Ruth Fielding on Cliff Island by Alice Emerson

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"What do you mean?" demanded the angry owner of Cliff Island.

"Blent can hire those fellows from the lumber camps, and some of the
guides, to do his dirty work. That's all I've got to say. Hunting camps
have burned down in these woods before now," observed the foreman,
significantly.

"Why! the scoundrel sold me this island himself!"

"And he's sold other outsiders camp sites. But they have had to leave if
they angered Blent."

"He is a dangerous man, then?"

"Well--things just happen," returned Preston, shaking his head. "I'd keep
watch if I were you."

"I will. I'll hire guards--and arm 'em, if need be," declared Mr. Tingley,
emphatically. "But take it from me--I am going to see that that boy Jerry
is treated right in these backwoods courts. That's the way I feel about
it."

Ruth was glad to hear him say this. As she had decided when she first saw
him, Mr. Tingley could be very firm if he wished to be. At once he went
back to the house, had a team hitched to a sleigh, and drove over to the
mainland so as to be sure that Blent did not get ahead of him and have
court convened before the proper hour.

The day was spoiled for Ruth and for some of the other young folk who had
taken such a deep interest in Jerry. The boy had been caught because he
tried to get the mattock Ruth and Tom had put out for him. Ruth wished now
that she and Tom had not gone down to the brook.

There was too much going on at Cliff Island for even Ruth to mope long.
Mr. Tingley came back at dark and said he had succeeded in getting Jerry's
case put over until a lawyer could familiarize himself with the details.
Meanwhile Keller, Blent's man, had refused to accept bail. Jerry would
have to remain in jail for a time.

A man came across from the town that evening and brought a telegram for
Mr. Tingley. That gentleman had without doubt shown his interest in Jerry
Sheming. Fearing that the local legal lights might be somewhat backward
about opposing Rufus Blent, he had telegraphed to his own firm of lawyers
in New York and they were sending him a reputable attorney from an
up-State city who would be at Logwood the next day.

"Let's all go over to court to-morrow and see that lawyer get Jerry free,"
suggested Belle Tingley, and the others agreed with enthusiasm. It would
be as much fun as snow-shoeing; more fun for those who had not already
learned that art.

The day after Christmas, in the morning, the boys insisted that everybody
but Mercy Curtis should get out and try the shoes. Those who had been at
Snow Camp the year before were able to set out quite briskly--for it is an
art that, like swimming and skating, is not easily forgotten.

There were some very funny spills and by luncheon they were all in a glow.
Later the big sledge was brought around and behind that the boys strung a
couple of bobs. The horses drew them down to the ice and there it was easy
for the team to pull the whole crowd across to Logwood.

The town seemed to have turned out to meet the party from Cliff Island.

Ruth and her friends noted the fact that many of the half-grown boys and
young men--those of the rougher class--seemed greatly amused by the
appearance of the city folk.

"But what can you expect from a lot of rubes?" demanded Tom, rather
angrily. "See 'em snickering and grinning? What d'ye s'pose is the matter
with them?"

"Whatever the joke is, it's on us and we don't know it," remarked Heavy,
who was easily angered by ridicule, too. "There! Mr. Tingley has gone off
with the lawyer. I guess we'll know what it's all about pretty soon."

And _that_ was true, sure enough. It came out that there would be no case
to try. Justice Keller announced that the accusation against Jerry Sheming
had been withdrawn. Mr. Blent had "considered Mr. Tingley's plea for
mercy," the old fox said, and there was nothing the justice could do but
to turn the prisoner loose.

"But what's become of him?" Mr. Tingley wanted to know.

"Oh, that does not enter into my jurisdiction," replied Keller, blandly.
"I am not his keeper. He was let out of jail early this morning. After
that I cannot say what became of him."

Blent was not even at the court. It was learned that he had gone out of
town. Blent could always find somebody to handle pitch for him.

It was later discovered that when Lem Daggett had opened the jail to
Jerry, several of Blent's ruffians had rushed the boy to the railroad
yard, put him aboard a moving freight, given a brakeman a two-dollar bill
as per instructions from the real estate man, and Jerry wasn't likely to
get off the train, unless he jumped while it was moving, until it was
fifty miles farther west.

But, of course, this story did not come out right away. The whole town was
laughing at Mr. Tingley. Nobody cared enough about the city man, or knew
him well enough, to explain the details of Jerry's disappearance at that
time.

Mr. Tingley looked very serious when he rejoined the young folk and he had
little to say on the way home, save to Ruth, whom he beckoned to the seat
beside him.

