Joe's fingers was shattered and he went through
a cloud of feathers as he turned his horse at a tangent and rode away
from the Indian girl. It was a good shot, but one that the proprietor of
the Wild West Show did not approve of!

"Oh!" exclaimed Mercy Curtis, bitterly, "why didn't she shoot him
instead of the ball? He deserves it, I know."

"Dear me, Mercy," drawled Jennie Stone, "you most certainly are a
blood-thirsty person!"

"I just know that man is a villain, and the Indian girl is in his
power."

"Next reel!" giggled Helen. "It is a regular Western cinema drama, isn't
it?"

"I certainly want to become better acquainted with that Wonota,"
declared Ruth, not at all sure but that Mercy Curtis was right in her
opinion. "There! Wonota is going off."

The applause the Indian girl received was vociferous. Most of the
spectators believed that the shooting of the glass ball out of the man's
hand had been rehearsed and was one of Wonota's chief feats. Ruth and
her friends had watched what had gone before too closely to make that
mistake. There was plainly a serious schism between Dakota Joe and the
girl whom he had called the Indian princess.

The girls settled back in their seats after Wonota had replied to the
applause with a stiff little bow from the entrance to the dressing-tent.
The usual representation of "Pioneer Days" was then put on, and while
the "stage" was being set for the attack on the emigrant train and
Indian massacre, the fellow who had stood at the pasture fence and
talked to the girls when the black bull had done his turn, suddenly
appeared in the aisle between the plank seats and gestured to Ruth.

"What?" asked the girl of the Red Mill "You want me?"

"You're the lady," he said, grinning. "Won't keep you a minute. You can
git back and see the rest of the show all right."

"It must be that Wonota has sent him for me," explained Ruth, seeing no
other possible reason for this call. Refusing to let even Helen go with
her, she followed the man up the aisle and down a narrow flight of steps
to the ground.

"What is the matter with her? What does she want me for?" Ruth asked him
when she could get within earshot and away from the audience.

"Her?"

"Yes. You come from Wonota, don't you?"

The man chuckled, but still kept on. "You'll see her in a minute. Right
this way, Miss," he said.

They came to a canvas-enclosed place with a flap pinned back as though
it were the entrance to a tent. T