CHAPTER XXI
A BULL AND A BEAR
Wonota had known nothing of what was supposed to have been a deliberateattempt to injure Ruth Fielding until some hours after the occurrence.She had not much to say about it, but, like the three white girls, shewas sure the guilty man was Dakota Joe.
As William had said, Fenbrook was a "mighty mean man," and the Osagemaid knew that to be a fact. She nodded her head gravely as shecommented upon the incident that might have ended so seriously.
"That Dakota Joe is bad. Chief Totantora would have sent him to thespirit land long since, had he been here. There are white men, MissFielding, who are much worse than any redman."
"I will grant you that," sighed Ruth. "Badness is not a matter of blood,I guess. This Fenbrook has no feeling or decency. He is dangerous."
"I should have shot him," declared the Osage girl confidently. "I amafraid I have done wrong in not doing so before."
"How can you talk so recklessly!" exclaimed Ruth, and she was reallytroubled. "Shooting Dakota Joe would make you quite as bad as he is. No,no! That is not the way to feel about it."
But Wonota could not understand this logic.
And yet, Wonota in other ways was not at all reckless or ferocious. Shepossessed a fund of sympathy, and was kindly disposed toward everybodyWhen one of the cook's helpers cut his foot with an ax, she aided in therough surgery furnished by the camp boss, and afterwards nursed theinvalid while he was confined to his bunk and could not even hop about.
All the men liked her, and after a time they did not speak carelessly ofher as "that Injun gal." She seemed to be of a different caliber fromthe other Indians engaged in making the picture. At least, she was moreintelligent.
The girls from the East did not lose their personal interest in Wonotain the least degree. But of course while the various scenes were beingmade even Ruth did not give all her attention to either the Indianmaiden or to the shooting of the picture.
The great freshet scene, when developed and tried out in the projectionroom at Clearwater, proved to be a very striking film indeed. If"Brighteyes" was to rise to the level of that one scene, every reel ofthe picture must be photographed with great care.
While the director and Mr. Hammond and the company in general workedover some of the lumber-camp scenes, retaking or arranging for the shotsover and over again, Ruth rode with her two chums on many a picturesquetrail around Benbow Camp, Hubbell Ranch and the Clearwater station ofthe railroad.
They were quite sure that Dakota Joe Fenbrook had left this part of thecountry--and left in a hurry. If he learned that his attempt on RuthFielding's life was not successful, he must have learned it some timeafter the occurrence. Just where the "bad man" had gone after leavingBenbow on the run, nobody seemed to know.
Ruth and Helen and Jennie were in the saddle almost every day. Theyfound much to interest them on the various trails they followed. Theyeven discovered and visited several pioneer families--"nesters" in thelanguage of the cowpunchers and stockmen--who welcomed the Eastern girlswith vast curiosity.
"And how some of these folks can live in such Wild places, and in suchperfectly barren cabins, I do not see," groaned Helen Cameron after avisit to one settler's family near a wild canyon to the west of BenbowCamp. "That woman and those girls! Not a decent garment to their backs,and the men so rough and uncouth. I would not stay there on a bet--notfor the best man who ever breathed."
"That woman's husband isn't the best man who ever breathed," saidJennie, grimly. "But perhaps he is the best man she ever knew. And,anyway, having as the boys say 'got stuck on him,' now she is plainly'stuck with him.' In other words she has made her own bed and must liein it."
"Why should people be punished for their ignorance?" complained Helen.
"Nature's way," said Ruth confidently. "Civilization is slowly changingthat--or trying to. But nature's law is, after all, rather harsh to us."
"If I was one of those girls we saw back there," Helen continued, "Iwould run away."
"Run where?" asked Ruth slyly. "With a movie company? Or a Wild WestShow?"
"Either. Anything would be better than that hut and the savagery oftheir present lives."
"They don't mind it so much," admitted Jennie. "I asked one of them. Shewas looking forward to a dance next week. She said they had three offour through the year--and they seemed to be reckoned as great treats,but all a girl could expect."
"And think how much we demand," said Ruth thoughtfully. "Welladay! Maybewe have too much--too much of the good things of the earth."
"Bah!" exclaimed Helen, with disgust. "One can't get too much of thegood things. No, ma'am! Take all you can----"
"And give nothing?" suggested Ruth, shaking her head.
"Nobody can say with truth that you are selfish, Ruthie Fielding," putin Jennie. "In fact, you are always giving, and never taking."
Ruth laughed at this. "You are wrong," she said. "The more you give themore you get. At least, I find it so. And we are getting right now, onthis trip to the great Northwest, much more than we are giving. I feelas though I would be condemned if I did not do something for thesehard-working people who are doing their part in developing thiscountry--the settlers, and even the timbermen."
"You want to be a lady Santa Claus to that bunch of roughnecks at BenbowCamp, do you?" laughed Jennie.
"Well, I would like to help somebody besides Wonota. What do you hearfrom your New York dressmaker about Wonota's new outfit, Jennie?"
"It will be shipped right out here to Clearwater before long," announcedthe plump girl, with new satisfaction. "Won't Wonota be surprised?"
"And delighted!" added Helen, showing satisfaction too.
At that very moment they rode out of a patch of wood which had hiddenfrom the girls' eyes a piece of lowland fringed by a grove of northerncottonwood trees. On the air was borne a deep bellow--a sound that noneof the three had noted before.
"What is that?" demanded Helen, startled and half drawing in hersnorting pony.
"Oh, listen!" cried Jennie. "Hear the poor cow."
Ruth was inclined to doubt. "When you hear a 'cow' bellowing in thiscountry, look out. It may be a wild steer or a very ugly bull. Let us goon cautiously."
All three of the ponies showed signs of trepidation, and this fact addedto Ruth's easily aroused anxiety.
"Have a care," she said to Helen and Jennie. "I believe something isgoing on here that spells danger--for us at least."
"It's down in the swamp. See the way the ponies look," agreed Jennie.
They quickly came to a break in the cottonwood grove on the edge of themorass. Instantly the ponies halted, snorting again. Ruth's tried torear and turn, but she was a good horsewoman.
"Oh, look!" squealed Helen. "A bear!"
"Oh, look!" echoed Jennie, quite as excited. "A bull!"
"Well, I declare!" exclaimed Ruth, her hands full for the moment withthe actions of her mount. "One would think you were looking at a pictureof Wall Street--with your bulls and your bears I Let me see--do!"
Ruth Fielding in the Great Northwest; Or, The Indian Girl Star of the Movies Page 21