e anyone would
recognize either of you," she told Bessie. "You look just like the rest
of the girls. So, even if we should meet anyone who knows you, I think
you'd be safe enough."

"Not if it was Maw Hoover," said Zara so earnestly that Wanaka laughed,
although she felt that there was something pathetic about Zara's fear of
the farmer's wife, too.

"Well, we're not going to meet her, anyhow, Zara. And she'd never expect
to find you and Bessie among us, anyhow. We aren't going across the lake
and over to the main road. We're going right through the woods to the
next valley. It's going to be a long day's trip, but it's cool, and I
think a good long tramp will do us all good."

"That's fine," said Bessie. "No one over there will know anything about
us. Is that why we made so many sandwiches and things like that--so that
we could eat our lunch on the way?"

"Yes, and we'll build a fire and have something hot, too. Now you can
watch us put out the fire."

"I hate to see it go out," said Zara. "I love the fire."

"We all do, but we must never leave a fire without someone to tend it.
Fire is a great servant, but we must use it properly. And a little
fire, even this one of ours, might start a bad blaze in the woods here
if we left it behind us."

Bessie nodded wisely.

"We had an awful bad fire here two or three years ago. It was just
before Zara came out here. Someone was out in the woods hunting, or
something like that, and they left a fire, and the wind came up and set
the trees on fire. It burned for three or four days, and all the men in
the town had to turn out to save some of the places near the woods."

"Almost all the big fires in the forests start because someone is
careless just like that, Bessie. They don't mean any harm--but they
don't stop to think."

Then all the girls gathered about the fire, and each in turn did her
part in stamping out the glowing embers. They sang as they did this
duty, and Bessie felt again the curious thrill that had stirred her when
she had heard the good-night song the evening before.

"I know what it is that is so splendid about the Camp Fire Girls,
Zara," she said, suddenly. "They belong to one another, and they do
things together. That's what counts--that's why they look so happy.
We've never had anything to belong to, you and I, anything like this.
Don't you see what I mean?"

"Yes, I do, Bessie. And that's what makes it seem so easy when they
work. They're doing thin