"Quick! A rope!"
"No, boards are better!"
"Fence rails will do!"
"Oh, get him out, someone!"
These were only some of the cries uttered, following the accident to Mr. Sneed. Meanwhile he was doing his best to keep himself above water by grasping the edge of the ice.
But it crumbled in his fingers, and he was so shocked by the sudden immersion, and by the cold, and his skates were so heavy on his feet, that he went down again and again. Fortunately the lake was not deep at that point, and as he went down his feet would touch bottom, and he could spring up again.
"Don't go out there!" warned Mr. Pertell, as Paul started for the spot.
"Why not?" asked the young actor.
"Because the ice is probably thin all aroundthat place. I don't want two of you in. Hold on, Mr. Sneed!" he cried to the desperate actor. "We'll have you out in no time!"
"Shall I get this?" cried Russ, who had not deserted his camera, even as a gunner will not leave his cannon, nor a captain his ship. More than once brave moving picture operators have stood in the face of danger to get rare views.
"Yes, get every motion of it!" cried the manager.
"But it isn't in the play!"
"I don't care! We'll write it in afterward. You get the pictures and we'll rescue Mr. Sneed. Hi, there, Mr. Bunn, you must help with this. Get some fence rails! We can slide them out on the ice and they will distribute the weight so that the ice will hold us."
"But where will I get fence rails?" asked the actor.
"Oh, gnaw them out of a tree!" cried Mr. Pertell, who was much disturbed and nervous. "Don't you see that fence?" he cried, pointing to one not far off. "Get some rails from that. And then get in the picture!"
"Oh, such a life!" groaned Mr. Bunn.
"This is to save a life!" the manager reminded him.
And while Russ continued to make moving pictures of the unexpected scene, the others set about the work of rescue. Later this could be interpolated in the drama to make it appear as though it had all been arranged in advance.
"Hurry with those rails!" called Mr. Pertell to Mr. Bunn. "He can't stay in that icy water forever."
Some of the men who had been working at removing the snow now came up with ropes and trace chains. Then, when the rails were spread out on the ice, near the air hole, the rescuers were able to get near enough to throw the ends of several lines to Mr. Sneed. He managed to grasp one, and, a moment later was hauled out on the ice.
"I—I—I'm c-c-c-cold!" he stammered, as he stood with the icy water dripping from him.
"Shouldn't wonder but what you were," agreed Mr. Pertell. "Now the thing for you to do is to run to the Lodge as fast as you can. Here, Mr. Bunn, you and Paul run alongside him, with a hold on either arm. We'll call this film 'A Modern Pickwick,' instead of what we planned. InDickens'story there's a scene somewhat like this. We'll change the whole thing about.
"Russ, you go on ahead, and when Paul and Mr. Bunn come along with Mr. Sneed, you get them as they run."
"All right," assented the young moving picture operator, as he kept on grinding away at the crank.
Exercise was the best thing to restore the circulation of the actor who had fallen into the water, and he soon had plenty of it. With Paul on one side, and Mr. Bunn on the other, he was raced back to Elk Lodge, and there he was supplied plentifully with hot lemonade to ward off a cold. Russ got interior pictures of these scenes as well, and later the film made a great success.
"In view of the accident, and the fact that you are all more or less upset," said Mr. Pertell, when some of the excitement had calmed down, "we will give up work for the rest of the day. You may do as you please until to-morrow."
"Then I'm going for a walk," cried Alice.
"I'm with you," spoke Paul, "only we ought to have snowshoes."
"Oh, could we get any?" she cried.
"I can arrange for some for you," promised Mr. Macksey, "but I haven't any now."
"Good idea!" exclaimed the manager. "An idea for a new film—'The Snowshoe Rescue!' Here, Russ, make some notes of this for future use," and he began to dictate to the young operator, who with his employer frequently thus improvised dramas out of a mere suggestion.
"If you want to walk," said Mr. Macksey toAlice, "you'd better stick to the road. The men have been out with homemade snowplows breaking a trail. That's what we do around here after a storm. You'd better stick to the road."
"We will!" cried Alice. "Will you come, Ruth?"
"Later perhaps—not now. I want to study a new part I have."
"I suppose you're waiting for Russ," whispered Alice.
"Don't be silly!" flashed Ruth. But she did not go out with her sister.
Alice and Paul had a glorious walk in the snow, and saw a beautiful country, even though it was hidden under a mantle of white. For Deerfield was a lovely place.
"Aren't you cold?" asked Ruth, when her sister returned.
"Not a bit. It's glorious. What did you do, and how is Mr. Sneed?"
"He's doing nicely, I believe. As for me, I stayed in. I had some mending to do."
"Is that why Russ has threads on his coat sleeve—was it his coatyouwere mending?"
"Oh, Alice—you are hopeless!" protested Ruth, but she blushed vividly.
That afternoon, as Mrs. Macksey was overseeing the getting of supper, Alice, who went tothe kitchen for something, heard the veteran hunter and his wife in conversation.
"You say they are strangers about here?" he asked.
"Yes, three men. I saw them after you had gone to the station to get the moving picture folks. There were three men, and I think they were after deer."
"After deer, eh? Don't they know that this is a private preserve?"
"They didn't seem to care. They came to ask their direction. They all had guns, and I'm sure they were after deer."
"And you never saw them before?"
"No, I never did."
"And you have no idea where they came from?"
"I couldn't tell—no. I heard one of them ask the other if he thought it was safe."
"If what was safe?"
"He didn't say. Maybe he meant to hunt deer around here."
"It won't be safe if I catch them!" declared Mr. Macksey, as he went out. Alice wondered who the men could be.
