sudden cessation to all the tumult of hideous war, and the actors,
laughing and evidently enjoying it to the utmost, began to crowd around
the stage director as if to learn whether the scene had met with his
approval.

CHAPTER IX

WITH THE MOTION-PICTURE PEOPLE

"Where did you boys spring from, I'd like to know?"

It was the perspiring stage manager who asked this question when Hugh
and the other four scouts came hurrying up to where he was sitting on
a rock, fanning himself with his hat, while the dozens of knights,
squires and bowmen were puffing cigarettes, and apparently resting up
for the next exciting scene in the wonderfully realistic drama of
olden times.

"Well, you see, sir, we happen to belong to a scout troop over in
Oakvale," explained Hugh. "We came up here to spend the weekend,
and transact some business at the same time. This chap here, Alec
Sands, has a peculiar old aunt in the city who is anxious to buy just
such a quiet retreat as this place, where she wouldn't hear a sound,
for she's got a case of nerves, you see. And one of our objects was
to take some pictures of the castle, as well as spy around a bit."

The red-faced stage-director laughed even as he kept on mopping his
forehead. Evidently it mattered little to him that the air was quite
chilly, for his duties kept him so much on the jump he was sweltering
from the perspiration of hard, honest labor.

"Say you so, my young friend?" he exclaimed. "Well, if we leave any
part of the old ruin intact when we're through with this series of
startling pictures the old lady can doubtless buy it at a small
figure."

"Does that mean you'll wreck a big structure like this, sir, just to
get a picture of it being blown up?" asked Alec, dismayed.

"Oh, that doesn't cut any figure in the bill!" he was told flippantly.
"The public demands the best there is, and money must flow like water
in order to keep up with our rivals. We're going to give them something
novel this time, you see."

"How, sir?" Monkey Stallings found the courage to ask, his curiosity
getting the better of his modesty.

"This new play isn't really a play at all," said the stout man, with
a touch of pride in his voice. "It's a stunt of my own we're pulling
off to-day. You see, the public sometimes expresses a desire to learn
just how these magnificent pictures are done, and we expect to show
them the whole thing from beginning to end. They'll see my company
starti