A REVISED FILM
Just what idea the local police had in mind when they rushed forward
would be hard to say. Evidently, however, they believed they were intent
on rescuing the girls from some imminent peril, for the leader of the
officers, showing not a little fear, even in the heroic role he was
playing, fired a shot into the air, and cried:
"No you don't! No you don't! Nothin' like that there can be done while
Captain Wealson is around. Up an' at 'em, men!"
He and his men rushed toward the pursuing "villains," got right in the
way of the camera, and proceeded to attack those whom they thought were
guilty of some crime.
"There it goes!" cried Mr. Pertell. "The picture is spoiled! It will
have to be all done over again."
In obedience to a gesture of despair from the manager, Russ ceased
grinding at the crank of the camera.
"That's enough! Stop!" called Mr. Pertell, and Ruth, Alice and the
others who were making strenuous efforts (seemingly) to escape, came to
a halt. Many times before they had heard that command which meant that
something was going wrong, and that they might as well stop at once
without wasting effort.
"Why, I wonder what's wrong," said Alice, who had not quite grasped the
interruption. "Everything seemed to be going beautifully."
"Perhaps the film broke," suggested Ruth.
"It's the police," Paul said, waving his hand at the officers, each of
whom had clutched a "prisoner," and was holding him.
"The police?" echoed Alice.
"Yes, they came in when they weren't wanted," Paul went on.
"Oh, I thought they were part of the picture!" exclaimed Ruth. And so
she had. Often, to make a moving picture seem more realistic, a manager
will not tell the actors all he has prepared. Thus he gets the element
of surprise. Both Ruth and Alice, in this case, thought the local police
had been brought into the scene at the last moment to add a touch of
reality to the play. But, as it turned out, it was almost too much
reality.
"Say, what do you fellows mean, anyhow?" demanded the manager, of the
police leader. "What do you mean, I say," and Mr. Pertell strode up with
an angry look on his face.
"What do we mean? Ha! That's a good one! Listen to him, boys! What do we
mean? Why we mean to arrest these scoundrels, and we've done it, too!"
he added proudly, with a wave of his hand toward the persons his men had
made prisoners.
"Well, you've made a big mistake," Mr. Pertell went on.
"Mistake! Ha! I guess not!" cried the officer. "We don't make mistakes
up here! One of my men seen something queer goin' on out in the river,
and come and told me. Then I seen your boats puttin' off, and I knew
something was wrong. So I got my forces together, and we waited for
these fellows. We've got 'em, too! Every one of 'em!" he added proudly.
"Lock 'em up, men!" he ordered. "We'll show these fellows what Jersey
justice is like. Take 'em away."
"Hold on!" cried Mr. Pertell, and this time he allowed a smile to show
on his hitherto glum face. "You don't seem to understand."
"Oh, I think I do," said the police officer calmly. "I understand a
great deal more than you think I do. Come on."
"Wait! I'll explain!" cried the manager. "It's for the moving pictures!"
he added. "This is only a pretended attack and pursuit. Ask the young
ladies themselves," he said, motioning to Ruth and Alice who were now
smiling. Certainly they did not seem to be in any great alarm or
distress over their recent adventure. Their appearance must have caused
the officer to doubt the wisdom of his course.
"Weren't these fellers chasing you?" he demanded, motioning to the
prisoners. "Now don't say they wasn't, for I saw 'em."
"Oh, yes, they were pursuing us," admitted Ruth, "but it was all in the
picture."
"The picture?" questioned the officer.
"Yes. We are moving picture actresses and actors," she went on, and her
father, coming up then, though he had had no active part in the chase,
confirmed what she said.
For a moment the police captain maintained a silence, and then, as he
could no longer doubt what was said, since Mr. Pertell exhibited certain
credentials, the representative of Jersey justice said:
"Well, this certainly is one on me! We'd better go back, boys," he added
to his men, "and we'd better keep quiet about this thing. But I sure
thought this was a kidnapping case."
"And you spoiled my picture," groaned Mr. Pertell. "Now we've got to go
back to the middle of the river, and do it over from there."
"Hold on a minute!" exclaimed Pop Snooks, who, as property man, was also
a sort of assistant manager. "Maybe this will turn out all right after
all."
"How do you mean?" asked Mr. Pertell.
"Why, the police. We could have them try to stop the pursuers but get
worsted in the encounter, and the roughs could keep right on after the
girls. In that way we won't have to waste much film. Just go on with the
picture from the point where these policemen came in."
Mr. Pertell thought for a minute.
"That's the idea!" he suddenly cried. "It will make a better picture
that way. Say!" he went on to the police officers: "You're in on this!"
"In on what?" asked the captain.
"On this scene. I can use you and your men. You won't mind a little
rough and tumble work, will you?"
"What do you mean?"
Thereupon the manager explained that he would turn the police to good
advantage, and have them interfere in the attack, only to be outdone by
the "villains."
"It's only fair for you to do this, as you came in where you weren't
needed and nearly spoiled the picture," the manager said.
Whether it was this appeal to justice and fair play, or because he and
his men were anxious to get into a moving picture, was not made clear;
but the captain and the policemen consented to do their parts.
There was a little coaching, something of a rehearsal and then that
scene went on again, with Ruth and Alice "fleeing" from the pursuers,
and the police charging downhill after the men.
Then followed the improvised scene, of an attack by the police, and a
repulse by the "villains."
"Good! That's great!" cried Mr. Pertell. "It will be better than I
thought it would. This is fine!"
"Ha! Yes, maybe for you, but look at my eye!" cried Mr. Pepper Sneed.
"Look at it!"
"Well, what's the matter with it?" asked Mr. Pertell. "It's a little
red, that's all I can see." The taking of pictures had stopped for the
time being.
"A little red! A little!" fairly howled the grouch. "Say it will be
black and blue tomorrow. One of those policeman hit me in the eye with
his elbow. It was an awful blow. I shouldn't wonder but that I went
blind. Never again will I take part in anything as tough as this. I know
I'll be laid up for a week," and with this gloomy thought he limped off,
for he had been rather roughly handled in the mêlée.
"I wonder if that's all for us today?" asked Alice, as she saw Russ
taking the legs off his camera.
"Why, are you tired?" asked Ruth, solicitously.
"A little, yes. I shall be glad when we get out to sea."
"Perhaps we may have even harder work than this," suggested Ruth, for
the race along shore had not been easy. "A shipwreck isn't going to be
any society drama, Alice."
"I know," agreed the younger girl. "But I think we shall like it."
Neither of them realized what was in store for them.