THE MYSTERY SOLVED
There was a knock at the door, and, in answer to Jamieson's call to come
in, one of the young officers Bessie had seen at the fort entered. He
smiled cheerfully at Bessie, saluted the other girls, and grinned at
Jamieson.
"We've herded all the people we found around the place down in the
boat-house," he said. "They were too scared to do anything. Is this your
man Holmes?"
"You guessed right the very first time, Lieutenant," said Charlie. "Any
sign of that boat from Rock Haven?"
"She's just coming in," said the officer. "She ought to land her
passengers at the pier in about ten minutes."
"Then it's time to go down to meet her," said Charlie. "Come on, girls,
and you too, Holmes. You'll be needed down there. And I guess you'll
find it worth your while to come, too."
Holmes, protesting, had no alternative, and in sullen silence he was one
of the little group that now made its way toward the pier. She was just
being tied up as they arrived, and Silas Weeks, his face full of malign
triumph at the sight of Bessie and Zara, was the first to step ashore.
"Got yer, have I?" he said. He turned to a lanky, angular man who was at
his side. "There y'are, constable," he said. "There's yer parties--them
two girls there! Arrest them, will yer?"
"Not here, I won't," said the constable. "You didn't tell me it was to
come off here. This is government land--I ain't got no authority here."
"You keep your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open, Weeks," said
Jamieson, before the angry old farmer could say anything. Then he
stepped forward to greet a man and woman who had followed Weeks down the
gangplank.
"I'm glad you're here, Mrs. Richards, and you too, Mr. Richards," he
said. "I'm going to be able to keep my promise."
Holmes was staring at Mrs. Richards and her husband in astonishment.
"You here, Elizabeth?" he exclaimed. "And Henry, too? I didn't know you
were coming!"
"We decided to come quite unexpectedly, Morton," said the lady, quietly.
She was a woman of perhaps forty-two or three, tall and distinguished in
her appearance. But, like her husband, her face showed traces of
privations and hardship.
Behind them came a stiff, soldierly looking man, in a blue suit, and him
Jamieson greeted with a smile and a handshake.
"There's your man, Marshall," he said, pointing to Holmes. "I guess he
won't make any resistance."
And, while Mr. and Mrs. Richards stared in astonishment, and Weeks
turned purple, the marshall laid his hand on the merchant's shoulder,
and put him under arrest. Holmes was trapped at last.
"What does this mean?" Mrs. Richards asked, indignantly. "What are you
doing to my brother, Mr. Jamieson?"
"That's quite a long story, Mrs. Richards," he answered, easily. "And,
strange as it may seem, I'll have to answer it by asking you and your
husband some questions that may seem very personal. But I've made good
with you so far, and I can assure you that you will have no cause to
regret answering me."
Mrs. Richards bowed.
"In the first place, you and your husband have been away from this part
of the country for quite a long time, haven't you?"
"Yes. For a number of years."
"And you have not always been as well off, financially, as you are now?"
"That is quite true. My husband, shortly after our marriage, failed in
business, owing--owing to conditions he couldn't control."
"Isn't it true, Mrs. Richards, that those conditions were the result of
his marriage to you? Didn't your father, a very rich man, resent your
marriage so deeply that he tried to ruin your husband in order to force
you to leave him?"
There were tears in the woman's eyes as she nodded her head in answer.
"Thank you. I know this is very painful--but I must really do all this.
You refused to leave your husband, however, and when he decided to go to
Alaska, you went with him?"
"Yes."
"And there he made a lucky strike, some four or five years ago, that
made him far richer than he had ever dreamed of becoming?"
"That is quite true."
"But, although you were rich, you did not come home? You spent a good
deal of time in the Far North, and when you went out for a rest, you
came no further east than Seattle or San Francisco?"
"There was no reason for us to come here. All our friends had turned
against us in our misfortunes, and our only child was dead. So it was
only a few months ago that we came home."
"That is very tragic. Thank you, Mrs. Richards. One moment--I have
another question to ask."
He stepped toward the gangplank.
"I will be back in a moment," he said.
He went on board the boat, and while all those on the dock, puzzled and
mystified by his questions, waited, he disappeared. When he returned he
was not alone. A woman was with him, and, at the sight of her, Bessie
gave a cry of astonishment.
"Now, Mrs. Richards," said Charlie. "Have you ever seen this woman
before!"
"I think I have," she said, in a strange, puzzled tone. "But--she has
changed so--"
"Her name is Mrs. Hoover, Mrs. Richards. Does that help you to
remember?"
"Oh!" Mrs. Richards sobbed and burst into tears. "Mrs. Hoover!" she
said, brokenly. "To think that I could forget you! Tell me--"
"One moment," said Charlie, interrupting. His own voice was not very
steady, and Eleanor, a look of dawning understanding in her eyes, was
staring at him, greatly moved. "It was with Mrs. Hoover that you left
your child when you went west under an assumed name, was it not? It was
she who told you that she had died?"
"Oh, I lied to you--I lied to you!" wailed Maw Hoover, breaking down
suddenly, and throwing herself at the feet of Mrs. Richards. "She wasn't
dead. It was that wicked Mr. Holmes and Farmer Weeks who made me say she
was."
