"Jerry Sheming!" gasped the girl, as he drew her out of the snow.
"In here—quick! Are they after me?"
Ruth shook the snow from her eyes. She was like a half-drowned person suddenly coming to the surface.
"Where—where are we?" she whispered.
"All right! This is one of my hide-outs. Is that old Blent up yonder?"
"Oh, Jerry! he's not on the island to-day. He's left the constable——"
"Lem Daggett?"
"Yes. They are searching for you. But I was with Tom and Helen and the others. We brought you some food——"
He led her along a narrow shelf, which had been swept quite free of snow. Now a hollow in the rock-wall opened before them, and there a little fire of sticks burned, an old buffalo robe lay nearby, and there were other evidences of the fugitive's camp.
Ruth was shaking now, but not from the cold. The shock of her fall had begun to awaken the nervous terror which is the afterclap of such an adventure. So near she had been to death!