START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA*** E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Cori Samuel, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustration. See 18699-h.htm or 18699-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/9/18699/18699-h/18699-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/9/18699/18699-h.zip) THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA Or A Pictured Shipwreck That Became Real by LAURA LEE HOPE Author of "The Moving Picture Girls," "The Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch," "The Outdoor Girls Series," "The Bobbsey Twins Series," Etc. Illustrated [Illustration: RUSS BEGAN TAKING MANY VIEWS OF THE PITCHING, TOSSING SCHOONER.--_Page 157._] The World Syndicate Publishing Co. Cleveland, O. New York, N. Y. Copyright, 1915, by Grosset & Dunlap Printed in the United States of America by The Commercial Bookbinding Co. Cleveland, O. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE GREAT MARINE FILM 1 II JACK JEPSON 10 III SOMETHING OF A MYSTERY 21 IV THE SAILOR'S STORY 28 V THE MARY ELLEN 36 VI CAPTAIN BRISCO 45 VII JEPSON IS WORRIED 53 VIII HARD WORK 60 IX THE RISING TIDE 68 X TOO MUCH REALISM 76 XI A REVISED FILM 87 XII OVERHEARD 94 XIII "ALL ABOARD!" 104 XIV OVERBOARD 114 XV "SAIL HO!" 123 XVI THE ACCUSATION 133 XVII THE STORM 141 XVIII GRINDING AWAY 149 XIX DISABLED 158 XX IN THE VORTEX 165 XXI WRECKED 172 XXII "MUTINY!" 182 XXIII HELP AT LAST 188 XXIV A SIGNAL OF DISTRESS 200 XXV CLEAR SKIES 206 CHAPTER I THE GREAT MARINE FILM "Well, at last a breathing period, Ruth. Oh, I am surely tired!" and the girl threw herself on the couch, without stopping to remove her light jacket and hat. Her head sank wearily on a cushion. "Oh, Alice! Be careful! Look out!" exclaimed the other occupant of the pleasant little room, a room made habitable by the articles of tasteful adornment in it, rather than by the location of the apartment, or the place itself. There was a "homey" air about it. "I'm too tired to look out, or even look in," was the answer, as the younger girl closed her eyes. Truly she seemed much "fagged," and worn out. "But, Alice, dear--your hat!" "It doesn't matter, Ruth. Please let me rest. I thought we'd never get home." "But it isn't your old hat, Alice, and----" "It's an old hat from now on!" broke in the younger girl, not opening her eyes. "It's spoiled anyhow. Some of the water from that parlor scene, where Mr. Bunn upset the globe of gold fish, splashed on it, and the spots never will come out." "Oh, Alice, is your hat spoiled?" "It doesn't matter. Mr. Pertell is going to buy me a new one. He said it was up to the company to do that, especially as I did so well in that burning room scene the other day. There!" and the girl on the couch raised her small fist and plumped it full on the crown of the chic little toque she was wearing. "Alice DeVere!" cried her sister, aghast. "Ruth DeVere--Lady Clarissa--Señorita Alamondi! Whatever you like, only let me--alone! I've posed and acted and otherwise contorted myself before at least five thousand feet of film today, and I'm not going to be disturbed now, just for the sake of a hat that is as good as paid for anyhow, so 'please go 'way and let me sleep,'" and Alice murmured the chorus of a once popular song. Ruth sighed. Somehow, looking at her gentle and refined face, one understood that a sigh, from her, was the only possible answer under the circumstances. Not that the girl on the couch, with closed eyes, was unrefined. But there was a wholesome air of good health about her that caused one to think of a "jolly good fellow," rather than a girl who needed to be helped on and off trolley cars. "You _are_ tired," commented Ruth, after a pause. "Shall I make you a cup of tea, dear? Or we could go over to Mrs. Dalton's, if you like. You know she told us always to come in when we came from the theatre, and have tea." "No, dear, thank you. It's awfully good of you to offer, but I don't want you to trouble. I'll be all right in a few minutes. I just want to rest." "It was a tiresome day; wasn't it, dear?" "I should say so, 'and then--some,' as Russ would say." "You shouldn't quote Russ when he uses slang," was the older girl's rebuke. "Can't help it, Ruth. That just seemed to fit. But you can't feel so very rested yourself. You had some heavy parts today." "Oh, I don't mind. I really was in love with that role of Lady Clarissa. I always did like English plays, anyhow." "Well, we are getting more than our share of them this season. I wish Mr. Pertell would swing to a good American drama again. Say, didn't we have fun at Rocky Ranch?" and as she asked this some of the weariness seemed to slip off Alice as a discarded garment is let fall. She sat up, her eyes flashing with fun, and her cheeks that had been pale were now suffused with a heightened color. "Yes, we did have fun," assented Ruth. "But it was hard work, too,--especially when that prairie fire came a little too close for comfort." "That _was_ rather scary," assented Alice. "But it was outdoors, and that was what I love. Oh, I can just smell that wonderful air yet!" and she breathed in a long breath. A look of annoyance passed over her face, and she made a gesture of disapproval, "wrinkling" her nose. "They're having corned beef and cabbage again downstairs," she said, pointing to the apartment below them. "Well, they have a right to it," Ruth said, with a tolerant smile. "Not when daddy hates it so," disagreed Alice. "Come on, let's make a