"I am very sorry that the old fox got the best of us, Miss Fielding. As
Preston says, I must look out for him. He is sly, wicked, and powerful. My
Albany lawyer tells me that Blent is notorious in this part of the State,
and that he has great political influence, illiterate as he is.

"But I am going to fight. I have bought Cliff Island, and paid a good
price for it. I have spent a good many thousand dollars in improvements
already. I'll protect myself and my investment if I can--and meanwhile
I'll do what I can for your friend, Jerry Sheming, too.

"They've got the boy away from the vicinity for the time being, but I
reckon he'll find his way back. You think so, too, Miss Fielding?"

"If he understands that we are trying to help him. And--yes!--I believe he
will come back anyway, for he is very anxious to find that treasure box
his Uncle Peter lost."

"Oh--as to that--Well, there may be something in it. But Pete Tilton was
really insane. I saw him myself. The asylum is the place for him, poor
man," concluded Mr. Tingley.

Ruth felt in secret very much worried over Jerry's disappearance. When she
once became interested in anybody, as Helen said, "she was interested all
the way through."

The others could laugh a little about how the crafty real estate agent had
fooled Mr. Tingley and gotten Jerry out of the way, but not Ruth. She
could scarcely sleep that night for thinking of what might have happened
to the ill-used youth.

But she tried to hide her anxiety from her companions the next morning
when plans were made for a fishing trip. All but Mercy joined in this
outing. They went on snowshoes to the far end of the island, keeping on
the beach under the huge cliffs, to a little cove where they would be
sheltered and where the fishing was supposed to be good.

Preston, the foreman, went with them. He and the boys dragged a bobsled
well laden with the paraphernalia considered necessary for fishing through
the ice.

First the holes were cut--thirteen of them. Then, near each hole, and on
the windward side, two stakes were set about four feet apart and a square
of canvas lashed between them for a wind-break. A folding campstool had
been brought for each fisherman and "fishergirl," and there were a lot of
old sacks for the latter, especially, to put under their feet as they
watched the "bobbers" in the little pool of water before which they sat.

After Preston saw them well started, he went back to the house. The crowd
intended to remain until evening, and planned to make their dinner on the
shore of the cove, frying some of the fish they expected to catch, and
making coffee in a battered camp pot that had been brought along.

The fish were there, as the foreman had assured them. Each member of the
party watched and baited two lines. At first some of the girls had
considerable trouble with the bait, and the boys had to show them how to
put it on the hook; but it was fun, and soon all were interested in
pulling out the flopping fish, vying with each other in the catch,
calling back and forth about their luck, and having a splendid time.

It was so cold that the fish froze almost as soon as they were thrown upon
the ice. Had they been catching for shipment, the fish could have been
boxed and sent some distance by express without being iced.

But the young folk did not mind the cold much, nor the fact that the sun
did not shine and the clouds grew thicker as the day advanced.

"I'm going to beat you all!" declared The Fox, after a great run of luck,
in which she could scarcely bait rapidly enough to satisfy the ravenous
fish. "Might as well award me the laurel wreath right now."

"Don't you be too sure," drawled Heavy. "You know, 'He laughs best who
laughs last.'"

"Wrong!" returned Mary Cox. "The true quotation should be, 'He laughs best
whose laugh lasts.' And mine is going to last--oh-he! here comes another!"

Tom and Ruth got the dinner. There was plenty of dry wood under the fir
trees. Tom cleaned the fish and Ruth fried them to a delicious brownness
and crispness. With the other viands brought from home and cups of good,
hot coffee, the thirteen friends made a hearty and hilarious meal.

They were sheltered by the high cliff at their backs and did not notice
when the snow began to fall. But, after a time, they suddenly discovered
that the flakes were coming so thick and fast that it was all but
impossible to see the farthest fishing shelters.

"Oh, dear me! we don't want to go back yet," wailed The Fox. "And we were
catching them so fast. Do, do let's wait a while longer."

"Not much fun if it keeps on snowing this way," objected Bobbins.

"Don't begin croaking, little boy," advised his sister. "A few flakes of
snow won't hurt us."

Nevertheless, the storm did not hold up. It was more than a "flurry" and
some of the others, as well as Bob Steele, began to feel anxious.

CHAPTER XXI

JERRY'S CAVE

For a while they tried to shelter themselves with the canvas, and shouted
back and forth through the falling snow that they were having a
"scrumptious" time. But some of the girls, as Isadore said, "began to
weaken."

"We don't want to be lost in the snow as we were the time we went for
balsam at Snow Camp," said Helen.

"How can you get lost--with us fellows along?" demanded Busy Izzy, in vast
disgust.

