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diff --git a/33567-8.txt b/33567-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f17d51 --- /dev/null +++ b/33567-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6122 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Janet Hardy in Radio City, by Ruthe S. Wheeler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Janet Hardy in Radio City + +Author: Ruthe S. Wheeler + +Release Date: August 29, 2010 [EBook #33567] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JANET HARDY IN RADIO CITY *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net + + + + + +JANET HARDY IN RADIO CITY + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +JANET HARDY IN RADIO CITY + +BY + +Ruthe S. Wheeler + +THE GOLDSMITH PUBLISHING COMPANY + +CHICAGO + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +COPYRIGHT 1935 BY + +THE GOLDSMITH PUBLISHING CO. + +MADE IN U. S. A. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. Janet Gets the Lead 13 + II. Shooting on Location 20 + III. Surprise Callers 30 + IV. High Praise 41 + V. Deadly Fangs 47 + VI. The Smoky Menace 53 + VII. Racing Flames 61 + VIII. The Line Goes Dead 68 + IX. The Fire Sweeps On 76 + X. A Welcome Rescue 90 + XI. New Plans 101 + XII. The Preview 110 + XIII. Janet Turns Author 118 + XIV. Clothes by Roddy 126 + XV. Homeward Bound 135 + XVI. Gorgeous Gowns 145 + XVII. Hello, New York! 154 + XVIII. In Radio City 164 + XIX. A Manuscript Vanishes 170 + XX. The Mystery Deepens 178 + XXI. Insinuations 186 + XXII. Shadowed! 193 + XXIII. Janet Pinch Hits 201 + XXIV. Night on the Twenty-seventh Floor 208 + XXV. Janet Opens a Door 214 + XXVI. In the Hall 219 + XXVII. Suspicions 227 + XXVIII. Rehearsals Again 233 + XXIX. Janet Finds a Clue 240 + XXX. Opportunity Ahead 247 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +JANET HARDY IN RADIO CITY + + + + +JANET GETS THE LEAD + +Chapter One + + +Janet Hardy stirred sleepily as the alarm clock sounded its lusty +summons and it was only after a real effort that she managed to reach +out and shut off the insistent clock. + +It was so early that shadows of the night still lurked in the corners +and Janet squinted at the clock through sleep-clogged eyes. It was +four-forty a.m. + +Sitting up in bed she looked across the room where Helen Thorne was deep +in sleep, oblivious to the strident summons of the alarm which had +echoed through their bedroom. + +Janet, now thoroughly awake, tossed her pillow at the slumbering Helen. +She scored a perfect hit and Helen, sputtering and wondering what it was +all about, popped up in bed. + +"Come on, sleepy head. It's time to be up and dressing if we're going to +get to the studio in time for that six o'clock call," warned Janet. + +"I'll beat you to the shower," promised Helen. She jumped out of bed and +grabbed the dressing gown on a nearby chair. There was a rush of feet +padding down the hall and Helen made good her promise, reaching the +shower room two jumps ahead of Janet. + +Fifteen minutes later, after brisk showers and thorough towelings, they +were dressed. From the kitchen had come waftings of delicious bacon and +eggs and they knew that George, the colored cook, was getting breakfast. + +When they reached the dining room they were surprised to find Helen's +father there, a morning paper propped in front of him. + +Henry Thorne, world famous as the star director of motion pictures for +the Ace Motion Picture Corp., looked up. + +"An early call?" he asked. + +"Billy Fenstow is starting to shoot his new western, 'Water Hole,' and +we don't want to be late the first morning," explained Helen, slipping +into her chair while Janet sat down opposite her. George, smiling a +greeting, brought in a large platter of bacon and eggs. Then there were +tall glasses of cold milk and thin, deliciously buttered toast. + +"I didn't think you'd be up so early, Dad," said Helen, between +mouthfuls of bacon. + +"Guess I went to bed too early," smiled her father. "I've been awake an +hour." + +"You were all tired out after finishing 'Kings of the Air,'" went on +Helen and her father nodded his agreement. + +Janet, on the other side of the table, said nothing, but thought a great +deal. She had never quite gotten over the thrill of coming to Hollywood +and the manner in which it had been accomplished. It seemed too much +like a dream and at times she went around pinching herself to make sure +she wasn't asleep. + +Classmates back in the medium-sized city of Clarion in the middle west, +Janet and Helen had been fast friends and their families had been +neighbors for years. Then Henry Thorne had made a success as a director +of motion pictures, but Helen and Mrs. Thorne had remained in the family +home in Clarion. Back for Helen's graduation, he had been impressed by +the acting ability of Janet and Helen, as well as their charm, and their +graduation presents had been round trip airplane tickets from Clarion to +Hollywood. Mrs. Thorne had come along to chaperon the party and they had +taken a comfortable, rambling bungalow on a side street in Hollywood +where they could be assured of privacy. + +Janet could recall so vividly their first day. Pictures, interviews, +attendance at a premiere in gowns designed by the famous designer who +created all of the gowns for the stars of the Ace company. Then a chance +to work in a western in the production unit headed by rotund little +Billy Fenstow and after that small parts in "Kings of the Air," which +Henry Thorne had directed as one of the outstanding pictures on his +company's production program. + +"What are you mooning about?" asked Helen, for Janet, her mind running +back over the events of the last crowded weeks, had ceased eating. + +Janet flushed. "Just thinking of all the wonderful things that have +happened since we graduated." + +"I hope you won't remember the unpleasant ones you experienced while we +were making 'Kings of the Air,'" said Helen's father. He was well-built, +with a touch of grey hair at his temples and a smile that inspired +confidence and an almost instant feeling of friendliness. + +"I was pretty scared at the time," confessed Janet, "but now that the +picture's safely completed, it's all over." + +"What do you think about 'Kings'?" Helen asked her father. + +He leaned back in his chair and Janet thought she saw a touch of +weariness in his face. + +"I don't know," he said softly. "It should be a good picture, but +whether it will be a great picture is something else again. We can only +wait until it's out of the cutting room." + +Janet, although in a comparatively minor rôle, had been a key figure in +the making of "Kings of the Air," for a rival company, attempting to +hinder the progress of the picture, had hired an actress in the company, +blonde Bertie Jackson, and two renegade airmen, to make every effort to +slow up production. Janet had been kidnaped and held prisoner overnight +while the ghost town, where the company was located, was burned and a +big set on the desert bombed. But the resourcefulness of Curt Newsom, +cowboy star who had a rôle in the picture, had helped expose the +sabotage and Janet had been speedily released. As a result she had been +promoted to Bertie Jackson's rôle and had handled it like a veteran +trouper. + +Just then George, the cook, looked in to see if more bacon and eggs were +needed, and Helen's mother, in a dressing gown, joined them. + +"Someone should have called me," she said. + +"But you don't have to report on the lot and we do," Helen reminded her +mother. + +It was 5:30 o'clock when they finished breakfast. + +"I'll drive you over to the lot," said Henry Thorne. "Mother, you dress +while I'm away and we'll take a long drive into the mountains and stop +someplace for lunch. We'll sort of have a day's vacation for ourselves." + +Then they were away, speeding toward the studio in an open car. It was a +glorious morning and the cool air was invigorating. Later in the day it +would be uncomfortably hot. + +Billy Fenstow, director of western pictures, was on stage nine, well to +the back of the Ace lot. + +There were few around the rambling studio at that hour, for production +was past its peak and only two or three of the huge sound stages would +be in use that day. + +The director, who had only a fringe of hair around his shining pate, +greeted them cordially. + +"Have you read over the script of 'Water Hole'?" he asked. + +Janet nodded. "I like it better than 'Broad Valley,'" she smiled. + +Billy Fenstow fairly beamed. "Good. I wrote it myself. The other was +only partly mine." + +Helen laughed and turned to Janet. "What are you trying to do, +compliment Mr. Fenstow so he'll give you the leading rôle?" + +It was the director's turn to chuckle. "She doesn't have to," he said. +"Janet is playing opposite Curt Newsom in the lead right now." + + + + +Chapter Two + +SHOOTING ON LOCATION + + +Janet stared hard at the chubby director. It was hard to believe that +Billy Fenstow would joke with her now. That would be too cruel. + +"Don't you believe me, Janet?" he asked. + +"It can't be possible," she murmured. "Why, I'm an unknown. You wouldn't +put me into the leading rôle." + +Just then Curt Newsom, the western star arrived. + +"How's the new leading lady?" he asked. + +"I--I don't know," gasped Janet. "I'm not sure. Everything seems to be +in kind of a whirl. I guess I'll sit down." + +Janet dropped into a nearby chair, oblivious of the fact that it was the +cherished property of the director. + +"It's grand, Janet, simply grand," exclaimed Helen. "My, but I'm proud +of you." + +Billy Fenstow came over to Janet. + +"You needn't be so surprised," he said. + +"Only don't let this go to your head. It doesn't take a whole lot of +acting ability to be a leading lady in a western. All you've got to have +is a fair amount of beauty, some brains, and the ability to keep on top +of a horse." + +Janet, recalling her experiences in "Broad Valley," the first picture +they had appeared in, smiled a little ruefully. + +"I don't know whether I'll even be able to stay on a horse," she +admitted. + +"Then we'll glue you into the saddle," smiled the director. + +Others in the company came up. Most of them had been in the earlier +picture and without exception they congratulated Janet on winning the +leading rôle. + +The weather was ideal and Billy Fenstow intended to make the most of it +by shooting all of the exteriors possible. + +Promptly at seven o'clock a large bus rolled onto the lot and the entire +company, numbering some thirty-three, including the technicians, boarded +the big vehicle. + +Their destination was a ranch well into the foothills and it was after +noon before they arrived. This particular outfit had never before been +used for film purposes for it was well away from the usual run of +traffic and harder to reach than some of the layouts nearer the studio. + +The ranchhouse was large and comfortable and arrangements were made for +all of the girls in the company to stay there while the men would be +quartered in the bunkhouse with the exception of the director, who +planned to drive back and forth from the nearest town. + +A truck loaded with camera and sound equipment had preceded the bus and +the technicians went to work to assemble their materials. The pole +corral was crowded with horses and the assistant director, "Skeets" +Irwin, took over the task of assigning horses to the various members of +the company. + +Curt Newsom had his own string, which had been brought by truck, but the +others were to ride ranch horses. Janet drew a beautiful sorrel while +Helen was mounted on a black with only one white foot. + +There was a gorgeous sunset and Billy Fenstow, always on the alert for a +good background shot, had his cameras catch some typical ranch scenes. +They might not fit in with the present picture but he knew some day the +footage would come in handy. + +After dinner in the ranchhouse that night, Janet and Helen retired to +the room they shared and studied the scripts which had been handed out. + +"Water Hole" was a typical Billy Fenstow western with lots of hard +riding and plenty of scenery. It was the story of Curt Newsom's defense +of his small ranch with its valuable water hole against a larger cattle +outfit. + +Janet played the rôle of a school teacher while Helen was a waitress in +the one restaurant in the little cow town to which the cowboys migrated +every Saturday night. The girls were to have an important part in +solving the plot to get Curt's ranch and all in all they were greatly +pleased with their parts. + +Janet sat down and wrote a long letter home, telling of their good +fortune and of her own in particular. She paused a moment and closed her +eyes. Perhaps her mother would show the letter to Pete Benda, the city +editor of the _Clarion Times_. And Pete, of course, would make a story. +Perhaps he would put it in the front page under a heading, "Clarion Girl +Gets Leading Rôle in Western Picture." She smiled a little. That would +be rather nice. + +Then she awoke from her reverie and finished the letter. After that it +was bedtime for there was an early call. + +They were out the next morning shortly after dawn for Billy Fenstow +worked his companies long and hard. + +Janet was in several shots that day riding to and from the ranch to the +schoolhouse and in the afternoon they went to the schoolhouse where a +dozen youngsters had been gathered. Most of them were actual pupils of +the little school and the cameras ground away as Janet dismissed them +from a make-believe class and watched them hurry away from school toward +their homes, some of them afoot and others on sturdy little cow ponies. + +Helen had little to do that day, but followed every action of the +company with interest. + +"What do you think of it?" she asked Janet that night as they lounged on +the broad verandah of the ranchhouse. + +"I like it a lot," said Janet whole-heartedly. "Of course I realize I'm +no actress, but the picture's good and clean and it's a consolation to +be in something like that." + +Helen was silent for a time. + +"What do you think about our future in the movies?" she asked. + +Janet pondered the question before answering, for she, too, had been +wondering that very thing. + +"If you want to know the truth, I think we're just about where we +belong. I know I'm not a real actress. I can get by in a picture like +this or in some minor rôle, but I'd never make a really top-notch +actress and it would be rather