rough, hard man, who found it hard to get men to
work when he needed them for the harvest every summer, on account of his
reputation for treating his men badly.

"I allus told you you'd have trouble with that baggage afore you got rid
of her, Paw! Lucky that she didn't burn you out when you was all
asleep--I say," said Jake.

Bessie listened, every nerve and muscle in her body tense. They blamed
her for the fire, then! Her instinct when she had run away had been
right.

"I swan, I dunno what all possessed her," said Paw Hoover. "We give her
a good home--but Jake here seen her do it, though he was too late to
stop her--hey, Jake?"

"That's right, Pop," said Jake. "She didn't know I was aroun' anywhere.
Say, you ought to have her pinched for doin' it, too."

"I dunno--she's only a youngster," said Paw. "I guess they wouldn't hold
her responsible, somehow. But say, Brother Weeks, I hate to think of
that little Zara runnin' roun' the woods to-night. She ain't done
nothin' wrong, even if her paw's a crook. An' now they took him off,
who's a-goin' to look out for her?"

"I'll drive her over to the poor-farm when she turns up," said Weeks.
"Then they'll take her, an' apprentice her to someone as wants a girl to
work aroun' his place, like. Bind her over till she's twenty-one, and
let her work for her keep. I might take her myself--guess 'twouldn't
cost such a lot to feed her. She's thin--reckon she ain't ever had much
to eat here."

Bessie, feeling the tremor in Zara's rigid body at this confirmation of
her worst fears, put her hand quickly over her friend's mouth, just in
time to check a cry that was rising to her lips.

"Come, Zara," she whispered, gently. "We'll have to look out for
ourselves. Come, we'll get away. We mustn't stay around here."

And, holding Zara's arm, she led her away. For a long time, until Bessie
judged that it was safe to return to the road, they kept on through the
woods. And, when they came out on the road, the moon was up.

"The world's a beautiful place after all, Zara," said Bessie. "It can't
be so bad when everything's so lovely. Come on, we'll walk a little
further, and then we'll come to a place I know where we can sleep
to-night--a place where wood cutters used to stay. No one's there now,
and we'll be dry and safe."

"I'm not afraid if I'm with you, Bessie," said Zara.

CHAPTER III

WO-HE-LO

Two or three miles further along the road, Bessie spied the landmark she
h