The Moving Picture Girls at Sea
L >> Laura Lee Hope >> The Moving Picture Girls at Sea"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 melee.
"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.
CHAPTER XII
OVERHEARD
"Well, I think this will do," Mr. Pertell announced, as the members of
his company gathered on the shore of the Hudson, ready to go back to the
larger boat, whence they had come in the two small ones, to depict the
pursuit. "It came out better than I expected when I saw that crowd of
policemen charging down on us."
"I thought sure we were in for a spell in the lock-up," remarked one of
the extra men engaged as a member of the "pursuing villains."
"You had a little extra work, doing part of the scene over again, so
we'll give you all a little bonus," said the manager. "We'll get back to
the studio now. There are a few scenes I want to make before we start
off on our trip to sea."
"How soon do we go?" asked Alice.
"As soon as we can get stocked up. Captain Brisco has a few little
repairs to make to the schooner, I believe."
"Do you think the _Mary Ellen_ will prove to be a safe boat in which to
go to sea?" asked Mr. DeVere, when he, with his daughters, and the
others, were on their way back to New York.
"Why not?" asked the manager.
"Well, I heard Jack Jepson say the schooner was a pretty old one,"
replied the veteran actor.
"So she is," said Mr. Pertell, "if she hadn't been, our company never
could have afforded to buy her just to make a shipwreck of her. But she
is perfectly safe for what traveling we shall do. Brisco has assured me
of that, and has seen to it. What sort of a yarn was Jepson giving you?"
and Mr. Pertell seemed a bit annoyed.
"Well, he merely said that the schooner was a pretty old one," went on
Mr. DeVere, "and that she had seen her best days."
"He didn't say that she was unsafe, did he?"
"No, oh, no! Nothing like that!" exclaimed the actor quickly. "I was
just wondering about her. I shouldn't like to take any chances you
know," and he glanced over toward his daughters who had no part in this
conversation.
"Oh, the _Mary Ellen_ will be as safe as is necessary," the manager
continued. "Besides we will be in Southern waters after we leave here,
and there will be little danger from storms."
"I am glad of that," Mr. DeVere said. "A warm Southern clime will be
beneficial to my throat. It does not take kindly to our Northern
weather, even at the best."
In the days that followed there was plenty of work for the moving
picture girls in the film studio. They had to take part in several
little dramas that had to be completed before the sea scenes in the
ocean play were undertaken.
"Anything much to do this afternoon?" asked Russ of Ruth as he passed
her near her dressing room one day about a week after the episode of the
mistaken policemen.
"No, I am free," she announced. "They have postponed that 'In the Slums'
and I'm glad of it. I don't care for such characters as I have to assume
in a play like that."
"Nor I. I'm off for the afternoon, too. What do you say we take Alice,
and go for a little trip to the Erie Basin?"
"To see the _Mary Ellen_ again? There can't be much change since we saw
her last."
"No, not exactly to see her, though we could pay a visit if we liked.
But you know we are to have a big motorboat follow us in the ocean
scenes--I'm to take pictures from it, in fact--and that motorboat--the
_Ajax_--is over in the Basin, near the old schooner. I thought maybe
you'd like to take a look at her."
"I would!" exclaimed Ruth with enthusiasm. "I'll tell Alice. She is
disengaged, I know, for I heard Mr. Pertell tell her so."
"I'm sorry we can't go for a trip in her," went on Russ, "but she isn't
in shape yet. I have to go over to give some directions about building a
platform for setting the camera on, and I thought we might combine
business and pleasure."
"It will be a pleasure to go," said Ruth, as she went off to find her
sister.
"Tell Paul, too, if you see him," Russ called after her. "We'll make a
party of it."
"All right," Ruth answered.
She found Paul and Alice together--just as she half expected--and
mentioned Russ's plan.
Paul was cast for a role in a little play that afternoon, but he spoke
to Mr. Pertell about it, and the manager kindly postponed it, as it was
not very important.
So, after lunch the four young people started for the place where the
_Ajax_ was being overhauled, not far from the dock of the _Mary Ellen_.
On the way they talked of their plans when they should be at sea. It had
been given out at the studio that they would all go aboard the _Mary
Ellen_, which would be headed for the Florida coast. Somewhere off that
peninsula, just where had not been decided, the moving pictures would be
made, and the shipwreck would take place. The details had not yet been
perfected.
