START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH*** E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/c/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustration. See 20349-h.htm or 20349-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/3/4/20349/20349-h/20349-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/3/4/20349/20349-h.zip) THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH Or Great Days Among the Cowboys by LAURA LEE HOPE Author of "The Moving Picture Girls," "The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms," "The Outdoor Girls Series," "The Bobbsey Twins Series," Etc. Illustrated The Goldsmith Publishing Co. Cleveland Made in U. S. A. Copyright, 1914, by Grosset & Dunlap Press of The Commercial Bookbinding Co. Cleveland [Illustration: "WE ARE HEMMED IN BY THE PRAIRIE FIRE!" _Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch._--_Page 192._] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE SPY 1 II WESTERN PLANS 13 III A DARING FEAT 23 IV A CLOUD OF SMOKE 32 V A MIX-UP 42 VI THE AUTO SMASH 49 VII OFF FOR THE WEST 56 VIII THE OIL WELL 66 IX THE RIVALS 72 X THE CYCLONE 78 XI AT ROCKY RANCH 90 XII SUSPICIONS 96 XIII AT THE BRANDING 109 XIV A WARNING 117 XV THE INDIAN RITES 125 XVI PRISONERS 134 XVII THE RESCUE 143 XVIII A RUSH OF STEERS 156 XIX TOO MUCH REALISM 163 XX IN THE OPEN 168 XXI THE BURNING GRASS 178 XXII HEMMED IN 186 XXIII THE ESCAPE 193 XXIV A DISCLOSURE 201 XXV THE ROUND-UP 208 THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH CHAPTER I THE SPY "Well, Ruth, aren't you almost ready?" "Just a moment, Alice. I can't seem to get my collar fastened in the back. I wish I'd used the old-fashioned hooks and eyes instead of those new snaps." "Oh, I think those snaps are just adorable!" "Oh, Alice DeVere! Using such an extreme expression!" "What expression, Ruth?" "'Adorable!' You sometimes accuse me of using slang, and there you go----" "'Adorable' isn't slang," retorted Alice. "Oh, isn't it though? Since when?" "There you go yourself! You're as bad as I am." "Well, it must be associating with you, then," sighed Ruth. "No, Ruth, it's this moving picture business. It just makes you use words that _mean_ something, and not those that are merely sign-posts. I'm glad to see that you are getting--sensible. But never mind about that. Are you ready to go to the studio? I'm sure we'll be late." "Oh, please help me with this collar. I wish I'd made this waist with the new low-cut effect. Not too low, of course," Ruth added hastily, as she caught a surprised glance from her sister. Two girls were in a room about which were strewn many articles of feminine adornment. Yet it was not an untidy apartment. True, dresser drawers did yawn and disclose their contents, and closet doors gaped at one, showing a collection of shoes and skirts. But then the occupants of the room might have been forgiven, for they were in haste to keep an appointment. "There, Ruth," finally exclaimed the younger of the two girls--yet she was not so much younger--not more than two years. "I think your collar is perfectly sweet." "It's good of you to say so. You know I got it at that little French shop around the corner, but sewed some of that Mexican drawn lace on to make it a bit higher. Now I'm sorry I did, for I had to put in those snap fasteners instead of hooks. And if you don't get them to fit exactly they come loose. It's like when the film doesn't come right on the screen, and the piano player sounds a discord to call the operator's attention to it." "You've hit it, sister mine." "Oh, Alice! There you go again. 'Hit it!'" "You'd say 'hit it' at a baseball game," Alice retorted. "Oh, yes, I suppose so. But we're not at one," objected the older girl, as she finished buttoning her gloves, and took up her parasol, which she shook out, to make sure that it would open easily when needed. "There, I think I'm ready," announced Alice, as she slipped on a light jacket, for, though it was spring, the two rivers of New York sent rather chilling breezes across the city, and a light waist was rather conducive to colds. "Have you the key?" asked the older girl, as she paused for a moment on the threshold of the private hall of the apartment house. She had tied her veil rather tightly at the back, knotting it and fastening it with a little gold pin, and now she pulled it away from her cheeks, to relieve the tension. "Yes, I have it, Ruth. Oh, don't make such funny faces! Anyone would think you were posing." "Well, I'm not--but this veil--tickles." "Serves you right for trying to be so stylish." "It's proper to have a certain amount of style, Alice, dear. I wish I could induce you to have more of it." "I have enough, thank you. Let's don't talk dress any more, or we'll have a tiff before we get to the moving picture studio, and there are some long and trying scenes ahead of us to-day." "So there are. I wonder if daddy took his key?" "Wait, and I'll look on his dresser." The younger girl went back into the apartment for a moment, while her sister stepped across the corridor and tapped lightly at an opposite door. "Has Russ gone?" she asked the pleasant-faced woman who answered. "Yes, Ruth. A little while ago. He was going to call for you girls, but I knew you were dressing, for Alice came in to borrow some pins, so I told him not to wait." "That's right. We'll see him at the studio." "You're coming in to supper to-night, you know." "Oh, yes, Mrs. Dalwood. Daddy wouldn't miss that for anything!" laughed Ruth, as she turned to wait for her sister. "Of course he _says_ our cooking is the best he ever had since poor mamma left