The Camp Fire Girls at the Seashore; Or, Bessie King's Happiness

by Jane L. Stewart

  CHAPTER XIII

  A LUCKY MEETING

  Half a dozen men had come out to the _Columbia_ with Holmes and Bates,and now, while Holmes himself disappeared for a minute, beckoning toTrenwith to go with him, the other men watched Eleanor and the threegirls. They drew off to a little distance, but they kept their eyes onthem.

  "They don't look as if they could run very fast," said Dolly, hopefully."Don't you think we might be able to make a break and get away?"

  "Where to, Dolly? This is an island, remember, and we don't knowanything about it at all. We wouldn't know where to run, if we did haveluck enough to get a good start--and we wouldn't get very far."

  "I suppose that's so," said Dolly, her face falling. "Oh, what a horridshame! Just when everything seemed so nice and peaceful!"

  "There's one thing," said Eleanor, her face set and stern. "They can'thold me forever--or, at least, I don't suppose they can. And someone isgoing to be sorry for this or my name's not Eleanor Mercer!"

  "I don't understand it yet," said Bessie, who, although the capturemeant more to her than it did to any of the others, had not given way toher emotions, and seemed as cool and calm as if she had been safely backon Plum Beach.

  "It's only too easy to understand," said Eleanor, bitterly. "Charlie wasdeceived in his friend, Mr. Trenwith. He's just as easy to bribe as JakeHoover. That's all. He cares more for money and success than he does forhis reputation as an honorable man. I'm disappointed in him--but Isuppose I ought not to be surprised."

  "Well, I _am_ surprised," said Dolly, defiantly. "And I'm sure, somehow,that he's all right. I think he was just as badly fooled as the rest ofus. Mr. Holmes probably wants us to think as badly of him as possible,so that, if he should try to help us, we wouldn't trust him."

  "I wish I could believe that, Dolly. But the evidence against him is toostrong, I'm afraid. Hush, we musn't talk. Here is Mr. Holmes comingback. I don't want him to think that we're afraid--it would please himtoo much."

  With Mr. Holmes, as he came toward them, was a woman in servant's garb,middle aged, and sour in her appearance.

  "This woman will attend to you, Miss Mercer," he said. "She will dowhatever you tell her--unless it should happen to conflict with theorders she has from me. But she won't talk to you about me, or aboutthis place because she knows that if she does I will find out about it,and she will have reason to regret it."

  "I'm very much pleased by one thing, Mr. Holmes," said Eleanor. "You'veshown yourself in your true colors at last. I suppose you understandthat when I get back to the city I shall see to it that everyone knowsthe truth about you. I don't think you will find yourself welcome in thehomes of any decent people after I tell what I know."

  "I'm sorry, Miss Mercer," he said. "Of course you must do what you thinkbest. But it really won't do any good. I could do things a great dealworse than this, and still, with the money I happen to have, peoplewould keep on fawning on me, and pestering me with their attentions andtheir invitations as much as ever."

  "Perhaps you're right, but I intend to find out. May I ask how long youintend to keep me here as a prisoner?"

  "You are my guest, Miss Mercer, not my prisoner. Please don't act as ifI were as great a villain as that. Losing your temper will not improvematters in any way, you know--really it won't. As for your question, Ithink Bessie and Zara will be in the quite competent care of their oldfriend Silas Weeks by noon to-morrow and then there will be no furtherreason for keeping you here."

  "Then, unless you are remarkably quick in getting out of the country,Mr. Holmes, you ought to be under arrest for kidnapping by to-morrownight."

  Holmes laughed.

  "Oh, do let's be friends!" he said. "You and your friends have reallygiven me a lot of trouble. But do I bear you any malice? Not I! If youhadn't taken care of those misguided girls after they ran away fromHedgeville, none of this would have come about."

  "I suppose you think you have some excuse for acting in this fashion?"

  "I certainly have, Miss Mercer. The very best. After all, why shouldn'tI tell you? It's too late for you to do me any harm now--I have won thegame."

  "But there will be a return match. Don't forget that! My father is asrich as you are, Mr. Holmes, and when he hears of the way I have beentreated, he will spend his last cent, if necessary, to get his revengeon you."