It was so quiet and peaceful at Elk Lodge that Mr. DeVere soon forgot all about the annoyance caused by the demand of Dan Merley for the fivehundred dollars. At first he had expected some sort of legal summons in a suit, but when none came he breathed easier.
Several days passed, and a few snow scenes were filmed to be used later, and worked into dramas. Mr. Sneed suffered a little cold from his unexpected bath, but that was all.
Meanwhile the weather had remained about the same. There was plenty of snow, but no more storms. Elk Lodge was voted the finest place in the world, and even Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon condescended to say that they liked it.
Then, one day, plans were made for filming a little drama in the snowy woods, and thither many members of the company went to act.
Ruth was supposed to be lost in a dense thicket, and Paul was soon on his way to find her, in the guise of a woodman. He had sighted Ruth, over a clump of bushes, and was making his way to her, when he heard her scream. This was not in the play and he wondered what couldhavehappened.
"Quick!" he heard her cry. "He's going to jump at me!"
Paul broke into a run, and the next moment saw a deer, with large, branching antlers, spring through the underbrush directly in front of Ruth, while Russ, at the camera, yelled to drive away the curious animal.
"Oh, I'm so frightened!" cried Ruth.
"Don't be alarmed!" Russ called to her, while he continued to grind away at the camera. "He won't hurt you. This will make a dandy picture! I'm going to film the deer."
"Oh, but suppose he jabs me with his horns?" wailed Ruth, who was not quite so alarmed now. "They are terribly sharp."
"Don't worry!" Russ answered. "This is coming out great. The deer was just the one thing needed to make this film a success."
"Then I won't spoil it by coming in now!" called Paul, who was keeping out of the focus of the camera by crouching down behind some bushes. He had heard what Russ said, and had given up his plan of rushing to rescue Ruth. Evidently there was no need.
The deer, strange to say, did not seem at all alarmed, and stood gazing at Ruth with greatbrown eyes. She too, realizing that she was not to be harmed, acted more naturally now, and with an appreciation of what was needed to make the film a proper one.
She first "registered" fear, and then delighted surprise, at seeing the animal.
I might explain that in making moving pictures certain directions are given to the actors. As they can not depend on speaking words to let the audiences know what is going on, they must intimate, by appropriate gesture, or facial expression, the action of the play. This is called "registering," and when in the directions, or scenario, an actor or actress is told to "register" fear, surprise, anger, love, jealousy—in fact any of the emotions—he or she knows what is meant.
In this case Ruth was without specific directions save those called out by Russ. And often, in an emergency a good moving picture camera operator can save a film from being spoiled by improvising some "stage directions," if I may call them such.
"Shall I approach him, Russ?" Ruth asked, as she saw that the deer showed no intentions of fleeing.
"Yes, if he'll let you. It will make a dandy scene."
"Not too close," cautioned Paul, who was stillout of sight behind the bushes, waiting until he could properly come into the scene. "He mightaccidentallyhit you with a sweep of his horns."
"I'll be careful," answered Ruth. "I believe the poor thing is hungry."
"If we only had something to feed him!" exclaimed Russ. "That would work in fine."
"I have some lumps of sugar," said Ruth, speaking with her head turned aside. The reason for this was that she did not want the movement of her lips to show on the film, and the camera will catch and fix even that slight motion.
The reason Ruth spoke aside was because the little scene was being improvised, and she had no proper lines to speak. And, as I have already explained, often persons in the audience of a moving picture theatre are able to understand what is said, merely by watching the lips of the performers on the screen.
"Sugar! Good!" cried Russ. "See if he'll take it. I don't know what deer like best, but if they're anything like horses they'll revel in sugar. Go ahead!"
Ruth had in her pocket some lumps she had intended giving to the horses attached to the sleds in which they had come to the woods. She now took out some of these and held them out to the timid deer.
The beautiful creature, made bold, perhaps, by hunger, came a step nearer.
"Oh, that's fine!" cried Russ, squinting through the focusing tube to get clear, sharp impressions on the film. "Keep at it, Ruth."
The deer came nearer, thrusting forth its velvet nose. It sniffed at the sugar Ruth held, and then put out its lips and tongue and picked up the lumps.
"Fine!" cried Russ. "Maybe he'd like salt better, for I've read of salt-licks that animals visit, but sugar will do on a pinch; won't it, old fellow?"
Perhaps it was the loud, laughing voice that Russ used, or it may have been because there was no more sugar, but, at any rate, the deer, after taking the sweet lumps gave a sudden turn, and rushed off through the bushes, going rather slowly because of the deep snow.
Russ caught every motion of the graceful creature, however, and called out to Ruth to pose with her hand shaded over her eyes, as though she were looking after the deer. She did this, and that ended the little scene with the timid woodland creature, who, if he ever saw moving pictures, would doubtless be very much surprised to perceive a presentment of himself on the screen.
"Come on now, Paul!" called Russ, indicating to the young actor to show himself so that he would get into the picture.
The other players who had come up on hearing Ruth call out were now ready for their parts in the play. They had kept out of sight of the camera, however, so as not to spoil the picture.
"Very well done!" declared Mr. Pertell, when Ruth had finished her part in the play. "That deer will make a very effective picture, I think."
"It was a dear deer!" punned Alice, and the others laughed.
On the way back to Elk Lodge the manager made an announcement that interested all in the company, the young people especially.
"I have a drama," he said, "that calls for a coasting race in one scene. I wonder if we couldn't do that to-morrow."
"Oh, riding down hill!" cried Alice, with girlish enthusiasm. "What fun! May I steer a bob?"
"Alice, you never could!" cried Ruth.
"Pooh! I've done it lots of times!" her sister answered.
