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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Moving Picture Girls at Oak Farm, by
+Laura Lee Hope
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Moving Picture Girls at Oak Farm
+       or, Queer Happenings While Taking Rural Plays
+
+
+Author: Laura Lee Hope
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 29, 2006  [eBook #19969]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK
+FARM***
+
+
+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 19969-h.htm or 19969-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/9/6/19969/19969-h/19969-h.htm)
+      or
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+
+
+
+
+
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM
+
+Or
+
+Queer Happenings While Taking Rural Plays
+
+by
+
+LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+Author Of "The Moving Picture Girls,"
+"The Moving Picture Girls Snowbound,"
+"The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale,"
+"The Bobbsey Twins," Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A BULL CAME RUSHING THROUGH THE CORN.
+_Moving Picture Girls at Oak Farm_.--_Page_ 54.]
+
+
+
+
+The World Syndicate Publishing Co.
+Cleveland New York
+Made in U. S. A.
+Copyright, 1914, by
+Grosset & Dunlap
+
+Press of
+The Commercial Bookbinding Co.
+Cleveland
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                             PAGE
+
+      I FILMING A SMASH                  1
+
+     II A MISSING DOG                   11
+
+    III ON TO THE FARM                  20
+
+     IV A QUEER PROPOSAL                29
+
+      V SANDY'S STORY                   36
+
+     VI THE BUTTING BULL                45
+
+    VII THE PLAY OF THE HOSE            55
+
+   VIII IN THE OLD BARN                 64
+
+     IX THE RESCUE                      70
+
+      X THE BARN DANCE                  79
+
+     XI THE RUNAWAY MOWING MACHINE      89
+
+    XII THE MAN WITH THE LIMP           97
+
+   XIII ON GUARD                       107
+
+    XIV AN UPSET                       114
+
+     XV THE LONELY CABIN               124
+
+    XVI THE MAN AND THE UMBRELLA       132
+
+   XVII IN THE WOODS                   141
+
+  XVIII GOING TO SCHOOL                151
+
+    XIX FILMING THE BEES               158
+
+     XX THAT MAN                       166
+
+    XXI A CHASE                        174
+
+   XXII CAUGHT                         181
+
+  XXIII THE MONEY BOX                  193
+
+   XXIV EXPLANATIONS                   203
+
+    XXV THE FIRE FILM                  208
+
+
+
+
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+FILMING A SMASH
+
+
+"All aboard for Oak Farm!"
+
+"Are we all here; nobody missing?"
+
+"What a relief to get out of the hot city, with summer coming on!"
+
+"Yes, I'm so glad we can go!"
+
+These were only a few of the expressions that came from a motley
+assemblage of persons as they stood in a train shed in Hoboken, one
+June morning. Motley indeed was the gathering, and more than one
+traveler paused to give a second look at the little group. Perhaps a
+brief list of them may not be out of place.
+
+There were four pretty girls, two of the innocent type that can so
+easily forget their own good looks; two not so ingenuous, fully aware
+that they had certain charms, and anxious that they be given full
+credit for them.
+
+Then there was a man, with rather long black hair, upon which
+perched, rather than fitted, a tall silk hat that had lost its first
+sheen. If ever "actor" was written in a man's make-up it was in the
+case of this personage. Beside him stood, attired much the same, but
+in garments that fitted him better, another who was obviously of the
+theater, as were the two girls who were so aware of their own good
+looks.
+
+Add to this two or three young men, at least two of whom seemed to
+hover near the two girls who were innocently unaware of their beauty;
+a bustling gentleman who seemed nervous lest some of the party get
+lost, a motherly-looking woman, with two children who were here,
+there and everywhere; another man who looked as though all the milk
+and cream in the world had turned sour, and finally one on whose
+round German face there was a gladsome smile, which seemed
+perpetual--and you have the main characters.
+
+No, there was one other--a genial man who seemed to be constantly
+trying to solve some puzzle, and taking pleasure in it.
+
+And these personages were waiting for a train. That was evident. You
+might have puzzled over their occupation and destination, as many
+other travelers did, and the problem would not have been solved,
+perhaps, until you had a glimpse of the markings on their trunks. But
+when you noted the words: "Comet Film Company," you understood.
+
+"Oh, won't it be just delightful, Ruth!" exclaimed one of the younger
+girls.
+
+"It certainly will, Alice. I'm just crazy to get out where I can
+gather new-laid eggs and know they are fresh!"
+
+"Little housekeeper!" exclaimed the man standing beside the one who
+looked as though he dreamed of nothing else but "Hamlet."
+
+"Well, Daddy dear, won't it be just fine to have fresh eggs?"
+demanded the one addressed as Ruth. "If Alice thinks it's easy to get
+them in the city----"
+
+"Now Ruth DeVere, you know I was only chaffing!" exclaimed Alice.
+"But I don't believe you'll get much chance to gather eggs, Ruth."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Those two youngsters will claim that as one of their
+daily--chores--I believe they're called on a farm," and with laughing
+brown eyes she motioned to the boy and girl who, at that moment, were
+playing tag around the motherly-looking woman.
+
+"Oh, yes, I suppose Tommy and Nellie will be after them," agreed
+Ruth. "But I can go with them."
+
+"And jump off the beam in the barn down into the hay! Won't that be
+fun!" cried Alice. "I haven't done that--not in years, when we went
+once to grandfather's farm. Oh, for a good jump into the fragrant
+hay!"
+
+"Why, Alice, you wouldn't do that; would you?" asked Ruth, as she
+straightened her sailor.
+
+"She may--and you may all have to!" spoke the man who seemed in
+charge of this odd theatrical company.
+
+"How is that, Mr. Pertell?" asked Ruth.
+
+"Well, you know we're going to make moving pictures of all sorts of
+rural scenes that will fit in the plays, and jumping into a haymow
+may be one of them," he laughed.
+
+"I refuse to do any such foolishness as that!" broke in the tragic
+actor. "I have demeaned myself enough already in this farce and
+travesty of acting, and to jump into a haymow--ye gods! Never!" and
+he seemed to shudder.
+
+"Oh, I guess you'll do it, Mr. Bunn, or give up your place to someone
+who will," said Mr. Frank Pertell, the manager, calmly.
+
+The tragic actor sighed, and said nothing.
+
+"Huh! Yes! Jumping around in barns! Some of us will break our arms or
+legs, that's certain!" exclaimed the man who looked as though all the
+world were sad. "I know some accident will happen to us yet."
+
+"Oh, cheer up, Mr. Sneed. The worst is yet to come, Sir Knight of the
+Doleful Countenance!" exclaimed a fresh-faced young man who carried
+under his arm a small box, from which projected a handle and a small
+tube. The initiated would have known it at once as a camera for
+taking moving pictures. "It will be jolly out there at Oak Farm, I'm
+sure."
+
+"That's right, Russ! Don't let Mr. Sneed get gloomy on such a fine
+day!" whispered Alice DeVere. "But when is our train coming?"
+
+"It will be made up soon," Russ Dalwood answered. "Perhaps it is
+ready now. I'll go and inquire."
+
+The two girls, before spoken of as being too well aware of their own
+good looks, were talking together at one side of the big concrete
+platform beneath the train shed. As they strolled about and talked,
+one of them, from time to time, applied a chamois to her already
+well-powdered nose, and took occasional glimpses of herself in the
+tiny mirror imbedded in the top of the box that contained her
+"beautifier." Occasionally the two would glance at Alice and Ruth,
+and make remarks.
+
+"Train will soon be ready for us," announced Russ Dalwood, coming
+back to join the rest of the theatrical troupe which, instead of
+presenting plays in a theater, posed for them before the clicking
+eye of the camera, the films later to be shown to thousands in the
+chain of moving picture playhouses which took the Comet Company's
+service. "We can go aboard in five minutes!" Russ added.
+
+"That's good," sighed Ruth. "There's is nothing so tiresome as
+waiting. Which track will it be on, Russ?"
+
+"Number thirteen!"
+
+"What! Great Scott! Track thirteen! I'm not going!" cried Pepper
+Sneed, who had come to be known as the "grouch" of the company.
+
+"Not going! Why not, I'd like to know?" demanded Mr. Pertell.
+
+"Why--track thirteen--that's unlucky, you know. Something is sure to
+happen!"
+
+"Well, as we have to get to Beatonville, where Oak Farm is located,
+and as this is the only road that goes there, I'm afraid we'll have
+to take that train, whether it's on track thirteen or not," declared
+Mr. Pertell. "Unless," he added with gentle sarcasm, "you can get the
+company to switch it to another track."
+
+Mr. Sneed did not answer, but later Paul Ardite, who was one of the
+younger members of the company, saw the actor tieing a knot in his
+watch chain, and tossing a penny into a rubbish heap.
+
+"What in the world are you doing that for?" demanded Paul.
+
+"Trying to break the hoodoo!" exclaimed Mr. Sneed. "To start out to
+do new film work on track thirteen! Whew! That's terrible!"
+
+But Paul only laughed.
+
+"Now, is everyone here?" asked Mr. Pertell a little later, when a
+railroad man, through a megaphone, announced the make-up of the
+train.
+
+"It seems so," remarked Mr. DeVere, who spoke in a hoarse and husky
+whisper, difficult to understand. In fact, as you will learn later,
+it was this affliction that had caused him to be acting for moving
+pictures instead of in the legitimate drama.
+
+Mr. Pertell took a rapid survey of his little company, and then went
+off to make sure that the trunks containing the various costumes had
+been properly checked.
+
+"Funny thing about Beatonville," remarked Russ to Ruth.
+
+"Why so?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, every time I inquired of the brakeman, or starter, where the
+train for that place left from, they'd laugh. I thought there must be
+some joke, and I asked about it."
+
+"Was there?"
+
+"Well, not much of one. It seems that Beatonville is about the last
+place in Jersey that anyone ever heads for. I guess it must consist
+of the depot and one house--the one where the agent lives. There is
+only one train a day and the place is so lonesome, the starter said,
+that the engineer hates to stop there."
+
+"Oh, well, we aren't going there for pleasure--we're going to work,"
+put in Ruth. "Besides, Oak Farm isn't exactly in Beatonville; is it,
+Russ?"
+
+"No, a few miles out, I believe. Well, it will be a rest for us after
+the rush of the city, anyhow."
+
+"All aboard!" called a brakeman, and the Comet Film Company, bag and
+baggage, started for the train that was to take them to new scenes of
+activity.
+
+"Why do you carry your camera, Russ?" asked Ruth, when she and her
+sister were seated near the young man, on whom devolved the duty of
+"filming," or taking, the various scenes of the plays it was planned
+to produce.
+
+"Oh, I didn't know but what I might see something to 'shoot' it at,"
+he answered, with a laugh. "You know Mr. Pertell sometimes sends
+films to the Moving Picture Weekly Newspaper--scenes of current
+events. I might catch one for him on the way."
+
+"I see. Have you ever been to Oak Farm, Russ?"
+
+"Yes, I went up there when Mr. Pertell looked it over to see if it
+would do for our new rural dramas."
+
+"What sort of a place is it?" asked Alice.
+
+"Very nice--for a farm."
+
+"Isn't there something queer about it?" asked Ruth. "I mean wasn't
+there some sort of a mystery connected with Sandy Apgar, the young
+farmer who works it? You know we met him in New York," she added to
+Alice.
+
+"Yes, I remember."
+
+"Mystery?" spoke Russ, musingly. "Well, I believe there is something
+wrong about the place--not exactly a mystery, though. Maybe it's some
+sort of trouble. Well, here we go!"
+
+The train had started out into the "wilds of Jersey," as Wellington
+Bunn, the tragic actor, put it. It was about forty miles to
+Beatonville, the trip occupying nearly two hours, for the train was
+not a fast one. The members of the company conversed on various
+topics in regard to some of the projected plays.
+
+The train had stopped at a small station, and was gathering speed
+when there suddenly came such an application of the air brakes as to
+cause several persons in the aisle to fall. Others slid from their
+seats, or were thrown against the backs of the seats in front of
+them.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"An accident--let's get out!"
+
+Before anyone could do anything, though, there was a terrific smash,
+and amid the wild tooting of a whistle could be heard the crashing
+and splintering of wood. Then the train came to a stop with a jerk
+that further scattered the frightened passengers.
+
+"A smash-up!"
+
+"A collision!"
+
+"Oh, let's get out of here!"
+
+No one could tell who was saying these things. They were shouted over
+and over again.
+
+Russ Dalwood picked himself up from the floor of the car. A glance
+told him that no member of the company had been more than jarred or
+shaken, for their car was intact, and no windows were broken.
+
+He helped Alice back to her seat, from which she had slid. Ruth had
+risen to her feet. Russ caught up his camera and made for the door.
+
+"Oh, where are you going?" cried Alice, nervously clutching her
+leather purse. "Is any one hurt?"
+
+"I don't know--I'm going to see," answered Russ. "And I'm going to
+film this smash. I may be able to get some good pictures for our
+newspaper service, Mr. Pertell," he added, as he hurried out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A MISSING DOG
+
+
+After the first crash, the sudden stop, and the terrified cries, a
+silence followed that was almost as startling and nerve-racking as
+the accident had been.
+
+Then benumbed senses gradually came back to their owners, and the
+passengers began to take stock of themselves and their surroundings.
+
+"Is anybody hurt?" demanded Mr. Pertell, as he surveyed the interior
+of the car.
+
+"We seem to be all right," replied Mr. DeVere, hoarsely, as he noted
+where his two daughters were standing together, their arms about each
+other.
+
+"Py gracious, dot vos a smash, all right!" exclaimed Carl Switzer,
+the comedian of the company. "I pelief me dot I haf busted----"
+
+"Not your leg--don't say you have broken your leg!" cried Mrs.
+Maguire, as she clasped her two grandchildren in her arms. Nellie,
+the little girl, was crying, from having bumped her nose against the
+back of a seat.
+
+"No, t'ank my lucky stars I haf not broken my leg. It iss only my
+shoe-lace!" exclaimed Mr. Switzer, triumphantly, as he held it up,
+dangling.
+
+"Luck!" grunted Mr. Sneed in gloomy tones. "Is there any such thing
+as good luck? I knew something would happen when we started out on
+track thirteen. This company is doomed--I can see that."
+
+"Well, then, please keep it to yourself," requested Mr. Pertell,
+sharply. "You are getting on the nerves of the ladies, Sneed!"
+
+For Miss Pearl Pennington, and her friend Miss Laura Dixon--the two
+rather flashily-pretty girls mentioned before--were crying
+hysterically.
+
+"It doesn't seem to be a very bad smash," went on Mr. Pertell.
+"Suppose we go out and see what caused it? I hope none of our baggage
+has been damaged."
+
+"Oh, let's go out and see Russ taking moving pictures of the wreck!"
+proposed Alice, as she brushed off her blue suit.
+
+"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Ruth, anxiously.
+
+"Oh, certainly! Not hurt at all. Just jolted up a bit. Come on. You
+too, Daddy!"
+
+Indeed the whole theatrical company, as well as the other passengers,
+made for the doors of the car. And while they are going out to see
+the extent of the damage I will take just a moment to make my new
+readers somewhat better acquainted with the characters of this story.
+
+To begin with the moving picture girls themselves, they were Ruth and
+Alice DeVere, aged seventeen and fifteen respectively, the daughters
+of Hosmer DeVere, formerly a well known actor. As told in the first
+volume, "The Moving Picture Girls; Or, First Appearances in Photo
+Dramas," Mr. DeVere's voice had suddenly given out, when he was
+rehearsing for a part in a new play.
+
+This came particularly hard, as he had been without an engagement for
+some time, and finances were low. The DeVere family lived in the
+Fenmore Apartment on one of the West Sixtieth streets of New York
+City. They were, in fact, about to be dispossessed for non-payment of
+rent when Mr. DeVere experienced a return of an old throat affection,
+making it impossible for him to speak his lines.
+
+He was replaced in the character, and matters looked black indeed.
+Across the hall from the DeVere family lived Russ Dalwood, a moving
+picture operator, with his widowed mother and brother, Billy. Russ
+learned of the distress of his neighbors, and suggested that as Mr.
+DeVere could act he might get a place with a moving picture company
+that produced picture dramas. In this work he would not need to speak
+very much.
+
+At first Mr. DeVere would not hear of it, as he was an actor of some
+reputation in the "legitimate." But finally he yielded and became a
+member of the Comet Film Company. How his two daughters joined the
+company, through a mere accident, and how they made fame for
+themselves, you will find set down in the book; also how they aided
+Russ greatly when it seemed as if a valuable patent he had perfected,
+for an attachment to a moving picture camera, was in danger of being
+stolen.
+
+Toward the close of that story you may learn how Mr. Pertell became
+acquainted with a young farmer named Sandy Apgar, who was working a
+large farm for his aged father, near Beatonville, in New Jersey. It
+happened that Mr. Pertell was contemplating the filming of a number
+of rural plays, and he made arrangements with Mr. Apgar to use the
+farm as a background for the scenes. The company would also live and
+board at the farmhouse, which was a large, old-fashioned home.
+
+The players were on their way there when the accident occurred.
+
+To go a little more into detail about the two girls, and the others,
+I might say that Ruth was tall, with deep blue eyes and light hair.
+She was rather inclined to be romantic, too, as might be suspected.
+
+Alice was just the opposite--plump, jolly, always laughing or joking,
+and with a wealth of brown hair, and eyes like hazel nuts. She was
+very like her dead mother, while Ruth was more like her father in
+character.
+
+Mr. Pertell was the manager and owner of the Comet Film Company, and
+I have already mentioned the principal players. Ruth and Alice were
+the newest members. Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon were from the
+vaudeville stage, and you could see this without being told. They
+were a bit jealous of the DeVere girls.
+
+Mrs. Maguire, who was billed as "Cora Ashleigh," was generally played
+in "old woman parts." And she played them well. Her two
+grandchildren, Tommy and Nellie, occasionally had small parts in the
+plays. Mr. Switzer was the comedian, and, opposite to him, was Pepper
+Sneed, the "grouch." Wellington Bunn seemed always to have a
+grievance because he had not made a success in Shakespeare.
+
+Pop Snooks was the "Old Reliable" property man of the company, and
+what he could not manufacture in the way of "props" at short notice
+was hardly worth mentioning.
+
+The company of moving picture players and the other train passengers
+found a scene of desolation awaiting them as they alighted. But it
+was not as bad as might have been expected, and no one had been
+killed. In fact, no one was hurt, save the fireman and engineer of
+the passenger train, and they only slightly.
+
+What had happened was this: A freight train, on a siding, had overrun
+a switch, and one of the cars encroached on the main line tracks. The
+passenger engine had "side-swiped" it, as the railroad term has it.
+That is, the engine had struck a glancing blow, and had been
+derailed. The baggage car, directly behind the engine, had been
+smashed, but a quick survey on the part of Mr. Pertell showed that
+the company's baggage had not been damaged.
+
+The wreck was bad enough, however, and meant a delay until the track
+was cleared. The members of the company, and the other passengers,
+gathered about, looking on while the railroad men held a consultation
+as to what was best to be done.
+
+"Look, there's Russ, taking pictures!" exclaimed Ruth, pointing to
+him. The young operator had gone to the baggage car and obtained the
+tripod of his camera. This he had set up in an advantageous position,
+and was industriously grinding away at the handle, taking pictures of
+the wreck on the moving strip of celluloid.
+
+"This will be all right for our newspaper service!" he called to Mr.
+Pertell.
+
+"That's right! Good work, Russ! But this will mean a delay in getting
+to Oak Farm."
+
+However, there was no help for it. One of the trainmen went to the
+nearest station to telephone for the wrecking crew. Fortunately it
+was not necessary to bring one out from Hoboken, since at Dover, a
+station some miles down the line, such an equipment was kept. And a
+little later the wrecking crew was on the scene.
+
+"I'll get some fine pictures now!" exulted Russ. "I'm glad I'm here,
+though I wouldn't want a railroad collision to happen every day. We
+might not get off so lucky next time."
+
+"Luck! Don't mention luck!" grumbled Mr. Sneed. "The idea of starting
+out on track thirteen! I told you something would happen."
+
+"Den you vas not disappointmented alretty yet!" laughed Mr. Switzer.
+
+The work of getting the engine back on the track was comparatively
+easy, and it was found that the train could proceed, since the
+running gear of the baggage car was intact.
+
+The train was almost ready to go on again, when a woman, flashily
+dressed, and wearing many diamonds, came bustling up from the parlor
+car.
+
+"Is my dog safe?" she inquired of the baggageman. "Is he hurt?"
+
+"No'm, he's all right; or he was a little while ago," the man
+answered. "He was tied in the corner, just where you told me to put
+him. I guess he's there yet. His end of the car wasn't hit. But he
+howled a lot."
+
+"Poor Rex! Let me see him." The lady went to the open door of the
+baggage car, and looked in. "Why, he's gone!" she cried. "My dog--my
+darling dog--is gone!"
+
+"Can't be!" exclaimed the trainman. "He was tied right there a minute
+ago."
+
+He jumped into the shattered car and looked about.
+
+"Is he there?" cried the woman.
+
+"No, ma'am, he's gone," was the answer. "But I don't see how it could
+be."
+
+"Did he break loose?" the lady asked, with much eagerness.
+
+"No, the strap is gone, and he couldn't possibly untie the knot I
+put in it. Someone has taken him, ma'am."
+
+"Then this company is responsible, and I shall sue it!" the lady
+cried, bristling with what might be righteous anger. "My dog was a
+valuable one. Rex III has taken prize after prize, and I was on my
+way with him to a dog show now. Oh, Rex! Who could have taken you?"
+and she seemed genuinely distressed.
+
+"What kind of a dog was he?" asked Alice, for she loved animals.
+
+"A collie--a most beautiful collie. He had a pink bow on, and here it
+is! Oh, how I loved him! We were inseparable! And now he is gone!"
+and tears filled the lady's eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ON TO THE FARM
+
+
+Despite the excitement and hard work caused by the wreck, many of the
+trainmen had time to look for the missing dog. This was after the
+conductor had been appealed to by Mrs. Delamont, the owner of the
+prize animal.
+
+And it appeared, from the deferential attitude of the conductor, that
+Mrs. Delamont was a person of some importance. Her husband was one of
+the directors of the railroad, and she was much interested in prize
+dogs.
+
+But a careful search failed to disclose the missing Rex III. An
+examination of the car revealed nothing, and the baggage man was sure
+he had tied such a knot in the dog's leash that the animal could not
+have worked it loose.
+
+"Besides," said Mrs. Delamont, "Rex would not leave me. Someone must
+have taken him."
+
+"That's what I think," agreed the baggageman.
+
+And this was very possible, as many strangers had been attracted to
+the scene of the wreck. Mrs. Delamont offered a reward of a hundred
+dollars for the return of her prize dog, and this spurred a number of
+volunteer searchers to work.
+
+They scurried about the fields near the scene of the accident, but in
+spite of enticing calls and whistles no Rex answered.
+
+"I'm afraid he is gone," said Alice, who had taken quite a liking to
+Mrs. Delamont, in spite of the lady's rather "loud" dress and
+manners.
+
+"Oh, I must find him!" exclaimed Mrs. Delamont. "I shall have to
+advertise," she went on. "This is not the first time he has been
+taken. He is such a fine-looking dog that many are attracted to him.
+And he is so friendly! Oh, Rex, where are you?"
+
+But Rex III was not to be found, and the trainmen could no longer
+delay. A last search was made in the surrounding fields, and then the
+passengers went back to their cars. A substitute engineer and fireman
+had come with the wrecking crew.
+
+Mrs. Delamont made many inquiries as to whether anyone had seen her
+dog being led away, but no one had, and lamenting over her loss, and
+dwelling on the fine qualities and value of her pet, she resumed her
+seat in the parlor car.
+
+"Well, I sure did get some fine pictures," remarked Russ, as he came
+back to the others of the film company. "It will be something for our
+newspaper service, all right."
+
+"We'll send them back to New York from the next station," said Mr.
+Pertell, "and wire that they're on the way. They can develop and
+print them there."
+
+In the first book of this series I have described the mechanical part
+of moving pictures, how they are made and prepared for projection on
+the screen. To briefly sum it up, I might say that the pictures, or
+negatives, are taken on a continuous strip of celluloid film in a
+specially prepared camera, which takes views at the rate of sixteen
+per second. Then, after this long strip of negative is developed, a
+positive, as it is called, is made, and this is run through the
+projecting machine in the theatre. Thus, by means of powerful lenses,
+and intense lights, the miniature pictures, less than an inch in
+width, are enlarged to life size.
+
+In order to make sure that the passengers should reach their
+destinations the train that had been in the wreck was stopped at the
+next important station. There a new baggage car was put on, and
+another engine. Russ took advantage of the delay to send back, by
+express, the film he had made of the collision, at the same time
+telegraphing the manager of the film studio to expect the reel.
+
+The journey to Beatonville was then taken up again, and proceeded
+without further accident. The train was somewhat delayed, and when it
+drew up at the small station Ruth, Alice and the others looked out
+eagerly to see what sort of place it was.
+
+"It isn't as bad as you said, Russ!" exclaimed Ruth. "I see two
+houses, anyhow."
+
+"Not many more, though," he answered, with a laugh.
+
+Beatonville was a typical country railroad town, and quite a crowd of
+depot loungers gathered around as the theatrical company alighted.
+
+As the train went on its way again Alice caught a glimpse of Mrs.
+Delamont at one of the windows in the parlor car. The owner of the
+missing Rex III waved her hand in friendly farewell to the girl.
+
+"I wish I could find her dog," thought Alice. "It's too bad to have a
+pet and lose him."
+
+"I don't like dogs!" exclaimed Ruth. "I'm always afraid they'll bite
+me."
+
+Alice laughed at her sister's nervousness.
+
+"There's Sandy!" exclaimed Russ, pointing to a young farmer who was
+holding the heads of two horses attached to a large "carryall."
+
+"Come on!" called Mr. Pertell to his players. "I expect you're all
+hungry, on account of the delay. Have you anything to eat out at your
+place?" he called to Sandy.
+
+"Yep. Ma's been bakin' an' cookin' for th' last week!" was the
+comforting answer. "We're all ready for you. I'm going to take you
+over in this rig, and I've got another wagon for your trunks and
+stuff. Have a good journey?"
+
+"Good! Bah! A smash-up!" growled Mr. Sneed. "But we might have
+expected it--starting out on track thirteen."
+
+"Yah! But ve are all right now, alretty yet!" laughed Mr. Switzer.
+
+Ruth, Alice and the others looked about them with interest. It was a
+typical country landscape--a little valley nestling amid the green
+hills.
+
+"Oh, I know I'm going to like it here," murmured Ruth. "It is so
+restful!"
+
+"Restful! Yes! I should say it was!" exclaimed Pearl Pennington, as
+she bent a stick of chewing gum, preparatory to enjoying it. "I know
+what I'll do, all right!"
+
+"What, dear?" asked her friend Laura Dixon, with lazy interest.
+"What'll you do?"
+
+"I'll be going back to little old New York in about a week. This
+place has got on my nerves already. Ugh! Isn't it quiet!"
+
+It certainly was, after the departure of the train. There was none of
+the various noises of New York. Even the horses seemed ready to go
+to sleep as they stood lazily at the shafts or poles of the vehicles
+they drew.
+
+"Come on!" cried Sandy, hospitably. "It's quite a little drive out to
+our farm, and I know your folks must be tired and hungry."
+
+"Hungry! That's no name for it!" voiced Miss Dixon. "Have you any
+lobsters, Mr. Apgar?"
