tretched all around them. But in the distance a pink glow,
among a grove of trees, marked the real home of the Camp Fire.

CHAPTER XII

A NEW SUSPICION

"I think the fire is more beautiful than anything else, almost," said
the Guardian, as she looked at it and pointed it out to Bessie and Zara.
"It means so much."

"It looks like a welcome, Wanaka."

"That's just what it is--a real, hearty welcome. It shows us that our
sisters of the fire are there waiting for us, ready to make us
comfortable after the trouble of the day. Around the fire we can forget
all the bad things that have happened, and think only of the good."

"It's easy to do that now. I've been frightened since Jake locked Zara
up in the woodshed, awfully frightened. And I've been unhappy, too. But
I've been happier in these last two days than I ever was before."

"That's the right spirit, Bessie. Make your misfortunes work out so
that you think only of the good they bring. That's the way to be happy,
always. You know, it's an old, old saying that every cloud has a silver
lining, but it's just as true as it's old, too. People laugh at those
old proverbs sometimes,--people who think they know more than anyone
else ever did--but in the end they usually admit that they don't really
know much more about life and happiness than the people who discovered
those great truths first, or spoke about them first, even if someone
else had discovered them."

"I've been happy, too," said Zara, but there was a break in her voice.
"If I only knew that my father was all right, then I wouldn't be able to
be anything but happy, now that I know Farmer Weeks can't take me with
him."

"You must try not to worry about your father, Zara. I'm sure that all
his troubles will be mended soon, just like yours. Don't you feel that
someone has been looking after you in all your troubles?"

"Oh, yes! I never, never would have been able to get away from Farmer
Weeks except for that--"

"Well, just try to think that He will look after your father, too, Zara.
If he has done nothing wrong he can't be punished, you may be sure of
that. This isn't Russia, or one of those old countries where people can
be sent to prison without having done anything to deserve it, just
because other people with more money or more power don't like them. We
live in a free country. Be sure that all will turn out right in the
end."

"I feel cramped, Miss Eleanor. May I get out and run along by the