The Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch

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By this time the street below was filled with fire apparatus, puffing,
clanging and whistling. And not until the girls were down and out of the
building did they realize what a big fire it was. For the entire
structure was now ablaze.

Fortunately the same efficient fire drill instituted by the forewoman on
the floor where Ruth and Alice had been prevailed in other parts of the
building, and not a life was lost, though there were many narrow
escapes.

And you may well believe that Russ did not miss this opportunity to get
moving pictures. Of course the plot of the play had been spoiled by the
fire, but a far better drama than the one originally planned was
afterward made of it.

As the building continued to burn Russ found that he was not going to
have film enough. He sent Paul for a new supply and also to telephone
for another operator from the Comet studio, so that pictures of the big
fire from various viewpoints might be secured.

And it was a big fire--one of the largest in New York in many years, but
aside from a few persons who received minor injuries there was none
seriously hurt. The Comet concern scored heavily in making films of the
blaze.

"Well, that was one exciting day, yesterday," remarked Russ the next
morning at the studio. "I never worked so hard, not even when we were
lost in Florida."

"I had a premonition something would happen," declared Mr. Sneed, as he
was making up for his part in a play. "When I got up yesterday morning I
stepped on my collar button, and that's always a sure sign something
will happen."

"It's sometimes a sign you'll be late for rehearsal if you don't find
the collar button," laughed Paul.

Orders for the day's work were issued, and Paul, Ruth, Alice and Mr.
Bunn found that they had to go to the Grand Central Terminal where, once
before, some film pictures had been made.

"There is quite a complicated plot to this play," explained Mr. Pertell,
in issuing his instructions. "Mr. Bunn has some valuable papers, and
Paul, as the villain, takes them from his pocket in the station. That
starts the action."

Fully instructed what to do, the moving picture girls, with Paul and
Russ, went up to Forty-second street.

As the use of the train platforms was not required in this act of the
play nothing was said to the station authorities, but Mr. Bunn, with
Alice and Ruth, mingled with the crowds, as though they were ordinary
travelers.

The operator began taking the necessary pictures, and then came Paul's
"cue" to abstract the papers.

He had done it successfully from Mr. Bunn's pocket, seemingly without
the knowledge of the actor, and Paul was going on with the rest of the
"business," when a policeman stepped up and clapping his hand on Paul's
shoulder exclaimed:

"I want you, young man! I saw you take those papers. You're under
arrest!"

"But--but it's for the movies!" cried Paul, not wishing the scene
spoiled.

"Tell that to the taxicab man! I've heard that yarn before! You come
with me. And you too," he added to Mr. Bunn. "I want you for a witness.
You've been robbed!"

CHAPTER VI

THE AUTO SMASH

"The scene will be spoiled!" exclaimed Alice, as she saw a crowd surge
up when the officer grasped Paul.

"Too bad!" declared Ruth.

"Keep away--get back, please!" cried Russ, as he saw his camera screened
by the throng.

"You come along with me!" the officer kept insisting to Paul, dragging
him along toward the doors of the station. "Hi, Jim!" he called to a man
in plain clothes, evidently a detective. "Grab the other fellow; will
you? I've got the pickpocket!" and he nodded to Mr. Bunn, who could not
seem to understand that from a simulated robbery it had turned out to be
a "real" one.

"I tell you we're moving picture actors!" Paul cried. "There has been no
theft!"

"And you expect me to believe that!" sneered the policeman. "You can't
get away with that story."

"Well, there's the man who is taking the pictures!" Paul went on,
pointing to Russ, who, with a look of chagrin on his face, stood idle
beside the camera. He did not want to take a film with this scene in it,
for the whole plot of the story would have to be changed to make the
policeman fit in.

"Yes, I see him," agreed the officer, nodding at Russ, "and I guess he's
in the game with you. I'll take him into custody, too."

"Yes, and you'll get yourself into a whole lot of trouble!" said Paul,
vigorously. "You're making a mistake!"

"I'll take that chance," observed the officer, with evident disbelief.

"What's it all about?" asked the detective, sauntering up, while Alice
and Ruth, rather alarmed at the turn of affairs, shrank back out of
sight behind the crowd, that was increasing every second.

"Pickpocket!" spoke the policeman, laconically. "I saw him rob that
elderly gentleman," and he pointed to Mr. Bunn. "And then this fellow
has the nerve to say he was only doing a moving picture stunt."

