Ruth and Alice gasped convulsively, and then urged their horses nearer to their father's mount. Russ and Paul looked curiously, and a bit apprehensively, at each other. As for Baldy, he sat confronting the tall, thin Indian who had announced the ultimatum of his tribe.
"What are you going to do?" asked Russ of the cowboy.
"Will we have to stay here?" Paul wanted to know.
"Oh, that would be impossible," objected Mr. DeVere. "I would not allow my daughters to remain out over night."
Baldy moved uneasily in his saddle.
"I sort of got you into this trouble," he said, apologetically, "and I guess I'll have to get you out. We'll have a talk among ourselves," he went on. "Some of these fellows understand English, and it's just as well to be on the safe side."
Then, turning to the Indian, Baldy said:
"We go for pow-wow!"
"Ugh!" was the answer. The Indian then made a sign to his followers, at the same time calling something to them in a high-pitched voice.
"What is he saying?" asked Alice, as she and the others moved off to one side.
"He's postin' guard so we can't sneak off, and go down to the plain again," explained Baldy. "There's only one way off, and that's the way we came. He's going to guard that way."
"Oh!" cried Ruth, apprehensively.
"Now don't you go to worrying, little girl," said Baldy, quickly. "This will come out all right. I got you into this mess, and I'll get you out. There's a bigger band of the Injuns than I calculated on, though," he added, ruefully, "and they're not in the best of tempers, either."
"Is—er—is there any real danger?" ventured Mr. DeVere.
"No, I'm sure they won't do anything rash, even if they insist on keepin' us here until their ceremonies are over," replied Baldy. "But they won't do that, if I can help it."
Some of the Indians went back into the huts, where they had apparently been resting in preparation for the coming rites. Others moved offtoward the grove where the horses were tethered, evidently to mount guard against the escape of their prisoners. Then the chief, if such he was, went into a hut that stood apart from the others.
Baldy led his friends to a secluded place, under the shade of a clump of stunted trees, and then, after carefully looking about, to make sure there were no listening Indians, he said:
"Now we'll consider what's best to do!"
"Would it be safe to do anything—I mean to try to get away by force?" asked Mr. DeVere. "I certainly don't like the idea of being held a prisoner by these Indians."
"Neither do I," agreed Baldy. "It's the first time one of 'em ever got the best of me, and I don't like it. Now I tried to talk strong to him at first, and told him his crowd would get in all kinds of hot water if they held us here."
"What did he say?" asked Russ.
"He didn't seem much impressed by my line of talk," confessed Baldy. "He said this ceremony was one of the most important the tribe ever held, and that it would certainly spoil it to have us go away now. He doesn't want us here, and he says we mustn't be present at the time the magic medicine is made; but, at the same time, he doesn't want us to go."
"That's strange," observed Alice.
"Well, you can't tell much about Indians," Baldy went on. "They are mostly queer critters, anyhow. Now, the question is: Do you want me to go out there, and shoot 'em up, and——"
"No, never!" cried Ruth. "You—you might be hurt."
"Well, yes, there's a possibility of that," returned Baldy, calmly. "But I reckon I could hurt a few of them at the same time. But it's bound to muss things up any way you look at it. Though I might be able to clear out enough of 'em so the others wouldn't bother you. I'm a pretty good shot."
"No, we must not think of that," declared Mr. DeVere, positively. "That is too much of a risk for you, my dear sir. We will try some other line of argument. If we make it plain that they will be punished for detaining us perhaps they will think better of it."
"Well, I'll give them another line of strong talk, and see what comes of it," agreed Baldy. "I'll point out the error of their ways to them."
"Tell them we can't—we simply can't—stay all night," said Ruth, nervously pulling at her gauntlets. "Why, where could we sleep, and what could we eat?"
"We brought along some sandwiches," Alice reminded her.
"Yes, my dear, I know. But hardly enough, and as for sleeping with those—those Indians about—— Oh, I couldn't shut my eyes all night. Please, Baldy, tell them wemustbe let go."
"I'll do my best," he responded. "But old Jumping Horse—that's the chief—said we could have some huts off by ourselves, and they'll feed us—such fodder as they've got."
"It is an unfortunate situation," said Mr. DeVere, "but it cannot be helped. We must make the best of it, and, after all, I suppose there is really no great danger."
"None at all, I guess, if we do as they say," agreed Baldy. "But I don't fancy being kept here a week."
"Do their ceremonies last as long as that?" asked Russ.
"Often longer. Well, I'll go see what I can do, and then I'll come back and report. Here, you keep one of those," and he handed a big revolver to Paul.
"Don't you dare hold that close to me!" cried Ruth, apprehensively.
The result of Baldy's talk with Jumping Horse was not encouraging, as the cowboy reported later.
"You can't argue with an Indian," he said, gloomily. "He can only see his side of the game."
"Then he refuses to let us go?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"That's about it," was the moody answer. "He says we won't be bothered; that we can have some huts to ourselves, away from the others, and that we can have the best food they've got. Fortunately they came prepared for a feast and as they've got mostly store victuals it may not be so bad."
"Then you advise submitting quietly?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"For a time, anyhow," replied Baldy. "But I haven't played all my hand yet. I'm going to try and get away, or else bring a rescue party from the ranch."
"How can you do that?" asked Russ.
"Well, I've got to plan it out. Now, of course I'm willin', as it was my fault for bringin' you here—I'm willin' to go out and try to break through their line of guards, if you say so."
"Oh, no!" cried Alice. "Besides, it was as much our doing in coming here as it was yours."
"Certainly," agreed her father. "Don't think of it, my dear sir! Don't think of it!"
"Then we'll be as satisfied as we can," concluded Baldy. "And maybe to-night, when they're at their ceremonies, we can sneak off."
