it, or why Mr. Holmes wants them to do such
things. It's easy enough to see why _they_ did it--they wanted the
money he had promised to pay if they got Zara and me away from here."

"You remember what I told you. Mr. Holmes expects to make a lot of money
out of you two, in some fashion. I know you laughed at me when I said
that before, and said he had so much money already that that couldn't be
the reason. But there simply can't be any other, Bessie; that's all
there is to it."

Bessie sighed wearily.

"I wish it was all over," she said. "Sometimes I'm sorry they haven't
caught me and taken me back."

"Why, Bessie, that's an awful thing for you to say! Don't you want to be
with us?"

"Of course I do, Dolly! I've never been so happy in my whole life as I
have been since that morning when I saw you girls for the first time.
But I hate to think of the trouble my staying makes, and when I think
that maybe there's danger for the rest of you, as there was last
night--"

"Don't you worry about that, Bessie! I guess we can stand it if you can.
That's what friends are for--to share your troubles. You mustn't get to
feeling that way--it's silly."

"Well, it doesn't make much difference, Dolly. I don't seem to be able
to help it. But I wish it was all over. And do you know what worries me
most of all?"

"No. What?"

"Why, what that nasty lawyer, Isaac Brack, said to me one time. Do you
remember my telling you? That unless I went with him, and did what he
and his friends wanted, I'd never find out about my father and my
mother."

"I don't believe it, Bessie! I don't believe he knows anything at all
about them, and I don't believe, either, that that's the only way you'll
ever hear anything about them."

"But it might be true!"

"Oh, come on, Bessie, cheer up! You're going to be all right. And I'll
bet that when you do find out about your parents, and why they left you
with Maw Hoover so long, you'll be glad you had to wait so long, because
it will make you so happy when you do know."

Just then Eleanor's voice called the girls together.

"All hands to work rebuilding the camp," she said. "We want to have the
new tents set up, and everything ready for the night. I'd like those
people to know, if they come snooping around here again, that it takes
more than a fire to put the Camp Fire Girls out of business!"

"My, but you're a slave driver, Nell," said Charlie Jamieson, jovially.
He winked in the direction of Tren