Paul pulled up the rushing horses with a jerk that set them back on their haunches. There were cries of alarm from the interior of the wagon, and from the front and rear peered out anxious faces.
"What is it? Oh, what is it?" cried Miss Dixon.
"There's a fire ahead of us," replied Alice, and her voice was calmer now. She realized that their situation might be desperate, and that there would be need of all the presence of mind each one possessed.
"A fire ahead of us!" repeated Miss Pennington. "Then let's turn back. Probably Mr. Pertell wanted this to happen. It's all in the play. I don't see anything to get excited about."
For once in her life she was more self-possessed than any of the others, but it was due to the bliss of ignorance.
"Let's turn back," she suggested. "That seems the most reasonable thing to do. And Iwonder if you would mind if I rode on the seat next to your friend Paul," she went on to Alice. "I'd like to have the center of the stage just for once, as sort of a change," and her tone was a bit malicious.
"I'm sure you're welcome to sit here," responded Alice, quietly. "But, as for turning back, it is impossible. Look!" and she waved her hand toward the rear. There the black clouds of smoke were thicker and heavier, and the shooting flames went higher toward the heavens.
"Oh!" gasped Miss Pennington, and then she realized as she had not done before—the import of Ruth's words:
"We are hemmed in!"
"Can't—can't we go back?" gasped Miss Dixon.
"The fire behind us is worse than that before us," said Paul, in a low voice. "Perhaps, after all, we can make a rush for it."
"No, don't try dot!" spoke Mr. Switzer, and somehow, in this emergency, he seemed very calm and collected. "Der horses vould shy und balk at der flames," went on the German, who seemed far from being funny now. He was deadly in earnest. "Ve can not drive dem past der flames," he added.
"But what are we to do?" asked Paul. "We can't stay here to be——"
He did not finish the sentence, but they all knew what he meant.
"Vait vun minute," suggested the German. He stood up on the seat so as to bring his head above the canvas top of the wagon. Those in it, save Paul, who remained holding the reins to quiet the very restive horses, had jumped to the ground.
"The wind is driving on der flames dot are back of us," said Mr. Switzer in a low voice. "It is driving dem on."
He turned in the opposite direction, where the flames and smoke were less marked, but still dangerously in evidence.
"Und dere, too," the German murmured. "Der vind dere, too, is driving dem on—driving dem on! I don't understand it. Dere must be a vacuum caused by der two fires."
"Well, what's to be done?" asked Mr. Towne, who formed one of the fleeing party. "We can't stay here forever—between two fires, you know."
"Yah! I know," remarked Mr. Switzer, slowly. "Ve must get avay. We cannot go back, ve cannot go forvarts. Den ve must——"
"Oh, if we can't go back, what has becomeof those whom we left behind?" cried Ruth. "My father—and the others?"
Her tearful face was turned toward Alice.
"They—they may be all right," said the younger girl, but her voice was not very certain.
"The—the fire must be at the cabin by now," went on Ruth. "If—if anything has happened that they were not able to get the flames under control——"
She, too, did not finish her portentous sentence.
"Ve cannot go forvarts," murmured Mr. Switzer, "und ve cannot go back. Den de only oder t'ing to do iss to go to der left or right. Iss dot not so Paul, my boy?"
"It certainly is, and the sooner the better!" cried the young actor. "Get into the wagon again and I'll try the left. It looks more open there. And hurry, please, it's getting hard to hold the horses. They want to bolt."
There were four animals hitched to the wagon, and it was all Paul could do to manage them. Every moment they were getting more and more excited by the sight and smell of the smoke and flames.
Into the wagon piled the refugees, and Paul gave the horses their heads, guiding them over the prairie in a direction to the left, for thesmoke seemed less thick there. It was a desperate chance, but one that had to be taken.
Ruth and Alice, going to the rear of the vehicle, looked out of the opening for a sight of their father and the others coming up on the gallop, possibly to report that the fire had gotten beyond their control.
But there was no sight of them.
"Oh, what can have happened?" murmured Ruth with clasped hands, while tears came into her eyes.
"Don't worry, dear," begged Alice.
"But I can't help it."
