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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.