cup of tea. And is there any cheese?" "Cheese?" "Yes," the younger girl went on. "I'm going to make a Welsh rarebit. Daddy just adores them, and the smell of the toast will take away the odor of that cabbage. Is there any cheese?" "I think so. But I thought you were tired." "I was, but I guess thinking of the moving picture days at Rocky Ranch acted as a tonic. I'm rested now. There!" She tossed the hat, which she had so mistreated, on a chair, slipped off her jacket and started for the kitchen. "I _think_ there is some cheese," went on Ruth, following her younger sister. "But don't make the rarebit as you did last time. It was so tough that Russ said it would do very well to half sole his rubber boots." "That was because I put the milk in too suddenly. I won't do it that way this time. Come on, we'll get up a nice little tea for daddy. He's sure to be tired also. They had to film that big scene of the accusation over three times before Mr. Pertell was satisfied." "Is that so? I didn't know that, I was so busy with that English play. Then father will be late." "A little. He said he'd follow us in about an hour, though. So we'll just about have it ready in time. Did Russ come out with you?" "No," and though she uttered but this simple word the cheeks of Ruth took on a more ruddy hue. "I saw Pearl waiting for him," went on Alice. "But----" "You did?" cried Ruth, and then she added quickly: "Oh, I mean I suppose he had to go with her to film that scene in Central Park, near the lion's cage." "Don't get jealous now," teased Alice. "I said Pearl waited for him, but, she is--still waiting, I guess." "What do you mean?" Ruth tried to appear indifferent, but it was not an unqualified success. "I mean that Russ got one of the other camera men to take his place, and go out with Miss Pennington," said Alice with a laugh as she began cutting the bread in thin slices for toast. "But Russ--" "He went up town. He told me to tell you he thought he could get that book you spoke of." "Oh, I didn't want him to go to all _that_ trouble!" remonstrated Ruth, looking at her sister, and then suddenly averting her gaze. "Guess he doesn't call much _trouble_ where _you_ are concerned," said Alice significantly, cutting up some chunks of cheese which she put in a double boiler with some lumps of butter. "He said if you wanted a book to give you some of the details of the country, where that English play was supposed to take place, you were going to have it." "It's awfully good of him," murmured Ruth. "I just casually mentioned that I'd like to know something about the people of that section, and he offered to get a book he had once heard of. But I didn't want him to make such a fuss over it." "La-la-la!" chanted Alice, about nothing in particular. The girls busied themselves getting tea. The kettle was soon singing on the gas stove, the crisp odor of toast had replaced the heavier one of cabbage, and the rarebit was almost ready to serve, when a step was heard out in the hall of the apartment house where the DeVere family had their New York home. "There's daddy!" exclaimed Alice. "And just in time," added Ruth, as she poured the boiling water on the tea, adding to the fragrant food perfumes that now filled the apartment. The key clicked in the lock, the door opened, and a rather imposing figure of a man entered, laying aside his hat and light overcoat, for the Spring day was a bit chilly. "Hello, Daddy!" called Alice, putting up her face to be kissed, as she came in from the kitchen with a plate of delicately browned toast. "You're just in time. And it's such a _lovely_ rarebit!" "That's good, my dear." "Oh, Father, how hoarse you are!" cried Ruth. "Is your throat bad again?" "Well, this harbor dampness isn't just the best medicine for it. But I shall spray it, and it will be better." He sank somewhat wearily into a chair as he spoke, and Ruth glided over to him. "Daddy," she said, "you look worried. Has anything happened? Is anything wrong at the moving picture studio?" "No, nothing wrong, but--" It was evident that something out of the usual had occurred. Even light-hearted Alice sensed it. "What is it?" she asked. "Oh, nothing so much," her father said in weary tones. "I suppose I shouldn't make such a fuss over it. But Mr. Pertell has finally decided to film the great marine drama, and that means we shall have to go out on the water, more or less. And with my sore throat that isn't just the best thing in the world for me." "A marine drama!" cried Alice. "Oh, I shall just love _that_!" A look of worry still clouded Mr. DeVere's face. "Father, there is something else," insisted Ruth. "You haven't told us all about this sea film." "No, I--I haven't," he said. "And, to tell the truth, I'd rather we weren't going to be in that marine drama." CHAPTER II JACK JEPSON Hosmer DeVere's words and manner alike were alarming to his daughters. Seldom had they seen him so moved, especially over such a seemingly simple matter as the announcement of a new moving picture drama. He and the girls, in common with the other members of the Comet Film Company, had to portray many different scenes in the course of a season's work, and though some of it was distasteful, it was seldom objected to by anyone, unless perhaps by Pepper Sneed, the "grouch," or perhaps by Mr. Wellington Bunn, an actor of the old school, who could not reconcile himself to the silent drama. "Why, Daddy, what is the matter?" asked Alice. "I think it will be perfectly fine to have a little trip out to sea, especially