“Dear me!” sighed Helen, as Ruth, too, got out, laughing.  “You are incurable, Jennie.  Your goddess is your tummy.”

But the plump girl was not at all abashed.  She ran up the walk on to the porch and warmly greeted the little old woman who stood in the doorway.

“How-do, Jennie.  Oh, my back and oh, my bones!  Be careful, child!  I’m kinder tottery to-day, and no mistake.  Coming in, Helen Cameron?”

“Not to-night, Aunt Alvirah,” replied the girl, starting the car again.  “Good-night, all.”

“And here’s my pretty!” crooned Aunt Alvirah, putting up her thin arms to encircle Ruth’s neck as the girl came in.  “It does seem good to have you home again.  Your Uncle Jabez (who is softer-hearted than you would suppose) is just as glad to have you home as I am, to be sure.”

They had a merry supper in the wide, home-like kitchen, for even the miller when he came in was cheerful.  He had had a good day at the grist mill.  The cash-box was heavy that night, but he did not retire to his room to count his receipts as early as usual.  The chatter of the two girls kept the old man interested.

“It is a shame that the Indian agent should let a girl like Wonota sign a contract with that Dakota Joe.  Anybody might see, to look at him, that he was a bad man,” Jennie Stone said with vehemence at one point in the discussion.

“I am not much troubled over that point for the girl,” said Ruth.  “She says she has already written to the agent at the Three Rivers Station, Oklahoma, telling him how badly Fenbrook treats her.  That will soon be over.  She will get her release.”

“I shouldn’t wonder,” said Uncle Jabez, “that if a gal can fire a gun like you say she can, there ain’t much reason to worry about her.  She can take care of herself with that showman.”

“But suppose she should be tempted to do something really desperate!” cried Ruth.  “I hope nothing like that will happen.  She is really a savage by instinct.”

“And a pretty one,” agreed Jennie, thoughtfully.

“Shucks!  Pretty is as pretty does,” said Aunt Alvirah.  “I didn’t s’pose there was any real wild Injuns left.”

“You’d think she was wild,” chuckled Jennie, “if you’d seen her draw bead on that Dakota Joe person.”

“All that is not so much to the point,” pursued Ruth.  “I know that the girl wants to earn money—­not alone for her mere living.  She could go back to the reservation and live very comfortably without working—­much.  The Osage Nation is not at all poverty stricken and it holds its property ill community fashion.”

“What makes her travel around in such a foolish way, then?” Aunt Alvirah asked.

“She wants ready cash.  She wants it for a good purpose, too,” explained Ruth thoughtfully.  “You see, this girl’s father is Chief Totantora, a leading figure in the Osage Nation.  The year before Germany began the war he was traveling with a Wild West Show in Europe.  The show was in the interior of Germany when war came and the frontiers were closed.