"Yes, when you were a little girl, perhaps, with two sleds held together," laughed Mr. Pertell. "This will be different. Mr. Macksey tellsme he has two big, old-fashioned bobsleds in one of the barns. Now I think we can get up two parties and have a big coasting race. The play calls for it, and the young men who steer the bobs are rivals for the hand of the same girl. She has made a condition that whoever gets first to the bottom of the big hill may marry her. So you see the plan of the play."
"Me for a bob!" cried Paul.
"I wish I didn't have to film the play—I'd steer one, too!" exclaimed Russ, with a look at Ruth that made her blush.
"Must I get into this silly coasting play?" asked Mr. Bunn.
"You surely must," answered Mr. Pertell. "And I want to warn you of one thing—you are not to wear a high hat—it would only blow off and embarrass you."
"Not wear my high hat? Then I refuse to take part!" cried the tragic actor.
But Mr. Pertell paid no attention to him, for he had heard the same thing before.
The details of the coasting race were discussed on the way to Elk Lodge, and it was arranged that a partial rehearsal should be held next day.
That night, as Alice and Ruth were going to bed rather early, on account of the wearyingwork of the day, they heard voices out in the hall near their room.
"Listen!" warned Alice, raising her finger, for Ruth was talking.
"It's Mr. and Mrs. Macksey," said Ruth.
"I know. But what are they saying? It's something about those strange hunters who were seen about here once before."
Mr. Macksey, who had been summoned to the upper hall by his wife to fix a broken window, was speaking in his deep voice.
"So those fellows were around again; eh?" he asked.
"Yes, and I don't like it, Jake," Mrs. Macksey replied. "You know what it means if they kill any of the club deer. It may cost you your place here. The members of the club may say you were not careful enough."
"That's so, wife. I reckon I'd better look after those chaps. If they're trespassing on Elk Lodge I can have them arrested anyhow."
The next day was clear and calm, just right for taking pictures, and after breakfast the entire company went out on the hill where the bobsled race was to take place.
The hill had been prepared in advance by men from Elk Lodge, so that the sleds would attain good speed. The snow had been packed down,and a place made for Russ to set up his camera.
"Paul, you will steer one bob," said Mr. Pertell, as he was arranging the affair, "and Mr. Sneed will take the other."
"What, me steer a bobsled down that hill?" cried the grouchy actor, as he looked at the steep slope.
"Of course," said the manager.
"Something is sure to happen," declared Mr. Sneed.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell. "All you have to do is to keep the wheel steady."
The company of players, with a number of men from Elk Lodge, added to fill the bobs, now divided themselves into two parties. Ruth was to go on the sled with Mr. Sneed, and sit directly behind him so as to show well in the camera. Alice was to ride next to Paul on the other sled. The bobs were long ones, with bells and large steering wheels in front.
"All ready?" called Mr. Pertell, when the players were seated.
"All ready!" cried Russ, indicating that the camera was prepared.
"Go!" ordered the manager, and the men detailed to push the bobs shoved them ahead. The moving picture coasting race was on.
"Here we go!"
"Hold on tight, everybody!"
"Let's see if we can't win!"
With shouts and laughter the merry coasters thus enlivened the race down hill. In order to make the moving pictures appear as realistic as possible Mr. Pertell had told the players to forget, for the time being, that they were actors, and to imagine that they were just boys and girls, out for a real frolic.
"And I'm sure I feel like one!" cried Alice, as she clung to the sides of the bob, where she sat behind Paul.
"That's the way to talk!" he laughed. "Look out for yourself now, we're going to bump!"
At that moment they came to a "thank-ye-ma'am," as they are called in the country.
This is a ridge, or bump in the road, made to keep the rain water from rushing down thehighway too fast. The ridge turns the water to one side.
As Paul spoke the sled reached this place, rose into the air, and came down heavily.
"Gracious!" cried Alice. "I was nearly bounced off!"
"I warned you!" laughed Paul. "There's another one just below. Watch out for it."
Paul's sled was a little ahead of the one steered by Mr. Sneed, and the latter was unaware of the treacherous nature of the road. So he did not warn his fellow coasters. The result was that two of those on the rear fell off, but as they landed in soft snow they were not hurt.
"All the better!" cried Russ, who was making the pictures. "That will add to it. Keep going, Mr. Sneed!"
"If I go much farther I'll fall off!" cried the grouchy actor. "I can't hold on much longer!"
"You've got to!" ordered Mr. Pertell. "I'm not going to have this picture spoiled."
"Please don't fall off, whatever you do!" cried Ruth, who was back of Mr. Sneed. "That would leave me to do the steering and I don't know the first thing about it."
"Well, I'll do my best," he said, as graciouslyas he could. "Certainly I don't want to make trouble for you, Miss DeVere."
"Thank you," she said, and then as she looked ahead and saw another bump in the road, she cried:
"Look out! We're going to hit it."
Now Mr. Sneed was still suffering from the effects of the first bump, and not wishing to repeat it he sought to avoid the second by steering to one side. But in steering a long and heavy bobsled, well-laden with coasters, there is one thing to be remembered. That is, it must not be steered too suddenly to one side, for it has a propensity to "skid" worse than an automobile.
This was what happened in the case of Mr. Sneed. He turned the steering wheel suddenly, the bobsled slewed to one side, and, in another instant, had upset.
"Oh, dear!"
"We'll be killed!"
These two expressions came respectively from Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon. Some of the men cried out and a number of the girls screamed; but, after all, no one was hurt, for the snow was soft and luckily the bob rolled to one side, not hitting anyone.
The moment he realized that it was about tocapsize Mr. Sneed let go of the steering wheel, and gave a jump which carried him out of harm's way, so the only mishap he suffered was a rather severe shaking up, and being covered with snow. Considerable of the white stuff got in his mouth.