"Perhaps they are all right, Ruth. They may have gone to one side, just as we did, and of course they couldn't ride towards us until they got beyond the path of the flames."
"Oh, if I could only hope so!" the elder girl replied.
The wagon was rocking and swaying over the uneven ground as the horses galloped on. Russ, who had run to one side when the halt was made, held up his hand as a signal to halt. He had taken films until the vehicle was too close to be in proper focus.
"Do get up and get in with us!" begged Ruth. "You must not stay here any longer."
"I was thinking that myself," he said grimly.
A glance back showed that the fire there had increased in intensity, and the one in front was also growing. There was presented the rather strange sight of two fires rushing together, though the one in the rear, or behind the refugees, came on with greater speed, urged by a stronger wind. As Mr. Switzer had said, a vacuum might have been created by the larger conflagration, which made a draft that blew the smaller fire toward the bigger one.
"Do you see any opening, either backward or forward?" asked Russ of Paul, when they had gone on for perhaps half a mile.
"Not yet," answered the driver. "Though the smoke, does seem to be getting a bit thinner ahead there, on the left."
But it was a false hope, and going on a little farther it was seen that the two fires had joined about a mile ahead, completely cutting off an advance in that direction.
It was as though our friends were in an ever narrowing circle of flame. There was a fire behind them, in front of them and to one side. There only remained the one other side.
Would there be an opening in the circle—an opening by which they could escape?
"Ve must go to der right," cried Mr. Switzer.
"Und I vill drive, Paul. I haf driven in der German army yet, und I know how."
They were now tearing along in a lane bordered with fire on either side, with raging flames behind them. Their only hope lay in front.
"Well, these films may never be developed," observed Russ, grimly, as took his camera off the tripod, "but I'm going to get a picture of this prairie fire. It's the best chance I've ever had—and it may be my last. But I'm not going to miss it!"
And so, as the wagon careened along between the two lines of fire, Russ took picture after picture, holding the camera on his knees.
On and on the frantic horses were driven, until finally Paul, who was on the seat beside Mr. Switzer, with Russ between them taking pictures, called out:
"Hold on! Wait a minute. I think I hear voices!"
The horses were held back, not without difficulty, and then as the noise of their galloping, and the sound of the creaking wagon ceased, there was heard the unmistakable shouts of cowboys, and the rapid firing of revolvers.
"There they are!" cried Alice.
"Oh, if daddy is only there!" Ruth replied.
"Go on!" cried Paul to the German, and again the horses were given their heads.
But now, even above the noise made by the wagon and the galloping steeds, could be heard the welcome shouts which told that some, at least, of those left behind were still alive. The girls were crying now, in very joy, though their anxiety was not wholly past.
On and on galloped the horses. And then Paul cried:
"There's a way! There's a way out! The fire hasn't burned around the whole circle yet."
He pointed ahead. Through the smoke clouds could be seen an open space of grass that was not yet burned, and beyond that sparkled the waters of a wide but shallow creek.
There was safety indeed! They had escaped the flames by a narrow margin.
And as the wagon rushed for this haven of refuge, there came sweeping up from one side a group of cowboys, urging their horses to top speed, while, in their midst was Mr. DeVere, Mr. Pertell and the others of the moving picture company who had been left to finish the scene at the slab cabin.
"Into the creek! Drive right in!" cried Baldy Johnson. "Run the wagon right in! It's a good bottom and you can go all the way across!"
"Go on!" called Mr. Switzer to his horses, and the steeds, nothing loath, darted for the cooling water. Indeed it was very hot now, for the fire was close, and it was still coming on, in an ever-narrowing circle.
"Go ahead, boys! Into the creek with you! It's our last chance, and our only one!" went on Baldy. "Into the water with you!"
And into the welcome coolness of the creek splashed the cowboys on their ponies and the wagon containing the refugees.
"Where are you going?" cried Ruth, as Russ swunghimselfdown off the seat.
"I'm going to get this last film, showing the escape," he answered. "It's too good a chance to miss."
"But you'll be burned!" she exclaimed. "The fire is coming closer."
And indeed the flames, closing up the circle of fire, were drawing nearer and nearer.
