Paul, who had risen to his feet, was talking vigorously to Ruth and Alice, as called for in the scenario. Now and then he would look back, as though to see if the other car was coming.
Suddenly, as the auto was dashing down hill, there came a snap as if some metal part had broken, and the car"s speed was quickly increased.
"What is it? Oh, what has happened?" cried Ruth, springing to her feet.
But she was at once tossed back on the seat, owing to the swaying of the car, which was going very fast.
"Something"s broken!" cried Paul.
"Yes, the foot brake. But I have the emergency one still!" the chauffeur yelled.
"Is there any danger? Shall we jump?" demanded Alice.
"No! Sit still!" the chauffeur cried. "I"ll stop her in time, I think."
It was evident the car was beyond control. There was no need of pretending this.
"Look out!" warned Russ, who in his excitement did not forget to work the camera.
"Stop! Stop!" yelled Mr. Pertell. "You"re going too far--you"ll go over the cliff!"
The chauffeur realized this as well as any one, and he was pulling with all his strength on the emergency brake lever.
"I"ve got to stop her!" he panted through his clenched teeth. "I"ve got to stop her!"
Ruth and Alice were in a frenzy of fear now, and Paul, standing up in the swaying auto, and holding to the back of the front seat, was trying desperately to think of some plan whereby he could save the girls.
The car was now at the turn. Now it was beyond the marking stone specified by Mr. Pertell.
"They"ll go over the cliff!" shouted Mr. Sneed, who was to take part in the play later.
Mr. Pertell rushed forward as though he would halt the auto by getting in front and pushing it back, and for one wild moment it looked as though there would be a veritable tragedy. But with a last desperate pull on the brake lever, while the metal bands shrilly protested against such strenuous work, the car came to a slow stop.
And so near was it to the fence railing off the descent over the cliff--which fence was, later, to be crashed into by the make-believe auto--so near was the girls" car to this fence that the front wheels bent one of the rails.
"A close call!" said Russ, and his voice was unsteady as he stepped away from the camera.
Ruth and Alice were pale, and Paul, too, had lost some of his color. But it was Alice who first relieved the strain of the situation.
"A miss is as good as a mile," she said, and tried to laugh, but it was not easy.
"There must be some defect in that brake connection," the chauffeur said, as he got out to look at it.
"Well, as long as we"re all right, the film will be so much the better,"
observed Paul, as he alighted from the car. "It will look realistic enough; won"t it, Russ?"
"Indeed it will. I thought sure you were goners; but I kept on grinding away. It will be realistic enough for even Mr. Pertell, I think," and he glanced at the manager.
"I"m awfully sorry this occurred," declared the latter. "I a.s.sure you ladies that I never would willingly have let you run such a risk."
"Oh, we know that," responded Ruth, quickly. "It was no one"s fault.
Only I"m glad daddy wasn"t here to see us," she added in a low voice to her sister.
"So am I!" was the reply.
"Now then, you had better get back to New York," went on Mr. Pertell.
"This ends the scenes in Jersey, and your nerves must be pretty well shattered," he said, looking at the two girls.
"Oh, I want to stay and watch the other auto go to smash," Alice cried.
"That will be something worth seeing, especially as no one will be hurt, except the dummies."
"I"ll stay, too," said Ruth. "It will be novel to see ourselves as stuffed figures."
Preparations were now made for having the second auto plunge over the cliff. This car was set in the exact position the other had occupied when brought to a stop. The dummy figures were put in, veils effectually concealing the faces. Then the motor was started.
Meanwhile Russ had taken his camera to the foot of the cliff where he could get a view of the car plunging over, and smashing.
"All ready!" came the signal. By means of long wires, which would not show in the finished picture, the gears were thrown in, and the brakes released.
"There she goes!" cried Russ.
The car containing the dummies started off at a fast rate. It crashed through the fence, just as the other car might have done, and the next instant was hurtling through the air.
It turned partly over, one of the dummy figures--that of Ruth--toppled out--and a moment later, with a crash that could be heard a long distance, the auto was crumpled into a shapeless ma.s.s at the foot of the cliff.
Russ got every detail of this, and when the wrecked auto caught fire from the burst gasoline tank it added to the effectiveness of the scene, though that feature had not been counted on.
Then several men came rushing up. They had been stationed in readiness for just that purpose, and they picked up the figures of the dummies.
That ended the scene, for the next act took place in a hospital, whither Ruth, Alice and Paul were supposed to be carried. That would be a studio scene, and filmed later.
"Well, that"s over," said Mr. Pertell, with a sigh of relief, as he and his company of players prepared to return to New York. A throng of curious bystanders, attracted by the actors and actresses, gathered about the burning auto at the foot of the cliff. As it was of no further service it was left there.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen," announced Mr. Pertell to his a.s.sembled company a few days after the auto film had been made, "I am ready now to tell you something of my plans for the Western trip. Arrangements have been about completed, and we leave in a few days."
"Where are we going?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"Our first destination will be a place called Rocky Ranch," the manager went on. "It is a typical Western place, with some broad prairie stretches, and yet near enough to the mountains for diversified scenes.
There will be cowboy and Indian pictures to be made, and----"
"_Wild_ Indians?" Mr. Sneed wanted to know.
"Not wild enough to scalp you," returned the manager.
"And can I have a gun?" little Tommy cried.
"Indeed and you won"t!" said his grandmother, quickly.
"Well, you can be cowboy and have a la.s.so," promised the manager.