"Stand still! Don't rush! Form in line!"
Sharp and crisp came the words of the forewoman. The screaming of the girls ceased almost instantly.
Clang! sounded a big gong through the room. Clang! Clang!
"Fire drill!" called the efficient forewoman, and afterward Ruth and Alice felt what a blessing it was she kept her wits about her. "Fire drill! Form in line and march to the fire escapes!"
"Oh! Oh, I know I'm going to faint!" cried Miss Pennington. "This is a regular fire trap! All shirt waist factories are. I am going to faint!"
"Miss Dixon, just—slap her!" called Alice.
"Oh, Alice!" remonstrated Ruth, looking about with frightened eyes.
"It's the only way to bring her to her senses!" retorted the younger girl. And to the eternal credit of Miss Dixon be it said that shedid slap her friend Miss Pennington, and she slapped her with sufficient energy to prevent the fainting fit, even as a sip of aromatic spirits of ammonia might have done.
"Fire drill! Form lines! March!" again called the forewoman, with the coolness a veteran fireman might have envied.
"Can't we get our wraps?" asked one of the workers.
"No! You can come back for them," was the answer.
"But it—it's a real fire!" someone cried. "Our things will be burned up!"
"It isn't a fire at all—it's only a drill!" insisted the forewoman. "And, even if it were real, and your things were burned, the company would replace them for you.
"To the fire escapes! March!"
In spite of the forewoman's assertion that it was only a fire drill the pall of smoke in the corner of the room spread apace, and there was the smell of fire, as well as the crackle of flames.
"This way, girls," called Mr. Pertell to his four actresses. "Here's a fire escape over here."
"Excuse me," said the forewoman, firmly. "But please have your company follow my girls. They know just which way to go, and if youractresses make any change it may result in confusion, and——"
"I understand," responded Mr. Pertell, at once. "Girls, consider yourselves shirt waist operatives, and do as the others do," he concluded. He stood aside, as a sailor might on a sinking ship, when the order "women and children first" is given. Paul took his place at the manager's side, waving his hand reassuringly to Ruth and Alice.
"Oh—Oh, must we go with them? Can't we go to that fire escape?" faltered Miss Pennington, who seemed to have entirely recovered from her desire to faint.
"That is for the operatives on the upper floor," explained the forewoman. "If you will follow my girls you will be all right. There are plenty of fire escapes for all."
"Come on!" called Alice, as she marched behind the nearest shirt waist girls. "There is no danger—and plenty of time."
"That's the way to talk!" declared the forewoman, admiringly.
But, even as she spoke, there was a burst of flame through the cloud of smoke. Several girls screamed and those nearest the fire hung back.
"Steady! Go on! There is no danger!" the forewoman called.
"Are you getting this, Russ?" asked Mr. Pertell of the young camera expert.
"Every move!" was the enthusiastic answer. "It's too good a chance to miss, and I guess there is really no danger."
He continued to grind away at the camera while the girls, now in orderly array, marched to the fire escapes and so down and out of the building. Ruth, Alice and the two other actresses went with them. And not until the last girl had left the room did the forewoman make a move toward the escape.
"You gentlemen will please leave now," she said.
"After you," returned Mr. Pertell, with a look of admiration in his eyes.
"No," she said, firmly. "The rules of the fire drill require that I leave the room last. You will please go first."
"But, my dear young lady!" exclaimed the manager, "this is not a drill—it is a real fire!"
"I know it," she said, quietly. "But that makes no difference. I must leave last. You will kindly go ahead."
"I guess we'll have to, Russ," remarked the manager. "But I don't like it."
"Those are the rules," insisted the forewoman, and she would not go out on the fireescape until Russ, Paul and Mr. Pertell had preceded her.
By this time the street below was filled with fire apparatus, puffing, clanging and whistling. And not until the girls were down and out of the building did they realize what a big fire it was. For the entire structure was now ablaze.
Fortunately the same efficient fire drill instituted by the forewoman on the floor where Ruth and Alice had been prevailed in other parts of the building, and not a life was lost, though there were many narrow escapes.
And you may well believe that Russ did not miss this opportunity to get moving pictures. Of course the plot of the play had been spoiled by the fire, but a far better drama than the one originally planned was afterward made of it.
As the building continued to burn Russ found that he was not going to have film enough. He sent Paul for a new supply and also to telephone for another operator from the Comet studio, so that pictures of the big fire from various viewpoints might be secured.
And it was a big fire—one of the largest in New York in many years, but aside from a few persons who received minor injuries there was none seriously hurt. The Comet concern scored heavily in making films of the blaze.
"Well, that was one exciting day, yesterday," remarked Russ the next morning at the studio. "I never worked so hard, not even when we were lost in Florida."
"I had a premonition something would happen," declared Mr. Sneed, as he was making up for his part in a play. "When I got up yesterday morning I stepped on my collar button, and that's always a sure sign something will happen."
"It's sometimes a sign you'll be late for rehearsal if you don't find the collar button," laughed Paul.
Orders for the day's work were issued, and Paul, Ruth, Alice and Mr. Bunn found that they had to go to the Grand Central Terminal where, once before, some film pictures had been made.
"There is quite a complicated plot to this play," explained Mr. Pertell, in issuing his instructions. "Mr. Bunn has some valuable papers, and Paul, as the villain, takes them from his pocket in the station. That starts the action."
Fully instructed what to do, the moving picture girls, with Paul and Russ, went up to Forty-second street.
As the use of the train platforms was not required in this act of the play nothing was said to the station authorities, but Mr. Bunn, withAlice and Ruth, mingled with the crowds, as though they were ordinary travelers.
