CHAPTER VII
DAKOTA JOE'S WRATH
It was a crisp day with that tang of frost in the air that makes the oldshiver and the young feel a tingling in the blood. Aunt Alvirah drew herchair closer to the stove in the sitting-room. She had a capablehousework helper now, and even Jabez Potter made no audible objection,for Ruth paid the bill, and the dear old woman had time to sit and talkto "her pretty" as she loved to do.
"Oh, my back and oh, my bones!" she murmured, as she settled into herrocking-chair. "I am a leetle afraid, my pretty, that you will have yourhands full if you write pictures for red savages to act. It does seem tome they air dangerous folks to have anything to do with.
"Why, when I was a mite of a girl, I heard my great-grandmother tellthat when she was a girl she went with her folks clean acrosst thecontinent--or, leastways, beyond the Mississippi, and they drove in abig wagon drawed by oxen."
"Goodness! They went in an emigrant train?" cried Ruth.
"Not at all. 'Twarn't no train," objected Aunt Alvirah. "Trains warn'theard of then. Why, _I_ can remember when the first railroad wentthrough this part of the country and it cut right through SilasBassett's farm. They told him he could go down to the tracks any time hefelt like going to town, wave his hat, and the train would stop forhim."
"Well, wasn't that handy?" cried the girl.
"It sounded good. But Silas didn't have it on paper. First off they didstop for him if he hailed the train. He didn't go to town more'n threeor four times a year. Then the railroad changed hands. 'There arose up anew king over Egypt which knew not Joseph'--you know, like it says inthe Bible. And when Silas Bassett waved his hat, the train didn't evenhesitate!"
Ruth laughed, but reminded her that they were talking about hergreat-grandmother's adventures in the Indian country years and yearsbefore.
"Yes, that's a fact," said Aunt Alvirah Boggs. "She did have excitingtimes. Why, when they was traveling acrosst them Western prairies oneday, what should pop up but a band of Indians, with tall feathers intheir hair, and guns--mebbe bow and arrows, too. Anyway, they scare'tthe white people something tremendous," and the old woman noddedvigorously.
"Well, the neighbors who were traveling together hastened to turn theirwagons so as to make a fortress sort of, of the wagon-bodies, with thehorses and the cattle and the humans in the center. You understand?"
"Yes," Ruth agreed. "I have seen pictures of such a camp, with theIndians attacking."
"Yes. Well, but you see," cackled the old woman suddenly, "them, Indiansdidn't attack at all. They rode down at a gallop, I expect, and scaredthe white folks a lot But what they come for was to see if there was adoctor in the party. Those Indians had heard of white doctors and knowedwhat they could do. The chief of the tribe had a favorite child that wasvery sick, and he come to see if a white doctor could save his child'slife."
"Oh!" cried Ruth, her eyes sparkling. "What an idea!"
"Well, my pretty, I dunno," said Aunt Alvirah. "'Twas sensible enough, Ishould say, for that Indian chief to want the best doctoring there wasfor his child. The medicine men had tried to cure the poor little thingand failed. I expect even Red Indians sometimes love their children."
"Why, of course, Aunt Alvirah. And you ought to see how lovable thisgirl Wonota is."
"Mm--well, mebbe. Anyway, there was a doctor in that party mygreat-grandmother traveled with, and he rode to the Indian village andcured the sick child. And for the rest of their journey across themplains Indians, first of one tribe, then of another, rode with the partyof whites. And they never had no trouble."
"Isn't that great!" cried Ruth.
And when she told Helen and Jennie about it--and the idea it had givenRuth for a screen story--her two chums agreed that it was "perfectlygreat."
So Ruth was hard at work on a scenario, or detailed plot, even beforeMr. Hammond made his arrangements with the Indian Department for thetransferring of the services of Princess Wonota from Dakota Joe's WildWest Show to the Alectrion Film Corporation for a certain number ofmonths.
The matter had now gone so far that it could not be kept from DakotaJoe. He had spent money and pulled all the wires he could at thereservation to keep "Dead-Shot" Wonota in his employ. At first he didnot realize that any outside agency was at work against him and for diegirl's benefit.
Ruth and her friends drove to a distant town to see the Indian girl whenthe Wild West Show played for two days. They attended the matinee andsaw Wonota between the two performances and had dinner with her at thelocal hotel. After dinner they all went to an attorney's office, wherethe papers in the case were ready, and Wonota signed her new contractand Helen and Jennie were two of the witnesses thereto. Mr. Hammondcould not be present, but he had trusted to Ruth's good sense andbusiness acumen.
