THE HOSPITAL TENT
"The show must go on!" This is the motto of circus and theatrical
performers the world over. No matter what happens, under what strain or
pain the player labors, no matter what occurs short of death itself, the
public must not be allowed to guess that anything is wrong. And
sometimes even death itself has been no barrier--for players have gone
through with their parts on the stage when, but the act previous, they
have learned that some loved one had passed away.
And more than one clown has bounded into the sawdust ring with merry
quip and jest, with a smile on his painted face, while his heart was
breaking with grief.
And so it was with Ruth DeVere. As she staggered out of the smoke clouds
and saw that Alice had not followed, at once the dreadful thought came
to her that her sister had been overcome by the fumes. And, although the
smoke bombs were harmless as regards fire, the breathing of the
chemical fumes for any length of time might mean death.
Thus, as Ruth was about to stagger to her feet to go back into the murky
cloud to look for Alice, there came the director's orders to "hold that
pose!"
The show must go on! That meant it would not do to spoil the scene, ruin
the film, and necessitate a retake if, by any possibility, it could be
avoided.
"Stay where you are, Ruth! Stop the camera, Russ! Hold the pose--both of
you. We'll go on from there when we get Alice out!"
And Ruth, her heart torn with anguish, must remain. She was glad her
father was not present.
"Get in there and get the girl!" cried Pop Snooks who was busy lighting
more smoke bombs. "Get that girl, some of you fellows!" For he had
guessed in an instant what had happened. It was not the first time one
of the players had been overcome by the heavy fumes.
Into the cloud dashed some of the head property man's helpers. Russ and
Paul, who could leave their posts while the camera was not in motion,
also penetrated the murkiness.
Fortunately, Alice had been overcome when within a few feet of the clear
atmosphere, and it was the work of but an instant for Paul to carry her
outside, where she could breathe pure air.
"The poor dear!" cried Mrs. Maguire. "Here, give her this ammonia and
water."
"Don't come too close to her, Mrs. Maguire!" warned the director. "Your
black make-up will come off on her face, and it will show in the film."
The director had to think of all those things, though it might seem a
bit heartless.
"I'll be careful," promised the motherly old woman. "I'll be careful."
Alice sipped the aromatic spirits of ammonia, and felt better.
"Did I faint?" she asked. "How silly of me!"
"Are you all right?" asked Ruth, still in her place by the side of the
soldier, who was supposed to be unconscious.
"Yes, Ruth dear. I'm all right now. Oh, and did I leave you to carry him
all alone? I'm so sorry!"
"It was all right. I dragged him."
"Yes, the scene is all right," said Mr. Pertell. "Now, Alice, I don't
want to be heartless, but will you be ready to go on in this, or shall
we abandon it and make a retake?"
"Oh, I'll go on. Just a moment, and I'll be all right."
After a minute or two the plucky girl recovered from the effects of the
smoke, and, though she was weak and wan, managed to go through her part.
She and Ruth carried their "cousin" out of the burning barn which was
then allowed to fall to ruins. Or rather, the extra part, built on for
the purpose, was, Pop Snook's smoke bombs effectually concealing from
the audience the fact that the real barn was not in the least harmed.
"Well, I'm glad that's over," said Alice with a sigh, as a little later
she washed off her make-up and donned her ordinary clothes.
"Do you feel bad?" her sister asked.
"Yes, sort of choked."
"Then let's take a walk up on the hill where there is always a breeze."
On the grassy eminence with the fresh breezes blowing about them, Alice
soon felt much better. But Mr. Pertell called off some of the scenes set
down for next day, so that she might have a rest.
"We'll soon be ready for the big hospital scene, Ruth, and also for the
one where you try to get away with the papers, Alice," said Mr. Pertell
to the two girls one day. "And, in order that everything may run
smoothly I've made a little change in the scenario. I'm going to have a
preliminary hospital scene. In that you will be a sort of orderly, or
assistant nurse, Ruth. And there comes an emergency in which you do so
well that you are sent for to be a nurse in one of the big hospitals
maintained near the front. That will make the story more logical.
"So we'll have one of those hospital scenes to-day. I'll stage a small
engagement, and have a number of men wounded. They'll be brought in, and
there will be a night scene. The doctors and other nurses go off duty,
and you are in charge. An emergency occurs--maybe a bandage slips from
an artery and you sit and hold the wound until a doctor can come and tie
the artery again. We'll work it out as we go along."
"Is there anything for me?" asked Alice.
"No, your part will stand all right as it is until you get to the big
hospital scene. Come on now, Ruth; we'll have a rehearsal."
The rehearsal went off well, and the little change promised to
strengthen the story of the war play. The hospital was set up near Mr.
Apgar's corn-crib.
"And maybe that'll be a good thing," he said. "If you folks use enough
of them there disinfectants and carbolic acid, you may scare away all
the rats and mice that eat my corn in the winter."
"Oh! will there be rats and mice?" asked Ruth, apprehensively.
"Not in the hospital," said Mr. Pertell with a laugh. "It will be
strictly sanitary--as much so as things were in the days of
sixty-three."
The fight between the two forces was staged some distance away from the
hospital, and the guns soon began to rattle and to roar again. The girls
did not mind them by this time, however.
This skirmish had no particular part in the general story, but it was
filmed just the same, as it could be spliced in with the other fighting
scenes.
"And you can't get too much of that," Mr. Pertell said.
Russ, with some helpers, was taking the fighting pictures preliminary to
the hospital act. He was nearing the end of the reel in his machine
when, to his dismay, he found he had forgotten to bring a spare one.
"Here, you!" he called to one of the extra soldiers lying lazily on the
grass near the camera, "hop over and ask Pop Snooks to give you an extra
reel for me."
The man did not answer.
"Don't you hear me?" yelled Russ, grinding away at the film which was
being quickly used up. "Go and get me that reel!"
Still no response.
"Are you deaf?" shouted Russ, and then he thought perhaps the discharge
of so many cannon had made the man unable to hear.
"Go over and punch that fellow!" cried Russ to Paul. "Wake him up, and
tell him to get me that extra reel."
"All right," Paul assented. "I'd go myself only I have to carry a
message to headquarters in a minute or two."
He ran over and kicked the soldier, who seemed to be asleep.
"Hi! What's the idea?" demanded the rudely awakened one.
"The camera man wants you to go to get him some film."
"Who--me?"
"Yes--you! Skip!"
"I can't go get no film!"
"You can't? Why not?"
"'Cause I'm dead, that's why! I was told to be killed, and I was. I fell
off my hoss dead, an' I'm deader'n a door nail. I dassn't git up to git
no film for nobody. I'm dead!"
And the man rolled over and closed his eyes.