"Well! That's fine! Thank goodness you're safe!" ejaculated the
merchant, in an entirely different tone. "Why, Ruth, I was just about
sending a party out from the store at Emoryville to beat up the woods
for you. They say there is a big panther in that district."

"Oh, I know it. The beast frightened us most to death--"

"Who was with you?" interrupted Mr. Cameron.

"Why, that boy! He jumped off the train and I followed to stop him.
Now he's run away again, sir."

"Oh, the boy calling himself Fred Hatfield?" ejaculated Mr. Cameron.
"He's left you?"

"He came here to Snow Camp and then disappeared. I am sorry--"

"You're a good little girl, Ruth. I wanted to bring him up here--and
there are people who would be glad to know who he really is."

"But don't you know? Isn't his name Fred Hatfield?" questioned Ruth,
in surprise.

"That can't be. Fred Hatfield was shot here in the woods more than a
month ago. It was soon after the deer season opened, they tell me,
and it is supposed to have been an accident. Young 'Lias Hatfield,
half-brother of the real Fred, is in jail here, held for shooting his
brother. Who the boy was whom we found and brought from the Red Mill,
seems to be a mystery."