They agreed this was the best plan under the circumstances, and a little later they were led by two or three Indians to a collection of huts that seemed larger and cleaner than the others. A supply of food was also brought for the prisoners, and, as it consisted largely of canned stuff, that was clean also.
The huts, which were really quite substantial wigwams, were apportioned among the prisoners. Ruth and Alice received the largest and best one, and their father had one by himself next to theirs. Paul and Russ "bunked" together, for Baldy said he wanted to be free to come and go as he liked.
"I'll have to be on the watch," he said.
"What's that big open place over there?" asked Russ, pointing to a level, sandy circle surrounded by small huts.
"That's where they have all the rites and ceremonies," explained Baldy.
"Then that's just what I want!" went on Russ, with enthusiasm. "I can poke a hole in the side of our hut, stick the lens of the camera through, and get moving pictures of the whole business. That will be great!"
"There is nothing but what seems to have some compensations," observed Alice, in her droll way.
Left to themselves, though doubtless they were closely watched by the Indians, the prisoners made ready for their stay. They had brought along a number of blankets, for they were to have been used in taking pictures of the scenes of one of the dramas. Now the coverings would come in very nicely if they were obliged to remain all night.
"Well, let's eat," suggested Baldy. "It's most noon, and I'm hungry."
"So am I," confessed Alice.
It was not a very "nice" meal, but it was very satisfying, and certainly everyone had a good appetite.
The tin cans served as dishes, and their fingers were knives and forks. Baldy carried on his saddle a simple camping outfit, one item of which was a coffee pot, with a supply of the ground berry, and, making a little fire, he soon had some prepared. They all felt better after that.
Directly after noon the Indians went through some of their ceremonies. They circled about the sandy place, to the accompaniment of wild and weird yells, cavorting and dancing, weaving in and out and shaking all manner of noisemaking contrivances. A fire was built in the center of the circle, and there appeared to be some sort of sacrifice going on at a rude stone altar.
Russ, with his camera concealed in a hut, got a fine series of moving pictures of all that went on. Then came more dancing and wild howling, all meaningless to the prisoners, but doubtless of moment to the Indians.
"Oh, that one is doing a regular hesitation waltz!" cried Alice, pointing to a tall, lank brave.
"How can you say such things—at a time like this?" Ruth demanded.
"Why shouldn't I? Besides I've got an idea for a new step in the hesitation from him. I'm going to practice as soon as I get back."
All that afternoon the ceremonies kept up. At one time it seemed as though the Indians would go wild, so frenzied did they become, and Baldy thought it would be a good chance to see if he could not get past the guards with his friends.
But when he reached the trail that led off themesahe found it closely guarded, and he was ordered back.
"No use," he said on his return. "We'll have to wait until night."
But at night he succeeded no better, for though the ceremonies were kept up by the light of manycamp fires, the line of Indians on guard was not broken, and it was impossible to get through it.
"We'll just have to stay," announced Baldy.
Ruth cried a little, and even Alice felt a bit gloomy as the shadows settled down when the watch fires died out. But then their father was with them, and he did not seem at all despondent, so their spirits rose.
"This experience will be something to talk about afterward," Mr. DeVere told them.
During the night, when all seemed quiet, Baldy made another attempt, hoping he and his friends could get away, by leaving their horses behind. But the guards were on the alert.
The night was not a comfortable one, and no one slept much; but the huts and blankets were a protection. The Indians did not come near their prisoners, and in the morning they furnished them food.
Baldy tried again to argue with Jumping Horse and some of the others, but it was useless. To all the cowboy's arguments, and even threats, the reply was that if the prisoners left before the ceremonies were over all the medicine and magic would be spoiled.
"We'll have to stay, then," sighed Mr. DeVere. "But it will be out of the question to remain a week—and you say that it will take that long?"
"Yes," answered Baldy.
"Help may come from the ranch before then," suggested Russ.
"It will if I can do what I have in mind," declared Baldy, as he watched a column of smoke ascending from the fire he had made to cook food for his friends. "I've just thought of something. I can send up a smoke signal. If Bow Backus at the ranch sees it he will know it means we're here, and in trouble."
"How can you make a smoke signal?" asked Alice.
"Well, you use wet wood, to make a black smoke, and then you hold a blanket over the fire a moment. When you take it away up goes a single puff of smoke. Then you swing the blanket over the fire again, and cut off the smoke. In that way you can make a number of separate puffs.
"Bow and I have a signal code. If I can only get him to see this we'll be all right."
"It's worth trying," said Paul.
That day the Indians went at their ceremonies harder than ever. They were in a perfect frenzy, but the vigilance of the guards never relaxed. There was no chance to escape.
Russ, having nothing better to do, got many fine moving pictures through the hole in the hut, and later the films made a great hit in New York.It was the first time these peculiar rites had ever been shown on the screen. In fact, few white men had witnessed them.
Baldy was waiting for a chance to send up his smoke signal, but it was not until afternoon that he got it. Then, most of the Indians having gone off to a distant part of themesa, for some new ceremony, Baldy made a thick smudge and he and Paul, holding a blanket over it, sent up a number of "puff balls." Russ took pictures of the signalling.
"There! If Bow only sees that he'll come runnin'!" Baldy cried.
But the smoke signal was the cause of considerable trouble to our friends. Hardly had Paul and Baldy finished sending the message, which they could only hope was seen and read at Rocky Ranch, than some of the Indians came back. They had noted what had been done, and they were very angry.
With furious gestures they rushed on the prisoners and for a moment it looked as though there would be trouble. Baldy and Paul stood steadily, revolvers in hand. But there was no need to use them. Jumping Horse rushed up, and drove back his men. Then he said something angrily to Baldy.
