Dave Porter at Bear Camp/Chapter 14

"The moving-picture actors, Dave?" queried Jessie, in wonder.

"Yes. Don't you see the man over there with the camera? He is grinding out a picture of that scene."

"O my! is that the way they do it?" returned the girl, with interest. "I've read about it, but I never had a chance before to see how it was done."

Dave brought the canoe to a standstill, and both watched the little drama being enacted before the old log cabin. Our hero saw that the young lady in the scene was Della Ford, and the elderly lady the one she had called Aunt Bess.

"All over!" exclaimed a man, who stood beside the individual at the moving-picture camera. The latter had stopped turning the handle of the machine, and now he proceeded to cover the whole outfit with a black cloth.

"Well, I'm glad that's over!" those in the canoe heard Della Ford exclaim. "Come, Aunt Bess, let us go back to the water." The young ​lady turned from the group, and as she did so she caught sight of the canoe and its occupants. She stared for an instant, and then her face lit up.

"Mr. Porter! is it possible!" she exclaimed. "I certainly didn't expect to meet you up here. Aunt Bess, here is the young gentleman who saved us from drowning."

"You don't tell me!" came from the aunt, and then both hurried their steps toward a tiny dock beside which the canoe was resting.

"I certainly didn't expect to meet you again, and away up here in the Adirondacks," answered Dave, with a smile. And then, as the young moving-picture actress came closer, he introduced the girls to each other.

"This is my aunt, Mrs. Bess Ford," announced Della, to Jessie. "I suppose you saw us acting just now?"

"We did," answered Jessie. "It was quite interesting."

"I suppose it is, to an outsider," responded the young actress. "It gets to be an old story with us; doesn't it. Aunt Bess?"

"Oh, I don't mind it," returned the aunt. "I'd rather be up here in the woods acting for the movies than down in some stuffy theater in this warm weather."

"Did Mr. Porter tell you what a grand hero he is, Miss Wadsworth?" asked Della Ford, turn​ing to Jessie. "Oh, he's just the grandest hero I ever met!" and she beamed on Dave.

"Come now, Miss Ford, please don't mention it again," expostulated Dave. "I didn't do so very much, and you know it."

"Isn't saving my life a good deal?" demanded the young actress, archly.

"Oh, I don't mean that. What I mean is that anybody could have done what I did."

"But you did it, young man, and you ought to have credit for it," put in Mrs. Ford, bluntly. "It was certainly a brave thing to do."

"It was; and I shall never cease to thank Mr. Porter for it," went on Della Ford, and she gave Dave another warm look, at which he blushed more than ever.

This look was not lost on Jessie; and she bit her lip in a way that showed she was not altogether pleased. Then Mr. Appleby, the manager of the moving-picture company, came forward, followed by several others.

"This certainly is a surprise!" said the manager. "First we meet on the Atlantic Ocean, and next in the heart of the Adirondacks."

"It's like some of your changes in the movies," answered Dave, smiling. "You show us a shipwreck, and then, presto! you transfer us to an office in Wall Street. You must have to jump around pretty lively to get all the scenes of a drama."

​"We don't take just one drama," explained Mr. Appleby. "We sometimes do half a dozen or more. For instance, while we are up here we are going to take the outdoor scenes to fifteen or twenty dramas. Then we'll go back to the city and finish up with a number of interiors."

"Wouldn't you like to be a moving-picture actor, Mr. Porter?" asked Della Ford, eagerly. "You could go into a nautical rescue scene very nicely."

"There you go again, Miss Ford!" returned Dave. "Just the same, it must be some fun being in a moving picture."

"Oh, Dave, don't you go into any moving picture," interrupted Jessie, quickly.

"Why, what would be the harm?" he questioned.

"Oh, no particular harm, I suppose. Only I shouldn't like it," she answered, in a low tone.

"You might get into our next scene," went on Della Ford, ignoring Jessie's remark. "We are going to have one that will show several canoes besides the motor-boat tied up at the dock around the bend."

"Well, I'll think about it," answered Dave, hesitatingly; and then he went on to Mr. Appleby: "By the way, is Ward Porton still with you?"

"He is with my company, yes; but he is not ​here just now," was the reply. "I expect him in a week or so."

"I met him in Crumville, where I live."

"Is that so? I thought he had gone to his old home down East. However, it doesn't matter; he has a right to go where he pleases."

"By the way, Mr. Appleby, I would like to speak to you in private for a moment," went on Dave, and leaping ashore he drew the manager to one side.

"What is it?"

"You have a new member of your company, a young fellow named Link Merwell."

"Yes, what of it?"

"Link Merwell is a criminal—a fugitive from justice," answered Dave. And then he gave the man some of the particulars already known to my readers.

"If what you say is true. Porter, I don't want that fellow in my company," said Mr. Appleby, warmly. "What do you want me to do when he comes, hold him a prisoner?"

"I wish you would do that, and let us know. Mr. Wadsworth will take care of Merwell."

"All right, I'll do it—if he shows up. But he may not do that—if he has found out that you are in this vicinity," added the manager.

"I'm thinking he will make himself scarce," returned Dave, with a grim smile.