now that Summer is coming on." "But not if the damp salty air is going to irritate his throat," declared Ruth. "Oh, it isn't so much that," Mr. DeVere said, "but you girls evidently don't know that the big scene in this drama is a shipwreck, and what follows. I am to be 'cast' in that, and so are you." "Well, what of it?" asked Alice. "It won't be a _real_ shipwreck; will it?" "Real? Of course not!" exclaimed Ruth. "The idea!" "I certainly hope it won't be real," Mr. DeVere said, "But--Oh, well, I suppose I may as well admit the truth. You'll probably call me fussy and all that, and laugh at the superstition of an old actor. But you know we have our traditions, though I am free to confess that I have lost many of them since entering on this moving picture work. But I had a dream about this same shipwreck, and that was before I knew we were to be in it, for I might mention that Mr. Pertell has included you girls in the drama, and has prominent parts selected for you." "Oh, I'm glad!" cried Alice enthusiastically. "I'm not," her father said, and he did not smile. "As I said I had a dream about this drama before I knew we were to have parts in it. And in that dream I saw----" "Oh, Daddy! Now don't tell a depressing dream before tea!" begged Alice, slipping her arms about his neck, and imprinting a kiss on a spot, which, if it were not already bald, was fast becoming so. "Wait until after supper--the rarebit will spoil if we don't eat it at once. Wait, Daddy dear!" "All right, I will," he assented with a sigh. "Perhaps I may have a less gloomy view of it after a cup of tea." And while the little family party is gathered about the table, I shall take just a moment to tell my new readers something about the previous books of this series. Ruth and Alice DeVere were moving picture girls, which you have probably guessed already. That is, they were actresses for the silent film dramas that make so much for enjoyment nowadays. Mr. DeVere was also an actor in the same company. He had been a semi-tragedian of the "old school," but his voice had failed, because of a throat ailment, and he could no longer declaim his lines over the footlights. He was in distress until it was suggested to him that he take up moving picture work. This suggestion came from young Russ Dalwood, who, with his widowed mother and little brother, lived across the hall from the DeVere family, in the Fenmore Apartment on one of the West Sixty streets of New York. Russ had invented a new attachment for a moving picture camera, and he himself was a camera operator of ability. At first Mr. DeVere had refused to consider moving picture work, but he finally consented, and even allowed his daughters to take their parts in the silent drama. In the initial book of the series, "The Moving Picture Girls," I related their first experiences. All was not smooth sailing. Though Mr. Frank Pertell, manager of the Comet Film Company, was a most agreeable man, the other members of the theatrical company were like those of any other organization--some were liked, and some were not. Among the former, at least from the standpoint of Ruth and Alice, was Russ; Paul Ardite, who played juvenile leads; Pop Snooks, the property man and one who did all the odd tasks; and Carl Switzer, a round-faced German, who was funny without knowing it. But neither Ruth nor Alice cared much for Laura Dixon and Pearl Pennington, two former vaudeville actresses who thought they were conferring a favor on the cameras to pose for moving pictures. Mr. Bunn, an actor of the kind styled "Hams", was in like case. Mr. Bunn was always bemoaning the fact that he had left the "legitimate" drama with a chance of playing "Hamlet", to take up moving picture work. But he might have been glad--especially on paydays--for he had made more out of camera work than he could have done on the regular stage. Pepper Sneed was never satisfied. He was of a gloomy nature, and always looking for trouble. Sometimes he found it, and for a time he was happy in saying "I told you so." But more often he proved a dismal failure as a predicter of calamities. This was the company, with others whom you will meet from time to time, in whose fortunes Ruth and Alice DeVere had cast their lots. After the girls' first introduction to the camera they went to Oak Farm where a series of pictures were taken, and, incidentally, a mystery was cleared up. Getting snowbound was another experience for our friends, but they forgot the cruelties of Winter in the happy days under the palms. And they had only recently come back from Rocky Ranch, where a number of Western dramas had been filmed, when the little scene of our opening chapter took place. Those of you who have read the previous books of this series do not need to be told much about moving pictures. And even those who select this volume as their first venture in becoming acquainted with our heroines must well know how the film pictures look from the front of the screen. To the uninitiated I might say that in making picture plays a company, somewhat like a regular theatrical organization, is gotten together. The play is decided upon, but instead of the acts taking place before an audience they are enacted before a camera and a man who acts as director, or manager. Some of the action takes place out of doors, amid the surroundings of nature, but most interior scenes are "filmed," or taken, in the studio, under the brilliant glare of electric lights. The pictures are taken in succession on a narrow strip of celluloid