"What is it?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"He says we shall be punished for making the smoke," was the answer. "I don't know whether they think it's a signal or not; but it seems to have been contrary to some of their ceremonies. We'll have to sit tight and watch."
Muttering angrily, Jumping Horse went back to join the other Indians, and they seemed to hold a conference regarding the prisoners. Nothing was done immediately, however, in the way of punishment, and a little later the ceremonies went on.
It was growing dusk, and the howling and yelling of the Indians punctuated their caperings about a blood-red post in the center of the sandy circle. Then, suddenly, there was a fusillade of pistol shots from the direction of the trail, and at the same time the unmistakable shouts of cowboys.
"They're here!" yelled Baldy, jumping to his feet and firing his own revolver in the air. "To the rescue, boys! Here we be!"
Russ came bounding from his hut, carrying with him the moving picture camera, its three legs trailing behind him.
"Come on, girls!" he cried, as he saw Ruth and Alice peering from their shelter. "It's all right!"
"Oh, what does it mean?" asked Ruth. "Where's daddy?"
"Here I am," answered Mr. DeVere.
"It's all right!" yelled Baldy, capering about, and vainly clicking his revolvers, for he had fired all the cartridges in the cylinders. "It's the boys from Rocky Ranch! They saw my signal and came to the rescue!"
"That you, Baldy?" shouted a voice out of the cloud of powder smoke that hid, for a moment, the cowboys from view.
"That's who it is, Bow!" was the answer. "Could you read my smoke?"
"I sure could, and we come a-runnin'. Are the girls safe?"
"Everybody's safe. But look out for yourself, these Indians are sort of riled at us."
From the group of Indians who had left their ceremonies, to rush toward the huts of their erstwhile captives at the sound of the shots and cheers, came deep-voiced mutterings. They were gathered in a group around their chief, Jumping Horse.
"Look out for 'em!" yelled Baldy.
"Don't worry," advised Pete Batso. "They haven't any weapons."
"Just my luck," groaned Russ, setting up his camera.
"What's the matter?" asked Alice, who now felt no alarm.
"Too dark to get a picture, and I had a little bit of film left on a reel. I might have got a dandy rescue scene; but now it's all up. Too bad!"
"Never mind, you got some good ones," Ruth comforted him.
"Yes, but that would have completed the picture—'Captured By the Indians.' However, it can't be helped. Maybe after all thisexcitementis over we can get the Indians to pose for us. I'll tell Mr. Pertell about it."
The rescuing cowboys had drawn rein in front of the lined-up Indians, near the huts of thecaptives. There was a goodly squad of cow punchers, and they seemed delighted to have been of some service to the picture players. Some of them were reloading their big revolvers, for they, like Baldy, in the excess of their spirits, had fired offeverychamber. But no one had been hurt, for they merely shot in the air.
"Well, you got here, boys, I see," remarked Baldy.
"That's what we did!" cried Necktie Harry, who was flecking some dust off the end of his gaudy scarf.
"We saw your smoke talk about an hour ago," explained Bow. "First I was sort of puzzled over it. I thought maybe it was the Indians, for I calculate it was about time for them to be at their high jinks.
"Then I caught the private signal you and me made up, and I says: 'By Heck! Baldy's in trouble! Wasn't that what I said, Pete?" and he appealed to the foreman.
"That's what it was, Bow. Them's the very words you used. Says you: 'Baldy's in trouble,' says you. And then we come on the run."
"And wecalculatedwe'd find the young ladies, and the rest of the outfit here, too," went on Bow. "When they didn't come back to the ranch last night we was all alarmed, and went offto the place they were goin' to make pictures. But there wasn't a sign of any trail there, and we didn't know what to think. We never dreamed you'd be on themesa," he added to Mr. DeVere.
"I suppose we never should have come," admitted the actor. "It was on a sudden impulse, and sorry enough we were for it, too."
"Oh, but it all came out right," said Alice, trying to make herself look a little more presentable, for a night and more than a day spent as a prisoner in a little hut was not conducive to neatness of attire.
"And Russ got some fine pictures of the ceremonies," added Ruth.
"That's good!" cried Pete Batso. "When we started for here your manager said he reckoned his operator would have made good use of his time."
"We didn't know just what shape you was in," said Buster Jones, "only Baldy's message didn't say any of you was killed, so we hoped for the best."
"Yes, it might have been worse," agreed Baldy. "Well, now, let's travel. Did you have any trouble gettin' past their guard line, boys?" he asked.
"Nary a trouble," replied Pete. "We just rushed through before they knew what was up."
The captives were soon in the saddle again, and escorted by the cowboys made for the trail down to the plain. There were more angry mutterings from the Indians, but they made no effort to stop the retreat. Perhaps they realized it would be useless.
It was no easy matter descending the steep trail, but it was accomplished without mishap, and finally Rocky Ranch was reached. And it is needless to say that the captives were made welcome.
A little later, in clean garments, and after a good meal, they told of their adventures. The girls were quite the heroines of the hour, and held the center of the stage, rather to the discomfiture of Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, who were in the habit of attracting all the attention they could.
"There's one picture I want very much to get," said Mr. Pertell, as he sat with his players in the living room of their quarters one evening.
"Name it," declared Mr. Norton, the owner, "and, if it's possible, I'll see that you get it."
"A cattle stampede," was the answer. "I want to show the steers in a mad rush, and the cowboys trying to stop them. But I don't suppose you can tell when one is going to happen."
"No, you can't tell when a real one is aboutto take place," the owner admitted, "but maybe we could fix up one for you."
"How do you mean?"
"Why, I mean we could take a bunch of steers, start them to running, and then the boys could come out and try to get them milling—that is, going around in a circle. That stops a stampede, usually. We could do that for you."
"And will you?" asked the manager, eagerly.
