said nothing to Jim Hooley about Dakota Joe. She did not wish to
bother the director in any case. She had come to appreciate Hooley as,
in a sense, a creative genius who should have his mind perfectly free of
all other subjects--especially of annoying topics of thought--if he was
to turn out a thoroughly good picture. Hooley fairly lived in the
picture while the scenes were being shot. He must not be troubled by the
knowledge of the possibility of Dakota Joe's being at Benbow Camp for
some ulterior purpose.

Ruth told the girls about the man's appearance when she returned to the
shacks where the members of the moving picture company were spending the
night. And she warned Wonota in particular, and in private.

"He is as angry with us as he can be," the girl of the Red Mill told the
Osage maiden. "I think, if I were you, Wonota, I would beware of him."

"Beware of Dakota Joe?" repeated Wonota.

"Yes."

"I would beware of him? I would shoot him?" said the Osage girl with
suddenly flashing eyes. "That is what you mean?"

Ruth laughed in spite of her anxiety. "Beware" was plainly a word
outside the Indian girl's vocabulary.

"Don't talk like a little savage," she admonished Wonota, more severely
than usual. "Of course you are not to shoot the man. You are just to see
that he does you no harm--watch out for him when he is in your
vicinity."

"Oh! I'll watch Dakota Joe all right," promised Wonota with emphasis.
"Don't you worry about that, Miss Fielding. I'll watch him."

To Ruth's mind it seemed that the ex-showman, in his anger, was likely
to try to punish the Indian girl for leaving his show, or to do some
harm to the picture-making so as to injure Mr. Hammond. He had already
(or so Ruth believed) endeavored to hurt Ruth herself when she was all
but run over in New York. Ruth did not expect a second attack upon
herself.

The next morning--the really "great day" of the picture taking--all at
the camp were aroused by daybreak. There was not a soul--to the very
cook of the timber-camp outfit--who was not interested in the matter.
The freshet Jim Hooley had planned had to be handled in just the right
way and everything connected with it must be done in the nick of time.

Wonota in her Indian canoe--a carefully selected one and decorated in
Indian fashion--was embarked on the sullen stream above the timber-boom.
The holding back of the water and the driftwood had formed an angry
stretch of river which under ordina