heart-breaking to stay here and do this +year in and year out." + +"Then that means you'll go back to Clarion when summer's over?" Helen +asked the question with a touch of desperate anxiety in her voice. + +"I suppose so," replied Janet slowly, "for I know that I won't be +especially happy here. It's been glorious fun and it still is, but it +can't last forever and I'm not fooling myself about that for a minute." + +They were silent for a time, wondering if the coming fall would bring an +end to their close companionship. If Janet went back to Clarion, it +would be only logical that Helen would stay on in Hollywood with her +father and mother. The thought of parting was not a pleasant prospect to +either girl. + +They went to bed later without discussing the matter further, but as the +shooting of "Water Hole" progressed and August drew to a close, it was +constantly in their minds. + +Helen's father and mother came out to visit them on location several +times, but neither one of them mentioned any plans for Helen. + +"Two more days of work and we'll have the picture in the can," Billy +Fenstow told the company one morning. "We're right on schedule and I +want to finish that way, but we've got some hard riding scenes to get +out of the way." + +The director turned to Janet. + +"We've got to shoot that scene of your ride from town to the ranch to +warn Curt that his enemies are riding to wipe out his ranch," he said. +"Are you ready?" + +Janet nodded and swung into the saddle of the rangy sorrel. + +Billy Fenstow climbed onto the light truck which carried the cameras and +Janet's horse trotted along behind as the vehicle rolled away across the +valley in which the ranch was located. They went for perhaps two miles +through the hills to a hamlet along a branch line railroad which had +served as the cow town for the picture's locale. It was here that Janet +began her ride, but before she started she looked to the cinches. + +She remounted and sat easily in the saddle, waiting for the signal to +start. + +Billy Fenstow waved his hand and the truck started swiftly away, Janet +riding hard after it. She rode with a natural lithesomeness of her body. +The light felt hat which had been crushed over her brown hair came off. +She clutched at it instinctively, but missed, and kept on riding, her +golden hair streaming away from her shoulders. Janet smiled to herself. +At least that would give a realistic effect. + +She watched the director covertly and when he motioned again she sent +the sorrel racing away from the camera truck at an angle so the cameras +could get a side shot. Then the truck moved ahead of her. + +It was hot and dry, and anything but an easy task to ride a horse +pounding along as hard as the big sorrel. Finally they topped the last +hill and swept down into the valley and Janet braced herself for the +last bit of action. + +Curt, near the water hole, looked up when he heard the pounding hoofs +and Janet hurled herself from the saddle and ran to him. + +"Quick, Curt, they're riding hard behind me. You've got to get out of +here. I'll stay and watch the ranch." + +But Curt refused and the action was cut there. + +Janet was dusty and sweaty and she walked to the pump and drank deeply +of the cool, sweet water. + +"I can imagine there might have been a fight over this ranch in the +early days," she said. + +"There was," grinned Curt, "but it wasn't nearly as big a one as we're +putting into the picture." + +Janet's hardest scene for the day was over and Helen was in only one or +two minor shots so they passed part of the afternoon packing up their +things in preparation for the departure the next afternoon. + +It was nearly dinner time when a dust covered car rolled into the valley +and approached the ranchhouse. + +Janet and Helen, sitting on the front steps, watched it with interest +which deepened as they saw an Iowa license plate on the front of the +car. + +"That almost looks like home," said Helen. "Why, the number's from our +home county. Maybe it's someone we know." + +But the sun was flashing off the windshield, effectively shielding the +passengers in the car. + +The machine swung to a stop a few feet away and Janet and Helen, when +they saw the passengers, recognized them with mixed emotions. + + + + +Chapter Three + +SURPRISE CALLERS + + +The newcomers were Cora Dean and Margie Blake, classmates from Clarion, +who had been Janet and Helen's chief rivals for almost every honor +during their last four years in school. + +"What under the sun do you suppose they want here?" asked Helen under +her breath. + +"We'll soon find out," retorted Janet, rising and advancing to greet +Cora and Margie. + +Cora was dark like Helen, while Margie's hair was almost as golden +blonde as Janet's, the difference being that Margie used drug store +coloring, and Janet depended on the natural shade. + +"Hello Cora, hello Margie. This is a surprise," said Janet as she +greeted them and Helen echoed the sentiment a minute later. + +"We've been touring through the west. When we learned a company was +shooting a picture out here we came on over. We didn't know until we +stopped in the village that it was the company you're with." It was +Cora, her tongue as sharp as ever, making the explanation. + +Margie was taking in everything and fairly gaping at the cowboys who in +their picturesque garb, were lounging nearby waiting for the gong to +call them to supper. + +Billy Fenstow came by and Janet called to him, introducing Cora and +Margie. + +"Have them stay for dinner and meet the company," said the director, +who, with the film on schedule, felt particularly hospitable. + +"Oh, we'd love that," gurgled Cora. "We've always wanted to see a +picture being taken." + +Billy Fenstow scratched his head. + +"Well, we're all through for today, but if Janet and Helen could bunk +double and give you one of the beds in their room, you could stay over +and see the final shooting tomorrow." + +"Why, that would be grand," put in Margie, "and I'm sure Janet and Helen +won't mind doubling up." + +There was little Janet or Helen could say, except to agree, and they +helped Cora and Margie get their bags out of the car and escorted them +up to the room which they occupied. + +At dinner that night they introduced the girls to all of the members of +the company who ate at the ranchhouse and Janet noted that Cora could +hardly keep her eyes off tall, handsome Curt Newsom. Curt was nice to +them, as he was to everybody, explaining carefully all of the questions +they asked. + +That night Cora asked a question that had kept her on edge all evening. + +"Do you suppose we could get in one of the scenes tomorrow?" she asked +Janet. "Surely you or Helen could get the director to use us just a +little bit." + +Janet was dubious. It was the last day at the ranch and there would be +much to be done. Billy Fenstow would be in no mood for trifles such as +working friends into scenes. + +"If it wasn't the last day I think it could be arranged," put in Helen, +"but I'd hate to ask Mr. Fenstow to do it under the circumstances." + +Margie pouted visibly and Cora, always arrogant, flared up. + +"Oh, of course you won't. Just because your father's a director and they +have to put you in pictures you won't say a good word for anyone else. +How do we know you're even in this company?" + +"You'll have to take our word for it until you see the picture on the +screen," retorted Helen. + +Janet could understand the tremendous desire of Cora and Margie to +appear in a scene. It was the most natural thing in the world and she +felt just a little sorry for them. + +"I'll speak to Mr. Fenstow in the morning," she promised. "If he's in a +good mood he may find a spot for you, but if he's grouchy he'll probably +order you away from the place." + +"How do you know when he's grouchy?" asked Margie. + +"You don't until after you've asked him," replied Janet, with a thin +smile. + +Cora and Margie exhibited a tremendous curiosity, asking questions about +everything and from almost everyone, Cora especially plaguing Curt +Newsom, until the tall cowboy star finally found an excuse to escape +from her constant barrage. + +It was late when they went to bed and Janet and Helen, sleeping in a +narrow, single bed, did not rest well. They were awake at dawn, both of +them feeling tired and worn. + +Cora and Margie, imbued with the excitement of actually being with a +movie company, appeared as vivacious as ever. + +At breakfast Billy Fenstow outlined plans for the final day's shooting. + +"We've got one more scene to take in the village," he explained. "It's a +shot of a group of townspeople watching the arrival of Curt and the +rustlers he has captured." + +Impetuous Cora Dean broke in. + +"May Margie and I get in the crowd scene?" she asked eagerly. + +A frown appeared on Billy Fenstow's usually bland face, for he disliked +greatly being interrupted when he was outlining his plans to his +company. + +"We'll see about it later," he said curtly, and continued with his +explanation. + +After breakfast Cora faced Janet. + +"Too bad you couldn't have said a good word for us with your director," +she flared. + +"There wasn't a real good chance," replied Janet. "I warned you last +night not to bother him if he wasn't in a good mood." + +"But how was I to know?" complained Cora. + +"Well, you do now," said Janet, and it was hard to keep from smiling. +But she could realize how much it would mean to Cora and Margie and it +would be mean of her not to help them just a little so later she spoke +to "Skeets" Irwin, the assistant director, and "Skeets" promised to get +Cora and Margie into the crowd scene. + +Janet and Helen were in the same scene and they changed into their +costumes, Janet into a dusty riding habit and Helen into a gingham dress +and the apron that was her badge as a waitress in the village's one +restaurant. + +The girls rode down to the village, Cora and Margie following in their +own car. "Skeets" had provided them with appropriate costumes and they +were so excited they could hardly talk. + +Billy Fenstow was back giving instructions to the riders who were to +sweep down into the village while "Skeets" handled the scene at the +village. + +"Don't stand around like a bunch of wooden Indians," said the assistant +director. "Show some interest when those horsemen come over the hills. I +want plenty of action in this scene." + +"Keep close to us," Janet advised Cora and Margie. "All you have to do +is look excited." + +"That's going to be easy," smiled Margie. "I'm so nervous now I can't +stay still a minute." + +Final instructions were given and the cameras started grinding as a +massed body of riders swept over the crest of the hills and galloped +madly toward the village. + +The girls, who had been in the restaurant, rushed into the street and +joined the other members of the company and the villagers who had been +pressed into service as extras. + +It was action and good action. Janet thrilled at the magnificent riding +of Curt Newsom, who rode with consumate skill and grace. He was a part +of the horse he was astride and it was no effort to Janet to register +extreme excitement. + +The mounted men, a band of captives in the center of the group, reined +in before the astonished villagers and Curt, dismounting, pulled one of +the captives from his saddle and strode toward the door which was marked +sheriff's office. Curt pulled the protesting rider after him, +disappearing into the sheriff's office. That finished the sequence and +the cameras stopped clicking. + +It was the last of the big scenes and the rest of the day was to be +spent in picking up shots to fill out the story. + +"Do you suppose we looked all right?" asked Cora, who had been fitted +out in a housedress and sunbonnet. Margie was similarly attired. + +"I'm sure you looked your parts," Janet assured them, "but don't be too +disappointed when you see the picture. There'll only be a flash of this +action on the screen and the 'mob' scene won't last more than a few +seconds." + +"We'll see that one of the theaters at home books it," declared Margie +firmly, "and maybe Pete Benda will run a story about us." + +"I wouldn't be surprised if he did," agreed Janet. + +They went back to the ranchhouse for lunch and Billy Fenstow beamed. + +"We're ahead of schedule now. Another two hours and we'll be ready to +start for the studio where we can finish up the interiors in a couple +more days." + +The bus which had brought them from Hollywood rolled into the valley and +several of the cowboys started loading baggage and equipment aboard it. + +Janet and Helen went upstairs, followed by Cora and Margie. Both of the +latter had been hinting that they would like an invitation to stay for a +time in Hollywood, but they had been so mean and small during their high +school days that neither Janet nor Helen could bear the thought of +entertaining them. + +"Coming back to Clarion this fall?" asked Cora, her dark eyes fairly +snapping as she waited eagerly for the answer to her question. + +"I haven't the slightest idea," replied Janet, quite truthfully. + +"How about you, Helen?" It was Margie asking this time. + +Helen shook her head. "Your guess is as good as mine." + +"Can't you stay on in pictures?" asked Cora, a tinge of sarcasm in her +voice. + +That nettled Janet. "If we want to," she retorted, "but neither one of +us can see much of a future in being actresses in western films." + +"With all of the influence your father has, you ought to be able to get +into better pictures," Margie told Helen, and it was her turn to feel a +mounting flood of color in her cheeks. + +"You can leave Dad out of this. He gave us an introduction, but we've +won our parts," snapped Helen. + +The girls finished packing in silence and were ready to go down stairs +when "Skeets" stuck his head in the door. + +"Bus is all ready to start back for the city," he said, picking up +Janet's and Helen's bags. + +Cora and Margie took their own luggage and followed them down stairs. + +"Do you think we ought to invite them to Hollywood with us?" whispered +Helen. + +"That's up to you," replied Janet, "for they would have to be +entertained in your home." + +"Well, what do you honestly think?" + +Janet didn't answer at once, but as they reached the bus, she said, "I +think I've had about all of the insinuations I can stand from either one +of them." + +Helen smiled. "That's a help, for I feel the same way." She turned +toward the other girls, who were putting