"Why, yes, if you want it. I'll speak to Pete Batso. He's had more experience than I have. We'll get up a stampede for you."
The cowboys entered into the spirit of the affair once it was mentioned to them, andarrangementswere at once made.
As there might be some little danger of a refractory steer breaking loose and injuring someone, the ladies of the company only took part in the preliminary scenes.
These included the beginning of the drama in which the stampede was to play a principal part. It involved a little love story, and the lover, Paul, was afterward to be in peril through the cattle stampede.
The first part went off all right, Ruth and Alice acquitting themselves well in their characterizations. Their riding had improved very much, and they were sure of themselves in the saddle.
"Now, ladies," said Pete Batso, who was managing the cowboy end of the affair, "if you'll get over on that little mound you can see all that goes on and you won't be in any danger. We're goin' to stampede the cattle now!"
"Whoop-ee!" yelled the cowboys, as they rushed up at the signal, when Ruth and Alice, with Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, had gone off some little distance.
"Get ready, Russ!" called Mr. Pertell.
"All ready," answered the young operator, as he took his place with his camera focused.
The steers, startled by the shots and shouts of the cowboys, began a mad rush.
"There's your stampede!" called Mr. Norton to Mr. Pertell. "Is that realistic enough for you?"
"Quite so, and thank you very much."
More and more wild became the rushing steers, as the cowboys drove them along in order that pictures might be made of them.
The shouting of the cowboys, the rushing of their intelligent ponies here—there—everywhere, seemingly—the fusillade of pistol shots, the thunder and bellowings of the steers and the thud of the ponies hoofs—all combined to make the scene a lively one.
The imitation stampede seemed to be a great success, and no one, not in the secret, could have told that it was not a real one.
"Over this way, Paul!" cried Baldy, who was taking part with the young actor. "I'm supposed to rescue you, and I can't do it if you keep so far away."
"But isn't it dangerous to ride so close to the steers?" asked Paul, who, while willing to do almost anything in the line of moving picture work, did not want to take needless chances.
"There's no danger as long as you're mounted," replied the cowboy, "and you've got a good horse under you. Come on!"
Accordingly Paul rode closer in, and the camera showed him in imminent danger of being trampled under the feet of the rushing steers.
But Baldy, who had done the same thing so often that he did not need to rehearse it, rode swiftly in and managed to "cut out" Paul, so that the actor was in no real danger. The cattle nearest to him were forced to one side.
Then, as called for in the action of the little drama, Mr. Switzer, who was a good horseman, having been in the German cavalry, rushed up to attack Paul. Of course it was but a pretended attack; but it looked real enough in the pictures.
Ruth and Alice, with the other spectators on the little mound, looked on with intense interest.
"Oh, I just wish I was on my pony!" cried Alice, as she looked at the scene of action.
"Alice, you do not!" protested Ruth.
"Yes, I do! Oh, it must be great to drive those cattle around that way!"
"You have a queer idea of fun," remarked Miss Pennington in a supercilious tone, as she looked in the small mirror of her vanity box to see what effect the sun and dust were having on her brilliant complexion. For it was dusty, with the thousands of hoofs tearing up the earth.
The main part of the action over, the cattle were now being "milled" by the cowboys. That is, the onward rush was being checked, and thesteers were being made to go around in a circle.
Thus are stampedes, when real, gradually brought to an end.
"Well, it's all over," said Mr. Norton, as he stood beside the manager. "Is that about what you wanted?"
"Indeed it is. This film will sure make a hit. Those rivals of ours, who started out to take advantage of my plans and work, will be sadly left."
"You haven't seen any more of them?"
"Not since that fellow disappeared from here. He took himself and his camera off. I guess he weakened at the last moment."
"I had no idea he was a moving picture operator," said the ranch owner, "or I would never have hired him."
"Well, I guess no harm was done," Mr. Pertell rejoined.
The rush of the steers was gradually coming to a close when Mr. Norton, looking over to the far edge of the bunch of cattle, uttered a sudden cry of alarm.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Pertell, anxiously.
"Why, they seem to have started up all over again," was the reply. "You didn't tell them to put in a second scene of the stampede; did you?"
"No, indeed. We don't need it. Besides, Russ can't have any film left for this reel. He used up the thousand-foot, I'm sure, and he hasn't an extra one with him. What does it mean?"
"That's what I'd like to know. Those steers are certainly on the rush again, though. Hi, Baldy!" he called to the cowboy. "What are you starting 'em up again for?"
"Startin' who up?"
"The steers! Look at 'em!"
"Say, theyareon the run again," agreed the bald-headed cowboy, who had ridden up to where Mr. Pertell and Mr. Norton stood. "Something must be wrong," and he set off on the gallop once more.
Meanwhile the steers, which had almost come to a rest, were again in motion. But they were not safely going about in a circle. Instead, they had started off in a long line and now were swinging around in a big circle and heading directly for the mound on which the young ladies were still standing.
Ruth and Alice had started down as they saw the cattle growing quiet, but now several of the cowboys shouted to them:
"Go back! Go back! This is a stampede in earnest."
"A stampede in earnest!" repeated Mr. Norton. "I wonder what started that?"
With a sudden rush the whole bunch of cattle were in motion, and headed in a solid mass for the mound.
"If they rush over that——" said Mr. Pertell in fear.
"This is too much realism!" cried Mr. Norton, putting spurs to his steed and racing off to help the cowboys. The latter had seen the danger of the girls, and were hastening to once more stop the stampede that had unexpectedly become a real one.
"Look at those fellows over there!" shouted Pete Batso as he rode up, his horse in a lather. "They're none of our crowd!" and he pointed to a group of horsemen who were riding away from the stampeded cattle instead of toward them.
"Who are they?" asked Mr. Pertell.
