they had been coming out this
way they would be here by now, I think. But I had an idea they'd strike
through the woods. They wouldn't follow the lane where they left my car,
because they would know very well that we'd be watching that."

"An' Bessie can find her way through any woods you ever seen," said Jake
Hoover, gloomily. "Used ter run away from maw at home that-away, an' we
never could find her till she got good an' ready to come home an' take
her lickin'."

Dolly grinned at Bessie.

"Good for you!" she whispered. "Did you really do that, Bessie? You're a
good sport, after all! I never thought you'd be disobedient."

Bessie smiled.

"Listen!" she whispered. "We mustn't talk yet."

"What'll I do if they come to the trolley line?" asked Jake.

"Catch Bessie and hold her," said Holmes. "Don't pay any attention to
the other one, of course. We've nothing to do with her, and we don't
want to be bothered by her. She's a silly, brainless little thing,
anyway."

Bessie's hand sought Dolly's and held it tight. And Bessie, looking at
her chum's face, saw that it was red with anger and mortification. It
was a harsh blow to Dolly's pride in herself, and her belief in her own
power to charm everyone she saw.

"Never mind, Dolly! You're not what he calls you, and we both know it,"
whispered Bessie. "Don't get angry! Remember that he's furious because
we slipped out of his hands, that's all. I don't believe he really means
that at all. He isn't silly enough to believe it, I'm sure of that."

"I bet I'll make him feel sorry he ever said that, just the same," vowed
Dolly, clenching her fist. "I'd like to pull his hair out for him, the
nasty, mean liar!"

"Well, we've got to think of getting away from them before we can do
that," said Bessie. "And it's not going to be as easy as I thought,
either, Dolly, because if they watch that trolley line, I don't see how
we're going to get aboard without being seen. Jake Hoover is going down
this road, you see."

"Well, why don't we just strike the trolley at another place?"

"That isn't so easy, either, Dolly, because that trolley doesn't run
along the road there. It goes through the fields, like a regular
railroad, and it only stops at certain places. There isn't a trolley
station marked for a mile or so either side of the one on this road, and
I don't see how we can get to the nearest ones, either. I don't know the
country around here well enough to do much wandering in th