right. And, a little while later, after Miss Mercer had taken the girls to her father’s farm, Holmes came along, tricked her into getting in his car with another girl, and ran them over the state line. He met Weeks and this Jake Hoover–but Bessie was too smart for them, and got back over the state line safely. And the same day, putting two and two together, I found Zara, held a prisoner in an old house that Holmes had bought!”

“Good Lord!” said Trenwith, blankly. “So Holmes had been in it from the start?”

“I don’t know how long he’s been mixed up in it, but he was in it then, with both feet. He was hand in glove with old Weeks, and for some reason he was mighty anxious to get both the girls across the state line and into old Weeks’s care as guardian appointed by one of their courts over there.”

“But why, Charlie–why?”

“I wish I knew. I’ve been cudgelling my brains for weeks to get the answer to that question, Billy. It’s kept me awake nights, and I’m no nearer to it now than I was at the beginning. But hold on, you haven’t heard it all yet, by a good deal!”

“What? Do you mean they weren’t content with that?”

“Not so that you could notice it, they weren’t! The girls went to Long Lake, up in the woods, and while they were there, a gypsy tried to carry them off. He mixed them up a bit, and, partly by good luck, and partly by Bessie’s good nerve and pluck, he was caught and landed in jail at Hamilton, the county seat up there.”

“Was Holmes mixed up in that?”

“Yes. He’d been fool enough to write a letter to the gypsy, and sign his own name to it. He hired lawyers to defend the gypsy, too, but that letter smashed his case, and the gypsy went to jail. They were afraid of Holmes, though, at Hamilton and we couldn’t touch him. He’s got a whole lot of money and power, too, especially in politics. So he can get away with things that would land a smaller man in jail in a jiffy.”

“His money and pull won’t do him any good down here,” said Trenwith, his eyes snapping. “Have you any reason to think he was mixed up in this outrage here this morning and last night, Charlie?”

“Every reason to think so, Billy, but mighty little proof to back up what I think. There’s the rub. Still–well, we’ll see what we see later. I’ll give you some of the reasons.”

“You’d better,” said Trenwith, grimly. “I think it’s pretty nearly time for me to take a hand in this.” He shot a look at Eleanor that Bessie did not fail to notice. Evidently her charms had already made an impression on him.

“Yesterday, when Miss Mercer brought the girls down to Bay City from Windsor,” Jamieson went on, “the train was to stop for a minute at Canton, which, though they had none of them thought of it, is in Weeks’s state. And Bessie happened to discover that Jake Hoover was spying on them. She stayed behind the others at Windsor, discovered that he was telegraphing the news to Holmes, and guessed the plot.”

“Good for her!” exclaimed Trenwith.

“So she got a message through to Miss Mercer on the train, and, being warned, Zara was able to elude the people who searched the train for her at Canton. Bessie went on a later train that didn’t stop at Canton at all, so they were all right.”

“That looks like pretty good evidence,” said Trenwith, frowning. “He knew they were coming here and he’d made one attempt to get hold of them on the way.”

“Yes, and there’s more. When this yacht turned up here last night, Miss Mercer and the girls were nervous. And Bessie and her chum Dolly Ransom happened to overhear two men who were put at the top of that bluff to watch the camp. They talked about the ‘boss’ and how he meant to get those girls and had been ‘stung once too often.’ But they didn’t mention Holmes by name.”

“Too bad. Still, that fire was too timely to have been accidental. I think maybe we can convict them of starting it. Then if these fellows think they’re in danger of going to prison, we might offer them a chance of liberty if they confess and implicate Holmes, do you see?”

“It would be a good bargain, Billy.”

“That’s what I think. I’d let the tool escape any time to get hold of the man who was using him. They and the yacht are held safely at Bay City, in any case, and we have plenty of time to decide what’s best to be done there.”

“If I know Holmes, he’ll show you his hand pretty soon, Bill. I believe he thinks that every man has his price, and he probably has an idea that he can get you on his side if he works it right and offers you enough.”

“He’s got several more thinks coming on that,” said Trenwith, angrily. “What a hound he must be! We’ve got to get to the bottom of this business, Charlie. That’s all there is to it!”

“Won’t Jake Hoover help, Charlie?” suggested Eleanor. “He told Bessie he would go in to see you.”

“He did come, but I was called away, and meant to talk to him again this morning, Nell. Then of course I had to come down here when I got this news from you and so I didn’t have a chance. But I may get something out of him yet.”

“We’ve decided, Mr. Trenwith,” Eleanor explained, “that the reason Jake is doing just what they want is that he’s afraid of them–that they know of some wrong thing he has done, and have been threatening to expose him if he doesn’t obey them.”

“Well, if they’re scaring him,” said Charlie, “the thing for us to do is to scare him worse than they can. He’ll stick to the side he’s most afraid of.”

“Let’s get him down here,” said Trenwith. “Then we can not only handle him better, but we can keep an eye on him. I’m with you in this, Charlie, for anything I can do.”

“Good man!” said Charlie. “Then you’re not afraid of Holmes? He’s pretty powerful, you know.”

Trenwith looked at Eleanor. And when he saw the smile she gave him, and her look of liking and of confidence, he laughed.

“I guess I can look after myself,” he said. “No, I’m not afraid of him, old man! We’ll fight this out together.”

CHAPTER III
AN UNEXPECTED REUNION

“I like that Mr. Trenwith, Bessie,” said Dolly, when the meal was over and she and Bessie were working together. They usually managed to arrange their work so that they could be together at it.

“So do I, Dolly. He doesn’t seem to be a bit afraid of Mr. Holmes, and I do believe he will help Mr. Jamieson an awful lot.”

“I guess he’ll need help, all right,” said Dolly, gravely. “The more I think about that fire, the more scared I get. Why, how did those wretches know that some of us wouldn’t be hurt?”

“I guess they didn’t, Dolly.”

“Then they simply didn’t care, that’s all. And isn’t that dreadful, Bessie? The idea of doing such a thing!”

“I wish we knew why they did it, or why Mr. Holmes wants them to do such things. It’s easy enough to see why they did it–they wanted the money he had promised to pay if they got Zara and me away from here.”

“You remember what I told you. Mr. Holmes expects to make a lot of money out of you two, in some fashion. I know you laughed at me when I said that before, and said he had so much money already that that couldn’t be the reason. But there simply can’t be any other, Bessie; that’s all there is to it.”