their baggage in their car. + +"We may see you in Clarion before college starts this fall," she said. + +"Thanks for all your help," flipped Cora, seating herself behind the +wheel. "I'm sure we'll enjoy ourselves in Hollywood. We may run into you +someplace." + +She threw in the gears and the car lurched away along the dusty road +that wound through the hills to the main highway some miles away. + +"Wasn't she nice and cordial?" smiled Helen as she turned back to Janet. + +"Cora hasn't changed a bit and I don't suppose she will. What fun she +could have if she'd only be a little less selfish," said Janet. + + + + +Chapter Four + +HIGH PRAISE + + +By the time everything was loaded into the bus, the sun was well down +toward the western hills and the ranch was bathed in the soft, warm +light of the late afternoon. + +Curt Newsom, who had finished superintending the loading of his own +horses into his private truck, walked over to join the girls, his spurs +jingling as he walked. + +"Glad it's all over?" he asked. + +Janet shook her head. + +"Hardly. I've enjoyed it so much I really didn't want it to end, but I +guess that all good things come to an end." + +"You did a splendid job as leading woman," smiled Curt. "I wish all of +them were like you. Every once in a while the girls they assign to this +unit get it into their heads that they are real actresses and they go +temperamental on us. But you two worked like real troupers and took all +of the bumps as they came." + +"And they came, too," grinned Helen, rubbing her right leg, for she had +slipped and fallen from a horse two days before and her leg was black +and blue. + +Curt was silent for a few moments, smiling at the efforts of "Skeets" to +round up the last members of the company and get them aboard the big +bus. + +"Are you going to stay with us?" he asked. + +"We don't know," replied Helen. "Fall's almost here and that means +college time. We're both awfully young to stay on in pictures." + +"Oh, I wouldn't say that. I've known girls younger than either one of +you to make a success." + +"But they didn't last long," countered Janet. + +"Perhaps you're right on that," agreed Curt. "Are you going to school?" + +"I expect we'll decide that when we get back to Hollywood and have a +long talk with mother and dad," replied Helen. + +Just then Billy Fenstow hurried up, puffing and exceedingly warm. + +"Everybody accounted for?" he asked his harried assistant. + +"All here," replied the red-faced "Skeets." + +"Sit down in the back seat with me," the director told the girls. "I +want to talk with you on the way back to the city." + +The last members of the company were herded aboard the bus and the +girls, Curt Newsom and the director were the last to get aboard. + +They sat down on the broad back seat which had been reserved for the +director. The bus lurched into motion and rolled away from the +ranchhouse. + +Billy Fenstow mopped his perspiring brow and leaned back to enjoy the +ride. + +The dusty road wound through the hills, golden clouds of dust marking +the passing of the bus. + +They were halfway to the main highway when the motor started to cough +and the big vehicle slowed to a stop. + +The driver buried himself under the hood and tinkered with the engine +for a few minutes. Then he climbed back into his seat and started the +motor again. + +They progressed for several hundred yards and finally groaned to a stop. + +"Looks like we may be late in getting to dinner," said Curt. "Sounded +like serious trouble under the hood that time." + +The lanky cowboy uncoiled his legs and went out to see if he could be of +any assistance to the bus driver. + +Billy Fenstow, taking advantage of the stop, spoke to Janet and Helen, +his voice so low that it was doubtful if he could be overheard by any +other member of the company. + +"What about staying in the company for my next picture?" he asked. + +"When will it start?" Janet countered. + +The director mopped his brow again and grinned. + +"Just as soon as I can hash together a good enough story. Two weeks, +maybe three, or it might even be a month. Why?" + +"We're not certain what we want to do," explained Helen. "You see, +college starts next month." + +"My heavens," exclaimed the director. "What under the sun do you want to +go to college for? You're smart enough right now." + +"That's just it; we aren't," replied Janet. "And we're terribly young, +if the truth were known." + +Billy Fenstow looked at them critically. + +"Yep, you're young enough," he conceded, "but what's that got to do with +it?" + +"Well, we're nothing sensational as actresses," replied Janet, "and +neither one of us would want to go along playing minor rôles for years. +If we ever hope to do more than that we've got to have more of a +background in education and college seems to be the easiest and surest +way to attain that." + +Billy Fenstow nodded in agreement. + +"Maybe you're right," he admitted, "but you could stay on with me at one +hundred or one hundred and fifty dollars a week for a long time." + +"But how many weeks a year would we work at that rate? There wouldn't be +more than twenty-five or thirty at the most and our expenses of staying +on in Hollywood would become heavier." + +"Now that you put it that way, you're probably right. But when you do +get through college, don't forget to come back and we'll see how things +go then." + +The director started to get up, then sank back on the cushions. + +"You helped doctor the script of 'Kings of the Air,' didn't you?" he +asked Janet. + +"I made a suggestion or two," she admitted. + +"I heard it was a little more than that," smiled the director. "Why +don't you see what you could do with a western script for me. I haven't +got an idea and if I turn it over to the studio writers, I'll probably +get another stereotyped plot." + +"Are you serious?" demanded Janet. + +"Very much so. You might be able to put together something with a new +angle. Mind you, it must be simple in action, for I've got to operate on +a slim budget, but we must have a satisfactory love angle and a +plausible plot. Think you can do anything with it?" + +"I'll try; I'll do my best," promised Janet. + +"Then I guess I'll take a little vacation when we get back to Hollywood. +I'll need the story in about ten days, or at least a complete outline by +that time." + +The tubby little director lifted himself off the seat and ambled down +the aisle to learn how much longer they would be detained and Janet +watched him go with a strange elation in her heart. + + + + +Chapter Five + +DEADLY FANGS + + +Helen looked at her companion through smiling, quizzical eyes. + +"Well, what do you make of that?" she asked. + +"I'm a little bit dizzy, but I guess Mr. Fenstow meant what he said. Do +you suppose I can really turn out an acceptable story for a western +picture?" Janet turned and shot the question squarely at Helen. + +"I'm sure you can. That is," she amended, "if you don't let the thought +of it scare you." + +"I'll give it a lot of time and thought before I start writing the +story." + +"There isn't much time," warned Helen, and Janet knew that her companion +was right. + +Ten days--sometimes it seemed like an endless length of time; then again +it vanished like magic and she had a feeling that this might be the +case. + +Some members of the company left the bus and walked around to stretch +their legs; the others remained quietly in their seats, only a few of +them talking for they were glad the strain of making the picture was at +an end. + +Janet sniffed the late afternoon air. There seemed to be a faint odor of +smoke, but she decided some of the men in the company must be smoking +nearby. + +The heat abated somewhat as they waited for the driver to repair the +engine and a sharp breeze swept down out of the hills sending little +swirls of dust dancing along the winding road ahead of them. + +Helen leaned close to her companion. + +"Smell smoke?" she asked. + +"Not now, but I thought I did a few minutes ago," replied Janet. + +"I'm sure I can now," went on Helen, sniffing intently. + +Janet thought she caught another whiff of smoke, but she couldn't be +sure. + +Curt Newsom, who had been trying to help repair the engine, came back +along the bus. His face was smudged with grime and dirt and his hands +were covered with grease. He raised one of them and motioned for Janet +and Helen to join him. The girls left their seats and walked down the +bus, Curt meeting them at the doorway. + +"Come on," he said sharply and in a manner that was little like his own. + +He strode away through the dry grass, which crackled like tinder under +his boots. He was a good fifty yards away from the bus and far beyond +earshot when he stopped and faced the girls. + +"It will be hours before that bus can be repaired," he told them. +"Someone will have to go back to the ranch or the nearest village and +phone for another vehicle to come out from the city." + +The freshening breeze stirred up a cloud of dust which enveloped them +for a moment. Curt sneezed heavily and then sniffed. + +"Smell anything?" There was desperate intentness in his question. + +Janet and Helen wrinkled their noses and sniffed eagerly. + +Helen shook her head. + +"Not now, but a while ago I thought I smelled smoke." + +"So did I," added Janet. "It was kind of like tobacco smoke and then it +wasn't." + +Curt shook his head. "I'm afraid it isn't tobacco smoke. I've been +getting whiffs of it right along. Smells like a brush fire to me, but I +can't locate any sign of smoke." + +"What do you mean by brush fire?" asked Janet. + +Curt looked at her sharply and then his eyes swept the rugged +countryside where the sparse grass was brown and the brush as brittle as +glass. + +"It's like a prairie fire--only worse. It's even worse than a forest +fire. It spreads more rapidly. Once a fire gets started in this dry, +combustible stuff, it's almost impossible to stop it. Either a good rain +comes along or the blamed thing just burns itself out." + +"But I should think you could dodge a brush fire," put in Helen. + +"Maybe you could if you knew which way it was going to jump. But it +moves almost like lightning and it's on you before you know it." + +The cowboy star cast an anxious eye over the rolling hills, but there +was no sign of smoke, no spear of flame to flash a warning of impending +trouble. + +"Keep your nose busy and your eyes and ears on the job. You might even +stir around in the hills a bit. If you see anything that looks like it +might spell trouble, let me know. I'm going back to try and help the +driver. We'll give you plenty of time to get back before we start on if +we just happen to find the trouble." + +Curt, his spurs jingling musically, strode away, and Janet and Helen +watched him go with mingled feelings. His words had aroused a very +definite sense of alarm in their minds and they were a little white as +they faced each other. + +"I'm sure I smell smoke now," said Helen, sniffing intently. Janet did +likewise, but she couldn't be sure, and the breeze was getting sharper. + +"We'll scout around these hills. Let's try that one," Janet pointed to a +ragged outcropping of rock that towered above the rest. + +"It's going to be hard to climb," cautioned Helen. + +"I know, but once we're on top we'll be able to see all over this +country. If there's any sign of a brush fire, we'll be able to see it +from there." + +"I suppose you're right. Wish I had left my heavy boots on. These shoes +aren't made for this kind of walking," and Helen looked down at the +low-heeled, comfortable oxfords she wore. They were all right for street +wear, but when it came to climbing about over thin, rocky soil, they +provided only a minimum of protection. + +The outcropping Janet had selected was even steeper than they had +anticipated and as they climbed, the outline of the bus in the valley +became smaller. They stopped several times to rest and on the last +occasion Janet sat down on a flat, sun-baked rock. There was a certain +fetid odor about it but she thought nothing of it until Helen, who was +about to sit down beside her, screamed. + +Without thinking and so swiftly it must have been a reflex action, she +hurled herself away from the rock. + +She dropped in a twisting, rolling fall and as she turned she glimpsed a +venomous head with lashing fangs which flashed out once from the rock +and then disappeared. + + + + +Chapter Six + +THE SMOKY MENACE + + +Janet fell heavily, turning over several times before she finally came +to rest against a clump of dry brush. + +Helen was at her side almost instantly, her face drawn and tense. + +"Did it strike you?" she asked, deep anxiety marking her words. + +Janet, still dazed by the shock of hurling herself to the ground, looked +up and managed a wan smile. She shook her head and with Helen giving her +a hand, got to her feet. + +"No, I'm all right. Just scared a little. It was so sudden." + +"The snake was coiled up on the back of the rock. I saw it just as you +sat down. For a second I was speechless; then I seemed to explode into a +scream," explained Helen. + +"It's a good thing for me that you did," said Janet. "I don't think the +snake missed it more than inches. We'd better get some stout clubs if +we're going to do any more climbing around these rocks." + +"One thing, we're not going to sit down on any of them," declared Helen, +who was watching the pile of rocks with open suspicion. There was still +that fetid smell in the air, but no sign of any snakes. + +They looked about for sticks which could be used for clubs and Helen +found several sizeable sticks which would serve that purpose. + +The incident had unnerved them more than they cared to confess and they +sat down to rest on the sandy soil, taking care that nothing was near +them which would conceal a snake. + +The afternoon deepened and the sun was about to sink over the western +hills when they roused themselves and started on toward the summit of +the promontory they had been climbing. + +Janet stopped and sniffed the air. The odor of smoke seemed stronger +now, yet there was no visible sign of it. + +Helen also smelled it, for the wind, if anything, was sharper now. + +"If there's a fire burning somewhere near here, it might be bad for us," +she said. "This dry grass and underbrush would burn like tinder." + +"That's what Curt fears," added Janet. + +They stopped to rest once more before they started the final ascent to +the rocky outcropping from which they hoped to be able