"Can't a boy be lost?" demanded Ann Hicks, laughing.

"Not on your life!" declared the irrepressible Isadore.

But just then Madge Steele got up and declared she had had enough. "This
hole in the ice is filling up with snow. We'll lose the fish we've already
caught if we don't look out. Come on, Bobby, and get mine."

So it was agreed to cut the fishing short for that day, although The Fox
declared she could have beaten them all in another hour.

However, they had a great load of the frozen fish. Besides what they had
eaten for dinner, there were at least a hundred handsome fellows, and the
boys had strung each fisher's catch on a birch twig which they had cut and
trimmed while coming down to the lake that morning.

Tom and Ruth, left at the campfire to clean up after the mid-day meal,
were shouting for them to come in. The girls left the boys to wind up the
fishlines and "strike camp," as Ralph called taking down the pieces of
canvas, and all hustled for the shore. They crowded around the fire, threw
on more fuel, danced to get their feet warm, and called to the boys to
hurry.

The five boys had their hands full in retrieving all the chairs, and
canvas sheets, and fish lines, and sacks. When they got them all in and
packed upon the bobsled for transportation, the snow was a foot deep on
the ice and it was snowing so fast that one could not see ten feet into
the swirling heart of the storm.

"I declare! it looks as though we were in a mess, with all this snow,"
complained Tom Cameron.

"And with all these girls," growled Ralph Tingley. "Wish we'd started an
hour ago."

"I don't know about starting _at all_," observed Bobbins. "Don't you see
that the girls will give out before we're half-way there? We can't use
snowshoes with the snow coming down like this. They clog too fast."

"Oh, they'll have to wade the same as we do," said Isadore.

"Yah! Wade! And us pulling this sled, too? I wish Preston had stayed with
us. Don't you, Ralph?" asked his brother.

"Hush! don't let the girls hear you," was the whispered reply.

Already the girls were comparing notes in a group around the fire. Now
Madge turned and shouted for them:

"Come here, boys! Don't be mumbling together there. We have an idea."

"If it's any good, let's have it," answered Tom, cheerfully.

"It is good. It was born of experience. Some of us got all the tramping in
a blinding snowstorm that we wanted a year ago. Never again! Eh, girls?"

"Quite right, Madge," said Ralph. "It is foolish to run into danger. We
are all right here----"

"Why, the snow will drown out your fire in half an hour," scoffed Isadore.
"And there isn't so much dry fuel."

"I know where there is plenty of wood--and shelter, too!" cried Ruth,
suddenly.

"So do I. At the lodge," scoffed Belle.

"No. Nearby. Tom and I were just talking about it. Up that ravine yonder
is the place where I fell over the cliff. And Jerry's cave is right
there--one end of it."

"A cave!" ejaculated Helen. "That would be bully."

"If only we could have a good fire and get dry and warm again," quoth
Lluella, her teeth already chattering.

"I believe that would be best," admitted Madge Steele. "We never could get
back to the lodge through this snow. The shore is so rough."

"We can travel on the ice," ventured Ann Hicks, doubtfully.

"And get turned around," put in Tom. "Easiest thing in the world to get
lost out there on that ice without a compass and in such a whirlwind of
snow. Ruth's right. Let's try to find the cave."

"I'm game!" exclaimed Heavy. "Why, with all this fish we could live a week
in a cave. It would be bully."

"'Charming' is the better word, Miss Stone," suggested The Fox.

"Don't correct me when I'm on a vacation," exclaimed the plump girl. "I
won't stand for it----"

Just then she slipped and sat down hard and they all laughed.

"Lucky you weren't on the ice. You'd gone right through that time,
Jennie," declared The Fox. "Now, let's come on to the cave if we're all
agreed. I guess Ruth has the right idea."

"We'll drag the sled and break a path for you girls," announced Tom. "All
ready, now! Bring your snowshoes. If it stops snowing, we can get home on
them to-night."

"Oh, dear, me! I hope so," cried Belle Tingley. "What will mother and
father say if we're not home by dark?"

"They'll be pretty sure we wouldn't travel far in this storm. Preston and
the other men will find us, anyway."

"I expect that is so," admitted Ruth, thoughtfully, "And they'll find
Jerry's cave. I hope he won't be mad at me for taking you all there."

However that might be, it seemed to the girl of the Red Mill, as well as
to Tom Cameron, that it was wisdom to seek the nearest shelter. The ravine
was steep, but it was sheltered. There were not many big drifts until they
reached that great one at the head of it, into which Ruth had fallen when
she slipped over the brink of the precipice.