"That's right, and he could see for himself, if he'd take the trouble to
look," retorted the young actor. "There's our camera man over there,"
and he nodded toward Russ. The detective glanced in the same direction,
and then a smile came over his somewhat shrewd face, as Russ nodded to
him.

"Hello, Dalwood!" exclaimed the detective. Then to the officer--"I guess
he's right, Kelly, and you're wrong. I know that young fellow at the
camera. He's been at headquarters once or twice helping our rogues'
gallery men when their cameras needed fixing."

"Is--is that so?" faltered the officer, and his hold on Paul relaxed.

"That's right," the detective went on. "I guess you've sort of mixed
things up, Kelly."

"That's what he has," said Russ. "But if he'll let things go on, and
keep this crowd back, I think we can still make the film."

"Oh, I'll do that!" the policeman replied hastily, willing to make
amends for the trouble he had caused. "Then it wasn't a case of pocket
picking at all?"

"No, we're making a moving picture film," Paul explained. "I took these
papers--they're worthless, as you can see," and he showed that the
bundle he had extracted from Mr. Bunn's pocket consisted only of some
circulars, and blank pieces of paper with imposing looking seals on. But
on the film they would appear to be valuable documents.

"Huh! That's a new one on me!" the officer exclaimed. "Now, you people
move back!" he cried, "and give 'em a chance to take their pictures.
Move back there!"

Affairs had turned in the direction of our friends, and a little later
Russ was able to complete the film, from the point where the policeman
had stepped in and spoiled it. The small portion that was of no use,
however, could be cut out when the film was developed, and the audiences
would never be the wiser.

Again Paul went on with his acting from the point where he had been
interrupted, and Ruth, Alice and Mr. Bunn did their share. Eventually
the film was made.

"Something new every day!" laughed Paul, as they were coming away from
the terminal. "I wonder what will happen next?"

"As long as you don't have to go up in an airship you'll be all right,"
observed Alice, trying to keep a refractory wisp of hair from coming
down into her eyes.

"That's right," agreed Paul, "and yet I wouldn't be surprised to get
orders to go up to the clouds any day. In fact, I'm pretty sure we've
got to take a queer auto trip soon."

"Is that so? When? Where?" demanded Ruth, pausing a moment to look at a
shop window where some lingerie was temptingly displayed.

"I don't know the particulars. I happened to overhear Mr. Pertell
talking to Pop Snooks about it. I expect it will be given out in a few
days, before Russ has to film it."

The next few days were filled with work for the moving picture actors
and actresses. There was much to be done before the Western trip was
undertaken, and many of the films made had a bearing on the new play
"East and West."

"My idea," announced Mr. Pertell, in explaining some matters to his
company, "is to portray briefly the story of the East and West, and to
show how the civilization of the East made its way West. I want to show
the various sports and industries of both sections, as well as various
phases of life and science. Automobiling will be one and----"

"Don't say airships!" interrupted Mr. Sneed.

"That's just what I was going to say," finished Mr. Pertell, with a
smile. "I will want some of you to take a trip in an airship. But that
will come later."

"I'll never go up!" declared the "grouch."

"Well, we'll settle that later," the manager went on. "Just at present I
am going to have some automobile pictures made, and in one of them an
auto containing you young ladies," he looked at Ruth and Alice, "goes to
smash down a steep hill and over a cliff."

"Oh!" cried Ruth, clutching at her heart.

"How exciting!" exclaimed Alice, apparently not in the least disturbed.

"Yes," said Mr. Pertell, with a smile. "But don't worry. This will be a
'substitute' film. That is, you'll be in the auto up to a certain point.
The chauffeur loses control of it, and it starts to run away down hill.
Then it is stopped, the camera is closed for a moment until we
substitute an old auto for the real one in which you are. There are
dummy figures in the old auto, and they are the ones that go to smash
over the cliff. Think you can work that, Russ?"

"Oh, yes, I've done those trick pictures before. Where are you going to
plant the smash?"

"Oh, over in Jersey. There are several places in the Orange Mountains
that will answer. Near Eagle Rock is a good place."

"All right," agreed the young operator. "I'll be ready whenever you are.
But where are you going to get the auto that goes to smash, Mr.
Pertell?"

"Oh, I bought a second-hand one cheap. It's now being painted and fixed
up to look as much like the good one as possible."

A few days later all was in readiness for taking the auto smash film.
The story to be depicted was part of the big "East and West" drama.
Ruth and Alice were supposed to be pursued by persons in another auto,
and in the smash both girls were to be "injured."

