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diff --git a/25802.txt b/25802.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b67a943 --- /dev/null +++ b/25802.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6043 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding on the St. Lawrence, by Alice B. Emerson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ruth Fielding on the St. Lawrence + The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands + +Author: Alice B. Emerson + +Release Date: June 15, 2008 [EBook #25802] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE CAMERAS WHIRRED WHILE THE BARGE PUSHED CLOSE INTO +SHORE. +"Ruth Fielding on the St. Lawrence." Page 80] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +RUTH FIELDING +ON THE +ST. LAWRENCE + +OR + +THE QUEER OLD MAN OF +THE THOUSAND ISLANDS + +BY +ALICE B. EMERSON + +Author of "Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill," "Ruth +Fielding in the Great Northwest," "Betty +Gordon series," etc. + +ILLUSTRATED + +NEW YORK +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY +PUBLISHERS + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +BOOKS FOR GIRLS + +by ALICE B. EMERSON + +RUTH FIELDING SERIES +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. + +RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL +RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL +RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP +RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT +RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH +RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND +RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM +RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES +RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES +RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE +RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE +RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE +RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS +RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT +RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND +RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST +RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST +RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE + +BETTY GORDON SERIES + +BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM +BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON +BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL +BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL +BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP + +Cupples & Leon Co., Publishers, New York + +Copyright, 1922, by +Cupples & Leon Company + +Ruth Fielding on the St. Lawrence +Printed in U. S. A. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I "Here Comes The Bride" 1 + II A Rift In His Lute 10 + III Rice And Old Shoes 18 + IV Bilby 27 + V Trouble In Prospect 37 + VI An Abduction 45 + VII Expediency 54 + VIII At Chippewa Bay 63 + IX A Film Mystery 73 + X A Smell Of Smoke 83 + XI Bilby Again 93 + XII The Dance At Alexandria Bay 100 + XIII The Kingdom Of Pipes 109 + XIV A Demand Is Made 116 + XV The Yellow Lady 124 + XVI Marooned 131 + XVII A Determination 140 + XVIII Bilby's Trump Card 148 + XIX Suspense 156 + XX A Failure In Calculation 164 + XXI In The Chinese Den 171 + XXII The Twins' Alarm 178 + XXIII Trouble Enough 186 + XXIV A Letter Comes 193 + XXV The Heart's Desire 201 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +RUTH FIELDING ON THE +ST. LAWRENCE + +CHAPTER I + +"HERE COMES THE BRIDE" + + +The sudden joyous pealing of the organ could be heard upon the sidewalk +before the stately church. As there was a broad canopy from the door to +the curb, with a carpet laid down and motor-cars standing in line, it +took no seer to proclaim that a wedding was in progress within. + +Idlers halted to wait for the appearance of the wedding party, which was +about to come forth. Some of the younger spectators ran up the steps and +peered in at the door, for there was only a lame, old, purblind sexton on +guard, and he, too, seemed vastly interested in what was going on inside. + +One glance down the main aisle of the great edifice revealed a much more +elaborate scheme of decoration than usually appears at a church wedding. +Its main effect was the intertwining of French and American flags, and as +the bridal party turned from the altar the horizon blue uniform of the +soldier-bridegroom was a patch of vivid color that could not be mistaken. + +The bride in her white gown and veil and wreath made, it may be, even a +more prominent picture than did her husband. But that was only to be +expected perhaps, for a girl on her wedding day, and in the church, is +usually the focus of all eyes. + +It must be confessed (even her dearest friends must confess it) there was +another reason why she who, only a moment before had been Jennie Stone, +quite filled the public eye. + +In the first place, Jennie was a well-built girl, and upon her well-built +frame there had always been since her childhood days a superabundance of +flesh. And getting married had not changed sweet, jolly, funny Jennie +Stone in the least! Instead of coming back down the aisle of the church +with modestly downcast eyes (which is usually a hypocritical display of +emotion), Jennie smiled at her friends and beamed proudly upon the figure +in horizon blue at her side. + +And she might well be proud of Major Henri Marchand, for he was in the +very best sense a soldier and a gentleman, and there gleamed a bit of +color on his breast that had been pinned there by Marshal Foch's own +hand. As he was still in active service and had only been given leave to +come to America for his bride, this might be considered the last military +wedding that the old church was likely to see--perhaps for many years. + +The groom's French uniform, and even the olive gray of the best man and +two or three other men in the party at the altar, had lent their touch of +color to the picture. But it was the bride's attendants, however, that +made the party so well worth looking at--especially to the greater number +of young women and girls in the pews. + +Jennie Stone was a popular girl, and had friends galore. Many of those +girl friends had come from a distance to see their beloved "Heavy Stone" +(as she had been nicknamed in the old Briarwood Hall days) married to the +man she had met in France while she was engaged in those useful and +helpful occupations into which so many American girls entered during the +war. + +Besides, Jennie was the first of the old Briarwood Hall set to be +married, and this was bound to be a gala occasion. This was no "weepy" +wedding, but a time of joy. And the bridal party coming down the aisle +made as brilliant a picture as had ever been seen in the old church. + +The maid of honor in pink was as refreshing to look upon as a bouquet of +arbutus. She had always been a pretty, winsome girl. Now she was +developing into a handsome young woman, as all Ruth Fielding's friends +declared. In her present filmy costume with its flowery picture hat the +girl of the Red Mill had never looked better. + +The young man at her side in the uniform of an American captain with his +black curls and dark face, made a splendid foil for Ruth's beauty. Behind +him walked his twin sister--as like Tom Cameron as another pea in a +pod--and Ann Hicks, both in rose-color, completing a color scheme worthy +of the taste of whoever had originated it. For the sheer beauty of the +picture, this wedding would long be remembered. + +In the very last pew, on the aisle, sat an eager old colored woman--one +of those typical "mammies" now so seldom seen--in an old-fashioned bonnet +and shawl. She was of a bulbous figure, and her dark face shone with +perspiration and delight as she stared at the coming bride and groom. + +Jennie saw Mammy Rose (the old woman had been a dependent of the Stone +family for years), and had the occasion been much more serious than +Jennie thought it, the plump girl would surely have smiled at Mammy Rose. + +The old woman bobbed up, making an old-time genuflection. She thrust out +a neat, paper-covered parcel which she had held carefully in her +capacious lap all through the ceremony. + +"Miss Janie--ma blessed baby!" she whispered. "I is suttenly glad to see +dis here day! Heaven is a-smilin' on yo'. And here is one o' ma birfday +cakes yo' liked so mighty well. Mammy Rose done make it for her chile--de +las' she ever will make yo' now yo' is goin' to foreign paths." + +Another girl than Jennie might have been confused, or even angered, by +the interruption of the procession. But Jennie could be nothing if not +kind. Her own hands were filled with her bouquet--it was enormous. She +stopped, however, before the old woman. + +"As thoughtful for me as ever, Mammy Rose, aren't you?" she said +pleasantly. "And you know all my little failings. Henri," she said to her +husband. + +But the courtly young Frenchman had quite as great a sense of _noblesse +oblige_ as his bride. He bowed to the black woman as though she was the +highest lady in the land and accepted the parcel, tied clumsily with baby +ribbon by the gnarled fingers of Mammy Rose. + +They moved on and the smiling, yet tearful, old woman, sank back into her +seat. If there was anything needed to make this a perfect occasion, it +was this little incident. The bride and groom came out into the smiling +sunshine with sunshine in their hearts as well as on their faces. + +"I knew," whispered Helen Cameron to Ann Hicks, who stalked beside her in +rather a mannish way, "that Heavy Stone could not even be married without +something ridiculous happening." + +"'Ridiculous'?" repeated the Western girl, with something like a catch in +her throat. + +"Well, it _might_ have been ridiculous," admitted Helen. "Only, after +all, Jennie is real--and so is Major Marchand. You couldn't feaze him, +not even if a bomb had been dropped in the church vestibule." + +They were crowding into the motor-cars then, and merrily the wedding +party sped back to the big house on Madison Avenue, which had been +garnished for the occasion with the same taste that marked the +color-scheme of the bride's attendants. The canopied steps and walk, the +footmen in line to receive the party, and the banked flowers in the +reception hall were all impressive. + +"My!" whispered the irrepressible Jennie to Henri, "I feel like a prima +donna." + +"You are," was his prompt and earnest agreement. + +They trooped in at once to the breakfast table. The spacious room was +wreathed with smilax and other vines--even to the great chandelier. The +latter was so hidden by the decorations that it seemed overladen, and Tom +Cameron, who had a quick eye, mentioned it to Ruth. + +"Wonder if those fellows braced that thing with wires? Florists sometimes +have more sense of art than common sense." + +"Hush, Tom! _Nothing_ can happen to spoil this occasion. Isn't it +wonderful?" + +But Tom Cameron looked at her rather gloomily. He shook his head +slightly. + +"I feel like one of those pictures of the starving children in Armenia. +I'm standing on the outside, looking in." + +It is true that Ruth Fielding flushed, but she refused to make reply. A +moment later, when Tom realized how the seating of the party had been +arranged, his countenance showed even deeper gloom. + +As best man Tom was directed to Jennie's right hand. On the other side of +Henri, Ruth was seated, and that placed her across the wide table from +Tom Cameron. + +The smiling maid of honor was well worth looking at, and Tom Cameron +should have been content to focus his eyes upon her whenever he raised +them from his plate; but for a particular reason he was not at all +pleased. + +This particular reason was the seating of another figure in military +uniform next to Ruth on her other side. This was a tall, pink-cheeked, +well set-up youth looking as though, like Tom, he had seen military +service, and with an abundance of light hair above his broad brow. At +school Chessleigh Copley had been nicknamed "Lasses" because of that crop +of hair. + +He entered into conversation with Ruth at once, and he found her so +interesting (or she found him so interesting) that Ruth had little +attention to give to her _vis-a-vis_ across the table. + +The latter's countenance grew heavier and heavier, his dark brows drawing +together and his black eyes smouldering. + +If anybody noticed this change in Tom's countenance it was his twin +sister, sitting on Ruth's side of the table. And perhaps she understood +her brother's mood. Now and then her own eyes flashed something besides +curiosity along the table on her side at Ruth and Chess Copley, so +evidently lost in each other's companionship. + +But it was a gay party. How could it be otherwise with Jennie at the +table? And everybody was bound to second the gaiety of the bride. The +groom's pride in Jennie was so open, yet so very courteously expressed, +that half the girls there envied Jennie her possession of Henri Marchand. + +"To think," drawled Ann Hicks, who had come East from Silver Ranch, "that +Heavy Stone should grab off such a prize in the matrimonial grab-bag. +My!" and she finished with a sigh. + +"When does your turn come, Ann?" asked somebody. + +"Believe me," said the ranch girl, with emphasis, "I have got to see +somebody besides cowpunchers and horse-wranglers before I make such a +fatal move." + +"You have lost all your imagination," laughed Helen, from across the +table. + +"I don't know. Maybe I used it all up, back in those old kid days when I +ran away to be 'Nita' and played at being 'the abused chee-ild'. +Remember?" + +"Oh, _don't_ we!" cried Helen and some of the other girls. + +Something dropped on Tom Cameron's plate. He glanced up, then down again +at the object that had fallen. It was a piece of plaster from the +ceiling. + +Chess Copley likewise shot a glance ceilingward. + +There was a wide gap--and growing wider--on his side of the chandelier. A +great piece of the heavy plaster was breaking away from the ceiling, and +it hung threateningly over his own and Ruth Fielding's head. + +"Look out, Ruth!" shouted Tom Cameron, jumping to his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A RIFT IN HIS LUTE + + +Tom Cameron, no matter how desirous he might be of saving Ruth from hurt, +could not possibly have got around the table in time. With a snarling, +ripping noise the heavy patch of plaster tore away from the ceiling and +fell directly upon the spot where the chairs of Ruth and Chess Copley had +been placed! + +The screams of the startled girls almost drowned the noise of the +plaster's fall, but Ruth Fielding did not join in the outcry. + +With one movement, it seemed, Copley had risen and kicked his own chair +away, seized Ruth about her waist as he did so, and so dragged her out +from under the avalanche. + +It was all over in a moment, and the two stood, clinging to each other +involuntarily, while the dust of the fallen plaster spread around them. + +For a moment Ruth Fielding had been in as perilous a situation as she had +ever experienced, and her life had been rather full of peril and +adventure since, as a girl of twelve, and in the first volume of this +series, we met her as "Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill." + +At the time just mentioned, the orphaned Ruth had appeared at her +great-uncle's mill on the Lumano River, near Cheslow, in one of the New +England States, and had been taken in by the miserly old miller rather +under protest. But Aunt Alvirah Boggs, who was Uncle Jabez Potter's +housekeeper, had loved the child from the very beginning. And in truth +the old miller loved Ruth too, only he was slow to admit it. + +Ruth's first young friends at the Red Mill were the Cameron twins, and +with Helen she had spent her schools days and many of her vacations, at +Briarwood Hall, in the North Woods, at the seashore, in the West, in the +South, Down East, and in other localities, the narrated adventures of +which are to be found in the several volumes of the Ruth Fielding Series. + +In the book just preceding this present story, "Ruth Fielding in the +Great Northwest," Helen was likewise with Ruth when she made her famous +moving picture, "Brighteyes" in connection with the Alectrion Film +Corporation, the president of which, Mr. Hammond, had first encouraged +Ruth to turn her entire time and talent to the writing of moving picture +scenarios. + +The fall before the time of this wedding party in which the girl of the +Red Mill was taking part, fortune threw in Ruth's way a charming young +woman, a full-blood Osage Indian, in whom Mr. Hammond saw possibilities +of development for screen acting. At least, to use the trite and +bombastic moving picture phrase, Wonota, the Indian princess, +"photographed like a million dollars." + +The Great War's abrupt conclusion brought Tom Cameron home just as eager +as he had been for two years past to have Ruth agree to his plans for the +future. As Ruth saw it (no matter what may have been her secret feeling +for Tom) to do as Tom wished would utterly spoil the career on which she +had now entered so successfully. + +Tom, like most young men in love, considered that a girl's only career +should be a husband and a home. He frankly said that he was prepared, +young as he was, to supply both for Ruth. + +But their youth, in the first place, was an objection in the very +sensible mind of Ruth. It was true, too, that a second objection was the +fact that she wanted to live her own life and establish herself in the +great career she had got into almost by chance. + +And then too Tom himself, since his return from France, had shown little +determination to settle himself at work. Being the son of a wealthy +merchant and possessing, now that he was of age, a fortune in his own +right inherited from his mother's estate, Tom Cameron, it seemed to Ruth, +was just playing with life. + +Like many another young fellow so recently from the battlefield, it +seemed as if he could not settle to anything. And his sister encouraged +him in this attitude. Ruth secretly blamed Helen for this. And therefore +her own attitude to Tom had grown more stern. + +It was now June--the June following the armistice--the loveliest and most +accepted time for a bridal. The ceremony of Jennie Stone's wedding to +Major Henri Marchand had passed off, as we have seen, very smoothly. Even +Tom, as best man, had found the ring at the right moment, and nobody had +stepped on Jennie's train. + +But this accident at the breakfast table--and an accident that might have +resulted fatally for Ruth Fielding--threatened to cause not only +excitement but to sober the whole party. + +In a moment, however, in spite of the dust rising from the broken +plaster, the others saw that Ruth and Chess Copley were both safe. The +latter was repeating, over and over and in much anxiety: + +"You are all right, Ruth! I've got you. You are all right." + +The girl herself was quite breathless. Copley held her in rather a close +embrace, and for a much longer time than appeared necessary--to Tom +Cameron at least. Tom had got around the table just too late to be of any +assistance. + +"We see you've got her, 'Lasses," Tom observed, rather tartly. "The +close-up is shot. Break away." + +His words started the laughter--and there was much relief expressed in +the laughter in which all about the table joined. People are apt to laugh +when serious danger is over. But it might have been observed by his +friends at another time that Tom Cameron was not usually tart or unkind +of speech. + +Ruth said nothing, and Chess Copley flushed hotly. Jennie had got up with +Henri in the moment of excitement, and now she quickly seized her goblet +of grape-juice in which the party had previously toasted the bride and +groom, and raised the glass on high. + +"Hear! Hear!" cried Ann Hicks. "The bride speaks." + +"This is a good omen," declared Jennie clinging to Henri's arm. "Our Ruth +was wounded in France and has been in danger on many occasions, as we all +know. Never has she more gracefully escaped disaster, nor been aided by a +more chivalrous cavalier. Drink! Drink to Ruth Fielding and to Chessleigh +Copley! They are two very lucky people, for that ceiling might have +cracked their crowns." + +They drank the toast--most of them with much laughter. + +"Some orator, Jennie," commented Helen. "We are just beginning to +appreciate you." + +"You will all be sorry that you did not treat me better--especially as a +chee-ild," returned the plump bride, with mock solemnity. "Think! Think +how you all used to abuse my--my appetite at Briarwood Hall. It is only +Mammy Rose who is kind to me," and she pointed to the old colored woman's +gift that had a place of honor before her own plate and that of Major +Marchand's. + +"Let me give a toast," cried Helen gaily. "Let us drink to Jennie's +appetite--long may it wave." + +"Goodness me! Don't speak of waves and appetite in the same breath, I +beg. Remember we are going directly aboard ship from the house and--and I +never was a good sailor. Waves! Ugh!" + +The fun went on while the serving people swept up the debris and removed +those dishes that had been covered with dust. + +Aside, Ruth, taking for the moment little part in the chatter and +merriment, for she had received a considerable shock, stood talking with +Copley. Ruth had given him her hand again and Chess clung to it rather +more warmly--so the watchful Tom thought--than was needful. But the girl +felt that she really had a great deal to thank Copley for. + +"Jennie in her fun spoke quite truly," Ruth said in a low voice. "You are +a friend in need." + +"And I hope you consider me a friend indeed, Ruth," rejoined the young +fellow. + +"I certainly do," agreed the girl of the Red Mill with her customary +frank smile. + +"I--I am afraid," Chess added, "that I am not considered in that light by +all your friends, Ruth. Helen Cameron hasn't spoken to me to-day." + +"No? Is it serious?" + +"It is serious when a fellow gets turned down--snubbed--and not a word of +explanation offered. And, in the words of the old song, we were +'companions once, but strangers now'." + +"Oh, don't mind. Helen usually gets over the mollygrubs very quickly." + +Chess turned to see the other Cameron twin eyeing him with no great +favor. + +However, the throng of guests who were invited to the reception began +coming in, and for the next two hours the parlors were crowded with the +many friends of the plump girl, who, as Helen had said, found this the +greatest day of her life, and there was little time for much individual +chat, though, it seemed to Tom, Chess Copley kept as close as possible to +Ruth's side. + +It was after Jennie had gone to put on her traveling dress, and the +immediate wedding party, who were to accompany the bridal couple to the +dock to see them embark, were hurrying out of the room to put on street +clothes that Tom, in a low voice, demanded of Chess: + +"What are you trying to do--put a label on Ruth? Don't forget she belongs +to all of us." + +Chess Copley had not won his commission in the war and wore only a +sergeant's chevrons. But the war was over and he could tell his captain +just what he thought of him. And he did. + +"Do you know what you are, Tom Cameron?" he drawled, smiling a hard +little smile. "You are a regular dog in the manger, and I'm frank to tell +you so!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RICE AND OLD SHOES + + +"It is the greatest day in a girl's life," declared Helen Cameron, +sitting on the edge of one of the twin beds in the room she and Ruth +occupied while they were at the Stone house. She buckled her fingers +around her knee to hold one limb crossed over the other--a very mannish +and independent position. "I don't know that I ever envied Heavy before +in my life. But she has got something now that we haven't, Ruth." + +"Cat's foot!" exclaimed Ann Hicks from her chair. "Who'd want a Frenchman +for a husband?" + +Ruth laughed. "Not to say that Major Marchand is not a fine fellow, I +agree with Ann that I don't want a husband. Not--right--now!" + +"Oh! Very well," said Helen complacently. "But if you thought you'd never +be able to get one----" + +"Shucks!" exclaimed Ann. "As though our Ruth couldn't have all she wants +if she wants them." + +"I really wish you would not speak plurally of them, Ann," cried Ruth, +laughing. "You will make me feel like the Queen of the Amazons. They say +she keeps a masculine harem--like a bey, or a sultan, or something of +that kind." + +"Be serious," rejoined Helen. "I mean what I say. Jennie's great day has +arrived. And she is the first of all our old bunch that went to +Briarwood--and surely of those who went to Ardmore College--to fetter +herself to a man for life." + +"Well, I shall never be fettered, even if I am married," observed Ann. +"I'd like to see myself!" + +"If the right man comes riding by, Ann, even you will change your mind," +Ruth said softly. + +"Then I suppose the right man has never ridden up to the Red Mill and +asked for you?" demanded Helen, with a glance at her chum that was rather +piercing. + +"Perhaps he has," said Ruth composedly, "but I wasn't at home. Aunt +Alvirah thinks I am almost never at home. And, girls, as I told you +yesterday, I am going soon on another journey." + +"Oh, Ruth, I've been thinking of that!" Helen rejoined, with a sudden +access of interest and excitement. "To the Thousand Islands! And at the +loveliest time of all the year up there." + +"And that is only the truth," said one of the other bridesmaids. "We +spent last summer there." + +"The Copleys always go," Helen remarked quietly. + +"No! Do you mean it?" cried Ruth, showing some surprise. "Well, indeed." + +"So you will see a lot more of 'Lasses Copley," remarked Ann. + +"I shall be glad if Chess Copley is there when and where we make this +picture, for I think he is very nice," was Ruth's composed reply. + +"Oh, he's nice enough," agreed Helen, rather grumblingly however. "I've +got nothing to say against Chess--as a general thing." + +"And you don't seem to say much for him," put in the Western girl +curiously. + +But Helen said nothing further on that topic. Ruth broke in, answering +one of the other girls who spoke of the forthcoming picture Ruth was +going to make for the Alectrion Corporation. + +"Of course our famous Wonota is going to be in the picture. For she is +famous already. 'Brighteyes' appeared for two successive weeks in one of +the big Broadway picture houses and we are making a lot of money out of +its distribution. + +"But we know Wonota is a find for another very unmistakable reason," she +added. + +"What is that?" asked Helen. + +"Other producers have begun to make Wonota and her father offers. For +Chief Totantora has become interested in the movie business too. Mr. +Hammond used Totantora in a picture he made in Oklahoma in the spring; +one in which Wonota did not appear. She was off at school at the time. We +are going to make of the princess a cultivated and cultured young lady +before we get through with her," and Ruth laughed. + +"A Red Indian!" cried somebody. + +"That makes no difference," said Ruth placidly. "She is amenable to white +customs, and is really a very smart girl. And she has a lovely +disposition." + +"Especially," put in Helen, who remembered the occasion clearly, "when +she wanted to shoot Dakota Joe Fenbrook when he treated her so unkindly +in his Wild West show. But, I wanted to shoot him myself," she added, +frankly. "Especially after he tried to hurt Ruth." + +"Never mind him," said her chum at that. "Joe Fenbrook is in the +penitentiary now, and he is not bothering us. But other people are +bothering Mr. Hammond about Wonota." + +"How?" asked Helen. + +"Why, as I said, there are other picture producers who have seen +'Brighteyes' and would like to get the chief and his daughter under +contract. They have told Totantora that, as the contract with his +daughter was made while she was not of age, it can be broken. Of course, +the Indian agent agreed to the contract; but after Totantora returned +from Europe, where he had been held a prisoner in Germany during the war, +the guardianship of Wonota reverted to her father once more. + +"It is rather a complicated matter," went on Ruth, "and it is giving Mr. +Hammond and his lawyers some trouble. There is a man named Bilby, who has +been a picture producer in a small way, who seems to have some influence +with the head of the Government Bureau of Indian Affairs. He seems to +have financial backing, too, and claims to have secured a series of +stories in which Wonota might be featured to advantage. And he certainly +has offered Totantora and the girl much more money than Mr. Hammond would +be willing to risk in a star who may, after all, prove merely a flash in +the pan." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Ann. "I thought she was a sure-fire +hit." + +"No amateur screen actress--and that is all Wonota is as yet--is ever a +'sure-fire hit', as you call it," said the practical Ruth. "Many a +producer has been badly bitten by tying up a new actor or actress to a +long-time contract. Because a girl films well and is successful in one +part, is not an assurance that she can learn to be a really great actress +before the camera. + +"In 'Brighteyes' Wonota merely played herself. I was successful in +fitting my story to her individuality. But she cannot always play the +same part. In this story we are about to do on the St. Lawrence, she will +be called upon to delineate a character quite different from that of the +heroine of 'Brighteyes.'" + +"Dear me, Ruth," sighed Helen, "what a business woman you are getting to +be. Your career has really begun--and so promisingly. While I can't do a +thing but play the fiddle a little, daub a little at batik, and crochet!" + +"And make most delightful fudge!" cried Jennie Stone, just then coming +into the room in her traveling dress, fresh from the hands of her maid +and Aunt Kate. "How do I look, girls?" + +The bride's appearance drove everything else out of her friends' minds +for the time being. It was two o'clock and the automobiles were at the +door. The bridal couple, attended by bridesmaids, the best man, the +ushers, and other close friends, departed for the dock amid showers of +rice and a bombardment of old shoes which littered Madison Avenue for +half a block and kept even the policemen on special duty for the +occasion, dodging! + +They all trooped aboard the steamship where arrangements had been made to +have the passports of the bride and groom examined. + +Mr. Stone had done everything well, as he always did. The bridal suite +was banked with flowers. Even the orchestra belonging to the ship had +been engaged specially to play. A second, though brief, reception was +held here. + +The ship's siren sent a stuttering blast into the air that seemed to +shake the skyscrapers opposite the dock. The young folks trooped back to +the pier. Tom did his best to escort Ruth; but to his amazement and anger +Chess Copley pushed in front of him and Ruth took the sergeant's arm. + +Helen came along and grabbed her brother with a fierce little pinch. Her +eyes sparkled while his smouldered. + +"I guess we are relegated to the second row, Tommy-boy," she whispered. +"I do not see what has got into Ruth." + +"It's not Ruth. The gall of that 'Lasses!" muttered the slangy Tom. + +"So you think he is at fault?" rejoined his sister. "Oh, Tommy-boy! you +do not know 'us girls'--no indeed you do not." + +It was a gay enough party on the dock that watched the big ship back out +and being turned in the stream by the fussy tugs. The bride and groom +shouted until they were hoarse, and waved their hands and handkerchiefs +as long as they could be seen from the dock. + +If Helen and Tom Cameron were either, or both, offended by Ruth, they did +not show it to the general company. As for the girl of the Red Mill, she +enjoyed herself immensely; and she particularly liked Chess Copley's +company. + +It was not that she felt any less kindly toward Tom; but Tom had +disappointed her. He seemed to have changed greatly during this past +winter while she had been so busy with her moving pictures. + +Instead of settling down with his father in the offices of the great +drygoods house from which Mr. Cameron's fortune had come, Tom, abetted by +Helen, had become almost a social butterfly in New York. + +But Chess Copley, although no sober-sides, had thrown himself heart and +soul into the real estate business and had already made a tidy sum during +the six months that had ensued since his discharge from the army. + +It was true, Chess was looking forward to taking a vacation at the +Thousand Islands with his family. He told Ruth so with enthusiasm, and +hoped to see her again at that resort. But Chess, Ruth felt, had earned +his vacation, while Tom remained a mere idler. + +Chess accompanied the Cheslow young people to the Grand Central Terminal +when they left the dock and there bade Ruth good-bye. + +"I shall see you in a fortnight at the Thousand Islands," he assured her, +and shook hands again. "I shall look forward to it, believe me!" + +Tom hung about, gloomy enough, even after they boarded the train. But the +girls were gay and chattering when they entered their compartment. Ann +Hicks was going home with Helen for a brief visit, although she would be +unable to go elsewhere with them during the early part of the summer, +owing to previous engagements. + +"I am determined to go to the St. Lawrence with you, Ruth," declared +Helen. "And I know Tommy-boy is aching to go." + +"I thought," said Ruth rather gravely, "that he might really take to +business this summer. Doesn't your father need him?" + +"Plenty of time for work, Tommy thinks," rejoined Tom's sister gaily. + +But Ruth did not smile. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BILBY + + +The old, shingled Red Mill, which Jabez Potter had revamped each spring +with mineral paint, was as brilliant a landmark on the bank of the Lumano +River as ever it had been. In fact, it seemed as though Ben, the hired +man, had got the red of the shingles and the trim a little redder and the +blinds a little greener this last spring than ever they had been before. + +Overshadowed by great elms, with the yard grass growing thick and lush +right up to the bark of the trees, the surroundings of the mill and +farmhouse connected with it (at least, all of those surroundings that +could be seen from the Cheslow road), were attractive indeed. + +Although the old house seemed quite as it always had been from without, +many changes had been made inside since first Ruth Fielding had stepped +out of Dr. Davison's chaise to approach her great-uncle's habitation. + +At that time Ruth had been less than a mote in the eye of Uncle Jabez. +She was merely an annoyance to the miller at that time. Since then, +however, she had many and many a time proved a blessing to him. Nor did +Jabez Potter refuse to acknowledge this--on occasion. + +When Ruth began to do over the interior of the old house, however, Uncle +Jabez protested. The house and mill had been built a hundred and fifty +years before--if not longer ago. It was sacrilege to touch a crooked +rafter or a hammered nail of the entire structure. + +But Ruth insisted that she be allowed to make her own rooms under the +roof more comfortable and modern. Ruth had seen old New England +farmhouses rebuilt in the most attractive way one could imagine without +disturbing their ancient exterior appearance. She gathered ideas from +books and magazines, and then went about replanning the entire inside of +the mill farmhouse. But she began the actual rejuvenation of the aspect +of the structure in her own rooms, and had had all the work done since +her return from the war zone the year before. + +She now had a bedroom, a sitting room, a dressing room and bathroom up +under the roof, all in white (Helen said "like a hospital"), and when one +opened Ruth's outer door and stepped into her suite it seemed as though +one entered an entirely different house. And if it was a girl who +entered--as Wonota, the Osage princess, did on a certain June day soon +after Jennie Stone's marriage--she could not suppress a cry of delight. + +Wonota had stayed before at the Red Mill for a time; but then the workmen +had not completed Ruth's new nest. And although Wonota had been born in a +wigwam on the plains and had spent her childhood in a log cabin with a +turf roof, she could appreciate "pretty things" quite as keenly as any +girl of Ruth's acquaintance. + +That was why Ruth--as well as Mr. Hammond of the Alectrion Film +Corporation--believed that the Indian girl would in time become a +successful screen actress. Wonota, though her skin was copper-colored, +liked to dress in up-to-date clothes (and did so) and enjoyed the +refinements of civilization as much as any white girl of her age. + +"It is so pretty here, Miss Ruth," she said to her mentor. "May I sleep +in the other bed off your sitting room? It is sweet of you. How foolish +of people wanting to see on the screen how poor Indians live in their +ignorance. I would rather learn to play the part of a very rich New York +lady, and have servants and motor-cars and go to the opera and wear a +diamond necklace." + +Ruth laughed at her, but good-naturedly. + +"All girls are the same, I suppose, under the skin," she said. "But we +each should try to do the things we can do best. Learn to play the parts +the director assigns you to the very best of your ability. Doing that +will bring you, quicker than anything else, to the point where you can +wear diamonds and ride in your own motor-car and go to the opera. What +does your father, Chief Totantora, say to your new ideas, Wonota?" + +"The chief, my father, says nothing when I talk like that to him. He is +too much of an old-fashioned Indian, I fear. He is staying at a country +hotel up the road; but he would not sleep in the room they gave him (and +then he rolled up in his blanket on the floor) until they agreed to let +him take out the sashes from all three windows. He says that white people +have white faces because they sleep in stale air." + +"Perhaps he is more than half right," rejoined Ruth, although she laughed +too. "Some white folks even in this age are afraid of the outdoor air as +a sleeping tonic, and prefer to drug themselves with shut-in air in their +bedrooms." + +"But one can have pretty things and nice things, and still remain in +health," sighed Wonota. + +Ruth agreed with this. The girl of the Red Mill tried, too, in every way +to encourage the Indian maiden to learn and profit by the better things +to be gained by association with the whites. + +There were several days to wait before Mr. Hammond was ready to send Mr. +Hooley, the director, and the company selected for the making of Ruth's +new picture to the Thousand Islands. Meanwhile Ruth herself had many +preparations to make and she could not be all the time with her visitor. + +As in that past time when she had visited the Red Mill, Wonota was +usually content to sit with Aunt Alvirah and make beadwork while the old +woman knitted. + +"She's a contented creeter, my pretty," the old woman said to Ruth. "Red +or white, I never see such a quiet puss. And she jumps and runs to wait +on me like you do. + +"Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!" exclaimed Aunt Alvirah, rising +cautiously with the aid of a cane she now depended upon. "My rheumatism +don't seem any better, and I have had it long enough, seems to me, for it +to get better," she added. + +"Poor dear!" said Ruth. "Don't the new medicine do any good?" + +"Lawsy me, child! I've drenched myself with doctor's stuff till I'm +ashamed to look a medicine bottle in the face. My worn out old carcass +can't be helped much by any drugs at all. I guess, as my poor old mother +used to say, the only sure cure for rheumatics is graveyard mould." + +"Oh, Aunt Alvirah!" + +"I don't say it complainingly," declared the little old woman, smiling +quite cheerfully. "But I tell Jabez Potter he might as well make up his +mind to seeing my corner of his hearth empty one of these days. And he'll +miss me, too, cantankerous as he is sometimes." + +But Uncle Jabez was seldom "cantankerous" nowadays when Ruth was at home. +To the miller's mind his great-niece had proved herself to be of the true +Potter blood, although her name was Fielding. + +Ruth was a money-maker. He had to wink pretty hard over the fact that she +was likewise a money spender! But one girl--and a young one at +that--could scarcely be expected (and so the old miller admitted) to +combine all the virtues which were worth while in human development. + +"Keep a-making of it, Niece Ruth," Uncle Jabez advised earnestly. "You +never can tell when you are going to want more or when your ability to +make money is going to stop. I'd sell the Red Mill or give up and never +grind another grist for nobody, if I didn't feel that perhaps by next +year I should have to stop, anyway--and another year won't much matter." + +"You get so little pleasure out of life, Uncle Jabez," Ruth once said in +answer to this statement of the old man. + +"Shucks! Don't you believe it. I don't know no better fun than watching +the corn in the hopper or the stuns go round and round while the meal +flour runs out of the spout below, warm and nice-smellin'. The millin' +business is just as pretty a business as there is in the world--when once +you git used to the dust. No doubt of it." + +"I can see, Uncle Jabez, that you find it so," said Ruth, but rather +doubtfully. + +"Of course it is," said the old man stoutly. "You get fun out of running +about the country and looking at things and seeing how other folks live +and work. And that's all right for you. _You_ make money out of it. But +what would I get out of gadding about?" + +"A broader outlook on life, Uncle Jabez." + +"I don't want no broader outlook. I don't need nothing of the kind. Nor +does Alviry Boggs, though she's got to talking a dreadful lot lately +about wanting to ride around in an automobile. At her age, too!" + +"You should own a car, Uncle Jabez," urged Ruth. + +"Now, stop that! Stop that, Niece Ruth! I won't hear to no such +foolishness. You show me how I can make money riding up and down the +Lumano in a pesky motor-car, and maybe I'll do like Alviry wants me to, +and buy one of the contraptions." "Hullo, now!" added the miller +suddenly. "Who might this be?" + +Ruth turned to see one of the very motor-cars that Uncle Jabez so scorned +(or pretended to) stopping before the wide door of the mill itself. + +But as it was the man driving the roadster, rather than the car itself, +Uncle Jabez had spoken of, Ruth gave her attention to him. He was a +ruddy, tubby little man in a pin-check black and white suit, faced with +silk on lapels and pockets--it really gave him a sort of minstrel-like +appearance as though he should likewise have had his face corked--and he +wore in a puffed maroon scarf a stone that flashed enough for half a +dozen ordinary diamonds--whether it really was of the first water or not. + +This man hopped out from back of the wheel of the roadster and came +briskly up the graveled rise from the road to the door of the mill. He +favored Ruth with a side glance and half smile that the girl of the Red +Mill thought (she had seen plenty of such men) revealed his character +very clearly. But he spoke to Uncle Jabez. + +"I say, Pop, is this the place they call the Red Mill?" + +"I calkerlate it is," agreed the miller dryly. "Leastways, it's the only +Red Mill I ever heard tell on." + +"I reckoned I'd got to the right dump," said the visitor cheerfully. "I +understand there's an Injun girl stopping here? Is that so?" + +Uncle Jabez glanced at Ruth and got her permission to speak before he +answered: + +"I don't know as it's any of your business, Mister; but the Princess +Wonota, of the Osage Nation, is stopping here just now. What might be +your business with her?" + +"So she calls herself a 'princess' does she?" returned the man, grinning +again at Ruth in an offensive way. "Well, I have managed a South Sea +Island chief, a pair of Circassian twins, and a bunch of Eskimos, in my +time. I guess I know how to act in the presence of Injun royalty. Trot +her out." + +"Trot who out?" asked the miller calmly, but with eyes that flashed under +his penthouse brows. "Wonota ain't no horse. Did you think she was?" + +"I know what she is," returned the man promptly. "It's what she is going +to be that interests me. I'm Bilby--Horatio Bilby. Maybe you've heard of +me?" + +"I have," said Ruth rather sharply. + +At once Mr. Bilby's round, dented, brown hat came off and he bowed +profoundly. + +"Happy to make your acquaintance, Miss," he said. + +"You haven't made it yet--near as I can calkerlate," gruffly said Uncle +Jabez. "And it's mebbe a question if you get much acquainted with Wonota. +What's your business with her, anyway?" + +"I'll show you, old gent," said Bilby, taking a number of important +looking papers from his pocket. "I have come here to get this princess, +as you call her. The Indian Department has sent me. She is a ward of the +Government, as you perhaps know. It seems she is held under a false form +of contract to a moving picture corporation, and Wonota's friends have +applied to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to look into the matter and get +at the rights of the business." + +Ruth uttered a cry of amazement; but Uncle Jabez said calmly enough: + +"And what have you got to do with it all, Mister--if I may be so curious +as to ask?" + +"The girl is given into my charge while her affairs are being looked +into," said Mr. Horatio Bilby, with an explanatory flourish which +included both the miller and Ruth in its sweeping gesture. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TROUBLE IN PROSPECT + + +Ruth Fielding wished that Mr. Hammond was within reach; but she knew he +was already on his way to the Thousand Islands, for which she herself +expected to start the next day with Wonota and her father. She had not +heard much about this Bilby; but what she had learned--together with what +she now saw of him--impressed her not at all in his favor. + +In any event she was not willing to accept either Horatio Bilby or his +declaration at face value. And she was glad to see that the hardheaded +old miller was not much impressed by the man, either. + +"I don't know much about this business, Mister," said Uncle Jabez, with +much calmness. "But it strikes me that you'd better see the girl's +father." + +"What girl's father?" demanded the visitor, and now he seemed surprised. + +"Wonota's. Chief Totantora is the name he goes by. It strikes me that he +ought to have a deal more to say about the girl than any Government +department." + +"Why, he's nothing but a blanket Injun!" ejaculated Bilby, with disgust. + +"Mebbe so," rejoined Uncle Jabez. "But his wearing a blanket (though I +never see him with it on; he wears pants and a shirt when he comes here) +don't figger none at all. He still remains the girl's father." + +"I guess you don't know, Pop, that these Injuns are all wards of Uncle +Sam." + +"Mebbe so," again observed the miller. "And I have sometimes thought that +Uncle Sam ain't always been any too good to his red relations. However, +that isn't to the point. The girl's here. She's sort of in my care while +she is here. Unless Chief Totantora shows up and asks to have her handed +over to you, I calkerlate you won't get her." + +"See here, my man!" exclaimed Bilby, at once becoming blusterous, "you'll +get into trouble with the Government if you interfere with me." + +"That doesn't scare me none," was the prompt reply of Jabez Potter. +"Right now the Government of the United States don't look so important to +me as our local constable. I guess to get possession of the girl you will +have to bring an officer with you to certify to all this you say you are. +Until you do, I might as well tell you, first as last, that you ain't got +a chance--not a chance!--to even see Wonota." + +Mr. Bilby grew even redder in the face than nature seemed to have +intended him to be. And his little greenish-gray eyes sparkled angrily. + +"You'll get into trouble, old man," he threatened. + +"Don't you let that bother you none," rejoined the miller. "I've had so +much trouble in my life that I'm sort of used to it, as you might say. +Now, if that is all you got to offer, you might as well get back into +that go-cart of yours and drive on." + +Mr. Potter turned on his heel and went back into the mill, beckoning to +Ruth to come with him. She did so--for a little way at least; but she +soon stopped to peer out and watch the man, Bilby. + +When they were, as he thought, out of hearing, he gave vent to several +grunts, kicked a pebble across the road, and scowled ferociously. He said +something about "these rubes are smarter than they used to be." He seemed +convinced that he could do nothing further in the matter he had come +upon. Not at this time, it was quite plain. + +He turned and climbed into the roadster. But he did not drive back toward +Cheslow; instead he went up the river road, and Ruth Fielding remembered +that Wonota's father was stopping at the country inn which was only three +or four miles up that road. + +"But nothing can happen because of that, of course," the girl thought, as +she entered the passage that led to the farmhouse from the mill. "Wonota +is perfectly safe here, and surely Totantora can take care of himself +with that little fat man, or with anybody else!" + +She entered the kitchen expecting to find the Indian girl at work with +Aunt Alvirah in the old woman's sunny corner of the great room. The old +woman was alone, however. + +"Where is Wonota?" Ruth asked. + +Before Aunt Alvirah could reply an automobile siren echoed outside of the +house. Aunt Alvirah was smiling and waving at somebody and Ruth hurried +to the window to look out. + +"Here's Helen come for you, my pretty, in that beautiful big car of +hers," said Aunt Alvirah. "Isn't it fine to be rich?" + +"Wait till I make a few more pictures, Aunty, and we'll have a car too. +If Uncle Jabez won't buy one, I've made up my mind to get a car if it's +only to take you to drive once in a while." + +"It wouldn't hurt Jabez Potter to buy a car," declared the old woman. +"She's coming in Ruthie. Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!" she murmured, as +she got up to receive the visitor. + +Helen swept into the house gaily. She always had a kiss for the little +old woman who thought her, next to Ruth, the finest girl who ever lived. + +"You're always a sight for anyone to look on with pleasure, Helen +Cameron," said Aunt Alvirah. "And you're mighty smart in that long coat +and cap." + +"And do you put on your coat and bonnet, Aunty," cried Helen, patting her +wrinkled cheek. "I've come to take you for a spin. And Ruth, too." + +"There's Wonota," suggested Ruth. + +"Of course. The princess shall join us," Helen cried merrily. "Where is +she? Tell her to leave her everlasting beadwork long enough to ride in +the white man's motor-car." + +"I suppose," said Ruth, starting for the stairway, "Wonota must be up in +her own room." + +"No, no!" Aunt Alvirah called from her bedroom, to which she had hobbled +for her cloak and bonnet. "I was just about to tell you, my pretty. +Wonota has gone out." + +"Where did she go?" and Ruth suddenly turned back, and with surprise if +not exactly with a feeling of alarm. + +"She said she would walk up the road to see her father. She is quite fond +of her father, I believe," added Aunt Alvirah, coming back with her wrap +and bonnet. "Of course, Indians have family feelings, if they do seem to +hide 'em so well." + +"I am sorry she went out alone," murmured Ruth. + +"Pooh! she isn't a child. And she'll not lose her way, that's sure," +laughed Helen. "Anyway, we'll overtake her and give her a ride. Chief +Totantora, too, if he will deign to step into the white man's car." + +Ruth said no more. But after the visit of Bilby to the mill she could not +help but feel some little anxiety. She remembered that Dakota Joe, in +whose show Wonota had once worked, had tried his best to make trouble for +her and Mr. Hammond because of the Osage maiden; and this Bilby was +plainly a much shrewder person than the Westerner had been. + +She and Helen aided Aunt Alvirah out to the car. It was a heavy, seven +passenger machine; but Helen could drive it as well as Tom himself. + +"And Tommy-boy," she explained as she tucked the robe about Aunt Alvirah +before following Ruth into the front seat, "went to town to-day with +father." + +"I hope he will really get down to work now," said Ruth softly, as Helen +began to manipulate the levers. + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Helen carelessly. "Work was made for slaves. And Tom +had a hard time over in France. I tell dad he ought not to expect +Tommy-boy to really work for a long, long time to come." + +"Do you think that is right, Helen?" admonished her chum. "Idleness was +never good for anybody." + +"It isn't as though Tom was poor. He hasn't got to toil and delve in an +old office--" + +"You know it isn't that," cried Ruth warmly. "But he should make good use +of his time. And your father needs him. He ought to be idle now, not +Tom." + +"Grandmother Grunt!" laughed Helen. "You're twice as old as Aunt Alvirah +right now." + +"After what we have been through--after what the world has been through +for five years--we all ought to be at work," said Ruth rather severely. +"And Tom is no exception." + +"Why, I never knew you to be hard on Tommy-boy before!" pouted Tom's +sister. + +"Perhaps I never had occasion to be hard on him before," Ruth answered. +"He is only one of many. Especially many of those who were over there in +France. They seem to be so unsettled and--and so careless for the +future." + +"Regular female Simon Legree, you are, Ruthie Fielding." + +"But when Tom first came back he was as eager as he could be to get to +business and to begin a business career. And lately, it seems to me, he's +had an awful slump in his ambition. I never saw the like." + +"Oh, bother!" muttered Helen, and started the car. + +The car shot ahead, and in five minutes they passed the country inn, but +saw nothing of either Wonota or the Indian chief. In a cove below the +river bank, however, Ruth caught a glimpse of a small motor-boat with two +men in it. And backed into a wood's path near the highway was a small +motor-car. + +Was it the smart roadster Mr. Horatio Bilby had driven to the Red Mill? +Ruth could not be sure. But she did not enjoy the ride with Helen and +Aunt Alvirah very much for thinking of the possibility of its being Mr. +Bilby's car so close to the inn where Chief Totantora was stopping. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AN ABDUCTION + + +The ride in Helen's car was enjoyable, especially for Aunt Alvirah. How +that old lady did smile and (as she herself laughingly said) "gabble" her +delight! Being shut inside the house so much, the broader sight of the +surrounding country and the now peacefully flowing Lumano River was +indeed a treat. + +Helen drove up the river and over the Long Bridge, where she halted the +car for a time that they might look both up and down the stream. And it +was from this point that Ruth again caught a glimpse of the motor-boat +she had before spied near the roadside inn. + +There was but one man in it now, and the boat was moored to the root of a +big tree that overhung the little cove. Not that there was anything +astonishing or suspicious in the appearance of the boat. Merely, it was +there and seemed to have no particular business there. And the girl of +the Red Mill recalled that Mr. Horatio Bilby's motor-car was backed into +the bushes near that spot. + +Had Mr. Bilby, who had announced that his business in this vicinity was +to obtain possession of Wonota, anything to do with the men in the boat? +The thought may have been but an idle suggestion in Ruth's mind. + +Intuition was strong in Ruth Fielding, however. Somehow, the abandoned +car being there near the inn where Totantora was staying and to which +Wonota had gone to see her father, and the unidentified motor-boat +lurking at the river's edge in the same vicinity, continued to rap an +insistent warning at the door of the girl's mind. + +"Helen, let's go back," she said suddenly, as her chum was about to let +in the clutch again. "Turn around--do." + +"What for?" asked Helen wonderingly, yet seeing something in the +expression of Ruth's face that made her more than curious. + +"I--I feel that everything isn't right with Wonota." + +"Wonota!" + +Ruth, in low tones, told her chum her fears--told of Bilby's call at the +mill--mentioned the fact that the Indian girl was probably at this time +at the roadside inn and that the rival moving picture producer was +perhaps there likewise. + +"What do you know about that!" gasped Helen. "Is there going to be a real +fight for the possession of Wonota, do you think?" + +"And for Totantora too, perhaps. For he figures importantly in this +picture we are about to make up on the St. Lawrence." + +"Fine!" exclaimed Helen Cameron. "There is going to be something doing +besides picture making. Why, Ruth! you couldn't keep me from going with +you to-morrow. And I know Tommy-boy will be crazy to be in it, too." + +Ruth made an appealing gesture as Helen began to back and turn the car. + +"Don't frighten Aunt Alvirah," she whispered. + +Helen was delighted with any prospect for action. It must be confessed +that she did not think much about disappointment or trouble accruing to +other people in any set of circumstances; she never had been particularly +thoughtful for others. But she was brave to the point of recklessness, +and she was at once excited regarding the suggested danger to her chum's +plans. + +Bilby had already, Ruth understood, offered more money to Wonota and +Totantora for their services than Mr. Hammond thought it wise to risk in +the venture. And, after all, the temptation of money was great in the +minds of the Indians. It might be that Bilby could get them away from +Ruth's care. And then what would the Alectrion Film Corporation do about +this next picture that had been planned? + +Aunt Alvirah made no complaint as to how or where the car went--as long +as it went somewhere. She admitted she liked to travel fast. Having been +for so many years crippled by that enemy, rheumatism, she seemed to find +some compensation in the speed of Helen's car. + +The inn was several miles away from the Long Bridge; but the road was +fairly straight, and as the car went over the ridges they could now and +then catch glimpses of the hotel. On the right were cornfields, the dark +green blades only six or eight inches high; and scattered over them the +omnipresent scarecrows which, in the spring, add at least picturesqueness +to the New England landscape. + +Above the purring of the motor Aunt Alvirah raised her voice to remark to +the chums on the front seat: + +"I don't see it now--did it fall down?" + +"Did what fall down, Aunty?" asked Ruth, who, though troubled as she was +by her suspicions, could not ignore the little old woman. + +"That scarecrow I see coming up. I thought 'twas a gal picking up stones +in that field--the one this side of the hotel. It had a sunbonnet on, and +it was just as natural! But it's gone." + +"I don't see any scarecrow there," admitted Ruth, turning to look. + +At that moment, however, the car she had seen parked in the bushes +wheeled out into the highway