+
+"Lobsters? No'm. They don't raise none of them birds out here. But we
+got chicken."
+
+"Oh, listen to him, Pearl!" exclaimed Miss Dixon. "He thinks a
+lobster is a bird."
+
+"Don't mind them," said Paul Ardite to Sandy, in a low voice. "It
+hasn't been many years that they could afford lobster. Chicken for
+mine, every time."
+
+"Well, they do say ma cooks th' best chicken around here," spoke
+Sandy, proudly. "She done it in Southern style this time."
+
+"Say no more!" exclaimed Mr. DeVere. "Sandy, you are a gentleman and
+a scholar. How long will it take us to get to your farm?"
+
+"About half an hour."
+
+"That's twenty-nine minutes too long, since you have mentioned
+chicken in Southern style. But do your best."
+
+Seated in the comfortable carryall, the members of the moving
+picture company began their trip to Oak Farm. The way lay along a
+pleasant country road, and in the distance could be seen the cool,
+green hills.
+
+It was early June, and, all about, the farmers were doing their work.
+The air was sweet with the scent of flowers and the green woods, for
+the road led past several forest patches where the wind swept
+pleasantly through the swaying trees.
+
+"Oh, it is just lovely here!" sighed Ruth, as she removed her hat and
+let the gentle wind blow about her hair. "I know I shall love it.
+And, Daddy dear, maybe it will do your voice good."
+
+"Perhaps it will, daughter," he agreed. "However, since we are doing
+so well in moving pictures, I have not the desire I had at first to
+get back to the boards. I am becoming content in this line."
+
+"I'm glad," said Alice, "for I like it very much. Oh, it is lovely
+here, Ruth!"
+
+"Just fine, I call it!" exclaimed Russ. "The air is so clear. I'm
+sure we'll get fine pictures here."
+
+"I know we'll die of loneliness," grumbled Miss Pennington. "I wish
+we hadn't come, Laura."
+
+"So do I, but there's no help for it now," replied Miss Dixon.
+
+Rumbling behind the carryall was the farm wagon containing the
+trunks, and in less than the half-hour stipulated by Sandy, Oak Farm
+was reached. Ruth, Alice and their father fell in love with the place
+at first sight. Mr. Pertell and Russ had seen it before, and most of
+the others admired it.
+
+There was a big, old-fashioned farmhouse, setting back from the road,
+and fronted by a wide stretch of green lawn. The house was white,
+with green shutters, and was well kept. Back of it were barns and
+other farm buildings, some of which were rather dilapidated.
+
+"Welcome to Oak Farm!" cried Sandy. "There's Pa Felix and Ma Nance
+lookin' for ye! Here they are, Ma!" he called. "All ready for your
+chicken."
+
+"Bring 'em right in!" the mother invited, cordially.
+
+Ruth and Alice liked the farmer's wife at once. There was a stoop to
+her shoulders that told of many weary days of work, and she looked
+worn and tired, but there was a bright welcome in her eyes as she
+greeted the visitors. "Pa Felix," as Sandy called his father, was
+rather old and feeble.
+
+"Come right in and make yourselves to home," urged Mrs. Apgar. "Your
+rooms is all ready for ye!"
+
+"Where is the bell-boy?" asked Miss Pennington, with uptilted head
+and powdered nose. "I want him to take my valise to my room at once.
+And I shall want a bath before dinner."
+
+"Isn't she horrid, to try to put on such airs here?" said Alice to
+Ruth, nodding in the direction of the vaudeville actress.
+
+"Yes. She only does it to make trouble."
+
+Sandy and his father were talking together in low tones in one corner
+of the big parlor.
+
+"You didn't get any word; did you?" asked the old man.
+
+"No, Pa. There wasn't no letter."
+
+"Then we won't git th' money."
+
+"It don't look so."
+
+"And we'll have to lose th' place?"
+
+"I--I'm afraid so," replied Sandy.
+
+"Gosh! That--that's hard, in my old age," said the elderly farmer,
+softly. "I hoped your ma and I'd be able to end our days here. But I
+guess it ain't to be. However, this company will help us pay some of
+the claims. We'll do the best we can, Sandy."
+
+"That's what we will!"
+
+Alice wondered what secret trouble could be worrying the farmer and
+his son. Mrs. Apgar, too, had an anxious look on her face, but she
+tried to make her visitors feel at home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A QUEER PROPOSAL
+
+
+Oak Farm was a most delightful place. Ruth and Alice agreed to this
+even before the first meal was served. They stood at the window of
+their room--a large one with two beds--and gazed across the green
+meadows, off to the greener woodland and then to the distant hills
+which girt the valley holding Oak Farm in its clasp.
+
+The hills were purple now with the coming of night--a deep purple
+like the depth of a woodland violet--and their tops were shrouded in
+mist.
+
+At the foot of the hills ran a little river, and now it looked like
+some ribbon of silver, twining in and out amid the green carpet of
+the fields.
+
+"Oh, isn't it beautiful--just beautiful!" sighed Ruth.
+
+"Do you mean the odor of that fried chicken?" asked Alice, with a
+frank laugh, as she let down her hair, preparatory to putting it up
+again, in the general process of "dressing." "It is delightful; but I
+would hardly call it 'beautiful.'"
+
+"Oh, you know what I mean!" returned Ruth, not turning from the
+window which gave a view of the distant hills. "I'm speaking of the
+scenery."
+
+"Oh, yes, I suppose it is beautiful," agreed Alice, who, truth to
+tell, was not gifted with a very strong aesthetic sense. "But I
+suppose Mr. Pertell came here because it was so practical for the
+rural dramas."
+
+"Beauty counts in them, too," said Ruth, softly. "Oh, just look at
+the purple light on those hills, Alice!"
+
+"Can't, my dear. I've dropped a hairpin and I can't see it in the
+dark. Gracious, I never thought! We won't have any electric lights
+here, and no gas. I wonder if we'll have to go back to candle days."
+
+"They weren't so bad," observed Ruth. "I think it must have been fine
+in the Colonial days, to have the candles all aglow, and----"
+
+"Candle fiddlesticks!" exclaimed Alice, who could be very outspoken
+at times. "Give me an incandescent light, every time. It's getting
+dark here. I wonder what system of illumination they have?"
+
+"Kerosene lamps," replied Ruth. "There's one on the mantel. I'll
+light it."
+
+"Do, that's a dear. I've dropped another hairpin, and I need every
+one."
+
+There was silence in the bedroom of the old-fashioned country house
+for a space. Ruth lighted the lamp, and drew down the window shades.
+
+The girls freshened themselves up after their journey, and prepared
+to descend to the dining room. From the kitchen came more delicious
+odors as Mrs. Apgar and her helper finished preparing the evening
+meal.
+
+Scattered about, in other apartments of the big farmhouse, were the
+other members of the film theatrical company. Mr. DeVere had been
+given a room near his daughters', and they could hear him talking in
+his husky voice to Mr. Pertell, who was across the hall.
+
+"When are they going to begin taking the pictures?" asked Ruth, as
+she helped Alice hook up a waist that fastened in the back.
+
+"Oh, not for some days yet, I fancy," was the answer. "Mr. Pertell
+will have to look around, and pick out the best backgrounds for the
+different scenes. I wonder what sort of parts I'll get? Something
+funny, I hope; like tumbling into the river and being rescued."
+
+"Alice! You wouldn't want anything like that!" cried Ruth, much
+shocked.
+
+"Wouldn't I, though! Just give me a chance. I can swim, you know!"
+
+"Yes, I know, but tumbling into the river--with your clothes on--it
+might be dangerous!"
+
+"Oh, well, if we're in the moving picture business we will have to
+learn to take chances. I read in the paper the other day how a couple
+leaped from the Brooklyn Bridge with a parachute--a man and woman."
+
+"Yes, I know; but we're not going to do anything like _that_! Papa
+wouldn't let us."
+
+"No, I suppose not," and Alice sighed as though she really wanted to
+indulge in some such daring "stunt" as a bridge leap.
+
+"I know one part you're going to have, Ruth," went on Alice, as she
+surveyed herself in the glass.
+
+"What is it?" asked Ruth, eagerly. "Shall I like it?"
+
+"I think you will, dear. It's laid in an old mill--there is one on
+Oak Farm, I believe. You're to be imprisoned in it, and your lover
+rides up--probably on one of those silly milk-white steeds I object
+to--and rescues you--breaks down the door in fact--and gets you just
+as you are about to be bound on the mill wheel."
+
+"Really, Alice?" cried Ruth, clasping her hands in delight, for she
+dearly loved a romantic role.
+
+"Really and truly--truly rural, I call it."
+
+"How did you hear of it?"
+
+"Oh, I overheard daddy and Mr. Pertell talking about it. Mr. Pertell
+asked daddy if he'd object to your taking a part like that."
+
+"And what did dad say?"
+
+"Oh, he agreed to it, as long as you weren't in danger. But I want
+something funny. I believe I'm to be a sort of 'cut-up' country maid,
+in some of the plays. I'm to upset the milk pails, tie a tin can to
+the calf's tail, hide under the sofa, when your country 'beaus' come
+to see you, and all that."
+
+"Oh, Alice!"
+
+"That's all right--I just love parts like that. None of the love
+business for me!"
+
+"I should say not--you're entirely too young!" exclaimed Ruth, with
+sudden dignity.
+
+"Pooh! You're not so old! Oh, there goes the supper bell. Come on!
+I'm starved!"
+
+The entire theatrical troupe gathered about the table, and a merry
+party it was. That Mrs. Apgar was a good cook was one of the first
+matters voted on, and there was not a dissenting voice. It was well
+that there was plenty of chicken, for nearly everyone had more than
+the first helping.
+
+"Ach! But I'm glad that I came here!" announced Mr. Switzer, as he
+passed his plate for more. "Ven I get so old dot I can vork no more,
+I am coming here!" and he leaned back with a contented sigh.
+
+Even Pepper Sneed smiled graciously, and for once seemed to have no
+fault to find, and no dire prediction to make.
+
+"The meal is very good," he said to Pop Snooks, the property man.
+
+"Glad you think so--even if we did come out on track thirteen," was
+the reply. "I think that accident was the best thing that could
+happen. It delayed us so we all had fine appetites."
+
+After supper the members of the company went on the broad veranda, to
+sit in the dusk of the evening and listen to the call of the night
+insects.
+
+"We'll all have a day or so of rest," Mr. Pertell said. "That is, you
+folks will, while I lay out my plans and decide what we are to make
+first. Russ, I'll want you, the first thing in the morning, to take a
+walk around the farm with me, and we'll decide on which are the best
+backgrounds."
+
+"Oh, may I come!" cried Alice, before Ruth could restrain her.
+
+"Why, yes, I guess so," answered the manager, slowly. "Only we'll
+probably do a deal of walking."
+
+"I don't tire easily," Alice replied.
+
+"Oh, by the way, Mr. Apgar," said Mr. Pertell after a pause, turning
+to the farmer, "I am planning one play that has a barn-burning
+incident in it. Have you some old barn on the premises I could set
+fire to."
+
+"Good land!" exclaimed the farmer, starting from his chair. "Set fire
+to a barn! Why th' idea! Th' sheriff will git after you, sure pop.
+That's arson, man!"
+
+"Oh, no, not the way I'd do it," laughed the manager. "I'd be willing
+to pay you for the barn, so no one would lose anything. Haven't you
+some such building on the place--one that isn't of much use?"
+
+"Wa'al, I reckon there might be," was the slow answer, as if the
+farmer could not understand the strange proposition. "But as fer
+settin' fire to it; wa'al, I reckon you'll have to git permission of
+th' mortgagee. You see we're in trouble about this place. Sandy,
+maybe you'd better tell him," and he turned to his son.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SANDY'S STORY
+
+
+For a moment or two Mr. Pertell seemed rather embarrassed. He feared
+he had forced some unpleasant secret from the farmer, and he did not
+want to hurt his feelings. Then, too, he remembered that Sandy had
+hinted at some trouble at the farm. This was probably it, and it had
+to do with money.
+
+"Perhaps you would rather not talk about it," suggested the manager,
+after a pause. He and Sandy were at one end of the porch now, the
+others having gone in. Felix Apgar, preferring to let his son do the
+talking, had risen from his chair, and was going slowly down the
+gravel walk to close the gate lest some stray cow wander in from the
+highway and eat his wife's favorite flowers.
+
+"Oh, I reckon I might jest as well tell you," spoke Sandy, slowly.
+"It's bound to come out sooner or later, and then everybody in
+Beatonville will hear of our trouble."
+
+"Then it is trouble?" asked Mr. Pertell.
+
+"That's what it is."
+
+"If I could do anything to help," suggested the manager, "I would be
+glad to."
+
+"No, I don't reckon you could, unless you wanted to invest quite a
+sum of money in this farm," returned the young man.
+
+"Well, I'm afraid I'm hardly ready to do that," declared Mr. Pertell.
+"Farming isn't in my line, and I've got about all my spare funds
+invested in the moving picture business. But if a loan would help
+you----"
+
+"That's th' trouble!" interrupted Sandy. "We've got too much of a
+loan now, and we can't pay it off. Th' place is 'mortgaged up to th'
+handle,' as they say out this way. That's why pa couldn't give you
+permission to burn a barn.
+
+"We have an old shack, that's almost toppling over, and it would be
+better burned and out of th' way. But I guess Squire Blasdell would
+object if you sot fire to it. The squire pretty near owns our place
+with this mortgage; or, rather with th' mortgages of folks he
+represents. He's a lawyer," he added simply. "But maybe if you paid
+him what he thought the barn was wuth he'd let you fire it."
+
+"Then I'll have to talk to him," went on Mr. Pertell. "I need a
+barn-burning in one scene. It will be very effective, I think."
+
+"Gosh! But you movin' picture fellers certainly do things," commented
+Sandy. "You hire yachts to make believe take a trip to Europe, and
+now you're wantin' to burn a barn! I never heard tell th' like of
+such doin's."
+
+"Oh, that's nothing to what some of them do," remarked the manager.
+"Why, some of my competitors have bought old steamboats, taken them
+out in mid-ocean, and set fire to them, just to get a rescue
+picture."
+
+"Get out!" cried Sandy, clearly incredulous.
+
+"That's a fact," declared Mr. Pertell. "And, more than once, some of
+them have bought old locomotives and coaches, and set them going
+toward each other on the same track, to make a railroad collision."
+
+"Do you mean it?" cried Sandy.
+
+"I certainly do. Why, one manager actually burned up a whole mining
+town just to get a good picture. He destroyed more than twenty
+shacks. Of course they weren't very elaborate ones, but he got a fine
+effect."
+
+"Wa'al, then I reckon burnin' one barn isn't so wonderful," observed
+Sandy.
+
+"No, indeed. And I'll see Squire Blasdell the first thing in the
+morning to get my plans ready for this. But I'm sorry to hear of your
+trouble, Sandy, I sure am. What caused it; did the crops fail?"
+
+"No, we've always had pretty good crops, or we wouldn't stay here,"
+answered the young farmer. "But I don't reckon we'll be able to stay
+here much longer. It will be hard for pa and ma, too. They don't want
+to leave--it will break 'em all up. They've lived here all their
+lives, and they counted on dyin' and bein' buried here. But I reckon
+they won't now."
+
+"Why not? Are you about to be put off the farm?"
+
+"We will be, by fall, unless I can raise four thousand dollars--and I
+can't do that, nohow," said Sandy, sadly.
+
+"That's too bad," spoke the manager, sympathetically. "How did it all
+come about? That is, if you don't mind telling me."
+
+"Oh, no. I don't mind," answered the young farmer, in rather hopeless
+tones. "You see father had a brother--Uncle Isaac he was, and he was
+quite a business man, in a way. He used to farm it, but he gave that
+up, and went into other schemes. I never knew rightly what they were,
+but he used to make money--at least he must have got it somehow, for
+he didn't work.
+
+"Well, one time, several years ago, he came to pa and borrowed quite
+a sum--more than five thousand dollars I've heard pa say it was. He
+and ma had inherited most of it only a short time before from pa's
+granduncle Nathan and they decided to keep it ready to pay off th'
+mortgage, but 'fore pa could do that Uncle Isaac come and borrowed
+it."
+
+"But why did your uncle need to borrow money when he had so much of
+his own?" asked Mr. Pertell, curiously.
+
+"Wa'al, there was some business deal on. I never understood th' right
+of it, and I don't believe pa did, either. All I know is that Uncle
+Isaac got pa's money. I believe he wanted to go into some
+scheme--Uncle Isaac did--and didn't have quite enough cash. He
+promised to pay pa back in a few weeks, and give him big interest for
+the use of the money.
+
+"Pa set quite a store by Uncle Isaac, and so he let him have th'
+money that ought to have gone to pay off th' mortgage. And then
+things went wrong. Uncle Isaac died before he could pay pa back th'
+money, and from then on things went from bad to worse, until now
+we're goin' to lose th' farm."
+
+"But my dear man!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell, "if your uncle owed your
+father money, and your father had a note, or any paper to prove his
+claim, he could collect from your uncle's estate."
+
+"That's th' trouble," said Sandy. "There wasn't no estate."
+
+"But he must have left something! What became of the money he got
+from your father?"
+
+"Nobody knew. You see poor Uncle Isaac went crazy before he died, and
+was put in th' asylum. In fact, that's where he died. He was clean
+out of his mind."
+
+"But did you try to find what he had done with the money? I should
+have thought you could do that."
+
+"We did try, and even got a lawyer to try," replied Sandy. "But it
+was no use. Uncle Isaac would only laugh at us. Poor fellow, he meant
+all right, but his head give way. He wouldn't have cheated pa for the
+world. It was jest an accident--that's all."
+
+"You see he was near our threshing machine one day when there was an
+accident. Somethin' broke and Uncle Isaac was hit on th' head. Not
+hard enough to kill him, but it made him forget things, and he died
+that way."
+
+"But couldn't you tell from the papers he left where he had invested
+the money--his own, as well as your father's?"
+
+"That's th' odd part of it. We couldn't find a scrap of paper, nor a
+dollar, among his things. You see Uncle Isaac was queer, even before
+he went crazy. He didn't believe in banks, and he used to hide his
+papers and money in all sorts of out-of-the-way places. He lived all
+alone--an old bachelor."
+
+"Did you search for his things?" asked Mr. Pertell, who was much
+impressed by Sandy's story.
+
+"Oh, yes! We searched all over!" exclaimed Sandy. "But we couldn't
+find a thing. It's too bad, for Uncle Isaac never would have done it
+for th' world, if he had been in his right mind."
+
+"No, I suppose not," agreed Mr. Pertell. "Have you any papers to show
+that your father let him have the money?"
+
+"Oh, yes, we've got a note. But it's no good. Uncle Isaac is dead,
+and he didn't leave nothin'. We've searched all over, and couldn't
+find a thing. No, I reckon th' only thing to do is to lose the farm.
+But it will come hard on pa and ma--it surely will."
+
+Mr. Pertell said nothing. There was little he could say to make the
+sad lot of the Apgar family any easier. The manager wished he could
+provide the money himself, but, as he had said, he had invested all
+his surplus cash in the moving picture business. The taking of the
+rural dramas was going to cost considerable, too, and there would be
+the added expense of burning the barn.
+
+Mr. Pertell was paying a fair price for the use of the farm, and for
+the board and lodging of his company. This would, in a measure, help
+the Apgars, but it would not be anywhere near enough to save the
+place.
+
+"Well, it certainly is too bad," agreed the manager. "When I see
+Squire Blasdell to ask permission to burn the barn, I'll see if he
+won't wait a bit about foreclosing. Then perhaps we can think up some
+other plan--or we may even help you find the money," he added,
+hopefully.
+
+"There ain't much chance of that," returned Sandy. "We've hunted high
+and low for that money, or for any papers to tell where it might be.
+As for Squire Blasdell, he's harder than flint. He wouldn't wait a
+day after th' money was due. No, we've got to lose the farm."
+
+Truly there seemed no way out, but Mr. Pertell was not one to give up
+easily. He made up his mind that when he got the chance he would see
+some of his friends in New York. He might be able to induce one of
+them to provide the money, and take up the mortgage, holding it until
+it could be paid off gradually. But he said nothing of this now, for
+he did not want to raise false hopes.
+
+"Well, I reckon I'll turn in," announced Sandy, after a bit. "I'm not
+used to staying up late. Is everything all right?"
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed--very nice," replied the manager. "I'm going to
+start in planning to-morrow."
+
+Sandy arose to go in, and, as he did so he peered out toward the
+road. The moon had risen and it was quite light. Mr. Pertell saw a
+dark figure slouching along the highway.
+
+"That you, 'Bige?" called Sandy, evidently thinking he saw some
+neighbor. But the man in the road did not answer. Instead he broke
+into a run, as though frightened.
+
+"That's queer!" exclaimed Sandy. "I'm going to see who that is."
+
+"I'm with you!" declared the manager, and they hurried down the
+gravel path.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE BUTTING BULL
+
+
+Speeding to the front gate the theatrical man and the young farmer
+darted down the moonlit road. It was a straight highway, and the
+white dust added to the effect of the moon, that was now well over
+the trees.
+
+But, to the surprise of the two men, no figure was in sight. As they
+reached the highway it was deserted, though it had been but a few
+seconds since Sandy had seen and called to the man in the road.
+
+"He--he's gone!" gasped Sandy.
+
+"So he is. Must have slipped to one side," agreed the manager. "Do
+you want to get him? Who was he?"
+
+"That's jest what I don't know. First I thought he was 'Bige Tapper,
+who lives down th' road a piece. But 'Bige would have answered."
+
+"But this fellow didn't, so he couldn't have been your friend," spoke
+Mr. Pertell. "And why should he have run when you hailed him?"
+
+"That's what I can't understand," replied Sandy. "It's sort of
+suspicious; ain't it?"
+
+"It surely is. Come on, let's have a look."
+
+Together they went down the road in the direction taken by the
+mysterious stranger. But, though they looked on both sides, and
+peered amid the bushes, they saw no one. They called out, demanding
+to know who had gone past the house; but of course, in case the man
+was a suspicious character, they could hardly have expected an
+answer.
+
+Their shouts, though, brought out Paul, who had not yet gone to bed,
+and he joined in the search.
+
+"Who do you think he was?" the moving picture actor asked of Sandy,
+when they had given up the attempt to find the man.
+
+"Oh, he might be some tramp. There's been chicken thieves around
+lately, and maybe he was lookin' for a chance to sneak into our
+hen-house."
+
+"Well, I guess you've scared him off, at any rate," said the manager.
+
+"There's an idea for a film," said Paul, with a laugh. "We can have a
+chicken-stealing. The thief gets caught in a bear trap, and can't get
+loose--farmer comes out with gun--chase over the fields and all
+that."
+
+"Good!" cried Mr. Pertell. "We'll try something of that sort. I'm
+glad you mentioned it."
+
+"Gosh!" exclaimed Sandy, admiringly. "You fellers would make a
+picture out of anything, I guess."
+
+"That's what we would!" laughed Mr. Pertell.
+
+They came back from the unsuccessful man hunt, and soon quiet settled
+down over Oak Farm.
+
+"I only wish I could help them," mused Mr. Pertell as he retired. Yet
+he was destined to help them, and in a most surprising manner.
+
+Yielding to the wish of Sandy, Paul and the manager said nothing the
+next morning of the chase after the man.
+
+"It might only worry pa and ma," said the kind-hearted but
+simple-minded young farmer. "And they've got troubles enough as it
+is."
+
+"They certainly have," agreed Mr. Pertell. "Nothing was disturbed
+last night, though; was there?"
+
+"No, all th' hens seem to be around. I can't imagine who that fellow
+was. He must have had a guilty conscience, or he wouldn't have run
+when I hailed him," Sandy said.
+
+The day was given over, on the part of the manager and Russ, to
+selecting the most favorable spots for the taking of scenes in the
+rural dramas. A good background, and places where the lighting
+effects would be proper for exposing the films, were essentials. Some
+scenes were to be laid in the village proper, and when the moving
+picture manager and his photographer went about, making notes of
+likely spots, they were watched curiously by the village loungers.
+
+Mr. Pertell paid a visit to Squire Blasdell in reference to getting
+permission to burn the old barn on the Apgar place.
+
+"Well, you can do it if you pay me my price," said the crabbed man,
+who was a local judge and lawyer, acting for several clients.
+
+The price was sufficiently high, Mr. Pertell thought, but he had no
+choice.
+
+"That's a valuable barn!" said the squire.
+
+"It's only fit for kindling wood," protested the manager. "And that's
+what I propose to use it for."
+
+"Well, it's a sin to burn down a building like that," went on the
+squire. "But this is a queer world, anyhow. And I want my money in
+advance."
+
+He was so unpleasant about the matter that, after arranging for the
+destruction of the barn, Mr. Pertell left without carrying out his
+half-formed resolution of asking for more time for the payment of the
+Apgar mortgage.
+
+"I'd better try to find some other way of helping them," thought the
+manager. "If I said they were in hard circumstances the squire might
+get suspicious and foreclose at once. Then I would have to take my
+company away, and I couldn't get the rural dramas. No, I'll wait a
+while. But I would like to help Sandy and his folks."
+
+During the two days that Mr. Pertell and Russ were mapping out the
+locations of the various scenes for the plays, the others of the
+company were becoming familiar with Oak Farm, and the delightfully
+quaint house where they were to remain all summer.
+
+There were many little nooks where one could spend a quiet hour with
+a book, and there was good fishing in the stream that, in times past,
+had furnished power for the old grist mill. The mill was now in
+ruins, but it was very picturesque, and Mr. Pertell planned to make
+it the scene of several little plays.
+
+Three days after the arrival at Oak Farm, matters were in readiness
+for filming the first play. It was a simple little drama, concerning
+a country girl and boy, and Alice and Paul Ardite were the chief
+characters.
+
+This was something of a blow to Miss Laura Dixon, who had counted on
+being with Paul in the play. Miss Dixon rather liked Paul, but since
+the advent of Alice he had become more and more interested in the
+latter.
+
+"I don't care!" exclaimed Miss Dixon, as she flounced into the room
+she shared with Miss Pennington. "I'm not going to stay with this
+company any more, with those two amateurs taking all the best parts."
+
+"It is a shame," agreed Miss Pennington. "I just can't bear that Ruth
+DeVere, with her blue eyes. She can use them very effectively, too."
+
+"Indeed she can! What do you say if we look for another engagement? I
+just hate the country."
+
+"So do I, with all the bugs and things. But, really, I can't go. I
+got Mr. Pertell to give me an advance on my salary, and I can't leave
+him now. Besides, other places aren't so easy to get. Look here," and
+she held out a copy of a dramatic paper which contained an unusual
+number of "cards" of performers who were "at liberty." That is, they
+had no work, but were anxious for some.
+
+"Summer is a bad time for quitting a sure place," went on Miss
+Pennington. "We'll just have to stick, Laura."
+
+"I suppose so. But I can't bear those two girls!"
+
+"Neither can I!"
+
+But Alice and Ruth concerned themselves very little with their
+jealous rivals, though they were aware of the feeling against them.
+Alice and Paul acquitted themselves well in the little play.
+
+There was only one difficulty--Mr. Bunn, as usual.
+
+He and Mr. Sneed had been cast as farm hands to fill in the
+background of the play. When the former Shakespearean player learned
+that he was to wear overalls and carry a hoe over his shoulder, he
+rebelled.
+
+"What! I play that character?" he cried. "A clod--a country bumpkin?
+Never! I will go back to New York first!"
+
+"Very well; go!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell, who occasionally became
+exasperated over the actor's objections. "Only don't come back
+looking for an engagement with this company."