film, of the same nature as those in any camera. The strips are of a standard length of one thousand feet, though some plays may "split," and take only half a "reel" while others will fill several. When the film has been exposed, it is developed in a dark tank, and from that one "master" film, any number of "positives" can be made for use in the projecting machines. Doubtless you know that the same machine which takes the pictures does not show them on the screen. But enough of this detail. "Was the rarebit good?" asked Alice, smiling up into her father's face, as the supper progressed. "You may give me some more, which is the best answer in the world, my dear," he replied, smiling. "Be careful!" Ruth warned him. "You may have dreams, Daddy!" A shadow seemed to pass over the face of the old actor. He had been jokingly gay during the meal, but now there seemed to be a sense of depression. "Might as well tell us, and have it over with," suggested Ruth. "We don't believe in dreams, anyhow. Do we Alice?" "Not a bit, and I've named the corners of my bed ever so many times," and she laughed at that old sweethearts' superstition. "Well, my dream was very vivid," Mr. DeVere said. "I don't usually believe in omens, but this one impressed me. I dreamed we were all at sea, on a vessel in a storm, and, somehow, we became separated. I saw you girls going down with the ship, while I was taken up on a life raft." "Well, what of it, Daddy?" asked Alice. "I've often had unpleasant dreams myself. Probably you ate something you ought not to have taken. I'm rather sorry, now, I made this rarebit." "Oh, not at all! It was excellent!" he exclaimed. "I would perhaps, have thought nothing of my dream had not Mr. Pertell, a short time ago, told me something of his plans for the future. He spoke of a great marine drama he had in prospect, and we are to have prominent parts in it. But I was startled when he told me that one scene--the great one, in fact--was to be a shipwreck. He has engaged an old vessel for this purpose, and he is going to sink it with all on board." "All on board!" cried Ruth. "You don't mean----" "Well, that's how it will appear in the camera, anyhow. You girls are to be well in front, and your swimming abilities will be very necessary, for you will have to go into the water." "I hope it is warm," murmured Alice. "Oh, it will be Summer before we get to the shipwreck part," went on Mr. DeVere. "But what worries me is my dream in connection with the drama. I almost told Mr. Pertell we would have nothing to do with it." "Oh, Father! You can't do that!" exclaimed Ruth. She, as housekeeper, knew how much money was required in these days of the high cost of living. Though Mr. DeVere and his daughters received fair salaries, there were many expenses to be met, and if they refused present engagements they might not find it so easy to get others. "Oh, of course I didn't actually turn it down," said the old actor, "but it gave me quite a turn, I must say. I haven't gotten over it yet, seeing you girls disappear under the waves." "Don't think of it, Daddy!" urged Alice. "Have some of this apple slump. Mrs. Dalwood sent it in." "Your idea is that a man's mind is in his stomach, isn't it, daughter," laughed her father. "Well, I will have some of the dessert. Oh, but I almost forgot, you will have to go down an hour earlier in the morning to the studio." "Why?" Ruth wanted to know. "A heavy day's work on, and Mr. Pertell wants to sketch out the preliminary scenes of the marine drama. We are actually going to sea, I believe, and he has engaged some old sailors, or at least one so far, to give it a proper nautical flavor. It's only for tomorrow that we have to go earlier than usual." Mr. DeVere seemed more like himself after he had told his daughters of his vision. It did not so depress him now, and the rest of the meal passed off in a much more jolly manner. In the evening Russ Dalwood came in from across the hall, and they played bridge whist, of which Mr. DeVere was fond. "Fancy daddy, Russ," laughed Alice, "wanting us to give up a chance to go to sea just because he dreamed of a shipwreck!" "Oh, I didn't actually want you to give it up," her father remonstrated. "Perhaps I was foolish even to mention it. But I can't forget it--I can't!" and he seemed to look through the walls of the room on some distant and fateful scene. "Well, I must be getting back," Russ said. "You've won the rubber, as usual, Mr. DeVere. Lots to do tomorrow, and I have a new assistant to break in, so I'll say good-night." There were busy times for all next day, in the studio of the moving picture concern. In the big room brilliant with electric lights as well as from the illumination that came through a sky-glass, there were several scenes from different dramas being filmed at the same time. When Ruth and Alice DeVere entered with their father, Mr. Pertell, the manager of the Comet company, was engaged off to one side, evidently instructing a man in what he must do before the camera. The man was a sailor, and it needed but a glance to show that he was a real one, and not "made up" for the occasion. "You see," said Mr. Pertell, "you come into the shipping office, and pretend to hand over the papers. But you slip the clerk the wrong ones, and while he is examining them you reach over behind him and take the documents you want." "Avast there! Belay!" came the hoarse voice of the sailor. "I do that there, do I?" "Yes." "Steal the papers?" "Well, it isn't _stealing_, exactly. It's only----" "Stealin' is