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diff --git a/36397-h/36397-h.htm b/36397-h/36397-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..48c9b32 --- /dev/null +++ b/36397-h/36397-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9731 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" > +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <meta content="Ruth Fielding at Sunrise Farm" name="DC.Title"/> + <meta content="Alice B. Emerson" name="DC.Creator"/> + <meta content="en" name="DC.Language"/> + <meta content="1915" name="DC.Created"/> + <meta name="generator" content="ppgen (1.13) generated Jun 12, 2011 03:53 AM" /> + <title>Ruth Fielding at Sunrise Farm</title> + <style type="text/css"> + body {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%;} + p {margin-top:1ex; margin-bottom:0; text-align:justify;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size:x-small; text-align:right; text-indent:0; + position:absolute; right:2%; padding:1px 3px; font-style:normal; + font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:none; + background-color:inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + .pncolor {color:silver;} + h1 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal;} + h2 {text-align:left; font-weight:normal;} + h1 {font-size:1.4em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + h2 {font-size:1.2em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + hr.pb {margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver; clear:both;} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + .center {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center;} + .larger {font-size:larger;} + .smaller {font-size:smaller;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + table.c {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + div.center>:first-child {margin: .5em auto 0 auto;text-align:center;} + div.center p {margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;} + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding At Sunrise Farm, by Alice B. Emerson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ruth Fielding At Sunrise Farm + What Became of the Raby Orphans + +Author: Alice B. Emerson + +Release Date: June 12, 2011 [EBook #36397] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank, David Edwards and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i001' id='i001'></a> +<img src='images/dust.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i002' id='i002'></a> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="“WHY, SADIE RABY! WHO’D EVER EXPECT TO SEE YOU HERE?”" title=""/><br /> +<span class='caption'>“WHY, SADIE RABY! WHO’D EVER EXPECT TO SEE YOU HERE?”</span> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:1.4em;font-weight:bold;'>Ruth Fielding</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:1.4em;font-weight:bold;'>At Sunrise Farm</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>OR</p> +<p> </p> +<p>WHAT BECAME OF THE RABY ORPHANS</p> +<p> </p> +<p>BY</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>ALICE B. EMERSON</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>Author of “Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill,” “Ruth</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>Fielding at Snow Camp,” Etc.</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><em>ILLUSTRATED</em></p> +</div> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i003' id='i003'></a> +<img src='images/title.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>NEW YORK</span></p> +<p>CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY</p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>PUBLISHERS</span></p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p>Books for Girls</p> +<p>BY ALICE B. EMERSON</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>RUTH FIELDING SERIES</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.</p> +</div> +<table class='c' summary='centered block'><tr><td> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Jasper Parloe’s Secret.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Solving the Campus Mystery.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Lost in the Backwoods.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Nita, the Girl Castaway.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, The Old Hunter’s Treasure Box.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, What Became of the Raby Orphans.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, The Missing Pearl Necklace.</p> +</td></tr></table> +<div class='center'> +<p>Cupples & Leon Co., Publishers, New York.</p> +<p> </p> +<p>Copyright, 1915, by</p> +<p>Cupples & Leon Company</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class='sc'>Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>Printed in U. S. A.</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>CONTENTS</span></p> +</div> +<table class='c' summary='table of contents'> +<tr><td style='font-size:smaller'>CHAPTER</td><td></td><td style='font-size:smaller'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>I.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Sweet Briars and Sour Pickles</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chI'>1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>II.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Wild Girl</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chII'>12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>III.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Sadie Raby’s Story</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIII'>23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>IV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“Them Perkinses”</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIV'>34</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>V.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“The Tramping Girl”</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chV'>45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Seeking the Trail</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVI'>53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>What Tom Cameron Saw</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVII'>61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Traveling Toward Sunrise Farm</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVIII'>68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>IX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Sunrise Coach</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIX'>77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>X.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“Touch and Go”</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chX'>85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Tobogganing in June</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXI'>91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A Number of Introductions</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXII'>100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Terrible Twins</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIII'>108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“Why! Of Course!”</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIV'>114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Tempest</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXV'>120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Runaway</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVI'>128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Black Douglass</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVII'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Sundry Plans</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVIII'>143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A Safe and Sane Fourth?</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIX'>151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Raby Romance</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXX'>158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A Very Busy Time</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXI'>166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Terrible Twins on the Rampage</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXII'>173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Lost</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXIII'>180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXIV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“So That’s All Right”</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXIV'>189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Orphans’ Fortune</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXV'>198</a></td></tr> +</table> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<h1><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1'></a>1</span>Ruth Fielding at Sunrise Farm</h1> +<h2><a name='chI' id='chI'></a>CHAPTER I—SWEET BRIARS AND SOUR PICKLES</h2> +<p> +The single gas jet burning at the end of the +corridor was so dim and made so flickering a light +that it added more to the shadows of the passage +than it provided illumination. It was hard to discover +which were realities and which shadows in +the long gallery. +</p> +<p> +Not a ray of light appeared at any of the transoms +over the dormitory doors; yet that might +not mean that there were no lights burning within +the duo and quartette rooms in the East Dormitory +of Briarwood Hall. There were ways of +shrouding the telltale transoms and—without +doubt—the members of the advanced junior +classes had learned such little tricks of the trade +of being a schoolgirl. +</p> +<p> +At one door—and it was the portal of the +largest “quartette” room on the floor—a tall +figure kept guard. At first this figure was so +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2'></a>2</span> +silent and motionless that it seemed like a shadow +only. But when another shadow crept toward +it, rustling along the wall on tiptoe, the guard +demanded, hissingly: +</p> +<p> +“S-s-stop! who goes there?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh-oo! How you startled me, Madge +Steele!” +</p> +<p> +“Sh!” commanded the guard. “Who goes +there?” +</p> +<p> +“Why—why—— It’s <em>I</em>.” +</p> +<p> +“Give the password instantly. Answer!” +commanded the guard again, and with some vexation. +“‘I’ isn’t anybody.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, indeed? Let me tell you that <em>this</em> ‘I’ +is somebody—according to the gym. scales. I +gained three pounds over the Easter holidays,” +said “Heavy” Jennie Stone, who had begun her +reply with a giggle, but ended it with a sigh. +</p> +<p> +“Password, Miss!” snapped the guard, +grimly. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! of course!” Then the fat girl whispered +shrilly: “‘Sincerity—befriend.’ That is +what ‘S. B.’ stands for, I s’pose. Sweetbriars! +and I have a big bag of sour pickles to offset the +cloying sweetness of the Sweetbriars,” chuckled +Heavy. “Besides, they say that vinegar pickles +will make you thin——” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t need them for that purpose,” admitted +the guard at the door, still in a whisper, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3'></a>3</span> +but accepting the large, “warty” pickle Heavy +thrust into her hand. +</p> +<p> +“Will make <em>me</em> thin, then,” agreed the other. +“Let me in, Madge.” +</p> +<p> +The guard, sucking the pickle convulsively the +while, opened the door just a little way. A blanket +had been hung on a frame inside in such a +manner that scarcely a gleam of lamplight +reached the corridor when the door was open. +</p> +<p> +“Pass the Sweetbriar!” choked Madge, with +her mouth full and the tears running down her +cheeks. “My goodness, Jennie Stone! these +pickles are right out of vitriol!” +</p> +<p> +“Sour, aren’t they?” chuckled Heavy. “I +handed you a real one for fair, that time, didn’t +I, Madge?” +</p> +<p> +Then she tried to sidle through the narrow +opening, got stuck, and was urged on by Madge +pushing her. With a bang—punctuated by a +chorus of muffled exclamations from the girls +already assembled—she tore away the frame and +the blanket and got through. +</p> +<p> +“Shut the door, quick, guard!” exclaimed +Helen Cameron. +</p> +<p> +“Of course, that would be Heavy—entering +like a female Samson and tearing down the pillars +of the temple,” snapped Mercy Curtis, the +lame girl, in her sharp way. +</p> +<p> +“Please repair the damage, Helen,” said Ruth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4'></a>4</span> +Fielding, who presided at the far end of the +room, sitting cross-legged on one of the beds. +</p> +<p> +The other girls were arranged on the chairs, +or upon the floor before her. There was a goodly +number of them, and they now included most of +the members of the secret society known at Briarwood +Hall as the “S. B.’s.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth herself was a bright, brown-haired girl +who, without possessing many pretensions to real +beauty of feature, still was quite good to +look at and proved particularly charming when +one grew to know her well. +</p> +<p> +She was rather plump, happy of disposition, +and with the kindest heart in the world. She +made both friends and enemies. No person of +real character can escape being disliked, now and +then, by those of envious disposition. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding succeeded, usually, in winning to +her those who at first disliked her. And this, I +claim, is a better gift than that of being universally +popular from the start. +</p> +<p> +Ruth had come from her old home in Darrowtown, +where her parents died, two years before, +to the Red Mill on the Lumano River, where her +great-uncle, Jabez Potter, the miller, was inclined +at first to shelter her only as an object of his +grudging charity. In the first volume of this +series, however, entitled “Ruth Fielding of the +Red Mill; Or, Jasper Parloe’s Secret,” the girl +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5'></a>5</span> +found her way—in a measure, at least—to the +uncle’s crabbed heart. +</p> +<p> +Uncle Jabez was a just man, and he considered +it his duty, when Helen Cameron, Ruth’s +dearest friend, was sent to Briarwood Hall to +school, to send Ruth to the same institution. In +the second volume, “Ruth Fielding at Briarwood +Hall; Or, Solving the Campus Mystery,” was +related the adventures, friendships, rivalries, and +fun of Ruth’s and Helen’s first term at the old +school. +</p> +<p> +In “Ruth Fielding at Snow Camp; Or, Lost +in the Backwoods,” was told the adventures of +Ruth and her friends at the Camerons’ winter +camp during the Christmas holidays. At the end +of the first year of school, they all went to the +seaside, to experience many adventures in “Ruth +Fielding at Lighthouse Point; Or, Nita, the Girl +Castaway,” the fourth volume of the series. +</p> +<p> +A part of that eventful summer was spent by +Ruth and her chums in Montana, and the girl of +the Red Mill was enabled to do old Uncle Jabez +such a favor that he willingly agreed to pay her +expenses at Briarwood Hall for another year. +This is all told in “Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch; +Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys.” +</p> +<p> +The girls returned to Briarwood Hall and in +the sixth volume of the series, entitled “Ruth +Fielding on Cliff Island; Or, The Old Hunter’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6'></a>6</span> +Treasure Box,” Ruth was privileged to help Jerry +Sheming and his unfortunate old uncle in the +recovery of their title to Cliff Island in Lake +Tallahaska, while she and her friends had some +thrilling and many funny adventures during the +mid-winter vacation. +</p> +<p> +The second half of this school year was now +old. The Easter recess was past and the girls +were looking forward to the usual break-up in +the middle of June. The hardest of the work +for the year was over. Those girls who had been +faithful in their studies prior to Easter could +now take something of a breathing spell, and the +S. B.’s were determined to initiate such candidates +as had been on the waiting list for reception into +the secrets of the most popular society in the +school. +</p> +<p> +The shrouded door of the quartette room occupied +by Ruth, Helen, Mercy, and Jane Ann Hicks, +from Montana, was opened carefully again and +again until the outer guard, Madge Steele, had +admitted all the candidates and most of the members +of the S. B. order who were expected. +</p> +<p> +Each girl was presented with at least half a +big sour pickle from Heavy’s store; but really, +the pickles had nothing to do with the initiation +of the neophytes. +</p> +<p> +There was a serious and helpful side to the society +of the S. B.’s—as witness the password. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7'></a>7</span> +Ruth, who was the most active member of the +institution, realized, however, that the girls were +so full of fun that they must have some way of +expressing themselves out of the ordinary. Perhaps +she had asked Mademoiselle Picolet, the +French teacher, whose room was in this dormitory, +and Miss Scrimp, the matron, to overlook +this present infraction of the rules, for it must +be admitted that the retiring bell had rung half +an hour before the gathering in this particular +room. +</p> +<p> +“All here!” breathed Ruth, at last, and +Madge was called in. The candidates were +placed in the middle of the floor. Ann Hicks, +the girl from Silver Ranch, was one of these. +Ann had proved her character and made herself +popular in the school against considerable odds, +as related in the preceding volume. Now, the +honor of being admitted into the secret society +was added to the other marks of the school’s +approval. +</p> +<p> +“Candidates,” said Ruth, addressing in most +solemn tones the group of girls before her, “you +are about to be initiated into the degree of the +Marble Harp. As Infants, when you first entered +the school, you were all made acquainted +with the legend of the Marble Harp. +</p> +<p> +“The figure of <em>Harmony</em>, presiding over the +fountain in the middle of the campus, was modeled by +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8'></a>8</span> +the sculptor from the only daughter of +the man who originally owned Briarwood Park +before it became a school. Said sculptor and +daughter—in the most approved fashion of the +present day school of romanticist authors—ran +away with each other, were married without the +father’s approval, and both are supposed to have +died miserably in a studio-garret. +</p> +<p> +“The heart-broken father naturally left his +cur-r-r-se upon the fountain, and it is said—mind +you, this is hearsay,” added Ruth, solemnly, +“that whenever anything of moment is about to +transpire at Briarwood Hall, or any calamity befall, +the strings of the marble harp held in the +hands of <em>Harmony</em>, are heard to twang. +</p> +<p> +“Of course, as has been pointed out before, +the fact that the harp is in the shape of a <em>lyre</em>, +must be considered, too, if one is to accept this +legend. But, however, and nevertheless,” pursued +Ruth, “it has been decided that the candidates +here assembled must join in the Mackintosh +March, and, in procession, led by our Outer +Guard and followed—not to say <em>herded</em>—by our +Rear Guard, must proceed once around the campus, +down into the garden, and circle the fountain, +chanting, as you have been instructed, the +marching song. +</p> +<p> +“All ready! You all have your mackintoshes, +as instructed? Into them at once,” commanded +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9'></a>9</span> +Ruth. “Into line—one after the other. Now, +Outer Guard!” +</p> +<p> +The lights were extinguished; the blanket +at the door was removed; Madge Steele led +the way and Heavy, as the Rear Guard, was +last in the line. Shrouded in the hoods of the +mackintoshes, scarcely one of the girls would have +been recognized by any curious teacher or matron. +</p> +<p> +Ruth hopped down from the bed, and the remaining +Sweetbriars ran giggling to the windows. +It was a drizzly, dark night. The paths about +the campus glistened, and the lamps upon the +posts flickered dimly. +</p> +<p> +Out of the front door filed the procession; +when they were far enough away from the buildings +which surrounded the campus, they began +the chant, based upon Tom Moore’s famous old +song: +</p> +<p> + “The harp that once through Briarwood Hall<br /> + The soul of music shed,<br /> + Now hangs as mute o’er the campus fount<br /> + As though that soul were dead.”<br /> +</p> +<p> +Madge Steele, with her strong voice, led the +chant. The girls, crowded at the open windows, +began to giggle, for they could hear Heavy, at +the end of the procession, sing out a very different +verse. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10'></a>10</span> +</p> +<p> +“That rascal ought to be fined for that,” murmured +The Fox, the sandy-haired girl next to +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“But, isn’t she funny?” gasped Helen, on the +other side of the Chief of the S. B.’s. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Belle Tingley. “I +hope Sarah Fish got there ahead of them. <em>Won’t</em> +they be surprised when they get a baptism of a +glass of water each from the fountain, as they +go by?” +</p> +<p> +“They’ll think the statue has come to life, sure +enough, if it doesn’t twang the lyre,” quoth Helen. +</p> +<p> +“They’ll get an unexpected ducking,” giggled +Lluella Fairfax. +</p> +<p> +“It won’t hurt them,” Ruth said, placidly. +“That’s why I insisted upon the mackintoshes.” +</p> +<p> +“It’s just as dark down there by the fountain +as it can be,” spoke Helen, with a little shiver. +“D’you remember, Ruthie, how they hazed us +there when we were Infants?” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t I!” agreed her chum. +</p> +<p> +“If Sarah is careful, she can stand right up +there against the statue and never be seen, while +she can reach the water to throw it at the girls +easily. There!” cried Belle. “They’re turning +down the walk to the steps. I can see them.” +</p> +<p> +They all could see them—dimly. Like shadows +the procession descended to the marble fountain, +still chanting softly the refrain of the marching song. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11'></a>11</span> +Suddenly a shriek—a very vigorous +and startling sound—rang out across the campus. +</p> +<p> +“It’s begun!” giggled Belle. +</p> +<p> +But the sound was repeated—then in a thrilling +chorus. Ruth was startled. She exclaimed: +</p> +<p> +“That wasn’t either of the candidates. It was +Sarah who screamed. There! It is Sarah again. +Something has happened!” +</p> +<p> +Something certainly had happened. There had +been an unexpected fault somewhere in the initiation. +The procession burst like a bombshell, and +the girls scattered through the wet campus, utterly +terrified, and screaming as they ran. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12'></a>12</span><a name='chII' id='chII'></a>CHAPTER II—THE WILD GIRL</h2> +<p> +“Something awful must have occurred!” +cried Helen Cameron. +</p> +<p> +Ruth did not remain at the window for more +than a moment after seeing the girls engaged in +the initiation disperse, and hearing their screams. +She drew back from the crowding group and +darted out of the room. Fortunately neither the +French teacher, nor the matron, had yet been +aroused. If the girls came noisily into the dormitory +building, Ruth knew very well that “the +powers that be” must of necessity take cognizance +of the infraction of the rules. +</p> +<p> +The girl from the Red Mill sped down the +broad stairway and out of the house. Some of +the fastest runners among the frightened girls +were already panting at the steps. +</p> +<p> +“Hush! hush!” commanded Ruth. “What +is the matter? What has happened?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! it’s the ghost!” declared one girl. +</p> +<p> +“So’s your grandmother’s aunt!” snapped another. +“Somebody shoved Sarah into the water. +It was no ghost.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13'></a>13</span> +</p> +<p> +It was Madge Steele who last spoke, and +Ruth seized upon the senior, believing she might +get something like a sensible explanation from +her. +</p> +<p> +“You girls go into the house quietly,” warned +Ruth, as they scrambled up the stone steps. +“Don’t you <em>dare</em> make a noise and get us all into +trouble.” +</p> +<p> +Then she turned upon Madge, begging: “Do, +<em>do</em> tell me what you mean, Madge Steele. <em>Who</em> +pushed Sarah?” +</p> +<p> +“That’s what I can’t tell you. But I heard +Sarah yelling that she was pushed, and she did +most certainly fall right into the fountain when +she climbed up there beside the statue.” +</p> +<p> +“What a ridiculous thing!” giggled Ruth. +“Somebody played a trick on her. I guess she +was fooled instead of the candidates being startled, +eh?” +</p> +<p> +“I saw somebody—or something—drop off +the other side of the fountain and run—I saw it +myself,” declared Madge. +</p> +<p> +“Here comes Sarah,” cried Ruth, under her +breath. “And I declare she <em>is</em> all wet!” +</p> +<p> +Sarah Fish was actually laughing, but in a +hysterical way. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear me! was ever anything so ridiculous +before?” she gasped. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14'></a>14</span> +</p> +<p> +“Hush! Don’t get Miss Picolet after us,” +begged Madge. +</p> +<p> +“What really happened?” demanded Ruth, +eagerly. +</p> +<p> +“Why—I’ll tell you,” replied Sarah, whose +gown clung to her as though it had been pasted +upon her figure. “See? I’m just <em>soaked</em>. Talk +about sprinkling those silly lambs of candidates! +Why, <em>I</em> was immersed—you see.” +</p> +<p> +“But how?” +</p> +<p> +“I slipped over there before the procession +started from these steps. I was watching the +girls, and listening to them sing, and didn’t pay +much attention to anything else. +</p> +<p> +“But when I dodged down into the little garden, +I thought I heard a footstep on the flags. I +looked all around, and saw nothing. Now I +know the person must have already climbed up +on the fountain and gotten into the shadow of +the statue—just as I wanted to do.” +</p> +<p> +“Was there really somebody there?” demanded +Madge. +</p> +<p> +“How do you think I got into the fountain, if +not?” snapped Sarah Fish. +</p> +<p> +“Fell in.” +</p> +<p> +“I did not!” cried Sarah. “I was pushed.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Did She Fall, or Was She Pushed?’” giggled +Madge. “Sounds like a moving picture +title.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15'></a>15</span> +</p> +<p> +“You can laugh,” scoffed Sarah. “I wonder +what you’d have done?” +</p> +<p> +“Got just as wet as you did, most likely,” said +Ruth, calming the troubled waters. “Do go on, +Sarah. So you really <em>saw</em> somebody?” +</p> +<p> +“And felt somebody. When I climbed up to +get a footing beside the sitting figure, so that the +girls would not see me, somebody shoved me—with +both hands—right into the fountain.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s when you squalled?” asked Madge. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, indeed! And I rolled out of the fountain +just as the—the person who pushed me, +tumbled down off the pedestal and ran.” +</p> +<p> +“For pity’s sake!” ejaculated Ruth. “Do tell +us who it was, Sarah.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you think I would if I could?” responded +Sarah, trying to wring the water out of +her narrow skirt. +</p> +<p> +Through the gloom appeared another figure—the +too, too solid figure of Jennie Stone. +</p> +<p> +“Oh—dear—me! Oh—dear—me!” she +panted. And then seeing Sarah Fish dripping +there on the walk, Heavy fell upon the steps and +giggled. “Oh, Sarah!” she gasped. “For once, +your appearance fits your name, all right. You +look like a fish out of its element.” +</p> +<p> +“Laugh——” +</p> +<p> +“I have to,” responded Heavy. +</p> +<p> +“Well, if it were you——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16'></a>16</span> +</p> +<p> +“I know. I’d be floundering there in the water +yet.” +</p> +<p> +“But tell me!” cried Ruth, under her breath. +“Was it a girl who pushed you into the fountain, +Sarah?” +</p> +<p> +“It wore skirts—I’m sure of that, at least,” +grumbled Sarah. +</p> +<p> +“But it ran faster than any girl I ever saw +run,” vouchsafed Heavy. “<em>Did</em> you see her just +skimming across the campus toward the main +building? Like the wind!” +</p> +<p> +“It must be one of our girls,” declared Madge. +</p> +<p> +“All right,” said Heavy. “But if so, it’s a +girl I never saw run before. You can’t tell me.” +</p> +<p> +“You had better go in and get off your clothes, +Sarah,” advised Ruth. Then she looked at +Madge. Madge was one of the oldest girls at +Briarwood. “Let’s go and see if we can find +the girl,” Ruth suggested. +</p> +<p> +“I’m game,” cried Madge, as the other stragglers +mounted the steps and disappeared behind +the dormitory building door. +</p> +<p> +Both girls hurried down the walk under the +trees to the main building. In one end of this +Mrs. Tellingham and the Doctor had their abode. +In the other end was the dining-room, with the +kitchens and other offices in the basement. Besides, +Tony Foyle, who was chief man-of-all-work +about the Hall, and his wife, who was cook, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17'></a>17</span> +had their living rooms in the basement of this +building. +</p> +<p> +Ruth and Madge hoped to investigate the matter +of the mysterious marauder without arousing +the little old Irishman, but already they saw his +lantern behind the grated window in the front +basement, and, as the two girls came nearer, they +heard him grumblingly unchain the door. +</p> +<p> +“Bad ‘cess to ’em! I seen ’em cavortin’ across +the campus, I tell ye, Mary Ann! There’s wan +of thim down here in the airy——” +</p> +<p> +It was evident that the old couple had been +aroused, and that Tony was talking to his wife, +who remained in the bedchamber. Ruth seized +Madge’s wrist and whispered in her ear: +</p> +<p> +“You run around one way, and I’ll go the +other. There must be <em>somebody</em> about, for Tony +saw her——” +</p> +<p> +“If it <em>is</em> a girl.” +</p> +<p> +“Both Sarah and Heavy say it is. I’m not +afraid,” declared Ruth, and she started off alone +at once. +</p> +<p> +Madge disappeared around the corner. Ruth +had darted into the heavily shaded space between +the end of the main building and the next +brick structure. There were no lights here, but +there was a gas lamp on a post beyond the far +corner, and before she was half way to it, she saw +a shadow flit across the illuminated space about +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18'></a>18</span> +this post, and disappear behind a clump of snowball +bushes. +</p> +<p> +Ruth ran swiftly forward, dodged around the +other end of the clump of thick bushes, and suddenly +collided with somebody who uttered a muffled +scream. Ruth grabbed the girl by both +shoulders and held on. +</p> +<p> +It was like trying to hold a wildcat. The girl, +who was considerably smaller, and far slighter +than Ruth, struggled madly to escape. She did +not say a word at first, only straining to get away +from Ruth’s strong grip. +</p> +<p> +“Now stop! now wait!” panted Ruth. “I +want to know who you are——” +</p> +<p> +The other tugged her best, but the girl of the +Red Mill was very strong for her age, and she +held on. +</p> +<p> +“Stop!” panted Ruth again. “If you make +a noise, you’ll bring old Tony here—and then you +<em>will</em> be in trouble. I want to know who you are +and what you were doing down there at the fountain—and +why you pushed Sarah into the water?” +</p> +<p> +“And I’d like to push <em>you</em> in!” ejaculated the +other girl, suddenly. “You let go of me, or I’ll +scratch you!” +</p> +<p> +“You can’t,” replied Ruth, firmly. “I’m holding +you too tight.” +</p> +<p> +“Then I’ll bite you!” vowed the other. +</p> +<p> +“Why—you’re a regular wild girl,” exclaimed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19'></a>19</span> +Ruth. “You stop struggling, or I’ll shout for +help, and then Tony will come running.” +</p> +<p> +“D—don’t give me away,” gasped the +strange girl, suddenly ceasing her struggles. +</p> +<p> +“Do you belong here?” demanded Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Belong here? Naw! I don’t belong nowheres. +An’ you better lemme go, Miss.” +</p> +<p> +“Why—you <em>are</em> a strange girl,” said Ruth, +greatly amazed. “You can’t be one of us Briarwoods.” +</p> +<p> +“That ain’t my name a-tall,” whispered the +frightened girl. “My name’s Raby.” +</p> +<p> +“But what were you doing over there at the +fountain?” +</p> +<p> +“Gettin’ a drink. Was <em>that</em> any harm?” demanded +the girl, sharply. “I’d found some dry +pieces of bread the cook had put on top of a +box there by the back door. I reckoned she +didn’t want the bread, and <em>I</em> did.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear me!” whispered Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“And dry bread’s dry eatin’,” said the strange +girl. “I had ter have a drink o’ water to wash +it down. And jest as I got down into that little +place where I seed the fountain this afternoon——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, my, dear!” gasped Ruth. “Have you +been lurking about the school all that time and +never came and asked good old Mary Ann for +something decent to eat?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20'></a>20</span> +</p> +<p> +“Huh! mebbe she’d a drove me off. Or mebbe +she’d done worse to me,” said the other, quickly. +“They beat me again day ’fore yesterday——” +</p> +<p> +“Who beat you?” demanded Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Them Perkinses. Now! don’t you go for to +tell I said that. I don’t want to go back to ’em—and +their house ain’t such a fur ways from here. +If that cook—or any other grown folk—seen +me, they’d want to send me back. I know ’em!” +exclaimed the girl, bitterly. “But mebbe you’ll +be decent about it, and keep your mouth shut.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! I won’t tell a soul,” murmured Ruth. +“But I’m so sorry. Only dry bread and +water—” +</p> +<p> +“Huh! it’ll keep a feller alive,” said this +strangely spoken girl. “I ain’t no softie. Now, +you lemme go, will yer? My! but you <em>are</em> +strong.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll let you go. But I do want to help you. +I want to know more about you—<em>all</em> about you. +But if Tony comes——” +</p> +<p> +“That’s his lantern. I see it. He’s a-comin’,” +gasped the other, trying to wriggle free. +</p> +<p> +“Where will you stay to-night?” asked Ruth, +anxiously. +</p> +<p> +“I gotter place. It’s warm and dry. I stayed +there las’ night. Come! you lemme go.” +</p> +<p> +“But I want to help you——” +</p> +<p> +“‘Twon’t help me none to git me cotched.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21'></a>21</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I know it! Wait! Meet me somewhere +near here to-morrow morning—will you? I’ll +bring some money with me. I’ll help you.” +</p> +<p> +“Say! ain’t you foolin’?” demanded the other, +seemingly startled by the fact that Ruth wished +to help her. +</p> +<p> +“No. I speak the truth. I will help you.” +</p> +<p> +“Then I’ll meet you—but you won’t tell nobody?” +</p> +<p> +“Not a soul?” +</p> +<p> +“Cross yer heart?” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t do such foolish things,” said Ruth. +“If I say I’ll do a thing, I will do it.” +</p> +<p> +“All right. What time’ll I see you?” +</p> +<p> +“Ten o’clock.” +</p> +<p> +“Aw-right,” agreed the strange girl. “I’ll be +across the road from that path that’s bordered +by them cedar trees——” +</p> +<p> +“The Cedar Walk?” +</p> +<p> +“Guess so.” +</p> +<p> +“I shall be there. And will you?” +</p> +<p> +“Huh! I kin keep my word as well as you +kin,” said the girl, sharply. Then she suddenly +broke away from Ruth and ran. Tony Foyle +came blundering around the corner of the house +and Ruth, much excited, slipped away from the +brush clump and ran as fast as she could to meet +Madge Steele. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! is that you, Ruth?” exclaimed the senior, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22'></a>22</span> +when Ruth ran into her arms. “Tony’s out. +We had better go back to bed, or he’ll report us +to Mrs. Tellingham in the morning. I don’t +know where the strange girl could have gone.