CHAPTER XII
THE DANCE AT ALEXANDRIA BAY
"You might have been mistaken, I suppose, Miss Ruth?" suggested Mr.Hammond, the president of the film corporation, sitting at his desk inthe room of the main bungalow which he used as an office. "It was growingdark when that speed boat passed you and your friend, was it not?"
"Not out on the river, Mr. Hammond. It was light enough for us to see themen in that boat plainly. Just as sure as one of them was a Chinaman, theshort, fat man was Horatio Bilby."
"It doesn't seem possible that the fellow would chase away up here afterus when he so signally failed down below. My lawyer tells me that he hadno real authority from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to secure Wonota'sservices, after all."
"He is a man who would not need much authority to attempt any meanthing," said the girl hotly.
"That may be true," admitted Mr. Hammond. "But it seems quite toosensational." He smiled, adding: "Quite too much like a movie plot, eh?"
"You say yourself that he has obtained the production rights to those'Running Deer' stories that have appeared in the _Gotham Magazine_," saidRuth, with earnestness. "They are good stories, Mr. Hammond. I have readthem."
"Yes. I believe they are pretty good material for pictures. That is, ifthey were handled by a practical scenario writer like yourself."
"It is too bad you did not get them."
"Well, Bilby was ahead of us there. Somehow, he got backing and boughtthe picture and dramatic rights to the tales outright. He can findsomebody besides Wonota to play _Running Deer_."
"He seems to have set his heart on our Wonota."
"Yes. He did make Totantora a whacking good offer. I must admit he did. Icould not begin to see such a price for the girl's services. And on amere speculation. But I pointed out to Totantora that, after all, apromise is only a promise. He and Wonota have already had considerablehard cash from us," and Mr. Hammond ended with a laugh.
He was evidently not so much impressed by the possible danger of Bilby'spresence in the Thousand Islands as Ruth could have wished. Shedetermined herself, however, to be sharply on the watch for thereappearance of the coarse little fat man who had so troubled her and theIndians at the Red Mill.
She took Totantora into her confidence, after speaking to Mr. Hammond,although she did not say a word to Wonota. Despite the natural stoicismof the Osage maiden, Ruth did not know but that Wonota might becomenervous if she knew the plotting Bilby was near at hand.
The chief listened to Ruth's warning with a certain savage anger in hislook that warned Ruth not to push the suggestion of Bilby's determinationto obtain possession of Wonota too far. The chief was not a patient man,and the possible threat against the safety of his daughter roused in himthe instinct of defence.
"Me watch," he said. "That fat man come here, me chase him away. Yes!"
"Don't do him any harm, Totantora," warned Ruth. "But tell Mr. Hammond orme if you see him."
Nobody saw Bilby immediately, however; and as several days passed Ruthbegan to wonder if, after all, she had not been mistaken in heridentification of the fat man in the boat.
Meanwhile, the making of the picture went on steadily; but somethingelse--and something Helen Cameron at least considered of moment--wasplanned during this time.
Many other summer residents of the Thousand Islands besides the Copleyshad now arrived, and the gaiety of the season was at its height. Therewas one very large hotel at Alexandria Bay, and it was planned to use itsballroom for a "big war dance," to quote Helen. It was to be a costumedance, and everybody that appeared on the floor must be dressed in Indiancostume.
Wonota helped the chums and the actresses with the Alectrion FilmCorporation who attended, in the getting up of their costumes and thestaining of their faces and arms. The Osage girl herself wore a beautifulbeaded robe, feather-trimmed and brilliantly dyed. It was her "coronationrobe" in the picture she was helping to film. But Mr. Hammond, wholikewise attended the dance, allowed the girl to wear this finery, whichreally was part of the "props" of the company.
Launches were engaged from Chippewa Bay to take most of those from thecamp who attended the dance, either as participants in the costume reviewor as spectators, but Chess Copley arranged to come for his particularfriends in the _Lauriette_.
Helen was tempted to refuse to go in the Copley launch; but when she sawJean and Sara Copley beside their brother, she went aboard with Ruth andTom. There actually was no friction between the two young men, althoughTom usually addressed Chess by that opprobrious nickname, 'Lasses, whileChess retorted by scoffing at all the ex-captain's opinions and advice onany and all subjects.
Really, had she not felt that she was partly the cause of this mildstrife, Ruth would have laughed at the two. They were, after all, butgrown-up boys.
