Part 14 (1/2)

CHAPTER XII

OVERHEARD

”Well, I think this will do,” Mr. Pertell announced, as the members of his company gathered on the sh.o.r.e 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 s.h.i.+pwreck of her. But she is perfectly safe for what traveling we shall do. Brisco has a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sume 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.”