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth did not say a word. Madge did not ask +her, and the girl of the Red Mill allowed her +friend to think that her own search had been +quite as unsuccessful. But, as Ruth looked at it, +it was not <em>her</em> secret. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23'></a>23</span><a name='chIII' id='chIII'></a>CHAPTER III—SADIE RABY’S STORY</h2> +<p> +Ruth did not sleep at all well that night. +Luckily, Helen had nothing on <em>her</em> mind or conscience, +or she must have been disturbed by Ruth’s +tossing and wakefulness. The other two girls +in the big quartette room—Mercy Curtis and +Ann Hicks—were likewise unaware of Ruth’s +restlessness. +</p> +<p> +The girl of the Red Mill felt that she could +take nobody into her confidence regarding the +strange girl who said her name was Raby. Perhaps +Ruth had no right to aid the girl if she was +a runaway; yet there must be some very strong +reason for making a girl prefer practical starvation +to the shelter of “them Perkinses.” +</p> +<p> +Bread and water! The thought of the child +being so hungry that she had eaten discarded, +dry bread, washed down with water from the +fountain in the campus, brought tears to Ruth’s +eyes. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! I wish I knew what was best to do +for her,” thought Ruth. “Should I tell Mrs. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24'></a>24</span> +Tellingham? Or, mightn’t I get some of the +girls interested in her? Dear Helen has plenty +of money, and she is just as tender-hearted as +she can be.” +</p> +<p> +Yet Ruth had given her promise to take nobody +into her confidence about the half-wild girl; +and, with Ruth Fielding, “a promise was a +promise!” +</p> +<p> +In the morning, there was soon a buzz of excitement +all over the school regarding the strange +happening at the fountain on the campus. One +girl whispered it to another, and the tale spread +like wildfire. However, the teachers and the +principal did not hear of the affair. +</p> +<p> +Ruth’s lips, she decided, were sealed for the +present regarding the mysterious girl who had +pushed Sarah Fish into what Heavy declared +was “her proper element.” The wildest and most +improbable stories and suspicions were circulated +before assembly hour, regarding the Unknown. +</p> +<p> +There was so much said, and so many questions +asked, in the quartette room where Ruth was located, +that she felt like running away herself. +But at mail time Madge Steele burst into the +dormitory “charged to the muzzle,” as The Fox +expressed it, with a new topic of conversation. +</p> +<p> +“What do you think, girls? Oh! what do +you think?” she cried. “We’re going to live +at Sunrise Farm.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25'></a>25</span> +</p> +<p> +“Ha! you ask us a question and answer it in +the same breath,” said Mercy, with a snap. “Now +you’ve spilled the beans and we don’t care anything +about it at all.” +</p> +<p> +“You <em>do</em> care,” declared Madge. “I ask <em>you</em> +first of all, Mercy. I invite every one of you for +the last week in June and the first two weeks of +July at Sunrise Farm——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, wait!” exclaimed Mary Cox, otherwise +“The Fox.” “Do begin at the beginning. I, +for one, never heard of Sunrise Farm before.” +</p> +<p> +“I—I believe <em>I</em> have,” said Ruth slowly. “But +I don’t suppose it can be the same farm Madge +means. It is a big stock farm and it’s not many +miles from Darrowtown where I—I used to live +once. <em>That</em> farm belonged to a family named +Benson——” +</p> +<p> +“And a family named Steele owns it now,” +put in Madge, promptly. “It’s the very same +farm. It’s a big place—five hundred acres. It’s +on a big, flat-topped hill. Father has been negotiating +for the other farms around about, and +has gotten options on most of them, too. He’s +been doing it very quietly. +</p> +<p> +“Now he says that the old house on the main +farm is in good enough shape for us to live there +this summer, while he builds a bigger house. +And you shall all come with us—all you eight +girls—the Brilliant Octette of Briarwood Hall. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26'></a>26</span> +</p> +<p> +“And Bob will get Helen’s brother, and Busy +Izzy; and Belle shall invite her brothers if she +likes, and——” +</p> +<p> +“Say! are you figuring on having a standing +army there?” demanded Mercy. +</p> +<p> +“That’s all right. There is room. The old +garret has been made over into two great dormitories——” +</p> +<p> +“And you’ve been keeping all this to yourself, +Madge Steele?” cried Helen. “What a nice +girl you are. It sounds lovely.” +</p> +<p> +“And your mother and father will wish we +had never arrived, after we’ve been there two +days,” declared Heavy. “By the way, do they +know I eat three square meals each day?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes. And that if you are hungry, you get up +in your sleep and find the pantry,” giggled The +Fox. +</p> +<p> +“Might as well have all the important details +understood right at the start,” said Heavy, firmly. +</p> +<p> +“If you’ll all say you’ll come,” said Madge, +smiling broadly, “we’ll just have the lov-li-est +time!” +</p> +<p> +“But we’ll have to write home for permission,” +Lluella Fairfax ventured. +</p> +<p> +“Of course we shall,” chimed in Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Then do so at once,” commanded the senior. +“You see, this will be my graduation party. No +more Briarwood for me after this June, and I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27'></a>27</span> +don’t know what I shall do when I go to Poughkeepsie +next fall and leave all you ‘Infants’ behind +here——” +</p> +<p> +“<em>Infants!</em> Listen to her!” shouted Belle +Tingley. “Get out of here!” and under a shower +of sofa pillows Madge Steele had to retire from +the room. +</p> +<p> +Ruth slipped away easily after that, for the +other girls were gabbling so fast over the invitation +for the early summer vacation, that they +did not notice her departure. +</p> +<p> +This was the hour she had promised to meet +the strange girl in whom she had taken such a +great interest the night before—it was between +the two morning recitation hours. +</p> +<p> +She ran down past the end of the dormitory +building into the head of the long serpentine path, +known as the Cedar Walk. The lines of closely +growing cedars sheltered her from observation +from any of the girls’ windows. +</p> +<p> +The great bell in the clock tower boomed out +ten strokes as Ruth reached the muddy road at +the end of the walk. Nobody was in sight. Ruth +looked up and down. Then she walked a little +way in both directions to see if the girl she had +come to meet was approaching. +</p> +<p> +“I—I am afraid she isn’t going to keep her +word,” thought Ruth. “And yet—somehow—she +seemed so frank and honest——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28'></a>28</span> +</p> +<p> +She heard a shrill, but low whistle, and the +sound made her start and turn. She faced a +thicket of scrubby bushes across the road. Suddenly +she saw a face appear from behind this +screen—a girl’s face. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! Is it you?” cried Ruth, starting in +that direction. +</p> +<p> +“Cheese it! don’t yell it out. Somebody’ll hear +you,” said the girl, hoarsely. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear me! you have a dreadful cold,” +urged Ruth, darting around the clump of brush +and coming face to face with the strange girl. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, <em>that</em> don’t give me so much worry,” said +the Raby girl. “Aw—My goodness! Is that for +<em>me</em>?” +</p> +<p> +Ruth had unfolded a paper covered parcel she +carried. There were sandwiches, two apples, a +piece of cake, and half a box of chocolate candies. +Ruth had obtained these supplies with some difficulty. +</p> +<p> +“I didn’t suppose you would have any breakfast,” +said Ruth, softly. “You sit right down on +that dry log and eat. Don’t mind me. I—I was +awake most all night worrying about you being +out here, hungry and alone.” +</p> +<p> +The girl had begun to eat ravenously, and now, +with her mouth full, she gazed up at her new +friend’s face with a suddenness that made Ruth +pause. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29'></a>29</span> +</p> +<p> +“Say!” said the girl, with difficulty. “You’re +all right. I seen you come down the path alone, +but reckoned I’d better wait and see if you didn’t +have somebody follerin’ on behind. Ye might +have give me away.” +</p> +<p> +“Why! I told you I would tell nobody.” +</p> +<p> +“Aw, yes—I know. Mebbe I’d oughter have +believed ye; but I dunno. Lots of folks has +fooled me. Them Perkinses was as soft as butter +when they came to take me away from the orphanage. +But now they treat me as mean as dirt—yes, +they do!” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear me! So you haven’t any mother +or father?” +</p> +<p> +“Not a one,” confessed the other. “Didn’t I +tell you I was took from an orphanage? Willie +and Dickie was taken away by other folks. I +wisht somebody would ha’ taken us all three together; +but I’m mighty glad them Perkinses +didn’t git the kids.” +</p> +<p> +She sighed with present contentment, and wiped +her fingers on her skirt. For some moments Ruth +had remained silent, listening to her. Now she +had for the first time the opportunity of examining +the strange girl. +</p> +<p> +It had been too dark for her to see much of +her the night before. Now the light of day revealed +a very unkempt and not at all attractive +figure. She might have been twelve—possibly +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30'></a>30</span> +fourteen. She was slight for her age, but she +might be stronger than she appeared to Ruth. +Certainly she was vigorous enough. +</p> +<p> +She had black hair which was in a dreadful +tangle. Her complexion was naturally dark, and +she had a deep layer of tan, and over that quite +a thick layer of dirt. Her hands and wrists were +stained and dirty, too. +</p> +<p> +She wore no hat, raw as the weather was. Her +ragged dress was an old faded gingham; over it +she wore a three-quarter length coat of some +indeterminate, shoddy material, much soiled, and +shapeless as a mealsack. Her shoes and stockings +were in keeping with the rest of her outfit. +</p> +<p> +Altogether her appearance touched Ruth Fielding +deeply. This Raby girl was an orphan. Ruth +remembered keenly the time when the loss of her +own parents was still a fresh wound. Supposing +no kind friends had been raised up for her? Suppose +there had been no Red Mill for her to go +to? She might have been much the same sort of +castaway as this. +</p> +<p> +“Tell me who you are—tell me all about +yourself—do!” begged the girl of the Red Mill, +sitting down beside the other on the log. “I +am an orphan as well as you, my dear. Really, +I am.” +</p> +<p> +“Was you in the orphanage?” demanded the +Raby girl, quickly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31'></a>31</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh, no. I had friends——” +</p> +<p> +“You warn’t never a reg’lar orphan, then,” +was the sharp response. +</p> +<p> +“Tell me about it,” urged Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Me an’ the kids was taken to the orphanage +just as soon as Mom died,” said the girl, in quite +a matter-of-fact manner. “Pa died two months +before. It was sudden. But Mom had been sickly +for a long time—I can remember. I was six.” +</p> +<p> +“And how old are you now?” asked Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Twelve and a half. They puts us out to work +at twelve anyhow, so them Perkinses got me,” +explained the child. “I was pretty sharp and +foxy when we went to the orphanage. The kids +was only two and a half——” +</p> +<p> +“Both of them?” cried Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Yep. They’re twins, Willie and Dickie is. +An’ awful smart—an’ pretty before they lopped +off their curls at the orphanage. I was glad Mom +was dead then,” said the girl, nodding. “She’d +been heart-broke to see ’em at first without their +long curls. +</p> +<p> +“I dunno now—not rightly—just what’s become +of ’em,” went on the girl. “Mebbe they +come back to the orphanage. The folks that took +’em was nice enough, I guess, but the man thought +two boys would be too much for his wife to take +care of. She was a weakly lookin’ critter. +</p> +<p> +“But the matron always said they shouldn’t +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32'></a>32</span> +go away for keeps, unless they went together. +My goodness me! they’d never be happy apart,” +said the strange girl, wagging her head confidentially. +“And they’re only nine now. There’s +three years yet for the matron to find them a good +home. Ye see, folks take young orphans on trial. +I wisht them Perkinses had taken <em>me</em> on trial and +then had sent me back. Or, I wisht they’d let the +orphans take folks on trial instead of the other +way ’round.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, it must be very hard!” murmured Ruth. +“And you and your little brothers had to be separated?’ +</p> +<p> +“Yep. And Willie and Dickie liked their sister +Sade a heap,” and the girl suddenly +“knuckled” her eyes with her dirty hand to wipe +away the tears. “Huh! I’m a big baby, ain’t I? +Well! that’s how it is.” +</p> +<p> +“And you really have run away from the people +that took you from the orphanage, Sadie?” +</p> +<p> +“Betcher! So would you. Mis’ Perkins is +awful cross, an’ he’s crosser! I got enough——” +</p> +<p> +“Wouldn’t they take you back at the orphanage?” +</p> +<p> +“Nope. No runaways there. I’ve seen other +girls come back and they made ’em go right away +again with the same folks. You see, there’s a +Board, or sumpin’; an’ the Board finds out all +about the folks that take away the orphans in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33'></a>33</span> +first place. Then they won’t never own up that +they was fooled, that Board won’t. They allus +say it’s the kids’ fault if they ain’t suited.” +</p> +<p> +Suddenly the girl jumped up and peered through +the bushes. Ruth had heard the thumping of +horses’ hoofs on the wet road. +</p> +<p> +“My goodness!” gasped Sadie Raby. +“Here’s ol’ Perkins hisself. He’s come clean +over this road to look for me. Don’t you tell +him——” +</p> +<p> +She seized Ruth’s wrist with her claw-like little +hand. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you be afraid,” said Ruth. “And take +this.” She thrust a closely-folded dollar bill into +the girl’s grimy fingers. “I wish it was more. I’ll +come here again to-morrow——” +</p> +<p> +The other had darted into the woods ere she +had ceased speaking. Somebody shouted +“Whoa!” in a very harsh voice, and then a +heavy pair of cowhide boots landed solidly in +the road. +</p> +<p> +“I see ye, ye little witch!” exclaimed the harsh +voice. “Come out o’ there before I tan ye with +this whip!” and the whip in question snapped +viciously as the speaker pounded violently through +the clump of bushes, right upon the startled Ruth. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34'></a>34</span><a name='chIV' id='chIV'></a>CHAPTER IV—“THEM PERKINSES”</h2> +<p> +It was a fact that Ruth crouched back behind +the log, fearful of the wrathful farmer. He was +a big, coarse, high-booted, red-faced man, and +he swung and snapped the blacksnake whip he +carried as though he really intended using the +cruel instrument upon the tender body of the girl, +whose figure he had evidently seen dimly through +the bushes. +</p> +<p> +“Come out ’o that!” he bawled, striding toward +the log, and making the whiplash whistle +once more in the air. +</p> +<p> +Ruth leaped up, screaming with fear. “Don’t +you touch me, sir! Don’t you dare!” she cried, +and ran around the bushes out in to the road. +</p> +<p> +The blundering farmer followed her, still snapping +the whip. Perhaps he had been drinking; at +least, it was certain he was too angry to see the +girl very well until they were both in the road. +</p> +<p> +Then he halted, and added: +</p> +<p> +“I’ll be whipsawed if that’s the gal!” +</p> +<p> +“I am <em>not</em> the girl—not the girl you want—poor +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35'></a>35</span> +thing!” gasped Ruth. “Oh! you are horrid—terrible——” +</p> +<p> +“Shut up, ye little fool!” exclaimed the man, +harshly. “You know where Sade is, then, I’ll be +bound.” +</p> +<p> +“How do you know——?” +</p> +<p> +“Ha! ye jest the same as told me,” he returned, +grinning suddenly and again snapping the whip. +“You can tell me where that runaway’s gone.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know. Even if I did, I would not tell +you, sir,” declared Ruth, recovering some of her +natural courage now. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t ye sass me—nor don’t ye lie to me,” +and this time he swung the cruel whip, until the +long lash whipped around her skirts about at a +level with her knees. It did not hurt her, but Ruth +cringed and shrieked aloud again. +</p> +<p> +“Stop yer howling!” commanded Perkins. +“Tell me about Sade Raby. Where’s she gone?” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know.” +</p> +<p> +“Warn’t she right there in them bushes with +you?” +</p> +<p> +“I shan’t tell you anything more,” declared +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Ye won’t?” +</p> +<p> +The brute swung the blacksnake—this time in +earnest. It cracked, and then the snapper laid +along the girl’s forearm as though it were seared +with a hot iron. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36'></a>36</span> +</p> +<p> +Ruth shrieked again. The pain was more +than she could bear in silence. She turned to +flee up the Cedar Walk, but Perkins shouted at +her to stand. +</p> +<p> +“You try ter run, my beauty, and I’ll cut ye +worse than that,” he promised. “You tell me +about Sade Raby.” +</p> +<p> +Suddenly there came a hail, and Ruth turned +in hope of assistance. Old Dolliver’s stage came +tearing along the road, his bony horses at a hand-gallop. +The old man, whom the girls of Briarwood +Hall called “Uncle Noah,” brought his +horses—and the Ark—to a sudden halt. +</p> +<p> +“What yer doin’ to that gal, Sim Perkins?” +the old man demanded. +</p> +<p> +“What’s that to you, Dolliver?” +</p> +<p> +“You’ll find out mighty quick. Git out o’ here +or you’ll git into trouble. Did he hurt you, Miss +Ruth?” +</p> +<p> +“No-o—not much,” stammered Ruth, who desired +nothing so much as to get way from +the awful Mr. Perkins. Poor Sadie Raby! No +wonder she had been forced to run away from +“them Perkinses.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll see you jailed yet, Sim, for some of your +meanness,” said the old stage driver. “And you’ll +git there quick if you bother Mis’ Tellingham’s +gals——” +</p> +<p> +“I didn’t know she was one ‘o them tony school +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37'></a>37</span> +gals,” growled Perkins, getting aboard his wagon +again. +</p> +<p> +“Well, she is—an’ one ‘o the best of the lot,” +said Dolliver, and he smiled comfortably at +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Huh! whad-she wanter be in comp’ny of that +brat ’o mine, then?” demanded Perkins, gathering +up his reins. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! are you hunting that orphanage gal ye +took to raise? I heard she couldn’t stand you +and Ma Perkins no longer,” Dolliver said, with +sarcasm. +</p> +<p> +“Never you mind. I’ll git her,” said Perkins, +and whipped up his horses. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear, me!” cried Ruth, when he had +gone. “What a terrible man, Mr. Dolliver.” +</p> +<p> +“Yah!” scoffed the old driver. “Jest a bag +of wind. Mean as can be, but a big coward. +Meanes’ folks around here, them Perkinses air.” +</p> +<p> +“But why were they allowed to have that poor +girl, then?” demanded Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“They went a-fur off to git her. Clean to Harburg. +Nobody knowed ’em there, I s’pose. Why, +Ma Perkins kin act like butter wouldn’t melt in +her mouth, if she wants to. But I sartainly am +sorry for that poor little Sade Raby, as they call +her.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! I do pity her so,” said Ruth, sadly. +</p> +<p> +The old man’s eyes twinkled. Old Dolliver +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38'></a>38</span> +was sly! “Then ye <em>do</em> know suthin’ about Sade—jes’ +as Perkins said?” +</p> +<p> +“She was here just now. I gave her something +to eat—and a little money. You won’t tell, Mr. +Dolliver?” +</p> +<p> +“Huh! No. But dunno’s ye’d oughter helped +a runaway. That’s agin’ the law, ye see.” +</p> +<p> +“Would the law give that poor girl back to +those ugly people?” +</p> +<p> +“I s’pect so,” said Dolliver, scratching his +head. “Ye see, Sim Perkins an’ his wife air folks +ye can’t really go agin’—not <em>much</em>. Sim owns a +good farm, an’ pays his taxes, an’ ain’t a bad +neighbor. But they’ve had trouble before naow +with orphans. But before, ’twas boys.” +</p> +<p> +“I just hope they all ran away!” cried Ruth, +with emphasis. +</p> +<p> +“Wal—they did, by golly!” ejaculated the +stage driver, preparing to drive on. +</p> +<p> +“And if you see this poor girl, you won’t tell +anybody, will you, Mr. Dolliver?” pleaded Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“I jes’ sha’n’t see her,” said the man, his little +eyes twinkling. “But you take my advice, Miss +Fielding—don’t <em>you</em> see her, nuther!” +</p> +<p> +Ruth ran back to the school then—it was time. +She could not think of her lessons properly because +of her pity for Sadie Raby. Suppose that +horrid man should find the poor girl! +</p> +<p> +Every time Ruth saw the red welt on her arm, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39'></a>39</span> +where the whiplash had touched her, she wondered +how many times Perkins had lashed Sadie +when he was angry. It was a dreadful thought. +</p> +<p> +Although she had promised Sadie to keep her +secret, Ruth wondered if she might not do the +girl some good by telling Mrs. Tellingham about +her. Ruth was not afraid of the dignified principal +of Briarwood Hall—she knew too well Mrs. +Grace Tellingham’s good heart. +</p> +<p> +She determined at least that if Sadie appeared +at the end of the Cedar Walk the next day she +would try to get the runaway girl to go with her +to the principal’s office. Surely the girl should +not run wild in the woods and live any way and +how she could—especially so early in the season, +for there was still frost at night. +</p> +<p> +When Ruth ran down the long walk between +the cedar trees the next forenoon at ten, there +was nobody peering through the bushes where +Sadie Raby had watched the day before. Ruth +went up and down the road, into the woods a +little way, too—and called, and called. No reply. +Nothing answered but a chattering squirrel and +a jay who seemed to object to any human being +disturbing the usual tenor of the woods’ life +thereabout. +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps she’ll come this afternoon,” thought +Ruth, and she hid the package of food she had +brought, and went back to her classes. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40'></a>40</span> +</p> +<p> +In the afternoon she had no better luck. The +runaway did not appear. The food had not been +touched. Ruth left the packet, hoping sadly that +the girl might find it. +</p> +<p> +The next morning she went again. She even +got up an hour earlier than usual and slipped out +ahead of the other girls. The food had been disturbed—oh, +yes! But by a dog or some “varmint.” +Sadie had not been to the rendezvous. +</p> +<p> +Hoping against hope, Ruth Fielding tacked a +note in an envelope to the log on which she and +Sadie had sat side by side. That was all she +could do, save to go each day for a time to see +if the strange girl had found the note. +</p> +<p> +There came a rain and the letter was turned +to pulp. Then Ruth Fielding gave up hope of +ever seeing Sadie Raby again. Old Dolliver told +her that the orphan had never returned to “them +Perkinses.” For this Ruth might be thankful, if +for nothing more. +</p> +<p> +The busy days and weeks passed. All the girls +of Ruth’s clique were writing back and forth to +their homes to arrange for the visit they expected +to make to Madge Steele’s summer home—Sunrise +Farm. The senior was forever singing the +praises of her father’s new acquisition. Mr. +Steele had closed contracts to buy several of the +neighboring farms, so that, altogether, he hoped +to have more than a thousand acres in his estate. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41'></a>41</span> +</p> +<p> +“And, don’t you <em>dare</em> disappoint me, Ruthie +Fielding,” cried Madge, shaking her playfully. +“We won’t have any good time without you, and +you haven’t said you’d go yet!” +</p> +<p> +“But I can’t say so until I know myself,” Ruth +told her. “Uncle Jabez——” +</p> +<p> +“That uncle of yours must be a regular ogre, +just as Helen says.” +</p> +<p> +“What does Mercy say about him?” asked +Ruth, with a quiet smile. “Mercy knows him +fully as well, and she has a sharp tongue.” +</p> +<p> +“Humph! that’s odd, too. She doesn’t seem +to think your Uncle Jabez is a very harsh man. +She calls him ‘Dusty Miller,’ I know.” +</p> +<p> +“Uncle Jabez has a prickly rind, I guess,” said +Ruth. “But the meat inside is sweet. Only he’s +old-fashioned and he can’t get used to new-fashioned +ways. He doesn’t see any reason for my +‘traipsing around’ so much. I ought to be at the +mill between schooltimes, helping Aunt Alvirah—so +he says. And I am afraid he is right. I feel +condemned——” +</p> +<p> +“You’re too tender-hearted. Helen says he’s +as rich as can be and might hire a dozen girls to +help ‘Aunt Alviry’.” +</p> +<p> +“He might, but he wouldn’t,” returned Ruth, +smiling. “I can’t tell you yet for sure that I +can go to Sunrise Farm. I’d love to. I’ve always +heard ’twas a beautiful place.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42'></a>42</span> +</p> +<p> +“And it is, indeed! It’s going to be the finest +gentleman’s estate in that section, when father +gets through with it. He’s going to make it a +great, big, paying farm—so he says. If it wasn’t +for that man Caslon, we’d own the whole hill +all the way around, as well as the top of it.” +</p> +<p> +“Who’s that?” asked Ruth, surprised that +Madge should speak so sharply about the unknown +Caslon. +</p> +<p> +“Why, he owns one of the farms adjoining. +Father’s bought all the neighbors up but Caslon. +<em>He</em> won’t sell. But I reckon father will find a +way to make him, before he gets through. Father +usually carries his point,” added Madge, with +much pride in Mr. Steele’s business acumen. +</p> +<p> +Uncle Jabez had not yet said Ruth could go +with the crowd to the Steeles’ summer home; +Aunt Alvirah wrote that he was “studyin’ about +it.” But there was so much to do at Briarwood +as the end of the school year approached, that +the girl of the Red Mill had little time to worry +about the subject. +</p> +<p> +Although Ruth and Helen Cameron were far +from graduation themselves, they both had parts +of some prominence in the exercises which were +to close the year at Briarwood Hall. Ruth was +in a quartette selected from the Glee Club for +some special music, and Helen had a small violin +solo part in one of the orchestral numbers. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43'></a>43</span> +</p> +<p> +Not many of the juniors, unless they belonged +to either the school orchestra or the Glee Club, +would appear to much advantage at graduation. +The upper senior class was in the limelight—and +Madge Steele was the only one of Ruth’s close +friends who was to receive her diploma. +</p> +<p> +“We who aren’t seniors have to sit around +like bumps on a log,” growled Heavy. “Might +as well go home for good the day before.” +</p> +<p> +“You should have learned to play, or sing, or +something,” advised one of the other girls, laughing +at Heavy’s apparently woebegone face. +</p> +<p> +“Did you ever hear me try to sing, Lluella?” +demanded the plump young lady. “I like music +myself—I’m very fond of it, no matter how it +sounds! But I can’t even stand my own chest-tones.” +</p> +<p> +Preparations for the great day went on apace. +There was to be a professional director for the +augmented orchestra and he insisted, because of +the acoustics of the hall, upon building an elevated +extension to the stage, upon which to stand to +conduct the music. +</p> +<p> +“Gee!” gasped Heavy, when she saw it the +first time. “What’s the diving-board for?” +</p> +<p> +“That’s not a diving-board,” snapped Mercy +Curtis. “It’s the lookout station for the captain +to watch the high C’s.” +</p> +<p> +The bustle and confusion of departure punctuated the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44'></a>44</span> +final day of the term, too. There were +so many girls to say good-bye to for the summer; +and some, of course, would never come back to +Briarwood Hall again—as scholars, at least. +</p> +<p> +In the midst of the excitement Ruth received a +letter in the crabbed hand of dear old Aunt Alvirah. +The old lady enclosed a small money +order, fearing that Ruth might not have all the +money she needed for her home-coming. But the +best item in the letter beside the expression of +Aunt Alvirah’s love, was the statement that +“Your Uncle Jabe, he’s come round to agreeing +you should go to that Sunrise Farm place with +your young friends. I made him let me hire a +tramping girl that came by, and we got the house +all rid up, so when you come home, my pretty, all +you got to do is to visit.” +</p> +<p> +“And I <em>will</em> visit with her—the unselfish old +dear!” Ruth told herself. “Dear me! how very, +very good everybody is to me. But I am afraid +poor Uncle Jabez wouldn’t be so kind if he wasn’t +influenced by Aunt Alvirah.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45'></a>45</span><a name='chV' id='chV'></a>CHAPTER V—“THE TRAMPING GAL”</h2> +<p> +The old clock that had hung in the Red Mill +kitchen from the time of Uncle Jabez Potter’s +grandfather—and that was early time on the Lumano, +indeed!—hesitatingly tolled the hour of +four. +</p> +<p> +Daybreak was just behind the eastern hills. A +light mist swathed the silent current of the river. +Here and there, along the water’s edge, a tall +tree seemed floating in the air, its bole and roots +cut off by the drifting mist. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, it is very, very beautiful here!” sighed +Ruth Fielding, kneeling at the open window and +looking out upon the awakening world—as she +had done many and many another early morning +since first she was given this little gable-windowed +room for her very own. +</p> +<p> +The sweet, clean, cool air breathed in upon her +bare throat and shoulders, revealed through the +lace trimming of her night robe. Ruth loved +linen like other girls, and although Uncle Jabez +gave her spending money with a rather niggardly +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46'></a>46</span> +hand, she and Aunt Alvirah knew how to make +the pennies “go a long way” in purchasing and +making her gowns and undergarments. +</p> +<p> +There lay over a chair, too, a pretty, light blue, +silk trimmed crepe-cloth kimona, with warm, fur-edged +slippers to match, on the floor. The moment +she heard Uncle Jabez rattle the stove-shaker +in the kitchen, Ruth slipped into this robe, +and thrust her bare feet into the slippers. Her +braids she drew over her shoulders—one on +either side—as she hurried out of the little chamber +and down the back stairs. +</p> +<p> +She had arrived home from Briarwood the +night before. For more than eight months she +had seen neither Uncle Jabez nor Aunt Alvirah; +and she had been so tired and sleepy on her arrival +that she had quickly gone to bed. She felt +as though she had scarcely greeted the two old +people. +</p> +<p> +Uncle Jabez was bending over the kitchen +stove. He always looked gray of face, and dusty. +The mill-dust seemed ground into both his clothes +and his complexion. +</p> +<p> +The first the old man knew of her presence, +the arms of Ruth were around his neck. +</p> +<p> +“Ugh-huh?” questioned the old man, raising +up stiffly as the fire began to chatter, the flames +flashing under the lids, and turned to face the girl +who held him so lovingly. “What’s wanted, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47'></a>47</span> +Niece Ruth?” he added, looking at her grimly +under his bristling brows. +</p> +<p> +Ruth was not afraid of his grimness. She had +learned long since that Uncle Jabez was much +softer under the surface than he appeared. He +claimed to be only just to her; but Ruth knew +that his “justice” often leaned toward the side +of mercy. +</p> +<p> +Her mother, Mary Potter, had been the +miller’s favorite niece; when she had married +Ruth’s father, Uncle Jabez had been angry, and +for years the family had been separated. But +when Uncle Jabez had taken Ruth in “just out +of charity,” old Aunt Alvirah had assured the +heartsick girl that the miller was kinder at heart +than he wished people to suppose. +</p> +<p> +“He don’t never let his right hand know what +his left hand doeth,” declared the loyal little old +woman who had been so long housekeeper for +the miller. “He saved me from the poorhouse—yes, +he did!—jest to git all the work out o’ me +he could—to hear him tell it! +</p> +<p> +“But it ain’t so,” quoth Aunt Alvirah, shaking +her head. “He saw a lone ol’ woman turned +out o’ what she’d thought would be her home +till she come to death’s door. An’ so he opened +his house and his hand to her. An’ he’s opened +his house and hand to <em>you</em>, my pretty; and who +knows? mebbe ’twill open wide his heart, too.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48'></a>48</span> +</p> +<p> +Ruth had been hoping the old man’s heart <em>was</em> +open, not only to her, but to the whole world. +She knew that, in secret, Uncle Jabez was helping +to pay Mercy Curtis’s tuition at Briarwood. He +still loved money; he always would love it, in all +probability. But he had learned to “loosen up,” +as Tom Cameron expressed it, in a most astonishing +way. One could not honestly call Uncle Jabez +a miser nowadays. +</p> +<p> +He was miserly in the outward expression of +any affection, however. And that apparent coldness +Ruth Fielding longed to break down. +</p> +<p> +Now the girl, all flushed from her deep sleep, +and smiling, lifted her rosy lips to be kissed. “I +didn’t scarcely say ‘how-do’ to you last night, +Uncle,” she said. “Do tell me you’re glad to +see me back.” +</p> +<p> +“Ha! Ye ain’t minded to stay long, it seems.” +</p> +<p> +“I won’t go to Sunrise Farm if you want me +here, Uncle Jabez,” declared Ruth, still clinging +to him, and with the same smiling light in +her eyes. +</p> +<p> +“Ha! ye don’t mean that,” he grunted. +</p> +<p> +He knew she did. His wrinkled, hard old face +finally began to change. His eyes tried to escape +her gaze. +</p> +<p> +“I just <em>love</em> you, Uncle,” she breathed, softly. +“Won’t—won’t you let me?” +</p> +<p> +“There, there, child!” He tried for a moment to break +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49'></a>49</span> +her firm hold; then he stooped +shamefacedly and touched her fresh lips with his +own. +</p> +<p> +Ruth nestled against his big, strong body, and +clung a moment longer. His rough hand +smoothed her sleek head almost timidly. +</p> +<p> +“There, there!” he grumbled. “You’re gittin’ +to be a big gal, I swow! And what good’s +so much schoolin’ goin’ ter do ye? Other gals +like you air helpin’ in their mothers’ kitchens—or +goin’ to work in the mills at Cheslow. Seems +like a wicked waste of time and money.” +</p> +<p> +But he did not say it so harshly as had been his +wont in the old times. Ruth smiled up at him +again. +</p> +<p> +“Trust me, Uncle,” she said. “The time’ll +come when I’ll prove to you the worth of it. +Give me the education I crave, and I’ll support +myself and pay you all back—with interest! You +see if I don’t.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, well! It’s new-fashioned, I s’pose,” +growled the old man, starting for the mill. “Gals, +as well as boys, is lots more expense now than +they used ter be to raise. The ‘three R’s’ was +enough for us when I was young. +</p> +<p> +“But I won’t stop yer fun. I promised yer +Aunt Alviry I wouldn’t,” he added, with his hand +upon the door-latch. “You kin go to that Sunrise +place for a while, if ye want. Yer Aunt +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50'></a>50</span> +Alviry got a trampin’ gal that came along, ter +help her clean house.