us," Ruth went on, "but I just _know_ he relishes yours a great deal more." "Oh, you're just saying that, Ruth!" objected the neighbor. "Indeed I'm not. You should hear him talk, for days afterward, about your clam chowder." She laughed genially. "Well, he does seem to relish that," admitted Mrs. Dalwood. "What's that?" asked Alice, as she came out. "We're speaking of clam chowder, and how fond daddy is of Mrs. Dalwood's recipe," said Ruth. "Oh, yes, indeed! I should think he'd be ashamed to look a clam in the face--that is, if a clam _has_ a face," laughed Alice. "It's awfully good of you, Mrs. Dalwood, to make it for him so often." "Well, I'm always glad when a man enjoys his meals," declared Mrs. Dalwood, who, being a widow, knew what the lack of proper home life meant. "I'm afraid we're imposing on you," suggested Alice, as she started down the stairs. "You have us over to tea so often, and we seldom invite you." "Now don't be thinking that, my dear!" exclaimed the neighbor. "I know what it is when you have to pose so much for moving pictures. "My boy Russ tells me what long hours you put in, and how hard you work. And it's trouble enough to get up a meal these days, and have anything left to pay the rent. So I'm only too glad when you can come in and enjoy the victuals with us. I cook too much anyhow, and of late Russ seems to have lost his appetite." "I fancy I know why," laughed Alice, with a roguish glance at her sister. "Alice!" protested Ruth, in shocked tones. "Don't you dare----" "I was only going to say that he has not seemed well since coming back from Florida--what was the harm in that?" Alice wanted to know. "Oh!" murmured Ruth. "Do come on," she added, as if she feared her fun-loving sister might say something embarrassing. "Russ will be better soon, Mrs. Dalwood," Alice called as she and her sister went down the stairway of the apartment house. "What makes you think so?" asked his mother. "Not but what I'm glad to hear you say that, for really he hasn't eaten at all well lately." "We're going on the road again, I hear," went on Alice. "The whole moving picture company is to be taken off somewhere, and a lot of films made. Russ always likes that, and I'm sure his appetite will come back as soon as we start traveling. It always does." "You are getting to be a close observer," remarked Ruth, with just the hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Oh, Alice, do finish buttoning your gloves in the house!" she exclaimed. "It looks so careless to go out fussing with them." "All right, sister mine. Anything to keep peace in the family!" laughed the younger girl. Together they went down the street, a charming picture of youth and happiness. A little later they entered the studio of the Comet Film Company, a concern engaged in the business of making moving pictures, from posing them with actors and actresses, and the suitable "properties," to the leasing of the completed films to the various theaters throughout the country. Alice and Ruth DeVere, of whom you will hear more later, with their father, were engaged in this work, and very interesting and profitable they found it. As the girls entered the studio they were greeted by a number of other players, and an elderly gentleman, with a bearing and carriage that revealed the schooling of many years behind the footlights, came forward. "I was just wondering where you were," he said with a smile. His voice was husky and hoarse, and indicated that he had some throat affection. In fact, that same throat trouble was the cause of Hosmer DeVere being in moving picture work instead of in the legitimate drama, in which he had formerly been a leading player. "We stopped a moment to speak to Mrs. Dalwood," explained Ruth. "Clam chowder," added Alice, with a laugh. "She's going to have it this evening, Daddy." "Good!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in a manner that indicated gratification. "I was just hungry for some." "You always seem able to eat that," laughed Alice. "I must learn how to make it." "I wish you would!" exclaimed her father, earnestly. "Then when we are on the road I can have some, now and then." "Oh, you are hopeless!" laughed Alice. "Here is your latch-key, Daddy," she went on, handing it to him. "You left it on your dresser, and as Ruth and I are going shopping when we get through here, I thought you might want it." "Thank you, I probably shall. I am going home from here to study a new part." The scene in the studio of the moving picture concern was a lively one. Men were moving about whole "rooms"--or, at least they appeared as such on the film. Others were setting various parts of the stage, electricians were adjusting the powerful lights, cameras were being set up on their tripods, and operators were at the handles, grinding away, for several plays were being made at once. "Just in time, Ruth and Alice!" called Russ Dalwood, who was one of the chief camera men. "Your scene goes on in ten minutes. You have just time to dress." "It's that 'Quaker Maid;' isn't it?" asked Ruth, for she and her sisters took part in so many plays that often it was hard to remember which particular one was to be filmed. "That's it," said Russ. "Don't forget your bonnets!" he laughed as he focused the camera. "All ready now!" called Mr. Pertell, the manager of the company, and also the chief stage director, a little later. "Take your places, if you please! Mr. DeVere, you are not in this until the second scene. Mr. Bunn, you'll not need your high hat in this act." "But I thought you said----" began an elderly actor, of the type known as "Hams," from their insatiable