The operator began taking the necessary pictures, and then came Paul's "cue" to abstract the papers.
He had done it successfully from Mr. Bunn's pocket, seemingly without the knowledge of the actor, and Paul was going on with the rest of the "business," when a policeman stepped up and clapping his hand on Paul's shoulder exclaimed:
"I want you, young man! I saw you take those papers. You're under arrest!"
"But—but it's for the movies!" cried Paul, not wishing the scene spoiled.
"Tell that to the taxicab man! I've heard that yarn before! You come with me. And you too," he added to Mr. Bunn. "I want you for a witness. You've been robbed!"
"The scene will be spoiled!" exclaimed Alice, as she saw a crowd surge up when the officer grasped Paul.
"Too bad!" declared Ruth.
"Keep away—get back, please!" cried Russ, as he saw his camera screened by the throng.
"You come along with me!" the officer kept insisting to Paul, dragging him along toward the doors of the station. "Hi, Jim!" he called to a man in plain clothes, evidently a detective. "Grab the other fellow; will you? I've got the pickpocket!" and he nodded to Mr. Bunn, who could not seem to understand that from a simulated robbery it had turned out to be a "real" one.
"I tell you we're moving picture actors!" Paul cried. "There has been no theft!"
"And you expect me to believe that!" sneered the policeman. "You can't get away with that story."
"Well, there's the man who is taking the pictures!" Paul went on, pointing to Russ, who, with a look of chagrin on his face, stood idle beside the camera. He did not want to take a film with this scene in it, for the whole plot of the story would have to be changed to make the policeman fit in.
"Yes, I see him," agreed the officer, nodding at Russ, "and I guess he's in the game with you. I'll take him into custody, too."
"Yes, and you'll get yourself into a whole lot of trouble!" said Paul, vigorously. "You're making a mistake!"
"I'll take that chance," observed the officer, with evident disbelief.
"What's it all about?" asked the detective, sauntering up, while Alice and Ruth, rather alarmed at the turn of affairs, shrank back out of sight behind the crowd, that was increasing every second.
"Pickpocket!" spoke the policeman, laconically. "I saw him rob that elderly gentleman," and he pointed to Mr. Bunn. "And then this fellow has the nerve to say he was only doing a moving picture stunt."
"That's right, and he could see for himself, if he'd take the trouble to look," retorted the young actor. "There's our camera man over there," and he nodded toward Russ. The detective glanced in the same direction, and then asmile came over his somewhat shrewd face, as Russ nodded to him.
"Hello, Dalwood!" exclaimed the detective. Then to the officer—"I guess he's right, Kelly, and you're wrong. I know that young fellow at the camera. He's been at headquarters once or twice helping our rogues' gallery men when their cameras needed fixing."
"Is—is that so?" faltered the officer, and his hold on Paul relaxed.
"That's right," the detective went on. "I guess you've sort of mixed things up, Kelly."
"That's what he has," said Russ. "But if he'll let things go on, and keep this crowd back, I think we can still make the film."
"Oh, I'll do that!" the policeman replied hastily, willing to make amends for the trouble he had caused. "Then it wasn't a case of pocket picking at all?"
"No, we're making a moving picture film," Paul explained. "I took these papers—they're worthless, as you can see," and he showed that the bundle he had extracted from Mr. Bunn's pocket consisted only of some circulars, and blank pieces of paper with imposing looking seals on. But on the film they would appear to be valuable documents.
"Huh! That's a new one on me!" the officer exclaimed. "Now, you people move back!" hecried, "and give 'em a chance to take their pictures. Move back there!"
Affairs had turned in the direction of our friends, and a little later Russ was able to complete the film, from the point where the policeman had stepped in and spoiled it. The small portion that was of no use, however, could be cut out when the film was developed, and the audiences would never be the wiser.
Again Paul went on with his acting from the point where he had been interrupted, and Ruth, Alice and Mr. Bunn did their share. Eventually the film was made.
"Something new every day!" laughed Paul, as they were coming away from the terminal. "I wonder what will happen next?"
"As long as you don't have to go up in an airship you'll be all right," observed Alice, trying to keep a refractory wisp of hair from coming down into her eyes.
"That's right," agreed Paul, "and yet I wouldn't be surprised to get orders to go up to the clouds any day. In fact, I'm pretty sure we've got to take a queer auto trip soon."
"Is that so? When? Where?" demanded Ruth, pausing a moment to look at a shop window where some lingerie was temptingly displayed.
"I don't know the particulars. I happened tooverhear Mr. Pertell talking to Pop Snooks about it. I expect it will be given out in a few days, before Russ has to film it."
The next few days were filled with work for the moving picture actors and actresses. There was much to be done before the Western trip was undertaken, and many of the films made had a bearing on the new play "East and West."
"My idea," announced Mr. Pertell, in explaining some matters to his company, "is to portray briefly the story of the East and West, and to show how the civilization of the East made its way West. I want to show the various sports and industries of both sections, as well as various phases of life and science. Automobiling will be one and——"
"Don't say airships!" interrupted Mr. Sneed.
"That's just what I was going to say," finished Mr. Pertell, with a smile. "I will want some of you to take a trip in an airship. But that will come later."
"I'll never go up!" declared the "grouch."
"Well, we'll settle that later," the manager went on. "Just at present I am going to have some automobile pictures made, and in one of them an auto containing you young ladies," he looked at Ruth and Alice, "goes to smash down a steep hill and over a cliff."
"Oh!" cried Ruth, clutching at her heart.
"How exciting!" exclaimed Alice, apparently not in the least disturbed.
