be
all right now."

"You sit right down there on that bench in front of the station,"
advised the conductor. "Don't move away, or you'll get lost. Pine Bridge
is quite a place. Bigger than Hedgeville--quite a bit bigger. And if
anyone tries to bother you, just you run around to the street in front
of the station, and you'll find a fat policeman there. He's a friend of
mine, and he'll look after you if you tell him Tom Norris sent you.
Remember my name--Tom Norris."

"Thank you, and good-bye, Mr. Norris," they called to him together, as
they stepped off the car. Then the whistle blew again, and the train was
off.

Although there were a good many people around, no one seemed to pay much
attention to the two girls. Everyone seemed busy, and to be so occupied
with his own affairs that he had no time to look at strangers or think
about what they were doing.

"We're a long way from home now, Zara, you see," said Bessie. "I guess
no one here will know us, and we'll just wait till Miss Eleanor comes."

"Maybe she's here already, waiting for us."

"Oh, I don't think so."

"We'd better look around, though. How is she going to get here, Bessie?"

"I don't know. She never told me about that. We were talking as fast as
we could because we were afraid Farmer Weeks might come along any time,
and that would have meant a lot of trouble."

"Suppose he follows us here, Bessie?"

"He won't! He'll know that we're safe from him as soon as we're out of
the state. I'm not afraid of him now--not a bit, and you needn't be,
either."

"Well, if you're not, I'll try not to be. But I wish Miss Eleanor would
come along, Bessie. I'll feel safer then, really."

"You've been brave enough so far, Zara. You mustn't get nervous now that
we're out of the woods. That would be foolish."

"I suppose so, but I wasn't really brave before, Bessie. I was terribly
frightened when he locked me in that room. I didn't see how anyone would
know what had become of me, or how they could find out where I was in
time to help me."

"Did you think about trying to run away by yourself?"

"Yes, indeed, but I was afraid I'd get lost. I didn't know where we
were. I'd never been that way before."

"It's a good thing you waited, Zara. Even if you had got away and got
into those woods where Jack took us, it would have been dangerous. You
might easily have got lost, and it's the hardest thing to find people
who are in the woods."

"Why?"

"Because they get t