desire to portray the character of Hamlet. "I know I did," said Mr. Pertell, sharply. "But I have had to change my mind. You are to take the part of a plumber, and you come to fix a burst water pipe. So get your overalls and your kit. You have a plumber's kit; haven't you, Pop?" the manager called to Pop Snooks, the property man, who was obliged, on short notice, to provide anything from a diamond ring to a rustic bridge. "All right for the plumber!" called Pop. "Have it for you in a minute." "And, Mr. Sneed," called the manager to another actor. "You are supposed to be the householder whose water pipe has burst. You try to putty it up and you get soaked. Go over there in the far corner, where the tank is; we don't want water running into this Quaker scene." "Oh, I get all wet; do I?" asked Mr. Sneed, in no very pleasant tones. "That's what you do!" "Well, all I've got to say is that I wish you'd give some of these tank dramas to someone else. I'm getting tired of being soaked." "You haven't been really wet since the trip to Florida," declared Mr. Pertell. "Lively now, we have no time to lose. Come on, Russ!" he called to the young operator. "You're to film the Quaker scenario. I'll have Johnson make the water pipe scene. All ready, ladies and gentlemen!" Various plays were going on at once in different parts of the studio. Ruth and Alice DeVere took their places in one where a Quaker story was being portrayed. Later they posed in a church scene, in which a number of extra people, or "supers," were engaged to represent the congregation. Mr. Pertell, once he had the various scenes going, took a moment in which to rest, for he was a very busy man. He sat down near Alice, who, for the time being, was out of the scene. But hardly had the manager stretched out in a chair, resting one shirt-sleeved arm over the back, when he started up, and looked intently toward one corner of the studio. "I wonder why he is going in there?" observed the manager, half aloud. "Who?" asked Alice, for the moving picture company was like one big family, in a way. "That new man," went on Mr. Pertell. "Harry Wilson, he said his name was. Now he's going into the proof room, where he has no business. I must look into this. I wonder, after all, if there could be any truth in that warning I received the other day." "What warning?" asked Alice. "About a rival film company trying to discover some of the secrets of our success. I must look into this." He sprang from his chair and hurried across the big studio toward the room where the films were first shown privately, to correct any defects, mechanical or artistic. It was there that the initial performance, so to speak, was given. Before Mr. Pertell reached the room, where the projection machine was installed, the man of whom he had spoken had entered. And, just as the manager reached the door, the same man came violently out, impelled by a vigorous push from one of the operators, who at the same time cried: "Get out of here, you spy! What do you mean by sneaking in here, trying to get our secrets? Get out! Where's Mr. Pertell? I'll tell him about you." CHAPTER II WESTERN PLANS "What is it, Walsh? What is the trouble?" exclaimed Mr. Pertell, as he hastened toward the proving room, where the films were tested before being "released." "This man, Mr. Pertell! This fellow you hired as a comedy actor. He came in here just now, and I caught him starting to take notes of the first film of our new play." "You did!" cried the manager sharply. "Yes. He came in when it was dark; but the film broke, and I turned on the light. Then I caught him!" "That's not so--you did not!" The accused man--the spy he had been called--stood facing them all, the picture of injured innocence. Ruth, Alice and some of the other women members of the company drew aside, a little frightened at the prospect of trouble. And trouble seemed imminent, for it was easy to see that Mr. Pertell was very angry. As for the other, his face was white with either anger or fear--perhaps the latter. "I saw you taking notes of the action on that film!" cried James Walsh, the testing room expert. "And I say you did not!" asserted Harry Wilson, the new player, hired a few days before as a "comic relief." The other members of the company knew very little of him, and he had attracted small attention until this episode. During a period when he was not engaged in one of the plays he had gone into the room, permission to enter which was not often granted, even to favored members of the Comet Film concern--at least until after the release of the film was decided. "Don't let that man get way!" cried Mr. Pertell, sharply, as he saw Wilson edging toward the hallway. "Lock the doors and we'll search him!" There was some confusion for a moment, but the doors were locked, and Pop Snooks seized the new actor. And, while preparations are being made to search the man I will trespass on the time of my new readers sufficiently to tell them, as briefly as I can, something about the previous books of this series, and of the main characters in this one. The initial volume was entitled "The Moving Picture Girls; Or, First Appearances in Photo Dramas." The girls were Ruth and Alice DeVere, aged respectively seventeen and fifteen years. Their mother was dead, and they lived with their father, Hosmer DeVere, in the Fenmore Apartment House, New York. Across the hall from them lived Russ Dalwood, a moving picture operator, with his widowed mother, and his brother Billy. Mr. DeVere was a talented actor in the "legitimate," as it is called to distinguish it from vaudeville and moving pictures. But the recurrence