w
I'll be laid up for a week," and with this gloomy thought he limped off,
for he had been rather roughly handled in the melee.

"I wonder if that's all for us today?" asked Alice, as she saw Russ
taking the legs off his camera.

"Why, are you tired?" asked Ruth, solicitously.

"A little, yes. I shall be glad when we get out to sea."

"Perhaps we may have even harder work than this," suggested Ruth, for
the race along shore had not been easy. "A shipwreck isn't going to be
any society drama, Alice."

"I know," agreed the younger girl. "But I think we shall like it."

Neither of them realized what was in store for them.

CHAPTER XII

OVERHEARD

"Well, I think this will do," Mr. Pertell announced, as the members of
his company gathered on the shore of the Hudson, ready to go back to the
larger boat, whence they had come in the two small ones, to depict the
pursuit. "It came out better than I expected when I saw that crowd of
policemen charging down on us."

"I thought sure we were in for a spell in the lock-up," remarked one of
the extra men engaged as a member of the "pursuing villains."

"You had a little extra work, doing part of the scene over again, so
we'll give you all a little bonus," said the manager. "We'll get back to
the studio now. There are a few scenes I want to make before we start
off on our trip to sea."

"How soon do we go?" asked Alice.

"As soon as we can get stocked up. Captain Brisco has a few little
repairs to make to the schooner, I believe."

"Do you think the _Mary Ellen_ will prove to be a safe boat in which to
go to sea?" asked Mr. DeVere, when he, with his daughters, and the
others, were on their way back to New York.

"Why not?" asked the manager.

"Well, I heard Jack Jepson say the schooner was a pretty old one,"
replied the veteran actor.

"So she is," said Mr. Pertell, "if she hadn't been, our company never
could have afforded to buy her just to make a shipwreck of her. But she
is perfectly safe for what traveling we shall do. Brisco has assured me
of that, and has seen to it. What sort of a yarn was Jepson giving you?"
and Mr. Pertell seemed a bit annoyed.

"Well, he merely said that the schooner was a pretty old one," went on
Mr. DeVere, "and that she had seen her best days."

"He didn't say that she was unsafe, did he?"

"No, oh, no! Nothing like that!" exclaimed the actor quickly. "I was
just wondering about her. I shouldn't like to take any chances y