Page:Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch.djvu/113



bear fight and the runaway together so disturbed the minds of the picnicking party in the canon that nobody objected to the suggestion of an early return to the ranchhouse. Ruth was secretly much troubled in her mind over the mysterious individual who had killed the bear. She had not seen her rescuer's face; but she wondered if Mary Cox had seen it?

The girls never did get to the top of the natural bridge. Jib and the boys in trying to trace the stranger had gone over the summit; but they did not tarry to look around. The girls and Ricardo got supper, immediately after which they set out on the return drive.

Jib insisted upon holding the lines over the backs of the team that had run away and he saw that Mary Cox rode in that vehicle, too. But The Fox showed no vexation at this; indeed, she was very quiet all the way to Silver Ranch. She was much unlike her usual snappy, sharp-tongued self.

But, altogether, the party arrived home in very