ke this tour all by ourselves," she declared, "and we
are going to do it. Some other time you boys may come along. But there is
only another day or so, and we will be back home. Please don't tease."

The boys did, but that was all the good it availed them. The girls
were obdurate.

From Cameron they were to go to Judgeville, a thriving town of about ten
thousand inhabitants. Betty's cousin lived there, and had planned a round
of gaieties for her young relative and friends. They were to stay three
days, and from there would keep on to Deepdale, thus completing the
circuit they had mapped out.

So far they had been very fortunate, not much rain coming to interfere
with their progress. The morning they were to leave camp, however, the
weather changed, and for three miserable days they were compelled to
remain in the bungalow.

Not that they stayed indoors all the while, for the travelers fully
merited the title, "Outdoor Girls," and they lived up to it. They tramped
even in the rain, and managed to have a good time.

But the rain sent the boys home, for rain in a tent is most depressing,
and as all the other bungalows were being repaired, they could not live
in one with any comfort.

But finally the sun came out, and the girls really set off on almost the
last stage of their tour. They expected to be in Judgeville at night,
though the walk was about the longest they had planned for any one day.

Shortly before noon their way took them along a highway that paralleled
the railroad--the same line that ran to Deepdale. And, naturally, the
talk turned to the finding of the five hundred dollar bill.

"Do you suppose we'll ever find the owner?" asked Mollie.

"Of course we will!" exclaimed Betty. "It is only a question of time."

Once or twice Amy looked back down the railroad track, and Grace,
noticing this, in the intervals of eating chocolate, finally asked:

"What is it, Amy?"

"That man," replied the quiet girl. "He's been following us for
some time."

"Following us!" cried Betty. "What do you mean?"

"I mean walking along the railroad track back of us."

"Well, that may not mean he is following us. Probably he wants to get
somewhere, and the track is the shortest route."

"He's looking down as though searching for something," said Mollie.

"Maybe he's a track-walker," suggested Amy.

"No, he isn't dressed like that," asserted Betty. She turned and looked
at the man. He seemed young, and had a clean-shav