“Yes, Miss,” said the man, politely enough. “I don’t want to mix in with that redskin. I guess not!”
Wonota stepped ashore and Ruth gave her the shoe she had lost. Her father followed her. He turned as though to set the boat adrift, but Ruth laid her hand upon his wet sleeve.
“Let it alone, Totantora. I hope you will be advised by me. We will go right away from here. Instead of waiting until to-morrow, let us leave here to-night and start for the North.”
Wonota said something to her father in their own tongue, and he looked at Ruth more peacefully.
“White lady is always my friend, I know; and Wonota’s friend,” he observed. “But these bad men tried to steal Wonota.”
“Tell me how it happened,” Ruth put in, hoping to change his trend of thought and determination.
“I will tell you, my friend,” said the Indian girl. “A little fat man came in a car when Chief Totantora and I were walking in the road. He got us to sit down yonder and talk to him. He is one of those who have tried to get Chief Totantora and me to go away from you to make pictures. He offers much money. And while we talked, those other two men crept up behind us and they all seized Chief Totantora and me. We were bound and our mouths closed before we knew how many, or how few, our enemies were. Then my father was left in the wood and I was carried to the boat. I do not know what became of the little fat man.”
“I saw him drive away,” Ruth said. “It made me suspicious. I had already seen and talked with the fat man, whose name is Bilby. Don’t forget that name, Wonota.”
“I will remember,” said the Indian girl, composedly.
“He may make some other attempt to get possession of you. Some attempt by aid of the courts.”