"Yes," said Mr. Pertell, with a smile. "But don't worry. This will be a 'substitute' film. That is, you'll be in the auto up to a certain point. The chauffeur loses control of it, and it starts to run away down hill. Then it is stopped, the camera is closed for a moment until we substitute an old auto for the real one in which you are. There are dummy figures in the old auto, and they are the ones that go to smash over the cliff. Think you can work that, Russ?"
"Oh, yes, I've done those trick pictures before. Where are you going to plant the smash?"
"Oh, over in Jersey. There are several places in the Orange Mountains that will answer. Near Eagle Rock is a good place."
"All right," agreed the young operator. "I'll be ready whenever you are. But where are you going to get the auto that goes to smash, Mr. Pertell?"
"Oh, I bought a second-hand one cheap. It's now being painted and fixed up to look as much like the good one as possible."
A few days later all was in readiness for taking the auto smash film. The story to be depicted was part of the big "East and West" drama.Ruth and Alice were supposed to be pursued by persons in another auto, and in the smash both girls were to be "injured."
The two automobiles were on hand at the appointed time on a steep slope of the Orange Mountains, where the road turned suddenly near a steep cliff. It was over this cliff that the "smash" would occur.
The auto that would really come to grief was an old rattletrap of a machine, but it would serve the purpose well enough for the film, since only a momentary glimpse of it, and that showing it going at full speed, would be given. The dummy figures, made up to look like Ruth and Alice, were in readiness.
"Now, girls, take your places, if you please," said Mr. Pertell, waving Ruth and Alice toward their car.
"Oh, I'm so nervous!" exclaimed Ruth.
"What about?" asked her sister, as she buttoned her jacket, for the wind was sharp on the hillside.
"Oh, suppose our car doesn't stop in time? Suppose we go over the cliff, instead of the stuffed figures?"
"Don't suppose anything of the kind!" cried Alice, gaily. "Come on—they're waiting for us."
Ruth and Alice, taking their places in what might be termed the "regular" auto, were told just what to do. They were supposed to be escaping from their pursuers, who were in another auto that was to come up from the rear.
Then their chauffeur, in an endeavor to make speed, would go too fast, would not be able to make the turn in the road, and would go over the cliff. But, at the proper time, the dummies and the old auto would be substituted.
"All ready now?" asked Mr. Pertell, when he had carefully repeated his instructions to the girls.
"All ready," answered Alice, and Ruth nodded, though a bit doubtfully. She was really nervous, although she tried not to show it too plainly.
"All ready here," answered Russ, who was beside the camera.
"Then go!" cried the manager, and the auto started.
In order to give the idea of a long chase Russhad to set up his camera in several different places. He changed from one stretch of road to another, the auto being brought to a stop, to wait until he was ready, and then started up again.
But the public saw none of this when the film was exhibited, for only motion was shown, the various sections of the celluloid being joined together in such a way as to preserve the continuity.
"Now ready for the big scene," called Mr. Pertell, after one of these stops. "It's going very well."
Ruth and Alice who, with Paul, were in the regular auto, had shown or "registered" all sorts of emotions during the chase. Sometimes the pursuing auto would be almost up to the one in front, and again it would lag far behind, in order to conform to the requirements of the script, or the story of the film play.
"You will run your car up to here," said Mr. Pertell to the chauffeur of the machine containing Ruth, Alice and Paul. "Then you will stop, and the substitution will be made. Come on with as much speed as is safe, right to this mark," and he indicated a stone in the highway.
"And be sure youdostop!" exclaimed Paul, with a short laugh. "That's rather too near the edge of the cliff to suit me."
"I know it is," agreed Mr. Pertell, "It has to be. I only want a few feet of the film showing the actual smash. If it runs too long the public may see the dummies too plainly. I want this as real an accident as it's possible to have it."
"It seems like tempting Providence," murmured Ruth.
"Don't get 'Sneedified'," was the retort of Alice.
Russ had set up his camera to get views of the auto coming down the steep slope, and now, at his signal that all was in readiness, the chauffeur of the car started it again.
"Business! Business!" called Mr. Pertell to the moving picture girls and Paul, meaning that they were to use the proper gestures, and register the desired emotions to coincide with the play.
On rushed the auto, straight toward the dangerous turn in the road. Paul, who had risen to his feet, was talking vigorously to Ruth and Alice, as called for in the scenario. Now and then he would look back, as though to see if the other car was coming.
Suddenly, as the auto was dashing down hill, there came a snap as if some metal part hadbroken, and the car's speed was quickly increased.
"What is it? Oh, what has happened?" cried Ruth, springing to her feet. But she was at once tossed back on the seat, owing to the swaying of the car, which was going very fast.
"Something's broken!" cried Paul.
"Yes, the foot brake. But I have the emergency one still!" the chauffeur yelled.
"Is there any danger? Shall we jump?" demanded Alice.
"No! Sit still!" the chauffeur cried. "I'll stop her in time, I think."
It was evident the car was beyond control. There was no need of pretending this.
"Look out!" warned Russ, who in his excitement did not forget to work the camera.
"Stop! Stop!" yelled Mr. Pertell. "You're going too far—you'll go over the cliff!"
The chauffeur realized this as well as any one, and he was pulling with all his strength on the emergency brake lever.
"I've got to stop her!" he panted through his clenched teeth. "I've got to stop her!"
Ruth and Alice were in a frenzy of fear now, and Paul, standing up in the swaying auto, and holding to the back of the front seat, was tryingdesperately to think of some plan whereby he could save the girls.
The car was now at the turn. Now it was beyond the marking stone specified by Mr. Pertell.
"They'll go over the cliff!" shouted Mr. Sneed, who was to take part in the play later.