"Wuff!" he spluttered. "I—gurr—will never—burr—steer—another—whew—sled!"
By this time he had cleared his mouth of snow, and repeated his determination, without the interruptions and stutterings.
"Did you get that spill, Russ?" asked Mr. Pertell, who could not keep from laughing.
"Every move of it; yes, sir!"
"Good. I think we can make use of it, though it wasn't in the scenario. But we'll have to start over again. I want to get a good close finish."
"What's that you said?" asked Mr. Sneed, as he dusted the snow from his clothes, and looked at the overturned bob.
"I said," repeated the manager, "that we'd have to do the coasting scene over again, as I wanted to show a close finish of the two sleds at the foot of the hill, and now we can't, for one is down there, and the other is up here."
This was true enough, since Paul had steered his sled properly, and had reached the foot ofthe slope, where he and the others waved to their less fortunate competitors.
"Well, you can have the race over again if you like," said Mr. Sneed, with decision, "but I am not going to steer. I knew something would happen if I steered a bob."
"Well, you were right—for once," conceded Mr. Pertell, with a smile. "And perhaps you are right not to want to steer again. It may not be safe."
"I'll do it!" offered Mr. Switzer. "In der old country yet I haf steered sleds bigger yet as dis von."
"All right, you may try," said Mr. Pertell. "Now then, is anyone hurt?"
"I am not, I'm glad to say," laughed Ruth, who was brushing the snow from her garments. "But it was a narrow escape."
"Indeed it was!" snapped Miss Dixon. "It was all your fault, too, Mr. Sneed!"
"My fault, how?"
"You steered to one side too quickly. Don't you try that, Mr. Switzer."
"Indeed und I vill not. You can trust me!"
"Get ready then," ordered Mr. Pertell. "Come on back!" he called to Paul and his companions at the foot of the hill.
As the story in which the coasting race figuredwould have to be changed to make the accident fit in, Mr. Pertell had Russ get all the incidental scenes he could, showing the overturned bob being righted, the coasters getting ready for the new race, and the other bob being pulled up hill.
Once more the rival coasters prepared to start off, with Mr. Switzer replacing Mr. Sneed. This time there was no upset, and the two sleds went down close together.
Then something new developed. Mr. Switzer spoke truly when he said he had been used to steering bobs in Germany. He knew just how to do it to get the best results, and take advantage of every favorable spot on the hill.
Paul, too, seeing that it was to be a real race, as well as one for the benefit of the moving picture audiences, exerted himself to get the best out of his sled. There is little a steersman on a bob can do except to take advantage of the easiest course. And this Paul did.
On and on went the big bobs, nearing the foot of the hill.
"This is great!" cried Mr. Pertell.
"This will be some picture!" declared Russ, with enthusiasm. "Come on, Paul, he's going to win!"
"Not if I know it!" avowed the young actor.
"Oh, don't let them get ahead of us!" cried Alice in Paul's ear.
"I'll do my best," he said, with a grim tightening of his lips.
But it was not to be. Either a little more skillful steering on the part of Mr. Switzer, or a more favorable course enabled his sled to shoot ahead, just at the finish, and he won the race.
And then a curious thing happened. The sled kept on going, and slid into a little clump of bushes, from which, a moment later, a man with a gun sprang.
This man seemed as surprised at being thus driven from his shelter as were the coasters at seeing him.
"Ha! Vot does dis mean?" demanded Mr. Switzer. "Vos you vaiting for us mit dot gun?"
Really the man did look a little menacing as he stood there with poised weapon, looking at the coasters.
"I beg your pardon," he managed to stammer, at length. "I did not see you coming."
"I guess it's our part to beg your pardon," said Mr. Sneed, who, though he did not steer the bob, had been obliged to ride on it. "We did not mean to run into you."
"No harm done; none at all," the man said. "I was hiding here, waiting for a chance to shoot at a fox that has a particularly fine pelt, but I guess I may as well give up. I heard the shouts of you folks, but I had no idea you would coast away down here."
"I didn't haf no idea like dot myself," confessed Mr. Switzer. "But if dere iss no hart feelings ve vill let comeons be bygones."
"That suits me," laughed the stranger, as he turned aside.
And, as he went away Ruth had a queer feeling that she had seen him before and under odd circumstances.
The coasting incident was over, the race had been successfully filmed, and the coasters were turning back up the hill, while Russ was demounting his camera, for there would be no more scenes taken at present.
"Did you notice that man, Alice?" asked Ruth, as she went up the hill beside her sister.
"You mean the hunter who looked as though he wanted to shoot some of us?"
"Oh, what a way to talk! But that's the one I had reference to. Did you notice him particularly?"
"Not very. Why?"
"Do you think you ever saw him before?"
Ruth put the question in such a peculiar way that Alice looked at her sharply.
"You don't mean he was one of the men who tried to get Russ's patent; do you?"
"No. I can't, for the life of me, though, think where I have seen that man before, but I'm sure I have. I thought you might remember."
Alice tried to recall the face, but could not.
"I don't believe I ever saw him before," she said, shaking her head. "He might be one of the many actors we have met on our travels, or in going around with daddy."
"No, I'm sure he never was an actor," spoke Ruth. "Never mind, perhaps it will come to me later."
And all the remainder of the day she tried in vain to recall where she had seen that face before.
Mr. Macksey seemed a trifle disturbed when told of the man being on the hill with a gun.
"One of those pesky hunters!" he exclaimed. "I've got notices posted all over the property of Elk Lodge, but they don't seem to do any good. I guess I'll have to get after those fellows and give 'em a piece of my mind. I'd like to find out where they are stopping."
The next few days were busy ones for thepicture actors, and a number of dramas were filmed. In one, two snow forts were built, and the company indulged in a snowball battle before the camera.
