HINGS 82

XII. RUFUS BLENT'S LITTLE WAYS 90

XIII. FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE 98

XIV. THE HUE AND CRY 106

XV. OVER THE PRECIPICE 115

XVI. HIDE AND SEEK 124

XVII. CHRISTMAS MORNING 133

XVIII. FUN ON THE ICE 143

XIX. BLENT IS MASTER 150

XX. THE FISHING PARTY 157

XXI. JERRY'S CAVE 166

XXII. SNOWED IN 173

XXIII. "A BLOW FOR LIBERTY" 181

XXIV. A MIDNIGHT MARAUDER 189

XXV. THE TREASURE BOX 197

RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND

CHAPTER I

THE WRECK AT APPLEGATE CROSSING

A September morning has dawned, with only a vague tang of autumn in the
air. In the green old dooryard at the Red Mill, under the spreading shade
trees, two girls are shelling a great basket of dried lima beans for the
winter's store.

The smaller, black-haired girl begins the conversation.

"Suppose Jane Ann doesn't come, Ruth?"

"You mean on this morning train?" responded the plumper and more
mature-looking girl, whose frank face was particularly attractive.

"Yes."

"Then Tom said he would go back to meet the evening train--and we'll go
with him," said Ruth Fielding, with a smile. "But I could not go this
morning and leave poor Aunt Alvirah all these beans to shell."

"Of course not," agreed her friend, promptly. "And Jane Ann won't feel
offended by our not meeting her at Cheslow, I know."

"No, indeed, Helen," laughed Ruth. "Jane Ann Hicks is altogether too
sensible a girl."

"Sensible about everything but her name," commented Helen Cameron, making
a little face.

"And one can scarcely blame her. It _is_ ugly," Ruth responded, with a
sigh. "Jane Ann Hicks! Dear, dear! how could her Uncle Bill be so
thoughtless as to name her that, when she was left, helpless, to his
care?"

"He didn't realize that fashions in names change--like everything else,"
observed Helen, briskly.

"I wonder what the girls at Briarwood will say to that name," Ruth
pondered.

"Why The Fox and Heavy will help us make the other girls toe the mark. And
Madge Steele! She's a regiment in herself," declared Helen. "We all had
such a fine time at Silver Ranch that the least we can do is to see that
Jane Ann is not hazed like the other infants."

"I ex