The two automobiles were on hand at the appointed time on a steep slope
of the Orange Mountains, where the road turned suddenly near a steep
cliff. It was over this cliff that the "smash" would occur.

The auto that would really come to grief was an old rattletrap of a
machine, but it would serve the purpose well enough for the film, since
only a momentary glimpse of it, and that showing it going at full speed,
would be given. The dummy figures, made up to look like Ruth and Alice,
were in readiness.

"Now, girls, take your places, if you please," said Mr. Pertell, waving
Ruth and Alice toward their car.

"Oh, I'm so nervous!" exclaimed Ruth.

"What about?" asked her sister, as she buttoned her jacket, for the wind
was sharp on the hillside.

"Oh, suppose our car doesn't stop in time? Suppose we go over the cliff,
instead of the stuffed figures?"

"Don't suppose anything of the kind!" cried Alice, gaily. "Come
on--they're waiting for us."

CHAPTER VII

OFF FOR THE WEST

Ruth and Alice, taking their places in what might be termed the
"regular" auto, were told just what to do. They were supposed to be
escaping from their pursuers, who were in another auto that was to come
up from the rear.

Then their chauffeur, in an endeavor to make speed, would go too fast,
would not be able to make the turn in the road, and would go over the
cliff. But, at the proper time, the dummies and the old auto would be
substituted.

"All ready now?" asked Mr. Pertell, when he had carefully repeated his
instructions to the girls.

"All ready," answered Alice, and Ruth nodded, though a bit doubtfully.
She was really nervous, although she tried not to show it too plainly.

"All ready here," answered Russ, who was beside the camera.

"Then go!" cried the manager, and the auto started.

In order to give the idea of a long chase Russ had to set up his camera
in several different places. He changed from one stretch of road to
another, the auto being brought to a stop, to wait until he was ready,
and then started up again.

But the public saw none of this when the film was exhibited, for only
motion was shown, the various sections of the celluloid being joined
together in such a way as to preserve the continuity.

"Now ready for the big scene," called Mr. Pertell, after one of these
stops. "It's going very well."

Ruth and Alice who, with Paul, were in the regular auto, had shown or
"registered" all sorts of emotions during the chase. Sometimes the
pursuing auto would be almost up to the one in front, and again it would
lag far behind, in order to conform to the requirements of the script,
or the story of the film play.

"You will run your car up to here," said Mr. Pertell to the chauffeur of
the machine containing Ruth, Alice and Paul. "Then you will stop, and
the substitution will be made. Come on with as much speed as is safe,
right to this mark," and he indicated a stone in the highway.

"And be sure you _do_ stop!" exclaimed Paul, with a short laugh. "That's
rather too near the edge of the cliff to suit me."

"I know it is," agreed Mr. Pertell, "It has to be. I only want a few
feet of the film showing the actual smash. If it runs too long the
public may see the dummies too plainly. I want this as real an accident
as it's possible to have it."

"It seems like tempting Providence," murmured Ruth.

"Don't get 'Sneedified'," was the retort of Alice.

Russ had set up his camera to get views of the auto coming down the
steep slope, and now, at his signal that all was in readiness, the
chauffeur of the car started it again.

"Business! Business!" called Mr. Pertell to the moving picture girls and
Paul, meaning that they were to use the proper gestures, and register
the desired emotions to coincide with the play.

On rushed the auto, straight toward the dangerous turn in the road.
Paul, who had risen to his feet, was talking vigorously to Ruth and
Alice, as called for in the scenario. Now and then he would look back,
as though to see if the other car was coming.

Suddenly, as the auto was dashing down hill, there came a snap as if
some metal part had broken, and the car's speed was quickly increased.

"What is it? Oh, what has happened?" cried Ruth, springing to her feet.
But she was at once tossed back on the seat, owing to the swaying of the
car, which was going very fast.

"Something's broken!" cried Paul.

"Yes, the foot brake. But I have the emergency one still!" the chauffeur
yelled.

"Is there any danger? Shall we jump?" demanded Alice.

"No! Sit still!" the chauffeur cried. "I'll stop her in time, I think."

It was evident the car was beyond control. There was no need of
pretending this.

"Look out!" warned Russ, who in his excitement did not forget to work
the camera.

"Stop! Stop!" yelled Mr. Pertell. "You're going too far--you'll go over
the cliff!"

The chauffeur realized this as well as any one, and he was pulling with
all his strength on the emergency brake lever.

