Ruth Fielding at Snow Camp; Or, Lost in the Backwoods

uld have done to defend them, had the big bull overtaken him, it would be hard to say. And for sev

steep bank down to the open creek. There, just before them, was an old hollow stump, pe

er side. Ruth, with the red cap in her hand, stumbled over a root and fell to her knees. She wa

sight, the cap was left dangling right in front of the stump. The bull charged

-there sounded a yell behind them that certainly was not emitted by the bull. Goodness knows, he roared loudly

ody in that tr

pile-driver- three-quarters of a ton of solid flesh and bone, going at the speed of a fast train, carries some weight

as

en ground, the stump toppled over, and, carrying a great

r shelter of the bank. The bull no longer saw them. Indeed, the shock had thrown him to the ground, an

e creek, and as it plunged beneath the surface-all but its ro

nk! I tell you, some body

ening down. If there really was anybody in it, the way in wh

d stump had been submerged; but Helen had fallen in her tracks, and sat

u see, he is drowned? And s

urned her brother, laying hold of the roots o

stir the stump. Suddenly they heard a struggle going on inside the hollow shell;

hasn't filled the ho

ust do so

at?" demanded that youth

in the hollow part of the tree-trunk must be partly submerged in the water, too. Had the farther end of the stump not reste

Why don't he crawl out?

ng to do it?"

the tree and so come up outside?" demanded the girl fro

know. But he recognized immediately the good sense in Ruth's suggest

nto the cree

on't," h

ump fall in entirely and

hat, either," mut

nt halloo answered him, and the knocking on t

"Dive down through the water and ge

ed not to understand-or else w

had an axe!" gr

amage," said his sister, now so much intereste

he bank and she scrambled up and got

hat out of si

hing," growled Tom, "the bull wouldn'

the person in the hollow of the old st

y had no means of cutting through to the prisoner. But, suddenly, that individual settled the question without their

ipping youth, no older than Tom, and with wild, burning eyes looking out of his wet and pallid fac

e of the creek. He was none too warmly dressed at the best; the water now fas

ared Tom. "Come! get up!" he cried to the stran

"Aunt Alviry will make him something th

n them. The bull had run towards the river and had not come back; so the friends, with their strange find, hurried on

?" demanded Tom o

s very bones. They fairly dragged him between them for the last few yards, and burst into Aunt

uickly from her rocking chair by the window, where she had

he bent back and rheumatic limbs understood one thing, if she made nothing else out

s the nearest to the kitchen, and thereby the warmest. "I don't know what Jabez will say, but

the blankets on Mr. Potter's bed. Meantime the old woman filled a stone water-bottle with boiling water, to put at h

egan immediately to steam. As she had noticed before, the stranger's clothing was well wo

at's that you've dropped out

g in it that would identify its owner. However, as Ruth carried it to the window she found a newspaper clipping tucked into one compartment, and, as it was damp, too, she took this

S HA

ORO,

d to her chum. "Maybe

fie

rk!" gasped Helen, su

er?" returned Ru

coinci

anded Ruth, still greatly am

-comes from right about where we are going to-morrow. Scarboro is th

irls ran to the door. The Cameron automobile was just coming down the hill from the di