"And now for something new," said Mr. Pertell one day, as he called the company together in the big living room of the lodge, and pointed to something piled in one corner. "You'll have to have a few days' practice, I think, so I give you fair notice."
"More coasting?" asked Mr. Sneed, suspiciously.
"No—snowshoes, this time," replied the manager. "I am going to have you all travel on them in one scene, and as they are rather awkward you had better take a few lessons."
"Lessons on snowshoes!" cried Ruth. "Who can give them to us?"
"I have a teacher," said the manager. "Russ, tell Billy Jack to come in," and there entered from the porch a tall Indian, dressed in modern garb.
Miss Pennington screamed, as did Miss Dixon, but the Indian smiled, showing some very fine and white teeth, and said in a gentle voice:
"Don't be alarmed, ladies, I have no scalping knife with me, and I assure you that you will soon be able to get about on snowshoes."
Surprise, for the moment, made every member of the moving picture company silent. That an Indian should speak so correctly was a matter of amazement. Mr. Pertell smiled quizzically as he remarked.
"Billy Jack is one of the last of his tribe. He is a full-blooded Indian, but he has been to Carlisle, which may account for some things."
"I should say it would," murmured Paul Ardite. "I'm glad I didn't give a war whoop!"
"I learned to use snowshoes when I was a boy," went on the Indian, who, though roughly dressed was cultured. "I have kept it up ever since," he went on. "I have charge of a gang of men getting out some lumber, not far from here, and when Mr. Macksey told me there was a company of moving picture actors and actresses at Elk Lodge I spoke of the snowshoes."
"And when Mr. Macksey told me of it," putin the manager, "I saw at once that we could use a scene with some of you folks on the shoes. So I arranged with Billy Jack."
"Is that your real name?" asked Alice, who had taken a sudden liking to the rugged son of the forest.
"That's one of my real names, strange as it sounds," he answered. "I don't much fancy it; but what am I to do?"
"I like it!" the girl announced, promptly. "It's better than being Running Bear or something like that."
"I had one of those names—in fact, I have it yet," he said, "but I never use it. Flaming Arrow is my real Indian name."
"Flaming Arrow! How romantic!" exclaimed Miss Dixon. "How did you come to get that?"
"Oh, when I was a boy an Indian from a neighboring tribe shot an arrow, with some burning tow on it, over into our camp, just in a spirit of mischief, for we were friendly. I snatched the arrow out of a pile of dry bark that it might have set on fire, and so I got my name. I am a Western Indian," Billy Jack explained, "but of late I have made my home in New England. Now, if you like, I will show you how to use snowshoes."
A number of the queer "tennis racquets," as Alice called them, had been obtained through the good offices of Billy Jack, he having arranged for them in the lumber camp. Snowshoes, as you all know, consist of a thin strip of wood, bent around in a curve, and shaped not unlike a lawn tennis racquet, except that the handle or heel part is shorter. The shoes are laced with thongs, and the feet are placed in the centre of the criss-crossed thongs, and held there by other thongs or straps.
The idea of snowshoes is to enable travelers to make their way over deep drifts without sinking, the shoes distributing the weight over a larger area. They are not easy to use, and the novice is very apt to trip by putting one shoe down on top of the other, and then trying to step out.
Billy Jack, or Flaming Arrow, as Ruth and Alice voted to call him, first showed the members of the company how to fasten the snowshoes on their feet, allowing for the play of the heel. He put a pair on himself, first, and stepped out over a stretch of unbroken snow. Instead of sinking down, as he would have done under ordinary circumstances, he slipped over the surface as lightly as a feather.
"Now, you try," he told Mr. Sneed, who was near him.
"Who, me? Oh, I can't walk on these things," protested the grouchy actor.
"Try!" ordered Mr. Pertell. "I have a very important part for you in the new play."
"All right, if you say so, I suppose I must. But I know something will happen," he sighed.
It did, and within a few seconds after Mr. Sneed started out. He took three steps, and then, forgetting that the snowshoes were rather large, he tried to walk as though he did not have them on. The result was he tripped, and came down head first in a deep drift, and there he remained, buried to his shoulders while his feet were up in the air, wildly kicking about.
He was probably saying things, but they could not be heard, for his head was under the snow.
"Somebody help him out!" cried Mr. Pertell, trying to keep from laughing too hard.
In fact everyone was so amused that, for the moment, no one rendered any aid to Mr. Sneed. But Flaming Arrow finally went over to him, and succeeded in righting him.
"Take—take 'em off!" spluttered the actor, when he could speak. "I am through with snowshoes."
He tried to unlace the thongs that bound his feet, but could not manage it.
"Better try once more," advised Mr. Pertell. "I really need you in the scene, Mr. Sneed, and you will soon learn to get along on the snowshoes."
"I never will!" cried the grouch. "Take 'em off, I say!"
But no one would, and finally, after Flaming Arrow had given a few more demonstrations, Mr. Sneed consented to try again. This time he did a little better, but every once in a while he would trip. He did not again dive into a snow bank, however.
Other members of the company had haps and mishaps, and Mr. Bunn stumbled about so that he lost his new tall hat in a drift, and he refused to go on with the act until the silk tile was dug out.
But finally after two day's practice, the Indian declared that the company was sufficiently expert to allow the taking of pictures, and Russ began to work the camera.
"Could we come over to your lumber camp some day?" asked Alice of Flaming Arrow, when the little drama was over.
"I would be pleased to have you," he replied, with a smile. "There are a rough lot of menthere, but they are always glad to see visitors—especially ladies. It is rather dull and lonesome in the backwoods. This has been quite a little vacation for me."
"Then we'll come and see you; won't we Ruth?"
