* * * * *

Tom always wrote an Interesting letter; but aside from that, of course
Ruth was eager to hear from him. And now, as soon as she could, she sat
down and replied to his communication. She had, too, a particular topic
on which she wished to write her friend.

Now that embattled Germany would no longer hold its prisoners
_incommunicado_, Ruth hoped that news about the imprisoned performers of
the Wild West Show might percolate through the lines. Chief Totantora
had been able but once to get a message to his daughter.

This message had reached America long before the United States had got
into the war. Although the Osage chieftain was an American (who could
claim such proud estate if Totantora could not?), the show by which he
was employed had gone direct to Germany from England, and anything
English had, from the first, been taboo in Germany. Now, of course, the
Indian girl had no idea as to where her father was.

"See if you can hear anything about those performers," Ruth wrote to
Tom. "Get word if you can to the Chief of the Osage Indians and tell him
that his daughter is with me, and that she longs for his return.

"I should love to make her happy by aiding in Chief Totantora's
reappearance in his native land. She is so sad, indeed, that I wonder if
she is going to be able to register, for the screen, the happiness that
she should finally show when my picture is brought to its conclusion."