"Only since yeou was knocked down that bank inter the gully, an' yer arm an' head hurt. There warn't nothin' about Jabe ter interest yeou afore that," returned Parloe, quickly. Tom flushed suddenly and he looked at the old fellow with new interest. "Just what do you mean?" he asked, slowly. "Ye know well enough. Your dad, Tom Cameron, is mighty riled up over your bein' hurt. I heered him say that he'd give a ten-dollar note ter know who it was drove by ye that night and crowded ye inter the ditch. Would you give more than that not ter have it known who done it?" "What do you mean?" exclaimed Tom, angrily. "I guess ye like this here gal that's cone to live on Jabez, purty well; don't ye--yeou an' yer sister?" croaked old Parloe. "Wal, if your dad an' the miller gits inter a row--comes ter a clinch, as ye might say--yeou an' yer sister won't be let ter hev much ter do with Ruth, eh, now?" "I don't know that that's so," Tom said doggedly. "Oh, yes, ye do. Think it over. Old Jabe will put his foot right down an' he'll stop Ruth havin' anything ter do with ye--ye know it! Wal, now; think it over. I got a conscience, I have," pursued Parloe, cringing and rubbing his hands together, his sly little eyes sparkling. "I r'ally feel as though I'd oughter tell yer dad who it was almost run ye down that night and made ye fall into the gully." "You mean, you'd like to handle Dad's ten dollars!" cried Tom, angrily. Parloe smirked and still rubbed his hands together. "Don't matter a mite whose ten dollars I handle," he said, suggestively. "Your ten dollars would be jest as welcome to me as your Dad's, Master Cameron." "Ten dollars is a lot of money," said Tom. "Yes. It's right smart. I could make use of it I'm a poor man, an' I could use it nicely," admitted the sly and furtive Parloe. "I haven't got so much money now," growled the boy. "Yeou kin get it, I warrant." "I suppose I can." He drew his purse from his pocket. "I've got three dollars and a half here. I'll have the rest for you on Monday." "Quite correct," said Jasper Parloe, clutching eagerly at the money. "I'll trust ye till then--oh, yes! I'll trust ye till then." CHAPTER XIV JUST A MATTER OF A DRESS "Well, I really believe, Tommy Cameron!" cried his sister Helen, when he overtook the girls and Reno, swinging the basket recklessly, "that you are developing a love for low company. I don't see how you can bear to talk with that Jasper Parloe." "I don't see how I can, either," muttered Tom, and he was rather silent--for him--until they were well off the road and the incident at the bridge was some minutes behind them. But the day was such a glorious one, and the fields and woods were so beautiful, that no healthy boy could long be gloomy. Besides, Tom Cameron had assured his sister that he thought Ruth Fielding "just immense," and he was determined to give the girl of the Red Mill as pleasant a time as possible.