ahead of them. It started on past the hotel. +There was another figure beside that of the tubby Horatio Bilby on the +seat. Ruth recognized Bilby at once. + +"Who's that?" asked Helen, slowing down involuntarily. + +"That's the man I spoke of," explained Ruth, "I--I wonder who it is +that's with him?" + +"A girl!" exclaimed Helen. "Do you suppose he has got Wonota?" + +"Wonota--with a sunbonnet on?" cried her chum. + +"I bet he's running away with Wonota!" cried Helen, and started to speed +up after the other car. + +Ruth laid a quick hand on her chum's arm. + +"Wait! Stop!" she cried. "See what a curiously acting thing that is he +has got beside him? Is--It can't be a girl, Helen!" + +"It certainly isn't a boy," declared her friend, with exasperation. +"He'll get away from us. That is a fast car he is driving." + +"Wait!" exclaimed Ruth again, and as Helen brought her machine to an +abrupt stop Aunt Alvirah was heard saying: + +"Now, ain't that reediculous? Ain't it reediculous?" + +"What is ridiculous?" asked Helen, looking back with a smile at the +little old woman while Ruth opened the door and leaped out to the side of +the road nearest the river. + +"Why, where are your eyes, Helen Cameron?" demanded Aunt Alvirah. +"There's that scarecrow now. That feller is a-running away with it!" + +Helen flashed another look along the road. The figure beside Bilby on the +seat had been set upright again. Now the girl saw that it was nothing but +a figure. It was no girl at all! + +"What under the sun, Ruth--" + +But Ruth was not in hearing. She had dashed into the bushes and to the +spot where she had previously seen the roadster belonging to Horatio +Bilby parked. The bushes were trampled all about. Here and there were +bits of torn cloth hanging to the thorns. Yonder was a slipper with +rather a high heel. She recognized it as one belonging to Wonota, the +Osage girl, and picked it up. The Indian maid was really attempting the +fads, as well as the fancies, in apparel of her white sisters! + +But what had become of the girl herself? She certainly would not have +removed one of her pumps and thrown it away. Like Aunt Alvirah and Helen, +Ruth knew that the figure beside Bilby in the car was not the missing +Indian girl. He had attempted to use the scarecrow he had stolen from the +cornfield across the road to bewilder anybody who might pursue him. + +And this very attempt of the rival picture producer to foul his trail +impressed Ruth that something serious regarding Wonota and her father was +afoot. If the Indian girl had not gone with Bilby, where had she gone? +And where was Totantora? + +Ruth could not believe that either Wonota or her father would prove +faithless to their contract with Mr. Hammond--not intentionally, at +least. She hesitated there in the trampled bushes for a moment, wondering +if she ought not first to go on to the hotel and make inquiries. + +Then she heard something thrashing in the bushes not far away. She +started, peering all about, listening. The noise led her to the head of a +gully that sloped down toward the river's edge. It was bush-bestrewn and +the way was rough. Ruth plunged down the slant of it, and behind the +first clump of brush she came upon a man struggling on the ground. + +His ankles and his wrists were lashed, and when the girl turned him over +she was amazed to see that he was most cruelly gagged with a piece of +stick and a handkerchief. + +"Totantora!" she screamed. "What is the matter? Where is Wonota?" + +His glaring eyes seemed almost popping from their sockets. His +copper-colored face was a mask of demoniacal rage. His dignity as an +Indian and his feelings as a father had been outraged. Yet, Ruth was +positive that the figure in the roadster beside Horatio Bilby was not +Wonota, the chief's daughter. + +Her strong and nimble fingers had gone to work almost at once upon the +cord that held the Indians wrists. She loosened them in a few moments. + +Totantora leaped to his feet, drew a clasp-knife from the pocket of his +trousers, snapped it open, and slashed through the cords about his +ankles. + +"Where is Wonota? What has happened?" Ruth cried. + +The Indian slashed the handkerchief that held the gag in place, dragged +it out, and cast it away. He made no reply to Ruth's question, but +lifting up his head sent a long and quavering cry through the grove--a +cry that might have been the war-whoop of his tribe generations before. + +However, Ruth knew it was a signal to his daughter that he was free and +was in pursuit. If Wonota was where she could hear! + +Speaking not at all to the anxious Ruth, Totantora started down the gully +to the riverside. The girl followed him, running almost as wildly as did +the Indian chief. + +Bounding out into the more open grove at the edge of the stream, +Totantora uttered another savage yell. Ruth heard, too, the _put, put, +put_, of a motor-boat. When she reached the water the boat she had +previously observed was some few yards from the bank. There were two men +in it now, and Ruth saw at first glance that Wonota, likewise bound and +gagged, lay propped up against the small over-decked part of the launch. + +The Indian chief halted not even to kick off his moccasins. He ran to the +edge of the bank and, the water being deep, dived on a long slant into +the river. He rose almost instantly to the surface, and with a long, +swift side-stroke followed after the motor craft, which was now gaining +speed. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +EXPEDIENCY + + +Up in the Big North Woods Ruth Fielding had seen loons dive and swim (and +of all the feathered tribe, loons are the master divers) and she had +wondered at the birds' mastery of the water. But no loon ever seemed more +at home in that element than did the Indian chief. + +Totantora tore through the water after the escaping motor-boat as though +he, too, were propelled by a motor. And his motor was more powerful, in a +short race at least, than that driving the launch in which Wonota was +held prisoner. + +Before the men who had abducted the Osage maiden could get their boat out +of the little cove, Totantora reached the stern of it. He rose breast +high in the water and clutched the gunwale with one hand. One of the men +swung at him with a boathook; but the other picked up his canvas coat and +managed to smother the chief's head and face in it for a minute. + +Totantora flung himself backward and dragged the canvas coat out of the +man's hand. Indeed, he came near to dragging the man himself into the +water. + +The coat did not retard the Indian much. He grabbed it with both hands, +spread it abroad, and then plunged with it under the stern of the +motor-boat. At once the propeller ceased turning and the boat lost +headway. Totantora had fouled the propeller blades with the canvas +jacket, and the abductors could not get away. + +The Indian lunged for the gunwale of the boat again. One of the men was +now attending to the mechanism. The other beat at Totantora's hands with +the boathook. + +In a flash the chief let go of the rail with one hand and seized the +staff of the implement. One powerful jerk, and he wrenched the boathook +from the white man's grasp. The latter fell sprawling into the bottom of +the boat. With a display of muscle-power at which Ruth could not but +marvel, Totantora raised himself over the gunwale of the boat and +scrambled into it. + +The second white man turned on him, but the Indian met him stooping, +seized him around the waist, and tossed him, seemingly with scarcely an +effort, into the water. The other abductor scrambled forward to get out +of his reach. The chief bent for a minute over his daughter, and then +Ruth saw that the girl was free and that she stood up, unhurt. It was all +over so quickly that it left Ruth breathless. + +"Miss Ruth! Miss Ruth!" cried the Indian girl. "I am all right. My +father, Chief Totantora, would not let these bad white men carry me away +a captive." + +Ruth waved her hand to the younger girl. But she watched the white man +who was swimming for the shore. She was not afraid of him--any more than +the Indian chief was fearful of the other white man perched in the bow of +the motor-boat. + +The swimmer reached the bank, caught hold of an overhanging bush, and +dragged himself out of the river. He was a hang-dog looking sort of +fellow, anyway; and in his saturated condition his appearance was not +improved. He lay panting for a minute like an expiring fish, and Ruth +looked down at him perhaps more contemptuously than she realized. + +"Well, who you looking at?" he growled at length. + +"I suppose I am looking at one of Mr. Horatio Bilby's choice assistants," +Ruth returned scornfully. + +"Huh? What do you know about Bilby?" demanded the fellow, evidently much +surprised. + +"I know nothing very good of him, I am sure," the girl of the Red Mill +replied coolly. "And I am quite confident that you are a fit companion +for him." + +The fellow sat up and leered at her. + +"I ain't such a mighty fine sight just now, I guess," he said. "But there +are worse than me. I didn't know there were any white folks interested in +this business." + +"You make a perfectly proper distinction," Ruth told him. "Bilby is not a +white man--not in his business ethics I am sure. I want to warn you that +those Indians have powerful friends and you would do well to have nothing +more to do with them." + +"I get you," growled the fellow. "But take it from me; that Injun don't +need no friends. He can take care of himself. He's as strong as a bull." + +"And with a temper you would best not ruffle. I do not know what Bilby's +scheme was, or how he got you into it. But take my advice and keep out of +any further association with Bilby in this matter." + +"You don't have to warn me and my partner," said the fellow. "We got +enough right now. Is he coming ashore?" + +He turned to look at the boat, and then leaped to his feet in some fear. +Totantora, by leaning well over the stern of the boat, had dragged the +torn coat out of the propeller, and now he was coolly examining the +mechanism with the evident idea of starting the boat. The Indian seemed +familiar with the driving power of such a craft. + +"I think he will bring his daughter ashore," Ruth said composedly. "If I +were you I would not cross him further." + +"I ain't going to, Miss," said the fellow, now on his feet. "I see Jim is +keeping as far away from him as he can. Jim can't swim." + +"Go aside somewhere. When they reach the bank I will try to take +Totantora and the girl away with me. Do nothing to cross him, for the +temper of an Indian is not easily quelled. It just simmers and may break +out again at any time." + +"Believe me," said the fellow, starting off through the bushes, "I ain't +aiming to have another run-in with him. Not with my bare hands. I hope he +don't smash the boat, that's all." + +"I will do all I can to pacify Totantora," said Ruth, and she really was +somewhat anxious on this point, for the grim countenance of the Indian +chief threatened further reprisal. + +He was busy with the engine for a time; but by and by the regular popping +of the exhaust revealed the fact that everything was all right with it. +The boat described a circle and came back into the cove and to the place +where Ruth stood on the bank. + +The second white man, who was younger and looked less like a drowned rat, +remained in the bow, staring back in apprehension at the Indian. The +moment he could do so, this man leaped ashore. + +"Say nothing to him," advised Ruth. "I will try to take them both away. +And, as I have warned your companion, have nothing more to do with Bilby +or his schemes. These Indians are my friends, and they have other friends +who are much more powerful than I am, I can assure you." + +"Yes, Miss," said the man, politely enough. "I don't want to mix in with +that redskin. I guess not!" + +Wonota stepped ashore and Ruth gave her the shoe she had lost. Her father +followed her. He turned as though to set the boat adrift, but Ruth laid +her hand upon his wet sleeve. + +"Let it alone, Totantora. I hope you will be advised by me. We will go +right away from here. Instead of waiting until to-morrow, let us leave +here to-night and start for the North." + +Wonota said something to her father in their own tongue, and he looked at +Ruth more peacefully. + +"White lady is always my friend, I know; and Wonota's friend," he +observed. "But these bad men tried to steal Wonota." + +"Tell me how it happened," Ruth put in, hoping to change his trend of +thought and determination. + +"I will tell you, my friend," said the Indian girl. "A little fat man +came in a car when Chief Totantora and I were walking in the road. He got +us to sit down yonder and talk to him. He is one of those who have tried +to get Chief Totantora and me to go away from you to make pictures. He +offers much money. And while we talked, those other two men crept up +behind us and they all seized Chief Totantora and me. We were bound and +our mouths closed before we knew how many, or how few, our enemies were. +Then my father was left in the wood and I was carried to the boat. I do +not know what became of the little fat man." + +"I saw him drive away," Ruth said. "It made me suspicious. I had already +seen and talked with the fat man, whose name is Bilby. Don't forget that +name, Wonota." + +"I will remember," said the Indian girl, composedly. + +"He may make some other attempt to get possession of you. Some attempt by +aid of the courts." + +"The white man's law is very strange," muttered Totantora. + +"But we will get ahead of Bilby before he can do anything else," Ruth +went on. "Miss Cameron's car is outside in the road. Go to the hotel and +change your clothes, Totantora, and I will take both you and Wonota back +to the Red Mill. Until we get away for the North I shall not want you out +of my sight." + +The Indian shook himself much as a dog might. A lighter expression +flickered over his dark face. + +"I shall not suffer cold from a wetting," he said. "It is nothing. I have +nothing at the hotel. We will go now." + +"Come on, then," rejoined Ruth, promptly. "It is best that we get away +before Bilby can learn that his plan to make Wonota a captive miscarried. +Hurry!" + +She swept them in her earnestness out to the road where Helen and Aunt +Alvirah saw them with considerable surprise--particularly because of the +saturated condition of the Indian. + +"I declare, Ruth!" cried Helen, "you do manage to get into such perfectly +lovely rows. What is the matter?" + +But Ruth postponed all explanation for a later time. On their way back to +the Red Mill she did explain to Helen, however, that she intended to take +the two Indians to Cheslow and get a train for Albany that evening. + +"I will fool Bilby and whoever is aiding him. We will get away." + +"If you go to-night, so do I!" exclaimed her chum. "You can't lose me, +Ruth Fielding. I can see that we are going to have perfectly scrumptious +times before this picture you are going to make is finished." + +"I hope we'll fool Bilby--leave him behind," sighed Ruth. + +"The worst of it is, we must leave Tommy-boy behind," said Tom's twin. +"Won't he be sore when he hears about it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AT CHIPPEWA BAY + + +Helen pronounced that exodus from the Red Mill "some hustle;" and really +it was but a brief time that Ruth allowed for packing, dressing, and +getting to Cheslow for the eight-forty-five train, bound north. This was +a through train with sleeping cars, and stopped at Cheslow only on +special occasions. Ruth determined that this was one of those occasions. + +She hustled Ben, the hired man, off to town ahead, and by the good +offices of Mercy Curtis a compartment and berth were obtained on that +especial train. Mercy kept the wires hot arranging this for her friend. + +Meanwhile, Helen rushed home in her car, packed her trunk and bag, had +them loaded into the front of the car, and drove up the road again to the +Red Mill where she picked up the two Indians and Ruth. Uncle Jabez and +Aunt Alvirah were sorry enough to see Ruth go; but this trip promised not +to be a long one, for the picture should be made in five or six weeks. + +The Cameron's chauffeur had been instructed by Helen to "burn up the +road," for there was none too much time before the train was due, and he +did as he was ordered. Indeed, there were ten minutes to spare when they +reached the station platform, and the girls spent that time chatting with +Mercy Curtis leaning out of her window of the telegraph office. + +"So, you are off on your travels again," said the lame girl. "I wish I +was a butterfly of fashion, too." + +"'Butterfly,'!" scoffed Helen. "Ruth, at least, is no butterfly. She +might be called a busy bee with more truth." + +"Ah-ha, Miss Helen!" returned Mercy, shaking her finger, "you are the +improvident grasshopper--no less." + +Helen giggled. "Tom says that that old proverb, 'Go to the ant, thou +sluggard;' should read: 'Go to the ant and slug her.' He does not love +work any more than I do." + +Again Ruth's expression of countenance was one of disapproval, but she +made no comment on Tom. The train thundered toward the station, slowing +down as though resenting being stopped in its swift career for even a few +moments. + +Mr. Curtis, the station master, made a point himself of seeing that the +baggage of the party was put into the baggage car. The conductor and +porter helped the girls aboard, and they found their sections. + +Ruth was determined that Wonota should not get out of her sight again, +and the Indian girl was to occupy a berth in the stateroom. Totantora was +to have had the berth; but when he saw it made up and noted the cramped +and narrow quarters offered him, he shook his head decidedly. He spent +the night in the porter's little room at the end of the car, and the +porter, when he found out Totantora was an Indian chief, did not dare +object for fear of being scalped! + +The party reached Hammond the following afternoon. Here they alighted +instead of at Redwood, the more popular station of those wishing to reach +the Thousand Islands by way of the electric road to Alexandria Bay. Ruth +and her party were going direct to Chippewa Bay, for it was upon some of +the more northern of the fourteen hundred or more isles that constitute +the "Thousand Islands" that Mr. Hammond had arranged for the film +company's activities at this time. + +A big touring car was waiting for the party, for one of the telegrams +Ruth had caused to be sent the evening before was to Mr. Hammond, and +they were glad to leave the Pullman and get into the open air. Totantora, +even, desired to walk to Chippewa Bay, for he was tired of the white +man's means of locomotion. Ruth and Wonota would not hear to this. + +"I guess we have eluded Bilby," said the girl of the Red Mill; "but I +shall not feel that Wonota is safe, Totantora, unless you are near her at +all times. You must keep watch of your daughter. She is a valuable +possession." + +For once Totantora smiled--although it was grimly. + +"A squaw did not use to be counted for much in my nation," he said. "But +Wonota is not like the old squaws." + +"Wonota is quite an up-to-date young woman, let me tell you, Mr +Totantora," Helen told him briskly. + +The party remained over night at a small hotel at Chippewa Bay; but in +the morning Ruth and her companions entered a motor launch and were +transported to an island where the film producing company had been +established in several bungalows which Mr. Hammond had rented for the +time of their stay. + +The water between the small islands was as calm as a mill pond; but the +party caught glimpses from the launch of the breadth of the St. Lawrence, +its Canadian shore being merely a misty blue line that morning. The rocky +and wooded islands were extremely beautiful and as romantic in appearance +as the wilderness always is. Now and then a privately owned island, +improved by landscape gardening into a modern summer estate, offered +contrast to the wilder isles. + +The girls spent most of the day in getting settled. No work on the new +picture could be done for a couple of days, and Helen, naturally, looked +for amusement. There were canoes as well as motor boats, and both the +chums were fond of canoeing. Wonota, of course, was mistress of the +paddle; and with her the two white girls selected a roomy canoe and set +out toward evening on a journey of exploration among the closer islands. + +One of the largest islands in the group was in sight--Grenadier Island; +but that they learned was beyond the American line. They saw it only from +a distance, keeping close to the New York shore as they did on this brief +voyage. The tall tamaracks and the other trees crowded some of the +islands until they seemed veritable jungles. + +Some few, however, were bold and precipitous in the extreme. "Just the +sort of place for pirate dens and robber caves," Helen declared, +shivering gleefully. + +"What a romantic puss you are," laughed Ruth. + +"Well, those cracks in the rock yonder look so dark and dismal. And there +_might_ be dark-skinned men with red bandanas bound around their heads, +and knives in their belts, along with the rest of the scenery, Ruthie," +complained Helen. + +Wonota stared at her. "Do you mean, Miss Helen, that there are +cholos--are greasers--in these woods? My geography book that I study +shows this country to be far, far from Mexico." + +"Oh, my aunt!" chuckled Helen. "She thinks nobody but Mexicans can wear +gay handkerchiefs bound about their noble brows. Wait till you see +sure-enough pirates--" + +"That is perfect nonsense, Wonota," said Ruth, warningly. "Helen is only +in fun." + +"Ah," said the practical Indian maid, "I understand English--and +American; only I do not always grasp the--er--humor, do you call it?" + +"Good!" applauded Ruth. "Serves you right, Helen, for your silly +nonsense." + +"The Indians' fun is different," explained Wonota, not wishing to offend +the white girl. + +"You are a pair of old sober-sides, that is what is the matter," declared +Helen gaily. "Oh, Ruth! drive the canoe ashore yonder--on that rocky +beach. Did you ever see such ferns?" + +They brought the canoe carefully in to the shore, landing on a sloping +rock which was moss-grown above the mark of the last flood. Ruth fastened +the tow-rope to the staff of a slender sapling. Wonota got out to help +Helen gather some of the more delicately fronded ferns. Ruth turned her +back upon them and began climbing what seemed to be a path among the +boulders and trees. + +This was not a very large island, and it was well out from the American +shore, but inside the line between the States and Canada. Although the +path Ruth followed seemed well defined, she scarcely thought the island +was inhabited. + +As they had paddled past it in the canoe there had been no sign of man's +presence. It had been left in the state of nature, and nothing, it +seemed, had been done to change its appearance from the time that the +first white man had seen it. + +Some rods up the ascent Ruth came to an open place--a table of rock that +might really have been a giant's dining-table, so flat and perfectly +shaped it was. She could look down upon Helen and Wonota, and they looked +up and called to her. + +"Look out for the pirates!" shouted Helen, with laughter. + +Ruth waved her hand, smiling, and, crossing the rock, parted the brush +and stepped out of sight of her friends. Two steps she took through the +clinging bushes when a most surprising figure started up before her. + +There was plenty of light, even if the sun had gone down. She was not +uncertain at all as to the nature of the figure that confronted her--that +of a man. + +She saw almost instantly that the old man's brown eyes were more like a +child's in expression than like an angry man's. He grinned at her, but +the grimace was involuntary or meaningless. + +"Hush!" he whispered. "Hush!" + +Ruth remained both quiet and speechless, looking into his wrinkled old +face calmly. She thought he must be a beggar from his clothing, but she +could not imagine him a robber, nor even one of Helen's "pirates." As she +said nothing the old man repeated his sibilant warning: + +"Hush!" + +"I am 'hushing' just as hard as I can," whispered the girl in return, and +smiling a little now. "Why must I 'hush'?" + +"Hush!" he said again, quite as earnestly. "You are in danger of your +life, young woman." + +"Not from you, I am sure," she returned. "You would not try to hurt me." + +"Hush!" he repeated, looking back over his shoulder into the thicker +wood. "They may come at any moment now. And although I am their king, +they would kill you. You see, kings aren't as powerful now as they used +to be before the war." + +"So I understand," agreed Ruth soberly. "But who are you king of--or +what?" + +"I am King of the Pipes," whispered the old man. "You don't know what +that means," he added, scanning her puzzled face. "No. And that's the +secret. You cannot be told." + +"Oh," murmured Ruth, somewhat amused, yet pitying his evident mental +state. + +"Hush!" he said again. "You are in danger. Go away from this place at +once, and don't come here again. If my courtiers see you--Ha! Off with +her head! I shall have to follow the kingly custom. It is not my fault," +he added, in the same low tone, shaking his head mournfully. "We kings +have to lead our lives, you know." + +"It must be a dreadful life, if you have to order people's heads cut off +when they have done you no harm," Ruth ventured. + +"But my people would not believe that you would do no harm," he +explained. "I can see that you are quite harmless. But they have not the +intelligence I possess. You understand?" + +"Quite," said Ruth. "And I will go right away. Thank you for your +kindness." + +"That is right, young woman. Go away. And do not return. It is not safe +here." + +"Can't--can't I do anything for you?" + +"Hush!" warned the old man. "No, I do not think you can. I do not care to +divide my power with any consort. And, unless you are of noble blood I +could not make you Queen of the Pipes. That would never do. Such a +mesalliance would never do. My people would never stand for it--oh, +never!" + +"I quite understand that," said Ruth, having difficulty to keep from +smiling. + +"Now go, young woman," the man said pompously. "And do not return." + +"I will obey you," said Ruth soberly. "If you are sure I cannot help +you." + +"Hush!" he warned her again, waving his hand. "They are likely to come at +any moment. And then--" + +The girl backed through the bushes and stepped upon the table-like rock. +She would have bade him good-bye, but he hissed after her another +sibilant "hush!" and disappeared as mysteriously as he had come. + +Ruth descended to the canoe and waited until they were well away from the +island before she said a word to the other girls about the queer old man. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A FILM MYSTERY + + +"I told you there were pirates there," Helen declared that evening, when +she and Ruth were in the room they shared together. Wonota slept in a +room adjoining and had already retired. + +"I don't think that poor old man was a pirate," returned Ruth, smiling a +little. + +"Didn't he tell you he was 'king of the pirates'?" demanded Helen. + +Ruth laughed outright. "He said he was 'king of the pipes'--whatever that +may mean. Poor old fellow!" + +"Well, it seems he most certainly had been 'smoking the pipe'--or do they +call it 'hitting the pipe'?" + +"Don't ask me to aid you with any information on slang," admonished her +friend. "I don't suppose he is really king of anything except of a +country of his dreams--poor fellow." + +"Dear me!" grumbled Helen. "You never will boost romance, Ruth Fielding. +Maybe there are pirates on that island." + +"Or pipes," said Ruth calmly. + +"Never mind. When the boys come I am going to shoo them on to that +place." + +"What boys?" demanded Ruth in surprise. + +"The Copleys arrive to-morrow. And their place is not five miles away +from this very spot. We'll get a motor-boat and go down there to-morrow +evening and welcome them. I got a telegram from Tom when I came back from +canoeing. I forgot to tell you." + +"Tom!" exclaimed Ruth, and for perhaps the first time in her life she +seemed undesirous of hearing about Tom Cameron. + +Helen gave her a somewhat puzzled side glance as she found the telegram +and gave it to her chum, who read: + + "Vacation begins to-morrow. Will be with you next day. Tom." + +Helen giggled. "You can make up your mind that he knows Chess Copley has +started for this neck of woods. Tom is becoming Mr. Jealous Jellaby. Did +you ever?" + +"I am sorry Tom considers it necessary to take a vacation when he has +only just begun work with your father, Helen." + +"There you go again!" exclaimed her chum. "I don't understand you at all, +Ruth Fielding. Tom doesn't have to work." + +"It might be better if he did," said Ruth, and refused to discuss the +point further that evening. + +The next day was just as lovely as that first one. Preparations were +under way all over the island Mr. Hammond had rented for the making of +the picture which Ruth had written. The continuity was being studied by +Mr. Hooley, the director; and the principals had been furnished with +their detail. + +The ordinary participants in the filming of a picture--the "extras"--seldom +know much about the story. They merely appear in certain scenes and do what +they are told. As the scenes are not made in sequence these actors of the +smaller parts have little idea of the story itself. + +Ruth, under the advice of Mr. Hammond, had chosen a certain series of +incidents relating to early French-Canadian history, and it began with an +allegory of the bringing of the Christian religion to the Indians by the +first French priests. This allegory included the landing of the French +upon the shore of a rocky island where they were met by the wondering +Indians, and Mr. Hooley's assistant had chosen the spot for this scene to +be "shot," not far from the place where the company had its headquarters. + +Ruth paid little attention to the locations until the moment arrived for +the camera work. In fact, after supplying the detailed script she had +little to do with the preparation of the picture until the scenes were +made. She had never made continuity, as it is called, for that is more or +less of a mechanical process and is sure to interfere with the creative +faculty of the screen writer. + +In the afternoon of this day Helen engaged a motor-boat, and she and Ruth +set out for the Copley island, which was some miles away, toward +Alexandria Bay. Caretakers and servants had been at work there for some +time, it was evident, for the lawns were neatly shaved, the gardens in +full growth, and the family were already comfortably settled in their +summer home. + +Chess Copley must have been on the watch (could it be possible that he +had inside information about this early visit of Helen and Ruth?) for he +came running down to the dock before the gardener could reach that point +to fasten the boat's line. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted. "I was just wondering if we would see you girls +to-day; and if you hadn't come I should have got out our launch and tried +to find your camp this evening." + +"Oh, hullo, Chess," Helen said coolly as she stepped ashore, refusing his +assistance. "Where are the girls?" + +"There they are--waiting for you on the porch," he said, rather subdued +it would seem by her bruskness. + +Helen started directly for the wide veranda of the villa-like house that +topped the higher part of the island. There were several acres of grounds +about the Copley house, for the whole island was cultivated to the +water's edge. There was nothing wild left in the appearance of the +property, save a few of the tall forest trees that had been allowed to +stand and some huge boulders almost covered with climbing vines. + +Ruth gave Chess her hand--and he squeezed it warmly. She gave him a frank +smile, and Chess seemed comforted. + +"Nell's dreadfully tart with a fellow," he grumbled. "She's nothing like +she used to be. But you are kind, Ruth." + +"You should not wear your heart on your sleeve," she told him briskly, as +they followed Helen Cameron toward the veranda. + +The two girls from the moving picture camp passed a pleasant evening with +their New York friends. The Copley girls always managed to gather, Helen +declared, "perfectly splendid house parties;" and they had brought with +them several companionable girls and young men. + +Music and dancing filled the evening, and it was ten o'clock when the two +chums from Cheslow sought their motor-boat and set out for the camp on +the Chippewa Bay island. Chess Copley had kept by Ruth's side almost all +the evening, and although Helen treated him so cavalierly, she seemed +provoked at her chum for paying the young man so much attention. + +"I don't understand what you see in Chess," she said in a vexed tone to +the girl of the Red Mill. "He's nothing much." + +"He is pleasant, and you used to like him," said Ruth quietly. + +"Humph!" Helen tossed her head. "I found him out. And he's not to be +compared with Tommy-boy." + +"I quite agree with you--that is, considering Tom as a brother," observed +Ruth, and after that refused to be led into further discussion regarding +Chess Copley. + +It was not often that Ruth and Helen had a disagreement. And this was not +really of importance. At least, there was no sign of contention between +them in the morning. + +To tell the truth, there was so much going on, on this day, that the +girls could scarcely have found time to quarrel. The sun was bright and +the sky cloudless. It was an ideal day for out-of-door "shots," and the +camera men and Mr. Hooley had the whole company astir betimes. + +The few real Indians, besides Wonota and Totantora, in the company, and +all those "extras" who were dressed as aborigines, got into their +costumes before breakfast. Soon after eight o'clock the company got away +in barges, with launches to tow them through the quiet waterways. + +In a costume play like this that had been planned, the participants +naturally make a very brilliant spectacle wherever they appear. But among +the islands of Chippewa Bay there were few spectators at this time save +the wild fowl. + +"And they," Helen said, "might be descendants of the very birds who +looked on the actual first appearance of the white man in this +wilderness. Isn't it wonderful?" + +When Mr. Hooley, megaphone in hand and stationed with the two cameras on +one of the decked-over barges, had got his company in position and the +action was begun, it was indeed an impressive picture. Of course, a scene +is not made off-hand--not even an outdoor pageant like this. The detail +must be done over and over again before the cranks of the cameras are +turned. It was almost noon before Mr. Hooley dared tell the camera men to +"shoot the scene." + +The flag-decorated barge bearing the Frenchmen to the rocky shore moved +forward into focus in a stately way, while the Indians gathered in a +spectacular group on the sloping shore--tier upon tier of dark faces, +wearing nodding feather head-dresses, blankets, deerskin leggings, and +other garments of Indian manufacture--all grouped to make a brilliant +spectacle. + +Totantora, a commanding figure, and his daughter as _White Fawn_, the +demure yet dominant princess of the Hurons, stood forth from the +background of the other Indians in a graceful picture. Helen was +delighted and could not help shouting to the Osage girl that she was +"great"--a remark which elicited a frown from the director and an +admonition from Ruth. + +Behind the grouped Indians was the greenery of the primeval forest with +which this rocky island seemed to be covered. The cameras whirred while +the barge containing the actors representing the Frenchmen pushed close +into the shore and the whites landed. + +A boy carried ashore the great cross, and with him came a soldier bearing +the lilies of France, the standard of which he sank into the turf. The +detail of costume and armament had been carefully searched out by Ruth +herself, and the properties were exact. She was sure that this part of +the picture at least could not be criticised but to be praised. + +It was three o'clock before the party disembarked and went back to the +camp for a delayed lunch. The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to +the taking of several "close-ups" and an interior scene that had been +built on the island rather than in the city studio of the Alectrion Film +Corporation. + +The films taken earlier in the day were developed, and that evening after +dinner Ruth and Helen joined Mr. Hammond and Mr. Hooley in the projection +room to see a "run" of the strip taken at the island where the Frenchmen +landed. + +"Do you know that that island is the one we landed on ourselves the other +evening, Ruth?" Helen remarked, as they took their seats and waited in +the darkness for the operator to project the new film. + +"Do you mean it? I did not notice. The island where I met that strange +old man?" + +"The pirate--yes," giggled Helen. "Only we went ashore at the far end of +it." + +"I never thought of it--or of him," admitted Ruth. "Poor, crazy old +fellow--" + +The machine began its whirring note and they fell silent. Upon the silver +sheet there took shape and actuality the moving barge with its banners +and streamers and costumed actors. Then a flash was given of the Indians +gathering on the wild shore--wondering, excited, not a little fearful of +the strange appearance of the white men. The pageant moved forward to its +conclusion--the landing of the strangers and the setting up of the +banners and the cross. + +But suddenly Ruth shrieked aloud, and Mr. Hammond shouted to the operator +to "repeat." The dense underbrush had parted behind the upper tier of +Indians and in the aperture thus made appeared a face and part of the +figure of a man--a wild face with straggling hair and beard, and the +upper part of his body clad in the rags of a shirt. + +"What in thunder was that, Hooley?" cried Mr. Hammond. "Somebody butted +in. It's spoiled the whole thing. I thought your men warned everybody off +that island?" + +"I never saw that scarecrow before," declared the director, quite as +angrily. + +But Ruth squeezed Helen's hand hard. + +"The King of the Pipes," she whispered. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A SMELL OF SMOKE + + +The discovery of the face and figure of the old man whom Ruth had once +met and spoken with on the island thrust out of the undergrowth and +showing through a good part of the length of film that had been made that +first day, caused a good deal of disturbance. The King of the Pipes, as +he had called himself, was entirely "out of the picture." His +representation on the celluloid could not be removed. And he had been in +focus for so many feet of the film that it was utterly impossible to cut +it, and thus save the picture. + +"It is a wretched piece of business," Mr. Hammond said to Ruth, as they +came from the projection room after seeing the reel run off again and +again. "The entire scene will have to be made over. And, aside from that +irremediable fault, I consider the work remarkably good. Mr. Hooley may +never again be able to get it so good." + +Ruth and Helen had told him about the old crazy man--a hermit, +perhaps--and Mr. Hammond had given instructions that before the retaking +of the scene was tried the island should be searched for the King of the +Pipes. + +"Whoever, or whatever, he is," the producer said, "he's got to be looked +after while we are making this picture. He is likely to burst most +unexpectedly into any of the outdoor scenes, and on any location, and +break up the show. This is going to cost money, Miss Ruth." + +"I know it, Mr. Hammond. But it never crossed my mind that it was on that +very island I had my meeting with the man." + +"When Hooley tries to shoot the picture again we must send somebody up +into that island to watch for the old fellow. He'd better be under +confinement, anyway, if he's crazy." + +"The poor old thing." Ruth sighed. "I don't think he means any harm--" + +"He's harmed us all right," grumbled the president of the Alectrion Film +Corporation. "I tell you, a day's work like this--with such salaries as +we pay, and supplies and all--mounts into real money." + +"Oh," said Ruth, "some of the film can be saved. All that until the +Frenchmen land--" + +"We won't dare risk it. In a costume story like this somebody is sure to +get his dress, or armor, or something, different next time from what it +was to-day. And if we try to save any part of this piece of film the +change will show up in the finished picture. Every critical spectator +will see the break and will comment upon it. Might as well make up our +minds to take the loss; but we must be sure that a similar accident does +not occur again." + +"Will Mr. Hooley risk taking the scene over on that island?" asked Ruth +thoughtfully. + +"Why not? It is a fine location--couldn't be beat. We've got to shoo that +old man out of it, that's all." + +The girl had an idea that if she could meet the queer old man again she +might be able to convince him that some other island would serve quite as +well for his "kingdom" as that particular isle. At any rate, she hated +the thought of his being abused or roughly treated. + +Soon after the fiasco in the projection room, Tom Cameron arrived by +motor-boat from the town across the bay. Now, Ruth was secretly very glad +to see Tom. She always would be glad to see his sunny face, no matter how +or when. But she could not approve of his being here at the Thousand +Islands at this particular time. + +Tom had grown up to be one of those young men who do not know what they +want to do in life, and the reaction from the strain of his military life +had, as was natural, intensified this tendency to drift. After the time +that he had determined to be a soldier, then to go West and hunt Indians +and grizzly bears, and then shifted to the desire to be a pirate or a +policeman, Tom Cameron had really expressed very little taste for any +commercial pursuit. + +He had made his mark in his preparatory school and college in several +lines of athletics. But a boy in his position would scarcely become a +professional baseball player or pull an oar for a living. To tell the +truth, Tom had never shown much aptitude for his father's business. Dry +goods did not interest him. + +Yet when he had come home after the armistice Ruth thought he was going +to buckle right down to business with Mr. Cameron's firm. There seemed to +be a super-abundant supply of energy in Tom that had to be worked off. +And Ruth thought it would be worked off properly under the yoke of +business. Besides, Mr. Cameron was getting no younger, and he ought to +have the support of his only son in business affairs. + +But the last winter, since Ruth and the Cameron twins had returned from +the Northwest, things had not gone with Tom quite as the girl of the Red +Mill would have chosen. + +Yet she felt that it was not really her business to interfere. Indeed, +she did not purpose to interfere. If she undertook to advise Tom it would +please him only too well--that she knew, of course. + +For Tom considered Ruth quite as much his property as Helen--only in a +slightly different way. And if Ruth showed in any manner that she +considered Tom her property--well, it would be all off, to use one of +Helen's favorite expressions. + +There was no engagement between Ruth and Tom--not even a tacitly +recognized one. In times of stress and need Tom had proved himself to be +a very good friend indeed, and Ruth fully appreciated this. But during +this past winter he had been somewhat spoiled--or so the girl thought. + +In the first place, Helen was determined to make a hero of her handsome +brother. Captain Cameron was pushed to the fore by his sister in every +possible way and manner. Helen had many gay friends in New York--she had +met them through the Stones, for Helen had often been with Jennie when +Ruth was elsewhere and more seriously engaged. + +Naturally Tom had been one with his sister in gay parties, dances, +theater groups, supper crowds, and all the rest. Business had gone by the +board with Tom; and before Ruth realized it the young returned soldier +had lapsed into a butterfly existence that busy Ruth did not approve. +Especially, did she believe, was such an aimless life bad for Tom +Cameron. + +She met him in the living room of the bungalow, however, with her usual +warmth; perhaps "lack of warmth" would be the better expression. For +although Ruth was always quietly cordial with most people, she was never +"hail fellow, well met" with anybody, unless it was her own, dear, old +girl friends of Briarwood Hall. + +She resisted, however, making any criticism upon Tom's presence in the +moving picture camp. Everybody in the house--and there were several +members of the company there besides Mr. Hammond and the director--greeted +Tom Cameron cordially. He was a favorite with them all. + +And the minute Totantora heard of Tom's arrival, the Osage chief appeared +at the door, standing with glittering eyes fixed on the ex-captain and +unmoved expression of countenance while he waited to catch Tom's +attention. + +"Bless my heart!" cried the rollicking Tom, "here's my old buddy! +Totantora, how are you?" + +They shook hands, the Indian gravely but with an expression in his eyes +that revealed a more than ordinary affection for the young white man. In +France and along the Rhine Totantora, the Osage chief, had become the +sworn follower of the drygoods merchant's son--a situation to cause +remark, if not wonder. + +Tom had learned a few words of the Osage tongue and could understand some +of Totantora's gutturals. What the chief said seemed at one point to +refer to Ruth, who, quite unconscious, was talking with Mr. Hammond +across the room. Tom glanced at Ruth's back and shook his head slightly. +But he made no audible comment upon what the Indian said. + +He did not, indeed, see much of Ruth that night; but in one moment of +privacy she said to Tom: + +"Do you want to make an early morning excursion--before Lazybones Helen +is roused from her rosy slumbers?" + +"Bet you!" was Tom's boyish reply. + +"Six o'clock, then, at the dock. If you are there first rouse out Willie, +the boatman, and offer him a five dollar bill from me to take us through +the islands in the _Gem_. That's his boat." + +"I'll find him to-night and make sure," said Tom promptly. + +"You are a faithful servitor," laughed Ruth, and left him before Tom +could take any advantage of her kindness. + +The appointment was kept to the letter and minute in the morning. Helen +was still asleep when Ruth dressed and stole out of the bungalow. Not +many of the people on the island, save the cooks and dining-room +employees, were astir. But Tom and the boatman--and the _Gem_--were at +the dock in readiness. + +Ruth gave Willie his instructions. He was to make a landing at the far +end of the island on which the picture had been taken the day before. It +was too early for any of Mr. Hooley's men to be over there looking for +the old man whose face had spoiled several hundred feet of good film. +Ruth wished, if possible, to first interview the strange man. + +She took Tom into her confidence at once about the King of the Pipes. She +did not believe the man was so crazy that he ought to be shut up in an +asylum. He was merely "queer." And if they could get him off the island +and out of the way while the picture was being shot, he might then go +back to his hermit life and play at being king all he wished to. + +"What a lark!" exclaimed Tom, looking at the matter a good deal as his +twin sister did. "And you are constantly falling in with queer +characters, Ruth." + +"You might better say they are falling in with me, for I am sure I do not +intentionally hunt them up," complained Ruth. "And this poor old man has +cost us money enough." + +"It is too bad," was Tom's comment. + +"Worse than that, perhaps Mr. Hooley will never again get as fine an +allegorical picture as he did yesterday. They were all in the spirit of +the piece when the shot was made." + +They arrived at the sloping stone beach and landed as Ruth and the girls +had before disembarked. Ruth led Tom up the rough path into the woods +beyond the table-rock. The trees stood thick, and the bushes were thorny, +but they pushed through to an open space surrounding an old, gnarled, +lightning-riven beech. The top of this monarch of the ancient forest had +been broken off and the line of its rotted trunk and branches could be +marked amid the undergrowth. But the staff of it stood at least thirty +feet in height. + +"What a spread of shade it must have given in its day," said Tom. "All +these other tall trees have grown up since the top broke off." + +"Quite so," agreed Ruth. "But where do you suppose that queer old man has +his camp?" + +They looked all about the island, coming back at last to the riven beech. +But they found no mark of human occupancy on the island. + +"I smell wood smoke, just the same," Tom declared, sniffing the air. +"There is a fire somewhere near." + +They saw no smoke, however, nor did they find any cavity in the rocks +that seemed to have been occupied by man or used as the rudest kind of +camp. + +"Maybe he doesn't live on this island after all," said Tom. "He could get +to half a dozen other islands from here in a light canoe. Or even on a +raft." + +"He spoke as though he considered this particular island his kingdom," +rejoined Ruth. "This was the only place he warned me away from--not from +the islands in general. I don't understand it at all, Tom. And I don't +want the men to be unkind to him." + +"Well, it looks to me," observed her friend, "that if we cannot find him, +they will be unable to find him as well. So I wouldn't worry, Ruth." + +But the girl went back to the Gem and sailed again to the headquarters of +the moving picture company not at all satisfied as to the result of their +undertaking. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BILBY AGAIN + + +The work of picture making that day went without a hitch. Mr. Hooley sent +several men into the woods above the spot on the shore of the "Kingdom of +Pipes," as Helen insisted upon calling the island where the prologue of +the picture was made, and they remained on watch there during the +activities of the company below. + +When the film was developed and run off in the projection room that +evening it was pronounced by all--even by Mr. Hammond--as good in detail +as the spoiled reel. + +From that point the work went on briskly, for the weather remained +perfect for picture taking. Ruth was busy; but she could give some time +to enjoyment, too, especially in the evening; and that next evening when +Chess Copley appeared in his own motor-boat, the _Lauriette_, she was +glad to join a moonlight boating party which ventured as far as +Alexandria Bay, where they had supper and danced at the pavilion, +returning to the picture camp in the early hours of the morning. + +Ruth was Chessleigh's particular guest on this occasion, and Tom and +Helen Cameron went in another launch. + +The moonlight upon the islands and the passages of silvery water between +them was most beautiful. And Ruth enjoyed herself immensely. That is, she +found the occasion enjoyable until they got back to the bungalow and had +bidden the Copleys and their party good night. Then the girl of the Red +Mill found her roommate rather irritable. Helen pouted and was frankly +cross when she spoke. + +"I don't see what you find so interesting in Chess Copley," she observed, +brushing her hair before the glass. + +"He is nice I think," replied Ruth placidly. + +"And you just ignore Tommy-boy." + +"I could not very well refuse Chess when he invited me into his launch. I +did not know you and Tom were going in the other boat." + +"Well, I wasn't going with Chess. And I wouldn't let Tommy tag after +you." + +"I wish you wouldn't be so foolish, Helen," sighed her chum. + +"If you act this way," declared the rather unreasonable Helen, "you'll +spoil our whole visit at the Thousand Islands." + +"My goodness!" exclaimed Ruth, for once showing exasperation, "you do not +talk very sensibly, Helen. I have come here to work, not to play. Please +bear that in mind. If you think I spoil your sport I will not join any +other evening parties." + +The next evening when the Copley party came over to get acquainted with +some of the moving picture people and arrange for a big dance on Saturday +night, Ruth was as good as her word, and remained in Mr. Hammond's +office, recasting certain scenes in her story that Mr. Hooley proposed to +make next day. + +Helen was sure Ruth was "mad" and kept out of the way intentionally. She +told Tom so. But she did not choose to relieve Chess Copley's loneliness +when she saw him mooning about. + +Whenever Chess tried to speak to Helen in private she ran away from him. +Whether it was loyalty to her brother, Tom, or some other reason that +made Helen treat Copley so unkindly, the fact remained that Chess was +plainly not in Helen's good books, although she made much of the two +Copley girls. + +The next day Ruth was quite as busy, for the making of the picture was +going ahead rapidly while the good weather lasted. This story she had +written was more of a pageant than anything she had yet essayed. The +scenes were almost all "on location," instead of being filmed under a +glass roof. + +Helen and Tom did not seem to understand that their friend could not go +off fishing or sailing or otherwise junketing whenever they would like to +have her. But picture making and directors, and especially sunlight, will +not wait, and so Ruth tried to tell them. + +It was Chess Copley, after all, who seemed to have the better +appreciation of Ruth's situation just at this time. Before a week had +passed he was almost always to be found at Ruth's beck and call; for when +she could get away from the work of picture making, Chess turned up as +faithfully as the proverbial bad penny. + +"You are not a bad penny, however, Chess," she told him, smiling. "You +are a good scout. Now you may take me out in your motor-boat. If it is +too late to fish, we can at least have a run out into the river. How +pretty it is to-day!" + +"If everybody treated me as nicely as you do, Ruth," he said, rather +soberly, "my head would be turned." + +"Cheer up, Chess," she said, laughing. "I don't say the worst is yet to +come. Perhaps the best will come to you in time." + +"You say that only to encourage me I fear." + +"I certainly don't say it to discourage you," she confessed. "Going +around like a faded lily isn't going to help you a mite--and so I have +already told you." + +"Huh! How's a fellow going to register joy when he feels anything but?" + +"You'd make a poor screen actor," she told him. "See Mr. Grand to-day. He +has an ulcerated tooth and is going to the Bay to-night to have it +treated. Yet, as the French voyageur, he had to make love to Wonota and +Miss Keith, both. Some job!" + +"That fellow makes love as easy as falling off a log," grumbled Chess. "I +never saw such a fellow." + +"But the girls flock to see him in any picture. If he were my brother--or +husband--I would never know when he was really making love or just +registering love. Still actors live in a world of their own. They are not +like other people--if they are really good actors." + +Copley's _Lauriette_ shot them half way across the broad St. Lawrence +before sunset, and from that point they watched the sun sink in the west +and the twilight gather along the Canadian shore and among the islands on +the American side. + +When Chessleigh was about to start the engine again and head for the +camp--and dinner--they suddenly spied a powerful speed boat coming out +from the Canadian side. It cleaved the water like the blade of a knife, +throwing up a silver wave on either side. And as it passed the +_Lauriette_ Ruth and her companion could see several men in her cockpit. + +"There are those fellows again," Chess remarked. "Wonder what they are up +to? That boat passed our island yesterday evening and the crowd in her +then acted to me as though they were drunk." + +"I should think----Why!" exclaimed Ruth suddenly breaking off in what she +was first going to say, "one of those men is a Chinaman." + +"So he is," agreed Chessleigh Copley. + +"And that little fat man--see him? Why, Chess! it looks like----" + +"Who is it?" asked the young fellow, in surprise at Ruth's excitement. + +"It's Bilby!" gasped Ruth. "That horrid man! I I hoped we had seen the +last of him. And now he's right here where we are working with Wonota." + +She had said so much that she had to explain fully about Bilby, while +they sat and watched the speed boat disappear up the river. Ruth was sure +she had made no mistake in her identification of the rival picture +producer who had made her so much trouble back at the Red Mill. + +"I must tell Mr. Hammond at once," she concluded. "If Bilby is here, he +is here for no good purpose, I can be sure. And if he has a boat like +that at his command, we must keep double watch." + +"You think he would try to abduct Wonota again?" queried Chess. + +"I would believe that fellow capable of anything," she returned. "I mean +anything that did not call for personal courage on his part." + +"Humph!" murmured Chess thoughtfully. "I wonder what he was doing with +the Chinaman in his party. You know, sometimes Chinamen are smuggled +across from Canada against the emigration laws of the States." + +He headed the _Lauriette_ for the camp then, and they arrived there in a +rather serious mood. + + + + +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 in +the room of the main bungalow which he used as an office. "It was growing +dark 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 the +men in that boat plainly. Just as sure as one of them was a Chinaman, the +short, fat man was Horatio Bilby." + +"It doesn't seem possible that the fellow would chase away up here after +us when he so signally failed down below. My lawyer tells me that he had +no real authority from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to secure Wonota's +services, after all." + +"He is a man who would not need much authority to attempt any mean +thing," said the girl hotly. + +"That may be true," admitted Mr. Hammond. "But it seems quite too +sensational." 