of an old throat ailment made him suddenly so hoarse that he could not speak loud enough to be heard across the footlights. He was already rehearsing for a new play when this happened, and after several trials to make himself audible, he was finally forced to give up his engagement. This was doubly hard, as the DeVeres were in straitened circumstances at this time, money being very scarce. They had really entered upon a period of "hard times" when Russ, a manly young fellow, whose first acquaintance with the girls had quickly ripened into friendship, made a suggestion. "Why don't you try moving pictures?" he had said to Mr. DeVere. "You can act, all right, and you won't have to use your voice." At first the veteran actor was much opposed to to the idea, rather looking down upon moving pictures as "common." But his daughters induced him to try it, and he came to like them very much. The pay, too, was good. Thus Mr. DeVere became attached to the Comet Film Company. Mr. Frank Pertell, as I have said, was manager, and Russ was his chief operator, though there were several others. There were, too, a number of actors and actresses attached to the company. Besides Ruth, Alice and their father, there were Miss Laura Dixon and Miss Pearl Pennington, former vaudeville stars, between whom and the DeVere girls there was not the best of feeling. Ruth and Alice thought that the two actresses were of a rather too "showy" type, and Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon rather looked down on Alice and Ruth as being "slow" and old-fashioned. Pop Snooks, as I have intimated, was the efficient property man. Paul Ardite, whom Alice liked very much, was the juvenile leading man. Wellington Bunn was the "old school" actor already mentioned. He and Pepper Sneed were rather alike in one way--they made many objections when called on to do "stunts" out of the ordinary. Mr. Bunn always wanted to play Shakespearean parts, and Mr. Sneed was always fearful that something was going to happen. Of a contrasting disposition was Carl Switzer, the jolly German comedian. Nothing came amiss to him, and he was always ready for whatever was on the program, making a joke of even hard and dangerous work. Mrs. Maguire was the "mother" of the company. She often played "old woman" parts, and her two grandchildren, Tommy and Nellie, were sometimes used in child sketches. Ruth and Alice really got into moving picture work by accident. One day two extra actresses failed to appear when needed, and Mr. Pertell, who was in a hurry, appealed to Mr. DeVere to allow his daughters to "fill in." They did so well that they were engaged permanently, and very much did they like their work. Alice was like her dead mother, happy, full of life and jollity, and her brown eyes generally sparkled with laughter. She was a rather matter-of-fact nature, whereas Ruth was more romantic. Ruth was a deal like her father, inclined to look on the more serious side of life. But her blue eyes could be laughing and jolly, too, and between the two girls there was really not so much difference after all. Soon after getting into moving picture work they became aware of a bold attempt to get away from Russ Dalwood an invention he had made for a camera. How Ruth and Alice frustrated this, and how they "made good," as Mr. Pertell put it, in an important drama, is fully told in the first book. The second volume was entitled "The Moving Picture Girls at Oak Farm; Or, Queer Happenings While Taking Rural Plays." The manager had made the acquaintance of Sandy Apgar in New York. Sandy managed his father's farm, in New Jersey, and Mr. Pertell took his entire company there, to make a series of farm dramas. A curious mystery developed at once, and did not end until the discovery of a certain secret room, in which was concealed a treasure that was of the utmost benefit to the Apgar family. "The Moving Picture Girls Snowbound; Or, The Proof on the Film," was the third book. To get a series of dramas in which snow and ice effects would form the background, Mr. Pertell took his company of players to the backwoods of New England. There they had rather more snow than they expected, and were caught in a blizzard. Also Ruth and Alice made a curious discovery concerning a dishonest man, and not only frustrated his plans to swindle a certain company, but also were able to save their father from paying a debt the second time. In addition they took part in many important plays. From the cold bleakness of New England to the balmy air of Florida was a change that Ruth and Alice experienced later, for on their return to New York from the backwoods the members of the company were sent to the peninsular state. In "The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms; Or, Lost in the Wilds of Florida," is related what happened when the company went South. Exciting incidents occurred from the first, when the ship caught fire, and, even as it burned, Russ "filmed" it. But the company reached St. Augustine safely, and then came busy times, making various moving picture dramas. How the two sisters learned of the plight of the two girls whom they knew slightly, and how after getting lost themselves on one of the sluggish rivers of interior Florida, Ruth and Alice were able to render a great service to the Madison girls--this you may read in the fourth volume. The company had come back to New York in the spring, and now nearly all the members were assembled at the studio, when the incident narrated in the first chapter took place. "Here it is!" cried Mr. Pertell, as, slipping his hand into the pocket of the accused actor, he brought