CHAPTER XIV
THE TRUTH AT LAST
But Bessie, despite Mrs. Chester's kind words, was terribly downcast.
"Really, Mrs. Chester," she said miserably, "it's awfully unfair to makeall the other girls suffer on account of me."
"You mustn't look at it that way, Bessie. You couldn't tell a lie, youknow, even to prevent this trouble."
"No, but I'm sure he thinks I did that. He's not an unkind man, and hereally doesn't want to make me unhappy, and drive you all away, I know.Mrs. Chester, won't you send me away?"
"Nonsense, Bessie! If you haven't done anything wrong, why shouldn't westand by you? Even if you had, we'd do that, and we ought to do it allthe more when you're in the right, and unjustly suspected. Don't youworry about it a bit! Everything will be all right."
"But I really think you ought to let me go. I'm just a trouble maker--Imake trouble for everyone! If it hadn't been for me, Jake Hoover wouldnever have burnt his father's barn--don't you know that?"
"That isn't so, Bessie. If you hadn't been there, something else wouldhave happened. And it's the same way here. You haven't anything to dowith all this trouble here. It would have come just the same if youhadn't arrived at all, I'm sure of that. And then one of the girls wouldhave been accused, and everything would have happened just the same."
"Oh, I'm afraid not!"
"But I'm sure of it, Bessie, and I really know better than you. Youmustn't take it so hard. No one is going to blame you. Rest easy aboutthat. I'll see to it that they all understand just how it is."
"I wish I could believe that!"
Mrs. Chester told Eleanor what General Seeley had said as soon as theyreturned to the camp, and Eleanor, after a moment, just laughed.
"Well, it can't be helped," she said. "If he wants to act that way, wecan't stop him, can we? And I'm so glad that you're going to stick bypoor Bessie. I know she feels as bad as she can feel about it--and it'sso fine for her to know that she really has some friends who will trusther and believe her at last. She's never had them before."
"She has them now, Eleanor. And it's because you're so fond of heralready that I'm so sure she's telling the truth. I think I'd trust her,anyhow, but, even if I'd never seen her, I'd take your word."
"Will you tell all the girls why we're going?"
"I think not--just at first, anyhow. We'll just say that we're going tomove on. I'm pretty sure that the people over at Pine Bridge will havesome place where we can make camp, and that we can have our Council Fireto-night just the same. It won't be as nice as it is here, of course,but we'll make it do, somehow."
So Mrs. Chester went around to the different Guardians of the CampFires, and told them of the change in the plans. At once the order tostrike the tents and pack was given, and then Mrs. Chester went to makearrangements for carrying the baggage over to Pine Bridge and forgetting a camping place there.
"I'll get back as soon as I can, Eleanor," she said, "but I may bedelayed in finding a camping place. If I am, I'll send the wagonsover--I don't want to use General Seeley's, while he's angry at us. Andyou can take charge and see that everything goes as it should. You'lljust take my place."
"No one can do that, Mrs. Chester, but I'll do my best."
Bessie, forlorn and unhappy, helped in the work of packing, and longedfor someone to talk to. She didn't want to tell Zara, who had troublesenough of her own to worry her, and Eleanor, of course, was too busy,with all the work of seeing that everything was done properly. She hadto keep a watchful eye on the preparations of the other Camp Fires aswell as of her own. And then, suddenly, Bessie got a new idea.
"All this trouble is for me," she said. "Suppose I weren't here--supposeI just went away? Then they could all stay."
The more she thought of that, the more the idea grew upon her.
"I will do that--I will!" she said to herself, with suddendetermination. "I'm just like a sign of bad luck--I make trouble foreveryone who's good to me. Like Paw Hoover! He was always good--and thefire hurt him more than it did anyone else, though it was Maw Hoover andJake who made all my trouble. I won't stay here and let them suffer forme any longer."
And, very quietly, since she wanted no one to know what she was doing,Bessie went into the tent, which had not yet been taken down, andchanged from the blouse and skirt, which had been lent to her, into theold dress she had worn when she had jumped into the water to rescueMinnehaha.