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_," said +Ruth, with earnestness. "They are good stories, Mr. Hammond. I have read +them." + +"Yes. I believe they are pretty good material for pictures. That is, if +they 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 bought +the picture and dramatic rights to the tales outright. He can find +somebody 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. I +could not begin to see such a price for the girl's services. And on a +mere speculation. But I pointed out to Totantora that, after all, a +promise is only a promise. He and Wonota have already had considerable +hard cash from us," and Mr. Hammond ended with a laugh. + +He was evidently not so much impressed by the possible danger of Bilby's +presence in the Thousand Islands as Ruth could have wished. She +determined herself, however, to be sharply on the watch for the +reappearance of the coarse little fat man who had so troubled her and the +Indians 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 stoicism +of the Osage maiden, Ruth did not know but that Wonota might become +nervous if she knew the plotting Bilby was near at hand. + +The chief listened to Ruth's warning with a certain savage anger in his +look that warned Ruth not to push the suggestion of Bilby's determination +to 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 him +the 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 or +me if you see him." + +Nobody saw Bilby immediately, however; and as several days passed Ruth +began to wonder if, after all, she had not been mistaken in her +identification of the fat man in the boat. + +Meanwhile, the making of the picture went on steadily; but something +else--and something Helen Cameron at least considered of moment--was +planned during this time. + +Many other summer residents of the Thousand Islands besides the Copleys +had now arrived, and the gaiety of the season was at its height. There +was one very large hotel at Alexandria Bay, and it was planned to use its +ballroom for a "big war dance," to quote Helen. It was to be a costume +dance, and everybody that appeared on the floor must be dressed in Indian +costume. + +Wonota helped the chums and the actresses with the Alectrion Film +Corporation who attended, in the getting up of their costumes and the +staining of their faces and arms. The Osage girl herself wore a beautiful +beaded robe, feather-trimmed and brilliantly dyed. It was her "coronation +robe" in the picture she was helping to film. But Mr. Hammond, who +likewise attended the dance, allowed the girl to wear this finery, which +really was part of the "props" of the company. + +Launches were engaged from Chippewa Bay to take most of those from the +camp who attended the dance, either as participants in the costume review +or as spectators, but Chess Copley arranged to come for his particular +friends in the _Lauriette_. + +Helen was tempted to refuse to go in the Copley launch; but when she saw +Jean and Sara Copley beside their brother, she went aboard with Ruth and +Tom. There actually was no friction between the two young men, although +Tom usually addressed Chess by that opprobrious nickname, 'Lasses, while +Chess retorted by scoffing at all the ex-captain's opinions and advice on +any and all subjects. + +Really, had she not felt that she was partly the cause of this mild +strife, Ruth would have laughed at the two. They were, after all, but +grown-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 her +beautiful costume that when they arrived at the hotel the young men at +the 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. Hammond +went on to the floor, having secured a costume, and Mother Paisley, who +acted as chaperon for the moving picture girls, was as light as anybody +on her feet and the embodiment of grace. + +"Actor folk nowadays," the old woman told Ruth once, "are not trained as +they once were. I came of circus folk. My people had been circus +performers in the old country for generations before my father and mother +came over here. My husband was a trapeze performer. + +"And working on the bars makes one supple and limber beyond any other +form of exercise. Afterward, while still a young girl, I was in the +ballet. At least, when one has had my training, one brings to the +speaking stage a grace and carriage that can scarcely be secured in any +other way. + +"As for this moving picture business," she sighed, "I see these poor +girls as awkward as heifers--and they are really learning very little. +They depend upon the director to tell them how a lady should enter a +room, and how to walk. But often the director has never seen a real lady +enter a room! Directors of moving pictures are not masters of deportment +as our old dancing masters were." + +Ruth always listened to strictures upon the moving picture art and gained +what she could from such criticism. And the harshest critics the motion +pictures have are the people who work in them. But, after all, Ruth had a +vision. + +She felt that in spite of all the "great," "grand," "magnificent," +"enormous" pictures already advertised upon the billboards, the public +was still waiting for a really well made and properly written and acted +series of pictures that claimed neither more sensationalism than they +possessed, nor were hastily and carelessly made. + +Ruth liked to work with Mr. Hammond, and he had been very kind and +considerate of her. But she felt that, untrammeled, she would be able to +make 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. Money +could be lavished upon anything spectacular--for instance, like this +French-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, thought +only 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 minds +and intelligence of the audiences. She felt that the pictures could be +something bigger than mere display. + +But this is all aside from the fun they had at the costume dance. Ruth +and Helen both danced with Mr. Hammond and Mr. Grand and with several +others 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 then +got the sixth. He might have gone on all the evening coming back to her +and begging the favor had Ruth not insisted upon his devoting himself to +some of his sisters' friends. + +But, at the same time, Ruth was somewhat piqued because Tom Cameron did +not come near her all the first part of the evening. She could not +understand what the matter really was with him--why he acted in so offish +a manner. + +After that sixth dance (and Ruth had danced them all with one partner or +another) she sent Chess away from her definitely. She went in search of +Tom. The orchestra began playing for the next dance. Ruth looked keenly +about the brilliant assembly. She knew Tom's costume--it was distinctive +and could not be mistaken. But she could not mark it at all in the +throng. + +Two or three men asked her to dance, but she pleaded fatigue and +continued to walk about the edge of the ballroom. Finally, in an alcove, +sitting at an empty table, and with no companion, she spied the recreant +Tom. + +"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 at +his averted face. + +"With nobody. I am waiting for Helen and the rest of you to get enough of +this foolishness and go home." + +"Why, Tom! You--you are not ill?" she ventured, putting out a hand to +touch his shoulder yet not touching it. + +"Not at all, Ruth," he said, and now he glanced up at her. His look was +cold. "Not at all." + +"You are not yourself," she said, more composedly. "What are you thinking +of?" + +"I am thinking," said Tom, looking away again and with the same +moodiness, "that I was a fool to leave the army. That was my job. I +should have stuck to it. I should have used my commission and father's +influence to stay in the army. But it's too late now. I guess I had my +chance and didn't know enough to use it." + +He arose abruptly, bowed stiffly, and walked away. If Tom had actually +slapped her, Ruth could have felt no more hurt. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE KINGDOM OF PIPES + + +Ruth Fielding at first felt only hurt; then she felt angry. She was no +longer the timid, sensitive girl who had faced Jabez Miller when she +first came to the Red Mill with a tremulous smile, to be sure, but tears +standing thick in her eyes. No, indeed! + +The present Ruth Fielding, a young woman of purpose and experience, not +only could hide her feelings--especially if they were hurt ones--but +possessed a saving sense of humor. And to her mind, just a moment later, +Tom Cameron's very military looking shoulders and stride seemed rather +funny. + +He had hurt her; but then, he had hurt her as a boy might. It was true, +perhaps, Tom was not grown up. Ruth considered that she was--very much +so! + +There he was, daring to complain because his army career had ended so +suddenly--wishing that he had remained in uniform. And how would his +father and his sister have felt if he had done so! + +"He's a great, big booby!" Ruth whispered to herself. Then her smile came +back--that wistful, caressing smile--and she shook her head. "But he's +Tom, and he always will be. Dear me! isn't he ever going to grow up?" + +So she hid her hurt and accepted the first partner thereafter who +offered; but it was not Chess. Secretly she knew what the matter with Tom +was. And she was too proud to let the ex-captain see that she cared. +Nevertheless she was sorry that the party from down the river broke up as +they did when the time to go home came. + +She found herself in the Copley's launch again, with Chess' sisters and +the members of the house party the Copleys were entertaining at their +island. This dividing of the clans made it possible for Chess after +letting the others out at the Copley dock, to take Ruth to the moving +picture island alone. + +It was a lovely, soft, moonlight night. The haze over the islands and the +passages between could not be called a fog, but it was almost as +shrouding as a fog. When Chess ran the launch outside into the main +stream, where the current was broad and swift, the haze lay upon the +rippling surface like a blanket. + +They were going very swiftly here, for it was with the current. Suddenly +Chess shut off the engine. The "plop" of the exhaust ceased. They drifted +silently on the bosom of the St. Lawrence. + +"I don't see why I am treated so, Ruth," Chess suddenly burst out. "Do +you know, I'm awfully unhappy?" + +"You poor boy!" said Ruth in her warm-hearted way. "I think you are +over-sensitive." + +"Of course I am sensitive. I shall always be when I am--am--interested in +any person and their treatment of me. It is congenital." + +"Dear, dear!" laughed Ruth. "They have discovered that even incipient +congenital idiocy can be cured by the removal of the adenoids. But I +don't suppose such an operation will help you?" + +"Oh, don't tease a fellow," complained her friend. + +He reached for the throttle, then hesitated. Somewhere in the mist ahead +was the throb of another engine. + +"Who's this?" muttered Chess. + +"Maybe it is Tom--looking for us," said Ruth, chuckling. + +"The gall of him," exclaimed the heated Copley. Then he made a gesture +for silence. A long, quavering "co-ee! co-ee!" came through the mist and +from the south. + +"From one of the islands," said Chess quickly. + +"What island is that over there?" demanded Ruth, in a whisper. "Isn't it +the one we took the first picture on?" + +"It sure is," agreed the young fellow, but wonderingly. + +"The Kingdom of Pipes," murmured Ruth. + +"What's that?" asked Chessleigh. + +Ruth repeated Helen's name for the rocky island on which Ruth had met the +queer old man. "That call came from the island, didn't it?" she asked. + +"I believe it did. What's going on here?" + +"Hush!" begged Ruth. "That launch is coming nearer." + +As she spoke, a moving object appeared in the mist. There was no light +upon this strange craft. Chessleigh shuttered his own cockpit lamp +instantly. + +"Good boy," acclaimed Ruth. "There is something going on here----" + +They heard the call from the island again. There was a low reply from the +strange launch--a whistle. Then the launch pushed on and was hidden by +the mist again from the curious eyes of Ruth and her companion. + +But they knew it had gone close to the island, if it had not really +touched there. Its engine was stilled. All they heard for a time was the +lapping of the waves. + +"I'd like to know what it means," grumbled Chess. + +Ruth agreed. "Let's wait a while. We may hear or see something more." + +"Won't see much, I guess," replied her companion. + +"Never mind. Let the boat drift. We're all right out here in the current, +are we not?" + +"Guess so. It beats my time," said her friend. "They say there is a lot +of smuggling done along the border." + +"Do you say so?" gasped Ruth, clasping her hands and almost as excited as +Helen might have been. "Smugglers! Think of it!" + +"And bad eggs they are." + +"Of course there is no danger?" + +"Danger of what?" he asked. + +"Wouldn't the smugglers hurt us if we caught them?" + +"Don't know. I've got a loaded pistol in the cabin. Guess I'll get it +out," said Chess. + +"I guess you won't!" Ruth exclaimed. "We'll go right away from here +before we get into a fight!" + +"Humph!" grunted Chess. "You don't suppose they would welcome any spies +if they are smugglers, do you?" he asked. + +"But what do they smuggle? Diamonds? Precious stones?" + +"Don't know. Maybe. There is a heavy internal revenue tax on diamonds," +Chess said. + +"Goodness! wouldn't Helen like to be here." + +"She'd want to go ashore and take a hand in it," grinned Copley. "I know +her." + +"Yes, Helen is brave," admitted Ruth. + +"Humph! She's foolish, you mean," he declared. "Whatever and whoever +those fellows are, they would not welcome visitors I fancy." + +Their launch had been drifting by the island, the upper ridge and trees +of which they could see quite plainly. Suddenly a breath of wind--the +forecast of the breeze that often rises toward daybreak--swooped down +upon the river. It split the mist and revealed quite clearly the upper +end of the island where Ruth had interviewed the queer old man, and which +Copley's launch had now drifted past. + +A light showed suddenly, and for a few moments, close to the water's +edge. It revealed enough for the two in the drifting launch to see +several figures outlined in the misty illumination of the light. + +There was the bow of the mysterious boat close against the landing place. +At least three men were in the boat and on the shore. Ruth could not be +sure that either of them was the old man she had spoken with. + +But she and Chess Copley saw that they were unloading something from the +boat--square, seemingly heavy boxes, yet not so heavy that they could not +be passed from hand to hand. One was about all the weight a man might +easily lift. + +"What do you suppose those boxes are?" whispered Ruth, as the Copley +launch drifted into the mist again and the end of the island and the +other boat were blotted out of sight. + +"Give it up. Provisions--supplies. Maybe they are going to camp there. +Lots of people camp out on these smaller islands." + +"The King of the Pipes will have something to say about that," laughed +Ruth. "One thing sure about it," she added the next moment, as Chess +started his engine again. "Those boxes don't contain diamonds." + +"I should say not!" + +"So if we saw smugglers they are smuggling something besides precious +stones," said the girl gaily. "Won't Helen be interested when I tell +her!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A DEMAND IS MADE + + +Helen had gone to bed when Ruth went into their bedroom that morning, and +either she was asleep or did not want to speak to her chum. Ruth felt +that, after what had gone on at the ball at Alexandria Bay, she had +better not wake Helen up to tell her about the strange launch that had +landed at the Kingdom of the Pipes. + +And in the morning the attitude of both Helen and Tom closed Ruth's lips +on all subjects. The twins were plainly offended. Why? Because Ruth had +shown ordinary interest in other people besides themselves! + +At least, that is how Ruth saw it. She thought it very silly for Helen to +be jealous. Tom's jealousy was another matter; but he had brought the +situation on himself. + +For once Ruth was determined not to give in, as she so often did when +Helen showed spleen. Fortunately, Ruth was busy with her picture work, so +she had good reason to excuse herself from much association with the +Cameron twins during the next two days. + +Then something happened to give them all an entirely different topic of +thought and conversation. That day had been spent in taking close-ups and +scenes under the canvas and glass roof of the make-shift studio that had +been built at the camp. The great pageant of historical times along the +St. Lawrence was moving swiftly on its way. The scenes of a picture are +seldom taken in any sequence at all, but Mr. Hooley had gone so far now +that the bulk of the scenes had been filmed; and as they had been run off +in the little projection room, both Mr. Hammond and Ruth had expressed +their approval of almost every finished length of celluloid. + +The work was practically over for the day at four o'clock and the actors +in their costumes--especially the Indians, including Wonota and her +father--made a brilliant picture as they wandered about the lawns and in +and out of the several bungalows on the island. + +From the direction of Chippewa Bay appeared a chugging motor-launch that +came directly to the dock. It was not one of the hired launches used by +the picture company, nor were those in the launch men who had anything to +do with Mr. Hammond's corporation. + +But when Ruth idly looked into the launch from her seat with Helen and +Miss Keith and Mrs. Paisley on the porch of their house, the girl of the +Red Mill got up suddenly, uttering an astonished exclamation: + +"That horrid man again!" + +"Hoity-toity!" exclaimed Mrs. Paisley. "What man deserves such a title as +that, Miss Fielding?" + +"That Bilby!" exclaimed Ruth. "I just felt it in my bones--like Aunt +Alvirah--that that creature would annoy us again." + +"Then you are not disappointed," said Helen drily. "Is that the +fellow--that big gawk in the blue suit?" + +"No, no! I don't know him," said Ruth. "The little fat man tagging after +the big fellow." + +For two men from the launch had now stepped ashore. In accordance with +orders from Mr. Hammond, the visitors were stopped at the head of the +dock. Nobody was allowed on the island without invitation or a permit. + +"Let me tell you," said the man in blue pompously, "that I am a county +officer. You'd better have a care, young fellow." + +"Say! I don't care if you are the King of the Yaps," said Willie, the +boatman. "I have my orders. This is private property. Stay where you +are--right where you are, mind!--till I send for the boss." + +"You send for them two Injuns--that is who our business is with," put in +Bilby. "That Totantora and Wonota. I want to see them--not that Hammond." + +Ruth had run to another house to warn those very individuals to get out +of the way and to keep out of sight until Bilby's visit was over. She did +not know, of course, who the big man in blue was. + +The latter was inclined to be pompous and commanding, even when Mr. +Hammond came down to the head of the dock to see him. It was evident that +Bilby's money felt warm in the deputy sheriff's pocket, and he was +determined to give the little fat man full weight for his cash. + +"This here business is something that can be settled without any row, Mr. +Hammond--if that's your name," said the officer, puffingly. + +"It is my name, all right," returned the president of the Alectrion +Corporation. "And I don't expect any row. What do you want--and that +fellow behind you?" + +Horatio Bilby grinned rather sheepishly. "Well, you know, Mr. Hammond, +all's fair in love and war." + +"This is certainly not love," said the moving picture man. "Now, what do +you both want?" + +"You are ordered to bring two people into court," said the deputy +sheriff, "and show cause why they shouldn't be handed over to Mr. Bilby +pending certain proceedings to break their contract with you." + +"Blunt enough," admitted Mr. Hammond, but without excitement. "Let's see: +You have a paper of some kind, I suppose, to serve on me?" + +"I've a summons for you," said the officer, drawing forth some papers, +"and I propose to take the two Indians back to the Bay with me." + +"You can serve me, and I will arrange for my representative to appear for +me in your court," said Hammond. "But Totantora, to whom I suppose you +refer, is a citizen of the United States, and you will have to find him +to serve him." + +"He's nothing but an Injun!" squealed Bilby, in wrath. + +"Being an Osage Indian, and owning properly surveyed oil lands in +Oklahoma, the Government has acknowledged his citizenship," was the quiet +reply. "He certainly is a good American and will doubtless answer to any +court demand--if you can serve him legally." + +"You got him hid away somewhere?" demanded the deputy sheriff. + +"And the girl, too!" cried Bilby. "I want the girl more than I do the +crazy old Indian." + +"You'll think he's crazy if he ever sets eyes on you again, Mr. Bilby," +was Mr. Hammond's warning. "He hasn't forgotten you." + +Bilby drew back--and he looked frightened, too. "I--I don't want him +right now," he muttered. + +Hammond accepted the summons of the local court, glanced at it, and put +it in his pocket. + +"I see I have five days' grace," he remarked. "All right. I will see that +proper representation is made before the court." + +"But we want them Indians," said the deputy. + +"This island is private property. I have hired its use for a certain +term. I will allow you on it only under proper legal motion. Have you a +search warrant?" Hammond asked the deputy. + +"I ain't got a warrant. I don't need a warrant for a couple of Indians. +They ain't got any standing in this community. I know Indians all right. +You give 'em over." + +"I do not even acknowledge that the two individuals you demand are under +my control. At least, I know very well that no United States court can +touch the young woman, Wonota, except through her guardian. That guardian +is her father. I don't see him here--do you?" + +"You'd better produce him," threatened the deputy. + +"You can't make me. Go back and get proper authority--if you can," +advised Mr. Hammond. "And don't come here again--either of you--without +proper authority. Willie!" + +"On the job," said the boatman, grinning. + +"Don't let these fellows upon the island again--not even on the dock. Not +unless they are armed with a proper warrant." + +He turned his back on the visitors and started toward the nearest +bungalow. + +"You'll be sorry for this, Hammond!" shouted Horatio Bilby. "I'll get you +yet, and don't you forget it." + +"To get me, as you call it, you will have to have both right and might on +your side, Bilby. And just now you do not seem to have either," was the +Parthian shot the president of the Alectrion Corporation sent over his +shoulder. + +Willie hustled the deputy and the fat man back into their launch. + +"Go on away from here," advised Willie. "I know you, Tom Satchett--known +you all my life. All you are fit for is to jump a few fishermen and game +hunters that break the law. This job is too big for you. You're up +against money and influence, both, this time." + +"I won't forget you, Willie," growled the deputy. "You'll want something +of me some time----" + +"I want something of you right now," put in the boatman. "A good reason +for punching you. Go on into your boat before I find it." + +So the pair retreated. But Ruth came to Mr. Hammond in some little +disturbance. + +"What shall we do?" she demanded. "Suppose they take Wonota away before +the picture is finished?" + +"They won't. At least, I don't believe the court will allow it. I will +telegraph to a good lawyer and have him come up here and watch +proceedings." + +"But, if it should happen, we would be in a bad fix, Mr. Hammond. Mr. +Hooley says nobody could double for Wonota." + +"Let's not cross bridges until we come to them," returned her friend. + +But perhaps Mr. Hammond felt less confidence than he managed to get into +his voice and appearance at that moment. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE YELLOW LADY + + +There could be no further haste about the making of the picture, "The +Long Lane's Turning." Although most of the big scenes were already shot, +those that remained to do held in them the more poignant action of the +piece and must be rehearsed over and over again. + +Much time is sometimes spent upon a single scene--a few feet of a reel. +Infinite patience, repetition and experimenting go into the making of a +pictured story. Infinite detail and a close attention to that detail make +the successful picture. + +To stage a "big" scene may seem to be a marvelous feat of the director. +But in a big scene, with a large number of actors, the latter are divided +into groups, each group has its captain, and each individual actor has to +follow the lead of his particular captain. The groups are trained and +perfected in every little motion before they come into the real scene +before the camera. + +Thus the allegorical picture that was a prologue to "The Long Lane's +Turning" had been gone over and rehearsed again and again by the +principal actors in it, even before the company left New York City. + +Now, with all these "big" scenes filmed, the more difficult work of +making the individual scenes of action came to the fore. Wonota had to be +coached over and over again in her scenes with Mr. Grand and Miss Keith. +Both the latter were well-practised screen actors and could register the +ordinary gamut of emotions as easily as they ate their breakfast or +powdered their noses. + +With Wonota, however, it was different. In the first place, she came of a +tribe of people in whom it was bred to smother all expression of +emotion--even the most poignant. Wonota almost worshiped her father; but +did she ever look upon Chief Totantora with a smile of pride or with +affection beaming in her eyes? + +"Not so you'd notice it," said Helen, on one occasion. "Ordinarily, as +far as her looks go, Totantora might be a stranger to her." + +"Is there any wonder, then," sighed Ruth, "that we find it so hard to +make her register affection for Mr. Grand? And she already should have +learned to do that in that first picture we took out West." + +"Maybe that's the reason," said Helen wickedly. "If she did not know Mr. +Grand's foibles so well, she might the better show interest in him. +Goodness knows he's handsome enough." + +"Better than that, he can act," said Ruth thoughtfully. "Not many of +these handsome screen heroes can do that. But perhaps if Wonota did not +disdain him so much (and she does, secretly) she could play up to him +better." + +"Is there much more for her to do?" Helen asked, with renewed interest. + +"Several scenes--and some of them most important. Mr. Hooley can not give +all his time to her. I am trying to coach her in them. But there is so +much going on here at the island----" + +"Why not take her away to some other place and just pound it into her?" + +"Not to the Kingdom of Pipes!" laughed Ruth suddenly. + +"No. Let the old pirate have that place to his heart's content. But there +are other islands." + +"True enough. Fourteen hundred of them." + +"Come on!" exclaimed the energetic Helen. "Let's get Willie and the _Gem_ +and go somewhere with Wonota. You've all day to hammer at her. Get your +continuity and try to get it into Wonota's head that she is deeply and +desperately in love with Grand." + +In spite of Helen's brusk way of speaking, Ruth decided that her idea +might be well worth following. Helen took some knitting and a +parasol--and a hamper. Ruth gathered her necessary books and script; and +likewise got Wonota. Then they boarded the launch and Willie took them up +the river to a tiny islet not far from the Kingdom of Pipes, after all. + +"I don't see anybody moving over there," Helen remarked, as Willie landed +them at the islet selected. She was looking at the island on which Ruth +had had her adventure with the King of the Pipes. "It looks deserted +enough. We might have gone there just as well as not." + +"I feel as well satisfied to keep away from that queer old fellow," her +chum said. + +"Who's that?" asked Willie, the boatman, overhearing their remarks. + +Ruth told him about the strange man, and Willie laughed. + +"Oh! That old jigger? Was he the fellow the boss wanted we should shoo +off that island? Why didn't he say so? Old Charley-Horse Pond. We all +know him about here." + +"Oh!" cried Helen. "Is he crazy?" + +"Not enough to make any difference. Just got a twist in his brain. Calls +himself a king, does he? Mebbe he will be a duke or an emperor next time. +Or a doctor. Can't tell. He gets fancies." + +"And of course he is not dangerous?" said Ruth. + +"Just about as dangerous as a fly," drawled Willie. "And not so much. For +flies bite--sometimes, and old Charley-Horse Pond ain't even got teeth to +bite with. No, Ma'am!" + +"But what are the 'pipes' he talks about? Why 'King of the Pipes'?" +demanded the insistent Helen. + +"Got me. Never heard of 'em," declared Willie. "Now, you ladies all right +here?" + +"All right, Willie," said Ruth as the _Gem_ was backed off the island. + +"I'll come for you at half past three, eh? That's all right, then," and +the boatman was off. + +The three girls, really glad to be away from the crowd and the confusion +of the moving picture camp, settled down to several hours of +companionship. Helen could be silent if she pleased, and with her +knitting and a novel proceeded to curl up under a tamarack tree and bury +herself for the time being. + +Helen had not, however, forgotten the "inner woman," as she pronounced +it. When lunch time came she opened the covered basket which she had +brought in addition to the book and the knitting, and produced sandwiches +and cake, besides the wherewithal for the making of a cup of tea over a +can of solidified alcohol. They lunched famously. + +It was while they were thus engaged, and chatting, that the staccato +exhaust of a motor-boat drew their attention to the Island of Pipes. From +the other side, a boat was poking around into the passage leading to the +American shore. + +"My goodness!" exclaimed Helen, "the King of the Pipes isn't in that +boat, is he?" + +"Not at all," Ruth assured her. "I see nobody who looks like him among +those men--" + +"All are not men, Miss Ruth," interrupted Wonota, the keen-eyed. + +"What do you mean, Wonota?" gasped Helen, whirling around to gaze again +at the passing launch. + +But Ruth did not say a word. She had