"I don't know, but they're a lot of cowards to run away, when we'll need all the help we can get to stem this rush!"
Thundering over the ground, the frightened cattle rushed on. After them came the cowboys, determined, at whatever cost, to turn the steers away from the little hill on which stood the four girls, clinging together, and in fear of their lives. For certainly it would be the end of life to fall beneath the hoofs of those on-rushing beasts.
"I can't understand what happened!" exclaimed Mr. Norton, as he rode on. "Those steers had all quieted down, when all of a sudden they started up again. Something must have happened."
He glanced over toward the mound. The cattle were still headed toward it. Would the cowboys be able to turn them aside in time?
"Head 'em off!"
"Shoot at 'em!"
"Head 'em away from that mound!"
Thus cried the cowboys as they raced to the rescue. They were at rather a disadvantage, for their horses were winded and exhausted from theprevious rushes to stop the pretended stampede, and now, when all their energies were needed to end a real one, the animals were not equal to the demand.
"Do you think they can stop 'em?" asked Russ of a passing cowboy. The young operator was still at his camera, but he was not going to take any pictures if Ruth, Alice and the others were really in danger.
"Of course we'll stop 'em!" cried the cowboy, with supreme confidence in his ability and that of his companions.
"Then I might as well get a film of this," decided Russ. "It would be a pity to let a real stampede get away from me. I can cut out some of the other pictures."
He ran to where he had left a spare camera and soon was grinding away at the handle, making views of a real and dangerous stampede.
"Oh, what shall we do?" gasped Alice, as she clung to her sister on the mound of safety.
"We can't do anything," answered Alice, solemnly—"except to wait. They may divide and pass to either side of us. I've read of such things happening."
"Oh, if they come any nearer I'll faint—I know I shall!" murmured Miss Dixon.
"That's the surest way to be trampled on," remarked Alice, calmly. "Just faint, and fall down and——"
She paused significantly.
"I sha'n't do anything of the kind!" cried the other actress with more spirit. "I won't do it just because you want me to! There!"
It was a silly thing to say, but then, she was half-hysterical. In fact, all four were.
"That's what I wanted to do—rouse her up," observed Alice to her sister. "It's our only safety—to remain upright. And we might try to frighten the cattle."
"How?" asked Ruth.
"Let's shout and yell—and wave things at them. We've got parasols. Let's wave them—open and shut them quickly. That will make flashes of color, and it may frighten the steers. Come on, girls—it's worth trying!"
The others fell in with her plan at once, and the spectacle was presented of four young ladies, perched on a hill, toward which a thousand or more steers were rushing, waving their parasols, opening and shutting them and yelling at the top of their voices.
"Are—are they stopping any?" asked Miss Pennington, anxiously.
"I—I'm afraid not," faltered Alice.
And then, just in the nick of time, there cameriding around one side of the stampeding cattle a group of the Rocky Ranch cowboys. They had succeeded in reaching the head of the bunch of steers, and now had a chance to turn the excited cattle to one side—to mill them again.
"Hi—yi!" yelled the cowboys.
"Hi—yi!"
Bang! Bang! boomed the revolvers.
"Shoot right in their faces!" cried Buster Jones, as he fired point blank at the steers.
Most of the cowboys had blank cartridges in their pistols for the purpose of making a noise. But others had real bullets, and with these some of the wildest of the steers were killed. It was absolutely necessary to do this to stop the rush.
And this was just what was needed, for the fallen cattle tripped up others and soon there was a mound of the living bodies on the ground, offering an effectual barrier to those behind.
The cattle were now almost at the hill where the four young ladies stood in fear and trembling, but with the advent of the cowboys new hope had come to them.
"Now we're all right!" cried Alice, joyfully.
"How do you know?" Miss Pennington wanted to know.
"You'll see. They'll stop the stampede," was the confident answer.
And this was done. With the piling up of some of the steers into an almost inextricable mass, and the dividing of the other bunch just as they reached the foot of the mound, the danger to the girls was over.
In two streams of living animals the steers passed on either side of the little hill, and after running a short distance farther they came to a halt, being taken in charge by other cowboys who rode up from the rear on fresh horses.
Other horses were brought up for the girls to ride, as they were too weak and "trembly" to walk. Besides, it is always safer to be in the saddle among the lot of Western steers.
"Oh, what a narrow escape!" panted Miss Dixon.
"It was," agreed Alice. "But it shows you what cowboys can do! It was just splendid!" she cried to Baldy Johnson, who was riding beside her.
"Glad you liked it, Miss," he responded, breathing hard, "but it was rather hot work all around."
"You're not hurt; are you, girls?" cried Mr. DeVere as he came up to them, having had no part in the drama, but having heard in the ranch house of the real stampede.
"Not a bit, Daddy!" answered Alice. "Idon't believe the steers would have trampled us anyhow."
"Well," remarked Baldy, slowly. "I don't want to scare you; but for a minute there I thought it was all up with you—I did for a fact."
"Some stampede!" cried Paul, as he rode up, looking almost like a cowboy himself.
"And some film!" laughed Russ, delighted that he had gotten one of the real stampede, now that his friends were out of danger.
"But I can't understand it," said Mr. Norton. "What started the cattle off the second time? They were really frightened at something."
"Did you see those men over that way?" asked the ranch owner, pointing in the direction where he had observed the retreating cowboy band.
"I saw 'em," admitted Pete, "but I thought they were some of our boys that you'd sent up to the North pasture."
"They weren't from Rocky Ranch!" declared the owner of the Circle Dot outfit.
"Well, if they were strange punchers, maybe they frightened our steers," suggested Baldy.
"They might have," admitted Mr. Norton. "But I was thinking that perhaps they were rustlers, trying to ride off a bunch, and they becamefrightened when they saw us all on hand."
