THE CYCLONE
"All aboard!" called the conductor of the way train that had been held
up to allow the shooting of the oil well. "All board!"
"Come," summoned Mr. Pertell to his moving picture players. "We'll get
along now. That stop was a lucky one for us."
The train could now proceed, all danger from the delayed charge in the
well being over. Just what had caused it to "hang fire" was never
learned. But the shooting of the well was a success, and as the train
pulled out, Paul having gotten rid of his borrowed clothes, the workmen
were seen hurrying about, taking care of the valuable flow of petroleum.
"What do you make of the action of that International man?" asked Russ,
as he took a seat beside the manager.
"I don't know what to make of those fellows," was the answer. "They must
be following us pretty closely; but I don't see how they knew we were
going to film the oil well."
"They didn't know it," decided Russ. "They've had a spy on our trail,
following us; that's how it was done. You know we saw that fellow Wilson
looking at the destination marked on the baggage checks. He probably
sent word to the concern and they started out a camera man to follow us.
It would have to be someone we hadn't seen before, so of course Wilson
himself would not do, though I understand he can operate a machine
fairly well."
"I guess you've got the right idea," agreed Mr. Pertell. "This fellow,
whoever he was, made inquiries and learned where we were headed for.
Then with his camera he simply kept on the same train with us."
"And when we stopped here to get the oil well pictures," resumed Russ,
"he trailed along and set up his machine. He got all the benefit of our
players' acting and his company wasn't out a cent for salaries or
transportation. Of course he probably had as good a right to get
pictures of the well as we did."
"But not to film my company!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell, with energy. "I
won't stand for that; I'll have a stop put to it!"
"First I'm afraid we'll have to catch him," observed Russ. "He certainly
made himself scarce when we ran after him."
"Well, he isn't on this train, that's sure," went on the manager, "and
he'll have some trouble picking up our trail after this."
"How's that?" asked Russ.
"Why, I'm going to change our plans. We'll skip the next stop. I was
going to go up around the Great Lakes and make part of a drama there,
showing the effect the lakes and their trade had on the growth of our
country. Now I'll wait until we are on our way back from Rocky Ranch."
"That will be a good idea," agreed the young camera operator. "Those
International people must be pretty hard put to it to steal your ideas."
"They are," said Mr. Pertell. "They want to do me an injury. I had some
trouble with them years ago, and I won out in a lawsuit. Since then they
have been injuring me every chance they could get; but it really
amounted to little until lately. Now they are evidently getting
desperate, and they are using every means to make trouble for me."
"Well, we'll just have to be on the lookout for them at every turn,"
Russ declared.
Owing to the decision of Mr. Pertell that he would not, at this time,
take his company to the Great Lakes, a change in the route had to be
made. This necessitated stopping off for one night at a small country
town, where the company put up at the only hotel the place afforded.
"What a miserable place!" exclaimed Miss Pennington, tilting up her head
when she entered the office with the others.
"And such a horrid smell!" added Miss Dixon, as she stripped off her
long gloves with an air of being used to dining every day at the most
exclusive hotels. "I believe they are actually cooking--cabbage, Pearl."
"I agree with you, my dear! Isn't it awful! Can it be--cabbage?"
"Yah! Dot's right!" exclaimed Mr. Switzer, rubbing his hands. "Dot's
cabbage, all right--sauerkraut, too. Goot!"
"Ugh!" protested Miss Pennington, making a gesture of annoyance.
"I am glat dot ve come here," went on the German. "I haf not hat any
sauerkraut--dot is, not any to mention of--since ve left New York."
"Why, I saw you eating some the other day," laughed Paul, as the odor of
cooking cabbage became more pronounced from the hotel kitchen.
"Oh, yes, I hat a leetle--yust enough to know der taste of it," agreed
the German, with a genial smile. "But I ain't really hat vot you could
call a meal of it."
"You're like a man I heard of," said Russ, joining in the talk. "He was
a German farmer, I guess, and when his neighbor asked him if he was
putting away any sauerkraut that season the German answered: 'No, ve
ain't put none down to speak of dis season. Only yust seven or eight
barrels in case of sickness!'"
