The Moving Picture Girls at Sea
L >> Laura Lee Hope >> The Moving Picture Girls at SeaThat was Alice's way. She always did like to solve puzzles, from the
time when she was a small child, and she went at this one in much the
same way as had been her habit in the case of the simple ones in the
juvenile papers she took when a little girl.
"There's something between Captain Brisco, Jack Jepson and this new
man," Alice decided. "Jack is afraid of being recognized, and yet he
wants to make sure who this new man is. Can it have anything to do with
the mutiny, I wonder?"
It was a question she could not answer just then. She resolved to be on
the watch, to look and listen, without saying much, until she had in her
mental grasp some of the loose ends of the puzzle.
Ruth was some distance off, talking to her father. Mr. DeVere, in spite
of the warmth of the day, had a light silk scarf about his throat, which
had pained him during the night. The other members of the company were
scattered about the schooner which was being towed out to sea. Miss
Pennington and Miss Dixon were waving to some young men who had come to
see them off. Mr. Wellington Bunn's face wore a glum look. Perhaps he
saw no chance of doing anything with his favorite role of Hamlet in this
marine story that was soon to be enacted.
Alice heard Jack muttering to himself. She could not catch all the
words, but she heard him say:
"Yes, it must be the same one! He hasn't changed much--not as much as I
have. He won't know me. But what am I to do?"
The old salt's musings, however, were cut short, for Captain Brisco
called to him.
"I say there, Mr. Jepson," ordered the commander, "will you go forward,
and see how the bitts are standing up under the strain of that hawser? I
don't want them to pull out, and they're none too strong. Lively now!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" dutifully answered the second mate, and he shuffled off
along the deck, while Captain Brisco and the new arrival went below,
being, apparently, on very friendly terms.
"And that is another queer part of it," mused Alice. "That new man is
supposed to be a common sailor--he must be, as all the offices, from
captain down, are filled. And yet Captain Brisco treats him as an
equal. I can't understand it."
None of the others of the moving picture company appeared to find
anything odd in the reception of the man who had almost been left. In
fact, save for Alice and Jack Jepson, no one paid any attention to him.
As the captain and the new man whom he had addressed as "Hen Lacomb"
went below, the attention of Alice was taken by Ruth.
"Don't you think, dear," her sister said, "that we had better get our
possessions in order. I understand that some pictures are to be taken
aboard the schooner here, and we will want to get our costumes out where
we can easily reach them."
"I suppose so," murmured Alice. "But I wonder who he is?" she added,
half unconsciously.
"What in the world are you talking about?" asked Ruth in some surprise.
"Do you mean that young man who was waving to Miss Dixon?" for a certain
youth seemed very loath to bid farewell to the former variety actress.
"Yes. Who is he?" asked Alice, accepting this chance to get out of
answering, though what she had meant was the identity of the mysterious
Hen Lacomb, and not the youth on the dock.
"I've seen him before," Ruth said.
"Who?" asked Alice quickly, her mind still intent on the mystery.
"Why, Alice, how odd you are! That young man of whom we are speaking, to
be sure. I mean I've seen him around the studio. He seems to be quite
impressed by Miss Dixon."
"Yes," said Alice, vaguely. "Well, let's go below," she suggested. "You
notice how nautical I'm getting," she went on.
"Forgetful you mean," supplemented Ruth. "Well, anyhow, we have fine
weather for the start."
The schooner was well out from the dock now, and the pilot was in
charge, so there was nothing for Captain Brisco to do for the present.
He had gone to his cabin, and the stranger, or, rather, Hen Lacomb, to
give him the name bestowed on him, was with the commander.
"I wish I knew what they were talking about," said Alice, and, without
intending to do so, she spoke aloud.
"Who?" asked Ruth. "Really, you are saying the strangest things this
morning, Sister mine!"
"Oh, I was thinking--thinking----"
Alice was rather at a loss for words to explain.
"You must have some of your new roles on the brain," went on Ruth. "I
know I've been doing a lot of thinking over mine. They are nearly all
nice ones, I'm glad to say, but I don't like the parts we have to take
in the shipwreck. Fancy having actually to jump into the water."
That was one of the things required, according to the scenario.
"There's no danger," Alice said, as she and her sister reached the
stateroom they were to share.
"Oh, but think of _sharks_ in those Southern waters!"
"I'm not going to think of them," declared Alice. "Besides, we shall be
in the water only a short time, and the motorboat will pick us up. It
will be nice and warm."
