of the trail. But she +reflected that it was more than possible that none of the men in the +neighborhood might be able to do so, and it seemed to her that it was +better to take the slim chance she had than abandon it in favor of +something that might, after all, turn out to be no chance at all. + +The darkness was beginning to yield now to the first forerunners of the +day. In the east there was a faint radiance that told of the coming of +the sun, and Bessie hurried on, since she felt sure that the gypsy would +not venture to travel in daylight, and must mean to hide Dolly before +the coming of the sun lightened the task of his pursuers, since he must +feel certain that he would be pursued, although he might have no inkling +that anyone was already on his trail. + +But now Bessie had to face a new problem that did, indeed, force her to +rest. For suddenly the well defined, broad trail ended, and broke up +into a series of smaller paths. Evidently this was a spot at which those +who wished to reach the summit of the mountain took diverging paths, +according to the particular spot they wanted to reach, and whether they +were bound on a picnic or merely wanted to get to a spot whence they +might see the splendid view for which Deer Mountain was famed. + +In the darkness there was absolutely no way of telling which of these +many diverging trails the gypsy had followed, and Bessie, ready to cry +with disappointment and anxiety for Dolly, was forced to sit down on a +stump and wait for daylight. Even that might not help her. + +Her best chance, however, was to wait until the light came, and then, +despite her lack of acquaintance with the art of reading footprints, to +try to distinguish those of the gypsy. All that she needed was some clue +to enable her to guess which path her quarry had taken; beyond that the +message of the footprints was not necessary. + +As she sat there, watching the slow, slow lightening in the east, Bessie +wondered if the day was ever coming. She had seen the sun rise before, +but never had it seemed so lazy, so inclined to linger in its couch of +night. + +But every wait comes to an end at last, and finally Bessie was able to +go back a little way, before the other trails began to branch off, and +bending over, to try to pick out the footprints of the man who had +carried Dolly off. It was easy to do, fortunately, or Bessie could +scarcely have hoped to accomplish it. + +There had been a light rain the previous morning, enough to soften the +ground and wipe out the traces of the numerous parties that had made +Deer Mountain the objective point of a tramp in the woods, and, mingled +with her own small footsteps, Bessie soon found the marks of hobnailed +feet, that must, she was sure, have been made by the gypsy. + +Step by step she followed them, and she was just about at the first of +the diverging trails when a sound behind her made her turn, terrified, +to see who was approaching. + +But it was not the man who had so frightened her whom she saw as she +turned. It was a girl--a gypsy, to be sure--but a girl, and Bessie had +no fear of her, even when she saw that it was the same girl the scamp +she was pursuing was to marry. Moreover, the girl seemed as surprised +and frightened at the sight of Bessie, crouching there? as Bessie +herself had been at the other's coming. + +"Where is he; that wicked man you are to marry?" cried Bessie, fiercely, +springing to her feet, and advancing upon the trembling gypsy girl. "You +shall tell me, or I will--" + +She seized the gypsy girls shoulders, and shook her, before she realized +that the girl, whose eyes were filled with tears, probably knew as +little as she herself. Then, repentant, she released her shoulders, but +repeated her question. + +"You mean John, my man?" said the girl, a quiver in her tones. "I do +not know, he was not at the camp last night. I was afraid. I think he +does not love me any more." + +Something about the way she spoke made Bessie pity her. + +"What is your name?" she asked. + +"Lolla," said the gypsy. + +"I believe you do not know, Lolla," said Bessie, kindly. "And you do not +want him to be sent to prison, perhaps for years and years, do you? You +love this John?" + +"Prison? They would send him there? What for? No, no--yes, I love him. +Do you know where he is; where he was last night?" + +"I know where he was last night, Lolla, yes. He came to our camp and +carried my friend away. You remember, the one who was with me yesterday, +when we looked at your camp? That is why I am looking for him. He says +he will make her marry him later on; that he will keep her with your +tribe until she is ready." + +Lolla's tears ceased suddenly, and there was a gleam of passionate +anger in her eyes. + +"He will do that?" she said, angrily. "My brothers, they will kill him +if he does that. He is to marry me, we are betrothed. You do not know +where he is? You would like to find your friend?" + +"I must, Lolla." + +"Then I will help you, if you will help me. Will you?" + +Lolla looked intently at Bessie, as if she were trying to tell from her +eyes whether she really meant what she said. + +"Oh, I wish I knew whether you are good; whether you speak the truth," +cried the gypsy girl, passionately. "That other girl, your friend. She +wants my John. So--" + +Bessie, serious as the situation was, could not help laughing. + +"Listen, Lolla," she said. "You mustn't think that. Dolly--that's my +friend--thinks John is good looking, perhaps, but she hasn't even +thought of marrying anyone yet, oh, for years. She's too young. +We don't get married as early as you. So you may be sure that if John +has her, all she wants is to get away and get back to her friends." + +Lolla's eyes lighted with relief. + +"That is good," she said. "Then I will help, for that is what I want, +too. I do not want her to live in the tribe, and to be with us. You are +sure John has taken her?" + +Then Bessie told her of the face they had seen in the flashlight, and of +how Dolly had been spirited away from the camp fire afterward. And as +she spoke, she was surprised to see that Lolla's eyes shone, as if she +were delighted by the recital. + +"Why, Lolla, you look pleased!" said Bessie. "As if you were glad it had +happened. How can that be; how can you seem as if you were happy about +it?" + +Lolla blushed slightly. + +"He is my man," she said, simply. "He is strong and brave, do you not +see? If he were not brave he would not dare to act so. He is a fine +man. If I were bad, he would beat me. And he will beat anyone who is not +good to me. Of course, I am glad that he was brave enough to act so, +though I did not want him to do it." + +Bessie laughed. The primitive, elemental idea that was expressed in +Lolla's words was beyond her comprehension, and, in fact, a good many +people older and wiser than Bessie do not understand it. + +But Lolla did not mind the laugh. She did not understand what was in +Bessie's mind; what she had said seemed so simple to her that it +required no explanation. And now her mind was bent entirely upon the +problem of getting Dolly back to her friends, in order that John might +turn back to her and forget the American girl whose appeal to him had +lain chiefly in the fact that she was so different from the women of his +own race. + +"He will not take her back to camp," said Lolla, thoughtfully. "He knows +they would look there first." + +"But will the others--your people--help him?" + +"He may tell them that he has stolen her to get a ransom; to keep her +until her friends pay well for her to be returned. Our old men do not +like that, they say it is too dangerous. But if he were to say that he +had done so, they might help him, because our people stand and fall +together. But," and her eyes shone, "I will tell my brothers the truth. +They will believe me, and--Quick! Hide in those bushes; someone is +coming!" + +Bessie obeyed instantly. But, once she had hidden herself, she heard +nothing. It was not for a minute or more after she had slipped into the +bushes that she heard the sound that had disturbed Lolla. But then, +looking out, she saw John coming down one of the paths, peering about +him cautiously. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AN UNEXPECTED ALLY + + +Bessie's heart leaped at the sight of the man who had given her her wild +tramp through the night, and it was all she could do to resist her +impulse to rush out, accuse him of the crime she knew he had committed, +and demand that he give Dolly up to her at once. It was hard to believe +that he was really dangerous. + +Here, in the early morning light, his clothes soaked by the wet woods, +as were Bessie's for that matter, he looked very cheap and tawdry, and +not at all like a man to be feared. But a moment's reflection convinced +Bessie that, for the time at least, it would be far wiser to leave +matters in the hands of Lolla, the gypsy girl, who understood this man, +and, if she feared him, and with cause, did so from reasons very +different from Bessie's. + +For a moment after he came in sight John did not see Lolla. Bessie +watched the pair, so different from any people she had ever seen at +close range before, narrowly. She was intensely interested in Lolla, and +wondered mightily what the gypsy girl intended to do. But she did not +have long to wait. + +Lolla, with a little cry, rushed forward, and, casting herself on the +ground at her lover's feet, seized his hand and kissed it. At first she +said not a word; only looked up at him with her black, brilliant eyes, +in which Bessie could see that a tear was glistening. + +"Lolla! What are you doing here?" + +At the sight of the girl John had started, nervously. It was plain that +he did not feel secure; that he thought his pursuers might, even thus +early, have tracked him down, and, in the moment before he had +recognized Lolla, Bessie saw him quail, while his face whitened, so that +Bessie knew he was afraid. + +That knowledge, somehow, comforted her vastly. It removed at once some +of the formidable quality which John had acquired in her eyes when he +stole Dolly after the fright that he must have had when the flashlight +powder exploded, almost in his face. But Bessie remembered that he had +plucked up his courage after that scare; the chances were that he would +do so again now. + +But, if Bessie was afraid of the kidnapper, Lolla was not. She rose, and +faced him defiantly. Bessie thought there was something splendid about +the gypsy girl, and she wondered why John, with such a girl ready and +anxious to marry him, had been diverted from her by Dolly, charming +though she was. + +"I have come to save you, John," said Lolla. "Where is the American girl +you stole from her friends!" + +John started, evidently surprised by Lolla's knowledge of what he had +done, and said something, sharply, in the gypsy tongue, which Bessie, of +course, could not understand. Her question, it was plain, had +frightened, as well as startled him; but it had also made him very +angry. Lolla, however, did not seem to mind his anger. She faced him +boldly, without giving ground, although he had moved toward her with a +threatening gesture of his uplifted hand. + +"Hit me, if you will," she said. "I am not your wife yet, but when I am +it will be your right to strike me if you wish. But I know what you have +done. I know, too, that the Americans know it. Do you think you can +escape from these woods without being caught?" + +John stared at her angrily. + +"I am going now to the camp," he said. "If. they come looking for news +of the girl, they will find me there, and plenty to swear that I have +been there all this night, and so could not have done what they charge. +My tribe will help me; it is my right to call upon it for help." + +"You forget me," said Lolla, dangerously. "I will swear that I saw you +here, where I came to look for you because you had stayed away from the +camp all the night. And when I tell my brothers, what will they swear?" + +Again the man muttered something in the gypsy-tongue, but under his +breath. When he spoke aloud to Lolla it was in English. + +"They are Barlomengri; they will support me. They will never let the +policemen take me away. They are my brothers--" + +"Do you think you can jilt their sister, the girl you asked for as your +wife before all the tribe, and escape their vengeance? Do you think they +will not punish you, even by seeing that you die in a prison, in a +cell?" + +And now John, beside himself with anger, fulfilled the threat of his +uplifted hand, and struck Lolla sharply. + +"Strike me again!" cried Lolla, furiously. "I have done no wrong! I am +trying only to save you from your own folly. Tell me, at least, where +you have hidden the girl? Would you have her starve? You will be +watched, so that you may not bring her food. Had you thought of that?" + +"Will you betray me? If you do not I shall not be watched! They will +know as soon as they look for me that I was in the camp all through the +night. Lolla, you fool, I love you, only you. I want her to win a +ransom. They will pay to have her back, those Americans." + +Lolla had guessed right when she had