Laura Lee Hope - The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms
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Laura Lee Hope >> The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms
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Through the night the fire was fought, and in the morning it was a gray
and haggard captain who faced the anxious group of passengers gathered in
the main saloon.
"What is the report?" asked Mr. Pertell.
"Not very encouraging," was the answer. "We are now disabled, and the
fire is still burning."
CHAPTER VI
BY WIRELESS
For a moment no one spoke, after the portentous words of Captain Falcon.
Men and women looked at each other. The members of the moving picture
company glanced from face to face. What would come next?
"Does this mean--does it indicate that we are to take to the boats?"
asked Mr. DeVere, solemnly.
"Not necessarily," the captain replied. "I have come to put the matter
plainly to you. The fire gained, in the night, and it reached the engine
room compartment. We are, therefore, temporarily disabled, and cannot
proceed, as we could have done had not this occurred. For we had the
first blaze out.
"Now, those who wish will be put into life boats, with such of their
belongings as it is practicable to take with them."
"What is the other alternative?" asked Mr. Pertell, as the captain
paused, thus indicating that he had another proposition to make.
"The second question is--Will you wait for the _Bell_ to come up? She is
within about fifty miles of us, I should judge, and can reach us inside
of three hours."
"In the meanwhile--the fire may gain?" suggested Mr. Sneed in gloomy
tones.
"It may--yes. It probably will, if it reaches the coal bunkers. That is
what I am afraid of, and why I speak thus plainly."
"Then I'm going to take to a boat!" exclaimed the "grouch."
"So will I!" put in Mr. Bunn.
"Wait," advised Mr. Pertell. "If possible I wish to keep all the members
of my company together. I have not the fear that some of you have. I
trust Captain Falcon."
"Thank you!" exclaimed the commander, evidently greatly pleased with this
mark of confidence. "At the same time I stand ready to lower boats for
those who may wish it. The sea is comparatively calm, and you will have
to use boats anyhow, if you are taken off by the _Bell_."
"Must that be done?" asked Alice, in a low voice.
"If we cannot subdue the fire, I am afraid so, Miss DeVere," answered
the captain. "But there is no danger in that. It is often done."
"Then I say, let's wait for the other vessel," decided Mr. DeVere. "There
may finally be no necessity for leaving our own ship, I take it?" he
asked.
"There may--it's a chance."
"Then let's take it!" cried Russ. "How will you summon the _Bell_?"
"By wireless. I was only waiting for your decision to write out the
message. She has been expecting a call from us, but she has probably
drifted farther off than she was last evening. I will summon her."
A little later the wireless began crackling out its call to the unseen
_Bell_, and preparations were made to lower away the boats promptly, in
case the fire should suddenly gain greater headway. Then there was
nothing to do but wait, and fight the flames.
"I insist, though, on being put in a boat!" cried Mr. Sneed. "I want to
get off this dangerous ship."
"I do, too!" exclaimed Mr. Bunn.
"I advise you both to stick to this ship," spoke Mr. Pertell, seriously.
"Never!" cried the grouch, and the former Shakespearean actor echoed the
word.
"Let them go," decided Captain Falcon, in a low voice to the moving
picture manager. "I can send them away in a boat, with some sailors, and
tell my men to row slowly, so as not to take them too far away from us.
Then, when the _Bell_ comes up, they can go aboard her, if our fire is
not out by then. Let them go."
"All right," agreed Mr. Pertell, and orders were given to lower a boat.
Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed got together what belongings they could, and
entered it.
"I must get a moving picture of this!" cried Russ.
"Do!" said Mr. Pertell.
"I forbid it!" exclaimed Mr. Sneed. Perhaps he did not want to be shown
deserting the ship and the company.
But Russ brought out his camera, and soon the film was moving, as the
boat was lowered to the surface of the sea. Then it was soon pulling away
from the _Tarsus_, and Russ got those views too.
"Wait! Wait for me!" cried a voice, and up on deck came Mr. Towne. He had
a valise in each hand, which probably contained his best suits. "Wait!"
he cried. "I want to be saved, too."
"There's no danger; you'll be saved more by staying here than by going
with them," said Mr. Pertell. "Besides, you might soil your clothing if
you went in the small boat. Another ship is coming for us."
"Oh--er--I certainly would not like to spoil any of my suits--the one I
fell overboard in is almost ruined. I--er--I ah--shall stay!" and he went
below again.
The wireless was still crackling out its call for aid, and soon an answer
was received, saying that the _Bell_ was on her way.