"I don't know, dear. We'll have to ask daddy," responded Ruth, rather doubtfully.
"Oh, he'll say yes!" Alice cried. "He likes us to see new sights, and I've never been in a lumber camp yet."
"Bring your father along," invited Flaming Arrow. "I think he would be interested."
Alice promised and then the Indian took his leave. He promised to come another day and bring a pair of skis, those long barrel-stave-like affairs, on which experts can slide down a steep hill, and make the most astonishing jumps.
It was a few days after the snowshoe film had been made that Mr. Pertell decided on getting some scenes farther back in the woods than he had yet gone for views. Ruth and Alice, with Paul and Mr. Switzer, were alone needed for those particular acts, and as there was a good road part way it was decided to go as near as possible in a sled, and use snowshoes for the rest of the trip, since there had been quite a fall.
Mr. Pertell went along to see that the properposing and acting was carried out, and when he reached the place he had Ruth and Alice go on alone into the woods, Russ filming them as they advanced. Later Paul and Mr. Switzer were to come into the picture.
"That's about right," said the manager when Ruth and Alice were in a dense thicket. They were attired as the daughters of lumbermen, and this particular scene was one in a drama to be called "The Fall of a Tree."
"Begin now," ordered Mr. Pertell, and Ruth and Alice started the "business," or acting, called for. Russ was grinding away at the crank of the camera.
Everything went off well and that part of the play came to an end. For the next act another background was to be selected, and Russ went to it with his camera, leaving Ruth and Alice standing together in the thicket.
"We have to wait a few minutes, while Paul and Mr. Switzer go through their parts," said Ruth. "Then we'll go over."
"All right," Alice said. "Oh, but isn't it perfectly heavenly out here? I just love it at Elk Lodge!"
"So do I, dear! Hark! What was that?"
A sound came from the bushes behind them—a growling, menacing sound, and as they heard it the girls drew together in fright.
"It—it's some animal!" gasped Ruth. "Oh, Alice!"
"Look. There it is! It's going to spring at us!" cried the younger girl and with trembling finger she pointed to a crouching beast not far away. Its eyes gleamed balefully, and with sharp switchings of its tail it glared at the girls, ready to spring.
The moving picture girls were faint with fear, and too frightened to shout for help. But suddenly a voice behind them called:
"Don't be afraid! Stand still. I'm going to shoot!"
The next moment a shot rang out. The beast quivered and then whirled in its death struggle, while strong arms reached through the floating powder smoke, and pulled Ruth and Alice back, and out of danger.
The animal, in its death struggle, bit and clawed at the snow and bushes about it, and actually came almost to the feet of the shrinking girls; but they were safe from harm, for the shot had come just in time.
"I guess I'll have to give him another bullet," said the man who had ended the career of the beast. "I'll put it out of its misery," and he did so. The shot, so close at hand, caused Ruth and Alice to jump nervously, and then, for the first time, as the beast stretched out, and lay still, they took a look at their rescuer.
"Why it's Flaming Arrow!" exclaimed Alice, in delight.
"At your service!" he laughed. "I am glad I happened to be near here."
"So are we!" exclaimed Ruth, with a nervous laugh. "What sort of a beast is that—a young bear?"
"No, it's a wildcat, and a mean sort of animal, once it attacks you. This one must have felt that it was cornered, for they are not usually so bold. It's a big one, though, and the pelt will make a fine rug for your room. May I have the pleasure of sending it to you?" he asked.
"Oh, can you make it into a rug?" asked Alice.
"Yes, I know something of curing, and I have the materials at my shack in the lumber camp. I'll make a rug for you, only I'm afraid it isn't big enough for two," he said, ruefully.
"Oh, Alice may have it!" exclaimed Ruth, generously.
"Then I'll get another for you," offered Flaming Arrow. "They usually travel in pairs, and the mate of this one is sure to be around somewhere. I'll get him."
Later the Indian did get another wildcat, whether or not the mate of the first one he shot could not be determined; but, at any rate, Ruth and Alice each received a handsome fur rug for their room.
The sound of the shots brought up the others of the moving picture company, and Paul turned rather pale when he realized the danger Alice had been in.
"Why didn't you call for help?" he asked.
"We didn't need to. Flaming Arrow was right on the spot when he was needed," replied Alice.
"I happened to be out on a little hunting trip," the Indian explained, "and I saw the wildcat sneak in this thicket. I did not see the girls, though, until just as it was about to jump on them. Then I fired."
"And just in time, too," declared Ruth. "Oh, if that beast had ever jumped on me I don't know what I'd have done!"
"They're pretty bad scratchers," said Flaming Arrow. "I was clawed by one once, and I carry the scars yet."
"Will you be able to go on with the play?" asked Mr. Pertell of the girls, when he had heard the story.
"Oh, yes," returned Alice. "My nerves are all right now. We are getting used to such experiences," she laughed.
"I am all right too," Ruth agreed. "But it was a trying moment."
Flaming Arrow stood to one side and looked on interestedly while the remainder of the drama was being filmed, and then he showed the players the road to his lumber camp. He invited them to come over to it, but as the hour was late and as Mr. Pertell wanted to get a few more scenes in adifferent locality, it was decided to defer the visit to some other time.
Flaming Arrow said good-bye, and went off with the dead wild cat slung over his shoulder.
"Isn't he just fine!" exclaimed Alice, as she watched him stalking over the drifts on his snowshoes.
"I'm getting jealous!" laughed Paul, and there was more of meaning in his remark than his outward manner indicated.
"Well, I do like him!" Alice went on. "He is so big and strong and manly. And he can shoot straight!"
"Hereafter I'll bring along a gun every time we come out," vowed Paul. "And I'm going to take shooting lessons."
