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!"