lling his instructions to helpers stationed out of sight in
the bushes, where they could relay the commands to those taking part in
the skirmish.

"A little livelier now!" yelled Mr. Pertell. "Give way, you Union
fellows, as though you were beaten, and then drive them back to the
fight, Mr. Varley. That's the way!"

The conflict raged and the cameras clicked away. It was all one to the
camera men--a parlor drama or a sanguinary conflict. So long as the
shutter worked perfectly, as long as the focus was correct and the film
ran freely, the camera men were satisfied.

"Now you Confederates pretend to be overwhelmed, and then rally with a
rush and sweep the Unionists out of the thicket!" ordered the director.

This was done, and, all the while, at one side of the picture crouched
Ruth and Alice, as two Southern girls. They had leaped from their
carriage and were waiting the outcome of the conflict, stooping down out
of the way of flying bullets.

This was a side scene in the war play, and did not involve the main
story. Ruth and Alice, as did the other main characters, assumed various
roles at times.

"Come on now! You Unionists are beaten. Retreat!" called the director,
and Lieutenant Varley's men rode off, leaving him and some others
injured on the field of the conflict.

It was here that Alice and Ruth took an active part again. Ruth rushed
up to the fallen lieutenant and felt his pulse. No sooner had she done
so than the director cried:

"Stop the camera! That won't do, Miss DeVere!"

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because you felt his pulse with your thumb. No nurse would do that. The
pulse in the thumb itself is too strong to allow any one to feel the
pulse in another's wrist. Use the tips of your first and second fingers.
Now try again. Ready, Russ!"

This time Ruth did it right. It was characteristic of Mr. Pertell to
notice a little detail like that.

"Not one person in a hundred would object to the pulse being felt with
the thumb," he explained afterward; "but the hundredth person in the
audience would be a doctor, and he'd know right away that the director
was at fault. It is the little things that count."

Ruth and Alice busied themselves ministering to the wounded who were
made prisoners by the Confederates. The lieutenant was put in their
carriage and driven away. That ended the scene at the place of the
skirmish.

"Very well done!" Mr. Pertell told the girls, as they prepared for the
next act, wh