The plan of the shipwreck included the jumping overboard of some of the
company, and their rescue in small boats, or by the motorboat _Ajax_,
that would follow, with Russ in it taking the moving pictures of the
"thrilling scenes."
"Well, that doesn't come until toward the end," Ruth remarked, "so I'm
not going to think about it until then. Now let's unpack."
Ruth and Alice had comfortable, if rather restricted, quarters in a
small cabin containing two bunks. Their father was near them, and the
other members of the company had rooms scattered about. The ship's crew,
of course, berthed forward, and the two mates, of whom Jack Jepson was
one, were quartered with the captain. Alice wondered what would be the
standing of Hen Lacomb.
She learned a little later when she saw him taking his bag "aft." That
meant he was to be treated as an officer. There is all the difference in
the world on a sailing ship, whether a man bunks "forward" or "aft." In
the latter case he is either an officer or a passenger, and in the
former case he is classed as a member of the crew, a "foremast hand,"
and, as such, has no authority.
"Hen Lacomb is evidently someone in power," decided Alice, though she
said nothing to her sister or father, or even Jack. She managed to
learn, by judicious questions, that Hen, as she began to think of him,
was a friend of Captain Brisco, and a sort of passenger-helper on the
_Mary Ellen_.
And now that the voyage was really started, those who were to take part
in the play began to consider their roles.
In brief the plan was this. The schooner, under her own sail, would
proceed to the warm West Indian waters and clime, and there, when
suitable surroundings were found, the taking of the main scenes in the
big drama would begin.
I shall not weary you with an account of the trip down. In spite of her
age, the schooner proved a good sailor, for she had been well refitted,
even if she was to be wrecked. Day after day passed and the sun shone
warmer as they came farther and farther south.
Some few scenes were filmed aboard the craft, but there was not much
work for anyone, and the time was most enjoyable. Even Mr. Sneed, the
"human grouch," consented to smile, now and then.
They passed Key West, but did not dock, and kept on. Alice wondered if
they would come near the "Hole in the Wall," but she did not like to
ask, for fear of making trouble for Jack. She did not know how much of
his story he wanted known to those aboard the ship.
It was a warm, sunny day, and Mr. Pertell had announced that he would
begin some of the more important scenes of the drama in a short time.
The _Mary Ellen_ was plowing through the blue waters, bending over under
a good wind. Nearly all the members of the company were out on deck,
under awnings. Alice saw Jack Jepson at some work on the port rail, and
noticed Hen Lacomb and the captain stroll toward him. The two latter
seemed to converse for a few minutes, when suddenly there was a heavy
lurch and roll to the craft.
"Mind your helm there!" sang out Captain Brisco angrily to the
steersman. At the same time there rang out a cry from Hen Lacomb.
"Man overboard! Man overboard!"
Alice, startled, leaped to her feet. Jack Jepson had disappeared!
CHAPTER XV
"SAIL HO!"
Alice DeVere was not an ordinary sort of girl. She may have been, once,
but that was before her advent in moving pictures. There had been times
when a sudden emergency would cause her to feel faint, if not actually
to succumb to that interesting ailment, which is so useful, especially
in stories and books.
But Alice, who was the nearest to the scene of what had just happened,
neither fainted, nor became unduly excited. She had seen too many
emergencies in the work of taking moving pictures to become "rattled,"
which is not used in a slangy sense at all, but merely to indicate that
one's nerves vibrate too rapidly. Consequently, after her first scream,
Alice was almost as calm and collected as could be expected of a veteran
sailor.
"Man overboard!" Alice cried, echoing the shout of Hen Lacomb, who, she
noticed, after his first hesitation, began lowering a boat, or trying
to, for it needed two at that task.
"I'll help!" cried Alice rushing to the aid of the strange man who
seemed so friendly with Captain Brisco.
"Oh--you----!" he exclaimed, with a swift look at her. Then he resumed
the work of loosing the ropes so they would run freely in the pulley
blocks of the davits.
Meanwhile Captain Brisco had bawled out an order to the helmsman to
bring the ship up in the wind. A sailor had tossed overboard a
life-ring, and then came to help Lacomb lower the boat, for Alice found
it beyond her strength, eager as she was.
"There he is!" cried Russ, as he rushed to the rail beside Alice. He
pointed to the water. Fortunately the sea was smooth, and rising and
falling on the waves could be seen the head of the old sailor.
"Oh! Oh!" gasped Ruth, who glided over to the side of Alice. "If--if a
shark should come now."
"There aren't any around here!" declared Russ. He did not know whether
there were or not, but he said that to make the girls feel more
comfortable. After all, if there were sharks, whatever he said would be
of no effect, and it was better to take the best view of it, he thought.
