"Well, C. C. did it. He held the smoke bomb, all right, but he didn"t throw it soon enough, and, as a result, it exploded almost in his face.
Lucky it"s only made of heavy paper and not very powerful powder, so he was only knocked down and scorched a little. But I guess he"ll have more respect for smoke bombs after this."
"Foolish fellow!" remarked Mr. Hadley. "He never will listen to reason.
I hope he isn"t badly hurt."
"It"s only his feelings, mostly," declared the juvenile actor.
Mr. Piper, otherwise called C. C., came limping along toward the producer and the moving picture boys.
"Mr. Hadley, you may have my resignation, effective at once!" cried the tragedian.
"Oh, don"t say that, Mr. Piper. You"re not hurt----"
"Well, it isn"t any thanks to one of your men that I"m not. I offered to show them how to throw a smoke bomb, and they gave me one with an extra short fuse. It went off almost in my face. If my looks aren"t ruined my nerves are, and----"
"No danger of your _nerve_ being gone," murmured Blake, nudging his chum.
"I should say not!"
"Anyhow, I resign!" declared C.C. savagely.
But, as he did this on the average of twice a week, it had become so now that no one paid any attention to him. Mr. Hadley, seeing that he was in no danger and hardly even painfully scorched, no longer worried about the gloomy comedian.
"And now to get back to what we were talking about before that interruption came," said Mr. Hadley to the moving picture boys. "Do you think you"d like to tackle the job?"
"What is it?" asked Blake.
"Give us an idea," added his chum.
"Well, it isn"t going to be any easy work," went on the producer. "And I might as well tell you, first as last, that it will be positively dangerous on all sides."
"Like anything we"ve done before?" Blake wanted to know.
"Not exactly. Earthquake Land is as near like it as anything that occurs to me. In short, how would you like to go to Europe?"
"To the war?" cried Joe.
"Yes; but to take films, not prisoners!"
"Great!" cried Blake. "That suits me, all right!"
"The same here!" agreed Joe instantly. "Tell us more about it!"
"I will in a few days," promised the producer. "I have several details to arrange. Meanwhile, I have a little commission for you along the same line, but it"s right around here--or, rather, down in Wrightstown, New Jersey, at one of the army camps.
"I can tell you this much: If you go to Europe, it will be as special agents of Uncle Sam, making films for the use of the army. You will be commissioned, if my plans work out, though you will be non-combatants.
The war department wants reliable films, and they asked me to get some for them. I at once thought of you two as the best camera men I could pick out. I also have a contract for getting some films here of army encampment scenes, and you can do these while I"m waiting to perfect my other arrangements, if you like."
"Down at Wrightstown, is it?" cried Joe. "Well, I guess we can take that in. How about it, Blake?"
"Sure we can. That is, if you"re through with us on this serial."
"Yes. The most important scenes of that are made now, and some of my other camera men will do for what is left. So if you want to go to the Jersey camp I"ll get your papers ready."
"We"ll go," decided Blake.
Two days later, during which they wondered at and discussed the possibilities of making films on the battle fronts of Europe, the two youths were in Wrightstown.
One incident occurred while they were at work there that had a considerable bearing on what afterward happened to them. This was after Joe and Blake had finished making a fine set of films, showing the drilling of Uncle Sam"s new soldiers, the views to be used to encourage enlistments about the country.
"These are some of the best views we"ve taken yet in this particular line," observed Joe to Blake, as they sent the boxed reels to New York by one of their helpers to be developed.
"Yes, I think so myself. Of course, they"re peaceful, compared to what we may take in France, but----"
He was interrupted by the unexpected return of Charles Anderson, nicknamed "Macaroni," their chief helper, who hurriedly entered the tent a.s.signed to the two boys.
"What"s the trouble, Mac?" asked Joe, that being the shortened form of the nickname. "You look worried."
"And so would you, Joe, if you"d had an accident like mine!"
"An accident?" cried Blake, in some alarm.
"Yes! At least, he _said_ it was an accident!"
"Who said so?"
"That Frenchman!"
"What accident was it?"
"Why, he ran into me with his auto, and the army films are all spoiled--light-struck!"
"Whew!" whistled Blake, and Joe despairingly banged his fist against his camera.
CHAPTER III
MONSIEUR SECOR
Macaroni sank down on a chair. Blake said, afterward, their young a.s.sistant gave a very fair imitation, as far as regarded the look on his face, of C.C. Piper.
"Ruined! Just plumb ruined!" murmured Charles Anderson.
"But what happened? Tell us about it!" begged Joe. "You say some one ran into you?"