Then, moving as silently and as cautiously as she could, Bessie slippedinto the woods behind the camp. She dared not go the other way, whichwas the direct route to the main road outside of General Seeley'sestate, because she knew that if any of the girls, or one of theGuardians saw her, she would be stopped. She didn't know the way by thedirection she had to take, but she was sure that she could find it, andshe wasn't afraid. Her one idea was to get away and save trouble for theothers.
Of course, if Bessie had stopped to think, she would have known that itwas wrong to do what she planned. But her aim was unselfish, and shedidn't think of the grief and anxiety that would follow herdisappearance. She was sensitive, in any case, and General Seeley'sstern manner, although he had not really meant to be unkind, had upsether dreadfully.
To her surprise, the woods that she followed grew very thick. And shewas still more surprised, presently, to come upon a wire fence. In suchwoods, it seemed very strange to her. Then, as she saw a bird with along, brilliantly colored tail strutting around on the other side of thefence, she suddenly understood. This must be the place where theprecious pheasants she was supposed to have frightened were kept. Andshe hadn't even known where they were!
Bessie wondered, as she looked at the beautiful bird, how anyone couldhave the heart to frighten it, or any like it.
"I don't blame General Seeley a bit for being angry if he really thoughtI had done that," she said to herself. "And he did, of course. Theydon't know anything about me, really. He was quite right."
Then she remembered, too, what he had said about the game-keepers.Probably, after what had happened, they would be more careful than ever,and Bessie decided that she had better move along as fast as she could,lest someone find her and think she was trying to get at the birdsagain.
But, anxious as she was to get away from the dangerous neighborhood, shefound that, to move at all, she had to stick close to the fence, sincethe going beyond it was too rough for her. Then, too, as she went along,she heard strange noises--as if someone was moving in the woods nearher, and trying not to make a noise. That frightened and puzzled her, soshe moved very quietly herself, anxious to find out who it was. A wildthought came to her, too--perhaps it was the real poacher, for whom shehad been mistaken, that she heard!
Presently the fence turned out, and she had to circle around, followingit, to keep to the straight path. And, as the fence turned in again, shegave a sudden gasping little cry, that she had the greatest difficultyin choking down, lest it betray her at once.
For she saw a dark figure against the green background, bending over,and plucking at something that lay on the ground.
"It is! It really is--the poacher!" she whispered to herself.
She longed to know what to do. There was no way of telling whether therewas anyone about. If she lifted her voice and called for help, it mightbring a game-keeper quickly--and it might simply give the poacher thealarm, and enable him to escape, leaving the evidence of the crime to beturned against her. And this time no one, not even Mrs. Chester, wouldbelieve in her innocence.
Slowly Bessie crept toward the crouching figure. At least she would tryto see his face, so that she would recognize him again, if she was luckyenough to see him. For Bessie was determined that some time, no matterhow far in the future, she would clear herself, and make General Seeleyadmit that he had wronged her.
And then, when she was scarcely ten feet from him, she stepped on abranch that crackled under her feet, and the poacher turned and facedher, springing to his feet. Bessie screamed as she saw his face, for itwas her old enemy--Jake Hoover
!
For a moment he was far more frightened than she. He stared at herstupidly. Then he recognized her, and his face showed his evil triumph.
"Ah, here, are yer?" he cried, and sprang toward her, his hands full ofthe feathers he had plucked from the tail of the pheasant he had snared.
That move was Jake's fatal mistake. Had he run at once, he might havebeen able to escape. But now, Bessie, brave as ever, sprang to meet him.He was far stronger than she, but she had seen help approaching--a manin velveteens, and for just a moment after Jake, too, had seen thegame-keeper, Bessie was able to keep him from running. She clung to hisarms and legs, and though Jake struck at her, she would not let go. Andthen, just in time, the game-keeper's heavy hand fell on Jake'sshoulder.
"So you're the poacher, my lad?" he said. "Well I've caught you thistime, dead to rights."
Squirm and wriggle as he would, Jake couldn't escape now. He was trappedat last, and for once Bessie saw that he was going to reap the reward ofhis evil doing.
