he blouse and skirt, which had been lent to her, into the
old dress she had worn when she had jumped into the water to rescue
Minnehaha.

Then, moving as silently and as cautiously as she could, Bessie slipped
into the woods behind the camp. She dared not go the other way, which
was the direct route to the main road outside of General Seeley's
estate, because she knew that if any of the girls, or one of the
Guardians saw her, she would be stopped. She didn't know the way by the
direction she had to take, but she was sure that she could find it, and
she wasn't afraid. Her one idea was to get away and save trouble for the
others.

Of course, if Bessie had stopped to think, she would have known that it
was wrong to do what she planned. But her aim was unselfish, and she
didn't think of the grief and anxiety that would follow her
disappearance. She was sensitive, in any case, and General Seeley's
stern manner, although he had not really meant to be unkind, had upset
her dreadfully.

To her surprise, the woods that she followed grew very thick. And she
was still more surprised, presently, to come upon a wire fence. In such
woods, it seemed very strange to her. Then, as she saw a bird with a
long, brilliantly colored tail strutting around on the other side of the
fence, she suddenly understood. This must be the place where the
precious pheasants she was supposed to have frightened were kept. And
she hadn't even known where they were!

Bessie wondered, as she looked at the beautiful bird, how anyone could
have the heart to frighten it, or any like it.

"I don't blame General Seeley a bit for being angry if he really thought
I had done that," she said to herself. "And he did, of course. They
don't know anything about me, really. He was quite right."

Then she remembered, too, what he had said about the game-keepers.
Probably, after what had happened, they would be more careful than ever,
and Bessie decided that she had better move along as fast as she could,
lest someone find her and think she was trying to get at the birds
again.

But, anxious as she was to get away from the dangerous neighborhood, she
found that, to move at all, she had to stick close to the fence, since
the going beyond it was too rough for her. Then, too, as she went along,
she heard strange noises--as if someone was moving in the woods near
her, and trying not to make a noise. That frightened and puzzled her, so
she moved very quietly herself, anx