But here, with the panther creeping toward them, foot by foot, the young
friends had no weapon of defense.

Ruth had often proved herself both a courageous and a sensible girl.
Coming from her old home where her parents had died, a year and a half
before, she had received shelter at the Red Mill, belonging to her great
uncle, Jabez Potter, at first as an object of charity, for Uncle Jabez was
a miserly and ill-tempered old fellow. The adventures of the first book of
this series, entitled "Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill; Or, Jasper Parloe's
Secret," narrate how Ruth won her way--in a measure, at least--to her
uncle's heart.

Ruth made friends quickly with Helen and Tom Cameron, and when, the year
previous, Helen had gone to Briarwood Hall to school, Ruth had gone with
her, and the fun, friendships, rivalries, and adventures of their first
term at boarding school are related in "Ruth Fielding at Briarwood Hall;
Or, Solving the Campus Mystery."

In "Ruth Fielding at Snow Camp; Or, Lost in the Backwoods," the third
volume of the series, are told the mid-winter sports of our heroine and
her friends; and later, after the school year is concluded, we find them
all at the seaside home of one of the Briarwood girls, and follow them
through the excitement and incidents of "Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse
Point; Or, Nita, the Girl Castaway."

When our present story opens Ruth and the Camerons have just returned from
the West, where they had spent a part of the summer vacation with Jane Ann
Hicks, and their many adventures are fully related in the fifth volume of
the series, entitled "Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch; Or, Schoolgirls Among
the Cowboys."