said:

"Well, we've got twelve horses here, and I can manage to squeeze the two
rear teams past the stalled sled. Then if you'd like to take chances
riding them to Elk Lodge----"

"Never!" cried Mr. Bunn, with lively recollections of a time he had
ridden a mule at Oak Farm. "I shall stay here forever, first!"

"Well, if you don't want to do that," said Mr. Macksey, and to tell the
truth few members of the company seemed in favor of the idea, "if you
don't want to do that I might ride on ahead and get a spare sleigh I
have at the Lodge. I could get back here before very late, and we'd get
home sooner or later."

"And we would have to stay here?" asked Mr. DeVere.

"I see no help for it. There are plenty of blankets in the sleds, and
you can huddle down in the straw and keep warm. I'll get back as soon as
I can."

There really seemed nothing else to do, and, after talking it over, this
plan was practically decided on. But something happened to change it.
The wind had been rising constantly, and the snow was ever falling
thicker and faster. The players could see only a little way ahead now
from the place where they were stalled.

"This would make a good film, if you could get it," remarked Paul to
Russ.

"Too dark," replied the camera operator. "Do you know, I don't like
this," he went on in a low voice to the young actor.

"You don't like what?" Paul wanted to know.

"The way this weather is acting. I think there's going to be a big
storm, and here we are, stalled out in the open. It will be hard for the
girls and the women, to say nothing of Tommy and Nellie."

"That's what it will, Russ; but what can be done?"

As he spoke there came a sudden fierce rush of wind and a flurry of
snow. It took the breaths of all, and instinctively they turned from it,
for the snow stung their faces. The horses, too, disliked to face the
stinging blast, and shifted their places.

"Get behind such shelter as you can!" cried Mr. Macksey, above the roar
of the storm. "This is a genuine blizzard and it's death to be
unprotected. Get into the sleds, and cover up with the blankets. I'll
have to go for help!"

CHAPTER X

AT ELK LODGE

The warning by Mr. Macksey, no less than the sudden blast of the storm,
struck terror to the hearts of not only the moving picture girls, but to
all the other players. For it was something to which they were not
used--that terrible sweep of wind and blinding snow.

There had been heav