In a week--giving Dakota Joe due notice--the old contract would be deadand Wonota would be at liberty under permission from the Indian Agent toleave the show. As Helen stopped the car before the torch-lightedentrance to the show for Wonota to step out, Dakota Joe strode out tothe side of the road. He was scowling viciously.
"What's the matter with you, Wonota?" he demanded. "You trying to queerthe show? You ain't got no more'n enough time to dress for your act. Geton in there, like I tell you."
Instead of propitiating Ruth now, he showed her the ugly side of hischaracter.
"I guess you been playin' two-faced, ain't you, ma'am?" he growled asWonota fled toward the dressing tent "I thought you was a friend ofmine. But I believe you been cuttin' the sand right out from under myfeet. Ain't you?"
"I do not know what you mean, Mr. Fenbrook," said Ruth sharply.
"You're Ruth Fielding, ain't you?" he demanded.
"Yes. That is my name."
"So they tell me," growled Dakota Joe. "And you are coupled up with thisHammond feller that they tell me has put in a bid for Wonota over andabove what she's wuth, and what I can pay. Ain't that so?"
"If you wish to discuss the matter with Mr. Hammond I will give you hisaddress," Ruth said with dignity. "I am not prepared to discuss thematter with you, Mr. Fenbrook."
"Is that so?" he snarled. "Well, ma'am, whether you want to talk ordon't want to talk, things ain't goin' all your way. No, ma'am! I gotsome rights. The courts will give me my rights to Wonota. I'm herguardian, I am. Her father, Totantora, is dead, and I'll show youfolks--and that Injun agent--just where you get off in this business!"
"Go on," said Ruth to Helen, without answering the angry man. But whenthe car had gone a little way along the road, the girl of the Red Millexclaimed:
"Dear me! I fear that man will make trouble. I--I wish Tom were here."
"Don't say a word!" gasped Helen. "But not only because he could handlethis Western bully do I wish Tommy-boy was home and the war was over."
"Why don't you offer Dakota Joe a job in your picture company, too?"drawled Jennie Stone.
"He'd make such a fine 'bad man.'"
"He certainly would," agreed Helen.
Just how bad the proprietor of the Wild West Show could be was provedthe following day. Mr. Hammond sent Ruth a telegram In the morningintimating that something had gone wrong with their plans to get Wonotainto their employ.
* * * * *
"The Court has given Fenbrook an injunction. What do you know about it?"
* * * * *
Now, of course, Ruth Fielding did not know anything at all about it. Andafter what she had seen of Dakota Joe she had no mind to go to him onbehalf of Mr. Hammond and herself. If the Westerner was balking theattempt to get Wonota out of his clutches, nothing would beat him, Ruthbelieved, but legal proceedings.
She telegraphed Mr. Hammond to this effect, advising that he put thematter in the hands of the attorney that had drawn the new contract withthe Indian girl.
"The goodness knows," she told Aunt Alvirah and Uncle Jabez, "I don'twant to have anything personally to do with that rough man. He is justas ugly as he can be."
"Wa
l," snorted the miller, "he better not come around here cutting uphis didoes! Me and Ben will tend to him!"
Ruth could not help being somewhat fearful of the proprietor of the WildWest Show. If the man really made up his mind to make trouble, Ruthhoped that he would not come to the Red Mill.
Helen and Jennie drove over to the mill to get Ruth that afternoon, andthey planned to take Aunt Alvirah out with them. She had lost her fearof the automobile and had even begun to hint to the miller that shewished he would buy a small car.
"Land o' Goshen!" grumbled Uncle Jabez, "what next? I s'pose you'd wantto learn to run the dratted thing, Alvirah Boggs?"
"Well, Jabez Potter, I don't see why not?" she had confessed. "Otherwomen learns."
"Huh! You with one foot in the grave and the other on the gas, eh?" hesnorted.
However, Aunt Alvirah did not go out in Helen's car on this afternoon.While the girls were waiting for her to be made ready, Helen lookedback, up the road, down which she and Jennie had just come.
"What's this?" she wanted to know. "A runaway horse?"
Jennie stood up to look over the back of the car. She uttered an excitedsqueal.
"Helen! Ruthie!" she declared. "It's that Indian girl--in all herwar-togs, too. She is riding like the wind. And, yes! There is somebodyafter her! Talk about your moving picture chases--this is the realthing!"
"It's Dakota Joe!" shrieked Helen. "Goodness! He must have gone mad. Seehim beating that horse he rides. Why--"
"He surely has blown up," stated Jennie Stone with conviction. "Ruthie!what are you going to do?"