Mr. Pertell rushed forward as though he would halt the auto by getting in front and pushing it back, and for one wild moment it looked as though there would be a veritable tragedy. But with a last desperate pull on the brake lever, while the metal bands shrilly protested against such strenuous work, the car came to a slow stop.
And so near was it to the fence railing off the descent over the cliff—which fence was, later, to be crashed into by the make-believe auto—so near was the girls' car to this fence that the front wheels bent one of the rails.
"A close call!" said Russ, and his voice was unsteady as he stepped away from the camera.
Ruth and Alice were pale, and Paul, too, had lost some of his color. But it was Alice who first relieved the strain of the situation.
"A miss is as good as a mile," she said, and tried to laugh, but it was not easy.
"There must be some defect in that brake connection," the chauffeur said, as he got out to look at it.
"Well, as long as we're all right, the film will be so much the better," observed Paul, as he alighted from the car. "It will look realistic enough; won't it, Russ?"
"Indeed it will. I thought sure you were goners; but I kept on grinding away. It will be realistic enough for even Mr. Pertell, I think," and he glanced at the manager.
"I'm awfully sorry this occurred," declared the latter. "I assure you ladies that I never would willingly have let you run such a risk."
"Oh, we know that," responded Ruth, quickly. "It was no one's fault. Only I'm glad daddy wasn't here to see us," she added in a low voice to her sister.
"So am I!" was the reply.
"Now then, you had better get back to New York," went on Mr. Pertell. "This ends the scenes in Jersey, and your nerves must be pretty well shattered," he said, looking at the two girls.
"Oh, I want to stay and watch the other auto go to smash," Alice cried. "That will be something worth seeing, especially as no one will be hurt, except the dummies."
"I'll stay, too," said Ruth. "It will be novel to see ourselves as stuffed figures."
Preparations were now made for having the second auto plunge over the cliff. This car wasset in the exact position the other had occupied when brought to a stop. The dummy figures were put in, veils effectually concealing the faces. Then the motor was started.
Meanwhile Russ had taken his camera to the foot of the cliff where he could get a view of the car plunging over, and smashing.
"All ready!" came the signal. By means of long wires, which would not show in the finished picture, the gears were thrown in, and the brakes released.
"There she goes!" cried Russ.
The car containing the dummies started off at a fast rate. It crashed through the fence, just as the other car might have done, and the next instant was hurtling through the air.
It turned partly over, one of the dummy figures—that of Ruth—toppled out—and a moment later, with a crash that could be heard a long distance, the auto was crumpled into a shapeless mass at the foot of the cliff.
Russ got every detail of this, and when the wrecked auto caught fire from the burst gasoline tank it added to the effectiveness of the scene, though that feature had not been counted on.
Then several men came rushing up. They had been stationed in readiness for just that purpose, and they picked up the figures of the dummies.
That ended the scene, for the next act took place in a hospital, whither Ruth, Alice and Paul were supposed to be carried. That would be a studio scene, and filmed later.
"Well, that's over," said Mr. Pertell, with a sigh of relief, as he and his company of players prepared to return to New York. A throng of curious bystanders, attracted by the actors and actresses, gathered about the burning auto at the foot of the cliff. As it was of no further service it was left there.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen," announced Mr. Pertell to his assembled company a few days after the auto film had been made, "I am ready now to tell you something of my plans for the Western trip. Arrangements have been about completed, and we leave in a few days."
"Where are we going?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"Our first destination will be a place called Rocky Ranch," the manager went on. "It is a typical Western place, with some broad prairie stretches, and yet near enough to the mountains for diversified scenes. There will be cowboy and Indian pictures to be made, and——"
"WildIndians?" Mr. Sneed wanted to know.
"Not wild enough to scalp you," returned the manager.
"And can I have a gun?" little Tommy cried.
"Indeed and you won't!" said his grandmother, quickly.
"Well, you can be cowboy and have a lasso," promised the manager.
"Oh, goodie!" Tommy exclaimed, dancing about in delight.
"In this play," went on Mr. Pertell, "I want to get scenes showing our progress West, so we will be rather longer on the trip than otherwise. We will wait over on some trains, to make views in particularly good spots. So you may get ready for the journey. Our Eastern scenes are all made, and I want to thank and congratulate you all on their success. It was the good acting of all of you that made the films what they are."
Preparations for the big trip went on apace. Properties and baggage were gotten in readiness, and Ruth and Alice spent days going over their clothes, to decide what to take and what to leave behind.
"Though if I'm to be a cowgirl, and ride ponies, I don't suppose I'll want this," said Alice, holding up a filmy white dress.
"Better take it," advised Ruth, who was seated tailor-fashion before a trunk, which she was packing.
"It crushes too easily," objected the other.
"Fold it around some heavier things," suggested Ruth, "and don't put it in the trunk until the last thing. Oh, I believe I've put my suede slippers in the bottom, and I'll want them to-night. Well, I'll have to dig 'em out, I guess," she sighed.
"No, there they are!" cried Alice, fishing them out from under a pile of stockings. "What have you in them?" she asked her sister, as she saw the slippers were filled with something.
"I always stuff the toes with old stockings," said Ruth. "It keeps them out almost as well as if I used shoe-trees."
"Good idea," laughed her sister.
The packing was over, the trunks were at the station and also was gathered there the moving picture company.
"Ho, for the West!" cried Russ, who was standing with Paul, Ruth and Alice.
"All aboard!" called Mr. Pertell. And, as they moved off toward the train Russ, turning, saw a man staring after the players.
"Look!" said the young operator, in a low voice to Mr. Pertell, "that International Film Company spy—Wilson—is keeping tabs on us!"