been examining the boat closely. She +saw it was the very speedy boat she and Chess Copley had seen out on the +wider part of the river several weeks before. The launch was not moving +rapidly now, but Ruth was sure that it was a powerful craft. + +It was Helen who marked the figure Wonota had spoken of in the boat. It +certainly did not appear to be a man. + +"Why Ruth! See! That is a woman!" + +"A yellow-faced lady," said Wonota calmly. "I saw her first, Miss Ruth." + +All three of the girls on the island stared after the moving motor-boat. +Ruth saw the woman. She was dressed plainly but in modern garments. She +did not seem to be one of the summer visitors to the islands. Indeed, her +clothing--such as could be seen--pointed to city breeding, but nothing +was chosen, it would seem, for wear in such a place as this. She might +have been on a ferryboat going from shore to shore of the Hudson! + +"She _is_ a yellow lady," Wonota repeated earnestly. + +"I should say she was!" exclaimed Helen. "What do you think of her, +Ruth?" + +"I am sure I do not know what to say," the girl of the Red Mill answered. +"Does she look like a white woman to you, Helen?" + +"She is yellow," reiterated Wonota. + +"She certainly is not an Indian," observed Helen. "What say, Ruth?" + +"She surely is not," agreed her chum. + +"A yellow lady," murmured Wonota again, as the boat drew behind another +island and there remained out of sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MAROONED + + +"I wonder if the boat did come from that island over yonder?" Ruth +murmured, 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 hesitated +again. + +"It does seem queer," said Ruth thoughtfully. "Other people go there +besides 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 she +and Chess Copley had seen early one morning. + +"Men landing boxes on the island?" cried Helen, while Wonota merely +looked puzzled. "There is a camp there, like enough. And those men--and +the woman--in the launch might have come from there, of course. When +Willie comes back for us, let's sail around the island and see if we can +spy 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, Willie +and the _Gem_ did not return for them. The camp launch was not the first +craft that appeared. Ruth was again coaching Wonota after lunch when +Helen spied something on the water that caused her to cry out, drawing +the other girls' attention. + +"Who under the sun is this coming in the canoe?" Helen demanded. "Why! he +is making it fairly fly. I never!" + +Wonota scarcely glanced in the direction of the distant moving picture +camp, 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. No +such paddling had the two white girls ever seen before. Not a motion was +lost on the part of Chief Totantora. Every stroke of his paddle drove the +craft 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 to +explain--the canoe came close in to the bank of the island, was swerved +dexterously, and Totantora leaped ashore--a feat not at all easy to +perform without overturning the canoe. It scarcely rocked. + +He stooped and held it from scraping against the rock, and shot up at his +daughter several brief sentences in their own tongue. He paid no +attention to Ruth, even, although she stepped forward and asked what his +errand 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 Island +that was in view from where they stood. "It is said by Mr. Hammond that +yonder the man with the little green eyes--the fat man--cannot have us +taken." + +"For goodness' sake!" gasped Helen, "she's talking of that Bilby, isn't +she?" + +"What does it mean? Has Bilby come again?" cried Ruth, speaking directly +to Totantora. + +"We go," said the chief. "Hammond, he say so. Now. They come for me and +for Wonota with talking papers from the white man's court." + +"Then Mr. Hammond's lawyer could not do all Mr. Hammond expected," sighed +Ruth. "The picture will be ruined." + +"I never heard of such a thing," cried Helen angrily. "I'd like to know +what 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 have +stepped into the canoe. + +"Wait," she urged. "Tell me more, Totantora. Where are you taking +Wonota?" + +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 there +to 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 not +need much. We shall live quietly there until Mr. Hammond sends for us. We +will be faithful to you, Miss Ruth." + +She turned, with more impulsiveness than she usually showed, and kissed +the white girl's cheek. + +"You are so good to me!" she cried. "I will not forget all you have +taught me. And I will rehearse every day so to be perfect when Mr. Hooley +wants me again." + +There was no way to stop her. Indeed, as Mr. Hammond had advised this +sudden move, Ruth knew she had no right to interfere. It was evident that +an emergency had arisen of which she, herself, knew nothing. In some way +the enemy had forced Mr. Hammond's hand. Totantora and his daughter were +in danger of being brought into court after all, and Mr. Hammond did not +wish that to come about. + +The Indian girl stepped lightly into the canoe and picked up the extra +paddle. Her father leaped in after her, pushed the light craft away from +the rock, and seized his own paddle. In another moment the canoe shot +away 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 was +Helen 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 no +joke." + +Ruth herself admitted it was nothing to laugh about. She saw difficulties +in the way of the completion of "The Long Lane's Turning" of which Helen +knew but little--or of which she did not think. + +Ruth knew that there were scenes--some of them she had been studying with +Wonota this day--that could not be changed nor eliminated. Wonota must be +in them. No "double" could be used. + +In the first place, the Indian girl's personality was distinct. It could +not easily be matched. + +Ruth knew that, even at that time, one of the most popular screen +actresses, because of her inability longer to look the child, was using a +double for all her "close-ups" when she was forced to play those childish +parts that a hungry public of "movie fans" demanded. + +Nothing like this would save "The Long Lane's Turning." The throne room +scene in Paris, which was yet to be photographed, was too delicate a +matter to put in the hands of any double. Wonota was herself--even in +this picture she was a distinct personality--and she must be shown to the +very end of the last reel and the last "fade-out." + +The thoughts caused Ruth to feel very, very sober. Helen looked at her +with some appreciation of her chum's despair; yet she could not +appreciate the situation in full. + +Suddenly the lighter-minded Helen leaped to her feet from the bank on +which 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 mutineers +and deserted--a pair of Robinson Crusoesses!" + +"Your English--" + +"Bother my English!" + +"It would surely bother Mrs. Tellingham--if she could hear it, poor +dear." + +"Now, don't sidetrack me," remarked Helen. "Don't you see we are cast +away on this desert isle with no means of getting back to the camp unless +we swim?" + +"Willie will be after us." + +"But, will 'e?" asked the roguish Helen, punning on the boatman's name. + +"Do be sensible--" + +"Even good sense will not rescue us," interrupted Helen. "I'd like to get +back to camp and hear all the exciting details. Totantora certainly can +say less in a few moments than any person I ever saw. And Wonota is not +much better." + +"It does not matter how much they said or how little. The fat is all in +the fire, I guess," groaned Ruth. + +"Chirk up! Something is sure to turn up, I suppose. We won't be left here +to starve," and Helen's eyes flashed her fun. + +"Oh, _you_!" began Ruth, half laughing too. Then she stopped and held up +her hand. "What's that?" she whispered. + +The sound was repeated. A long-drawn "co-ee! co-ee!" which drained away +into the depths of the forest-covered islands all about them. They were +not 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. It +comes 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 Helen +swiftly more of that early morning incident she and Chess Copley had +observed when they saw the boxes carried ashore from the motor-boat. + +"Seems to me," grumbled Helen, "you have a lot of adventures with 'Lasses +Copley, Ruth." + +"Your own fault that you don't," returned her chum promptly. "You could +have been along. But you don't like Mr. Copley." + +"What has that to do with it?" rejoined Helen smartly. "I would go +adventuring 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 there +really seemed to be necessity for. + +"I--de-clare!" murmured Helen. "Really! Does the wind sit in that +quarter?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A DETERMINATION + + +However the wind might sit and whatever may have been her secret opinion +of Ruth Fielding's interest in Chessleigh Copley, Helen suddenly became +mute regarding that young man. + +But, after a moment, she was not at all mute upon the subject of the King +of the Pipes and what might be going on on the island where they believed +the queer old man had his headquarters. + +"If it should be smugglers over there--only fancy!" sighed Helen +ecstatically. "Diamonds and silks and lots of precious things! My, oh, +my!" + +"Better than pirates?" laughed Ruth. + +"Consider!" cried her chum boldly. "I said that island looked like a +pirate's den from the start." + +"Your fore-sight-hind-sight is wonderful," declared Ruth, shaking her +head and making big eyes at her friend. + +"Don't laugh--Oh! What's that?" + +From over the water, and unmistakably from the rocky island on the summit +of which the blasted beech stood--a prominent landmark--came the strange +cry, "co-ee! co-ee!" which they had heard before. + +"Do you suppose that poor old man is calling for help?" hesitated Ruth. + +"Your grandmother's aunt!" ejaculated Helen, in disgust. + +"We-ell that is even a more roundabout relationship than that between +Aunt Alvirah Boggs and me. Poor old soul, she is nobody's relation, as +she often says, but everybody's aunt." + +"There goes the signal again, and here comes that boat!" exclaimed Helen +suddenly. + +"What boat?" demanded Ruth, looking in the direction of the distant +Canadian island, toward which the canoe, with Totantora and Wonota in it, +had now disappeared. + +"Turn around--do!" exclaimed Helen. "This way. That is the same boat we +saw going by some time ago. The boat with the yellow lady in it, as +Wonota called her." + +"This is very strange," murmured Ruth. + +"But the yellow lady is not with those men now," said Helen. + +"I do not see any woman aboard," admitted her friend. + +The boat--going not so fast now--crossed their line of vision and finally +rounded the end of the island on which the two chums believed the queer +old man resided. At least, somebody had uttered the strange, shrill cry +from that very spot. + +"Oh, dear! If we were not marooned here!" grumbled Helen. + +"What would you do?" + +"If we had a boat--even a canoe--we could follow that motor-launch and +see if those pirates make a landing." + +"Pirates!" repeated Ruth. + +"Smugglers, then. Your own Chess Copley says they may be smugglers, you +know." + +"I wish you would not speak in that way, Helen," objected Ruth. "He is +not my Chess Copley----or anything else." + +"Well, he certainly isn't mine," retorted Helen, with more gaiety. "I +can't say I approve of him--and I long since told you why." + +"I believe you are unfair, Helen," said Ruth seriously. + +"Dear me! if you don't care anything about him, why are you so anxious to +have me change my opinion of 'Lasses?" + +"For your own sake," said her friend shortly. + +"I wonder! For _my_ sake?" + +"Yes. Because you are not naturally unfair--and Chess feels it." + +"Oh, he does, does he?" snapped Helen. "I hope he does. Let him feel!" + +This heartless observation closed Ruth's lips on the subject. The two +girls watched the other island. They did not see the boat again. Nor did +they see anybody on the island or hear any other cry from there. + +They both began to grow anxious. No boat appeared from the direction of +the camp, and it was past the hour now when Willie was to have called for +them with the _Gem_. Why didn't he come? + +"Of course, Mr. Hammond doesn't expect us to swim home," complained +Helen. + +"Something must have occurred. Totantora's being sent off so suddenly +really worries me. Perhaps Mr. Hammond himself was obliged to leave the +camp and perhaps he went in the _Gem_, and Willie cannot return for us +until later." + +"But where is Tom? Surely he must know all about this sudden trouble." + +"What was Tom going to do to-day?" asked Ruth quietly. + +"Oh, that's so! I had forgotten," said Tom's sister, in despair. "He was +going around to Oak Point with some of the men. That's down the river, +beyond Chippewa Point, and they could scarcely get back in the other +motor-boat before dark." + +"That's the answer, I guess," sighed Ruth. + +"Then we are marooned!" ejaculated Helen. "I do think it is too mean--and +my goodness! we ate every crumb of lunch." + +"The two 'Robinson Crusoesses,' then, may have to go on short rations," +but Ruth said it with a smile. "I guess we are not in any real danger of +starvation, however." + +"Just the same, a joke can easily become serious when one is deserted on +a desert island." + +"But you were looking for adventure," retorted Ruth. + +"Well!" + +"Now you have it," said Ruth, but soberly. "And worrying about it will +not help us a particle. Might as well be cheerful." + +"You are as full of old saws as a carpenter's abandoned tool-chest," said +Helen smartly. "Oh! What is this I hear? The smuggler's boat again?" + +They did hear a motor, but no boat appeared from the other side of the +Kingdom of Pipes. The sound drew nearer. The motor-boat was coming down +the river, through a passage between the island where the girls were and +the American side. + +"Come on! I don't care who it is," cried Helen, starting to run through +the bushes. "We'll hail them and ask them for rescue." + +But when she came in sight of the craft, to Ruth's surprise Helen did not +at once shout. Ruth only saw the bow of the boat coming down stream +herself; but suddenly she marked the small name-board with its gilt +lettering: + + LAURIETTE + +"Here's Chess, I do believe!" she cried. + +"Humph!" grumbled Helen. + +"Now, Helen Cameron!" gasped Ruth, "are you going to be foolish enough to +refuse to be taken off this island by Chessleigh Copley?" + +"Didn't say I was." + +"And don't be unkind to him!" pleaded Ruth. + +"You seem so terribly fond of him that I guess he won't mind how I treat +him." + +"You know better," Ruth told her admonishingly. "Chess thinks a great +deal of you, while you treat him too unkindly for utterance." + +"He'd better not think of me too much," said Helen scornfully. "His head +won't stand it. Tom says 'Lasses never was strong in the deeper strata of +college learning." + +Ruth was not to be drawn into any controversy. She called to the young +man when, dressed in flannels and standing at his wheel and engine, he +came into view. + +"Hurrah! Here's good luck!" shouted Chess, swerving the bow of the +_Lauriette_ in toward the island instantly. + +"Hurrah! Glad you think it's good luck," said Helen sulkily. "I guess you +never were marooned." + +"That's navy blue you've got on--not maroon," said Chess soberly. "Do you +suppose I am color-blind?" + +"Smarty!" + +"Now, children, this is too serious a matter to quarrel over," admonished +Ruth, but smiling because her chum showed, after all, interest enough in +the young man to be "scrappy." "What do you suppose we have seen, Chess?" + +"I'd like to know first of all how you came here without a boat?" + +"My goodness, yes!" gasped Helen. "I'd almost forgotten about Wonota and +Totantora." + +Ruth shook her head. "I am not likely to forget that," she said. + +She explained to the young man as they got into the launch and he pushed +out from the shore about the difficulty that had arisen over the Indians. +He was naturally deeply interested in Ruth's trouble and in the fate of +the Indians. But on top of that Helen eagerly told about the speedy +launch, the yellow lady, and their suspicions regarding what was going on +at the island that they had nicknamed the Kingdom of Pipes. + +"I tell you what," Chess said, quite as eagerly as Helen, "I was coming +over to take you all for a sail on the river to-night. Let's get Tom and +just us four keep watch on that island. I believe there is something +going on there that ought to be looked into." + +"I--I don't know that it is our business to look into it," suggested +Ruth, doubtfully. + +But for once Helen agreed with Chess, and against Ruth's better judgment +it was determined to come back to this locality after dinner and lurk +about the mysterious island in the Copley launch. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BILBY'S TRUMP CARD + + +Naturally, Ruth went in search of Mr. Hammond the moment she landed on +the island where the moving picture company was established. But, as she +saw that the _Gem_ was not at the dock, she scarcely expected to find the +president of the company at hand--and in that expectation she was not +mistaken. + +Mr. Hooley, the director, however, told her what he knew about the +occurrence that had started Totantora so madly from the island in the +canoe. Bilby and whoever it was that backed him in his enterprise were +evidently determined to obtain the services of Wonota, the Osage +princess, if it could be brought about. + +"Looks to me," said the director, "as though we were going to have some +trouble finishing this picture, Miss Fielding." + +"We can't finish it without Wonota!" cried the girl. + +"You don't think you could rewrite the remaining scenes so that we can +keep on to the conclusion?" he asked thoughtfully. + +"Why, Mr. Hooley! How about the throne-room scene? Wonota must appear in +that. You say yourself that we cannot use anybody in her place." + +"How about cutting out that scene? Finish the play on this side of the +water. Don't go to France at all." + +"Then the picture is spoiled!" + +"No picture is spoiled until it goes out of our hands, you know," and Mr. +Hooley smiled satirically. "You know how it is in the picture business, +Miss Fielding. Some unfortunate producer buys a script or a story. The +scenario writer 'saves' the story by his work on the script. Then the +continuity man 'saves' it a second time. Then the director 'saves' it +after he gets it into his hands. We know that the star performer always +'saves' it again. And then the film cutter and the title writer each +'save' it. + +"Most pictures are 'saved' in this way by the omniscience of all who work +on it so that, when it is finally produced, the writer seldom recognizes +more than a glimmer of his original idea in the final product. + +"You are much better treated than most picture writers, you know very +well. And here you have a chance to 'save' your own work," and Mr. Hooley +finished with a laugh. + +"It is no laughing matter," she told him. "I wanted this to be a really +big picture. And I do not want to cut out Wonota. Without that +throne-room scene it will fall flat." + +"We should have taken it in New York," grumbled Mr. Hooley. "I felt it at +the time. But Mr. Hammond contracted for so many weeks' use of this +island and the time is running out already." + +"And Wonota and Totantora are gone!" + +"Exactly." + +"Do you know where they have gone?" + +"Haven't the least idea. But Mr. Hammond knows." + +"He went to town?" asked Ruth thoughtfully. + +"He has gone to confer with the lawyers and see if they can get the court +to vacate the injunction issued against our use of Wonota. Bilby and the +sheriff came again. They had a warrant this time. It called for the +production of Wonota. Luckily you had her off the island at the time. +They searched every nook and cranny, and meanwhile Totantora got away. +They wanted him too." + +"I think that Bilby is too mean for words!" + +"Well, I take it that it was his trump card. He must have some powerful +influence behind him. But--" + +"But what, Mr. Hooley?" asked Ruth eagerly. + +"I can see how we might get over the difficulty if the courts will not +listen to reason." + +"Oh! Do tell me!" + +"We can move the whole company over the Canadian border, and before Bilby +can do anything over there we'll have finished 'The Long Lane's Turning.' +That's the only way I see out of the mess." + +"But think of the expense!" + +"Sure! I'm thinking of that all the time," grumbled Hooley. "And don't +you forget that the boss never allows me to lose sight of it. Your +interest in this picture is greater than mine, Miss Fielding; but my job +is sort of tangled up in it, too. Mr. Hammond is a good man; but he is a +good business man first of all. I am afraid that you will be obliged to +make some changes in the remaining scenes so as to overcome the +difficulty of losing Wonota." + +"I will not do it!" cried the girl, this time in anger. + +"Better read your contract. If you won't do it, somebody else will have +to. You know, we've got a man at the studio who could change Hamlet into +a slap-stick comedy over night, if the emergency arose." + +"I will not agree to have my picture ruined," said Ruth, almost in tears. + +"That isn't the way to look at it," Hooley observed more kindly. "Just +see that you save your story yourself instead of letting some other +person do it for you. That's the answer, I fear." + +Ruth had no appetite for dinner that evening, but she was obliged to meet +her friends and the actors and actresses who ate at her table with at +least an appearance of cheerfulness. + +It was impressed upon her mind more deeply than ever before, however, +that her arrangement with the Alectrion Film Corporation was not wholly +satisfactory. She had learned so much now about the making of a screen +picture that often her advice in the directing of the action was accepted +with admiration by Mr. Hooley. Mr. Hammond was not afraid to go away and +leave the two to film the most important scenes in a script. + +And why should she be tied to certain agreements that cramped her? +Especially in a case of this kind. For the sake of saving expense Mr. +Hammond was likely to insist that the artistic part of "The Long Lane's +Turning" should be sacrificed. + +Ruth felt that on her part she would spend twenty-five thousand dollars +more (if she had it to spend) in shipping the whole company over the +border and making the remainder of the picture in Canada. + +"I am going to be in a position some time where I shall have the say as +to every detail of the picture," she told herself. "I want to be my own +manager and my own producer. Otherwise I shall never be happy--nor will I +ever be sure of making worth-while pictures." + +For Ruth took this career of hers very seriously indeed. Because she did +so, perhaps, the fact that Tom Cameron seemed to consider his work so +lightly caused Ruth to criticise the young man harshly. That could only +be expected. + +Tom did not return for dinner. Nor did Mr. Hammond come back to +headquarters. Chess Copley was eager to get the girls out in his +_Lauriette_ again. + +"Pooh! it's nothing much, I guess," said Helen, seemingly having lost her +first interest in the smugglers and the King of the Pipes. "And, anyway, +I shall not go unless Tom is with us." + +"Why, Helen!" cried Ruth, "I thought you were so eager." + +"Well, perhaps. If Tom went." + +"But we promised Chess." + +"You promised him. He wants to do it because you are going." + +"Now, Helen, you know--" + +"I know just what I am saying. I have no interest in 'Lasses Copley. You +have." + +"You are the most exasperating girl!" exclaimed Ruth, in some warmth. + +They were in their room freshening their toilets for the evening. + +"I don't seem to suit you any more than Tom does," said her chum coolly. + +"I declare, Helen! you go too far." + +"I shan't go too far this time--without Tom." Helen laughed in a +provoking way. "You can run along with your Chessleigh if you like. Not +me!" + +"That is just what I will do," said Ruth quietly, but with flashing eyes. +"I would not insult him by refusing--now. I will tell him you have a +headache and cannot come." + +"Do as you like," was the ungracious reply. "You are crazy about Chess, I +guess." + +"I believe you are jealous, Helen Cameron!" cried Ruth, in wonder. + +"I don't know why I should be," returned Helen lightly. "I've no interest +in Chess Copley. And I haven't had since--" + +"Since when, I'd like to know?" + +"Since I found him out. So now! That's enough. I am not going. Unless, of +course, Tom returns and wants me to go along with you and Chess." + +What more was there to say? Ruth did not wish to disappoint Chessleigh. +She felt that Helen Cameron had no reason for treating the young man as +she did. + +So, as she had done before, and without much interest in the evening +sailing party, Ruth left the bungalow to join the waiting Chessleigh at +the dock. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SUSPENSE + + +Tom and his party in the other motor-boat had not appeared, nor had the +_Gem_ come back from the town of Chippewa Bay with Mr. Hammond. Why +should not Ruth and Chessleigh spy about among the islands for a time? + +It was not now moonlight; and there was some haze which gave a +smouldering effect to the stars peering through it. But these soft, hazy +nights had their own charm and Ruth had come to love them. + +Especially on the water. Amid the tamarack-clothed islets the motor-boats +crept in and out in a delightful way. To lie on the cushions in the +cockpit of the _Lauriette_ and bask in the pearly starlight was an +experience the girl from Cheslow was not likely to forget. + +To-night, when the _Lauriette_ got away from the moving picture camp, +there were no other boats in sight. Chess dimmed his lights and the craft +crept through the narrow passages between the islands, heading up stream. + +"My idea," he said, "is to land at the back of that island--" + +"The Kingdom of Pipes?" interrupted Ruth in surprise. + +"Yes. Where you say you landed before--twice." + +"Oh!" + +"That is, if we see nothing or nobody about." + +"I don't think we'd better take any great risk--only two of us," observed +Ruth, with her usual caution. + +"Of course, we won't walk right into danger." + +"I should hope not! And just what are we going for, anyway?" and she +suddenly laughed. + +"Why, I'm curious about those fellows," said the young man. "And I +thought you were." + +"I'm curious about the King of the Pipes. Charley-Horse Pond, Willie +calls him." + +"Queer old boy, I guess," admitted Chess. "But I want to know more about +those chaps who unloaded the boxes." + +"What could have been in the boxes? Surely there is no camping party on +that island. At least, no pleasure party." + +"I fancy not. If you ask me about the boxes, I am puzzled. Yet, I've a +glimmer of an idea--Are you sure that was a woman with them to-day in +their boat?" + +"Wonota called her the yellow lady. And Wonota has good eyes." + +"With a yellow face, yes? And we saw a Chinaman in the boat that other +time on the river," said Chess quickly. + +"Surely she wasn't a Chinese woman? Yet, she might have been." + +"Chinese women aren't usually smuggled over the border, I guess," +muttered the young fellow. "But Chinese men are." + +"Perhaps we should have reported it to the authorities," Ruth suggested. + +"Not until we are sure there is really something wrong. I don't want to +be laughed at, you know." + +But Ruth just then had considered another phase of the matter. + +"Oh!" she cried. "There's Bilby! He was in it!" + +"In what?" + +"In that boat when we first saw it. When we saw the Chinaman, you know, +out on the Canadian side of the river. If there is anything wrong about +these men--and the King of the Pipes--Bilby is mixed up with them." + +"I guess you are right, Ruth. Maybe that fellow is into more queer games +than just trying to grab your Osage princess." + +"But more than that," said Ruth much worried now, "he may have so many +friends on the Canadian side that he can trace Wonota and her father over +there on Grenadier Island." + +"Better warn Mr. Hammond when he comes back from town," suggested her +friend. "That Bilby seems to be universally troublesome. I'll say he is!" + +They kept quiet after that, for the outline of the rocky island, with the +blasted beech visible at its summit, came into view. Nothing stirred upon +the island, nor was there any other boat in sight. + +"Had we better venture ashore?" breathed Ruth, again in doubt. + +"Come on. Let's try it. I've got an electric torch in my pocket. We can +find our way all over the island with that." + +It was true that the girl of the Red Mill felt some trepidation, but she +had confidence in her companion's muscle and courage if not in his +caution. Besides, she was very curious about the queer old man and the +doings on his island. + +Chess shut off the engine of the _Lauriette_ some distance from the +island; but first he had gone above the rocky landing, so that the +sluggish current between the islands drifted the motor-boat back upon +that strand. + +He went forward and, with a line in his hand, leaped ashore the moment he +could do so, and drew the _Lauriette_ in to the rock. Then he passed the +line around the very sapling to which Ruth had once fastened the canoe. + +"Come on!" he whispered, offering his hand to the girl. + +She leaped ashore. They were both wearing canvas, rubber-soled, low shoes +which made no noise on the stones. Chess drew forth the electric torch +and tried it, turning the spot of light on the ground at their feet. It +worked perfectly. + +In his right-hand jacket pocket he carried an entirely different article, +but he did not mention that fact to Ruth. She would not have gone with +him had she known of the presence of the pistol. The possession of +firearms would have, to her mind, at once taken the matter out of the +realm of mere adventure into that of peril, and Ruth was not seeking such +an experience. + +She only half believed in the smugglers. She had seen some men in a boat +at the island, but she doubted if it meant anything more than a fishing +party. Those boxes taken ashore meant nothing much to her, if they did +suggest some particularly interesting situation to Chess. + +In fact, Copley had not fully taken Ruth into his confidence. He had +reason to suspect that whoever might be on this island were law-breakers, +and he really had no right to bring Ruth here. Tom Cameron would not have +done it. + +Copley was serious, however, in his intention of finding out if possible +who was on the island; and when they had passed up the rough path to the +round table-stone, Ruth had got over her little shivery feeling and was +as eager as Chess himself. + +They passed carefully through the fringe of brush and reached the open +space where the blasted beech tree stood. The faint starlight illumined +the space, so that Chess did not need to use the torch in his left hand. +There was no tent set up here nor any other mark of human habitation. + +Ruth knew that there was scarcely any other place on the island where a +camp could be established. Had the people they had seen landing from the +speedy launch gone away for good and taken their camp equipment with +them? + +Suddenly Copley seized her wrist. His touch was cold and betrayed the +fact that he was nervous himself. + +"Listen!" he whispered, his lips close to Ruth's ear. + +Helen would have immediately been "in a fidget," and said so. But Ruth +could restrain herself pretty well. She nodded so that Copley saw she +heard him and was listening. They waited several moments. + +"There!" breathed the young fellow again. + +"What is it?" Ruth ventured. + +"Somebody talking. Listen!" + +There was a human voice near by. It sounded close to them, and yet its +direction Ruth could not decide upon. There was a hollow, reverberating +quality to the sounds that baffled determination as to their origin. But +it was a human voice without doubt. + +Ruth could not, however, understand a word that was spoken. The tones +were first high, then low, never guttural, and possessed a certain +sibilant quality. Whether the words spoken were English or not, was +likewise a mystery. + +Ruth and Chessleigh stood first in one place, then in another, in that +circle about the big beech tree. The young man had gone all around the +tattered trunk and found no opening. If it was hollow, there was no way +of getting into it near the ground, nor was there any ladder by which one +might scale the huge trunk to the top. + +"That's no hide-away," mouthed Chess, his lips close at Ruth's ear again. +"And it seems to me the sound doesn't come from overhead." + +"More as though it came up from the ground," returned Ruth, in the same +low voice. "Do you suppose we are standing on the roof of a cavern, Chess +Copley?" + +"It might be," agreed the young fellow. "But if it is a cavern, where +under the sun is the mouth of it? How do they get in or out? It beats my +time!" + +Ruth quickly acknowledged that the mystery was beyond her comprehension. +The sing-song sounds--for such they seemed to be--went on and on, +meaningless for the two listeners, who could not distinguish a single +word. + +"Think that's your King of the Pipes?" asked Chessleigh finally. + +"I don't know. If it is, there must be something more the matter with him +than Willie says there is. He sounds crazy--that is the way it sounds to +me." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A FAILURE IN CALCULATION + + +"What shall we do now?" asked Ruth finally, and in a whisper. + +"Let's go down to that place where we saw the boat land the other +morning," returned her companion. "I'd like to look about there a bit." + +"Do you think it is wise?" + +"I don't know about the wisdom of it," chuckled Chessleigh. "But I do +know that I'm not at all satisfied. Some people are here on the island, +and I'd like to know where they are." + +"I am afraid we will get into trouble." + +"If it is only that old man----" + +"We don't know that it is. He must be talking to somebody--if that is his +voice we hear." + +"Maybe he is only talking to himself. I don't hear anybody else," replied +the young fellow. "Come on. Let's see the thing through, now we have +started." + +Indeed Ruth wanted to see it through. She was quite as curious as her +companion. So she made no further objection. + +Pushing through the brush, they climbed carefully down the slope on the +outer side of the island. The landing where they had fastened their own +boat was on the inner side of the island, while this side fronted the +broad expanse of the river. + +They could see the hurrying current, glinted here and there by the soft +starlight. Everything looked ghostly about them. The dim silvery light +made it possible for them to pick their way without stumbling. They made +little noise in reaching the shore. + +There was a little indention here--a tiny cove. The shore was shelving, +and of sand and gravel. Chess pointed silently to the unmistakable marks +of a boat's bow in several places. + +"That boat has been here more than once," he whispered. + +Ruth breathed "Yes," but said no more. + +Up-stream of the cove was a great mass of rock--not one rock, but several +huddled together and the cracks between overgrown with brush and vines. +Chess brought into use the electric torch again. + +He shot the spotlight into the crannies. Was there a path there between +two of the big boulders? He drew Ruth's attention to it with a touch on +her arm. She saw that some of the bushes were broken--the vines torn away +and dead. + +"Somebody has been here," she murmured. + +"Of course. That is what we came to find," said the young man. "We are on +the verge of a discovery, Ruth." + +"I hope we are not on the verge of trouble," she returned, in the same +low tone. + +"Don't have a bit of fear," he told her, in a louder voice. + +He was about to mention the loaded pistol in his pocket; then thought +better of it. But he went ahead, venturing into the narrow passage +between the two boulders. + +The ray of the torch showed the way. It played on the ground at their +feet and upon the rocky sides of the passage. Was that an abrupt end to +the passage ahead of them, or a sharp turn in it? Chess pressed on, Ruth +trying to peer over his shoulder, although to do this she had to stand on +tiptoe. + +"By jove!" uttered the young man in surprise, "I believe it is a cavern. +It's the entrance to a cave." + +"Then those voices did come from a cavern. Be careful, Chess--do!" + +He had reached the turn in the passage. A jutting shelf of rock roofed +them over. The young man shut off the lamp and they were in darkness. He +thrust forward his head to peer around the corner. + +As he did so, without the least warning, something swished through the +air and Ruth heard the sound of a dull blow. Chess pitched forward, with +a groan of pain, falling to his knees. + +Ruth uttered a scream. She did not try to retreat, but seized the young +man by the shoulders and dragged him back. + +Her brave act saved the young fellow from receiving a second and heavier +blow. A club was being wielded in the hands of a powerful man who had met +them in the passage! + +Chess was speechless and apparently in a confused state of mind. The +electric torch had fallen from his hand. He seemed struggling to get +something out of his jacket pocket, but before he could accomplish this a +light flashed up in the tunnel ahead. + +The same sing-song, chattering voice they had heard so faintly on the +summit of the island broke out close at hand. In the red, flickering +light of a burning pine torch the frightened girl saw a man in a +broad-brimmed hat and loose, flapping upper garment bending over Chess +with a club again raised to strike. + +"Don't hurt him! Don't hit him again!" she cried. + +Other voices--all speaking in that strange, sing-song tongue--broke out, +and Ruth suddenly realized that these enemies that confronted them were +Chinese. + +In the red light she saw clearly now, under the round, broad-brimmed hat, +the yellow face and slanting eyes of the man. Ruth did not understand +it--she could not imagine why these Orientals should be here on the +island. But she realized fully that the calculations of Copley and +herself had gone astray. They were in peril--serious peril. + +The leading Chinaman glared into Ruth's frightened face and his thin lips +curled back from his yellow teeth in a snarl like that of a rabid dog. +His very look was enough to turn the girl cold. She trembled, still +striving to drag the half-senseless Chessleigh back. + +The Chinaman uttered a long, jabbering howl, turning his face over his +shoulder as though speaking to those who crowded behind him in the +passage. Ruth might still have escaped, but she would not desert her +injured companion. + +Suddenly there was a stir in the passage and the big Chinaman was thrust +aside. Another figure pushed forward--a ragged, bushy-haired figure. It +was the King of the Pipes! + +"Hush!" he commanded in his old way. + +He waved the Chinaman back. He seemed to have some authority, for the +burly Chinaman obeyed. The old man thrust his face forward and peered +with his wild eyes into Ruth's countenance. + +"Hush!" he whispered. "What did I tell you? I know you, of course. I told +you that I could not divide my kingdom with any one. It was quite useless +for you to come here again. + +"And see what has come of it," he added. "The Pipes have seen you. They +know your intentions. They will never in this world stand for a divided +kingdom. I shall have to cut off your head. Too bad! Too bad!" + +He seized Ruth's wrist. She tried to draw away from him, but he was much +more powerful than she had supposed. One quick jerk and she was fairly +dragged over the crouching figure of Copley and around the corner of the +narrow passage. + +The head Chinaman darted forward and seized Chess. He likewise was +dragged into the place. Amid the chattering of several high, sing-song +voices, and only half seeing what was being done because of the +flickering torchlight, Ruth knew that she was being hurried into a tunnel +of some size that ran back into the island. + +It was rocky all about her--on both sides as well as under foot and +overhead. It was a natural tunnel, not one made by man. The figures +flitting before her were gnomelike. She saw clearly only the old man who +led her, holding her tightly by the arm. She knew that the Chinaman was +dragging Chess behind them, as though that unfortunate young man was a +sack of potatoes. + +This outcome of their innocent adventure was entirely different from +anything Ruth had dreamed of. If she did not exactly fear the queer old +man who called himself the King of the Pipes, she certainly did fear the +men who were with him in this cavern. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +IN THE CHINESE DEN + + +It was several minutes before Ruth could accustom her sight to the +uncertain, flickering flame of the torches with which the cavern was +illuminated. There was, too, a small fire on a stone hearth and above it +a stone and cement chimney that portrayed ingenuity in its building. + +The cavern was a natural one, but man had made of it a not impossible +habitation. She felt rugs under her feet as she was drawn along by the +King of the Pipes, and when her eyes became accustomed to the half-gloom +of the place she saw that there were several low tables and a couch or +two, the latter likewise covered with rugs. + +Not only had some ingenuity been expended in fitting up the cave, but the +furnishings must have occasioned the expenditure of considerable money. +It was not at all the sort of place that she would have expected the +queer old man to occupy on the lonely island. + +She was so much interested in Chessleigh's state, however, that she gave +small attention to these other things. When she could break away from the +King of the Pipes she flung herself down upon her knees beside the +recumbent young man and raised his head in her arms. + +Chess had received a hard blow from the Chinaman's club. And he had not +uttered a word. The latter fact caused Ruth more alarm than anything +else. She feared that he was very badly injured, although he was not +insensible. + +But there was no blood on his head and face. She passed her hand swiftly +over his crown and found an unmistakable lump there, a lump raised by the +blow. But, looking more closely into his half open eyes she saw more +intelligence in their expression than she expected. + +Indeed, as she peered closely at him she distinctly saw him wink his left +eye, and this act, with the bright look in his eyes, warned her that +Copley was playing possum. + +Having been felled by the blow, and feeling himself out-matched by the +Chinamen who had come jabbering to the scene, Chess had displayed much +more helplessness than he need have shown. But Ruth decided that he was +very wise to do this, and she was much relieved to discover this to be +the fact. She did nothing to attract the attention of their captors to +his real condition. She moaned over him, and made little pitying sounds +as though she thought he had been very seriously hurt by the blow he had +received. + +The King of the Pipes put his clawlike hand upon her shoulder again. + +"Let him alone. He will have to have his head off, of course. No hope for +it. But I will try to postpone your decapitation until the thirty-first +day of June, which comes when there are two Sundays in the same week. Eh? +Isn't that shrewd? As King of the Pipes I have to show great astuteness. +Oh, great astuteness!" + +"I am sure you will help us, sire," murmured Ruth, standing up once more +and looking appealingly at the queer old man. + +"Well, I will do what I can. But, remember, we kings can't do what we +once could. Seems to me I told you that before. The war did the business +for us. And I would not dare suggest taking a consort. The Pipes would +never stand for it." + +"Whom do you call 'the Pipes'?" Ruth asked wonderingly. + +"Look about you. See them? Already they are beginning to smoke up again. +And it is a dirty smell. I have to go out and roam about the island to +get away from it. Dreadful! To give up my throne room to nasty little +brass pipes. Ugh!" + +While he was speaking the girl stared about her, now better able to see +the place and the people in it. There were at least half a dozen men. And +all were Chinamen, as far as she could see, although not all were dressed +in blouse and loose trousers and wadded slippers--the usual costume of +the un-westernized Chinaman. + +Two of the men were lying down, and there were tiny lamps sputtering on +the low stools, or tables, set close to their heads. They held +long-stemmed pipes with small brass bowls, and had begun to smoke +something that had a very pungent and disagreeable odor. + +Ruth's mind had begun to clear. She remembered the heavy boxes she and +Chess had seen brought ashore, and the Chinaman in the speed launch, and +then the yellow-faced woman being taken on this very day toward the +American shore. The whole puzzle began to fit together like a piece of +patchwork. + +Chinamen; a high-powered boat going back and forth across the St. +Lawrence; a hidden cave on this supposedly uninhabited island; the heavy +boxes; the smoking of this vile paste which she now saw a third Chinaman +dip out of a tiny bowl, on a stick, and drop into his pipe in the form of +a "pill." + +_Opium!_ + +If these men--and the white men of the speed launch--did any smuggling it +was not diamonds they smuggled. It was opium. And they were probably +running Chinese across the border as well. Ruth knew that she was in a +very serious predicament when she had swiftly thought this out, if she +had not realized it before. + +What would these evil-looking yellow men do to her--and to poor Chess? +The latter, she was relieved to feel, was biding his time. But what +chance was likely to arise which would lead to their escape from this +cavern? + +She looked about the place. Two of the yellow men were between her and +the passage through which she and her companion had been dragged. If she +wanted to, she could not make a dash for liberty. + +She turned again to the bedraggled and ragged-haired old man, curiosity +about whom had led to this predicament. The King of the Pipes was +watching her with eyes that glittered like a bird's. + +"Hush!" he whispered, moving nearer again. "You cannot escape. The Pipes +are very strong and very agile. They would not let you. To tell the +truth, they fear so much for my safety that I haven't the freedom myself +that I would sometimes like." + +"Can't you leave this place?" Ruth asked softly. + +"Hush!" he warned her in his usual stealthy way. "Don't speak of it. Of +course a king can do no wrong, and naturally a king can do as he pleases. +Otherwise, what is kingship? But it is always well to bow to the +peculiarities and the prejudices of one's subjects. They do not like me +to leave the throne-room at certain times. So I do not attempt to do so. +When you met me before, my dear, there was nobody on the island but +myself. But to-night you see how many are here, and more yet to come." + +"More Chinamen?" she whispered. + +"No. Perhaps no more of the Pipes," and she thought he showed involuntary +disgust of the opium-smokers. "But other subjects of mine who must be +catered to. Oh, dear, yes! Being a king is not all it is cracked up to +be, I assure you." + +For some reason Ruth felt more alarm because of this last statement of +the poor old man than of anything that had gone before. She realized that +he, of course, really had no influence with the opium smugglers. But she +began to understand that there were other men coming here who might be +more savage than the Chinamen. + +She remembered that there had been several white men in the launch when +she had observed it, and that on one occasion Horatio Bilby had been one +of them. Now, Ruth felt not only a great distaste for Bilby, but she +feared him exceedingly. + +It might be that the red-faced fat man who had so fretted Mr. Hammond and +her about Wonota, had only crossed the river in the launch as a +passenger. He might have no close connection with the opium smugglers. + +But knowing Bilby as she did, Ruth could imagine that he might be mixed +up in almost any illegal business that promised large returns in money. +If he would attempt to steal the Indian girl, why would he not join hands +with opium smugglers and Chinese runners, if he saw a possibility of gain +in those industries? + +She wished she might talk to Chess and learn just what was working in his +mind at that moment. She was quite sure that he was by no means as +stunned as he appeared to be. + +She approved of his feigning, for as long as these men did not seek to +injure her, why should he incur their further notice? He lay on the rug, +quite as though he was helpless; but she knew he was alert and was ready, +if occasion arose, to show much more agility than the Chinamen or the old +King of the Pipes dreamed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE TWINS' ALARM + + +It was fully an hour after the _Lauriette_ had chugged away from the dock +at the island where the moving picture company was established that the +motor-boat which had been to Oak Point returned with Tom Cameron aboard. + +Tom, with the other men who had been exploring and fishing all day, was +ravenously hungry, but he went around to the veranda of the chief +bungalow where his twin sister and Ruth stayed to see how they were +before even going to wash and to see if he could bribe one of the cooks +to set out "a cold snack." + +Tom found Helen on the porch, alone. At a glance, too, he saw that she +was not in a pleasant mood. + +"What's gone wrong?" demanded Tom. And with a brother's privilege of +being plain-spoken, he added: "You look cross. Go in search of your +temper." + +"Who says I've lost it?" demanded Helen sharply. + +"I Cagliostro--Merlin--wizard that I am," chuckled Tom. "I am still +little Brighteyes, and I can see just as far into a spruce plank as the +next one." + +"Well, I am mad, if you want to know," sniffed Helen. + +"Where's Ruth?" + +"She's whom I am mad at," declared the girl, nodding. + +"I don't believe it," said Tom soothingly. "We could not really be mad at +Ruth Fielding." + +"Don't you feel that way yourself--the way she acts with Chess Copley?" + +"I wouldn't mind punching 'Lasses' head," returned Tom. "But that's +different." + +"Is that so? What do you know about their being out on the river together +right now? Humph!" + +"Where have they gone?" asked her brother. "Why aren't you with them? Are +they alone?" + +This brought out the full particulars of the affair, and Tom listened to +the end of a rather excited account of what had happened that +afternoon--both on the island where Helen and Ruth had been "marooned" +and here at the camp--together with the suspicions and curiosity about +the island which had been dubbed the Kingdom of Pipes. Nor did it lack +interest in Tom's ears in spite of his sister's rather excited way of +telling it. + +"But look here," he asked. "Why didn't you go with Ruth and 'Lasses?" + +"Humph! They didn't want me," sniffed Helen. + +"Now, Helen, you know better. Ruth never slighted you in the world. I +know her better than that." + +"Well, she makes too much of Chess Copley. She is always praising him up +to me. And I don't like it. I'll treat him just as I want to--so there!" + +Tom looked rather sober at this. He hesitated a moment. He wanted to ask +his pettish sister a question, but evidently did not know how to go about +it. + +"It can't be helped now, I suppose. They will be back after a while. +Where were they going besides to that crazy fellow's island?" + +"Just there. That's all." + +"Come on and watch me eat. I'm starved." + +"Thanks! I watched the pythons fed at the zoo once," said Helen with +unwonted sharpness. "I will sit here till the scene of savagery is over. +You can come back." + +"You are in a fine mood, I see," observed Tom, and went off chuckling. + +Nevertheless, he was not feeling very happy himself over the thought that +Ruth and Chess Copley were out on the river together. + +"Looks mighty fishy," muttered Tom Cameron. "I could punch 'Lasses' head, +the way I feel." + +These thoughts seemed to take Tom's appetite away. To his sister's +surprise, he returned in a very few minutes to the front porch of the +bungalow. + +"I told you that you had boa-constrictor habits," she gasped. "Why, Tom +Cameron! you must have swallowed your supper whole." + +"I didn't swallow as much as I expected," returned the young man, +smiling. But he grew serious again. "How long was Chess going to stay out +in his boat?" he asked. + +"You don't suppose that I saw him go?" asked Helen, with surprise. + +"Do you know that it is after eleven o'clock?" said her brother. "If they +went no further than that crazy man's island, what do you suppose is +keeping them?" + +"Mercy's sake! is that the time, Tommy-boy? Why, the crazy man himself +must be keeping them! Do you suppose the King of the Pipes has captured +Ruth and Chess?" + +"Don't try to be funny," advised Tom. "It may be no laughing matter." + +"Well, I like that!" + +"I don't think that Chess would keep her out so late if everything was +all right. Sure they were not going to Copley Island?" + +"Sure. The girls have gone away. There's no fun going on there." + +"Well, of course the motor-boat may have broken down. Such things +happen," said Tom reflectively. + +"Now you have got me stirred up," cried Helen. "I had no idea it was so +late. And Ruthie does not believe in late hours." + +"She would not stay out on the river with me half the night, that is +sure," grumbled Tom. + +"Oh, Tommy-boy!" exclaimed his sister, "I don't believe she cares so much +for Chess. I really don't." + +"Well, that is not here nor there. What's to be done? Where's Mr. +Hammond--or Willie?" + +"They haven't got back from Chippewa Bay with the _Gem_." + +"This clumsy old _Tamarack_ is too big for me to handle alone. And the +boys have all gone to bed by this time." + +"The canoes aren't too big for us to handle," Helen said. + +"Us?" + +"Yes. I insist on going, too, if you start out to look for the +_Lauriette_. And it will look better too. If we are simply paddling +about, there being nothing the matter with Chess and Ruth, they won't be +able to laugh at us. Come on!" exclaimed Helen, picking up her sweater. +"I am a loyal sister, Tom Cameron." + +"Right-o!" he agreed, more cheerfully. "I suppose there really is nothing +the matter. Yet, whatever else Chess Copley is, he's not the sort of +fellow to keep a girl out till midnight on the river when there is nobody +else along." + +"Humph! Do you think Ruth is a mere chit of a flapper? You are +old-fashioned, Tommy-boy. The day of the chaperon is about over." + +"You know it isn't over in our set, and never will be," he returned. "You +girls have a lot of freedom, I admit. But there are limits." + +"Baa!" was Helen's utterly impudent remark. + +They ran down to the shore and got out one of the canoes. Helen was +familiar with the use of the paddle and served her brother as a good +second. They drove the canoe out into the open river, but only just for a +look up its expanse. + +There was no motor-boat in sight or hearing--not even the distant lights +of one. The current was so strong that the Cameron twins went back among +the islands where the water was smoother. Besides, it was much more +romantic, Helen said wickedly, among the islands, and Chess and Ruth were +more likely to remain in the tortuous passages. + +The two laid a pretty direct course, however, for the Kingdom of Pipes. +As they spied it, and drew nearer, Tom suddenly stopped paddling and held +up his hand. + +"What's the matter?" demanded his sister, likewise raising her paddle out +of the water. + +"Listen," warned Tom. + +Faintly there came the noise of a motor-boat to their straining ears. + +"Here they are!" shrilled Helen. + +"Will you be still?" demanded her brother. "That's not Copley's boat. +It's a deal bigger craft. She's on the other side of the island." + +Helen leaned forward and caught at his sleeve. "Look there!" she +whispered. "There is the _Lauriette_." + +She had been the first to see the outline of the Copley launch moored +close to the shore of the island at its upper end. + +"They've gone ashore," said Tom. "Where can they be? If that other boat +is approaching this island----" + +"Oh, Tom! The pirates!" + +"Oh, fudge!" + +"The smugglers, then. Chess said he believed there were smugglers here." + +"What do they smuggle?" demanded Tom with some scorn. + +"I don't know. He did not seem very clear about it." + +"Just the same," Tom observed, sinking his paddle again in the water, +"there may be trouble in the air." + +"Trouble on the river, I guess you mean," giggled Helen. + +But she giggled because she was excited and nervous. She was quite as +alarmed as Tom was over the possibility that Chess and Ruth had got into +some difficulty on the King of the Pipes' island. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +TROUBLE ENOUGH + + +Returning to Ruth Fielding in the cavern: Although her heart beat rapidly +and she really was fearful, she showed little perturbation in her +countenance and manner after she had talked with Charley Pond, if that +was the real name of the King of the Pipes. + +Just how mentally disturbed the old man was it was difficult for the girl +to judge. But she feared that he had, after all his claims, absolutely no +influence with the Chinamen. + +She believed that the leader of the Orientals was the heavy-set Chinaman +who had struck Chessleigh Copley down with the club. The others--some +smoking the little brass pipes, and others not smoking--were probably men +who were endeavoring to get into the States without the knowledge of the +emigration authorities. Indeed, they were already in New York. This +island was south of the American line. But from the Kingdom of Pipes to +any city where the Chinamen would be safe from apprehension was a pretty +big jump. + +As for the opium--the smoke of which Ruth smelled now for the first +time--she had no idea how that commodity might be handled or disposed of. +She knew that it was valuable, even when imported for medicinal purposes. +There was a heavy tariff on it, as well as restrictions upon the trading +in it. + +If those boxes--each as heavy as a man could lift and which she and Chess +had seen brought ashore on this island--contained opium, there might be +many thousand of dollars' worth of the drug, in its paste form, here now. +Perhaps it was hidden somewhere in this cave. + +Ruth had seated herself upon the end of one of the low tables. She knew +that all the furniture in the cavern, including the rugs, must be of +Chinese manufacture. There could be no doubt that the place was fitted up +for the convenience of the Orientals. + +She looked about, trying to penetrate the obscurity of the place. Were +there passages besides the one by which she and Chess had been dragged +in? Were there other apartments in the cavern, shut off by some of the +hanging rugs which she saw? + +Her principal thought, however, was of the possibility of escape. And she +wished heartily that she and Copley could get out of the cave before the +arrival of the "others" of whom the King of the Pipes had spoken. Whoever +they might be--or whether Horatio Bilby was one of them--Ruth did not +want to meet the smugglers and Chinese runners. + +She feared very much for her safety, and for that of her companion. The +law-breakers would know immediately that their safety was threatened. +They must know that if they allowed Ruth and Chess to depart from the +cave, their presence here and what they were doing would be reported to +the police. And men like Bilby, who would stoop to anything for money, +were not likely to give over such a profitable business as the smuggling +of opium without a fight. + +Just how much did Bilby and his companions care for the law? It was a +question that created no little anxiety in Ruth's mind. And she wondered, +too, what Chess thought about it. + +The young fellow lay upon the floor of the cavern, silent and immovable. +She was quite sure, by the exceedingly knowing wink that he had given +her, that he was neither panic-stricken nor seriously hurt. He was merely +waiting to see what would turn up. + +And what would happen when the new chance did turn up? Already Chess was +in opposition to at least seven Chinamen, if he attempted anything. And +if those the old man had spoken of, likewise appeared, what could Copley +do against such numbers? + +There was nothing Ruth, herself, could do. She sat quietly on the end of +the low table and looked sadly about the dimly lighted place. This was +certainly a situation from which her usually ingenious mind could invent +no means of escape. + +Suddenly the old man who called himself the monarch of this island came +from the corner where he had been standing, watching Ruth, and made his +way swiftly to the entrance to the cave. The big Chinaman got up and +looked at him. The King of the Pipes waved his hand and pointed through +the passage. + +It seemed to be sufficiently clear--that gesture--for the Chinaman began +to gabble to his friends. They scrambled to their feet--all but two who +had fallen into a sluggish state after their indulgence in the use of the +drug. They looked toward the cavern entrance. The King of the Pipes +disappeared through the passage. + +Ruth stole a stealthy glance at Chess. She saw that he had moved. He was +lying with his right hand covered by his body. There seemed an alertness +about him--in posture and in gleaming, half-closed eyes--that startled +Ruth. What had the young fellow in his mind to do. For what was he +waiting? + +In a minute she heard the ring of quick steps upon the rock-floor of the +tunnel. + +Ruth shrank away from the table and stood at her companion's head. What +would the newcomers--Bilby, perhaps--do to Copley and to her? + +And it was Bilby! The little, red-faced, greenish-eyed man, projected +himself into the cavern as though he had been shot out of a gun. + +"What's the matter here? What's going on, I want to know? That crazy-head +is trying to tell me something--Ye gods! A girl?" + +He saw Ruth vaguely. Then he glanced down at the prostrate Copley. + +"Who knocked him out?" demanded Bilby. + +The burly Chinaman was the one he addressed, who answered in a form of +English: + +"Allee same me. I get um, Mist' Blibly." + +"For mercy's sake!" whined Bilby, wringing his fat hands. "These people +aren't police. They are some of the summer visitors. Now we _are_ in a +mess!" + +"Allee same look-see," growled the Chinaman. He kicked Chessleigh, and +not gently. "Number one sneakee--him! She----" + +He nodded violently toward Ruth, thus drawing Bilby's attention to the +girl. Bilby strained his fat neck forward to see the girl more closely. +There were other sounds coming from the passage. + +"What's doing, Mr Bilby?" asked a gruff voice. + +The fat little man was panting. He pointed waveringly at Ruth. + +"Here's a pretty mess," he gasped. "What between these Chinks and that +crazy old duffer, they have got me in a nice mess. I know this girl. She +belongs to that moving picture outfit. Now what are we going to do?" + +"Knock her in the head," was the advice of the growling voice. + +The advice probably was not intended to be followed. It was said perhaps +to scare Ruth. But it excited somebody else besides the girl of the Red +Mill. + +Before Bilby could reply or anybody else could speak, Copley came to his +feet with all the suddenness of a jumping-jack. Bilby squealed and +started back, falling against the gruff man who had followed him into the +cave and who was evidently the boatman. + +"What's this?" ejaculated this man. + +But that was all he said. The Chinamen squealed in unison, and that was +all from them. Bilby himself faintly groaned. + +"Put your hands up--all of you!" commanded Copley, and one of the most +amazing things about the whole wild extravaganza was that the young +fellow's voice was perfectly unshaken. + +Lads that have been in the army are apt to consider circumstances like +these as meat and drink to them. Chessleigh had not served Uncle Sam in +vain. He was as cool as the proverbial cucumber! + +"Put your hands up--all of you! There are ten shots in this magazine and +every one of them will get its man. Quick! Up with 'em!" + +In all probability only one of the Chinamen understood this strictly +American form of expression. But when the burly Chinaman elevated his +yellow hands, his fellow countrymen did the same. + +As for Bilby and the boatman, they reached toward the roof of the cavern +hastily. There was no hesitation on their part. Although Copley was +alone, his unwavering attitude and the threat of the automatic pistol, +played hob with such shreds of courage as the malefactors possessed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A LETTER COMES + + +Nobody had come through the passage into the cave save Bilby and the +boatman. Chess stood where he could keep half an eye, at least, upon the +opening, and although the passage was filled with shadow he was quite +sure there was nobody lurking there who was friendly to the law-breakers. + +"Just step around behind those two men and see if they are armed, Miss +Ruth, will you?" went on Copley. "Take 'em from behind. Don't get in line +with my pistol. For if I begin to shoot, somebody is bound to get hit. +Keep your hands up, you fellows!" and he gestured toward the Chinamen. + +Even the two of their number who had been half-overcome with the fumes of +opium had come to attention when Chess produced his pistol. The Chinamen +huddled together at one side. The boatman and Bilby were opposite the +doorway of the tunnel. Ruth promptly obeyed Chess and went around behind +the last-named two of the enemy. + +Ruth hesitated a moment in the dusk there at the opening of the passage. +She hated to touch either Bilby or the other man. But probably both of +them were armed, and for the sake of safety their weapons must be taken +from them. + +While she hesitated she heard a faint rustle in the passage. Then came +the softest possible whisper: + +"Ss-st!" + +Ruth jumped and glanced over her shoulder. Was it friend or enemy who +evidently tried to attract her attention by this sibilant sound? + +A figure moved in the gloom. Before she could cry any warning to Copley +an arm was put firmly about her and Ruth was almost lifted to one side. +She saw the gleam of a weapon in the other hand of her neighbor, and the +point of this weapon was dug suddenly into the broad back of the gruff +boatman who was Bilby's companion. + +"Don't get nervous, 'Lasses," came in Tom Cameron's voice. "We're all +friends here. Ah! A nice automatic pistol from our friend, Mr. Bilby. +Just so. Here, Nell!" + +But it was Ruth's hand that took the captured weapon, although Helen +stood at her side squeezing her other hand and whispering: + +"My goodness, Ruthie, what a perfectly glorious experience! Are those the +real smugglers?" + +"I shouldn't wonder," replied her friend. Then she accepted the revolver +extracted from the hip pocket of the boatman by Tom Cameron. "Where is +the King of the Pipes?" + +"Taking the air. We heard the talk below here through the hollow tree. Do +you know," whispered Helen, "that old beech is a regular chimney. And we +saw the boat come here. Then we grabbed the King of the Pipes outside." + +"Tom did not hurt him, I hope?" murmured Ruth. + +"Not a bit of it. In fact, the queer old fellow said he was willing to +abdicate in Tom's favor, and now, I suppose, Tommy-boy is King of the +Pipes," and Helen, the irrepressible, grinned. + +The two ex-army men, however, took the matter quite seriously. Tom +disarmed the Chinamen as well as the white men. And to search and disarm +a squirming Oriental, they found not easy work. + +"But I disarmed enough Fritzies in Europe to learn my job pretty well. +How's the weather, Sergeant?" + +"All right here, Captain Cameron," said Copley seriously. + +"Then I'll back out with this bunch of junk. Here's a pair of brass +knuckles in the bunch. I'll use 'em on any of these fellows who try to +run. We'll keep 'em hived up here till the police come. One fellow can +hold 'em. Unless they try to climb up that hollow beech tree." + +"No fear," said Copley. "Get the girls out first." + +Tom had already loaded both Ruth and Helen down with the loot from the +malefactors' pockets. He motioned to the girls to leave the cavern. + +"Hold on! Hold on!" Bilby cried. "I beg of you, don't leave me with these +men. I only happen to be here by chance--" + +"A bad chance for you, then," said Chess Copley. "Don't listen to him, +Captain Cameron." + +"No, don't listen to him," said Ruth severely. "I know he is worse than +the others. Why, Tom! he is the man who has made us all that trouble +about Wonota and my picture." + +"Sure," agreed Tom. "I know the snake. Go ahead, girls. Chess and I will +follow you. And one of us will be right in this passage all the time," he +added, addressing the two white men. "Don't make any mistake. We'll shoot +if you try to come out until you are told to." + +The girls were already feeling their way through the darkness of the +tunnel. At the turn Ruth kicked something, and, stooping, secured Chess' +electric torch. She pressed the switch and the illumination allowed the +two young men to overtake them with more certainty, Chess backing out +with his pistol trained on the opening into the cavern. + +When once the four friends were around the turn and out of hearing of the +prisoners, Tom Cameron began to chuckle. + +"This is no laughing matter!" exclaimed his sister. "I am so excited I +don't know what to do." + +"Keep right on," said Ruth. "I want to get home just as soon as I can. I +don't believe I shall care hereafter to leave the island until we are +through with the picture and can go back to the Red Mill. What are you +laughing about, Tom Cameron?" + +"I don't know how 'Lasses is fixed," said the amused Tom. "But my pistol +isn't loaded. It is my old service automatic and needs repairing, +anyway." + +"Don't fret, Cameron. Mine is loaded all right," said Chess grimly. + +"Then you stay and guard the cave," said Tom. + +"You bet you! You couldn't get me away from here until you have sent for +the sheriff and he comes for the gang. I believe we have done a good +night's work." + +"Oh, you were wonderful!" Helen burst out. "And Ruth says they knocked +you down and hurt you." + +"I shall get over that all right," returned Chess quietly. + +But when they were out of the passage and on the open shore Helen +insisted upon fussing around Chessleigh, bathing the lump on his head, +and otherwise "mothering" him in a way that secretly delighted Ruth. Tom +looked at his sister in some amazement. + +"What do you know about that?" he whispered to Ruth. "She was as sore at +him as she could be an hour ago." + +"You don't know your own sister very well, Tom," retorted Ruth. + +"Humph!" ejaculated Tom Cameron. "Perhaps we fellows don't understand any +girl very well." + +But Ruth was not to be led into any discussion of that topic then. It was +agreed that she and Helen and Tom should hurry back to the motion picture +camp at once. + +"The King of the Pipes won't bite you," Tom said to Chess. "Only don't +let him go back into the cave. Those fellows might do him some harm. And +the sheriff will want him for a witness against the gang. He is not so +crazy as he makes out to be." + +The night's adventures were by no means completed, for Ruth and Helen +could not go to bed after they reached the bungalow until they knew how +it all turned out. Mr. Hammond had returned before them, and Willie and +Tom started at once for Chippewa Bay in the _Gem_. + +The capture of Bilby in connection with the smugglers and Chinese runners +delighted the motion picture producer. + +"That will settle the controversy, I believe," Mr. Hammond said to the +two girls. "Bilby's attempt to annoy us must fall through now. We will +get Totantora and Wonota back from Canada and finish the picture +properly. But, believe me! I have had all the experience I want with +freak stars. The expense and trouble I have been put to regarding Wonota +has taught me a lesson. I'd sell my contract with Wonota to-morrow--or +after the picture is done--for a song." + +Ruth looked at him steadily for a moment. + +"Do you mean that, Mr. Hammond?" she asked quietly. + +"Yes, I do." + +Helen laughed. "I guess Ruth is thinking of singing that song. Ruth +believes in Wonota." + +"If I could carry the tune," her chum said, more lightly. "We'll talk of +that later, Mr. Hammond." + +"Oh, I would give you first chance, Miss Ruth," said the producer. "By +the way," and he turned to his desk. "I brought mail from the town. Here +are several letters for you, Miss Ruth, and one for Miss Cameron." + +The girls began to open their letters as soon as they reached their room. +But it was Helen's single epistle that created the most excitement. + +"It's from Carrie Perrin," she said to Ruth. Then, in a moment, she +uttered a cry that drew Ruth's full attention. "Listen to this! What do +you know about this, Ruth?" + +"What is it, my dear?" asked her chum, in her usual composed manner. + +"Just think of that!" cried Helen, in tears. "And I have treated him so +hatefully. He'll never forgive me in this world, I suppose. It is about +Chess," she sobbed, and handed her chum the letter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE HEART'S DESIRE + + +"And what do you think of this, Nell? I've wormed out of Bill Kenmore the +truth about that mean joke the boys played on us last spring when we were +all at Jennie Stone's. Excuse! I suppose I should say Madame Marchand's. +To think of Heavy Stone being an old married woman now! + +"Well, Bill Kenmore always did have a crazy streak--and he wasn't +shell-shocked in France, either. You remember the time you went away down +town in answer to a telegram, thinking it was somebody who needed you +very much, and you walked into that place and found the boys all dressed +up and ready to give you the 'ha, ha!'? + +"I know it got you awfully mad--and I don't blame you. Chess was there, I +know. But he didn't even know what the row was all about. Bill engineered +the whole thing, and he thinks still that it was an awfully good joke. +His ideas of humor must have originated in the Stone Age. + +"I made him tell me all about it, he thinking I would be amused. Then I +turned him right out of our parlor and told him not to call again. I hear +that he thinks I am a regular cat! + +"But who wouldn't be cattish with a fellow who has no more sense? Anyhow, +we know the truth now. Perhaps Chess Copley is not very sharp, but I +couldn't think of his doing anything really mean. So now you know. If +Chess is up there at the Thousand Islands you can tell him from me, at +least, that 'all is forgiven.' Sounds like a newspaper personal, doesn't +it?" + + * * * * * + +Ruth stopped reading there, and looked brightly at her chum. + +"What do you think of that?" asked the latter, wiping her eyes. + +"Well, my dear, I shouldn't cry about it," said Ruth. "I think it is an +occasion to be joyful." + +"But, Chess--" + +"Is of a forgiving nature, I think," Ruth said. "At any rate, I would not +let the matter stand between me and a nice boy friend any longer. I could +never suspect Chess of doing an unkind thing." + +"But I have wronged him!" cried Helen, who was, after all, tender-hearted. + +"Do you know," said her friend, "I believe you can make it up to him very +nicely, if you want to, Helen?" + +The _Gem_ returned to the island just at daybreak. The girls ran down to +the dock to meet the returned young men and Willie. Chess Copley had come +to get his own motor-boat, and the report they made of the end of the +smuggling affair was very satisfactory. + +The sheriff and his posse in a big motor-boat had gone to the Kingdom of +Pipes and relieved Chess of his duty as guardian of the cave. The +Chinamen, who were hiding there until they could be shipped into the +States dressed in feminine garments, were all handcuffed, together with +the owner of the launch and Horatio Bilby, and loaded into the sheriff's +launch. + +"And you should have heard Bilby squeal," said Tom. "There is one bad egg +who is likely to pay a considerable penalty for his crimes. He'll not get +out of the mess very easy." + +"What of the King of the Pipes?" asked Ruth. + +"Poor old Charley-Horse Pond," Willie, the boatman, said, "will be +detained as a witness. Already he has got a new name for himself. He +isn't 'King of the Pipes' any longer." + +"What do you mean?" Ruth inquired, for she was interested in the queer +old man and his fate. + +"He told me that he was Major Andre," chuckled Willie. "He is a Number +One spy. The sheriff knows him well and knows there isn't a mite of harm +in him." + +Later it came out that the old man had been living on the island for some +time, having found the cave there. The smugglers of opium and the Chinese +found him there and made use of him. But when the court proceedings came +on, Pond was merely used by the prosecution as a witness. His +harmlessness was too apparent for the court to doubt him. + +That particular day had to be a day of rest for Ruth and her friends, for +they had had no sleep the night before. But while they slept Mr. +Hammond's representative went in search of Totantora and Wonota and the +two Osage Indians were brought back to the moving picture camp before +night. + +The work of making the last scenes of "The Long Lane's Turning" was taken +up at once, and until the last scene was taken Ruth and her associates +were very busy indeed. The Cameron twins spent most of the ensuing time +with the Copleys and the other summer visitors. And it was noticeable +that Helen was attended by Chess Copley almost everywhere she went. + +Tom saw this with some wonder; but he found very little opportunity to +talk to Ruth about it. And when he tried to question Helen regarding her +change toward Chess, she quite ignored the subject. + +"Looks to me," Tom said to himself, "as though I was shut out in the +cold. I wish I hadn't come up here. I might as well be slaving in that +old office. Gee, I'm an unlucky dog!" + +For Tom, no more than Helen, could not see that Ruth's attitude toward +the matter of strenuous occupation for a wealthy young man was a fair +one. Tom certainly had none of Uncle Jabez Potter's blood in his veins. + +The big scene at the end of the picture--the throne room of the French +king--was as carefully made as the other parts of the picture had been. +And because of Ruth's coaching Wonota did her part so well that Mr. +Hooley was enthusiastic--and to raise enthusiasm in the bosom of a +case-hardened director is no small matter. + +"The Boss is rather sore on the whole business," Hooley said to Ruth. "It +has been an expensive picture, I admit. We have gone away over the studio +estimate. + +"But that is not my fault, nor your fault, nor the Indian girl's fault. +Mr. Hammond is not to be blamed either, I suppose, for feeling worried. +The motion picture business is getting to that stage now where lavish +expenditure must be curtailed. I fancy Mr. Hammond will make only +five-reel program pictures for some time. And where will your big feature +pictures come in, Miss Fielding?" + +"The program pictures are sure-fire, I suppose," the girl admitted. "But +it doesn't take much of a story to make those. Nor does it give the stars +as good a chance." + +"Well, lean years may be coming. We shall all have to draw in our horns. +Remember me, Miss Fielding, if you decide to produce with some other +firm. I like to work with you, and I have a more or less elastic contract +with the Alectrion Corporation." + +Ruth actually did have an idea for the future. It was in embryo as yet. +But, as will be seen in the next volume of this series, entitled, "Ruth +Fielding Treasure Hunting; Or, A Moving Picture that Became Real," it led +the girl of the Red Mill into new fields and drew her and her friends +into new adventures. + +The last scene being completed, Ruth and Helen packed their trunks. But +Helen was to ship hers to the Copley's island up the river, where she +would stay for a week or so before returning to Cheslow. Ruth was going +back to the Red Mill, and after that she was not sure of her movements. + +Tom would accompany her home. She was glad of this, for she knew that, +once at home, he must of necessity take up his work again with his +father. Tom Cameron, however, confessed that he "hated" the dry goods +business. + +Chess Copley showed his appreciation of Ruth's kindness and friendship in +a very pretty way indeed. He came to her secretly with a jeweler's box in +his hand. + +"You know, Ruth, you have been just like a sister to me since you have +been up here. I think as much of you as I do of Sara and Jean--I declare +I do! And I know Helen--or--or anybody, won't mind if you wear this +little trinket. When you wear it remember you've got a good friend whose +initials are engraved on the inside." + +Ruth accepted the present frankly, for she liked Chess. But she did not +know how beautiful the bracelet was until after Copley had disappeared in +his _Lauriette_. It was more costly than Ruth thought a present from that +source should be. + +So, rather doubtful, she said nothing to Tom Cameron about the bracelet, +although she wore it. She knew that she would have refused such a present +from Tom himself. But, then--there was a difference! + +She did not intend to be rushed into any agreement with Tom Cameron that +would at all interfere with her freedom. She still had her career in +mind. + +They got back to Cheslow early in July. And how glad Aunt Alvirah was to +see her pretty. As for Uncle Jabez, his interest was in the commercial +end of the picture Ruth had made. + +Was it going to make money when it was distributed? How much money had +Ruth already drawn in advance royalties? And a multitude of other +questions of that character came from the old miller's lips. + +"And when do you begin on another of them pictures, Niece Ruth?" he +added. "You ain't going to stop now, when there is so much to be made in +'em?" + +"I do not know exactly what I shall do next," she told him, shaking her +head. "But I think I shall try to make my next picture under different +circumstances. But as I don't really know, how can I tell you?" + +"Never mind, my pretty," put in Aunt Alvirah, "you are here with us now, +and that means a lot. You certainly deserve a rest," and the old woman +placed an affectionate hand on Ruth's shoulder. + +At this the girl of the Red Mill smiled. + +"Maybe I do," she replied, "after all those strenuous happenings on the +St. Lawrence." + +THE END + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES +By ALICE B. EMERSON + +12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid + +RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL + or Jasper Parole's Secret + +RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOODHALL + or Solving the Campus Mystery + +RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP + or Lost in the Backwoods + +RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT + or Nita, the Girl Castaway + +RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH + or Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys + +RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND + or The Old Hunter's Treasure Box + +RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM + or What Became of the Raby Orphans + +RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES + or The Missing Pearl Necklace + +RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES + or Helping the Dormitory Fund + +RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE + or Great Days in the Land of Cotton + +RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE + or The Missing Examination Papers + +RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE + or College Girls in the Land of Gold + +RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS + or Doing Her Bit for Uncle Sam + +RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT + or The Hunt for a Lost Soldier + +RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND + or A Red Cross Worker's Ocean Perils + +RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST + or The Hermit of Beach Plum Point + +RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST + or The Indian Girl Star of the Movies + +RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE + or The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands + +RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING + or A Moving Picture that Became Real + +RUTH FIELDING IN THE FAR NORTH + or The Lost Motion Picture Company + +RUTH FIELDING AT GOLDEN PASS + or The Perils of an Artificial Avalanche + +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE BETTY GORDON SERIES +By ALICE B. EMERSON + +Author of the Famous "Ruth Fielding" Series + +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors +Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid + +A series of stories by Alice B. Emerson which are bound to make this +writer more popular than ever with her host of girl readers. + +1. BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM + or The Mystery of a Nobody + +At the age of twelve Betty is left an orphan. + +2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON + or Strange Adventures in a Great City + +In this volume Betty goes to the National Capitol to find her uncle and +has several unusual adventures. + +3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL + or The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune + +From Washington the scene is shifted to the great oil fields of our +country. A splendid picture of the oil field operations of to-day. + +4. BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL + or The Treasure of Indian Chasm + +Seeking the treasure of Indian Chasm makes an exceedingly interesting +incident. + +5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP + or The Mystery of Ida Bellethorne + +At Mountain Camp Betty found herself in the midst of a mystery involving +a girl whom she had previously met in Washington. + +6. BETTY GORDON AT OCEAN PARK + or School Chums on the Boardwalk + +A glorious outing that Betty and her chums never forgot. + +7. BETTY GORDON AND HER SCHOOL CHUMS + or Bringing the Rebels to Terms + +Rebellious students, disliked teachers and mysterious robberies make a +fascinating story. + +8. BETTY GORDON AT RAINBOW RANCH + or Cowboy Joe's Secret + +Betty and her chums have a grand time in the saddle. + +Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES +By JANET D. WHEELER + +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors + +Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid + +1. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE + or The Queer Homestead at Cherry Corners + +Billie Bradley fell heir to an old homestead that was unoccupied and +located far away in a lonely section of the country. How Billie went +there, accompanied by some of her chums, and what queer things happened, +go to make up a story no girl will want to miss. + +2. BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE-TOWERS HALL + or Leading a Needed Rebellion + +Three-Towers Hall was a boarding school for girls. For a short time after +Billie arrived there all went well. But then the head of the school had +to go on a long journey and she left the girls in charge of two teachers, +sisters, who believed in severe discipline and in very, very plain food +and little of it--and then there was a row! The girls wired for the head +to come back--and all ended happily. + +3. BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND + or The Mystery of the Wreck + +One of Billie's friends owned a summer bungalow on Lighthouse Island, +near the coast. The school girls made up a party and visited the Island. +There was a storm and a wreck, and three little children were washed +ashore. They could tell nothing of themselves, and Billie and her chums +set to work to solve the mystery of their identity. + +4. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES + or The Secret of the Locked Tower + +Billie and her chums come to the rescue of several little children who +have broken through the ice. There is the mystery of a lost invention, +and also the dreaded mystery of the locked school tower. + +5. BILLIE BRADLEY AT TWIN LAKES + or Jolly Schoolgirls Afloat and Ashore + +A tale of outdoor adventure in which Billie and her chums have a great +variety of adventures. They visit an artists' colony and there fall in +with a strange girl living with an old boatman who abuses her constantly. +Billie befriended Hulda and the mystery surrounding the girl was finally +cleared up. + +Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ruth Fielding on the St. Lawrence, by +Alice B. Emerson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. 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