to survey the +entire surrounding country. + +As they started up the final slope, the smell of the smoke became +stronger. Looking back into the valley where the bus was stalled, Janet +could see the men in the company all grouped around the front end. It +was evident that the trouble had not been repaired. Some distance from +the bus a lone figure was striding along the trail, evidently bound for +the nearest ranch or village where he could telephone for another bus +and a repair crew. + +They toiled up the last few yards to the summit of the promontory and +reached it only to drop down in an open space, gasping for breath, for +the last part of the climb had been arduous. + +A sharp cry from Helen drew Janet's attention away from the bus, which +now seemed far down in the valley. + +"There's fire burning in that further valley," cried Helen, an +involuntary note of alarm in her voice. + +Janet turned quickly and gazed in the direction Helen was pointing. Her +companion was right. There was fire in one of the distant valleys. From +their elevation they could see a low, creeping wave of smoke shot +through with an occasional tongue of flame. + +The wind, riffling past them now, was sweeping the fire in their +direction at a steady pace, but it was at least two miles away, perhaps +even further, estimated Janet. + +"Does it look serious?" asked Helen. + +"I should say it does," replied Janet quickly. "One of us must get back +to the bus at once and warn Curt. This is what he's feared." + +"I'll stay," said Helen, but Janet noted that her companion's face paled +at the thought of staying on top of the ridge and watching the fire +sweep toward her. + +"No you won't. If there's any staying to be done up here, I'll be the +one," decided Janet. "Besides, I can run faster than you and your shoes +are in no condition to go racing over this rough ground. You start down +now and tell Curt exactly what's happening. Tell him the fire is moving +steadily in our direction and I can't see that anyone is in front of it +attempting to beat it out or to build barriers to halt it." + +"But I hate to leave you here alone," protested Helen. + +"Never mind that. You get back to the bus. Hurry!" There was an anxious +note of appeal in Janet's last words and Helen flung down the stick she +had been carrying and started back down the slope. + +Janet watched her for a time as she darted around outcroppings of rock. +Then she turned and gazed at the low wall of smoke which was being +whipped along by the wind. + +From that distance it was hard to imagine that the advancing smoke and +fire could be such a deadly thing--that it could lay waste to everything +in its path, leaving, where it had passed, only a sear and desolate +landscape. + +The wind seemed to be strengthening with the passing of each minute. The +crest of the advancing fire topped the ridge of another valley and +started down the near slope, but it was still better than a mile and a +half away. Occasionally a jet of flame rose higher than the others, as +though some madman had tossed a torch high into the air at his +exhilaration over the destruction the flames were causing. + +The afternoon was waning rapidly and in the valleys between Janet and +the flames the light was fading. She turned and gazed back down the long +slope. Helen was almost at the bus, making every effort at speed and +Janet felt sorry for her for she knew Helen must be suffering intense +pain from her too-thin shoes for the rocks would bruise her feet badly. + +Janet saw Helen reach the bus and the men turned their attention from +the stalled motor to the newcomer. Janet thought she could distinguish +Curt Newsom looming above the others but she couldn't be sure. + +In less than a minute a solitary figure detached itself from the group +around the bus and started up the slope toward Janet. From the long +stride and the graceful carriage of the body she knew it was the cowboy +star, coming up to get a first-hand glimpse of the advancing fire. + +Someone down at the bus turned on the headlights, and twin beams of +light flashed through the gathering purple of the evening. + +Janet heard a scurrying up the other slope and a jack rabbit, scenting +the danger of the approaching wall of smoke and fire, dashed past her. +She knew that later there would be an onrush of the smaller animals +seeking to evade the danger. But for some reason Janet felt strangely +calm. + +The fire was still more than a mile away. True, it was advancing +steadily, but the thought of being trapped by flames had never really +entered her mind and she refused to be stampeded now. + +She turned back to watch the progress of Curt Newsom as he raced up the +slope. It was almost dusk now where she was standing but she could see +him coming steadily toward her. He would be beside her in another +minute. + +The cowboy star, puffing heavily from the race up the rocky slope, +reached Janet's side. + +The smell of smoke was stronger now and the flames were brighter as +though they were eating their way through heavier underbrush. + +Curt's features were plainly visible in the half light of the early +evening and Janet could see the lines of worry on his face. + +"It's worse than I thought from what Helen told us," he said, shielding +his eyes and looking across the intervening valleys to the ridge down +which the fire was now racing. + +"Is it serious?" asked Janet. "Are we in danger?" + +Curt stared at her hard, wondering just how much he dared to tell her. +Then he decided she might as well know the truth and he spoke frankly. + +"The wind's rising all the time and this fire's spreading rapidly. We've +got to get out of here within the next few minutes or we may never leave +these valleys alive." + + + + +Chapter Seven + +RACING FLAMES + + +Janet felt an inward surge of terror sweep over her, chilling her mind +and body. But it lasted for only an instant. She was too calm, too +sensible to become panic stricken now. They might be in a tight spot but +she had confidence that the angular, capable cowboy would be able to +pull them through. + +"We've got to get back to the bus and warn them of the danger. Maybe the +boys will have the engine fixed by the time we're back." + +Curt turned for a final look at the advancing wall of smoke and flame. + +A steady procession of small animals, driven from their homes, was +racing through the underbrush and an occasional frightened rabbit would +almost bump into them in its blind haste to find safety. + +"Come on!" said Curt. He held out his hand and Janet grasped it. With +the cowboy leading the way, they plunged down the slope. It was risky +business, going at that speed, but speed was essential and they dared a +twisted ankle to reach the bus with the least possible delay. + +Janet dropped the stick she had been carrying and grasped Curt's strong +wrist with both of her own hands. They were fairly flying down the +incline, Janet's legs working mechanically as she followed the lead of +the cowboy star. + +They crashed through a low fringe of underbrush and reached the twisting +roadway. Half a hundred feet away was the bus, its lights glowing, but +no other sign of animation coming from the mechanical monster. + +The smoke was not yet thick in this valley and for this Janet was +thankful for the other members of the company obviously had not become +panicky. + +Billy Fenstow saw them first. + +"What about the fire?" he asked. + +"It's bad. We've got to get out of here and without losing any time. How +about the bus?" + +"It won't even cough," moaned the director. + +"Any word from the man you sent for help?" + +"Not yet. What'll we do?" There was an anxious note in Billy Fenstow's +voice. + +"I don't know yet, but we'll do something." + +Curt strode forward to the front end of the bus where the male members +of the company were grouped. + +"Any chance of getting going within the next five or ten minutes?" he +asked the director, who was almost buried under the hood. + +"Afraid not," came the smothered reply. "I've found the trouble but it's +going to take about half an hour to get it fixed." + +Curt turned and faced Bill Fenstow. + +"That's too long," he warned the director. "The wind's getting worse and +that fire's coming fast now. In another half hour this valley will be an +inferno. It will be impossible for anyone to live in it." + +"Then we'd better start back for the ranch afoot," said the director. + +Curt's laugh was hard and thin and Janet, hearing it, thought it was a +desperate laugh. + +"The fire would overtake us before we could get near the ranch," said +Curt. "We've got to make a stand and we might as well make it here." + +"What can we do?" It was the director asking the question. + +"We can start a backfire and burn off as much ground around here as +possible. While some of us are doing that the others can see what they +can do in getting the bus fixed. If it's done in time, we'll run for it; +if it isn't this is as good a place as any." + +Helen came close to Janet. + +"Is it that bad?" she whispered. + +"I'm afraid it is," admitted Janet. "Scared?" + +"Scared to death," confessed Helen. + +"So am I," admitted Janet. "But maybe there is something we can do to +help the men." + +Every member of the company was anxious and willing to do whatever they +could and Curt Newsom snapped directions at them. Most of the men raced +out into the brush and almost instantly small fires sprang up. They ate +their way rapidly through the undergrowth and as they neared the bus +itself were beaten out, the men using coats, blankets or whatever +article they could find in the bus. In less than ten minutes there was a +growing blackened area around the stalled vehicle. Their object was to +create a large enough burned over area so that the main wall of the +advancing fire would move around them. + +Curt told them frankly that the heat would be bad, almost unbearable, +but they could live through it. + +The ridge from which Janet and Helen had discovered the fire was +outlined against a sky shot with crimson for it was quite dark now. +Small animals, scurrying before the red menace, were racing past almost +constantly. + +The fires which had been started around the bus were spreading out in a +great circle, eating their way hungrily along the parched ground. In the +light from them Janet could see Curt stalking here and there, directing +one group and then another, and pausing now to beat down some flame with +his blanket. + +Both girls felt particularly helpless, for there seemed to be nothing +they could do, and Helen, her light shoes torn and thin, was +particularly wretched, for her feet were sore and bruised. + +A sharp cry came from one of the men who had remained with the driver in +an effort to get the bus repaired. Someone leaped into the seat, there +was the whir of the starter and the heavy vehicle shook as its powerful +motor thundered into motion. + +The driver slid out from under the hood. His face was a smear of grease +and his shirt was badly torn, for he had been working in close quarters. +He stumbled, reeling from fatigue, but someone caught him and lifted him +into the bus. Another man sounded the horn and the fire-builders, led by +Curt and Billy Fenstow, returned to the bus. + +"Think the motor will hold up?" Curt snapped at the driver. + +"It ought to, but I can't be sure," was the tired reply. + +"What do you want to do?" The cowboy fired the question at the director. + +"Get out of here and get out quick!" cried the director. + +"Where'll you go?" Curt snapped the question back. + +Billy Fenstow stared at him for just a moment. + +"Hollywood, of course. Everybody in!" + +But Curt laid a restraining hand on the director. + +"The road ahead curves back directly into the path of the flame. If we +swing around this promontory, we'll be cut off ahead and before we can +get back the flames will be over this section of the road. We can only +go back." + +"Then back to the ranch we go," decided the director, and again he +called, "Everybody in!" + +Members of the company jammed their way into the bus and Curt took the +wheel for the driver was too exhausted to handle the heavy vehicle. + +The smoke was thick now and the first flames were licking their way over +the crest of the ridge far above them. + +With the motor roaring heavily, Curt threw in the gears and swung the +big vehicle about in a sharp circle. Then, with the headlights vainly +trying to bore through the almost stifling smoke, they raced back down +the road. + +It was dangerous going, for Curt's vision was cut down to less than +three rods, but speed was essential now and they plunged through the +smoky night at a reckless pace. + + + + +Chapter Eight + +THE LINE GOES DEAD + + +Lights in the interior of the bus were out now for Curt didn't dare run +the risk that they might interfere with his vision. The heavy vehicle +swayed from side to side as they bounced over the winding road and Janet +and Helen clung to each other for protection. + +Smoke was swirling across the road and the acrid fumes swept through the +open windows of the bus, but there was no time now to close them. + +They raced out of the valley they had been in, shot up over a slight +rise, and descended into another valley, the glare of the flames being +lost to view for the time. + +"Think we'll make it?" gasped Helen, clinging tightly to Janet's right +arm. + +"We've got to," replied Janet. "The last shots for the picture are in +the bus." + +"I'm not worrying about the picture; it's us," retorted Helen. "My eyes +hurt; so do my feet." + +Janet couldn't help smiling for Helen was very much matter of fact. + +There was a sharp report under the bus, like a gunshot or the backfire +of the exhaust. But it was neither and the girls were thrown heavily +against the side of the bus as the left rear tire let go. + +The heavy machine swayed dangerously with Curt fighting for control. The +brakes screamed as they ground to a stop and Curt leaped out to survey +the damage. The driver followed him and then Billy Fenstow followed. + +The driver turned on his flashlight and Janet could hear Curt's muttered +exclamation of disgust. + +"We can change; we've got a spare," the driver said. + +"We've got to and we'll have to work fast," snapped Curt. + +Under the lashing directions of the cowboy star, other members of the +company turned to and lent a hand. Tools were taken out, a big jack was +placed under the rear axle, and the work started. + +From somewhere behind came the