Mr. Pertell paused and looked back. There on the depotplatformstood the man he had caught in his testing room taking notes of the films of the big drama.
"Those fellows mean business!" the manager commented. "They are trying to get my best ideas, I think. It's a wonder they wouldn't originate something themselves!"
"I'd like to have it out with him," declared Russ.
"It would only make trouble," responded the manager. "I think I can stop them in another way. I'll try legal means first, and if they don't work—well, perhaps we can put up some kind of a game on them."
"Let me have a hand in it," begged the young operator. "I want to pay my respects to that fellow."
Wilson, for so it was, had by this time seen that he was observed, and he slunk out of sight behind a pillar. Then, as Mr. Pertell and Russwent to take their places in the coach with the others, a truck, piled with the baggage of the company, came along.
The spy darted out from behind the pillar and with a quick glance noted the destination as shown on the checks.
"So that was his game!" cried Russ. "I'll put a stop to that, all right!"
"It's too late. He's seen, and, anyhow, he could have found out," called Mr. Pertell. But Russ did not stay to hear, for he had made a rush toward the fellow.
He was too late, however, and perhaps it was just as well, as Russ was a bit hot-headed, and there might have been a scene. Wilson, seeing Russ coming, hastily thrust into his pocket a card on which he had evidently been copying the name of the place to which the trunks had been checked, and ran away.
"Come back, Russ," called Mr. Pertell. "You'll miss the train!" for the warning whistle had sounded.
"I wish I had caught him," panted the young operator as he returned. "I never saw a fellow with such nerve."
"His company is in bad shape," said Mr. Pertell. "They have been losing money, and their films are not taking well. They have not muchof a company of players, and I suppose they think they can use some of our ideas, and maybe some of our actors and actresses."
"How do you mean—by hiring them away from you?" asked Russ.
"Well, they might do that, though I don't believe the International people will pay the salaries my people are getting. So I think none of them would leave. Even if more money were offered I think my friends would stand by me. But what I meant was that we'll have to be on the watch to see that they don't actually take some of our films."
"You mean after I have made the reels?"
"No, they might even try, on the sly, to film the action of our players when we're going through some scene."
"Whew!" whistled Russ. "If they do that you could have them arrested."
"Well, be on the watch—that's all."
None of the other members of the company had seen the spy, and Russ and the manager said nothing about him. The train pulled out of the station, and thus the Western trip was begun.
Mr. Pertell planned to stop off with his company at several places and make films along the way. This was in accord with his idea of showing a big drama indicating the development ofthis country from East to West. The rush of the gold seekers, and the advance of the farmers to take up Government claims, were to be depicted, along with many other scenes.
One stop was made in the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania, near Scranton, and there some fine films were obtained. In one scene Ruth and Alice were shown in the interior of a mine, with the black coal all about them. Powerful electric lights gave the necessary illumination.
"I'd like to get a scene showing an explosion," said Russ, as they left the coal regions.
"Why, Russ Dalwood!" cried Ruth. "I'm surprised at you!"
"Oh, I don't mean by accident," he replied, quickly. "In fact, a little one would do. And I don't want one to happen on my account. But if there's going to be an accident I wish I could be on hand to film it."
"Oh, that's different," said Ruth, with a smile. "But I'm glad there is no accident."
Three days had been spent in and around Scranton, and now the moving picture players were ready to start off again. Mr. Pertell was reconsidering some plans he and Russ had talked over, and it had not been definitely decided what to do as yet.
"We'll just keep on," said the manager, "andperhaps something will turn up to give me an idea for a novel film."
They had taken a train on a small branch line of the railroad to connect with a through express, and about an hour after starting, and when about half-way to the junction, they came to a sudden stop.
"Ha! An accident!" cried Russ, reaching for the small camera he kept for emergencies.
"Wait, I'll come with you," said the manager. "We may be able to make it into a film."
But when they got on the outside, followed by several of the members of the company, they saw no signs of anything wrong. There was no other train in sight, so there could have been no collision, and their own train was safely on the track. Off to one side, however, gathered about a tall structure of wood, was a knot of people.
"What's the matter?" asked Russ of one of the trainmen.
"They're going to shoot an oil well over there," was the answer, "and it's so close to the track that they signalled us to stop."
"Why didn't they wait until we got past?" asked Mr. DeVere who, with his daughters, had gone out to see what caused the delay.
"Why, they had already lowered the chargeof nitro-glycerine into the well," the brakeman explained, "and something has gone wrong. The shot didn't go off, and they're afraid it may at any minute. So they're holding us back a little while."
"Is that an oil well?" asked Alice, pointing to the tall, wooden structure.
"That's the derrick, by which the drill is worked—yes, Miss," the brakeman said. "They bore down through the sand and rock until they think they're close to the oil. Then they blow out what rock and earth remains, with nitro-glycerine. The well may be a 'spouter,' or they may have to pump. Can't tell until after they fire the shot. I guess she's going off!" he added quickly. "Look at 'em run!"
"I've got my idea!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell. "We'll have a film of boring for oil. That will fit in well with my big drama. Get the company together, Pop," he said to the property man. "And, Russ, get ready to film the shooting of the oil well."
Though there was a rush of spectators away from the oil well it appeared to be a false alarm, for nothing happened, and Mr. Pertell, who was afraid the well would "spout" before he could get his company of players on the scene, was relieved when he heard one of the workmen call:
"False alarm. She isn't going off yet."
"Now hurry and get around the well," urged the manager. "I want some of you grouped near it when the oil spouts up."
"Won't it be dangerous?" asked Mr. Sneed. "I don't want to be blown up by nitro-glycerine."
"You needn't get too close," returned Mr. Pertell. "I just want the spouting well as a background."
