in readiness for
it.

"All ready now!" called the manager, and the play began. There were
several preliminary scenes before the final one of the burning barn,
and these were successfully run off, Russ filming them one after the
other.

There was no hitch, so well had the play been rehearsed. Now came the
time when Ruth and Alice were to take refuge in the barn, the action
being supposed to occur after a chase when they wished to escape from
a rascally guardian.

The firing of the barn (in the play) was supposed to be done by an
enemy of the farmer, and was not done to entrap the girls, of whose
presence the incendiary supposedly knew nothing.

But the girls were locked in the barn when the fire broke out, and
necessarily must be rescued.

"Touch her off!" cried the manager at the proper point, and Sandy set
fire to a pile of hay and straw inside the barn. This would make
considerable smoke, and smoke always shows up well in moving
pictures.

"Get ready with the water now!" called Mr. Pertell. "I want a lively
bucket brigade scene here!"

Sandy and his force, of whom Wellington Bunn was one, ran back and
forth from the water barrel, carrying the filled buckets and
splashing the contents on the flames.

The fire was now at its height.

"All ready for the rescue!" ordered the manager. "Up with the ladder
and get after the girls, Paul. Mr. Sneed, you're in on this."

Up the ladder climbed Paul, and with an axe he began chopping away at
the roof. This was the place prepared beforehand, and Ruth and Alice
were to be drawn up through the hole that went down into the secret
room where the money box had been found.

"Quick!" cried Paul, as he made the splinters fly. This was only for
the effect, as the section on the roof was all ready to come away.
"Hurry up, Sneed!" called the young fellow. "It's getting pretty hot
here. We'll have to follow each other closely down the ladder."

"We can't get away from here any too soon for me," the other
answered. "This is the worst yet."

In another moment the secret room was exposed. Ruth and Alice were in
it, a little afraid, after all, that something might happen.

"Come on!" cried Paul reaching down his hands. Alice climbed up on a
chair in the room, and Paul lifted her out on the roof. Then Mr.
Sneed did the same for Ruth.

Putting the girls over their shoulders, in the manner in which
firemen make rescues, the two started down the ladder.

In spite of Mr. Sneed'