"It might be," admitted Pete Batso. "I'll have a look around after we get the critters in the corral."
Ruth and Alice, as well as Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, were so nervous and upset that it was thought advisable not to attempt any more pictures that day.
Most of the members of the Comet Film Company sat about the ranch house, talking over recent events, or studying parts for new plays. Some of the cowboys went off on the trail, trying to find traces of the strange men, but they returned unsuccessful.
The next days were spent in getting simple scenes about Rocky Ranch, no very hard work being done. These scenes would afterward be interspersed with more elaborate ones.
When moving picture films are made, it is usual to photograph all the scenes of one kind first, whether or not they come in sequence. Thus, if one scene shows action taking place in a parlor, and the next scene calls for something going on out on the lawn, and the third scene is aboard a steamboat, while the fourth one is back in the parlor, the two parlor scenes will be taken one after the other, on the same film, at the same time, regardless of the fact that something camein between. Later on the outdoor scenes will be made, all at once. Then, when the film is developed and printed it is cut and fastened together to show the scenes in the order called for in the scenario.
Thus it was planned to make all the simple scenes around the ranch house first, and later to film a number of more important ones out in the open.
"We're going to rough it for a while," announced Mr. Pertell to his company one evening.
"Rough it!" cried Miss Pennington. "Have we done anything else since we left New York, pray?"
"Well, we're going to rough it more roughly then," went on the manager, with a smile. "I am going to have a series of films showing the life of the cowboys when off on the round-up. I want some of you in the scenes also, so I shall take most of you along.
"We will go into the open, and live out of doors. We will take along a 'grub wagon,' and other wagons for sleeping quarters for the ladies. There will be as many comforts as is possible to take, but I am sure you will all enjoy it so much you will not mind the discomfort. We will sleep out under the stars, and it will do you all good."
"I'm sure it's doing me good out here," said Mr. DeVere. "My throat is much better."
"Glad to hear it," the manager responded. "Yes, we will live out of doors for perhaps a week—camping, so to speak; but on the move most of the time. And that will bring our stay at Rocky Ranch to a close. But there will be plenty to do before then," he added quickly, as he saw the look of disappointment on the face of Alice.
"Oh, I like it too much here to leave," she said. In fact Alice seemed to like every place. She could make herself at home anywhere.
Plans were made the next day, and nearly all the members of the company, save Mrs. Maguire and the two children, were to go on the trip across the prairies.
Big wagons, of the old-fashioned "prairie schooner" type, were made ready. In these the ladies would live when they were not in the saddle. There was also a "grub" wagon, in which food would be carried. It contained a small stove so that better meals could be prepared than would be possible over a campfire.
Then with plenty of spare horses, and with the camera and a good supply of film, the moving picture company and several cowboys set off one morning over the rolling plains.
Many scenes were filmed, some of them most excellent. It was not all easy going, for often there would be failures and the work would have to be done all over again. But no one grumbled, and really the life was a happy one. Even Mr. Sneed seemed to enjoy himself, and the former vaudeville actresses condescended to say it was "interesting."
One day an important film had been made and the work involved was so hard that everyone was glad to go to their "bunks" early. Mr. Pertell, Russ and Mr. DeVere occupied a large tent near the wagons where the ladies had their quarters.
There was some little disturbance during the night, caused by one of the dogs barking, but the cowboys who roused to look about could find nothing wrong. But in the morning when Russ went to prepare his camera for that day's work he uttered an exclamation of dismay.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Pertell.
"That big reel I took yesterday, and which I put in the light-tight box for safe keeping, is gone!" cried the young operator.
The announcement made by Russ caused considerable surprise, and, on the part of Mr. Pertell, dismay.
"You don't mean that big reel—that important one which is a sort of key to all the rest—is missing; do you?" he asked.
"That's it," replied Russ, ruefully. "It's clean gone!"
"Maybe you didn't look carefully, or perhaps you put it in some other place than you thought."
"I'm not in the habit of doing that with undeveloped film," replied the young operator. "If it was a reel ready for the projector I might mislay it, for I'd know the light couldn't harm it. But undeveloped reels, that the least glint of light would spoil—I take precious good care of them, let me tell you. And this one is gone."
"Let's have another look," suggested Mr. Pertell, hopefully.
He went into the tent from which Russ had just emerged, and the latter showed him wherehe had placed the reel. It was enclosed in its own case as it came from the camera, and that case, as an additional protection, was placed in a light-tight black box. This box would hold several reels; but that night only one, and the most important of those taken on the trip, was put in it.
"Look!" suddenly exclaimed Mr. DeVere, who had followed the two into the tent. "That's how your reel was taken!" and he pointed to a slit in the wall of the tent, close to where the black box had stood. So clean was the cut, having evidently been made with a very sharp instrument, that only when the wind swayed the canvas was it noticeable.
"By Jove! You're right!" cried Mr. Pertell. "That's how they got it, Russ. Someone sneaked up outside the tent, slit it open, reached in and lifted out the reel. It was done when we were asleep and——"
"That's what made the dogs bark!" exclaimed Russ. "Now the question is: Who was it?"
He looked at Mr. Pertell as he spoke, and at once a light of understanding came into the eyes of the manager.
"You mean——?" the latter began.
"Those fellows from the International!" finished Russ, quickly. "They must be still on our trail."
"What's the trouble?" asked Baldy Johnson, from outside the tent. "Has anything happened?"
"Oh, don't say there's more trouble," chimed in Ruth, as she came down out of the wagon where she and Alice slept. "What has happened now?"
"Nothing much, except that we've been robbed," spoke Russ, ruefully. "Our big reel is gone." To the cowboys and others of the company who crowded up he showed the slit in the tent wall, through which the theft had been perpetrated.
"Hum! I guess those fellows were smarter than we were," replied Baldy. "We scurried around in the night, but they gave us the slip."
