that's what I'd be doin'. You warn't never lookin' for Jabe Potter?"

Much relieved, Ruth admitted the fact frankly. "He is my uncle, sir,"
she said. "I am going to live at the Red Mill."

The strange old man puckered up his lips into a whistle, and shook his
head, eyeing her all the time so slily that Ruth was more and more
thankful that he had not proven to be Uncle Jabez.

"Do you know Mr. Potter?" she asked, undecided what to do.

"Do I know Jabe Potter?" repeated the man. "Well, I don't know much
good of him, I assure ye! I worked for him onct, I did. And I tell ye
he owes me money yet. You ax him if he don't owe Jasper Parloe money--
you jest ax him!"

He began to get excited and did not seem at all inclined to step out
of Ruth's path. But just then somebody spoke to her and she turned to
see the station master and two or three other men with him.

"This is the girl Mr. Mason spoke to me about, isn't it?" the railroad
man asked. "The conductor of the express, I mean. He said the dog
would mind you."

"He seems to like me," she replied, turning to the mastiff that had
stood all this time close to her.

"That is Tom Cameron's dog all right," said one of the other men. "And
that lantern is off his motorcycle, I bet anything! He went through
town about dark on that contraption, and I shouldn't wonder if he's