​In the meantime Della Ford had come down to the side of the canoe.

"Where are you staying, Miss Wadsworth?" questioned the young actress.

"At a bungalow near the end of the lake," returned Jessie, and explained about the location and who were in the party.

"Oh, how delightful! You will surely have a splendid time here. We are located in the cottage around the bend where you perhaps saw the motor-boat tied up. I am sure we'll be very glad to have you call on us."

"Thank you; perhaps we'll get this way again some time," returned Jessie, somewhat coolly.

"You must come and see us, Mr. Porter, by all means," went on the young moving picture actress when our hero returned to the side of the canoe. "And bring the others along, too. I liked the appearance of your chums. You all seemed to be so jolly."

"Dave, don't you think we ought to be going?" questioned Jessie.

"Just as you say," he answered, and dipped his paddle into the lake.

"Then you don't want to stay and take part in that other picture?" called out Della Ford, aa the canoe began to leave the dock.

"Not to-day, Miss Ford," called back Dave. ​"But I may get into one of your pictures just for the fun of it."

"Do! And don't forget to call at the cottage," returned the young lady; and then the canoe passed out of hearing of those on the shore, and a dozen strong strokes of the paddle sent the frail craft out of sight around another headland.

"That certainly was a surprise," was Dave's comment, as they passed along under some overhanging trees. "I never dreamed of coming across that moving-picture company in such a fashion as that."

"What did you get out for?" asked Jessie, curiously.

"I wanted to ask Mr. Appleby about Link Merwell. He didn't know Link was a criminal. He says if Link shows himself up here he will make him a prisoner and notify us."

"Isn't it queer that Link should join that company!"

"Rather, although I suppose he has got to do something for a living,—and I guess he isn't the fellow to pick out hard work. Acting in the movies must be easy—and lots of fun in the bargain."

"You are not going to act with them, are you, Dave?" questioned Jessie, with her big round eyes full upon him.

​"Oh, I don't know. I think perhaps it might be sport."

"I don't think so."

"Miss Ford tried to make a regular hero out of me. I wish she wouldn't do that."

"Well, t was a grand thing for you to do—to pull her out of the water, Dave, and she ought to be exceedingly grateful. Just the same, I don't think I like her very much," and Jessie pouted a little.

"Is that so? Why, I thought she was real nice."

"She's awfully forward."

"I didn't notice that. But maybe it's her calling makes her so. An actress can't be just like other people."

"I think she might be when she wasn't acting. Anyway, I think she was too—well, too gushing.

"I noticed that you didn't give her any invitation to call when she invited you," went on Dave, after a pause, during which they left the vicinity of the shore and swept out into Mirror Lake.

"Why should I? Mamma might not approve of it. I don't think she has a very high opinion of moving-picture actors and actresses."

"And I guess you haven't either, Jessie," returned Dave, somewhat bluntly.

"Oh, I don't know about that," and the girl ​tossed her head. "They have a right to act in the movies if they want to. They've got to earn their living some way, I suppose. Don't you think we had better be getting back, Dave?"

"Why, it's early yet, Jessie!"

"Never mind, I think I would rather go back. Now that the sun is overhead it is quite warm."

Dave started to answer, and then suddenly shut his mouth tightly. The paddle went deeper into the water, and the canoe shot around quickly in a long semicircle.

"Oh, Dave! don't tip us over!"

"Don't fear. The canoe won't go over if you sit perfectly still," he replied, in a tone that was somewhat unsympathetic.

"Are you going back to the bungalows?"

"Why, certainly. That was what you wanted—to go back; wasn't it?"

"We haven't got to race back, have we?"

"I'm not racing; but I thought you wanted to get out of this hot sun."

"Dave, I think you're angry with me," returned Jessie, reproachfully, but she did not raise her eyes as before. Instead she kept them fastened on the bottom of the canoe.

"Angry? What foolishness! What is there for me to be angry about?"

"Oh, you know well enough."

"I don't see why you should feel so cut up over ​Miss Ford. I can't help it if she is grateful—as you put it—for my saving her from drowning; can I?"

"Oh, it isn't that, Dave. Of course she ought to be grateful. But you—you——" Jessie's voice broke a little and she could not go on.

"Me? I haven't done a thing! Didn't you hear me tell her to quit it?"

"Oh, it wasn't what you said. It was—— But never mind, let us get back to the bungalow."

And Jessie kept her eyes on the bottom of the canoe, refusing to look at her companion.

"And I'm sure I didn't do a thing either. Now please don't be silly and——"

"Dave! Silly!"

"I didn't mean that exactly, Jessie. But you know——"

"It's not a bit nice for you to call me silly!" retorted the girl, her face flaming.

"I didn't mean just that, Jessie. I meant——"

"You did mean it! You think I am silly, do you? All right, you can think so! Please paddle straight for our dock."

"Now, Jessie " began Dave, entreatingly.

"I don't want to hear another word! Take me straight to the dock," retorted the girl.

"Very well, if you won't listen to me you don't have to," answered Dave; and now he, too, showed that he was completely out of sorts.

​He struck the paddle deeper than ever into the water, and with long, telling strokes the canoe shot forward over the lake in the direction of Bear Camp.