  "Dear me, I hope he won't do anything so foolish, Miss Mercer! It wouldbe a dreadful waste of money--and he wouldn't get it, in any case.However, I don't want you to be needlessly worried. Zara will soon besafe with her father. She won't have to stay very long with theestimable Farmer Weeks. You know, I really don't blame her for dislikinghim."

  Zara gave a little cry of joy.

  "Will I see my father? Is he well?" she cried.

  "Quite well--but very obstinate," said Holmes. "That's your fault, too,Miss Mercer. I'm sorry to say that lately he has seemed to be inclinedto listen to your cousin, Mr. Jamieson. He is willing, you see, to dealwith whoever happens to be in charge of his daughter. He knows ourfriend Silas very well--too well, I think. And so, when he knows thatZara is being looked after by him, I think he will be glad to meet myterms, and so secure his freedom."

  "You brute!" said Eleanor, hotly. "What are your terms?"

  "Ah, that would be telling! You will have to wait to discover that. Yousee, Silas Weeks wasn't quite as stupid as the rest of the people atHedgeville, and when he couldn't find out what old Slavin was doingthere, he came to me--because he thought I probably could."

  "Slavin!" said Eleanor, in an amazed tone. "Is that your father's name,Zara? Why didn't you tell us?"

  "He told me not to," said Zara, nervously.

  "Zara's father had one bad fault; he wasn't at all ready to trustpeople," Holmes went on, easily. "He didn't even trust me as he shouldhave done, and he's been positively insulting to Weeks. It's made a lotof trouble for him."

  He looked at his watch, then turned to the servant.

  "Go upstairs and make the rooms comfortable for Miss Mercer at once," hesaid. "It's getting late." Then he turned to the men who had accompaniedhim to the _Columbia_. "It's all right, boys," he said. "You needn'twait."

  "These people keep their ears entirely too wide open," he explained toEleanor. "I have to be rather careful with them, though they probablywouldn't understand much if they did hear. Well, that is about all I'vegot to tell you, anyhow. You see, you needn't worry about your friendZara. As to Bessie--well, that's different."

  He looked at Bessie malevolently.

  "I don't think I care to tell you anything more about her," he said."Weeks will look after her all right--as well as she deserves to belooked after."

  Bessie seemed to be nervous as he looked at her, and edged away fromhim.

  "If you think you can keep Bessie in the care of that man Weeks," saidEleanor, "you are going to find yourself decidedly mistaken. He won'ttreat her properly, and if he doesn't, the courts won't compel her tostay there. I know enough law for that, and I tell you now, that, eventhough you may have some sort of law on your side just now, because youhave played this trick, you won't be able to count on the law muchlonger. It will be as powerful against you, properly used, as it hasbeen for you, improperly used."

  "Oh!" Holmes laughed, unpleasantly. There was no mirth in the laugh,only mockery and contempt. "Really, Miss Mercer--why, where has thatlittle baggage gone to?"

  He stared wildly about the room, and Eleanor, startled, looked about heralso. Bessie had disappeared; vanished into thin air. In a rage, Holmesdarted here and there about the great hall of the house in which theyhad been standing. But, though he looked behind curtains and all thelarger pieces of furniture, and made a great fuss, he found no sign ofher. For a moment he was completely baffled, and almost beside himselfwith rage.

  "I always thought villains were clever," said Dolly, as he stood still.Her voice was scornful. "Why, even a girl like Bessie can fool you!She's done it plenty of times before now--you didn't think you couldkeep her from doing it this
time, too, did you?"

  "What do you mean?" stormed Holmes, moving toward her, his hand raisedas if he meant to strike her. But if he thought he could frighten Dollyhe was much mistaken. She faced him calmly.

  "You can't make me tell you anything, even if you do hit me," she said."And you won't find Bessie, either, unless she wants you to. I saw hergo--but I'm not going to tell you how she managed it."

  "Oh, I'm not going to hit her," yelled Holmes. "What good would thatdo?"

  He sprang to a bell, and pushed it violently. In a moment two or threeof the men he had dismissed, thus giving Bessie her chance to escape,answered his summons, and he ordered them to start in search of her atonce.

