All the men liked her, and after a time they did not speak carelessly of her as “that Injun gal.”  She seemed to be of a different caliber from the other Indians engaged in making the picture.  At least, she was more intelligent.

The girls from the East did not lose their personal interest in Wonota in the least degree.  But of course while the various scenes were being made even Ruth did not give all her attention to either the Indian maiden or to the shooting of the picture.

The great freshet scene, when developed and tried out in the projection room at Clearwater, proved to be a very striking film indeed.  If “Brighteyes” was to rise to the level of that one scene, every reel of the picture must be photographed with great care.

While the director and Mr. Hammond and the company in general worked over some of the lumber-camp scenes, retaking or arranging for the shots over and over again, Ruth rode with her two chums on many a picturesque trail around Benbow Camp, Hubbell Ranch and the Clearwater station of the railroad.

They were quite sure that Dakota Joe Fenbrook had left this part of the country—­and left in a hurry.  If he learned that his attempt on Ruth Fielding’s life was not successful, he must have learned it some time after the occurrence.  Just where the “bad man” had gone after leaving Benbow on the run, nobody seemed to know.

Ruth and Helen and Jennie were in the saddle almost every day.  They found much to interest them on the various trails they followed.  They even discovered and visited several pioneer families—­“nesters” in the language of the cowpunchers and stockmen—­who welcomed the Eastern girls with vast curiosity.

“And how some of these folks can live in such Wild places, and in such perfectly barren cabins, I do not see,” groaned Helen Cameron after a visit to one settler’s family near a wild canyon to the west of Benbow Camp.  “That woman and those girls!  Not a decent garment to their backs, and the men so rough and uncouth.  I would not stay there on a bet—­not for the best man who ever breathed.”

“That woman’s husband isn’t the best man who ever breathed,” said Jennie, grimly.  “But perhaps he is the best man she ever knew.  And, anyway, having as the boys say ‘got stuck on him,’ now she is plainly ‘stuck with him.’  In other words she has made her own bed and must lie in it.”

“Why should people be punished for their ignorance?” complained Helen.

“Nature’s way,” said Ruth confidently.  “Civilization is slowly changing that—­or trying to.  But nature’s law is, after all, rather harsh to us.”

“If I was one of those girls we saw back there,” Helen continued, “I would run away.”

“Run where?” asked Ruth slyly.  “With a movie company?  Or a Wild West Show?”

“Either.  Anything would be better than that hut and the savagery of their present lives.”

“They don’t mind it so much,” admitted Jennie.  “I asked one of them.  She was looking forward to a dance next week.  She said they had three of four through the year—­and they seemed to be reckoned as great treats, but all a girl could expect.”