he 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 g