d them the ghost, weak with
laughter, collapsed on a fallen tree trunk and laughed silently as they
fled--for the ghost that had frightened these bold raiders was only
Bessie, wrapped in the sheet she had so luckily snatched up when they
had given her the alarm.

CHAPTER VI

A PIECE OF BAD LUCK

Bessie laughed until she cried as the bold raiders who had been so sure
that they could scare the camp of girls dashed madly off. She could hear
them long after they had vanished from sight, crying out in their fear,
plunging among the trees, but gradually the sounds grew fainter, and
Bessie, sure that they need fear no more disturbance from Jake Hoover
and his brave companions, set out on her return to the camp. This time
she had no need of the precautions she had taken as she crept in the
direction of the disturbing sounds, and she made no effort to conceal
herself.

Wanaka was outside, looking about anxiously, when Bessie came again into
the firelight. Always a light sleeper, and especially so when she was
responsible for the safety of the girls who were in her charge, Eleanor
Mercer had waked at first of Bessie's terrifying shrieks, almost as
frightened, for the moment, as Jake himself. She had risen at once, and
a glance in the various tents, where the girls still lay sound asleep,
showed her that Bessie alone was missing.

Naturally enough, she could not guess the meaning of the outcry. The
cries of the frightened jokers puzzled her, and there was nothing about
the din that Bessie made to enable the Guardian to recognize the voice
of her newest recruit. But she had realized, too, that to go out in the
woods in search of Bessie and of an explanation, was not likely to do
much good. Her duty, too, was with the girls who remained, and she could
only wait, wondering. She greeted Bessie with a glad cry when she saw
her.

"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "But what are you doing with that
sheet? And--why, you're crying!"

"I'm not--really," said Bessie. "But I laughed so hard that it made the
tears come--that's all, Wanaka."

Then she told her story, and Wanaka had to laugh, too. She was greatly
relieved.

"But you ought to have called me, Bessie," she said. "That's why I'm
here, you know--to look out for things when there seems to be any
danger, or anything you girls don't quite understand."

"But I wasn't quite sure, you see," said Bessie. "And if it had really
been a bird, it would have been awfully fool