what I call it, and it can't be called by another name to my way of thinkin'. It won't do, sir, it won't do! Jack Jepson got into trouble once, but he isn't goin' to do it again. No sir! That stealin' won't do for Jack Jepson. You've got to get someone else to sign them articles for you. No stealin' for Jack Jepson!" and the figure of the old sailor turned and, with a rolling gait, he started across the big studio room. CHAPTER III SOMETHING OF A MYSTERY "Look out there!" "Where you going?" "Hold him back, somebody! Look out, you'll spoil that scene! Don't cross in front of the camera!" Half a dozen frantic voices were calling to the sailor who, with dogged persistence, kept on, shaking his grizzled and gray head, and muttering over and over again: "It won't do for Jack Jepson! No sir! It won't do. I had one experience with trouble and I don't want any more. No sir!" Evidently utterly unused to a moving picture studio, the old man kept on his way. He was headed directly toward a camera that was "filming" an elaborate ball room scene. If any figure came between the scene and the camera with the pictures it was imprinting on the sensitive celluloid film (at the rate of sixteen per second) part of the elaborate work would have to be done over again. And as one of the characters in the little play was a celebrated dancer, whose time was paid for at an almost unbelieveable sum per hour, it would mean a heavy expense. "Stop him!" cried Mr. Pertell. "Come back here!" "Halt! Vamoose! Turn about!" Paul Ardite called to the worked-up traveler of the deep blue sea. This had no effect. "Avast there! Belay!" cried Russ Dalwood, who was not at that moment engaged at the crank of some camera. He used the same sea terms the old man himself had uttered, but this salt-water "lingo," or translation of the command to halt, had no effect either. Then came an interruption at a most opportune time. Just ahead of the sailor a scene from a Wild West drama was being enacted. A group of cowboys were engaged in a quarrel in the bunk house, which had been set up in the studio. The outdoor scenes of the little play were to be made later, for it is the custom in this business to make all the scenes, taking place in one locality, at the same time, regardless of their sequence in the finished play. Later the film is cut up into strips, pasted together with the proper headings, or captions, and the finished play results. And just as the old sailor, who called himself Jack Jepson, was about to step in front of the ball room scene camera, to the frantic horror of the operator, one of the cowboys, following out his lines, drew his revolver, and fired a blank cartridge at the "villain." In the studio the noise was like that of a small cannon. "Mutiny!" yelled Jack Jepson, jumping in the air a foot or more. "Mutiny!" But he stopped, and just in time. Two steps more would have brought him in front of the clicking camera. "Mutiny!" he fairly roared. "What is this! Who's firin' a shot across my bows? All hands on deck t' repel boarders! Avast there!" and he stood looking around in bewilderment, while the smoke from the revolver floated upward. "Come here!" called Mr. Pertell running forward, and grasping the arm of the sailor before he could get away to step in front of any of the other moving picture machines. "You don't understand, Mr. Jepson. I merely want you to----" "Yes, I reckon I heard you say what you wanted me to do. Now look here! I don't know much about you, but you come over t' our Sailors' Snug Harbor, an' you took some pictures. That was all right, I'm not captain there an' I haven't anything t' say. You said you wanted an old able-bodied man for certain work, an' I volunteered. I didn't know where the voyage was, but I signed on, an' come here; didn't I?" "You did," said Mr. Pertell. "But let me explain." "No, you listen to me, first!" exclaimed the old salt, shaking a thickened and roughened finger at the manager. "I come here, willin' to do anything from slushin' th' mast, or holystonin' th' decks t' furlin' sail in a blow. But what do I get; eh? I ask you what do I get? Why an order to steal shippin' papers, that's what I get! An' that's a serious crime. I'm not goin' t' be mixed up with it. No sir! Not for Jack Jepson!" and he tried to break away. "Wait a minute!" Mr. Pertell begged. "You don't understand. It's only the business of stealing the papers, you know." "Well, it's mighty poor business for any man t' be in; that's my opinion. I was raised honest, an', man and boy, I've lived honest for fifty years, with one exception, an' that wasn't my fault, and now----" Again he made an effort to leave, which effort, if not blocked, would have once more taken him in front of some clicking camera. "Oh, can't you understand!" cried the manager with a hopeless gesture. "Perhaps I could explain to him," suggested Ruth in a low voice. "I have plenty of time, Mr. Pertell, and though I don't know this gentleman----" "Oh, I forgot. He's going to act with you and your sister, Miss DeVere," said the manager. "Come over and be introduced. You too, Mr. DeVere. He's to have a part in our great sea drama, that is, if I can ever get it started. I began explaining to Jepson, here, about taking the papers which have to do with the case, but he can't----" "You can't make me believe stealin's right, no matter how you go at it!" interrupted the old salt, doggedly shaking his head. "Perhaps _I_ can," put in Ruth with a smile, as the manager mentioned their names to the newest