+
+Wellington Bunn, striking a tragic attitude, was silent a moment.
+Then he said, very quietly:
+
+"Where is that hoe?"
+
+With Mr. Sneed it was different. He did not so much care what
+character he played, but he was always "looking for trouble." Even in
+the simple character of a country farmer he was apprehensive.
+
+"I don't know how to use a hoe," he protested. "I'm sure to do the
+wrong thing with it. I know something will happen!"
+
+"How can something happen?" asked Mr. Pertell. "All you have to do is
+to stand in a row of corn, and dig up the dirt with the hoe. You're
+only in the scene about two minutes. Surely you can hill corn!"
+
+"I never did it."
+
+"I'll show you," offered Sandy, good-naturedly.
+
+"Say!" cried Russ, "why not put Sandy in the picture, too?"
+
+"Good idea!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell. "Sandy, get a hoe!"
+
+"What! Me in movin' pictures? Why, I never acted in my life."
+
+"So much the better. You'll be all the more natural!" said the
+manager. "Get in the focus, Sandy!"
+
+And the young farmer did. The scene seemed to be going very well, and
+Paul and Alice in the role of country sweethearts made an effective
+picture in the green cornfield.
+
+In the background Mr. Bunn, Mr. Sneed and Sandy were industriously
+hoeing corn. Suddenly the "grouchy" actor dropped his hoe, and
+pulling up one foot so that he could hold it in his hands, he cried
+out:
+
+"There! I knew something would happen! I cut my foot with that old
+hoe!"
+
+"Cut that out, Russ!" called the manager, sharply. "We don't want
+that in the scene."
+
+"I stopped the camera," answered the operator.
+
+An examination disclosed the fact that Mr. Sneed was not hurt at all.
+His shoe had not even been cut by the hoe, which had slipped off a
+stone because of his clumsiness.
+
+"Go on with the play," ordered Mr. Pertell. "And let's have no more
+nonsense."
+
+Paul and Alice resumed their places. They assumed as nearly as
+possible the pose they had when the break occurred. Russ began to
+turn the handle of the camera. Sandy had to be excused for a time to
+look after some farm work.
+
+Later, when the pictures would be developed and printed, enough of
+the film could be cut out so that the audience, looking at the
+screen, would know nothing of what had occurred.
+
+There are many trick pictures made, and many times little accidents
+occur in filming a play. But by the judicious use of the knife, and
+the fitting together of the severed film, all pictures not wanted are
+eliminated.
+
+In the case of trick pictures, or when some accident scene is shown,
+the camera takes views up to a certain point with real persons
+posing before it. Then the mechanism is stopped, "dummies" are
+substituted for real personages, and the taking of the film goes on.
+So the little "break" caused by Mr. Sneed could be covered up.
+
+"But I knew something would happen," he said. "That hoodoo of coming
+out on track thirteen is still after us," and he limped along the row
+of corn.
+
+The scene was almost over, when a movement was observed amid the
+waving stalks, back of where Paul and Alice were posing.
+
+"Who's that!" cried Mr. Pertell, sharply, from his place beside Russ
+at the camera. "Keep back, whoever you are. Don't get into the
+picture--you'll spoil it."
+
+An instant later there was a bellow, as of a score of automobile
+horns, and an immense black bull came rushing through the corn,
+heading directly for Paul and Alice.
+
+"Oh!" screamed Alice, as Paul caught her in his arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PLAY OF THE HOSE
+
+
+"Russ! Daddy! Somebody save Alice!" cried Ruth, from her place near
+the young moving picture operator. "Can't someone do something?"
+
+"Get a pitchfork!"
+
+"Go at him with those hoes!"
+
+"Throw stones at him!"
+
+This was some of the advice from the others of the moving picture
+company, as they stood grouped back of the camera, where they had
+been watching the filming of the last scene in the little drama.
+
+Meanwhile, of course, Russ had stopped the camera, for he did not
+want to include the bull in the picture, no provision having been
+made for the creature by the author who furnished the "scenario," or
+"screed."
+
+The animal had "butted into" the scene in a most uncalled-for manner,
+and now was butting its massive head against the frail green stalks
+of corn, knocking them aside, pawing the dirt and shaking its head
+at the frightened players.
+
+For a moment, after their first outcries, the players were silent.
+Alice, who had shown just the least inclination to faint, now stood
+upright again, and with a vivid blush, released herself from Paul's
+arms.
+
+"I--I'm all right now," she said, softly, straightening out her
+shirtwaist.
+
+"You won't be if that bull comes for us," he answered. "Here, get
+behind me. I'll see if I can scare him off."
+
+"Oh, no! Don't!" she begged. "That might make him worse. See, he is
+quiet now."
+
+And indeed the animal had not moved much beyond the spot where he had
+broken through the rows of corn to interrupt the moving pictures.
+
+"Something's got to be done," said Mr. Pertell, in a quiet voice. "I
+think it will be best if none of you moves. Keep your places, and
+I'll see if I can't slide out back of Russ, and get help--or at least
+a weapon to drive the bull away. A fence rail would do. Russ, stand
+still. You make a good screen for me now, and the bull can't see me.
+He may make a jump if he sees any of us moving. Such creatures often
+do, I understand."
+
+It seemed the best plan to follow, but there was no need of trying
+it, for at that instant Sandy Apgar, who had returned, and who had
+heard the cries, came bursting in on the scene.
+
+For a moment, at seeing this new figure, and supposing, perhaps, that
+it was a more active enemy than the others, the bull made as if to
+leap forward, with lowered horns. But, fortunately, the young farmer
+had an effective weapon in a pitchfork. Its sharp tines Sandy held
+toward the bull, pricking the creature slightly. This was too much
+for the beast, and with a bellow of pain, instead of rage, as before,
+he turned, and with drooping tail crashed his way through the corn,
+as he had come.
+
+"Pesky gritter!" exclaimed Mr. Switzer, in his strong German accent.
+"He nearly gafe me heart disease. Feel how he thumps inside my west,"
+he appealed to Mr. Sneed.
+
+"Ha! What do I care about your heart!" exclaimed the "grouch,"
+inconsiderately. "My foot will be lame for a week where I hit it.
+This is getting worse and worse--I suppose you'll be turning wild
+tigers and lions loose on us next!" he cried in a highly aggrieved
+tone to Mr. Pertell.
+
+"This wasn't my fault," said the manager. "I did not invite the bull
+here."
+
+"No, I guess nobody did," laughed Sandy. "But I hope he didn't hurt
+any of you."
+
+"No, he only scared us," said Ruth, who had gone to the side of her
+sister.
+
+"I can't understand how he got out," went on the young farmer. "He's
+kept in a field with a strong fence, and th' gate is always locked.
+Th' hired man knows better than to let him out, too."
+
+"It might be a good idea to see that he is put back in his
+enclosure," suggested Mr. DeVere. "I'm sure we'll all feel safer if
+we know he isn't roaming about the place when we pose for more
+pictures."
+
+"Indeed we will," agreed Mr. Pertell. "I can see you all looking
+around nervously, instead of paying attention to the play, if that
+bull isn't locked up."
+
+"I'll attend to it right away," promised Sandy. "He's dangerous
+enough, but he's afraid of this pitchfork. I can always manage him
+with that. I'll go see how he got out. I don't understand it."
+
+"I'll go with you," volunteered Russ. "We'll have to make the last
+bit of this scene over," he went on, to Mr. Pertell.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," agreed the manager.
+
+"And they'll want a little time to get over the scare so they can
+pose properly," went on Russ, nodding at Alice and Paul, who, as well
+as the others who filled in the background of the picture, were
+somewhat disturbed.
+
+"Yes, it will be just as well to take a breathing space," said Mr.
+Pertell. "But don't run into danger, Russ. We've got lots of plays
+yet to film."
+
+"I won't," laughed the young operator, and as he went off after
+Sandy, Ruth gazed after him with rather anxious eyes.
+
+"I knew something like this would happen!" exclaimed Mr. Sneed,
+gloomily. "That track thirteen----"
+
+"Say, if you don't drop that you can look for another place!" cried
+the manager, sharply. "Everything that happens you blame on that
+silly superstition."
+
+"And things aren't done happening yet, either," went on the "grouchy"
+actor, but he took care not to let the manager hear him.
+
+"To what low estate have I fallen!" soliloquized Wellington Bunn,
+wiping his heated brow. He was wearing a slouch hat, instead of his
+beloved silk one, and was attired in shabby garments, as befitted his
+character of a farmhand. "The idea of a man who has played the
+immortal Shakespearean characters falling so low as to consort with
+wild bulls. Ah, it is pitiful--pitiful!" he murmured.
+
+"You didn't consort mit dat bull very much!" put in Mr. Switzer, with
+a cheerful laugh. "I saw you trying to git behint a corn stalk, to
+consort mit 'im alretty yet!"
+
+"Certainly, I did not wish to be trampled on," replied Mr. Bunn, with
+dignity--that is, with as much dignity as he could muster under the
+circumstances. "Oh, to what low estate have I fallen! A mere country
+bumpkin--I, who once played Hamlet!"
+
+The others were recovering their spirits, now that the danger was
+over. Sandy and Russ followed the trail of the bull through the corn,
+and soon they had him before the gate of his own enclosure.
+
+"That gate is open!" exclaimed the young farmer. "I don't see how it
+happened. There is something wrong here."
+
+The bull was driven in, and then an examination disclosed the fact
+that the lock of the gate had been broken; by a stone, evidently, for
+a shattered rock lay on the ground nearby.
+
+"This is strange," murmured Sandy. "Someone has done this on purpose,
+I don't like it--after what happened the other night."
+
+"What was that?" asked Russ.
+
+"Why, Mr. Pertell and I saw a suspicious-looking man out in the road,
+and we chased him," and he told of the circumstance.
+
+"And you think he broke this lock to let the bull out?" asked the
+moving picture operator.
+
+"Well, he might have, but I can't think what his object would be,
+unless he wanted to spoil some of your moving pictures. Have you got
+any enemies?"
+
+Russ thought of Simp Wolley and Bud Briskett, who had tried to get
+his invention, as told in the preceding volume, "The Moving Picture
+Girls," but they were in jail, as far as he knew. Clearly there was
+some mystery here, but it was not to be solved at once.
+
+The gate was made as secure as possible, and Sandy said he would get
+a new lock that day.
+
+"I reckon you folks don't want old Nero buttin' in on you again," he
+said to Russ.
+
+"Indeed we don't!" answered the young operator. He was puzzled over
+Sandy's suggestion as to whether or not some enemy had loosed the
+dangerous animal.
+
+A little later the end of the interrupted scene was filmed again, and
+then the actors and actresses were at liberty for the rest of the
+day.
+
+"I declare, Laura!" exclaimed Miss Pennington, "I'm so nervous about
+that bull that I don't want any more farm plays."
+
+"Me, either," returned her chum. "But really, the summer is a bad
+time to change. I think we'll have to stay with Mr. Pertell; but I
+can't bear this company since those DeVere girls came in."
+
+"Nor can I. They give themselves such airs!"
+
+Which was manifestly unfair to Ruth and Alice, but neither Miss
+Pennington nor Miss Dixon was over-burdened with fairness.
+
+At first Russ had an idea of speaking to Mr. DeVere about Sandy's
+theory concerning who might have let loose the bull; but, on second
+thoughts, he decided not to. The actor had not been so well of late,
+his voice troubling him considerably, though he managed to go through
+his parts with credit.
+
+"I'd tell Ruth or Alice," reflected Russ, "only I don't like to
+bother them. They helped me save my patent, and they know how to do
+things in an emergency. But I guess I'll wait."
+
+For the next day Mr. Pertell had planned a little drama which gave
+Mr. Bunn a chance to appear in his favorite roles--some Shakespearean
+characters. The plot, or at least the first part of it, had to do
+with Mr. Bunn coming up to the farmhouse in a frock coat, and his
+favorite tall hat. He was to assume the character of a theatrical
+man, who, after obtaining board at a country home, fell in love with
+the daughter of the house through teaching her some roles from
+Shakespeare's plays, several characters of which Mr. Bunn himself was
+to assume.
+
+All was ready for the first part of the play, and Russ began filming
+the initial scene, where the actor comes up the gravel walk leading
+to the Apgar farmhouse. Mr. Bunn had given his silk hat an extra
+brushing, and it glistened bravely in the sun. To make the scene
+contain a little more life, Mr. Pertell had stationed Mr. Switzer at
+one of the front flower beds, with a garden hose to spray the blooms.
+
+Up the walk came the actor, grave and dignified. Russ was grinding
+away at the handle of the moving picture camera.
+
+Suddenly a dog wormed his way in under the hedge from the road, and,
+probably meaning no mischief, ran for Mr. Switzer, barking joyously,
+and leaping about.
+
+"Hi dere! Look out, you! Don't you nip my legs!" cried the German. He
+sprang to one side, and, naturally, forgot all about the spurting
+hose he held.
+
+In an instant the stream was directed full at Mr. Bunn, deluging him
+with water, which descended in a shower on his precious silk hat, the
+drops falling from the brim copiously.
+
+"Here! What--what do you mean? You--you----" began the Shakespearean
+actor, and then his words were muffled, for the stream from the hose
+struck him full in the mouth!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN THE OLD BARN
+
+
+"Quick, Russ! Get that!" cried Mr. Pertell, with a laugh. "Don't miss
+a single motion."
+
+"Do you mean it?" cried the astonished operator. He had ceased, for a
+moment, to grind on the handle, for he supposed the scene was
+spoiled.
+
+"Surely I mean it!" cried the manager. "I'll change this and make a
+comic film of it. Go on, Switzer. Soak him some more! Use that hose
+for all its worth!"
+
+"Vot! You means dot I vet him all ofer?"
+
+"Certainly I do. Wet him well!"
+
+"I--I protest! I shall not permit----" began Wellington Bunn, but
+again he was silenced by the volume of water in his mouth. He waved
+his arms about wildly. He took off his silk hat, probably intending
+to protect it, but Mr. Switzer had now fully entered into the spirit
+of the affair, and sent a stream into the hat, filling it as he would
+a pail.
+
+"Oh, this is awful! This is terrible! I must protest----"
+
+Swish! went the water into his mouth again, and his protest was
+silenced.
+
+"Go on!" encouraged Mr. Pertell. "This is great! This will make a
+fine comic film. Soak him thoroughly, Switzer."
+
+"Oh, yah! Sure, I soak him goot!"
+
+"And you, Mr. Bunn! Don't get so far over. You'll get out of range of
+the camera. Can you film him, Russ?"
+
+"Surely. I'm getting every bit of it."
+
+"That's right! We need every move. A little more life in it, Mr.
+Bunn! Act as though you didn't like to be soaked!"
+
+"Like it! Of course I don't like it!" cried the actor. "I--hate it!
+And my hat--my silk hat----"
+
+Again the relentless stream of water stopped him.
+
+"I'll buy you a new hat!" promised Mr. Pertell, choking with
+laughter. "This is worth it! Lively, Mr. Bunn! Jump around a little.
+Switzer, don't miss him, but don't wet the camera. And that dog! Get
+him in it, too!"
+
+"Vot! Maybe he bites my legs yet already!" objected the German. "I
+likes not dot beast! Und my legs----"
+
+"Oh, I'll get a doctor if he bites you!" promised the manager. "See
+him get into the action! This will be a great picture. I'll have to
+get a story that it will fit in."
+
+But at last even the enthusiastic manager was satisfied with the
+water scene, and he allowed the almost exhausted Mr. Bunn a rest.
+
+"Look at me--look at me!" groaned the actor, as he gazed down at his
+suit, which dripped water at every point.
+
+"Wait now; don't go away!" objected Mr. Pertell. "I want to get you
+in another scene now. Come around to the barn."
+
+"What! Film me in this water-soaked suit!" protested Mr. Bunn.
+
+"Certainly. I am going to make a whole reel of you."
+
+"But my hat! Look at my hat! Ruined! Utterly ruined!"
+
+"All the better. I want you in the character of a broken-down actor
+now, and you wouldn't look the part with a new and shiny tile. Put a
+couple of dents in it, Mr. Bunn!"
+
+"Oh, you are heartless! Heartless!" cried the actor, as he completed
+the demolition of his cherished headpiece.
+
+"Isn't it killing, Ruth?" asked Alice, who had come out with her
+sister to see the fun.
+
+"Funny, yes. But I feel rather sorry for Mr. Bunn."
+
+"Oh, he's getting paid for it. And it's so warm to-day that I almost
+wish Mr. Switzer would turn the hose on me!"
+
+"Alice DeVere!"
+
+"Well, I do! It is very warm. It must be terrible in the city. Come
+on out to the barn, and let's see what the next act will be."
+
+The next scene, which Mr. Pertell had thought of on the spur of the
+moment, required Mr. Bunn to fall into the horse trough, and the
+actor, after strenuously objecting, finally yielded. He fell into the
+big hollowed-out log that served to hold the water for the farm
+animals, making a mighty splash as the camera clicked.
+
+Then came other scenes that, later, would be added to and made into a
+short reel of "comics." Horse-play though it was, the manager knew
+that it would at least round out a program, and cause roars of
+delight from the children, who must be catered to as well as the
+grown-ups.
+
+"Well, I think that will do for the time being," said Mr. Pertell at
+length. "You may go and get dry, Mr. Bunn, and, later, we will film
+the original play, where you come to the farmhouse and do the
+Shakespearean scenes."
+
+"That will be a relief from this buffoonery," remarked the actor.
+"But how am I to do it in--this?" and he held out the silk hat, now
+much the worse for what it had gone through.
+
+"Oh, I'll supply a new hat. Trot along and get dried out. I guess
+you'll have to have your suit pressed. Possibly there is a tailor in
+the village."
+
+Mr. Bunn went off by himself, rather sulkily. Mr. Switzer was in high
+good humor at the fun he had had with the hose.
+
+"Good joke!" laughed Paul. Then he made his way to the side of Alice,
+and made an engagement to walk to the village with her that evening.
+
+"This is the barn I intend to burn in one of our big rural plays,"
+said Mr. Pertell to Mr. DeVere, who, with his daughters, had strolled
+out to the ancient structure.
+
+"What sort of a scene will it be a part of?" asked the actor.
+
+"A rescue. One of the young ladies--or possibly two of them--will be
+saved from the burning barn. The play is not completed yet, but I
+have that much of it worked out. Let us look at the interior and see
+how it is suited to our needs."
+
+As the little party entered they heard, off in one corner, a noise as
+though someone was running across the sagging floor, which contained
+many loose boards.
+
+"Who is there?" called Mr. Pertell, suddenly, while Ruth and Alice
+drew back, close to the side of their father.
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"I'm sure I heard someone," said Mr. Pertell.
+
+"So did I," agreed Alice. "Perhaps it was a cow or a horse."
+
+"No, the old barn is not in use," returned the manager. "I think we
+had better tell Sandy----"
+
+"What is it you want to tell me?" asked the young farmer himself, as
+he appeared in the doorway.
+
+"We heard someone in the barn," explained the manager. "We were
+looking at it, to get ready for our moving picture play, and we
+evidently surprised someone. Does anyone stay here?"
+
+"No, and I've told the hired men to keep out, for I thought maybe
+they might disturb something, and spoil it for you."
+
+"And no animals are in here; are they?" asked Mr. DeVere.
+
+"No, not a one," replied Sandy.
+
+"But I heard someone!" declared Mr. Pertell. "Hark! There is the
+sound again!" he cried, and they all heard a noise as of a heavy body
+falling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE RESCUE
+
+
+"Over this way!" cried Mr. Pertell, making a leap toward a distant
+corner of the barn, which was in deep shadow. "The noise was over
+there."
+
+"I think it was there," exclaimed Sandy, pointing toward the opposite
+corner.
+
+"Come, girls, I think you had better go out," suggested Mr. DeVere to
+his daughters. "There may be trouble."
+
+"I'd like to see it," said Alice, with a laugh.
+
+"Oh, how can you?" exclaimed Ruth. "Come away, dear!"
+
+"Well, I suppose I've got to," and Alice actually sighed. Her "bump
+of curiosity" was very well developed.
+
+Following each his own belief as to where the noise had come from,
+Mr. Pertell went to one corner, and Sandy to the other. Mr. DeVere
+took his daughters outside, and bade them go on toward the house.
+
+"But where are you going, Daddy?" asked Alice, as he turned back.
+
+"They may need help," he replied.
+
+"Oh, I wish we could go!" pleaded Alice. "At least let us stay here
+and watch!"
+
+"Well, not too near," conceded her father.
+
+But it seemed that the search for the cause of the mysterious noise
+was to be fruitless. Neither Mr. Pertell nor Sandy could find any
+person or creature, though they looked thoroughly. There were many
+nooks and crannies in the old structure, for in its day it had been
+the main barn on the farm. But it had fallen into decay and others
+had been built.
+
+There were harness rooms, oat and feed bins, a small room where the
+former owner had done his "tinkering and odd jobs," and many other
+places where someone might have hidden. But no one could be found. No
+farm animal had made the noise, that was evident, for Sandy could
+account for all the larger stock on the place, and it must have been
+a body of considerable size the fall of which had startled them.
+
+"Could it have been bats flying about?" asked Mr. DeVere.
+
+"No bat was heavy enough to make that racket," said Sandy, "though
+there are bats in here. I don't know what it could have been."
+
+"A tramp, perhaps," suggested Mr. Pertell.
+
+"It might have been," admitted the young farmer, as he thought of the
+smashed lock on the bull's enclosure. "We sometimes have them fellers
+to bother us; but not so much in summer. They're afraid of bein' put
+to work."
+
+The three men made a more thorough search of the barn, but could find
+nothing that looked suspicious.
+
+"Whoever it was must either be here yet, in hiding, or else they got
+away while we were looking around," said Mr. Pertell. "Unless you
+believe in ghosts, Sandy."
+
+"Nope. Not a ghost do I believe in. And I hope this won't spoil the
+barn for you folks to get your pictures from."
+
+"Oh, no, it takes more than a noise to scare a theatrical troupe,"
+laughed the manager. "Well, we'll have to give it up, I suppose."
+
+There seemed to be nothing else to do, and the party returned to the
+house, the girls joining them on the way back.
+
+"After all, it might have been some loose board, or plank, falling
+down. The place is nigh tumblin' t' pieces," declared Sandy. "But
+I'll keep a watch around. I don't want any tramps on this place."
+
+"I might use one in a moving picture," said Mr. Pertell, musingly.
+What he could not use in a moving picture film was small indeed. "I
+believe that would make a good scene," he went on. "A tramp comes to
+beg at the farmhouse. He is told that he must saw a lot of wood, or
+do something like that. Then, let me see--yes, I'll have him eat
+first, and then refuse to saw the wood. He thinks the lady of the
+house is home alone. But he makes a mistake, for she proves to be one
+who has taken physical culture lessons, and she is a match for the
+tramp. She stands over him until he saws all the wood.
+
+"That ought to go. I'll cast Mrs. Maguire for the strenuous lady, and
+Mr. Sneed can be the tramp. He has a sour enough face. That's what
+I'll do!"
+
+"I can just imagine Mr. Sneed in that role," said Alice to Ruth, with
+a laugh. "He won't like that a bit!"
+
+"I suppose not. Still, we have to do many things in this moving
+picture business that we don't like."
+
+"I like every bit of it!" Alice declared. "I think it's all fun!"
+
+"I wish I had your happy way of looking at things!" sighed Ruth. "It
+is a great help in getting through life."
+
+"Why don't you practice it?" Alice asked. "It's easy, once you
+start. There are so many funny things in this world."
+
+"And so many sad ones!"
+
+"Bosh!" laughed Alice. "Excuse my slang, sister mine, but you ought
+to read fewer of those romantic stories, and more joke books. Oh,
+there goes Paul, and with a fish pole, too. I'm going with him!"
+
+"He hasn't asked you!"
+
+"What of it? I know he'll be glad to have me. Oh, here comes Laura
+Dixon after him. I'm going to get there first. Paul! Paul!" Alice
+called, "can't I go fishing, too?"
+
+"Of course!" he cried, his face lighting up with pleasure. "Come
+along. I've got an extra line and hooks in my pocket, and we can cut
+a pole along the stream. Come along."
+
+He did not see Miss Dixon, who was behind him, but she saw Alice and
+heard what was said. For a minute she paused, and then, with a rather
+vindictive look on her face, turned back.
+
+"Alice!" called Ruth, "I'm not sure father would want you to go. It
+is getting near supper time."
+
+"Oh, you tell him I just had to go, Ruth dear!"
+
+Mr. DeVere, with Sandy and Mr. Pertell, had gone on ahead.
+
+Ruth shrugged her shoulders. There was little she could do with
+Alice, once the younger girl had set her mind on anything. And,
+really, there was no harm in going fishing with Paul. The favorite
+spot was not far from the farmhouse, and within view of it.
+
+"It's fine of you to come!" said Paul, as he walked along over the
+meadow with the laughing, brown-eyed girl. "I'm sure we'll have good
+luck."
+
+"I'm never very lucky at fishing," said Alice. "But I'll watch you."
+
+"No, you've got to fish, too. I'll cut you a light pole."
+
+"And will you bait my hook--I don't like to do that."
+
+"Surely I will."
+
+They walked on, chatting of many things, and as they reached the
+fishing hole--a deep eddy on the overhanging bank of which they could
+sit--they saw Russ Dalwood, with his camera, going along the opposite
+bank.
+
+"What are you doing?" called Paul.
+
+"Oh, just getting some odd scenes here and there of farm work. Mr.
+Pertell wants to work them into some of the plays. There are some men
+spraying a potato patch over in the next field, to get rid of the
+bugs. I'm going to make a scene of that."
+
+"All right. Good luck!" called Alice, pleasantly. "And, if you like,
+you can take a fishing scene. Paul and I are going to catch some for
+supper."
+
+"All right, I'll film you on the way back," laughed Russ.
+
+It was a pleasant summer afternoon, and the bank where Alice and Paul
+took their places was bathed in the golden light of the setting sun.
+
+"The fish ought to bite well to-day," observed Paul, when he had
+"rigged up" an outfit for Alice.
+
+"Why is to-day better than any other day?" she asked.
+
+"Because the wind is right. 'When the wind's in the west, the fish
+bite best,' is an old saying. Sandy reminded me of it when I started
+out to-day."
+
+They tossed in their hooks, and then waited. The water a little way
+below the eddy flowed over white stones, flecked here and there with
+green moss. The stream made a pleasant sound, and formed an
+accompaniment to the songs of the birds which flitted in and out of
+the willow trees that lined the stream.
+
+At the foot of the bank, on which sat the two fishers, ran the deep
+eddy, silent, and whirling about in a circular motion, caused by the
+impact of the brook against the shore, the waters being forced back
+on themselves. It was a quiet, and rather still pool, and was reputed
+to contain many fine, large fish.
+
+"I--I think I have a nibble," whispered Alice.
+
+"Be careful--don't jerk up too soon," warned Paul. "Yes, there is one
+after your bait. See your cork float bob up and down."
+
+"Does that show he's sampling it?"
+
+"Something of that sort, yes. Now, pull in!"
+
+Alice was a bit slow about it, for she had not fished much. Paul,
+fearing the fish would get away, reached over toward her, and took
+hold of the pole himself.
+
+As he did so he felt the part of the shelving bank on which they were
+sitting give away.
+
+"Look out! Throw yourself back!" he cried to Alice. But it was too
+late, and the next instant they both found themselves sliding down in
+a little avalanche of earth and stones--into the deep eddy.
+
+"Hold your breath!" Alice heard Paul cry as a last direction, and she
+obeyed.