"It will be all right if you keep about thirty feet back," said one of the well borers.
"How do you shoot a well?" asked Paul, while Russ was getting ready his camera.
"By using nitro-glycerine," was the answer. "This explosive comes in tin cans, about ten feetlong and about five inches in diameter. We lower these cannisters down into the iron pipe that extends to the bottom of the well."
"How deep?" queried Alice.
"Oh, a well may run anywhere from three hundred to three thousand feet, or even more. This one is about one thousand. We have about a hundred quarts of nitro-glycerine down in the pipes now; but it hasn't gone off yet."
"Can you—er—tell me when itwillgo off?" asked Mr. Sneed, looking about him nervously.
"Any minute, if not sooner," replied the oil man, with a smile. "Oh, don't run—you're safe here," he added, as Mr. Sneed began to move away. At the same time Claude Towne, the "swell" of the company, exclaimed:
"I'm not going to stay here and get this new suit spoiled by the oil." He was very careful of his attire.
"Oh, the oil won't spray as far as this," the workman assured him.
"How do they explode the glycerine?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"Well, the old plan used to be to drop an iron weight called a 'go-devil,' down on top of the cannisters containing the explosive. The top can was fitted with a firing head, and when the iron weight hit this, after a long fall, it wouldexplode, and the concussion would set off the rest of the glycerine."
"But this time we tried a new plan. We used a 'go-devil-squib.' That's a sort of torpedo, holding about a quart of the glycerine, and it has a firing head of its own. We drop that down the pipe and when it hits on the top cannister it goes off, and sets off the rest of the explosive. But, somehow, it didn't work this time. The charge missed fire, so now we're going to drop down an old fashioned 'go-devil' and see what happens."
Mr. Pertell asked, and readily obtained, permission to make moving pictures of the shooting of the well, and was also accorded the privilege of posing his company at the scene when the well did "spout."
"I'll have to think up some sort of a scenario to go with it," the manager said.
"Have some poor man get rich suddenly by striking oil on his land," suggested Russ, "and then show what he does with his money. You can easily get the later scenes."
"Good idea—I will," exclaimed the manager. "We'll use this as the first, or opening, scene in—let me see, we'll call it 'The Rise and Fall of the Kerosene King.' How's that?"
"Good!" cried Mr. DeVere.
"All right. Paul, you'll be the king. Butyou'll have to start as a poor lad, and those good clothes won't do. Slip on a pair of greasy overalls—borrow them from one of the men—then you'll look more natural."
Paul was soon fitted out as one of the oil men, and then, after a brief rehearsal, the improvised drama was ready to be taken on the sensitive film. A few preliminary scenes were made by Russ, and then, as word was given that the iron weight was about to be dropped on the cans of glycerine in the well-pipes, Mr. Pertell got his company as close to the derrick as was safe. Then, while Russ clicked away at the camera, one of the workmen called:
"Let her go!"
A man dropped the iron weight down the pipe and ran.
"Look out, everybody!" he cried as he sprang away.
"Are we safe here?" Mr. Sneed asked anxiously.
"You're all right," one of the workmen assured him.
"Oh, I'm so nervous!" faltered Ruth.
"No need of it," answered Alice, as she leaned forward to watch the spouting of the oil from the well.
There was a dull rumble beneath the surface of the earth. The ground seemed to heave andshake. It trembled, and Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon looked at each other with frightened eyes.
"It—it's like an earthquake," observed Ruth.
"Oh, look!" cried Alice.
At that moment something like a dark cloud shot upward from the pipes and spread out, plume-fashion. At the same moment the air was filled with the rank odor of oil and gas.
"She's a spouter! She's a spouter!" cried the men, in delight.
"Cap her up!" came the command.
But it was not easy to do at first, so great was the flow of oil, and considerable had run to waste when the internal pressure of natural gas, which forced out the oil, was reduced sufficiently to allow of the pipe being capped, and the flow of petroleum regulated.
All this time Russ had continued to get pictures of the novel scene, and Paul, as the Kerosene King, went through the act that had been improvised for him, the others of the company doing their share.
"This will make a novel film," said Mr. Pertell in satisfied tones. "I hope you got it all, Russ."
"Every bit. I think the views showing the oil spouting up will be first rate."
"But what are you using two cameras for?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"Two cameras?" repeated Mr. Pertell, questioningly.
"Yes, there's a man over there with another machine," and he pointed to a little hill, not far off, where stood a man working away at the handle of a machine similar to the one Russ was using. And this camera was pointed directly at the oil well and at the Comet players.
"What does that mean?" cried Mr. Pertell. "I didn't order two films made, and besides——"
"That isn't one of our men!" interrupted Russ, as he sprang away from his camera.
"Who is it?" Mr. Pertell wanted to know.
"It's one of our rivals. Someone from the International concern!" cried Russ. "They've followed us to steal some more of our ideas!"
"You're right!" shouted Mr. Pertell. "This will have to stop!"
Together he and Russ, followed by Paul, made a dash in the direction of the rival photographer. But the latter saw them coming, and hastily picking up his machine he ran toward a clump of woods not far off. And by the time his pursuers reached there he was not to be found, though they searched about for some time.
"All aboard!" called the conductor of the way train that had been held up to allow the shooting of the oil well. "All board!"
"Come," summoned Mr. Pertell to his moving picture players. "We'll get along now. That stop was a lucky one for us."
The train could now proceed, all danger from the delayed charge in the well being over. Just what had caused it to "hang fire" was never learned. But the shooting of the well was a success, and as the train pulled out, Paul having gotten rid of his borrowed clothes, the workmen were seen hurrying about, taking care of the valuable flow of petroleum.
