CHAPTER XVI
HIDE AND SEEK
Ruth had fallen with but a single shriek. From top to bottom of theprecipice had been such a swift descent that she could not cry out asecond time. And the great bank of snow into which she had plunged did--asAnn suggested--smother her.
The shock of dropping fifty feet through the air, and landing withoutexperiencing anything more dangerous than a greatly acceleratedheart-action was enough, of itself, to make the girl of the Red Mill dumbfor the moment.
She heard faintly the frightened cries of her companions, and shestruggled to get to the surface of the great, soft heap of snow that hadsaved her from instant death.
Then she heard a voice pronounce her name, and a hand was thrust into thesnow bank and seized her shoulder.
"Ruth Fielding! Miss Ruth! That come nigh to being your last jump, thatdid!"
"Jerry Sheming!" gasped the girl, as he drew her out of the snow.
"In here--quick! Are they after me?"
Ruth shook the snow from her eyes. She was like a half-drowned personsuddenly coming to the surface.
"Where--where are we?" she whispered.
"All right! This is one of my hide-outs. Is that old Blent up yonder?"
"Oh, Jerry! he's not on the island to-day. He's left the constable----"
"Lem Daggett?"
"Yes. They are searching for you. But I was with Tom and Helen and theothers. We brought you some food----"
He led her along a narrow shelf, which had been swept quite free of snow.Now a hollow in the rock-wall opened before them, and there a little fireof sticks burned, an old buffalo robe lay nearby, and there were otherevidences of the fugitive's camp.
Ruth was shaking now, but not from the cold. The shock of her fall hadbegun to awaken the nervous terror which is the afterclap of such anadventure. So near she had been to death!
"You are sick, Miss Ruth?" exclaimed Jerry.
"Oh, no! Oh, no!" repeated the girl of the Red Mill. "But so--sofrightened."
"Nothin' to be frightened over now," he returned, smiling broadly. "Butyou _did_ miss it close. If that pile of snow hadn't sifted down thereyesterday----"
"I know!" burst out Ruth. "It was providential."
"You girls and boys want to be careful climbing around these rocks," saidJerry Sheming, gravely.
At that moment the chorus of shouts from above reached their ears. Ruthturned about and her lips opened. She would have replied, but thebackwoods boy leaped across the fire and seized her arm.
"Don't make a sound!" he exclaimed.
"Oh! Jerry----"
"If that constable hears----"
"He isn't with us, I tell you," said Ruth.
"But wait. He might hear. I don't want him to find this place," spoke theboy, eagerly. "He may be within hearing."
"No. I think not," Ruth explained. Then she told Jerry of the morning'shunt for him and the course followed by both parties. He shook his headfor a moment, and then ran to a shelf at the other side of the littlecavern.
"I'll communicate with your friends. I'll make them understand. But wemustn't shout. Lem Daggett may be within hearing."
"But I can't stay with you here, Jerry," objected the girl.
"Of course you can't, Miss. I will get you out--another way. You'll see.But we'll explain to your friends above and they will stop yelling then.If they keep on that way they'll draw Lem Daggett here, if he isn'talready snooping around."
Meanwhile Jerry had found a scrap of paper and a pencil. He hurriedlywrote a few lines upon the paper. Then he produced a heavy bow and a longarrow. The message he tied around the shank of the arrow.
"Oh! can you shoot with that?" cried Ruth, much interested.
"Reckon so," grinned Jerry. "Uncle Pete wouldn't give me much powder andshot when I was a kid. And finally I could bring home a bigger bag of wildturkeys than he could, and all I had to get 'em with was thisbow'n'arrer."
He strung the bow, and Ruth saw that it took all his strength to do it.The boys and girls were still shouting for her in a desultory fashion.Jerry laid his finger on his lips, nodded at his visitor, and steppedswiftly out of sight along the cleared shelf of rock.
Ruth left the fire to peer after him. She saw him bend the bow and saw theswift flight of the arrow as it shot out of the chasm and curved out ofsight beyond the broken edge of the snow-wreath which masked the summit ofthe cliff.
She heard the clamor of her friends' voices as they saw the arrow shootover their heads. Then they were silent.
Jerry ran back to her and unstrung the bow, putting it away in its niche.But from the same place he produced a blue-barrelled rifle.
"I know you won't tell Blent, or any of them, how to reach me, Miss Ruth,"he said, looking at her with a smile.
"I guess not!" exclaimed the girl.
"I am going to show you the way out--to the other end. I wish you werewearing rubber boots like me."
"Why?"
"So you could wade in the stream when we come to it. That's how I threwthem off the track," explained Jerry, laughing. "Why, I know this oldisland better than Uncle Pete himself knowed it."
"And yet you haven't found the box you say your uncle hid?" asked Ruth,curiously.