+
+The next instant she felt herself in the water, and it closed over
+her head.
+
+Alice could swim, and, after the plunge into the stream, she did not
+lose her head. She knew she would come up in a second, even though
+hampered by her clothes. Her only fear was lest she be entangled in
+the fish-line. And in another second she knew this was the case. She
+could feel her feet bound together. But her hands were free, and she
+had seen expert swimmers make their way through the water with their
+feet purposely bound.
+
+She struck out with her hands, and found herself rising. Her lungs
+seemed ready to burst for want of air, for she had not had time to
+take a full breath.
+
+Then her head shot up out of water, and she could breathe. She shook
+her head to get the water from her eyes, and saw Paul striking out
+toward her.
+
+"I'll get you!" he cried, and then he uttered an exclamation of
+horror, for a log of wood, coming down stream, struck Alice on the
+head, and all grew black before her.
+
+She felt herself sinking again, and tried to strike out to keep her
+head above the water, but it seemed impossible. Then she felt herself
+grasped in a strong arm, and she realized that Paul had come to her
+rescue.
+
+At the same moment she dimly heard, in her returning consciousness, a
+voice crying something from the opposite shore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE BARN DANCE
+
+
+Alice fought back with all her strength the inclination to faint, and
+forced her brain to compel her body to do its work. She did her best
+to aid Paul in the rescue, but he was having a hard struggle. For
+Alice was rather heavy, and her feet, entangled as they were with the
+fish line, were of no aid. Then, too, the blow on her head had not
+been a light one, though it developed later that her heavy hair had
+prevented the log from bruising her.
+
+"I have you! Don't worry! I'll save you!" she could hear Paul
+murmuring in her ear. Then her head cleared, and she was able to
+recognize the voice and make out the words of someone on the opposite
+bank, toward which Paul was swimming with his burden.
+
+For the voice was the voice of Russ Dalwood, and his words sounded
+strangely enough under the circumstances.
+
+"That's it! Come right over here!" the young moving picture operator
+called. "I'm getting a dandy film! That's it, Paul, a little more to
+the left! That's the finest rescue scene I ever got! It's great
+acting!"
+
+"Why--why you--you don't mean to say you're _filming_ us!" cried
+Paul, for he was now in shallow water and could stand upright,
+holding Alice in his arms.
+
+"Of course I'm filming you!" exclaimed Russ. "Do you think I'd let an
+act like this get past me? Not much!" and he continued to grind away
+at the crank of his machine, which he had hastily set up on the edge
+of the stream, where he commanded a good view of those in the water.
+
+"But this isn't acting!" said Paul, ready to laugh, now that the
+danger was over. "This is _real!_ Alice fell in, and I went in after
+her. It's the real thing!"
+
+"Great Scott!" cried Russ. "I thought you were rehearsing for some
+play, and as I came along I thought I might as well get the scene,
+even if it was only a rehearsal. For I had plenty of film left, and
+sometimes the rehearsal comes out better than the real thing. And so
+it was an accident?"
+
+"Of course it was," answered Paul. "But as long as you've got it on
+the film I suppose there's no help for it."
+
+"It's a fine scene, all right," went on Russ, "and Mr. Pertell can
+work it into some of his plays." He ceased operating the camera now,
+as Paul and Alice were too close.
+
+"Are you much hurt?" asked the young rescuer, anxiously, as he looked
+for a grassy spot whereon to place his burden.
+
+"No--no," returned Alice, "I was more frightened than hurt. Will you
+please cut that line?" she asked, pointing to the tangle of the fish
+cord around her feet.
+
+In an instant Paul had out his knife, and cut the string.
+
+"Well, you two are pretty wet," said Russ. "How did it happen?"
+
+"The bank gave way with us," explained Paul. "It's too bad, Alice.
+That dress is spoiled, I'm afraid," he added, ruefully.
+
+"It doesn't matter," she answered. She could laugh now, but she could
+not repress a shudder as she looked back at the deep water of the
+eddy. They were on the other side of the stream now.
+
+"It was an old one, Paul," Alice went on, "and I can save it to do
+some more water-scenes with. For probably, after Mr. Pertell hears
+that Russ has the basis for a drama with someone in it being saved
+from drowning, he'll want the rest, and we may have to do some more
+swimming."
+
+"I wouldn't mind in the least," he said; "but next time I hope, for
+your own sake, you don't get entangled in a fish line."
+
+"That was pretty risky," said Russ. "But you two had better be
+getting back to the farmhouse now, and into some dry things."
+
+"Indeed, yes," agreed Alice. "I'm sure I must look like a fright.
+Papa will be so worried, and Ruth, too. I wish I could slip in the
+back way so they wouldn't see me until I had time to change."
+
+"I'll manage it," spoke Russ. "I'll go on ahead, and if any of our
+folks are in the back I'll bring them around to the front and hold
+them there while you slip in. I guess, Paul, you don't care to be
+seen in that rig; do you?"
+
+"I should say not! That water was certainly wet!"
+
+He had taken off his coat and was wringing it out, while Alice
+managed to get some of the water from the lower part of her skirts.
+
+"Then you aren't going to swim back?" asked Russ.
+
+"I should say not!" exclaimed Paul, with energy. "Isn't there a
+bridge somewhere around here, where we can cross?"
+
+"About half a mile down," answered Russ, "I came that way."
+
+"Are you sure you're all right, and able to walk, Alice?" Paul
+inquired, anxiously. "If not, I could go for a carriage. That is, if
+you will wait."
+
+"Of course I can walk," she answered, promptly, as she tried to
+arrange her hair in some sort of order.
+
+"Don't worry about that," said Paul, quickly. "It looks nicer that
+way."
+
+"As if I would believe that!" she challenged. "Well, if we're going,
+let's go. Don't forget, Russ, what you promised about getting us in
+the rear entrance. I wouldn't have Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon see
+me this way for anything--I'd never hear the last of it!"
+
+"Does your head hurt?" asked Paul, coming closer to examine the spot
+where the floating log had hit Alice.
+
+"Just a little," she admitted. "It's lucky, though, that my hair is
+so thick."
+
+They set off, Paul and Alice following Russ, who went on ahead with
+his moving picture camera.
+
+"I certainly have a fine film," he said, "but I don't believe I would
+have taken it if I had known it was the real thing in the way of a
+rescue. I'd have jumped in and given a hand myself."
+
+"It was very good of you, Paul," murmured Alice, but when he looked
+into her eyes she turned her own gaze away.
+
+"I--I wouldn't have missed the opportunity of saving you for--for
+anything," he said, softly.
+
+On the way to the farmhouse, over the bridge and along the country
+road, a few passing farmers turned to gaze curiously at the two
+dripping figures, and one grizzled man, seeing the camera Russ
+carried, and knowing moving picture actors were at Oak Farm, said,
+loudly enough to be heard:
+
+"Wa'al, by hickory! Some folks is purtty hard put t' airn a livin'
+now-a-days! Jumpin' in th' water t' have pictures made of 'em. G'lang
+there!" and he drove on with his bony horse and ricketty wagon.
+
+"You see, he thought the same thing that I did," laughed Russ.
+
+The young moving picture operator was able to draw around to the
+front of the farmhouse those of the theatrical company who were near
+the rear, and he managed to keep them there until Paul and Alice had
+a chance to slip in the side door, and get to their rooms unnoticed.
+Ruth, however, saw Alice, just as she entered the apartment they
+shared.
+
+"Oh, my dear girl--you're all wet!" Ruth exclaimed.
+
+"You generally get that way when you fall into the water," remarked
+Alice, calmly. Then she told of the accident.
+
+"Oh, what a narrow escape!" breathed Ruth, sinking into a chair. "You
+quite frighten me!"
+
+"You need not be frightened--now--it's all over," and Alice was quite
+cool about it.
+
+Nothing worse than a slight headache followed her experience in the
+brook, but as much fuss was made over her, and as many kind inquiries
+made, after the story became known, as though she had been seriously
+injured.
+
+Mr. Pertell, after duly saying how sorry he was at the occurrence,
+expressed his satisfaction over the fact that Russ had made a film of
+the happening, and at once set to work to devise a plot and play in
+which it would fit. As Alice had guessed, he had to have other water
+scenes, and some in which a boat figured, and Paul and Alice were
+called on again to go through some "stunts," on the mill stream. Thus
+a pretty little play was made out of what had been an accident. And,
+more often than once is that really done in the moving picture
+world.
+
+Rather quiet days followed at Oak Farm. A number of rural plays were
+acted and filmed, and word came back from New York, where the first
+films had been sent for development and printing, that the reels were
+most successful. The one where Mr. Bunn was wet with the hose was
+particularly good, so said Mr. Pertell's agent.
+
+"But I'll never go through such a thing again," declared the
+Shakespearean actor.
+
+The affairs of the Apgar family did not improve with time. Squire
+Blasdell paid several visits to the farm, and one day, seeing Sandy
+looking particularly gloomy, Ruth asked him what the trouble was.
+
+"The squire is gettin' ready to sell off the farm," he replied. "He's
+goin' t' foreclose that mortgage. I've tried all the ways I know to
+raise that four thousand dollars; but I can't!"
+
+"I wish we could help," said Ruth, sympathetically, as she thought of
+the days of their own poverty, when everything seemed so black.
+
+"I don't reckon anyone can help us," said Sandy. "If only we could
+find Uncle Isaac's money, and get what belongs to us, we'd be all
+right; but I guess we can't."
+
+Preparations were under way for a barn dance, which was to be part of
+a scene in one of the farm plays Mr. Pertell had planned. In order to
+make it as natural as possible a number of the country folk living
+near Oak Farm had been asked to take part. Young and old were
+invited, and all were delighted to come and "have their pictures
+took." Thus the original theatrical company would be much augmented
+on this occasion.
+
+The affair was to take place in the old barn, which, later, would be
+burned in the great drama. And this barn was selected as the dance
+was to take place at night. For this good illumination would be
+needed, and special magnesium lamps were sent out from New York, to
+be lighted inside the barn. In order to run no chances of burning one
+of the good farm buildings the old one, which now practically
+belonged to Mr. Pertell, was taken.
+
+"That barn dance will be fun," said Alice to Ruth, the evening on
+which it was to take place. "There's going to be a country fiddler.
+Come on out and let's look at the decorations. Sandy has hung up long
+strings of unshelled ears of corn. It looks just like a real country
+barn now, for he's moved some of his machinery into it, and there's
+going to be a real cow there!"
+
+"Mercy, I'm not going to take part, then!" cried Ruth, nervously.
+"I'm afraid of cows."
+
+"Silly! This one will be tied. And you've got one of the principal
+parts. You're to dance with the young son of the rich farmer, and
+fall in love with him, and I'm to be the jealous one, and all that
+sort of thing, you know."
+
+"Yes, I know. Haven't I been studying my part for the last week? But
+I know I'll never do that Virginia Reel right. Since we learned the
+new dances I've forgotten all the old ones."
+
+The two sisters went out to the old structure, but it seemed
+deserted. They looked in and saw how well Sandy had arranged it to
+make an effective picture for the camera.
+
+"Come on," invited Alice, humming a tune.
+
+Ruth advanced toward her sister, to take a dancing position, when a
+noise startled the girls. It was the same sort of noise they had
+heard before, when their father, Mr. Pertell and Sandy had made an
+unsuccessful attempt to learn the cause of it.
+
+"What's that?" gasped Ruth.
+
+"I--I don't know," whispered Alice. But she did know--it was that
+same strange sound, as of a heavy body falling. And this time there
+was a groan--the girls were sure of this.
+
+Without another word they ran out of the barn, hand in hand toward
+the farmhouse, intending to give an alarm. And, as they got outside,
+they saw, running off in the dusk, across the fields, a man who
+limped as he sped onward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE RUNAWAY MOWING MACHINE
+
+
+"Look!" gasped Ruth.
+
+"It was that man--hiding in the barn! Who can he be?" asked Alice,
+pausing a moment.
+
+"Don't stop! Come on!" commanded Ruth, in fear.
+
+"But we ought to see who it is," insisted the younger girl. "Or at
+least watch where he goes. Sandy ought to know."
+
+"Well, we'll go tell him; but don't stand and watch that man. He
+might do you some harm."
+
+"How could he--away off there; and he's running away, besides," spoke
+Alice. "I think I would know him again. I had one glimpse of his
+face, as he turned. It was a mean, cruel-looking face, too."
+
+"It wasn't one of those men who tried to get Russ's patent; was it?"
+asked Ruth.
+
+"No, neither one of them was lame. And they are both locked up, I
+think. This is some other man. There, he's gone--at least I can't
+see him any more."
+
+Either a depression in the field over which he was running, or some
+hollow between hummocks, now hid the man from view. Then, too, night
+was falling, and the shadows were dusky.
+
+"We had better go and give the alarm," said Ruth, pulling gently on
+her sister's arm, to urge her forward. Together they hastened to the
+house, where, pantingly, they told what they had seen and heard.
+
+"Some tramp, likely," said Sandy, as catching up a club he ran toward
+the barn. Russ, Paul, and some of the other male members of the
+theatrical company followed. Alice wanted to go also, but Ruth would
+not let her.
+
+Nothing came of the search, however, though it was carried far
+afield. The men came back soon.
+
+"Some tramp, sure," reaffirmed Sandy. "This part of th' country is
+getting too thick with 'em. Something will have to be done. But I
+don't see where he could have hidden himself. You say the noise was
+just like the one you heard before?"
+
+"The same," answered Alice, "and it sounded in the same place--just
+as if someone had fallen, and then came a groan."
+
+"Maybe the man did fall and hurt himself," suggested Ruth. "And that,
+likely, was what made him limp."
+
+"Well, I wish he'd limp away from here and stay away," complained
+Sandy. "I can't see, though, how he managed to hide himself in the
+barn. There's something strange about that place."
+
+There was, but even Sandy had no suspicion of how very strange the
+matter was connected with the old structure.
+
+"Oh dear!" exclaimed Ruth, when the chase for the man was over, "I'll
+be afraid to go to that barn dance now."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Alice. "We'll all be there--and so will Russ," she
+added with a sly laugh.
+
+"As if that made any difference!" answered Ruth, quickly.
+
+"Oh, it _might_," and Alice seemed very innocent, but there was
+laughter in her eyes.
+
+In spite of the fact that there were many men and boys at the barn
+dance, Ruth could not help looking around nervously now and then
+during the course of the little play, several scenes of which took
+place in the old building. But there was no further alarm, and no
+unbidden guests were discerned in the bright glare of the powerful
+lights.
+
+The scenes went off very well, especially the dancing ones, but the
+"city folks," as the farmer lads and lassies spoke of the members of
+the theatrical company, were at rather a disadvantage when it came to
+doing some of the old-fashioned dances. They had not practiced them
+in years, particularly Miss Dixon and Miss Pennington.
+
+"The idea of doing the old waltz and two-step," complained Miss
+Pennington. "It's like running a race."
+
+"Indeed it is, my dear," agreed her chum. "Why can't he let us do the
+Boston Dip, at least; or the one-step glide. I hate the continuous
+waltz."
+
+"So do I. Let's try it, when you and I dance together."
+
+"We will!"
+
+But Mr. Pertell, who was overseeing the carrying out of the barn
+dance, at once cried sharply:
+
+"Hold on there with that camera, Russ! That won't do, Miss
+Pennington--Miss Dixon. We don't want the new dances here. Not that
+there is anything the matter with them," he hastened to add, as he
+saw the defiant looks on the faces of the two former vaudeville
+players; "but this is supposed to be an old-fashioned country dance,
+of the style of about twenty-five years ago, and it would look queer
+in the films to see the dip and one-step introduced.
+
+"Now do that part over, and keep on with the Virginia Reel. Go ahead,
+Russ. And everybody get a little more life into this thing. Be
+lively! Hop about more! Shout and sing if you want to--it won't hurt
+the film. Go ahead, fiddler!"
+
+Once more the violin wailed out its tune, and the play went on.
+
+"I wonder what I'll have to do next?" complained Wellington Bunn.
+"This is getting worse and worse. I've had to dance with a big
+country girl, and every time I take a step she comes down on my foot.
+I'll be lame for a week."
+
+"It's awful--this moving picture work," agreed Mr. Sneed, who seemed
+never to get over his "grouch." Then he went on: "It's dangerous,
+too. Suppose this barn should catch fire? What would happen to us?"
+
+"Ve vould get out quick-like, alretty!" said Carl Switzer, as there
+came a lull in the dance. "Isn't dot der answer?"
+
+"I wasn't asking a riddle," grunted Mr. Sneed. "But something will
+happen; you mark my words."
+
+"Yah, I hope it happens dat ve haf chicken for dinner on Sunday!"
+laughed the German, who always seemed good-natured.
+
+Some other scenes for the play, in which the background of the barn
+was needed, were made, and then work was over for the evening.
+
+Some of the young persons from neighboring farms asked to be allowed
+to stay and dance more, and this was allowed. Ruth and Alice, with
+Russ and Paul, also remained and had a jolly good time, making
+friends with some of the country girls and boys.
+
+"I've got something new for you, Miss Alice," said the moving picture
+manager a day or so later, coming up to Ruth and her sister as they
+sat on the farmhouse porch. Mr. Pertell had some typewritten pages in
+his hand, and this generally meant that he was getting ready for a
+new play.
+
+"What is it this time?" asked Alice. "Have I got to fall overboard
+out of any more boats?" for that had been one of her recent "stunts."
+
+"No, there's no water-stuff in this," answered the manager with a
+smile. "But can you drive horses?"
+
+"Mercy, no!" cried Alice.
+
+"Oh, I don't mean city horses. I mean these gentle country ones about
+the farm."
+
+"Oh, I've driven the team Sandy uses to take the milk to the dairy,"
+confessed Alice. "I could manage them, I suppose."
+
+"Those are the ones I mean," went on the manager. "In this play you
+are supposed to be a country girl. Your father falls ill and can't
+cut the hay. It has to be cut and sold to pay a pressing debt, and no
+hired men can be had in a hurry. So you hitch up the horses to the
+mower and drive them to cut the grass. It's only for a little while.
+Think you can do it?"
+
+"Well, I never drove a mowing machine; but I can try. I don't know
+about hitching up the horses, though."
+
+"Better practice a little with Sandy, then," the manager advised.
+"He'll show you how."
+
+He gave Alice some written instructions, and then went over Ruth's
+part in the play. Alice, resolving to learn how to hitch up a team,
+went out to find Sandy.
+
+It was much easier than she had expected to find it, to attach the
+slow and patient horses to the mowing machine, and the young farmer
+took her for a turn with it about the barn yard, so she would be
+familiar with its operation.
+
+"I think I can do it," said Alice, and two days later, the rehearsals
+were ended and all was in readiness for making the film of the new
+rural play.
+
+Alice took her place on the seat of the machine, and began to guide
+the horses around the edge of the hay field. The mower has a long
+knife extending out from one side, and as the machine is driven along
+the wheels work the mechanism that sends this knife--or, rather a
+series of knives--vibrating back and forth inside a sort of toothed
+guard, thus cutting the hay or grain.
+
+"All ready, now," called Mr. Pertell to Russ, who was at the camera.
+
+"Go 'long!" cried Alice to the horses, and the animals began their
+slow walk. For a time all went well, and then a dog, coming from no
+one knew where, ran at the heels of the horses, barking and worrying
+them. In an instant one of the steeds leaped forward in fright and
+the other caught the alarm.
+
+"Hold them in, Alice!" cried Russ. But it was too late, and the
+horses started to run away, dragging with them the frightened girl on
+the seat of the mowing machine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE MAN WITH THE LIMP
+
+
+For a moment those watching the making of the moving picture stood as
+if paralyzed. The horses, frightened out of their usual calmness by
+the barking dog, were rushing madly down the field, the mowing
+machine clicking viciously.
+
+"Hold them in! Hold them in! Pull on the lines!" cried Sandy, who was
+the first to spring to action. He set off on a run toward the horses.
+
+Russ, too, leaping aside from his camera, started off to the rescue,
+and the others followed. Mr. DeVere was not in this play, and had
+remained at the farmhouse.
+
+Ruth, however, not being required in this particular scene, though
+she would come in the film later, had strolled down the meadow toward
+a little stream, to gather some flowers.
+
+It was in her direction that the frightened horses were running, and
+as Ruth heard the shouts, and caught the sound made by the clicking
+machine, she looked up. Then she saw her sister's danger, and without
+a thought of her own stepped directly in the path of the oncoming
+animals, waving up and down, frantically, a bunch of flowers she had
+gathered.
+
+"Don't do that! Jump to one side!" cried Sandy, who was now nearer
+the mowing machine. "Look out, Miss DeVere!"
+
+"But I want to stop the horses!" Ruth cried. "I must save Alice!"
+
+"You can't do it that way! They'll run you down, or if they don't the
+knives will cut you! Jump to one side--I'll try and catch them!"
+
+Ruth had the good sense to obey. She did not really mean to make a
+grab for the horses, but to stand in their path as long as she could,
+hoping to make them slacken speed. But she had forgotten about the
+projecting knives, which, even in their sheath of steel, might
+seriously injure her.
+
+Alice, white-faced, but still keeping her wits about her, tried to
+follow the shouted directions, and pull on the reins. But either the
+horses had the bits in their teeth, or her strength was not enough to
+bring them to a stop. On they raced, and, as the meadow was a large
+one, they had plenty of room. Alice might be able to guide them
+until they tired themselves out, but there was danger that they would
+turn into a fence, or that the machine would overturn and crush her
+under it.
+
+She had half a notion to leap from the iron seat, and trust to
+falling on the soft earth. But she feared she might become entangled
+in the reins, or that she would slip, and fall under the flying feet
+of the horses, or even on the clattering set of knives. And of these
+last she well knew the danger, for Sandy had warned her of them. So
+she decided she would keep her seat as long as she could.
+
+Sandy was racing up behind her. Above the thud of the horses' hoofs,
+and the shrill sound of the clicking knives, Alice could hear him
+coming on, trying to save her. And how she prayed that he would be in
+time.
+
+The mowing machine was opposite Ruth now, who had stepped back out of
+the way of harm. And as Alice passed her sister in the machine the
+latter cried:
+
+"Oh, Alice! If you should be hurt!" There was the sound of tears in
+her voice.
+
+Alice did not answer. She had all she could do to look after the
+plunging horses.
+
+Sandy was not at such a disadvantage in his race as at first it would
+seem. He was light on his feet, and a good runner, though much
+tramping over plowed fields and rough hills had given him a rather
+clumsy gait in walking.
+
+But the horses were not built for racing, either, and they were
+dragging a heavy machine on soft ground. The iron wheels of the
+reaper were made with projections, to enable them to bite deeper into
+the earth, and thus turn the gears that operated the knives. And
+these iron wheels were a heavy drag.
+
+So it is not surprising that, after a comparatively short run, the
+horses slackened their pace.
+
+"Sit down! I'm comin'!" cried Sandy, and now Alice could hear him
+panting behind her.
+
+In another instant she felt a jar on the machine, and then someone
+reached over her shoulder, and took the reins from her hands.
+
+"I'll pull 'em down!" cried Sandy, balancing himself on a part of the
+machine, back of the seat on which Alice was riding.
+
+The young farmer sawed hard on the lines and this, added to the fact
+that they had had enough of the hard run, caused the animals to
+slacken speed. They slowed down to a trot, and then to a walk,
+finally coming to a halt. And just in time, too, for right in front
+of them was a big stone fence, into which they might have crashed.
+
+"Oh! Oh dear!" gasped Alice. "I--I think I'm going to faint!"
+
+"Don't! Please don't, Miss!" begged Sandy, more frightened at that
+prospect, evidently, than he had been at the runaway. "I--I don't
+know what to do when ladies faint. Really I don't I--I never saw one
+faint, Miss. Please don't!"
+
+"All right--then I won't," laughed Alice, by an effort conquering her
+inclination. But she felt a great weakness, now that the strain was
+over, and she trembled as Sandy helped her down from the machine. In
+another moment Ruth and the others came up, and Ruth clasped her
+sister in her arms.
+
+"You poor dear!" she whispered.
+
+"Oh, I'm all right now," said Alice, bravely. "Perhaps there wasn't
+as much danger as I imagined."
+
+"There was a plenty," spoke Sandy, grimly.
+
+The dog, the cause of all the mischief, had disappeared. The horses
+were now quiet enough, though breathing hard, and soon they began to
+nibble at the grass.
+
+"Well, my dear girl, I'm sorry this happened!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell,
+as he came running up. "I never would have let you go through that
+scene if I had dreamed of any danger."
+
+"No one could foresee that this was going to happen," returned
+Alice, who was almost herself again. "I'm all right now, and we'll
+finish the act, if you please."
+
+"Oh, no!" cried Mr. Pertell. "I can't allow it. We'll substitute some
+other scene."
+
+"No," insisted Alice. "I'm not afraid, really, and I think the
+picture will be a most effective one. Besides, it is almost finished.
+We can go on from the point where the horses started to run; can't
+we?" she asked Russ.
+
+"Oh, yes," he agreed, with a look at the manager, "but----"
+
+"Then I'm going to do it!" laughed Alice, gaily. "I'm not going to
+back out just because the horses got a little frisky. They will be
+quiet now; won't they, Sandy?" she asked.
+
+"I think so, Miss--yes. That run took all the tucker out of 'em.
+They'll be quiet now," and he rather backed away from Alice, as
+though he feared she might, any moment, put into execution her threat
+to faint.
+
+"Alice, I'm not sure you ought to go on with this," spoke Ruth in a
+low voice. "Papa might not like it."
+
+"He wouldn't like me to begin a thing and not finish it," was the
+younger girl's answer. "I'm not afraid, and I do hate to spoil a
+film. Come, we'll try it over again," and she pluckily insisted on
+it until, finally, Mr. Pertell gave in.
+
+The horses were driven back to the place from which they had bolted
+and Alice again took her place on the seat of the mowing machine,
+while Russ worked the camera. This time everything went well, but
+Sandy Apgar was near at hand, though out of sight of the camera, to
+be ready to jump on the instant, if the horses showed any signs of
+fright.
+
+Paul Ardite, too, was on the watch, Ruth noticed. However, there was
+no need of these precautions. The horses acted as though they had
+never had any idea of bolting, and the film was finished.
+
+Mr. DeVere looked grave when told of the accident, and after a moment
+or two of thought remarked:
+
+"I wonder if I had better let you girls keep on with this moving
+picture work? It is much more dangerous than I supposed. I am worried
+about you."
+
+"You needn't be, Daddy dear!" exclaimed Alice, slipping her arm about
+his neck. "Nothing has happened yet, and I'll be real careful. I
+should be heartbroken if we had to give it up now. I just love the
+work; don't you, Ruth?"
+
+"Indeed I do; but twice lately, danger has come to you."
+
+"Well, I'll have one more near-accident and then the 'hoodoo' will be
+broken, as Mr. Sneed would say. Three times and out, you know the old
+saying has it."
+
+"Oh, Alice!" cried Ruth. "Do be sensible!"
+
+"Can't, dear! I leave that to you. But, Daddy, you mustn't think of
+taking us out of moving pictures. Why, some of the best and most
+important of all the farm dramas are to come yet. There's the one
+with the burning barn--I wouldn't miss that for anything! Please,
+Daddy, let us stay. You want to; don't you, Ruth?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course. Only there seems to be so many dangers about a
+farm. I used to think a country life was calm and peaceful, but
+things happen here just as in a city."
+
+"Indeed they do," laughed Alice, "only such different things. It's
+quite exciting, I think. Mayn't we stay, Daddy?"