"Yah! Dot vould be a goot t'ing," decided Mr. Switzer. "I gets me too a gun!"
"Gracious! The game around here had better seek new quarters!" laughed Alice. "Next we'll be having Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed taking up the calling of Nimrod."
Mr. DeVere was rather disturbed when he heard the story of the wildcat, and once more he spoke seriously of taking his daughters out of moving picture work.
"I really am afraid something will happen to you," he said. "I think you had better resign.I can earn enough for all of us now, for Mr. Pertell has given me another advance in salary."
"Oh, Daddy! We simply couldn't give it up!" cried Alice. "Could we, Ruth?"
"I wouldn't like to give it up," responded Ruth, quietly. She was always less demonstrative than her sister. "And really, Daddy, we don't run into danger."
"I know, my dear, but danger seems to have formed a habit, of late, of seeking you out," said the actor. "However, we will wait a few days. I suppose it would be too bad to disappoint Mr. Pertell now."
The next day, owing to a slight indisposition on the part of Miss Pennington, a drama that included her as one of the cast had to be postponed, and as no other was ready to be filmed, the players had a little holiday.
"Who wants to come for a trip to the ice cave?" asked Russ, when he found that he would not have to use his camera.
"What's the ice cave?" asked Ruth.
"Why, it's a cave made out of ice. There's one about two miles from here, and Mr. Pertell is thinking of having some scenes made there. I'm to go out and size up the situation. Want to come?"
"It sounds interesting," observed Ruth. "Ibelieve I would like to go. Shall we, Alice?"
"Indeed, yes."
"Count me in!" cried Paul.
So a little later the four young people set off for the ice cave. This was a natural curiosity not far from Elk Lodge. Every year, at a waterfall in a local stream, the ice piled up in fantastic shapes. The flow of the water, and the effect of the wind, made a large hollow or cave at the cascade large enough to hold several persons. Mr. Pertell had heard of it and had laid one scene of a drama there.
There was a fairly good road almost to the ice cave, and then came a trip across an unbroken expanse of snow, the snowshoes being used, they having been carried strapped to the backs of the four.
"Oh, how beautiful!"
"See how the sun sparkles on the ice."
"And what big icicles!"
"Oh, if we could only keep that until Summer!"
Thus the young people cried as they saw the beautiful ice cave. It was indeed a pretty sight. Nature, unaided, had done more than man could ever hope to achieve.
"Let's go inside," suggested Russ.
"Will it be safe?" asked Ruth.
"Oh, surely. Why, we have to go in it when we make the moving picture, so we might as well get used to it. They say this ice lasts nearly all summer. It's down in a deep hollow, you see. Come on in."
"Go ahead! I'm game!" Paul said, grimly.
The girls hesitated, but only for a moment. Then they followed the young men into the cavern.
The entrance was rather small, and they had to stoop to get through it, but once inside the cave widened out until there was room for perhaps a dozen persons.
"What a lovely place for a dance!" cried Alice, as she slid about. "It's so slippery that you'd need those new slippers with rubber set in the sole. Come, on, try a hesitation waltz," she cried gaily to Ruth.
Paul whistled one of the latest popular airs, and Ruth and Alice slid about.
"Come on!" cried Paul to Russ. "I'm getting the craze, too."
The two young men danced together a moment, and then came an interruption that caused them all to look at one another.
There was a grinding, crashing sound outside, and the next moment the entrance to the cave was darkened.
"What happened?"
"There must have been an ice slide!"
It was Alice who asked the question, and Paul who answered it. Standing in the darkened ice cave, through the walls of which, however, some light filtered, the four looked anxiously at one another.
"It was the dancing that did it," declared Ruth, in a low voice. "It loosened the ice and it slid down."
"Perhaps not," said Paul, not wanting Alice blamed, for she had proposed the light-footed stepping about on the slippery floor of the cavern. "It might have slid down itself."
"Well, let's see what the situation is," proposed Russ. "We can't stay in here too long, for it's freezing cold."
"Yes, let's see if we can get out," added Paul.
"See if wecanget out!" repeated Ruth. "Why, is there any danger that we can not?"
"Every danger in the world, I should say," spoke Russ, and there was a worried note in his voice. "I don't want to alarm you," he went on, "but the fact is that we are shut up in this ice cave."
"Oh, don't say that!" cried Ruth.
"Why shouldn't he—if it's true?" asked Alice. "Let's face the situation, whatever it is. Russ, will you see just how bad it is?"
Without speaking, the young moving picture operator went to the hole through which they had stooped to enter the cavern. In a moment he came back.
"It's closed tighter than a drum," he announced. "A lot of ice slid down from above and closed the entrance to the cave as if a door had been shoved across it. We can't get out!"
For a moment no one spoke, and then Paul asked, quietly:
"What are we going to do?"
"Have you a knife?" asked Russ.
"A knife? Yes, but what good is that?"
"We've got to cut our way out—that's all."
Ruth and Alice looked at each other. They began to understand what it meant.
"Someone from Elk Lodge may come for us—if we don't get back," murmured the younger girl, in what was almost a whisper.
"Yes, they may, but it's dangerous to wait," said Paul. "It is cold in here, and it isn't getting any warmer. It's like being locked in a refrigerator. We've got to keep in motion or we'll freeze."
"Then let's tackle that block of ice at the entrance," suggested Russ. "Get out your knife and we'll see if we can't cut a hole large enough to crawl through."
If you have tried to cut with a pocket knife even the small piece of ice which you get in your refrigerator, you can appreciate the task that confronted the two young men. A solid block of ice had slid down from some higher point, and had blocked the opening to the odd cavern. But the two were not daunted. They realized the necessity of getting out, and that within a short time. Though they were all warmly dressed, the air of the cavern was chilly, to say the least.