and, seemingly, the most refractory member of the company. "Well, Miss," said the sailor, "you look honest. I would believe what you'd tell me, for I know you couldn't do no wrong. Perhaps I was a bit hasty, but you see this is all new to me--this play-actin', an' shootin' at folks unexpected like. I wouldn't have tried it, only the captain at the Sailors' Snug Harbor, over on Staten Island, where I'm berthed, asked me as a favor to come here. But I don't like it!" "I didn't at first," said Alice, joining with her sister, in an attempt to placate the old salt. "But I became used to it." "Ha! You're pretty young to be in this business," said Jack Jepson, who evidently said what he thought. "Oh, I'm older than I look," replied Alice with a smile. "I just love the sea. I wish you would tell me about some of your voyages, for I'm sure you must have been on many." "That I have, Miss, but this is th' queerest cruise I ever started on," and he looked around at the many scenes being enacted. Meanwhile Ruth had slipped to Mr. Pertell's side. "Give me a brief outline of the play," she suggested. "I think I can make it plain to him. He is all fussed up because it's something new. You haven't time to go into details." "That's right--I haven't," agreed the harassed manager. "Well, this is enough for you to know just now. There's a plot to sink a ship, and it is necessary that certain papers appear to be stolen. "I picked Jepson up, as he says, at a sailors' home, over on Staten Island. He's a typical salt, but he balks at even a semblance of wrong-doing." "I think I can make him understand," Ruth said as she took the typewritten pages of the scenario, or plot, of the drama from the manager. "I wish you would," Mr. Pertell said. "I've a thousand and one things to do." Ruth started toward the old sailor. To her surprise her sister Alice was now in earnest conversation with him. Jack Jepson seemed to have warmed to Alice at once. And Ruth heard him saying, as she approached: "Well, Miss, you see it was this way. There was a mutiny, an' I was accused, but I wasn't guilty. There was a mystery about it when the captain disappeared, an' that mystery hasn't been solved yet, though I'd give a good bit if it were. It's hangin' over me like a nightmare, Miss. Now I'll tell you all about it, if I don't tire you." "I should love to listen!" exclaimed Alice, with dancing eyes and flushed cheeks. CHAPTER IV THE SAILOR'S STORY Ruth, on her way to explain to sailor Jack Jepson what was wanted of him in the matter of acting for moving pictures, paused as she saw Alice and the aged salt in earnest conversation. "I think I had better defer my explanations a while," Ruth told herself. "Perhaps he will be in a bettor frame of mind to listen, after he has talked with Alice. What a wonderful way she has of making friends!" the older girl mused as she looked at the interested and flushed face of her pretty sister. At that moment Alice glanced up and caught Ruth's gaze on her. "Do come and listen," she called. "I'm going to hear a wonderful story, Ruth dear." The old sailor looked up quickly, stopping in his progress toward a bench, whither Alice was leading him. It was in a quiet corner of the studio, some distance away from the various little groups that, in three-sided rooms (before the open part of which cameras were placed, and over which big lights hissed) were going through their parts in the silent dramas. "This is my sister," Alice said. "Oh, yes, I remember now," Jack Jepson said. "There's so much goin' on that I get a bit confused. But I can see you two look alike. Are you goin' to put me reefin' sails or scrubbin' decks?" he asked. "Neither one," Ruth said with a smile. "I told Mr. Pertell, our manager, that I'd explain what was wanted of you. It is very simple, and----" "I don't call it simple t' rob an' cheat!" cried Jack with energy, "an' that's what he wanted _me_ to do." "I'll explain, and I think you'll find it all right," Ruth went on. "My sister and I are in this business," she added, "and I don't believe you think _we_ would do anything wrong." "Far be it--far be it," said the old salt, earnestly. "Oh, but before you came, Ruth dear," suggested Alice, "Mr. Jepson was going to tell me----" "Avast there! Belay! Hold on!" exclaimed the sailor, his voice ringing out through the studio, above the tones of those actors who, to give greater verisimilitude to their work were talking their parts, as well as going through them. They smiled at the old salt's energy. "Wait a minute, Miss," he went on in lower tones. "I didn't mean t' be so quick, but that Mr. Jepson business won't do. Not at all!" "Why, isn't that your name?" asked Ruth. "I understood Mr. Pertell to say----" "Oh, that's my name--at least the Jepson part of it is. But I don't like the mister. I'm not used to it. The only time of late years when I was called Mister was when I was up before the lawyers, and I didn't like it then. Jest please call me Jack Jepson, an' 'twill sound more natural. I ask it as a favor, Miss," and he looked from Ruth to Alice. "Why of course we'll call you Jack," assented the latter. "It will sound nicer anyhow, I think," she added. "Now go on with your story. You said there was a mystery in it. Has it anything to do with--buried treasure?" and Alice leaned forward eagerly. "Buried treasure? No, Miss. What made you ask that?" "The idea!" exclaimed Ruth with a laugh. "I'm afraid you'll think my sister very romantic, Mr.