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Page 39
The man did not seem to hear her at all. Ruth scrambled up and staggered
toward the front, although Mr. Hooley had instructed the girls to remain
at the rear of the wagons so that they could be seen from the place
where the cameras were stationed.
"Stop!" cried Ruth again. "You will tip us over--or something."
There was good reason why William did not obey. His six mules had broken
away from his control entirely.
A man must be a master driver to hold the reins over three span of
mules; and William was as good as any man in the outfit. But as he got
his team into a gallop the leaders took fright at the charging Indians
on pony-back, and tried to leave the trail.
William was alone on the driver's seat. He put all his strength into an
attempt to drag the leaders back into the trail and--the rein broke!
Under ordinary circumstances this accident would not have been of much
moment. But to have pulled the other mules around, and so throw the
runaways, would have spoiled the picture. William was too old a movie
worker to do that.
When Ruth stumbled to the front of the swaying wagon and seized his
shoulder he cast rather an embarrassed glance back at her.
"Stop them! Stop!" the girl commanded.
"I'd like mighty well to do it, Miss Fielding," said William, wagging
his head, "but these dratted mules have got their heads
and--they--ain't---no notion o' stoppin' this side of the ranch
corrals."
Ruth understood him. She stared straight ahead with a gaze that became
almost stony. This leading wagon was heading for the break of a ravine
into which the trail plunged at a sharp angle. If the mules were swerved
at the curve the heavy wagon would surely overturn.
In twenty seconds the catastrophe would happen!
CHAPTER XV
PURSUING DANGER
When a mule is once going, it is just as stubborn about stopping as it
is about being started if it feels balky. The leading span attached to
the covered wagon in which Ruth and her two chums, Helen Cameron and
Jennie Stone, rode had now communicated their own fright to the four
other animals. All six were utterly unmanageable.
"Do tell him to stop, Ruth!" shrieked Jennie Stone from the rear of the
wagon.
The next moment she shot into the air as the wheels on one side bounced
over an outcropping boulder. She came down clawing at Helen to save
herself from flying out of the end of the wagon.
"Oh! This is too much!" shouted Helen, quite as frightened as her
companion. "I mean to get out! Don't a-a-ask me to--to act in moving
pictures again. I never will!"
"Talk about rough stuff!" groaned Jennie. "This is the limit."
Neither of them realized the danger that threatened. Of the three girls
only Ruth knew what was just ahead. The maddened mules were dragging the
emigrant wagon for a pitch into the ravine that boded nothing less than
disaster for all.
In the band of Indians riding for the string of covered wagons Wonota
had been numbered. She could ride a barebacked pony as well as any buck
in the party. She had removed her skirt and rode in the guise of a young
brave. The pinto pony she bestrode was speedy, and the Osage maid
managed him perfectly.
Long before the train of wagons and the pursuing band of Indians got
into the focus of the cameras, Wonota, as well as her companions, saw
that the six mules drawing the head wagon were out of control. The dash
of the frightened animals added considerable to the realism of the
picture, as they swept past Jim Hooley and his camera men; but the
director was quite aware that disaster threatened William's outfit.
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