"She's coming!" cried the operator, as he gave the dispatch to the
captain. Russ, who had enough of the pictures of Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed
leaving in the boat, filmed the captain in the act of receiving this
message of good cheer. Later it was worked into a stirring drama, called
"The Burning Ship."
With all else that was going on, the work of fighting the blaze in the
hold was not for a moment given up. Water and live steam were turned in
among the cargo, the pumping apparatus fortunately not having been
disabled when the rest of the machinery went out of commission.
Russ made more moving pictures, since he now had a good light, and as the
fire-fighting was in another part of the ship it made a different series
of views.
"Oh, isn't this the most awful thing you ever saw, or heard of?" cried
Miss Pennington, coming on deck where Ruth and Alice stood. "Fate seems
to be against us at every turn!"
She was very pale, and looked wretched, as did her chum Miss Dixon.
"I guess they didn't take time to make up their complexions," whispered
Alice.
"Hush!" cautioned her sister.
"I could cry!" declared Miss Dixon. "I never slept a wink all night." She
looked it, too.
"Oh, we'll be all right," said Paul. "The other ship is coming for us,
and if necessary we can be transferred to her."
"Will we have to go in one of the small boats, like that?" Miss
Pennington wanted to know, as she pointed to the one in which were Mr.
Bunn and Mr. Sneed, some distance off, now.
"That's the only kind they have on board," said Mr. DeVere, who had
shortly before joined his daughters.
"Oh, I never could go in one of those--never!" the former vaudeville
actress cried, tragically.
"Ha! Dose is goot boats! I in der German nafy vos," put in Mr. Switzer,
"und dey are fery safe."
"Oh, but they look so small, and they hold so little. How can one get
enough to eat in them?" asked Miss Dixon, clasping her hands, and
looking with her rather effective eyes, first at Mr. Towne, and then at
Paul.
"Ha! You dakes along vot you eat!" exclaimed the German. "Pretzels iss
fine! Haf one!" and he extended a handful of small ones. Since the
company had been snowbound he had always a few in his pocket. He called
them his "mascots."
"No, thank you. I never eat them!" declared Miss Dixon, with turned-up
nose.
"Let's go see if there is any further report by wireless from the
_Bell_," suggested Ruth, who saw kindling wrath in the eyes of her
sister. Alice never could get along well with the two actresses, and she
was very likely to say something that might lead to a quarrel.
"I'll come along," said Paul.
"So will I," echoed Mr. Towne. In spite of his affected mannerisms, he
could be "nice," at times. It was Ruth who had said this, but then Ruth
had such a kind heart that she generally found a good quality in nearly
everyone, whatever their failings.
"Yes, she's coming on at full speed," reported the wireless operator.
"She'll be with us in about an hour, now. And I guess it's time, too," he
added in a low voice.
"Why?" asked Russ, when the girls had passed on.
"Because I believe the fire is gaining. I think it's in one of the coal
bunkers now, and that means it will burn steadily, and may eat through
the side of the ship."
The operator turned to his apparatus, for he had been told to keep in
constant communication with the oncoming rescue ship.
As Paul rejoined the girls, there sounded through the _Tarsus_ a dull
explosion, that made the ship tremble.
The commander was hurrying along the deck. Many of the passengers, who
had gone below to pack their belongings in anticipation of being
transferred, now came rushing out of their staterooms.
"What was it?"
"Are we going to blow up?"
"Is the ship sinking?"
"Don't be alarmed!" Captain Falcon exhorted them, but, even as he spoke,
there came a second dull rumbling, a trembling of the vessel, and another
explosion, louder than the first. There were screams from frightened
women and children, and a number of men passengers made a rush for the
boats, as the sailors had done before.
CHAPTER VII
IN PORT
"Stand back!" cried Captain Falcon, and again his hand went to his pocket
as though to draw a weapon. "Stand back! The same rule applies to you men
passengers as to the sailors. Women and children first! Do you hear?
Stand back!"
The rush was halted almost before it started. Then Mr. Switzer, who had
taken no part in it, said slowly:
"Dot is right. Gentlemen, ve are forgetting ourselves!"
"And it took him--above everyone else--to remind them of it," said Mr.
DeVere in a low voice. He had remained by the side of his daughters.
"Mr. Switzer is a bigger man than any of us thought," murmured Ruth. "Oh,
Daddy, is the boat going to sink?"
"We are going to be blown up!" exclaimed a big man, who, with others, had
made a half start for the boat, and then had hung back shamefacedly.
"If you say that again!" cried Paul, in a fierce whisper, "I'll throw you
overboard! This is no time to start a panic!"
