CHAPTER XVI
MAROONED
"I wonder if the boat did come from that island over yonder?" Ruthmurmured, after a few moments of thought.
"For goodness' sake! what are you worrying about?" asked Helen Cameron.
"I'm not worrying at all," Ruth returned, smiling. "But I am curious."
"About that yellow lady?"
"About what happens on that island the queer old man lives on."
"You don't know that he really lives there," was the prompt rejoinder.
"That is so. He may not be there now. But--"
"But me no buts, unless you mean to go on," said Helen, as Ruth hesitatedagain.
"It does seem queer," said Ruth thoughtfully. "Other people go therebesides the King of the Pipes."
"Indeed! We all went there when that allegory was staged."
"And since then," said Ruth, and proceeded to tell the two girls what sheand Chess Copley had seen early one morning.
"Men landing boxes on the island?" cried Helen, while Wonota merelylooked puzzled. "There is a camp there, like enough. And those men--andthe woman--in the launch might have come from there, of course. WhenWillie comes back for us, let's sail around the island and see if we canspy where their tent is set up. For of course there is no house there?"
"Tom and I found no habitation when we went to search for the old man,"admitted Ruth.
"All right. It must be a tent, then," said her chum with conviction."We'll see."
But as it turned out, they made no such search that day. Indeed, Willieand the _Gem_ did not return for them. The camp launch was not the firstcraft that appeared. Ruth was again coaching Wonota after lunch whenHelen spied something on the water that caused her to cry out, drawingthe other girls' attention.
"Who under the sun is this coming in the canoe?" Helen demanded. "Why! heis making it fairly fly. I never!"
Wonota scarcely glanced in the direction of the distant moving picturecamp, and she said composedly:
"It is Chief Totantora. He comes for me."
The Indian in the canoe caused the craft to tear through the water. Nosuch paddling had the two white girls ever seen before. Not a motion waslost on the part of Chief Totantora. Every stroke of his paddle drove thecraft on with a speed to make anybody marvel.
"Something has happened!" gasped Ruth, standing up.
"He comes for me," repeated Wonota, still calmly.
"What for?" queried Helen, quite as much disturbed now as her chum.
Before the Indian girl could have answered--had she intended toexplain--the canoe came close in to the bank of the island, was swerveddexterously, and Totantora leaped ashore--a feat not at all easy toperform without overturning the canoe. It scarcely rocked.
He stooped and held it from scraping against the rock, and shot up at hisdaughter several brief sentences in their own tongue. He paid noattention to Ruth, even, although she stepped forward and asked what hiserrand was.
"I must go, Miss Ruth," said Wonota quickly. "Mr. Hammond has sent him.It was arranged before."
"What was arranged?" demanded Ruth, with some sharpness.
"We are going yonder," she pointed to the hazy shore of Grenadier Islandthat was in view from where they stood. "It is said by Mr. Hammond thatyonder the man with the little green eyes--the fat man--cannot have ustaken."
"For goodness' sake!" gasped Helen, "she's talking of that Bilby, isn'tshe?"
"What does it mean? Has Bilby come again?" cried Ruth, speaking directlyto Totantora.
"We go," said the chief. "Hammond, he say so. Now. They come for me andfor Wonota with talking papers from the white man's court."
"Then Mr. Hammond's lawyer could not do all Mr. Hammond expected," sighedRuth. "The picture will be ruined."
"I never heard of such a thing," cried Helen angrily. "I'd like to knowwhat sort of courts and judges they have up here in these woods?"
But Ruth wanted to know more. She held Wonota back as she would havestepped into the canoe.
"Wait," she urged. "Tell me more, Totantora. Where are you takingWonota?"
It was the Indian girl who answered.
"Over on that shore," said she, pointing again to the Canadian island,"these courts cannot touch us. Mr. Hammond told my father so. We go thereto wait until the trouble is over. Mr. Hammond spoke of it before.Totantora is informed."
"But it means delay and expense," cried Ruth.
"How mean!" exploded Helen. "I'd like to do something to that Bilby."
"Have you money--plenty of money?" Ruth demanded of the Indian.
"I have money," said Wonota, touching the bosom of her blouse. "We do notneed much. We shall live quietly there until Mr. Hammond sends for us. Wewill be faithful to you, Miss Ruth."
She turned, with more impulsiveness than she usually showed, and kissedthe white girl's cheek.
"You are so good to me!" she cried. "I will not forget all you havetaught me. And I will rehearse every day so to be perfect when Mr. Hooleywants me again."
