"Tut, tut, never mind the daylight. We don"t need it in modern photography. We"ll go up and look at the place," said the manager. Then to the chauffeur he shouted: "Here, Jim, fasten a rope to the truck and I"ll have this machine of mine tow you up to the scouts" headquarters."
CHAPTER VII
ETHAN ALLEN COMES TO LIFE AGAIN
For the next days the troop"s headquarters on Otter Hill was the strangest place imaginable. Pa.s.sers by were surprised to find groups of real Indians in war paint, Colonial soldiers, British troopers and Green Mountain Boys in buckskin garments walking up and down in front of the building or sitting in the sun waiting for their turn to "go on" in the studio room upstairs. These were the regular actors of the Historical Motion Picture Company, who had come to Woodbridge by train to take part in the Ethan Allen film which Mr. d.i.c.kle was making.
To be sure, all this fascinated the scouts. It was a decided pleasure to be allowed to circulate among such famous people. Ethan Allen was a big, broad-shouldered actor whose name was known from coast to coast. So was the individual who took the part of Captain Rember Baker, Captain Warner and Captain Warrington. Anne Story was a girl whose face the boys had seen on a dozen different billboards, and there were any number of other well-known individuals in the troupe. And there were real live Indians, too, who afforded the boys no end of interest. Altogether, the advent of the motion picture company was a liberal education for the lads.
But for knowledge of the technical nature, which the boys liked best, the interior of headquarters presented a world of opportunity. When the company"s electricians and stage carpenters had finished with their work in the big meeting room Bruce and his chums scarcely recognized it as the same place. Two banks of a dozen electric lights as big as street arc lamps, and just as powerful, had been strung across the ceiling. These, by means of reflectors, were made to flood the far end of the room, "the stage," with a steady white light.
Behind the light was the camera man, grinding away steadily, taking sixteen pictures a second, while before the light were the actors playing their parts, now in a log cabin, now in a Colonial mansion and again in a courtroom at Albany, according to the way the scene shifters arranged the portable canvas scenery.
Between the camera man and the actors, to the left of the stage, sat Mr.
d.i.c.kle in his shirt sleeves, clutching a bundle of ma.n.u.script in one hand and a megaphone in the other. Through this effective mouthpiece he directed each of the actors. The members of the cast did their work entirely in pantomime, except when Mr. d.i.c.kle bawled a few lines at them, which they repeated so that the camera could register the action of their lips.
It was all so perfectly wonderful to the scouts that they stood for hours watching the making of the film; that is, they stood still and watched while the actors and photographers were at work, but the moment business was suspended, while scenes were changed, they began to ask questions of every one in sight.
They learned that the big lights were a new type of tungsten lamp filled with nitrogen gas which made them burn three times as bright as other lamps. They discovered that the original photographs were only three-quarters of an inch long and they were magnified from thirty to fifty thousand times when they were projected onto a movie screen by the machine in the theater. They found out also that raw film cost four cents a foot, that movie actors were paid as high as $20,000 a year, that there were nearly four hundred American firms making movies, that most of the films of the world were made in this country, that American "movies"
were being shown in China, Australia, India and all sorts of far-off corners of the world, and that in one American city alone the "movie"
theaters took in more than $40,000 a day in admission fees.
All this and a great deal more did the inquisitive youngsters gather, until they became veritable motion picture encyclopedias. Of course, chief among the men whom they questioned was Mr. d.i.c.kle. In fact, every time the manager finished directing a scene, Bruce and several other scouts pounced upon him and began plying him with questions concerning the film industry, all of which he answered in great detail, for he appreciated the fact that they were boys who wanted to learn and understand.
It was during one of these periods of catechising that he finally explained the big film he was making at the time.
"This photoplay," he said, "is to be a feature production; five reels of 1,000 feet each. I"m going to give all the details of the troubles Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys had with the authorities of New York State over the New Hampshire Grants. Of course, you boys know the story.
It"s history."
"You bet we do," said Bruce; "find a Vermont boy who hasn"t read about the Green Mountain Boys."
"Well, I"m glad you are so well informed. It will help a little when you take your parts tomorrow afternoon. I"ve finished the studio work on the film now, and all that remains are some exteriors in the vicinity of the Lake. The film will wind up with a big battle between Allen and his Green Mountain Boys against the Sheriff of Albany, a.s.sisted by some Indians and Red Coats."
"I want you fellows to be the original Green Mountain Scouts. Your buckskins are all downstairs in the trunks. They came by express this morning. I"d expect you all to report here tomorrow at two thirty. Get into the duds and come up to the lake. You"ll find us all ready for you up there with an automobile full of flintlock rifles and things. The stage will all be set for the big battle around the mouth of the real Ethan Allen cave. How does that suit you?" It was a thrilling idea.
"How does it suit? Wow; were there ever fellows as lucky as we are?
Just think of being in a real movie film; I tell you--"
"Jiminy crickets, we"ll have the time of our life, Mr. d.i.c.kle. Why, we"ll do it for nothing, just for the fun of the thing," exclaimed Gordon generously.
"Oh, no, you won"t; you"ll get fifty cents each, and, besides, I"m paying you ten dollars a day for the use of this building. Forty dollars is due you so far. That should help the troop"s treasury a little, eh, boys?"
"You bet it will," said Bruce. "Only we don"t like--"
"Tut, tut; that"ll do. I owe you money, and I"m going to pay it. If you don"t take it I"ll give it to your a.s.sistant Scout master, Mr. Ford. I met him yesterday," said Mr. d.i.c.kle. Then, to the actors, he called: "Next scene, gentlemen! Ring the bell, Benny!" And Bruce and the scouts realized that it was time for them to leave.