"Are you going to travel alone in the motorboat?" asked Alice of Russ.
"No indeed. She is to be carried in a cradle on the deck of the _Mary
Ellen_, and----"
"A cradle!" interrupted Alice. "Whoever heard of a boat being put in a
cradle, as if it were a baby!"
"Well, the _Ajax_ is going to be rocked in the cradle of the deep, isn't
she?" asked Paul.
"Oh, what a heartless joke!" mocked Ruth.
"Just for that you'll be fined four ice cream sodas!" laughed Alice.
"No, but speaking seriously," went on Russ, "the _Ajax_ will be cradled
on the deck of the schooner; that is, the motorboat will be set in two V
shaped affairs, called cradles. That's to prevent her rolling off into
the high seas."
"Do you think it will be rough?" asked Ruth, with an apprehensive look
over her shoulder, as though she already saw a "hurricane in the
offing," as her sister laughingly put it.
"Well, you know we have to wait for a storm, to get some of the scenes,"
Russ said. "Of course the weather often gets pretty bad in these
Southern waters, in spite of their peaceful name," he continued, "but I
don't suppose Mr. Pertell will venture out far from the harbor in a bad
blow. Even a little wind will kick up enough sea to make it look pretty
rough in a picture."
"Oh, I don't mind a storm!" exclaimed Alice. "I just love it."
"Oh--Alice!" cried her sister. "You know you'll be as frightened as I'll
be."
"We'll see," challenged the younger girl with sparkling eyes and a flush
on her cheeks.
They found the _Ajax_, after some little difficulty, among a score of
other boats, in process of repair.
"Oh, what a big one!" exclaimed Alice as she caught sight of the craft.
"I do hope you'll give us a ride in her, Russ."
"Of course I shall, between times of taking pictures," he promised.
"What do you think of her, Paul?"
"Pretty fine," agreed the young actor. "Has she any speed?"
"Not much, I guess. It's an old sort of tub, but pretty steady in the
water, Mr. Pertell said. That's what I want for taking pictures. It
won't do to have her rolling and pitching. Well, let's go aboard, and
see how they're coming on."
Russ had a permit to view the craft, and as he was expected to give some
instructions regarding the building of the platform, the man in charge
of the overhauling work welcomed the four young people.
The _Ajax_ was, as Russ had said, rather a tub, but it was a large,
comfortable boat, and was capable of going on quite a cruise. There was
a partially enclosed cabin, and many comforts and conveniences. But just
for the present purpose, everything was being subordinated to the taking
of moving pictures.
"I'm readjusting the motor," the head of the repair gang told Russ, "so
she'll start and stop, as well as reverse easily and quickly. That's
what you want, isn't it?"
"That's it, yes. You see I can't tell when I'll have to shift, to make
allowances for what the actors and actresses will do. There's no telling
about these moving picture people," and Russ gave Ruth and Alice, as
well as Paul, a laughing look as though to indicate that they were very
temperamental, and hard to get along with.
"Are these some of the actor folks?" asked the mechanic who was laboring
over the motor.
"That's what they are, and good ones, too!" cried Russ.
"Gee! They don't look it!" was the frank remark, and the two girls broke
into peals of laughter.
Paul and Russ showed Ruth and Alice over the big motorboat, and then
leaving the three to their own devices for a while, the young camera
operator went into details of the work with the head mechanic. Russ was
told that the _Ajax_ would be ready in plenty of time for him. He
expressed himself as satisfied with the progress made, though he made
one or two slight changes in the platform, built on the forward deck of
the craft, where he was to stand when he took the pictures of the
shipwreck.
"Well, how about those sodas now?" asked Russ of his companions when he
had finished. "There's a nice place a few blocks up, and it's about warm
enough for ice cream."
"Couldn't we take just a look at the _Mary Ellen_ while we are here?"
asked Alice. "Isn't that she, over there?" and she pointed across the
basin.
"You speak of that ship as if she were a person," objected Ruth.
"And so she is!" Alice exclaimed. "A ship is always a lady, isn't she,
Paul?"
"She ought to try to be, at least," he laughed. "How about it, Russ?
