Why not?" asked Wonota. "Is a redman so much superior to a white man?
If the redman can punish an enemy why cannot a white man?"

"Our law does not leave it in our hands to punish," said Ruth, quietly,
though rather staggered by the Indian girl's question. "We have courts,
and judges, and methods of criminal procedure. A person who has been
injured by another cannot be the best judge of the punishment to be
meted out to the one who has harmed him."

"Why not?" demanded Wonota, promptly. "He is the one hurt. Who other
than he should deal out punishment?"

Ruth was silenced for the time being. In fact, Wonota looked upon
mundane matters from such a different angle that it was sometimes
impossible for Ruth to convince her protege that the white man's way was
better.

However, this incident gave Ruth Fielding a warning that she did not
intend to ignore. A little later she told Mr. Hammond of the Indian
girl's suspicion that it was Fenbrook who had been the cause of Ruth's
slight injury. It was too late then to set the police on the track of
the showman, for on making private inquiry Mr. Hammond found that Dakota
Joe's show had already left Brooklyn and was _en route_ for some city in
the Middle West.

"But it seems scarcely probable, Miss Ruth," the producer said, "that
that fellow would take such a chance. And to hurt _you!_ Why, if he had
tried to injure that Indian girl, I might be convinced. She probably saw
somebody in the car with a sombrero on--"

"I noticed two men in that car with broad hats," confessed Ruth. "But I
gave them only a glance. It doesn't seem very sensible to believe that
the man would deliberately hurt me. Yet he did threaten us when he was
angry, there at the mill. No getting around that."

Mr. Hammond shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "You will begin to
believe that the making of moving pictures is a pretty perilous
business."

"It may be." She laughed, yet rather doubtfully. "I am to be on the
watch for the 'hand in the dark,' am I not? At any rate when we are hear
Dakota Joe again, I will keep a very sharp lookout."

"Yes, of course, Miss Ruth, we'll all do that," returned Mr. Hammond,
more seriously now, for he saw that Ruth was really disturbed. "Still,
whatever his intentions, I do not believe Fenbrook will have the power
to do any real harm. At any rate, keep your courage up, for we are
forewarned now, and can take care of ourselves--and of you," he added,
with a smile, as he lef