+
+"Oh, I suppose so," he consented, rather grudgingly. "But take no
+more chances."
+
+"Oh, I didn't take the chances," laughed Alice. "The chances took
+me."
+
+During the next few days several farm scenes were filmed by Russ, and
+a number of partly finished plays were completed, the reels being
+sent to New York for development. Word came back that everything was
+a success, only a few minor errors being made, and these were easily
+corrected. A few scenes had to be done over.
+
+"But I'm glad it wasn't the one with the hose," said Mr. Bunn, with a
+sigh. "Really I'd never go through that again."
+
+"Ha! I vould like dot--if I vos on der right side of der hose!"
+exclaimed Mr. Switzer.
+
+The day had been a busy one, filled with hard work for all before the
+moving picture camera. When evening came the players were glad of the
+chance to rest.
+
+"Let's walk down the road," suggested Alice to Ruth. "It is so pretty
+and restful on the little white bridge, just before you come to the
+red schoolhouse."
+
+They walked down, arm in arm, talking of many things, and soon were
+standing on the white bridge that spanned a little stream, which
+flowed between green banks, fragrant with mint. Here and there were
+patches of green rushes and beds of the spicy water cress.
+
+"Oh, it's just lovely here!" sighed Ruth. "It is too beautiful. I
+wish we could share it with some one."
+
+"Here comes someone now, to share it with--a man," spoke Alice,
+motioning down the road, which was shaded with many trees, through
+which the moon was now shining, making patches of light and shadow.
+
+"Perhaps it is some of our friends," murmured Ruth. "I believe Russ
+and Paul started out for a walk before we did."
+
+"That's not two persons; it's only one," declared Alice as she
+continued to look at the advancing figure. "And see, Ruth, he--he
+limps!"
+
+She caught her sister's arm as she spoke, and the two girls drew
+closer together. The same thought came to both.
+
+Was this the man who had run out of the barn?
+
+"I believe it's the same one," whispered Ruth.
+
+"And I'm perfectly positive," answered Alice. "Oh, Ruth, now is our
+chance!"
+
+"Chance! Chance for what?"
+
+"I mean we can find out who he is, and perhaps solve the mystery."
+
+"Alice DeVere! We're going to do no such thing! We're going to run
+back home--that man is coming straight toward us!" cried Ruth, and
+she began to drag Alice away from the bridge.
+
+Meanwhile the limping figure continued to come along the road, going
+alternately from bright moonlight to shadow as he passed clumps of
+trees.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+ON GUARD
+
+
+Perhaps Alice really intended to do as she had intimated, and seek to
+learn, through a direct question, the identity of the mysterious man
+who seemed to have some object in remaining about Oak Farm. Then,
+again, she may not. I believe it may not have been altogether clear
+in her own mind.
+
+At any rate, once Ruth began to show the white feather, and to insist
+that Alice come away--then, if ever, the younger girl made up her
+mind that she would do as she had said--really interview the
+stranger--for, be it known, Alice was rather headstrong when opposed.
+
+But she had no chance to carry out her resolution, for the simple
+reason that the man himself acted to prevent it.
+
+"Come, Alice! Please come!" pleaded Ruth, almost in a frenzy of fear.
+
+And then the man, catching sight of the girls, who were in bold
+relief in the gleam of the moonlight, on the white bridge, and
+hearing their voices, stood still for a moment in a light patch. Then
+he turned and went rapidly down the road, limping as he hurried
+along.
+
+So Alice had no chance to do as she had said she would.
+
+"There he goes!" she exclaimed.
+
+"So I see," responded Ruth with a sigh of relief. "Oh, I'm so glad!"
+
+"I'm not!" declared Alice, and she really thought she meant it.
+Perhaps she did.
+
+"Oh, Alice!" exclaimed Ruth. "Suppose he had kept on?"
+
+"Just what I wanted him to do. There's nothing very harmful in one
+man, particularly as there are two of us, and we are so near the
+house, and on a public road. Oh, it was the best chance we've yet had
+of finding out who he is, and what he wants around here. And he had
+to go and--spoil it!" Alice acted as though really grieved.
+
+"We had better go back and tell Sandy or his father," suggested Ruth.
+"They may want to chase him."
+
+"Not much chance of catching him," replied Alice, ruefully. "See him
+go, even if he is lame." The man was really making rapid progress
+down the road in spite of his halting gait. "But come on," Alice
+resumed, "we'll tell the men, and they can do as they like."
+
+The two sisters hurried back to the farmhouse, and the message they
+delivered caused some excitement. For all were more or less
+interested in the mysterious man.
+
+Sandy, Russ and Paul at once hurried out, and went in the direction
+where Alice and Ruth had last seen the man. The girls, including Miss
+Pennington and Miss Dixon, also went out to see what success should
+attend the efforts of the young men. But it was the same as
+before--there was no sign of the man. This was not strange, though,
+considering that he might have slipped off at either side of the
+road, and gone into hiding in the fields, or in a patch of woodland
+nearby.
+
+"Guess we'll have to give it up," said Russ, as he and the others
+turned back. "I'd like to find out who he is, though."
+
+"Do you suppose he could be one of those men who tried to get your
+patent?" asked Alice. "I mean, he might be disguised."
+
+"I hardly think so," was the answer of the young moving picture
+operator. "Besides, my patent is fully protected now. They couldn't
+make anything out of that."
+
+"Then he must be after something on the farm," suggested Paul, who
+was walking beside Alice.
+
+"There ain't nothin' valuable lyin' aroun' here loose," said Sandy,
+with a short laugh. "I only wish there was. I'd get it myself an' pay
+off th' mortgage. More likely that fellow is after some of your
+movin' pictures. Aren't those reels, as you call 'em, valuable?"
+
+"That's so!" exclaimed Paul. "I never thought of that. Maybe he is
+after some of our films, Russ! We'd better speak to Mr. Pertell about
+it."
+
+"Perhaps we had. There are some moving picture men mean enough to try
+to take the ideas of other folks, and they might not be above taking
+the reels of exposed films, too. We've got some good ones on hand."
+
+Mr. Pertell was a little skeptical about the matter when it was
+mentioned to him, but he agreed that there was something in the idea,
+after all, and that it was rather odd for the mysterious man to
+remain so long in the vicinity of Oak Farm, without disclosing his
+errand.
+
+"He's a stranger--that's sure," said Mr. Apgar, Sandy's father. "He's
+a stranger here, for none of th' farmers in these parts know him.
+I've heard one or two mention seein' a lame feller going about, as if
+he had plenty of spare time. It must be this man. But, as Sandy says,
+we ain't got nothin' he can git. It all belongs t' Squire Blasdell,"
+he added with a rueful laugh. "Or it will after th' mortgage is
+foreclosed," he finished with a sigh.
+
+The old man looked over at his wife, who was seated in a rocking
+chair, mending stockings. She was a good sewer, and members of the
+theatrical troupe had her do work for them, thus enabling her to earn
+a little money, for which she was very grateful.
+
+The plight of the old people was really pitiful, with the dark shadow
+of losing their home ever looming nearer. Sandy tried to be cheerful,
+and several times said that perhaps at the last minute a way might be
+found to save the farm. But he was not very hopeful. He worked
+hard--doubly hard, since his father was able to do very little. This
+made it necessary to hire help, and that left so much less profit on
+the gathered crops.
+
+"Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep watch to-night," suggested
+Mr. DeVere, when the matter of the mysterious man was being
+discussed. "That fellow may have designs on some of your farm
+buildings, Mr. Apgar."
+
+"That's so, he might," agreed the farmer. "Barns has been sot afire
+afore this."
+
+"Don't talk that way, Father, you'll scare the young folks," chided
+his wife gently, as she looked at Ruth and smiled reassuringly.
+"That'll never happen," she added, for, at the mention of the word
+"fire," Ruth had glanced nervously at the door, as though the limping
+man stood on the other side of it.
+
+"I'll keep an eye open to-night," said Sandy. "If that fellow comes
+around I'll be ready for him."
+
+"I'll help you," volunteered Russ, and Paul, too, said he would help
+in standing guard.
+
+It was arranged that the three men should take turns in keeping
+watch, and, during the night, patrol the barns and other buildings
+occasionally, to watch for any signs of the stranger.
+
+At first the girls, and even Mrs. Maguire, were a bit nervous, and
+this made little Tommy and Nellie, the latter's grandchildren,
+somewhat timid. Then Mr. Pertell suggested that they all consider
+their parts in a new drama that was to be started next day, as that
+would take their minds off the scare.
+
+Save for the occasional barking of a dog, who bayed at the moon, and
+the lowing of the cattle, there was scarcely a sound, except those of
+the night insects. The night passed quietly, and there was no sign
+of the mysterious man.
+
+"I guess you girls scared him away for good," remarked Paul, at the
+breakfast table.
+
+"I hope so," murmured Alice. "I had one look at his face, and if ever
+I saw a hard and cruel one I saw it then."
+
+Work and rehearsals of the new play occupied all for the next two
+days. Several new things in the way of properties were needed, and
+this kept Pop Snooks busy. One of the things he had to provide was a
+rickety two-wheeled cart, that was to be hitched to a donkey, one of
+the farm animals.
+
+"Who's going to ride in that cart?" asked Mr. Bunn, as he strode
+about the place with the new silk hat which, true to promise, Mr.
+Pertell had purchased to replace the water-soaked one.
+
+"I think I'll cast Ruth DeVere to ride in the cart," said the
+manager. "Someone will have to ride the mule, though, and as I want a
+tall man for that act I think I'll take you, Mr. Bunn. You will black
+up as a colored man, and----"
+
+"Stop! Stop where you are!" cried the Shakespearean actor, in
+stentorian tones. "I shall do nothing of the sort. You may consider
+that I have resigned!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+AN UPSET
+
+
+Perhaps Wellington Bunn was disappointed that Mr. Pertell did not at
+once beg him to reconsider his resignation, and to stay his parting
+steps, for the actor had turned aside after issuing his defiance, and
+started toward the house, as though to carry out his threat, pack up
+and go back to New York.
+
+But the manager did not call after Mr. Bunn to stay. All he said was:
+
+"Very well, Mr. Bunn, if you resign now, without the two weeks'
+notice called for in your contract, you need not expect another
+engagement with me, nor with any of the moving picture associations
+with which I am connected. I am not asking you to do anything very
+difficult."
+
+"But to ride a mule! Great Scott! I can't do that, my dear sir!"
+
+"You told me you could ride."
+
+"Yes, a horse, perhaps; but not a mule. Why, a mule kicks!"
+
+"Oh, I don't believe this one will kick," replied the manager.
+"Anyhow, I want you to ride him. There is to be a comic part to this
+play, and I look to you to provide it. You will blacken your face
+and----"
+
+"Black up and take the part of a colored man--me, Wellington
+Bunn--who has played the classic Shakespeare--do blackface? Never!"
+
+"You forget that Shakespeare's Othello was a colored man, I guess,"
+laughed Mr. Pertell, "and you told me you had played that character."
+
+"So I have, but Othello was a Moor--not a common black-faced
+comedian. He was brown, rather than black."
+
+"Well, we'll go a few shades darker, and be real black, in your
+case," suggested Mr. Pertell. "And you'll have to ride the mule. It
+is necessary to make the scene a success."
+
+Wellington Bunn sighed, as he answered:
+
+"Very well. But when this engagement is over no more moving pictures
+for me! I am through with them!"
+
+"We'll see," replied the manager, as he went on with his preparations
+for the new play. Nearly the whole company were to take part in this,
+and Tommy and Nellie had parts that pleased them very much.
+
+"I'm to drive a little goat cart!" exclaimed the small lad, "and
+you're to ride with me, Nellie."
+
+"Oh, that will be fun!" she cried, clapping her hands. "But your goat
+won't bite; will he?"
+
+"I won't let him bite you, anyhow," promised Tommy, kindly.
+
+Although Mr. Bunn had tacitly agreed to ride the mule, he had many
+misgivings on the subject, and several times he might have been seen
+standing near the animal, carefully studying it, as though it were a
+piece of complicated machinery that had to be mastered in detail.
+
+"Is it a--er--a gentle beast?" the actor asked of Sandy.
+
+"Allers has been," replied the young farmer. "'Hee-haw,' as we call
+him, ain't never done no harm to speak of."
+
+"He may begin on you," predicted Pepper Sneed, gloomily.
+
+"I wish you wouldn't say such things!" exclaimed the other actor,
+testily. "You are always looking for trouble."
+
+"Well, you'll get some without looking for it, if you ride that
+mule," declared the "grouch," as he walked off.
+
+"Yes, and if anything happens, I suppose you'll say 'I told you so!'"
+remarked Mr. Bunn, with a gloomy countenance.
+
+Preparations for the play went on, and rehearsals were in order.
+Without blacking his face, which could be done when the play was
+actually filmed, Mr. Bunn gingerly rode the mule. He made as much of
+a success of it as was possible. And certainly Hee-haw showed no
+signs of obstreperousness.
+
+Ruth rode in the curious old cart, which Pop Snooks had made from
+material found about the farm. She was to represent a country maid of
+a generation past--and very pretty she looked, too, in her wide
+skirts and poke bonnet, covered with roses. Quite in contrast to the
+long and lanky figure Mr. Bunn, who in a nondescript suit, rode the
+mule that drew the cart, after the fashion of an English postillion.
+The play was a comic one without much rhyme or reason, but it was
+found that audiences occasionally liked things of that sort, so the
+films were made.
+
+The day for the humorous film had arrived, and all went well until
+the scene came with the mule. Even the first part of that was
+successfully taken, though Mr. Bunn kept muttering to himself over
+the fact that he had to blacken his face.
+
+But he rode the beast, which certainly did nothing out of the
+ordinary, though Mr. Sneed, with his usual gloomy forebodings,
+confided to Pop that the beast had a wicked look in his eyes.
+
+Ruth had ridden in the cart along the country road and had alighted
+from the vehicle, her part being over. Then, just as Mr. Bunn was
+about to get off the mule's back a bee, or some other insect, stung
+the animal.
+
+With a "Hee-haw!" worthy of his name the mule lashed out with his
+hind feet and, in an instant, the frail cart that Pop Snooks had
+constructed was kicked to bits. It was lucky that Ruth was out of it.
+
+As for Wellington Bunn, he fell forward on the mule's back when the
+animal kicked out, and there, holding on tightly, the actor clung,
+while the beast dashed off down the road, dragging behind him the
+shafts and a small part of the cart.
+
+"There he goes! I knew something would happen to him!" cried Mr.
+Sneed. "To-day is Friday!"
+
+"Oh, he'll be hurt--maybe killed!" cried Ruth, for, in spite of his
+rather too-tragic airs, Mr. Bunn was liked by all.
+
+"I guess he won't get hurt much!" exclaimed Sandy. "Hee-haw never
+runs far, an' he never did such a thing before."
+
+However, all the men ran down the road to see the outcome of the
+happening to Mr. Bunn, and to lend help, if necessary.
+
+On ran the mule, seemingly not slackening speed, and to his neck, so
+that he should not fall off, clung the actor. His long legs flapped
+up and down, and swayed from side to side, while his cries of wild
+distress floated back to his friends.
+
+"Stop him! Don't let him run! Grab him, somebody!" pleaded Mr. Bunn.
+But there was no one who could stop the animal.
+
+However, the ride was not destined to be a long one. The mule ran
+along the highway, leaped a roadside ditch, and then stopped short in
+front of a grassy bank. So sudden was the halt that Mr. Bunn shot
+over the animal's head, his hold around the neck being broken, and he
+was thus neatly upset, coming down amid the luxurious growth of
+grass.
+
+He sat there dazed for a moment, his face being now curiously
+streaked, for some of the powdered carbon had rubbed off on the
+mule's neck. As for Hee-haw, he began quietly cropping the grass, as
+if he had done his part of the entertainment.
+
+"Oh, if I had only been able to get that on the film!" cried Russ, as
+he and the others ran up. "Maybe we can get him to do it over again,
+Mr. Pertell."
+
+"What--do that again! Never! I resign here and now!" exclaimed the
+actor. "I am through with the moving picture business forever!"
+
+But as he had often said that before, and as he was in the habit of
+resigning at least once every day, no one took him seriously.
+
+"Are you hurt, my dear sir?" asked the manager, solicitously, as he
+reached Mr. Bunn's side.
+
+"If I am not, it is not due to you," was the retort. "But I believe I
+have escaped with my life."
+
+He arose gingerly, and discovered that he had not even a scratch. The
+soft grass had saved him from everything but a jolt.
+
+"I never knew Hee-haw to act so before," said Sandy, as he came up
+and took charge of the mule.
+
+"Well, he'll never get the chance to act so with me again," declared
+Mr. Bunn, with great decision. "Now, as soon as I get this detestable
+black from my face, I am going to New York. I am through with moving
+pictures."
+
+Mr. Pertell did not attempt to argue with the actor, well knowing
+that the threat would not be carried out. Nor was it. A little later,
+when clothed in his accustomed garb, with his tall hat, which he
+seldom omitted from his costume, Mr. Bunn walked out, studying a new
+part that he was to take in the next play.
+
+But for several days after that, if anyone said "mule" to him, or
+even imitated the braying of that beast, Mr. Bunn scowled fiercely
+and strode off.
+
+In one of the scenes Mr. Pertell needed a number of farm hands to
+pose in the background, representing a scene in a wheat field, that
+was being mowed with the old fashioned scythes. Sandy undertook to
+get the characters, and a number of rather shy and awkward young men
+presented themselves at Oak Farm one morning.
+
+"Now we'll try this," said the manager, when all was in readiness.
+"You young farmers are supposed to be working in the wheat field.
+Just act naturally--as if you were working. Don't pay any attention
+to the camera. Talk among yourselves, and swing your scythes. My
+actors will do the main work in front of you. But I want a truly
+artistic background for the film.
+
+"Now, Mr. Sneed, you and Miss Pennington are the main characters in
+this scene. You, Mr. Sneed, are supposed to be one of the reapers,
+and Miss Pennington comes out to bring the workers a jug of lemonade.
+She also has a letter for you to read. You lean on your scythe as you
+read it--you know, a nice, graceful pose."
+
+"I know," answered the actor.
+
+"And you, Miss Pennington, you are supposed to be in love with one of
+the young farmers."
+
+"Me! Me!" cried several of the lads Sandy had engaged.
+
+"Now, not all at once, please!" begged Mr. Pertell, with a smile. "I
+appreciate your interest in Miss Pennington, but this must be worked
+out according to the scenario."
+
+He went on to explain how he wanted the action carried out, and Russ
+was ready with the camera.
+
+"Attention!" called the manager, as he stepped back to get a general
+view of the scene. "That will do, I think," he added. "Go!" he cried,
+and the action of the play was on, Russ clicking away at the camera.
+
+First the reapers were shown, swaying as they walked along, each one
+cutting his "swath," or path, through the standing grain. Mr. Sneed
+was one of these. Then the view changed, so as to show Miss
+Pennington, dressed as a country lass, coming along with a jug on her
+shoulder, and a letter in her hand.
+
+She reached the scene of the mowing, and there was a little
+"business," or acting, as she handed over the letter. Some of the
+farmers drank from the jug, and all of them had hard work to keep
+their eyes from the camera.
+
+"Not that way! Not that way!" cried the manager, as one young reaper
+took a position directly in front of the clicking machine and stared
+straight into the lens. "You're not posing in a beauty contest. Go on
+with your reaping, if you please, young man!"
+
+"I can cut a foot or so out," said Russ. "That won't spoil the film."
+
+"Now then, Mr. Sneed, lean your arm on the scythe, and read your
+letter," directed the manager. "Miss Pennington, you stand off a
+little to one side, and talk to one of the reapers. The rest of you
+swing your scythes."
+
+The action went on, and Mr. Sneed, taking as graceful an attitude as
+was consistent with his character, began to read the missive, which
+would be photographed, much enlarged, later, and thrown on the screen
+for the audience to read.
+
+Made nervous by something to which they were unaccustomed, the
+farmer-actors were perhaps a little self-conscious. One of them,
+swinging his scythe, came too near Mr. Sneed. In an instant he had
+knocked from under the actor's arm the crooked scythe handle on which
+Mr. Sneed was leaning, and the next instant the "grouch" went down in
+a heap, fortunately falling in such a way that he was not cut by the
+sharp blade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE LONELY CABIN
+
+
+"Stop the reel! Hold that, Russ! Everyone keep position! We don't
+want that spoiled!" cried Mr. Pertell, when he had seen, at a glance,
+that Mr. Sneed was not hurt. "Hold your positions, everybody!"
+
+This is an order frequently given during the taking of moving
+pictures, when any accident happens. Often the film will break, while
+the exposures are being made, and if the actors keep to the places
+and positions they had when the break occurred, the film can be
+threaded up again, and mended. Then, later, undesireable parts can be
+cut out of the exposed part, so that no great harm is done.
+
+For a moment the little accident rather upset the crowd of farm lads,
+who were not used to such happenings. But the moving picture actors
+themselves were not unduly alarmed. Russ had stopped operating his
+camera.
+
+"You're not hurt; are you, Mr. Sneed?" asked the manager.
+
+"Hurt--no! But I might have been! I was sure something would happen
+to-day, for I saw a black cat as I got up. Well, it's lucky it's no
+worse. But I wish you'd make those fellows with their big cutters
+keep farther back, Mr. Pertell. They might slice my legs off. I know
+some serious accident will happen before the day is over."
+
+"Oh, cheer up!" laughed Russ.
+
+The actor arose, Mr. Pertell cautioned the young farmers about coming
+too close with their keen, swinging scythes, and the moving picture
+play went on.
+
+Ruth and Alice DeVere had parts in the little drama, but they were to
+enact them with a different background, and when Russ finished
+filming the scenes in the wheat field he went back to the farmhouse
+to get other pictures.
+
+There appeared to be something unusual going on, for out in the road
+stood two carriages, and on the porch could be seen Mr. and Mrs.
+Apgar, and Sandy, with two men. The moving picture actors and
+actresses who had not gone to the field were also there.
+
+"I wonder what is going on?" said Mr. Pertell.
+
+"Something has happened!" exclaimed Mr. Sneed. "I knew it would--I
+told you so!"
+
+Hurrying to the porch where the group was, Mr. Pertell heard one of
+the strangers saying:
+
+"Well, we've got to do it whether you like it or not, Mr. Apgar.
+Squire Blasdell wants the money on that mortgage, and the only way he
+can get it is to foreclose. So I've got to post the notices of the
+sale."
+
+"To think that I should live to see this day!" sighed Mr. Apgar. "My
+farm to be sold under foreclosure!"
+
+"It is hard, Pa, dreadful hard," said Mrs. Apgar. "But we are honest.
+We'd pay if we could."
+
+"If only I could find Uncle Isaac's money," sighed Sandy. "Couldn't
+you give us a little more time, Sheriff Hasell?"
+
+"No, I'm sorry; but I can't," replied the official. "You see this
+isn't actually selling the farm. We're only going to post notices
+that it will be sold. That has to be done, according to the law here.
+It'll be some time though, before the farm is auctioned off to the
+highest bidder."
+
+"And we can stay here until then; can't we?" asked Sandy.
+
+"Oh, yes, sure, and for a little while after. You see these things
+take time," the sheriff returned. "It's too bad--I'm sorry, but me
+and my deputy has to do our duty."
+
+"Go ahead, then," said Sandy, and there were tears in his eyes. "We
+won't stop you, but it's hard--it's terrible hard--to lose the place
+we worked so long for, an' all because of some mistake. Uncle Isaac
+would want us to have that money paw lent him, but he died afore he
+could tell where he hid it."
+
+The sheriff and his man then went about the farm, posting several
+notices of the sale on the different buildings. This gave Russ an
+idea, and he suggested it to Mr. Pertell.
+
+"Why not make a film of this," said the young operator. "Old
+couple--going to be turned off their farm--foreclosure of
+mortgage--posting the notices--the cruel creditor--the sheriff and
+all that. We could make up a good play."
+
+"So we could!" cried the manager. "A good idea, and I'll pay Mr. and
+Mrs. Apgar for posing for us. It'll give 'em a little extra money."
+
+At first the aged couple would not hear of posing before the camera,
+but Sandy explained matters to them, and told them they could easily
+do it. Mr. Pertell promised to pay well, and this finally won them
+over. The sheriff and his deputy good-naturedly agreed to do their
+tacking up of the notices in front of the camera, and so an
+unexpected film was obtained. It is often that way in making moving
+pictures. The least germ of an idea often leads to a good play.
+
+The other scenes in "The Loss of the Farm," as the play was to be
+called, would be made later. For the present it was necessary to go
+on with the scenes of the drama, part of which had been laid in the
+wheat field.
+
+Russ put some fresh film in his camera and was ready for Ruth and
+Alice, who had some pretty little scenes together.
+
+The day was hot, the work was exacting, and when it was over everyone
+was ready to rest. Russ was perhaps busier than any, for he had to
+prepare the films to be sent in light-tight boxes to New York for
+development, arrangement, and printing.
+
+"Let's go off to the woods," suggested Alice to her sister, when they
+had changed their costumes for walking dresses of cool brown, with
+white waists. "I declare I just want to get under a tree and lie down
+on the soft green moss."
+
+"So do I, dear. We'll go up to that little dell which is so
+pretty--the one where we got the lovely flowers. It is so restful
+there."
+
+Together the sisters set off, walking slowly, for the air was sultry.
+
+"Don't you want to come, Daddy?" called Ruth to her father, who was
+sitting on the farmhouse porch.
+
+"No, thank you," he answered. "I have some letters to write."
+
+His voice had grown somewhat stronger under the influence of the
+pure, country air, and from the fact that he used it very little. But
+still it was not clear enough to enable him to go back into
+legitimate theatrical work. And, truth to tell, he rather preferred
+the moving pictures now. It was easier, even if there was no audience
+to applaud him.
+
+Ruth and Alice soon reached the edge of the cool woods, and then they
+strolled slowly along until they came to a little dell--a nook they
+had discovered one day when out walking.
+
+"Oh, this is delightful!" exclaimed Alice, as she sank down on a bed
+of moss.
+
+"Yes, it is very soothing to the nerves," agreed Ruth. "Oh, dear!"
+she suddenly cried, leaping to her feet.
+
+"What is it?" demanded Alice.
+
+"A bug walked right over my shoe!"
+
+"Oh, mercy me!" mocked her sister. "Are you so scared that even a bug
+can't look at you, sister mine? Why, it's only a lady-bug--very
+proper to have on one's shoes, I'm sure," she added, as she saw the
+harmless insect.
+
+"I don't care! I just hate bugs!" cried Ruth. "I wish I had a rug to
+sit on."
+
+"Oh, you were never meant for the country!" laughed Alice. "Come, sit
+down, I'll keep the bugs away from you," and she pulled a big fern,
+which she used as a fan.
+
+The sisters sat and talked of many things, speculating on the
+identity of the mysterious man and wondering if the Apgars would ever
+discover Uncle Isaac's missing money and so save the farm.
+
+The day was drawing to a close, and the girls felt that they must
+soon return to the farmhouse.
+
+"Hark! What's that?" asked Alice, suddenly, after a period of
+silence. A distant rumble came to their ears.
+
+"Wagon going over a bridge, I should say," replied Ruth.
+
+"More like thunder," Alice went on. "It _is_ thunder," she said a
+moment later, as a sharp clap reverberated through the still air.
+"Come on, Ruth, or we'll be caught."
+
+They scrambled up from the mossy bed, and hurried from the little
+glen. But the storm came on apace, and before they were half-way out
+of the woods there was a sudden flurry of wind, and then came a
+deluge of rain, ushered in by vivid lightning, and loud thunder.
