"That'll be fine, Jack. If you'll do that, you'll help us ever so much, and we'll be able to get along splendidly." "We'd better start," said Zara, nervously. "I want to get away as soon as ever I can. Don't you, Bessie?" "Indeed I do, Zara. I'm just as afraid of having Farmer Weeks catch us as you are. If he found me he'd take me back to Maw Hoover, I know. And she'd be awfully angry with me." "I'm all ready to start whenever you are," announced Jack. "Come on. It gets dark early in the woods, you know. They're mighty thick when you get further up the mountain. But if you walk along fast you'll get out of them long before it's really dark." So they started off. Little Jack seemed to be a thorough woodsman and to know almost every stick and stone in the path. And presently they came to a blazed tree--a tree from which a strip of bark had been cut with a blow from an axe. "That's my mark. I made it myself," said Jack, proudly. "Here's where we leave this trail. Be careful now. Look where I put my feet, and come this same way." Then he struck off the trail, and into the deep woods themselves where the moss and the carpet of dead leaves deadened their footsteps. Although the sun was still high, the trees were so thick that the light that came down to them was that of twilight, and Zara shuddered. "I'd hate to be lost in these woods," she said. Then, abruptly, they were on another trail. Jack had been a true guide. "You can't lose your way now," he said. "Keep to the trail and go straight ahead." "Good-bye, Jack," said Bessie. "You're just as true and brave as any of the knights you ever read about, and if you keep on like this you'll be a great man when you grow up--as great as your father. Good-bye!" "Good-bye and thank you ever so much," called Zara. "Come again!" said Jack, and stood there until they were out of sight. It was not long before they came out near the main road, and now Zara gave a joyful cry. "Oh, I'm so glad to be here!" she exclaimed. "Those woods frightened me, Bessie. They were so dark and gloomy. And it's so good to see the sun again, and the fields and the blue sky!" Bessie looked about her curiously as she strove to get her bearings. Then her face cleared. "I know where we are now," she said. "We're still quite a little distance from where we stopped for lunch and Farmer Weeks got hold of you, Zara. We'll have to go up the road. You see, it brought us quite a little out of our direct way--going back in the woods as we did. But it was worth it--to get away from Farmer Weeks." "I should think it was!" said Zara. "I'd walk on my hands for a mile to be free from him. He was awful. He drove up just as I got down to the road, and as soon as I saw him I started to run. But I was so frightened that my knees shook, and he jumped out and caught me." "What did he say to you?"