“And he wouldn’t be good eating, I know,” chuckled Curly. “But he’s a good feller. Say, Ruthie! how did you and Helen Cameron come ’way down here?”
“How did you come here?” returned Ruth, smiling at him.
“Why—on the boat and on a train—several trains, until I got to Pee Dee. And then a flatboat. Old Scratch! but I’ve had an awful time, Ruth.”
“You ran away, of course,” said the girl, just as though she knew nothing about the trouble Curly had had in Lumberton.
“Yep. I did. So would you.”
“Why would I?”
“’Cause of what they said about me. Why, Ruth Fielding!” and he started to sit up in bed, but lay down quickly with a groan. “Oh! how that leg aches.”
“Keep still then, Curly,” she said. “And tell me the truth. Why did you run away?”
“Because they said I helped rob the railroad station.”
“But if you didn’t do it, couldn’t you risk being exonerated in court?”