"And we didn't see a sign of 'em, neither!" added Buster Jones.
"Say, fellows, if this ever gets back to Rocky Ranch," went on Necktie Harry, as he adjusted a flaming red scarf, "we'll never hear the last of it. To think we heard a racket, got up, and let something be taken right from under our noses and didn't see it done—Good-night! as the poet says."
"Boys, we've got to make good!" declaredBow Backus. "We've got to take the trail after these scamps, and get back them pictures. It's up to us!"
"Whoop-ee! That's what it is!" shouted Necktie Harry, firing his gun.
"Oh, isn't this fine!" cried Alice, as she joined Ruth. "There will be a real chase and——"
"Oh, how can you like such things?" asked Ruth. "It may be something terrible!"
"Pooh! I don't see how it can be. If they have something that belongs to us we have a right to get it back," and Alice shook back the hair that was falling over her shoulders, for she was to take part in several pictures that day as a "cowgirl," and was dressed in a picturesque, if not exactly correct, costume, with short skirt, leggins and all.
"Oh, I hope there won't be any—bloodshed!" faltered Miss Pennington.
"They'll probably only use their lassoes," replied Alice, with a smile. "Oh dear! I hope breakfast will soon be ready. I'm as hungry as a——"
"Alice!" warned Ruth, with a gentle look. She was still trying to correct her sister's habit of slang.
"As hungry as if I hadn't eaten since last night," finished Alice with a mocking laugh."There, sister mine!" and she blew her a kiss from the tips of her rosy fingers.
"Well, it's easy enough to say: 'Get after the fellows who took the reel,'" spoke Baldy Johnson, "but who were they, and where shall we start?"
"It must have been someone who knew where we kept the reels in the light-tight box," said Russ. "Otherwise he would have cut several places in the tent to reach in and feel around. And there is only one cut. So it must have been somebody who knew about this tent."
"Regular detective work, that," remarked Necktie Harry, quickly, looking admiringly at Russ.
"Say! I have it!" cried Baldy Johnson. "Those fellows who rode in yesterday to watch us work. It was one of them."
"You mean the boys from the Double ranch?" asked Buster.
"Them's the ones," answered Baldy. Just before the close of the making pictures the day before a crowd of cowboys from a nearby cattle range had ridden up, and looked on interestedly. They were returning from a round-up. Some of them were known to the boys from Rocky Ranch, and there had been an exchange of courtesies.
"'Them's the guilty parties,' as the actor folks say," sung out Bow Backus.
"I think you are right," agreed Mr. Pertell.
"But I can't see what object cowboys would have in taking a film—and an undeveloped one at that," said Russ. "I can't believe it."
"Maybe the International firm bribed them, or maybe one of their men was disguised as a cowboy," suggested Mr. DeVere.
"That's possible," admitted Russ.
"Well, we'll soon find out," declared Baldy. "Come on, boys. Grub up and then we'll ride over."
The visit to Double X ranch proved fruitless, however, except in one particular. The cowboys attached to that "outfit" easily proved that they had not been near the camp of the picture makers.
"But there was one fellow who rode with us," said the foreman. "He was a stranger to us. Looked to be a cow-puncher, andsaidhe was, from down New Mexico way. He was with us when we were at your place, and when we rode away he branched off. It might have been him."
"I'm sure it was," declared Mr. Pertell. "Now, how can we get hold of him?"
But that was a question no one could answer, and though several of the cowboys took the trail after the stranger, he was not to be found. Themissing film seemed to have disappeared for good.
It was a great loss, but there was no help for it, and plans were made to go through the big scene again, though not until later.
"I have something else I want filmed now," said Mr. Pertell. "We will make that 'lost' scene we spoke of last night and then try a novelty."
"Something new?" asked Mr. Bunn. "I hope I don't have to be lassoed again," for that had been his most recent "stunt."
"No, we'll let you off easy this time," laughed Mr. Pertell. "All you'll have to do will be to escape from a prairie fire."
"A prairie fire!" gasped the Shakespearean actor. "I refuse to take that chance."
"Don't worry," said the manager. "It will only be a small, imitation blaze. I want to get some scenes of that," he went on to explain to the cowboys. "In the early days of the West prairie fires were one of the terrible features. I realize that now, of course, with the West so much more built up, they are not so common. But I think we could arrange for a small one, and burn the grass over a limited area. It would look big in a picture."
"Yes, it could be done," admitted Baldy. "We'll help you."
Two or three more days were spent in the open, traveling over the prairie, making various films. Then a suitable location for the "prairie fire" was found and a little rehearsal held.
"That will do very well," said Mr. Pertell at the conclusion. "We'll film the scene to-morrow."
The arrangements were carefully made, and in a big open place the tall dry grass was set on fire. The flames crackled, and great clouds of black smoke rolled upward.
"Go ahead now, Russ!" called the manager. "That ought to make a fine film! Come on, you people—Mr. DeVere, Ruth, Alice—get in the picture. Register fear!"
Elaborate preparations had been made for this prairie fire picture. In fact, in a way, the whole story of the drama "East and West" hinged on this scene. It was the climax, so to speak—the "big act" if the play had been on the real stage. Naturally Mr. Pertell was anxious to have everything right.
And so it seemed to be going. The flames crackled menacingly, and the black smoke rolled up in great clouds that would show well on the film.
In brief, this action of the play was to depict the hardships of one of the early Western settlers. He had taken up a section of land, built himself a rude house, and was living there with his family when the prairie fire came, and he was forced to flee.
Of course all this was "only make believe," as children say. But it was put on for the film in a very realistic manner. Pop Snooks had constructed a slab house, with the aid of the cowboys, who said it was as near the "real thing" as possible. Later on the house, which was but a shell, and intended only for the "movies," would be destroyed by fire.
