Thereupon Mr. Towne tried to “register” anger, and succeeded fairly well.  But in doing so he forgot to “mind his steps,” and a moment later, in running along the edge of the muddy stream he slipped, and the next moment, in all the glory of his white suit, he splashed into the mud.

CHAPTER XV

IN PERIL

Russ instantly stopped grinding away at the camera handle as he saw Mr. Towne go into the ditch, but the manager, without the loss of a moment, cried: 

“Film that, Russ!  It’ll be better than the way we were to play it first.  Catch him as he comes up!”

“All right!” chuckled the young operator.

“Oh, what a place to fall!” cried Miss Pennington, who was off one side, out of the camera’s range.

“His suit will surely need washing,” remarked Alice.

“Oh, how can you be so heartless?” asked her sister.

“Heartless!  Isn’t that the truth?”

Mr. Towne had struggled to his feet.  The muddy stream was not very deep.

“Help!  Help!  Save me!” he cried, as he wiped the water from his face, thereby making many muddy streaks on his countenance.

“You’re in no danger—­come on out!” cried Mr. Pertell, trying not to laugh.  “Come right toward the camera, Mr. Towne, and register anger and disgust!”

“Register—­register!” spluttered the actor.  “Do you mean to say you are filming me in this state?”

“I certainly am—­it’s a state that will make a hit in the movies!” cried Mr. Pertell.  “You might fall down once more, if you don’t mind, Mr. Towne.  It will add realism to the film.”

“Fall down again!  Never!  I will resign first.”

“Very well, I won’t insist on it,” replied the manager, for he felt that it was rather hard on the actor.

But moving picture work is not at all easy, and actors and actresses have to do more disagreeable and dangerous “stunts” than merely falling into a muddy stream.  The demand of the public for realism often goes to extremes, and more than once performers have risked their lives at the behest of some enthusiastic manager.

Mr. Pertell was not that sort, however, though he did insist on his players doing a reasonable amount of hard work—­and often disagreeable work, as in this case.

But aside from getting wet and muddy, which conditions could be remedied by a bath and dry clothes, the actor suffered no great hardship, except to his pride, and perhaps he had too much of that, anyhow.

“Come on!” cried the manager.  “Crawl out of that, and keep on with the chase.”

“Keep on—­in this condition!  Do you mean it?” Mr. Towne asked.

“Certainly I do.  The play must go on.  Just because you fell in the ditch is no excuse for stopping it.  Keep on!  Right along the path.  Crawl out and run on.”

“But—­but look at my clothes!” complained Mr. Towne.  “They are—­they’re muddy!”