Shall we take the girls over to the schooner?"
"Might as well, I guess. It won't take long, and it isn't far."
A short time later the four of them stood at the gangplank of the _Mary
Ellen_. They saw no signs of any men on deck, but they were doubtless
below, making the repairs, which must be nearly finished.
"Come on," said Russ, leading the way. "We'll go aboard."
As they stood on deck, looking about them, they saw no one, but the
companionway was in plain sight, and they started toward it, intending
to go down into the main cabin.
The place was rather dimly lighted, but when their eyes had become used
to the gloom, they caught sight of a solitary figure in the forward end
of the main compartment.
"It's Jack Jepson," whispered Alice to her companions. "We'll give him a
surprise. Keep quiet now. His back is toward me and I'll tiptoe up
behind him and put my hands over his eyes. I'll make him guess who it
is. He'll think some British suffragette has taken him on that silly
charge of mutiny," she went on.
"Be careful," admonished Ruth. "No pranks, Alice."
"This isn't a prank. Keep quiet now."
The old sailor was evidently not aware that visitors were in the cabin,
for they had made little noise in descending the companion stairs, and
what little they had caused was drowned by the distant noise of
carpenters' hammers.
As Alice advanced, the others remaining back in the semi-darkness, they
all heard Jack Jepson break into a sort of monologue. He was talking to
himself, in fashion something like this.
"It ought to be hereabouts, if it's anywhere, and I'm sure it is. I
can't be mistaken. They have cut her down, and made a lot of changes,
but they can't fool me. I was suspicious when I first came aboard, and
I'm more so every minute. I'm going to find out for sure, while I have
the chance. Let me think now."
He leaned up against a bulkhead, while Alice glanced back at her friends
in some surprise. What meant the words they had overheard? The old
sailor seemed strangely excited, and he was passing his hand over the
paneling of the cabin as though in search of something long forgotten,
or dimly remembered.
A moment later another step was heard in the apartment, and Captain
Brisco entered. He started at the sight of Jepson, though the commander
had not yet seen the four young people.
"What are you doing here?" he asked in a hoarse voice. The old salt
started back as though caught in some guilty act.
CHAPTER XIII
"ALL ABOARD!"
Ruth, Alice, Paul and Russ remained silent and unseen witnesses of the
little scene being enacted before them. It was like some section taken
from a moving picture drama, though they could not guess what the plot
was, nor what the outcome would be.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Jepson?" asked Captain Brisco, and there
was sarcasm in the title he bestowed on his mate, for since he was third
in command, having been given the post of second mate, the old salt was
entitled to be called Mister.
"I was jest--jest lookin'--lookin'--" Jepson faltered.
"Well, you'd better look forward then," came, the harsh command.
"There's plenty to do there, if we're ever to start on this voyage, and
of all the----"
At that moment Alice sneezed. She could not help it, and in trying to
hold it back, she made more of a commotion than if she had let the
sneeze come naturally.
At the sound Captain Brisco and Jack Jepson turned and stared toward the
dimness that marked the companionway.
"Who's there?" called Captain Brisco, sharply.
"We just came aboard to see how matters were coming on," said Russ
stepping forward and under a skylight.
"But we didn't expect to be welcomed with snuff," said Alice, as she
sneezed again. This time Ruth joined her. There was an irritating odor
noticeable in the cabin.
"I beg your pardon," Captain Brisco said, as the others stepped closer
to Russ, so they could be discerned. "I didn't know who it was. I am
glad to see you. That's a paint-remover you smell. It is irritating. I
am very glad to see you."
But he did not say it at all as though he meant it. Alice said afterward
she thought her sneeze had broken in on the captain's denunciation of
the proposed sea voyage.
"It was just as though he were going to say it was the most foolish and
nonsensical thing of which he had ever heard," Alice explained. "Oh, why
_did_ I have to go and sneeze just then?"
"Did you want to hear what he would have said?" asked her sister.
"Yes, I did. I don't like Captain Brisco."
"You mustn't say such things," Ruth cautioned her. But this was some
time later.
Just at present the commander of the _Mary Ellen_ was trying to make his
unexpected guests feel a welcome he rather grudgingly extended.