forth a crumpled paper. "And wasn't he making notes, just as I said, of our new big play?" demanded Walsh. "That's what he was!" exclaimed the manager as he quickly scanned the crumpled document. "He didn't have time to make many notes, though." "No, I was too quick for him!" declared the tester. Harry Wilson had no more to say. His bravado deserted him and he was now in abject fear. "What have you to say for yourself?" demanded Mr. Pertell, angrily. The other did not answer. "Now, you get out of here!" ordered the manager, "and never come back." "I'll not go until I get what is coming to me," was the sullen retort. "If you got what is coming to you it would be arrest!" declared Walsh. "I want my money!" mumbled Wilson. "Here is an order on the cashier for it," said Mr. Pertell. "Get it and--go!" Hastily writing on a slip of paper, he tendered it to the actor, who took it without a word, and slunk off. The others watched him curiously. It was something they had never before witnessed--an attempt to gain possession of the secrets of the company--for a moving picture concern guards its films jealously, until they are "released," or ready for reproduction. "Curious," remarked Mr. Pertell, "but I had a distrust of that chap from the first. Do any of you know him?" "I acted mit him vunce in der Universal company, but he dit not stay long," said Mr. Switzer. "Probably he was up to some underhand work," observed Walsh. "I wonder what his object was?" went on the manager. "He evidently wasn't doing this for himself." Idly he turned over the scrap of paper on which the other had been making notes in the testing room. Then the manager uttered a cry of surprise. "Ha! The International Picture Company! This is part of one of their letter heads. So Wilson was working for them! They very likely sent him here to get a position, and instructed him to steal some of our secrets and ideas, if he could. The scoundrel!" "He didn't see much!" chuckled Walsh. "The film broke after a few feet had been run off, and I switched on the lights. He didn't see a great deal." "No, his notes show that," said the manager. "But only for that accident he might have learned of our plans and given our rivals information sufficient to spoil our big play." "Have you new plans?" asked Mr. DeVere, who was on very friendly terms with the manager. "Yes, we are going to make a big three-reel play, called 'East and West,' and while some of the scenes will be laid in New York, the main ones will be filmed out beyond the Mississippi. One of the most important New York scenes has already been made. It was this one which was being tested when Wilson went in there. Had he seen it all he might have guessed at the rest of our plans and our rivals, the International people, would have been able to get ahead of us. They are always on the alert to take the ideas of other concerns. But I think I'll beat them this time." "So we are to go West; eh?" queried Mr. DeVere. "Yes, out on what prairies are left, in some rather wild sections, and I think we will make the best views we have yet had," responded Mr. Pertell. "Now, if you please, ladies and gentlemen, take your places, and go on with your acts. I am sorry this interruption distracted you." CHAPTER III A DARING FEAT "Oh, Ruth, did you hear? We are to go out West!" "Are you glad, Alice?" "Indeed I am. Why, we can see Indians and cowboys, and ride bucking broncos and all that. Oh, it's perfectly delightful!" and Alice, who had been taking down her jacket, held it in her arms, as one might clasp a dancing partner, and swept about the now almost deserted studio in a hesitation waltz. "Can't I come in on that?" cried Paul Ardite, as he began to whistle, keeping time with Alice's steps. "No, indeed, I'm too tired," she answered, with a laugh. "Oh, but to think of going West! I've always wanted to!" "Alice always says that, whenever a new location is decided on," observed Ruth, with a quiet smile. The work of the day was over, and most of the players had gone home. Ruth and Alice were waiting for their father, who was in Mr. Pertell's office. They had intended going shopping, thinking Mr. DeVere would be detained, but he had said he would be with them directly. And the two girls had brought up the subject of the new line of work, broached by Mr. Pertell in mentioning the matter of the spy. "I hope nothing comes of that incident," said Mr. DeVere, as he came from the manager's office, while Ruth and Alice finished their preparations for the street. "I hope not, either," returned the manager, slipping into his coat, for, like many busy men, he worked best in his shirt sleeves. "Yet I don't like it, and I am frank to confess that the International concern has more than once tried to get the best of me by underhand work. I don't like it. I must keep track of that Wilson. Good night, ladies. Good night, Mr. DeVere." The good nights were returned and then the two girls, with their father, Russ and Paul, went out. "That was an unfortunate occurrence," remarked Mr. DeVere. "Oh, Daddy! How hoarse you are!" exclaimed Ruth, laying a daintily-gloved hand on his shoulder. "You must use your throat spray as soon as you get home." "I will. My throat is a little raw. There was considerable dust in the studio to-day. I like work in the open air best." "So do I," confessed Alice. "Now, Daddy, you must stop talking," and she shook her finger at him. "You listen--we'll talk." "You mean _you_ will," laughed Ruth, for Alice generally did her own, and part of Ruth's share also. They walked on, talking at intervals of the incident of the spy and again of the prospective trip to