" observed the manager, half aloud.

"Who?" asked Alice, for the moving picture company was like one big
family, in a way.

"That new man," went on Mr. Pertell. "Harry Wilson, he said his name
was. Now he's going into the proof room, where he has no business. I
must look into this. I wonder, after all, if there could be any truth in
that warning I received the other day."

"What warning?" asked Alice.

"About a rival film company trying to discover some of the secrets of
our success. I must look into this."

He sprang from his chair and hurried across the big studio toward the
room where the films were first shown privately, to correct any defects,
mechanical or artistic. It was there that the initial performance, so to
speak, was given.

Before Mr. Pertell reached the room, where the projection machine was
installed, the man of whom he had spoken had entered. And, just as the
manager reached the door, the same man came violently out, impelled by a
vigorous push from one of the operators, who at the same time cried:

"Get out of here, you spy! What do you mean by sneaking in here, trying
to get our secrets? Get out! Where's Mr. Pertell? I'll tell him about
you."

CHAPTER II

WESTERN PLANS

"What is it, Walsh? What is the trouble?" exclaimed Mr. Pertell, as he
hastened toward the proving room, where the films were tested before
being "released."

"This man, Mr. Pertell! This fellow you hired as a comedy actor. He came
in here just now, and I caught him starting to take notes of the first
film of our new play."

"You did!" cried the manager sharply.

"Yes. He came in when it was dark; but the film broke, and I turned on
the light. Then I caught him!"

"That's not so--you did not!"

The accused man--the spy he had been called--stood facing them all, the
picture of injured innocence. Ruth, Alice and some of the other women
members of the company drew aside, a little frightened at the prospect
of trouble.

And trouble seemed imminent, for it was easy to see that Mr. Pertell was
very angry. As for the other, his face was white with either anger or
fear--perhaps the latter.

"I saw you taking notes of the action on that film!" cried James Walsh,
the testing room expert.

"And I say you did not!" asserted Harry Wilson, the new player, hired a
few days before as a "comic relief." The other members of the company
knew very little of him, and he had attracted small attention until this
episode. Du