ad with curiosity,
too, and I bet she's dying to get hold of me and make me tell her all
about it.

"Well, I've got to get ready for what's coming after dinner. Run along
upstairs, you two, and try to sleep for an hour or so."

"You won't leave us behind?" said Dolly, anxiously.

"I'd leave you in a minute, you minx, but I couldn't get Bessie without
waking you up too, I suppose, and I need her, so you'll have to come
along. If you see the other girls don't tell them what's happened. Make
them wait until tomorrow."

"All right," said Bessie. "Come along, Dolly! I _am_ tired. It will
feel good to get a little nap."

The reaction from the strain of their experiences made it easy for them
to get to sleep as soon as they were lying down, and both were still
sleepy when a knock at the door awakened them, It was quite dark, and
the moon was shining. Outside they found two wagons, one much larger
than the other, filled with straw.

"This is fine fun," said Holmes, who was standing with Miss Mercer and
Jamieson: "A regular old-fashioned straw ride, eh?"

"Well, pile in!" said Jamieson, who was acting as master of ceremonies.
"Holmes, get in there beside Miss Mercer. Bessie, you and Dolly get in
there, too. We want to keep an eye on you, so that you don't get into
any more mischief. Come on, now, all you girls get aboard the other
wagon--and off you go!"

Then he climbed aboard himself, and began to take up the song that had
already been started in the other wagon, one of the favorites of the
Camp Fire Girls. So it was a jolly party that soon passed out of the
tree-lined avenue of the Mercer farm and began driving along the road,
away from Deer Crossing.

The smaller and lighter wagon took the lead and they passed along
quietly for some time--quietly as far as incident is concerned, that
is, for there was nothing quiet about the merry, happy girls in the big
wagon. They made the night resound with their songs and laughter, and
Bessie wondered a little why she and Dolly were kept where they were,
instead of being sent with the other girls. But she said nothing, and
she knew that she would find out presently. For her and Dolly there was
a peculiar thrill in the ride, and a delightful one, too, for they knew
from what the lawyer had told them that there was a surprise preparing
for Holmes, and it was exciting to try to guess what it might turn out
to be.

Nor was the explanation very long delayed. They had driven for a