When she reached the station she looked in the window first, and saw Jake standing by the ticket agent’s window. The ticket agent was also the telegraph operator, and Bessie saw that she was writing something on a yellow telegraph blank. Evidently Jake was sending a message, and Bessie knew that, while he could read a very little, Jake had always been so stupid and so lazy that he had never learned to write properly. The sight made her smile, because, unless her plans had miscarried completely, Dolly was inside the little ticket office, and must be hearing every word of that message!
So she waited until Jake, satisfied, turned from the window, and then she walked boldly in. For a minute Jake, who was looking out of one of the windows in front toward the track, did not see her at all. In that moment Bessie got in line with the ticket window and, seeing Dolly, waved to her to come out. Then she walked over to Jake, smiled at his amazed face as he turned to her, and saluted him cheerfully.
“Hello, Jake Hoover,” she said. “Were you looking for me?”
Jake’s face fell, and he stared at her in comical dismay.
“Well, I snum!” he said. “How in tarnation did you come to git off that there train, hey?”
“I never was on it, Jake,” said Bessie, pleasantly. “You just thought I was, you see. You don’t want to jump to a conclusion so quickly.”
Jake was petrified. When he saw Dolly come out of the ticket office, puzzled by Bessie’s action, but entirely willing to back her up, his face turned white.
“You’re a pretty poor spy, Jake,” said Dolly, contemptuously. “I guess Mr. Holmes won’t be very pleased when he gets your message at Canton, telling him Bessie went on that train and then doesn’t find her aboard at all.”
“What’s that?” asked Bessie, suddenly. “Is that the message he sent, Dolly?”
“It certainly is,” said Dolly. “Why, what’s the matter, Bessie?”