"But it will be only for a few minutes," Paul said, "and the tide isn't rising so fast that it will sweep you away in that time."

"I know--but--don't go!" begged Alice, her voice trembling.

Paul looked at Ruth.

"Perhaps you _had_ better stay," suggested the older girl. "They are sure to come back soon, and--well, we don't want to be left here."

"All right," agreed Paul. "But I think I could get back with a boat in time."

However, there was no need for him to go. A moment later the moving picture company, headed by Russ and the two other camera men, came around the turn of some sand dunes.

"There they are!" cried Ruth.

"Oh, come and get us!" fairly screamed Alice.

Paul put his fingers to his mouth and sent out a shrill whistle.

It needed only a glance on the part of Mr. Pertell and the others to show the plight of the three marooned ones.

"I forgot all about them!" the manager exclaimed. "Russ--Mr.

Bunn--Switzer--a boat--where's that fisherman--where's the life-saving station? This is----"

"Avast there! Belay!" came the deep tones of Jack Jepson, who had come out to do certain parts in the sh.o.r.e scenes. "I'll take that boat out and get 'em. Don't worry!"

"Oh, but my daughters!" exclaimed Mr. DeVere, hoa.r.s.ely.

"And Alice with a sprained ankle!" gasped Mrs. Maguire.

"Don't worry! I'll get 'em!" declared the old salt. "Come on," he called to Mr. Bunn. "You look like you could handle an oar," and he started toward a dory that was drawn up on the beach.

"I--I can't row!" exclaimed the old actor. "Besides, I might----"

"Yes, he might spoil his dignity," said Russ fiercely in an undertone.

"I'll go with you," he said to the sailor. "I can manage a boat!"

"Good! That's the way to talk. Come on!"

A few minutes later Russ and Jack had shoved out the fisherman's craft, and were quickly rowing toward the rocks. The tide was now so high that Paul and the two girls stood ankle-deep in the water that completely covered the rocks.

"Ahoy there! Ahoy!" sang out Jack, as he and Russ sent the boat over the waves to the rescue. "Ahoy! We'll have you safe in a minute!"

"Quick! Get that picture! Film it!" cried Mr. Pertell to one of the other camera men. "I can work that scene in--somehow."

There was very little that was not "grist" which came to the "mill" of Mr. Pertell's cameras. The film began to unreel and before they knew it Paul, Ruth and Alice were being depicted in the rescue scene, which, when it was projected on the screen, made a series of effective pictures.

There was little real harm done save for wet feet and startled nerves.

Sufficient harm, one might think, but Ruth and Alice were beginning to forget they had nerves, so many were the strange acts they were called upon to perform in their moving picture work.

Jack and Russ helped the three into the boat, and rowed to sh.o.r.e with them, where mutual explanations were made, and Mr. Pertell was sorrowfully apologetic for his forgetful share in it.

"And the next time I forget about the tide, when I'm at the sh.o.r.e, I'll fine myself a box of candy to be forfeit to you girls," Paul said.

"Be sure you don't forget to pay the fine," Alice warned him.

As the company had brought along several changes of costume, there were dry shoes for the three marooned ones, and then, as it was too late to finish the scene on the rocks, they went back to New York. Some other day would have to be devoted, at least in part, to completing that film.

In the days that followed, work on the _Mary Ellen_ went on apace. She was almost ready for her voyage to sea. The big motorboat, _Ajax_, was also being put in readiness. While Jack Jepson and the others were busy at the schooner there were also busy scenes at the studio, where Mr.

DeVere and his daughters took part in many film plays. Nearly all the studio scenes for "Out on The Deep," had been completed.

"But we must get that river attack before we start on the voyage," said Mr. Pertell one day. This "river attack" showed one phase of the big marine drama. Ruth and Alice, in company with Mr. Bunn, as an old 'longsh.o.r.eman, were supposed to be rowed across a river to escape harbor thieves. To get good local color the location of the scene was fixed on the Jersey side of the Hudson river, above the Palisades. Thither those of the company required in the scene journeyed one day.

All went well until the time when Mr. Bunn, rather against his will, was rowing Ruth and Alice toward sh.o.r.e. They were being pursued by some rough men in a second boat. It is needless to say that the "rough men,"

were also moving picture actors.

"Go on there, Mr. Bunn! Row! Row!" called Mr. Pertell, while Russ, who was with him in a third boat, was making the reel hum in the camera.

"I--I can't row any faster," said the old "Ham" actor.

"But you _must_!" the manager cried. "That's better," he added as Mr.

Bunn showed a burst of speed.

"Oh dear! If ever I get through this series of pictures I'll quit the game!" groaned the former legitimate actor.

Ruth and Alice "registered" the proper business as the men in the pursuing boat came nearer and nearer. The flight was to continue along the Jersey sh.o.r.e.

"Jump out! Jump out!" commanded Mr. Pertell, giving directions from behind a screen of bushes, where he and Russ, having landed, were now hidden to take the land scenes.

The girls and Mr. Bunn leaped ash.o.r.e. The "villains" followed, firing blank cartridges.

"Fine! That's fine!" cried the enthusiastic manager, when suddenly, from a road that ran along the sh.o.r.e, there sprang a number of country officers. They had their clubs in one hand and had drawn their revolvers.

"Surrender! Surrender!" cried the leading officer to the "villains," who were pursuing Mr. Bunn and the girls. "Surrender! We've got you covered!

We seen you chasin' these parties! Surrender!" and the police rushed toward the actors.

"Keep back! Keep back!" implored Mr. Pertell, leaping out of concealment and waving his hands. But he was too late.

CHAPTER XI

A REVISED FILM

Just what idea the local police had in mind when they rushed forward would be hard to say. Evidently, however, they believed they were intent on rescuing the girls from some imminent peril, for the leader of the officers, showing not a little fear, even in the heroic role he was playing, fired a shot into the air, and cried:

"No you don't! No you don't! Nothin' like that there can be done while Captain Wealson is around. Up an' at 'em, men!"