"I'll be all right," he assured her. "I just want to get some pictures showing the wagon and the cowboys going across the creek. Then I'll wade across myself. Of course I'd like to get a front view, but I'll have to be content with a rear one."
And as the wagon drawn by the frantic horses plunged into the water, followed by the shouting cowboys and the members of the film company, Russ calmly set his camera up on the edge of the stream, and took a magnificent film that afterward, under the title "The Escape from Fire," made a great sensation in New York.
The brave young operator remained until he felt the heat of the flames uncomfortably close and then, holding his precious camera high above his head, he waded into the creek. The waters did not come above his waist, and when he was safe on the other side with his friends, finding he had a few more feet of film left, he took the pictures showing the fire as it raged and burned the last of the grass, and other pictures giving views of the exhausted men, women and horses in a temporary camp.
"Whew! But that was hot work!" cried Mr. Bunn, mopping his face.
"You're right," agreed Mr. Pertell. "I don't believe I'll chance any more prairie fires. This one rather got away from us."
There was a shout from some of the cowboys who stood in a group on the bank of the creek.
"Look! Look at those fellows!" cried Bow Backus. "They just got out of the fire by a close shave—same as we did."
They all looked to where he pointed.
There, crossing the stream higher up, and seemingly at a place which the fire had only narrowly missed, were several horsemen. Their steeds appeared exhausted, as though they had had a hard race to escape.
"What outfit is that, fellows?" asked Baldy Johnson. "I don't know of any punchers attached to a ranch that's within this here fire range."
"There isn't any," declared Necktie Harry.
"But where did those cowboys come from?" persisted Baldy.
"They're not cowboys!" declared Necktie Harry, looking to see if his scarf had suffered any from the smoke and cinders. "Did you ever see real cow punchers ride the way theydo—like sacks of meal. They're fakes, that's what they are!"
For an instant Baldy stared at the speaker, and then cried:
"That's it! I couldn't understand it before, but I do now. It's all clear!"
"What is?" asked Mr. Pertell, who was still, rather wrought up by the danger into which he had thrown his players.
"Why, about this blaze. I couldn't for the life of me understand how it was it could burn two ways at once. But now I do."
"You mean those fellows set another fire?" asked Bow Backus.
"That's my plain identical meanin'," declared Baldy. "Them scoundrels started another fire after we did ours."
"Oh, how terrible!" exclaimed Ruth.
"Wait; hold on, Miss! I'm not goin' so far as to accuse 'em of doin' it purposely," the cowboy went on, earnestly. "They may not have meant it. The grass is pretty dry just now, and a little fire would burn a long way. It's jest possible they may have made a blaze to bile their coffee, and the wind carried sparks into a bunch of grass. But I have my suspicions."
"Why, who could they be, to do such a dastardly thing as that?" demanded Mr. DeVere.
"That's what I want to know," put in Mr. Pertell.
Baldy turned sharply to the manager.
"Who's been followin' on your trail ever since you started out to make your big drama 'East and West'?" he asked.
"Who—who!" repeated Mr. Pertell. "Why—why those sneaks from the International Picture Company—that's who."
"That's them," declared Baldy, laconically, as he pointed to the retreating horsemen. "That's them, and they're the fellows who sot this second fire that so nearly wrecked us."
"Is it possible!" ejaculated Mr. DeVere.
"I'm sure of it," declared Baldy. "I ain't got no real proof; but I've seen a good many fires in my day, and they don't start all by their ownselves—not two of 'em, anyhow. You can bank on them bein' your enemies, if you'll excuse my slang," he said in firm tones.
"Do you really mean it?" asked Mr. Pertell, in amazement.
"I sure do, friend. I'm not sayin' they started it to hurt any of you; but they wanted to spoil your picture, I'm sure of it."
There was a moment of silence, and then Bow Backus cried out in loud tones:
"Fellers, there's only one thing to do: Let'stake after them scamps and get 'em with the goods! Let's prove that they did this mischief. Come on, boys! Our horses are fresh enough now."
The tired cow ponies, almost worn out after their race to escape with their masters from the on-rushing flames, had been allowed to rest and now they were ready for hard work again.
