"He-- he isn't badly hurt, then-- your brother, I mean?" said Ruth,
timidly.

"He is going to stay at the doctor's to-day, and then he can come
home. But he will carry his arm in a sling for a while, although no
bone was broken, after all. His head is badly cut, but his hair will
hide that. Poor Tom! he is always falling down, or getting bumped, or
something. And he's just as reckless as he can be. Father says he is
not to be trusted with the car as much as I am."

"How-- how did he come to fall over that bank?" asked Ruth, anxiously.

"Why-- it was dark, I suppose. That was the way of it. I don't know as
he really told me what made him do such a foolish thing. And wasn't it
lucky Reno was along with him?" cried Tom's sister.

"Now, I see you remained in town over night. They thought somebody had
come for yon and taken you out to the mill. Is Jabez Potter really
your uncle?"

"Yes. He was my mother's uncle. And I have no other relative."

"Well, dear, I am more than sorry for you," declared the girl from the
automobile. "And now we will climb right in and I'll take you along to
the mill."

But whether she was sorry for Ruth Fielding's friendlessness, or sorry
because she was related to Jabez Potter, the young traveler could not
decide.