the West. "Do you know just where we are going, Russ?" asked Ruth, as she kept pace with him. "Not exactly," he replied, stealing a glance at the girl beside him, for she was a picture fair to look upon with her almost golden hair blown about her face by the light breeze, while her blue eyes looked into the more sober gray ones of Russ. "I believe Mr. Pertell intends to go to several places, so as to get varied views. I know we are to go to a ranch, for one thing." "Fine!" exclaimed Alice, with almost boyish enthusiasm, as she walked at the side of Paul. "Daddy, do you want me to become a cowgirl?" she asked, turning to Mr. DeVere, who was in the rear. "I guess if you wanted to be one, you would whether I wanted you to or not," he replied, with an indulgent smile. "You have a way with you!" "Hasn't she, though!" agreed Paul. They reached the apartment house where the DeVeres and Russ lived. Paul came in for a little while, but declined an invitation to stay to tea. "I've got quite a piece of work on for to-morrow," he said, as he left. "What is it?" asked Alice. "There's to be a new play, 'An Inventor's Troubles,' and one of the inventions is a sort of rope fire escape. There's a rope, coiled in a metal case. You take it to your hotel room with you, and in case of fire you fasten the case to the window casing, grab one end of the rope, and jump. The rope is supposed to pay out slowly, by means of friction pulleys, and you come safely to the ground." "Did you invent that?" asked Ruth, who had not heard all that was said. "Oh, no, some fellow did, and the city authorities are going to give him a chance to demonstrate it before they will recommend it to hotel proprietors. And I'm to be the 'goat,' if you will allow me to say so." "How?" asked Alice. "I'm to come down on the rope from the tenth story of some building. This will serve as the city test, and at the same time Mr. Pertell has fixed up a story in which the fire escape scene figures. I've got to study up a little bit before to-morrow." "It--it isn't dangerous; is it?" asked Alice, and she rather faltered over the words. "Not if the thing works," replied Paul, with a shrug of his shoulders. "That is, if the rope doesn't break, or pay out so fast that I hit the pavement with a bump." "Oh, is it as dangerous as that?" exclaimed Alice, looking at Paul intently. "Don't worry," and he smiled. "I guess the apparatus has been tested before. I'm getting used to risks in this business." "What time to-morrow is it?" queried Ruth. "Right after lunch," Russ responded. "I've got to film him." "Then I'm coming to see you!" declared Alice. "I'm off directly after lunch. I haven't much on for to-morrow." "Oh, Alice! You wouldn't go!" cried her sister. "Of course I would, my dear!" "But suppose something--happened?" Ruth went on in a low voice, as Russ and Paul started out together. "All the more reason why I should be there!" declared Alice, promptly, and Ruth looked at her with a new light of understanding in her eyes. And then she looked at Paul, who waved his hand gaily at the younger girl. "Dear little sister," murmured Ruth. "I wonder----?" "I'll look for you there," called Paul, as he went on down the hall. "And I'll be there," promised Alice. "Do you feel better now, Daddy?" asked Ruth, in their rooms. "Much better--yes, my dear. That new spray the doctor gave me seems to work wonders. And my throat is really better since our trip South. I feel quite encouraged." It was after supper in the DeVere apartment. The two girls were seated at the sitting-room table with their father, who was looking over a new play in which he had a part. Alice was reading a newspaper and Ruth mending a pair of stockings. "Well, there's one good thing about going out West," finally remarked the younger girl, as she tossed aside the paper, and caught up a hairpin which her vigorous motion had caused to slip out of her brown tresses. "What's that--you won't have to fuss so about dress?" asked Ruth, for her sister did not share her ideas on this subject. "No, but if we do go there won't be any trouble about that International company trying to steal Mr. Pertell's secrets." "I don't know about that," observed Mr. DeVere, slowly. "If they are after his big drama they may even follow us out West." "Oh, I hope not!" exclaimed Ruth, pausing with extended needle. "I don't like trouble." "There may be no trouble," her father assured her, with a smile. "In fact, now that the spy is detected, the whole affair may be closed. I hope so, for Mr. Pertell works hard to get up new ideas, and to have some other concern step in, and rob him of the fruits of his labor, would be unjust indeed." Rehearsals and the filming of plays in the Comet studio were over the next morning about eleven o'clock. "Come on," said Paul to Ruth and Alice. "I'm to get a bonus on account of the fire escape stunt, and I'll take you girls out to lunch. Come along, Russ. It's extra money and we might as well enjoy it." "You are too extravagant!" chided Ruth. "Oh, I like to be--when I have the chance," Paul laughed. "It isn't often I do." "Well, then, we may as well help you out," agreed Russ. "Right after lunch we'll give you a chance to show us what you can do on that patent rope." The little meal was a merry one, in spite of the fact that the two girls were a little nervous about going to see Paul descend from the tenth story of a building on a slender rope. Ruth had finally consented to accompany her sister. Together they went to the place where the test was to take place. It was a tall office structure, and, as word of what was afoot had spread, quite a throng had