Busy days followed for Ruth, days of rush and strain that sometimes found her tired out and depressed, sometimes jubilant and confident of the success of her great undertaking.
They found suitable locations in plenty in and about Knockout Point. In fact, their chief embarrassment seemed to be in the matter of selecting the best. It was an embarrassment of riches.
Setting about her work with her usual vim and enthusiasm, Ruth gradually won the confidence of her company. It needed only the filming of the first big outdoor scene, with Ruth here and there and everywhere at once, commanding, directing, coaching, to prove to them her unusual directing ability.
Even Gerard Bolton, the skeptical, was convinced, and from that time on became one of Ruth’s most loyal and enthusiastic supporters.
There were only two flies in Ruth’s ointment of content. But they were enough to keep her constantly on the anxious seat.
The first and perhaps the most annoying, was Sol Bloomberg of The Big Chance, whom she had found to be in truth her old enemy and the author of those threatening letters.
The fact that he had as yet made no move to hinder her in the work of picture-making reassured Ruth not at all. She knew Bloomberg and his talent for disguising his true purpose until the moment came to strike.
Ruth felt that sooner or later he would aim a deadly blow at her. She had no defense, since she could not possibly tell from what angle he would strike.
The second fly, also an annoying one, was Joe Rumph, the dwarf.
His original unfriendly feeling toward Ruth had been fanned into a flame of enmity by her decision to tone down the part he had to play in several different scenes of the picture.