was a poor policy. If the guess
she and Dolly had made concerning his relations with those who were
persecuting her was correct, Jake must be a good deal more afraid of
them, or of what he had done, than she could possibly be of him, and
Bessie knew that there should be no great difficulty in dealing very
much as she liked with a coward.

Moreover, the presence of a policeman at the station gave her assurance
that she need fear no physical danger from Jake, and she felt that was
the only thing that need check her at all.

When she reached the station she looked in the window first, and saw
Jake standing by the ticket agent's window. The ticket agent was also
the telegraph operator, and Bessie saw that she was writing something
on a yellow telegraph blank. Evidently Jake was sending a message, and
Bessie knew that, while he could read a very little, Jake had always
been so stupid and so lazy that he had never learned to write properly.
The sight made her smile, because, unless her plans had miscarried
completely, Dolly was inside the little ticket office, and must be
hearing every word of that message!

So she waited until Jake, satisfied, turned from the window, and then
she walked boldly in. For a minute Jake, who was looking out of one of
the windows in front toward the track, did not see her at all. In that
moment Bessie got in line with the ticket window and, seeing Dolly,
waved to her to come out. Then she walked over to Jake, smiled at his
amazed face as he turned to her, and saluted him cheerfully.

"Hello, Jake Hoover," she said. "Were you looking for me?"

Jake's face fell, and he stared at her in comical dismay.

"Well, I snum!" he said. "How in tarnation did you come to git off that
there train, hey?"

"I never was on it, Jake," said Bessie, pleasantly. "You just thought I
was, you see. You don't want to jump to a conclusion so quickly."

Jake was petrified. When he saw Dolly come out of the ticket office,
puzzled by Bessie's action, but entirely willing to back her up, his
face turned white.

"You're a pretty poor spy, Jake," said Dolly, contemptuously. "I guess
Mr. Holmes won't be very pleased when he gets your message at Canton,
telling him Bessie went on that train and then doesn't find her aboard
at all."

"What's that?" asked Bessie, suddenly. "Is that the message he sent,
Dolly?"

"It certainly is," said Dolly. "Why, what's the matter, Bessie?"

But Bessie didn't answer her. Instead she