Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill | Page 3

clamped down
upon the wheels again so suddenly that the easily-riding coach jarred
through all its parts. The red eye was winked out instantly; but the long

and heavy train came to an abrupt stop.
CHAPTER II
RENO
But the Limited had stopped so that Ruth could see along the length of
the train. Lanterns winked and blinked in the dark as the trainmen
carried them forward. Something had happened up front of more
importance than an ordinary halt for permission to run in on the next
block. Besides, the afternoon Limited was a train of the first-class and
was supposed to have the right of way over all other trains. No signal
should have stopped it here.
"How far are we from Cheslow, please?" she asked of the rear
brakeman (whom she knew was called the flagman) as he came down
the car with his lantern.
"Not above a mile, Miss," he replied.
His smile, and his way of speaking, encouraged her to ask:
"Can you tell me why we have stopped?"
"Something on the track, Miss. I have set out my signal lamp and am
going forward to inquire."
Three or four of the male passengers followed him out of the car. Ruth
saw that quite a number had disembarked from the cars ahead, that a
goodly company was moving forward, and that there were ladies
among the curious crowd. If it was perfectly safe for them to satisfy
their curiosity, why not she? She arose and hurried out of the car,
following the swinging lamp of the brakeman as he strode on.
Ruth ran a little, seeing well enough to pick her way over the ends of
the ties, and arrived to find at least half a hundred people grouped on
the track ahead of the locomotive pilot. The great, unblinking, white
eye of the huge machine revealed the group clearly-- and the object

around which the curious passengers, as well as the train crew, had
gathered.
It was a dog-- a great, handsome, fawn-colored mastiff, sleek of coat
and well fed, but muddied now along his flanks, evidently having
waded through the mire of the wet meadow beside the tracks. He had
come under, or through, a barbed wire fence, too, for there was a long
scratch upon his shoulder and another raw cut upon his muzzle.
To his broad collar was fastened a red lamp. Nobody had taken it off,
for both the train men and the passengers were excitedly discussing
what his presence here might mean; and some of them seemed afraid of
the great fellow.
But Ruth had been used to dogs, and this noble looking fellow had no
terrors for her. He seemed so woebegone, his great brown eyes pleaded
so earnestly, that she could only pity and fondle him.
"Look out, Miss; maybe he bites," warned the anxious conductor. "I
wager this is some boy's trick to stop the train. And yet--"
Ruth bent down, still patting the dog's head, and turned the great silver
plate on his collar so that she could read, in the light of the lanterns,
that which was engraved upon it. She read the words aloud:
"'This is Reno, Tom Cameron's Dog.'"
"Cameron?" repeated some man behind her. "That Tom Cameron lives
just outside of Cheslow. His father is the rich dry-goods merchant,
Macy Cameron. What's his dog doing here?"
"And with a red light tied to his collar?" propounded somebody else.
"It's some boy's trick, I tell you," stormed the conductor. "I'll have to
report this at headquarters."
Just then Ruth made a discovery. Wound about the collar was a bit of
twisted cloth-- a strip of linen-- part of a white handkerchief. Her

nimble fingers unwound it quickly and she spread out the soiled rag.
"Oh, see here!" she cried, in amazement as well as fear. "See! What can
it mean? See what's drawn on this cloth--"
It was a single word-- a word smeared across the rag in shaking,
uneven letters:
"HELP!"
"By George!" exclaimed one of the brakemen. "The little girl's right.
That spells 'Help!' plain enough."
"It-- it is written in something red, sir," cried Ruth, her voice trembling.
"See! It is blood!"
"I tell you we've wasted a lot of time here," declared the conductor. "I
am sorry if anybody is hurt, but we cannot stop for him. Get back to the
cars, please, gentlemen. Do you belong aboard?" he added, to Ruth.
"Get aboard, if you do."
"Oh, sir! You will not leave the poor dog here?" Ruth asked.
"Not with that red lamp on his collar-- no!" exclaimed the conductor.
"He will be fooling some other engineer--"
He reached to disentangle the wire from the dog's collar; but Reno
uttered a low growl.
"Plague take the dog!" ejaculated the conductor, stepping