A Campfire Girls First Council Fire | Page 4

the only key that would open the padlock and
Bessie, though she knew that she would be punished for it, determined
to try to break the lock with a stone. She told Zara what she meant to
do, and set to work. It was hard work, but her fingers were willing, and
Zara's frightened pleading, as the thunder began to roar, and flashes of
lightning came to her through the cracks in the woodshed, urged her on.
And then, just as she was on the verge of success, she heard Jake's
coarse laugh in her ear. "Look out!" he shouted.
He stood in the kitchen door, and, as she turned, something fell, hissing,
at her feet. She started back, terrified. Jake laughed, and threw another
burning stick at her. He had taken a shovelful of embers from the fire,
and now he tossed them at her so that she had to dance about to escape
the sparks. It was a dangerous game, but one that Jake loved to play. He
knew that Bessie was afraid of fire, and he had often teased her in that
fashion. But suddenly Bessie shrieked in real terror. As yet, though the
approaching storm blackened the sky, there was no rain. But the wind
was blowing almost a gale, and Bessie saw a little streamer of flame
run up the side of the woodshed.
"The shed's on fire! You've set it on fire!" she shrieked. "Quick--give
me that key!"
Jake, really frightened then, ran toward her with the key in his hand.

"Get some water!" Bessie called to him. "Quick!"
And she unlocked the padlock and let Zara, terrified by the fire, out.
But Jake stood there stupidly, and, fanned by the wind, the flames
spread rapidly.
"Gosh, now you have done it!" he said. "Maw'll just about skin you
alive for that when I tell her you set the shed afire!"
Bessie turned a white face toward him.
"You wouldn't say that!" she exclaimed.
But she saw in his scared face that he would tell any lie that would save
him from the consequences of his recklessness. And with a sob of
fright she turned to Zara.
"Come, Zara!" she cried. "Get away!"
"Come with me!" said Zara. "She'll believe you did it! Come with me!"
And Bessie, too frightened and tired to think much, suddenly yielded to
her fright, and ran with Zara out into the woods.
CHAPTER II
AN UNJUST ACCUSATION
They had not gone far when the rain burst upon them. They stuck to the
woods to avoid meeting Maw Hoover on her way home, and as the first
big drops pattered down among the trees Zara called a halt.
"It's going to rain mighty hard," she said. "We'd better wait here and
give it a chance to stop a little before we cross the clearing. We'll get
awful wet if we go on now."
Bessie, shivering with fright, and half minded, even now, to turn back
and take any punishment Maw Hoover chose to give her, looked up
through the trees. The lightning was flashing. She turned back--and the

glare of the burning woodshed helped her to make up her mind to stay
with Zara. As they looked the fire, against the black background of the
storm, was terrifying in the extreme.
"You'd never think that shed would make such a blaze, would you?"
said Zara, trembling. "I'd like to kill that Jake Hoover! How did he set
it on fire?"
"He must have been watching me all the time when I was trying to help
you to get out," said Bessie. "Then, when I was nearly done, he called
to me, and then he began throwing the burning wood at me. He knows I
hate that--he's done it before. I can always get out of the way. He
doesn't throw them very near me, really. But two or three times the
sparks have burned holes in my dress and Maw Hoover's been as mad
as she could be. So she thinks anyhow that I play around the fire, and
she'd never believe I didn't do it."
"The rain ought to put the fire out," said Zara presently, after they had
remained in silence for a few moments. "But I think it's beginning to
stop a little now."
"It is, and the fire's still burning, Zara. It seems to me it's brighter than
ever. And listen--when it isn't thundering. Don't you hear a noise as if
someone was shouting back there?"
Zara listened intently.
"Yes," she said. "And it sounds as if they were chopping with axes, too.
I hope the fire hasn't spread and reached the house, Bessie."
Bessie shivered.
"I hope so, too, Zara. But it's not my fault, anyhow. You and I know
that, even if no one believes