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! and isn’t the girl here now?” asked +Ruth, preparing to run back to dress. +</p> +<p> +“Nope. She’s gone on. Couldn’t keep her no +longer. And my! how that young ’un could eat! +Never saw the beat of her,” added Uncle Jabez +as he clumped out in his heavy boots. +</p> +<p> +Ruth heard more about “that trampin’ girl” +when Aunt Alvirah appeared. Before that happened, +however, the newly returned schoolgirl +proved she had not forgotten how to make a +country breakfast. +</p> +<p> +The sliced corned ham was frying nicely; the +potatoes were browning delightfully in another +pan. Fluffy biscuits were ready to take out of +the oven, and the cream was already whipped for +the berries and the coffee. +</p> +<p> +“Gracious me! child alive!” exclaimed the +little old woman, coming haltingly into the room. +“You an’ Jabez air in a conspiracy to spile me—right +from the start. Oh, my back! and oh, my +bones!” and she lowered herself carefully into a +chair. +</p> +<p> +“I did sartain sure oversleep this day. Ben +done the chores? An’ ye air all ready, my pretty? +Jest blow the horn, then, and yer uncle will come +in. My! what a smart leetle housekeeper you be, +Ruth. School ain’t spiled ye a mite.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51'></a>51</span> +</p> +<p> +“Uncle is still afraid it will,” laughed Ruth, +kissing the old woman fondly. +</p> +<p> +“He only <em>says</em> that,” whispered Aunt Alvirah, +with twinkling eyes. “He’s as proud of ye as he +can stick—I know!” +</p> +<p> +“It—it would be nice, if he said so once in a +while,” admitted the girl. +</p> +<p> +After the hearty breakfast was disposed of and +the miller and his hired man had tramped out +again, the old housekeeper and Ruth became more +confidential. +</p> +<p> +“It sartain sure did please me,” said Aunt +Alvirah, “when Jabez let me take in that +trampin’ gal for a week an’ more. He paid her +without a whimper, too. But, she <em>did</em> eat!” +</p> +<p> +“So he said,” chuckled Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Yes. More’n a hired hand in thrashin’ time. +I never seen her beat. But I reckon the poor +little thing was plumb starved. They never feed +’em ha’f enough in them orphan ‘sylums, I don’t +s’pect.” +</p> +<p> +“From an orphanage?” cried Ruth, with sudden +interest born of her remembrance of the +mysterious Sadie Raby. +</p> +<p> +“So I believe. She’d run away, I s’pect. I +hadn’t the heart to blame her. An’ she was close-mouthed +as a clam,” declared Aunt Alvirah. +</p> +<p> +“How did you come to get her?” queried the +interested Ruth. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52'></a>52</span> +</p> +<p> +“She walked right up to the door. She’d been +travelin’ far—ye could see that by her shoes, if +ye could call ’em shoes. I made her take ’em off +by the fire, an’ then I picked ’em up with the +tongs—they was just pulp—and I pitched ’em +onto the ash-heap. +</p> +<p> +“Well, she stayed that night, o’ course. It +was rainin’. Your Uncle Jabez wouldn’t ha’ +turned a dog out in sech weather. But he made +me put her to bed on chairs here. +</p> +<p> +“It was plain she was delighted to have somebody +to talk to—and as that somebody was ‘her +pretty,’ the dear old soul was all the more joyful. +</p> +<p> +“So, one thing led to another,” pursued Aunt +Alvirah, “and I got him to let me keep her to +help rid the house up. You know, you wrote me +to wait till you come home for house-cleanin’. +But I worked Jabez Potter <em>right</em>; I know how to +manage him,” said she, nodding and smiling. +</p> +<p> +“And you didn’t know who the girl was?” +asked Ruth, still curious. “Nothing about her +at all?” +</p> +<p> +“Not much. She was short-tongued, I tell ye. +But I gathered she had been an orphan a long +time and had lived at an institution.” +</p> +<p> +“Not even her name?” asked Ruth, at last. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, yes. She told her name—and it was +her true one, I reckon,” Aunt Alviry said. “It +was Sadie Raby.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53'></a>53</span><a name='chVI' id='chVI'></a>CHAPTER VI—SEEKING THE TRAIL</h2> +<p> +“I might have known that! I might have +known it!” Ruth exclaimed when she heard this. +“And if I’d only written you or Uncle Jabez +about her, maybe you would have kept her till +I came. I wanted to help that girl,” and Ruth +all but shed tears. +</p> +<p> +“Deary, deary me!” cried Aunt Alvirah. +“Tell me all about it, my pretty.” +</p> +<p> +So Ruth related all she knew about the half-wild +girl whose acquaintance she had made at +Briarwood Hall under such peculiar circumstances. +And she told just how Sadie looked +and all about her. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” agreed Aunt Alvirah. “That was the +trampin’ gal sure enough. She was honest, jest +as you say. But your uncle had his doubts. +However, she looked better when she went away +from here.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m glad of that,” Ruth said, heartily. +</p> +<p> +“You know one o’ them old dresses of yours +you wore to Miss Cramp’s school—the one Helen +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54'></a>54</span> +give you?” said old Aunt Alvirah, hesitatingly. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, indeed!” said Ruth. “And how badly +I felt when the girls found out they were ‘hand-me-downs.’ +I’ll never forget them.” +</p> +<p> +“One of them I fitted to that poor child,” +said Aunt Alvirah. “The poor, skinny little +thing. I wisht I could ha’ kep’ her long enough +to put some flesh on her bones.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth hugged the little old woman. “You’re +a dear, Aunty! I bet you fixed her up nice before +she went away.” +</p> +<p> +“Wal, she didn’t look quite sech a tatterdemalion,” +granted Aunt Alvirah. “But I was +sorry for her. I am allus sorry for any young +thing that’s strayin’ about without a home or a +mother. But natcherly Jabez wouldn’t hear to +keepin’ her after the cleanin’ was done. It’s his +<em>nearness</em>, Ruthie; he can’t help it. Some men +chew tobacco, and your Uncle Jabez is <em>close</em>. +It’s their nater. I’d ruther have a stingy man +about, than a tobacco chewin’ man—yes, indeed +I had!” +</p> +<p> +Ruth laughed and agreed with her. Yet she +was very sorry that Sadie Raby, “the tramping +girl,” had been allowed to move on without those +at the Red Mill, who had sheltered her, discovering +her destination. +</p> +<p> +She learned that Sadie had gone to Cheslow—at +least, in that direction—and when Helen came +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55'></a>55</span> +spinning along in one of her father’s cars from +Outlook that afternoon, and wanted to take +Ruth for a drive, the latter begged to ride +“Cheslowward.” +</p> +<p> +“Besides, we both want to see Dr. Davison—and +there’s Mercy’s mother. And Miss Cramp +will be glad to see me, I know; we’ll wait till +her school is out,” Ruth suggested. +</p> +<p> +“You’re boss,” declared her chum. “And +paying calls ‘all by our lonesomes’ will be fun +enough. Tom’s deserted me. He’s gone tramping +with Reno over toward the Wilkins Corner +road—you know, that place where he was hurt +that time, and you and Reno found him,” Helen +concluded. +</p> +<p> +This was “harking back” to the very first +night Ruth had arrived at Cheslow from her old +home at Darrowtown. But she was not likely to +forget it, for through that accident of Master +Tom Cameron’s, she had met this very dear +friend beside her now in the automobile. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear me! and the fun we used to have +when we were little girls—‘member, Ruthie?” +demanded Helen, laughing. “My! isn’t it warm? +Is my face shiny?” +</p> +<p> +“Just a little,” admitted Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Never can keep the shine off,” said Helen, +bitterly. “Here! you take the wheel and let me +find my powder-paper. Tom says he believes I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56'></a>56</span> +smoke cigarettes and roll them myself,” and +Helen giggled. +</p> +<p> +Ruth carefully changed seats with her chum, +who immediately produced the booklet of slips +from her vanity case and rubbed the offending +nose vigorously. +</p> +<p> +“Have a care, Helen! you’ll make it all red,” +urged Ruth, laughing. “You <em>do</em> go at everything +so excitedly. Anybody would think you +were grating a nutmeg.” +</p> +<p> +“Horrid thing! My nose doesn’t look at all +like a nutmeg.” +</p> +<p> +“But it will—if you don’t look out,” laughed +Ruth. “Oh, dear, me! here comes a big wagon. +Do you suppose I can get by it safely?” +</p> +<p> +“If he gives you any room. There! he has +begun to turn out. Now, just skim around +him.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth was careful and slowed down. This did +not suit the fly-away Helen. “Come on!” she +urged. “We’ll never even get to the old doctor’s +house if you don’t hurry.” +</p> +<p> +She began to manipulate the levers herself and +soon they were shooting along the Cheslow road +at a speed that made Ruth’s eyes water. +</p> +<p> +They came safely to the house with the green +lamps before it, and ran in gaily to see their +friend, Dr. Davison. For the moment the good +old gentleman chanced to be busy and waved +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57'></a>57</span> +them into the back office to wait until he was +free. +</p> +<p> +Old Mammy, who presided over the doctor’s +old-fashioned establishment, had spied the girls +and almost immediately the tinkling of ice in a +pitcher announced the approach of one of +Mammy’s pickaninny grandchildren with a supply +of her famous lemonade and a plate of cakes. +</p> +<p> +“Mammy said you done git hungery waitin’,” +declared the grinning, kinky-haired child who presented +herself with the refreshments. “An’ a +drink on one o’ dese yere dusty days is allus +welcome, misses.” +</p> +<p> +Then she giggled, and darted away to the lower +regions of the house, leaving the two chums to +enjoy the goodies. Helen was cheerfully curious, +and had to go looking about the big office, peeking +into the bookcases, looking at the “specimens” +in bottles along the shelf, trying to spell +out and understand the Latin labels on the jars +of drugs. +</p> +<p> +“Miss Nosey!” whispered Ruth, admonishingly. +</p> +<p> +“There you go! hitting my nose again,” sighed +Helen. And then she jumped back and almost +screamed. For in fooling with the knob of a +narrow closet door, it had snapped open, the +door swung outward, and Helen found herself +facing an articulated skeleton! +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58'></a>58</span> +</p> +<p> +“Goodness gracious me!” exclaimed Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, no,” giggled Ruth. “It’s not you at +all. It’s somebody else.” +</p> +<p> +“Funny!” scoffed Helen. Then she laughed, +too. “It’s somebody the doctor’s awfully choice +of. Do you suppose it was his first patient?” +</p> +<p> +“Hush! Suppose he heard you?” +</p> +<p> +“He’d laugh,” returned Helen, knowing the +kindly old physician too well to be afraid of him +in any case. “Now, behave! Don’t say a word. +I’m going to dress him up.” +</p> +<p> +“What?” gasped Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“You’ll see,” said the daring Helen, and she +seized an old hat of the doctor’s from the top +of the bookcase and set it jauntily upon the grinning +skull. +</p> +<p> +“My goodness! doesn’t he look terrible that +way? Oh! I’ll shut the door. He wiggles all +over—<em>just as though he were alive</em>!” +</p> +<p> +Just then they heard the doctor bidding his +caller good-bye, or Helen might have done some +other ridiculous thing. The old gentleman came +in, rubbing his hands, and with his eyes twinkling. +He was a man who had never really grown old, +and he liked to hear the girls tell of their school +experiences, chuckling over their scrapes and +antics with much delight. +</p> +<p> +“And how has my Goody Two-sticks gotten +along this year?” he asked, for he was much +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59'></a>59</span> +interested in Mercy Curtis and her improvement, +both physically and mentally. Had it not been +for the doctor, Mercy might never have gotten +out of her wheelchair, or gone to Briarwood +Hall. +</p> +<p> +“She’s going to beat us all,” Helen declared, +with enthusiasm. “Isn’t she, Ruth?” +</p> +<p> +“She will if we don’t work pretty hard,” admitted +the girl of the Red Mill, who was hoping +herself to be finally among the first few members +of her class at the Hall. “But I would rather +see Mercy win first place, I believe, than anybody +else—unless it is you, Helen.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you fret,” laughed Helen. “You’ll +never see little me at the head of the class—and +you know it.” +</p> +<p> +The two friends did not bore the physician by +staying too long, but after he bade them good-bye +at the door, Helen ran down the path giggling. +</p> +<p> +“What do you suppose he’ll say when he finds +that hat on the skeleton?” she demanded, her +eyes dancing. +</p> +<p> +“He’ll say, ‘That Helen Cameron was in +here—that explains it!’ You can’t fool Dr. +Davison,” laughed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +Ruth had taken Helen into her confidence ere +this about the strange runaway, Sadie Raby, and +during their call at the doctor’s, she had asked +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60'></a>60</span> +that gentleman if he had seen the tramping girl, +after the latter had left the Red Mill. But he had +not. Oddly enough, however, Ruth found some +trace of Sadie at Mercy’s house, where the girls +in the automobile next went to call. +</p> +<p> +Mercy’s mother had taken the girl in for a +night, and fed her. The latter had asked Mr. +Curtis about the trains going west, but he had +sold Sadie no ticket. +</p> +<p> +“She was very reticent,” Mrs. Curtis told +Ruth. “She was so independent and capable-acting, +in spite of her tender years, that I did +not feel as though it was my place to try to stop +her. She seemed to have some destination in +view, but she would not tell me what it was.” +</p> +<p> +“I wonder if that wasn’t what Aunt Alvirah +meant?” queried Ruth, thoughtfully, as she and +Helen drove away. “That Sadie is awfully independent. +I wish you had seen her.” +</p> +<p> +“Maybe she’s going to find her twin brothers +that she told you about,” suggested Helen. “I +wish I <em>had</em> seen her.” +</p> +<p> +“And maybe you’ve guessed it!” cried Ruth. +“But that doesn’t help us find <em>her</em>, for she didn’t +say where Willie and Dickie had been taken +when they were removed from the orphanage.” +</p> +<p> +“Gracious, Ruthie!” exclaimed her chum, +laughing. “You’re always worrying over somebody +else’s troubles.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61'></a>61</span><a name='chVII' id='chVII'></a>CHAPTER VII—WHAT TOM CAMERON SAW</h2> +<p> +Of course, Ruth was not at all sure that she +could do anything for Sadie Raby if she found +her. Perhaps, as Helen said, she was fond of +shouldering other people’s burdens. +</p> +<p> +It did seem to the girl of the Red Mill as +though it were a very dreadful thing for Sadie +to be wandering about the country all alone, and +without means to feed herself, or get anything +like proper shelter. +</p> +<p> +In her secret heart Ruth was thinking that <em>she</em> +might have been as wild and neglected if Uncle +Jabez, with all his crankiness, had not taken her +in and given her a home at the Red Mill. +</p> +<p> +They stopped and saw Ruth’s old school +teacher and then, it being past mid-afternoon, +Helen turned the headlights of the car toward +home again. As the machine slid so smoothly +along the road toward the Lumano and the Red +Mill, Ruth suddenly uttered a cry and pointed +ahead. A huge dog had leaped out of a side +road and stood, barring their way and barking. +</p> +<p> +“Reno! dear old fellow!” Ruth said, as Helen +shut off the power. “He knows us.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62'></a>62</span> +</p> +<p> +“Tom must be near, then. That’s the Wilkins +Corner road,” Helen observed. +</p> +<p> +As the car came to a halt and the big mastiff +tried to jump in and caress the girls with his +tongue—poor fellow! he knew no better, though +Helen scolded him—Ruth stood up and shouted +for her friend’s twin brother. +</p> +<p> +“Tom! Tom! A rescue! a rescue! We’re +being eaten up by a great four-legged beast—get +down, Reno! Oh, don’t!” +</p> +<p> +She fell back in her seat, laughing merrily, and +keeping the big dog off with both hands. A +cheery whistle came from the wood. Reno +started and turned to look. He had had his master +back for only a day, but Tom’s word was +always law to the big mastiff. +</p> +<p> +“Down, sir!” sang out Tom Cameron, and +then he burst into view. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Tom! what a sight you are!” gasped +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“My goodness me!” exclaimed his sister. +“Have you been in a fight?” +</p> +<p> +“Down, Reno!” commanded her brother +again. He came striding toward them. If he +had not been so disheveled, anybody could have +seen that, dressed in his sister’s clothes, and she +in his, one could scarcely have told them apart. +A boy and a girl never could look more alike +than Tom and Helen Cameron. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63'></a>63</span> +</p> +<p> +“What has happened to you?” demanded +Ruth, quite as anxious as Tom’s own sister. +</p> +<p> +“Look like I’d been monkeying with the buzz-saw—eh?” +he demanded, but a little ruefully. +“Say! I’ve had a time. If it hadn’t been for +Reno——” +</p> +<p> +“Why, Reno has hurt himself, too!” exclaimed +Ruth, hopping out of the car and for +the first time noticing that there was a cake of +partially dried blood on the dog’s shoulder. +</p> +<p> +“He isn’t hurt much. And neither am I. +Only my clothes torn——” +</p> +<p> +“And your face scratched!” ejaculated Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Oh—well—<em>that’s</em> nothing. That was an +accident. She didn’t mean to do it.” +</p> +<p> +“<em>Who</em> didn’t mean to do it? What <em>are</em> you +talking about?” screamed his sister, at last fully +aroused. “You’ve been in some terrible danger, +Tom Cameron.” +</p> +<p> +“No, I haven’t,” returned Tom, beginning to +grin again. “Just been playing the chivalrous +knight.” +</p> +<p> +“And got his face scratched!” tittered Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Aw—well—— Now wait! let me tell you,” +he began. +</p> +<p> +“Now he’s going to make excuses,” cried +Helen. “You have gotten into trouble, you reckless +boy, and want to make light of it.” +</p> +<p> +“Gee! I’d like to see <em>you</em> make light of it,” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64'></a>64</span> +exclaimed Tom, with some vexation. “If you +can make head or tail of it—— And that girl!” +</p> +<p> +“There he goes again,” said Ruth. “He has +got to tell us. It is about a girl,” and she laughed, +teasingly. +</p> +<p> +“Say! I don’t know which one of you is the +worse,” said Tom, ruefully. “Listen, will you?” +</p> +<p> +“Go ahead,” said Helen, solemnly. +</p> +<p> +“Well, Reno and I were hiking along the +Wilkins Corner road yonder. It was just about +where your Uncle Jabe’s wagon, Ruth, knocked +me down into the gully that time—remember?” +</p> +<p> +Ruth nodded. +</p> +<p> +“Well, I heard somebody scream. It was a +girl. Reno began to growl and I held him back +till I located the trouble. There was a campfire +down under that bank and the scream came from +that direction. +</p> +<p> +“‘Go to it, old boy!’ I says, and let Reno go. +I had no reason to believe there was real +trouble,” Tom said, wagging his head. “But I +followed him down the bank just the same, for +although Reno wouldn’t bite anybody unless he +had to, he does look ugly—to strangers. +</p> +<p> +“Well, what do you think? There were a +couple of tramps at the fire, and Reno was holding +them off from a girl. He showed his teeth +all right, and one of them had his knife out. <em>He</em> +was an ugly looking customer.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65'></a>65</span> +</p> +<p> +“My goodness! a girl?” gasped his sister. +“What sort of a looking girl?” +</p> +<p> +“She wasn’t bad looking,” Tom said. +“Younger than us—mebbe twelve, or so. But +she’d been sleeping out in her clothes—you could +see she had. And her face and hands were dirty. +</p> +<p> +“‘What were they trying to do to you?’ I +asked her. +</p> +<p> +“‘Trying to get my money,’ says she. ‘I ain’t +got much, but you bet I want that little.’ +</p> +<p> +“‘I guess you can keep it,’ I said. ‘But if I +were you, I’d hike out of this.’ +</p> +<p> +“‘I’m going to,’ says she. ‘I’m going just as +fast as I can to the railroad and jump a train. +These fellers have been bothering me all day. +I’m glad you came along. Thanks.’ +</p> +<p> +“And with that she started to move off. But +the tramps were real ugly, and one of them +jumped for her. I tripped him up,” said Tom, +grinning again now in remembrance of the row, +“and then there certainly <em>was</em> a fuss.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Tom!” murmured Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Well, I had Reno, didn’t I? The man I +tripped fell into the fire, but was more scared +than hurt. But the other fellow—the one with +the knife—slashed at Reno, and cut him. +</p> +<p> +“Well! you never saw such a girl as that +tramping girl was——” +</p> +<p> +“What’s <em>that</em>?” gasped Ruth. “Oh, Helen!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66'></a>66</span> +</p> +<p> +“It might be Sadie Raby—eh?” queried her +chum. +</p> +<p> +“Hel-lo!” exclaimed Master Tom, turning +curious. “What do you girls know about her? +Sadie Raby—that’s what she said her name was.” +</p> +<p> +“My goodness me! What do you think of +that?” cried his sister. +</p> +<p> +“And where is she now?” demanded Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Aw, wait till I tell you all about it,” complained +Tom. “You girls take the wind all out +of my sails.” +</p> +<p> +“All right. Go ahead,” begged his sister. +</p> +<p> +“So, that Sadie girl, she came back to my help, +and when one of the fellows had me down, and +Reno was holding the other by the wrist, she +started to dig into the face of the rascal who +held me. And once she scratched me by mistake,” +added Tom, laughing. +</p> +<p> +“But between us—mostly through Reno’s +help—we frightened them off. They hobbled +away through the bushes. Then I took her to +the railroad, and waited at the tank till a train +came along and stopped.” +</p> +<p> +“And put her aboard, Tom!” cried Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Yes. It was a freight. I bribed the conductor +with two dollars to let her ride as far as +Campton. I knew those two tramps would never +catch her there. Why! what’s the matter?” +</p> +<p> +“Goodness me!” exclaimed Helen, with disgust. “Doesn’t +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67'></a>67</span> +it take a boy to spoil everything?” +</p> +<p> +“Why—what?” began Tom. +</p> +<p> +“And her name was Sadie Raby?” demanded +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“That’s what she said.” +</p> +<p> +“We just wanted to see her, that’s all,” said +his sister. “Ruth did, anyway. And I’d have +been glad to help her.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, I helped her, didn’t I?” demanded +Tom, rather doggedly. +</p> +<p> +“Yes. Just like a boy. What do you suppose +is to become of a girl like her traveling +around the country?” +</p> +<p> +“She seemed to want to get to Campton real +bad. I reckon she has folks there,” said Tom, +slowly. +</p> +<p> +“She’s got no folks—if her story is true,” said +Ruth, quietly, “save two little brothers.” +</p> +<p> +“And they’re twins, like us, Tom,” said Helen, +eagerly. “Oh, dear! it’s too bad Ruth and I +didn’t come across Sadie, instead of you.” +</p> +<p> +Tom began to laugh at that. “You’d have had +a fine time getting her away from those tramps,” +he scoffed. “She didn’t have but a little money, +and they would have stolen that from her if it +hadn’t been for Reno and me.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68'></a>68</span><a name='chVIII' id='chVIII'></a>CHAPTER VIII—TRAVELING TOWARD SUNRISE FARM</h2> +<p> +Tom Cameron thought a great deal of Ruth, +and for that reason alone was sorry he had not +stayed the departure of the runaway girl, Sadie +Raby, from the vicinity of Cheslow. Then, as +he thought of it more, and heard the girls talk +about the tramping girl’s circumstances as <em>they</em> +knew them, Tom was even more disturbed. +</p> +<p> +He and Reno had gotten into the tonneau of +the car, which rolled away toward the Red Mill +at a slower pace. He leaned his arms on the +back of the front seat and listened to Ruth’s story +of her meeting with Sadie Raby, and her experience +with Sim Perkins, and of her surprise at +finding that Sadie had worked for a while at the +Red Mill. +</p> +<p> +“If we had only been a few days earlier in +getting home from school, there she would have +been,” finished Ruth, with a sigh. +</p> +<p> +“That’s so,” agreed her chum. “And she +even stayed night before last with Mercy’s +mother. My! but she’s as elusive as a will-o’-the-wisp.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69'></a>69</span> +</p> +<p> +“We could telegraph to Campton and have +her stopped,” suggested Tom. +</p> +<p> +“By the police?” demanded his sister. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! what for?” asked Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“There! nothing <em>I</em> suggest is any good,” said +the boy. +</p> +<p> +“Not unless you suggest something better than +that,” laughed Ruth. “The poor thing doesn’t +need to be arrested. And she might refuse any +help we could give her. She’s very independent.” +</p> +<p> +“She sure is,” admitted Tom, ruefully. +</p> +<p> +“And we don’t know <em>why</em> she wanted to go to +Campton,” his sister remarked. +</p> +<p> +“Nor if she got there safely,” added Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Pshaw! if that’s worrying you two, I’ll find +out for sure to-morrow,” quoth Master Tom. +</p> +<p> +He knew the conductor of the freight train +with whom he had entrusted the strange girl. The +next day he went over to the tank at the right +hour and met the conductor again. +</p> +<p> +“Sure, I got her on to Campton—poor kid,” +said the man. “She’s a smart one, too. When +the boys wanted to know who she was, I said she +was my niece, and she nodded and agreed to it. +We had a big feed back here in the hack while she +was aboard, and she had her share.” +</p> +<p> +“But where was she going?” asked Tom. +</p> +<p> +“Didn’t get much out of her,” admitted the +conductor. “But she’d lived in Harburg, and I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70'></a>70</span> +reckon she had folks in or near Campton. But +I’m not sure at all.” +</p> +<p> +This was rather unsatisfactory; but whatever +point the strange girl was journeying to, she had +arrived safely at Campton. This Tom told Ruth +and the latter had to be content with this information. +</p> +<p> +The incident of the runaway girl was two or +three days old when Ruth received a letter from +Madge Steele urging them all to come on soon—that +Sunrise Farm was ready for them, and that +she was writing all the girls to start on Monday. +</p> +<p> +The train would take them to Darrowtown. +There a conveyance would meet and transport +the visitors fifteen miles through the country to +Mr. Steele’s big estate. +</p> +<p> +Mercy Curtis joined the Camerons and Ruth +at the Cheslow Station, and on the train they +boarded were Heavy Stone and The Fox. The +girls greeted each other as though they had been +separated for a year. +</p> +<p> +“Never was such a clatter of tongues,” declared +the plump girl, “since the workmen struck +on the tower of Babel. Here we are—off for +the sunrise—and traveling due west. How do +you make that out?” +</p> +<p> +“That’s easy—anybody could see it with half +an eye,” said The Fox. +</p> +<p> +“Half an eye, eh?” demanded Heavy. “And +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71'></a>71</span> +Cyclops had a whole one. Say! did you hear +about the boy in school who was asked by his +teacher (he must have been in Tommy’s class) +‘Who was Cyclops?’ He was a bright boy. He +answered: ‘The man who wrote the encyclopædia.’ +The association of ideas was something +fierce—eh?” +</p> +<p> +“Dear me, Jennie,” admonished The Fox, +“you are getting slangier every day.” +</p> +<p> +“Never mind; I’m not losing flesh over it. +Don’t you,” returned the careless “heavyweight.” +</p> +<p> +It was a long, but not a tedious, ride to Darrowtown. +The young folk had left Cheslow just +before dark, and their sleeper was sidetracked +at the end of the journey, some time in the very +early morning. When Ruth first opened her +eyes she could scarcely—for the moment—think +where she was. +</p> +<p> +Then she peered out of the narrow window +above her berth and saw a section of the railroad +yard and one side of Railroad Avenue beyond. +The right of way split Darrowtown in two halves +and there were grade crossings at the intersections +of the principal cross streets. +</p> +<p> +Long as she had been away from the place, +the girl recognized the houses and the stores, and +every other landmark she could see. No further +sleep for her, although it was scarcely dawn. +</p> +<p> +She hopped softly out of the berth, disturbed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72'></a>72</span> +none of her companions or even the porter nodding +in his corner, and dressed hurriedly. She +made her toilette and then went into the vestibule +and from thence climbed down to the cinder path. +</p> +<p> +There was an opening in the picket fence, and +she slipped through in a moment. Dear old Darrowtown! +Ruth’s heart throbbed exultantly and +she smiled, although there were tears in her eyes. +</p> +<p> +There was the Brick Church on the corner. +The pastor and his wife had been so kind to her! +And up this next street was the way to the quiet +cemetery where her father and mother were +buried. Ruth turned her steps in that direction +first of all. +</p> +<p> +The sun came up, red and jovial; the birds +twittered and sang in the great maples along +the way; even in the graveyard a great flock of +blackbirds “pumped” and squeaked in noisy, +joyous chorus. +</p> +<p> +The dew sparkled on leaf and bush, the flowers +were fragrant, the cool breeze fanned her +cheek, and the bird chorus rose higher and higher. +How could one be sad long on such a beautiful, +God-made morning? +</p> +<p> +Impossible! Ruth plucked a spray of a flowering +shrub for both graves, and laid them on +the mounds tenderly, with a little prayer. Here +slept the dead peacefully, and God had raised +her up many, many friends! +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73'></a>73</span> +</p> +<p> +The early chimneys were smoking in the suburbs +of the town. A screen-door slammed now +and then. One man whom she knew slightly, but +who did not remember her, was currying his +horse in an alley by his stable. Mrs. Barnsworth, +notably the smartest housewife in Darrowtown, +was starting already with her basket +for market—and woe be to the grocer or marketman +if the shops were not open when she arrived! +</p> +<p> +Stray cats ran along the back fences. A dog +ran out of a yard to bark at Ruth, but then +thought better of it and came to be patted instead. +</p> +<p> +And then, suddenly, she came in sight of the +back garden of Miss True Pettis! +</p> +<p> +It was with that kind-hearted but peculiar +spinster lady that Ruth had lived previous to +being sent to the Red Mill. Miss Pettis was +the neighborhood seamstress and, as she often +had told Ruth, she worked hard “with both tongue +and needle” for every dollar she earned. +</p> +<p> +For Miss True Pettis had something more +than dressmaking to do when she went out “by +the day” to cut and fit and run the sewing machine. +Darrowtown folk expected that the seamstress +should have all the latest gossip at her +tongue’s end when she came to sew! +</p> +<p> +Now, Miss True Pettis often laid down the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74'></a>74</span> +law. “There’s two kinds of gossip. One the +Bible calls the seventh abomination, an’ I guess +that’s right. But for shut-in folks like most +housekeepers in Darrowtown, a dish of harmless +gossip is more inspiritin’ than a bowl of boneset +tea! +</p> +<p> +“Lemme have somethin’ new to tell folks +about folks—that’s all. But it must be somethin’ +kind,” Miss Pettis declared. “No backbitin’, or +church scandal, or neighborhood rows. If Si +Lumpkin’s cat has scratched Amoskeag Lanfell’s +dog, let the cat and the dog fight it out, I say; no +need for Si and Amoskeag, who have been friends +and neighbors for years an’ years, gettin’ into a +ruction over it. +</p> +<p> +“I never take sides in any controversy—no, +ma’am! If ye can’t say a good word for a +neighbor, don’t say nothin’ to <em>me</em>. That’s what +I tell ’em. But if ye know anythin’ good about +’em, or they’ve had any streak o’ good luck, or +the like, tell me. For the folks in this town—‘specially +the wimmen folks that don’t git out +much—is just a-honin’ for news, and True Pettis, +when she goes out by the day, has gotter have +a full and plenty supply of it.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth, smiling quietly to herself, remembered +how the thin, sallow, quick spoken lady looked +when she said all this. Miss Pettis’s eyes were +black and snapping; her nose was a beak; she bit +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75'></a>75</span> +off threads as though her temper was biting, too. +But Ruth knew better. A kinder-hearted mortal +never lived than the little old seamstress. +</p> +<p> +Now the visitor ran across the garden—neatly +bedded and with graveled paths in which the +tiniest weed dared not show its head—and reached +the kitchen porch. Miss Pettis was always an +early riser, and the smoke of her chimney was +now only a faint blue column rising into the clear +air. +</p> +<p> +Yes! there was a rattle of dishes in the kitchen. +Ruth tiptoed up the steps. Then she—to her +amazement—heard somebody groan. The sound +was repeated, and then the seamstress’s voice +murmured: +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear, oh, dear! Oh, dear, oh, dear! +whatever shall I do——” +</p> +<p> +Ruth, who had intended opening the door +softly and announcing that she had come to +breakfast, forgot all about the little surprise she +was bent on giving Miss Pettis. Now she peered +fearfully in at the nearest window. +</p> +<p> +Miss Pettis was just sitting down in her +rocker, and she rocked to and fro, holding one +hand with the other, continuing to groan. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear, me!” cried Ruth, bursting in at +the door. “What in the world is the matter, +my dear?” +</p> +<p> +“It’s that dratted felon—— Why, Ruthie +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76'></a>76</span> +Fielding! Did you drop from the sky, or pop +up out o’ the ground? I never!” +</p> +<p> +The dressmaker got up quickly, but struck her +hand against the chair-arm. Instantly she fell +back with a scream, and Ruth feared she had +fainted. A felon is a terribly painful thing! +</p> +<p> +Ruth ran for a glass of water, but before she +could sprinkle any of it on Miss Pettis’ pale face +the lady’s eyes opened and she exclaimed: +</p> +<p> +“Don’t drop any of that on my dress, child—it’ll +spot. I’m all right now. My mercy! how +that hurt.” +</p> +<p> +“A felon, Miss Pettis? How very dreadful,” +cried Ruth, setting down the glass of water. +</p> +<p> +“And I ain’t been able to use my needle for +a week, and the dishwashin’—well, it jest about +kills me to put my hands in water. You can see—the +sight this kitchen is.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, isn’t it lucky that I came this morning—and +came so early, too?” cried Ruth. “I +was going to take breakfast with you. Now I’ll +get the breakfast myself and fix up the house—— Oh, +yes, I shall! I’ll send word down to the +hotel to my friends—they’ll take breakfast there—and +we can have a nice visit, Miss True,” and +Ruth very carefully hugged the thin shoulders of +the seamstress, so as not to even jar the felon +on her right fore-finger. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77'></a>77</span><a name='chIX' id='chIX'></a>CHAPTER IX—THE SUNRISE COACH</h2> +<p> +Ruth was determined to have her way, and +really, after one has suffered with a felon for a +week, one is in no shape to combat the determination +of as strong a character as that of the girl +of the Red Mill! +</p> +<p> +At least, so Miss True Pettis found. She +bowed to Ruth’s mandate, and sat meekly in the +rocking chair while that young lady bustled +about, made the toast, poached eggs, made a pot +of the kind of tea the spinster liked, and just +as she liked it—— Oh, Ruth had not forgotten +all her little ways, although she had been gone +so long from the seamstress’s tiny cottage here in +Darrowtown. +</p> +<p> +All the time, she was as cheerful as a bluebird—and +just as chatty as one, too! She ran out +and caught a neighbor’s boy, and sent him scurrying +down to the sidetracked sleeping car with a +note to Helen. The rest of the crowd expected +at Sunrise Farm would arrive on an early morning +train on the other road, and both parties were +to meet for breakfast at the Darrowtown Inn. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78'></a>78</span> +</p> +<p> +The vehicle to transport them to the farm, +however, was not expected until ten o’clock. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, Ruth insisted, she had plenty of +time to fix up the house for Miss Pettis. This +she proceeded to do. +</p> +<p> +“I allus <em>did</em> say you was the handiest youngun +that ever was born in Darrowtown,” said the +seamstress, with a sigh of relief, as Ruth, enveloped +in a big apron, set to work. +</p> +<p> +Ruth did more than wash dishes, and sweep, +and clean, and scrub. All the time she told Miss +Pettis about her life at the Red Mill, and her +life at the boarding school, and of many and +various things that had happened to her since, +two years before, she had gone away from +Darrowtown to take up her new life with Uncle +Jabez. +</p> +<p> +Not that she had not frequently written to +Miss Pettis; but one cannot write the particulars +that can be told when two folks are “gossiping.” +Miss True Pettis had not enjoyed herself—felon +and all!—so much for ages as she did that forenoon. +</p> +<p> +And she would have a long and interesting +story to tell regarding “Mary Fielding’s little +girl” when again she took up her work of going +out by the day and bringing both her nimble +needle and her nimble tongue into the homes of +the busy Darrowtown housewives. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79'></a>79</span> +</p> +<p> +On the other hand, Miss Pettis told Ruth all +the news of her old home; and although the girl +from the Red Mill had no time then to call upon +any other of her one-time friends—not even +Patsy Hope—she finally went away feeling just +as though she had met them all again. For little +of value escaped Miss Pettis, and she had told +it all. +</p> +<p> +The Brick Church clock was striking ten when +Ruth ran around the corner and came in sight of +the Darrowtown Inn. There was a crowd of girls +and boys on the porch, and before it stood a +great, shiny yellow coach, drawn by four sleek +horses. +</p> +<p> +“Bobbins” himself—Madge Steele’s big, +white-haired brother, who attended the military +academy with Tom Cameron, was already on the +coachman’s seat, holding the reins in most approved +style. Beside him sat a man in livery, it +was true; but Bob himself was going to drive +the four-in-hand. +</p> +<p> +“Isn’t that scrumptious, Ruth?” demanded +Belle Tingley, one of those who had arrived on +the other railroad. “Where have you been all +the time? Helen was worried for fear you +wouldn’t get here.” +</p> +<p> +“And here’s Ralph!” exclaimed Ruth, heartily +shaking hands with one of Belle’s brothers. +“I’m all right. I used to live here in Darrowtown, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80'></a>80</span> +you know, and I was making calls. And +here is Isadore!” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I say, Ruth!” exclaimed the chap in +knickerbockers, who was so sharp and curious +that he was always called “Busy Izzy” Phelps. +“Where have you been all the time? We were +going to send a searching party after you.” +</p> +<p> +“You needn’t mind, sir. I can find my way +around a bit yet,” laughed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“All ready, now!” exclaimed Bob, importantly, +from the high seat. “Can’t keep these +horses standing much longer.” +</p> +<p> +“All right, little boy,” said his sister, marshaling +the girls down the steps of the hotel. “Don’t +you be impatient.” +</p> +<p> +“It’s the horses,” he complained. “See that +nigh leader beginning to dance?” +</p> +<p> +“Tangoing, I suppose?—or is it the hesitation?” +laughed Lluella Fairfax. “May anybody +sit up there beside you, Mr. Bob?” +</p> +<p> +“I’m afraid not. But there’s room on top of +the coach for all of you, if you’ll crowd a bit.” +</p> +<p> +“Me behind with the horn!” cried Tom, +swinging himself up into the little seat over the +luggage rack. +</p> +<p> +“Now, girls, there are some steep places on +the road,” said Madge. “If any of you feel +nervous, I advise you to come inside with me.” +</p> +<p> +“Ha!” ejaculated Heavy. “It’s not my +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81'></a>81</span> +nerves that keep me from climbing up on that +thing—don’t think it. But I’ll willingly join you, +Madge,” and the springs creaked, while the girls +laughed, as Heavy entered the coach. +</p> +<p> +They were all quickly seated—the boys of +course riding on the roof. Ruth, Helen, Lluella +and Belle occupied the seat directly behind the +driver. Jane Ann Hicks, who had been spending +the intervening week since school closed with +Heavy, and would return to Montana after their +sojourn at Sunrise Farm, was the only other girl +who ventured to ride a-top the coach. +</p> +<p> +“All ready?” sang out Bobbins, with a backward +glance. +</p> +<p> +Tom put the long silver horn to his lips and +blew a blast that startled the Darrowtown echoes, +and made the frisky nigh leader prance again. +Bob curled the long lash of the yellow whip over +the horses’ ears, and at the crack of it all four +plunged forward. +</p> +<p> +There was a crowd to see the party off. Darrowtown +had not become familiar with the +Steeles’ yellow coach. In fact, there were not +many wealthy men’s estates around the town as +yet, and such “goings-on” as this coaching party +of girls and boys was rather startling to the +staid inhabitants of Darrowtown. +</p> +<p> +The road through the town proper was very +good, and the heavy coach wheels rolled over it +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82'></a>82</span> +smoothly. As soon as they reached the suburbs, +however, the way was rough, and the horses +began to climb, for Darrowtown was right at the +foot of the hills, on the very highest of which +Sunrise Farm lay. +</p> +<p> +There were farms here and there along the +way, but there was a great deal of rough country, +too. Although it was a warm day, those on +top of the coach were soon well shaded by the +trees. The road wound through a thick piece of +wood, where the broad-branched trees overhung +the way and—sometimes—almost brushed the +girls from their seats. +</p> +<p> +“Low bridge!” called Bobbins, now and +again, and they would all squeal and stoop while +the leafy branches brushed above them. +</p> +<p> +Bobbins had been practicing a good deal, so +as to have the honor of driving his friends home +from Darrowtown, and they all praised him for +being so capable. +</p> +<p> +As for Tom, he grew red in the face blowing +that horn to warn the foxes in the hills and the +rabbits in the bushes that they were coming. +</p> +<p> +“You look out, Tommy!” advised Madge +from below. “You’ll blow yourself all away +tooting so much, and goodness knows, we don’t +want any accident before luncheon. Mother is +expecting all manner of things to happen to us +after we get to the farm; but I promised faithfully +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83'></a>83</span> +I’d bring you all home to one o’clock luncheon +in perfect order.” +</p> +<p> +“A whole lot you’ve got to do with it,” +grunted Busy Izzy, ungallantly. “It’s Bobbins +that’s doing the chief work.” +</p> +<p> +Three hours to Sunrise Farm, yet it was only +fifteen miles. The way was not always uphill, but +the descents were as hard to get over as the rising +ground, and the coach rolled and shook a +good deal over the rougher places. +</p> +<p> +Bye and bye they began to look down into the +valleys from the steeps the horses climbed. At +one place was a great horseshoe curve, around +which the four steeds rattled at a smart pace, +skirting a precipice, the depth of which made the +girls shriek again. +</p> +<p> +“I never did see such a road,” complained +Lluella. +</p> +<p> +“We saw worse at Silver Ranch—didn’t we, +Ann?” demanded Ruth of the Montana girl. +</p> +<p> +“Well, this is bad enough, I should hope,” +said Belle Tingley. “Lucky there is a good brake +on this coach. Where’d we be——?” +</p> +<p> +As it chanced, the coach had just pitched over +the brow of another ridge. Bob had been about +to point out proudly the white walls of the house +at Sunrise Farm which surmounted the next hill. +</p> +<p> +But there had been a rain within a week, and +a hard one. Right here there was a small washout in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84'></a>84</span> +the road, and Bob overlooked it. He did +not swerve the trotting horses quickly enough, +and the nigh fore-wheel dropping into this deep, +deep rut. +</p> +<p> +It is true Bob became a little excited. He +yelled “Whoa!” and yanked back on the lines, +for the nigh leader had jumped. The girls +screamed as the coach came to an abrupt stop. +</p> +<p> +The four horses were jerked back by the sudden +stoppage; then, frightened, they all leaped +forward together. +</p> +<p> +“Whoa, there!” yelled Bob again, trying to +hold them in. Something broke and the nigh +leader swung around until he was at right angles +with his team-mate. +</p> +<p> +The leader had snapped a tug; he forced his +mate over toward the far side of the road; and +there the ground broke away, abruptly and steeply, +for many, many yards to the bottom of the +hill. +</p> +<p> +There was neither fence, nor ditch, to guard +passengers on the road from catastrophe. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85'></a>85</span><a name='chX' id='chX'></a>CHAPTER X—“TOUCH AND GO”</h2> +<p> +As it chanced, Mr. Steele’s groom, who had +been sent with the coach and who sat beside Bob, +was on the wrong side to give any assistance at +this crucial moment. To have jumped from the +seat threatened to send him plunging down the +undefended hillside—perhaps with the coach rolling +after him! +</p> +<p> +For some seconds it did seem as though the +horses would go down in a tangle and drag the +coach and its occupants after them. +</p> +<p> +Bob was doing his best with the reins, but the +frisky nigh leader was dancing and plunging, and +forcing his mate off the firm footing of the road. +Indeed, the latter animal was already slipping +over the brink. +</p> +<p> +“Get him!” yelled Bob, meaning the horse +that had broken the trace and had stirred up +all the trouble. +</p> +<p> +But who was to “get him”? That was the +difficulty. The groom could not climb over the +young driver to reach the ground. +</p> +<p> +There was at least one quick-witted person +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86'></a>86</span> +aboard the Sunrise coach in this “touch and go” +emergency. Ruth was not afraid of horses. She +had not been used to them, like Ann Hicks, all +her life, but she was the person now in the best +position to help Bob. +</p> +<p> +To reach the ground on the nigh side of the +coach Ann Hicks would have to climb over a +couple of boys. Ruth was on that end of the seat +and she swung herself off smartly, and landed +firmly on the road. +</p> +<p> +“Look out, Ruth!” shrieked her chum, +“you’ll be killed!” +</p> +<p> +Ruth had no intention of getting near the heels +of the horse that had broken its harness. She +darted around to his head and seized his bridle. +His mate was already scattering gravel down the +hillside as he plunged. +</p> +<p> +Ruth, paying no attention to the shrieks of +the girls or the commands of the groom and +the boys, jerked the nigh horse’s head around, +and so gave his mate a chance to obtain firm footing +again. She instantly led both horses toward +the inside of the road. +</p> +<p> +Tom was off his perch by now and had dashed +forward to her aid. Amid the gabble of the +others, they seemed the only two cool persons +in the party. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! hold them tight, Tom!” cried his sister. +“Don’t let them run.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87'></a>87</span> +</p> +<p> +“Pshaw! they don’t want to run,” growled +Bobbins. +</p> +<p> +The groom climbed carefully over him and +leaped down into the road. Tom was looking at +Ruth with shining eyes. +</p> +<p> +“You’re the girl for me, Ruthie,” he whispered +in a sudden burst of enthusiasm. “I never +saw one like you. You always have your wits +about you.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth smiled and blushed. A word of approbation +from Tom Cameron was sweeter to her +than the praise of any other of her young friends. +She gave him a grateful look, and then turned +back to the coach, where the girls were still as +excited as a swarm of bees. +</p> +<p> +They all wanted to get down into the road, +until Madge positively forbade it, and Ruth +swung herself up to her seat again. +</p> +<p> +“You can’t do any good down there, and you’d +only be in the way,” Madge said. “And the +danger’s over now.” +</p> +<p> +“Thanks to Ruthie!” added Helen, squeezing +her chum. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, you make too much fuss about it,” said +Ruth. “I just grabbed the bridle.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said Mercy, from inside. “I thought +I’d need my aeroplanes to fly with, when that +horse began to back over the edge of the hill. +You’re a good child, Ruthie. I always said so.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88'></a>88</span> +</p> +<p> +The others had more or less to say about +Ruth’s action and she was glad to turn the conversation +to some other subject. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile the groom had mended the harness, +and now he and Tom led the leaders to straighten +out the team, and the four horses threw themselves +into their collars and jerked the coach-wheel +out of the gutter. +</p> +<p> +The trouble had delayed them but slightly, and +soon Tom was cheerfully winding the horn, and +the horses were rattling down a more gentle +descent into the last valley. +</p> +<p> +From this to the top of the hill on which the +Steele home stood was a steady ascent and the +horses could not go rapidly. Bob and Madge +pointed out the objects of interest as they rolled +along—the farmhouses that were to be torn +down, the fences already straightened, and the +dykes and walls on which Mr. Steele’s men were +at work. +</p> +<p> +“When this whole hill is father’s, you’ll see +some farm,” crowed Bobbins. +</p> +<p> +“But whose place is <em>that?</em>” demanded one of +the girls, behind him, suddenly. +</p> +<p> +The coach had swung around a turn in the road +where a great, bald rock and a border of trees +on the right hand, hid all that lay beyond on +this gentle slope. The other girls cried out at +the beauty of the scene. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89'></a>89</span> +</p> +<p> +A gable-roofed farmhouse, dazzlingly white, +with green blinds, stood end to the road. There +were great, wide-branched oaks all about it. The +sod was clipped close and looked like velvet. Yet +the surroundings of the homestead were rather +wild, as though Nature had scarcely been disturbed +by the hand of man since the original +clearing was made here in the hillside forest. +</p> +<p> +There were porches, and modern buildings and +“ells” added to the great old house, but the two +huge chimneys, one at either end, pronounced the +building to be of the architecture of the earliest +settlers in this section of the State. +</p> +<p> +There were beds of old-fashioned flowers; +there was a summerhouse on the lawn, covered +with vines; altogether it was a most beautiful +and “homey” looking place. +</p> +<p> +“Whose place is it?” repeated the questioner. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, that? Caslon’s,” grunted Bob. “He’s +the chap who won’t sell out to father. Mean old +thing.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, it’s a love of an old place!” exclaimed +Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Yes. It is the one house father was going to +let stand on the hill beside our own. You see, +we wanted to put our superintendent in it.” +</p> +<p> +Just then an old gentleman came out of the +summer house. He was a portly, gray mustached, +bald-headed man, in clean linen trousers and a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90'></a>90</span> +white shirt with a short, starched bosom. He +wore no collar or necktie, but looked clean and +comfortable. He smiled at the young people on +the coach jovially. +</p> +<p> +Behind him stood a motherly lady some years +his junior. She was buxom and smiling, too. +</p> +<p> +Bobbins jerked his head around and snapped +his whip over the leaders’ ears. “These are the +people,” he said. +</p> +<p> +“Who?” asked Belle Tingley. +</p> +<p> +“The Caslons.” +</p> +<p> +“But they’re real nice looking people,” Helen +exclaimed, in wonder. +</p> +<p> +“Well, they’re a thorn—or a pair of thorns—in +my father’s flesh. You’d better not boost them +before him.” +</p> +<p> +“And they don’t want to sell their old home?” +queried Ruth, softly. Then to herself, she whispered: +“And who could blame them? I wouldn’t +sell it, either, if it were mine.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91'></a>91</span><a name='chXI' id='chXI'></a>CHAPTER XI—TOBOGGANING IN JUNE</h2> +<p> +The four horses climbed briskly after that +and brought the yellow coach to an old stone +gateway. At the end of the Caslon farm the +stone wall had begun, and now it stretched ahead, +up over the rise, as far as anything was to be +seen. Indeed, it seemed to melt right into the sky. +</p> +<p> +Bobbins turned the leaders’ noses in at the +gateway. Already it was shown that the new +owner had begun to improve the estate. The +driveway was an example of what road-making +should be—entirely different from the hap-hazard +work done on the country roads. +</p> +<p> +There were beautiful pastures on either hand, +all fenced in with wire—“horse high, bull strong, +and pig tight,” as Bobbins explained, proudly. +There were horses in one pasture and a herd of +cows in another. Beyond, sheep dotted a rocky +bit of the hillside, and the thin, sweet “baa-as” +of the lambs came to their ears as the coach rolled +on. +</p> +<p> +The visitors were delighted. Every minute +they saw something to exclaim over. A pair of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92'></a>92</span> +beautifully spotted coach dogs raced down the +drive, and cavorted about the coach, eagerly welcoming +them. +</p> +<p> +When they finally topped the hill and came out +upon the tableland on which the house and the +main buildings of Sunrise Farm stood, they received +a welcome indeed. +</p> +<p> +There was a big farm bell hung to a creaking +arm in the water-tower beside the old colonial +dwelling. The instant the leaders’ ears +topped the rise, and while yet the coach was a +long way off, several youngsters swung themselves +on the bell-rope, and the alarm reverberated +across the hills and valleys in no uncertain tone. +</p> +<p> +Beside this, a cannon that was something +bigger than a toy, “spoke” loudly on the front +lawn, and a flag was run up the pole set here in a +prominent place before the house. Mr. and Mrs. +Steele stood on the broad veranda, between the +main pillars, to receive them, and when the coach +drew up with a flourish, the horde of younger +Steeles—Madge’s and Bob’s brothers and sisters, +whom the big sister called “steel filings”—charged +around from the bell-tower. There were +four or five of the younger children, all seemingly +about of an age, and they made as much confusion +as an army. +</p> +<p> +“Welcome to Sunrise, girls and boys,” said +Mr. Steele, who was a short, brisk, chubby man, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93'></a>93</span> +with an abrupt manner, but with an unmistakably +kind heart, or he would not have sanctioned the +descent of this horde of young folk upon the place. +“Welcome to Sunrise! We want you all to have +a good time here. The place is open to you, and +all Mother Steele begs is that you will not break +your necks or get into any other serious trouble.” +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Steele was much taller than her husband; +it was positive that Madge and Bobbins got their +height from her side of the family. All the +younger Steele seemed chubby and round like their +father. +</p> +<p> +Everybody seemed so jolly and kind that it +was quite surprising to see how the faces of both +Mother and Father Steele, as well as their children, +changed at the long lunch table, half an hour +later, when the name of Caslon, the neighboring +farmer, was mentioned. +</p> +<p> +“What d’ye think they have been telling me at +the stables, Pa?” cried Bobbins, when there was a +lull in the conversation so that he could be heard +from his end of the table to his father’s seat. +</p> +<p> +“I can’t say. What?” responded Mr. Steele. +</p> +<p> +“About those Caslons. What do you suppose +they’re going to do now?” +</p> +<p> +“Ha!” exclaimed the gentleman, his face +darkening. “Nothing you have heard could surprise +me.” +</p> +<p> +“I bet this does,” chuckled Bob. “They are +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94'></a>94</span> +going to take a whole raft of fresh air kids to +board. What do you know about that? Little +ragamuffins from some school, or asylum, or hospital, +or something. Won’t they make a mess all +over this hill?” +</p> +<p> +“Ha! he’s done that to spite me,” exclaimed +Mr. Steele. “But I’ll post my line next to his, +and if those young ones trespass, I’ll see what my +lawyer in Darrowtown can do about it.” +</p> +<p> +“It shows what kind of people those Caslons +are,” said Mrs. Steele, with a sigh. “Of course, +they know such a crowd of children will be very +annoying to the neighbors.” +</p> +<p> +“And we’re the only neighbors,” added +Bob. +</p> +<p> +“Seems to me,” said Madge, slowly, “that I +have heard the Caslons always <em>do</em> take a bunch of +fresh air children in the summer.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I fancy he is doing it this year just to +spite us,” said her father, shortly. “But I’ll +show him——” +</p> +<p> +He became gloomy, and a cloud seemed to fall +upon the whole table for the remainder of the +meal. It was evident that nothing the neighboring +farmer could do would be looked upon with +favorable eyes by the Steeles. +</p> +<p> +Ruth did not comment upon the situation, as +some of the other girls did out of hearing of +their hosts. It <em>did</em> seem too bad that the Steeles +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95'></a>95</span> +should drag this trouble with a neighbor into the +public eye so much. +</p> +<p> +The girl of the Red Mill could not help but +remember the jovial looking old farmer and +his placid wife, and she felt sure they were +not people who would deliberately annoy their +neighbors. Yet, the Steeles had taken such a dislike +to the Caslons it was evident they could see +no good in the old farmer and his wife. +</p> +<p> +The Steeles had come directly from the city and +had brought most of their servants with them +from their city home. They had hired very few +local men, even on the farm. Therefore they +were not at all in touch with their neighbors, or +with any of the “natives.” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Steele was a city man, through and +through. He had not even lived in the country +when he was a boy. His own children knew +much more about out-of-doors than he, or his +wife. +</p> +<p> +The host was a very successful business +man, had made money of late years, and wished +to spend some of his gains now in laying out the +finest “gentleman’s farm” in that quarter of the +State. To be balked right at the start by what +he called “a cowhide-booted old Rube” was a +cross that Mr. Steele could not bear with composure. +</p> +<p> +The young folks, naturally (save Ruth), were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96'></a>96</span> +not much interested in the controversy between +their hosts and the neighboring farmer. There +was too much fun going on for both girls and +boys to think of much beside. +</p> +<p> +That afternoon they overran the house and +stables, numbered the sheep, watched the tiny +pigs and their mothers in the clover-lot, were +delighted with the colts that ran with their mothers +in the paddock, played with the calves, and +got acquainted in general with the livestock of +Sunrise Farm. +</p> +<p> +“Only we haven’t goats,” said Bobbins. “I’ve +been trying to get father to buy some Angoras. +Old Caslon has the best stock anywhere around, +and father says he won’t try to buy of <em>him</em>. I’d +like to send off for a good big billy-goat and turn +him into Caslon’s back pasture. I bet there’d be +a fight, for Caslon’s got a billy that’ll chase you +just as soon as he’d wink.” +</p> +<p> +“We’d better keep out of <em>that</em> pasture, then,” +laughed one of the girls. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, father’s forbidden us trespassing on +Caslon’s land. We’d like to catch him on <em>our</em> +side of the line, that’s all!” +</p> +<p> +“Who—Mr. Caslon, or the billy?” asked +Tom, chuckling. +</p> +<p> +“Either one,” said Bob, shaking his head +threateningly. +</p> +<p> +Everyone was in bed early that night, for all +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97'></a>97</span> +were tired; but the boys had a whispered colloquy +before they went to sleep in their own big room +at the top of the house, and Bob tied a cord to +his big toe and weighted the other end so that +it would drop out of the window and hang just +about head-high above the grass. +</p> +<p> +The first stableman up about the place ran over +from the barns and gave Master Bob’s cord a +yank, according to instructions, and pretty nearly +hauled that ingenious chap out of bed before +the eastern sky was even streaked with light. +</p> +<p> +“Gee! have we got to get up now?” demanded +Busy Izzy, aroused, as were the other boys, by +Bobbins dancing about the floor and rubbing his +toe. “Somebody has been foolin’ you—it’s nowheres +near morning.” +</p> +<p> +“Bet a dog jumped up and bit that string you +hung out of the window,” chuckled Tom Cameron. +</p> +<p> +He looked at his watch and saw that it really +was after four o’clock. +</p> +<p> +“Come on, then!” Tom added, rolling Ralph +Tingley out of bed. “We must do as we said, +and surprise the girls.” +</p> +<p> +“Sh!” commanded Bobbins. “No noise. We +want to slide out easy.” +</p> +<p> +With much muffled giggling and wrestling, +they dressed and made their way downstairs. +The maids were just astir. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98'></a>98</span> +</p> +<p> +The boys had something particular to do, and +they went to work at it very promptly, under +Tom Cameron’s leadership. Behind one of the +farther barns was a sharp, but smooth slope, well +sodded, which descended to the line of the farm +that adjoined Mr. Caslon’s. There, at the bottom, +the land sloped up again to the stone wall +that divided the two estates. +</p> +<p> +It was a fine place for a slide in winter, +somebody had said; but Tom’s quick wit suggested +that it would be a good place for a slide +in summer, too! And the boys had laid their +plans for this early morning job accordingly. +</p> +<p> +Before breakfast they had built a dozen barrel-stave +toboggans—each long enough to hold two +persons, if it was so desired. +</p> +<p> +Tom and Bobbins tried them first and showed +the crowd how fine a slide it really was down the +long, grassy bank. The most timid girl in the +crowd finally was convinced that it was safe, and +for several hours, the shrieks of delight and +laughter from that hillside proved that a sport +out of season was all the better appreciated because +it was novel. +</p> +<p> +Over the broad stone wall was the pasture in +which Caslon kept his flock of goats. Beautiful, +long-haired creatures they were, but the solemn +old leader of the flock stamped his feet at the +curious girls and boys who looked over the wall, +and shook his horns. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99'></a>99</span> +</p> +<p> +Somewhere, along by the boundary of the two +estates, Bob said there was a spring, and Ruth +and Helen slipped off by themselves to find it. A +wild bit of brush pasture soon hid them from the +view of their friends, and as they went over a +small ridge and down into the deeper valley, the +laughter and shouting of those at the slide gradually +died away behind them. +</p> +<p> +The girls had to cross the stone wall to get at +the spring, and they did not remember that in +doing so they were “out of bounds.” Bob had +said nothing about the spring being on the Caslon +side of the boundary. +</p> +<p> +Once beside the brook, Helen must needs +explore farther. There were lovely trees and +flowering bushes, and wild strawberries in a small +meadow that lured the two girls on. They were +a long way from the stone fence when, of a sudden, +a crashing in the bushes behind them brought +both Ruth and Helen to their feet. +</p> +<p> +“My! what’s that?” demanded Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Sounds like some animal.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth’s remark was not finished. +</p> +<p> +“The goat! it’s the old billy!” sang out +Helen, and turned to run as the horned head of +the bewhiskered leader of the Angora herd came +suddenly into view. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100'></a>100</span><a name='chXII' id='chXII'></a>CHAPTER XII—A NUMBER OF INTRODUCTIONS</h2> +<p> +“We must run, Ruthie!” Helen declared, instantly. +“Now, there’s no use in our trying to +face down that goat. Discretion is the better +part of valor—— Oh!” +</p> +<p> +The goat just then shook his horns and charged. +Ruth was not much behind her chum. She saw +before Helen, however, that they were running +right away from the Steele premises. +</p> +<p> +“We’re getting deeper and deeper into +trouble, Helen,” she panted. “Don’t you <em>see?</em>” +</p> +<p> +“I can’t see much. Oh! there’s a tree we can +both climb, I am sure.” +</p> +<p> +“But I don’t want to climb a tree,” objected +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“All right. You stay down and play tag with +Mr. Billy Goat. Me for the high and lofty!” +and she sprang up as she spoke and clutched the +low limb of a widely branching cedar. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll never leave my pal!” Ruth declared, giggling, +and jumping for another limb. +</p> +<p> +Both girls had practiced on the ladders in the +school gymnasium and they quickly swung themselves +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101'></a>101</span> +up into the tree. The goat arrived almost +on the instant, too. At once he leaped up with +his fore-feet against the bole of the tree. +</p> +<p> +“My goodness me!” gasped Helen. “He’s +going to climb it, too.” +</p> +<p> +“You know goats <em>can</em> climb. They’re very +sure-footed,” said her chum. +</p> +<p> +“I know all that,” admitted Helen. “But I +didn’t suppose they could climb trees.” +</p> +<p> +The goat gave up <em>that</em> attempt, however, very +soon. He had no idea, it seemed, of going away +and leaving his treed victims in peace. +</p> +<p> +He paced around and around the cedar, casting +wicked glances at the girls’ dangling feet, and +shaking his horns in a most threatening way. +What he would do to them if he got a chance +would “be a-plenty,” Helen declared. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you suppose he’ll get tired, bye and +bye?” queried her chum, despondently. +</p> +<p> +“He doesn’t look as though he ever got +wearied,” returned Helen. “What a savage +looking beast he is! And such whiskers!” +</p> +<p> +“I wouldn’t make fun of him,” advised Ruth, +timidly. “I believe he understands—and it +makes him madder! Oh! see him!” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Goat, impatient of the delay, suddenly +charged the tree and banged against it with his +horns in a desperate attempt to jar down the +girls perched above. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102'></a>102</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh, the foolish billy!” cooed Helen. “We’re +not ripe enough to drop off so easily. But he +thinks we are.” +</p> +<p> +“You can laugh,” complained Ruth. “But I +don’t think this is much fun.” +</p> +<p> +“Not for the goat, anyway. He is getting so +angry that he may have apoplexy. Let’s shout. +Maybe the boys will hear us.” +</p> +<p> +“Not ‘way down here, I fear,” returned Ruth. +“We can’t hear a sound from <em>them</em>. But let’s +try.” +</p> +<p> +They raised their voices in unison, again and +again. But there came no reply, save that a +number of Mr. Billy Goat’s lady friends came +trooping through the brush and looked up at the +girls perched so high above them. +</p> +<p> +“Bla-a-a-t! bla-a-a-at!” quoth the chorus of +nannies. +</p> +<p> +“The same to you, and many of them!” replied +Helen, bowing politely. +</p> +<p> +“Look out! you’ll fall from the limb,” advised +Ruth, much worried. +</p> +<p> +“And what a fall would then be there, my +countrymen!” sighed Helen. “Say, Ruth! did +you ever notice before what an expressive countenance +a goat has? Now, Mr. Billy, here, looks +just like a selectman of a country school board—long +whiskers and all.” +</p> +<p> +“You stop making fun of him,” declared +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103'></a>103</span> +Ruth, shaking her head. “I tell you it makes +him mad.” +</p> +<p> + “Goaty, goaty, go away,<br /> + Come again some other day,<br /> + Ruthie and Helen want to get down and play!”<br /> +</p> +<p> +sang Helen Cameron, with a most ridiculous +expression. +</p> +<p> +“We’ll never get down unless somebody comes +to drive that beast away,” cried Ruth, in disgust. +</p> +<p> +“And I bet nobody comes over to this end +of the farm for days at a time.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s it! keep on! make it just as bad as +you can,” groaned Ruth. “Do you know it will +soon be luncheon time, Helen?” +</p> +<p> +“But that won’t bother Mr. Goat. He hopes +to lunch off us, I guess.” +</p> +<p> +“But we can’t stay here, Helen!” cried Ruth, +in despair. +</p> +<p> +“You have my permission to hop right down, +my dear, and make the closer acquaintance of Sir +Capricornus, and all the harem. Ex-cuse me! I +think after due consideration I will retain my lofty +perch—— Ugh!” +</p> +<p> +“You came pretty near slipping off that time!” +exclaimed Ruth. “I wouldn’t be too funny, if I +were you.” +</p> +<p> +“Maybe you are right,” agreed her friend, in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104'></a>104</span> +a more subdued tone. “Dear me! let us call +again, Ruth!” +</p> +<p> +So both girls again raised their voices. This +time there was a response, but not from the direction +of the stone wall they had crossed to reach +the spring. +</p> +<p> +“Hello!” called a jovial sounding voice. +“Hello up there!” +</p> +<p> +“Hello yourself!” shouted Helen. “Oh, do, +<em>do</em> come and drive away these awful goats.” +</p> +<p> +There was a hearty laugh at this reply, and +then a man appeared. Ruth had guessed his +identity before ever he came in view. It was the +portly Mr. Caslon. +</p> +<p> +“Well, well, my dears! how long have you +been roosting up there?” he demanded, laughing +frankly at them. “Get out, you rascal!” +</p> +<p> +This he said to the big goat, who started for +him with head lowered. Mr. Caslon leaped +nimbly to one side and whacked the goat savagely +across the back with his knobby stick. The +goat kept right on down the hillside, evidently +having had enough of <em>that</em> play, and the nannies +followed, bleating. +</p> +<p> +“You can come down now, young ladies,” said +the farmer. “But I wouldn’t come over into this +pasture to play much. The goats don’t like +strangers.” +</p> +<p> +“We had no business to come here at all, but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105'></a>105</span> +we forgot,” explained Ruth, when both she and +her chum had descended from the tree. “We +were warned not to come over on this side of the +line.