Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill | Page 6

Alice B. Emerson
the stretcher again. They
crossed the tracks and came to a street that soon became a country road.

Cheslow did not spread itself very far in this direction. Doctor Davison
explained to Ruth that the settlement had begun to grow in the parts
beyond the railroad and that all this side of the tracks was considered
the old part of the town.
The street lights were soon behind them and they depended entirely
upon the lanterns the men carried. Ruth could see very little of the
houses they passed; but at one spot-- although it was on the other side
of the road-- there were two green lanterns, one on either side of an
arched gate, and there seemed to be a rather large, but gloomy, house
behind the hedge before which these lanterns burned.
"You will always know my house," Doctor Davison said, softly, and
still retaining her hand, "by its green eyes."
So Ruth knew she had passed his home, to which he had so kindly
invited her. And that made her think for a moment about Uncle Jabez
and Aunt Alvirah. Would she find somebody waiting to take her to the
Red Mill when she got back to the station?
CHAPTER IV
THE GATE OF THE GREEN EYES
It was a dark lane, beneath overhanging oaks, that met and intertwined
their branches from either side-- this was the Wilkins Corners road.
And it was very steep and stony-- up hill and down dale-- with deep
ruts in places and other spots where the Spring rains had washed out
the gravel and sand and left exposed the very foundations of the world.
It seemed as though no bicyclist, or motor-cyclist would have chosen
this road to travel after dark. Yet there was a narrow path at the side--
just wide enough for Ruth and Doctor Davison to walk abreast, and
Reno to trot by the girl's side which seemed pretty smooth.
"We don't want to go by the spot, Doctor," said one of the men walking
ahead with the lights. "Don't the dog show no signs of looking for
Tom?"

"Where's Tom, Reno? Where's Tom?" asked Ruth, earnestly, believing
that the dog would recognize his master's name.
The mastiff raised his muzzle and barked sharply again, but trotted
onward.
"He might have fallen down any of these gullies, and we'd miss him,
it's so dark," observed the previous speaker.
"I don't believe the dog will miss the place," responded Doctor
Davison.
Just then Reno leaped forward with a long-drawn whine. Ruth hurried
with him, leaving the doctor to come on in the rear. Reno took the lead
and the girl tried to keep pace with him.
It was not for many yards. Reno stopped at the brink of a steep bank
beside the road. This bank fell away into the darkness, but through the
trees, in the far distance, the girl could see several twinkling lights in a
row. She knew that they were on the railroad, and that she was looking
across the great swamp-meadow.
"Hullo!" shouted one man, loudly. "Something down there, old
fellow?"
Reno answered with a short bark and began to scramble down the
rough bank.
"Here's where somebody has gone down ahead of him," cried another
of the searchers, holding his own lantern close to the ground. "See how
the bank's all torn up? Bet his wheel hit that stone yonder in the dusk
and threw him, wheel and all, into this gulley."
"Wait here, child," ordered Doctor Davison, quickly. "If he is in bad
shape, boys, call me and I'll come down. Lift him carefully--"
"He's here, sir!" cried the first man to descend.
And then Reno lifted up his voice in a mournful howl.

"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" murmured Ruth. "I am afraid he is badly hurt."
"Come, come!" returned Doctor Davison. "Be a brave girl now. If he is
badly hurt he'll need us both to keep our wits about us, you know."
"Ye needn't fret none, leetle gal," said Jasper Parloe's voice, behind her.
"Ye couldn't kill that there Cameron boy, I tell ye! He is as sassy a
young'un as there is in this county."
Doctor Davison turned as though to say something sharp to the mean
old man; but just then the men below shouted up to him:
"He's hit his head and his arm's twisted under him, Doctor. He isn't
conscious, but doesn't seem much hurt otherwise."
"Can you bring him up?" queried the physician.
"That's what we mean to do," was the reply.
Ruth waited beside the old doctor, not without some apprehension.
How would this Tom Cameron look? What kind of a boy was he?
According to Jasper Parloe he was a very bad boy, indeed. She had
heard that he was the son of a rich
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