, and a letter in her hand.

She reached the scene of the mowing, and there was a little
"business," or acting, as she handed over the letter. Some of the
farmers drank from the jug, and all of them had hard work to keep
their eyes from the camera.

"Not that way! Not that way!" cried the manager, as one young reaper
took a position directly in front of the clicking machine and stared
straight into the lens. "You're not posing in a beauty contest. Go on
with your reaping, if you please, young man!"

"I can cut a foot or so out," said Russ. "That won't spoil the film."

"Now then, Mr. Sneed, lean your arm on the scythe, and read your
letter," directed the manager. "Miss Pennington, you stand off a
little to one side, and talk to one of the reapers. The rest of you
swing your scythes."

The action went on, and Mr. Sneed, taking as graceful an attitude as
was consistent with his character, began to read the missive, which
would be photographed, much enlarged, later, and thrown on the screen
for the audience to read.

Made nervous by something to which they were unaccustomed, the
farmer-actors were perhaps a little self-conscious. One of them,
swinging his scythe, came too near Mr. Sneed. In an instant he had
knocked from under the actor's arm the crooked scythe handle on which
Mr. Sneed was leaning, and the next instant the "grouch" went down in
a heap, fortunately falling in such a way that he was not cut by the
sharp blade.

CHAPTER XV

THE LONELY CABIN

"Stop the reel! Hold that, Russ! Everyone keep position! We don't
want that spoiled!" cried Mr. Pertell, when he had seen, at a glance,
that Mr. Sneed was not hurt. "Hold your positions, everybody!"

This is an order frequently given during the taking of moving
pictures, when any accident happens. Often the film will break, while
the exposures are being made, and if the actors keep to the places
and positions they had when the break occurred, the film can be
threaded up again, and mended. Then, later, undesireable parts can be
cut out of the exposed part, so that no great harm is done.

For a moment the little accident rather upset the crowd of farm lads,
who were not used to such happenings. But the moving picture actors
themselves were not unduly alarmed. Russ had stopped operating his
camera.

"You're not hurt; are you, Mr. Sneed?" asked the manager.

"Hurt--no! But I might have been! I was sure something would happen
to-day, for I saw a blac