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, indeed? you’re from up on the hill-top?” +he asked. +</p> +<p> +“We are visiting Madge Steele—yes,” said +Helen, looking at him curiously. +</p> +<p> +“Ah! I saw all you young folk going by +yesterday. You should have a fine time about +here,” said the farmer, smiling broadly. “And, +aside from the temper of the goats, I don’t mind +you all coming over here on my land if you like.” +</p> +<p> +The girls thanked him warmly for rescuing +them from their predicament, and then ran up +the hill to put the stone wall between them and +the goats before there was more trouble. +</p> +<p> +“I like him,” said Helen, referring to Mr. +Caslon. +</p> +<p> +“So do I,” agreed Ruth. “And it’s too bad +that Mr. Steele and he do not understand each +other.” +</p> +<p> +Although their escapade with the goats was a +good joke—and a joke worth telling to the +crowd—Ruth decided that it would be just as +well to say nothing about it, and she told Helen +so. +</p> +<p> +“I expect you are right,” admitted her chum. +“It will only cause comment because we went +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106'></a>106</span> +out of bounds, and became acquainted with Mr. +Caslon. But I’m glad the old goat introduced +us,” and she laughed and tossed her head. +</p> +<p> +So they joined their friends, who had gotten +tired by this time of tobogganing in June, and +they all trooped up the hill again to the house. +It was growing warm, and the hammocks and +lounging chairs in the shade of the verandas attracted +them until noon. +</p> +<p> +After luncheon there was tennis and croquet +on the lawns, and toward evening everybody went +driving, although not in the yellow coach this +time. +</p> +<p> +The plans for the following day included a +long drive by coach to a lake beyond Darrowtown, +where they had a picnic lunch, and boated +and fished and had a glorious time in general. +</p> +<p> +Bobbins drove as before, but there were two +men with the party to do the work and look +after the horses, and Mrs. Steele herself was +present to have an oversight of the young folk. +</p> +<p> +Bob Steele was very proud of his ability to +drive the four-in-hand, and when they swung +through Darrowtown on the return trip, with the +whip cracking and Tom tooting the horn, many +people stopped to observe the passing of the +turnout. +</p> +<p> +Every other team got out of their way—even +the few automobiles they passed. But when they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107'></a>107</span> +got over the first ridge beyond the town and the +four horses broke into a canter, Mrs. Steele, who +sat up behind her son on this journey, suddenly +put a hand upon his shoulder and called his +attention to something ahead in the road. +</p> +<p> +“Do have a care, my son,” she said. “There +has been an accident there—yes? Don’t drive +too fast——” +</p> +<p> +“By jiminy!” ejaculated Ralph Tingley. +“That’s a breakdown, sure enough.” +</p> +<p> +“A farm wagon. There’s a wheel off,” cried +Ann Hicks, leaning out from the other end of +the seat the better to see. +</p> +<p> +“And who are all those children in blue?” +demanded Mercy Curtis, looking out from below. +“There’s such a lot of them! One, two, three, +four, five—— Goodness me! they jump about +so like fleas that I can’t count them!” +</p> +<p> +“Why, I bet I know what it is,” drawled Bobbins, +at last. “It’s old Caslon and his load of +fresh airs. He was going to town to meet them +to-day, I believe. And he’s broken down before +he’s half way home with them—and serves him +good and right!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108'></a>108</span><a name='chXIII' id='chXIII'></a>CHAPTER XIII—“THE TERRIBLE TWINS”</h2> +<p> +Ruth heard Bob’s last expression, despite the +rattling of the harness and the chattering of the +girls on, and in, the coach, and she was sorry. +Yet, could he be blamed so much, when similar +feelings were expressed daily by his own father +regarding the Caslons? +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Steele was shocked as well. “My dear +son!” she exclaimed, in a low voice, leaning over +his shoulder. “Be careful of your tongue. Don’t +say things for which you might be sorry—indeed, +for which I am sure you <em>are</em> sorry when you stop +to think.” +</p> +<p> +“Huh! Isn’t that old Caslon as mean as he +can be?” demanded Bobbins. +</p> +<p> +“I am sure,” the good lady sighed, “that I +wish he would agree to sell his place to your +father, and so have an end of all this talk and +worriment. But I am not at all sure that he +hasn’t a right to do as he pleases with his own +property.” +</p> +<p> +“Well—now—Mother——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109'></a>109</span> +</p> +<p> +But she stopped him with: “At any rate, you +must halt and offer him help. And those children—I +hope none of them has been hurt.” +</p> +<p> +“Pooh! you couldn’t hurt kids like those,” declared +Bob. +</p> +<p> +But he brought the horses down to a walk and +the yellow coach approached the scene of the accident +at a temperate pace. +</p> +<p> +The big farm-wagon, the body of which had +been filled with straw for the youngsters to ride +in, had been pulled to the side of the road out +of the way of passing vehicles. It was clear that +the smashed wheel was past repair by any amateur +means, for several spokes were broken, and +the hub was split. +</p> +<p> +The youngsters whom Mr. Caslon had taken +aboard at the railway station in Darrowtown +were dancing about and yelling like wild Indians. +As the coach came nearer, the excited party upon +it could more carefully count the blue-clad figures, +and it was proved that there were twelve. +</p> +<p> +Six girls were in blue gingham frocks, all alike, +and all made “skimpy” and awkward looking. +The six boys were in new blue overalls and cotton +shirts. The overalls seemed all of one size, although +the boys were not. They must have been +purchased at the store of one size, and whether +a boy was six, or twelve, he wore the same number. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110'></a>110</span> +</p> +<p> +Each of the children, too, carried a more or +less neatly made up parcel, the outer covering +of which was a blue and white bandanna, and +the contents of which was the change of clothing +the institution allowed them. +</p> +<p> +“What a terrible noise they make!” sighed +Mrs. Steele. “And they are perfect little terrors, +I suppose. But they <em>are</em> clean.” +</p> +<p> +They had not been out of the sight of the +institution nurse long enough to be otherwise, for +she had come as far as Darrowtown with them. +But they <em>were</em> noisy, sure enough, for each one +was trying to tell his or her mates how he or she +felt when the wheel crashed and the wagon went +over. +</p> +<p> +“I reckon I oughtn’t to have risked that wheel, +after all,” said Mr. Caslon, doffing his hat to +Mrs. Steele, but smiling broadly as he looked up +from his examination of the wheel. +</p> +<p> +“Whoa, Charlie! Don’t get too near them +heels, youngsters. Charlie an’ Ned are both old +duffers like me; but you can’t fool around a +horse’s legs without making him nervous. +</p> +<p> +“And don’t pull them reins. I don’t want ’em +to start right now.... Yes, ma’am. I’ll haf +ter lead the horses home, and that I don’t mind. +But these young ones—— Now, let that whip +lay right where it is, young man! That’s right. +</p> +<p> +“You see, ma’am,” he proceeded, quite calmly +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111'></a>111</span> +despite all that was going on about him, and addressing +himself to Mrs. Steele, “it’s too long a +walk for the little ones, and I couldn’t tote ’em +all on the backs of the horses—— +</p> +<p> +“Now, you two curly heads there—what do +you call ’em?” +</p> +<p> +“The Terrible Twins!” quoth two or three +of the other orphans, in chorus. +</p> +<p> +“I believe ye! I believe ye! They jest bile +over, <em>they</em> do. Now, you two boys,” he added, +addressing two youngsters, very much alike, +about of a height, and both with short, light curly +hair, “never mind tryin’ to unharness Charlie and +Ned. <em>I’ll</em> do that. +</p> +<p> +“Ye see, ma’am, if you could take some of +the little ones aboard——” he suggested to Mrs. +Steele. +</p> +<p> +The coach was well filled, yet it was not crowded. +The girls began to call to the little folks to +get aboard even before Mrs. Steele could +speak. +</p> +<p> +“There’s lots of room up here,” cried Ruth, +leaning from her end of the seat and offering her +hand. The twins ran at once to climb up and +fought for “first lift” by Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, yes! they can get aboard,” said Mrs. +Steele. “All there is room for.” +</p> +<p> +And the twelve “fresh airs” proved very +quickly that there was room for them all. Ruth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112'></a>112</span> +had the “terrible twins” on the seat with her in +half a minute, and the others swarmed into, or +on top of, the coach almost as quickly. +</p> +<p> +“There now! that’s a big lift, I do declare,” +said the farmer, hanging the chains of the horses’ +traces upon the hames, and preparing to lead the +pair along the road. +</p> +<p> +“My wife will be some surprised, I bet,” and +he laughed jovially. “I’m certain sure obleeged +to ye, Mis’ Steele. Neighbors ought to be neighborly, +an’ you air doin’ me a good turn this +time—yes, ma’am!” +</p> +<p> +“Now, you see,” growled Bob, as the four +coach horses trotted on, “he’ll take advantage of +this. We’ve noticed him once, and he’ll always +be fresh.” +</p> +<p> +“Hush, my son!” whispered Mrs. Steele. +“Little pitchers have big ears.” +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” exclaimed one of the wriggling twins, +looking up at the lady sideways like a bird. “I +know what <em>that</em> means. <em>We’re</em> little pitchers—Dickie +an’ me. We’ve heard that before—ain’t +we, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” announced his brother, nodding wisely. +</p> +<p> +These two were certainly wise little scamps! +Willie did most of the talking, but whatever he +said his brother agreed to. Dickie being so chary +with speech, possibly his brother felt that he must +exercise his own tongue the more, for he chattered +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113'></a>113</span> +away like a veritable magpie, turning now and +then to demand: +</p> +<p> +“Ain’t that so, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” vouchsafed the echo, and, thus championed, +Willie would rattle on again. +</p> +<p> +Yes. They was all from the same asylum. +There were lots more of boys and girls in that +same place. But only twelve could get to go +to this place where they were going. They knew +boys that went to Mr. Caslon’s last year. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t we, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep.” +</p> +<p> +No. They didn’t have a mama or papa. Never +had had any. But they had a sister. She was a +big girl and had gone away from the asylum. +Some time, when they were big enough, they were +going to run away from the asylum and find her. +</p> +<p> +“Ain’t we, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep.” +</p> +<p> +Whether the other ten “fresh airs” were as +funny and cute as the “terrible twins,” or not, +Ruth Fielding did not know, but both she and +Mrs. Steele were vastly amused by them, and +continued to be so all the way to the old homestead +under the hill where the children had come +to spend a part of the summer with Mr. and +Mrs. Caslon. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114'></a>114</span><a name='chXIV' id='chXIV'></a>CHAPTER XIV—“WHY! OF COURSE!”</h2> +<p> +“I hope you told that Caslon woman, Mother, +to keep those brats from boiling over upon our +premises,” said Mr. Steele, cheerfully, at dinner +that evening, when the story of the day’s adventures +was pretty well told. +</p> +<p> +“Really, John, I had no time. <em>Such</em> a crowd +of eels—— Well! whatever she may deserve,” +said Mrs. Steele, shaking her head, “I am sure +she does not deserve the trouble those fresh air +children will bring her. And she—she seems like +such a nice old lady.” +</p> +<p> +“Who’s a nice old lady?” demanded her husband, +from the other end of the long table, rather +sharply. +</p> +<p> +“Farmer Caslon’s wife.” +</p> +<p> +“Humph! I don’t know what she is; I know +what <em>he</em> is, however. No doubt of that. He’s +the most unreasonable——” +</p> +<p> +“Well, they’ll have their hands full with all +those young ones,” laughed Madge Steele, breaking +in upon her father, perhaps because she did +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115'></a>115</span> +not wish him to reveal any further to her guests +his ideas upon this topic. +</p> +<p> +“What under the sun can they do it for?” demanded +Lluella Fairfax. +</p> +<p> +“Just think of troubling one’s self with a +parcel of ill-bred children like those orphanage +kids,” added Belle Tingley. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, they do it just to bother the neighbors, +of course,” growled Bobbins, who naturally believed +all his father said, or thought, to be just +right. +</p> +<p> +“They take a world of trouble on themselves, +then, to spite their neighbors,” laughed Mercy +Curtis, in her sharp way. “That’s cutting one’s +nose off to spite one’s face, sure enough!” +</p> +<p> +“Goodness only knows <em>why</em> they do it,” began +Madge, when Ruth, who could keep in no longer, +now the topic had become generally discussed +among the young people, exclaimed: +</p> +<p> +“Both the farmer and his wife look to be +very kindly and jolly sort of people. I am sure +they have no idea of troubling other folk with +the children they take to board. They must be, +I think, very charitable, as well as very fond of +children.” +</p> +<p> +“Trust Ruth for seeing the best side of it,” +laughed Heavy. +</p> +<p> +“And the right side, too, I bet,” murmured +Tom Cameron. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116'></a>116</span> +</p> +<p> +“We’ll hope so,” said Mr. Steele, rather +grimly. “But if Caslon lets them trespass on +my land, he’ll hear about it, sharp and plenty!” +</p> +<p> +Now, it so happened, that not twenty-four +hours had passed before the presence of the +“fresh air kids” was felt upon the sacred premises +of Sunrise Farm. It was very hot that next +day, and the girls remained in the shade, or +played a desultory game of tennis, or two, or +knocked the croquet balls around a bit, refusing +to go tramping through the woods with the boys +to a pond where it was said the fish would +bite. +</p> +<p> +“So do the mosquitoes—I know them,” said +Mercy Curtis, when the boys started. “Be honest +about it, now; I bet you get ten mosquito bites +to every fish-bite. Tell us when you get back.” +</p> +<p> +Late in the afternoon the rural mail carrier +was due and Ruth, Helen, Madge and Heavy +started for the gate on the main road where the +Steeles had their letter box. +</p> +<p> +A little woolly dog ran after Madge—her +mother’s pet. “Come on, Toodles!” she said, +and then all four girls started to race with Toodles +down to the gate. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly Toodles spied something more entertaining +to bark at and caper about than the girls’ +skirts. A cat was slipping through the bushes +beside the wall, evidently on the trail of some +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117'></a>117</span> +unconscious bird. Toodles, uttering a glad “yap, +yap, yap!” started for the cat. +</p> +<p> +Two tousled, curly heads appeared at the gateway. +Below the uncapped heads were two thin +bodies just of a size, clothed in shirts and overalls +of blue. +</p> +<p> +“Hello, kiddies!” said Heavy. “How did +you get here?” +</p> +<p> +“On our feet—didn’t we, Dickie?” responded +Master Willie. +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” said Dickie. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear me! Toodles will hurt that cat!” +cried Madge. “One of you boys run and save +her—save kitty!” she begged. +</p> +<p> +But as the youngsters started off as per direction, +the cat turned savagely upon Toodles. She +snarled like a wildcat, leaped for his fur-covered +back, and laid in with her claws in a way that +made the pup yell with fright and pain. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, never mind the cat! Help Toodles! +Help Toodles!” wailed Madge, seeing her pet in +such dire trouble. +</p> +<p> +The youngsters stopped with disgust, as Toodles +went kiting up the hill, yelping. +</p> +<p> +“Pshaw!” exclaimed Willie. “Toodles don’t +need helpin’. Did’ye ever see such a dog? What +he needs is a nurse—don’t he, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” declared the oracular Dickie, with emphasis. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118'></a>118</span> +</p> +<p> +Heavy dropped down on the grass and rolled. +As the cat had quickly returned from the chase, +Madge and Helen joined her. It was too funny. +The “terrible twins” were just slipping out of +the gate, when Ruth called to them. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t go yet, boys. Are you having a good +time?” +</p> +<p> +“We ain’t allowed in here,” said Willie. +</p> +<p> +“Who told you so?” +</p> +<p> +“The short, fat man with the squinty eyes and +the cane,” declared Willie, in a matter of fact +way. +</p> +<p> +“Short—fat—squinty—— My goodness! I +wonder if he can mean my father?” exclaimed +Madge, inclined to be offended. +</p> +<p> +“But you can stand there and talk with us,” +said Ruth, strolling toward the boys. “So you +are having a nice time at Mr. Caslon’s?” +</p> +<p> +“Bully—ain’t we, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” agreed the echo. +</p> +<p> +“And you won’t be glad to go back to the orphanage +when you have to leave here?” +</p> +<p> +“Say, who ever was glad to go to a ’sylum?” +demanded Willie, with scorn. +</p> +<p> +“And you can’t remember any other home, +either of you?” asked Ruth, with pity. +</p> +<p> +“Huh! we ’member just the same things. Our +ages is just alike, they be,” said Willie, with +scorn. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119'></a>119</span> +</p> +<p> +“They have you there, Ruth,” chuckled Heavy. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding was really interested in the two +youngsters. “And you are all alone in the +world?” she pursued. +</p> +<p> +“Nope. We gotter sister.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! so you said.” +</p> +<p> +“And it’s so, too. She used ter be at the +’sylum,” explained Willie. “But they sent her +off to live with somebody. And we was tried out +by a lady and a gentleman, too; but we was too +much work for the lady. We made too much +extry washin’,” said Willie, solemnly. +</p> +<p> +“My goodness me!” exclaimed Ruth, suddenly. +“What are your names?” +</p> +<p> +“I’m Willie; he’s Dickie.” +</p> +<p> +“But Willie and Dickie <em>what</em>?” demanded the +startled Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“No, ma’am. It ain’t that. It’s Raby,” declared +the youngster, coolly. “And our sister, +<em>she’s</em> Sadie Raby. She’s awful smart and some +day, she told us, she’s goin’ to come an’ steal us +from the ‘sylum, and then we’ll all live together +and keep house.” +</p> +<p> +“Will you hear this, Helen?” demanded +Ruth, eagerly, to her chum who had run to her. +</p> +<p> +“Why, of course! we might have known as +much, if we had been smart. These are the twins +Sadie told you about. And we never guessed!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120'></a>120</span><a name='chXV' id='chXV'></a>CHAPTER XV—THE TEMPEST</h2> +<p> +Ruth was much interested in the fresh air children, +and so was Helen. They found time to +walk down to the Caslon farm and become acquainted +with the entire twelve. Naturally, the +“terrible twins” held their attention more than +the others, for it <em>did</em> seem so strange that the +little brothers of Sadie Raby should come across +Ruth’s path in just this way. +</p> +<p> +Of course, in getting so well acquainted with +the children, Ruth and her chum were bound to +know the farmer and his wife better. They were +very plain, “homey” sort of people, just as +Ruth had guessed, and it appeared that they were +not blessed with an over-abundance of ready +money. Few farmers in Mr. Caslon’s circumstances +are. +</p> +<p> +What means they had, they joyfully divided +with the youngsters they had taken to board. The +Caslons had no living children; indeed, the two +they had had, years ago, died while they were +yet babies. This Mrs. Caslon confided to Ruth. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121'></a>121</span> +</p> +<p> +“It left an empty place in our hearts,” she said, +softly, “that nothing but other little children can +fill. John has missed them fully as much as I +have. Yes; he lets these little harum-scarums +pull him around, and climb all over him, and +interfere with his work, and take up his time a +good deal. Yes, I know the place looks a sight, +inside the house and out, when they go away. +</p> +<p> +“But for a few weeks every year we have a +host of young things about us, and it keeps our +hearts young. The bother of ’em, and the trouble +of ’em, is nothing to the good they do us both. +Ah, yes! +</p> +<p> +“Yes, I’ve often thought of keeping one or +two of them for good. There’s a-many pretty +ones, or cunning ones, we’d like to have had. But +then—think of the disappointment of the rest of +the darlings! +</p> +<p> +“And it would have narrowed down our sympathy—mine +and John’s,” proceeded Mrs. Caslon, +shaking her head gently. “We’d have centered +all our love and longin’ into them we took +for keeps, just as we centered all our interest in +the two little ones God lent us for a little while, +long ago. +</p> +<p> +“Havin’ a number of ’em each year, and almost +always different ones, has been better, I +guess—better for all hands. It keeps John and +me interested more, and we try to make them so +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122'></a>122</span> +happy here that each poor, unfortunate orphan +will go away and remember his or her summer +here for the rest of their lives. +</p> +<p> +“And they <em>do</em> have so little to be happy over, +these orphans—and it takes so very little to make +them happy. +</p> +<p> +“If I had money—much money,” continued +the farmer’s wife, clasping her hands, fervently, +“I’d move many orphan asylums, and such like, +out of the close, hot cities, where the little ones +are cramped for room and air, and put each of +them on a farm—a great, big farm. City’s no +place for children to grow up—’specially those +that have no fathers and mothers. +</p> +<p> +“You can’t tell me but that these young ones +miss their parents less here on this farm than +they do back in the brick building they live in +most of the year,” concluded the good woman, +earnestly. +</p> +<p> +Ruth quite fell in love with the old lady—who +did not appear so very old, after all. Perhaps +she had kept her heart young in serving these +“fresh air” orphans, year after year. And Mr. +Caslon seemed a very happy, jolly sort of man, +too. +</p> +<p> +The two girls stole away quite frequently to +watch the youngsters play, or to teach them new +means of entertaining themselves, or to talk with +the farmer’s wife. But they did not wish the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123'></a>123</span> +other girls, and the Steeles, to know where they +went on these occasions. +</p> +<p> +Their host, who was the nicest kind of a man +in every other way, seemed determined to look +upon Caslon as his enemy; and Mr. Steele was +ready to do anything he could to oust the old +couple from their home. +</p> +<p> +“Pshaw! a man like Caslon can make a good +living anywhere,” Mr. Steele declared. “His +crops just <em>grow</em> for him. He’s an A-1 farmer—I’d +like to find as good a one before next year, +to superintend my whole place. He’s just holding +out for a big price for his farm, that’s all he’s +doing. These hayseeds are money-mad, anyway. +I haven’t offered him enough for his old farm, +that’s all.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth doubted if this were true. The Caslon +place was one of the oldest homesteads in that +part of the State, and the house had been built +by a Caslon. Mr. Steele could not appreciate +the fact that there was a sentiment attached to +the farmer’s occupancy of his old home. +</p> +<p> +The Caslons had taken root here on this side-hill. +The farmer and his wife were the last of +the name; they had nobody to will it to. But +they loved every acre of the farm, and the city +man’s money did not look good enough to them. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding hungered to straighten out the +tangle. She wished she might make Mr. Steele +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124'></a>124</span> +understand the old farmer’s attitude. Was there +not, too, some way of settling the controversy in +a way satisfactory to both parties? +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile the merry party of young folk at +Sunrise Farm was busy every waking hour. +There were picnics, and fishing parties, and +games, and walks, and of course riding galore, +for Mr. Steele had plenty of horses. +</p> +<p> +Ruth and Helen privately worked up some +interest among the girls and boys visiting the +farm, in a celebration on the Fourth for the +fresh air children. Ruth had learned that the +farmer had purchased some cheap fireworks and +the like for the entertainment of the orphans; +but Ruth and her chum wanted to add to his +modest preparations. +</p> +<p> +Ten dollars was raised, and Tom Cameron +took charge of the fund. He was to ride into +town the afternoon before the Fourth to make the +purchases, but just about as he was to start, a +thunderstorm came up. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Steele, who was a nervous man, forbade +any riding or driving with that threatening cloud +advancing over the hills. The lightning played +sharply along the edges of the cloud and the +thunder rolled ominously. +</p> +<p> +“You youngsters don’t know what a tempest is +like here in the hills,” said Mr. Steele. “Into +the house—all of you. Take that horse and cart +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125'></a>125</span> +back to the stables, Jackson. If Tom wants to +go to town, he’ll have to wait until the shower +is over—or go to-morrow.” +</p> +<p> +“All right, sir,” agreed young Cameron, cheerfully. +“Just as you say.” +</p> +<p> +“Are all those girls inside?” sharply demanded +Mr. Steele. “I thought I saw the flutter +of a petticoat in the shrubbery yonder.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll see,” said Tom, running indoors. +</p> +<p> +Nervous Mr. Steele thought he saw somebody +there behind the bushes, before he heard from +Tom. It had already begun to rain in big drops, +and suddenly there was a flash of lightning and a +report seemingly right overhead. +</p> +<p> +The host turned up his coat collar, thrust +his cap over his ears, and ran out across the lawn +toward the path behind the shrubbery. It led to +a summer house on the side lawn, but this was a +frail shelter from such a tempest as this that +was breaking over the hill. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Steele saw the flutter of a skirt ahead, and +dashed along the path, the rain pelting him as he +ran. +</p> +<p> +“Come back here! Come to the house, you +foolish girl!” he cried, and popped into the summer +house just as the clouds seemed to open above +and the rain descend in a flood. +</p> +<p> +It was so dark, and Mr. Steele was so +blinded for a moment, that he could scarcely see +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126'></a>126</span> +the figure of whom he was in search. Then he +beheld a girl crouching in a corner, with her hands +over her ears to shut out the roar of the thunder +and her eyes tightly closed to shut out the lightning. +</p> +<p> +“For mercy’s sake! get up and come into the +house. This place will be all a-flood in a minute,” +he gasped. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly, as he dragged the girl to her feet +by one shoulder, he saw that she was not one of +the house party at all. She was a frail, shrinking +girl, in very dirty clothing, and her face and hands +were scratched and dirty, too. A regular ragamuffin +she appeared. +</p> +<p> +“Why—why, where did <em>you</em> come from?” +demanded Mr. Steele. +</p> +<p> +The girl only stuttered and stammered, looking +at him fearfully. +</p> +<p> +“Come on! never mind who you are,” he sputtered. +“This is no place for you in this tempest. +Come into the house!” +</p> +<p> +He set out on a run again for the front veranda, +dragging her after him. The girl did not +cry, although she was certainly badly frightened +by the storm. +</p> +<p> +They reached the door of the big house, saturated. +Here Mr. Steele turned to her again. +</p> +<p> +“Who are you? What are you doing around +here, anyway?” he demanded. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127'></a>127</span> +</p> +<p> +“Ain’t—ain’t this the place where they got a +bunch of fresh air kids?” asked the girl. +</p> +<p> +“What?” gasped Mr. Steele. “I should say +not! Are you one of those young ones Caslon +has taken to board to the annoyance of the whole +neighborhood? Ha! what were you doing trespassing +on my land?” +</p> +<p> +“I ain’t neither!” returned the girl, pulling +away her hand. “You lemme be.” +</p> +<p> +“I forbade any of you to come up here——” +</p> +<p> +“I ain’t neither,” reiterated the girl. “An’ I +don’t know what you mean. I jest got there. +And I’m lookin’ for the place where the fresh +air kids stay.” +</p> +<p> +In the midst of this the door was drawn open +and Mrs. Steele and some of the girls appeared. +</p> +<p> +“Do come in, Father,” she cried. “Why! +you’re soaking wet. And that child! bring her +in, whoever she is. Oh!” +</p> +<p> +Another flash of lightning made them all cower—all +but Ruth Fielding, who had crept forward +to look over Mrs. Steele’s shoulder. Now she +dashed out and seized the bedrabbled looking +stranger by the hand. +</p> +<p> +“Why, Sadie Raby! who’d ever expect to see +you here? Come in! do let her come in out of +the storm, Mrs. Steele. I know who she is,” +begged Ruth. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128'></a>128</span><a name='chXVI' id='chXVI'></a>CHAPTER XVI—THE RUNAWAY</h2> +<p> +Madge said, in something like perplexity: +“You <em>do</em> pick up the strangest acquaintances, +Ruth Fielding. She really does, Ma. But that +has always been Ruth’s way.” +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Steele was first disturbed over her husband’s +condition. “Go right away and change +into dry garments—do, Father,” she urged. +“You will get your death of cold standing there. +And shut the door. Oh! that lightning!” +</p> +<p> +They had to wait for the thunder to roll away +before they could hear her again, although Mr. +Steele hurried upstairs without another glance at +the bedrabbled child he had brought in out of +the storm. +</p> +<p> +“This—this girl must go somewhere and dry +herself,” hesitated Mrs. Steele, when next she +spoke. “My! isn’t she a sight? Call one of the +maids, someone——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear Mrs. Steele!” exclaimed Ruth, +eagerly, “let me take Sadie upstairs and look +after her. I am sure I have something she can +put on.” +</p> +<p> +“So have I, if you haven’t,” interposed Helen. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129'></a>129</span> +“And my clothes will come nearer fitting her +than Ruth’s. Ruth is getting almost as fat as +Heavy!” +</p> +<p> +“There is no need of either of you sacrificing +your clothes,” said Mrs. Steele, slowly. “Of +course, I have plenty of outgrown garments of +my own daughters’ put away. Yes. You take +care of her if you wish, Ruth, and I will hunt out +the things.” +</p> +<p> +Here the strange girl interposed. She had +been darting quick, shrewd glances about the hall +at the girls and boys there gathered, and now +she said: +</p> +<p> +“Ye don’t hafter do nothing for me. A little +rainwater won’t hurt me—I ain’t neither sugar +nor salt. All I wants to know is where them +fresh air kids is stayin’. I ain’t afraid of the +rain—it’s the thunder and lightning that scares +me.” +</p> +<p> +“Goodness knows,” laughed Madge, “I guess +the water wouldn’t hurt you. But we’ll fix you +up a little better, I guess.” +</p> +<p> +“Let Ruth do it,” said Mrs. Steele, sharply. +“She says she knows the girl.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s a friend of mine,” said the girl of the +Red Mill, frankly. “You surely remember me, +Sadie Raby?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I remember ye, Miss,” returned the +runaway. “You was kind to me, too.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130'></a>130</span> +</p> +<p> +“Come on, then,” said Ruth, briskly. “I’m +only going to be kind to you again—and so is +Mrs. Steele going to be kind. Come on!” +</p> +<p> +An hour later an entirely different looking girl +appeared with Ruth in the big room at the top +of the house which the visiting girls occupied. +Some of them had come upstairs, for the tempest +was over now, and were making ready for dinner +by slow stages, it still being some time off, +and there was nothing else to do. +</p> +<p> +“This is Sadie Raby, girls,” explained Ruth, +quietly. “She is the sister of those cute little +twins that are staying at the Caslons’ place. She +has had a hard time getting here, and because +she hasn’t seen Willie and Dickie for eight +months, or more, she is very anxious to see them. +They are all she has in the world.” +</p> +<p> +“And I reckon they’re a handful,” laughed +Heavy. “Come on! tell us all about it, Sadie.” +</p> +<p> +It was because of the “terrible twins” that +Ruth had gotten Sadie to talk at all. The girl, +since leaving “them Perkinses,” near Briarwood, +had had a most distressful time in many ways, +and she was reticent about her adventures. +</p> +<p> +But she warmed toward Ruth and the others +when she found that they really were sincerely +interested in her trials, and were, likewise, interested +in the twins. +</p> +<p> +“Them kids must ha’ growed lots since I seen +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131'></a>131</span> +’em,” she said, wistfully. “I wrote a letter to a +girl that works right near the orphanage. She +wrote back that the twins was coming out here +for a while. So I throwed up my job at Campton +and hiked over here.” +</p> +<p> +“Dear me! all that way?” cried Helen, pityingly. +</p> +<p> +“I walked farther than that after I left them +Perkinses,” declared Sadie, promptly. “I walked +clean from Lumberton to Cheslow—followed the +railroad most of the way. Then I struck off +through the fields and went to a mill on the river, +and worked there for a week, for an old lady. +She was nice——” +</p> +<p> +“I guess she is!” cried Ruth, quickly. “Didn’t +you know that was <em>my</em> home you went to? And +you worked for Aunt Alvirah and Uncle Jabez.” +</p> +<p> +No, Sadie had not known that. The little old +woman had spoken of there being a girl at the +Red Mill sometimes, but Sadie had not suspected +the identity of that girl. +</p> +<p> +“And then, when you were still near Cheslow, +my brother Tom, and his dog, rescued you from +the tramps,” cried Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Was that your brother, Miss?” responded +Sadie. “Well! he’s a nice feller. He got me a +ride clear to Campton. I’ve been workin’ there +and earnin’ my board and keep. But I couldn’t +save much, and it’s all gone now.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132'></a>132</span> +</p> +<p> +“But what do you really expect to do here?” +asked Madge Steele, curiously. +</p> +<p> +“I gotter see them kids,” declared Sadie, doggedly. +“Seems to me, sometimes, as though +something would bust right inside of me here,” +and she clutched her dress at its bosom, “if I +don’t see Willie and Dickie. I thought this big +house was likely where the fresh airs was.” +</p> +<p> +“I should say not!” murmured Madge. +</p> +<p> +“They’re all right—don’t you be afraid,” said +Ruth, softly. +</p> +<p> +“I thought mebbe the folks that was keepin’ +the kids would let me work for them,” said Sadie, +presently. “For kids is a lot of trouble, and I’m +used to ’em. The matron at the home said I had +a way with young’uns.” +</p> +<p> +She told them a good deal more about her +adventures within the next half hour, but Madge +had left the room just after making her last +speech. While the girls were still listening to the +runaway, a maid rapped at the door. +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Steele will see this—this strange girl in +the library,” announced the servant. +</p> +<p> +Sadie looked a little scared for a moment, and +glanced wildly around the big room for some way +of escape. +</p> +<p> +“Gee! I ain’t got to talk with that man, have +I?” she whispered. +</p> +<p> +“He won’t bite you,” laughed Heavy. