THE CAPTURE
Mr. DeVere was rather worried when he reached home, and found his
daughters' note. He puzzled over what could have taken them out with
Russ, and went across the hall to inquire. By this time Mrs. Dalwood
had returned, and found the note her son had left.
There was not much information in it--Russ had not had time for
that--and the mystery seemed all the deeper.
"I wonder what I had better do?" asked Mr. DeVere of Mrs. Dalwood.
"Just don't do anything--and don't worry," she advised. "I know your
daughters are able to take care of themselves--especially Miss
Alice."
"Yes, she seems very capable--of late," he agreed, remembering how
she had worked to get him into the moving picture business.
"And with Russ no harm will come to them," went on Mrs. Dalwood.
"He's a good boy."
"Indeed he is! But I wish I knew what it was all about."
There was the honk of an auto horn in the street below, and as they
looked out, they saw, in the gleam of a street lamp, Ruth and Alice
alighting.
"There they are now!" exclaimed Mr. DeVere, with a note of relief in
his voice.
"But Russ isn't with them!" said Mrs. Dalwood, in surprise. "I wonder
what can have happened to him?"
Anxiously the two parents waited until the girls came up.
"Oh, such a time!" cried Alice, breathlessly.
"Where's Russ?" demanded his mother.
"After the men--Simp Wolley and Bud Brisket!"
"Oh, those horrid men!"
"He's all right," said Ruth, gently. "He is going to get Mr. Pertell
and an officer to go with him."
"But what is it all about?" asked Mr. DeVere.
Then, rather disjointedly, and with many interruptions, the girls
told the story of the afternoon and evening, for it was now nearly
nine o'clock. Of course Mr. DeVere and Mrs. Dalwood were much worried
when they learned what had happened, and the widow was not at her
ease when she thought of her son still not out of danger.
"But I'm sure he will soon be back," declared Alice, confidently. She
was a great comfort in trouble--a real optimist.
Then followed a period of anxious waiting.
It was broken by the return of Russ, rather disheveled, tired and
excited, but with his precious model safe in the taxicab with him and
Mr. Pertell.
"Why, Russ, where have you been?" cried Mrs. Dalwood.
"I just wish I'd been there!" exclaimed Billy. "Was there a fight,
Russ?"
"A--little one," he admitted, with a glance at the girls. "But it was
soon over."
"And where are the men now?" asked Alice.
"Safe in jail."
Then he told what had happened.
After Alice and Ruth had gone home in the taxicab he had called for
Mr. Pertell, explaining what had occurred. A special officer was
engaged, and the three went to the address in Jersey City, where
Wolley and Brisket had gone with the model. The place was in a rather
disreputable neighborhood. In a back room, which was approached with
caution, the two plotters were found with a draughtsman whom they
had hired to make drawings of the model.
The two scoundrels were taken by surprise and easily overpowered,
after a short resistance. The draughtsman was an innocent party, and
was allowed to go, after promising to give evidence against Wolley
and Brisket. The latter were put under arrest, and with his precious
model safe in his possession Russ started for home.
"They didn't have time to do a thing!" exclaimed the young inventor,
enthusiastically. "Thanks to you girls."
"Oh, we didn't do anything," said Ruth, modestly.
"I think you did!" cried Russ, looking at her admiringly.
"It was all Alice!" she said.
"'Twas you who thought of the most practical plans!" insisted the
younger girl. "Oh, Russ! I'm so glad!"
"And so am I," said Ruth, softly.
"Well, I must say, for two girls who haven't been much in public
life, you two are coming on," said Mr. DeVere, in his hoarse tones.
"But I am glad of it!"
The prompt action of Alice and Ruth, enabling Russ to recover his
invention, worked against the plans of the plotters. They were
easily convicted of fraud, and sent to prison. As for the invention
of Russ, he soon perfected it, and put it out on royalty. Many moving
picture machine men agreed to use it on their projectors, and to pay
him a sum each year for the privilege. So Russ was assured of a
goodly income for some time.
* * * * *
"Well," said Ruth the next morning, as she and Alice arose late after
their evening of excitement, "now that is over, the next matter to be
considered is: What are we going to do from now on?"
"Act in moving pictures, I should say," replied Alice. "We seem to be
committed to it now. I wonder how that big drama came out? I hope
it's a success. For I do so want to go on the rural circuit; don't
you?"
"I think I do," answered Ruth.
"Russ is going along to make the pictures, I believe," added Alice,
softly.
"Is he?" asked Ruth, with an air of indifference. "And I suppose Paul
Ardite will be one of the company," she added.
"How'd you guess?" laughed Alice.
"A little bird told me."
Two days later the entire company who had taken part in the making of
the big film, scenes of which were laid on the yacht, were invited
to see the pictures projected.
From the very first it was seen that the play was going to be a
success--at least from a mechanical standpoint and some time later it
was demonstrated to be a success from a popular one also.
The girls looked on while the pictures of themselves, their father
and others of the company were thrown on the white screen. They saw
the scene at the gang-plank, where the runaway had almost spoiled it,
but there was no sign of the horse in the pictures. Sandy Apgar had
taken care of that.
"I really must go out to see his farm," said Mr. Pertell. "I believe
it may be just the place for us. But I wonder what made Sandy so sad,
and so much in need of money? Perhaps I can help him."
There came the incident of Pepper Sneed falling down with the
lifeboat.
"Look! Look!" cried the grouchy actor. "I don't like that! It makes
me ridiculous. I demand that it be taken out, Mr. Pertell!"
"Can't do it! That's the best part of the play!" laughed the manager.
"And as for me--I positively refuse to act again, if I am to be shown
as a sailor, in those ridiculous white trousers!" cried Wellington
Bunn.
"Very well, then, I suppose you don't care to go on the rural circuit
with us," said Mr. Pertell.
"Oh--er--ah! Um! Well, you may with-hold my resignation for a time,"
said the Shakespearean actor, stiffly. "But it is against my
principles."
"Then we are going on the rural circuit?" asked Alice, eagerly.
"Yes," the manager assured her. "This play is going to be a big
success, I'm sure. I want to try a new kind now--outdoor scenes."
And that the play was a success was soon evidenced by the receipts
which poured into the treasury of the Comet Film Company.
"Oh, what do you imagine it will be like--in the country?" asked Ruth
of Alice, a little later, when it was definitely decided that they
were to go.
"I don't know," answered Alice. "It depends on what happens."
And what did happen may be learned by reading the next volume of this
series, to be called: "The Moving Picture Girls at Oak Farm; Or,
Queer Happenings While Taking Rural Plays."
"Well, I'll be glad of a little rest," said Alice, one day, when
they were coming from the studio, after having posed in some scenes
for a little parlor drama.
"So will I," agreed Ruth. "We have been very busy these last two
weeks."
"Especially since we helped Russ to get back his patent," added her
sister. "And now for Oak Farm!"
"Oh, then it's been definitely decided that we are to go there?"
"Yes, Mr. Pertell said he went out there, met Sandy Apgar and
arranged to use the place. We're to board there, too. I guess it will
be a help to the Apgars. Mr. Pertell said they needed money. And,
Ruth, he said there was some sort of a mystery out there, too."
"A mystery? What sort?"
"I don't know. We'll have to wait until we get there. Come on, let's
hurry home and tell daddy."
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
End of Project Gutenberg's The Moving Picture Girls, by Laura Lee Hope