The Camp Fire Girls on the Farm | Page 6

From the porch they watched him walk off down the street. He carried
himself like the athlete he was, and his broad shoulders and fine, free
stride were those of a man who inspires confidence and trust, even in
those who only see his back.
"Look!" said Zara, suddenly. "Why is Jake Hoover going down that
way? And isn't he acting queerly?"
"Why, I believe he's following Mr. Jamieson!" said Bessie. "See, he
keeps getting behind trees and things, and he's staying on the other side
of the street. Whenever Mr. Jamieson turns, Jake hides himself."
Eleanor frowned thoughtfully.
"I think you're right, Bessie," she said. "And I know what I'm going to
do. I'm going to telephone to his office and tell his clerk to slip out and
meet him, so that he can warn him. He ought to know about that."
She went in hurriedly to use the telephone.
"I'm going upstairs to get my handkerchief," said Zara. "My, isn't it
warm?"

So Bessie was left alone on the piazza. She was afraid of Jake Hoover;
afraid of the mischief he might do, that is. No longer was she afraid of
him as she had been in the old days on the farm, when he had bullied
her and made her the scapegoat for all the offences he could possibly
load on her slim shoulders. One night in the woods, when Bessie,
wrapped in a sheet and playing ghost, had frightened Jake and his
mischievous friends away before they could terrify the Camp Fire Girls
as they lay asleep, had taught Bessie that Jake was a coward.
"It's Zara they're after--not me," Bessie thought to herself. "I've been
out alone ever and ever so often, and there's no one here to hurt me. I'm
going to go after Jake myself, and try to see what he's up to."
At first Bessie's pursuit led her along the pleasant, tree-shaded streets of
the suburb where the Mercers lived. Bessie had never been in the city
before and all was strange to her. But here it seemed to her that the
stories she had read of crowded streets must have been exaggerated, for
she saw few people. Sometimes automobiles passed her, and delivery
wagons, and a few children were playing here and there. But there were
no high buildings, and it seemed almost as peaceful as it had around
Hedgeville.
But then gradually, as she went on, conditions changed. She crossed a
street on which there ran a street car line, and there many people were
passing. Still she managed to keep Jake Hoover in sight, and, though
she could not always see Charlie Jamieson, she supposed that Jake
could, and it was Jake she was following, after all.
More than once Jake turned and looked behind him, and Bessie had to
be constantly on her guard lest he discover her. At first it was easy
enough to escape his eye--she had only to dodge behind a tree. But as
she drew nearer and nearer to the business part of town the trees began
to disappear. There was no more green grass between the pavement and
the street itself; the pavements were narrower, and they were needed
for the crowds that passed quickly along. But in those very crowds
Bessie found a substitute for the trees. She felt that they would protect
her and cover her movements, and she increased her pace, so that she
could get nearer to Jake, and so run less risk of losing him in the crowd.

No one paid any attention to her, and that seemed strange to Bessie,
used to the curiosity of country folk regarding any stranger, although
Zara, who knew more about city life, had told her that it would be so.
She was grateful, anyhow; she wanted to be let alone. And evidently
Jake was profiting by the same indifference.
Her chase led her before long into the most thickly settled part of the
city. Trolley cars clanged past her all the time now; the center of the
street was full of vehicles of all sorts, and, as she hurried along, she was
hard put to it to keep her feet, so great was the rush and the hurry of
those with whom she shared the pavement.
Then she came to a sort of central square, where all the business of the
town seemed to be concentrated. On one side was a great building.
Outside were cabs and newsboys, and Bessie recognized it as the
station through which, with Eleanor Mercer and the rest of the Camp
Fire Girls, she had come to the city. Bessie stopped at the curb, dazed
and confused. Here she lost sight of Jake.
After her long chase, that seemed bitterly hard. Had she only known
what was coming,