CHAPTER XII
BOUND FOR THE NORTHWEST
Because of the accident in which Ruth might have been seriously hurt,the company was delayed for a day in New York, Altogether the variousshots (some of them of and in one of the tallest office buildings onBroadway) occupied more than a week--more time than Mr. Hammond wishedto give to the work in the East.
Nevertheless, Ruth's finished script, as handled deftly by thecontinuity writer, promised so well that the producer was willing tomake a special production of it. The money--and time--cost wereimportant factors in the making of the picture; but the selection of thecast was not to be overlooked. Jim Hooley had chosen the few acting inthe Eastern scenes with Wonota, including the hero, whom, to tell thetruth, the Indian girl considered a rather wonderful person because shesaw him in a dress suit"
"Yes, it is true! No Indian could look so heroic a figure," shewhispered to Ruth. "He looks like--like a nobleman. I have read aboutnoblemen in the book of an author named Scott--Sir Walter Scott.Noblemen must look like Mr. Albert Grand."
"And to me he looks like a head waiter," said Ruth, when laughinglyrelating this to Helen and Jennie.
"Don't let Mr. Grand hear you say that," warned Helen. "They tell methat he refuses to appear in any picture where at least once he does notwalk into the scene in a dress suit. He claims his clientele demandit--he looks so perfectly splendid in the 'soup and fish.'"
"Then why laugh at Wonota?" demanded Jennie Stone. "She is no moreimpressed by his surface qualities than are the movie fans who like Mr.Grand."
"Well, it is a great game," laughed Ruth. "Some of the movie stars havemore laughable eccentricities or idiosyncracies than that. I wonder whatour Wonota will develop if she becomes a star?"
The development of the Indian girl was promising so far. She had feelingfor her part, if it was at first rather difficult for her to express inher features those emotions which, as an Indian, she had considered itproper to hide. She did just enough of this to make her feelings showon the screen, yet without being unnatural in the part of Brighteyes,the Indian maid.
Mr. Hammond was inclined to believe that "Brighteyes" would be a bigfeature picture. The director was enthusiastic about it as well. Andeven the camera man (than whom can be imagined no more case-hardenedcritic of pictures) expressed his belief that it would be a "knockout."
Mr. Hammond arranged for a special car for the cross-continent run, andhe took his own family along, as the weather prophesied for the ensuingfew weeks was favorable to out-of-door work and living. The special carmade it possible for Ruth and her two friends, Helen and Jennie, as wellas the Osage Indian girl, to be very comfortably placed during thejourney.
Ruth had traveled before this--north, south, east and west--and therewas scarcely anything novel in train riding for her. But a journey wouldnever be dull with Jennie Stone and Helen Cameron as companions!
They ruined completely the morale of the car service. The colored portercould scarcely shine the other passengers' shoes he was kept so much atthe beck and call of the two wealthy girls, who tipped lavishly. ThePullman conductor was cornered on every possible occasion and led intodiscourse entirely foreign to his duties. Even the "candy butcher" waswaylaid and made to serve the ends of two girls who had perfectly idlehands and--so Ruth declared--quite as idle brains.
"Well, goodness!" remarked Helen, "we must occupy our minds and time insome way. You, Ruthie, are confined to that story of yours abouttwenty-five hours out of the twenty-four. Even Wonota has thought onlyfor her tiresome beadwork when she is not studying her part with Mr.Hooley and you. I know we'll have fun when we get to the Hubbell Ranchwhere Mr. Hammond says your picture is to be filmed. I do just dote oncowboys and the fuzzy little ponies they ride."
"And the dear cows!" drawled Jennie. "Do you remember that maniacalcreature that attacked our motor-car that time we went to Silver Ranch,years and years and years ago? You know, back in the Paleozoic Age!"
"Quite so," agreed Helen. "I have a photographic remembrance of thatcreature--ugh! And how he burst our tires!"
_"He,_ forsooth! What a way to speak of a cow!"
"It wasn't a cow; it was a steer," declared Helen confidently.