The man slunk away. There came another explosion, not so loud as the
first, but enough to cause the men to start involuntarily, and to bring
frantic screams from the women passengers.
"What is that, Captain?" asked Mr. Pertell.
"Nothing to be alarmed about," was the calm answer.
"They sound alarming enough," declared a woman.
"But they are not," the commander insisted. "They are only slight
explosions of coal gas in some of the bunkers. The fire is slowly eating
into them but the explosions are not heavy enough to cause any serious
damage to the ship.
"The _Bell_ will soon be up to us. In fact, we could see her now, were it
not for the slight haze. And, as it is evident that you will have to be
taken off in her, I am going to lower the boats, and let you row away
from this ship.
"You will be picked up by the _Bell_ as soon as she gets here, and, in
any event, you would have to take to the small boats. So you might as
well start. I will have all your baggage brought on deck ready for
transfer," he added to the moving picture manager.
"Very good," assented Mr. Pertell. "I am sorry this has occurred, but
perhaps it is best that we leave the ship."
"It will be better for your peace of mind, though really I think we can
conquer the fire," the captain went on. "But we are disabled, and may not
be able to proceed for some time."
"What are you going to do when we are gone?" asked Alice, who, with Ruth,
had recovered some of her equanimity by this time. "Are you coming with
us, Captain Falcon--you and your sailors?"
"I am going to stick by the ship!" he answered, and there was a proud
ring in his voice. "I believe I can save her, and then we'll make
repairs, and get to port under our own steam. I want to save the owners
salvage, if I can."
"There speaks a brave man," murmured Mr. DeVere. "And there are many such
unknown, who are going down the sea in ships every day. A brave man!"
"Man the falls!" ordered Captain Falcon to those sailors who were not
engaged in fighting the fire. "Man the falls, and stand by to lower the
boats!"
"Oh, must we really go in those little things?" cried Miss Pennington, as
she heard this.
"Certainly," answered Russ, who was near her. "You wouldn't expect to
swim; would you?"
"Horrid thing!" snapped the actress. "Come, Laura. Don't leave me. I'm so
frightened!"
"So am I," declared her companion. "It's awful!"
"Their fright hasn't made them pale, at any rate," whispered Alice.
"They've taken on color, lately."
"Oh, my dear, you mustn't say such things," chided Ruth.
The work of getting the passengers and their baggage into the boats was
soon under way. There was some confusion, not a little evidence of fright
on the part of many, and some tears. But among the bravest were little
Tommie and Nellie. They thought it all a lark, and probably, in their
case, it was the bliss of ignorance.
Russ, who had been standing near Ruth and Alice, suddenly started for his
stateroom.
"Where are you going?" asked Ruth, as the call came for them to take
their places in a boat.
"For my moving picture camera! I'm going to get views of this. It's too
good to miss!"
"It seems so--so--" began Ruth, but Alice interrupted with:
"Why shouldn't he get the film? There is really no danger of death, and
it is a chance that he may never have again. A film like this could be
worked into a great play!"
"Spoken like a real artist of the movies!" cried Mr. Pertell. "Go ahead,
Russ. Get all you can; but don't take any chances."
Then the young operator busied himself with making a film that was
afterward said to be one of the best in the world showing a rescue from a
burning ship. And the beauty of it was that it was real. There was no
posing, and the ship was not an old hulk chartered for the occasion, and
set fire to, as has been done more than once.
As the women and children were first helped to the boats, and the craft
then carefully lowered to the sea, Russ took picture after picture.
Fortunately the sea and weather were both calm, and, after the first
little fright, no one made any disturbance.
The boat containing Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed had returned part way to the
ship, the sailors having heard the explosions, and desiring to aid in the
work of saving the passengers if there was any need, for their craft
could hold many more.
But there was no need. There was ample room in the other boats, and, as
Captain Falcon had said, the explosions were really of little moment--at
least, for the present.
Boat after boat was loaded and lowered away, and not an accident marred
the work. True, Mrs. Maguire, in her anxiety to see that Nellie and Tommy
were safe, nearly fell overboard, but a burly sailor caught her just in
time.
"How are you coming on, Russ?" asked Mr. Pertell who, with Pop Snooks,
was seeing to the bringing up of the baggage, and the other property of
the moving picture company.
"Fine," answered the young operator. "This will be a great film!"
"Glad to hear it! It will be our turn soon."
"I'm going to stick till the last boat. I want to get all the views I
can."
Russ spoke simply, but he well knew the danger he ran in remaining until
the last boat was sent away. The ship might be in no real danger; even as
Captain Falcon had said; but, on the other hand, the fire might have
spread more than the commander realized. But Russ, like many another
picture operator, was not afraid to do his duty as he saw it, even in the
face of danger.
