CHAPTER VIII
OFF FOR PANAMA
There was a moment of silence following Mr.Piper's gloomy prediction, and then Miss Shay, with a laugh, criedout:
"Oh, what a shame! I'd keep still if I couldn't say anything nicerthan _that_."
"Not very cheerful; is he?" spoke Joe.
"About the same as usual," commented Blake, drily.
"Well, it's true, just the same!" declared C.C. Piper, with an airof conviction.
"'The truth is not to be spoken--at all times,'" quoted MissPierce.
"Good for you!" whispered Joe.
C.C. seemed a little put out at all the criticism leveled at him.
"Ahem!" he exclaimed. "Of course I don't mean that I want to seeyou boys caught in a landslide--far from it, but--"
"But, if we _are_ going to be caught that way, you hope there willbe moving pictures of it; don't you, C.C.?" laughed Blake. "Now,there's no use trying to get out of it!" he added, as the gloomyactor stuttered and stammered. "We know what you mean. But whereis Mr. Ringold; or Mr. Hadley?"
"They're around somewhere," explained Miss Shay, when the othermembers of the company, with whom they had spent so many happy andexciting days, had offered their greetings. "Are you in such ahurry to see them?" she asked of Blake.
"Oh, not in such an _awful_ hurry," he answered with a laugh, asBirdie Lee came out of a dressing room, smiling rosily at him.
"I guess not!" laughed Miss Shay.
Soon the interval between the scenes of the drama then being"filmed," or photographed, came to an end. The actors andactresses took their places in a "ball room," that was built onone section of the studio floor.
"Ready!" called the manager to the camera operator, and as themusic of an unseen orchestra played, so that the dancing might bein perfect time, the camera began clicking and the action of theplay, which included an exciting episode in the midst of thedance, went on. It was a gay scene, for the ladies and gentlemenwere dressed in the "height of fashion."
It was necessary to have every detail faithfully reproduced, forthe eye of the moving picture camera is more searching, andfar-seeing, than any human eye, and records every defect, nomatter how small. And when it is recalled that the picture thrownon the screen is magnified many hundred times, a small defect, ascan readily be understood, becomes a very large one.
So great care is taken to have everything as nearly perfect aspossible. Blake and Joe watched the filming of the drama,recalling the time when they used to turn the handle of the cameraat the same work, before they were chosen to go out after biggerpictures--scenes from real life. The operator, a young fellow;whom both Blake and Joe knew, looked around and nodded at them,when he had to stop grinding out the film a moment, to allow thedirector to correct something that had unexpectedly gone wrong.
"Don't you wish you had this easy job?" the operator asked.
"We may, before we come back from Panama," answered Blake.
A little later Mr. Ringold and Mr. Hadley came in, greeting thetwo boys, and then began a talk which lasted for some time, and inwhich all the details of the projected work, as far as they couldbe arranged in advance, were gone over.
"What we want," said Mr. Hadley, "is a series of pictures aboutthe Canal. It will soon be open for regular traffic, you know,and, in fact some vessels have already gone through it. But thework is not yet finished, and we want you to film the finaltouches.
"Then, too, there may be accidents--there have been several smallones of late, and, as I wrote you, a man who claims to have made astudy of the natural forces in Panama declares a big slide is duesoon.
"Of course we won't wish the canal any bad luck, and we don't fora moment want that slide to happen. Only--"
"If it does come you want it filmed!" interrupted Blake, with alaugh.
"That's it, exactly!" exclaimed Mr. Ringold.
"You'll find plenty down there to take pictures of," said Mr.Hadley. "We want scenes along the Canal. Hire a vessel and takemoving pictures as you go along in her. Go through the Gatunlocks, of course. Scenes as your boat goes in them, and the watersrise, and then go down again, ought to make a corking picture!"
Mr. Hadley was growing enthusiastic.
"Get some jungle scenes to work in also," he directed. "In short,get scenes you think a visitor to the Panama Canal would beinterested in seeing. Some of the films will be a feature at thePanama Exposition in California, and we expect to make big moneyfrom them, so do your best."
"We will!" promised Joe, and Blake nodded in acquiescence.
"You met the young Spaniard who had a letter of introduction toyou; did you not?" asked Mr. Hadley, after a pause.
"Yes," answered Blake. "Met him under rather queer circumstances,too. I guess we hinted at them in our letter."
"A mere mention," responded Mr. Hadley. "I should be glad to hearthe details." So Blake and Joe, in turn, told of the runaway.
"What do you think of him--I mean Mr. Alcando?" asked the movingpicture man.
"Why, he seems all right," spoke Joe slowly, looking at Blake togive him a chance to say anything if he wanted to. "I like him."
"Glad to hear it!" exclaimed Mr. Hadley heartily. "He came to uswell recommended and, as I think I explained, our company is underobligations to concerns he and his friends are interested in, sowe were glad to do him a favor. He explained, did he not, that hiscompany wished to show scenes along the line of their railroad, toattract prospective customers?"
"Yes, he told us that," observed Joe.
