ertainly have," said Bessie. "And it's fine. Everyone helps and
does the best he can, and it seems no time at all before it's all done."

"Well, we'll do our share," said Eleanor. "The men will be hungry, and
I've promised that we'll feed them."

CHAPTER VI

THE GOOD SAMARITANS

"Well, I certainly have got a better opinion of country people than I
ever used to have, Bessie," said Dolly Ransom. "After the way those
people in Hedgeville treated you and Zara, I'd made up my mind that they
were a nasty lot, and I was glad I'd always lived in the city."

"Well, aren't you still glad of it, Dolly? I really do think you're
better off in the city. There wouldn't be enough excitement about living
in the country for you, I'm afraid."

"Of course there wouldn't! But I think maybe I was sort of unfair to all
country people because the crowd at Hedgeville was so mean to you. And I
like the country well enough, for a little while. I couldn't bear living
there all the time, though. I think that would drive me wild."

"The trouble was that Zara and I didn't exactly belong, Dolly. They
thought her father was doing something wrong because he was a foreigner
and they couldn't understand his ways."

"I suppose he didn't like them much, either, Bessie."

"He didn't. He thought they were stupid. And, of course, in a way, they
were. But not as stupid as he thought they were. He was used to entirely
different things, and--oh, well, I suppose in some places what he did
wouldn't have been talked about, even.

"But in the country everyone knows the business of everyone else, and
when there is a mystery no one is happy until it's solved. That's why
Zara and her father got themselves so disliked. There was a mystery
about them, and the people in Hedgeville just made up their minds that
something was wrong."

"I feel awfully sorry for Zara, Bessie. It must be dreadful for her to
know that her father is in prison, and that they are saying that he was
making bad money. You don't think he did, do you?"

"I certainly do not! There's something very strange about that whole
business, and Miss Eleanor's cousin, the lawyer, Mr. Jamieson, thinks so
too. You know that Mr. Holmes is mighty interested in Zara and her
father."

"He tried to help to get Zara back to that Farmer Weeks who would have
been her guardian if she hadn't come to join the Camp Fire, didn't he?"

"Yes. You see, in the state where Hedgeville is, Farmer Weeks is her