ominous roar of the fire and the sky +behind the ridge they had just topped crimsoned. Helen, her thin oxfords +badly cut, shifted miserably from one foot to another and longed for a +hot bath in which to soak her aching feet. + +While Curt and several assistants wrestled with the task of getting the +flat tire off, the driver managed to get the spare wheel down from its +rack at the rear. + +"Not much air in it," he grumbled. + +"There never is," snapped Curt, "but you know how to use a pump." + +Billy Fenstow seized the pump, fastened the hose to the valve on the +tire, and bent his tired body to the task of increasing the air pressure +in the big tire. + +It was a tedious, wracking job, and the men alternated, working at top +speed for a minute, then giving way to another fresher one. + +Curt, scanning the horizon above the ridge, urged them to greater haste. + +"Fire's getting close," he warned. "We've got to get under way." + +Billy Fenstow unfastened the pump and Curt seized the big steel wheel +with its huge casing. Other willing hands helped him get it on the axle. +Anxious fingers sped the bolts into place and they tightened them as +rapidly as possible. + +"Get going!" Curt yelled at the driver. + +"How about the jack?" + +"Never mind that. Throw her in gear and she'll come off. That fire's +coming fast now." + +As though in answer to Curt's warning, the flames shot over the top of +the nearest ridge and started down. They seemed to be racing now with +the speed of a greyhound, leaping from thicket to thicket with +unbelievable rapidity. + +Janet and Helen, clinging together on the back seat, watched it with +fascinated eyes. The fire was a living, advancing thing that might +surround and swallow them in its flaming greed. The thought sent a +deadening chill through Janet and for a moment she closed her eyes to +the red spectacle. + +The motor of the bus roared again as Curt trod heavily on the starter. +The big vehicle pulsated with power and there was the crash of gears as +they lurched ahead and the left rear wheel dropped off the jack. + +Like a frightened elephant the bus leaped forward, its headlights once +more boring through the smoke-laden night air. + +Curt drove with reckless abandon, tramping the accelerator down almost +to the floor boards. His passengers were flung from one side of the +lunging vehicle to another, but they knew that only in speed now lay +their hope for salvation and none of them cried out as their bruised +bodies were flung back and forth. + +Janet and Helen managed to wedge themselves in a corner where, by +clinging together, they could escape with only a minimum of bouncing +about. + +Suddenly the road straightened out and the smoke thinned. Janet +recognized where they were. It was the last half mile which led back to +the ranch where they had completed shooting the new picture only that +afternoon. + +They had outdistanced the racing flames and Curt reduced the wild speed +of the bus. In less than five minutes they swung into the broad yard of +the ranch, but there were no lights in the house nor in the bunkhouse. + +Curt blasted sharply on the horn, but there was no sign or sound of life +anywhere. + +"Looks like everyone's sound asleep," said Billy Fenstow, who was +rubbing his bruises gingerly. + +"They've probably taken to the hills," replied Curt. + +They unloaded and entered the ranchhouse. Curt lighted a lamp and it was +evident from the disorder in the rooms that the owners had fled hastily. +The corrals were open and all of the stock had been turned loose. + +Janet and Helen stopped beside the water tank. Their throats were dry +and tasted heavily of smoke so they drank deeply of the cool, fresh +water. + +Curt, pausing for a moment, stuck his whole head in the tank, and then +drank from the cup the girls offered him. As he gulped down the water he +watched the crimson horizon northwest of the ranch. + +"Looks like we're going to be safe here unless the wind swings around a +little more," he observed. + +"I'm worried about the folks. They know what time we were going to start +back and they'll be frantic when they hear about the fire," said Helen. + +"Phone line may still be up," said Curt. "Go in the house and see if you +can get a call through." + +Helen turned and hastened toward the house while Curt rejoined the men, +who were staying near the bus. The driver was buried under the hood +again, making sure that there would be no recurrence of their previous +engine trouble. + +Janet followed Helen into the ranchhouse. The phone, an old-fashioned +wall instrument, was in the dining room. There was a large plate of +cookies, evidently left from supper, on the table, and neither girl +could resist helping herself to several. Helen munched them as she +cranked the telephone and listened for an answer from the operator in +the nearest town. At last the response came. + +Helen, talking rapidly, gave her father's address and phone number in +Hollywood. In less than five minutes the call was through and she heard +her father's voice on the other end of the wire. + +"Hello, Dad. This is Helen." + +"Where are we? Back at the ranch. No, we're safe enough. The bus broke +down and we had to turn back when the fire cut us off. + +"Now don't worry, Dad. Curt Newsom says he thinks the fire will swing +around us. If it doesn't, we can take to the hills back of the ranch. +We'll come through all right. Tell Mother not to worry. + +"What's that----?" + +Helen repeated the question, then looked blankly at Janet. + +"See if you can hear him," she urged and Janet took the receiver. + +"Hello, Mr. Thorne," she said. But there was no answer. She repeated the +question and this time when there was no answer mechanically hung up the +receiver. + +"The line's dead," she told Helen. "The fire must have brought down the +poles." + +The girls stared hard at each other through smoke-rimmed eyes. The +telephone had given them a sense of security, a feeling of contact with +the outside world. Now they were cut off with the flames behind them and +only the rugged hills ahead. + + + + +Chapter Nine + +THE FIRE SWEEPS ON + + +When Janet and Helen returned to the spacious ranch yard, they found the +men in the company gathered in a council of war near the bus. They were +debating whether to risk remaining at the ranch or attempt to push on +into the hills and onto higher ground. + +Billy Fenstow felt the ranch would be safe and was loath to attempt to +go any further, but Curt Newsom, who had been watching the shifting +clouds of crimson, was wary. + +"A little more and the wind will shift enough to bring the fire down +into this valley. Once it's here it will travel like a race horse and +we'll never reach safety," he warned. + +The director pointed to several heavy steel containers which held the +last of the shots for "Water Hole." + +"Who's going to lug those through the hills?" he demanded. + +"We could take turns," retorted Curt. "Here's a better one. Are those +cans watertight?" He shot the question at one of the cameramen. + +"They're safe enough, all right," he replied. + +"Then let's fasten wires to the handles and lower them into the well +here. If we have to run for it, we'll not be bothered with these heavy +containers and we'll know the last shots are safe." + +Billy Fenstow agreed that Curt's suggestion was an excellent one and +they scattered in search of a coil of wire. One was found near the +bunkhouse. It was fastened to one of the containers and the heavy steel +receptacle was lowered into the well. The wire was cut and the upper end +securely fastened to a timber. Then the operation was repeated, the +second can being lowered until it reached the bottom of the well. Curt +snipped the wire with a pair of pliers and fastened the end with the +first one. + +Janet had been watching the skyline intently. Perhaps she was simply +over-wrought, but she felt sure that the crimson glow had brightened as +though the fire was nearer their own valley. + +"Watch the skyline," she urged Helen. "See if the glow is brightening." + +Helen peered through the half-light. Then she shook her head. + +"I can't be sure, but I think the fire must be nearer," she said. "Had +we better tell Curt?" + +"Yes. He'll want to know." + +The girls called the lanky cowboy aside and Janet confided her fears to +him. + +Curt spun on his heels and stared into the flame-rent sky. + +"Maybe I'm imagining things, but it looks bad," he muttered. Then he +called Billy Fenstow over to him and the rotund little director agreed +that the fire must be getting nearer. + +Curt sniffed the smoke. "It's getting thicker. We'd better get out of +here." + +"What about the bus?" demanded the director. + +"We'll use that as far as we can. There's a trail that goes at least a +mile back in the hills. After that we'll have to go on afoot." + +Orders snapped from Curt's lips. Back into the bus piled the company, +Janet and Helen were among the last and they stopped long enough beside +the well for deep drinks of the cool water. It might be many an hour +before they would have such an opportunity again. + +Curt took the wheel for he knew the trail into the hills. The motor +roared with a heavy song of power and they were away once more, fleeing +before the ever-hungry flames. + +Janet and Helen sank back on the cushions of the rear seat. The trail +was soft and sandy and although the bus lurched heavily at times, they +had an opportunity to relax a little. + +Helen slipped off her oxfords and rubbed her aching feet. + +"Oh, for a good, hot bath," she moaned. "My feet will never be the same +again." + +"Mine ache a little even with my boots on," admitted Janet. She would +have liked to have slipped out of her boots and wriggled her toes but +they were too hard to lace up again. + +Curt was driving with a desperate intentness as the going became more +difficult. The trail had faded into two thin tracks and it was rougher +now. + +Sharp rocks protruded and at any moment a tire might give way. But they +kept on boring into the hills. The engine was working hard now as they +ascended a grade and Janet looked back through the broad, rear window of +the bus. + +The valley they had just left was plainly visible and topping the ridge +above the ranchhouse were the first racing tongues of flame. They had +started just in time. + +Helen turned around and together the girls watched the fire skip down +the slope. When the scene was finally shut off by their own descent into +another valley, the fire was almost to the ranchhouse and Janet felt +sick at heart as she thought of the destruction which was inevitable for +the friendly, rambling old structure. + +The trail they had been following faded completely away and Curt brought +the bus to a stop. + +"Want to get out and walk or shall we go on in the bus?" + +The director's reply came quickly. + +"Where can we go?" + +Curt shrugged his shoulder. + +"You know as well as I do. We've got to go someplace; anywhere to stay +ahead of the fire." + +"Then jam the bus along as far as it will go," ordered the director. + +"Who's going to pay for the damage?" demanded the driver. + +"Never mind that," snapped Curt. "The first thing is to save our own +necks. Then we'll worry about the bus." + +"But I'll have to report what happened to the company." + +"You'll be lucky to get back and make a report," retorted the cowboy. + +They lurched into motion once more, traveling almost blindly now, and +much slower. + +Curt felt his way around clumps of underbrush and outcroppings of rock. +The wind, swirling along with them, carried a heavy curtain of smoke. + +They were rolling down a long slope when a front tire let go with an +explosion like that from a young cannon and Curt twisted desperately at +the wheel, fighting for control of the big vehicle. The driver jumped to +help him and between the two of them they brought it to a halt without +an upset. + +Curt jumped out to survey the damage and returned almost at once. + +"No chance of repairing the tire even if there was time," he announced. +"We'll see how much further we can go." + +With both Curt and the bus driver clinging to the wheel, they started +on, though traveling at a painfully slow pace. + +At the bottom of the valley they stopped, a thin ribbon of a stream +blocking their way. + +Once more the cowboy lunged out into the smoke-filled night to stamp +through the shallow waters of the stream. The bottom seemed fairly firm +and Curt returned and took the wheel. + +"We'll try to go through, but everyone unload. No use to carry any +excess weight." + +The entire company piled out of the bus and watched Curt start across +the stream. He made good progress, the front wheels climbing out on the +other bank and for a moment it looked like he was going across. Then the +sand gave way and the back wheels churned up a spray of sand and dirty +water. + +Curt snapped off the ignition and jumped out of the bus. + +"We're stalled for keeps," he informed them, "but this is about as good +a place as we'll find. We'll start backfires and then when it gets bad, +we can get under a bank along this creek. There'll be water to help us +here." + +Under Curt's dynamic orders, half a dozen backfires were started, the +men working like mad to clear away the underbrush and destroy all +inflammable material near the creek bank where they had decided to make +their stand. + +There was little that Janet and Helen could do, but they insisted on +seizing old coats, wetting them in the stream, and using them to beat +out the flames of the backfires when they had spread far enough. + +The burned area widened rapidly, but Curt spurred his workers on with +renewed pleas and cajoling. One of the cameramen, slipping away to the +bus for a minute, trained his camera on the scene and started grinding +away. The crest of the hill above them was now outlined in a strong, +crimson and the shadowy forms of the workers were visible as they +hastened from one backfire to another. Janet saw the cameraman working, +but she knew their work had progressed far enough so the absence of one +man would not make a great deal of difference. Then, too, she knew that +he might get some shots which would be invaluable in some film needing +good fire sequences. + +Fortunately the bank they had selected had been heavily undercut by the +stream and would afford them protection. Curt set several of the men to +the task of digging further into the bank and they worked with +improvised tools taken from the bus. + +Janet