"No. I never knowed anything about it until Blent came to drive us off andswore that Uncle Pete had never had nothin' but 'squatter rights.' But I'mnot sure that I couldn't find that place where Uncle Pete hid his treasurebox--if I had time to hunt for it," added Jerry, gravely.
"That's what Mr. Blent is afraid of," declared Ruth, with conviction."That's why he is afraid of your being here on the island."
"You bet it is, Miss."
"And we boys and girls will do everything we can to help you, Jerry,"Ruth assured him, warmly. "If you think you can find the place where youruncle hid his papers----"
"But suppose I find them and the papers show that this Mr. Tingley hasn'ta clear title to the island?" demanded the backwoods boy, looking at thegirl of the Red Mill sharply.
"Why should _that_ make a difference?" asked Ruth, coolly.
"Well--you know how some of these rich folks be," returned the boy,dropping his gaze. "When it comes to hittin' their pocketbooks----"
"That has nothing to do with it. Right is right."
"Uh-huh!" grunted Jerry. "But sometimes they don't want to lose money anyquicker than a poor man. If he's paid for the island----"
"I don't see how he can lose," declared Ruth, quickly. "If Blent hasclaimed a title that cannot be proved, Blent will have to lose."
"I bet Mr. Tingley didn't buy without having the title searched," observedJerry. "Blent's covered his tracks. He'll declare he was within hisrights, probably having bought Uncle Pete's share of the island throughsome dummy. You know, when deeds aren't recorded, it's mighty hard toestablish them as valid. I know. I axed our town clerk. And he is one manthat ain't under Blent's thumb."
"I don't believe Mr. Tingley is a man who would stand idle and see youcheated even if he lost money through defending you," said Ruth, firmly.
"Do you know him?"
"No. I have never met him," Ruth admitted. "But his wife is a very nicelady. And Belle and the boys----"
"Business is business," interrupted Jerry, shaking his head. "I don't wantTingley to know where I be--yet awhile, anyway."
"But may I talk with him about you?"
"Why--if you care enough to, Miss Ruth."
"Of course I do," cried the girl. "Didn't I tell you we all want to helpyou?" and she stamped her foot upon the warm rock. "We'll bring you food,too. We'll see that the constable doesn't get you."
"Well, it's mighty nice of you," admitted the suspicious young woodsman."Now, come on. I'll take you through my hide-out to the creek. I told yourfriends you'd meet 'em there, and we want to get there by the time theyarrive."
"Oh, Jerry! that's a long way off," cried Ruth.
"Not so very long by the way we'll travel," he returned, with a laugh.
And this proved to be true. Jerr
y lighted a battered oil lantern and withhis rifle in the other hand led the way.
A narrow passage opened out of the back of this almost circular cave.Part of the time they traveled through a veritable tunnel. At other timesRuth saw the clear sky far above them as they passed along deep cuts inthe hills.
The descent was continuous, but gradual. Such a path wild animals mighthave traveled in times past. Originally it was probably a water-course.The action of the water had eaten out the softer rock until almost adirect passage had been made from the bottom of the cliff where Ruth hadfallen to the edge of the swift stream that ran through the middle of theisland.
They came out behind a screen of thick brush through which Ruth could seethe far bank of the brook, but through which nobody outside could see.Jerry set down the lantern, and later leaned the rifle against the wallwhen he had made sure that nobody was in sight.
"I am going to carry you a ways, Miss Ruth," he said, "if you don't mind.You see, I must walk in the stream or they will find this entrance to myhide-out."
"But--can you carry me?"
"I bet you! If you only wore rubber boots I'd let you walk. Come on,please."
"Oh! I am not afraid," she told him, quietly, and allowed him to take herinto his arms after he had stepped down into the shallow, swiftly lowingcurrent.
"This water-trail confuses men and dogs completely," said Jerry, with alaugh. "That is--such men as Lem Daggett. If _I_ was hunting a fellow whotook to the stream, with the water so shallow, I'd find which way he wentin a jiffy."
"How would you?" demanded Ruth, feeling perfectly secure in the strongarms of the young fellow.
"That's telling," chuckled Jerry. "Mebbe--some time--I'll tell you. Ihoped I'd get the chance of showing you and your friends around thisisland. But I guess I won't."
"Perhaps you will. And if there is anything we can do to help you----"
"Just one thing you might do," remarked Jerry, finally setting her uprightupon a flat rock on the side of the stream nearest the hunting camp, andsome distance away from the secret entrance to his hide-out.
"Oh! what is that?" cried Ruth, eagerly.
"Find me a pickax, or a mattock, and put it right here on this rock. Do itat night, so no one will see you. Good bye, Miss!" he exclaimed, andhurried away.
In another minute he had disappeared behind the screen of bushes, and Ruthheard the glad shouts of her friends as they came over the ridge and sawher standing safe and sound beside the stream.