"Lower away!" cried Hen Lacomb, and the boat went down to the water.
Two sailors, beside himself, slid down the ropes into it, and took the
oars. They cast off the davit blocks, and began rowing toward the
bobbing head. Old Jack could swim well, it seemed, in spite of his age.
The water was warm, and it was broad daylight, so he was in
comparatively little danger--except from sharks and from the fact that
he had on his clothes, which would soon become soaked and hamper him.
But no sharks appeared; that menacing triangular fin which marks them
was not seen cutting the water, and no big twelve-foot man-eater was
observed to turn on his back in order to bring his curious, under-shot
mouth with its rows of keen teeth to bear on poor Jack Jepson.
If a shark had appeared, it would probably have put an end to the plans
of Mr. Pertell to have his company give an idea of shipwreck by leaping
into the water. No one would have jumped into those waters had they been
shark-infested. But, as I have said, none of the tigers of the deep
showed, and, a little later, Jack was being lifted into the small boat.
They had reached him just when his strength was about exhausted.
"Oh, have they saved him?" asked Miss Pennington, coming on deck very
pale. Alice said afterward she had not had time to put on her "war
paint."
"I--I can't bear to look!" faltered Miss Dixon, following her friend.
"Tell me dear--is he--is he dead?" she asked of Alice.
"Dead! No, of course not!" said Alice, none too politely. "Don't be
silly! He just fell overboard, and they got him back again; that's all."
Miss Dixon looked angry and flounced back to her cabin with her chum.
Jack and his rescuers were hoisted up in the boat, the other sailors
hauling on the ropes, the blocks of which were hooked fast to rings in
the bow and stern posts of the rowing craft.
"Well, you tried to leave us rather suddenly," said Mr. Pertell. "Don't
go trying that again, Jack--at least until we finish making the
pictures," he went on with a whimsical smile. "You're in too many
important scenes to be lost that way."
"I haven't any fancy that way myself," said Jack, who seemed little the
worse for his unexpected bath.
"How did it happen?" asked Captain Brisco of his mate, though it seemed
as though he had been near enough to have seen for himself.
"Why, I was standing near the rail," Jack explained, "talkin' to Mr.
Lacomb, here," and he indicated the strange man, "when, all at once the
ship gives a lurch, and--well, I went over, that's all I guess," and he
looked at Lacomb, as though to get him to confirm the account.
"Yes that's right," said the other. "I--I tried to grab him, but I was
too late. I nearly went over myself," he added, grimly.
"Yes," assented the old salt, "you did," and he shot a look at the
other.
Did Alice fancy it, or did Lacomb wince, and shrink back? And did a look
pass between him and Captain Brisco--a look full of meaning?
Alice was puzzling over these questions in her own mind, when the
helmsman spoke.
"It wasn't _my_ fault," he said. "I was steering all right, but Captain
Brisco came and spoke to me and handed me a paper. I took one hand off
the wheel, and the----"
"No one has said it was your fault," broke in the commander quickly. "I
was giving you a copy of the sailing orders for the day. I wouldn't have
bothered you if I had known a puff of wind and a big wave were coming
along together, to snatch the wheel out of your grip. But it wasn't your
fault. However, no harm is done. You had better get below, Mr. Jepson,
and put on some dry clothes. Mr. Lacomb will stand watch until you feel
all right again."
"Oh, I'll be all right in a little while," Jack said. "I don't need no
one to stand my trick on deck. I'll be back shortly."
He went below, the water dripping from him. The ship was put back on her
course. The excitement had not lasted long.
"Too bad you didn't have a camera ready, Russ," said Paul to the
operator, when matters were normal aboard the _Mary Ellen_ once more.
"You might have filmed a good rescue scene."
"I was too much excited to think about that," Russ admitted. "Besides,
we are going to have plenty of rescue stuff in a few days, and this
wasn't a particularly thrilling one. Poor old Jack! I wonder how it
feels to fall overboard?"
"Not very pleasant," Paul said. He had done it more than once in the
interests of the pictures.
Alice, going below for something a little later, met the old salt on his
way to the deck again, he having changed to dry garments.
"Oh, are you all right?" she asked anxiously, for she and her sister, as
well as Mr. DeVere, had taken a liking to Jepson. "Are you all right?"
"All right, Miss Alice," he replied. "No harm done at all."
"I thought sailors never fell overboard," she said, half jokingly. "I
supposed they were so sure-footed that accidents like that never
happened to them."