  "Find her, and you'll be rewarded," he shouted. "But if you don't, I'llmake you pay for it!"

  Eleanor had never seen a man in such a furious rage. It was plain thathis plan, successful as it seemed to be, was still in danger of beingupset, and the knowledge gave Eleanor new hope. It had seemed to herthat, with Trenwith turned traitor, there was not one chance in amillion to foil Holmes this time. But now everything was changed. Hestayed with them only long enough to give them into the keeping of theservant, who came down the stairs just as he finished giving his ordersto the men for the pursuit of Bessie.

  "If any of them get out, I'll know it's your fault," he said to her."And you know what I can do to you. You wouldn't like to go to jail fora few years, I guess. You will, if anyone else gets away from this houseto-night."

  Then he followed the men he had sent out in search of Bessie.

  And all the time Bessie herself had heard every word, and seen everyaction of the scene that followed the discovery of her escape. WhileHolmes was talking to Eleanor she had seized the chance to slip over toa heavily curtained window, which, she guessed, must open right on theground.

  She took the chance of it being open, and fortune favored her. Concealedby the curtain, she was able to slip out, and then, instead of runningas fast and as far as she could, as nine people out of ten would havedone, she stayed where she was. She reasoned that there, so close to thehouse, was the last place where search would be made.

  And she was right. She saw Holmes dash from the room; she saw Eleanorand the other girls being led upstairs. And then she not only heard, butsaw, the pursuit of her that was begun. Men with lanterns searched thegrounds; they looked behind every bush. But, though a single glance,almost, would have revealed her had anything like a careful search ofthe flower beds close to the house been made, no one came near herhiding-place. Between her and the open garden was only a flimsy screenof rose bushes, but it proved enough.

  She stayed there, scarcely daring to breathe, while the men searched thegrounds and the beach. And she was still there, more than an hour later,when they returned, tired and discouraged, to report the failure oftheir search to Holmes, who was back in the room from which she hadescaped.

  "Fury!" cried Holmes. "She must be on the island! There's no way thatshe can have got away! Well, watch the boats! That will have to do forto-night. She can't get away without a boat--and they are all in theboat-house. If she wanders down to the other end, to the fort, we cancatch her in the morning. They won't believe any story she can tellthem, if she should happen to get there. And I don't want to disturbthem to-night--I'd rather wait until morning, when they will be overwith the papers. I haven't any real right to hold them to-night, exceptthe right of force."

  Bessie thrilled at the information those few words gave her. Sheremembered now that there was a fort, manned by United States soldiers,on Humber Island. It was one of the chain of forts that guarded theapproaches to Rock Haven. And Bessie had an idea that she would be ableto find someone at the fort to believe her story, wild and improbable asshe knew it must sound. The great problem now was to get out of thegrounds unseen.

  And that problem, of course, her cleverness in hiding so close to thehouse had made much easier to solve. No one would suspect now that shewas there; if she waited until the house was quiet, and the men who wereto watch the boats had gone to their post, she should be able to stealout of the garden and in the direction of the fort.

  To be on the safe side, she waited nearly an hour longer. Then, asquietly as she could, she began her solitary walk. Fortune, and her ownability to move quietly, favored her. In five minutes she was out of thegrounds, and in woods where, though the walking was difficult, and shestumbled more than once, she at least felt safe from the danger ofpursuit.

  Soon the woods began to thin; then they grew thicker again. But, aftershe had been walking, as she guessed, for more than an hour, it grewlighter and she saw ahead of her the outlines of dark buildings--FortHumber, she was sure. And a minute later the sharp hail of a sentryhalted her, and at the same time made her sure that she had not lost herway.

  "Who goes there?" called the sentry.

  "I've lost my way," said Bessie, trusting to her voice to make himunderstand that she was not to be driven away. "Is this the fort? I'dlike to see some officer, if you please."

  "Wait there! I'll pass the word," said the sentry.

  And in a few minutes a young lieutenant came toward her.

  "Bless my soul!" he said. "What are you doing here, young lady? Comewith me--you can explain inside."

  And, once inside the fort, the first person she saw was CharlieJamieson!