Suddenly a great shout arose.
"Wonder what's happened now?" remarked Mr. Pertell. He knew a moment
later, for the shout took to itself words:
"The ship!"
"The rescue ship!"
"There comes the _Bell_!"
Sweeping up through the mist came the ship that had responded to the
wireless calls for aid. On she came at full speed, and when she caught
sight of the _Tarsus_ she sent out a reassuring blast from her great
whistle. It was answered in kind.
"Now you're all right!" cried Captain Falcon over the side, to those in
the small boats. "Row the passengers over to her," he ordered the
sailors, "and then come back to your ship!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" was the answer. And be it said to the credit of those
sailors that not one of them shirked, or tried to desert, which might
have been easily forgiven in the face of the danger.
"I've got to get a picture of her!" cried Russ, as he focused the camera
on the oncoming ship. And a fine picture he obtained.
"Oh, now we're all right, Daddy!" cried Ruth, as she nestled close to her
father. Mr. DeVere had been allowed to go in the boat with his daughters,
as there was plenty of room, and all the other women had been provided
for.
"I wasn't worrying," declared Alice.
"Oh yes, it's easy to say that now," sighed Ruth. "But I'm sorry for poor
Captain Falcon."
"He is a brave man," said Mr. DeVere, again.
The _Bell_ came as close as was safe, and a little later the small boats
rowed to her accommodation ladder, which had been lowered. Then began the
risky work of getting from the small boats to this ladder, and so aboard
the _Bell_. For there was now a little sea on, and the boats rose and
fell to a considerable degree.
But the sailors were skillful, and soon all the passengers and baggage
were transferred. Russ was the last to leave the _Tarsus_, and the last
to go aboard the _Bell_, for he wanted every view he could get.
He was received with a cheer, given not only by his friends, but by the
passengers and crew of the _Bell_.
For Mr. Pertell had told of the devotion to duty of the young operator,
and his act was duly appreciated.
Back to the burning vessel--perhaps, for all they knew, back to their
doom--rowed the sailors of the _Tarsus_. The chief mate of the _Bell_, at
the request of his commander, went to consult with Captain Falcon. On
returning, the mate reported that Captain Falcon felt he could get the
fire under control, and also make repairs to enable him to get his ship
to port.
"Then we will proceed," said Captain Blackstone, of the _Bell_. He gave
the signal to go ahead, and soon the ill-fated _Tarsus_, with the smoke
pall hanging about her, was left behind.
But it is a pleasure to record that, after a hard fight, Captain Falcon
and his men did subdue the flames, and, after harder work, temporary
repairs enabled them to limp into port. Thus the commander saved his
ship, and also avoided the payment, on the part of the owners, of heavy
salvage. Later he was suitably rewarded by his superiors.
"Oh, but what an experience!" lamented Miss Pennington, as she sank into
a steamer chair after the rescue. "I wonder what sort of a stateroom
we'll have here, Laura?"
"They'll be lucky if they get even a berth," grumbled Paul. For the
_Bell_ carried a number of passengers, and the addition of those from the
_Tarsus_ rather crowded her.
But accommodations were found for all, though the quarters were rather
cramped. The _Bell_ was bound direct for St. Augustine, and in due
season, and without further mishap, the moving picture company reached
that oldest city in the United States.
CHAPTER VIII
ST. AUGUSTINE
"Oh, isn't it beautiful!"
"The most gorgeous place I ever saw!"
Alice and Ruth were standing in the doorway of the hotel to which the
moving picture company had been taken. They were looking out into the
ladies' court--into a sun-lit and palm-girded garden, wherein a fountain
played, the water falling with a musical tinkling.
Birds flitted here and there amid the bright flowers, but to the moving
picture girls the palms seemed the most wonderful of all. Such palms!
"I never realized that the great Creator could make anything so
beautiful," murmured Ruth, reverently. "And, Oh! Alice; to think that
_we_ can enjoy it!"
"Yes, isn't it wonderful, after all the storm and stress of the fire, to
be in this lovely, calm place?"
"And the best part of it is that we're getting _paid_ for it!" observed a
voice behind the two girls. They turned, with a start, for they had lost
themselves in a dreaming reverie, to find Russ and Paul smiling at them.
It was Paul who spoke.
"It does seem a shame to take the money under these circumstances," added
Russ, with a laugh.
"It's like a vacation," agreed Alice. "Oh, but isn't it just--just too--"
She was evidently searching for a fitting simile.
