simply wonderful," said Zara, with shining eyes. "And Wanaka
talked to me about my father. She says she has a friend in the city
who's a lawyer, and that as soon as we get back she'll speak to him, and
get him to see that he is fairly treated. I feel ever so much better."

The voices of the girls all about them, laughing and singing as they
made ready for the night, and the kindly words of Wanaka, made a great
contrast to their loneliness of the night before. Then everything had
seemed black and dismal. They hadn't known what they were going to do,
or what was to happen to them; they had been hungry and tired, and with
no prospect of breakfast when they got up. But now they had more
friends, gained in one wonderful day, than they had made before in all
their lives, and Wanaka had promised to see that in the future there
should always be someone to guide them and see that no one abused them
any more. No wonder that they looked on the bright camp fire, symbol of
all the happiness that had come to them, with happy eyes. And they
listened in delight as the girls gathered, just before they went to bed,
and sang the good-night song:

"Lay me to sleep in sheltering flame,
Oh, Master of the Hidden Fire.
Wash pure my heart and cleanse for me
My soul's desire.
In flame of sunrise bathe my mind,
Oh, Master of the Hidden Fire,
That when I wake, clear eyed may be
My soul's desire."

And so, with the flames' light flickering before them, Bessie and Zara
went to sleep sure of happiness and companionship when they awoke in the
morning, with the first rays of the rising sun shining into the tents.

But Bessie was to awake before that. She lay near the door of one of the
tents, which she shared with Zara, Minnehaha, and two other girls, and
she awoke suddenly, coming at once to full consciousness, as anyone who
had been brought up with Maw Hoover to wake her every morning was pretty
certain to do at any unusual sound. For a moment, so deep was the
silence, she thought that she had been deceived. In the distance an owl
called; much nearer, there was an answer. A light wind rustled in the
trees, stirring the leaves gently as it moved. Looking out, she saw that
a faint, silvery sheen still bathed the ground outside, showing that the
moon, which had risen late, was not yet set.

And then the sound that had awakened her came again--a curious, hoarse