ee what they were up to, now, Dolly?"

Dolly wrinkled her brows.

"I guess so," she said. "They meant to come aboard the train at Canton
and try to get hold of you and Zara. But I don't see why--"

"Why they should pick out Canton rather than any other station where the
trains stop along the line?"

"That's just it, Bessie. Why should they?"

"That's the whole point, Dolly. Look at this map. Do you see the state
boundaries? For just a little way this line is in the state Canton is
in--and Canton is in the same state as Hedgeville!"

"Oh!" gasped Dolly. "You were right, Bessie, I _was stupid_! I might
have thought of that! That's why they had Jake there, and what his
telegram was. But how clever of you to think of it! How did you ever
guess it?"

"I just happened to think that if we did go into that state, it would be
easy for them to get hold of Zara and me, if they only knew about it
beforehand. Because, you see, in that state Farmer Weeks is legal
guardian for both of us, and he could make us come with him if he caught
us there."

"Well, I think it was mighty clever of you. Of course, when you had the
idea, it was easy to see it, once you had the map so that you could make
sure. But I never would have thought of it, so I couldn't have looked it
up to make sure, because I wouldn't have thought there was anything to
look up."

"What I'm wondering," said Bessie, "is what Miss Eleanor did to keep
them from getting Zara. If you ask me, that's the really clever thing
that's been done to-day. I was dreadfully frightened when I decided that
was what they were up to."

"Well, your telegram helped," said Dolly. "If it hadn't been for that,
they'd have been taken completely by surprise. Just imagine how they
would have felt, if they'd looked up when their train stopped at Canton,
and had seen Farmer Weeks coming down the aisle."

"It would have been dreadful, wouldn't it, Bessie? Do you know, Miss
Eleanor wasn't a bit anxious to have us stay behind? She was afraid
something would happen, I believe. But it's certainly a good thing that
you thought of doing it, and had your way."

"I was afraid they'd try to play some sort of a trick, Dolly. That's why
I wanted to wait. I couldn't tell what it would be, but I knew that if
Jake was there it wouldn't do any harm to watch him and see what he did.
I didn't expect to get him on our side, though. Before I talked to him,
of course, I was really only guessing, but he told m