The game-keeper lifted a whistle to his lips, and blew a loud, longblast upon it. In a moment the wood filled with the noise of menapproaching, and, to Bessie's delight, she saw General Seeley amongthem.
"What? At it again?" he said, angrily, as he saw Bessie. Jake was hiddenby the game-keeper, and General Seeley thought at first that it wasBessie who had fallen to the trap he had set. Bessie said nothing--shecouldn't.
"No, General. It wasn't the girl, after all," said the game-keeper."Never did seem to me as if it could be, anyhow. Here's the lad that didit all--and I caught him in the act. The feathers are all over himstill."
"It wasn't me! She did it! I saw her, and I took the feathers from her,"wailed Jake, anxious, as ever, to escape himself, no matter how manylies he had to tell, or who had to suffer for his sins. But thegame-keeper only laughed roughly.
"That won't do you no good, my boy. You'd better own up and take yourmedicine. Here, see this, General."
He plunged his hands into Jake's pockets, and produced the wire andother materials Jake had used in making his snare.
"I guess that's pretty good evidence, ain't it, sir?"
"It is, indeed," said the general, grimly. "Take him up to the house,Tyler. I'll attend to his case later. Go on, now. I want to talk to thisgirl."
Then he turned to Bessie and took off his hat.
"I was wrong and you were right this morning," he said, pleasantly. "Iwant to apologize to you, Bessie. And I shall try to make up to you forhaving treated you so badly. How can I do that?"
"Oh, there's nothing to make up, General," said Bessie, tearfully. "I'mso glad you know I didn't do that!"
"But what are you doing here--and in that dress?"
"I--I was going away--so that the others could stay."
"I see--so that they wouldn't have to suffer because I was so brutallyunkind to you. Well, you come with me! Why didn't you wear the otherclothes, though? They're nicer than these."
"They're not mine. These are all I have, of my own."
"Is that so? Well, you shall have the best wardrobe money can buy,Bessie, just as soon as Mrs. Chester can get it for you. I'll make thatmy present to you--as a way of making up, partly, for the way I behavedto you. How will you like that?"
"That's awfully good of you, but you mustn't--really, you mustn't!"
"I guess I can do as I like with my own money, Bessie. And I'm going tobe one of your friends--one of your best friends, if you'll let me.Will you shake hands, to show that you don't bear any hard feelings?"
And Bessie, unable to speak, held out her hand.
General Seeley wrung it--then he started, suddenly.
"Here, here, what am I thinking of?" he said, briskly. "I must find Mrs.Chester and ask her to forgive me. Do you think she will do it, Bessie?Or haven't you known her long enough--"
"Why should she forgive you, sir? You just thought what anyone elsewould have thought. What I don't understand is why she was willing tobelieve me. She didn't know anything about me--"
"I'll tell you why, Bessie. It's because she knows human nature, and I,like the old fool I am, wouldn't acknowledge it! But I've learned mylesson--I'll never venture to disagree with her again. And I'm going tohunt her up and tell her so."
So Bessie, as happy as she had been miserable a few minutes before, wentwith the general, while he looked for Mrs. Chester. She returned fromPine Bridge just as they reached the camp, and she listened to GeneralSeeley's apologies with smiling eyes.
"I knew I was right," was all she said. "And I'm more than glad that thereal culprit was found. But, my dear, you oughtn't to have tried toleave us that way. It wasn't your fault, and we should have gone, justthe same, and we would have had to look for you until we found you. Whenwe once make friends of anyone, we don't let them get away from us. Thatwouldn't be true to the spirit of the Camp Fire--not a bit of it!"
Then, while Bessie changed again into the clothes Ayu had lent her, Mrs.Chester gave the welcome order to unpack, and explained to the Guardiansthat Bessie was cleared, and they were going to stay in camp, and havethe Council Fire just as it had been planned. Everyone was delighted,Eleanor Mercer most of all, because she had had real faith in Bessie,and it was a triumph for her to know that her faith had not beenmisplaced.