and Helen soaked the coats they had been using again and returned +to the task of beating down the backfires. Curt joined them for a +minute. + +"Better get back under the bank. This thing is going to come down this +slope like a hurricane," he warned. + +"We'll wait until the others start down," said Janet, but he took their +coats and shoved them toward the creek. + +"Get going," he ordered, and his voice was firm. + +They obeyed, for already the fire was starting down the slope and the +girls hastened to the creek bed. + +The water was shallow, not more than six inches deep in any place and +the bottom was sandy. Helen slipped off her torn shoes and wiggled her +toes in the cool luxury of the water. Just then she forgot to worry all +about the fire in the pleasant delight of having her feet comfortable if +even for the moment. + +Men who had been working on the backfires came tumbling over the bank, +falling and splashing into the water, but no one minded being dirty or +wet. + +Janet could hear a roaring that sounded like the beat of scores of +kettle drums--a roaring that was increasing in intensity and furore. + +Splashing along the sandy bottom, she came to a lower place in the bank +where she could look up the slope. + +A solid wall of flame topped the crest, then swept down with an amazing +rapidity. The air was hot and searing like a blast from an over-heated +furnace. + +A handful of men were still grouped around Curt, working until the last +moment to spread the backfire as far as possible. + +Helen, padding through the shallow water, joined Janet and they watched +the awesome scene together. The roar of the onrushing fire increased and +waves of heat beat against their faces. Janet knew that it must be +terrific out on the slope and she wondered when Curt would lead his men +in. + +One of them, gasping and choking, ran toward the creek, lunged past +them, and hurled himself face downward in the water. + +Seconds later Janet heard Curt's cry and the rest of the men, with Curt +and Billy Fenstow bringing up the rear, ran toward the creek bank. + +The director stumbled and fell heavily and the cowboy bent down and +picked him up. Carrying the director in his arms, Curt, staggering under +the extra burden, ran on. One of the men leaped over the bank to help +and together they eased the little director into the water. + +Curt turned instantly and watched the rushing flames. The roar was so +loud now that it was impossible to communicate with one another except +by shouting and Curt ran from one to another, shouting and pounding them +down under the bank where they would get the utmost protection. + +Reaching out he jerked Janet and Helen sharply and jostled them under +the bank. + +"Get under there and stay under. Put a wet cloth to your nose and mouth. +Don't breath any more than you have to." + +Neither one of them possessed handkerchiefs, for these articles had gone +astray long before. One sleeve of Janet's dress had been ripped and she +tore the whole thing out, ripped it again, and gave Helen one half of +it. They dipped the cloth in the creek, squeezed a little of the water +out, and applied the makeshift mask to their faces. + +Burning brands, carried along by the wind, were dropping in the creek +now, hissing and sputtering as they struck the water where they soon +became blackened embers. + +Janet, turning toward the opposite bank, saw a clump of underbrush burst +into flame. The fire, whipped by the rising wind, spread out rapidly. +Venturing a peep above the creek bank, a searing blast of heat struck +her forehead and she could feel her hair curl. One glance was enough, +for a towering wall of flame seemed to be rising straight into the sky. + +Janet ducked back under the protection of the bank and dipped the cloth +into the water again. She straightened up again and glanced toward the +bus. The cameraman who had been grinding away steadily had deserted the +bus and was dragging his camera with him. He reached the shelter of the +bank and other willing hands helped him set up the machine in a position +that was well protected. + +It was impossible to hear now and Janet felt Helen crowding close toward +her. They looked at each other through staring eyes--eyes that reflected +the inward fear that gripped their hearts. The heat was stifling now. +The cloths they had soaked with water were drying with incredible +rapidity and Janet remembered Curt's warning to breath as lightly as +possible. Helen, shoeless, was standing in the water. A hot ember +dropped beside them and struck one of Helen's legs before it had cooled. +She winced at the pain, but there was no escape. + +It seemed as though the entire opposite slope of the valley suddenly +burst into flame and the intensity of the heat redoubled. Janet held her +breath and dipped down into the stream to wet the cloth again. Helen did +likewise a moment later and they gained some relief. + +Billy Fenstow and Curt Newsom were crouched beside the cameraman who was +still grinding away at the red terror. + +Again the cloths on their faces dried and their breaths came in great +choking gasps. Janet felt as though her heat-seared lungs would burst. +She wanted to cry, but the tears were whipped away by the hot blasts. + +The flame on the opposite slope seemed to reach a new peak of intensity +and the water at their feet ran crimson. Then the roar lessened, the +peak of the fire was past. + +Janet, through smoke-rimmed eyes, saw it sweep over the far crest of the +valley. Scattered fires were left burning in its wake, but the main +advance of the fire had rushed on seeking new conquests. + +As the red glow ebbed, they crept out from under the bank and dropped +with abandon into the shallow waters. It mattered little that embers, +some of them still hot, were drifting in the stream, or that the water +itself was now lukewarm--it was a haven from the horror that had just +passed. + + + + +Chapter Ten + +A WELCOME RESCUE + + +Janet couldn't even guess how many minutes they rested on the stream bed +with the water washing away the aches in their weary bodies. As usual, +Curt took the initiative when he had regained a portion of the abundant +vitality that flowed through his veins. + +The cowboy sat up and surveyed the scene. A dozen fires were still +burning in the valley and the horizon ahead of them, tinged in crimson, +marked the passing of the fire demon. + +Billy Fenstow, digging sand out of his ears and sputtering heartily, was +the first to speak. + +"Curt, how in thunder are we ever going to get out of here?" + +The cowboy shook his head. + +"Walk," he moaned, looking down at the once fancy boots which had never +been intended for the heavy work in which they had been used that night. + +Billy Fenstow groaned in anguish. + +"Then I guess I'll just settle down and wait for a flood to come along +and wash me down the valley or until I come to some culvert where I'll +stick." + +The cameraman who had ground away steadily through the thick of the +raging flames crept over to his machine. It had been subject to terrific +heat and there was only a small chance that the negative had come +through without serious damage. + +"How many feet did you shoot?" asked the director. + +The photographer squinted at the footage indicator on the camera, but +there was not enough light to note the figures. + +"If the film isn't ruined they'll be the best scenes of a blaze like +this that have ever been filmed," he predicted. + +Janet struggled into a sitting position and looked around. Her eyes +sought the bus, with only faint hopes that the vehicle had come through +unscathed. If it had, it would offer their one hope of escape for she +felt that repairs might be made to the tires and if not, maybe they +could limp along. + +But her hopes were doomed to disappointment. The bus was a glowing mass +of steel. Fire had swept over it, igniting the upholstery and burning +out the entire interior of the bus. It was a hollow shell with gaping +windows. + +Curt Newsom stood up. + +"There's no use sitting around here wondering what we'll do," he said. +"If a couple of the boys will come along, I'll start back to the trail +and we'll keep going until we find someone or can reach a telephone." + +Two other cowboys joined Curt. + +"The rest of you might follow us and get back as far as the ranch. Maybe +there'll be a little drinking water left in that well," advised Curt as +he started up the trail, hobbling painfully on his twisted boots. + +Helen looked at her oxfords. They were in even worse shape than Curt's +boots. + +"I guess I'll have to stay here," she said, half to herself and half to +Janet. "I'd never make it back to the ranch." + +Janet picked up the water soaked piece of cloth she had used as a mask +to shield her face. + +"Wrap this around one foot and use your piece for your other foot. Then +slip your oxford on loosely. That ought to ease the pain." + +Helen looked grateful and tried the suggestion at once. She wrapped the +damp cloth around as tightly as possible and then pulled on her shoes. +It was a snug fit, but there was a soft cushion for her bruised feet to +rest upon. She stood up and tried walking. + +"That's much better. Thanks a lot, Janet." + +Billy Fenstow took charge then. + +"We'll start for the ranch and go as far as we can," he decided. "There +may be some shelter there and we're in no condition to stay out any +longer than necessary." + +With the director in the van, the singed and tired band started back for +the ranch. After a short distance they struck the trail. It was faint, +but they managed to follow it without too much difficulty. + +Hot blasts of air seemed to sweep down from all sides and breathing +became a painful exercise again. Janet wished that she might have just +one cool, sweet breath of air--just one. + +Helen stumbled and Janet reached out and caught her companion before she +fell. + +"All right?" asked Janet anxiously, for Helen was not of as sturdy stock +as she. + +"I'll make it," replied Helen, the words coming from tight-set lips. + +But Janet was not so sure that Helen could do it. They fell further and +further behind the others, but at last they topped the final ridge and +looked down in the valley where the ranch had been, where they had +filmed so many scenes of "Water Hole," the new picture. + +It was too dark to see the outlines of the ranchhouse but Janet could +discern several large, glowing piles of embers and she knew that even +the buildings at the ranch had been destroyed by the fire. Perhaps the +well was still filled with pure sweet water. Her throat seemed drier at +the thought and she turned her full attention to Helen, who needed a +supporting arm for the final, down hill lap of their journey. + +The cowboys were the first to reach the ranchyard and Janet could hear +them ripping the cover off the well. There was a shout ahead of them. + +"The water's okay. Hurry up!" It was one of the cowboys, and the news +gave them the courage to quicken their lagging steps. + +Billy Fenstow handed Janet a blackened dipper, but she insisted that +Helen take the first drink. There was plenty of water and they all drank +their fill while Billy Fenstow scrambled around the timbers above the +well hunting for the wires which had been fastened to the film +containers they had lowered into the well. He found them at last, but +decided they were safer in the water than any place else. + +"What about going on?" asked one of the cowboys. + +"No use in that. Someone had used the dipper before we got here, so that +means Curt is up ahead of us and he's traveling much faster than we +could. We'll do better to wait right here where they'll find us. Try and +make yourselves comfortable." + +But the director's last words were of little help. The air was still dry +and searing and there was no shelter anywhere. Fires still glowed all +over the valley and little clouds of smoke swept around them. + +Janet and Helen walked over to the ranchhouse, but the embers were +glowing so brightly that it was impossible to get very close. + +"I ache all over," confessed Helen. "When I finally get into bed I'm +going to sleep the clock around." + +"Count me in on that program," nodded Janet. "Well, we might as well sit +down and keep as comfortable as possible." + +But they went back to the well for another drink before trying to relax +on the ground. + +The men were gathered a short distance away, talking in low voices about +their harrowing escape. They conversed in monotones that soon lulled the +girls' tired minds and before she knew it Janet found herself dozing. +They were fitful little naps, broken with sudden thoughts of the fire. +Then she would snap to complete wakefulness, only to have her fatigue +overcome her again. She had dozed perhaps half a dozen times when the +increasing chill of the air awakened her. + +Helen, curled up on the ground, was breathing steadily and deeply and +had not noticed the change in the atmosphere. + +Janet scanned the horizon. There was no scarlet in the northwest +now--only a dense blackness that seemed to be growing thicker. The +southeastern sky was still vividly flame seared. + +The men had ceased their talking, but an occasional glow of a cigarette +marked the dark huddle where they had gathered. A slight snore could be +heard and Janet attributed it to their tubby little director. A flash of +lightning illumined the mounting clouds and Janet shivered at the +thought of a storm sweeping down on them after the fire. + +Helen must have felt the shiver run through Janet's body for she stirred +sleepily. + +"I'll sleep another hour," she mumbled, and Janet knew her companion +thought they were back home. There was no need to awaken Helen now. She +might just as well get as much relaxation as possible. + +Helen slipped back into a deep sleep and Janet kept a lone vigil. The +clouds swept higher and a distant rumble of thunder came down from the +hills. + +The men were moving restlessly now and Janet could hear Billy Fenstow +berating the weather. But there was nothing they could do about it +except complain a little and then hope that someone would reach them +before the coming storm broke. + +Janet wondered how far Curt and the two cowboys who had gone with him +had been able to travel. Perhaps their aching feet had forced them to +stop. But, knowing Curt, she had a feeling that he would get through and +bring help to them as soon as possible. + +Helen sat up, rubbing her blood-shot eyes. + +"More fire?" she