THE AUTO SMASH
"The scene will be spoiled!" exclaimed Alice, as she saw a crowd surge
up when the officer grasped Paul.
"Too bad!" declared Ruth.
"Keep away--get back, please!" cried Russ, as he saw his camera screened
by the throng.
"You come along with me!" the officer kept insisting to Paul, dragging
him along toward the doors of the station. "Hi, Jim!" he called to a man
in plain clothes, evidently a detective. "Grab the other fellow; will
you? I've got the pickpocket!" and he nodded to Mr. Bunn, who could not
seem to understand that from a simulated robbery it had turned out to be
a "real" one.
"I tell you we're moving picture actors!" Paul cried. "There has been no
theft!"
"And you expect me to believe that!" sneered the policeman. "You can't
get away with that story."
"Well, there's the man who is taking the pictures!" Paul went on,
pointing to Russ, who, with a look of chagrin on his face, stood idle
beside the camera. He did not want to take a film with this scene in it,
for the whole plot of the story would have to be changed to make the
policeman fit in.
"Yes, I see him," agreed the officer, nodding at Russ, "and I guess he's
in the game with you. I'll take him into custody, too."
"Yes, and you'll get yourself into a whole lot of trouble!" said Paul,
vigorously. "You're making a mistake!"
"I'll take that chance," observed the officer, with evident disbelief.
"What's it all about?" asked the detective, sauntering up, while Alice
and Ruth, rather alarmed at the turn of affairs, shrank back out of
sight behind the crowd, that was increasing every second.
"Pickpocket!" spoke the policeman, laconically. "I saw him rob that
elderly gentleman," and he pointed to Mr. Bunn. "And then this fellow
has the nerve to say he was only doing a moving picture stunt."
"That's right, and he could see for himself, if he'd take the trouble to
look," retorted the young actor. "There's our camera man over there,"
and he nodded toward Russ. The detective glanced in the same direction,
and then a smile came over his somewhat shrewd face, as Russ nodded to
him.
"Hello, Dalwood!" exclaimed the detective. Then to the officer--"I guess
he's right, Kelly, and you're wrong. I know that young fellow at the
camera. He's been at headquarters once or twice helping our rogues'
gallery men when their cameras needed fixing."
"Is--is that so?" faltered the officer, and his hold on Paul relaxed.
"That's right," the detective went on. "I guess you've sort of mixed
things up, Kelly."
"That's what he has," said Russ. "But if he'll let things go on, and
keep this crowd back, I think we can still make the film."
"Oh, I'll do that!" the policeman replied hastily, willing to make
amends for the trouble he had caused. "Then it wasn't a case of pocket
picking at all?"
"No, we're making a moving picture film," Paul explained. "I took these
papers--they're worthless, as you can see," and he showed that the
bundle he had extracted from Mr. Bunn's pocket consisted only of some
circulars, and blank pieces of paper with imposing looking seals on. But
on the film they would appear to be valuable documents.
"Huh! That's a new one on me!" the officer exclaimed. "Now, you people
move back!" he cried, "and give 'em a chance to take their pictures.
Move back there!"
Affairs had turned in the direction of our friends, and a little later
Russ was able to complete the film, from the point where the policeman
had stepped in and spoiled it. The small portion that was of no use,
however, could be cut out when the film was developed, and the audiences
would never be the wiser.
Again Paul went on with his acting from the point where he had been
interrupted, and Ruth, Alice and Mr. Bunn did their share. Eventually
the film was made.
"Something new every day!" laughed Paul, as they were coming away from
the terminal. "I wonder what will happen next?"
"As long as you don't have to go up in an airship you'll be all right,"
observed Alice, trying to keep a refractory wisp of hair from coming
down into her eyes.
"That's right," agreed Paul, "and yet I wouldn't be surprised to get
orders to go up to the clouds any day. In fact, I'm pretty sure we've
got to take a queer auto trip soon."
"Is that so? When? Where?" demanded Ruth, pausing a moment to look at a
shop window where some lingerie was temptingly displayed.
"I don't know the particulars. I happened to overhear Mr. Pertell
talking to Pop Snooks about it. I expect it will be given out in a few
days, before Russ has to film it."
The next few days were filled with work for the moving picture actors
and actresses. There was much to be done before the Western trip was
undertaken, and many of the films made had a bearing on the new play
"East and West."
"My idea," announced Mr. Pertell, in explaining some matters to his
company, "is to portray briefly the story of the East and West, and to
show how the civilization of the East made its way West. I want to show
the various sports and industries of both sections, as well as various
phases of life and science. Automobiling will be one and----"
"Don't say airships!" interrupted Mr. Sneed.
"That's just what I was going to say," finished Mr. Pertell, with a
smile. "I will want some of you to take a trip in an airship. But that
will come later."
"I'll never go up!" declared the "grouch."
"Well, we'll settle that later," the manager went on. "Just at present I
am going to have some automobile pictures made, and in one of them an
auto containing you young ladies," he looked at Ruth and Alice, "goes to
smash down a steep hill and over a cliff."
"Oh!" cried Ruth, clutching at her heart.
"How exciting!" exclaimed Alice, apparently not in the least disturbed.
"Yes," said Mr. Pertell, with a smile. "But don't worry. This will be a
'substitute' film. That is, you'll be in the auto up to a certain point.
The chauffeur loses control of it, and it starts to run away down hill.
Then it is stopped, the camera is closed for a moment until we
substitute an old auto for the real one in which you are. There are
dummy figures in the old auto, and they are the ones that go to smash
over the cliff. Think you can work that, Russ?"
"Oh, yes, I've done those trick pictures before. Where are you going to
plant the smash?"
"Oh, over in Jersey. There are several places in the Orange Mountains
that will answer. Near Eagle Rock is a good place."
"All right," agreed the young operator. "I'll be ready whenever you are.
But where are you going to get the auto that goes to smash, Mr.
Pertell?"
"Oh, I bought a second-hand one cheap. It's now being painted and fixed
up to look as much like the good one as possible."
A few days later all was in readiness for taking the auto smash film.
The story to be depicted was part of the big "East and West" drama.
Ruth and Alice were supposed to be pursued by persons in another auto,
and in the smash both girls were to be "injured."
The two automobiles were on hand at the appointed time on a steep slope
of the Orange Mountains, where the road turned suddenly near a steep
cliff. It was over this cliff that the "smash" would occur.
The auto that would really come to grief was an old rattletrap of a
machine, but it would serve the purpose well enough for the film, since
only a momentary glimpse of it, and that showing it going at full speed,
would be given. The dummy figures, made up to look like Ruth and Alice,
were in readiness.
"Now, girls, take your places, if you please," said Mr. Pertell, waving
Ruth and Alice toward their car.
"Oh, I'm so nervous!" exclaimed Ruth.
"What about?" asked her sister, as she buttoned her jacket, for the wind
was sharp on the hillside.
"Oh, suppose our car doesn't stop in time? Suppose we go over the cliff,
instead of the stuffed figures?"
"Don't suppose anything of the kind!" cried Alice, gaily. "Come
on--they're waiting for us."