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133'></a>133</span> +</p> +<p> +“He’s just as kind as kind can be,” declared +Helen. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll go down with you,” said Ruth, decisively. +“You have plenty of friends now, Sadie. You +mustn’t be expecting to run away all the time.” +</p> +<p> +Sadie Raby went with Ruth doubtfully. The +latter was somewhat disturbed herself when she +saw Mr. Steele’s serious visage. +</p> +<p> +“You’ll excuse me, Mr. Steele?” suggested +Ruth, timidly. “But she is all alone—and I +thought it would encourage her to have me +here——” +</p> +<p> +“That is like your kind heart, Ruth,” said the +gentleman, nodding. “I don’t mind. Madge +has told me her story. It seems that the child +is rather wild—er—flighty, as it were. I suppose +she wants to run away from us, too?” +</p> +<p> +“I ain’t figurin’ to stay here,” said Sadie, doggedly. +“I’m obleeged to you, but this ain’t the +house I was aimin’ for.” +</p> +<p> +“Humph! no. But I am not sure at all that +you would be in good hands down there at Caslon’s.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth was sorry to hear him say this. But +Sadie broke in with: “I don’t keer how they +treat me as long as I’m with my brothers. And +<em>they</em> are down there, this Ruth girl says.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes. I quite understand that. But we all +have our duty to perform in this world,” said +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134'></a>134</span> +Mr. Steele, gravely. “I wonder that you have +fallen in with nobody before who has seen the +enormity of letting you run wild throughout the +country. It is preposterous—wrong—impossible! +I never heard of the like before—a child of your +age tramping in the open.” +</p> +<p> +“I didn’t do no harm,” began Sadie, half fearful +of him again. +</p> +<p> +“Of course it is not your fault,” said Mr. +Steele, quickly. “But you were put in the hands +of people who are responsible to the institution +you came from for their treatment of you——” +</p> +<p> +“Them Perkinses?” exclaimed Sadie, fearfully. +“I won’t never go back to them—not +while I’m alive I won’t! I don’t care! I jest +won’t!” +</p> +<p> +She spoke wildly. She turned to run from the +room and would have done so, had not Ruth been +there to stop her and hold her in her arms. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135'></a>135</span><a name='chXVII' id='chXVII'></a>CHAPTER XVII—THE BLACK DOUGLASS</h2> +<p> +“Oh, don’t frighten her, Mr. Steele!” begged +Ruth, still holding the half wild girl. “You +would not send her back to those awful people?” +</p> +<p> +“Tut, tut! I am no ogre, I hope,” exclaimed +the gentleman, rather put out of countenance at +this outburst. “I only mean the child well. +Doesn’t she understand?” +</p> +<p> +“I won’t go back to them Perkinses, I tell +you!” cried Sadie, with a stamp of her foot. +</p> +<p> +“It is not my intention to send you back. I +mean to look up your record and the record of +the people you were placed with—Perkins, is it? +The authorities of the institution that had the +care of you, should be made to be more careful +in their selection of homes for their charges. +</p> +<p> +“No. I will keep you here till I have had the +matter sifted. If those—those Perkinses, as you +call them, are unfit to care for you, you shall certainly +not go back to them, my girl.” +</p> +<p> +Sadie looked at him shrewdly. “But I don’t +want to stay here, Mister,” she blurted out. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136'></a>136</span> +</p> +<p> +“My girl, you are not of an age when you +should be allowed to choose for yourself. Others, +older and wiser, must choose for you. I would +not feel that I was doing right in allowing you +to run wild again——” +</p> +<p> +“I gotter see the twins—I jest <em>gotter</em> see ’em,” +said Sadie, faintly. +</p> +<p> +“And whether that Caslon is fit to have charge +of you,” bitterly added Mr. Steele, “I have my +doubts.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, surely, you will let her see her little +brothers?” cried Ruth, pleadingly. +</p> +<p> +“We will arrange about that—ahem!” said +Mr. Steele. “But I will communicate at once—by +long distance telephone—with the matron of +the institution from which she came, and they +can send a representative here to talk with +me——” +</p> +<p> +“And take me back there?” exclaimed Sadie. +“No, I sha’n’t! I sha’n’t go! So there!” +</p> +<p> +“Hoity-toity, Miss! Let’s have no more of +it, if you please,” said the gentleman, sternly. +“You will stay here for the present. Don’t you +try to run away from me, for if you do, I’ll soon +have you brought back. We intend to treat you +kindly here, but you must not abuse our kindness.” +</p> +<p> +It was perhaps somewhat puzzling to Sadie +Raby—this attitude of the very severe gentleman. +She had not been used to much kindness in her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137'></a>137</span> +life, and the sort that is forced on one is not +generally appreciated by the wisest of us. Therefore +it is not strange if Sadie failed to understand +that Mr. Steele really meant to be her +friend. +</p> +<p> +“Come away, Sadie,” whispered Ruth, quite +troubled herself by the turn affairs had taken. +“I am so sorry—but it will all come right in +the end——” +</p> +<p> +“If by comin’ right, Miss, you means that I +am goin’ to see them twins, you can jest <em>bet</em> it +will all come right,” returned Sadie, gruffly, when +they were out in the hall. “For see ’em I will, +an’ <em>him</em>, nor nobody else, won’t stop me. As +for goin’ back to them Perkinses, or to the orphanage, +we’ll see ‘bout that,” added Sadie, to +herself, and grimly. +</p> +<p> +Ruth feared very much that Mr. Steele would +not have been quite so stern and positive with +the runaway, had it not been for his dislike for +the Caslons. Had Sadie’s brothers been stopping +with some other neighbor, would Mr. Steele +have delayed letting the runaway girl go to see +them? +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear, me! If folks would only be good-natured +and stop being so hateful to each other,” +thought the girl of the Red Mill. “I just <em>know</em> +that Mr. Steele would like Mr. Caslon a whole +lot, if they really once got acquainted!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138'></a>138</span> +</p> +<p> +The rain had ceased falling by this time. The +tempest had rolled away into the east. A great +rainbow had appeared and many of the household +were on the verandas to watch the bow of promise. +</p> +<p> +It was too wet, however, to venture upon the +grass. The paths and driveway glistened with +pools of water. And under a big tree not far +from the front of the house, it was discovered +that a multitude of little toads had appeared—tiny +little fellows no larger than one’s thumbnail. +</p> +<p> +“It’s just been rainin’ toads!” cried one of +the younger Steele children—Bennie by name. +“Come on out, Ruthie, and see the toads that +comed down with the rainstorm.” +</p> +<p> +Tom Cameron had already come up to speak +with Sadie. He shook hands with the runaway +girl and spoke to her as politely as he would +have to any of his sister’s friends. And Sadie, +remembering how kind he had been to her on +the occasion when the tramps attacked her near +Cheslow, responded to his advances with less reluctance +than she had to those of some of the +girls. +</p> +<p> +For it must be confessed that many of the +young people looked upon the runaway askance. +She was so different from themselves! +</p> +<p> +Now that she was clean, and her hair brushed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139'></a>139</span> +and tied with one of Ruth’s own ribbons, and +she was dressed neatly, Sadie Raby did not <em>look</em> +much different from the girls about her on the +wide porch; but when she spoke, her voice was +hoarse, and her language uncouth. +</p> +<p> +Had she been plumper, she would have been a +pretty girl. She was tanned very darkly, and her +skin was coarse. Nevertheless, given half the +care these other girls had been used to most of +their lives, and Sadie Raby would have been the +equal of any. +</p> +<p> +Ruth came strolling back to the veranda, leaving +Bennie watching the toads—which remained +a mystery to him. He was a lively little fellow +of six and the pet of the whole family. +</p> +<p> +As it chanced, he was alone out there on the +drive, and the others were now strolling farther +and farther away from him along the veranda. +The boy ran out farther from the house, and +danced up and down, looking at the rainbow +overhead. +</p> +<p> +Thus he was—a pretty sight in the glow of the +setting sun—when a sudden chorus of shouts and +frightened cries arose from the rear of the house. +</p> +<p> +Men and maids were screaming. Then came +the pounding of heavy hoofs. +</p> +<p> +Around the curve of the drive charged a great +black horse, a frayed and broken lead-rope hanging +from his arching neck, his eyes red and glowing, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140'></a>140</span> +his sleek black body all a-quiver with the +joy of his escape. +</p> +<p> +“The Black Douglass!” ejaculated Tom Cameron, +in horror, for the great horse was charging +straight for the dancing child in the driveway. +</p> +<p> +It was the most dangerous beast upon Sunrise +Farm—indeed, almost the only savage creature +Mr. Steele had retained when he bought out the +former owner of the stock farm and his stud of +horses. +</p> +<p> +The Black Douglass was a big creature, with +an uncertain temper, and was handled only by +the most careful men in Mr. Steele’s employ. +Somehow, on this occasion, the brute had been +allowed to escape. +</p> +<p> +Spurring the gravel with his iron shod hoofs, +the horse galloped straight at little Bennie. The +child, suddenly made aware of his peril by the +screams of his brothers and sisters, turned blindly, +staggered a few steps, and fell upon his hands +and knees. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Steele rushed from the house, but he was +too far away. The men chasing the released +animal were at a distance, too. Tom Cameron +started down the steps, but Helen shrieked for +him to return. Who was there to face the snorting, +prancing beast? +</p> +<p> +There was a flash of a slight figure down the +steps and across the sod. Like an arrow from +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141'></a>141</span> +a strong bow, Sadie Raby darted before the fallen +child. Nor was she helpless. The runaway knew +what she was about. +</p> +<p> +As she ran from the veranda, she had seized a +parasol that was leaning against one of the pillars. +Holding this in both hands, she presented +it to the charging horse, opening and shutting it +rapidly as she advanced. +</p> +<p> +She leaped across Bennie and confronted the +Black Douglass. The flighty animal, seeing something +before him that he did not at all understand, +changed his course with a frightened snort, and +dashed off across the lawn, cutting out great +clods as he ran, and so around the house again +and out of sight. +</p> +<p> +Mr. and Mrs. Steele were both running to the +spot. The gentleman picked up the frightened +Bennie, but handed him at once to his mother. +Then he turned and seized the girl by her thin +shoulders. +</p> +<p> +“My dear girl! My dear girl!” he said, +rather brokenly, turning her so as to face him. +“That was a brave thing to do. We can’t thank +you enough. You can’t understand——” +</p> +<p> +“Aw, it warn’t anything. I knowed that horse +wouldn’t jump at us when he seen the umbrel’. +Horses is fools that way,” said Sadie Raby, rather +shamefacedly. +</p> +<p> +But when Mrs. Steele knelt right down in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142'></a>142</span> +damp gravel beside her, and with one arm around +Bennie, put the other around the runaway and +hugged her—hugged her <em>tight</em>—Sadie was quite +overcome, herself. +</p> +<p> +Madge Steele was crying frankly. Bobbins +came rushing upon the scene, and there was a +general riot of exclamation and explanation. +</p> +<p> +“Say! you goin’ to let me see my brothers +now?” demanded the runaway, who had a practical +mind, if nothing more. +</p> +<p> +“Bob,” said his father, quickly, “you have the +pony put in the cart and drive down there to +Caslon’s and bring those babies up here.” +</p> +<p> +“Aw, Father! what’ll I tell Caslon?” demanded +the big fellow, hesitatingly. +</p> +<p> +“Tell him—tell him——” For a moment, it +was true, that Mr. Steele was rather put to it +for a reply. He found Ruth beside him, plucking +his sleeve. +</p> +<p> +“Let me go with Bobbins, sir,” whispered the +girl of the Red Mill. “I’ll know what to say to +Mr. and Mrs. Caslon.” +</p> +<p> +“I guess you will, Ruth. That’s right. You +bring the twins up here to see their sister.” Then +he turned and smiled down at Sadie, and there +were tears behind his eyeglasses. “If I have my +way, young lady, your coming here to Sunrise +Farm will be the best thing—for you and the +twins—that ever happened in your young lives!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143'></a>143</span><a name='chXVIII' id='chXVIII'></a>CHAPTER XVIII—SUNDRY PLANS</h2> +<p> +Perhaps Sadie Raby would have been just as +well pleased had Mr. Steele allowed her to go to +the Caslons’ to see her brothers, instead of having +them brought up the hill to Sunrise Farm. +The gentleman, however, did not do this because +he disliked Caslon; Sadie had saved Bennie from +what might have been certain death, and the +wealthy Mr. Steele was quite as grateful as he +was obstinate. +</p> +<p> +He was determined to show his gratitude to +the friendless girl in a practical manner. And +the object of his gratitude would include her two +little brothers, as well. Oh, yes! Mr. Steele proposed +to make Sadie Raby glad that she had +saved Bennie from the runaway horse. +</p> +<p> +The other girls and boys, beside the members +of the Steele family, were anxious now to show +their approval of Sadie’s brave deed. The wanderer +was quite bewildered at first by all the attention +she received. +</p> +<p> +She was such a different looking girl, too, as +has been already pointed out, from the miserable +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144'></a>144</span> +little creature who had been found by Mr. Steele +in the shrubbery, that it was not hard to develop +an interest in Sadie Raby. +</p> +<p> +Encircled by the family and their young visitors +on the veranda, Sadie again related the particulars +of her life and experience—and it was +a particularly sympathetic audience that listened +to her. Mr. Steele drew out a new detail that +had escaped Ruth, even, in her confidences with +the strange child. +</p> +<p> +Although the “terrible twins” were unable to +remember either father or mother—orphan asylums +are not calculated to encourage such remembrances +in infant minds—Sadie, as she had +once said to Ruth, could clearly remember both +her parents. +</p> +<p> +And although they had died in distant Harburg, +where the children had been put into the +orphanage, Sadie remembered that the family +had removed to that city, soon after the twins +were born, from no less a place than Darrowtown! +</p> +<p> +“Me, I got it in my head that mebbe somebody +would remember pa and mom in Darrowtown, +and would give me a chance. That’s another +reason I come hiking clear over here,” said Sadie. +</p> +<p> +“We’ll hunt your friends up—if there are +any,” Mr. Steele assured her. +</p> +<p> +Sadie looked at him shrewdly. “Say!” said +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145'></a>145</span> +she, “you treat me a whole lot nicer than you +did a while ago. Do folks have to do somethin’ +for your family before you forget to be cross +with them?” +</p> +<p> +It certainly was a facer! Mr. Steele flushed a +little and scarcely knew what to say in reply to +this frank criticism. But at that moment the +two-wheel cart came into sight with the pony on +the trot, and Ruth and the twins waving their +hands and shouting. +</p> +<p> +The meeting of the little chaps with their +runaway sister was touching. The three Raby +orphans were very popular indeed at Sunrise +Farm just then. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Steele frankly admitted that this might be +a case where custom could be over-ridden, and the +orphanage authorities ignored. +</p> +<p> +“Whether those Perkins people she was +farmed out to, were as harsh as she says——” he +began, when Ruth interrupted eagerly: +</p> +<p> +“Oh, sir! I can vouch for <em>that</em>. The man +was an awful brute. He struck <em>me</em> with his whip, +and I don’t believe Sadie told a story when she +says he beat her.” +</p> +<p> +“I wish I’d been there,” ejaculated Tom Cameron, +in a low voice, “when the scoundrel struck +you, Ruth. I would have done something to +him!” +</p> +<p> +“However,” pursued Mr. Steele, “the girl is +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146'></a>146</span> +here now and near to Darrowtown, which she +says is her old home. We may find somebody +there who knew the Rabys. At any rate, they +shall be cared for—I promise you.” +</p> +<p> +“I know!” cried Ruth, suddenly. “If anybody +will remember them, it’s Miss Pettis.” +</p> +<p> +“Another of your queer friends, Ruth?” asked +Madge, laughing. +</p> +<p> +“Why—Miss True Pettis isn’t queer. But she +knows about everybody who lives in Darrowtown, +or who ever did live there—and their histories +from away back!” +</p> +<p> +“A human encyclopedia,” exclaimed Heavy. +</p> +<p> +“She’s a lovely lady,” said Ruth, quietly, “and +she’ll do anything to help these unfortunate Rabys—be +sure of that.” +</p> +<p> +The late dinner was announced, and by that +time the twins, as well as Sadie, had become a little +more used to their surroundings. Willie and +Dickie had been put into “spandy clean” overalls +and shirts before Mrs. Caslon would let them out +of her hands. They were really pretty children, +in a delicate way, like their sister. +</p> +<p> +With so many about the long dining table, +the meals at the Steele home at this time were +like a continuous picnic. There was so much talking +and laughter that Mr. and Mrs. Steele had to +communicate with signs, for the most part, from +their stations at either end of the table, or else +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147'></a>147</span> +they must send messages back and forth by one +of the waitresses. +</p> +<p> +The twins and Sadie were down at Mrs. Steele’s +end of the table on this occasion, with the girls +all about them. Ruth and the others took a lot +more interest in keeping the orphans supplied +with good things than they did in their own +plates. +</p> +<p> +That is, all but Heavy; of course <em>she</em> wasted +no time in heaping her own plate. The twins +were a little bashful at first; but it was plain that +Willie and Dickie had been taught some of the +refinements of life at the orphanage, as both had +very good table manners. +</p> +<p> +They had to be tempted to eat, however, and +finally Heavy offered to run a race with them, declaring +that she could eat as much as both of the +boys put together. +</p> +<p> +Dickie was just as silent in his sister’s presence +as usual, his communications being generally in +the form of monosyllables. But he was faithful +in echoing Willie’s sentiments on any and every +occasion—noticeably at chicken time. The little +fellows ate the fricassee with appetite, but they +refused the nice, rich gravy, in which the cook +had put macaroni. Mrs. Steele urged them to +take gravy once or twice, and finally Sadie considered +that she should come to the rescue. +</p> +<p> +“What’s the matter with you kids?” she demanded, hoarsely, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148'></a>148</span> +in an attempt to communicate +with them aside. “Ye was glad ’nough to git +chicken gravy on Thanksgivin’ at the orphanage—warn’t +ye?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, I know, Sadie,” returned Willie, wistfully. +“But they never left the windpipes in it—did +they, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Nope,” responded Dickie, feelingly, likewise +gazing at the macaroni askance. +</p> +<p> +It set the table in a roar and finally Willie and +Dickie were encouraged to try some of the gravy, +“windpipes” and all! +</p> +<p> +“They’re all right,” laughed Busy Izzy, greatly +delighted. “They’re one—or two—of the +seven wonders of the world——” +</p> +<p> +“Pooh!” interrupted Heavy, witheringly, +“You don’t even know what the seven wonders +of the world are.” +</p> +<p> +“I can tell you one thing they’re <em>not</em>,” grinned +Busy Izzy. “They’re not a baseball team, for +there’s not enough of them. Now will you be +good?” +</p> +<p> +Madge turned her head suddenly and ran +right into Belle Tingley’s elbow, as Belle was +reaching up to settle her hair-ribbon. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, oh! My eye! I believe you poked it +out, Belle. You have <em>such</em> sharp elbows,” wailed +Madge. +</p> +<p> +“You’ll have to see Doc. Blodgett at Lumberton,” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149'></a>149</span> +advised Heavy, “and get your eye tended +to. He’s a great old doctor——” +</p> +<p> +“Why, I didn’t know he was an eye doctor,” +exclaimed Madge. “I thought he was a chiropodist.” +</p> +<p> +“He used to be,” Heavy returned, with perfect +seriousness. “He began at the foot and worked +up, you see.” +</p> +<p> +Amid all the fun and hilarity, Mr. Steele +called them to order. This was at the dessert +stage, and there were tall cones of parti-colored +ice cream before them, with great, heaping plates +of cake. +</p> +<p> +“Can you give me a moment’s attention, girls +and boys?” asked their host. “I want to speak +about to-morrow.” +</p> +<p> +“The ‘great and glorious,’” murmured +Heavy. +</p> +<p> +“We’ve all promised to be good, sir,” said +Tom. “No pistols, or explosives, on the place.” +</p> +<p> +“Only the cannon,” interposed Bobbins. +“You’re going to let us salute with <em>that</em>; eh, +Pa?” +</p> +<p> +“I’m not sure that I shall,” returned his father, +“if you do not give me your attention, and +keep silent. We are determined to have a safe +and sane Fourth on Sunrise Farm. But at night +we will set off a splendid lot of fireworks that I +bought last week——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150'></a>150</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh, fine, Pa! I do love fireworks,” cried +Madge. +</p> +<p> +“The girls are as bad as the boys, Mother,” +said Mr. Steele, shaking his head. “What I +wanted to say,” he added, raising his voice, “was +that we ought to invite these little chaps—these +brothers of Sadie Raby—to come up at night to +see our show.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, let’s have all the fresh airs, Pa!” cried +Madge, eagerly. “<em>What</em> a good time they’d +have.” +</p> +<p> +“I—don’t—know,” said her father, soberly, +looking at his wife. “I am afraid that will be too +much for your mother.” +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Caslon has some fireworks for the children,” +broke in Ruth, timidly. “I happen to know +that. And Tom was going down to buy ten dollar’s +worth more to put with what Mr. Caslon +has.” +</p> +<p> +“Humph!” said Mr. Steele. +</p> +<p> +“You see, some of us thought we’d give the little +folk a good time down there, and it wouldn’t +bother you and Mrs. Steele, sir,” Ruth hastened +to explain. +</p> +<p> +“Well, well!” exclaimed the gentleman, not +very sharply after all, “if those Caslons can +stand the racket, I guess mother and I can—eh, +mother?” +</p> +<p> +“We need not have them in the house,” said +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151'></a>151</span> +Mrs. Steele. “We can put tables on the veranda, +and give them ice cream and cake after the fireworks. +Get the men to hang Chinese lanterns, +and so forth.” +</p> +<p> +“Bully!” cried the younger Steeles, in chorus, +and the visitors to Sunrise Farm were quite delighted, +too, with this suggestion. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152'></a>152</span><a name='chXIX' id='chXIX'></a>CHAPTER XIX—A SAFE AND SANE FOURTH?</h2> +<p> +Of course, somebody had to go to the Caslons +and explain all this, and that duty devolved +upon Ruth. Naturally, permission had to be +sought of the farmer and his wife before the +“fresh air kids” could be carried off bodily to +Sunrise Farm. +</p> +<p> +It was decided that the ten dollars, of which +Tom had taken charge, should be spent for extra +bunting and lanterns to decorate with, and to buy +little gifts for each of the fresh airs to find next +his or her plate on the evening of the Fourth. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, Tom started again for Darrowtown +right after breakfast, and Ruth rode with +him in the high, two-wheeled cart. +</p> +<p> +Ruth had two important errands. One was +in Darrowtown. But the first stop, at Mr. Caslon’s, +troubled her a little. +</p> +<p> +How would the farmer and his wife take the +idea of the Steeles suddenly patronizing the +fresh air children? Were the Caslons anything +like Mr. Steele himself, in temperament, Ruth’s +errand would not be a pleasant one, she knew. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153'></a>153</span> +</p> +<p> +The orphans ran out shrieking a welcome when +Tom drove into the yard of the house under the +hill. Where were the “terrible twins”? Had +their sister really come to see them? Were Willie +and Dickie coming back to the orphanage at all? +</p> +<p> +These and a dozen other questions were hurled +at Ruth. Some of the bigger girls remembered +Sadie Raby and asked a multitude of questions +about her. So the girl of the Red Mill contented +herself at first with trying to reply to all these +queries. +</p> +<p> +Then Mrs. Caslon appeared from the kitchen, +wiping her hands of dish-water, and the old farmer +himself came from the stables. Their friendly +greeting and smiling faces opened the way for +Ruth’s task. She threw herself, figuratively +speaking, into their arms. +</p> +<p> +“I know you are both just as kind as you can +be,” said Ruth, eagerly, “and you won’t mind if +I ask you to change your program a little to-day +for the youngsters? They want to give them all +a good time up at Sunrise Farm.” +</p> +<p> +“Good land!” exclaimed Mrs. Caslon. “Not +<em>all</em> of them?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, ma’am,” said Ruth, and she sketched +briefly the idea of the celebration on the hill-top, +including the presents she and Tom were to buy +in Darrowtown for the kiddies. +</p> +<p> +“My soul and body!” exclaimed the farmer’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154'></a>154</span> +wife. “That lady, Mis’ Steele, don’t know what +she’s runnin’ into, does she, Father?” +</p> +<p> +“I reckon not,” chuckled Mr. Caslon, wagging +his head. +</p> +<p> +“But you won’t mind? You’ll let us have the +children?” asked Ruth, anxiously. +</p> +<p> +“Why——” Mrs. Caslon looked at the old +gentleman. But he was shaking all over with +inward mirth. +</p> +<p> +“Do ’em good, Mother—do ’em good,” he +chuckled—and he did not mean the fresh air +children, either. Ruth could see that. +</p> +<p> +“It’ll be a mortal shame,” began Mrs. Caslon, +again, but once more her husband interrupted: +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you fuss about other folks, Mother,” +he said, gravely. “It’ll do ’em good—mebbe—as +I say. Nothin’ like tryin’ a game once by the +way. And I bet twelve little tykes like these ’uns +will keep that Steele man hoppin’ for a while.” +</p> +<p> +“But his poor wife——” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you worry, Mrs. Caslon,” Ruth urged, +but wishing to laugh, too. “We girls will take +care of the kiddies, and Mrs. Steele sha’n’t be +bothered too much.” +</p> +<p> +“Besides,” drawled Mr. Caslon, “the woman’s +got a good sized family of her own—there’s +six or seven of ’em, ain’t there?” he demanded +of Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Eight, sir.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155'></a>155</span> +</p> +<p> +“But that don’t make a speck of difference,” +the farmer’s wife interposed. “She’s always had +plenty of maids and the like to look out for them. +She don’t know——” +</p> +<p> +“Let her learn a little, then,” said Mr. Caslon, +good naturedly enough. “It’ll do both him and +her good. And it’ll give you a rest for a few +hours, Mother. +</p> +<p> +“Besides,” added Mr. Caslon, with another +deep chuckle, “I hear Steele has been rantin’ +around about takin’ the kids to board just for +the sake of spitin’ the neighbors. Now, if he +thinks boardin’ a dozen young’uns like these is +all fun——” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t be harsh, John,” urged Mrs. Caslon. +</p> +<p> +“I ain’t! I ain’t!” cried the farmer, laughing +again. “But they’re bitin’ off a big chaw, and it +tickles me to see ’em do it.” +</p> +<p> +It was arranged, therefore, that the orphans +should be ready to go up to Sunrise Farm that +afternoon. Then Ruth and Tom drove to Darrowtown. +They had a fast horse, and got over +the rough road at a very good pace. +</p> +<p> +Tom drove first around into the side street +where Miss True Pettis’s little cottage was situated. +</p> +<p> +“You dear child!” was the little spinster’s +greeting. “Are you having a nice time with your +rich friends at Sunrise Farm? Tell me all about +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156'></a>156</span> +them—and the farm. Everybody in Darrowtown +is that curious!” +</p> +<p> +Tom had driven away to attend to the errands +he could do alone, so Ruth could afford the +time to visit a bit with her old friend. The felon +was better, and that fact being assured, Ruth considered +it better to satisfy Miss Pettis regarding +the Sunrise Farm folk before getting to the Raby +orphans. +</p> +<p> +And that was the way to get to them, too. +For the story of the tempest the day before, and +the appearance of Sadie Raby, the runaway, and +her reunion with the twins, naturally came into +the tale Ruth had to tell—a tale that was eagerly +listened to and as greatly enjoyed by the Darrowtown +seamstress, as one can well imagine. +</p> +<p> +“Just like a book—or a movie,” sighed Miss +Pettis, shaking her head. “It’s really wonderful, +Ruthie Fielding, what’s happened to you since +you left us here in Darrowtown. But, I always +said, this town is dead and nothing really happens +<em>here</em>!” +</p> +<p> +“But it’s lovely in Darrowtown,” declared +Ruth. “And just to think! Those Raby children +lived here once.” +</p> +<p> +“No?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes they did. Sadie was six or seven years +old, I guess, when they left here. Tom Raby was +her father. He was a mason’s helper——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157'></a>157</span> +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you tell me another thing about ’em!” +cried Miss Pettis, starting up suddenly. “Now +you remind me. I remember them well. Mis’ +Raby was as nice a woman as ever stepped—but +weakly. And Tom Raby—— +</p> +<p> +“Why, how could I forget it? And after that +man from Canady came to trace ’em, too, only +three years ago. Didn’t you ever hear of it, +Ruth?” +</p> +<p> +“What man?” asked Ruth, quite bewildered +now. “Are—are you sure it was the same family? +And <em>who</em> would want to trace them?” +</p> +<p> +“Lemme see. Listen!” commanded Miss +Pettis. “You answer me about these poor children.” +</p> +<p> +And under the seamstress’s skillful questioning +Ruth related every detail she knew about the Raby +orphans—and Mr. Steele, in her presence, had +cross-questioned Sadie exhaustively the evening +before. The story lost nothing in Ruth’s telling, +for she had a retentive memory. +</p> +<p> +“My goodness me, Ruthie!” ejaculated the +spinster, excitedly. “It’s the same folks—sure. +Why, do you know, they came from Quebec, and +there’s some property they’ve fell heir to—property +from their mother’s side—Oh, let me tell +you! Funny you never heard us talkin’ about +that Canady lawyer while you was livin’ here with +me. My!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158'></a>158</span><a name='chXX' id='chXX'></a>CHAPTER XX—THE RABY ROMANCE</h2> +<p> +Miss True Pettis thrilled with the joy of +telling the romance. The little seamstress had +been all her life entertaining people with the dry +details of unimportant neighborhood happenings. +It was only once in a long while that a story like +that of the Rabys’ came within her ken. +</p> +<p> +“Why, do you believe me!” she said to Ruth, +“that Mis’ Raby came of quite a nice family in +Quebec. Not to say Tom Raby wasn’t a fine +man, for he was, but he warn’t educated much +and his trade didn’t bring ’em more’n a livin’. +But her folks had school teachers, and doctors, +and even ministers in their family—yes, indeed! +</p> +<p> +“And it seems like, so the Canady lawyer said, +that a minister in the family what was an uncle +of Mis’ Raby’s, left her and her children some +property. It was in what he called ‘the fun’s’—that’s +like stocks an’ bonds, I reckon. But them +Canadians talk different from us. +</p> +<p> +“Well, I can remember that man—tall, lean +man he was, with a yaller mustache. He had +traced the Rabys to Darrowtown, and he saw +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159'></a>159</span> +the minister, and Deacon Giles, and Amoskeag +Lanfell, askin’ did they know where the Rabys +went when they moved away from here. +</p> +<p> +“I was workin’ for Amoskeag’s wife that day, +so I heard all the talk,” pursued Miss Pettis. “He +said—this Canady lawyer did—that the property +amounted to several thousand dollars. It +was left by the minister (who had no family of +his own) to his niece, Mis’ Raby, or to her children +if she was dead. +</p> +<p> +“Course they asked me if <em>I</em> knowed what became +of the family,” said the spinster, with some +pride. “It bein’ well known here in Darrowtown +that I’m most as good as a parish register—and +why wouldn’t I be? Everybody expects me +to know all the news. But if I ever <em>did</em> know +where them Rabys went, I’d forgot, and I told +the lawyer man so. +</p> +<p> +“But he give me his card and axed me to write +to him if I ever heard anything further from ’em, +or about ’em. And I certain sure would have +done so,” declared Miss Pettis, “if it had +ever come to my mind.” +</p> +<p> +“Have you the gentleman’s card now, Miss +True?” asked Ruth, eagerly. +</p> +<p> +“I s’pect so.” +</p> +<p> +“Will you find it? I know Mr. Steele is interested +in the Rabys, and he can communicate +with this Canadian lawyer——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160'></a>160</span> +</p> +<p> +“Now! ain’t you a bright girl?” cried the +spinster. “Of course!” +</p> +<p> +She at once began to hustle about, turning things +out of her bureau drawers, searching the cubby +holes of an old maple “secretary” that had +set in the corner of the kitchen since her father’s +time, discovering things which she had mislaid +for years—and forgotten—but not coming upon +the card in question right away. +</p> +<p> +“Of course I’ve got it,” she declared. “I +never lose anything—I never throw a scrap of +anything away that might come of use——” +</p> +<p> +And still she rummaged. Tom came back with +the cart and Ruth had to go shopping. “But do +look, Miss Pettis,” she begged, “and we’ll stop +again before we go back to the farm.” +</p> +<p> +Tom and she were some time selecting a dozen +timely, funny, and attractive nicknacks for the +fresh airs. But they succeeded at last, and Ruth +was sure the girls would be pleased with their +selections. +</p> +<p> +“So much better than spending the money for +noise and a powder smell,” added Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Humph! the kids would like the noise all +right,” sniffed Tom. “I heard those little chaps +begging Mr. Caslon for punk and firecrackers. +That old farmer was a boy himself once, and +I bet he got something for them that will smell +of powder, beside the little tad of fireworks he +showed me.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161'></a>161</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh! I hope they won’t any of them get +burned.” +</p> +<p> +“Kind of put a damper on the ‘safe and sane +Fourth’ Mr. Steele spoke about, eh?” chuckled +Tom. +</p> +<p> +Miss Pettis was looking out of the window and +smiling at them when they arrived back at the +cottage. She held in her hand a yellowed bit of +pasteboard, which she passed to the eager Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Where do you suppose I found it, Ruthie?” +she demanded. +</p> +<p> +“I couldn’t guess.