The following day Woodbridge witnessed the strangest scene in its history. It was that of a score of Green Mountain Scouts, in buckskins and c.o.o.n caps, traveling up the dusty road toward the Lake. Some were astride motor cycles, a half-dozen were crowded into "Old Nanc" and the rest were walking.
An hour after leaving headquarters they reached the lake sh.o.r.e. Ethan Allen"s cave was up a very steep grade from the water and the boys could see as they rounded the bend in the road dozens of Red Coats and Indians waiting for them. Bruce and the lads on the motorcycles put on high speed and took the grade in whirlwind fashion but "Old Nanc" was not equal to the hill, so she was parked in a lot by the lakeside and the rest of the troop went up to the cave on foot.
Immediately upon their arrival activities began. Mr. d.i.c.kle formed them in line and marched them up beside the big automobile truck that stood in the middle of the road. Here each lad was given a flintlock rifle and sent over to the mouth of the cave, where Ethan Allen and a half-dozen Green Mountain Boys were waiting, seated about a camp fire.
"Now, boys," said the manager, when all had been served with guns and had taken their places, "those weapons of yours are only dummies. I don"t want you lads fooling with powder even in a sham battle. I won"t be responsible for your eyes. My regular actors will do all the firing necessary, and they will make smoke enough to cover the film. All I want you fellows to do is aim and pull the trigger. Are you ready now, gentlemen? Camera!"
Mr. d.i.c.kle stood with his feet apart, megaphone in hand, in the middle of the road. The camera man had set up his tripod on the rear end of the motor truck, which was held on the very brink of the grade by its brakes.
At the word "Camera" he began to turn the crank of his machine rapidly, and almost before they knew it the Boy Scout Engineers were being photographed as part of a real feature film.
Action followed swiftly. While the lads were sitting about the fire an Indian came out of the woods. It was Neshobee, the friendly Red Man of Judge Thompson"s story. He advanced to Ethan Allen, his hand extended aloft as a sign of friendship. Then he began to talk, pointing into the bushes and up toward the leaves of the trees. Instantly the Green Mountain Boys were alert!
"The Red Coats and the Sheriff!" snapped Allen, and every man was crouching, gun in hand, waiting for the attack. A Red Coat appeared in the bushes!
Up went a dozen muskets, and the next instant there was a thundering roar! The Red Coat disappeared! But others came! They bobbed up everywhere! Behind bushes and trees! From rocks and logs they sprang, advancing and firing in apparently deadly earnestness! The roar of the musketry was deafening! Bruce and his chums were thrilled with enthusiasm, and they snapped their guns at every enemy in sight! On came the Red Coats and the Indians with the Sheriff of New York leading them!
They advanced into the open, firing deliberately at the little group of defenders about the cave! But their fire was answered with interest, and soldiers and Indians were stumbling and falling in all directions!
And above all the din could be heard the voice of Mr. d.i.c.kle, the stage manager, roaring directions through his megaphone. "Great scene! Fine!
Register excitement! Fall down, Murphy! Tumble over, there, Lisk; you"re dead--tumble, I say. Don"t be afraid of your uniform. I"ll pay for that. Fall!--fall!--fall! Now, Green Mountain Boys, up and at "em!
Charge! Charge! Beat it, you Red Coats--you"re licked. Run! Git! Beat it, I say! After "em, scouts, after "em! Fine! Great scene! All right; that"ll do. Quit firing."
The roar of the flintlocks ceased and Bruce and the rest of the scouts stopped, thoroughly out of breath with excitement. The Red Coats and Indians stopped also, and, turning about, rejoined their erstwhile enemies. The "dead" and "wounded" stood up, too, and began to walk about and chat with the rest, all of which gave the scouts the impression that a "movie" battle was the only really pleasant kind of battle, after all.
"Well, you scouts certainly filled the bill as Green Mountain Boys," said Mr. d.i.c.kle when the boys reached the road where he was standing. "That will make a great scene. Now, just as soon as Bob gets his stuff stowed away in the truck, we"ll start for town."
Bruce noticed that the camera man was having difficulty in getting his outfit in the truck una.s.sisted, so he ran on ahead of the others to help him.
"Here, Bruce," said the movie operator, "you get up in the wagon and I will hand the things to you and you can stow them under the seat."
The camera man handed up the box-like machine, which Bruce started packing under the seat. Just as the operator started back up the hill to get his tripod, in some unaccountable manner the brakes of the heavy truck loosened and the big vehicle started to roll slowly down the hill.
So steep was the grade that the truck gained momentum at a terrific rate.
Bob, the camera man, noticing what had happened, turned and ran swiftly down the hill. But it had gained such headway that he couldn"t overtake it.
"Hi, there!" shrieked Mr. d.i.c.kle. "Stop that trunk! Stopit! My film!
It"s all in the camera, and the truck"s running away! Stop it, some one!
Save the film!"
Bruce"s first impulse was to jump from the truck and leave it to its fate, but when he heard the manager"s frantic appeal to save the precious film he climbed quickly over the back of the high seat. In another instant he grasped the steering wheel and jammed his foot down upon the brake lever.
Then bang--! the brake band snapped and the truck lurched forward again!
Bruce had applied the brake too suddenly, and the next moment he found himself in a runaway motor truck that could not be stopped until it reached level ground.
The patrol leader felt like he was turning cold. Before him stretched a long grade, and at the end a sharp turn! If he did not make that turn the motor truck would crash against a rock or tree and kill him, or at best it would plunge into the Lake and then the film would be lost!
Could he make the turn?
On rushed the ma.s.sive truck. It had developed express train speed now and it rocked from side to side like a ship in a gale as it tore down the rough country road! Bruce clutched the big steering wheel with deathlike grip and tried his mightiest to keep the c.u.mbersome vehicle straight!