Nevertheless, they were half an hour beating their way up the gully and
out upon that ledge which led to the mouth of Jerry's cave. The boys
found the laden sled a good deal of a load and the girls had all they
could do to follow in the track the sled made.

"We never _could_ have reached home safely through this storm," declared
Madge. "How clever of you to remember the cave, Ruthie."

"Ruth is always doing something clever," said Helen, loyally. "Why, she
even falls over a cliff, so as to find a cave that, later, shelters us all
from the inclement elements."

"Wow, wow, wow!" jeered Isadore. "You girls think a lot of each other;
don't you? Better thank that Jerry boy for finding the cave in the first
place."

They were all crowding into the place by this time. It was not very light
in the cave, for the snow had already veiled the entrance. But there was a
great store of wood piled up along one side, and the boys soon had a fresh
fire built.

The girls and boys stamped off the clinging snow and began to feel more
comfortable. The flames danced among the sticks, and soon an appreciable
sense of warmth stole through the cave. The crowd began to laugh and
chatter. The girls brushed out the cave and the boys rolled forward loose
stones for seats.

Isadore found Jerry's shotgun, ammunition, bow and arrow, and other
possessions.

"He must have taken the rifle with him when he went to the other end of
the tunnel," Ruth said.

"Say!" exclaimed Ralph Tingley. "You could find the way through the hill
to where you came out of the cave with Jerry; couldn't you, Ruth?"

"Oh! I believe so," cried Ruth.

"Then we needn't worry," said the boy. "We can go home that way. Even if
the storm doesn't stop to-night, we ought to be able to find the lodge
from _that_ end of the cave."

"We've nothing to worry about, then," said Madge, cheerfully. "We're
supplied with all the comforts of home----"

"And plenty to eat," sighed Heavy, with satisfaction.

CHAPTER XXII

SNOWED IN

Naturally, thirteen young folk in a cave could not be content to sit
before the fire inactive. They played games, they sang songs, they made up
verses, and finally Madge produced a pencil and a notebook and they wrote
a burlesque history of "George Washington and the Cherry Tree."

The first author wrote a page of the history and two lines on the second
page. Then the second read those last two lines and went on with the
story, leaving another two lines at the top of the next page, and so on.
It was a wonderful piece of literary work when it was finished, and Madge
kept it to read to the S.B.'s when they got back to Briarwood Hall.

"For, of course," she said, "we're not going to be forever shut up in this
cave. I don't want to turn into a 'cave man'--nor yet a 'cave woman'!"

"See if the snow has stopped--that's a good boy, Tommy," urged Helen.

"Of course it hasn't. Don't you see how dark it is, sis?" returned her
twin.

But he started toward the mouth of the cavern. Just then Bob looked at his
watch in the firelight, and exclaimed:

"No wonder it seems dark--do you know it's half after four right now?"

"Wow! mother will be scared," said Ralph Tingley.

Just then there came a cry from Tom. Then followed a heavy, smothered
thud. The boys dashed to the entrance. It was pitch dark. A great mass of
hard packed snow filled the opening, and was being forced into the cave
itself. In this heap of snow struggled Tom, fairly smothered.

They laid hold upon him--by a leg and an arm--and dragged him out. He
could not speak for a moment and he had lost his cap.

"How did you do that?" demanded Bob. "What does it mean?"

"Think--think I did it on purpose?" demanded the overwhelmed youth. "I'm
no Samson to pull down the pillars on top of me. Gee! that snow came
sudden."

"Where--where did it all come from?" demanded his sister.

"From the top of the cliff, of course. It must have made a big drift there
and tumbled down--regular avalanche, you know--just as I tried to look
out. Why! the place out there is filled up yards deep! We'd never be able
to dig out in a week."

"Oh, dear me! what shall we do?" groaned Belle, who was beginning to get
nervous.

"Have supper," suggested Heavy, calmly. "No matter what we have to face,
we can do it better after eating."

They laughed, but took her advice. Nobody failed to produce an appetite at
the proper time.

"Dear me!" exclaimed Belle, "if only mother knew we were safe I'd be
content to stay all night. It's fun."

"And if we had some salt," complained Lluella. "I don't like fish without
salt--not much."

"You're a fine female Robinson Crusoe," laughed Tom. "This is real
'roughing it.' I expect all you girls will weaken by morning."

"Oh, oh!" cried his sister, "you talk as though you thought we would be
obliged to stay here, Tom."

"I don't just see how we're to get out to-night," Tom returned, grimly.
"Not from this end of the cave, at any rate. I tell you, tons and _tons_
of snow fell into its mouth."

