turned by such praise. Even Tom Cameron's pride in her pictures only
made the girl glad that she succeeded in delighting him.

For Ruth and Tom were closer friends now than ever before--and for years
they had been "chummy." The adventures which had thrown them so much
together in France while Tom was a captain in the American Expeditionary
Forces and Ruth was working with the American Red Cross, had welded
their confidence in and liking for each other until it seemed that
nothing but their youth and Tom's duties in the army kept them from
announcing their engagement.

"Do finish the war quickly, Tom," she had said to him whimsically, not
long before Tom had gone back to France. "I do not feel as though I
could return to college, or write another scenario, or do another single
solitary thing until peace is declared."

"And _then_?" Tom had asked significantly, and Ruth had given him an
understanding smile.

The uncertainty of that time--the whole nation waited and listened
breathlessly for news from abroad--seemed to Ruth more than she could
bear. She had entered upon this pleasure jaunt to the Wild West Show
with the other girls because she knew that anything to take their minds
off the more serious thoughts of the war was a good thing.

Now, as she felt herself in peril of being gored by that black bull a
tiny thought flashed into her mind:

"What terrible peril may be facing Tom Cameron at this identical
moment?"