Scenes would be shown in which the settler (Mr. DeVere) and his helpers would try to extinguish the fire before they fled from it.
The first scene showed the fire starting, with the plowmen (Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed) in the fields at work. They were seen to stop, to shade their eyes with their hands and look off toward the distant horizon, where a haze of smoke could be seen. The big distances which were available on the prairies of the West, made this particularly effective in a film picture.
The taking of the film had so far advanced that the warning had come to those in the slab shanty. There were gathered Ruth, Alice, Miss Pennington, Miss Dixon, Paul and others.
"Ride! Ride for your lives!" cried Mr. Sneed, dashing up on one of the plow horses. "The prairies are on fire and it's coming this way lickity-split!"
Of course his words would not be heard by the moving picture audiences, though those accustomed to it can read the lip motions. Really the words need not have been said, and it was this feature of the "movies" that enabled Mr.DeVere to take up the work when he had failed in the "legitimate" because of his throat ailment.
"Flee for your lives!" cried Mr. Sneed. "We're going to try to burn it back, or plow a strip that it can't get over."
Thereupon ensued a scene of fear and excitement at the slab hut. A wagon was hastily brought up by some of the cowboys, who were taking part in the picture, and the household goods, (provided of course by the ever-faithful Pop Snooks), were hastily packed into it.
Then the girls and others, with every sign of fear and dismay, properly "registered" for the benefit of those who would later see the film in the darkened theaters, gathered together their personal belongings, and entered the wagon.
Meanwhile Russ was kept busy getting different views of the big scene. Sometimes there would be shown the raging fire sweeping onward, the black clouds of smoke rolling upward, and the red tongues of flame leaping out. In reality the fire was only a small one, but by cleverly manipulating the camera, and taking close views, it was made to appear as if it was a raging conflagration.
As Russ would have difficulty in showing alternate views of the fire itself and the preparations at the slab hut to flee from it, Mr. Pertell, at times, worked an extra camera himself. Thus the time was shortened, for the fire was something that could not be held back, as could something of purely human agency.
"Ride! Ride for your lives!" now shouted Mr. Sneed, as he sat on his heaving horse, ready to ride back and help fight the fire. With dramatic gestures he pointed ahead, seemingly to a place of safety. "Ride for your lives!"
"But you? What of you?" cried Miss Pennington, as she held out her hands to him imploringly. She was supposed (in the play) to be in love with him.
"I go back—to do my duty!" he replied, as his lines called for.
There was a dramatic little scene and then Miss Pennington, "registering" weeping, went inside the "prairie schooner," as the big covered wagon was called.
Paul, on the driver's seat, cracked his whip at the horses and the vehicle lumbered off, Ruth, Alice and the others who were inside, looking back as if with regret at the home that was soon to be destroyed.
Mr. Sneed remained for a moment, posing on the back of his horse, and then, with a farewell wave of his hand he rode back to join Mr. Bunnand the others in fighting the fire that had been "made to order." Mr. DeVere, too, after seeing his family off in the wagon, leaped on a horse and also galloped back to help fight the flames. There had been a dramatic parting between him and his daughters—for the purposes of the film, of course.
"Say, this fire's gettin' a little hot!" cried Baldy, who, with the other cowboys, had been detailed to put out the blaze. Mr. Pertell was there to get a film of them, while Russ, a considerable distance away, was to film the on-rushing wagon containing those fleeing from the blaze. The picture was so arranged as to show alternately views of the wagon and the fire fighters. Always, however, there was the background of the black smoke when the wagon was shown tearing over the prairie, and the smoke constantly grew blacker.
"Get at it now, boys!" cried the manager, grinding away at the handle of his camera. "Put in some lively work! Mr. Sneed, don't be afraid of the fire. You're standing off too far."
The plot of the play was that first an attempt would be made to beat out the fire, by means of bundles of wet brush dipped in a nearby brook. This plan was to fail, and then an attempt would be made to "fight fire with fire." That is, theprairie grass would be set ablaze some distance ahead of the line of fire, and allowed to burn toward it. This would make a blackened strip, bare of fuel for the flames, and the hope was—or it used to be when prairie fires in the West were common—that this would check the advancing blaze.
For a few seconds the men fought frantically to beat out the fire, then Mr. DeVere exclaimed, with a dramatic gesture:
"It is no use! We must fight fire with fire!"
The men ran back some distance, Mr. Pertell taking his camera back the same space. Then the prairie was set ablaze in a number of places, at points nearer the slab cabin which was, as yet, untouched.
The scene of starting a counter-fire was a short one, for it was quickly discovered, in reality as well as in the play, as planned, that the wind was in the wrong direction. It simply advanced the flames nearer the cabin.
"It's of no use, boys!" cried Mr. DeVere. "We must plow a bare strip."
"Bring up the horses and plows!" ordered Baldy. A number of these had been held in reserve, out of sight of the camera, and they now came up on the rush. The idea was that neighboring settlers, having sighted the prairiefire, had come to the aid of their friends in the slab cabin.
Horses were quickly hitched to the plows, and the work of making a number of furrows of damp earth, to act as a barrier to the flames, was started.
While Mr. Pertell was filming this, Russ was busy getting views of the on-rushing wagon containing the refugees. Several times the team was stopped to enable the operator to go on ahead, and show it coming across the prairie. This gave a different background each time.
It was after one of these halts, and just when the team was started up again that Alice, who was on the front seat with Paul, the driver, cried out:
"See! There is smoke and fire ahead of us, too! What does it mean?"
For an instant they were all startled, and then, as Ruth looked behind them, and saw the fiercer flames, and the blacker smoke there, she gasped:
"We are hemmed in! Hemmed in by the prairie fire!"