gathered. Mr. Pertell had made arrangements with the authorities to have Paul work in a little theatrical business in connection with the test, and the inventor of the fire escape was also to be in the moving pictures. There was a little preliminary scene, as part of the projected play, and then Paul went into the building with the inventor to prepare for his thrilling descent. The apparatus seemed simple. It was a round, metallic case, inside of which was coiled a stout rope. At the end was a broad leather strap, intended to be fastened about the person who was to make the jump. The case, and the coil of rope, were to be fastened to a hook at the side of the window. Then Paul was to jump out, and trust to the slow uncoiling of the rope to lower him safely. "Are you all ready?" asked the inventor, after he had explained the apparatus. "As ready as I ever shall be," answered Paul a little nervously. He looked down to the ground. It seemed a long way off. CHAPTER IV A CLOUD OF SMOKE Below, in the crowd that had gathered to watch the test, were Ruth and Alice. Russ, of course, was there with his moving picture camera, and Paul saw the little lens-tube aimed in his direction, like the muzzle of some new weapon. "Now, don't get nervous," directed the inventor, after he had explained the mechanism to Paul, and also to the city officials who had gathered to pass upon its merits. "You can't make me nervous," declared the young actor. "I've gone through too much in this moving picture business, though I will admit I never jumped from such a height before." "Don't look down," the inventor warned him. "You won't get dizzy then. And don't think of the height. With this apparatus it is impossible to get hurt. You will go down like a feather." "That's comforting to know," laughed Paul. "Well, I may as well start, I guess." The belt was adjusted about him, and as it was done in the open window Russ was able to get views of it, and of all that went on. Then Paul got out on the sill. There he paused a moment. "I--I can't bear to look at him!" murmured Ruth. "Don't be silly," exclaimed Alice. "But suppose--suppose something happens?" "Don't be a Mr. Sneed!" retorted her sister, with a laugh. "I don't believe anything will happen, and if--if he should fall--see!" and she pointed to where a detachment of city firemen stood ready with their life net. "Oh, I didn't notice them before," confessed Ruth. "That makes it safer." "All ready down there, Russ?" shouted Paul, through a megaphone. "Shall I go?" "Jump! I'm all ready for you," was the answer. Paul paused but for a moment, and then he jumped from the sill, and out away from the building. The coil of rope in the metal case had been swung out from the side of the structure on an arm, so as to enable Paul to clear the lower window ledges. For the first few feet he went down like a shot, and for one horrible moment he felt that something had gone wrong. In fact the crowd did also, for there was a hoarse shout of alarm. "Oh!" gasped Ruth, faintly. "I--I----" began Alice, as she, too, turned aside her head. Then someone yelled: "It's all right!" Alice looked then. She saw Paul descending as the rope payed out. He was coming down gradually. "That will make a good film," commented Russ to Mr. Pertell, for the manager had come to witness the fire escape scene. "Indeed it will." Paul came down several stories, and the success of the apparatus seemed assured when, at about the fourth story from the ground, something suddenly went wrong. Once more the young actor shot downward and this time it seemed that he would be seriously injured. Russ felt that he must rush forward to save his friend, but he had an inborn instinct to stick to his camera--an instinct that probably every moving picture operator has, even though he does violence to his own feelings. "He'll be hurt!" several in the crowd cried. Ruth and Alice both turned aside their heads again, but there was no need for alarm. For the firemen, at the word of command from their captain, had rushed forward with the life net. They were standing only a few feet away from where Paul dangled in the air, but even at that they were only just in time. Paul fell into it heavily, for the mechanism depended on to check the speed at which the rope payed out, did not work. But the firemen knew just how to handle a situation of that sort, and they held firmly to the net. It sagged under the impact of Paul's body, but he bounded upward again in an instant, and then was helped out of the net and to his feet. "Mighty lucky you fellows were here," observed the young actor, as the cheers of the crowd died down. "I was afraid something like that might happen," spoke the fire captain. "I've seen too many accidents with these patent escapes to take any chances. Now there's another inventor who will have to make quite a few changes in his apparatus." The man who had patented the fire escape had been in a frenzy of fear when he saw Paul slipping, and, now that he knew the young actor was safe, he began to explain how something unforeseen had occurred, and that it would never happen again. "Did you get that, Russ?" the manager wanted to know, for he thought the operator, in his anxiety over Paul, might have forgotten to turn the handle of the machine. "Every move," was the reassuring answer. "It will make a dandy film. But I'm mighty glad it turned out as it did." "So am I," said the manager. "I guess that will be about all for Paul to-day. His nerves must be on edge." Paul declared that they were not, however, and wanted to go on with the rest of the film, which included the showing of other, but