took her by the hand. She
seemed to recognize that Bessie must speak for Zara as well as for
herself.

"Now suppose we go off by ourselves and have a little talk, Bessie," she
suggested. "I'm sure you have something to tell me, haven't you?"

"Yea, indeed, Miss Wanaka," said Bessie. She knew that in Wanaka she had
found, by a lucky chance, a friend she could trust and one who could
give her good advice.

Wanaka smiled at her as she led the way to the largest of the tents.

"Just call me Wanaka, not Miss Wanaka," she said. "My name is Eleanor
Mercer, but here in the camp and wherever the Camp Fire Girls meet we
often call one another by our ceremonial names. Some of us--most of
us--like the old Indian names, and take them, but not always."

"Now," she said, when they were alone together in the tent, "tell me all
about it, Bessie. Haven't you any parents? Or did they let you go out to
spend the night all alone in the woods that way?"

Then Bessie told her the whole story. Wanaka watched her closely as
Bessie told of her life with the Hoovers, of her hard work and drudgery,
and of Jake's persecution. Her eyes narrowed slightly as Bessie
described the scene at the woodshed, and told of how Jake had locked
Zara in to wait for her mother's return, and of his cruel and dangerous
trick with the burning embers.

"Did he really tell his father that you had set the shed on fire--and on
purpose?" asked Wanaka, rather sternly.

"He was afraid of what would happen to him if they knew he'd done it,"
said Bessie. "I guess he didn't stop to think about what they'd do to
me. He was just frightened, and wanted to save himself."

Wanaka looked at her very kindly.

"These people aren't related to you at all, are they?" she asked. "You
weren't bound to them--they didn't agree to keep you any length of time
and have you work for them in return for your board?"

"No," said Bessie.

"Then, if that's so, you had a right to leave them whenever you liked,"
said Wanaka, thoughtfully. "And tell me about Zara. Who is her father?
What does he do for a living?"

"I don't believe she even knows that herself. They used to live in the
city, but they came out here two or three years ago, and he's never gone
around with the other men, because he can't speak English very well.
He's some sort of a foreigner, you see. And when they took him off to
prison Zara was left all alone. He used to stay around the cabin all the
time, and Zara says he wo