"Goot! Goot! Dot vos a real German!" laughed Mr. Switzer.
There was sauerkraut for supper that night, and the German actor
certainly ate enough to ward off any possible illness. And, in spite of
the rather homely character of the hotel, the meal was an excellent one,
and the moving picture players were more comfortable in the matter of
rooms than they had expected. About the only ones to find fault were
Miss Pennington, Miss Dixon, and Mr. Sneed. But they would have had some
objection to offer in almost any place, so it did not much matter.
Plans were made for taking a train early next morning, to continue on
out West, but something occurred to delay matters, though it resulted in
the making of an excellent film.
It was just before everyone was ready for breakfast when Ruth, thinking
she heard her sister's knock sharply on the door, opened it.
Instead of confronting Alice, Ruth jumped back in terror as she saw a
bear standing upright in the hall opposite her door.
"Oh! Oh!" she screamed as the beast put out his red tongue. "Help! A
bear! A bear!" and she slammed her door shut with such energy that she
knocked a picture from the wall. Ruth shot home the bolt, and then, in a
frenzy of fear, pulled the washstand against the door.
"What is it? Oh, what is it?" cried Alice from her apartment across the
corridor. "What is it, Ruth?" for she had heard her sister's frantic
appeal, though not catching the words.
"Don't open your door! Don't open you door!" begged Ruth. "There's a
bear in the hall!"
"A bear?"
"Yes, a great big one!"
But in spite of this Alice did open her door a little. She closed it
quickly enough, however, at the sight of the shaggy brown creature and,
pounding on the door of her father's room, which connected with hers,
she cried;
"Daddy, get help, quick! There's a bear in the hall!"
There was a speaking tube from the actor's apartment to the hotel
office, and he was soon transferring his daughter's message down this.
Meanwhile Mr. Sneed, coming out of his room from the lower end of the
hall, encountered the beast, and turned back with a yell. He nearly
collided with Mr. Towne, who was at that moment coming out of his room,
faultlessly attired, even to a heavy walking stick.
"Look out!" cried Mr. Sneed, racing along.
"What is it?" asked Mr. Towne.
"A bear. Look out! Here he comes!"
And, in fact, the bear was shuffling down the hall, his head lolling
from side to side, and his red tongue hanging out.
Either Mr. Towne did not hear what Mr. Sneed said, or he was so
surprised that he did not think to run, for he stood there and, a moment
later, the big beast confronted him. Stretching out his paw the animal
took from the nerveless hands of the actor the heavy walking stick, and,
shouldering it, began to march around in a circle.
Then the hotel proprietor, having been alarmed by Mr. DeVere, came up on
the run. As soon as he saw the bear marching around he broke into a
laugh.
"That's a trained bear!" he exclaimed. "It belongs to that Italian who
stopped here last night. I made him chain the brute out in the wagon
shed, but I guess he got loose. That bear won't hurt you. I've seen him
before. Tony, the Italian who owns him, often stops here with him when
he's traveling around giving exhibitions. He's real gentle. Down,
Bruno!" commanded the hotel man, and the bear, with a grunt, dropped on
all fours.
Alice, hearing this talk, opened her door, and then called to Ruth that
there was no danger. Mr. Sneed was induced to return, and when Tony
himself came to get his escaped pet Mr. Towne's cane was returned to
him. The bear had taken it for the pole he was used to performing with.
"You want to chain your bear up tighter, Tony," chided the hotel man as
the Italian led Bruno away.
"Ah, yes. Bruno, he ees a very bad-a-de bear! I wheep heem for dese."
"Oh, don't!" pleaded Alice. "He didn't mean anything wrong."
"No, mees, but he very bad, just-a de same. He make-a you to be
a-skeert."
"Oh, it's all over now," declared Ruth, who ventured out, seeing that
the bear was in leash. "But I _was_ frightened for a moment."
"I don't blame you," said Paul, as he heard what had happened. "Rather
an unusual morning caller, Ruth."
