s.

Perilous days on the Mississippi followed, when Blake and Joe took
pictures of the flood, and later they were sent to Panama to make views
of the digging of the big canal.

Mr. Hadley was a producer who was always eager for new thrills and
effects. And when he thought he had exhausted those to be secured on the
earth, he took to the ocean. And in "The Moving Picture Boys Under the
Sea," the book that immediately precedes the present volume, will be
found set down what happened to Blake and Joe when, in a submarine, they
took views beneath the surface.

They had not long been home from their experiences with the perils of
the deep when they were engaged to make views for "The Dividing Line,"
with its battle pictures, more or less real.

"What's the matter? What happened? Is any one hurt?" cried Mr. Hadley,
as he ran toward the scene of the explosion, followed by Blake and Joe.
They could see, by a large cloud of smoke, that something extraordinary
had occurred. The figures of several men could be noted running about.

"Is anybody hurt?" demanded the producer again, as he and the two boys
reached the place. "I'll send the ambulance, if there is." For when a
film battle takes place men are often wounded by accident, and it is
necessary to maintain a real hospital on the scene.

"I don't believe any one's hurt," remarked Mr. Robertson, who did
juvenile leads.

"Unless it might be C. C.," remarked Mr. Levinberg, who was usually cast
as a villain. "And small loss if he was laid up for a week or so. We'd
be more cheerful if he were."

"Is C. C. hurt?" asked Joe.

"No; but I guess he's pretty badly scared," answered Mr. Robertson.
"After this I guess he'll have more respect for a smoke bomb."

"Was that what exploded?" asked Mr. Hadley.

"Yes," replied the "villain." He pointed to Mr. C. C. Piper walking
along in the midst of a group of soldiers. "It happened this way: We
were talking about the battle scene, and C. C. kept saying it would be a
failure when projected because the smoke bombs were not timed right. He
said they should explode closer to the firing line, and some of the men
who handled them said they held them as long as they dared before
throwing them.

"Old C. C. sneered at this, and said he could hold a smoke bomb until
the fuse was burned down out of sight, and then throw it and get better
results. So they dared him to try it."

"Well?" asked Mr. Hadley, as the actor paused.

"Well, C. C. di