CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing 1
II. The Worm Turns 12
III. The Boy in the Moonlight 25
IV. The Capes of Virginia 33
V. The Newspaper Account 45
VI. All in the Rain 56
VII. Miss Catalpa 66
VIII. Under the Umbrella 73
IX. Sunshine at the Gatehouse 78
X. An Adventure in Norfolk 86
XI. At the Merredith Plantation 94
XII. The Boy at the Warehouse 103
XIII. Ruth Is Troubled 111
XIV. Ruth Finds a Helper 118
XV. The Ride to Holloways 123
XVI. The “Hop” 135
XVII. The Flood Rises 139
XVIII. Across the River 145
XIX. “If Aunt Rachel Were Only Here” 151
XX. Curly Plays an Heroic Part 159
XXI. The Next Morning 166
XXII. Something for Curly 174
XXIII. “Here’s a State of Things!” 182
XXIV. The Chamber Concert 189
XXV. Back Home 202
RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE
CHAPTER I—A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING
“Isn’t that the oddest acting girl you ever saw, Ruth?”
“Goodness! what a gawky thing!” agreed Ruth Fielding, who was just
getting out of the taxicab, following her chum, Helen Cameron.
“And those white-stitched shoes!” gasped Helen. “Much too small for her,
I do believe!”
“How that skirt does hang!” exclaimed Ruth.
“She looks just as though she had slept in all her clothes,” said Helen,
giggling. “What do you suppose is the matter with her, Ruth?”
“I’m sure I don’t know,” Ruth Fielding said. “She’s going on this boat
with us, I guess. Maybe we can get acquainted with her,” and she
laughed.
“Excuse _me_!” returned Helen. “I don’t think I care to. Oh, look!”
The girl in question—who was odd looking, indeed—had been paying the
cabman who had brought her to the head of the dock. The dock was on West
Street, New York City, and the chums from Cheslow and the Red Mill had
never been in the metropolis before. So they were naturally observant of
everything and everybody about them.
The strange girl, after paying her fare, started to thrust her purse
into the shabby handbag she carried. Just then one of the colored
porters hurried forward and took up the suitcase that the girl had set
down on the ground at her feet when she stepped from the cab.
“Right dis way, miss,” said the porter politely, and started off with
the suitcase.
“Hey! what are you doing?” demanded the girl in a sharp and shrill
voice; and she seized the handle of the bag before the porter had taken
more than a step.
She grabbed it so savagely and gave it such a determined jerk, that the
porter was swung about and almost thrown to the ground before he could
let go of the handle.
“I’ll ‘tend to my own bag,” said this vigorous young person, and strode
away down the dock, leaving the porter amazed and the bystanders much
amused.
“My goodness!” gasped the negro, when he got his breath. “Dat gal is as
strong as a ox—sho’ is! I nebber seed her like. _She_ don’t need no
he’p, _she_ don’t.”
“Let him take our bags—poor fellow,” said Helen, turning around after
paying their own driver. “Wasn’t that girl rude?”
“Here,” said Ruth, laughing and extending her light traveling bag to the
disturbed porter, “you may carry _our_ bags to the boat. We’re not as
strong as that girl.”
“She sho’ was a strong one,” said the negro, grinning. “I declar’ for’t,
missy!