"What's the matter, Blake, haven't you anything to say?" asked Mr.Hadley in a curious voice, turning to Joe's chum. "How does theSpaniard strike you?"
"Well, he seems all right," was Blake's slow answer. "Only Ithink--"
"Blake thinks he's an international spy, I guess!" broke in Joewith a laugh. "Tell him about the 'big guns,' Blake."
"What's that?" asked Mr. Hadley, quickly.
Whereupon Blake told of the wind-blown letter and his firstsuspicions.
"Oh, that's all nonsense!" laughed Mr. Hadley. "We haveinvestigated his credentials, and find them all right. Besides,what object would a South American spy have in finding out detailsof the defenses at Panama. South America would work to preservethe Canal; not to destroy it. If it were some European nation now,that would be a different story. You don't need to worry, Blake."
"No, I suppose it is foolish. But I'm glad to know you think Mr.Alcando all right. If we've got to live in close companionshipwith him for several months, it's a comfort to know he is allright. Now when are we to start, how do we go, where shall we makeour headquarters and so on?"
"Yes, you will want some detailed information, I expect," agreedthe moving picture man. "Well, I'm ready to give it to you. I havealready made some arrangements for you. You will take a steamer toColon, make your headquarters at the Washington Hotel, and fromthere start out, when you are ready, to get pictures of the Canaland surrounding country. I'll give you letters of introduction, soyou will have no trouble in chartering a tug to go through theCanal, and I already have the necessary government permits."
"Then Joe and I had better be packing up for the trip," suggestedBlake.
"Yes, the sooner the better. You might call on Mr. Alcando, andask him when he will be ready. Here is his address in New York,"and Mr. Hadley handed Blake a card, naming a certain uptown hotel.
A little later, having seen to their baggage, and handed theirparticular and favorite cameras over to one of the men of the filmcompany, so that he might give them a thorough overhauling, Blakeand Joe went to call on their Spanish friend.
"Aren't you glad to know he isn't a spy, or anything like that?"asked Joe of his chum.
"Yes, of course I am, and yet--"
"Still suspicious I see," laughed Joe. "Better drop it."
Blake did not answer.
Inquiry of the hotel clerk gave Blake and Joe the information thatMr. Alcando was in his room, and, being shown to the apartment bya bell-boy, Blake knocked on the door.<
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"Who's there? Wait a moment!" came in rather sharp accents from avoice the moving picture boys recognized as that of Mr. Alcando.
"It is Blake Stewart and Joe Duncan," said the former lad. "Wehave called--"
"I beg your pardon--In one moment I shall be with you--I willlet you in!" exclaimed the Spaniard. The boys could hear himmoving about in his apartment, they could hear the rattle ofpapers, and then the door was opened.
There was no one in the room except the young South Americanrailroad man, but there was the odor of a strong cigar in theapartment, and Blake noticed this with surprise for, some timebefore, Mr. Alcando had said he did not smoke.
The inference was, then, that he had had a visitor, who wassmoking when the boys knocked, but there was no sign of the callerthen, except in the aroma of the cigar.
He might have gone into one of the other rooms that opened fromthe one into which the boys looked, for Mr. Alcando had a suite inthe hotel. And, after all, it was none of the affair of Blake orJoe, if their new friend had had a caller.
"Only," said Blake to Joe afterward, "why was he in such a hurryto get rid of him, and afraid that we might meet him?"
"I don't know," Joe answered. "It doesn't worry me. You are toosuspicious."
"I suppose I am."
Mr. Alcando welcomed the boys, but said nothing about the delay inopening his door, or about the visitor who must have slipped outhastily. The Spaniard was glad to see Blake and Joe, and glad tolearn that they would soon start for Panama.
"I have much to do, though, in what little time is left," he said,rapidly arranging some papers on his table. As he did so, Blakecaught sight of a small box, with some peculiar metal projectionson it, sticking out from amid a pile of papers.
"Yes, much to do," went on Mr. Alcando. And then, either byaccident or design, he shoved some papers in such a way that thesmall box was completely hidden.
"We have just come from Mr. Hadley," explained Joe, and then heand Blake plunged into a mass of details regarding their trip,with which I need not weary you.
Sufficient to say that Mr. Alcando promised to be on hand at thetime of the sailing of the steamer for Colon.
In due time, though a day or so later than originally planned,Blake and Joe, with their new Spanish friend, were on hand at thepier. Mr. Alcando had considerable baggage, and he was to beallowed the use of an old moving picture camera with which to "gethis hand in." Blake and Joe, of course had their own machines,which had been put in perfect order. There were several of themfor different classes of work.
Final instructions were given by Mr. Hadley, good-bys were said,and the boys and Mr. Alcando went aboard.
"I hope you have good luck!" called Birdie Lee to Blake, as shewaved her hand to him.
"And so do I," added Mabel Pierce to Joe.
"Thanks!" they made answer in a chorus.
"And--look--out--for--the--big slides!" called Mr. Piper afterthem, as the steamer swung away from the pier.
"Gloomy to the last!" laughed Blake.
So they were off for Panama, little dreaming of the sensationaladventures that awaited them there.