+
+"Oh, Alice, we'll be drenched--and our new dresses!" cried Ruth.
+
+"Let's get under a tree," suggested the younger girl. "That will
+shelter us."
+
+"And get struck by lightning! I guess not!" protested Ruth. "Trees
+are always dangerous in a thunder storm."
+
+"But we must find shelter!" said Alice, as they ran on.
+
+They came to a little clearing in the woods, and pausing at the edge
+saw a lonely cabin in the midst of it.
+
+"Come on over there!" cried Alice. "They'll take us in, whoever they
+are, until the shower is over."
+
+Seizing Ruth's hand she darted toward the cabin. Then both girls saw
+a man open the door and stand in it--a man at the sight of whom they
+drew back in alarm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MAN AND THE UMBRELLA
+
+
+For a moment the man stood in the doorway of the cabin, staring at
+Ruth and Alice standing there in the drenching rain. They had
+recognized him at once as the man whom they had seen run out of the
+old barn--the limping man who had fled down the moonlit road when he
+espied them on the bridge.
+
+Whether or not he knew the girls, they did not stop to consider.
+Certainly they were dressed differently than on either of the
+occasions they had encountered him; but that might not obviate
+recognition.
+
+"Come--come on back to the woods," whispered Ruth. "We--we don't want
+to meet him, Alice."
+
+"No, I suppose not," agreed Alice, "and yet," and she seemed to
+shiver, "we ought not to stand out in this storm when shelter is so
+near, no matter who that man is."
+
+"Oh, Alice!" exclaimed Ruth.
+
+"Well, I mean it! I am soaked, and you are, too. Besides, that
+lightning is awful--and the thunder! I can't stand it--come on. I'm
+sure he won't eat us!"
+
+But the girls were saved any anxiety by the action of the strange
+man. Alice was trying to draw her sister toward the cabin, and Ruth,
+torn between a desire to get under shelter, and fear of the man, was
+hardly able to decide, when the stranger darted back into the cabin,
+and came out with an umbrella.
+
+"Oh, he's going to offer it to us!" exclaimed Alice. "That is good of
+him."
+
+But, to her surprise, no less than that of Ruth, the man called out:
+
+"Come in, and welcome, young ladies. You may stay in this cabin as
+long as you like. The roof leaks in one place, but otherwise it is
+dry. I have to go away. Come in!"
+
+And with that he put up the umbrella and hurried off, limping through
+the rain, but never once glancing back at the girls.
+
+For a moment Alice and Ruth did not know what to do or think. The
+action was certainly strange. And why had not the man come to meet
+them with the umbrella, while he was about it? There was some little
+distance to go, from the fringe of trees where the two girls stood,
+to the cabin, and this space was open; whereas, by keeping under the
+leafy boughs they were, in a measure, protected from the pelting
+rain.
+
+"What shall we do, Ruth?" asked Alice. She wanted to defer to the
+older judgment of her sister. But Ruth answered:
+
+"I don't know, dear. What had we better do? I'm afraid----"
+
+"And so am I afraid--but I'm more afraid of this thunder and
+lightning, to say nothing of the rain, than I am of what may be in
+that cabin, now that the man has so kindly left it to us. I'm going
+in there, Ruth, and stay until the storm is over."
+
+With that, picking up her skirts, Alice sped across the open space,
+leaving Ruth to do as she pleased. And, naturally, Ruth would not
+stay there to be drenched alone.
+
+"Wait for me, Alice--wait!" she pleaded. But there was no need for
+Alice to delay, since she would only get the wetter, and Ruth was in
+no danger.
+
+"Come along," called Alice over her shoulder, and Ruth came. The
+sisters reached the cabin just as a brilliant flash of lightning,
+with almost simultaneous thunder, seemed to open the clouds, and the
+rain came down in a veritable flood.
+
+"Just in time!" cried Alice. "We would have been drowned if we had
+stayed out there. That man has some good qualities about him, at any
+rate. He was nice enough to give us the use of this place."
+
+"And maybe we're wronging him," panted Ruth, out of breath after her
+little run, and her hair all awry. "He may be all right, and it is
+foolish to suspect him of something we know nothing about."
+
+"Perhaps," admitted Alice. "But there is a look in his face I do not
+like. I can't explain why, but he looks, somehow--oh, I can't explain
+it, but he looks as if he had been in prison--or some place like
+that."
+
+"What a strange idea," responded Ruth. "I can't say I think that of
+him, but I agree with you that there is something repulsive about
+him. And that seems a mean thing to say, after he has given us the
+use of the cabin."
+
+"How do we know it was his?" asked Alice. "It doesn't appear to me to
+belong to anybody. Certainly it isn't very sumptuously furnished!"
+and she looked about the place in considerable curiosity.
+
+It was devoid of anything in the way of furniture, and only a few
+rough boxes were scattered about. On a stone hearth were the gray
+and blackened embers of a fire, and in one corner was a broken
+chair.
+
+"It seems to have been deserted a long time," said Alice. "I guess
+that man was passing and took shelter in here, just as we intended
+to. But there's another room. We may as well inspect that, and
+there's another upstairs. That may be a little better. We'll look,
+Ruth."
+
+"We'll do nothing of the kind!" exclaimed Ruth. "We'll just stay
+right by the door where we can run, in case--in case anything
+happens," she finished, rather falteringly.
+
+"Silly!" exclaimed Alice. "There is no one in this place."
+
+"But that man might come back."
+
+"Not likely. Besides, don't you know that it's the worst thing in the
+world to stand in an open doorway, before a fireplace or in a draft
+of any kind when there's lightning. Lightning is always attracted by
+a draft, or a chimney, or something like that."
+
+"Oh, why do you always think of such nervous, scary things?" cried
+Ruth.
+
+"Because they're true," answered Alice. "And I want to get you into
+the other room. We might find out something. And if you won't come
+upstairs, I'll go alone."
+
+"And leave me down here? I'll not stay!"
+
+"Then come along. We'll investigate. We may find a clue, as they say
+in books."
+
+Alice drew back from the open door, and started for the inner room.
+Ruth stood for a moment, uncertain what to do. She looked across the
+glade, but the strange man was not in sight. He and his umbrella had
+disappeared into the depths of the woods.
+
+Just then there came another vivid flash of lightning, and such a
+startling clap of thunder that Ruth, with a little scream, darted
+back, and, springing across the room, clutched Alice by the arm.
+
+"Oh, I'm so frightened!" she gasped.
+
+"We'll be all right now--in the back room," soothed the younger girl.
+"Oh, look! I believe that man does live here after all!"
+
+For the room was furnished with some chairs, a table, and in one
+corner was a cot bed, with the clothes tossed aside as if someone had
+lately been sleeping there. There was a small stove in the room, and
+pots, pans and dishes scattered about, as if meals had been recently
+cooked. A cupboard gave hint of things to eat.
+
+All this the girls took in by means of the rapid flashes of
+lightning, for it was growing too dark to see well inside the cabin,
+which was of logs, and with only small windows.
+
+"Yes, he must live here," agreed Ruth. "Oh, I hope he doesn't come
+back before the storm is over, so we can get away. You'll not go
+upstairs now; will you, Alice, dear?" Ruth looked pleadingly at her
+sister.
+
+"No, I guess not," was the answer. "We couldn't see much, anyhow. And
+if that man really lives here it wouldn't be exactly polite to go
+about his place without a better invitation than we have. He spoke
+truly when he called this his cabin."
+
+"Unless he just found it empty and took the use of it without asking
+the owner," suggested Ruth. "I wish we knew more about him."
+
+"So do I," agreed Alice. "I wonder if he really had to go away in the
+storm, or whether he knew we would not come in the cabin while he was
+here, and so made an excuse to leave it to us alone?"
+
+"If he did that it certainly was very kind of him," said Ruth.
+
+"Perhaps he is bashful and shy," observed Alice. "He ran before, when
+he saw us on the bridge, and now he runs away and leaves us his
+house--such as it is. Clearly there is some mystery about him. Oh,
+listen to the rain!"
+
+Indeed the storm was at its height now, and the girls were glad of
+the shelter of the cabin. As the man had said, there was a leak
+somewhere in the roof, and they could hear the steady drip, drip of
+water falling. But they did not see it, and the cabin seemed quite
+dry. It was a shelter from the wind, too, which was now blowing
+fiercely, bending the trees before the might of its blast.
+
+But, like all summer showers, this was not destined to last long. Its
+fury kept up a little longer, and then began to die away. Gradually
+the lightning grew less vivid, and the flashes were farther apart.
+The thunder rumbled less heavily and the rain slackened. The girls
+went to the entrance room and gazed out.
+
+"We can start soon," spoke Ruth. "It may sound a selfish thing to
+say, but I wish that man had left us his umbrella. We'll get quite
+wet going home, for the water will drip from the trees for some
+time."
+
+"Perhaps he'll come back and offer us the use of it," suggested
+Alice.
+
+"Don't you dare say such a thing!" exclaimed her sister. "Oh, I wish
+we were home! I'm afraid daddy will worry."
+
+"I wish there was a fire in that stove," spoke Alice, musingly. "I'd
+make some coffee, if I could find any. I'm quite chilly. We are wet
+through, and can't be made much worse by not having a umbrella. I'm
+going to look and see if I can find some coffee."
+
+"Alice, don't!" objected Ruth, but her sister was already in the rear
+room, and, not wanting to be left alone, Ruth followed. But, before
+either of the girls had time to look about and see if it were
+possible to kindle a blaze in the old stove, they heard a noise in
+the room they had just left. It was the patter, as of bare feet, on
+the wooden floor. Startled, the two gazed at one another. Then they
+clasped their arms about each other's waists.
+
+"Did--did you hear that?" whispered Ruth.
+
+Alice nodded, and looked over her sister's shoulder toward the door
+between the two rooms.
+
+Meanwhile the pattering footfalls in the other apartment continued.
+They seemed to be coming nearer, and there was a panting, as though
+someone had run far, and was breathing hard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+IN THE WOODS
+
+
+"What--what can it be?" faltered Ruth, as she clung to her sister.
+
+"I--I don't know," answered Alice, and her voice was far from steady.
+"I wish we hadn't come in here."
+
+"So do I!" Ruth confessed.
+
+Nearer and nearer came the footfalls. Now the girls were able to
+distinguish that they were made by some four-footed beast, and not by
+a human being, for the sound came in a peculiar rhythm that was
+unmistakable. Also there could be heard a panting, sniffing sound,
+that could only be made by some beast.
+
+"Oh, if it's a _bear_!" gasped Ruth.
+
+"Silly!" chided Alice. She was less nervous now, for she realized,
+with Ruth's remark, that there were no savage beasts in that part of
+the country.
+
+"Maybe it's only a cat," Alice suggested, after a moment.
+
+"It's too big and heavy for a cat," objected Ruth. "Oh, there it is!"
+she suddenly cried, pointing to the doorway between the two rooms,
+and, looking, Alice saw a tawny animal standing looking at them in
+the fast falling darkness.
+
+"It's only a dog!" cried Alice, in joyous relief. "A fine dog! Come
+here, sir!" she called, for Alice could make friends with almost any
+animal.
+
+But this dog, though he barked in a friendly fashion, and wagged his
+tail as a flag of truce, would not come nearer. He sniffed in the
+direction of the girls and then, with another bark, turned and ran
+out toward the entrance door.
+
+"Come on!" called Alice. "It has stopped raining, Ruth, and maybe
+that dog will follow us home. He'll be fine protection!"
+
+Ruth was not at all averse to having some sort of guardian on the
+walk through the lonely woods, but when she and Alice reached the
+outer room the dog, with a last look back, and a farewell bark,
+trotted off across the glade in the direction taken by the strange
+man with the umbrella.
+
+"He's gone!" exclaimed Alice, in disappointment. "Come back!" she
+invited. "Come back, sir!" and she whistled in boyish fashion. But
+the dog was not to be enticed, and was soon lost in the woods.
+
+"Maybe he belonged to that man," suggested Ruth, "and came here
+looking for him. What sort of a dog was it, Alice?"
+
+"A collie. The same kind Mrs. Delamont lost in the train wreck, you
+know."
+
+"Oh, maybe it was her prize animal, Alice!"
+
+"How could it be? He was lost a good way from here. But it looked to
+be a fine dog. Shall we go home, now?"
+
+"Yes," agreed Ruth. "We can't get much wetter, and I don't want to
+stay here any longer. I know daddy will be worried about us."
+
+With a last look about the cabin, wondering what could be the
+business of the man who stayed there, the girls started off. But they
+had not taken three steps before they saw, coming toward them from
+the other side of the clearing, two figures.
+
+"Oh!" cried Ruth, drawing back. "There comes that man, and he's got
+someone with him."
+
+Alice, too, was startled and a little bit afraid, but a moment later
+there came a cheerful hail.
+
+"Oh, it's Russ and Paul!" Alice cried. "They have come for us!"
+
+"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Ruth, and a few seconds later the four
+young people were together, making mutual explanations.
+
+Mr. DeVere had indeed become worried about his daughters, when the
+storm arose, and, as they had left word whither they were going, Russ
+and Paul volunteered to go after them, taking raincoats and
+umbrellas.
+
+"And here we are!" exclaimed Russ, as he helped Ruth on with her
+garment.
+
+"And we were never so glad to see anyone in all our lives; were we?"
+went on Alice, who, in spite of her brave nature, had been
+considerably unnerved by the events of the last few minutes.
+
+The young men were much surprised when told about the strange man and
+the dog, and they at once wanted to make an inspection of the cabin.
+
+"Who knows what we might find!" exclaimed Russ.
+
+"Wait until later, then," suggested Ruth. "Please take us home now."
+
+Russ and Paul had no choice, after that, but to take the girls back
+to Oak Farm.
+
+The rain was over, but the trees still dripped with moisture and the
+raincoats and umbrellas were very useful. Paul walked with Alice,
+while Russ kept pace at the side of Ruth. And as the four walked
+together they talked of the recent happenings, speculating as to the
+meaning of them all.
+
+Back in the comfortable farmhouse, clothed in dry garments, Ruth and
+Alice were inclined to laugh at their scare, which, at the time, had
+seemed very real.
+
+"I think that man was real kind," said Mrs. Apgar, as she heard the
+story. "To leave his cabin that way."
+
+"He was, unless he had some object in view," said Sandy. "I'd like to
+know what his game is. He's got some object hangin' around here, and
+I'm goin' to find out what it is."
+
+"Was that his cabin?" asked Ruth.
+
+"No, that's an old shack that really belongs on this place,"
+explained Mr. Apgar, "but there's a dispute as to the title, so no
+one really knows who owns it. 'Tain't much 'count, anyhow. But you
+say he was livin' in it?"
+
+"He had it partly furnished, at any rate," said Alice. "It could be
+fixed up and made into a lovely little bungalow."
+
+"Well, you folks kin do that if you like," offered Sandy. "I kin have
+it fixed so that fellow won't stay there. He's got no rights: only a
+squatter."
+
+"I think we'd feel safer here," returned Ruth, with a smile. "That
+man might come back unexpectedly."
+
+"I think I'll go up there to-morrow and have a look around,"
+suggested Russ. "I'd like to see more of that cabin by daylight."
+
+"And I'll go with you," offered Sandy. "I'm gittin' real interested
+in this chap."
+
+But when they went up early next morning they found the place
+deserted, and no signs of the strange man. There was evidence that he
+had packed up some of his things, for the bed clothing was gone, with
+some of the cooking utensils the girls had seen in the kitchen.
+
+"He's stolen a march on us," declared Paul, grimly.
+
+"Probably took fright because the girls located his hiding place,"
+said Russ.
+
+"And I reckon he is in hidin' for some reason or other," remarked
+Sandy. "I wish I could have him arrested!"
+
+"What for?" Russ wanted to know. "I'm afraid you'd have hard work to
+make a charge that would hold. So far he hasn't done anything that we
+know of."
+
+"He could be held as a trespasser," spoke Paul. "He was in the Apgar
+barn; wasn't he?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so."
+
+"That fellow's up to more than jest trespassin'," declared Sandy.
+"He's got some motive, and I'm goin' to find out what it is."
+
+But for the present this was out of the question. The man was gone,
+and none at Oak Farm knew his whereabouts. The only thing they could
+do was to wait until he showed himself again.
+
+"But having a dog was a new one," said Russ. "That is, if it was his
+the girls saw."
+
+But even on this point they could not be sure. They returned to the
+house, for Russ had to make several films that day.
+
+Several acts of one of the plays were to take place in the woods, and
+Russ had found a spot, not far from the lonely cabin, where there was
+the proper background of trees and hills.
+
+Thither the company went that afternoon, and after a little
+rehearsal, Mr. Pertell gave the word for the real action of the drama
+to begin.
+
+Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon were in this, as were Ruth and Alice.
+There was to be a picnic scene, with a campfire at which a meal was
+to be cooked, and real food had been prepared for the act.
+
+"All ready!" called the manager, when he had looked over the little
+company, and seen that they were all in their proper positions. "Go
+ahead, Russ!"
+
+For a time all went well, and then came a scream from Miss Dixon, who
+jumped up with such suddenness that she upset a pitcher of lemonade
+over Mr. Switzer.
+
+"Cut that out, Russ!" called the manager, sharply. "We seem to be
+having all sorts of accidents of late."
+
+"Oh, I'm so sorry!" apologized the actress. "But I--I saw a bug!"
+
+"You usually do in der voods, my dear young lady!" said Mr. Switzer,
+as he sopped up the lemonade from his trousers with his handkerchief.
+"Und, if it iss all der same mit you, I vould like to have my oder
+lemonade on der insides of me und not on der outsides, ef you pliss!"
+
+It took some little time to get matters straightened out, so that the
+making of the film could proceed. Several scenes were successfully
+made, and they were ready for the final one, when this time Miss
+Pennington screamed.
+
+"Another bug?" asked Mr. Pertell, and he was a bit sarcastic over it,
+for several little things had bothered him that day.
+
+"No, it's a snake! A snake! See, he's coming right for me!" and
+deserting the scene Miss Pennington made for a broad stump, upon
+which she jumped, screaming.
+
+"Snake! Call that a snake!" cried Russ, as he picked up a rather
+large and squirming angleworm.
+
+"Oh, put it down--the horrid thing!" begged Miss Dixon, who had
+joined her friend on the stump.
+
+"Poor little thing!" laughed Russ, as he tossed the worm into a clump
+of leaves. "Go home and tell your folks you scared two brave young
+ladies!"
+
+"Smarty!" exclaimed Miss Pennington, with a vindictive look at the
+moving picture operator, who had left his camera when the scene was
+broken up.
+
+Once again matters were arranged and the taking of the film went on
+as before. But that was a day destined to be fraught with adventures
+of more or less moment.
+
+In one scene Mr. Sneed had to pose as a wood chopper, and, to make it
+more realistic he was to fell a small tree. This action on his part
+had cost him no little time and trouble, for he was not proficient in
+the use of the axe. For several days the actor had had Sandy
+"coaching" him until he could do fairly well.
+
+"We'll try that tree-cutting scene now," said Mr. Pertell, after a
+bit. "Get ready for that, Russ. And, whatever you do, Mr. Sneed,
+don't have the tree fall on the camera. I don't want all the film
+spoiled."
+
+Soon all was in readiness for the final act of the day. Mr. Sneed
+swung his axe with vigorous strokes and the keen weapon bit deep into
+the wood. Alice and Ruth, who were acting with him, went through
+their parts in the little play.
+
+At times Mr. Sneed would pause to go through some other "business,"
+and then resume his chopping.
+
+"Look out," warned Sandy Apgar, who was one of the characters in the
+act. "She'll fall in a minute."
+
+"Yes, get from under," advised Russ. "I'll get a good picture of the
+tree coming down."
+
+Mr. Sneed ran out of the way, as a cracking warned him that the tree
+was going to fall. It was not a large one, but it had very heavy and
+thick foliage.
+
+Crash! Down came the tree, and then followed a cry of alarm.
+
+"Ach! I am killet! I am caught under der tree!"
+
+"Great Scott! Another accident!" groaned Mr. Pertell. "This certainly
+is a hoodoo day!" and they all ran to where Mr. Switzer had been
+pinned.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+GOING TO SCHOOL
+
+
+Fortunately for the German actor, he had been far enough away when
+the tree came down, so that only the top part of it, consisting of
+little branches and leaves, fell on him. In fact, he was not even
+knocked down by the impact, but stood up right in the midst of the
+foliage, his frightened blue eyes and rumpled light hair standing out
+from amid the maze of green in a curious fashion.
+
+"Vot for you do dot to me?" demanded Mr. Switzer of the grouchy actor
+who had chopped the tree. "Dot vos not in the act; vos it, Mr.
+Pertell?"
+
+"No, but as long as you're not hurt we'll leave it in. It will make a
+little variety. Why didn't you get out of the way?"
+
+"Nobody tolt me to. I t'ought Herr Sneed knowed vot he vos doin' by
+der tree yet! Vhy shoult I get der vay oudt?"
+
+"Well, I knew something would happen when I tried to chop a tree,"
+grumbled the author of the mischief.
+
+"As long as it's nothing very bad we'll forgive you," went on the
+manager.
+
+"Und I forgif him, too," spoke the German. "Only he must now use his
+axe again und get me out of dis. I am helt fast yet!"
+
+This was true enough, for the branches, though not heavy enough to
+have caused any injury, were quite thick, and fairly hemmed Mr.
+Switzer in.
+
+"Better let me lop off a few," suggested Sandy, and they agreed that
+as the chopping would have to be done quite close to the imprisoned
+one, a more expert hand had better do it.
+
+Sandy quickly had cut a way so the actor could emerge, and at Mr.
+Pertell's suggestion Russ made moving pictures of it.
+
+"I'll have a new scene written in the play to fit this," the manager
+said. "Mr. Bunn, I think you might climb that tree over there," and
+he indicated one within range of the camera.
+
+"Climb a tree! Me!" exclaimed the actor. "What for, pray?"
+
+"Well, I'll have a scene fixed up to indicate that the party gets
+lost in the woods, and you climb a tree to see if you can spy any
+landmarks to lead them out of their plight. Just shin up that tree,
+if you please, and put your hand over your eyes when you get up high
+enough to see across the tops of the other trees. You know--register
+that you are looking for the path."
+
+"I refuse to do it!" cried Wellington Bunn. "To climb a tree is
+beneath my dignity."
+
+"Then climb a tree and get above it," suggested the manager, drily.
+"You've got to climb; I want you in this scene."
+
+The tall actor groaned, but there was no help for it. Up he went, not
+without many misgivings and grunts, for he was not an athlete.
+
+"I say!" he cried, when part way up, "if I fall and get hurt you'll
+have to pay me damages, Mr. Pertell."
+
+"You won't get hurt much," was the not very comforting answer. "And
+you won't fall, if you keep a tight hold with your arms and legs. But
+if you do, there's lots of soft moss at the foot of the tree."
+
+"Oh, this life! This terrible life!" groaned Mr. Bunn. "Why did I
+ever go into moving pictures?"
+
+No one answered him. Perhaps they thought the reason was that he had
+outlived his drawing powers in the legitimate drama.
+
+Finally he reached the top of the tree, and pretended to be
+looking for a path for the lost ones, while Russ, always at the
+camera, successfully filmed him.
+
+"That's enough--come on down," ordered Mr. Pertell. Mr. Bunn came
+down more quickly than he went up, and the last few feet he slid down
+so rapidly that he scratched his hands, and tore his trousers.
+
+"You'll have to pay for them," he said, ruefully, as he looked at the
+rent.
+
+"Put it in your expense bill," suggested the manager. "We'll do
+anything in reason. And now let's get back before anything else
+happens. Is to-day Friday, the thirteenth?" he asked with a smile,
+for really a number of occurrences out of the ordinary had taken
+place. Fortunately, however, none of the accidents was serious, and
+no films were spoiled.
+
+Several days passed, one or two of them rather lazy ones, for the
+weather grew hotter and Mr. Pertell did not want to overburden his
+players. Russ and Paul took advantage of the little holiday to pay
+several visits to the cabin in the woods, but they saw no traces of
+the mysterious man.
+
+"I have something new for you to-day," remarked the manager one
+morning to the actors and actresses.
+
+"Water scenes?" asked Russ, with a sly glance at Alice.
+
+"No, this is on dry land. You're going to school for a change."
+
+"Going to school!" they all echoed.
+
+"Yes. I've a new play, and some of the scenes take place in a school
+room. I'll only want the younger ones in this, though. Miss Ruth and
+Miss Alice, Paul and Tommy and Nellie."
+
+"Only the younger ones! Well, I like that!" sniffed Miss Pennington,
+powdering her nose. "As if we were old maids!"
+
+"The idea!" gasped Miss Dixon. "Those DeVere girls think they are the
+whole show!"
+
+"I should say they did!"
+
+But it was not the fault of Alice and Ruth that they were young and
+pretty.
+
+"It won't be a very large class--with just us five in it," remarked
+Paul.
+
+"Oh, I'm going to use some of the regular school children," said the
+manager. "I've made arrangements with the teacher. We're to go to the
+schoolhouse this afternoon. Here are your parts--it's a simple little
+thing," he added, as he distributed the typewritten sheets. "Study
+'em a bit, we'll have a little rehearsal, and then we'll film it."
+
+It was not as easy as Mr. Pertell had thought it would be to get the
+little scenes in the country school. His own players were all right,
+but the regular school children were either too bashful or too
+bold--particularly some of the boys. And, just as one side of the
+room would get quiet, and Russ would be ready to grind out the film,
+the other side would break out into disorder caused by some
+mischievous boy.
+
+The children did not really mean to cause trouble, but it was a new
+thing for them to be made subjects for moving pictures. They would
+persist in staring straight at the camera, instead of pretending to
+study their lessons as they should have done.
+
+But finally they were induced to go properly through their little
+scene, and the action of the play began. At one part Alice was to go
+to the blackboard to do a sum in arithmetic, and Paul was to pass her
+a little love note. This was to be intercepted by Ruth, and then the
+trouble began--trouble of a jealous nature, all being woven into a
+little country romance that had its start in the schoolhouse.
+
+All was going well, and Russ was clicking merrily away at the camera,
+when suddenly one of the real pupils--a red-haired boy--cried at the
+top of his voice:
+
+"Bees! Look out for the bees! There's a swarm of bees headed this
+way!"
+
+And through the open windows of the school there came a curious
+humming sound.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+FILMING THE BEES
+
+
+There was an instant scramble on the part of the school children.
+They made a rush for the door.
+
+"Stop! Keep still--you're spoiling the scene!" cried Mr. Pertell,
+fairly hopping about in his excitement.
+
+The humming sound came nearer, and there was more haste on the part
+of the youngsters to leave the schoolroom. The players, on the other
+hand, seemed to feel no alarm; but there was no use in going on with
+their parts if the others did not carry out the scene.
+
+"Stop! Stop!" cried the manager. "There's no danger!"
+
+"No danger!" cried the red-haired boy who had given the alarm. "What
+d'ye call that! Wow!" and he slapped the back of his neck vigorously.
+
+"I'm stung!" he yelled.
+
+"So'm I!" cried a girl near him.
+
+"Me, too!" exclaimed another boy.
+
+The humming sound was much louder now, and several small insects
+could be seen flying about the room.
+
+"I guess we'd better get out of this!" cried Russ, as he prepared to
+abandon his camera.
+
+"It would be best," advised the teacher. "There is a swarm of bees
+outside, and some of them are in here. They may sting all of us."
