ith the
rest, say to-morrow, and get the canoe?"

"Suits me," agreed the other.

So the bargain was struck, and they crossed the room to examine _The
Scout_. There, sure enough, were the evidences as Ruth had given them.
At last, the canoe was found!

"I told you you were on the eve of a great discovery, didn't I?" said
Harold, as they were driving home.

"But you never would have found the canoe, if it hadn't been for me,"
corrected Ruth.

"Marjorie certainly will be glad!" remarked her brother.

"Marjorie!" cried Ruth; "why, I'd forgotten all about her--and the
chase!"

Then she fell silent for a long time. She was thinking of the medal of
merit Miss Phillips had offered for the finding of Frieda; and she could
not see why, if no one were successful, the finding of the canoe might
not be considered the next thing to the finding of Frieda. It would be
much better that Marjorie should never know about their pursuit of her.

Breaking her silence, she said,

"Promise me, both of you, that you won't tell Marj how we chased her?"

They both swore solemn oaths.

After supper, she and Harold strolled over to Wilkinsons' to tell
Marjorie the news of the canoe, for Jack had promised to say nothing
about it until they came. But they found her singularly unappreciative.

"I knew Frieda sold it before she reached Trenton," she remarked; "and I
intended to get papa to take me to find it to-morrow!"

"Of all the ungrateful people!" snapped Ruth, as they left the house.
"And we don't know yet where Marj went," she added.

CHAPTER XVIII

ALONE IN THE CITY

At heart, Frieda Hammer was not a bad girl. But for all these years her
moral sense had remained undeveloped. She was like a man who has worked
in a factory all his life, where the continuous roar of the machinery
dulls his sense of hearing, so that all the finer tones are lost upon
him. Frieda was so unaccustomed to the qualities of unselfishness and
friendliness, that when she came in contact with them she could only
mistrust them. Ruth Henry was the only member of the Girl Scout troop
that she could seem to understand, for she was the only one who was out
and out for herself. Marjorie Wilkinson was a puzzle to her, and always
had been.

And just as the man without an ear for music would not appreciate an
orchestra if he heard one, so this mentally-starved girl could not
understand the charity and sweetness of the Scouts. But gradually, under
the inf