CHAPTER II--THE WILD GIRL
"Something awful must have occurred!" cried Helen Cameron.
Ruth did not remain at the window for more than a moment after seeingthe girls engaged in the initiation disperse, and hearing their screams.She drew back from the crowding group and darted out of the room.Fortunately neither the French teacher, nor the matron, had yet beenaroused. If the girls came noisily into the dormitory building, Ruthknew very well that "the powers that be" must of necessity takecognizance of the infraction of the rules.
The girl from the Red Mill sped down the broad stairway and out of thehouse. Some of the fastest runners among the frightened girls werealready panting at the steps.
"Hush! hush!" commanded Ruth. "What is the matter? What has happened?"
"Oh! it's the ghost!" declared one girl.
"So's your grandmother's aunt!" snapped another. "Somebody shoved Sarahinto the water. It was no ghost."
It was Madge Steele who last spoke, and Ruth seized upon the senior,believing she might get something like a sensible explanation from her.
"You girls go into the house quietly," warned Ruth, as they scrambled upthe stone steps. "Don't you _dare_ make a noise and get us all intotrouble."
Then she turned upon Madge, begging: "Do, _do_ tell me what you mean,Madge Steele. _Who_ pushed Sarah?"
"That's what I can't tell you. But I heard Sarah yelling that she waspushed, and she did most certainly fall right into the fountain when sheclimbed up there beside the statue."
"What a ridiculous thing!" giggled Ruth. "Somebody played a trick onher. I guess she was fooled instead of the candidates being startled,eh?"
"I saw somebody--or something--drop off the other side of the fountain andrun--I saw it myself," declared Madge.
"Here comes Sarah," cried Ruth, under her breath. "And I declare she_is_ all wet!"
Sarah Fish was actually laughing, but in a hysterical way.
"Oh, dear me! was ever anything so ridiculous before?" she gasped.
"Hush! Don't get Miss Picolet after us," begged Madge.
"What really happened?" demanded Ruth, eagerly.
"Why--I'll tell you," replied Sarah, whose gown clung to her as though ithad been pasted upon her figure. "See? I'm just _soaked_. Talk aboutsprinkling those silly lambs of candidates! Why, _I_ was immersed--yousee."
"But how?"
"I slipped over there before the procession started from these steps. Iwas watching the girls, and listening to them sing, and didn't pay muchattention to anything else.
"But when I dodged down into the little garden, I thought I heard afootstep on the flags. I looked all around, and saw nothing. Now I knowthe person must have already climbed up on the fountain and gotten intothe shadow of the statue--just as I wanted to do."
"Was there really somebody there?" demanded Madge.
"How do you think I got into the fountain, if not?" snapped Sarah Fish.
"Fell in."
"I did not!" cried Sarah. "I was pushed."
"'Did She Fall, or Was She Pushed?'" giggled Madge. "Sounds like amoving picture title."
"You can laugh," scoffed Sarah. "I wonder what you'd have done?"
"Got just as wet as you did, most likely," said Ruth, calming thetroubled waters. "Do go on, Sarah. So you really _saw_ somebody?"
"And felt somebody. When I climbed up to get a footing beside thesitting figure, so that the girls would not see me, somebody shovedme--with both hands--right into the fountain."
"That's when you squalled?" asked Madge.
"Yes, indeed! And I rolled out of the fountain just as the--the personwho pushed me, tumbled down off the pedestal and ran."
"For pity's sake!" ejaculated Ruth. "Do tell us who it was, Sarah."
"Don't you think I would if I could?" responded Sarah, trying to wringthe water out of her narrow skirt.
Through the gloom appeared another figure--the too, too solid figure ofJennie Stone.
"Oh--dear--me! Oh--dear--me!" she panted. And then seeing Sarah Fishdripping there on the walk, Heavy fell upon the steps and giggled. "Oh,Sarah!" she gasped. "For once, your appearance fits your name, allright. You look like a fish out of its element."
"Laugh----"
"I have to," responded Heavy.
"Well, if it were you----"
"I know. I'd be floundering there in the water yet."
"But tell me!" cried Ruth, under her breath. "Was it a girl who pushedyou into the fountain, Sarah?"
"It wore skirts--I'm sure of that, at least," grumbled Sarah.
"But it ran faster than any girl I ever saw run," vouchsafed Heavy."_Did_ you see her just skimming across the campus toward the mainbuilding? Like the wind!"
"It must be one of our girls," declared Madge.
"All right," said Heavy. "But if so, it's a girl I never saw run before.You can't tell me."
"You had better go in and get off your clothes, Sarah," advised Ruth.Then she looked at Madge. Madge was one of the oldest girls atBriarwood. "Let's go and see if we can find the girl," Ruth suggested.
"I'm game," cried Madge, as the other stragglers mounted the steps anddisappeared behind the dormitory building door.
Both girls hurried down the walk under the trees to the main building.In one end of this Mrs. Tellingham and the Doctor had their abode. Inthe other end was the dining-room, with the kitchens and other officesin the basement. Besides, Tony Foyle, who was chief man-of-all-workabout the Hall, and his wife, who was cook, had their living rooms inthe basement of this building.
Ruth and Madge hoped to investigate the matter of the mysteriousmarauder without arousing the little old Irishman, but already they sawhis lantern behind the grated window in the front basement, and, as thetwo girls came nearer, they heard him grumblingly unchain the door.
