Newbie Question re accessing a secure web site with https

Hi. I am a Ruby newbie. I am working with the pickaxe book, page 709.
I’m trying to write a script that logs into a secure website, and then
fill out a text box. I am using the top example on the page as a basis,
and ultimately I get a web page that says I am not authorized to view
the page. I am confident that my user name and password are correct.
Could it be that because the site is https, the authorization is more
than just Basic, and therefore, I need to do this another way? The book
only has 2 pages of documentation for this library, and I just need some
more info. Thanks in advance for any information that you can provide.