Also a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and the weakest link in this adventurer’s chain was the fact that she had no means of communicating with her own folks or Dagmar, and receiving any reply from them.  She knew her own father too well to risk letting him know anything of her whereabouts, and her two letters to Dagmar could not be answered for lack of address.  Now Tessie had new clothes, and she would soon have more money—­if only she could get hold of Dagmar, and start off again on that trip to the big city.

“Maybe the poor kid’s in jail,” she reflected.  “She’s just the kind to get sent up to one of those dumps where they train girls!  Train them!” she repeated mockingly.  “Swell training a girl gets behind bars!

“But it would cost twenty-five dollars for both of us, and I’ll never live through earning that here,” she followed.  This general summing up of the situation took place in her room, the night before her first “afternoon off” and suppose—­just suppose she took a bunch of those scout tickets, and went out to the next town and sold them!  She might use that money to send to Dagmar and replace it with her next week’s pay!

So there was the temptation.

And she did not realize its dangers.

Nothing had ever been easier.  Everyone wanted tickets for the Violet Shut-in Benefit and every ticket brought fifty cents to the attractive girl wearing the scout badge of merit.

“I call this luck, the kind that grows on bushes,” she was thinking, as in that strange town she hurried from door to door with the violet bits of pasteboard that were printed to bring cheer to the Shut Ins.

“Of course I’ll replace this at once,” she also decided.  “I wouldn’t really touch a cent of this, even for one day, only I must get Daggie out of her trouble wherever she is.  It isn’t fair to leave her all alone to face the music.”

Then came the thought of the possible joy she might experience if she could but surprise Phyllis and Marcia with the sale of all their tickets!

Still another consideration.  Each girl was obliged to sell in a certain territory and she was covering enough ground for the whole troop.

“I guess I’m out of luck,” she decided, “but this isn’t so bad.  I believe I’d make a hit as a first rate book agent.  Maybe I’ll try that next.”

It was important that all her ground should be covered before the public school would be dismissed, hence she quickened her steps, and she had but two more tickets to dispose of when the rumbling of a jitney attracted her attention.

It was Frank Apgar on the high front seat of his Ark.

“Without thought of danger, and only the prospect of a pleasant chat with someone she knew, Tessie hailed Frank and climbed to the seat beside him.

“Oh, I’m so glad to see you, Frank!  How’s the good old lady who saved my life?  I’ll always remember her as my guardian angel.  And boy, those flap-jacks!”