“Because if we go to Tecumseh, we’ll only have to walk back nearly half a mile to that road that crosses the track.  Couldn’t you let us off there, Mr. Conductor?”

“Well, I don’t run the car,” he said, with a smile.  “But I’ll talk to Hank, the motorman.  Never knew him to refuse anything a lady asked yet.”

He walked to the front of the car, and returned a moment later.

“Hank says he’s got to stop at that road today,” he reported, with a grin.  “It’s against the rules, you know, to make stops except at stations, or to let passengers off.  But the car has to stop sometimes, just the same, and if you should happen to drop off, I won’t see you—­I won’t be looking.  You move back to the door, and be ready, and I’ll stay up in front with Hank.  Then I won’t be to blame, you see, if you should happen to get off when the car stops.”

“Thank you ever so much,” said the two girls, together.  “It’s awfully good of you—­”

“Don’t be thanking me,” grinned the conductor.  “The car’ll be stopping by accident like, and how should I know what you’re going to do?  Well, good luck to you!”

They had not long to wait before the grinding of the brakes warned them that the time was at hand, and in a few moments they stood beside the track and waved their hands cheerily to the conductor, who, with an expression of mock surprise on his face, had come out on the back platform, and pretended to wonder how they had got off the car.

“Now I think it ought to be easy,” said Bessie, greatly relieved.  “You see, Mr. Holmes will be watching the car.  He probably knows all about this line, and wouldn’t think of our being able to get off and walk.  So what we want to do is to follow this road here and then turn east at the first crossroads.  That will bring us to the railroad track, and we can cross it, and work down to the station at Tecumseh, and be safe all the way.  We’ll cross the state line this side of the railroad, and then we’ll be all right.”

Dolly began to sing for sheer happiness.

“We’re awfully lucky, Bessie,” she cried.  “I’m ever so glad that things seem to be coming out all right.  If they’d caught you, I would always have blamed myself and thought it was all my fault.”

“Well, even if it was partly your fault in the beginning, Dolly, I never would have got away from Jake Hoover without you, I’m sure of that.  So you needn’t worry any more.”

“It’s awfully good of you to say so, Bessie.  There’s one thing—­I’m not going to be silly any more, the way I was about those ice-cream sodas this morning.  And I think—­yes, I will—­I’ll promise you right now not to have any soda or any candy between meals for a month.  You think they’re bad for me, don’t you?”

“I think they must be, Dolly, or the Camp Fire Girls wouldn’t give honor beads for doing without them.  I’ve never had much of anything like that myself, you see, so I don’t really know.”