"What?" thundered Richards. "She isn't dead? Where is she?"
"Bessie!" said Charlie, calling to her sharply. "Here is your daughter,
Mrs. Richards, and a daughter to be proud of!"
And the next moment Bessie, Bessie King, the waif no longer, but Bessie
Richards, was in her mother's arms!
"So Mr. Holmes was Bessie's uncle!" said Eleanor, amazed. "But why did
he act so!"
"I can explain that," said Charlie, sternly. "It was he who set his
father so strongly against his sister's marriage to Mr. Richards. He
expected that he would inherit, as a result, her share of his father's
estate, as well as his own. But his plans miscarried. Mrs. Richards and
her husband had disappeared before her father's death, and, when he
softened and was inclined to relent, he could not find them. But he knew
they had a daughter, and he left to her his daughter's share of his
fortune--over a million dollars. There was no trace of the child,
however, and so there was a provision in the will that if she did not
come forward to claim the money on her eighteenth birthday it should go
to her uncle--to Holmes."
"I always said it was money that was making him act that way!" cried
Dolly Ransom.
"Yes," said Jamieson. "He had squandered much of his own money--he
wanted to make sure of getting Bessie's fortune for himself. So when he
learned through Silas Weeks where the child was, he paid Mrs. Hoover to
tell her parents she was dead, and then, after she had run away, he and
Weeks did all they could to get her back to a place where there was no
chance of anyone finding out who she was. They nearly succeeded--but I
have been able to block their plans. And one reason is that they were
greedy and they couldn't let Zara Slavin and her father alone. He is a
great inventor and they profited by his ignorance of American customs."
"I only found out her name last night," said Eleanor. "I wondered if he
could be the Slavin who invented the new wireless telephone--"
"They got him into jail on a trumped-up charge," said Charlie. "And then
they tried to keep Zara away from people who might learn the truth from
her, and offer to supply the money he needed. In a little while they
would have robbed him of all the profits of his invention."
"I'll finance it myself," said Richards, "and he can keep all of the
profit."
Bessie's father and mother were far too glad to get her back to want to
punish Maw Hoover, who was sincerely repentant. They could hardly find
words enough to thank Eleanor and Dolly for their friendship, and to
Charlie Jamieson their gratitude was unbounded.
But suddenly, even while the talk was at its height, there was a
diversion. Billy Trenwith, his clothes torn, his hands chafed and
bleeding, appeared on the dock.
"Good Heavens, Billy, I'd forgotten all about you!" said Charlie. "Where
have you been?"
"How can you speak to him as a friend after the way he betrayed us?"
asked Eleanor, indignantly, and Billy winced. But Charlie laughed
happily.
"He didn't betray you," said he. "I cooked up this whole thing, just to
catch Holmes red-handed, and he walked right into the trap. I told Billy
not to tell you, because I wanted you to act so that Holmes wouldn't
know it was a trick."
"He didn't trust me, though," said Billy, ruefully. "As soon as he had
the girls, he tied me up and chucked me into his cellar so that I
couldn't change my mind, he said. That's why I didn't meet you at the
fort."
Eleanor, shamefaced and miserable, looked at him. Then, with tears in
her eyes, she held out her hand to him.
"Can you ever forgive me?" she asked.
"You bet I can!" he shouted. "Why, you were meant to think just what you
did! There's nothing to forgive!"
"I ought to have known you couldn't do a mean, treacherous thing," she
said.
"All's well that ends well," said Charlie, gaily. "Now as to your
brother, Mrs. Richards? I don't suppose you want him arrested?"
"No--oh, no!" said she, looking at Holmes contemptuously.
"Then, if you'll withdraw the charge of kidnapping, Eleanor, he can go."
And the next moment Holmes, free but disgraced, slunk away, and out of
the lives of those he had so cruelly wronged.
* * * * *
Sunset of that day found them all back at Plum Beach, where the Camp
Fire Girls, who had been almost frantic at their long absence, greeted
them with delight. The story of Bessie's restoration to her parents, and
of the good fortune that was soon to be Zara's, seemed to delight the
other girls as much as if they themselves were the lucky ones, and
Gladys Cooper, completely restored to health, was the first to kiss
Bessie and wish her joy.
And after dinner Eleanor, blushing, rose to make a little speech.
"You know, girls," she said, "Margery Burton is to be a Torch-Bearer as
soon as we get back to the city. And you are going to need a new
Guardian soon. She will be chosen--and she will make a better one than I
have been, I think."
There was a chorus of astonished cries.
"But why are you going to stop being Guardian, Miss Eleanor?" asked
Margery.
"Because--because--"
"I'll tell you why," said Billy Trenwith, leaping up and standing beside
her. "It's because she's going to be married to me!"
There was a moment of astonished silence. And then, from every girl
there burst out, with out signal, the words of the Camp Fire song:
"Wo-he-lo--wo-he-lo--wo-he-lo--Wo-he-lo for Love!"
THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SERIES
1. THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE WOODS
2. THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE FARM
3. THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT LONG LAKE
4. THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS
5. THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE MARCH
6. THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT THE SEASHORE