and sound equipment had preceded the bus and
the technicians went to work to assemble their materials. The pole
corral was crowded with horses and the assistant director, "Skeets"
Irwin, took over the task of assigning horses to the various members of
the company.

Curt Newsom had his own string, which had been brought by truck, but the
others were to ride ranch horses. Janet drew a beautiful sorrel while
Helen was mounted on a black with only one white foot.

There was a gorgeous sunset and Billy Fenstow, always on the alert for a
good background shot, had his cameras catch some typical ranch scenes.
They might not fit in with the present picture but he knew some day the
footage would come in handy.

After dinner in the ranchhouse that night, Janet and Helen retired to
the room they shared and studied the scripts which had been handed out.

"Water Hole" was a typical Billy Fenstow western with lots of hard
riding and plenty of scenery. It was the story of Curt Newsom's defense
of his small ranch with its valuable water hole against a larger cattle
outfit.

Janet played the role of a school teacher while Helen was a waitress in
the one restaurant in the little cow town to which the cowboys migrated
every Saturday night. The girls were to have an important part in
solving the plot to get Curt's ranch and all in all they were greatly
pleased with their parts.

Janet sat down and wrote a long letter home, telling of their good
fortune and of her own in particular. She paused a moment and closed her
eyes. Perhaps her mother would show the letter to Pete Benda, the city
editor of the _Clarion Times_. And Pete, of course, would make a story.
Perhaps he would put it in the front page under a heading, "Clarion Girl
Gets Leading Role in Western Picture." She smiled a little. That would
be rather nice.

Then she awoke from her reverie and finished the letter. After that it
was bedtime for there was an early call.

They were out the next morning shortly after dawn for Billy Fenstow
worked his companies long and hard.

Janet was in several shots that day riding to and from the ranch to the
schoolhouse and in the afternoon they went to the schoolhouse where a
dozen youngsters had been gathered. Most of them were actual pupils of
the little school and the cameras ground away as Janet dismissed them
from a make-believe class and watched them hurry away from school toward
their homes, some of them afoot and others on sturdy