n General, and the character
became him well. Later on Alice and Ruth were to meet in a hospital
among the wounded. Alice was supposed to get certain papers of value to
her side from a wounded Union officer. As she was escaping with them
Ruth was to intercept her, and the two were to have a "strong" scene
together.

Alice, ignoring the pleadings of her cousin and about to depart with
the papers, learns that the officer from whom she took them was the same
one that had saved her father's life on the battlefield. She decides to
forego her mission as a spy, even though it may mean the betrayal of her
own cause, when the news comes in of Lee's surrender, and her sacrifice
is not demanded. Then "all live happily for ever after."

That is but a mere outline of the play, which was to be an elaborate
production. And it was the rehearsal for the preliminary battles and
skirmishes that the girls were now witnessing.

"Tell that battery to get ready to fire!" cried Mr. Pertell, and this
word went over the telephone.

"Come on now with that Union charge!" was the next command.

Then hundreds of horses thundered down the slopes of Oak Farm, while the
hidden guns thundered. Down went horses and men while the girls screamed
involuntarily, it all seemed so real.

"It's a good thing we didn't plant no corn in that there field this
season," observed Belix Apgar, Sandy's father, as he saw the charge.

"That's right," agreed his wife. "There wouldn't have been 'nuff left to
make a hominy cake."

"Do it over again!" ordered the manager. "Some of you fellows ride your
horses as if you were going to a croquet game. Get some action into it!"

Once more the battery thundered its harmless shots and the men charged.
This time the scene was satisfactory, and preparations were made to film
it. Again the men thundered down the slope, and when they were almost at
the battery a single rider--a girl--dashed out toward the approaching
Union soldiers.

"Oh, she'll be killed!" cried Ruth. "They'll ride right over her!"

It did seem so, for she was headed straight toward the approaching
horsemen.

"She's all right," said Paul. "She's quite a rider, I believe. Her part,
as a Union sympathizer, is to rush out and warn them of the hidden
battery, but she is delayed by a Southerner until it is too late, and
she takes a desperate chance. There go the guns!"

Horses and riders were lost in a cloud of smoke. This time the film was
being taken. Whe