It was a gay party aboard the _Lauriette_, nevertheless. Even Wonota(whom Ruth was keeping with her) was gay. And she was so pretty in herbeautiful costume that when they arrived at the hotel the young men atthe dance vied in their attempts to have her for a partner on the floor.
There was a fine band and the dancing floor was smooth. Even Mr. Hammondwent on to the floor, having secured a costume, and Mother Paisley, whoacted as chaperon for the moving picture girls, was as light as anybodyon her feet and the embodiment of grace.
"Actor folk nowadays," the old woman told Ruth once, "are not trained asthey once were. I came of circus folk. My people had been circusperformers in the old country for generations before my father and mothercame over here. My husband was a trapeze performer.
"And working on the bars makes one supple and limber beyond any otherform of exercise. Afterward, while still a young girl, I was in theballet. At least, when one has had my training, one brings to thespeaking stage a grace and carriage that can scarcely be secured in anyother way.
"As for this moving picture business," she sighed, "I see these poorgirls as awkward as heifers--and they are really learning very little.They depend upon the director to tell them how a lady should enter aroom, and how to walk. But often the director has never seen a real ladyenter a room! Directors of moving pictures are not masters of deportmentas our old dancing masters were."
Ruth always listened to strictures upon the moving picture art and gainedwhat she could from such criticism. And the harshest critics the motionpictures have are the people who work in them. But, after all, Ruth had avision.
She felt that in spite of all the "great," "grand," "magnificent,""enormous" pictures already advertised upon the billboards, the publicwas still waiting for a really well made and properly written and actedseries of pictures that claimed neither more sensationalism than theypossessed, nor were hastily and carelessly made.
Ruth liked to work with Mr. Hammond, and he had been very kind andconsiderate of her. But she felt that, untrammeled, she would be able tomake better pictures than she had made with him. She wanted a free hand,and she felt the insistence of the treasurer's office at her elbow. Moneycould be lavished upon anything spectacular--for instance, like thisFrench-Indian picture they were making. But much had to be "speeded up"to save money in other phases of production.
Mr. Hammond, like most of the other moving picture producers, thoughtonly of the audience coming out of the theater with "ohs!" and "ahs!"upon their lips regarding the spectacular features in the film shown.Ruth wanted to go deeper--wanted to make the impression upon the mindsand intelligence of the audiences. She felt that the pictures could besomething bigger than mere display.
But this is all aside from the fun they had at the costume dance. Ruthand Helen both danced with Mr. Hammond and Mr. Grand and with severalothers of the moving picture people, as well as with their own friends.Chess got the second dance with Ruth; and then he had the third; and thengot the sixth. He might have gone on all the evening coming back to herand begging the favor had Ruth not insisted upon his devoting himself tosome of his sisters' friends.
But, at the same time, Ruth was somewhat piqued because Tom Cameron didnot come near
her all the first part of the evening. She could notunderstand what the matter really was with him--why he acted in so offisha manner.
After that sixth dance (and Ruth had danced them all with one partner oranother) she sent Chess away from her definitely. She went in search ofTom. The orchestra began playing for the next dance. Ruth looked keenlyabout the brilliant assembly. She knew Tom's costume--it was distinctiveand could not be mistaken. But she could not mark it at all in thethrong.
Two or three men asked her to dance, but she pleaded fatigue andcontinued to walk about the edge of the ballroom. Finally, in an alcove,sitting at an empty table, and with no companion, she spied the recreantTom.
"Why, Tom!" she cried cheerfully, "are you sitting out this dance too?And the music is so pretty."
"The music is all right," he agreed.
"Don't you want to dance?"
"No. I do not want to dance," he answered sourly.
"Not--not even with me, Tom?" she ventured, smiling rather wistfully athis averted face.
"With nobody. I am waiting for Helen and the rest of you to get enough ofthis foolishness and go home."
"Why, Tom! You--you are not ill?" she ventured, putting out a hand totouch his shoulder yet not touching it.
"Not at all, Ruth," he said, and now he glanced up at her. His look wascold. "Not at all."
"You are not yourself," she said, more composedly. "What are you thinkingof?"
"I am thinking," said Tom, looking away again and with the samemoodiness, "that I was a fool to leave the army. That was my job. Ishould have stuck to it. I should have used my commission and father'sinfluence to stay in the army. But it's too late now. I guess I had mychance and didn't know enough to use it."
He arose abruptly, bowed stiffly, and walked away. If Tom had actuallyslapped her, Ruth could have felt no more hurt.