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Page 13
"Dear me!" sighed Helen, as Ruth, too, got out, laughing. "You are
incurable, Jennie. Your goddess is your tummy."
But the plump girl was not at all abashed. She ran up the walk on to the
porch and warmly greeted the little old woman who stood in the doorway.
"How-do, Jennie. Oh, my back and oh, my bones! Be careful, child! I'm
kinder tottery to-day, and no mistake. Coming in, Helen Cameron?"
"Not to-night, Aunt Alvirah," replied the girl, starting the car again.
"Good-night, all."
"And here's my pretty!" crooned Aunt Alvirah, putting up her thin arms
to encircle Ruth's neck as the girl came in. "It does seem good to have
you home again. Your Uncle Jabez (who is softer-hearted than you would
suppose) is just as glad to have you home as I am, to be sure."
They had a merry supper in the wide, home-like kitchen, for even the
miller when he came in was cheerful. He had had a good day at the grist
mill. The cash-box was heavy that night, but he did not retire to his
room to count his receipts as early as usual. The chatter of the two
girls kept the old man interested.
"It is a shame that the Indian agent should let a girl like Wonota sign
a contract with that Dakota Joe. Anybody might see, to look at him, that
he was a bad man," Jennie Stone said with vehemence at one point in the
discussion.
"I am not much troubled over that point for the girl," said Ruth. "She
says she has already written to the agent at the Three Rivers Station,
Oklahoma, telling him how badly Fenbrook treats her. That will soon be
over. She will get her release."
"I shouldn't wonder," said Uncle Jabez, "that if a gal can fire a gun
like you say she can, there ain't much reason to worry about her. She
can take care of herself with that showman."
"But suppose she should be tempted to do something really desperate!"
cried Ruth. "I hope nothing like that will happen. She is really a
savage by instinct."
"And a pretty one," agreed Jennie, thoughtfully.
"Shucks! Pretty is as pretty does," said Aunt Alvirah. "I didn't s'pose
there was any real wild Injuns left."
"You'd think she was wild," chuckled Jennie, "if you'd seen her draw
bead on that Dakota Joe person."
"All that is not so much to the point," pursued Ruth. "I know that the
girl wants to earn money--not alone for her mere living. She could go
back to the reservation and live very comfortably without working--much.
The Osage Nation is not at all poverty stricken and it holds its
property ill community fashion."
"What makes her travel around in such a foolish way, then?" Aunt Alvirah
asked.
"She wants ready cash. She wants it for a good purpose, too," explained
Ruth thoughtfully. "You see, this girl's father is Chief Totantora, a
leading figure in the Osage Nation. The year before Germany began the
war he was traveling with a Wild West Show in Europe. The show was in
the interior of Germany when war came and the frontiers were closed.
"Once only did Wonota hear from her father. He was then in a detention
camp, for, being a good American, he refused to bow down to Hun gods--"
"I should say he had a right to call himself an American, if anybody
has," said Jennie quickly.
"And he is not the only Indian who proved his loyalty to a Government
that, perhaps, has not always treated the original Americans justly,"
Ruth remarked.
"I dunno," grumbled Uncle Jabez. "Injuns is Injuns. You say yourself
this gal is pretty wild."
"She is independent, at any rate. She wishes to earn enough money to set
afoot a private inquiry for Chief Totantora. For she does not believe he
is dead."
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