"They don't--not usual like, Miss," said Jack with that earnest, honest
air that characterized him.
"Then how did you come to do it?"
"I--I didn't do it, Miss," Jack answered. "I didn't _fall_ overboard."
"You didn't?" cried Alice, not noticing the accent Jepson put on one
word.
"No, Miss. Not exactly."
He looked around as though to make sure no one was listening, and then,
in a hoarse whisper, he said:
"I didn't _fall_ overboard. I was _tossed_!"
Then, before she could ask him what he meant, he gave her a warning
glance, and passed on. Just as he did so, Captain Brisco came along the
passage way.
"I was just coming down to see how you were," he said, with a quick look
at Alice. "I didn't know you were here, Miss DeVere," he continued,
rather awkwardly. "Hope the accident didn't upset you."
"Oh no," she said, glad that it was rather dark, and that the commander
could not notice how pale she had become at hearing the ominous words of
the old sailor.
"Accidents will happen, but they don't always end so luckily," the
captain went on. Jack Jepson had passed up on deck, and Alice, not
feeling in the mood for talking, passed to her cabin. Captain Brisco,
after a moment of hesitation, went up on deck again, and, had anyone
observed him, they would have seen him in close conversation with Hen
Lacomb. The two men spoke in low tones.
Jack Jepson was soon himself again, and on duty as though nothing had
happened. But he had created a very queer state of mind in Alice DeVere.
Her suspicious were increased, and she asked herself a multitude of
questions she could not answer. Nor dared she repeat them, even to her
sister.
"If he were tossed overboard, who did it?" she asked herself. "And why?
The only one near him was Lacomb, and what object could he have in
wanting to drown Jack? Oh, I can't understand it! I _must_ ask Jack what
he meant."
This was not so easy to do as Alice had expected. She wanted to speak to
the old sailor privately, but there was no chance.
That afternoon there began the taking of some of the more important
scenes of the marine drama. These scenes were those that had to be
filmed on the ship itself, and they kept everyone busy. Besides, Alice
did not want to make too obvious an effort to talk to the old salt, as
she feared Captain Brisco would become suspicious. There was a nameless
mystery in the air that had its effect on Alice. Ruth noticed a
difference in her sister, and questioned her about it, but Alice was
able to say it was due to the difficult and exacting work of the new
drama, and, in part, it was.
Several days passed, and she had had no chance to speak to Jack. Each
day was filled with work, or rehearsals, and some of the films had to be
taken several times, due to the uncertain footing on the deck of the
ship, which produced awkward motions on the part of the actors.
It was on a warm afternoon, with a hint of a storm in the atmosphere,
when Mr. Pertell said:
"Well, I guess that will do for a while. This will pretty nearly bring
us up to the shipwreck scene. We shall have to make a landing on one of
the islands here, to get the proper background."
They were then well down among the West Indies.
"Where do we land?" asked Alice, who was on deck with her sister,
standing near Jack Jepson, who was acting as lookout, with a telescope
in his hand.
"Well, I'm not particular," Mr. Pertell said. "Perhaps Jack can suggest
a good place."
"Well, I know something about the locality here," the old sailor
answered, and he looked at Alice with a friendly wink. "I shouldn't want
to go ashore at the place where I escaped from after that mutiny," he
went on. "They might not want to let me go again."
"No, that's so," agreed Mr. Pertell. "It might not be just the thing,
though you could prove your innocence."
"No, I can't! That's the trouble!" cried Jack, who had told his story to
the manager. "I don't want to be caught, and put in jail. I'm going to
keep away from that island where I was locked up."
"Which one was it?" asked Ruth.
"I don't know the name," Jack said, "but I can tell it the minute I set
eyes on it. I don't want to go there. I had enough----"
Jack paused suddenly. The glass went to his eye, and he called out:
"Sail ho!"
"Where away?" demanded the helmsman.
"Two points off on the lee bow. She's a small steamer, and she--she's
flying the British flag!" added the old man.
A strange look of fear came over his face.
CHAPTER XVI
THE ACCUSATION
"What's this?" demanded Captain Brisco, coming on deck just then.
"What's up?"
"Sail ho!" repeated Jack Jepson. "Over there, Captain!" and he pointed,
and extended the telescope. Alice noticed that the hand of the old salt
trembled, though usually he was as steady as the proverbial surgeon.
"Hum! Yes. One of the English revenue ships," remarked Captain Brisco.
"It's the first one we've met down here."
"It is a British vessel, isn't it?" asked Jack Jepson, and there was a
queer strain in his voice.
"Yes," replied his superior. "What of it?"