--er--Jack." "That's better!" he laughed. "Well, I don't know much about romance. My life's been mostly hard work." "I just mentioned treasure," Alice said with a little laugh, and a glance toward where Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, having a rest from their moving picture work, were curiously eyeing the old sailor and the two girls. "Well, my mystery hasn't anything t' do with buried treasure," resumed Jack Jepson. "It's about a mutiny that took place off th' Hole in th' Wall, about five years ago, an'----" "Hole in the Wall!" interrupted Ruth. "I thought mutinies always took place on the high seas." "Well, this _was_ the high seas," Jack answered. "But the Hole--?" "That's the name of a passage between Great Abaco Island and Eleuthera, in the West Indies," the sailor replied. "I don't know why it's called that, but it is." "A queer name," murmured Ruth. "Go on, please," urged Alice. "Well, I was second mate aboard a five masted schooner engaged in the lumber business," went on Jack Jepson. "We were going down to South America, in ballast t' bring back a cargo of hard woods, an' off the Hole in the Wall th' trouble started. "Some of the crew kicked on account of the grub--that's the stuff we eat on a ship," he explained. "Oh, we know _something_ of such talk," said Alice with a laugh. "We haven't been out West among the cowboys for nothing!" "Well, some of th' hands laid it to the grub, an' others t' th' hard work of sailing th' craft," went on Jack. "She was a mighty poor schooner in ballast, an' owing t' storms an' rough weather we had t' be takin' in or lettin' out reefs all th' while. It wasn't so bad up t' th' time we got off th' Hole in th' Wall, but from then on it was fierce! "I'd heard rumors that th' crew was goin' t' mutiny an' demand that we put in at some port, an' get better grub, an' more hands, for we was short of sailors. But I didn't pay much attention to th' underhand talk until it was too late. Then, all at once, when we had got away down about off Anegada, th' mutiny broke in full force. The men riz up, an' overpowered th' officers--th' captain was made a prisoner in his cabin, an' I was given my choice of joinin' th' mutineers or walkin' th' plank." "What's that?" asked Ruth, a bit startled. "That's when they blindfold a man, and make him walk a plank that is put out over the bulwarks, or side of the ship," said Alice. "Why, if he were blindfolded I should think he'd fall off, not knowing when he came to the end," Ruth remarked, with a little shudder. "He doesn't know," Alice said. "That's an easy way of sending a man to his doom." "That's it, Miss!" chimed in Jack. "You got th' idea!" "But Alice, how did _you_ know that dreadful thing?" her sister wonderingly demanded. "Read it in a book. Go on please, Mr.--er--Jack." "Of course I didn't want t' walk no plank," resumed the sailor, "so I temporized. I thought maybe I could beat th' mutineers after all. So I pretended t' join 'em. Things got pretty bad. Many of 'em was for puttin' th' captain away--tossin' him overboard, an' there was a fight about it. Matters got t' such a pass that pistols were fired, an' th' captain would have been shot, an' killed, only a fellow named Mike Tullane, a rough character, an' one of the leaders of th' mutiny, stepped up sudden like an' saved th' captain's life by knockin' aside th' ruffian's gun. "Well, of course there was a fight then, but Mike seemed t' come out all right, bein' a leader, an' havin' th' men pretty well with him. Anyhow, th' mutineers were in charge of th' ship, an' off Anegada, one of th' little British Islands of the West Indies, we were put about t' run for port. Jest what was t' be done no one seemed to know. After the men got th' ship they didn't know what to do with her. "Then came th' mystery. One night th' captain an' Mike Tullane disappeared. They was seen in th' cabin, talkin' together, an' some of th' hot-headed ones thought Mike was goin' back on his pals. They was for makin' him walk th' plank. "But cooler heads made 'em wait. They said they wanted t' give Mike a chance to explain. But he never got it." "Do you mean they--" began Alice, somewhat horrified. "I mean that night he an' th' captain disappeared," Jack said. "They couldn't be found anywhere. No boat was taken, so they couldn't have gotten off in one of them craft, an' we wasn't near enough land t' make swimmin' safe. But they totally disappeared, an' that was th' mystery. Whether they had a fight, an' jumped overboard together in th' darkness, no one ever knowed, for them mutineers didn't keep extra good watch. "But anyhow they was gone--mysteriously missin' as they say in the paper. That sort of took the heart out of some of th' mutineers and they got careless. First we knew a British vessel overhauled us, and, not likin' th' looks of things, began to ask questions. Of course there wasn't any captain, such as there should be on a ship, an' that made it look suspicious. Th' worst of it was that nobody could say where the captain was. None of us knew. "Then th' story of th' mutiny came out, of course, an' it was all up. The Britisher took charge of us. I was arrested as the ringleader of the mutiny, an' put in chains! An' I had no more to do with it than a baby, Miss. No more than a baby!" and Jack Jepson looked from Ruth to Alice, his blue eyes expressing the indignation he had felt at the time. "An' that's th' story of th' mystery, as I said I'd tell your sister," he added turning to Ruth. CHAPTER V THE MARY ELLEN During the silence that followed the rather sudden ending of the old salt's