said that this would be his plea. +But Bessie was surprised, and thought Lolla must also wonder at his +telling her such a story. Lolla looked scornfully at John. + +"I am no baby that I should believe such a tale as that," she said +witheringly. "I give you your chance, John, your last chance. Will you +take this girl back to her people, or set her free and show her the +road? Or must I bear witness against you, and tell the tribe that you +would shame me by forsaking me even before I am your wife?" + +"Let me go," said John furiously. "We shall see if a woman's talk is to +be taken before mine. You fool! Even your brothers will laugh at your +Jealousy, and rejoice with me over the money this girl will bring us. +Let me pass--" + +"Tell me, at least, where you have hidden her! She will starve, I tell +you--" + +"She will not starve. Think you I know no more than that of doing such a +piece of work! It is not the first time we have made anxious fathers pay +to win their children back! Ha-ha! Peter, my friend, comes to take my +watch. He will see to it that she does not suffer for food. And he will +keep her safe for me. Out of my way!" + +He brushed Lolla aside roughly, and strode off down the trail that +Bessie had followed. For a moment, while she could hear the sound of his +retreating footsteps, Lolla did not move. But then she raised herself, a +smile in her eyes, and beckoned to Bessie. + +"Go up that path, quickly," she whispered. "Somewhere up there, hidden, +you will find your friend. Comfort her, but do not let her move. If she +is tied up, leave her so. Tell her that help is near. I will free her." + +"But why--why not come with me, and free her now!" protested Bessie, +eagerly. "We can find her, for he came down that path, so he must have +left her somewhere up there. Oh, come, Lolla, you will never regret it!" + +"Did you not hear him say that Peter was coming? Peter is his best +friend; they are closer together, and are more to one another, than +brothers. If we tried to escape with her now, Peter would find us, and +his hand is heavy. We should do your friend no good, and be punished +ourselves. We must wait. But hurry, before he comes. Tell her to be +happy, and not to fear. I will save her, and you. We will work together +to save her." + +And with that Bessie, much as she would have liked to get Dolly out of +the clutches of her captor at once, had to be content. She realized +fully that in Lolla she had gained an utterly unexpected ally, in whom +lay the best possible chance for the immediate release of her chum, and +the mere knowledge of where Dolly was hidden would be extremely +valuable. + +After all, it was all, and, possibly, more, than she had expected to +accomplish when she had plunged into the woods after the gypsy and his +prisoner, and she felt that she ought to be satisfied. So she hurried at +once up the path that Lolla pointed out, leaving the gypsy girl below as +a guard. + +The path was rough and steep, rising sharply, but Bessie paid little +heed to its difficulties, since she felt that it was taking her to +Dolly. She kept her eyes and ears open for any sight or sound that might +make it easier to find Dolly, but she did not call out, since she felt +that it was practically certain the gypsy had managed, in some manner, +to make it impossible for poor Dolly to cry out, lest, in his absence, +she alarm some passerby and so obtain her freedom. + +Bessie was sure that Dolly would not be left in some place that could +be seen from the path, but she was also sure that she could not be far +from it, since there had not been time for the gypsy to make any +extended trip through the woods off the trail. Bessie had traveled fast +through the night, and she was sure that John, with the weight of Dolly +to carry, had not been able to move as fast as she, and could not, +therefore, have been more than twenty minutes or half an hour ahead of +her in reaching the trail she was now following. + +So she watched carefully for some break in the thick undergrowth that +lined the trail, for some opening through which John might have gone +with his burden. There might even, she thought, be another of those +precious sign posts that, back on the other trail, had been made by the +torn pieces from Dolly's skirt. + +But, careful as was her search, she reached the end of the trail without +finding anything that looked like a promising place, or seeing anything +that made her think Dolly was within a short distance of her. The trail +led to an exposed peak, a ragged outcrop of rock, bare of trees, and +covered only with a slight undergrowth. + +Once there Bessie understood why the trail had been made through the +woods. The view was wonderful. Below her were the waving tops of +countless trees, and beyond them she could look down and over the +cultivated valleys, full of farms, whose fields, marked off by stone +fences, looked small and insignificant from her high perch. + +Bessie, however, was in no mood to enjoy a view. She wasted no time in +admiring it, but only peered over the edge of the peak on which she +stood, to satisfy herself that Dolly was not hidden just below her. One +look was enough to do that. There was a way, she soon saw, of +descending, and reaching the woods again, but no man, carrying any sort +of a burden, could have accomplished that descent. + +It was a task that called for the use of feet and hands and Bessie +turned desperately, convinced that she must, in some manner, have +overlooked the place at which John had turned off the main trail with +his burden. + +Now, as she went downward, she searched the woods at each side with +redoubled care, and at last she found what she had been looking for, or +what, it seemed to her, must be the place, since she had seen no other +that offered even a chance for a successful passage through the thick +growth of trees and underbrush. + +Without hesitation she turned off the trail, and, though the going was +rough, and her hands and face were scratched, while her clothes were +torn, she was rewarded at last by finding that the ground below her grew +smooth, showing that human feet had passed that way often enough to wear +the faintest sort of a path. + +Once she became aware of the path her heart grew light, for she was sure +now that she was going in the right direction at last. And, indeed, it +was not more than five minutes before she almost stumbled over Dolly +herself, bound to a tree, and with a handkerchief stuffed in her mouth +so that she could not cry out. + +"Oh, Dolly! I'm so glad, so glad! Listen, dear; I can't stay. You'll +have to be here a little while longer, but we will soon have you back at +the camp, as safe and well as ever. Are you hurt? Does it give you pain? +If it doesn't shake your head sideways." + +Dolly managed to shake her head, and in her eyes Bessie saw that now +that she knew help was near Dolly's courage would sustain her. + +"That gypsy girl we saw is near, but the man who carried you off is +going to send another man to watch, and if I let you go now we'd only +meet him, and be in more trouble than ever. But be brave, dear! it won't +be long now." + +Poor Dolly could not answer, for Bessie, remembering that Lolla had +seemed to fear the man Peter more than she did John, dared not even +loosen the gag. She saw, however, that while it must be making Dolly +terribly uncomfortable, she could breathe, and that it was probably +worse in appearance than in fact. So she leaned down and kissed her +chum, and whispered in her ear. + +"I'm going back to Lolla now, dear, but I'll soon be back with enough +help so that we needn't care how many of the gypsies there are near us. +If I stay now I'm afraid they'll catch me, too, and then no one would +know where you were. They can't get you away from here, so you're sure +to be safe soon." + +Dolly nodded to show that she understood, and Bessie moved silently +away. But, as she turned down the trail that would take her back to the +spot where she had left Lolla, she had a new cause for fright. She heard +Lolla's voice, raised loudly, arguing with a man who answered in low, +guttural tones. What they were saying she could not distinguish, but +somehow she understood that Peter had come even sooner than Lolla had +feared, and the gypsy girl, at the risk of angering him, was trying to +warn her, so that she might not descend the trail and so stumble right +into his arms. + +So, although the prospect frightened her, she turned and made her way +swiftly up to the peak again, determined that if the man should go past +the opening that led to the place where Dolly lay, she would risk the +danger and the difficulty of the rocky descent from the peak itself. + +As she hastened along silence fell behind her, and she knew that Peter +must have started. He was whistling a queer gypsy tune and Bessie heard +him pass the partly masked opening that she had herself found with so +much difficulty. + +After that she hesitated no longer, but rushed to the rocky top of the +peak, and in a moment she was making her way down, with as much caution +as possible, swinging from one ledge to the next, hanging on to a bush +here, and a projecting piece of rock there. + +Even an expert climber, equipped with rope and sharp pointed stick, +would have found the descent difficult. And all that enabled Bessie to +succeed was her knowledge that she must. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A TERRIBLE SURPRISE + + +Bessie, though she had to pause more than once in her wild descent of +the rocks, dared not look back to see if the gypsy, Peter, was pursuing +her, or even whether he was looking down after her. She had two reasons. +For one thing, the task was difficult and terrifying enough as it was, +and to know that there was danger from behind, as well as the peril +involved in the descent itself, would, she feared, unnerve her. + +And, moreover, even if Peter saw her, he might not, if she paid no +attention to him, suspect that she had anything to do with Dolly, or +that he and his companion had anything to dread from her. Bessie did not +know whether he would recognize her as having been at the gypsy camp +with Dolly, but she felt that it would be as well not to take the +chance. Things were bad enough without running the risk of complicating +them still further. + +The descent was a long and hard one, but when she was about half way +down to the comparatively level ground at the foot of the peak, all real +danger of a crippling fall was over, since there a path began. Evidently +some trampers who were fond of climbing had worn it through the rough +surface to a point where a good view was to be had, and had stopped +there, content with the distance they had gone, and not disposed to try +the further ascent. And as soon as Bessie reached that point she was +able to stop and get her breath. + +Meanwhile she wondered what had become of Lolla. The gypsy girl, as +Bessie understood thoroughly, was running severe risks. If the two men +knew that she was in league with Dolly's friends they would certainly +take some steps to silence her. But John, Bessie felt sure, did not +believe that Lolla, no matter how jealous she might be, would actually +betray her own people to the hated Americans. He had smiled in a +confident manner while Lolla had made her threats, and Bessie thought he +regarded the girl as a child in a temper, but sure to come to her senses +before she actually put him in danger. + +What to do next was a problem. Bessie, when she had followed the rough +path until it led to a trail, was completely lost. She knew, roughly, +and in a general way, the direction of Camp Manasquan, as the camp at +Long Lake was called, but that was about all. + +"If I go straight ahead I may be going just as straight as I can away +from anyone who can help Dolly," she reflected. "Or I may get over +toward Loon Pond, and run into that awful gypsy, and then I'd be worse +off than ever! Oh, I do wish I knew where I was, or how I can find +Lolla. She must know these woods, and she'd be able to help me, I'm +sure." + +Finally, however, Bessie determined to move slowly along the trail in a +direction that would, she thought, take her around the bottom of Deer +Mountain. She remembered that just a little while before she had come +to the place where she had first seen Lolla, a side path had crossed the +trail on which she had followed Dolly and her captor, and it seemed +likely to her that that path would also cross the trail she was now on. + +If it did she could work back to a spot she knew, and so find her +bearings, at least. Then, if there was nothing else to be done, she +would certainly be able to get back to Long Lake. For her to stay in the +woods, lost and hungry, would not help Dolly. + +So she set out bravely, walking as fast as she could. The sun was high +in the heavens now, and it was long after breakfast time, so that Bessie +was hungry, but she thought little of that. + +As she had hoped, and half expected, she came, presently, and at what +seemed to her the proper place, upon a trail that crossed the one she +was following, and she turned to the left without hesitation. She