The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms Or Lost in the Wilds of Florida   By: Laura Lee Hope

OR

Lost in the Wilds of Florida

BY

LAURA LEE HOPE

AUTHOR OF "THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS," "THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM," "THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES," "THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO. CLEVELAND NEW YORK

Made in U.S.A.

Copyright, 1914, by GROSSET & DUNLAP

PRESS OF THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO. CLEVELAND

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I Overboard 1

II To the Rescue 11

III A Disquieting Item 18

IV Fire on Board 28

V Disabled 37

VI By Wireless 46

VII In Port 54

VIII St. Augustine 63

IX In the Dungeon 70

X The Motor Races 80

XI On to Lake Kissimmee 88

XII A Warning 96

XIII Out in the Boat 104

XIV Under the Palms 113

XV In Peril 119

XVI A Strange Attack 129

XVII Out of a Tree 139

XVIII The Animated Logs 147

XIX Into the Wilds 157

XX Lost 164

XXI The Long Night 172

XXII Ashore 180

XXIII The Palm Hut 186

XXIV The Lost Are Found 195

XXV Out of the Wilds 203

CHAPTER I

OVERBOARD

"All ready now! In position, everyone!"

Half a score of actors and actresses moved quickly to their appointed places, while overhead, and at the sides of them hissed powerful electric lights, and in front of them stood a moving picture camera, ready to be operated by a pleasant faced young man.

"Ready?" came in questioning tones from Mr. Pertell, the stage director, as he looked sharply from one to the other.

A tall, well built man, with iron gray hair, nodded, but did not speak.

"Let her go, Russ!" Mr. Pertell exclaimed.

"Vait! Vait a minute!" called one of the actors, with a pronounced German accent.

"Well, what's the matter now, Mr. Switzer?" asked the director, with a touch of impatience.

"I haf forgotten der imbortant babers dot I haf to offer mine enemy in dis play. I must have der babers."

"Gracious, I should say so!" said the manager. "Where's Pop Snooks?" and he looked around for the property man, who had to produce on short notice anything from a ten ton safe to a hairpin.

"Hi, Pop!" called Mr. Pertell. "Make up a bundle of important, legal looking papers, with seals on. Mr. Switzer has to use 'em in this play. I forgot to tell you."

"Have 'em for you right away!" cried the property man, and a little later Mr. Switzer had his "babers."

"I guess we're all right now. Start up, Russ," ordered the stage director, who was also the manager of the troupe.

"That was a mistake on the part of Mr. Pertell; wasn't it, Ruth?" asked one of the young actresses a pretty girl of her sister, who stood near her in the mimic scene.

"Yes, indeed, Alice. But it isn't often he makes one."

"No, indeed. Oh, we mustn't talk any more. I see him looking at us."

"Begin!" called the manager, sharply, and the play proceeded, while the young moving picture operator clicked away at the handle of his camera, the long strip of film moving behind the lens with a whirring sound, and registering views of the pantomime of the actors and actresses at the rate of sixteen a second.

The above was done several times a day in the New York studio of the Comet Film Company, which was engaged in making moving pictures.

The play went on through the various acts. Only part of it was being "filmed" now the interior scenes. Later, others would be taken outdoors.

"Time out hold your positions!" suddenly exclaimed the operator. "Film's broken. I've got to mend it."

Everyone came to a standstill at that. In a few seconds the damage was repaired, and the play went on. It was, in the main, a "parlor" drama, and there were to be only a few outdoor scenes.