"Say! I've got an idea!" cried Mr. Pertell, who had come out by this
time. "We'll have a film with the bear in it. A sort of Little Red
Riding Hood story for children. Something simple, but it will be great
to have a real bear in it. Tony, will you let us use Bruno?"
"Of a course, Signor. I make up for de scare. Bruno he do-a just-a
whatever you tell. He very good-a bear--sometimes!" and he shrugged his
shoulders, philosophically.
"Very well, then, we'll wait over another train, and I'll get up some
little scenario with a bear in it. Mr. Sneed, you will take the part of
the bear's keeper, and Miss Alice----"
"No, sir!" cried Mr. Sneed. "No bears for me. I won't act with one. Why,
he'd claw me to pieces!"
"Ah, no, Signor!" interrupted Tony. "Bruno he very gentle just-a like-a
de little babe. He no hurt-a you, Signor."
"Well, I'm not going to take any chances," declared the "grouch." "This
is too dangerous."
"Ha! I am not afraid!" cried Mr. Switzer. "I vill act mit der bear
alretty yet," and to prove that he was not afraid he fed the big animal
some pretzels, without which the German actor seldom went abroad.
And, a little later, Russ made a film, in which the bear was one of the
central figures. Alice took part in it, and the simple little play made
quite a hit when shown.
"You seem to have the happy faculty of making use of everything that
comes your way--accidentally or not," remarked Mr. DeVere to Mr.
Pertell, when the company was once more under way in the train.
"You have to in the moving picture business," chuckled Mr. Pertell.
"That's the secret of success. You never can tell when something will go
wrong with a play you have planned carefully and rehearsed well. So you
must be ready to take advantage of every change in situation. Also, you
must be ready to seize on every opportunity that comes your way."
"You certainly seized on that bear," agreed Mr. DeVere.
"I'm glad he wasn't a wild one," went on the manager. "I am sorry your
daughters were frightened----"
"Oh, pray do not mention it," the actor said. "They are getting used to
strange experiences in this moving picture work."
"And I want to tell you they are doing most excellently," the manager
went on. "I have had many actresses of experience who could not do half
as well as Miss Ruth and Miss Alice. I congratulate you!"
Little of moment occurred during the rest of the trip; that is, until
the next stopping place was reached. This was at a place in Kansas where
Mr. Pertell planned to have some farming operations shown as a
background to a certain part in the big drama.
On the way a careful watch had been kept for the appearance of the
spies, or camera operators, of the International company, but no trace
of them had been seen.
There were no hotels in Fostoria, where the Kansas stop was made, and
the company was accommodated at two farmhouses close together. A number
of scenes were to be made, with these houses and outbuildings figuring
in them.
"Isn't it nice here?" asked Alice as she and Ruth were in their room on
the morning after their arrival, getting ready for breakfast.
"It does seem so," agreed the older girl, as she leaned over with her
hair hanging in front of her while she combed it out.
"Such wide, open spaces," went on Alice. "Plenty of fresh air here."
"Too much!" laughed Ruth. "Grab that waist of mine; will you, Alice?
It's going out of the window on the breeze."
Alice was just in time to prevent the garment from fluttering out of
the room, for the breeze was certainly strong.
As the younger girl turned back to hand her sister the waist she
exclaimed:
"Oh, what a queer looking cloud! And what a funny yellow light there is,
all about. Look, Ruth."
"Isn't it?" agreed Ruth, as she coiled her hair on top of her head. "It
looks like a storm."
Off in the west was a bank of yellowish clouds that seemed rolling and
tumbling over and over in their eagerness to advance. At the same time
there was a sobbing and moaning sound to the wind.
"Oh, Alice. I think there is going to be a terrible storm," gasped Ruth
a moment later, suddenly realizingly that danger impended.
Indeed the wind was rising rapidly, and the clouds increased in size.
Now confused shouts could be heard out in the farmyard, and some men
were running about, rounding up a bunch of cows.
"What's the matter?" called Mr. Pertell, coming out on the side porch.
"Cyclone coming!" answered the proprietor of the farm. "It's going to be
a bad one, too!"