might, +she felt, be going in the wrong direction altogether, but she could not +very well be more hopelessly lost she was already; and, if she had to +be out in the woods without a clue to the proper way to turn, she felt +it made very, little difference whether she was in one place or in +another. + +The new trail was one evidently little used, and when Bessie had been on +it for perhaps ten minutes, and was beginning to think that it was time +she came in sight of the larger trail from Long Lake to Deer Mountain, +she heard someone coming toward her, and, rounding a bend, came into +sight of Lolla. + +The gypsy girl seemed overwhelmed with joy at the sight of Bessie. + +"Oh, how glad I am!" she exclaimed. "I was afraid that Peter had caught +you and tied you up with your friend, and that you would think I had +sent you up there so that he would trap you! How did you escape?" + +"I climbed down the rocks," said Bessie simply, and smiled at Lolla's +gasp of astonishment. + +"_You_ climbed down the rocks!" cried the gypsy. "However did you do +that? There ain't many men--not even many of our men--would try that, I +can tell you. I thought perhaps you would try to do that, and I was +coming around this way to get to the foot of the rocks and see if I +could find out what had become of you." + +"You know where we are and how to get back, then?" asked Bessie. + +"Of course I do. I know all these woods." Lolla laughed. "I have set +traps for partridges and rabbits here many and many a time, but the +guides never saw me. You knew where you were going, didn't you? If you'd +kept on as you were going when you met me you would have come to the +main trail in a minute or two, and then, if you'd turned to the right, +and kept straight on, you'd have come to Long Lake, where you started +from." + +"I thought that was what would happen, Lolla, but I wasn't quite sure." + +"Did you hear me shouting when Peter came along? I hoped you would +understand and bide yourself some way, so that he wouldn't find you. +What I was most afraid of was that you would be in the woods with your +friend, and that you wouldn't hear us." + +"Yes, I heard you, and I knew what you were doing, Lolla; that you meant +to warn me that Peter had come sooner than you thought he would. I was +grateful, too, but I was afraid just to hide myself and let him go by, +because the woods were so thick on each side of the trail that I was +afraid he would see where I had broken through and catch me." + +Lolla nodded her head. + +"You are wise. You would be a good gypsy, Bessie. You would soon learn +all the things we know ourselves. Peter has very quick eyes, and he is +very suspicious, too. He saw you at the camp, you know, and he would +have guessed right away, if he had seen you there, that you were looking +for Dolly." + +"That was just what I was afraid of, Lolla. He would have tied me up +with her if he had found me, wouldn't he?" + +"Yes. He's a bad man, that Peter. I think if John and he were not so +friendly John would not have done this. He is kind, and brave, and he +always tried to stop anyone who wanted to steal children. He would steal +a horse, or a deer, but never a child; that was cowardly, he said." + +"He didn't hurt you, did he, Lolla?" + +The gypsy girl laughed. + +"Oh, no. He tried to hit me, but I got away from him too quickly. I +would not let him touch me. With John it is different. He is my man; he +may beat me if he likes. But not Peter; I hate him. If he beat me I +would put this into him." + +Bessie, surprised by the look of hate in Lolla's eyes, drew back in fear +as Lolla produced a long, sharp knife from the folds of her dress, and +flourished it for a moment. + +"Oh, Lolla, please put that away!" she exclaimed. "There's no one here +to be afraid of." Lolla laughed. + +"No, but I have it if I need it," she said meaningly. + +"What are we going to do now, Lolla? We can't leave Dolly up there much +longer. They've got her tied up, and gagged, so that she can't call out, +and she's terribly uncomfortable, though I don't think she's suffering +much." + +"We will get her soon," said Lolla, confidently. + +"You stay near where she is, so that they can't get her away," said +Bessie, "and I'll go and get help. Then we shan't have any trouble." + +But Lolla frowned at the suggestion. + +"You would get those guides, and they would catch my man and put him in +prison, oh, for years, perhaps! No, no; I will get her away, with you to +help me. Leave that to me. Peter is stupid. Come with me now; I know +what we must do." + +"Where are you going? This isn't the way back to where Dolly is," +protested Bessie, as Lolla pressed on in the direction from which +Bessie had come. "We can never get up those rocks, Lolla; it was hard +enough to come down." + +"We are not going there, not yet," said Lolla. "I must go to the camp +and find out what John is doing. If he comes back to watch her himself +it will be harder. But if he has to stay, and Peter looks after her, +then we shall have no trouble. You shall see; only trust me. I managed +so that you saw her, didn't I? Doesn't that show you that I can do what +I say?" + +"I suppose so," sighed Bessie. "I should think you wouldn't care if that +man does go to prison, though, Lolla. He isn't nice to you, and you say +he'll beat you when you're married. American men don't beat their wives. +If they did they would be sent to prison. I should think you'd give him +up--" + +Lolla's dark eyes flamed for a moment, but then she smiled, as if she +had remembered that Bessie, not being a gypsy, could not be expected to +understand the gypsy ways. + +"He is a good man," she said. "He will always see that I have enough to +eat, and pretty things to wear. And if he beats me, it will be because I +have been wicked, and deserve to be beaten. When I am his wife he will +be like my father; if I am bad he will punish me. Is it not so among +your people?" + +Bessie struggled with a laugh at the thought of the only married couple +she had ever known at all well: Paw and Maw Hoover. The idea that Paw +Hoover, the mildest and most inoffensive of men, might ever beat his +wife would have made anyone who knew that couple laugh. + +Instead of turning when they reached the trail which Bessie had followed +after her descent from the rocks, Lolla led the way straight on. + +"Are you sure you know where you are going, Lolla!" asked Bessie. + +Lolla smiled at her scornfully. + +"Yes, but it is not the way you would go," she said. "The trail to the +camp will be full of people. They will be out all over the camp +particularly. We must come to it from another direction. That is why we +are going this way." + +It was not long before Bessie was as thoroughly lost as if she had been +in a maze. Lolla, however, seemed to know just where she was going. She +left one trail to turn into another without ever showing the slightest +doubt of her direction, and, at times, when the woods were thin, she +would take short cuts, leading the way through entirely pathless +portions of the forest with as much assurance as if she had been walking +through the streets of a city where she had lived all her life. Even +Bessie, used to long walks around Hedgeville, in which she had learned +the country thoroughly, was surprised. + +"I don't believe I'd ever get to know these woods as well as you do," +she said admiringly. "Why, you never seem even to hesitate." + +"I've been here every summer since I was born," said Lolla, in a +laughing tone. "I ought to know these woods pretty well, I think." + +"I hope no one sees us now," said Bessie, nervously. "I really do feel +as if it were wrong for me to keep away. Miss Mercer must be as anxious +about me as she is about Dolly." + +"Is she the lady who is with you girls?" + +"Yes. You see, she probably thinks that was carried off, as well as +Dolly." + +"She will stop being anxious all the sooner for not knowing where you +are. I think it will not be long now before we get your friend away from +that place where she is hidden." + +"Well, I certainly hope so. Listen! I think I can hear voices in front +of us." + +"I heard them two or three minutes ago," said Lolla, with a smile. "Stay +here, now; hide behind that clump of bushes. I will go ahead and see +what I can find. Even if it is some of your friends they would not +suspect me; they would think I was just out for a walk." + +So Bessie waited for perhaps ten minutes, while Lolla crept forward +alone. But the gypsy was back soon, smiling. + +"All is safe now," she said. "Come quickly, though, so we shall get +behind them and be able to get near the camp. There is a place there +where you may hide while I find out what is going on." + +They reached the spot Lolla meant in a few minutes more, and again +Bessie had to play the inactive part and wait while Lolla went on to +gain the information she needed. When she came back she was smiling +happily. + +"That John is stupid, though he is so brave," she said to Bessie. "He +went back there to the camp, and he is sitting in front of his wagon. +There is a guide with a gun sitting near him, and my sister tells me +that the guide says he will follow him and shoot him if he tries to get +away. + +"There are many people there, and the whole camp is angry and +frightened. The king says he will punish John, but John will not admit +that he knows where your friend is. We are safe from him. They will not +let him get away for a long time." + +Bessie was comforted by the news. With her captor under guard, Dolly +had nothing to fear from him, and, though Peter might be a sullen and +dangerous man, Bessie felt that Lolla was right, and that he was too +thick witted to be greatly feared. + +They made the return trip with hearts far lighter than they had been as +they made their way to the gypsy camp. Bessie had seen that Lolla was +afraid of John, though now that he, had been over-reached she was ready +enough to laugh at him. + +"What are you going to do! How are you going to get her away, Lolla?" +asked Bessie, as they neared the point where she had first seen her +ally." + +"I don't know yet," said Lolla, frankly. "If Peter is on the trail it +will be harder. I hope he will be inside, so that we can slip by without +his seeing us. If he is, and we get by, then you are to wait until you +hear me sing. So." + +She sang a bar or two of a gypsy melody, and repeated it until Bessie, +too, could hum it, to prove that she had it right, and would not fail to +recognize it. + +"When you hear me sing that, remember that you must run down and go to +your friend. Here is nay knife. Use it to cut the cords that tie her. +Then you and she must go back toward the rocks where you went down. And +when you hear me sing again you are to go down, as quickly as you can, +but quietly, and, as soon as you are past the place where she was +hidden, you must start running. I will try to catch up with you and go +with you, but do not wait for me." + +"I don't quite understand," Bessie began. + +But now Lolla was the general, brooking no defiance. She stamped her +foot. + +"It does not matter whether you understand or not," she said sharply. +"If you want me to save your friend and get back to the others you must +do as you are told, and quickly. Now, come." + +They went on up the trail, and, at the bend just below the spot where +she had broken through to reach Dolly before, Bessie waited while Lolla, +who had recognized the place from Bessie's description of it, crept +forward to make sure that the way was clear. + +"All right," she whispered. "Come on." + +Silently, but as swiftly as they could, they crept past the place, and, +when they were out of sight stopped. + +"Now, you will know my song when you hear it?" + +"Yes, indeed, Lolla. Why, what have you got there?" + +"What I need to make Peter come with me," laughed Lolla. "See, a fine +meal, is it not? I got it at the camp. Let him smell that stew and he +would follow me out of the woods." + +Bessie began to understand Lolla's plan at last. She was going to tempt +Peter to betray his orders from his friend by appealing to his stomach. +And Bessie wondered again, as she had many times since she had met +Lolla, at the cunning of the gypsy girl. + +Her confidence in Lolla was complete by now, and she did not at all mind +waiting as she saw the little brightly clad figure disappear amidst the +green of the trail. + +It was some time, however, before she heard any signs that indicated +that Lolla had obtained any results. And then it was not the song she +heard, but Lolla's clear laugh, rising above the heavy tones of Peter. + +"Oh, oh! You would give me orders when I bring you breakfast? No, no, +Peter; that won't do. Come, she is safe there; come and eat with me, +where she cannot put a spell on your food to make it choke you." + +"Do you think she would do that?" + +That was Peter's voice, stupid and filled with doubt. Bessie laughed at +Lolla's cleverness. Peter, she thought, would be just the sort of man to +yield to the fears of superstition. + +"I know she would; she hates us. Come, Peter; does it not look good?" + +"Give it to me. There, I'll catch you--" + +Then there was a sound of scuffling and running, but Bessie, noticing +that it drew further and further away, laughed. Lolla was a real +strategist. She understood how to handle the big gypsy, evidently. And a +moment later Bessie, her nerves quivering, all alert as she waited for +the signal, heard the notes of Lolla's song. At once she rushed down, +broke through the tangled growth, and was at Dolly's side, cutting away +at the cords that bound Dolly, and, first of all, tearing the +handkerchief from her mouth. + +"It's all right now, we're safe, Dolly. Only you'll have to come +quickly, dear, when I get you free. There, that's it. Are you stiff? Can +you Stand up?" + +"I guess so," gasped Dolly. "Oh, I'd do anything to get away from here. +Bessie, look!" + +Bessie turned, to face Peter and Lolla, their faces twisted into +malignant grins. Lolla had betrayed her! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE MYSTERIOUS VOICE + + +For a moment Bessie stared at the two gypsies, their eyes glowing with +malicious triumph, and delight at her shocked face, in such dazed +astonishment that she could not speak at all. She had been completely +outwitted and hoodwinked. She had trusted Lolla utterly; had made up her +mind that the girl's jealousy was not feigned. + +Even now, for a wild moment, the thought flashed through her mind that +perhaps Lolla had been unable to help herself; that Peter might have +insisted on coming back, and that Lolla was forced, in order to be of +help later on, to seem to fall in with his plans. + +But Lolla herself soon robbed her of the comfort that lay in such a +thought. + +"You thought I would betray my people!" she cried, shrilly. "We do not +do that; no, no! Ah, but it was easy to deceive you! When I saw you I +knew you would be dangerous. I could not hold you by force until John +came, I had to trick you. I thought we would catch you when you went up +there. I did not think you would be brave enough to go down the rocks." + +Bessie said not a word, but only clung to Dolly's hand and stared at the +treacherous gypsy. + +"So then, when you had gone, I had to find you again, and send word to +Peter to do as I said, so that we could catch you, and stop you from +going to your friends and telling them where we had hidden your friend +who is there with you now. Now we have two, instead of one. Oh, I have +done well, have I not, Peter?" + +Peter grinned, and grunted something in his own tongue that made Lolla +smile. + +"Tie them up again, Peter," said Lolla, looking viciously at Bessie, and +obviously gloating over the way in which she had tricked the American +girl. And Peter, nothing loath, advanced to do so. But Bessie had stood +all she could. + +Dolly, terribly cast down by this sudden upsetting of all the hopes of +rescue that the coming of Bessie and her release from the cords that +bound her had raised, was close beside her, shivering with fright and +despair. + +And Bessie, with a sudden cry of anger, seized the knife Lolla had given +her, which had been lying at her feet. Furiously she brandished it. + +"If either of you come a step nearer I'll use it!" she said, scarcely +able to recognize her own voice, so changed was it by the anger that +Lolla's treachery had aroused in her. "You'd better not think I'm +joking. I mean it!" + +Peter hesitated, but Lolla, her eyes flashing, urged him on. + +"Go on! Do you want me to tell all the women that you were frightened by +a little girl; a girl you could crush with one hand?" she cried, +angrily. "You coward! Tie them up, I tell you! Oh, if my man John were +here he'd show you! Here--" + +Peter, stung by her taunts, made a quick rush forward. For a moment +Bessie did not know what to do. She wondered if, when it came to the +test, she would really be able to use the knife; to try to cut or stab +this man. He was getting nearer each moment, and, just as she was almost +within his grasp she darted back and aimed a blow at him with the knife. + +There was no danger that it would strike him; Bessie thought that, if +she could only convince him that she had meant what she said, he would +hesitate. And she was right. He gave a cry of alarm as he saw the steel +flash toward him and drew back. + +"She would stab me!" he exclaimed furiously, to Lolla. "I was not to be +struck with a knife. John said nothing about that. He told me only to +guard this girl--" + +"She wouldn't really touch you with it," screamed Lolla, so furious that +she forgot the need of keeping her voice low. "John wouldn't let her +frighten him that way, he is too brave. Oh, how the women will laugh +when they hear how the brave Peter was frighted by a girl with a little +knife!" + +But Bessie, in spite of her own indecision, had managed, somehow, to +convince the man that she was serious, and Lolla's taunts no longer +affected him. He drew back still farther, and stood looking stupidly at +the two girls. + +"You're wiser than she," said Bessie approvingly. "I meant just what I +said. Keep as far as that from me, and you'll be safe. I'm not afraid of +you any more." + +Nor was she. Her victory, brief though it might be, had encouraged her, +and revived her drooping spirits. Dolly, too, seemed to have gained new +life from the sight of the big gypsy quailing before her chum. She had +stopped trembling, and stood up bravely now, ready to face whatever +might come. + +"Good for you, Bessie!" she exclaimed. She darted a vicious look at +Lolla. "I wish that treacherous little gypsy would come somewhere near +me," she went on, angrily. "I'd pull her hair and make her sorry she +ever tried to help those villains to keep us. When they put her in +prison I'm going to see her, and jeer at her!" + +Lolla, looking helpless now in her anger, said nothing, but she glared +at the two girls. + +"I think these people are very superstitious," whispered Dolly to +Bessie, when it became plain that, for the moment, the two gypsies +intended only to watch them, without making any further attempt to tie +them up. + +"I think so too," returned Bessie, in the same tone. "But I don't see +what good that is going to do us, Dolly." + +"Neither do I, just yet, Bessie. But I can't help thinking that there +must be some way that we could frighten them, if we could only think of +it; so that they would be frightened and run away." + +"We might tell them--Oh, I've got an idea, Dolly." + +She looked at Peter and Lolla. They were at the very edge of the little +clearing in which Dolly had been imprisoned. + +"Listen, Lolla," said Bessie, calmly. "I believe that you are a good +girl, though you have lied to me, and tried to make me think you were my +friend, when all the time you were planning, you could betray me. This +place is dangerous." + +Lolla looked at her scornfully and tossed head. + +"Don't think you can frighten me with your stories," she said, with a +laugh. "It is dangerous--for you. When my man comes you will find that +he is not a coward, like Peter, to be frightened with your knife. He +will take it away from you and beat you, too, for trying to frighten +Peter with it." + +"Yes, he is brave, Lolla. We saw that when he ran away from the fire +that he saw last night near the lake." + +Bessie was taking a chance when she said that. She did not know whether +Lolla had heard of the mysterious flashlight explosion or not, but she +thought it more than probable that John had told her of it. And she was +reasonably sure that he was still wondering what had caused the light +that had so suddenly blinded him. Her swift look at Lolla showed her +that her blow had struck home. + +"He is a brave man, indeed, to keep on with his wicked plan to steal my +friend after such a warning," Bessie went on sternly. "But his bravery +will do him no good. There is a spirit looking after us. It made the +fire that frightened him, and the next time he will not only see the +fire; he will feel it, too." + +Now she looked not only at Lolla, who seemed shaken, but at Peter, who +was staring at her as if fascinated. Evidently he, too, had heard of the +strange fire. Bessie had reckoned on the probability, that seemed almost +a certainty, that John would not have been able to explain, even to +himself, the nature of the flashlight explosion. And evidently she was +right. Then she took another chance, guessing at what she thought John +would probably have said to explain the fire. + +"I know what he told you," she said slowly. "He said that the fire came +from a spirit that was guiding him, and was trying to help him. But he +only said that because he did not understand. It meant just the +opposite; that it would be better for him to go home, and forget the +wicked plot he had thought of." + +Peter seemed to be weakening, but Lolla tossed her head again. + +"Are you a baby? Do you think that is true?" she said to him. "Don't you +see that she is only trying to frighten you, as she did with the knife?" + +"Indeed I am not," said Bessie, earnestly. "I am not angry with you, any +more than I am afraid of you now. If you stay here something dreadful +will happen to you both. You would not like to go to prison, would you, +and stay there all through this summer, and the next winter, and the +summer of next year, when you might be traveling the road with your +brothers?" + +"Make them keep quiet, Peter," cried Lolla, furiously. "She is quite +right There is danger here, but it comes from her friends. She thinks +that if she can fool us into letting her talk, they may pass by and hear +her voice." + +"You keep quiet," said Peter, doggedly, evidently deciding that, this +time, he could safely obey Lolla's orders, and quite ready to do so. "If +you make any more noise I will--" + +He left the sentence uncompleted, but a savage gesture showed what he +meant. He had a stout stick, and this he now swung with a threatening +air. + +Bessie had hoped to work on the superstitious nature of the gypsy man, +and to frighten him, perhaps, if she had good luck, into letting her go +off with Dolly. But Lolla's interference had put that out of the +question. She turned sadly to Dolly, to see her companion's eyes +twinkling. + +"Never you mind, Bessie," she said. "They're stupid, anyhow. And as long +as they don't tie us up we're all right. I'd just as soon be here as +anywhere. Someone will go along that trail presently looking for us, and +when they do we can shout. They'll probably make a noise themselves, so +as to let us know they are near. And I'm not frightened any more; really +I'm not." + +But Bessie, tired and disappointed, was nearer to giving in than she had +been since the moment when she had awakened and found that Dolly was +missing. She felt that she ought to have distrusted Lolla; that she had +made a great mistake in thinking, even for a moment, that the gypsy girl +meant to betray her own people. + +Then suddenly a strange thing happened. A new voice, that belonged to +none of the four who were in the clearing, suddenly broke the silence. +It seemed to come from a tree directly over the heads of Lolla and +Peter, and, as it spoke, they stared upward with one accord, listening +intently to what it said. + +"Will you make me come down and punish you?" said the voice. It was that +of an old, old man, feeble with age, but still clear. + +Bessie stared too, as surprised as the gypsy, and the voice went on: + +"I gave your companion a sign last night that should have warned him. I +speak to you now, to warn you again. The next time I shall not give a +warning; I shall act, and your punishment will be swift and terrible. +Take heed; go, while there is time." + +For a moment the two gypsies were speechless, looking at one another in +wonder, and Bessie was not disposed to blame them. Her own head was in a +whirl. + +"Quick; it is in that tree!" said Lolla, easily the braver of the two of +them. "Climb up there, and see who it is that is trying to frighten us, +Peter." + +But Peter was not prepared to do anything of the sort. He was trembling, +and casting nervous glances behind him, as if he were more minded to +make a break and run down the trail. + +"Climb yourself! I shall stay here," he retorted. + +And Lolla, without further hesitation, sprang into the branches of the +tree and began to climb. + +As she did so the mysterious voice sounded again. + +"You cannot see me, yet," it said. "You can only hear me. See, my voice +is in your ears, but you cannot see as much as my little finger. Beware; +go before you _do_ see me. For when you do, you will regret it; regret +it as long as you live!" + +When Lolla, a moment later, reached firm ground again, she was +trembling, and Bessie saw that her courage was beginning to fail. She +looked about her nervously, as Peter was doing. And suddenly the voice +spoke again, but this time it shouted, and it was in a stronger, more +vigorous tone, and one of great anger. + +"Must I show myself! Must I punish you?" it said, furiously. "Fear me; +you will do well! Go--GO!" + +With a yell of terror Peter turned suddenly, and ran through the thick +bushes toward the trail, crying out as he went, and stumbling. + +"Come; it is the devil! I saw his horns and his tail then," he +screamed. "Come, Lolla, this is an accursed place. I told John it was +wrong to try to do this; that he would get into trouble." + +"He is wise; he is safe!" said the mysterious voice. "Go too, Lolla; I +am growing impatient. Go, if you want to see John, your lover, and the +brothers that you love, again. The time is growing short. I come; I +come; and when I come--" + +And then at last Lolla's nerves, too, gave way, and she followed Peter, +screaming, as he had done, while she ran. Bessie, as astonished and +almost as frightened as the two gypsies had been, turned then to see how +Dolly was bearing this extraordinary affair, to see her chum rolling +about on the ground, with tears in her eyes. + +"Oh, that was funny!" Dolly exclaimed. "They were easy, after all, +Bessie." + +"They've gone! It's all right now," said Bessie. "But who was it, Dolly? +Who could it have been?" + +"It was me!" exclaimed Dolly, weakly, between gasps of laughter, +forgetting her grammar altogether. "I learned that trick last summer. +They call it ventriloquism. It just means throwing your voice out so +that it doesn't seem to come from you at all, and changing it, so that +people won't recognize it." + +Bessie stared at her, in wonder and admiration. "Why, Dolly Ransom!" she +said. "However do you do it? I never heard of such a thing!" + +"I don't know how I do it," said Dolly, recovering her breath. "No one +who can does, I guess. It's just something you happen to be able to do." + +"You certainly frightened them," said Bessie. "And you saved us with +your trick, Dolly. I think they've run clear away. We can follow them +down the trail; they won't stick to it, and I think we can go right back +to Long Lake, now, without being afraid any more. Come on, we'd better +start. I don't want to stay here." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +OUT OF THE FRYING PAN + + +"Stay here? I should say not!" exclaimed Dolly. "I'm almost +starved--and, Bessie, they must be terribly worried about us, too. And +now tell me, as we go along, how you ever found me. I don't see how you +managed that." + +So, as they made their way down the trail, Bessie told her of all that +had happened since her rude awakening at the camp fire, just after the +gypsy had carried Dolly off. + +"Oh, Bessie, it was perfectly fine of you, and it's only because of you +that we're safe now! But you oughtn't to have taken such a risk! Just +think of what might have happened!" + +"That's just it, Dolly. I've got time to think about it now, but then I +could only think of you, and what was happening to you. If I'd stopped +to think about the danger I'm afraid I wouldn't have come." + +"But you must have known it was dangerous! I don't know anyone else who +would have done it for me." + +"Oh, yes, they would, Dolly. That's one of the things we promise when we +join the Camp Fire Girls--always to help another member of the Camp Fire +who is in trouble or in danger." + +"Yes--but not like that. It doesn't say anything about going into danger +yourself, you know." + +"Listen, Dolly. If you saw me drowning in the water, you'd jump in after +me, wouldn't you? Or after any of the girls--if there wasn't time to get +help?" + +"I suppose so--but that's different. It just means going in quickly, +without time to think very much about it. And you had plenty of time to +think while you were tramping along that horrid dark trail after me." + +"Well, it's all over now, Dolly, and, after all, you had to save both of +us in the end." + +"That was just a piece of luck, and a trick, Bessie. It didn't take any +courage to do that--and, beside, if it hadn't been for you I would never +have had the chance to do that. I wonder why Lolla let you have her +knife to cut those cords about me?" + +"I think she's a regular actress, Dolly, and that she wanted to make me +feel absolutely sure she was on our side, so that we would both be there +in that trap when she and Peter came back." + +"It's a good thing he was such a coward, Bessie." + +"Oh, I think he'd be brave enough if he just had to fight with a man, so +that it was the sort of fighting he was used to. You see it wasn't his +plan, and when I said I'd use that knife he couldn't see why he should +run any risk when all the profit was for the other man." + +"And when you played that trick with your voice he was frightened, +because he'd never heard of anything of that sort, and he didn't know +what was coming next. I think that would frighten a good many people who +are really brave." + +"Bessie, why do I always get into so much trouble? All this happened +just because I changed those signs that day." + +"Oh, I don't know about that, Dolly. It might have happened anyhow. I've +got an idea now that they knew we were around, and that John planned to +kidnap one of us and keep us until someone paid him a lot of money to +let us go. Something Lolla said made me think that." + +"Then he was just playing a joke when he said he wanted to marry me?" + +"Yes, I think so, because I don't think he was foolish enough to think +he could ever really get you to do that. I did think so at first, but if +that had been so I'm quite sure that Lolla wouldn't have helped him." + +"She'd have been jealous, you mean?" + +"Yes, I'm quite sure, you see, that she saw him and talked to him when +we went over to their camp that time, so that she could take orders from +him to Peter. He knew he'd be watched, so he must have made up his mind +from the first that he would have to have help." + +"I wonder what he is doing now, Bessie." + +"I certainly hope he's still over there at the camp, sitting near that +guide. The guide said he would shoot him if he tried to get away, you +know." + +"My, but I'll bet there's been a lot of commotion over this." + +"I'm sure there has, Dolly. Probably all the people at the hotel heard +about it, too. I'll bet they've got people out all through the woods +looking for us." + +"I wish we'd meet some of them--and that they'd have a lot of sandwiches +and things. Bessie, I've simply got to sit down and rest. I want to get +back to Miss Eleanor and the girls, but if I keep on any longer I'll +drop just where we are. I'm too tired to take another step without a +rest." + +"I am, too, Dolly. Here--here's a good place to sit down for a little +while. We really can't be so very far from Long Lake now." + +"No," said a voice, behind them. "But you're so far that you'll never +reach there, my dears!" + +And, turning, they saw John, the gypsy, leering at them. His clothes +were torn, and he was hot and dirty, so that it was plain that he had +had a long run, and a narrow escape from capture. But at the sight of +them he smiled, evilly and triumphantly, as if that repaid him amply for +any hardships he had undergone. + +"Don't you dare touch us!" said Bessie, shrilly. + +She realized even as she said it, that he was not likely to pay any +attention to her, but the sight of his grinning face, when she had been +so sure that their troubles were over at last, was too much for her. + +She sank down on a log beside Dolly, and hid her face in her hands, +beginning to cry. Most men, no matter how bad, would have been moved to +pity by the sight of her sufferings. But John was not. + +"Don't cry," he said, with mock sympathy. "I am not going to treat you +badly. You shall stay in the woods with me. I have a good hiding place, +a place where your friends will never find you until I am ready. You are +tired. So am I. We will rest here. It is quite safe. A party of your +friends passed this way five minutes ago. They will not come again--not +soon. I was within a few feet of them, but they did not see me." + +Bessie groaned at the news. Had they only reached the place five minutes +earlier, then, they would have been safe. She was struck by an idea, +however, and lifted her voice in a shout for aid. In a moment the +gypsy's hand covered her mouth and he was snarling in her ear. + +"None of that," he said, grittingly, "or I will find a way to make you +keep still. You must do as I tell you now, or it will be the worse for +you. Will you promise to keep quiet?" + +Bessie realized that there was no telling what this man would do if she +did not promise--and keep her promise. He was cleverer than Peter, and, +therefore, much more dangerous. She felt, somehow, that the trick which +had worked so well when Dolly had used it before would be of no avail +now. He might even understand it; he was most unlikely, she was sure, to +yield to superstitious terror as Peter and Lolla had done. And, leaning +over to Dolly, she whispered to her. + +"Don't try that trick, Dolly. You see, if the others had dared the voice +to do something they would have found out that there was really nothing +to be afraid of--and I'm afraid he'd wait. It may be useful again, but +not with him, now. If we tried it, and it didn't work--" + +"I understand," Dolly whispered back. "I think you are right, too, +Bessie. We'd be worse off than ever. I was thinking that if only some of +the other gypsies were here we might frighten them so much with it that +they'd make him let us go." + +"Yes. We'll save it for that." + +The gypsy was still breathing hard. He looked at the two girls +malignantly, but he saw that they were too tired to walk much unless he +let them rest, and, purely out of policy, and not at all because he was +sorry for them, and for the hardships he had made them endure, he let +them sit still for a while. But finally he rose. + +"Come," he said. "You've been loafing here long enough. Get up now, and +walk in front of me--back, the way you came." + +They groaned at the prospect of retracing their footsteps once more, but +he held the upper hand, and there was nothing for it but obedience. That +much was plain. Desperately, as they began to drag their tired feet once +more along the trail, they listened, hoping against hope for the sounds +that would indicate that some of the searchers they were sure filled the +woods were in the neighborhood. + +But no comforting shouts greeted them. The woods were silent, save for +the calls of birds and animals, which, friendly though they might be, +were powerless to aid the two girls against this traditional enemy of +every furred and feathered creature in the forest. + +Steadily they plodded on. Bessie knew the ground well by this time, and, +one by one they passed the landmarks she knew so well, until they came +at last to the cross path which had brought Bessie back to the trap +Lolla had prepared for her. And there they came upon a startling +interruption of their journey. + +For suddenly Lolla herself, who had evidently been hiding there when +they had passed, alone, before their meeting with John, sprang out and +stood in front of them. Long as she had resisted her fear of the +supernatural force that had come to the aid of the girls, she was +plainly afraid of it still, for at sight of them her cheeks paled, and +she cried out in terror. And behind her, as scared as she was herself, +came Peter, the big gypsy, shaking in every limb. + +"A fine mess you made of things--letting them escape," growled John, as +he saw his two compatriots. "If I hadn't found them on the trail, by +sheer luck, they'd have been back at the lake by this time." + +"Let them go--for heaven's sake, let them go, John," wailed Lolla. +"There is a devil fighting for them--he will kill you if you try any +longer to keep them from their friends." + +"Pah! What child's talk is this? Be thankful that I do not beat you with +my stick for letting them get free!" + +"Listen to her, John," said Peter, warningly. "She speaks the truth. It +was a devil that spoke from the air. I saw his horns and his red tail. +Be careful--he may be here now." + +John laughed, scornfully. + +"Run away, if you are afraid," he said. "I will manage alone now. I +would not trust you--you have failed me once, both of you. Do not think +you can frighten me into failure because you are as brave as +a--chicken!" + +"Let them go, I say," said Peter, with a sternness in his voice that +gave Bessie a new ray of hope. "I have had my warning, I will profit by +it." + +"You coward!" sneered John. + +But that was too much for Peter. With a cry of rage he sprang forward. + +"I fear no man, no man I can see or touch," he cried. "And no man shall +call me coward!" + +In a moment the two were grappling in a furious fight. John was smaller +than Peter, but he was wiry and as lithe and powerful as a trained +athlete, so that he was a match, at first, for the rugged strength of +Peter. But he had had a hard day, and gradually Peter's strength wore +him down, and, as they crashed to the ground together, Peter was on top, +and plainly destined to be victor in the fight. He looked up at the two +girls. + +"Go!" he said. "I will have nothing to do with you. I am fighting with +my friend to save him, not for your sakes, you who have a devil to help +you. If he keeps you harm will come to him. John, listen to me: I do +this because you are my friend." + +Bessie and Dolly needed no second invitation. Amazing as was this +latest intervention in favor, they were too happy to stop to question +it. It was their chance to escape, and five minutes later they were out +of sight, and making their way, as fast as their tired bodies would +allow them to do, toward Long Lake and safety. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SAFE AT LAST + + +Indeed, any lingering fear Bessie and Dolly might have had that John had +succeeded in escaping from his two anxious friends who were so +determined to protect him against his own recklessness, was dissipated +before they came in sight of the lake, when, at a crossing of the trail, +a glad cry hailed them and a sturdy guide stepped across their path. + +"Well, I'll be hornswoggled!" he exclaimed. "Ain't you the two that was +lost, or stolen by that gypsy critter?" + +"We certainly are," said Dolly and Bessie, in one breath. "Were you +looking for us?" + +"Lookin' fer you!" he exclaimed. "Every one in these here woods has been +a-lookin' fer you two since sun-up, I guess. Godfrey, but we was scared! +Didn't know but that there gypsy might have sneaked you clean out of +the woods! How did you all ever come to get loose? Or was you just plain +lost?" + +"No, we weren't lost," said Bessie. "He carried Dolly off all right; +this is Dolly Ransom, you know. But he didn't catch me." + +"Then how in tarnation did you come to be lost, too? You was, wasn't +you? They told us two girls was missin'." + +"Well, we were asleep in the open air, outside the tent, and I woke up +just as he was carrying Dolly off. I didn't wake up until he'd got out +of the firelight, and there wasn't any use calling anyone else. So I +just followed myself." + +"She says anyone would have done it," Dolly broke in, her eyes shining. +"But I don't believe it, do you?" + +"No, by Godfrey!" he said, emphatically. "A greenhorn, goin' out in them +woods at night, in the dark, and a girl, at that? I guess not!" + +He looked at Bessie, as if puzzled to learn that she had actually done +such a thing. + +"Well, you're all right now," he said. "Here, I'll just give the signal +we fixed up. Listen, now!" + +He raised his rifle, and, pointing it straight in the air, fired two +shots, and then, after a brief interval, two more. + +"The sound of that'll carry a long way," he explained, "and that means +that you're both found. The other fellows who are searchin' for you will +quit lookin', now, and come into Long Lake. If I'd fired just two shots, +and hadn't fired the second two, that would have meant that one of you +was found, and they'd have kept right on a-lookin' fer the other. I'll +walk along with you now, an' I guess that varmint won't bother you no +more. If he does--" + +He patted his rifle with a gesture that spoke more plainly than words +could have done. + +"Tell me all about it as we go along," he said. "I guess maybe there'll +be some work for us to do after we all get together--runnin' those +gypsies out. They're a bad lot, but this is the fust time they ever +done anythin' around here that give us a real chance to get even with +them. We've suspected them of doin' lots of things, but a deer can't +tell you who killed him out o' season, 'specially when all you find of +the deer is a little skin and bones." + +He listened admiringly as Bessie told her story. At the tale of Lolla's +treachery he laughed. + +"They're all tarred with the same brush," he said. "One's as bad as +another." + +And when he heard of the trick by which Dolly had worked on the +superstitious fears of Lolla and Peter his merriment knew no bounds, and +he absolutely refused to keep on the trail until Dolly had given him a +demonstration of just how she had managed it. + +"Well, by Godfrey!" he said, when she had thrown her voice far overhead, +and once so that it seemed to come from just above his shoulder. "Don't +that beat the Dutch! I don't wonder you skeered 'em! You'd have had me +goin', I guess, an' I ain't no chicken, nor easy to skeer, neither. You +two certainly done a smart job gettin' away from them." + +And so, when they reached Long Lake, the girls and the guides, who had +scattered all over the woods searching for them, agreed, when they +straggled in, one party after another. Eleanor Mercer was one of the +first to return, and when she had finished proving her gratitude for +their safe return, she turned a laughing face toward the chief guide. + +"Do you know the thing that pleases me best about this, Andrew?" she +asked him. + +"I can guess, ma'am," he said, with a grin. "You told us when you come +up here that you was goin' to prove that a party of girls could get +along without help from men. And I reckon it looked to you this morning +as if you was goin' to need us pretty bad, didn't it?" + +"It certainly did, Andrew," she answered, gravely. "And I don't want you +to think for a moment that we're not grateful to you for the way you +turned out and scoured the woods." + +"Don't talk of gratitude, Miss Eleanor. We've known you for years, but +even if we'd never seen you before, and didn't know nothin' about the +girls that thief had stolen, we'd ha' turned out jest the same way to +rescue them. An' I guess any white men anywhere would ha' done the same +thing. + +"But if it was only us you'd had to depend on, I'm afraid the young +lady'd still be out there. It was her friend that saved her. Too bad she +trusted that Lolla witch. If she'd gone to Jim Skelly when she was near +the gypsy camp that time, an' told him where her chum was, he'd have had +her free in two shakes of a lamb's tail." + +"I think Dolly and Bessie must be awfully hungry," said Zara, who had +listened with shining eyes to the tale of her friends' adventures. + +"Oh, they must, indeed!" said Eleanor, remorsefully. "And here we've +been listening to them, and letting them talk while they were starving." + +She turned toward the fire, but already two of the guides had leaped +forward, and in a moment the smell of crisp bacon filled the air, and +coffee was being made. + +"Oh, how good that smells!" said Dolly. "I _am_ hungry, but it was so +exciting, remembering everything that happened, that I forgot all about +it! Isn't it funny? I was dreadfully scared when I was alone there, and +again afterward, when we thought we were safe, and that horrid man +caught us. + +"But now that it's all over, it seems like good fun. If one only knew +that everything was coming out all right when things like that happen, +one could enjoy them while they were going on, couldn't one? But when +one is frightened half to death there isn't much chance to think of how +nice it's going to be when it's all over, and you're safe at home +again." + +"That's just the trouble with adventures, Dolly," said Eleanor. "You +never can be sure that they will come out all right, and lots of times +they don't. It's like the thrilling story that the man told about being +chased by the bear." + +"What was that, Miss Eleanor?" + +"Well, he told about how the bear chased him, and he got into a trap, +and the bear was between him and the only way of getting out, and it +seemed to him as if he was going to be killed. So they asked him what +happened; how he got away?" + +"And how did he?" + +"He said he didn't; that the bear ate him up!" + +"Miss Eleanor," said Andrew, the old chief guide, as the two girls began +ravenously to eat the tempting camp meal that the other guides had so +quickly prepared, "we've got something more to do here." + +Eleanor looked at him questioningly. + +"We've got to find that gypsy," he said, "and see that he spends the +night in jail, where he belongs. If I'm not mistaken, he'll spend a good +many nights and days there, too, after he's been tried." + +"I suppose he must be caught and taken to a place where he can be +tried," said Eleanor. "I don't like the idea of revenge, but--" + +"But this ain't revenge, Miss Eleanor. If you was a-goin' to say that +you was quite right. It's self protection, and protection for young +girls everywhere." + +"Yes, you're right, Andrew. Well, what do you want me to do? I am +afraid I wouldn't be touch good in helping you to catch him." + +Andrew laughed heartily. + +"I ain't sayin' that, ma'am, but there's men enough of us to catch him, +all right. Maybe you didn't notice it, but I sent out some of the men +'most as soon as they got here, just so's they'd be able to fix things +for him to have to stay where we could catch him. Trouble is, none of us +don't know him when we see him. I was wonderin'--" + +"Oh, no, not now, Andrew. I know what you mean. You want the girls to go +with you, so as to point him out, don't you? But they're so tired, I'm +sure they couldn't do any more tramping today." + +"I know they're tired, ma'am, and I wasn't aimin' to let them do any +more walkin'. I've got more sense than that. But we could rig up a sort +of a swing chair, so's two of the boys could carry one of them, easily. +Then we could take her over there, and she could tell us which was him, +and never be tired at all. She'd be jest as comfortable, ma'am, as if +she was a settin' here by the lake, watchin' the water." + +"Well, I suppose we can manage it if you do it that way, Andrew, if you +think it's really necessary." + +When it came to a choice, since it was necessary for only one of the +girls to go, Dolly insisted on being the one. + +"Bessie is much more tired than I am," she said, stoutly. "I was carried +a good part of the way and she tramped all around with that wretched +little Lolla, when she thought Lolla wanted to help her get me away. So +I'm going, and Bessie shall stay here and rest" + +"Don't, make no difference to me," said Andrew "Let the other girls come +along with us, if you like, Miss Eleanor. And you can stay hind here +with the one that stays to rest. See!" + +And so it was arranged. Bessie, lying on a cot that had been brought +from Eleanor's tent, watched Dolly being carried off in the litter that +had been hastily improvised, and Eleanor sat beside her. + +"You've certainly earned a rest, Bessie," said Eleanor, happily. It +delighted her to think that Bessie, whom she had befriended, should +prove herself so well worthy of her confidence. "I don't know what we'd +have done without you. I'm afraid that Dolly would still be there in the +woods if you'd just called us, as most girls would have done." + +"I don't quite understand one thing, even yet, Bessie," continued +Eleanor, frowning, "You know, at first, it seemed as if the idea we had +was right; that this man had some crazy idea that he might be able to +make a gypsy of Dolly. + +"I'm beginning to think that there was some powerful reason back of what +he did; that he expected to make a great deal of money out of kidnapping +her. It seems, too, as if he knew where we were going to be, and who we +all were, more than he had had any chance to find out." + +"I thought of that, too," said Bessie. "If it had been Zara he tried to +steal--but it was Dolly. And she hasn't been mixed up at all in our +affairs." + +"I know, and that's what is so puzzling, Bessie. Maybe if they catch +him, though, he'll tell why he did it. I think those guides will +frighten him. They're all perfectly furious, and they'll make him sorry +he ever tried to do anything of the sort, I think--Why, Bessie! What's +the matter?" + +"Don't turn around, Miss Eleanor. But I saw a pair of eyes, just behind +you. I wonder if he could have sneaked back around and come here?" + +"Oh, I wish we'd had one of the men stay, I was afraid of something +like that, Bessie." + +"I'm going to find out, Miss Eleanor. I'll pretend I don't suspect +anything, and get up to go into the tent. Then, if it's John, I think +he'll show himself." + +She rose, and in a moment their fears were confirmed. John, his eyes +triumphant, stepped out, abandoning the concealment of the hushes. + +"Where is the other?" he said. "The one called Bessie--Bessie King? It's +not you I want--" + +"Hands up!" cried the voice of Andrew, the chief guide. + +And the gypsy, wheeling with a savage cry, faced a half circle of +grinning faces. He made one wild dash to escape, but it was useless, and +in a moment he was on the ground, and his hands were tied. In the +struggle a letter fell from his pocket, and Bessie picked it up. +Suddenly, as she was looking at it idly, she saw something that made her +cry out in surprise, and the next moment she and Miss Mercer were +reading it together. + +"Get this girl, Bessie King, and I will pay you a thousand dollars," it +read. "She is dark, and goes around with a fair girl called Dolly. It +will be easy, and if you once get them to me and out of the woods, I +will pay you the money, and see that you are not in danger of being +arrested. I will back you up." + +"Who wrote that letter? Turn over, quickly!" cried Eleanor. + +"I know without looking," said Bessie. "Now we can guess why he was so +reckless; why he took such chances! He thought I was Dolly, because of +that mistake about our hair! Yes, see; it is Mr. Holmes who sent him +this letter!