THE BURNING GRASS
The announcement made by Russ caused considerable surprise, and, on the
part of Mr. Pertell, dismay.
"You don't mean that big reel--that important one which is a sort of key
to all the rest--is missing; do you?" he asked.
"That's it," replied Russ, ruefully. "It's clean gone!"
"Maybe you didn't look carefully, or perhaps you put it in some other
place than you thought."
"I'm not in the habit of doing that with undeveloped film," replied the
young operator. "If it was a reel ready for the projector I might mislay
it, for I'd know the light couldn't harm it. But undeveloped reels, that
the least glint of light would spoil--I take precious good care of them,
let me tell you. And this one is gone."
"Let's have another look," suggested Mr. Pertell, hopefully.
He went into the tent from which Russ had just emerged, and the latter
showed him where he had placed the reel. It was enclosed in its own
case as it came from the camera, and that case, as an additional
protection, was placed in a light-tight black box. This box would hold
several reels; but that night only one, and the most important of those
taken on the trip, was put in it.
"Look!" suddenly exclaimed Mr. DeVere, who had followed the two into the
tent. "That's how your reel was taken!" and he pointed to a slit in the
wall of the tent, close to where the black box had stood. So clean was
the cut, having evidently been made with a very sharp instrument, that
only when the wind swayed the canvas was it noticeable.
"By Jove! You're right!" cried Mr. Pertell. "That's how they got it,
Russ. Someone sneaked up outside the tent, slit it open, reached in and
lifted out the reel. It was done when we were asleep and----"
"That's what made the dogs bark!" exclaimed Russ. "Now the question is:
Who was it?"
He looked at Mr. Pertell as he spoke, and at once a light of
understanding came into the eyes of the manager.
"You mean----?" the latter began.
"Those fellows from the International!" finished Russ, quickly. "They
must be still on our trail."
"What's the trouble?" asked Baldy Johnson, from outside the tent. "Has
anything happened?"
"Oh, don't say there's more trouble," chimed in Ruth, as she came down
out of the wagon where she and Alice slept. "What has happened now?"
"Nothing much, except that we've been robbed," spoke Russ, ruefully.
"Our big reel is gone." To the cowboys and others of the company who
crowded up he showed the slit in the tent wall, through which the theft
had been perpetrated.
"Hum! I guess those fellows were smarter than we were," replied Baldy.
"We scurried around in the night, but they gave us the slip."
"And we didn't see a sign of 'em, neither!" added Buster Jones.
"Say, fellows, if this ever gets back to Rocky Ranch," went on Necktie
Harry, as he adjusted a flaming red scarf, "we'll never hear the last of
it. To think we heard a racket, got up, and let something be taken right
from under our noses and didn't see it done--Good-night! as the poet
says."
"Boys, we've got to make good!" declared Bow Backus. "We've got to take
the trail after these scamps, and get back them pictures. It's up to
us!"
"Whoop-ee! That's what it is!" shouted Necktie Harry, firing his gun.
"Oh, isn't this fine!" cried Alice, as she joined Ruth. "There will be a
real chase and----"
"Oh, how can you like such things?" asked Ruth. "It may be something
terrible!"
"Pooh! I don't see how it can be. If they have something that belongs to
us we have a right to get it back," and Alice shook back the hair that
was falling over her shoulders, for she was to take part in several
pictures that day as a "cowgirl," and was dressed in a picturesque, if
not exactly correct, costume, with short skirt, leggins and all.
"Oh, I hope there won't be any--bloodshed!" faltered Miss Pennington.
"They'll probably only use their lassoes," replied Alice, with a smile.
"Oh dear! I hope breakfast will soon be ready. I'm as hungry as a----"
"Alice!" warned Ruth, with a gentle look. She was still trying to
correct her sister's habit of slang.
"As hungry as if I hadn't eaten since last night," finished Alice with a
mocking laugh. "There, sister mine!" and she blew her a kiss from the
tips of her rosy fingers.
"Well, it's easy enough to say: 'Get after the fellows who took the
reel,'" spoke Baldy Johnson, "but who were they, and where shall we
start?"
"It must have been someone who knew where we kept the reels in the
light-tight box," said Russ. "Otherwise he would have cut several places
in the tent to reach in and feel around. And there is only one cut. So
it must have been somebody who knew about this tent."
"Regular detective work, that," remarked Necktie Harry, quickly, looking
admiringly at Russ.
"Say! I have it!" cried Baldy Johnson. "Those fellows who rode in
yesterday to watch us work. It was one of them."
"You mean the boys from the Double ranch?" asked Buster.
"Them's the ones," answered Baldy. Just before the close of the making
pictures the day before a crowd of cowboys from a nearby cattle range
had ridden up, and looked on interestedly. They were returning from a
round-up. Some of them were known to the boys from Rocky Ranch, and
there had been an exchange of courtesies.
"'Them's the guilty parties,' as the actor folks say," sung out Bow
Backus.
"I think you are right," agreed Mr. Pertell.
"But I can't see what object cowboys would have in taking a film--and an
undeveloped one at that," said Russ. "I can't believe it."
"Maybe the International firm bribed them, or maybe one of their men was
disguised as a cowboy," suggested Mr. DeVere.
"That's possible," admitted Russ.
"Well, we'll soon find out," declared Baldy. "Come on, boys. Grub up and
then we'll ride over."
The visit to Double X ranch proved fruitless, however, except in one
particular. The cowboys attached to that "outfit" easily proved that
they had not been near the camp of the picture makers.
"But there was one fellow who rode with us," said the foreman. "He was a
stranger to us. Looked to be a cow-puncher, and _said_ he was, from down
New Mexico way. He was with us when we were at your place, and when we
rode away he branched off. It might have been him."
"I'm sure it was," declared Mr. Pertell. "Now, how can we get hold of
him?"
But that was a question no one could answer, and though several of the
cowboys took the trail after the stranger, he was not to be found. The
missing film seemed to have disappeared for good.
It was a great loss, but there was no help for it, and plans were made
to go through the big scene again, though not until later.
"I have something else I want filmed now," said Mr. Pertell. "We will
make that 'lost' scene we spoke of last night and then try a novelty."
"Something new?" asked Mr. Bunn. "I hope I don't have to be lassoed
again," for that had been his most recent "stunt."
"No, we'll let you off easy this time," laughed Mr. Pertell. "All you'll
have to do will be to escape from a prairie fire."
"A prairie fire!" gasped the Shakespearean actor. "I refuse to take that
chance."
"Don't worry," said the manager. "It will only be a small, imitation
blaze. I want to get some scenes of that," he went on to explain to the
cowboys. "In the early days of the West prairie fires were one of the
terrible features. I realize that now, of course, with the West so much
more built up, they are not so common. But I think we could arrange for
a small one, and burn the grass over a limited area. It would look big
in a picture."
"Yes, it could be done," admitted Baldy. "We'll help you."
Two or three more days were spent in the open, traveling over the
prairie, making various films. Then a suitable location for the "prairie
fire" was found and a little rehearsal held.
"That will do very well," said Mr. Pertell at the conclusion. "We'll
film the scene to-morrow."
The arrangements were carefully made, and in a big open place the tall
dry grass was set on fire. The flames crackled, and great clouds of
black smoke rolled upward.
"Go ahead now, Russ!" called the manager. "That ought to make a fine
film! Come on, you people--Mr. DeVere, Ruth, Alice--get in the picture.
Register fear!"