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, stuck right into the corner of my lookin’-glass +in my bedroom. I s’pose I have handled +it every day I’ve dusted that glass for three year, +an’ then couldn’t remember where it was. Ain’t +that the beatenes’?” +</p> +<p> +Ruth and Tom drove off in high excitement. +She had already told Master Tom all about the +Raby romance—such details as he did not already +know—and now they both looked at the yellowed +business card before Ruth put it safely away in +her pocket: +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p> <span class='sc'>Mr. Angus MacDorough</span></p> +<p> <em>Solicitor</em></p> +<p> 13, King Crescent, Quebec</p> +</div> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162'></a>162</span></div> +<p> +“Mr. Steele will go right ahead with this, I +know,” said Tom, nodding. “He’s taken a fancy +to those kids——” +</p> +<p> +“Well! he ought to, to Sadie!” cried Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Sure. And he’s a generous man, after all. +Too bad he’s taken such a dislike to old Caslon.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear, Tom! we ought to fix that,” sighed +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Crickey! you’d tackle any job in the world, I +believe, Ruthie, if you thought you could help +folks.” +</p> +<p> +“Nonsense! But both of them—both Mr. +Steele and Mr. Caslon—are such awfully nice +people——” +</p> +<p> +“Well! there’s not much hope, I guess. Mr. +Steele’s lawyer is trying to find a flaw in Caslon’s +title. It seems that, way back, a long time ago, +some of the Caslons got poor, or careless, and +the farm was sold for taxes. It was never properly +straightened out—on the county records, +anyway—and the lawyer is trying to see if he +can’t buy up the interest of whoever bought the +farm in at that time—or their heirs—and so have +some kind of a basis for a suit against old Caslon.” +</p> +<p> +“Goodness! that’s not very clear,” said Ruth, +staring. +</p> +<p> +“No. It’s pretty muddy. But you know how +some lawyers are. And Mr. Steele is willing to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163'></a>163</span> +hire the shyster to do it. He thinks it’s all +right. It’s business.” +</p> +<p> +“<em>Your</em> father wouldn’t do such a thing, Tom!” +cried Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“No. I hope he wouldn’t, anyway,” said Master +Tom, wagging his head. “But I couldn’t say +that to Bobbins when he told me about it, could +I?” +</p> +<p> +“No call to. But, oh, dear! I hope Mr. +Steele won’t be successful. I do hope he won’t +be.” +</p> +<p> +“Same here,” grunted Tom. “Just the same, +he’s a nice man, and I like him.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes—so do I,” admitted Ruth. “But I’d +like him so much more, if he wouldn’t try to get +the best of an old man like Mr. Caslon.” +</p> +<p> +The Raby matter, however, was a more pleasant +topic of conversation for the two friends. +The big bay horse got over the ground rapidly—Tom +said the creature did not know a hill when +he saw one!—and it still lacked half an hour of +noon when they came in sight of Caslon’s house. +</p> +<p> +The orphans were all in force in the front yard. +Mr. Caslon appeared, too. +</p> +<p> +That yard was untidy for the first time since +Ruth had seen it. And most of the untidiness +was caused by telltale bits of red, yellow, and +green paper. Even before the cart came to the +gate, Ruth smelled the tang of powder smoke. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164'></a>164</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Tom! they <em>have</em> got firecrackers,” she +exclaimed. +</p> +<p> +“So have I—a whole box full—under the +front seat,” chuckled Tom. “What’s the Fourth +without a weeny bit of noise? Bobbins and I +are going to let them off in a big hogshead he’s +found behind the stable.” +</p> +<p> +“You boys are rascals!” breathed Ruth. +“Why! there are the twins!” +</p> +<p> +Sadie’s young brothers ran out to the cart. +Mr. Caslon appeared with a good-sized box in +his arms, too. +</p> +<p> +“Just take this—and the youngsters—aboard, +will you, young fellow?” said the farmer. +“Might as well have all the rockets and such up +there on the hill. They’ll show off better. And +the twins was down for the clean clo’es mother +promised them.” +</p> +<p> +It was a two-seated cart and there was plenty +of room for the two boys on the back seat. Mr. +Caslon carefully placed the open box in the bottom +of the cart, between the seats. The fireworks +he had purchased had been taken out of their +wrappings and were placed loosely in the box. +</p> +<p> +“There ye are,” said the farmer, jovially. +“Hop up here, youngsters!” +</p> +<p> +He seized Willie and hoisted him into the seat. +But Dickie had run around to the other side of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165'></a>165</span> +the cart and clambered up like a monkey, to join +his brother. +</p> +<p> +“All right, sir,” said Tom, wheeling the eager +bay horse. It was nearing time for the latter’s +oats, and he smelled them! “Out of the way, +kids. They’ll send a wagon down for you, all +right, after luncheon, I reckon.” +</p> +<p> +Just then Ruth happened to notice something +smoking in Dickie’s hand. +</p> +<p> +“What have you there, child?” she demanded. +“Not a nasty cigarette?” +</p> +<p> +He held out, solemnly, and as usual wordlessly, +a smoking bit of punk. +</p> +<p> +“Where did you get that? Oh! drop it!” +cried Ruth, fearing for the fireworks and the +explosives under the front seat. She meant for +Dickie to throw it out of the wagon, but the +youngster took the command literally. +</p> +<p> +He dropped it. He dropped it right into the +box of fireworks. Then things began to happen! +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166'></a>166</span><a name='chXXI' id='chXXI'></a>CHAPTER XXI—A VERY BUSY TIME</h2> +<p> +“Oh, Tom!” shrieked Ruth, and seized the +boy’s arm. The bay horse was just plunging +ahead, eager to be off for the stable and his +manger. The high cart was whirled through the +gateway as the first explosion came! +</p> +<p> +Pop,pop,pop! sputter—BANG! +</p> +<p> +It seemed as though the horse leaped more +than his own length, and yanked all four wheels +of the cart off the ground. There was a chorus +of screams in the Caslons’ dooryard, but after +that first cry, Ruth kept silent. +</p> +<p> +The rockets shot out of the box amidships with +a shower of sparks. The Roman candles sprayed +their varied colored balls—dimmed now by daylight—all +about the cart. +</p> +<p> +Tom hung to the lines desperately, but the +scared horse had taken the bit in his teeth and +was galloping up the road toward Sunrise Farm, +quite out of hand. +</p> +<p> +After that first grab at Tom’s arm, Ruth did +not interfere with him. She turned about, knelt +on the seat-cushion, and, one after the other, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167'></a>167</span> +swept the twins across the sputtering, shooting +bunch of fireworks, and into the space between +her and Tom and the dashboard. +</p> +<p> +Providentially the shooting rockets headed into +the air, and to the rear. As the big horse dashed +up the hill, swinging the light vehicle from side +to side behind him, there was left behind a trail +of smoke and fire that (had it been night-time) +would have been a brilliant spectacle. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Caslon and the orphans started after the +amazing thing tearing up the road—but to no +purpose. Nothing could be done to stop the +explosion now. The sparks flew all about. Although +Mr. Caslon had bought a wealth of small +rockets, candles, mines, flower-pots, and the like, +never had so many pieces been discharged in so +short a time! +</p> +<p> +It was sputter, sputter, bang, bang, the cart +vomiting flame and smoke, while the horse became +a perfectly frenzied creature, urged on by +the noise behind him. Tom could only cling to +the reins, Ruth clung to the twins, and all by +good providence were saved from an overturn. +</p> +<p> +All the time—and, of course, the half-mile or +more from Caslons’ to the entrance to the Steele +estate, was covered in a very few moments—all +the time Ruth was praying that the fire-crackers +Tom had bought and hidden under the front seat +would not be ignited. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168'></a>168</span> +</p> +<p> +The reports of the rockets, and the like, became +desultory. Some set pieces and triangles +went off with the hissing of snakes. Was the +explosion over? +</p> +<p> +So it seemed, and the maddened horse turned +in at the gateway. The cart went in on two +wheels, but it did not overturn. +</p> +<p> +The race had begun to tell on the bay. He +was covered with foam and his pace was slackening. +Perhaps the peril was over—Ruth drew a +long breath for the first time since the horse had +made its initial jump. +</p> +<p> +And then—with startling suddenness—there +was a sputter and bang! Off went the firecrackers, +package after package. A spark had +burned through the paper wrapper and soon there +was such a popping under that front seat as +shamed the former explosions! +</p> +<p> +Had the horse been able to run any faster, undoubtedly +he would have done so; but as the cart +went tearing up the drive toward the front of the +big house, the display of fireworks, etc., behind +the front seat, and the display of alarm on the +part of the four on the seat, advertised to all beholders +that the occasion was not, to say the least, +a common one. +</p> +<p> +The cart itself was scorched and was afire in +places, the sputtering of the fire-crackers continued +while the horse tore up the hill. Tom had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169'></a>169</span> +bought a generous supply and it took some time +for them all to explode. +</p> +<p> +Fortunately the front drop of the seat was a +solid panel of deal, or Ruth’s skirt might have +caught on fire—or perhaps the legs of the twins +would have been burned. +</p> +<p> +As for the two little fellows, they never even +squealed! Their eyes shone, they had lost their +caps in the back of the cart, their short curls blew +out straight in the wind, and their cheeks glowed. +When the runaway appeared over the crest of +the hill and the crowd at Sunrise Farm beheld +them, it was evident that Willie and Dickie were +enjoying themselves to the full! +</p> +<p> +Poor Tom, on whose young shoulders the responsibility +of the whole affair rested, was braced +back, with his feet against the footboard, the lines +wrapped around his wrists, and holding the maddened +horse in to the best of his ability. +</p> +<p> +Bobbins on one side, and Ralph Tingley on the +other, ran into the roadway and caught the runaway +by the bridle. The bay was, perhaps, quite +willing to halt by this time. Mr. Steele ran out, +and his first exclamation was: +</p> +<p> +“My goodness, Tom Cameron! you’ve finished +that horse!” +</p> +<p> +“I hope not, sir,” panted Tom, rather pale. +“But I thought he’d finish us before he got +through.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170'></a>170</span> +</p> +<p> +By this time the explosions had ceased. Everything +of an explosive nature—saving the twins +themselves—in the cart seemed to have gone off. +And now Willie ejaculated: +</p> +<p> +“Gee! I never rode so fast before. Wasn’t +it great, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” agreed Master Dickie, with rather +more emphasis than usual. +</p> +<p> +Sister Sadie appeared from the rear premises, +vastly excited, too, but when she lifted the twins +down and found not a scratch upon them, she +turned to Ruth with a delighted face. +</p> +<p> +“You took care of them just like you loved +’em, Miss,” she whispered, as Ruth tumbled out +of the cart, too, into her arms. “Oh, dear! don’t +you dare get sick—you ain’t hurt, are you?” +</p> +<p> +“No, no!” exclaimed Ruth, having hard work +to crowd back the tears. “But I’m almost scared +to death. That—that young one!” and she +grabbed at Dickie. “What did you drop that +punk into the fireworks for?” +</p> +<p> +“Huh?” questioned the imperturbable Dickie. +</p> +<p> +“Why didn’t you throw that lighted punk +away?” and Ruth was tempted to shake the +little rascal. +</p> +<p> +But instantly the voluble Willie shouldered his +way to the front. “Gee, Miss! he thought you +wanted him to drop it right there. You said so. +An’—an’—— Well, he didn’t know the things +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171'></a>171</span> +in the box would go off of themselves. Did you +Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Nope,” responded his twin. +</p> +<p> +“Do forgive ’em, Miss Ruth,” whispered +Sadie Raby. “I wouldn’t want Mr. Steele to +get after ’em. You know—he can be sumpin’ +fierce!” +</p> +<p> +“Well,” sighed Ruth Fielding, “they’re the +‘terrible twins’ right enough. Oh, Tom!” she +added, as young Cameron came to her to shake +hands. +</p> +<p> +“You’re getting better and better,” said Tom, +grinning. “I’d rather be in a wreck with you, +Ruthie—of almost any kind—than with anybody +else I know. Those kids don’t even know what +you saved them from, when you dragged ’em over +the back of that seat.” +</p> +<p> +“Sh!” she begged, softly. +</p> +<p> +“And it’s a wonder we weren’t all blown to +glory!” +</p> +<p> +“It was a mercy we were not seriously hurt,” +agreed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +But then there was too much bustle and general +talk for them to discuss the incident quietly. The +horse was led away to the stable and there attended +to. Fortunately he was not really injured, +but the cart would have to go to the painter’s. +</p> +<p> +“A fine beginning for this celebration we have +on hand,” declared Mr. Steele, looking ruefully +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172'></a>172</span> +at his wife. “If all that can happen with only +two of those fresh air kids, as Bob calls them, on +hand, what do you suppose will happen to-night +when we have a dozen at Sunrise Farm?” +</p> +<p> +“Mercy!” gasped the lady. “I am trembling +in my shoes—I am, indeed. But we have agreed +to do it, Father, and we must carry it through.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173'></a>173</span><a name='chXXII' id='chXXII'></a>CHAPTER XXII—THE TERRIBLE TWINS ON THE RAMPAGE</h2> +<p> +The girls who had come to Sunrise Farm to +visit at Madge Steele’s invitation, felt no little +responsibility when it came to the entertainment +for the fresh air orphans. As The Fox said, +with her usual decision: +</p> +<p> +“Now that we’ve put Madge and her folks +into this business, we’ll just have to back up their +play, and make sure that the fresh airs don’t tear +the place down. And that Sadie will have to keep +an eye on the ‘terrible twins.’ Is that right?” +</p> +<p> +“I’ve spoken to poor Sadie,” said Ruth, with +a sigh. “I am afraid that Mrs. Steele is very +much worried over what may occur to-night, while +the children are here. We’ll have to be on the +watch all the time.” +</p> +<p> +“I should say!” exclaimed Heavy Stone. +“Let’s suggest to Mr. Steele that he rope off a +place out front where he is going to have the +fireworks. Some of those little rascals will want +to help celebrate, the way Willie and Dickie did,” +and the plump girl giggled ecstatically. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174'></a>174</span> +</p> +<p> +“’Twas no laughing matter, Jennie,” complained +Ruth, shaking her head. +</p> +<p> +“Well, that’s all right,” Lluella broke in. “If +Tom hadn’t bought the fire-crackers—and that +was right against Mr. Steele’s advice——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, here now!” interrupted Helen, loyal to +her twin. “Tom wasn’t any more to blame +than Bobbins. They were just bought for a +joke.” +</p> +<p> +“It was a joke all right,” Belle said, laughing. +“Who’s going to pay for the damage to the +cart?” +</p> +<p> +“Now, let’s not get to bickering,” urged Ruth. +“What’s done, is done. We must plan now to +make the celebration this afternoon and evening +as easy for Mrs. Steele as possible.” +</p> +<p> +This conversation went on after luncheon, while +Bob and Tom had driven down the hill with a +big wagon to bring up the ten remaining orphans +from Mr. Caslon’s place. +</p> +<p> +The gaily decorated wagon came in sight just +about this time. Fortunately the decorations Tom +and Ruth had purchased that forenoon in Darrowtown +had not been destroyed when the fireworks +went off in the cart. +</p> +<p> +The girls from Briarwood Hall welcomed the +fresh airs cheerfully and took entire charge of the +six little girls. The little boys did not wish to +play “girls’ games” on the lawn, and therefore +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175'></a>175</span> +Bob and his chums agreed to keep an eye on the +youngsters, including the “terrible twins.” +</p> +<p> +Sadie had been drafted to assist Madge and +her mother, and some of the maids, in preparing +for the evening collation. Therefore the visitors +were divided for the time into two bands. +</p> +<p> +The girls from the orphanage were quiet +enough and well behaved when separated from +their boy friends. Indeed, on the lawn and under +the big tent Mr. Steele had had erected, the celebration +of a “safe and sane” Fourth went on in +a most commendable way. +</p> +<p> +It was a very hot afternoon, and after indulging +in a ball game in the field behind the stables, +Bobbins, in a thoughtless moment, suggested a +swim. Half a mile away there was a pond in a +hollow. The boys had been there almost every +day for a dip, and Bob’s suggestion was hailed—even +by the usually thoughtful Tom Cameron—with +satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +“What about the kids?” demanded Ralph +Tingley. +</p> +<p> +“Let them come along,” said Bobbins. +</p> +<p> +“Sure,” urged Busy Izzy. “What harm can +come to them? We’ll keep our eyes on them.” +</p> +<p> +The twins and their small chums from the +orphanage were eager to go to the pond, too, and +so expressed themselves. The half-mile walk +through the hot sun did not make them quail. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176'></a>176</span> +They were proud to be allowed to accompany the +bigger boys to the swimming hole. +</p> +<p> +The little fellows raced along in their bare +feet behind the bigger boys and were pleased +enough, until they reached the pond and learned +that they would only be allowed to go in wading, +while the others slipped into their bathing trunks +and “went in all over.” +</p> +<p> +“No! you can’t go in,” declared Bobbins, who +put his foot down with decision, having his own +small brothers in mind. (They had been left +behind, by the way, to be dressed for the evening.) +</p> +<p> +“Say! the water won’t wet us no more’n it does +you—will it, Dickie?” demanded the talkative +twin. +</p> +<p> +“Nope,” agreed his brother. +</p> +<p> +“Now, you kids keep your clothes on,” said +Bob, threateningly. “And don’t wade more +than to your knees. If you get your overalls wet, +you’ll hear about it. You know Mrs. Caslon fixed +you all up for the afternoon and told you to keep +clean.” +</p> +<p> +The smaller chaps were unhappy. That was +plain. They paddled their dusty feet in the water +for a while, but the sight of the older lads diving +and swimming and having such a good time in +the pond was a continual temptation. The active +minds of the terrible twins were soon at work. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177'></a>177</span> +Willie began to whisper to Dickie, and the latter +nodded his head solemnly. +</p> +<p> +“Say!” blurted out Willie, finally, as Bob and +Tom were racing past them in a boisterous game +of “tag.” “We wanter go back. This ain’t no +fun—is it, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Nope,” said his twin. +</p> +<p> +“Go on back, if you want to. You know the +path,” said Bobbins, breathlessly. +</p> +<p> +“We’re goin’, too,” said one of the other fresh +airs. +</p> +<p> +“We’d rather play with the girls than stay +here. Hadn’t we, Dickie?” proposed Willie +Raby. +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” agreed Master Dickie, with due solemnity. +</p> +<p> +“Go on!” cried Bob. “And see you go +straight back to the house. My!” he added to +Tom, “but those kids are a nuisance.” +</p> +<p> +“Think we ought to let them go alone?” +queried Tom, with some faint doubt on the subject. +“You reckon they’ll be all right, Bobbins?” +</p> +<p> +“Great Scott! they sure know the way to the +house,” said Bob. “It’s a straight path.” +</p> +<p> +But, as it happened, the twins had no idea of +going straight to the house. The pond was fed +by a stream that ran in from the east. The little +fellows had seen this, and Willie’s idea was to +circle around through the woods and find that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178'></a>178</span> +stream. There they could go in bathing like the +bigger boys, “and nobody would ever know.” +</p> +<p> +“Our heads will be wet,” objected one of the +orphans. +</p> +<p> +“Gee!” said Willie Raby, “don’t let’s wet our +heads. We ain’t got to—have we?” +</p> +<p> +“Nope,” said his brother, promptly. +</p> +<p> +There was some doubt, still, in the minds of +the other boys. +</p> +<p> +“What you goin’ to say to those folks up to +the big house?” demanded one of the fresh airs. +</p> +<p> +“Ain’t goin’ to say nothin’,” declared the bold +Willie. “Cause why? they ain’t goin’ to know—‘nless +you fellers snitch.” +</p> +<p> +“Aw, who’s goin’ to snitch?” cried the objector, +angered at once by the accusation of the +worst crime in all the category of boyhood. “We +ain’t no tattle-tales—are we, Jim?” +</p> +<p> +“Naw. We’re as safe to hold our tongues as +you an’ yer brother are, Willie Raby—so now!” +</p> +<p> +“Sure we are!” agreed the other orphans. +</p> +<p> +“Then come along,” urged the talkative twin. +“Nobody’s got to know.” +</p> +<p> +“Suppose yer sister finds it out?” sneered one. +</p> +<p> +“Aw—well—she jes’ ain’t go’n’ ter,” cried +Willie, exasperated. “An’ what if she does? +She runned away herself—didn’t she?” +</p> +<p> +The spirit of restlessness was strong in the +Raby nature, it was evident. Willie was a born +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179'></a>179</span> +leader. The others trailed after him when he +left the pathway that led directly back to Sunrise +Farm, and pushed into the thicker wood in the +direction he believed the stream lay. +</p> +<p> +The juvenile leader of the party did not know +(how should he?) that just above the pond the +stream which fed it made a sharp turn. Its +waters came out of a deep gorge, lying in an entirely +different direction from that toward which +the “terrible twins” and their chums were aiming. +</p> +<p> +The little fellows plodded on for a long time, +and the sun dropped suddenly behind the hills to +the westward, and there they were—quite surprisingly +to themselves—in a strange and fast-darkening +forest. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180'></a>180</span><a name='chXXIII' id='chXXIII'></a>CHAPTER XXIII—LOST</h2> +<p> +The girl visitors from Briarwood Hall did all +they could to help the mistress of Sunrise Farm +and Madge prepare for the evening festivities, +and not alone in employing the attention of the +six little girls from the orphanage. +</p> +<p> +There were the decorations to arrange, and +the paper lanterns to hang, and the long tables +on the porch to prepare for the supper. Twelve +extra, hungry little mouths to feed was, of itself, +a fact of no small importance. +</p> +<p> +When the wagon had come up from Caslon’s +with the orphans, Mrs. Steele had thought it +rather a liberty on the part of the farmer’s wife +because she had, with the children, sent a great +hamper of cakes, which she (Mrs. Caslon) herself +had baked the day before. +</p> +<p> +But the cakes were so good, and already the +children were so hungry, that the worried mistress +of the big farm was thankful that these supplies +were in her pantry. +</p> +<p> +“When the boys come back from the pond, I +expect they will be ravenous, too,” sighed the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181'></a>181</span> +good lady. “<em>Do</em> you think, Madge, that there +will be enough ham and tongue sandwiches for +supper? I am sure of the cream and cake—thanks +to that good old woman (though I hope +your father won’t hear me say it). But that is +to be served after the fireworks. They will want +something hearty at suppertime—and goodness +me, Madge! It is five o’clock now. Those boys +should be back from their swim.” +</p> +<p> +As for Mr. Steele, he was immensely satisfied +with the celebration of the day so far. To tell +the truth, he had very little to do with the work +of getting ready for the orphans’ entertainment. +Aside from the explosion of the fireworks in the +cart, the occasion had been a perfectly “safe and +sane” celebration of a holiday that he usually +looked forward to with no little dread. +</p> +<p> +Before anybody really began to worry over +their delay, the boys came into view. They had +had a refreshing swim and announced the state +of their appetites the moment they joined the girls +at the big tent. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, yes,” said Madge, “we know all about +that, Bobbie dear. But his little tootie-wootsums +must wait till hims gets his bib put on, an’ let +sister see if his hannies is nice and clean. Can’t +sit down to eat if hims a dirty boy,” and she +rumpled her big brother’s hair, while he looked +foolish enough over her “baby talk.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182'></a>182</span> +</p> +<p> +“Don’t be ridiculous, Madge,” said Helen, +briskly. “Of course they are hungry—— But +where’s the rest of them?” +</p> +<p> +“The rest of what?” demanded Busy Izzy. +“I guess we’re all here.” +</p> +<p> +“Say! you <em>must</em> be hungry,” chuckled Heavy. +“Did you eat the kids?” +</p> +<p> +“What kids?” snapped Tom, in sudden alarm. +</p> +<p> +“The fresh airs, of course. The ‘terrible +twins’ and their mates. My goodness!” cried +Ann Hicks, “you didn’t forget and leave them +down there at the pond, did you?” +</p> +<p> +The boys looked at each other for a moment. +“What’s the joke?” Bobbins finally drawled. +</p> +<p> +“It’s no joke,” Ruth said, quickly. “You +don’t mean to say that you forgot those little +boys?” +</p> +<p> +“Now, stop that, Ruth Fielding!” cried Isadore +Phelps, very red in the face. “A joke’s a +joke; but don’t push it too far. You know very +well those kids came back up here more’n an +hour ago.” +</p> +<p> +“They didn’t do any such thing,” cried Sadie, +having heard the discussion, and now running out +to the tent. “They haven’t been near the house +since you big boys took them to the pond. Now, +say! what d’ye know about it?” +</p> +<p> +“They’re playing a trick on us,” declared Tom, +gloomily. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183'></a>183</span> +</p> +<p> +“Let’s hunt out in the stables, and around,” +suggested Ralph Tingley, feebly. +</p> +<p> +“Maybe they went back to Caslon’s,” Isadore +said, hopefully. +</p> +<p> +“We’ll find out about that pretty quick,” said +Madge. “I’ll tell father and he’ll send somebody +down to see if they went there.” +</p> +<p> +“Come on, boys!” exclaimed Tom, starting +for the rear of the house. “Those little scamps +are fooling us.” +</p> +<p> +“Suppose they <em>have</em> wandered away into the +woods?” breathed Ruth to Helen. “Whatever +shall we do?” +</p> +<p> +Sadie could not wait. She was unable to remain +idle, when it was possible that the twin +brothers she had so lately rejoined, were in danger. +She flashed after the boys and hunted the +stables, too. +</p> +<p> +Nobody there had seen the “fresh airs” since +they had followed the bigger boys to the pond. +</p> +<p> +“And ye sure didn’t leave ’em down there?” +demanded Sadie Raby of Tom. +</p> +<p> +“Goodness me! No!” exclaimed Tom. +“They couldn’t go in swimming as we did, and +so they got mad and wouldn’t stay. But they +started right up this way, and we thought they +were all right.” +</p> +<p> +“They might have slanted off and gone across +the fields to Caslon’s,” said Bobbins, doubtfully. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184'></a>184</span> +</p> +<p> +“That would have taken them into the back +pasture where Caslon keeps his Angoras—wouldn’t +it?” demanded the much-worried young +man. +</p> +<p> +“Well, you can go look for ’em with the +goats,” snapped Sadie, starting off. “But me for +that Caslon place. If they didn’t go there, then +they are in the woods somewhere.” +</p> +<p> +She started down the hill, fleet-footed as a dog. +Before Mr. Steele had stopped sputtering over the +catastrophe, and bethought him to start somebody +for the Caslon premises to make inquiries, Sadie +came in view again, with the old, gray-mustached +farmer in tow. +</p> +<p> +The serious look on Mr. Caslon’s face was +enough for all those waiting at Sunrise Farm to +realize that the absent children were actually lost. +Tom and Bobbins had come up from the goat +pasture without having seen, or heard, the six +little fellows. +</p> +<p> +“I forgot to tell ye,” said Caslon, seriously, +“that ye had to keep one eye at least on them +‘terrible twins’ all the time. We locked ’em +into their bedroom at night. No knowin’ when +or where they’re likely to break out. But I reckoned +this here sister of theirs would keep ’em +close to her——” +</p> +<p> +“Well!” snapped Sadie Raby, eyeing Tom +and Bobbins with much disfavor, “I thought that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185'></a>185</span> +a bunch of big fellers like them could look after +half a dozen little mites.” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Steele had come forward slowly; the fact +that the six orphan boys really seemed to be lost, +was an occasion to break down even <em>his</em> barrier +of dislike for the neighbor. Besides, Mr. Caslon +ignored any difference there might be between +them in a most generous manner. +</p> +<p> +“I blame myself, Neighbor Steele—I sure do,” +Mr. Caslon said, before the owner of Sunrise +Farm could speak. “I’d ought to warned you +about them twins. They got bit by the runaway +bug bad—that’s right.” +</p> +<p> +“Humph! a family trait—is it?” demanded +Mr. Steele, rather grimly eyeing the sister of the +runaways. +</p> +<p> +“I couldn’t say about that,” chuckled the +farmer. “But Willie and Dickie started off +twice from our place, trailin’ most of the other +kids with ’em. But I caught ’em in time. Now, +their sister tells me, they’ve got at least an hour +and a half’s start.” +</p> +<p> +“It is getting dark—or it will soon be,” said +Mr. Steele, nervously. “If they are not found +before night, I shall be greatly disturbed. I feel +as though I were responsible. My oldest boy, +here——” +</p> +<p> +“Now, it ain’t nobody’s fault, like enough,” +interrupted Mr. Caslon, cheerfully, and seeing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186'></a>186</span> +Bobbins’s woebegone face. “We’ll start right +out and hunt for them.” +</p> +<p> +“But if it grows dark——” +</p> +<p> +“Let me have what men you can spare, and +all the lanterns around the place,” said Caslon, +briskly, taking charge of the matter on the instant. +“These bigger boys can help.” +</p> +<p> +“I—I can go with you, sir,” began Mr. Steele, +but the farmer waved him back. +</p> +<p> +“No. You ain’t used to the woods—nor to +trampin’—like I be. And it won’t hurt your boys. +You leave it to us—we’ll find ’em.” +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Steele had retired to the tent on the lawn +in tears, and most of the girls were gathered +about her. Sadie Raby clung to Farmer Caslon’s +side, and nobody tried to call her back. +</p> +<p> +Since returning from Darrowtown that morning, +Ruth Fielding had divulged to Mr. Steele all +she had discovered through Miss True Pettis regarding +the Raby family, and about the Canadian +lawyer who had once searched for Mrs. Raby +and her children. +</p> +<p> +The gentleman had expressed deep interest +in the matter, and while the fresh air children +were being entertained during the afternoon, Mr. +Steele had already set in motion an effort to +learn the whereabouts of Mr. Angus MacDorough +and to discover just what the property was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187'></a>187</span> +that had been willed to the mother of the Raby +orphans. +</p> +<p> +Sadie had been told nothing about this wonderful +discovery as yet. Indeed, there had been no +time. Sadie had been busy, with Mrs. Steele and +the others, in preparing for that “safe and sane” +celebration with which Mr. Steele had desired to +entertain the “terrible twins” and their little +companions at Sunrise Farm. +</p> +<p> +Now this sudden catastrophe had occurred. +The loss of the six little boys was no small trouble. +It threatened to be a tragedy. +</p> +<p> +Down there beyond the pond the mountainside +was heavily timbered, and there were many dangerous +ravines and sudden precipices over which a +careless foot might stray. +</p> +<p> +Dusk was coming on. In the wood it would already +be dark. And if the frightened children +went plunging about, seeking, in terror, to escape, +they might at any moment be cast into some pit +where the searchers would possibly never find +them. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Steele felt his responsibility gravely. He +was, at best, a nervous man, and this happening +assumed the very gravest outlines in his anxious +mind. +</p> +<p> +“Never ought to have let them out of my own +sight,” he sputtered, having Ruth for a confidant. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188'></a>188</span> +“I might have known something extraordinary +would happen. It was a crazy thing to have all +those children up here, anyway.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear, Mr. Steele!” cried Ruth, much +worried, “<em>that</em> is partly my fault. I was one of +those who suggested it.” +</p> +<p> +“Nonsense! nonsense, child! Nobody blames +you,” returned the gentleman. “I should have +put my foot down and said ‘No.’ Nobody influenced +me at all. Why—why, I <em>wanted</em> to give the +poor little kiddies a nice time. And now—see +what has come of it?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, it may be that they will be found almost +at once,” cried Ruth, hopefully. “I am sure Mr. +Caslon will do what he can——” +</p> +<p> +“Caslon’s an eminently practical man—yes, indeed,” +admitted Mr. Steele, and not grudgingly. +“If anybody can find them, he will, I have no +doubt.” +</p> +<p> +And this commendation of the neighbor whom +he so disliked struck Ruth completely silent for +the time being. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189'></a>189</span><a name='chXXIV' id='chXXIV'></a>CHAPTER XXIV—“SO THAT’S ALL RIGHT”</h2> +<p> +“And here it is ‘ong past suppertime,” groaned +Heavy; “it’s getting darker every minute, and the +fireworks ought to be set off, and we can’t do a +thing!” +</p> +<p> +“Who’d have the heart to eat, with those children +wandering out there in the woods?” snapped +Mercy Curtis. +</p> +<p> +“What’s <em>heart</em> got to do with eating?” grumbled +the plump girl. “And I was thinking quite +as much of the little girls here as I was of myself. +Why! here is one of the poor kiddies +asleep, I do declare.” +</p> +<p> +The party in the big tent was pretty solemn. +Even the six little girls from the orphanage could +not play, or laugh, under the present circumstances. +And, in addition, it looked as though all +the fun for the evening would be spoiled. +</p> +<p> +The searching party had been gone an hour. +Those remaining behind had seen the twinkling +lanterns trail away over the edge of the hill and +disappear. Now all they could see from the tent +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190'></a>190</span> +were the stars, and the fireflies, with now and then +a rocket soaring heavenward from some distant +farm, or hamlet, where the Glorious Fourth was +being fittingly celebrated. +</p> +<p> +Madge and Helen came out with a hamper of +sandwiches and there was lemonade, but not even +the little folk ate with an appetite. The day +which, at Sunrise Farm, was planned to be so +memorable, threatened now to be remembered +for a very unhappy cause. +</p> +<p> +Down in the wood lot that extended from below +some of Mr. Steele’s hayfields clear into the next +township, the little party of searchers, led by old +Mr. Caslon, had separated into parties of two +each, to comb the wilderness. +</p> +<p> +None of the men knew the wood as did Mr. +Caslon, and of course the boys and Sadie (who +had refused to go back) were quite unfamiliar +with it. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t go out of sight of the flash of each +other’s lanterns,” advised the farmer. +</p> +<p> +And by sticking to this rule it was not likely +that any of the sorely troubled searchers would, +themselves, be lost. As they floundered through +the thick undergrowth, they shouted, now and +then, as loudly as they could. But nothing but +the echoes, and the startled nightbirds, replied. +</p> +<p> +Again and again they called for the lost boys +by name. Sadie’s shrill voice carried as far as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191'></a>191</span> +anybody’s, without doubt, and her crying for +“Willie” and “Dickie” should have brought +those delinquents to light, had they heard her. +</p> +<p> +Sadie stuck close to Mr. Caslon, as he told her +to. But the way through the brush was harder +for the girl than for the rest of them. Thick +mats of greenbriars halted them. They were +torn, and scratched, and stung by the vegetable +pests; yet Sadie made no complaint. +</p> +<p> +As for the mosquitoes and other stinging insects—well, +they were out on this night, it seemed, +in full force. They buzzed around the heads of +the searchers in clouds, attracted by the lanterns. +Above, in the trees, complaining owls hooted their +objections to the searchers’ presence in the forest. +The whip-poor-wills reiterated their determination +from dead limbs or rotting fence posts. And +in the wet places the deep-voiced frogs gave tongue +in many minor keys. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear!” sighed Sadie to the farmer, “the +little fellers will be scared half to death when +they hear all these critters.” +</p> +<p> +“And how about you?” he asked. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I’m used to ’em. Why, I’ve slept out +in places as bad as this more’n one night. But +Willie and Dickie ain’t used to it.” +</p> +<p> +One end of the line of searchers touched the +pond. They shouted that information to the +others, and then they all pushed on. It was in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192'></a>192</span> +the mind of all that, perhaps, the children had +circled back to the pond. +</p> +<p> +But their shouts brought no hoped-for reply, +although they echoed across the open water, and +were answered eerily from the farther shore. +</p> +<p> +There were six couples; therefore the line extended +for a long way into the wood, and swept a +wide area. They marched on, bursting through +the vines and climbers, searching thick patches +of jungle, and often shouting in chorus till the +wood rang again. +</p> +<p> +Tom and one of the stablemen, who were at +the lower end of the line, finally came to the +mouth of that gorge out of which the brook +sprang. To the east of this opening lay a considerable +valley and it was decided to search +this vale thoroughly before following the stream +higher. +</p> +<p> +It was well they did so, for half a mile farther +on, Tom and his companion made a discovery. +They came upon the tall, blasted trunk of a huge +old tree that had a great hollow at its foot. This +hollow was blinded by a growth of vines and +brush, yet as Tom flashed his lantern upon it, it +seemed to him as though the vines had been disturbed. +</p> +<p> +“It may be the lair of some animal, sir,” suggested +the stableman, as Tom attempted to peer +in. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193'></a>193</span> +</p> +<p> +“Nothing much more dangerous than foxes in +these woods now, I am told,” returned the boy. +“And this is not a fox’s burrow—hello!” +</p> +<p> +His sudden, delighted shriek rang through the +wood and up the hillside. +</p> +<p> +“I’ve found them! I’ve found them!” the +boy repeated, and dived into the hollow tree. +</p> +<p> +His lantern showed him and the stableman +the six wanderers rolled up like kittens in a +nest. They opened their eyes sleepily, yawning +and blinking. One began to snivel, but Willie +Raby at once delivered a sharp punch to that one, +saying, in grand disgust: +</p> +<p> +“Baby! Didn’t I tell you they’d come for us? +They was sure to—wasn’t they, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” responded that youngster, quite as cool +about it as his brother. +</p> +<p> +Tom’s shouts brought the rest of the party in +a hurry. Mr. Caslon hauled each “fresh air” out +by the collar and stood him on his feet. When +he had counted them twice over to make sure, he +said: +</p> +<p> +“Well, sir! of all the young scamps that ever +were born—Willie Raby! weren’t you scared?” +</p> +<p> +“Nope,” declared Willie. “Some of these +other kids begun ter snivel when it got dark; but +Dickie an’ me would ha’ licked ’em if they’d kep’ +that up. Then we found that good place to +sleep——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194'></a>194</span> +</p> +<p> +“But suppose it had been the bed of some +animal?” asked Bobbins, chuckling. +</p> +<p> +“Nope,” said Willie, shaking his head. “There +was spider webs all over the hole we went in at, +so we knowed nobody had been there much lately. +And it was a pretty good place to sleep. Only it +was too warm in there at first. I couldn’t get to +sleep right away.” +</p> +<p> +“But you didn’t hear us shouting for you?” +queried one of the other searchers. +</p> +<p> +“Nope. I got to sleep. You see, I thought +about bears an’ burglars an’ goblins, an’ all those +sort o’ things, an’ that made me shiver, so I went +to sleep,” declared the earnest twin. +</p> +<p> +A shout of laughter greeted this statement. +The searchers picked up the little fellows and +carried them down to the edge of the pond, where +the way was much clearer, and so on to the plain +path to Sunrise Farm. +</p> +<p> +So delighted were they to have found the six +youngsters without a scratch upon them, that nobody—not +even Mr. Caslon—thought to ask the +runaways how they had come to wander so far +from Sunrise Farm. +</p> +<p> +It was ten o’clock when the party arrived at +the big house on the hill. Isadore had run ahead +to tell the good news and everybody was aroused—even +to the six fellow-orphans of the runaways—to +welcome the wanderers. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195'></a>195</span> +</p> +<p> +“My goodness! let’s have the fireworks and +celebrate their return,” exclaimed Madge. +</p> +<p> +But Mr. Steele quickly put his foot down +on that. +</p> +<p> +“I am afraid that Willie and Dickie, and Jim +and the rest of them, ought really to be punished +for their escapade, and the trouble and fright they +have given us,” declared the proprietor of Sunrise +Farm. +</p> +<p> +“However, perhaps going without their supper +and postponing the rest of the celebration until +to-morrow night, will be punishment enough. But +don’t you let me hear of you six boys trying to run +away again, while you remain with Mr. and Mrs. +Caslon,” and he shook a threatening finger at the +wanderers. +</p> +<p> +“Now Mr. and Mrs. Caslon will take you +home,” for the big wagon had been driven around +from the stables while he was speaking. Mrs. +Caslon, too worried to remain in doubt about the +fresh airs, had trudged away up the hill to Sunrise +Farm, while the party was out in search of the +lost ones. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Steele and the girls bade a cordial good-night +to the farmer’s wife, as she climbed up to +the front seat of the vehicle on one side. On the +other, Mr. Steele stopped Mr. Caslon before he +could climb up. +</p> +<p> +“The women folks have arranged for you and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196'></a>196</span> +your wife to come to-morrow evening and help +take care of these little mischiefs, while we finish +the celebration,” said the rich man, with a detaining +hand upon Mr. Caslon’s shoulder. “We +need you.” +</p> +<p> +“I reckon so, neighbor,” said the farmer, +chuckling. “We’re a little more used to them +lively young eels than you be.” +</p> +<p> +“And—and we want you and your wife to come +for your own sakes,” added Mr. Steele, in some +confusion. “We haven’t even been acquainted +before, sir. I consider that I am at fault, Caslon. +I hope you’ll overlook it and—and—as you say +yourself—<em>be neighborly</em>.” +</p> +<p> +“Sure! Of course!” exclaimed the old man, +heartily. “Ain’t no need of two neighbors bein’ +at outs, Mr. Steele. You’ll find that soft words +butter more parsnips than any other kind. If you +an’ I ain’t jest agreed on ev’ry p’int, let’s get together +an’ settle it ourselves. No need of lawyers’ +work in it,” and the old farmer climbed nimbly +to the high seat, and the wagon load of cheering, +laughing youngsters started down the hill. +</p> +<p> +“And so <em>that’s</em> all right,” exclaimed the delighted +Ruth, who had heard the conversation between +the two men, and could scarcely hide her +delight in it. +</p> +<p> +“I feel like dancing,” she said to Helen. “I +just <em>know</em> Mr. Steele and Mr. Caslon will understand +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197'></a>197</span> +each other after this, and that there will be +no quarrel between them over the farms.” +</p> +<p> +Which later results proved to be true. Not +many months afterward, Madge wrote to Ruth +that her father and the old farmer had come to +a very satisfactory agreement. Mr. Caslon had +agreed to sell the old homestead to Mr. Steele +for a certain price, retaining a life occupancy of +it for himself and wife, and, in addition, the +farmer was to take over the general superintendency +of Sunrise Farm for Mr. Steele, on a yearly +salary. +</p> +<p> +“So much for the work of the ‘terrible +twins’!” Ruth declared when she heard this, for +the girl of the Red Mill did not realize how +much she, herself, had to do with bringing about +Mr. Steele’s change of attitude toward his neighbor. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198'></a>198</span><a name='chXXV' id='chXXV'></a>CHAPTER XXV—THE ORPHANS’ FORTUNE</h2> +<p> +A great deal happened at Sunrise Farm before +these later occurrences which so delighted Ruth +Fielding. The excitement of the loss of the six +“fresh airs” was not easily forgotten. Whenever +any of the orphans was on the Sunrise premises +again, they had a bodyguard of older girls +or boys who kept a bright lookout that nothing +unusual happened to them. +</p> +<p> +As for the twins, Sadie took them in hand with +a reformatory spirit that amazed Willie and +Dickie. Those two youngsters were kept at Sunrise +Farm and put in special charge of Sadie. +Thus Mr. Steele had the three Raby orphans +under his own eye until he could hear from Canada, +and from the orphanage, and learn all the +particulars of the fortune that might be in store +for them. +</p> +<p> +After a bit Willie and Dickie found the watchfulness +of their sister somewhat irksome. +</p> +<p> +“Say!” the talkative twin observed, “you ain’t +got no reason to be so sharp on us, Sadie Raby. +<em>You</em> run away your ownself—didn’t she, +Dickie?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199'></a>199</span> +</p> +<p> +“Yep,” agreed the oracular one. +</p> +<p> +“An’ we don’t want no gal follerin’ us around +and tellin’ us to ‘stop’ all the time—do we, +Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“Nope.” +</p> +<p> +“We’re big boys now,” declared Willie, strutting +like the young bantam he was. “There ain’t +nothin’ goin’ to hurt us. We’re too big——” +</p> +<p> +“What’s that on your finger—— No! the +other one?” snapped Sadie, eyeing Willie sharply. +</p> +<p> +“Scratch,” announced the boy. +</p> +<p> +“Where’d you get it?” +</p> +<p> +“I—I cut it on the cat,” admitted Willie, with +less bombast. +</p> +<p> +“Humph! you’re a big boy—ain’t you? Don’t +even know enough to let the cat alone—and I +hope her claw done you some good. Come here +an’ let me borrer Miss Ruth’s peroxide bottle and +put some on it. Cat’s claws is poison,” said Sadie. +“You ain’t so fit to get along without somebody +watchin’ you as ye think, kid. Remember that, +now.” +</p> +<p> +“We don’t want no gal trailin’ after us all the +time!” cried Willie, angrily. “An’ we ain’t +goin’ to stand it,” and he kicked his bare toe into +the sand to express the emphasis that his voice +would not vent. +</p> +<p> +“Humph!” said Sadie, eyeing him sideways, +meanwhile trimming carefully a stout branch she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200'></a>200</span> +had broken from the lilac bush. “So you want +to be your own boss, do you, Willie Raby?” +</p> +<p> +“We <em>be</em> our own boss—ain’t we, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +For the first time, the echo of Dickie’s agreement +failed to materialize. Dickie was eyeing +that lilac sprout—and looked from that to his +sister’s determined face. He backed away several +feet and put his hands behind him. +</p> +<p> +“And so you ain’t goin’ to mind me—nor Miss +Ruth—nor Mr. Steele—nor Mr. Caslon—nor nobody?” +proceeded Sadie, more earnestness apparent +in each section of her query. +</p> +<p> +Her hand reached out suddenly and gripped +Willie by the shoulder of his shirt. He tried to +writhe out of her grasp, but his sister’s muscles +were hardened, and she was twice as strong as +Willie had believed. The lilac sprout was raised. +</p> +<p> +“So you’re too big to mind anybody, heh?” +she queried. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, we be!” snarled the writhing Willie. +“Ain’t we, Dickie?” +</p> +<p> +“No, we’re not!” screamed his twin, suddenly, +refusing to echo Willie’s declaration. “Don’t hit +him, Sade! Oh, don’t!” and he cast himself upon +his sister and held her tight about the waist. +“We—we’ll be good,” he sobbed. +</p> +<p> +“How about it, Willie Raby?” demanded the +stern sister, without lowering the stick. “Are +you goin’ to mind and be good?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201'></a>201</span> +</p> +<p> +Willie stared, tried to writhe away, saw it was +no use, and capitulated. “Aw—yes—if <em>he’s</em> goin’ +to cry about it,” he grumbled. He said it with +an air intimating that Dickie was, after all, quite +a millstone about his neck and would always +be holding him back from deeds of valor +which Willie, himself, knew he could perform. +</p> +<p> +However, the twins behaved pretty well after +that. They remained with Sadie at Sunrise Farm, +for the whole Steele family had become interested +in them. +</p> +<p> +The inquiries Mr. Steele set afoot resulted, in +a short time, in information of surprising moment +to the three Raby orphans. The old inquiry +which had brought the lawyer, Mr. Angus MacDorough, +to Darrowtown three years before, was +ferreted out by another lawyer engaged by Mr. +Steele. +</p> +<p> +It was found that Mr. MacDorough had, soon +after his visit to the States in the matter of the +Raby fortune, been stricken ill and, after a long +sickness, had died. His affairs had never been +straightened out, and his business was still in a +chaotic state. +</p> +<p> +However, it was found beyond a doubt that +Mr. MacDorough had been engaged to search out +the whereabouts of Mrs. Tom Raby and her children +by the administrators of the estate of Mrs. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202'></a>202</span> +Raby’s elderly relative, now some time deceased. +</p> +<p> +Nearly two thousand dollars in American +money had been left as a legacy to the Rabys. In +time this property was put into Mr. Steele’s care +to hold in trust for the three orphans—and it was +enough to promise them all an education and a +start in life. +</p> +<p> +Had it not been so, Mr. and Mrs. Steele would +have felt sufficiently in Sadie’s debt, because of +her having saved little Bennie Steele from the +hoofs of the Black Douglass, to have made the +girl’s way—and that of the twins—plain before +them, until they were grown. +</p> +<p> +How much Ruth Fielding and her chum, Helen, +were delighted by all this can be imagined. Sadie +held an almost worshipful attitude toward Ruth; +Ruth had been her first real friend when she ran +away from “them Perkinses.” +</p> +<p> +That Ruth and her chum bore the affairs of the +Raby orphans in mind, and continued to have +many other and varied interests, as well as a multitude +of adventures during the summer, will be +explained in the next volume of our series, to be +entitled: “Ruth Fielding and the Gypsies; Or, +The Missing Pearl Necklace.” +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile, the visit to Sunrise Farm came to +a glorious close. The belated Fourth of July +was celebrated on the evening of the fifth, in a +perfectly “safe and sane” manner by the burning of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203'></a>203</span> +the wealth of fireworks that Mr. Steele +had supplied. +</p> +<p> +The days that followed to the end of the stay +of the girls of Briarwood Hall and their brothers, +were filled with delightful incidents. Picnics, fishing +parties, tramps over the hills, rides, games on +the lawn, and many other activities occupied the +delightful hours at Sunrise Farm. +</p> +<p> +“This surely is the nicest place I ever was at,” +Busy Izzy admitted, on the closing day of the +party. “If I have as good a time the rest of +the summer, I won’t mind going back to school +and suffering for eight months in the year.” +</p> +<p> +“Hear! hear!” cried Heavy Jennie Stone. +“And the eats!” +</p> +<p> +“And the rides,” said Mercy Curtis, the lame +girl. “Such beautiful rides through the hills!” +</p> +<p> +“And such a fine time watching those fresh airs +to see that they didn’t kill themselves,” added +Tom Cameron, with a grimace. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t say a word against the poor little dears, +Tommy,” urged his sister. “Suppose <em>you</em> had to +live in an for orphanage all but four weeks in the +year?” +</p> +<p> +“Tom is only fooling,” Ruth said, quietly. “I +know him. He enjoyed seeing the children have +a good time, too.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! if you say so, Miss Fielding,” said Tom, +laughing and bowing to her, “it must be so.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204'></a>204</span> +</p> +<p> +The big yellow coach, with the four prancing +horses, came around to the door. Bobbins +mounted to the driver’s seat and gathered up the +ribbons. The visitors climbed aboard. +</p> +<p> +Ruth stood up and waved her hand to the rest +of the Steele family, and Sadie and the twins gathered +on the porch. +</p> +<p> +“We’ve had the finest time ever!” she cried. +“We love you all for giving us such a nice vacation. +And we’re going to cheer you——” +</p> +<p> +And cheer they did. At the noise, the leaders +sprang forward and the yellow coach rolled away. +Ruth, laughing, sat down suddenly beside her +chum, and Helen hugged her tight. +</p> +<p> +“We always have a dandy time when we go +anywhere with <em>you</em>, Ruth,” she declared. “For +you always take your ‘good times’ with you.” +</p> +<p> +And perhaps Helen Cameron had made a very +important discovery. +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p> </p> +<p>THE END</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By ALICE B. EMERSON +</p> +<p> +<i>12mo. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional.</i> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i004' id='i004'></a> +<img src='images/ad1.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +Ruth Fielding was an orphan and came +to live with her miserly uncle. Her adventures +and travels make stories that will hold +the interest of every reader. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding is a character that will live +in juvenile fiction. +</p> +<p> + 1. RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL<br /> + 2. RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL<br /> + 3. RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP<br /> + 4. RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT<br /> + 5. RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH<br /> + 6. RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND<br /> + 7. RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM<br /> + 8. RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES<br /> + 9. RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES<br /> + 10. RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE<br /> + 11. RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE<br /> + 12. RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE<br /> + 13. RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS<br /> + 14. RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT<br /> + 15. RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND<br /> + 16. RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST<br /> + 17. RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST<br /> + 18. RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE<br /> + 19. RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING<br /> + 20. RUTH FIELDING IN THE FAR NORTH<br /> + 21. RUTH FIELDING AT GOLDEN PASS<br /> + 22. RUTH FIELDING IN ALASKA<br /> + 23. RUTH FIELDING AND HER GREAT SCENARIO<br /> + 24. RUTH FIELDING AT CAMERON HALL<br /> + 25. RUTH FIELDING CLEARING HER NAME<br /> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE BARTON BOOKS FOR GIRLS</span> +</p> +<p> +By MAY HOLLIS BARTON +</p> +<p> +<i>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With colored jacket.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Price 50 cents per volume.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Postage 10 cents additional.</i> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i005' id='i005'></a> +<img src='images/ad2.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<i>May Hollis Barton is a new writer for +girls who is bound to win instant popularity. +Her style is somewhat of a reminder of that +of Louisa M. Alcott, but thoroughly up-to-date +in plot and action. Clean tales that +all the girls will enjoy reading.</i> +</p> +<p> +1. THE GIRL FROM THE COUNTRY +<i>or Laura Mayford’s City Experiences</i> +</p> +<p> +2. THREE GIRL CHUMS AT LAUREL HALL +<i>or The Mystery of the School by the Lake</i> +</p> +<p> +3. NELL GRAYSON’S RANCHING DAYS +<i>or A City Girl in the Great West</i> +</p> +<p> +4. FOUR LITTLE WOMEN OF ROXBY +<i>or The Queer Old Lady Who Lost Her Way</i> +</p> +<p> +5. PLAIN JANE AND PRETTY BETTY +<i>or The Girl Who Won Out</i> +</p> +<p> +6. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE +<i>or The Old Bachelor’s Ward</i> +</p> +<p> +7. HAZEL HOOD’S STRANGE DISCOVERY +<i>or The Old Scientist’s Treasure Box</i> +</p> +<p> +8. TWO GIRLS AND A MYSTERY +<i>or The Old House in the Glen</i> +</p> +<p> +9. THE GIRLS OF LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND +<i>or The Strange Sea Chest</i> +</p> +<p> +10. KATE MARTIN’S PROBLEM +<i>or Facing the Wide World</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</i> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE BETTY GORDON SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By ALICE B. EMERSON +</p> +<p> +<i>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</i> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i006' id='i006'></a> +<img src='images/ad3.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +1. BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM +<i>or The Mystery of a Nobody</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +At twelve Betty is left an orphan. +</p> +<p> +2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON +<i>or Strange Adventures in a Great City</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +Betty goes to the National Capitol to find +her uncle and has several unusual adventures. +</p> +<p> +3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL +<i>or The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +From Washington the scene is shifted to the +great oil fields of our country. A splendid picture +of the oil field operations of to-day. +</p> +<p> +4. BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL +<i>or The Treasure of Indian Chasm</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +Seeking treasures of Indian Chasm makes interesting reading. +</p> +<p> +5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP +<i>or The Mystery of Ida Bellethorne</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +At Mountain Camp Betty found herself in the midst of a mystery. +</p> +<p> +6. BETTY GORDON AT OCEAN PARK +<i>or School Chums on the Boardwalk</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +A glorious outing that Betty and her chums never forgot. +</p> +<p> +7. BETTY GORDON AND HER SCHOOL CHUMS +<i>or Bringing the Rebels to Terms</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +Rebellious students, disliked teachers and mysterious robberies. +</p> +<p> +8. BETTY GORDON AT RAINBOW RANCH +<i>or Cowboy Joe’s Secret</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +Betty and her chums have a grand time in the saddle. +</p> +<p> +9. BETTY GORDON IN MEXICAN WILDS +<i>or The Secret of the Mountains</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +Betty receives a fake telegram and finds both Bob and herself held +for ransom in a mountain cave. +</p> +<p> +10. BETTY GORDON AND THE LOST PEARLS +<i>or A Mystery of The Seaside</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +Betty and her chums go to the ocean shore for a vacation and +Betty becomes involved in the disappearance of a string of pearls. +</p> +<p> +11. BETTY GORDON ON THE CAMPUS +<i>or The Secret of the Trunk Room</i> +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'> +An up-to-date college story with a strange mystery that is bound +to fascinate any girl reader. +</p> +<p> +<i>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</i> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By JANET D. WHEELER +</p> +<p> +<i>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</i> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i007' id='i007'></a> +<img src='images/ad4.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +1. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER +INHERITANCE +<i>or The Queer Homestead at Cherry Corners</i> +</p> +<p> +Billie Bradley fell heir to an old homestead +that was unoccupied and located far away in +a lonely section of the country. How Billie +went there, accompanied by some of her +chums, and what queer things happened, go +to make up a story no girl will want to miss. +</p> +<p> +2. BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE-TOWERS HALL +<i>or Leading a Needed Rebellion</i> +</p> +<p> +Three-Towers Hall was a boarding school for girls. For a short +time after Billie arrived there all went well. But then the head of +the school had to go on a long journey and she left the girls in charge +of two teachers, sisters, who believed in severe discipline and in very, +very plain food and little of it—and then there was a row! +</p> +<p> +3. BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND +<i>or The Mystery of the Wreck</i> +</p> +<p> +One of Billie’s friends owned a summer bungalow on Lighthouse +Island, near the coast. The school girls made up a party and visited +the Island. There was a storm and a wreck, and three little children +were washed ashore. +</p> +<p> +4. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES +<i>or The Secret of the Locked Tower</i> +</p> +<p> +Billie and her chums come to the rescue of several little children +who had broken through the ice. There is the mystery of a lost +invention, and also the dreaded mystery of the locked school tower. +</p> +<p> +5. BILLIE BRADLEY AT TWIN LAKES +<i>or Jolly Schoolgirls Afloat and Ashore</i> +</p> +<p> +A tale of outdoor adventure in which Billie and her chums have a +great variety of adventures. They visit an artists’ colony and there +fall in with a strange girl living with an old boatman who abuses her +constantly. +</p> +<p> +6. BILLIE BRADLEY AT TREASURE COVE +<i>or The Old Sailor’s Secret</i> +</p> +<p> +A lively story of school girl doings. How Billie heard of the treasure +and how she and her chums went in quest of the same is told in a +peculiarly absorbing manner. +</p> +<p> +<i>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</i> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE LINGER-NOT SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By AGNES MILLER +</p> +<p> +<i>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Price per volume, 50 cents. Postage 10 cents additional.</i> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i008' id='i008'></a> +<img src='images/ad5.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<i>This new series of girls’ books is in a new +style of story writing. The interest is in +knowing the girls and seeing them solve the +problems that develop their character. Incidentally, +a great deal of historical information +is imparted.</i> +</p> +<p> +1. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE MYSTERY HOUSE +<i>or The Story of Nine Adventurous Girls</i> +</p> +<p> +How the Linger-Not girls met and formed +their club seems commonplace, but this +writer makes it fascinating, and how they +made their club serve a great purpose continues the interest to +the end, and introduces a new type of girlhood. +</p> +<p> +2. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE VALLEY FEUD +<i>or the Great West Point Chain</i> +</p> +<p> +The Linger-Not girls had no thought of becoming mixed up with +feuds or mysteries, but their habit of being useful soon entangled +them in some surprising adventures that turned out happily for all, +and made the valley better because of their visit. +</p> +<p> +3. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THEIR GOLDEN QUEST +<i>or The Log of the Ocean Monarch</i> +</p> +<p> +For a club of girls to become involved in a mystery leading back +into the times of the California gold-rush, seems unnatural until +the reader sees how it happened, and how the girls helped one of +their friends to come into her rightful name and inheritance, forms +a fine story. +</p> +<p> +4. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE WHISPERING CHARM +<i>or The Secret from Old Alaska</i> +</p> +<p> +Whether engrossed in thrilling adventures in the Far North or +occupied with quiet home duties, the Linger-Not girls could work +unitedly to solve a colorful mystery in a way that interpreted +American freedom to a sad young stranger, and brought happiness +to her and to themselves. +</p> +<p> +<i>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</i> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE GIRL SCOUT SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By LILIAN GARIS +</p> +<p> +<i>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Price per volume, 50 cents. Postage 10 cents additional.</i> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i009' id='i009'></a> +<img src='images/ad6.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<i>The highest ideals of girlhood as advocated +by the foremost organizations of +America form the background for these +stories and while unobtrusive there is a message +in every volume.</i> +</p> +<p> +1. THE GIRL SCOUT PIONEERS +<i>or Winning the First B. C.</i> +</p> +<p> +A story of the True Tred Troop in a +Pennsylvania town. Two runaway girls, who +want to see the city, are reclaimed through +troop influence. The story is correct in +scout detail. +</p> +<p> +2. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE +<i>or Maid Mary’s Awakening</i> +</p> +<p> +The story of a timid little maid who is afraid to take part in +other girls’ activities, while working nobly alone for high ideals. +How she was discovered by the Bellaire Troop and came into her +own as “Maid Mary” makes a fascinating story. +</p> +<p> +3. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST +<i>or the Wig Wag Rescue</i> +</p> +<p> +Luna Land, a little island by the sea, is wrapt in a mysterious +seclusion, and Kitty Scuttle, a grotesque figure, succeeds in keeping +all others at bay until the Girl Scouts come. +</p> +<p> +4. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP COMALONG +<i>or Peg of Tamarack Hills</i> +</p> +<p> +The girls of Bobolink Troop spend their summer on the shores +of Lake Hocomo. Their discovery of Peg, the mysterious rider, +and the clearing up of her remarkable adventures afford a vigorous +plot. +</p> +<p> +5. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT ROCKY LEDGE +<i>or Nora’s Real Vacation</i> +</p> +<p> +Nora Blair is the pampered daughter of a frivolous mother. +Her dislike for the rugged life of Girl Scouts is eventually changed +to appreciation, when the rescue of little Lucia, a woodland waif, +becomes a problem for the girls to solve. +</p> +<p> +<i>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</i> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE RADIO GIRLS SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By MARGARET PENROSE +</p> +<p> +<i>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors.</i> +</p> +<p> +<i>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.</i> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i010' id='i010'></a> +<img src='images/ad7.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<i>A new and up-to-date series, taking in the +activities of several bright girls who become +interested in radio. The stories tell of thrilling +exploits, outdoor life and the great part the +Radio plays in the adventures of the girls and +in solving their mysteries. Fascinating books +that girls of all ages will want to read.</i> +</p> +<p> +1. THE RADIO GIRLS OF ROSELAWN +<i>or A Strange Message from the Air</i> +</p> +<p> +Showing how Jessie Norwood and her +chums became interested in radiophoning, +how they gave a concert for a worthy local +charity, and how they received a sudden and +unexpected call for help out of the air. A girl wanted as witness in a +celebrated law case disappears, and the radio girls go to the rescue. +</p> +<p> +2. THE RADIO GIRLS ON THE PROGRAM +<i>or Singing and Reciting at the Sending Station</i> +</p> +<p> +When listening in on a thrilling recitation or a superb concert +number who of us has not longed to “look behind the scenes” to see +how it was done? The girls had made the acquaintance of a sending +station manager and in this volume are permitted to get on the program, +much to their delight. A tale full of action and fun. +</p> +<p> +3. The RADIO GIRLS ON STATION ISLAND +<i>or The Wireless from the Steam Yacht</i> +</p> +<p> +In this volume the girls travel to the seashore and put in a vacation +on an island where is located a big radio sending station. The big +brother of one of the girls owns a steam yacht and while out with a +pleasure party those on the island receive word by radio that the +yacht is on fire. A tale thrilling to the last page. +</p> +<p> +4. THE RADIO GIRLS AT FOREST LODGE +<i>or The Strange Hut in the Swamp</i> +</p> +<p> +The Radio Girls spend several weeks on the shores of a beautiful +lake and with their radio get news of a great forest fire. It also aids +them in rounding up some undesirable folks who occupy the strange +hut in the swamp. +</p> +<p> +<i>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</i> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE RUBY AND RUTHY SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By MINNIE E. PAULL +</p> +<p> +<i>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.</i> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i011' id='i011'></a> +<img src='images/ad8.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<i>Four bright and entertaining stories told in Mrs. Paull’s +happiest manner are among the best stories ever written for young +girls, and cannot fail to interest any between the ages of eight +and fifteen years.</i> +</p> +<p> +RUBY AND RUTHY +</p> +<p> +Ruby and Ruthie were not old enough to go to school, but they +certainly were lively enough to have many exciting adventures, +that taught many useful lessons needed to be learned by little +girls. +</p> +<p> +RUBY’S UPS AND DOWNS +</p> +<p> +There were troubles enough for a dozen grown-ups, but Ruby +got ahead of them all, and, in spite of them, became a favorite +in the lively times at school. +</p> +<p> +RUBY AT SCHOOL +</p> +<p> +Ruby had many surprises when she went to the impossible place +she heard called a boarding school, but every experience helped +to make her a stronger-minded girl. +</p> +<p> +RUBY’S VACATION +</p> +<p> +This volume shows how a little girl improves by having varieties +of experience both happy and unhappy, provided she thinks, +and is able to use her good sense. Ruby lives and learns. +</p> +<p> +<i>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</i> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i> NEW YORK +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding At Sunrise Farm, by Alice B. 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