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The Moving Picture Girls in War Plays: The Sham Battles at Oak Farm, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 9. Miss Dixon's Loss |
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_ CHAPTER IX. MISS DIXON'S LOSS "Look out!" shouted Paul, and, dropping what he was carrying, he made a leap toward the animal Whitlow was riding. "Roll out of the way of his feet!" cried the director. "Shall I keep on with the film?" asked the camera man, for his duty was to turn until told to stop, no matter what happened. "Let it run!" Alice cried. "I can get out of the way. Don't stop on my account!" She had been in motion pictures long enough to know what it meant to spoil a hundred feet or more of film in a spirited picture, necessitating a retake. She had seen her danger, and had done her best to get out of harm's way. The cat had leaped into some bushes and was out of sight. Whitlow, his face showing his fear and his inability to act in this emergency, had instinctively drawn back on the reins. But it was to the intelligent horse itself, rather than to the rider, that Alice owed her immunity from harm. For the horse reared, and came down with feet well to one side of the crouching girl, who had partly risen to her knees. At the same moment Paul sprang for the steed's bridle and swerved him to one side. Then, seeing that Alice was practically out of danger, Paul's rage at the carelessness of Whitlow rose, and he reached up and fairly dragged that young man out of the saddle. "You don't know enough to lead a horse to water, let alone ride one in a movie battle scene!" he cried, as he pushed the player to one side. "Why don't you look where you're going?" Whitlow was too shaken and startled to reply. "Go on. Help her up and keep on with the retreat!" cried the director. "That's one of the best scenes of the picture. Couldn't have been better if we had rehearsed it. Never mind the cat, Miss DeVere. Run on. Paul, you land a couple of blows on Whitlow and then follow Alice. Hold back, there--you Union men--until we get this bit of by-play." Paul, nothing loath, gave Whitlow two hard blows, and the latter dared not return them for fear of spoiling the picture, but he muttered in rage. Then Paul, shaking his fist at the Unionists, hurried on after Alice, and the retreat continued. What had threatened to be a disaster, or at least a spoiling of the scene, had turned out well. It is often so in moving pictures. In the remainder of the scene the girls had little part. They had been driven from their home, and, presumably, were taken in by friends. The rest of the scenes showed the Union soldiers making merry in the Southern town they had captured. "My! That was a narrow escape you had!" exclaimed Ruth, when she and her sister were at liberty to return to the farmhouse. "Were you hurt?" "No; I strained one arm just a little. But it will make a good scene, so Russ said." "Too good--too realistic!" declared Paul. "When I get a chance at that Whitlow----" "Please don't do anything!" begged Alice. "It wasn't really his fault. If I hadn't had the cat----" "It was his fault for pushing himself to the front the way he did," said the young actor. "Only the best riders were picked to lead the charge. He might have known he couldn't control his horse in an emergency. That's where he was at fault." "He is a poor rider," commented Estelle. "But you showed rare good sense, Alice, in acting as you did. A horse will not step on a person if he can possibly avoid it. Mr. Whitlow's horse was better than he was." "Just the same, I got in two good punches!" chuckled Paul, "and he didn't dare hit back." "He may make trouble for you later," Alice said. "Oh, I'm not worrying about that. I'm satisfied." There was a spirited battle scene later in the day between the Union and Confederate forces; the latter endeavoring to retake the village. A Confederate battery in a distant town was sent for, and the Union position was shelled. But as by this time the Union cannon had come up and were entrenched in the town, an artillery duel ensued. Views were shown of the Union guns being manned by the men, who wore bloody cloths around their foreheads and who worked hard serving the cannon. Real powder was used, but no balls, of course, and now and then a man would fall dead at his gun. Similar views with another camera were taken of the Confederate guns and the scenes alternated on the screen afterward, creating a big sensation. Then came an attack of the Confederate infantry under cover of the Southern battery. This was spirited, detachments of men rushing forward, firing and then seeking what cover they could. At times a man would roll over, his gun dropping, sometimes several would drop at the same time. These were those who were detailed to be shot. The Unionists replied with a counter charge, and for a time the battle waged fiercely on both sides. Then came a lull in the fighting, with the Confederates ready to make a last charge in a desperate attempt to recapture the town. "I know what would make a good scene," said Maurice Whitlow, during the lull when fresh films were being loaded into the cameras. "If we had an airship now some of us Union fellows could go for reinforcements in that. It would make a dandy scene." "An airship!" cried Russ. "Say! remember that these scenes are supposed to have taken place in 1863. The only airships then were those the inventors were dreaming about or making in their laboratories. No airships in Civil War plays! I guess not! Balloons, maybe, but no airships." "More fighting! Camera!" called Mr. Pertell, and again the spirited action was under way. Cannon boomed; rifles spat fire and smoke; men fought hand to hand, often rolling over dead; riderless horses dashed here and there. Now and then a man would narrowly escape being run down. As it was, several were burned from being too near the cannon or the guns, and one man's leg was broken in a fall from his horse. But it was part of the game, and no one seemed to mind. A real hospital was set up at Oak Farm, not a mere shell of a building, and here the injured, as well as those who simulated injury, were attended. Ruth and some of the women made up as nurses, though this was not the big scene in which Ruth and Alice were to take part. "Confederates retreat!" directed Mr. Pertell, and the Southern forces, having been defeated, were forced to withdraw. Their attempt to recapture their town had failed. "Whew! that was hot work!" cried Paul, as he came back to the farmhouse, having played his part as a Confederate soldier. "It certainly was," agreed Mr. DeVere, who had been the directing Union General. Now that the "war" was over Northerners and Southerners mingled together in friendly converse, their differences forgotten. "I just can't bear the smell of powder!" complained Miss Dixon. "I wish I had my salts." "I'll get them for you, dear," offered Miss Pennington. "I'm going up to our rooms." The former vaudeville actresses, with Ruth, Alice, and some of the others, were resting on the farmhouse porch. Miss Dixon smelled the salts and declared she felt much better. "There's to be a dance in the village to-night," Paul remarked at the supper table. "Let's go!" proposed Alice. "Will you take me, Paul?" "Of course I will." "May I have the pleasure?" asked Russ, of Ruth. "Why, yes, if the rest go." "We'll all go!" chimed in Miss Dixon. "Some of the extra men are good dancers. They proved it in the ballroom scene the other day. We can get a man, Pearl." "All right, my dear, just as you say." The little party was soon arranged. "Estelle might like to go," suggested Alice. "I'll go to ask her," offered Ruth, for Miss Brown had quit the supper table early and gone to her room. As Ruth mounted the stairs she heard Miss Dixon and Miss Pennington talking in the hall outside their rooms. "I can't see where it can be," Miss Dixon was saying. "It was on your dresser when I went up for the salts," said her chum. "Are you sure you didn't take it after that?" "Positive! It's gone--that's all there is to it." "What's gone?" asked Ruth. "One of my rings," was Miss Dixon's answer. "I left it on my dresser and my door was open. It was there when I went down to supper, and we were all at the table together----" "Except Estelle Brown!" said Miss Pennington quickly. _ |
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