"What do you make of the action of that International man?" asked Russ, as he took a seat beside the manager.
"I don't know what to make of those fellows," was the answer. "They must be following us pretty closely; but I don't see how they knew we were going to film the oil well."
"They didn't know it," decided Russ. "They've had a spy on our trail, following us; that's how it was done. You know we saw that fellow Wilson looking at the destination marked on the baggage checks. He probably sent word to the concern and they started out a camera man to follow us. It would have to be someone we hadn't seen before, so of course Wilson himself would not do, though I understand he can operate a machine fairly well."
"I guess you've got the right idea," agreed Mr. Pertell. "This fellow, whoever he was, made inquiries and learned where we were headed for. Then with his camera he simply kept on the same train with us."
"And when we stopped here to get the oil well pictures," resumed Russ, "he trailed along and set up his machine. He got all the benefit of our players' acting and his company wasn't out a cent for salaries or transportation. Of course he probably had as good a right to get pictures of the well as we did."
"But not to film my company!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell, with energy. "I won't stand for that; I'll have a stop put to it!"
"First I'm afraid we'll have to catch him," observed Russ. "He certainly made himself scarce when we ran after him."
"Well, he isn't on this train, that's sure," went on the manager, "and he'll have some trouble picking up our trail after this."
"How's that?" asked Russ.
"Why, I'm going to change our plans. We'll skip the next stop. I was going to go up around the Great Lakes and make part of a drama there, showing the effect the lakes and their trade had on the growth of our country. Now I'll wait until we are on our way back from Rocky Ranch."
"That will be a good idea," agreed the young camera operator. "Those International people must be pretty hard put to it to steal your ideas."
"They are," said Mr. Pertell. "They want to do me an injury. I had some trouble with them years ago, and I won out in a lawsuit. Since then they have been injuring me every chance they could get; but it really amounted to little until lately. Now they are evidently getting desperate, and they are using every means to make trouble for me."
"Well, we'll just have to be on the lookout for them at every turn," Russ declared.
Owing to the decision of Mr. Pertell that he would not, at this time, take his company to the Great Lakes, a change in the route had to be made. This necessitated stopping off for onenight at a small country town, where the company put up at the only hotel the place afforded.
"What a miserable place!" exclaimed Miss Pennington, tilting up her head when she entered the office with the others.
"And such a horrid smell!" added Miss Dixon, as she stripped off her long gloves with an air of being used to dining every day at the most exclusive hotels. "I believe they are actually cooking—cabbage, Pearl."
"I agree with you, my dear! Isn't it awful! Can it be—cabbage?"
"Yah! Dot's right!" exclaimed Mr. Switzer, rubbing his hands. "Dot's cabbage, all right—sauerkraut, too. Goot!"
"Ugh!" protested Miss Pennington, making a gesture of annoyance.
"I am glat dot ve come here," went on the German. "I haf not hat any sauerkraut—dot is, not any to mention of—since ve left New York."
"Why, I saw you eating some the other day," laughed Paul, as the odor of cooking cabbage became more pronounced from the hotel kitchen.
"Oh, yes, I hat a leetle—yust enough to know der taste of it," agreed the German, with a genial smile. "But I ain't really hat vot you could call a meal of it."
"You're like a man I heard of," said Russ,joining in the talk. "He was a German farmer, I guess, and when his neighbor asked him if he was putting away any sauerkraut that season the German answered: 'No, ve ain't put none down to speak of dis season. Only yust seven or eight barrels in case of sickness!'"
"Goot! Goot! Dot vos a real German!" laughed Mr. Switzer.
There was sauerkraut for supper that night, and the German actor certainly ate enough to ward off any possible illness. And, in spite of the rather homely character of the hotel, the meal was an excellent one, and the moving picture players were more comfortable in the matter of rooms than they had expected. About the only ones to find fault were Miss Pennington, Miss Dixon, and Mr. Sneed. But they would have had some objection to offer in almost any place, so it did not much matter.
Plans were made for taking a train early next morning, to continue on out West, but something occurred to delay matters, though it resulted in the making of an excellent film.
It was just before everyone was ready for breakfast when Ruth, thinking she heard her sister's knock sharply on the door, opened it.
Instead of confronting Alice, Ruth jumpedback in terror as she saw a bear standing upright in the hall opposite her door.
"Oh! Oh!" she screamed as the beast put out his red tongue. "Help! A bear! A bear!" and she slammed her door shut with such energy that she knocked a picture from the wall. Ruth shot home the bolt, and then, in a frenzy of fear, pulled the washstand against the door.
"What is it? Oh, what is it?" cried Alice from her apartment across the corridor. "What is it, Ruth?" for she had heard her sister's frantic appeal, though not catching the words.
"Don't open your door! Don't open you door!" begged Ruth. "There's a bear in the hall!"
"A bear?"
"Yes, a great big one!"
But in spite of this Alice did open her door a little. She closed it quickly enough, however, at the sight of the shaggy brown creature and, pounding on the door of her father's room, which connected with hers, she cried;
"Daddy, get help, quick! There's a bear in the hall!"
There was a speaking tube from the actor's apartment to the hotel office, and he was soon transferring his daughter's message down this.
Meanwhile Mr. Sneed, coming out of hisroom from the lower end of the hall, encountered the beast, and turned back with a yell. He nearly collided with Mr. Towne, who was at that moment coming out of his room, faultlessly attired, even to a heavy walking stick.
"Look out!" cried Mr. Sneed, racing along.
"What is it?" asked Mr. Towne.
"A bear. Look out! Here he comes!"
And, in fact, the bear was shuffling down the hall, his head lolling from side to side, and his red tongue hanging out.
