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 assure 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