"Bad 'cess to 'em! I seen 'em cavortin' across the campus, I tell ye,Mary Ann! There's wan of thim down here in the airy----"
It was evident that the old couple had been aroused, and that Tony wastalking to his wife, who remained in the bedchamber. Ruth seized Madge'swrist and whispered in her ear:
"You run around one way, and I'll go the other. There must be _somebody_about, for Tony saw her----"
"If it _is_ a girl."
"Both Sarah and Heavy say it is. I'm not afraid," declared Ruth, and shestarted off alone at once.
Madge disappeared around the corner. Ruth had darted into the heavilyshaded space between the end of the main building and the next brickstructure. There were no lights here, but there was a gas lamp on a postbeyond the far corner, and before she was half way to it, she saw ashadow flit across the illuminated space about this post, and disappearbehind a clump of snowball bushes.
Ruth ran swiftly forward, dodged around the other end of the clump ofthick bushes, and suddenly collided with somebody who uttered a muffledscream. Ruth grabbed the girl by both shoulders and held on.
It was like trying to hold a wildcat. The girl, who was considerablysmaller, and far slighter than Ruth, struggled madly to escape. She didnot say a word at first, only straining to get away from Ruth's stronggrip.
"Now stop! now wait!" panted Ruth. "I want to know who you are----"
The other tugged her best, but the girl of the Red Mill was very strongfor her age, and she held on.
"Stop!" panted Ruth again. "If you make a noise, you'll bring old Tonyhere--and then you _will_ be in trouble. I want to know who you are andwhat you were doing down there at the fountain--and why you pushed Sarahinto the water?"
"And I'd like to push _you_ in!" ejaculated the other girl, suddenly."You let go of me, or I'll scratch you!"
"You can't," replied Ruth, firmly. "I'm holding you too tight."
"Then I'll bite you!" vowed the other.
"Why--you're a regular wild girl," exclaimed Ruth. "You stop struggling,or I'll shout for help, and then Tony will come running."
"D--don't give me away," gasped the strange girl, suddenly ceasing herstruggles.
"Do you belong here?
" demanded Ruth.
"Belong here? Naw! I don't belong nowheres. An' you better lemme go,Miss."
"Why--you _are_ a strange girl," said Ruth, greatly amazed. "You can't beone of us Briarwoods."
"That ain't my name a-tall," whispered the frightened girl. "My name'sRaby."
"But what were you doing over there at the fountain?"
"Gettin' a drink. Was _that_ any harm?" demanded the girl, sharply. "I'dfound some dry pieces of bread the cook had put on top of a box there bythe back door. I reckoned she didn't want the bread, and _I_ did."
"Oh, dear me!" whispered Ruth.
"And dry bread's dry eatin'," said the strange girl. "I had ter have adrink o' water to wash it down. And jest as I got down into that littleplace where I seed the fountain this afternoon----"
"Oh, my, dear!" gasped Ruth. "Have you been lurking about the school allthat time and never came and asked good old Mary Ann for somethingdecent to eat?"
"Huh! mebbe she'd a drove me off. Or mebbe she'd done worse to me," saidthe other, quickly. "They beat me again day 'fore yesterday----"
"Who beat you?" demanded Ruth.
"Them Perkinses. Now! don't you go for to tell I said that. I don't wantto go back to 'em--and their house ain't such a fur ways from here. Ifthat cook--or any other grown folk--seen me, they'd want to send me back.I know 'em!" exclaimed the girl, bitterly. "But mebbe you'll be decentabout it, and keep your mouth shut."
"Oh! I won't tell a soul," murmured Ruth. "But I'm so sorry. Only drybread and water--"
"Huh! it'll keep a feller alive," said this strangely spoken girl. "Iain't no softie. Now, you lemme go, will yer? My! but you _are_ strong."
"I'll let you go. But I do want to help you. I want to know more aboutyou--_all_ about you. But if Tony comes----"
"That's his lantern. I see it. He's a-comin'," gasped the other, tryingto wriggle free.
"Where will you stay to-night?" asked Ruth, anxiously.
"I gotter place. It's warm and dry. I stayed there las' night. Come! youlemme go."
"But I want to help you----"
"'Twon't help me none to git me cotched."
"Oh, I know it! Wait! Meet me somewhere near here to-morrow morning--willyou? I'll bring some money with me. I'll help you."
"Say! ain't you foolin'?" demanded the other, seemingly startled by thefact that Ruth wished to help her.
"No. I speak the truth. I will help you."
"Then I'll meet you--but you won't tell nobody?"
"Not a soul?"
"Cross yer heart?"
"I don't do such foolish things," said Ruth. "If I say I'll do a thing,I will do it."
"All right. What time'll I see you?"
"Ten o'clock."
"Aw-right," agreed the strange girl. "I'll be across the road from thatpath that's bordered by them cedar trees----"
"The Cedar Walk?"
"Guess so."
"I shall be there. And will you?"
"Huh! I kin keep my word as well as you kin," said the girl, sharply.Then she suddenly broke away from Ruth and ran. Tony Foyle cameblundering around the corner of the house and Ruth, much excited,slipped away from the brush clump and ran as fast as she could to meetMadge Steele.
"Oh! is that you, Ruth?" exclaimed the senior, when Ruth ran into herarms. "Tony's out. We had better go back to bed, or he'll report us toMrs. Tellingham in the morning. I don't know where the strange girlcould have gone."
Ruth did not say a word. Madge did not ask her, and the girl of the RedMill allowed her friend to think that her own search had been quite asunsuccessful. But, as Ruth looked at it, it was not _her_ secret.
Ruth Fielding At Sunrise Farm; Or, What Became of the Raby Orphans Page 3