Either Mr. Towne did not hear what Mr. Sneed said, or he was so surprised that he did not think to run, for he stood there and, a moment later, the big beast confronted him. Stretching out his paw the animal took from the nerveless hands of the actor the heavy walking stick, and, shouldering it, began to march around in a circle.
Then the hotel proprietor, having been alarmed by Mr. DeVere, came up on the run. As soon as he saw the bear marching around he broke into a laugh.
"That's a trained bear!" he exclaimed. "It belongs to that Italian who stopped here last night. I made him chain the brute out in the wagon shed, but I guess he got loose. That bear won't hurt you. I've seen him before. Tony,the Italian who owns him, often stops here with him when he's traveling around giving exhibitions. He's real gentle. Down, Bruno!" commanded the hotel man, and the bear, with a grunt, dropped on all fours.
Alice, hearing this talk, opened her door, and then called to Ruth that there was no danger. Mr. Sneed was induced to return, and when Tony himself came to get his escaped pet Mr. Towne's cane was returned to him. The bear had taken it for the pole he was used to performing with.
"You want to chain your bear up tighter, Tony," chided the hotel man as the Italian led Bruno away.
"Ah, yes. Bruno, he ees a very bad-a-de bear! I wheep heem for dese."
"Oh, don't!" pleaded Alice. "He didn't mean anything wrong."
"No, mees, but he very bad, just-a de same. He make-a you to be a-skeert."
"Oh, it's all over now," declared Ruth, who ventured out, seeing that the bear was in leash. "But Iwasfrightened for a moment."
"I don't blame you," said Paul, as he heard what had happened. "Rather an unusual morning caller, Ruth."
"Say! I've got an idea!" cried Mr. Pertell, who had come out by this time. "We'll have afilm with the bear in it. A sort of Little Red Riding Hood story for children. Something simple, but it will be great to have a real bear in it. Tony, will you let us use Bruno?"
"Of a course, Signor. I make up for de scare. Bruno he do-a just-a whatever you tell. He very good-a bear—sometimes!" and he shrugged his shoulders, philosophically.
"Very well, then, we'll wait over another train, and I'll get up some little scenario with a bear in it. Mr. Sneed, you will take the part of the bear's keeper, and Miss Alice——"
"No, sir!" cried Mr. Sneed. "No bears for me. I won't act with one. Why, he'd claw me to pieces!"
"Ah, no, Signor!" interrupted Tony. "Bruno he very gentle just-a like-a de little babe. He no hurt-a you, Signor."
"Well, I'm not going to take any chances," declared the "grouch." "This is too dangerous."
"Ha! I am not afraid!" cried Mr. Switzer. "I vill act mit der bear alretty yet," and to prove that he was not afraid he fed the big animal some pretzels, without which the German actor seldom went abroad.
And, a little later, Russ made a film, in which the bear was one of the central figures. Alicetook part in it, and the simple little play made quite a hit when shown.
"You seem to have the happy faculty of making use of everything that comes your way—accidentally or not," remarked Mr. DeVere to Mr. Pertell, when the company was once more under way in the train.
"You have to in the moving picture business," chuckled Mr. Pertell. "That's the secret of success. You never can tell when something will go wrong with a play you have planned carefully and rehearsed well. So you must be ready to take advantage of every change in situation. Also, you must be ready to seize on every opportunity that comes your way."
"You certainly seized on that bear," agreed Mr. DeVere.
"I'm glad he wasn't a wild one," went on the manager. "I am sorry your daughters were frightened——"
"Oh, pray do not mention it," the actor said. "They are getting used to strange experiences in this moving picture work."
"And I want to tell you they are doing most excellently," the manager went on. "I have had many actresses of experience who could not do half as well as Miss Ruth and Miss Alice. I congratulate you!"
Little of moment occurred during the rest of the trip; that is, until the next stopping place was reached. This was at a place in Kansas where Mr. Pertell planned to have some farming operations shown as a background to a certain part in the big drama.
On the way a careful watch had been kept for the appearance of the spies, or camera operators, of the International company, but no trace of them had been seen.
There were no hotels in Fostoria, where the Kansas stop was made, and the company was accommodated at two farmhouses close together. A number of scenes were to be made, with these houses and outbuildings figuring in them.
"Isn't it nice here?" asked Alice as she and Ruth were in their room on the morning after their arrival, getting ready for breakfast.
"It does seem so," agreed the older girl, as she leaned over with her hair hanging in front of her while she combed it out.
"Such wide, open spaces," went on Alice. "Plenty of fresh air here."
"Too much!" laughed Ruth. "Grab that waist of mine; will you, Alice? It's going out of the window on the breeze."
Alice was just in time to prevent the garmentfrom fluttering out of the room, for the breeze was certainly strong.
As the younger girl turned back to hand her sister the waist she exclaimed:
"Oh, what a queer looking cloud! And what a funny yellow light there is, all about. Look, Ruth."
"Isn't it?" agreed Ruth, as she coiled her hair on top of her head. "It looks like a storm."
Off in the west was a bank of yellowish clouds that seemed rolling and tumbling over and over in their eagerness to advance. At the same time there was a sobbing and moaning sound to the wind.
"Oh, Alice. I think there is going to be a terrible storm," gasped Ruth a moment later, suddenly realizingly that danger impended.
Indeed the wind was rising rapidly, and the clouds increased in size. Now confused shouts could be heard out in the farmyard, and some men were running about, rounding up a bunch of cows.
"What's the matter?" called Mr. Pertell, coming out on the side porch.
"Cyclone coming!" answered the proprietor of the farm. "It's going to be a bad one, too!"