Part 7 (1/2)

”But I will say this. We shall not be afloat until Summer, and, as we shall be in a warm climate, perhaps the bad effects will not be so p.r.o.nounced.”

”No, I think so myself,” the old actor admitted. ”It may even do me good. I will doctor up in the meanwhile. And I realize that if I do not go, my daughters cannot. I would not like to have them miss this fine opportunity.”

”Oh, Daddy! We wouldn't go if it harmed you!” Alice cried.

”Oh, I dare say I can manage,” her father replied. ”The new treatment I am taking seems to agree with me. Who knows? Perhaps, when it comes time to sail, my throat may not trouble me at all.”

”Let us hope so,” Alice broke in. ”I do so love the water, and the Southern sea will be a dream!”

Perhaps if Alice could have looked ahead, and seen what lay before her, she would not have been so enthusiastic in antic.i.p.ating the future.

Mr. Pertell saw that the other plays under way in the studio were running smoothly, and then prepared to take Mr. DeVere, his daughters, and the old sailor over to Erie Basin, to inspect the _Mary Ellen_, as she lay in her slip, being refitted for another voyage--her last--for she was to rest beneath the waves when she had played her part in the moving picture play.

”I wish I were going with you,” said Russ Dalwood, as Ruth pa.s.sed him where he was having a moment's respite from grinding away at the crank of a camera.

”I wish so, too,” she answered, in a low voice.

”But I've got to stay here, and grind away at this film,” he said hopelessly.

”We'll see you to-night,” she called to him, as she went out.

Paul Ardite waved to Alice as she ”twinkled” her fingers at him. Paul was in a cowboy costume, playing a scene in the cowboy story, which seemed to be giving more and more trouble as it proceeded.

”This is the fifth time we've done that act,” Paul called to Alice in an aside as she pa.s.sed. ”And all because Mr. Bunn is so fussy. They'll take him out, if he isn't careful. Where are you going, Alice?”

”Over to see _Mary Ellen_.”

”Who's she? A new actress?”

”Yes, she's a 'she' I suppose, and she's going to have a big part in a drama. I'll tell you about it later.”

The _Mary Ellen_ certainly did not present a very trim appearance as the little party went aboard her at the dock in Erie Basin. The decks were cluttered up with an a.s.sortment of ropes, planks, casks, boxes and other things, so that it was impossible to move about without great care. On coming in sight of the craft Jack Jepson's face wore a look of expectancy.

”She might be the same _Mary Ellen_ that I was on,” he said.

But when he saw that the craft had three masts, whereas the s.h.i.+p where the mutiny had occurred boasted of five, Jack shook his head.

”She isn't th' same s.h.i.+p,” he murmured.

Yet as he stepped on deck he gave a start, and an exclamation escaped his lips.

”What's the matter?” asked Alice, who was near him.

”Well, Miss, you may think it strange,” he said, ”but if I had my eyes shut, I'd say I was on my old s.h.i.+p--th' _Mary Ellen_ I was tellin' you about.”

”But she had five masts, and this one----”

”Yes, I know, Miss Alice. But, masts or no masts there's somethin' about this craft that's strangely familiar. I'm sure I've been on her before, and yet--no, it can't be--three masts can't make five, no matter how you count.”