asked as the rumble of the thunder smote her ears. + +"Well, not quite that bad. Just a thunderstorm." + +Helen shivered. "We'll catch our death of cold," she groaned, and Janet +had to admit that Helen's fears were not unwarranted. After the heat of +the fire and the fatigue, they would be excellent candidates for severe +colds or anything else that happened along. + +Several of the men who had been hunting around the ranchyard returned to +the well. + +"Can't even find half a board," one of them reported. "The fire swept +everything clean." + +Billy Fenstow turned to Janet and explained. + +"I had a couple of the boys out looking for some boards or anything we +could use to build a shelter for you girls." + +"That was thoughtful," replied Janet, "but we'll get along all right." + +Billy grumbled to himself. He wasn't so sure. The girls had stood a lot +already and there was a limit to their endurance. + +A patter of rain struck them, the drops sizzling as they came down on +the remains of the ranchhouse. + +Janet's spirits dropped and for the first time in weeks she felt like +having a good, old-fashioned crying spell, but there wasn't any pillow +where she could bury her head and she didn't want to cry in front of the +men in the company. + +The valley was hushed for a moment. Even the thunder was silent in the +breathless pause that often comes just before a mid-summer storm vents +its fury. + +It was during this pause that Helen, watching the hills below the storm +clouds, caught a flash of light. It was too low for lightning and she +gripped Janet's right arm. + +"There's a car coming!" she cried. + +Janet turned hopefully and looked in the direction Helen pointed, but +there was no sign of light and she heard an involuntary sob escape from +Helen. + +Then it came again, two twin beams of light cutting around a hill. Helen +was right! A car was coming and Janet, unashamed, felt the tears flowing +freely down her cheeks. + +Billy Fenstow was talking to himself. + +"I knew that lanky cowboy would do it," he said, repeating it over and +over as though he were a human talking machine, stuck on a single note. + +A horn sounded a warning note as the oncoming vehicle swung into the +ranchyard just as the sky opened and the first sweep of rain struck the +valley. Forgetting all else, they ran toward the machine, which proved +to be a hulking truck, with a covered top. + +Janet and Helen reached the rear. Someone reached down and pulled them +under the shelter of the top. A flashlight blazed into their faces and a +strong arm encircled Janet's shoulder. It was Helen's father and they +knew that their worries for that eventful night were over. + + + + +Chapter Eleven + +NEW PLANS + + +The sky seemed to open wide and a great torrent of rain descended on the +heat-ridden earth, but Janet and Helen, in the shelter of the truck, +were safe. + +"All right, honey?" demanded Helen's father, and, assured that his +daughter was no more than bruised and weary, he turned to Janet. + +"How about you, Janet?" he asked. + +"Tired and dirty--that's all," she managed to smile. + +"Here's blankets," he said, picking two off a pile on the floor of the +truck. "Throw these around your shoulders." + +The air was chill now and the girls obeyed without hesitation for their +own clothes were in a bad state of disrepair. + +"How did you find us?" asked Helen when they were seated on the floor of +the truck, and bouncing along toward the main highway which would take +them back to Hollywood. + +"Curt Newsom got through. We were frantic after the line went dead when +you were talking to us from the ranchhouse. We were coming in the truck +and met Curt and the other two cowboys along the trail. From what they +told us we knew that none of you could stand it to be out in the storm +and we made all possible speed." + +"How's mother?" asked Helen. + +"Terribly worried." He turned toward Janet. "We'll phone your folks as +soon as we get home. The fact that a film company was caught in the +center of the fire was broadcast over a national chain and I'm afraid +they may be gravely alarmed." + +"I'll call them at once," agreed Janet. + +They talked at length of their experiences and at last Helen's father +turned to Fenstow. + +"Lose all of your last-day takes?" he asked. + +"Don't believe we lost a one," replied the other director. "We put the +film cans in the well. One of my boys shot some swell scenes of the fire +if the camera didn't get too hot and ruin the negative." + +"Then I suppose you'll use a fire in your next western?" chuckled Henry +Thorne. + +"Can't say," replied Billy Fenstow. "That will be up to Janet." + +"Why Janet?" + +"She's going to do my next scenario." + +"You're not joking?" + +"Of course not. I've gone kind of stale and I thought she could inject +some fresh material. At least she's going to get a fair chance to see +just what kind of a film story she can turn out." + +"Then I'm predicting that she'll do a good job if it's anything like the +caliber of her usual work," replied Helen's father. + +"Don't count on me too much," cautioned Janet. "This is a new field and +I may get in so deep I'll never get anything creditable." + +The truck swung around a sharp curve. Ahead of them was a blaze of light +from the headlights of a score of cars which were parked along the paved +road. Raucous squawks of horns greeted the approaching truck. + +It was still raining hard, but a trim figure, clad in a raincoat, +detached itself from a group in front of one of the cars and hurried +toward the truck. + +"Hello mother. Here I am," called Helen. "Both of us are all right." + +She jumped from the truck and into her mother's arms. After a brief +embrace, her mother spoke quickly. + +"We mustn't stand here. You'll catch cold. Here, get under my coat and +we'll hurry to the car. Janet, you stay in the truck until we can pull +along here." + +Henry Thorne looked down at Janet. + +"Pretty tired?" + +"Just about all in," she confessed and she found it hard to muster a +smile. + +"Had enough of Hollywood?" he asked quietly. + +Janet looked up quickly. + +"I don't know, honestly I don't. The way I feel right now all I want is +sleep and lots of it." + +He nodded understandingly and just then the car drove up beside the +truck and they jumped down and entered it. + +Henry Thorne took the wheel while his wife and the girls made themselves +comfortable in the back seat. Mrs Thorne very wisely made no effort to +ask them about the events of the night, but tucked them in with blankets +and before the car had gone half a mile both girls were sound asleep. + +The next thing Janet knew someone was shaking her shoulder. It was Mrs. +Thorne. + +"We're home and you can be in bed in five minutes," she said. Janet +rubbed a little of the sleep from her tired eyes--just enough so she +could see to get into the house. + +Helen, walking ahead of her, moaned now at every step, for her feet had +been badly bruised by the stones. + +Mrs. Thorne hurried ahead to run a tub of hot water while her husband +drove the car around to the garage. With Mrs. Thorne helping them, the +girls were soon in fresh pajamas. + +Janet decided on a warm shower and Helen followed her under the spray. +Then Mrs. Thorne treated the bruises on Helen's feet and both girls +piled into bed. + +"Sleep as long as you want to," she said as she snapped off the light. + +Janet didn't even hear the click of the switch. She dropped into a deep +slumber, one so heavy that there were no dreams of fires and storms. + +When she finally awoke it was broad daylight. Fresh, sweet air filled +their room. There was no smell of smoke, no threat of storm, and she +wondered, for a moment, if she could have been dreaming about the night +before. It was just possible that it had been a nightmare. Then she +stretched and the aching muscles of her legs told her that indeed it had +not been a nightmare. + +Janet looked over to Helen's bed. Her friend was still sleeping heavily +so Janet slipped out of bed quietly, donned her dressing gown, and went +down to the bathroom. + +Mrs. Thorne heard her moving about and looked in for a minute. + +"We telephoned your folks last night," she said. "They'd heard the radio +broadcast and were greatly relieved when we told them both of you were +safe." + +"Oh, thanks so much. I was so sleepy I forgot all about it," confessed +Janet. + +"Helen getting up?" asked Mrs. Thorne. + +"No, she's sleeping soundly." + +"Then come in to lunch without going back to dress," said Helen's +mother. + +"You mean breakfast?" asked Janet. + +Mrs. Thorne smiled. "No, I mean lunch, and a very late lunch at that. +It's well after two o'clock now." + +Janet, finishing her shower, rubbed her body briskly with a heavy towel, +and slipped the dressing gown on over her pajamas. Then she joined Mrs. +Thorne in the dining room. + +"The morning papers made quite a story of it," said Mrs. Thorne, handing +Janet a copy. + +A bold headline was blazoned across the entire top of the front page: + +"MOVIE COMPANY ESCAPES FIRE!" + +Then, in terse, action sentences, the story told of the narrow escape of +Billy Fenstow's western unit. Janet found Helen's name and her own +mentioned. She was glad that the story gave Curt Newsom full credit for +the cool-headed work which had saved their lives. Curt deserved every +word of it. + +Helen joined them a few minutes later, limping a little for her feet +were still aching from the bruises. + +The girls passed the remainder of the afternoon resting and at dinner +that night became involved in a serious discussion with Helen's father +and mother. + +After the dessert, Henry Thorne pushed back his chair and looked at them +quizzically. + +"Summer's about over," was his opening remark and Janet knew that he had +something on his mind. She had a hunch that she could guess what the +trend of the conversation was to be. + +"You girls made up your minds what you want to do?" + +He seemed to have his eyes fixed on Janet, as though looking to her for +the decision which would guide Helen. + +"First of all I want to try to do the story Billy Fenstow asked me to +do," retorted Janet. "After that I think I'll have had enough of +Hollywood." + +"Getting tired of being an actress?" + +"Not at all, I'm just realizing my limitations and after all, I do want +more education--the type of broadening education that I can get in a +university." + +Henry Thorne swung toward his own daughter. + +"What do you think, Helen?" + +"Why, I haven't made up my mind yet, Dad. I like Hollywood, I've been +having a grand time, but I guess I've never really thought of staying on +here definitely. It was understood from the first that this was just a +glorious vacation and that when summer ended Mother and I would go back +to Clarion and I'd go to college." + +"I expect that's right," nodded her father. "It did start out to be just +a vacation proposition and you girls can make it that if you want, but +I've a new plan that may appeal to you. How would you like to go to +Radio City in New York for several weeks?" + + + + +Chapter Twelve + +THE PREVIEW + + +The girls stared hard at Henry Thorne. It was so like him to toss off an +important statement in an off-hand manner that it left them almost +gasping for breath. + +"Why, Dad, what do you mean?" demanded Helen. + +"Just what I said," smiled her father. "How would you and Janet like to +go to Radio City for several weeks?" + +"I'd like it fine," put in Janet quickly and Helen chorused her own +agreement. + +"Now tell us what it's all about," insisted Helen. + +"I'm a little vague on it myself," admitted her father, "except that the +studio is planning an extensive promotion stunt to boost my last +picture, 'Kings of the Air,' and the general manager, Mr. Rexler, is +going to send a part of the cast to New York City where they'll put on a +radio drama based on the action in the new picture. The whole idea is to +whet the appetites of the film fans by giving them just enough of the +story over the air to make them rush to the nearest theater and see the +actual picture." + +"But where do we come in?" asked Janet. "We were only very minor members +of the cast." + +"True enough, but some of the principals are now working on other +pictures and it would be impractical to release them and send them east +for a promotional stunt so some of the lesser members of the company +will make the trip." + +"Maybe we're lucky to be lesser members," smiled Helen. "When do we +start?" + +"I don't know exactly. The release date for 'Kings' is next month, so I +expect you'll leave here in a few weeks." + +"That will give me just time enough to try the scenario for Billy +Fenstow," said Janet. "Maybe I'd better start work on it tonight." + +"You look pretty tired. Better wait until morning when you'll be +thoroughly rested," advised Helen's father. + +They adjourned to the living room where they gathered around a large +table and discussed possible story plots that Janet could use. She made +several notes and then, with Helen, retired early. + +A second night of sleep found the girls feeling greatly refreshed. Henry +Thorne loaned Janet his own portable typewriter and she set it on a low +table beside the swimming pool, found some yellow copy paper in the +house, rolled a fresh sheet into the typewriter, and sat down waiting +for an idea to pop into her head. + +"Hello, author!" said someone from behind her and she swung about to +face Curt Newsom, who had walked up unheralded. + +"Hello, Curt. Sit down. My, but I'm glad to see you. Are you all right +after the fire?" + +The cowboy smiled. "As right as I'll ever be. I was scared half to death +that night. Say, I saw Billy Fenstow this morning. The picture's all +together now and they're going to screen it at the Bijou down the street +after the regular feature. Better be there tonight." + +"I'll be there in fear and trembling," smiled Janet. + +"Oh, I wouldn't feel that way about it. I think you did a lot better +than most of the girls I've had in the company." + +"Thanks, Curt. That was nice of you to say that, but I realize I have +very definite limitations as an actress." + +"Well, I'm not so hot as an actor," he admitted. "About all I have to do +is stick on a horse and shoot a gun loaded with blank cartridges." + +"That isn't all and you know it," reproved Janet. + +Curt looked at the typewriter and the blank sheet of paper. + +"I'm keeping you from your work. I only dropped in to tell you about the +preview tonight. I've