+
+"Well, this is a new one--a moving picture spoiled by bees!" cried
+Mr. Pertell. "I never----"
+
+"One got me!" interrupted Mr. Sneed. "I knew something would happen.
+If there's anything going I get it--from bulldogs to bees!"
+
+He began rubbing vigorously at his cheek, where a bee had saluted him
+too ardently.
+
+"Come on--everybody out!" ordered Mr. Pertell, making slaps at a bee
+that was buzzing angrily around his head. There was no need to give
+this direction to the school children, for they were already outside,
+and now the teacher hastened out, while the moving picture players
+lost no time in following her example.
+
+"Ouch! One got me that time!" cried Paul, who was hurrying out at the
+side of Alice.
+
+"Did it hurt much?" she asked.
+
+"Not much now; but it will more, later," he said, as he examined his
+wrist to see if the bee's sting had been left in, as that would make
+an ugly sore. "I've been stung several times before, and when it
+swells up, and itches, then it's really bad. Let's go find a mud
+puddle."
+
+"What in the world for?" she asked curiously.
+
+"Mud is the best thing for a bee sting when you can't get ammonia,"
+Paul explained. "Just plaster some mud on, and it draws out the pain.
+I don't know the theory, except that when a bee stings you he injects
+some sort of acid poison under the skin. Mud and ammonia are
+alkalies, and are opposed to acid, so the chemists say."
+
+"Then I'll help you look for a mud puddle," she said.
+
+There was considerable excitement now, for a number of the school
+children had been stung, and one or two of the players.
+
+"That's the idea--mud!" cried Sandy, as he saw what Paul was doing.
+"Bring the children over here, Miss Arthur," he said to the pretty
+school teacher, "and we'll help doctor 'em."
+
+"Oh, thank you," she answered. "Here, children, over this way."
+
+Soon a number of the little tots were gathered about her, and Ruth
+and Alice, who offered to help doctor their stings. Miss Pennington
+and Miss Dixon, who had come to watch the film being made, had, at
+the first alarm, gone far enough off so that they were in no danger
+of being stung.
+
+The bees, in a big cloud, were flying slowly about the school, only a
+comparatively few having entered the window to rout the pupils.
+Suddenly Russ darted back into the building.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Mr. Pertell, who was fretting over
+the spoiling of the school scene film.
+
+"I'm going to get my camera," he called back over his shoulder. "I'm
+going to make a film of this. Look, there comes the bee man after his
+swarm."
+
+Across the field came running several men, and one of them carried a
+dishpan on which he was vigorously beating with an iron spoon.
+
+Another had a dinner bell which he clanged constantly.
+
+"Great Scott!" cried Mr. Pertell, "What does all this mean?"
+
+"They're trying to make the swarm settle, so they can put 'em back in
+a hive," explained Sandy. "You see, a swarm of bees is valuable this
+time of year. There's an old saying, 'a swarm of bees in May is worth
+a load of hay; a swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon; but a
+swarm in July ain't worth a fly.' That means a swarm in May will
+make enough honey to be worth a load of hay, more or less, but in
+July th' season is so far gone that th' bees won't make more than
+enough for themselves durin' th' winter."
+
+"I see!" said Mr. Pertell. "Well, I guess Russ has a good idea--we'll
+get a moving picture of them hiving the swarm. But what do the men
+make all that noise for?"
+
+"Oh, there's a notion that bees will settle down in a bunch around
+th' queen, and not fly away if they hear a racket. I don't know
+whether it's true or not. Some folks spray 'em with water, and that
+usually fetches 'em."
+
+Meanwhile Russ came out with the camera and began taking pictures of
+the odd scene. First he got pictures of Ruth, Alice and the teacher
+applying mud to the stings of the children.
+
+"Well, we'll get a good film out of it, after all," said Mr. Pertell.
+"And we can do the school room scene over again after the excitement
+calms down."
+
+Then Russ began taking pictures of the men making a noise to try and
+induce the bees to settle. The men themselves seemed to enjoy being
+filmed. They wore veils of mosquito netting, draped over their
+broad-brimmed hats, for they approached close to the bees, which were
+now flying low.
+
+"I'd like to get a near view of these bees," said Russ, "but I don't
+fancy getting too close. It's no fun to be stung eight or ten times."
+
+"I'll lend you my hat," offered one of the men and, thus protected,
+Russ moved his camera closer and got a fine view of the swarm of
+honey-making insects as they alighted on the low branch of an apple
+tree.
+
+"Git the hive, now, sir!" called another of the men, and while the
+hive was brought up, to receive the bunch of bees when they should be
+knocked into it, with their queen, about whom they were clustered,
+Russ got a fine film of that.
+
+Afterward Sandy explained how bees swarm. A colony of bees will
+permit but one queen in a hive. Sometimes, when a new one is hatched,
+the swarm divides, part of the bees going off with the new, or
+sometimes the old queen, to form a new colony.
+
+This is called "swarming," and the idea is to capture the new swarm,
+and so increase your number of colonies. Sometimes the bees will go
+off to the woods, and make a home for themselves in a hollow tree,
+being thus lost to the keeper. A swarm of bees will make in a season
+many pounds of honey more than they need to feed themselves during
+the winter.
+
+Sandy explained how faithful and devoted a colony of bees is to
+their queen, which is the bee that lays eggs out of which are hatched
+drones, or male bees, and the workers. There is a peculiar kind of
+honey called "queen bread," and sometimes, it is said by some, when a
+queen bee dies, the workers will select a "cell" containing an egg
+that will eventually hatch, and surround this egg with queen bread so
+that when the insect develops enough, it can feed on that instead of
+on ordinary honey.
+
+This is said to change the character of the insect and make a queen
+of it to replace the one that has died. Or, if this is not done the
+queenless colony may merge with another that has a queen.
+
+In order to prevent the hatching of too many queens the bee keeper
+will examine his hives frequently, and cut out all the "queen cells,"
+thus preventing them from hatching and so causing the bees to swarm
+frequently.
+
+They all watched while the men shook the cluster of bees into the new
+hive, and carried them away, Russ, meanwhile getting a fine film of
+the operation. Later this film was shown with much success in New
+York, so that, after all, the interruption of the school scene had a
+happy outcome. Later the little play was finished.
+
+"Whew!" exclaimed Paul, when it was all over. "That was some going
+on, all right!"
+
+"Does your sting hurt much?" asked Alice, solicitously.
+
+"I think it would be better for some ammonia," he replied.
+
+"I'll put some on for you when we get back to the house," she
+offered, "and some witch hazel, too."
+
+"It feels better already--just with the thought of that," he answered
+gallantly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THAT MAN
+
+
+"Well, ladies and gentlemen, we will now get ready for our big play,"
+announced Manager Pertell to his company of actors and actresses one
+morning. "It will be the biggest farm drama we have yet attempted.
+One scene will include the burning of the barn, and the rescue of one
+of you ladies from the structure."
+
+"Not any of that for mine," remarked Miss Pennington, pertly. "I'm
+not going to run any chances in a burning building."
+
+"There won't be any chances," returned Mr. Pertell, quietly. "I will
+have everything arranged in advance so that there will be no danger.
+That is why I want to start in plenty of time. We will have a number
+of rehearsals. I am going to have part of the roof of the barn cut
+away before we start the fire."
+
+"What for?" asked Russ.
+
+"So there will be no danger of anyone getting caught in the burning
+structure. The cut-out section can be placed back again, after it is
+sawed, or chopped out, and it will not show in the picture. But it
+will be a measure of safety. Now, Russ, you come out with me and
+we'll figure on the best position to get the pictures, and the best
+part of the roof to cut away."
+
+"Who's going to be rescued?" asked Miss Dixon. "If it's all the same
+to you I'd rather not be one of those characters."
+
+"You won't be," replied Mr. Pertell, with a laugh. "I have cast Alice
+and Ruth for that. There'll be a double rescue scene."
+
+"Oh, I don't know that I can do it very well," said Ruth, quickly,
+though she did not say she was afraid.
+
+"You can do it all right," declared Mr. Pertell, confidently. "In
+fact, you won't have to do anything, except allow yourself to be
+carried down a ladder. You see, you and your sister will pretend to
+be caught in the burning barn. The only way to get you out is through
+the roof.
+
+"Paul Ardite, as a farmer's son, goes up a ladder and chops a hole in
+the roof. But the roof will be sawed away beforehand. You see, I want
+no delay with you inside the burning structure. Then Paul carries you
+down the ladder, and Mr. Sneed will rescue Alice.
+
+"That will be fine!" cried Alice, in her lively manner. "I've always
+wanted to be carried down a ladder. You won't mind; will you, Daddy?"
+and she appealed to Mr. DeVere.
+
+"Oh, I guess not, if the ladder is good and firm," he replied in his
+husky voice.
+
+"That's just the point; it won't be!" predicted Mr. Sneed in his
+usually gloomy manner. "It's bound to break!"
+
+"Comforting; isn't he?" laughed Alice. "I'm not afraid, Mr. Sneed."
+
+"No, but I am," he went on. "I don't want that part, Mr. Pertell."
+
+"You'll have to take it," said the manager, decidedly. "I have no
+other one I can cast for the part."
+
+"Can't you give it to Mr. Bunn?" asked the "grouch."
+
+"Eh? What's that? Me carry someone from a burning building? Not
+much!" exclaimed the tragic actor. "I resign right now."
+
+"Well, I must say neither of you is very gallant," laughed Alice.
+"Paul, I guess you'll have to rescue both of us!"
+
+"I'd be pleased to do it!" he retorted, gaily.
+
+"Oh, I suppose I can manage it," grumbled Mr. Sneed, fairly shamed
+into taking the part.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed the manager. "Mr. Bunn, you will be one of the
+fire-fighters in the bucket brigade. You'll help pass the buckets of
+water along to put out the fire."
+
+"What? I become a country fireman?" demanded the tall-hatted actor.
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"I refuse! I will take no such part. I cannot lower myself to it."
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Pertell, calmly. "You may resign, but you know
+what it means--no more engagements."
+
+"Oh, give me the screed," returned the actor, petulantly. "I'll do
+it!"
+
+Preparations for the rural play went on apace. The barn-burning scene
+was only one of many, though it was the climax. Rehearsals began and
+Russ and Mr. Pertell decided on the barn incidents and the place
+where the roof was to be cut.
+
+A carpenter had been engaged to do this properly, so that it would
+not show in the moving picture that the roof had been fixed in
+advance.
+
+In order to have the big play a success Mr. Pertell allowed the
+players to rehearse leisurely and at considerable length. There was
+plenty of rest for all. On one afternoon Paul and Russ, when there
+was nothing to do, paid another visit to the cabin in the woods, to
+see if there were any signs of the mysterious man. But he was not
+there, nor was there any evidence that he had returned to the place.
+Nor had he been seen about the farm since. He and his dog, if it was
+his, seemed to have disappeared.
+
+The summer was now passing, and the character of work on the farm
+changed with the advancing season. Threshing time came, and several
+good films were obtained of the men at work at the big machine which
+went from farm to farm to thresh the grain.
+
+Mr. Pertell built a little play about the work, the principal scene
+in one being where the threshers were at work, and afterward they
+were shown at dinner in the open air. And such appetites as those men
+had! A number of Mrs. Apgar's neighbors came over to help her cook,
+as is usually the case when the threshers come, so altogether some
+good films were obtained of this phase of rural life.
+
+Getting in the hay was another occasion for making some interesting
+pictures, and Alice, as she had longed to do, was allowed to ride in
+on one of the big loads. Afterward, when it was put into the barns
+she jumped into the soft and fragrant pile of the mow, and was filmed
+that way, the scene to be used in one of the many rural dramas.
+
+In fact, all sorts of scenes about the farm were caught on the
+films, to be used later as plays should develop. The farm animals,
+too, made up some of the pictures, and the mule which ran away with
+Mr. Bunn was used for some comic pictures. Mr. Pertell, however, did
+not ask anyone to ride him, as he wanted no accidents. In fact, it is
+doubtful if he could have gotten any of his company to try this, even
+through fear of discharge.
+
+"We'll have a rehearsal of the barn-burning scene to-day," announced
+Mr. Pertell one morning. "It has gone off pretty well so far, and if
+there is no hitch to-day we'll film it to-morrow and get the real
+picture. Everybody ready, now."
+
+"Are we to be carried down the ladders?" asked Ruth, for the former
+rehearsals had not included this.
+
+"I think so," answered the manager. "The carpenter promised to be
+here to cut the roof, too, so we may be able to go through the whole
+scene just as we will in the play. Russ, you come out and watch, and
+select the best places for your camera, so there will be no hitch
+to-morrow."
+
+"I hope that ladder will be good and strong," remarked Mr. Sneed. "I
+wouldn't want it to break with me on it."
+
+"Nor would I," laughed Alice. "Still, that might make a funny picture
+for you, Mr. Pertell."
+
+"Oh, Alice!" chided Ruth.
+
+"The ladder is all right--it's a new one," said Paul. "I've seen it,
+and given it a trial. It would even hold Pop Snooks, and he's our
+heavy-weight."
+
+"I made that ladder myself," said the property man.
+
+"I hope it isn't like the imitation fence you made once, that came
+down with Mr. Switzer," said Ruth.
+
+"Ach, himmel! I hopes not!" exclaimed the German actor. "Dot voult be
+too bad. It vos bad unough to fall on der fence, but a latter--ach!"
+
+"Don't worry," said Pop. "The ladder will hold an elephant. I have
+tried it a dozen times."
+
+The moving picture players were gathered about the barn, and the
+preliminary scenes were rehearsed. The carpenter had come and as soon
+as he had made the cut in the roof, the more important parts of the
+play would be gone through with.
+
+The ladder had been tested and found to be perfectly secure, so that
+any little fear Mr. De Vere may have had for the safety of his
+daughters was dispelled.
+
+"Well, now we're ready for the main scene, I think," said Mr.
+Pertell. "Carpenter, you can get busy while we take a rest."
+
+As Ruth and Alice, with Paul and Russ, were walking off toward a
+little clump of trees, to sit down in the shade, Alice, glancing
+across the fields, saw a figure that caused her to cry out:
+
+"That man! That lame man! There he is!"
+
+"And this time he doesn't get away from us!" cried Paul, as he darted
+toward the mysterious stranger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A CHASE
+
+
+The unknown interloper pursued his usual tactics. That is, he turned
+and fled as soon as he saw Paul coming toward him. And he went
+surprisingly fast for a lame man. Alice was the first to notice this.
+
+"Look!" she cried. "That man limps hardly at all now."
+
+"That's so," agreed Ruth. "Perhaps he only did that as a disguise."
+
+"Excuse me!" called Russ. "I've got to get in on this chase," and he
+left the two girls, and ran after Paul, who had started ahead of him.
+
+"Oh, please be careful!" cried Ruth, nervously.
+
+"Does that mean Paul--or Russ?" asked Alice, mischievously.
+
+"Both!" said Ruth, with decision. "That man may be a desperate
+character."
+
+"He doesn't act so," declared Alice, with a laugh. "See, he is
+running away."
+
+"Yes, but if the boys catch him he may turn on them--and he may--he
+may have a weapon, Alice."
+
+"Don't be silly, Ruth. Paul and Russ are able to look out for
+themselves. But how fast that man can run!"
+
+The stranger was indeed making good time across the fields, and Russ
+and Paul did not seem to be catching up to him very fast. He had had
+a good start.
+
+The other members of the company had gone in a different direction,
+and as the chase had started behind the old barn, neither Mr. Pertell
+nor any of the others could see what was taking place.
+
+"What had we better do?" asked Ruth, with much anxiety.
+
+"I don't see that we can do anything," replied Alice. "We certainly
+can't join in the pursuit."
+
+"No, but we might tell someone--give an alarm," went on Ruth.
+
+"No," decided Alice, after a moment of thought. "I think Russ and
+Paul can do better alone. We don't know what that man has done, if
+anything, and perhaps when the boys catch up to him he may be able to
+offer a perfectly good explanation. Then, in case we had set others
+after him, it would not be fair to him. Besides, if you think there
+is danger you oughtn't to want any more to share it."
+
+"That is so," agreed Ruth. "Perhaps it will be better to let them try
+by themselves."
+
+But Paul and Russ evidently were going to have no easy task in
+capturing the mysterious man. He was running well now, and limping
+scarcely at all. Either he had feigned it before, or had, in the
+meanwhile, recovered from his injury.
+
+The two girls watched the chase until a depression in the fields hid
+the three from sight.
+
+"We'd better go back," suggested Ruth, after a bit.
+
+"Yes," agreed Alice, "but we won't tell the others what has
+happened."
+
+As it turned out, however, the girls were not able to carry out this
+intention. For Mr. Pertell had a new idea in regard to some of the
+scenes, and wanted to consult with Russ about it.
+
+"Where is he?" the manager asked, coming from the farmhouse with a
+bundle of papers in his hand, after having called a rest period in
+the barn-burning rehearsals.
+
+"He's after--that man," replied Alice, hesitatingly, and then she
+told what had happened.
+
+"That man again!" cried Sandy Apgar, who overheard what was said.
+"He'll not get away this time. I'm goin' after him on a hoss!"
+
+He hurried to the stable, and leaped on the back of one of the
+lighter farm animals, not even stopping for a saddle.
+
+"Which way was he headed?" he asked the girls.
+
+Ruth and Alice showed him, and Sandy set off over the fields in a
+strange cross-country run, with a man-hunt at the end of it.
+
+There was nothing for the company of players to do but await the
+outcome, while the chase was kept up.
+
+Meanwhile, what of Russ, Paul and the mysterious man?
+
+When Paul turned around, after being on the chase for a little time,
+and saw Russ coming toward him, he stopped to allow the young moving
+picture operator to come up to him. For he saw that the pursuit was
+to be a long one, and the man had such a start of him that a few
+seconds' delay would make no difference.
+
+On and on over the fields went the stranger, until he was headed down
+a highway.
+
+"When he gets on that it will be easier going," remarked Russ.
+
+"Yes, for both of us," agreed Paul. "I wonder what in the world his
+game can be, anyhow?"
+
+"We'll find out--if we ever get him," panted Russ. "Come on! This is
+going to be 'some run,' as the poets say."
+
+The man gained the highway, and raced along that for some distance.
+Paul and Russ tried to take a short cut across the field to reach the
+same road, but they got into a marshy place and sank in, nearly up to
+their knees.
+
+"He knew this was here!" cried Russ, as he drew himself out of a
+sticky place.
+
+"He evidently did, and avoided it," agreed his friend. "And we
+blundered into it--worse luck!"
+
+They had considerable difficulty in reaching the road, and by that
+time the mysterious man was even further in advance. But they
+pluckily kept to the chase.
+
+"There he is!" cried Russ, as they came to a turn in the road, and
+saw a straight stretch before them. "He hasn't gained so very much."
+
+The man was running well, and there seemed to be no return of his
+lameness.
+
+The neighborhood was a lonely one, and there were no houses in sight.
+Nor had the young men engaged in the chase met any persons since
+starting out.
+
+Doggedly they kept on.
+
+"This would make a good picture film!" exclaimed Russ.
+
+"It sure would," agreed Paul. "Only we haven't time to do it. Say, he
+can run some; can't he?"
+
+"He sure can. Oh, look at that, would you!" cried Russ.
+
+They had now come in sight of a white house, standing back a little
+from the road. And in front of the house stood an automobile
+runabout.
+
+What caused Russ to cry out was the sight of the mysterious man
+leaping into the auto, the engine of which had evidently been left
+running. In another moment he was off down the road, going at the
+limit of speed of the machine.
+
+"Well, we might as well give up now," said Paul, coming to a stop.
+"I'm done up, anyhow."
+
+"Same here," agreed Russ. "That is, unless we can find another auto."
+
+They saw a man run from the farmhouse from in front of which the auto
+had been so audaciously taken. He was a physician, it appeared.
+
+"The idea! The idea!" he cried. "That perfect stranger ran up and
+took my auto. Was he a friend of yours?" he asked as Russ and Paul
+came up. He looked at them suspiciously.
+
+"A friend! No indeed!" exclaimed Paul. "We want to catch him; but we
+can't do it now."
+
+They heard the sound of hoofbeats in the road behind them, and,
+turning, they saw Sandy coming along on the farm horse. He had taken
+a short cut, guessing or hoping that the chase would lead that way.
+
+"Where is he?" cried the young farmer, as he galloped up.
+
+"Gone!" replied Paul.
+
+"In an auto," added Russ.
+
+"My auto," corrected the doctor. "The impertinent chap had the nerve
+to take my machine, and I need it, too."
+
+"I'll get him!" cried Sandy, as he clapped his heels to the side of
+his panting horse.
+
+"You can never get him while he's in that machine!" called Paul.
+
+"Maybe the auto will have a break-down!" the young farmer answered
+over his shoulder. "Such things have happened."
+
+"Indeed they have--to me often enough," remarked the doctor. "I have
+had more break-downs in that car than I like to remember. But just
+when we want one, so we may be able to catch that scoundrel, it may
+not happen."
+
+"If Mr. Sneed was here he'd be sure to cause something to happen,"
+remarked Russ, jokingly. Sandy galloped on down the road after the
+mysterious man in the automobile he had so daringly taken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+CAUGHT
+
+
+There was considerable excitment about Oak Farm when Russ and Paul
+returned from their unsuccessful chase after the mysterious man,
+leaving Sandy to continue the hunt. All the players, and a number of
+the hired men, were discussing the occurrence, and eagerly
+questioning Ruth and Alice as to what they knew and had seen. This
+was little enough, however.
+
+When Russ and Paul came up, still breathing hard after their run,
+they added what they knew.
+
+"Vy shouldn't ve make ourselves yet into a committee und all go after
+him?" asked Mr. Switzer. "Dot feller ought to be caught."
+
+"That's true enough," agreed Mr. Pertell; "but we're here to make
+moving pictures, and we can't do it if the whole company chases after
+that fellow."
+
+"Besides, something might happen," remarked Mr. Sneed, gloomily. "He
+might have a gun and shoot us."
+
+"Then I'm glad you girls didn't keep on after him," said Mr. DeVere
+in his hoarse voice. "I wish you would take no further part in this
+affair, Ruth and Alice," and he spoke earnestly.
+
+"Don't worry, Daddy," laughed Alice. "I'm sure, after all, that the
+man isn't dangerous. He wouldn't hurt us, that's certain, for he
+loaned us the use of his cabin, and he was very polite about it."
+
+"He doesn't seem to care about us," added Ruth. "For he runs every
+time he sees us. Is there anything peculiar about us?"
+
+"Yes," said Russ, "there is."
+
+"What?"
+
+"I'll tell you--some other time," he informed her, and Ruth grew rosy
+red.
+
+"Well, I suppose we could go on with the barn-burning scene," said
+Mr. Pertell, when the chase had been discussed in all its phases. "I
+did want Sandy on hand, though, as representing his father, the owner
+of the farm, in case anything happens."
+
+"I won't own the farm much longer," said Felix Apgar sadly. "The sale
+will come off next week, and then I s'pose we'll be turned out bag
+and baggage, Mother."
+
+"Oh, Pa, I hate to hear you talk that way," she said, as she put her
+trembling hand in his. The old couple made a pathetic picture as
+they stood together on the porch of the white house--the house that
+had been their home so many years, but out of which they were soon to
+be turned by a cruel shift of fate.
+
+"Cheer up!" said Pop Snooks, who had a leisure hour. "It's always
+darkest just before dawn, you know. Something may happen to save the
+farm for you."
+
+"I'm too old to believe in miracles," replied Mr. Apgar, with a shake
+of his head. "Come on in the house, Mother, and we'll begin to pack.
+They can't take our things from us, anyhow, though where we'll go the
+Lord only knows."
+
+"Why, you won't have to move out, even after the mortgage was
+foreclosed," said Alice, as she slipped her arm about the waist of
+the trembling old lady. "I heard the sheriff say you could stay on
+for some time yet."
+
+"I know, dearie, but it wouldn't be _our_ farm, and Pa and me
+wouldn't feel like stayin' when Squire Bladsell owns it. It would be
+like livin' on charity. No, we'll go as soon as the sale is over. But
+you're a dear, good girl to try and help us."
+
+"They have helped us a lot, Mother--all of 'em!" exclaimed Mr. Apgar.
+"You movin' picture folks have been real kind to us, and the money
+you paid for the use of the farm come in mighty handy, seein' that
+some of the crops wasn't over and above good. Yes, we'll never forget
+you--never."
+
+He and his wife turned into the house, and the hired men went about
+their tasks.
+
+"I suppose we'll have to wait until Sandy comes back," spoke Mr.
+Pertell. "I don't want to set the barn afire until he's here. For,
+not only do I want him on hand, as I said, to represent his father,
+but I'm depending on him to lead his men, and some of the others, in
+an attempt to put out the fire. I want plenty of action in this
+scene. So we'll wait."
+
+"I wonder what has happened to him?" mused Ruth. But no one knew.
+
+The carpenter Mr. Pertell had hired to cut away part of the roof
+asked if he should set about his task.
+
+"No, I think we'll wait until Sandy comes back," replied the manager.
+"You can get all ready, though. Russ, I suppose your camera is in
+shape?"
+
+"Oh, yes. In fact I've got two--one for emergencies."
+
+"That's good. Plenty of film on hand?"
+
+"All we'll need, I think."
+
+"Well, then, the only thing to do is to wait."
+
+Meanwhile Sandy was keeping on after the daring and mysterious
+fugitive. Fortunately for the young farmer his horse was a
+comparatively fleet one, or he would have lost sight of the auto soon
+after the strange race began. As it was he managed to keep the
+doctor's car in sight for a considerable distance.
+
+And then, so suddenly that it seemed like a trick of fate, something
+occurred which completely turned the tables in favor of Sandy. The
+fleeing man in the auto found himself behind a load of hay, that
+occupied a considerable part of the road. Sandy was close enough to
+hear the frantic tooting of the horn, but either the driver of the
+hay wagon did not hear, or he had a constitutional objection to
+autoists, for he did not pull out.
+
+Thus the strange man was obliged to turn to one side and, unluckily
+for him, but luckily for Sandy, there was a roadside ditch at that
+point. Into this the wheels of the auto went and as it was sticky and
+soft the car came to such a sudden stop that the man was pitched out
+over the glass wind-shield, landing in the ditch.
+
+"Now I've got you!" cried Sandy, and clapping his heels to the sides
+of his panting horse the young farmer rode up alongside the prostrate
+man.
+
+"I've got you! Surrender!" commanded the young farmer, leaping down,
+and grabbing the man, who was now sitting up a dazed look on his
+face. "I've got you, and I arrest you in th' name of th' law!"
+
+"Yes, I see you've got me," replied the man, slowly. "But on what
+charge do you arrest me?"
+
+Sandy was puzzled for a moment, and scratched his head. He had not
+thought of this.
+
+"You have no right to arrest me," the man went on. "I have done
+nothing to you."
+
+"I don't know whether you have or not," Sandy said. "I think you've
+been tryin' to, but couldn't do it. I'm suspicious of you. That's
+it--I arrest you on suspicion!"
+
+"That's no charge," cried the man, struggling to his feet and trying
+to break away. But Sandy held him firmly. "Besides, you are not an
+officer, and have no warrant."
+
+"I don't need any!" cried Sandy, who had that point clear enough in
+his mind. "Any citizen of the United States can make an arrest if he
+wants to, and I'm a citizen. So I arrest you, whatever your name is,
+on suspicion."
+
+"Suspicion of what?"
+
+Again Sandy was puzzled.
+
+"I don't just know," he confessed. "I'll leave that to Squire
+Blasdell. He's th' law-court around here--and he's a hard one, too.