"But you know the other way out, Ruthie?" urged Lluella, half inclined to
cry.

"I think so," returned the girl of the Red Mill.

"Then just hunt for the way," said Belle, firmly. "If it has stopped
snowing I want to go home."

"Don't be a baby, Belle," advised her brother Ralph. "Nothing is going to
hurt us here."

"Especially as we have plenty of fuel and grub," added Bobbins,
thoughtfully.

But Ruth saw that it would be wiser to try to get through the tunnel to
the brookside. Nobody could dig them out at this end, that was sure. So
she agreed with Tom and Ralph Tingley to try to follow the same passages
that Jerry Sheming had taken her through upon the occasion of her first
visit.

"How shall we find our way, though, if it's dark?" questioned Ralph,
suddenly. "_I_ can't see in the dark."

"Neither can the rest of us, I guess," said Tom. "Do you suppose we could
find torchwood in that pile yonder?"

"Not much," Bobbins told them. "And a torch is a smoky thing, anyway."

Ruth was hunting the dark corners of the big cavern in which they had
camped. Although Jerry had been at the far end of the tunnel when he was
captured by the constable and his helpers--outside that end of the tunnel,
in fact--she hoped that he had left his lantern at this end.

As it proved, she was not mistaken. Here it was, all filled and cleaned,
hidden on a shelf with a half-gallon can of kerosene. Jerry had been in
the habit of coming to the cave frequently in the old days when his uncle
and he lived alone on the island.

So Tom lit the lantern and the trio started. The opening of the tunnel
through the hill could not be missed; but farther along Ruth had a dim
recollection of passing cross galleries and passages. Should she know the
direct tunnel then?

She put that anxiety aside for the present. At first it was all plain
traveling, and Tom with the lantern went ahead to illuminate the path.

They came out into one of the narrow open cuts, but there was little snow
in it. However, a flake or two floated down to them, and they knew that
the storm still continued to rage. The moaning of the wind in the tree
tops far up on the hill reached their ears.

"Some storm, this," observed Tom.

"I should say it was! You don't suppose the folks will be foolish enough
to start out hunting for us till it's over; do you?" Ralph asked,
anxiously.

"They would better not. We're safe. They ought to know that. Preston will
tell them about the caves in this end of the island and they ought to know
we'd find one of 'em."

"It's a wild spot, just the same," remarked Ralph. "And I suppose mother
will be worried."

"Ruth isn't afraid--nor Helen--nor the other girls," said Tom. "I think
these Briarwood girls are pretty plucky, anyway. Don't _you_ get to
grouching, Rafe."

They pursued their way, Tom ahead with the lantern, for some rods further.
Suddenly the leader stopped.

"Now what, Ruthie?" he demanded. "Which way do we go?"

The passage forked. Ruth was uncertain. She could not for the life of her
remember having seen this spot before.

But, then, she and Jerry must have passed it. She had not given her
attention to the direction at that time, for she had been talking with the
backwoods boy.

She took the lantern from Tom now, and walked a little way into first the
left-hand passage and then the right-hand one. It seemed to her as though
there were places in the sand on the floor of this latter tunnel which had
been disturbed by human feet.

"_This_ is the path, I guess," she said, laughing and so hiding her own
anxiety. "But let's take a good look at the place so we can find our way
back to it if we have to return."

"Huh!" grumbled Ralph Tingley. "You're not so awfully sure; are you?"

"That's all right. Ruth was only through here once," Tom spoke up,
loyally. "And we can't get really lost."

In five minutes they came into a little circular room out of which no less
than four passages opened. Ruth was confident now that she was "turned
around." She had to admit it to her companions.

"Well! what do you know about that?" cried Ralph. "I thought you said you
could find the way?"

"I guess I can," said Ruth, cheerfully. "But we'll have to try each one of
these openings. I can't be sure which is the right one."

Ralph sniffed, but Tom was unshaken in his confidence in his girl friend.

"Let me have the lantern, Tom, and you boys stay here," Ruth said,
quickly. "I'll try them myself."

"Say! don't you get lost," cried Tom.

"And don't you leave us long in the dark," complained Ralph. "I don't
believe we ought to let her take that lantern, Tom----"

"Aw, stop croaking!" commanded young Cameron. "You're worse than any girl
yourself, Tingley."

Ruth hated to hear them quarrel, but she would not give up and admit that
she was beaten. She took the lantern and ventured into the first tunnel.
Her carriage was firmer than her mind, and before she had gone a dozen
steps she was nervously sobbing, but smothered the sounds with her
handkerchief.

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