At Ruth’s appearance he seemed startled, too, and he advanced the muzzle of the gun and took a stride forward at the same moment.
“Hello!” he growled. “Be you crazy, too? What in all git out be you traipsing through these woods for in the rain?”
CHAPTER XI
MR. PETERBY PAUL AND “WHOSIS”
Ruth Fielding was more than a little startled, for the appearance of this bearded and gruff-spoken man was much against him.
She had become familiar, however, during the past months with all sorts and conditions of men—many of them much more dangerous looking than this stranger.
Her experiences at the battlefront in France had taught her many things. Among them, that very often the roughest men are the most tender with and considerate of women. Ruth knew that the girls and women working in the Red Cross and the “Y” and the Salvation Army might venture among the roughest poilus, Tommies and our own Yanks without fearing insult or injury.
After that first startled “Oh!” Ruth Fielding gave no sign of fearing the bearded man with the gun under his arm. She stood her ground as he approached her.