"Keep moving, girls!" called Russ to Ruth and Alice, as he and Paul chipped away at the ice. "This exercise will keep us warm; but you need to do something to keep your blood in circulation. Here, take my coat!" he called, as he arose from his knees, and tossed the garment to Ruth.
"I shall do nothing of the sort!" she answered, promptly. "You need it yourself."
"No, I don't," he replied, earnestly. "It only bothers me when I try to cut the ice. Please take it."
"But I can't get it on over my cloak."
"Yes, you can. Put it around your shoulders. I'll show you how." And he did it quickly, wrapping it warmly around her.
"Here, Alice, you take mine!" cried Paul, as he saw what his companion had done. "You need it more than I do, and I can't get at that ice with a big coat like this on."
In spite of her protests he put it about her, and the added warmth of the garments was comforting to the girls.
The boys, really, were better off without them, for they had much vigorous work before them, and in the narrow quarters the heavy coats only hampered them.
For it was an exceedingly narrow space in which they had to work. The fall of the mass of ice had crushed part of the opening into the cave, so that Russ and Paul had to crouch down and stoop in a most uncomfortable position in order to reach the block that had closed the doorway.
With their knives they hacked away at thefrozen mass, sending the chips flying. Much of it went in their faces and soon their cheeks were glowing from the icy spray of splinters. Then, too, they had to stop every now and then to clear away the accumulated ice crystals that fell before the attack of their knives.
"Keep moving, girls," Paul urged Ruth and Alice. "Keep circling around or you'll surely freeze."
"Let's dance," suggested Alice.
"Oh, how can you think of such a thing!" cried Ruth, "when it was that which caused all the trouble."
"I'm not going to believe that!" declared Alice, firmly. "And it isn't such a terrible thing to think of, at all. It will keep us warm, and keep up our spirits."
And then she broke into a little one-step dance, whistling her own accompaniment. Surely it was a strange proceeding, and yet it came natural to Alice. The young men, too, took heart at her manner of accepting the situation, and chopped away harder than ever at the ice barrier.
"Think we'll make it?" asked Paul of Russ, in a low voice, when they had been working for some time.
"We've got to make it," answered the other. "We've just got to get the girls out."
"Of course," was the brief reply, as if that was all there was to it.
And yet, in their hearts, Russ and Paul felt a nameless fear. Ice, which melts so easily under the warm and gentle influence of the sun, is exceedingly hard when it is maintained at a low temperature, and truly it was sufficiently cold in the cave.
Now and then the boys stopped to clear away the accumulation of ice splinters, and to note how they were progressing. Yet they could hardly tell, for they did not know how thick was the chunk of ice that covered the cave opening. The edges of the opening itself were several feet in thickness, and if this hole was completely filled it would mean many hours of work with the pitifully inadequate tools at their disposal.
"How are we coming on?" asked Paul.
Russ looked back at the girls who, in one corner of the cave, were pacing up and down to drive away the deadly cold.
"Not very well," he returned, in a low voice. "Don't talk—let's work."
He did not like to think of what might happen.
Desperately they labored, eating their way into the heart of the ice. The splinters fell on their warm bodies, for they were perspiring now, andthere the frosty particles melted, wetting their garments through.
Suddenly Paul uttered a cry as he dug his knife savagely into the barrier.
"What's the matter—cut yourself?" asked Russ.
"No," was the low-voiced reply. "But I've broken the big blade of my knife. Now I'll have to use the smaller one."
It was a serious thing, for it meant a big decrease in the amount of ice Paul could chop. But opening the small blade of the knife he kept doggedly at the task.
It was growing darker now. They could observe this through the translucent walls of the cave.
"Do you think they will come for us?" asked Ruth, in a low tone.
"Oh, yes, of course. If we don't get back by dark," responded Russ, as cheerfully as he could. "But we'll be out before then. Come on, Paul. Dig away!"
But it was very evident that they would not be out before dark. The ice block was thicker than Russ and Paul imagined.
"Please rest!" begged Alice, after a period of hard work by the two young men. "Please take a rest!"
"Can't afford a vacation," returned Russ, grimly.
But when he did halt for a moment, to get his breath, there came from outside the cave a sound that sent all their hearts to beating joyfully for it was the voice of some calling:
"Where are you? Where are you? Alice! Ruth!"
"Oh, it's daddy!" cried the girls together, and then Russ took up the refrain, shouting:
"We're in the cave! Get axes and chop us out! We've only got our knives!"
"We'll be with you in a moment!" said another voice, which they recognized as that of Mr. Macksey. "We'll have to go for a couple of axes!"
And then, as the hunter started back to Elk Lodge, Mr. DeVere, who remained outside the ice cave, explained through a crevice in the ice wall that made conversation possible how, becoming uneasy at the failure of his daughters to return, he had set out, in company with Mr. Macksey to look for them.
In their turn Ruth and Alice, with occasional words from Russ and Paul, told how they had become imprisoned.
"Are you hurt?" asked Mr. DeVere, anxiously.
"Not a bit of it, but we're awfully cold, Daddy," replied Alice.
"We must give the boys back their coats," said Ruth to her sister in a low tone. "They are not chopping now, and they'll freeze."
Russ and Paul did not want to accept their garments, but the girls were insistent, and made them don the heavy coats. Then the four walked rapidly around the cave to keep their blood in circulation.
"I wish Mr. Pertell would come and bring the camera," said Russ. "He could get a good moving picture of the rescue."
"Maybe he will," suggested Paul.
There was a little silence, and then Mr. DeVere called, from outside the cave;
"Here they come! Now you will soon be rescued! There's help enough to chop away the whole cave!"