Ruth retired from the observation platform where her chums wereensconced, allowing them to argue the matter to a finish. It was truethat the girl of the Red Mill was very busy most of her waking hours onthe train. They all took a recess at Chicago, however, and it was therea second incident occurred that showed Dakota Joe Fenbrook had notforgotten his threat to "get even" with Ruth Fielding and the movingpicture producer with whom she was associated.
The special car was sidetracked just outside of Chicago and the wholeparty motored into the city in various automobiles and on variouserrands. The Hammonds had relatives to visit. Ruth and her three girlcompanions had telegraphed ahead for reservations at one of the bighotels, and they proposed to spend the two days and nights Mr. Hammondhad arranged for in seeing the sights and attending two particulartheatrical performances.
"And I declare!" cried Helen, as they rolled on through one of thesuburbs of the city, "there is one of the sights, sure enough. See thatbillboard, girls?"
"Oh!" cried Wonota, who possessed quite as sharp eyes as anybody in theparty.
"We can't escape that man," sighed Jennie, as she read in toweringletters the announcement of "Dakota Joe's Wild West and FrontierRound-Up."
"I am sorry the show is here in Chicago," added Ruth with serious mien."I am still limping. Next time that awful man will manage to lame mecompletely."
"You ought to have a guard. Tell the police--do!" exclaimed JennieStone.
"Tell the police _what?"_ demanded Ruth, with scorn. "We can't proveanything."
"I know it was Joe in that car that ran you down, Miss Fielding,"declared Wonota, with anxiety.
"Yes. But nobody else saw him--to recognize him, I mean. We cannot basea complaint upon such little foundation. Nor would it be well, perhaps,to get Dakota Joe into the courts. He is a very vindictive man--he mustbe----"
"He is very bad man!" repeated Wonota vehemently.
"Yes. That is just it. Why stir up his passions to a greater degree,then?"
"Of course, Ruthie would want to turn 'the other cheek,'" scoffedJennie.
"I am not going around with a chip on my shoulder, looking for somebodyto knock it off," laughed the girl of the Red Mill. "I just want Joe toleave us alone--that's all."
Wonota shook her head and seemed unconvinced of the wisdom of this. Shewas not a pacifist. She knew, too, the heart of the showman, and perhapsshe feared him more than she was willing to tell her new friends.
The four girls made their headquarters at the hotel, and then set forthat once to shop and to look. As the hours of that first day passedWonota was vastly excited over the new sights. For once she lost thatstoic calmness which was her racial trait. The big stores and the tallbuildings here in the mid-western city seemed to impress her even morethan had those in New York.
There was reason for that. She was, while in New York, so much taken upwith the part she was playing in "Brighteyes" that she could think oflittle else. She saw many things in the stores she wished to buy. Ruthhad advanced Wonota some money on her contract with the Alectrion FilmCorporation. But when it came right down to the point of buying thethings that girls like and long for--little trinkets and articles ofadornment--the Indian girl hesitated.
"Buy it if it pleases you," Ruth said, rather wondering at the firmnesswith which Wonota drew back from selecting and paying for something thatcost less than a dollar.
"No, Miss Fielding. Wonota does not need that. Chief Totantora may belost to me forever. I should not adorn myself, or think ofself-adornment. No! I will save my money until I can go to that Europewhere the great chief is held a prisoner."
The girls--Helen and Jennie--were both for buying presents for theIndian girl, as she would not use her own money. But Ruth would notallow them to purchase other than the simplest souveniers.
/> "That would spoil it all. Let her deny herself in such a cause--it willnot hurt her," the girl of the Red Mill said sensibly. "She has anobject in life and should be encouraged to follow out her plan forhelping Chief Totantora."
"Maybe he is not alive now," said Helen, thoughtfully.
"I would not suggest that," Ruth hastened to rejoin. "As long as she canhope, the better for Wonota. And I should not want her to find out thatTotantora has died in captivity, before my picture is finished."
"Whoo!" breathed Jennie. "You sound sort of selfish, Ruthie Fielding."
"For her sake as well as for the sake of the picture," returned theother practically. "I tell you Wonota has got it in her to be a valuableasset to the movies. But I hope nothing will happen to make her falldown on this first piece of work. Like Mr. Hammond, I hope that she willdevelop into an Indian star of the very first magnitude."