There was no way to stop her. Indeed, as Mr. Hammond had advised thissudden move, Ruth knew she had no right to interfere. It was evident thatan emergency had arisen of which she, herself, knew nothing. In some waythe enemy had forced Mr. Hammond's hand. Totantora and his daughter werein danger of being brought into court after all, and Mr. Hammond did notwish that to come about.
The Indian girl stepped lightly into the canoe and picked up the extrapaddle. Her father leaped in after her, pushed the light craft away fromthe rock, and seized his own paddle. In another moment the canoe shotaway from the island and off toward the broad expanse of the open St.Lawrence.
Helen and Ruth stared after them--then at each other. Naturally it wasHelen who first regained her voice and gave expression to her amazement.
"What do you know about that?" she demanded.
"I--I don't know what to say," murmured Ruth.
"Oh! I know what to say, all right," said the disgusted Helen. "It's nojoke."
Ruth herself admitted it was nothing to laugh about. She saw difficultiesin the way of the completion of "The Long Lane's Turning" of which Helenknew but little--or of which she did not think.
Ruth knew that there were scenes--some of them she had been studying withWonota this day--that could not be changed nor eliminated. Wonota must bein them. No "double" could be used.
In the first place, the Indian girl's personality was distinct. It couldnot easily be matched.
Ruth knew that, even at that time, one of the most popular screenactresses, because of her inability longer to look the child, was using adouble for all her "close-ups" when she was forced to play those childishparts that a hungry public of "movie fans" demanded.
Nothing like this would save "The Long Lane's Turning." The throne roomscene in Paris, which was yet to be photographed, was too delicate amatter to put in the hands of any double. Wonota was herself--even inthis picture she was a distinct personality--and she must be shown to thevery end of the last reel and the last "fade-out."
The thoughts caused Ruth to feel very, very sober. Helen looked at herwith some appreciation of her chum's despair; yet she could notappreciate the situation in full.
Suddenly the lighter-minded Helen leaped to her feet from the bank onwhich she was sitting, and exclaimed:
"My goodness, Ruth! do you realize that we are marooned?"
"Marooned?" was the wondering rejoiner.
"Yes. Just as though we had been put ashore here by a crew of mutineersand deserted--a pair of Robinson Crusoesses!"
"Your English--"
"Bother my English!"
"It would surely bother Mrs. Tellingham--if she could hear it, poordear."
"Now, don't sidetrack me," remarked Helen. "Don't you see we are castaway on this desert isle with no means of getting back to the camp unlesswe swim?"
"Willie will be after us."
"But, will 'e?" asked the roguish Helen, punning on the boatman's name.
"Do be sensible--"
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sp; "Even good sense will not rescue us," interrupted Helen. "I'd like to getback to camp and hear all the exciting details. Totantora certainly cansay less in a few moments than any person I ever saw. And Wonota is notmuch better."
"It does not matter how much they said or how little. The fat is all inthe fire, I guess," groaned Ruth.
"Chirk up! Something is sure to turn up, I suppose. We won't be left hereto starve," and Helen's eyes flashed her fun.
"Oh, _you_!" began Ruth, half laughing too. Then she stopped and held upher hand. "What's that?" she whispered.
The sound was repeated. A long-drawn "co-ee! co-ee!" which drained awayinto the depths of the forest-covered islands all about them. They werenot where they could see a single isle known to be inhabited.
"Who is calling us?" demanded Helen.
"Hush!" commanded Ruth. "That is not for us. I have heard it before. Itcomes from the King of the Pipes' island--to be sure it does."
"He's calling for help!" gasped Helen.
"He is doing nothing of the kind. It is a signal." Ruth told Helenswiftly more of that early morning incident she and Chess Copley hadobserved when they saw the boxes carried ashore from the motor-boat.
"Seems to me," grumbled Helen, "you have a lot of adventures with 'LassesCopley, Ruth."
"Your own fault that you don't," returned her chum promptly. "You couldhave been along. But you don't like Mr. Copley."
"What has that to do with it?" rejoined Helen smartly. "I would goadventuring with any boy--even 'Lasses."
"Don't call him that," commanded Ruth.
"Pooh! He likes it. Or he used to."
"He is a nice fellow," Ruth declared, with more earnestness than therereally seemed to be necessity for.
"I--de-clare!" murmured Helen. "Really! Does the wind sit in thatquarter?"
Ruth Fielding on the St. Lawrence; Or, The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands Page 16