"Oh, nothin' sir! Nothin'."
But Alice thought it was something.
"Well, we haven't any need to speak to her," went on Captain Brisco.
"We're going to anchor soon."
"Anchor?" asked Jepson.
"Yes, they want to take some of their pictures!" It was evident to
Alice, from the tone of voice in which Captain Brisco spoke, that he had
little sympathy with the work of the film actors. But he had been hired
to do his part with the ship, and must carry out his agreement with Mr.
Pertell.
The captain handed back the glass, and went to consult with the manager
about making a landing. They were near several small islands, any one of
which would probably do as a background for some of the picture-play
scenes.
Left to himself Jack Jepson took another long look at the oncoming
steamer.
Alice watched him curiously.
"Yes, she's a lime-juicer," he remarked, and something like a sigh
escaped him.
"A--a lime-juicer?" repeated Alice in some surprise. "I thought you said
she was a _steamer_."
"So she is. But we old sailors used to call all British ships
'lime-juicers,' because they used to be the only ones that was compelled
by law to carry lime juice."
"Why lime juice?" Alice wanted to know.
"To prevent scurvy, Miss. Lime juice, potatoes or anything like that
will keep sailors from the scurvy disease, Miss. They found it out, the
Britishers did, and made their ships carry such stuff. Lime juice is
easier to stow away than potatoes, and every sailor had to have his
share.
"Scurvy is a bad disease, Miss. It's terrible, and though lots of fun
was made of the lime juice British ships, they done their duty, Miss. It
got so other nations had to fall into line. And, though lime juice isn't
as needful as it was, 'cause they have other things that do as well,
perhaps, I always think of a Britisher as a lime-juicer."
"I see," murmured Alice. "Yes, I can see the English flag," she went on,
as she looked through the glass Jack passed to her. "She is headed right
for us, too."
"That's what I make out, Miss. And I wish it was my watch below; I sure
do, Miss!"
"Why, you aren't thinking that they may be after you, are you, Jack?
After you on that old mutiny charge?"
"They might be, Miss," he said in a whisper, looking cautiously around.
"You see that charge isn't dead, and then there's the one of escapin'
from an English prison. They might overlook the mutiny, especially as
they may not have all their witnesses now--some of 'em may be dead. But
an English prison officer never forgets, nor forgives, an escape, and
the law doesn't either. If they was to see me, I'd be taken back to
stand the charges ag'in me."
"But how would they know you?" asked Alice. "Besides, it isn't at all
likely that anyone on that vessel had anything to do with your being
taken into custody on the mutiny charge. That was years ago."
"I know Miss, but they might remember me, even if I have changed a lot.
And this is mostly English waters around here. English islands, too. It
was somewhere about here I was imprisoned. Before I set foot on land,
I'm going to find out if it's English, and if it is, I'm goin' to stay
on board. I'm not goin' to take any chances."
"But can't they arrest you at sea, if there should be such a possibility
that they recognized you?"
"Not if I'm three miles from land, I think. Still, I may be wrong about
that. I wish I hadn't come on this voyage, that's a fact. I don't like
the sight of that English flag."
"Don't worry," advised Alice. "There isn't one chance in a thousand that
you would be recognized after these years. In the first place, you have
changed a lot. And, in the second place, probably the English officers
who arrested you, and the others, are in some other part of the world
now. Why do you think they may be on that steamer?"
"Well, things don't change down here as much as you might think,"
replied Jack, as he and Alice watched the steamer coming nearer. "And an
Englishman is less likely to change than anybody else, Miss. He'll often
stay in the same berth until he dies. So it's likely some of the same
officers who were around here when I was arrested are here yet. And they
may be on that vessel."
"But how can they recognize you?" Alice persisted.
"Well, if they didn't know me, they might know this ship."
"This ship! Why, this is only a small vessel, and yours was a big
five-master."
"I know, Miss, I know," said Jack, with a nervous look over his
shoulder. "But here's a secret I haven't told to anyone yet. This may be
the _Mary Ellen_, but she used to be the _Halcyon_!"
Alice started back in surprise.
"The _Halcyon_!" she gasped. "How could it be?"
"This way, Miss. They built her over, cut down her length, and changed
her so hardly anybody would recognize her. But I knew the _Mary Ellen_
for the _Halcyon_ almost as soon as I came aboard."
"And is that why you acted so--so queer?"
"Partly--yes. You see she was first the _Mary Ellen_ and the mutineers
named her the _Halcyon_. Then, when she was rebuilt she became _Mary
Ellen_ again."