ws all the people
here, and they all like her, and would do anything she asked them to do,
if they could.

"And it's easier for me to get to the station without being seen than to
the boarding-house. Besides, I think it's right around the station that
we'll have the best chance of finding out what they mean to do."

"All right! I'll obey orders," said Dolly. "You're right, too, I think,
Bessie."

Jake Hoover, creeping along, was out of sight when Dolly made a swift
dash across the street, and in a minute she had disappeared. Bessie knew
that Dolly's movements, always rapid, were likely to prove altogether
too elusive for Jake's rather slow mind to follow, and, moreover, she
was not much afraid of detection, even should Jake catch a glimpse of
her chum. Jake was sure that all the Camp Fire Girls were in front of
him; he would not, therefore, be looking in the rear for any of them,
especially for those he wanted to track down.

Bessie had the harder task. She had to keep herself from Jake's
observation until after the train had gone, in any case, and as much
longer as possible. As she had told Dolly, she was not very much afraid
of anything he might attempt against them, but she saw no use in running
any avoidable risks.

Once Jake was out of sight, she made her way slowly toward the station,
prepared to make an instant dash for cover should she see Jake
returning.

The one thing that was likely to cause him to come back toward her, she
figured, was the presence of Holmes or one of the other men who were
behind him in the conspiracy, and she was taking the chance, of course,
that one of these men was behind her, and a spectator of her movements.

But she could not avoid that. If one of them was there he was, that was
all, and she felt that by acting as she had decided to do, she had, at
all events, everything to gain and nothing to lose.

The road from the boarding-house to the station was perfectly straight
for about three-quarters of a mile, and parallel with the railroad
tracks. Then, when the road came to a point opposite the station, it
came also to a crossroad, and, about a hundred yards down this crossroad
was the station itself.

Bessie reached that point without anything to alarm her or upset her
plans, and there she was lucky enough to find a big billboard at the
corner, which happened to be a vacant lot. Behind this billboard she
took shelter thankfully, feeling sure that it would enable her to see