In an instant, half a score of the sturdy cowboys were in the saddle, whooping and yelling in sheer delight at the prospective chase.
"I've got to get in on this!" cried Russ. "Wait a minute until I film the start, fellows, and then I'll get on a horse and take my camera. I'll go with you, and get the finish of this, too."
A new roll of film was quickly slipped into the camera and Russ dashed on ahead to show the on-coming cowboys in their rush to overtake the suspected men.
Then the young operator jumped into the saddle of a steed that was ready and waiting for him, and galloped on with his friends to get, if possible, the finish of the affair.
"Oh, isn't it just splendid!" cried Alice, clapping her hands.
"But it makes me so nervous!" protested Ruth.
"I just love to be nervous—this way," declared Alice, with a joyous laugh.
Away flew the eager cowboys, and those left behind proceeded to let their nerves quiet down after the strenuous times they had just passed through. The cook had come up and he at once prepared a little meal.
On the other side of the wide creek the prairie fire burned itself out. The blaze crept in the dry grass down to the very edge of the water, where it went out with puffs of steam, and vicious hisses.
"Oh, but I'm glad we're not there," sighed Ruth as she looked across at the smoke-palled and blackened stretch.
"Yes, it was a narrow escape," said her father.
"What happened after we left?" asked Alice.
"The fire really got a little too much for us," said Mr. Pertell. "And, as I had pictures enough, we decided to leave. We let the cabin burn, as we had arranged, and then came riding on.
"But the flames were a little too quick for us, and we had to turn off to one side. That's why we didn't get up to you more quickly. We were really quite worried about you."
"What's the matter?"
"Couldn't you catch them?"
"Did they get away?"
All needless questions, evidently, yet they were anxiously asked, for all that, when the tired and disappointed cowboys, led by Baldy Johnson, returned after the chase. It was dusk, and the prairie fire was almost out. Only a faint glow showed where, here and there, a bunch of thick grass was still blazing.
"They gave us the slip," complained Baldy in discouraged tones. "Their horses were fresher than ours were. Probably they got out of the way of the fire sooner than we did."
"Did you get close enough to recognize them?" Mr. Pertell wanted to know.
"I didn't know any of 'em," asserted Baldy. "Not that I got any too close," he added, grimly. "They sure can ride, even if they don't have our style."
"I'm not sure," remarked Russ, as he putaway the camera which he had had no chance to use after filming the start of the cowboys, "I'm not sure, but I think I recognized one of the fellows as the chap who was at Rocky Ranch when we arrived there."
"Then he has others with him," said Mr. Pertell.
"Evidently."
"And they will probably try to do us some more mischief," went on the manager. "We still have several important films to make, and if they try to steal our ideas and get the pictures we go to so much trouble to make we may as well give up."
"Don't you do it!" cried Baldy Johnson. "Don't you do it! We'll get after these fellows the first thing in the morning, and round 'em up good and proper."
"That's what we will!" cried his companion. "Whoop-ee for the round-up!"
"We'll pay 'em for startin' that fire," went on Baldy.
"Yes, and for stampedin' those cattle, too," added Buster Jones.
"Do you think they did that?" Mr. Pertell asked, quickly.
"I wouldn't be a bit surprised," declared Buster. "If they was mean enough to start afire to spoil the picture they wouldn't stop at a little thing like stampedin' a bunch of cattle. I'm sure they done it."
"Then all the more reason for runnin' 'em out of the country!" decided Baldy. "We'll get on the trail early in the mornin', boys."
"We're with you!" cried the others.
The camp, which had been made on the side of the creek where refuge had been taken from the fire, was soon in order. The cook wagon and supplies had been sent far away from the scene of the blaze when it was started, and it had come up by a different trail. Soon with tents erected, and with the sleeping wagon for the ladies in readiness, quiet settled down over the scene.
Believing that it was more necessary to capture or drive out of that section the rivals who were endeavoring to get ahead of him, Mr. Pertell decided not to make any more films until after the chase. Preparations for this were soon under way, next morning, and, save for a small guard of cowboys left in camp, all the men riders went after the suspected ones. Mr. DeVere remained with his daughters. Of course Russ went along to make the pictures.