+I'll take you afore him. So come along. You've been trespassin' on
+our place, anyhow, and I can make that a charge if I can't any other.
+Come along."
+
+Sandy was young, strong and vigorous, and the man, though almost his
+equal, was tired out from his long run before he had taken to the
+auto. Besides he was badly jolted up by the sudden and unceremonious
+manner in which he left the car.
+
+"All right, I s'pose I've got to come," the man admitted in a sullen
+manner.
+
+"You'd better," observed Sandy, grimly. "And there's another charge,
+too. You took th' doctor's automobile."
+
+To this the man answered nothing. He probably knew that this was a
+serious enough charge on which to hold him.
+
+"We'll jest go back in th' car, too," went on Sandy, "since you know
+how to run 'em. But, mind you! No monkey tricks! Don't you try to run
+away with me."
+
+"All right--get in," said the man, shortly. "I'll see if I can get
+her out of the ditch. You wouldn't have gotten me if that man with
+the hay had given me my share of the road."
+
+"Maybe not," admitted Sandy, grimly, "but I _have_ got you, jest th'
+same. Come on."
+
+Sandy left his horse cropping the grass at the roadside, and got into
+the auto with his prisoner. After a few attempts, the machine was
+gotten out of the ditch, and the start back was begun. Sandy saw a
+farmer whom he knew, and asked him if he would bring the horse back
+to Oak Farm.
+
+"And now we'll 'tend to your case," the young farmer remarked to the
+man in the auto. "I don't believe you told me what your name was," he
+added significantly.
+
+"No, I didn't, and I don't intend to," snapped the stranger. "You can
+find out any way you like."
+
+"Oh, we'll find out, all right," Sandy returned. "Drive on."
+
+The man did not speak as he drove the car forward. They reached the
+house where the physician had been, and found him waiting; a very
+angry medical man indeed.
+
+"So you got him; eh?" he called to Sandy.
+
+"That's what I did. And I'd like to borrow your car to take him to
+jail, if you don't mind."
+
+"I don't mind a bit, and I'll go along to lodge a charge against him.
+There's a state law against anyone taking another person's automobile
+without permission. Who is he, anyhow, Sandy?"
+
+"I don't know, and he won't tell."
+
+The man maintained a sullen silence during the remainder of the trip,
+and when the office of Squire Blasdell was reached he was led inside
+by Sandy.
+
+"I've got a prisoner here for you, Squire," announced the young
+farmer. "I don't know what his name is, and I don't exactly know what
+charge we can make against him. But he's been hanging around Oak Farm
+for some time, and he runs whenever anyone comes near him, and if
+that ain't suspicion I don't know what is."
+
+"You're right there, Sandy," said the squire, who, in spite of the
+fact that he was about to foreclose on Oak Farm, was not on bad terms
+with the Apgars. The truth of the matter was that the squire only
+acted as agent for others whose money he put out on mortgages.
+Personally he was sorry for the Apgars.
+
+"Now then, Mister whatever-your-name-is," began the squire, "what
+about you?"
+
+"I'll tell you nothing," said the man. "You have no right to hold
+me."
+
+"He took my auto," broke in the doctor.
+
+"Then we'll hold him on that charge, and we'll call him John Doe,"
+decided the squire. "Maybe he'll change his tune after a bit. Lock
+him up," he ordered the constable in charge, and the mysterious man,
+as mysterious as ever, was led away.
+
+"I'd like to ask one favor," he declared, halting a minute.
+
+"You can ask, but I don't know as we'll grant it," spoke the squire.
+
+"I've left a dog up in the old cabin," the man went on. "I guess you
+know the place," he said to Sandy. "It's the cabin where the girls
+took shelter from the rain. There's a dog tied there and he might
+starve to death. I wish you'd feed him."
+
+"I'll do that," responded Sandy, quickly. "I'll look after him, too.
+He's entitled to some consideration, even if you ain't."
+
+The man said nothing.
+
+"Is it your dog?" asked the squire.
+
+"I--I found him," answered the man, hesitatingly, "and he likes me. I
+wouldn't want to see him starve."
+
+"He shan't!" promised Sandy.
+
+Then, as the queer character was locked up, Sandy started back for
+Oak Farm, puzzling over the mysterious man and his object.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE MONEY BOX
+
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"Who was he?"
+
+"What was his object?"
+
+These, and a dozen other questions like them, were showered on Sandy
+Apgar when he arrived at the farm, some little time later, after
+having seen the mysterious man safely locked up in the town jail.
+
+"Now there's no use askin' me who he is, or what he wants," declared
+the young farmer. "All I know is that I caught him. He won't talk."
+
+"You did a good piece of work," declared Mr. Pertell, "and a day or
+so of jail food may make the fellow change his mind. Well, it's too
+late to do any moving pictures to-day. We'll put off the barn-burning
+until to-morrow."
+
+"Well, there's one thing we can't put off until to-morrow and that is
+looking after that dog," remarked Sandy. "The poor fellow may be
+frantic by now."
+
+"May we go with you?" asked Alice.
+
+"Surely," answered Sandy.
+
+"Come along, Ruth--and anybody else who wants to," she added.
+
+"Count me in!" exclaimed Paul.
+
+"The same here," laughed Russ.
+
+So the five set off for the lonely cabin.
+
+"I can't understand how the dog came to be there, though," mused
+Russ, as they walked on through the woods. "That fellow wasn't at the
+cabin the last time we looked."
+
+"But that was several days ago," Paul reminded him. "He may have been
+staying there ever since, thinking we had given up going there.
+That's very likely it."
+
+And this proved to be the case. The man had apparently moved back
+into the cabin. The room was arranged about as it had been the day
+the girls took shelter in the place, but there was this change--that
+a fine collie dog was chained near the big fireplace.
+
+And if ever a dog was glad to see anyone it was that same collie. He
+jumped about, barking joyfully, but was held back by a strong chain,
+fastened to his collar.
+
+"Poor fellow!" exclaimed Sandy kindly, and the dog wagged his tail
+in friendly greeting.
+
+"Oh, I wish we could keep him!" exclaimed Alice, who loved animals.
+
+"I guess we'll have to--until that feller gits out of jail," spoke
+the young farmer. "They won't allow no animals in the lockup. We'll
+take him to the farm."
+
+The dog made friends at once, and seemed particularly fond of Alice.
+She was patting him, when she happened to turn his collar around. A
+brass plate came into view and as the girl read something on it she
+uttered a cry of surprise.
+
+"Look!" she exclaimed. "This is the lost dog!"
+
+"What lost dog?" asked Russ.
+
+"Don't you remember--the one Mrs. Delamont lost when we were in the
+wreck, coming up here. See, there is his name--Rex III. We have found
+him for her. How glad she will be!"
+
+"You're right!" exclaimed Paul, after examining the collar. "Here are
+the initials 'H. A. D.' Weren't those hers?" he asked of Ruth.
+
+"Yes, I have her name and address," replied the girl. "We must send
+her word at once."
+
+"I don't understand how the man got the dog," observed Russ.
+
+"He might have been at the scene of the wreck, and when he saw the
+chance he slipped into the baggage car and took Rex," explained
+Paul. "I suppose he'll tell about that, if he ever confesses. It's a
+queer business all around."
+
+The fine dog seemed to like his new friends, and skipped and frisked
+about them as they went back to Oak Farm. And there the dog made his
+home, though it would not be for long, since Mrs. Delamont would be
+sure to send for her prize pet when she learned where he was.
+
+"Oh, but I shall hate to let you go!" cried Alice, as she put her
+arms about the neck of Rex.
+
+"Well, I hope there won't be no more interruptions or delays,"
+remarked Mr. Pertell the next day. "We must get that barn-burning
+film sure, for I have some other plans to carry out, with winter
+coming on."
+
+"You don't mean to say you're going to keep on in this moving picture
+business all winter, do you?" asked Mr. Sneed.
+
+"I certainly do," remarked the manager.
+
+"Well, all I've got to say is that we'll freeze to death," went on
+the "grouch" in gloomy tones. "You can count me out of it," he added.
+"I'm not going to freeze for anybody."
+
+"No one asked you to," replied the manager. "Come now, everyone get
+ready for the fire scene. We'll go over it once more, to be sure
+we're all right for the final. The roof will be cut and then we'll
+touch off the place.
+
+"Sandy, see to it that there are plenty of pails of water for the
+bucket brigade. Mr. Bunn, you're to be one of that crowd, you
+remember."
+
+"Yes," responded the actor, with a heavy sigh. "I suppose I must
+lower my art to the level of the movies. Oh, why did I ever get into
+this wretched business?"
+
+Ruth, Alice and the others went out to the old barn. All was in
+readiness for the big scene. The ladder for the rescue of the moving
+picture girls was in readiness, and Paul and Mr. Sneed made sure that
+it was safe.
+
+"Now then, carpenter, up on the roof with you, and cut out that
+section so there won't be any doubt but what it will come loose
+readily when Paul chops at it with his axe," ordered the manager.
+
+The carpenter began his work. He ascended to the roof by the ladder,
+and was soon cutting and sawing away. The others watched him, half
+idly, little prepared for the dramatic scene that was to follow. Mr.
+and Mrs. Apgar had come out to witness the making of the fire film.
+
+"I'll sort of hate to see the old barn go, useless as it is," said
+the farmer. "It was one of the first buildin's on the farm, and Uncle
+Isaac used to be terrible fond of stayin' out here. In fact before
+he died he spent a lot of time out here after th' accident, sittin'
+all by himself, and sometimes talking a lot of nonsense. His mind was
+goin' then, I reckon, only none of us knowed it. Yes, poor Uncle
+Isaac was terrible fond of this old barn, and I sure will hate to see
+it go up in smoke."
+
+"I wish Uncle Isaac had been fonder of business, an' had left some
+word where his money went--and ours, too," observed Sandy. "I don't
+want to blame him for what he couldn't help, but it sure is hard for
+us!"
+
+The carpenter was chopping away, taking off a section of the roof, to
+afford easy egress for Ruth and Alice when the time should come.
+Suddenly he uttered a cry of surprise.
+
+"What's the matter--cut yourself?" called Sandy.
+
+"No, but I've cut into something queer. Better come up here and see
+what it is--I don't want to touch it."
+
+"I hope it isn't a hornet's nest!" exclaimed Sandy.
+
+"No, it isn't that."
+
+The others wondered what the queer find might be, as Sandy and Russ
+hurried up the ladder.
+
+As they reached the roof, which at this point was nearly flat, they
+saw that the carpenter, in taking off a section, had uncovered what
+proved to be a small secret room. It was built into the barn in such
+a manner, between false walls, that its existence had never in the
+past been suspected.
+
+It was a small place, just large enough to contain a table and a
+chair, and there were no openings or windows on the sides. It must
+have been a dark place, but there was an old lantern on the table,
+showing that the occupant, whoever he had been, was not left in the
+gloom.
+
+But there was something else on the table besides the lantern. This
+was a large tin box, the sort that valuable papers are usually kept
+in, and at the sight of it, as Sandy gazed down into the secret room,
+through the hole in the roof, the young farmer cried:
+
+"There it is! There's Uncle Isaac's money box! The lost is found, and
+now, if there's only the money and papers in it we'll not lose our
+farm after all! The Lord be praised! If only the money is there!"
+
+"You can soon tell!" remarked Russ. "Drop down in there and take a
+look."
+
+"What is it? What have you found?" called Mr. Pertell from the
+ground. "We want to get the pictures."
+
+"Wait a minute!" Sandy begged. "We've found----"
+
+"Wait, don't tell them yet," suggested Russ. "It won't do to raise
+the hopes of the old people, and then disappoint them. The box may be
+empty."
+
+"That's right," agreed Sandy. "I'll soon know, though." He hung by
+his hands to the edge of the opening, and then dropped down into the
+secret room, so strangely revealed.
+
+"The box is locked!" he cried.
+
+"Here's my hatchet--break it open," suggested the carpenter.
+
+"Guess I might as well--no telling where the key would be," said
+Sandy. With the hatchet he soon had lifted the cover of the box. Then
+he gave a joyful cry.
+
+"It's here!" he shouted. "It was Uncle Isaac's box, all right, and
+the money's here--quite a lot of it, and some valuable papers worth
+more. Hurray! The farm is saved, after all! Tell pop and mom!"
+
+"No, we'll let you tell them," said Russ. "Come and tell them
+yourself."
+
+"How'm I goin' t' git up?" asked Sandy, trembling with excitement and
+new hope, as he fingered the dusty bills that would mean so much to
+him and his parents.
+
+"Here's a rope," suggested the carpenter, for he had been using one
+at his work. "We'll drop it down to you, and you can tie it to the
+box. Then you can come up on the rope yourself."
+
+This was soon done, and a little later Sandy was standing beside his
+aged parents, showing them the find.
+
+"It's money--real money!" he cried. "The money Uncle Isaac owes us.
+Now we can pay off the mortgage on the farm. You won't have t' move
+off th' farm!--Pop--Mom! You can stay here!"
+
+"Praise the Lord!" cried the farmer, reverently. "My prayer has been
+granted; I can die on the old place!"
+
+"Why, Pa, don't talk about dyin' now!" protested Mrs. Apgar, through
+her tears. "We're goin' t' live--live on th' old place!"
+
+"That's what we be!" he cried.
+
+A close examination of the contents of the box disclosed the fact
+that it contained considerable wealth. There were some bonds and
+stocks, as well as a large sum in cash. At least five thousand
+dollars of this belonged to the Apgars, representing the loan they
+had made to Uncle Isaac. And as he left no other heirs, eventually
+the entire wealth would come to the farmer.
+
+"This has been a lucky day for us!" exclaimed Sandy, as he put the
+wealth in a secure place in the house.
+
+"Well, it will be an unlucky one for us, if we don't get this fire
+film," remarked Mr. Pertell, half humorously.
+
+"Just so," returned Russ.
+
+There was much discussion over the find, and then an examination was
+made of the secret room. From within the sliding panel door, by which
+entrance was gained, could easily be seen. But outside, it was so
+well hidden that it is doubtful if anyone but one who knew the trick
+could have found it.
+
+Mr. Apgar recalled that the barn stood on the farm when he had
+purchased the estate years before. It had belonged to an eccentric
+man, and there was little doubt that he had built the secret room for
+his own use--though what it was could only be guessed.
+
+"And Uncle Isaac must have discovered the hidden door when he was out
+here in the barn so much," said Sandy. "Lunatics are cunning,
+sometimes, I've heard. He probably found th' place and kept it to
+himself, as a good place to hide his valuables.
+
+"That's why he spent so much time out here. I used to wonder
+sometimes, at having him appear from inside the old barn, when I
+never suspected he was on hand. He was in this room, all right."
+
+"It certainly was a good hiding place," agreed Mr. Pertell. "It was
+lucky he did not shut himself up and die in here, or you would never
+have known where to look for him. He must have left his money box
+here one day, closed the place up and then came his unfortunate loss
+of mind, after he was hurt. He forgot all about where he had left the
+wealth, and of course he couldn't tell anyone. Well, I'm glad you've
+got it back."
+
+"So am I!" chuckled Sandy. "Now if we only had some explanation as to
+why that queer chap was always hanging about this farm we'd be all
+right."
+
+"Maybe he knew your Uncle Isaac," suggested Ruth.
+
+"No, that man's a stranger around here," declared Sandy.
+
+After some little further talk about the queer find, Mr. Pertell
+again suggested that the taking of the picture be resumed.
+
+Sandy seemed to hang back and the manager asked him:
+
+"Do you want to give up your part in it, now that you have your money
+again? Don't you want the barn burned?"
+
+"Oh, yes; it ain't that!" the young farmer hastened to assure the
+manager. "It's a good thing we didn't burn the barn before we found
+the money. I was only wishin' I could send word of it to Squire
+Blasdell, so he could call off the foreclosure. I hate to see them
+signs up."
+
+"Then you go and tell him the good news," suggested the manager,
+generously. "We've had so many delays on this thing that a little
+more won't hurt. Go tell the squire."
+
+So Sandy went off, and the players had an unexpected rest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+EXPLANATIONS
+
+
+Sandy found Squire Blasdell having an interview with the strange
+prisoner.
+
+"I'm putting him on the grill, and trying to find out something about
+him, but it's hard work," the Squire said to the young farmer.
+
+"Yes, you might as well save your time," spoke the man. "I'll tell
+you nothing!"
+
+"I've got news for you, Squire," said Sandy, a little later when the
+constable had been called in to take the stranger back to his cell.
+
+"Looks like good news, by your face, Sandy," the lawyer replied. "You
+haven't been finding money for the mortgage; have you?"
+
+"That's just what I have, Squire!" Sandy cried. "We just found Uncle
+Isaac's money box!"
+
+"You did! 'Gosh all Hemlock' as the boys used to say. How was it?"
+
+"We found the money box--with a lot of cash and papers in a secret
+room in the old barn we're goin' to burn for movin' pictures. We
+found the money box, all right."
+
+There was a sound from the room where the prisoner sat. He started to
+his feet, and stepped to the grating which separated the cell from
+the apartment in which Sandy and the Squire were.
+
+"You say you found Isaac Apgar's hidden wealth?" he asked.
+
+"Yes--but what is that to you?" inquired the Squire.
+
+"A lot to me. The game is up now, and I'll confess everything. I've
+been keeping still, hoping I could get out and find that box myself.
+That's what my object has been in hanging around your farm," he went
+on. "I was looking for that box myself. I--I thought maybe I might
+get a reward if I located it."
+
+This statement might be doubtful, but there was no way of disproving
+it. The man might have been hoping only for a reward; but, on the
+other hand, if he had found the wealth he might have kept it all for
+himself.
+
+"How did you come to know about this?" asked Squire Blasdell,
+curiously. "Did you ever know Isaac Apgar?"
+
+"Well, I don't know as you could exactly call it 'knowing' him," was
+the slow answer, "seeing that he didn't know anybody himself, of
+late years. I may as well tell you the whole story. My name is Monk
+Freck, and I used to be a keeper in the state lunatic asylum where
+Isaac Apgar was confined. That's how I knew him. I was his keeper!"
+
+This was strange and startling news, but it explained many things.
+
+"Go on," urged the Squire. "What about looking for his money?"
+
+"That's it," added Sandy.
+
+"I'll come to that. Though few folks knew it, Mr. Apgar had some
+lucid moments during his insanity. He was as right as anyone at
+times, but maybe only for a half hour or so at a stretch. And it was
+in those times that he'd talk about the wealth he had hidden.
+
+"I tried to get him to tell me just where it was, for I had heard
+rumors that he had hidden quite a pile before he went crazy. But he
+was either too cunning to tell me, or his mind failed him at the
+critical moment. All I could learn was that it was hidden somewhere
+about the corner of the old barn on the Apgar place.
+
+"Well, he kept on getting worse until he died, and I made up my mind
+to have a try for the money box. I gave up my job in the asylum, and
+came here. And since then I've been looking around, trying to make
+the discovery, and claim a reward.
+
+"I spent a good deal of time in the barn, but I never thought there
+could be a secret room. I thought it might be buried somewhere around
+the place. I didn't have much chance to hunt, though, after the
+moving picture people got here," he added.
+
+"And was it you who made the queer noises in the barn, and scared the
+girls?" asked Sandy.
+
+"It was. I didn't mean to scare 'em, though. I was trying to crawl up
+between two beams one day, when I slipped and fell. I rattled some
+loose boards where I had lifted some up to have a place to hide. I
+hurt myself, too, and I guess I groaned. The fall made me lame for a
+while."
+
+"That accounts for your limp," said Sandy. "How did you come to go to
+the cabin?"
+
+"Oh, I wanted some place to stay near your barn, and as no one used
+the cabin, I took up my quarters there. Before that I often used to
+sleep in a secret place in your old barn. But I didn't mean any harm.
+Of course I didn't want it known who I was, for if it was learned
+that I had been Mr. Apgar's keeper in the asylum everybody would have
+guessed my object. So I ran whenever I saw anybody from Oak Farm. But
+you finally caught me. I'm not sorry, for I was getting tired of the
+game. And so you found the hidden box? Well, I wish it could have
+been me."
+
+"Did you steal that dog, too?' asked Sandy.
+
+"No, I did not. I found him wandering about and took a notion to him.
+I guess maybe he had been stolen, but I didn't do it. If I had known
+who he belonged to I might have got a reward from them."
+
+"The owner is known," Sandy said, "and she may reward you. I feel so
+happy that I don't wish anybody bad luck. Now Squire, I suppose the
+foreclosure is off; ain't it? I've got more than the four thousand
+dollars."
+
+"The old farm is safe, Sandy," the Squire answered, "and I'm glad of
+it, for your sake. You may have thought me hard and grasping, but I
+had to do the business for my clients. Now we'll have to decide what
+to do with this man. I reckon we can let him go, seeing that he
+didn't really do anything except take the auto, and I guess the
+doctor won't press that charge."
+
+This proved to be the case, and that day Monk Freck was released.
+Mrs. Delamont was to over-joyed to get her dog back that she gave
+Freck a substantial reward, for the former asylum keeper had been
+kind to Rex III, and insisted that he had found him after the dog had
+gotten away from the real thief.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE FIRE FILM
+
+
+"All ready now, Russ!"
+
+"All ready, Mr. Pertell."
+
+"Then start off. Be ready with the torch there, Sandy, and touch off
+the pile of hay and straw inside the barn when I give the word. Then
+come out for the bucket brigade."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+It was the day after the finding of the money box, for there had been
+so much excitement attending that episode, that Mr. Pertell thought
+it wise to postpone the fire scene. But now all was in readiness for
+it.
+
+"All ready now!" called the manager, and the play began. There were
+several preliminary scenes before the final one of the burning barn,
+and these were successfully run off, Russ filming them one after the
+other.
+
+There was no hitch, so well had the play been rehearsed. Now came the
+time when Ruth and Alice were to take refuge in the barn, the action
+being supposed to occur after a chase when they wished to escape from
+a rascally guardian.
+
+The firing of the barn (in the play) was supposed to be done by an
+enemy of the farmer, and was not done to entrap the girls, of whose
+presence the incendiary supposedly knew nothing.
+
+But the girls were locked in the barn when the fire broke out, and
+necessarily must be rescued.
+
+"Touch her off!" cried the manager at the proper point, and Sandy set
+fire to a pile of hay and straw inside the barn. This would make
+considerable smoke, and smoke always shows up well in moving
+pictures.
+
+"Get ready with the water now!" called Mr. Pertell. "I want a lively
+bucket brigade scene here!"
+
+Sandy and his force, of whom Wellington Bunn was one, ran back and
+forth from the water barrel, carrying the filled buckets and
+splashing the contents on the flames.
+
+The fire was now at its height.
+
+"All ready for the rescue!" ordered the manager. "Up with the ladder
+and get after the girls, Paul. Mr. Sneed, you're in on this."
+
+Up the ladder climbed Paul, and with an axe he began chopping away at
+the roof. This was the place prepared beforehand, and Ruth and Alice
+were to be drawn up through the hole that went down into the secret
+room where the money box had been found.
+
+"Quick!" cried Paul, as he made the splinters fly. This was only for
+the effect, as the section on the roof was all ready to come away.
+"Hurry up, Sneed!" called the young fellow. "It's getting pretty hot
+here. We'll have to follow each other closely down the ladder."
+
+"We can't get away from here any too soon for me," the other
+answered. "This is the worst yet."
+
+In another moment the secret room was exposed. Ruth and Alice were in
+it, a little afraid, after all, that something might happen.
+
+"Come on!" cried Paul reaching down his hands. Alice climbed up on a
+chair in the room, and Paul lifted her out on the roof. Then Mr.
+Sneed did the same for Ruth.
+
+Putting the girls over their shoulders, in the manner in which
+firemen make rescues, the two started down the ladder.
+
+In spite of Mr. Sneed's fear, nothing happened. The rescue went off
+finely, and even those not taking part in it applauded as it came to
+a close and Ruth and Alice, who were supposed to have fainted, were
+revived.
+
+Then their parts ended, for that particular scene, but the barn
+continued to burn, as was intended, and soon it was a glowing heap of
+embers and ashes. The work of the bucket brigade had not been
+successful, nor had it been intended that it should be.
+
+The final scenes of the play--away from the fire--were made, and then
+the players could rest.
+
+"I hope it's a success," said the manager, with a sigh. "We have
+worked hard enough over it."
+
+And a few days later word came back from New York, whither the film
+had been sent, that it was a great success, and one of the best
+dramas the Comet Company had ever put over. The scenes where Alice
+and Ruth were rescued were particularly fine.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well, I wonder what sort of 'stunts' we'll have to do next, Ruth?"
+remarked Alice as they were in their room in the old farm house one
+morning, about a week after the barn fire.
+
+"There is no telling," was the answer. "Mr. Pertell has some plans,
+but I don't believe they are ready yet."
+
+"Yes they are, my dears!" exclaimed Mr. DeVere, as he entered the
+room. "We have just received word that the entire company will spend
+some months in the backwoods, getting pictures of winter scenes."
+
+"Oh, the woods in winter!" cried Alice. "I'll just love that; won't
+you, Ruth?"
+
+"I think I shall. But I do hope we won't have so much excitement as
+we've had here."
+
+Whether they did or did not may be learned by reading the next volume
+of this series, to be called: "The Moving Picture Girls Snowbound;
+Or, the Proof on the Film."
+
+Happy days followed at Oak Farm, for after the hard work of the
+season Mr. Pertell decided to give his company a little vacation. And
+the Apgars were happy, too, for the foreclosure proceedings were
+stopped by the satisfying of the mortgage with Uncle Isaac's money.
+
+Mrs. Delamont sent on for Rex III, and Alice bade the fine animal
+good-bye rather sadly, for she had grown very fond of him.
+
+"Come on," said Paul to her one day, "we'll take a walk, and maybe we
+can find another dog."
+
+"Not like Rex, though," laughed Alice, as she set off with the young
+fellow. And now, for a time, we will take leave of the Moving Picture
+Girls.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+THE JANICE DAY SERIES
+
+By HELEN BEECHER LONG
+
+_12 mo, cloth, illustrated, and colored jacket_
+
+
+A series of books for girls which have been uniformly successful.
+Janice Day is a character that will live long in juvenile fiction.
+Every volume is full of inspiration. There is an abundance of humor,
+quaint situations, and worth-while effort, and likewise plenty of
+plot and mystery.
+
+An ideal series for girls from nine to sixteen.
+
+JANICE DAY, THE YOUNG HOMEMAKER
+JANICE DAY AT POKETOWN
+THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY
+HOW JANICE DAY WON
+THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY
+
+
+
+
+THE NAN SHERWOOD SERIES
+
+By Annie Roe Carr
+
+_12 mo, cloth, illustrated, and colored jacket_
+
+
+In Annie Roe Carr we have found a young woman of wide experience
+among girls--in schoolroom, in camp and while traveling. She knows
+girls of to-day thoroughly--their likes and dislikes--and knows that
+they demand almost as much action as do the boys. And she knows
+humor--good, clean fun and plenty of it.
+
+NAN SHERWOOD AT PINE CAMP
+or The Old Lumberman's Secret
+
+NAN SHERWOOD AT LAKEVIEW HALL
+or The Mystery of the Haunted Boathouse
+
+NAN SHERWOOD'S WINTER HOLIDAYS
+or Rescuing the Runaways
+
+NAN SHERWOOD AT ROSE RANCH
+or The Old Mexican's Treasure
+
+NAN SHERWOOD AT PALM BEACH
+or Strange Adventures Among the Orange Groves
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK
+FARM***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 19969.txt or 19969.zip *******
+
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