th and Alice took part, with others of the Comet
organization, in the making of many pictures.

Several weeks went by in this way. Spring was gradually turning into
Summer, to the delight of the girls, who loved the outdoors. Of course
they loved Winter, too, for they had many outdoor scenes to take part in
then, since snow effects are always easy to photograph.

"But Summer is the best!" cried Alice, gaily dancing about the studio,
after she had finished in a little comedy scene, one day.

"I think so, too," agreed Ruth.

"And when we get out on the deep blue sea," the younger girl added, "it
will be ideal. Oh, I can hardly wait for the _Mary Ellen_ to start on
her last voyage. Isn't it too bad she has to be sunk?" she asked.

"Yes, it is rather tragic," agreed Ruth. "I hope we get far enough away
when she takes her last plunge beneath the waves," she added with an
involuntary shudder.

"Oh, trust Captain Brisco for that," Alice said.

"I had rather trust--Sailor Jack Jepson," murmured Ruth in a low voice.

Meanwhile work on refitting the schooner had gone on apace. The moving
picture girls, and their friends, had paid several visits to her, and
found Captain Brisco, Jack Jepson and the others hard at work making the
vessel a semblance of her former self.

"She's an old tub," said Jack to the girls, "but she's in better shape
than she was when you were here afore, Missies."

And indeed the _Mary Ellen_ did seem so. A new coat of paint added as
much to her appearance, as a new dress and hat does to a young lady,
though _Mary Ellen_ could no longer be classed as young.

Then came a day when many members of the theatrical company, including
Jack Jepson, who now enjoyed that distinction, were taken down to the
seacoast, some distance from New York. They went in a tug specially
hired for the occasion.

"Some of the scenes of the marine drama take place on the seacoast,"
explained Mr. Pertell. "I want to get them now, when we have the chance.
I need a rocky shore, and this is the nearest one we can reach. Get
ready now. We have rehearsed these scenes, you remember."

They were not easy scenes, and, even though they had been gone over in
the studio, when it came to actually going through them on the beach,
one difficulty after another arose.

In the first place it was a raw, windy day, and there was a pretty high
sea, dashing up among the rocks of the shore, and sending a spray over
toward the cameras.

"I c