less dangerous, inventions. "No, you take the rest of the day off," directed the manager. "There is no great rush about this." The crowd pressed curiously about Paul and the others of the moving picture company, and, as Ruth and Alice were getting hemmed in, Mr. Pertell called a taxicab and sent them home in it. "Report at the studio to-morrow," he called. "Did you have any more trouble with that spy?" asked Alice, as the vehicle moved away. "No," he answered. "I guess they'll quit, now that they know I have found them out." The next day Paul finished with his invention-film, being required to do a number of "funny stunts," such as shaving with a new safety razor that did anything but what it was intended for; trying a new wardrobe trunk, that unexpectedly closed up with him inside of it, and such things as that. Some of the inventions were real, and others were "faked" for the occasion, to make a "comic" film. But nothing as risky as the rope escape was tried, though probably had Paul been required to go through an equally hazardous feat he would not have balked. Moving picture actors often take very big chances, and the public, looking at the finished film, little realize it. "I have something for you to-day I think you'll like," said Mr. Pertell to Ruth and Alice, as they reported at the studio. "I hope it is outdoor stuff," ventured Alice. "It is just glorious to-day!" Moving picture work is referred to as "stuff." Thus scenes at a river or lake are "water stuff," and if a play should take place in a desert the action would be termed "desert stuff," and so on. "Well, I'm sorry, but only part of it, and a very little at that, is outdoor stuff," replied Mr. Pertell. "The action of this play takes place in a shirt waist factory. And I've got the use of a real factory where you two girls will pose and go through the 'business.' You're to be shirt waist operators, and I'll explain the story to you later." "I can't sew very well," confessed Alice, "and I never made but one shirt waist in my life--I couldn't wear it after it was done," she added. "You don't really have to sew," explained Mr. Pertell. "It is all machine work, anyhow. You and Ruth will sit at the machines in the factory with the other girls. Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon are also to be operators, but you two are the main characters. The machines work by a small electric motor, and all you have to do is to push some cloth along under the needle. You can do that." "I guess so," agreed Alice. "The forewoman will rehearse you a bit," Mr. Pertell went on. "The scene at the machines only takes a few moments--just a little strip of film. Then the scene changes to another part of the factory. I think it will make a good film. The story is called 'The Eye of a Needle.' It's really quite clever and by a new writer. I think it will make a hit." Ruth and Alice, as well as the others, were told more in detail what action the play required, and the next day they were ready for their parts. They went to the factory accompanied by the two former vaudeville actresses, and by Russ and Paul. The latter was to take the part of one of the male employees of the concern. Ruth and Alice found themselves in a room filled with sewing machines, at which sat girls and women busily engaged in stitching on shirt waists. There was the hum of the small electric motors that operated the machines, and the click and hum of the machines themselves. A murmur ran around the room on the entrance of the players, but the operators had been told what to expect and what to do. They were to be in the pictures, too. Ruth and Alice, with Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, were given machines close to the camera, as they were the principal characters, and interest centered in them. "Just guide the cloth through under the needle," the forewoman explained, as she started the motors on the girls' machines. "Ready!" called Mr. Pertell to Russ, who stood beside the camera. The action of the play began, as Russ clicked away at the handle of his machine. Suddenly a girl screamed. "Oh, what is it?" demanded Miss Pennington, jumping up. "Sit down! You'll spoil the film!" cried Mr. Pertell. There was a little confusion for a moment. "It's only one of the girls who has run a needle into her finger," the forewoman explained. "It often happens. We take care of them right here." "All right--get that in, Russ," suggested Mr. Pertell. "It will make it seem much more natural." The girl's injury was a slight one, and Russ got on the film the action of her being attended in the room set aside for the treatment of injured employes. "I'll have something written in the script to fit to that," said Mr. Pertell, as the action of the play resumed. The plot of the little drama called upon Miss Pennington to write a note to Alice, pretending that it came from a young man, whose name the former vaudeville performer was supposed to forge. Alice was to "register" certain emotions, and to show the note to Ruth. Then Miss Dixon came into the scene, the sewing machines were deserted and, for a moment, there was an excited conference. Considerable dramatic action was called for, and this was well done by the girls, while the real operatives looked on in simulated surprise as they kept at their work. The play was almost over, when from a far corner of the room came a startled cry. "Someone else hurt with a needle, I wonder?" queried Paul, as he stood near Alice's machine. "I
{'title': 'The Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch by Laura Lee Hope', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}