THE CURIOUS DEER
"Quick! A rope!"
"No, boards are better!"
"Fence rails will do!"
"Oh, get him out, someone!"
These were only some of the cries uttered, following the accident to Mr.
Sneed. Meanwhile he was doing his best to keep himself above water by
grasping the edge of the ice.
But it crumbled in his fingers, and he was so shocked by the sudden
immersion, and by the cold, and his skates were so heavy on his feet,
that he went down again and again. Fortunately the lake was not deep at
that point, and as he went down his feet would touch bottom, and he
could spring up again.
"Don't go out there!" warned Mr. Pertell, as Paul started for the spot.
"Why not?" asked the young actor.
"Because the ice is probably thin all around that place. I don't want
two of you in. Hold on, Mr. Sneed!" he cried to the desperate actor.
"We'll have you out in no time!"
"Shall I get this?" cried Russ, who had not deserted his camera, even as
a gunner will not leave his cannon, nor a captain his ship. More than
once brave moving picture operators have stood in the face of danger to
get rare views.
"Yes, get every motion of it!" cried the manager.
"But it isn't in the play!"
"I don't care! We'll write it in afterward. You get the pictures and
we'll rescue Mr. Sneed. Hi, there, Mr. Bunn, you must help with this.
Get some fence rails! We can slide them out on the ice and they will
distribute the weight so that the ice will hold us."
"But where will I get fence rails?" asked the actor.
"Oh, gnaw them out of a tree!" cried Mr. Pertell, who was much disturbed
and nervous. "Don't you see that fence?" he cried, pointing to one not
far off. "Get some rails from that. And then get in the picture!"
"Oh, such a life!" groaned Mr. Bunn.
"This is to save a life!" the manager reminded him.
And while Russ continued to make moving pictures of the unexpected
scene, the others set about the work of rescue. Later this could be
interpolated in the drama to make it appear as though it had all been
arranged in advance.
"Hurry with those rails!" called Mr. Pertell to Mr. Bunn. "He can't stay
in that icy water forever."
Some of the men who had been working at removing the snow now came up
with ropes and trace chains. Then, when the rails were spread out on the
ice, near the air hole, the rescuers were able to get near enough to
throw the ends of several lines to Mr. Sneed. He managed to grasp one,
and, a moment later was hauled out on the ice.
"I--I--I'm c-c-c-cold!" he stammered, as he stood with the icy water
dripping from him.
"Shouldn't wonder but what you were," agreed Mr. Pertell. "Now the thing
for you to do is to run to the Lodge as fast as you can. Here, Mr. Bunn,
you and Paul run alongside him, with a hold on either arm. We'll call
this film 'A Modern Pickwick,' instead of what we planned. In Dickens'
story there's a scene somewhat like this. We'll change the whole thing
about.
"Russ, you go on ahead, and when Paul and Mr. Bunn come along with Mr.
Sneed, you get them as they run."
"All right," assented the young moving picture operator, as he kept on
grinding away at the crank.
Exercise was the best thing to restore the circulation of the actor who
had fallen into the water, and he soon had plenty of it. With Paul on
one side, and Mr. Bunn on the other, he was raced back to Elk Lodge, and
there he was supplied plentifully with hot lemonade to ward off a cold.
Russ got interior pictures of these scenes as well, and later the film
made a great success.
"In view of the accident, and the fact that you are all more or less
upset," said Mr. Pertell, when some of the excitement had calmed down,
"we will give up work for the rest of the day. You may do as you please
until to-morrow."
"Then I'm going for a walk," cried Alice.
"I'm with you," spoke Paul, "only we ought to have snowshoes."
"Oh, could we get any?" she cried.
"I can arrange for some for you," promised Mr. Macksey, "but I haven't
any now."
"Good idea!" exclaimed the manager. "An idea for a new film--'The
Snowshoe Rescue!' Here, Russ, make some notes of this for future use,"
and he began to dictate to the young operator, who with his employer
frequently thus improvised dramas out of a mere suggestion.
"If you want to walk," said Mr. Macksey to Alice, "you'd better stick
to the road. The men have been out with homemade snowplows breaking a
trail. That's what we do around here after a storm. You'd better stick
to the road."
"We will!" cried Alice. "Will you come, Ruth?"
"Later perhaps--not now. I want to study a new part I have."
"I suppose you're waiting for Russ," whispered Alice.
"Don't be silly!" flashed Ruth. But she did not go out with her sister.
Alice and Paul had a glorious walk in the snow, and saw a beautiful
country, even though it was hidden under a mantle of white. For
Deerfield was a lovely place.
"Aren't you cold?" asked Ruth, when her sister returned.
"Not a bit. It's glorious. What did you do, and how is Mr. Sneed?"
"He's doing nicely, I believe. As for me, I stayed in. I had some
mending to do."
"Is that why Russ has threads on his coat sleeve--was it his coat you
were mending?"
"Oh, Alice--you are hopeless!" protested Ruth, but she blushed vividly.
That afternoon, as Mrs. Macksey was overseeing the getting of supper,
Alice, who went to the kitchen for something, heard the veteran hunter
and his wife in conversation.
"You say they are strangers about here?" he asked.
"Yes, three men. I saw them after you had gone to the station to get the
moving picture folks. There were three men, and I think they were after
deer."
"After deer, eh? Don't they know that this is a private preserve?"
"They didn't seem to care. They came to ask their direction. They all
had guns, and I'm sure they were after deer."
"And you never saw them before?"
"No, I never did."
"And you have no idea where they came from?"
"I couldn't tell--no. I heard one of them ask the other if he thought it
was safe."
"If what was safe?"
"He didn't say. Maybe he meant to hunt deer around here."
"It won't be safe if I catch them!" declared Mr. Macksey, as he went
out. Alice wondered who the men could be.
It was so quiet and peaceful at Elk Lodge that Mr. DeVere soon forgot
all about the annoyance caused by the demand of Dan Merley for the five
hundred dollars. At first he had expected some sort of legal summons in
a suit, but when none came he breathed easier.
Several days passed, and a few snow scenes were filmed to be used later,
and worked into dramas. Mr. Sneed suffered a little cold from his
unexpected bath, but that was all.
Meanwhile the weather had remained about the same. There was plenty of
snow, but no more storms. Elk Lodge was voted the finest place in the
world, and even Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon condescended to say that
they liked it.
Then, one day, plans were made for filming a little drama in the snowy
woods, and thither many members of the company went to act.
Ruth was supposed to be lost in a dense thicket, and Paul was soon on
his way to find her, in the guise of a woodman. He had sighted Ruth,
over a clump of bushes, and was making his way to her, when he heard her
scream. This was not in the play and he wondered what could have
happened.
"Quick!" he heard her cry. "He's going to jump at me!"
Paul broke into a run, and the next moment saw a deer, with large,
branching antlers, spring through the underbrush directly in front of
Ruth, while Russ, at the camera, yelled to drive away the curious
animal.