"We have been over looking at the _Ajax_," explained Russ, "and we
thought we'd stop in and pay you a call."
"Oh, yes, I'm to carry the _Ajax_ on deck, I believe," the commander
said. "Well, you'll find us all pretty busy here," he went on. "Mr.
Jepson, will you kindly go forward and see how the men are coming on
with that caulking?"
It was a very different voice from the one he had used when Ruth, Alice
and the others had been unseen listeners.
"What about the mainmast?" asked Sailor Jack. "It's sprung, as I told
you it was, and unless those stays----"
"I'll look after that!" interrupted the captain. "You do as I tell you,
and leave that mast to me."
"But you said that it didn't need--" persisted the second mate.
"Never you mind what I said!" and the commander's voice was harsh. "I'll
look after that. Now you go forward!"
It was more in the nature of a command than is usual between captain
and mate. The girls felt this, as well as did the boys. But they said
nothing.
"Come along and see how we are progressing," continued Captain Brisco in
more genial tones, as Jack Jepson left the cabin.
"Then you are going to be ready in time?" asked Paul.
"Ahead of time," said the commander, boastfully.
"That's good!" exclaimed Russ. "Mr. Pertell is anxious not to be
delayed."
"He won't be on _my_ account," Captain Brisco assured the young
operator. "A few more details, and we'll be ready for sea. About time,
too, for this good weather won't hold any too long down among those West
Indian islands."
"Oh, are we going there?" asked Alice. "That will be delightful!"
"I thought we were to go only to Florida," Ruth remarked.
"There has been a slight change in the plans," the captain said. "Mr.
Pertell and I decided on it. I believe it is not generally known yet,
but there is no secret about it. I told him he could get better results
by going a little farther south than merely along the Florida coast,
down toward some of the West Indies, and he agreed with me."
"The West Indies," mused Alice as she followed the others about the
refinished schooner. "I wonder if we will get near the 'Hole in the
Wall' that Jack told about? I'd like to see it, but I suppose a hole in
the water is a pretty hard thing to find."
Alice wondered whether she would see the old sailor before they went
ashore again. She had taken quite a fancy to him, as had Ruth, and the
old salt, on his part, seemed to like the moving picture girls more than
any other members of the Comet Film Company.
"I wonder what he was doing all alone there in the cabin?" mused Alice
as she hung back a little while the others were examining some changes
that had been made in the dining-cabin. "It seemed as though he were
trying to discover some secret panel, a passage or hiding place, or
something like that. And Captain Brisco certainly was rather brusque
about it. I do hope there won't be any quarreling or mutiny aboard the
_Mary Ellen_ when we put out to sea."
For a time Alice was a little alarmed, but she soon recovered her
composure, and was able to take her part in the conversation.
The _Mary Ellen_ was indeed assuming a "ship-shape" appearance. The
litter that had obstructed her decks on the first visit had given place
to a semblance of neatness. The craft had been newly painted and she
glistened in the sun, her brass work having been highly polished.
"A few more days and we'll pull out of here," announced Captain Brisco,
as they went up on deck. "Then I suppose you folks will begin to cut up
all sorts of capers," and he smiled indulgently. He seemed to have
recovered his good nature, or, rather, perhaps, to have summoned some of
it to be used on this occasion.
"Well, we'll leave the 'cutting-up' to Mr. Switzer," said Paul with a
laugh. "He's the comedian of the company."
One of the workmen approached and asked the captain some question. It
seemed to be about pumps, though the girls did not understand it very
clearly.
"You needn't bother to mend those valves," the commander said. "We
shan't need the pumps anyhow, and there's no use putting too much time
and work on the old hulk. Pertell told me to get her ready for sea so
she'd last a reasonable length of time. They're going to wreck her
anyhow, you know."
"Yes, I know. But those pumps----"
"Let 'em go!" the commander ordered. "Now about those stays," and he and
the sailor plunged into a mass of technical details in which the moving
picture girls were not interested, nor, I am sure, would you be, my
readers.
In spite of all the work that had been done on the _Mary Ellen_, she was
still far from being a fine ship. Many things were left undone, as they
would not show in a picture. As the captain had said, Mr. Pertell was
not desirous of putting too much time or expense on her, just to send
her to the bottom after a few days' use. Still the craft had to be
rendered seaworthy, as some views were to be taken showing her progress
down the coast to the Florida Straits.