story, Ruth and Alice looked at each other with wonder in their eyes. On all sides of them could be heard the clicking of the moving picture cameras, the loud directions issued by the men who were managing the different little dramas, and occasionally the sound of shots from the cowboy play that was going on in front of where our friends were seated on the bench, though at some distance away, for the studio was large. "But that can't be all of it," said Alice, at length. "All of what, Miss?" Jack Jepson asked. "The mystery." "That's all there is to any mystery, Miss," he said. "A mystery is a mystery, an' if it isn't solved, it's a mystery still, an' nobody can make any more of it. Th' captain and Mike Tullane completely disappeared, an' were never heard of afterward. That's th' mystery, an' all there is to it, jest as I told you." "But about yourself?" asked Ruth. "You said you were put in chains, under arrest, as the ringleader of the mutiny." "So I was." "But what became of you?" "Well, I escaped, Miss. It may not be a very nice thing to confess, but I escaped. Th' British ship took us to a jail on some island--I forget th' name of it. Anyhow I was locked up, an' so were a lot of th' others. We were tried, an' I was accused of startin' th' mutiny. Some of th' worst men on th' ship put th' blame on me, an' I wasn't a bit guilty. But it was no use in denyin' it. They was all banded together t' accuse me t' save themselves. I was found guilty, though I wasn't at all, an' I was sentenced to a long imprisonment. I just escaped hanging by a hair, for mutiny on th' high seas is a serious crime. "But I was innocent, an' I knew it, an' when I found th' trial goin' against me, I took a chance that offered, an' planned t' escape. I found a French vessel puttin' t' sea an' as they was short handed I signed on. Since then I've been in many vessels, but I always keep away from English ones, and from English ports, for I would be arrested the minute I set my foot on shore in one. A big reward is out for me." "How long ago was all this?" asked Ruth. "Oh, some years." "But isn't the unjust charge outlawed now?" Alice wanted to know. "I'm afraid not, Miss. Such things are never outlawed. I daren't go t' an English port, an' that's hampered me. I have to take what berths I can get." "Can't you disprove the mutiny charge?" asked Ruth. "Not unless some of them involved was to confess, Miss. An' land knows where those fellers are now. They've disappeared with th' captain an' Mike Tullane. Of course if I could find either one of them, I could prove my innocence, an' then I'd be free t' go where I pleased. But I've about given _that_ up, Miss. "So I sort of come t' anchor in th' Sailors' Snug Harbor, an' when I heard about this movin' picture business, and th' chance it gave t' make a little money, I took it. But when it comes t' doin' some crime for it, I draws th' line. As I said, I've always lived honest, man and boy, for many years, an' that one charge is th' only one against me. I'm not goin' t' take them papers, and substitute false ones." "But you don't exactly understand," Ruth said with a smile. "I am going to explain it to you. Mr. Pertell said I might. Now here is the story we are supposed to act out; and, mind you, it is only _supposing_--make believe, as we children used to say." "Oh, it's make believe; is it?" asked Jack Jepson. "Yes, just make-believe." "I had a little gal once--long years ago," he said softly, "an' she used to be great on make-believe games. Is this takin' of them papers a make believe game?" "Exactly!" chimed in Alice. "My sister and I have to pretend every day. It's fun!" "Well, of course I didn't know _that_," said Jack. "Maybe I made a mistake in bein' so quick. There was nothin' wrong in it?" he questioned. "Not the least in the world," said Ruth. "It is just a game, played for the amusement of the public. I'll explain," and from the typewritten scenario she held she went over the outlines of the big marine drama, as one of the authors of the Comet company had written it. As she gave the details, the simple, kindly face of the sailor cleared. His doubts vanished. "Say, wasn't I th' old landlubber though!" he cried. "T' think I thought I was really committin' a crime. Ha! Ha!" "Well, your past experience had made you careful," Alice said. "That's what it had, Miss. It's no fun t' be barred from the ports of the country that has more of 'em than any nation of the world. It hampers a man. But I daren't go on British soil." "Could they come here and take you?" asked Ruth. The old man looked around before replying. "They maybe wouldn't know me," he hoarsely whispered. "I've grown a beard since those days." "Well, then, how would the British authorities know you?" asked Alice with a smile. "I'm not takin' any chances, Miss," was the answer. And though it might seem to an outsider that it would be safe, under those circumstances, for Jepson to visit British ports, if he kept away from the island where he had been imprisoned, he could not see it that way. "No sir!" he exclaimed. "No British ports for mine!" By this time Mr. DeVere, who had been engaged in finishing a few scenes in a play that had started the day before, came up to join his daughters. "Well, how is the great marine drama coming on?" he asked, his voice being more hoarse than usual. He had done some talking, as he found it helped to give a better idea
{'title': 'The Moving Picture Girls at Sea by Laura Lee Hope', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}