Reno seemed to understand her words perfectly, and uttered another short, sharp bark.
"Let us go, then," said Doctor Davison, hurriedly.
So the men picked up their lanterns and the stretcher again. They crossed the tracks and came to a street that soon became a country road. Cheslow did not spread itself very far in this direction. Doctor Davison explained to Ruth that the settlement had begun to grow in the parts beyond the railroad and that all this side of the tracks was considered the old part of the town.
The street lights were soon behind them and they depended entirely upon the lanterns the men carried. Ruth could see very little of the houses they passed; but at one spot—although it was on the other side of the road—there were two green lanterns, one on either side of an arched gate, and there seemed to be a rather large, but gloomy, house behind the hedge before which these lanterns burned.
"You will always know my house," Doctor Davison said, softly, and still retaining her hand, "by its green eyes."
So Ruth knew she had passed his home, to which he had so kindly invited her. And that made her think for a moment about Uncle Jabez and Aunt Alvirah. Would she find somebody waiting to take her to the Red Mill when she got back to the station?
CHAPTER IV
THE GATE OF THE GREEN EYES
It was a dark lane, beneath overhanging oaks, that met and intertwined their branches from either side—this was the Wilkins Corners road. And it was very steep and stony—up hill and down dale—with deep ruts in places and other spots where the Spring rains had washed out the gravel and sand and left exposed the very foundations of the world.
It seemed as though no bicyclist, or motor-cyclist would have chosen this road to travel after dark. Yet there was a narrow path at the side—just wide enough for Ruth and Doctor Davison to walk abreast, and Reno to trot by the girl's side which seemed pretty smooth.