"I've got to stop her!" he panted through his clenched teeth. "I've got
to stop her!"

Ruth and Alice were in a frenzy of fear now, and Paul, standing up in
the swaying auto, and holding to the back of the front seat, was trying
desperately to think of some plan whereby he could save the girls.

The car was now at the turn. Now it was beyond the marking stone
specified by Mr. Pertell.

"They'll go over the cliff!" shouted Mr. Sneed, who was to take part in
the play later.

Mr. Pertell rushed forward as though he would halt the auto by getting
in front and pushing it back, and for one wild moment it looked as
though there would be a veritable tragedy. But with a last desperate
pull on the brake lever, while the metal bands shrilly protested against
such strenuous work, the car came to a slow stop.

And so near was it to the fence railing off the descent over the
cliff--which fence was, later, to be crashed into by the make-believe
auto--so near was the girls' car to this fence that the front wheels
bent one of the rails.

"A close call!" said Russ, and his voice was unsteady as he stepped away
from the camera.

Ruth and Alice were pale, and Paul, too, had lost some of his color. But
it was Alice who first relieved the strain of the situation.

"A miss is as good as a mile," she said, and tried to laugh, but it was
not easy.

"There must be some defect in that brake connection," the chauffeur
said, as he got out to look at it.

"Well, as long as we're all right, the film will be so much the better,"
observed Paul, as he alighted from the car. "It will look realistic
enough; won't it, Russ?"

"Indeed it will. I thought sure you were goners; but I kept on grinding
away. It will be realistic enough for even Mr. Pertell, I think," and he
glanced at the manager.

"I'm awfully sorry this occurred," declared the latter. "I assure you
ladies that I never would willingly have let you run such a risk."

"Oh, we know that," responded Ruth, quickly. "It was no one's fault.
Only I'm glad daddy wasn't here to see us," she added in a low voice to
her sister.

"So am I!" was the reply.

"Now then, you had better get back to New York," went on Mr. Pertell.
"This ends the scenes in Jersey, and your nerves must be pretty well
shattered," he said, looking at the two girls.

"Oh, I want to stay and watch the other auto go to smash," Alice cried.
"That will be something worth seeing, especially as no one will be hurt,
except the dummies."

"I'll stay, too," said Ruth. "It will be novel to see ourselves as
stuffed figures."

Preparations were now made for having the second auto plunge over the
cliff. This car was set in the exact position the other had occupied
when brought to a stop. The dummy figures were put in, veils effectually
concealing the faces. Then the motor was started.

Meanwhile Russ had taken his camera to the foot of the cliff where he
could get a view of the car plunging over, and smashing.

"All ready!" came the signal. By means of long wires, which would not
show in the finished picture, the gears were thrown in, and the brakes
released.

"There she goes!" cried Russ.

The car containing the dummies started off at a fast rate. It crashed
through the fence, just as the other car might have done, and the next
instant was hurtling through the air.

It turned partly over, one of the dummy figures--that of Ruth--toppled
out--and a moment later, with a crash that could be heard a long
distance, the auto was crumpled into a shapeless mass at the foot of the
cliff.

Russ got every detail of this, and when the wrecked auto caught fire
from the burst gasoline tank it added to the effectiveness of the scene,
though that feature had not been counted on.

Then several men came rushing up. They had been stationed in readiness
for just that purpose, and they picked up the figures of the dummies.

That ended the scene, for the next act took place in a hospital, whither
Ruth, Alice and Paul were supposed to be carried. That would be a studio
scene, and filmed later.

"Well, that's over," said Mr. Pertell, with a sigh of relief, as he and
his company of players prepared to return to New York. A throng of
curious bystanders, attracted by the actors and actresses, gathered
about the burning auto at the foot of the cliff. As it was of no further
service it was left there.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen," announced Mr. Pertell to his assembled
company a few days after the auto film had been made, "I am ready now to
tell you something of my plans for the Western trip. Arrangements have
been about completed, and we leave in a few days."

"Where are we going?" asked Mr. DeVere.

"Our first destination will be a place called Rocky Ranch," the manager
went on. "It is a typical Western place, with some broad prairie
stretches, and yet near enough to the mountains for diversified scenes.
There will be cowboy and Indian pictures to be made, and----"

"_Wild_ Indians?" Mr. Sneed wanted to know.

"Not wild enough to scalp you," returned the manager.

"And can I have a gun?" little Tommy cried.

