"I just happened to be walking along the street, not noticing anybody particularly, when an old woman dropped her nickel car fare and it rolled out into the middle of the street. I ran after it and gave it back to her, and she smiled at me. Somehow, that smile changed everything for me." "How, dear?" asked Betty, putting a sympathetic arm about her. "Why," said Amy, blushing in her enthusiasm, "it just made me feel as if everybody was ready to smile if you only gave them half a chance. And I've found out it was true," she finished decidedly. "Because I've tried it ever so many times since, and it's never once failed!" "Yes," concluded Mollie. "I guess everybody's just plain nice and human, after all!" CHAPTER XXIV CAPTIVE AND CAPTORS "Girls," Betty clutched Mollie by the arm and spoke in a tense undertone, "isn't that the spy?" The girls gasped, looked, and set off on a dead run. The spy's back was to them. He seemed to be waiting for somebody and he did not see the girls till they were almost upon him. Then, with an exclamation, he dodged around the corner of the house and commenced to run like a deer. "Amy!" gasped Betty, as they pursued, fleet of foot, "you go to the camp for help! I'll try to cut him off!" With the strategy of a general, Betty dodged a couple of dirt piles--it was a row of small houses, in process of construction near the camp--slipped across between two of the houses and did actually succeed in cutting the spy off. She caught a fleeting glimpse of him as he dodged into a doorway with the evident intention of hiding till they got tired of the hunt. Also, it was certain he had not seen Betty and had no idea that she had seen him. With wildly beating heart, but no thought of turning back, the Little Captain picked up a big piece of wood that could serve excellently as a weapon and ran for the doorway through which the spy had disappeared. Cautiously she opened the door, and the next moment thought her heart would stop beating altogether as she took in the situation. The man was fumbling desperately with the knob of the inside door. Evidently it was locked. He had fallen into a trap! Breathlessly Betty closed the door and leaned her full weight upon it. If the girls would only come! They might together manage to hold it. But alone---- "Betty, Betty, where are you?" cried a voice close at hand and the Little Captain gave a gasp of dismay. As long as the man had not known he was trapped, there might be a chance that he would remain quiet, hoping they would pass without thinking to look into the house. But now! Some one was pushing against the other side of the door. He was trying to get out! "Hurry!" she cried agonizedly as Mollie and Grace ran up to her. "Put your weight against the door--quick." So used were they to obeying her without question that they threw their full weight upon the door, bracing and holding with all their might.