Driving swiftly down the road away from Hedgeville was a runabout. And in it Bessie saw Zara, held fast by a big man whose back she recognized at once. It was Farmer Weeks! "Oh, that's Farmer Weeks!" she cried "He'll get them to give Zara to him, and he'll beat her and treat her terribly." Despairingly she made to run after the disappearing horse. But Wanaka checked her, gently. "We must be careful--and slow," she said. CHAPTER VII A FRIEND IN NEED "But we must do something, really we must, Miss Eleanor!" cried Bessie. "I must, I mean. Zara trusted me, and if I don't help her now, just think of what will happen." "You must keep calm, Bessie, that's the first thing to think of. If you let yourself get excited and worked up you won't help Zara, and you'll only get into trouble yourself. You say she trusted you--now you must trust me a little. Tell me, first, just what this man will do and if he has any right at all to touch her." "Why, he's the meanest man in town, Wanaka! He really is--everyone says so! None of the men would work for him in harvest time. They said he worked them to death and wouldn't give them enough to eat." "Yes, but why should he pick Zara up that way and carry her off?" "Because he wants to make her work for him. He's awfully rich, and Paw Hoover said he'd lent money to so many men in the village and all around that they had to do just what he told them, or he'd sell their land and their horses and cattle. And he said he'd make the people at the poor-farm bind Zara over to him and then she'd have to work for him until she was twenty-one, just for her board." "That's pretty serious, Bessie. I'm sure he wouldn't be a good guardian, but if he had such influence over the men, maybe they wouldn't stop to think about that." She was silent for a minute, thinking hard. "Where was he going with her, Bessie? He seemed to be driving away from Hedgeville." "Yes, he was. I suppose he was going over to Zebulon. That's the county seat, and he goes over there quite often. Almost every time they hold court, I guess. Paw Hoover said he was a mighty bad neighbor, always getting into lawsuits." "Well, I think I'd better go to Zebulon. If I talk to him, perhaps I can make him give Zara up. How far is it, Bessie?" "Only about two miles. But if you go, can't I go with you?" "I think I'd better go alone, Bessie. If he saw you, he might try to take you back to the Hoovers, you know. No, I'll go alone. If it's only two miles, it won't take me long to walk there, and I can get someone to drive me back. Girls!" They crowded about her. "I'm going away for a little while. You are to stay here and wait for me. And keep close together. I'll get back as soon as I can. And while I'm gone you can clear up the mess we made with luncheon--when you've finished it, I mean. Now, you'd better hurry up and eat it. I won't wait."