"Indeed and you won't!" said his grandmother, quickly.

"Well, you can be cowboy and have a lasso," promised the manager.

"Oh, goodie!" Tommy exclaimed, dancing about in delight.

"In this play," went on Mr. Pertell, "I want to get scenes showing our
progress West, so we will be rather longer on the trip than otherwise.
We will wait over on some trains, to make views in particularly good
spots. So you may get ready for the journey. Our Eastern scenes are all
made, and I want to thank and congratulate you all on their success. It
was the good acting of all of you that made the films what they are."

Preparations for the big trip went on apace. Properties and baggage were
gotten in readiness, and Ruth and Alice spent days going over their
clothes, to decide what to take and what to leave behind.

"Though if I'm to be a cowgirl, and ride ponies, I don't suppose I'll
want this," said Alice, holding up a filmy white dress.

"Better take it," advised Ruth, who was seated tailor-fashion before a
trunk, which she was packing.

"It crushes too easily," objected the other.

"Fold it around some heavier things," suggested Ruth, "and don't put it
in the trunk until the last thing. Oh, I believe I've put my suede
slippers in the bottom, and I'll want them to-night. Well, I'll have to
dig 'em out, I guess," she sighed.

"No, there they are!" cried Alice, fishing them out from under a pile of
stockings. "What have you in them?" she asked her sister, as she saw the
slippers were filled with something.

"I always stuff the toes with old stockings," said Ruth. "It keeps them
out almost as well as if I used shoe-trees."

"Good idea," laughed her sister.

The packing was over, the trunks were at the station and also was
gathered there the moving picture company.

"Ho, for the West!" cried Russ, who was standing with Paul, Ruth and
Alice.

"All aboard!" called Mr. Pertell. And, as they moved off toward the
train Russ, turning, saw a man staring after the players.

"Look!" said the young operator, in a low voice to Mr. Pertell, "that
International Film Company spy--Wilson--is keeping tabs on us!"

CHAPTER VIII

THE OIL WELL

Mr. Pertell paused and looked back. There on the depot platform stood
the man he had caught in his testing room taking notes of the films of
the big drama.

"Those fellows mean business!" the manager commented. "They are trying
to get my best ideas, I think. It's a wonder they wouldn't originate
something themselves!"

"I'd like to have it out with him," declared Russ.

"It would only make trouble," responded the manager. "I think I can stop
them in another way. I'll try legal means first, and if they don't
work--well, perhaps we can put up some kind of a game on them."

"Let me have a hand in it," begged the young operator. "I want to pay my
respects to that fellow."

Wilson, for so it was, had by this time seen that he was observed, and
he slunk out of sight behind a pillar. Then, as Mr. Pertell and Russ
went to take their places in the coach with the others, a truck, piled
with the baggage of the company, came along.

The spy darted out from behind the pillar and with a quick glance noted
the destination as shown on the checks.

"So that was his game!" cried Russ. "I'll put a stop to that, all
right!"

"It's too late. He's seen, and, anyhow, he could have found out," called
Mr. Pertell. But Russ did not stay to hear, for he had made a rush
toward the fellow.

He was too late, however, and perhaps it was just as well, as Russ was a
bit hot-headed, and there might have been a scene. Wilson, seeing Russ
coming, hastily thrust into his pocket a card on which he had evidently
been copying the name of the place to which the trunks had been checked,
and ran away.

"Come back, Russ," called Mr. Pertell. "You'll miss the train!" for the
warning whistle had sounded.

"I wish I had caught him," panted the young operator as he returned. "I
never saw a fellow with such nerve."

"His company is in bad shape," said Mr. Pertell. "They have been losing
money, and their films are not taking well. They have not much of a
company of players, and I suppose they think they can use some of our
ideas, and maybe some of our actors and actresses."

"How do you mean--by hiring them away from you?" asked Russ.

"Well, they might do that, though I don't believe the International
people will pay the salaries my people are getting. So I think none of
them would leave. Even if more money were offered I think my friends
would stand by me. But what I meant was that we'll have to be on the
watch to see that they don't actually take some of our films."

"You mean after I have made the reels?"

"No, they might even try, on the sly, to film the action of our players
when we're going through some scene."

"Whew!" whistled Russ. "If they do that you could have them arrested."

"Well, be on the watch--that's all."

None of the other members of the company had seen the spy, and Russ and
the manager said nothing about him. The train pulled out of the station,
and thus the Western trip was begun.

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