It was some time before the searchers got onthe proper trail. They followed one or two false ones at first, but finally were set right, and then they rode furiously.
"There they are!" cried Baldy, who had taken the lead. This was after a hasty lunch. He pointed to a group of fleeing horsemen.
"After 'em!" yelled Bow Backus.
"They shan't get away this time!" cried Buster Jones.
And they did not. Ride as the fleeing ones might, they were no match for their pursuers, and after a short chase, which Russ was able to get on the film, the fugitives were surrounded.
"Surrender!" yelled the cowboys of Rocky Ranch as they rode down their rivals.
And the others were glad enough to pull up their jaded steeds, for they had ridden far and hard to escape. But fate was against them.
"So it's you; is it, Wilson!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell, as he recognized the spy who had been detected in the studio.
"And there's that other chap!" exclaimed Russ, as he saw the man who had so suddenly left Rocky Ranch. "Now if we could only get back that roll of stolen film we'd be all right."
The prisoners were searched and bound, and on Wilson were found papers incriminating himand his confederates in both the moves against our friends. Other actions to take advantage of Mr. Pertell had also been planned.
But, best of all, the headquarters of the gang was disclosed and there, among other things, was found the missing roll of film, with the seals unbroken, showing that it was not spoiled, but could be developed and printed. So, after all, there was no need of making the big scene over again. The surreptitious pictures of the oil well were also recovered and destroyed.
And then, after no very gentle treatment, the Rocky Ranch cowboys ran out of the country the men who had been trying to take advantage of Mr. Pertell's work for the benefit of the International company.
"That's the way!"
"Run 'em out!"
"Give 'em some more!"
To these startling shouts were Wilson's men driven away, and glad enough they were to go. What other films they had taken on the sly were destroyed, and their cameras were confiscated. In fact all their efforts came to naught. It was disclosed, later, that they had not intended to endanger our friends by starting the prairie fire; only to spoil their plans.
"And now for the grand finale!" cried Mr. Pertell a few days later, when the return had been made to Rocky Ranch. "This will be the last scene in the great drama 'East and West.' There's to be a cowboy festival, with all sorts of stunts in horsemanship and lariat throwing. You've got a lot of work ahead of you, Russ."
There were busy days at Rocky Ranch. Cowboys from neighboring places rode over to take part in the fun and frolic, and Russ got many fine films.
"Oh, I don't know when I've enjoyed anything so much as I have this life in the West," said Alice, when the last film had been taken.
"Nor I," added Ruth. "It has been just glorious."
"And I am so much better," declared Mr. DeVere. "I would scarcely know I had a sore throat now."
"Oh, I'm so glad, Daddy dear!" exclaimed Alice, as she put her arms around his neck.
"And now we're going back to New York, and have a good, long rest," went on Ruth. "I shall be sorry to get into the stuffy city again."
"I won't," declared Miss Pennington. "I'm just dying for a sight of dear old Broadway," and as if that gave her a thought she gentlypowdered her nose. Perhaps it needed it, for she was very much sunburned.
"Well, you're going back to New York all right, as far as that is concerned," said Mr. Pertell, who had overheard part of the talk. "But as for a rest—well, I suppose I'll have to give you a little one, before we start off again."
"Oh, have you more plans in prospect?" asked Alice.
"Indeed I have, my dear young lady. We're going in for water stuff next."
And those of you who desire to follow further the careers of Ruth, Alice and their friends, may do so by reading the next volume of this series, to be called, "The Moving Picture Girls at Sea; Or, A Pictured Shipwreck That Became Real."
"One more day at Rocky Ranch!" cried Alice, as she came out on the veranda one glorious morning. "Oh, but I don't want to leave it!"
"Neither do I!" cried Paul, coming around the corner of the house so unexpectedly that Alice was startled. "Suppose we go for a last ride?" he suggested.
And together they rode over the prairies, side by side toward the Golden West.
Transcriber's NotesObvious punctuation errors corrected.Three instances of "DeVere" being split over two lines were repaired to match the remainder of the text.The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text willappear.
Obvious punctuation errors corrected.
Three instances of "DeVere" being split over two lines were repaired to match the remainder of the text.
The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text willappear.