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE GYPSY'S MOTIVE + + +But, despite the revelation of that letter, the gypsy himself maintained +a sullen silence when efforts were made to make him tell all he knew and +the reason for his determined effort to kidnap Dolly. He snarled at his +captors when they, asked him questions, and so enraged Andrew and the +other guides by his refusal to answer that only Eleanor's intervention +saved him from rough handling. + +"No I won't let you use violence, Andrew," said Eleanor, firmly. "It +would do no good. He won't talk; that is his nature. You have him now, +and the law will take him from you. There isn't any question of his +guilt; there will be evidence enough to convict him anywhere, and he +will go to prison, as he deserves to do. All I hope is that he won't be +the only one, that we can get the man who bribed him to do this, and +see that he gets punished properly, too." + +"I'm sure with you there, ma'am," said old Andrew. "He's a worthless +critter enough, I know, but he ain't as bad as the man that set him on. +If the law lets that other snake go, ma'am, jest you get him to come up +here for a little hunting, and we'll make him sorry he ever went into +such business, I'd like to get my hands on him. I'm an old man, but I +reckon I'm strong enough to thrash any imitation of a man what would +play such a cowardly trick as that. Afraid to do his own dirty work, is +he? So he hires it done. Well, much good it's done him this time." + +"I'll keep this letter," said Eleanor. "I think it was mighty foolish of +him to sign his name to it. It's a pretty good piece of evidence against +the man, if he is rich and powerful. If there's any justice to be had, I +think he'll suffer this time." + +"How did you ever get back here, just when you were so badly needed?" +Bessie asked Andrew. + +He smiled at that. + +"Well, we get sort o' used to readin' tracks in our work around here, +Miss, and we seen that someone who might be this feller was doublin' +around mighty suspicious. So, bein' some worried about leavin' you two +here alone anyhow, I decided to come back with three or four of the men +here, an' we did it, leavin' the others to go on an' see if they could +pick up the other two gypsies. + +"To tell the truth, I thought it'd be mighty strange if we found him +anywhere near that camp. Seemed like he must know that we'd be lookin' +fer him, and that there was the fust place we'd go to. So here we were, +and mighty timely, as you say, Miss." + +It was no great while before the sounds of the other party, returning, +resounded through the woods, and soon Lolla and Peter, the man bound, +and the girl carefully guarded by two guides, each of whom held one of +her arms, were brought into the clearing about the camp. Lolla, at the +sight of John, lying against a tree, his arms and his feet bound, gave +a cry of rage, and, snatching her arms from her guardians, ran toward +him, wailing. + +"Go away, you fool!" muttered John. "This is your doing. If you and +Peter had not been afraid of your own shadow, this would not have +happened. I am glad they have caught you; you will go to prison now, +like me." + +"Look here, young feller," said Andrew, angrily, "that ain't no way to +talk to a lady, hear me! She may be a bad one, but she's stuck to you. +If you get off any more talk like that I'll see if a dip in the lake +will make you feel more polite like. See?" + +John gave no answer, but relapsed into his sullen silence again. + +Eleanor approached Lolla gently. + +"We are not angry with you, Lolla," she said, kindly. "No, nor with +John. You love him, do you?" + +Lolla gave no answer, but looked up into Eleanor's face with eyes that +spoke plainly enough. + +"I thought so. Then you do not want him to go to prison? Try to make him +tell why he did this. If he will do that, perhaps he can go free, and +you and Peter, too. You wouldn't like to have to leave your people, and +not be able to travel along the road, and do all the things you are used +to doing, would you? + +"Well, I am afraid that is what will happen to you, unless John will +tell all he knows. They will take you away, soon now, and you will go +down to the town and there you will be locked up, all three of you, and +you and John will not even see one another, for a long time--two or +three years, maybe, or even longer--" + +Still Lolla could not speak. But she began to cry, quietly, but with a +display of suffering that moved Eleanor. After all, she felt Lolla was +little more than a girl, and, though she had done wrong, very wrong, she +had never had a proper chance to learn how to do what was right. + +"I'm sorry for you, Lolla," said Eleanor. "We all are. We think you +didn't know what you were doing, and how wicked it was. I will do my +best for you, but your best chance is to make John tell all he knows." + +"How can I? He blames me. He says if I and Peter hadn't been such +cowards all would have been well. He is angry at me; he will not forgive +me." + +"Oh, yes, he will, Lolla. I am sure he loves you, and that he did this +wicked thing because he wanted to have much money to spend buying nice +things for you; pretty dresses, and a fine wagon, with good horses. So +he will be sorry for speaking angrily to you, soon, and you will be able +to make him tell the truth, if you only try. Will you try?" + +"Yes," decided Lolla, suddenly. "I think you are good--that you forgive +us. Do you?" + +"I certainly do. After all, you see, Lolla, you haven't done us any +harm." + +Lolla pointed to Bessie. + +"Will she forgive me?" she inquired. "I tricked her--made a fool of +her--but she made a fool of me afterward. I lied to her; will she +forgive me, too, like you?" + +"Did you hear that, Bessie?" asked Eleanor, by way of answer to the +gypsy girl's question. + +"Yes," said Bessie. "I'm sorry you did it, Lolla, because I only wanted +to help your man, and if you hadn't done what you said you were going to +do, and helped me to get Dolly away from him, he wouldn't be in all this +trouble now. + +"But you didn't understand about that, and you helped your own people +instead of a stranger. I don't think that's such a dreadful thing to do. +It's something like a soldier in a war. He may think his country is +wrong, but if there's a battle he has to fight for it, just the same." + +"But remember that the best way to help John now is to make him see that +he has been wrong, and to try to make him understand that he can make up +for his wickedness by helping us to punish the bad man who got him to do +this," said Eleanor. "That man, you see, was too much of a coward to do +his work himself, so he got your man to do it, knowing that if anyone +was to be punished he would escape, and John would get into trouble. + +"John doesn't owe anything to a man like that; he needn't think he's got +to keep him out of trouble. The man wouldn't do it for him. He won't +help him now. He'll pretend he doesn't know anything about this at all." + +"I will try," promised Lolla. "But I think John is angry with me, and +will not listen. But I will do my best." + +And, after a little while, which the guides used to cook a meal, and to +rest after their strenuous tramping in the effort to find the missing +girls, Andrew told off half a dozen of them to make their way to the +county seat, a dozen miles away, with the three gypsies. + +"Just get them there and turn them over to the sheriff, boys," said the +old guide. "He'll hold them safe until they've been tried, and we won't +have any call to worry about them no more. But be careful while you're +on your way down. They're slippery customers, and as like as not to try +to run away from you and get to their own people." + +"You leave that to me," said the guide who was to be in charge of the +party. "If they get away from us, Andrew, they'll be slicker than anyone +I ever heard tell of, anywhere. We won't hurt them none, but they'll +walk a chalk line, right in front of us, or I'll know the reason why." + +"All right," said Andrew. "Better be getting started, then. Don't want +to make it too late when you get into town with them. Let the girl rest +once in a while; she looks purty tired to me." + +Bessie and Dolly and the other girls watched the little procession start +off on the trail, and Bessie, for one, felt sorry for Lolla, who looked +utterly disconsolate and hopeless. + +"We couldn't let them go free, I suppose," said Eleanor, regretfully. +"But I do feel sorry for that poor girl. I don't think she liked the +idea from the very first, but she couldn't help herself. She had to do +what the men told her. Women don't rank very high among the gypsies; +they have to do what the men tell them, and they're expected to do all +the work and take all the hard knocks beside." + +"You're right; there's nothing else to do, ma'am," said old Andrew. +"Well, guess the rest of us guides had better be gettin' back to work. +Ain't nothin' else we can do fer you, is there, ma'am?" + +"I don't think so. I don't suppose we need be afraid of the other +gypsies, Andrew? Are they likely to try to get revenge for what has +happened to their companions?" + +"Pshaw! They'll be as quiet as lambs for a long time now. They was a +breakin' up camp over there by Loon Pond when the boys come away last +time. Truth is, I reckon they're madder at John and his pals for gettin' +the whole camp into trouble than they are at us. + +"You see, they know they needn't show their noses around here fer a +long time now; not until this here shindy's had a chance to blow over +an' be forgotten. And there ain't many places where they've been as +welcome as over to the pond." + +"I shouldn't think they'd be very popular here in the woods." + +"They ain't, ma'am; they ain't, fer a fact. More'n once we've tried to +make the hotel folks chase them away, but they sort of tickled the +summer boarders over there, and so the hotel folks made out as they +weren't as bad as they were painted, and was entitled to a chance to +make camp around there as long as they behaved themselves." + +"I suppose they never stole any stuff from the hotel?" + +"That's jest it. They knew enough to keep on the right side of them +people, you see, an' they did their poachin' in our woods. Any time +they've been around it's always meant more work for us, and hard work, +too." + +"Well, I should think that after this experience the people at the +hotel would see that the gypsies aren't very good neighbors, after all." + +"That's what we're counting on, ma'am. Seems to me, from what I just +happened to pick up, that there was some special reason, like, for this +varmint to have acted that way today, or last night, maybe it was. Some +feller in the city as was back of him." + +"There was, Andrew, I'm afraid; a man who ought to know better, and whom +you wouldn't suspect of allowing such a dreadful thing to be done." + +Andrew shook his head wisely. + +"It's hard to know what to wish," she said. "Sometimes a man is much +worse when he comes out of prison than he was when he went in. It seems +just to harden them, and make it impossible for them to get started on +the right road again." + +"It's their fault for going wrong in the fust place," said the old +guide, sternly. "That's what I say. I don't take any stock in these new +fangled notions of makin' the jail pleasant for them as does wrong. +Make 'em know they're goin' to have a hard time, an' they'll be lest +willin' to take chances of goin' wrong and bein' caught with the goods, +like this feller here today. I bet you when he gets out of jail he'll be +so scared of gettin' back that he'll be pretty nearly as good as a white +man." + +"Of course, the main thing is to frighten any of the others from acting +the same way," said Eleanor. "I think the hotel will be sorry it let +those gypsies stay around there. Because it's very sure that mothers who +have children there will be nervous, and they'll go away to some place +where they can feel their children are safe. + +"Well, good-bye, Andrew. I'm glad you think it's safe now. I really +would like to feel that we can get along by ourselves here, but, of +course, I wouldn't let any pride stand in the way of safety, and if you +thought it was better I'd ask you to leave one of the men here." + +"No call for that, ma'am. You've shown you can get along all right. We +didn't have nothin' to do with gettin' Miss Dolly away from that scamp +today. It was her chum done that. Goodbye." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A FRIENDLY CONTEST + + +Morning found both Dolly and Bessie refreshed, and, though the other +girls asked them anxiously about themselves, neither seemed to feel any +ill effects after the excitement of the previous day, with its series of +surprising events. Dolly, at first, was a little chastened, and seemed +wholly ready to stay quietly in camp. And, indeed, all the girls decided +that it would be better, for the time at least, not to venture far into +the woods. + +"I think it's as safe as ever now, along the well-known trails that are +used all the time," said Miss Eleanor, "but, after all, we don't know +much about the gypsies. Some of them may be hanging around still, even +if the main party of them has moved on, and we do know that they are a +revengeful race; that when one of them is hurt, or injured in any way, +they are very likely not to rest until the injury is avenged. They don't +care much whether they hurt the person who is guilty or not; his +relatives or his friends will satisfy them equally well" + +"I'm perfectly willing to stay right here by the lake," said Margery +Burton, "for one. It's as nice here as it can possibly be anywhere else. +I'd like someone to go in swimming with me." + +"If it isn't too cold I will," cried Dolly, cheerfully. + +And so, after the midday meal--two hours afterward, too, for Eleanor +Mercer was too wise a Guardian to allow them to run any risk by going +into the water before their food had been thoroughly digested--bathing +suits were brought out, and Margery Burton, or Minnehaha, as the one who +had proposed the sport, was unanimously elected a committee of one to +try the water, and see if it was warm enough for swimming. + +"And no tricks, Margery!" warned Dolly. "I know you, and if you found it +was cold it would be just like you to pretend it was fine so that we'd +all get in and be as cold as you were yourself!" + +"I'll be good! I promise," laughed Margery, and, without any preliminary +hesitation on the water's edge, she walked to the end of the little dock +that was used for the boats and plunged boldly in. She was a splendid +swimmer, a fact that had once, when Bessie had first joined the Camp +Fire, nearly cost her her life, for, seeing her upset, no one except +Bessie had thought it necessary to jump in after her, and she had +actually been slightly stunned, so that she had been unable to swim. + +But this time there was no accident. She disappeared under the water +with a beautiful forward dive, and plunged along for many feet before +she rose to the surface, laughing, and shaking the water out of her +eyes. Then, treading water, she called to the group on the dock. + +"It's all right for everyone but Dolly, I think," she cried. "I'm afraid +it would be too cold for her. I like it; I think it's great!" + +"You can't fool me," said Dolly, and, without any more delay, she too +plunged in. But she rose to the surface at once, gasping for breath, and +looking about for Margery. + +"Why, it's as cold as ice!" she exclaimed. "Ugh! I'm nearly frozen to +death! Margery, why didn't you tell me it was so cold?" + +"I did, stupid!" laughed Margery. "I said it was warm enough for me, but +that I was afraid it would be too cold for you, didn't I?" + +"I--I thought you were just fooling me; you knew I'd never let the +others go in if I didn't!" + +"It's not my fault if you wouldn't believe me. All I promised was to +tell you whether it was cold or not! Come on, you girls! It _is_ cold, +but you won't mind it after you've been in for a minute!" + +"Look out! Give me room for a dive!" cried Eleanor Mercer, suddenly +appearing from her tent. "I know this water; I've been in it every year +since I was a lot smaller than you. I'm afraid of it every year the +first time I go in, but how I do love it afterward!" + +And, running at full speed, she sped down to the edge of the dock, +leaped up and turned a somersault, making a beautiful dive that filled +the girls who were still dry with envy. And a moment later they were all +in, swimming happily and enjoying themselves immensely. All, that is, +except Zara, who could not swim. + +"Oh, I wish I could dive like that, Miss Eleanor!" exclaimed Bessie, who +had been one of the first to go into the water. + +"Oh, that's nothing; you can learn easily, Bessie. You swim better than +any of us. Isn't this water cold for you? I should think you wouldn't be +used to it. All the others have been in pretty cold water before now." + +"Oh, so have I! You see, around Hedgeville we used to go into the +regular swimming holes, and they never get very warm. There's no beach, +you just go in off the bank, and most of the swimming holes have trees +all around them so that they're shady, and the sun doesn't strike them. +They're in the shade all the time, and that keeps the water cold. This +is warmer than that, ever so much." + +"I tell you what we'll do, girls; we'll fix up a spring-board and have +some lessons in real diving. Wouldn't that be fun?" + +"It certainly would! I'd love to be able to do a backward dive!" + +"Well, this is a good place to learn; no one around to make you nervous, +and good deep water. It's sixteen or seventeen feet off that dock, all +the time, and that's deep enough for almost any diving; for any that +we're likely to do, certainly." + +Later they talked it over again, when they had dried and resumed the +clothes they wore about the camp, and Eleanor Mercer, her enthusiasm +warming her cheeks, told them something they had not heard even a hint +of as yet. + +"A friend of mine is scoutmaster of a troop of Boy Scouts," she said. +"And he has teased me, sometimes, about our work. He says we just +imitate the Boy Scouts, and that we just pretend we're camping out and +doing all the things they do. Well, I told him that some time we'd have +a contest with them, and show them; a regular field day. And, just for +fun, we made up a sort of list of events." + +"Oh, what were they?" + +"Well, we planned to start in, all morning, and make a regular trip, +cook meals, and come back. And on the way we to divide into parties; +there are three patrols his troop, you know, and we could divide up the +same way. The parties were to keep in touch with one another by smoke +signals--they're made with blankets--and there was to be a fire-making +contest, to see which could make fire quickest without matches. And, oh, +lots of other things." + +"That would be fine." + +"Then I got reckless, I think. I said my girls could beat his boys in +the water--that we could swim better--I meant more usefully, not just +faster, in a race, because I think they'd beat us easily in just a +plain race. And I'm afraid I boasted a little." + +"I bet you didn't; I bet we can do just as well as any old Boy Scouts!" +exclaimed Dolly. "I wish we just had the chance, that's all." + +"Well, you have," said Eleanor, with a smile. "That's what I'm trying to +tell you, girls. Mr. Hastings is over at Third Lake right now with one +patrol of his troop. He got there yesterday and the way I happened to +hear about it was that he was on his way over yesterday morning--he got +in ahead of the boys--to help us look for Dolly and Bessie, when they +were found." + +"Oh, that's fine! And shall we have that field day?" + +"Later on, before we go home, yes. But he began teasing me again +yesterday, and I told him we'd have a water carnival any time he wanted +to bring his boys over. And he said they'd come Saturday." + +"We'll have to get ready and show them what we can do, then," said +Margery Burton, with determination in her voice. "My brother's a Boy +Scout, and I know just what they're like; they think we're just the same +as all the other girls they know. I tell you what would be fun; to get +up a baseball team." + +"Maybe we'll try that later," said Eleanor. "But right now we want to be +ready for Saturday. So I'll teach you everything I can. And I'm quite +sure we can beat them in a life-saving drill; their three best against +our three. We'd have you, Margery, and Bessie, and Dolly Ransom." + +So it was agreed, and they all began to practice. + +"I wish I could do something," said Zara, wistfully. "But I don't +believe I could learn to swim before Saturday." + +"You could learn to keep yourself afloat," said Margery. "But that +wouldn't be much good, of course. You'd rather not go in at all, I +suppose, unless you could really swim." + +"I know what I could do, though," said Zara, suddenly, after she had +watched Bessie go through the life saving drill. But she would not +confide her idea to anyone but Miss Mercer, who looked more than +doubtful when she heard it. + +"I don't know, Zara," she said, "I'll see. It seems a little risky. But +I'll think it over. It would be splendid, but, well, we'll see." + +Speed swimming, pure racing, was barred when Saturday came. But with +Scoutmaster Hastings and Miss Mercer as referees, and three summer +visitors from the Loon Pond Hotel, who had no prejudice in favor of +either side as judges, several contests were arranged that called for +skill rather than strength. + +"In this diving," Hastings explained to the judges, "what we want to +figure on is the way they do it. If a dive is graceful, and the diver +strikes the water true, going straight down, with arms and legs held +close together, you give so many points for that. I'll make each dive +first; that will serve as a model, you see." + +Scoutmaster Hastings was not speaking in a boastful manner. He was a +noted diver, and had won prizes and medals in many meets for his skill. +And, when everything was arranged, he did all the standard dives from +the spring-board at the end of the dock, and three members of each +organization followed him. + +Bessie had taken remarkably well to these new tricks, as she considered +them. Her powers as a swimmer no one had questioned, but it was +remarkable to see how quickly she had acquired the ability to dive well +and gracefully. And, to the surprise and chagrin of the Boy Scouts, who +had expected, as boys always do, when they are pitted against girls, to +win so easily that they could afford to be magnanimous, and to abstain +from gloating, the judges were unanimous in deciding that she had done +better than any of the six competitors in all five of the standard dives +in which Hastings showed the way. + +As there were six competitors, the judges awarded six points for first +place in each dive, five for second, four for third, three for fourth, +two for fifth, and one for sixth place. And in two of the dives second +place went to Margery Burton, while one of the Boy Scouts, Jack Perry, +was second in the other four. + +To the disgust of the other boys, Margery was placed third in the four +dives in which Jack Perry beat her, and Dolly, a good, but not a really +wonderful diver, was fifth in every one of the dives, beating at least +one boy in each. So sixty-six points altogether went to the Camp Fire +Girls, while the Boy Scouts, who had expected to finish one, two, three, +had to be content with forty-eight, and were soundly beaten. + +"That girl that was first is a wonder," said Hastings admiringly to Miss +Mercer. "I take it all back, Eleanor. But I didn't think you'd have +anyone as good as she is. Why, she's better than you are, and I always +thought you were the nearest to a fish of any girl I ever saw in the +water. She could win the woman's championship with a little more +practice." + +"Maybe you won't crow so much over us after this," said Eleanor, with a +laugh. + +"Not about the diving, certainly," said Hastings, generously, "But +that's tricky, after all. The life saving is going to be different There +strength figures more. I really think my boys ought to give a handicap +in that." + +"Not a bit of it," said Eleanor. "Women have been taking handicaps from +men too long. They've got so that they think they can't do anything as +well as a man. This Camp Fire movement is going to show you that that's +all over and done with." + +"Well, we'll go through the tests first," said Hastings. "Then your +girls will know what they've got to beat, anyhow." + +The tests for life saving were to be conducted on a time basis. From a +boat a certain distance out in the lake a boy or girl was to be thrown +overboard, and, at the same moment, the competitor was to leap in after +the one who represented the victim and take him or her to shore, the +winners being those who did it in the shortest time. Again, as there +were to be six competitors, the first place was to count six points, the +second, five, and so on. + +First, the boys went out and went through their exercise in fine style. +Although the boy who played the part of victim could swim, he made no +move to help himself, simply staying perfectly still and letting his +"rescuer" take him in. + +Then, when the three boys had finished, with only five seconds between +the fastest and the slowest, Eleanor and Hastings rowed out with the +three who represented the Camp Fire Girls, and, as "victim," Zara! + +Zara had insisted. + +"I really would be drowned if they didn't save me," she said, "so it +will be a real test." + +And, with that added spur, each of the three girls actually managed to +beat the fastest time of the boys. Margery was first, Bessie was second, +and Dolly third. Hastings, as soon as he discovered that Zara could not +swim, was full of admiration. + +"That's the nerviest thing I ever heard of," he said. "Of course they +did better. But it's your 'victim' that deserves the credit. She's +certainly plucky." + +"So I really did help, didn't I!" said Zara. "My, I was scared at first. +But then I knew the girls wouldn't let me go down, and, after the first +time, it wasn't so bad." + +"Well, you gave us a surprise, and a licking," said Scoutmaster +Hastings. "But we'll be ready for you when we have that field day. How +about some day next week!" + +"Splendid," said Eleanor. "And we'll give you a chance to get even." + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls at Long Lake +by Jane L. 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