A little later Captain Brisco was called below, and he took leave of his
visitors, saying he would be busy for some hours.
"Well, it's time for us to go," Ruth said. "We promised to meet daddy at
dinner," she added to her sister.
Alice assented and looked around, as though in search of someone.
"What is it?" Ruth asked.
"I was looking for Jack, to say good-bye. There he is over there," and
she pointed to the old man polishing the brass work of the binnacle in
front of the steering wheel. "I'm going over and speak to him," she
added.
Jack Jepson had his back toward Alice, and was not aware of her
approach. She heard him murmuring to himself, and the words sounded
strange to her--as strange as the first ones she had overheard from him
that day.
"It'll never do! It'll never do!" Jack Jepson was saying. "It's criminal
wrong, that's what it is. But I'll jest keep a sharp watch, an' at the
first sign of danger, I'll--"
Then he heard the footfall of Alice on the deck, and turned quickly. He
smiled at her, and the smile was in strange contrast to his rather
ominous words. As Alice knew very little about the sea or boats, she
paid no attention.
"I came to bid you good-bye," she said. "We are going back to New York
now, but we'll soon be aboard here for a long stay, I hope. My, how nice
everything looks!"
"Yes, but it--it's too nice!" exclaimed Jack.
"Too nice? What do you mean?" she asked wonderingly.
"Oh, well, nothing, Miss Alice. You wouldn't understand. I'm glad to see
you. This isn't a mate's work, properly speakin'," he said, as he
indicated the box of polish, "but then we haven't started discipline
yet. We'll do that at sea."
"And I'll hope we'll soon be out on the deep," voiced Alice.
A week later the entire moving picture company that was to take part in
the marine drama assembled at the dock where the _Mary Ellen_ had been
refitted for her last voyage. Stores and provisions had been put aboard,
the _Ajax_ lay stowed in the cradle on deck, and the members of the
company, the moving picture operators and the manager and his
assistants, had sent their baggage aboard. There was plenty of extra
film.
"All aboard!" called Captain Brisco, and the gangplank was about to be
hauled in. "All aboard! We won't wait for him!" he went on, speaking to
the first mate and to Mr. Pertell who stood near him.
"Won't wait for whom?" Alice heard Mr. Pertell ask.
"A new hand I hired at the last minute. He's a good navigator, better
than Jepson, and that's why I took him on. But he isn't here, and so
we'll go without him."
"Not short-handed, are you?" asked the manager, rather anxiously.
"No, not for this voyage. I think----"
But the captain was interrupted by a shout up the wharf. A man,
seemingly a sailor, came running toward the schooner.
"There he is now!" the captain exclaimed. "All aboard. Hurry up, my man,
or you'll be left."
The man flung himself on the gangplank which was separated from the
dock by some little distance. He scrambled aboard, and just then, Alice,
standing near Jack Jepson, heard the old sailor utter an exclamation of
surprise, and murmur:
"Can that be him? Can that be him--after these years? No, it can't be!"
"All aboard!" cried Captain Brisco. And the _Mary Ellen_, in charge of a
fussy little tug, began moving away from the dock.
CHAPTER XIV
OVERBOARD
Alice was so impressed with what she had heard sailor Jack say, that, in
spite of the desire to give all her attention to the start of the
voyage, destined to be so momentous, she looked first at Jepson and then
at the new arrival. The latter appeared to be an ordinary sailor, but
there was a commanding air about him, as though he were used to having
his own way. But he was sufficiently subservient to Captain Brisco,
saluting the commander in formal fashion.
"You're late!" growled Captain Brisco.
"Yes--couldn't help it," was the almost cheerful answer. "You knew I
wouldn't be left though, didn't you?"
"Well, I wasn't sure of it," Alice heard the captain answer. "Get below,
and then we'll talk later."
Alice turned to see how Jack Jepson was taking this. The old salt seemed
to be listening intently, but he had his back turned.
"He knows that man who just came aboard," decided Alice, "and there is
something queer about it all. In fact there is something queer about
this vessel and Captain Brisco. I feel as though I were in the midst of
a mystery. I'm going to see if I can't solve it."