THE RIVALS
Though there was a rush of spectators away from the oil well it appeared
to be a false alarm, for nothing happened, and Mr. Pertell, who was
afraid the well would "spout" before he could get his company of players
on the scene, was relieved when he heard one of the workmen call:
"False alarm. She isn't going off yet."
"Now hurry and get around the well," urged the manager. "I want some of
you grouped near it when the oil spouts up."
"Won't it be dangerous?" asked Mr. Sneed. "I don't want to be blown up
by nitro-glycerine."
"You needn't get too close," returned Mr. Pertell. "I just want the
spouting well as a background."
"It will be all right if you keep about thirty feet back," said one of
the well borers.
"How do you shoot a well?" asked Paul, while Russ was getting ready his
camera.
"By using nitro-glycerine," was the answer. "This explosive comes in tin
cans, about ten feet long and about five inches in diameter. We lower
these cannisters down into the iron pipe that extends to the bottom of
the well."
"How deep?" queried Alice.
"Oh, a well may run anywhere from three hundred to three thousand feet,
or even more. This one is about one thousand. We have about a hundred
quarts of nitro-glycerine down in the pipes now; but it hasn't gone off
yet."
"Can you--er--tell me when it _will_ go off?" asked Mr. Sneed, looking
about him nervously.
"Any minute, if not sooner," replied the oil man, with a smile. "Oh,
don't run--you're safe here," he added, as Mr. Sneed began to move away.
At the same time Claude Towne, the "swell" of the company, exclaimed:
"I'm not going to stay here and get this new suit spoiled by the oil."
He was very careful of his attire.
"Oh, the oil won't spray as far as this," the workman assured him.
"How do they explode the glycerine?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"Well, the old plan used to be to drop an iron weight called a
'go-devil,' down on top of the cannisters containing the explosive. The
top can was fitted with a firing head, and when the iron weight hit
this, after a long fall, it would explode, and the concussion would set
off the rest of the glycerine."
"But this time we tried a new plan. We used a 'go-devil-squib.' That's a
sort of torpedo, holding about a quart of the glycerine, and it has a
firing head of its own. We drop that down the pipe and when it hits on
the top cannister it goes off, and sets off the rest of the explosive.
But, somehow, it didn't work this time. The charge missed fire, so now
we're going to drop down an old fashioned 'go-devil' and see what
happens."
Mr. Pertell asked, and readily obtained, permission to make moving
pictures of the shooting of the well, and was also accorded the
privilege of posing his company at the scene when the well did "spout."
"I'll have to think up some sort of a scenario to go with it," the
manager said.
"Have some poor man get rich suddenly by striking oil on his land,"
suggested Russ, "and then show what he does with his money. You can
easily get the later scenes."
"Good idea--I will," exclaimed the manager. "We'll use this as the
first, or opening, scene in--let me see, we'll call it 'The Rise and
Fall of the Kerosene King.' How's that?"
"Good!" cried Mr. DeVere.
"All right. Paul, you'll be the king. But you'll have to start as a
poor lad, and those good clothes won't do. Slip on a pair of greasy
overalls--borrow them from one of the men--then you'll look more
natural."
Paul was soon fitted out as one of the oil men, and then, after a brief
rehearsal, the improvised drama was ready to be taken on the sensitive
film. A few preliminary scenes were made by Russ, and then, as word was
given that the iron weight was about to be dropped on the cans of
glycerine in the well-pipes, Mr. Pertell got his company as close to the
derrick as was safe. Then, while Russ clicked away at the camera, one of
the workmen called:
"Let her go!"
A man dropped the iron weight down the pipe and ran.
"Look out, everybody!" he cried as he sprang away.
"Are we safe here?" Mr. Sneed asked anxiously.
"You're all right," one of the workmen assured him.
"Oh, I'm so nervous!" faltered Ruth.
"No need of it," answered Alice, as she leaned forward to watch the
spouting of the oil from the well.
There was a dull rumble beneath the surface of the earth. The ground
seemed to heave and shake. It trembled, and Miss Pennington and Miss
Dixon looked at each other with frightened eyes.
"It--it's like an earthquake," observed Ruth.
"Oh, look!" cried Alice.
At that moment something like a dark cloud shot upward from the pipes
and spread out, plume-fashion. At the same moment the air was filled
with the rank odor of oil and gas.
"She's a spouter! She's a spouter!" cried the men, in delight.
"Cap her up!" came the command.
But it was not easy to do at first, so great was the flow of oil, and
considerable had run to waste when the internal pressure of natural gas,
which forced out the oil, was reduced sufficiently to allow of the pipe
being capped, and the flow of petroleum regulated.
All this time Russ had continued to get pictures of the novel scene, and
Paul, as the Kerosene King, went through the act that had been
improvised for him, the others of the company doing their share.
"This will make a novel film," said Mr. Pertell in satisfied tones. "I
hope you got it all, Russ."
"Every bit. I think the views showing the oil spouting up will be first
rate."
"But what are you using two cameras for?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"Two cameras?" repeated Mr. Pertell, questioningly.
"Yes, there's a man over there with another machine," and he pointed to
a little hill, not far off, where stood a man working away at the handle
of a machine similar to the one Russ was using. And this camera was
pointed directly at the oil well and at the Comet players.
"What does that mean?" cried Mr. Pertell. "I didn't order two films
made, and besides----"
"That isn't one of our men!" interrupted Russ, as he sprang away from
his camera.
"Who is it?" Mr. Pertell wanted to know.
"It's one of our rivals. Someone from the International concern!" cried
Russ. "They've followed us to steal some more of our ideas!"
"You're right!" shouted Mr. Pertell. "This will have to stop!"
Together he and Russ, followed by Paul, made a dash in the direction of
the rival photographer. But the latter saw them coming, and hastily
picking up his machine he ran toward a clump of woods not far off. And
by the time his pursuers reached there he was not to be found, though
they searched about for some time.