he is very wealthy, but he is an obstinate man and it is a triumph
for our sacred cause that he was induced to buy at all. You are doing a
noble work, my child, and I admire you for having undertaken the task.
If I can be of service to you, pray command me."

"Urge everyone you meet to buy bonds," suggested Mary Louise. She did
not care to discuss Silas Herring.

"I'll do that, indeed," promised the school superintendent. But as he
watched her depart, there was a queer expression on his lean face that
it was well Mary Louise did not see.

CHAPTER IV
THE TRAITOR

When the Liberty Girls met that evening at the home of Alora Jones, it
was found that Mary Louise had sold more bonds than any of the others,
although Laura Hilton had secured one subscription of fifty thousand
dollars from the Dorfield National Steel Works, the manager of which
industry, Mr. Colton, was a relative of the girl. Altogether, the day's
work had netted them two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars, and as
soon as she could escape Mary Louise rushed home to report their
success to her grandfather.

"In one day, Gran'pa Jim!" she cried exultantly, and the old colonel's
eyes sparkled as he replied:

"That makes our great mass-meeting look pretty small; doesn't it, my
dear? I consider it wonderful! With four more such days our quota would
be over-subscribed."

"That's what we shall try for," she declared, and then told him who the
biggest bond buyers had been--mostly those who had refused to listen to
the regular Committee or had not been influenced by their carefully
prepared arguments.

"It's just because we are girls, and they are ashamed to refuse us,"
she acknowledged. "It seems like taking an unfair advantage of them, I
know, but those who need urging and shaming, to induce them to respond
loyally to the nation's needs, deserve no consideration. We're not
robbing them, either," she added, "but just inducing them to make a
safe investment. Isn't that true, Gran'pa Jim?"

"What surprises me most," he responded, "is how you ever managed to
load your little head with so much mature wisdom. I'd no idea, Mary
Louise, you were so interested in the war and our national propaganda
for waging it successfully."

"Why, I read the newspapers, you know, and I've listened to you spout
patriotism, and ever since we joined the Allies against Germany, my
girl chums and I have been secretly organized as a band of Liberty
Girls, determined to do our