THE FIRE FILM
"All ready now, Russ!"
"All ready, Mr. Pertell."
"Then start off. Be ready with the torch there, Sandy, and touch off
the pile of hay and straw inside the barn when I give the word. Then
come out for the bucket brigade."
"Yes, sir."
It was the day after the finding of the money box, for there had been
so much excitement attending that episode, that Mr. Pertell thought
it wise to postpone the fire scene. But now all was in readiness for
it.
"All ready now!" called the manager, and the play began. There were
several preliminary scenes before the final one of the burning barn,
and these were successfully run off, Russ filming them one after the
other.
There was no hitch, so well had the play been rehearsed. Now came the
time when Ruth and Alice were to take refuge in the barn, the action
being supposed to occur after a chase when they wished to escape from
a rascally guardian.
The firing of the barn (in the play) was supposed to be done by an
enemy of the farmer, and was not done to entrap the girls, of whose
presence the incendiary supposedly knew nothing.
But the girls were locked in the barn when the fire broke out, and
necessarily must be rescued.
"Touch her off!" cried the manager at the proper point, and Sandy set
fire to a pile of hay and straw inside the barn. This would make
considerable smoke, and smoke always shows up well in moving
pictures.
"Get ready with the water now!" called Mr. Pertell. "I want a lively
bucket brigade scene here!"
Sandy and his force, of whom Wellington Bunn was one, ran back and
forth from the water barrel, carrying the filled buckets and
splashing the contents on the flames.
The fire was now at its height.
"All ready for the rescue!" ordered the manager. "Up with the ladder
and get after the girls, Paul. Mr. Sneed, you're in on this."
Up the ladder climbed Paul, and with an axe he began chopping away at
the roof. This was the place prepared beforehand, and Ruth and Alice
were to be drawn up through the hole that went down into the secret
room where the money box had been found.
"Quick!" cried Paul, as he made the splinters fly. This was only for
the effect, as the section on the roof was all ready to come away.
"Hurry up, Sneed!" called the young fellow. "It's getting pretty hot
here. We'll have to follow each other closely down the ladder."
"We can't get away from here any too soon for me," the other
answered. "This is the worst yet."
In another moment the secret room was exposed. Ruth and Alice were in
it, a little afraid, after all, that something might happen.
"Come on!" cried Paul reaching down his hands. Alice climbed up on a
chair in the room, and Paul lifted her out on the roof. Then Mr.
Sneed did the same for Ruth.
Putting the girls over their shoulders, in the manner in which
firemen make rescues, the two started down the ladder.
In spite of Mr. Sneed's fear, nothing happened. The rescue went off
finely, and even those not taking part in it applauded as it came to
a close and Ruth and Alice, who were supposed to have fainted, were
revived.
Then their parts ended, for that particular scene, but the barn
continued to burn, as was intended, and soon it was a glowing heap of
embers and ashes. The work of the bucket brigade had not been
successful, nor had it been intended that it should be.
The final scenes of the play--away from the fire--were made, and then
the players could rest.
"I hope it's a success," said the manager, with a sigh. "We have
worked hard enough over it."
And a few days later word came back from New York, whither the film
had been sent, that it was a great success, and one of the best
dramas the Comet Company had ever put over. The scenes where Alice
and Ruth were rescued were particularly fine.
* * * * *
"Well, I wonder what sort of 'stunts' we'll have to do next, Ruth?"
remarked Alice as they were in their room in the old farm house one
morning, about a week after the barn fire.
"There is no telling," was the answer. "Mr. Pertell has some plans,
but I don't believe they are ready yet."
"Yes they are, my dears!" exclaimed Mr. DeVere, as he entered the
room. "We have just received word that the entire company will spend
some months in the backwoods, getting pictures of winter scenes."
"Oh, the woods in winter!" cried Alice. "I'll just love that; won't
you, Ruth?"
"I think I shall. But I do hope we won't have so much excitement as
we've had here."
Whether they did or did not may be learned by reading the next volume
of this series, to be called: "The Moving Picture Girls Snowbound;
Or, the Proof on the Film."
Happy days followed at Oak Farm, for after the hard work of the
season Mr. Pertell decided to give his company a little vacation. And
the Apgars were happy, too, for the foreclosure proceedings were
stopped by the satisfying of the mortgage with Uncle Isaac's money.
Mrs. Delamont sent on for Rex III, and Alice bade the fine animal
good-bye rather sadly, for she had grown very fond of him.
"Come on," said Paul to her one day, "we'll take a walk, and maybe we
can find another dog."
"Not like Rex, though," laughed Alice, as she set off with the young
fellow. And now, for a time, we will take leave of the Moving Picture
Girls.
THE END
THE JANICE DAY SERIES
By HELEN BEECHER LONG
_12 mo, cloth, illustrated, and colored jacket_
A series of books for girls which have been uniformly successful.
Janice Day is a character that will live long in juvenile fiction.
Every volume is full of inspiration. There is an abundance of humor,
quaint situations, and worth-while effort, and likewise plenty of
plot and mystery.
An ideal series for girls from nine to sixteen.
JANICE DAY, THE YOUNG HOMEMAKER
JANICE DAY AT POKETOWN
THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY
HOW JANICE DAY WON
THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY
THE NAN SHERWOOD SERIES
By Annie Roe Carr
_12 mo, cloth, illustrated, and colored jacket_
In Annie Roe Carr we have found a young woman of wide experience
among girls--in schoolroom, in camp and while traveling. She knows
girls of to-day thoroughly--their likes and dislikes--and knows that
they demand almost as much action as do the boys. And she knows
humor--good, clean fun and plenty of it.
NAN SHERWOOD AT PINE CAMP
or The Old Lumberman's Secret
NAN SHERWOOD AT LAKEVIEW HALL
or The Mystery of the Haunted Boathouse
NAN SHERWOOD'S WINTER HOLIDAYS
or Rescuing the Runaways
NAN SHERWOOD AT ROSE RANCH
or The Old Mexican's Treasure
NAN SHERWOOD AT PALM BEACH
or Strange Adventures Among the Orange Groves