The Moving Picture Girls at Sea | Page 7

Now look

here! I don't know much about you, but you come over t' our Sailors'
Snug Harbor, an' you took some pictures. That was all right, I'm not
captain there an' I haven't anything t' say. You said you wanted an old
able-bodied man for certain work, an' I volunteered. I didn't know
where the voyage was, but I signed on, an' come here; didn't I?"
"You did," said Mr. Pertell. "But let me explain."
"No, you listen to me, first!" exclaimed the old salt, shaking a
thickened and roughened finger at the manager. "I come here, willin' to
do anything from slushin' th' mast, or holystonin' th' decks t' furlin' sail
in a blow. But what do I get; eh? I ask you what do I get? Why an order
to steal shippin' papers, that's what I get! An' that's a serious crime. I'm
not goin' t' be mixed up with it. No sir! Not for Jack Jepson!" and he
tried to break away.
"Wait a minute!" Mr. Pertell begged. "You don't understand. It's only
the business of stealing the papers, you know."
"Well, it's mighty poor business for any man t' be in; that's my opinion.
I was raised honest, an', man and boy, I've lived honest for fifty years,
with one exception, an' that wasn't my fault, and now----"
Again he made an effort to leave, which effort, if not blocked, would
have once more taken him in front of some clicking camera.
"Oh, can't you understand!" cried the manager with a hopeless gesture.
"Perhaps I could explain to him," suggested Ruth in a low voice. "I
have plenty of time, Mr. Pertell, and though I don't know this
gentleman----"
"Oh, I forgot. He's going to act with you and your sister, Miss DeVere,"
said the manager. "Come over and be introduced. You too, Mr. DeVere.
He's to have a part in our great sea drama, that is, if I can ever get it
started. I began explaining to Jepson, here, about taking the papers
which have to do with the case, but he can't----"

"You can't make me believe stealin's right, no matter how you go at it!"
interrupted the old salt, doggedly shaking his head.
"Perhaps I can," put in Ruth with a smile, as the manager mentioned
their names to the newest and, seemingly, the most refractory member
of the company.
"Well, Miss," said the sailor, "you look honest. I would believe what
you'd tell me, for I know you couldn't do no wrong. Perhaps I was a bit
hasty, but you see this is all new to me--this play-actin', an' shootin' at
folks unexpected like. I wouldn't have tried it, only the captain at the
Sailors' Snug Harbor, over on Staten Island, where I'm berthed, asked
me as a favor to come here. But I don't like it!"
"I didn't at first," said Alice, joining with her sister, in an attempt to
placate the old salt. "But I became used to it."
"Ha! You're pretty young to be in this business," said Jack Jepson, who
evidently said what he thought.
"Oh, I'm older than I look," replied Alice with a smile. "I just love the
sea. I wish you would tell me about some of your voyages, for I'm sure
you must have been on many."
"That I have, Miss, but this is th' queerest cruise I ever started on," and
he looked around at the many scenes being enacted.
Meanwhile Ruth had slipped to Mr. Pertell's side.
"Give me a brief outline of the play," she suggested. "I think I can
make it plain to him. He is all fussed up because it's something new.
You haven't time to go into details."
"That's right--I haven't," agreed the harassed manager. "Well, this is
enough for you to know just now. There's a plot to sink a ship, and it is
necessary that certain papers appear to be stolen.
"I picked Jepson up, as he says, at a sailors' home, over on Staten Island.

He's a typical salt, but he balks at even a semblance of wrong-doing."
"I think I can make him understand," Ruth said as she took the
typewritten pages of the scenario, or plot, of the drama from the
manager.
"I wish you would," Mr. Pertell said. "I've a thousand and one things to
do."
Ruth started toward the old sailor. To her surprise her sister Alice was
now in earnest conversation with him. Jack Jepson seemed to have
warmed to Alice at once. And Ruth heard him saying, as she
approached:
"Well, Miss, you see it was this way. There was a mutiny, an' I was
accused, but I wasn't guilty. There was a mystery about it when the
captain disappeared, an' that mystery hasn't been solved yet, though I'd
give a