"Alice," warned Ruth, gently. She was endeavoring to wean her sister from
the habit of using slang expressions; but Alice always boasted that she
liked to take "short cuts," and that slang--that is, her refined
variety--offered the best method of accomplishing this very desirable
object.
"Oh, I was only just going to say--scrumptious!" laughed the younger
girl. "You don't mind that; do you, sister mine? This is really the most
scrumptiously scrumptious place I've ever seen!"
"I'm afraid you're hopeless," was the smiling retort.
"Well, it's certainly swell--that's my word for it," answered Russ, with
a frank laugh.
Indeed, Mr. Pertell had not spared expense in taking out his moving
picture company. And he had a method in going to one of the largest and
finest hotels in St. Augustine. He intended to stage some scenes of one
of the Southern plays there, and having his actors and actresses right in
the hotel made it much more practical.
"Let's take a walk," proposed Russ. "There's nothing to do to-day."
It was the morning after their arrival and Mr. Pertell was not quite
ready to proceed with making films. The fire aboard the _Tarsus_, and the
necessity of taking another vessel, had rather upset everyone, so a day
or so of rest had been decided upon.
"Where shall we go?" asked Alice, readily falling in with the proposal.
"You'll come, won't you, Ruth?"
"I think so--yes."
"There are lots of places to see," suggested Paul. "This is the oldest
city in the United States. I've got some guide books up in my room, and a
lot of views. We'll pick out some points of interest and visit them."
"We'll have plenty of chance to see the sights," remarked Russ. "I
understand there are to be a number of films made in the city and
vicinity, so you'll probably have to act out around Fort Marion and at
Fort Mantanzas, as well as in the slave market. I'll be with you in a
minute. I just want to get my little hand camera, to make a few
snap-shots."
While waiting for him and Paul to return, the girls slipped up to their
room a minute.
"Just to freshen up," as Alice put it, though really there was no need in
her case, nor on the part of Ruth, either. The day was perfect--like
summer--and the girls, knowing they were coming to the land of the palm
and orange blossom, had brought suitable dresses.
Ruth wore white, with a mere suggestion of trimming in blue, and with her
fair hair and blue eyes she was a picture that made more than one
man--elderly as well as young--turn for a second look.
The darker beauty of Alice was well set off by her dress of light tan
pongee with maroon trimming, and her sparkling brown eyes were dancing
with life, and the love of life, as she came out to join her sister and
the young men.
"Primping, as usual," mocked Russ, but with a laugh that took the sting
out of his words.
"Naturally," agreed Alice, determined not to let him "fuss" her.
They strolled out under the beautiful loggia, through an avenue of palms
and many tropical plants, and breathed deeply of the perfumed air.
"Oh, it is perfect--just perfect!" sighed Ruth. "I think the Garden of
Paradise must have been in Florida."
"There you go!" cried Alice. "First you know you'll want to go off and
live the simple life under a palm tree, with bananas for lunch and
oranges for dinner. And when your--er--your hero--we'll say, comes riding
on that milk-white steed I so despise, you'll be so thin that he won't
know you."
"Thank you!" returned her sister. "But a _svelte_ figure is much to be
desired these days."
"Not that you're getting stout!" declared Alice. "Really it is I who
ought to diet on bananas and--"
"Orange blossoms," finished Paul.
"Thanks," and she bowed gracefully to him.
"Well, Paul, where is it to be--you're the guide?" asked Russ, as they
emerged on King street. "Where's your map?"
"I have it. What do you say we go out to the old city gates, and then to
Fort Marion?"
"Wherever you say," agreed Alice. "It is all new to us."
They soon reached the north bend of St. George street and stood before
the old city gates. These once formed part of the northerly line of
defence of the ancient city.
"Built in 1743," declaimed Alice, as she read from the bronze tablet set
in the masonry by the D.A.R. "My, how long ago that seems; doesn't it?"
"A mere trifle!" replied Russ, airily. "Get together there, and I'll snap
you," he invited. "If you think that's old we'll go to the Fountain of
Youth a little later, and renew our youngness."
"Oh, is that really here?" cried Ruth, with such sudden interest that
they all laughed.
"Yes, my ancient sister, it is," said Alice. "Dost wish to quaff a cup?"
"Merely for the novelty of it--yes," answered Ruth, and she too, laughed.
Her cheeks were the color of bridesmaid roses, and Russ, as he looked at
her, wished--
But there--What's the use of being mean and telling on a good chap?
The pictures taken, they strolled on. At Fort Marion, on the banks of the
Mantanzas River, they found much of interest; but agreed to explore it
more in detail at another time.
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