heap of logs above, on the
brink of the steep bank, that Ruth was in danger.

A fringe of low brush had hidden the foot of the logpile up there. This
hedge had also hidden from the observation of the party across the
stream the villains who must have deliberately knocked out the chocks
which held the high pile of timbers from skidding down the slope.

Mr. Hooley had seen the logs start. Squeezed out by the weight of the
pile, the lower logs, stripped of bark and squealing like living
creatures started over the brink. They rolled, faster and faster, down
upon the unwarned Ruth Fielding. And behind the leaders poured the whole
pile, gathering speed as the avalanche made headway!

The turmoil of the river and the crashing logs would have smothered the
sound of the avalanche until it was upon the girl of the Red Mill. No
doubt of that. But providentially Ruth flashed a glance across the
stream. She saw the party there all screaming at her and waving their
arms madly. Jennie was just dragging Helen back from the rising flood
of the turbulent river. Ruth saw by their actions that they were trying
to draw her attention to something behind her.

She swung about and looked up the almost sheer bluff.

Ruth Fielding was not lacking in quick comprehension. A single glance at
the descending avalanche of logs was sufficient to make her understand
the peril. She knew that she could not clear the hurtling timbers by
running either up stream or down. The way was too rough. As well as Jim
Hooley, she knew that escape was only possible by leaping into the
river. And that chance was rather uncertain.

Ruth was dressed for the rough outdoor life she was living. She wore
high, laced boots, a short skirt, knickerbockers, a blouse, and a
broad-brimmed hat.

When she turned to face the turbulent stream the rocking timbers coming
down with the released water almost filled the pool before the
endangered girl.

Had she worn caulks on the soles of her boots, as did the foreman who
had cut the boom, and been practised as he was in "running the logs,"
Ruth would have stood a better chance of escaping the plunging
avalanche. As it was, she was not wholly helpless.

She had picked up a peavey one of the timbermen had left on this bank
and was using is as a staff as she watched the "freshet" start. Warned
now of the danger she was in, the girl of the Red Mill seized this staff
firmly in both hands and poised herself to leap from the boulder t