got to get along." + +"I'm supposed to be generating ideas for Mr. Fenstow's next script," +confessed Janet, "but the mental generator seems to have gone on a +strike." + +"What's the story going to be about?" + +"You guess," smiled Janet. + +"Well, why don't you have a young heiress, pretty much spoiled, who owns +a ranch. She's never seen it so she goes west for a trip and while there +learns that most of her fortune has been wiped out through the declining +value of securities and by embezzlement of some of her trustees. About +all she has left is the ranch and a brother who is pretty much +worthless." + +"It's a grand idea," exulted Janet. "Then of course we could have a +cattle war, some rustling, maybe a vein of gold found on the ranch, and +plenty of action." + +"You're supposed to write the story," chided Curt. "Well, I must get +along." + +"Thanks for the help. I'll make you coauthor," called Janet as Curt +strode toward the street. + +Curt's suggestion gave her the nucleus of her story. It would be a +little different treatment of the western theme. Janet started working, +her fingers flowing rhythmically over the keys. She wrote simply. All +that was required of her was a good, comprehensive outline of the story. +The studio writers would put in the dialogue. + +But Janet's interest grew as the story progressed and she found herself +putting in conversation and bits of description of the characters. She +was so absorbed that Helen came and stood beside her for several minutes +before she was aware of her presence. + +"Going strong?" she asked. + +Janet, barely interrupting the smooth flow of her story, nodded. + +"Preview's tonight at the Bijou after the regular feature. Curt Newsom +stopped to tell us." + +"Then you'd better stop writing now. You've been at it steadily for more +than hour. You want to feel peppy tonight when we go to see the +preview." + +Janet finished the paragraph and pulled the sheet of copy from the +machine. She had written eight pages and the top and bottom margins were +narrow. She wanted to keep on writing, but knew that Helen's advice was +sound. She wanted to be rested enough to enjoy "Water Hole," to see +herself, for probably the only time in her life, as the leading lady of +a motion picture. + +They met Billy Fenstow at the box office and he handed them tickets for +a few seats which had been reserved for his friends. + +"Nervous?" he asked Janet. + +"A little. How is it?" + +"Wait and see. Here comes Mr. Rexler." + +The girls turned in time to see the taciturn general manager of the Ace +studio stride into the lobby. Close behind him was Helen's father. Janet +felt her heart sink. Here was the chief of the studio on hand to +pronounce final judgment on the picture. But Bill Fenstow seemed +unperturbed and she forced herself to be calm. + +They all went in together. The feature was a south sea love drama +produced by a rival studio and it was typical program picture with +nothing to make it outstanding in interest. + +Then the picture they had been waiting for flashed on the screen. +"'Water Hole,' directed by Billy Fenstow, starring Curt Newsom and +produced by the Ace Motion Picture Corp." Then came the credits for the +story, photography, etc., and finally the cast of characters with Curt's +name at the top. Janet felt her heart stop for one breathless moment, +Her name--_Janet Hardy_--was the second in the cast and directly under +that was Helen's. + +Then the picture zoomed away to a fast start with the action that always +characterized a Billy Fenstow production. Janet tried to be critical, +but she couldn't help enjoying the picture and her voice didn't sound so +terribly bad as it came out of the loudspeakers. + +The picture ended all too suddenly. The house lights came up and Janet +found herself staring at the others, waiting for their verdict. + +Rexler was the first to speak. He leaned over and tapped Billy Fenstow +on the shoulder. + +"Nice show, Billy. Got the girl signed up?" + +Billy turned to Janet. + +"How about it; want to sign a contract to stay with my unit?" + +Suddenly Janet knew that she didn't. It had been a wonderful summer, +climaxed in the picture she had just seen with herself as leading lady, +but now she was just a little homesick. Then, too, there was the trip to +Radio City. + +"Not right now," she told the director. "Later, perhaps, but not now." + +The general manager looked at her strangely. + +"I wouldn't be surprised if it is the smartest thing you could do. If +you change your mind, let me know." + +He stood up and stalked down the aisle, but Janet knew now that she +would never change her mind. + + + + +Chapter Thirteen + +JANET TURNS AUTHOR + + +Early the next morning Janet returned to the task of writing the story +for Billy Fenstow's next picture. The story developed rapidly and she +found plenty of opportunities to provide the hard-riding action for +which Curt Newsom was famous. + +She worked steadily until mid-forenoon when Helen joined her in the +garden. + +"How is it going?" she asked. + +"It's lots of fun, and I think I have a fairly good idea. Whether I'm +getting it across is another thing," smiled Janet. "I suspect the +regular studio writers will think it pretty much a mess when they get +their hands on it." + +"I wouldn't care much what they think as long as Mr. Fenstow likes it. +After all, he's the one who will accept or reject it and the check you +get will depend on his approval." + +Janet leaned back in her chair and gazed at the scudding white clouds +far overhead. + +"How much do you suppose they'll pay if they accept the story?" she +mused. + +"Sometimes they pay thousands of dollars," said Helen. + +"But only for outstanding books or plays. I mean for little stories like +this; the kind that perhaps have an idea in them that can be developed +further by the studio staff." + +"Maybe a thousand dollars," ventured Helen. + +"That would be enough," said Janet, a faraway look in her eyes. + +"Now just what do you mean by that?" Helen wanted to know. + +"A thousand dollars would go a long ways toward guaranteeing me a +college education. Why, with what I've saved out of our salaries this +summer, I'd have nearly two thousand dollars and I could make that go a +long ways toward four years of college." + +"I've saved a lot this summer, too," admitted Helen. "Dad and mother +were talking this morning. We're going back to Clarion." + +Helen was silent for a moment. Then Janet spoke. + +"When are you going back?" + +"Soon; perhaps next week. But you and I will go on to New York to help +with the radio promotion of 'Kings of the Air.'" + +"Will you be happy in Clarion after a summer here?" asked Janet, +watching her companion closely. + +"I'm sure I will. After all, I'm a small town girl and all this amazes +and scares me a little. Perhaps when college days are over I'll want to +come back and try to make a name for myself in pictures. Dad thinks that +would be wise." + +"What school are you going to go to?" Janet asked the question with +bated breath. They had always planned on going to their own state +university, Corn Belt U., but she thought it possible that Helen's +father might have expressed some other preference since their arrival on +the coast. + +"Corn Belt U.," replied Helen. "Dad left that entirely up to me and of +course I wanted to follow out our plans." + +Janet sighed heartily. She was elated at Helen's words for it meant that +the pleasant companionship they had enjoyed through high school days +could continue through college. + +"We'll have lots of fun," said Helen, "but if we go on to Radio City for +the promotion work we'll have to register late. Perhaps we can arrange +for that while we're home. It isn't more than half a day's drive from +home to school." + +"I'm sure we can, especially if we explain that the trip to New York +will enable us to earn more money for our college educations." + +"But, Janet, you know we don't actually have to earn our way through +school. Dad's got plenty and your father is comfortably fixed." + +"I know it, but it's a matter of pride. I'd like to have as much of my +own money as possible for college. If I got in a pinch, I'd yell for +Dad's help, I suppose." + +They talked on about college plans and were finally interrupted when +Mrs. Thorne summoned them to lunch, + +More plans for their return to Clarion were made at the luncheon table. +Packing would have to be started soon. + +"Let's pick out our college wardrobes here in Hollywood. Then we'll be +sure and have the latest styles." + +"Maybe Hollywood styles won't be campus styles," smiled Janet, "but I +would like a chance to wear that wonderful gown Roddy made for me to a +college party." + +It was pleasant to think of their first experience in Hollywood when +Roddy, the famous designer of gowns at the Ace studio, had created +gorgeous evening gowns for them to wear at their first movie premiere. +Janet could imagine that wearing such gowns at a party on the campus at +Corn Belt U. would create quite a sensation, and she thrilled pleasantly +at the thought. + +After luncheon was over, Janet returned to her writing and Helen joined +her beside the pool, stripping the wrapper off a copy of the _Clarion +Times_, which had arrived on the noonday mail. + +"Look at this; what nerve!" exclaimed Helen, shoving the front page of +the paper at Janet. She pointed to a story in the center of the page. + +Janet stared at the headline with unbelieving eyes. + + "LOCAL GIRLS FEATURED IN MOVIE." + +Her eyes followed down to the story, which heralded the fact that Cora +Dean and Margie Blake, Clarion girls touring in the west, had been +drafted for rôles in a western picture by Billy Fenstow, the famous +director. Janet read on. + +"Miss Dean and Miss Blake report that Janet Hardy and Helen Thorne also +have rôles in the picture," the story said. + +It was then that Janet flushed. She could have told Cora and Margie just +what she thought of them if they had been anywhere within hearing +distance but fortunately for them, perhaps, they were a good many miles +away. + +"How do you suppose the _Times_ got that story?" asked Janet, the flush +fading from her cheeks. + +"I know," said Helen with emphasis. "Cora wrote to Pete Benda, the city +editor, and gave him all of the information which is in the story. +Imagine her telling him 'that we are also in the picture.' I'm certainly +going to see that 'Water Hole' is shown in the theaters at home. That +will kind of spoil their story." + +Janet laughed. "Perhaps Cora and Margie did feel that they had the major +rôles. You never can tell what others will think is important." + +"It would be a joke on them if the film cutters left out the sequence +they're in," chuckled Helen. + +Janet looked at her quickly. + +"Don't you suggest that to anyone," she warned. + +"I won't," promised Helen. + +Janet handed the paper back to her companion and went on with her work. +She spent most of the afternoon at the typewriter and when she was +through, felt that she had done a good day's work. The manuscript would +be ready with only another morning's writing. + +Billy Fenstow, dropping in after dinner for a visit with Helen's father +inquired about the story and Janet handed him the first draft of as much +as she had completed. + +The little director read it with interest, the lines around his eyes +gathering in little puckers as he skimmed through the typed pages. Janet +almost held her breath through all the time he was reading and she saw +Henry Thorne leaning forward, trying to read some reaction on Billy +Fenstow's face. + +When the director had finished, he looked up and smiled at Janet. + +"Reads well," he commented. "Of course there are a lot of rough spots, +but we'll be able to use it." + + + + +Chapter Fourteen + +CLOTHES BY RODDY + + +Janet felt her pulse pounding. Acceptance of the story would mean a +great deal toward swelling her college fund and she leaned forward +eagerly. + +"You mean you'll accept it?" she asked. + +"If your final chapters are as good as these, we'll take it," replied +Mr. Fenstow. "Of course we won't be able to pay a whole lot since the +studio staff will have to whip it into shape, but we'll make it worth +your while." + +"How much do you think it will be?" this was from Helen, whose interest +in the sale of the story was almost as great as Janet's. + +Billy Fenstow mopped his forehead. + +"That will be up to Mr. Rexler. I'd say that it wouldn't be more than a +thousand dollars." + +"Really!" gasped Janet, who had visions of her college fund mounting in +one great jump. + +"Well, maybe not that much, but I'll get all I can for you. Now you +finish it up as rapidly as possible." + +"It will be ready tomorrow noon," promised Janet. + +Billy Fenstow left a short time later and after he had gone, Henry +Thorne spoke to them about the journey back to Clarion. + +"Now that Janet is practically assured the sale of her story, we'd +better make our plans. Can you be ready to start home next Monday?" + +The girls looked blankly at each other. Of course they had known that +their stay in Hollywood was near an end, but to put the date so soon was +something of a shock. + +Mrs. Thorne spoke first. + +"I'm sure we can, Henry. But we'll almost need a truck to take back all +of the things we've accumulated." + +"I'll have some professional packers come out and make whatever boxes +are needed," her husband assured her. + +"But we've got to get clothes," wailed Helen. "We want to wear Hollywood +styles when we go to college." + +Her father bit the end of his cigar and looked at it thoughtfully. + +"Why don't you call on Roddy?" + +"But he wouldn't do clothes for us; we couldn't afford it," said Helen. + +"He might do it for you as a special favor to me," grinned her father. +"As a matter of fact, I think he mentioned something about it the other +day. Wanted to know when you were leaving and said he might be able to +do something for you." + +"We'll see him the first thing in the morning," said Helen. + +"I won't," spoke up Janet. "I've got to finish the story whether I have +clothes made by Roddy or not." + +"That's the fight, Janet," said Henry Thorne. + +"When do we go on to Radio City?" asked Helen. + +"You'll have only a couple of days at home. Then you'll have to go on to +New York." + +"How long will we be there?" Janet wanted to know. + +"I'm not sure. At least ten days; perhaps more." + +"Which means we'll have to hurry back home and start in to school as +soon as our work at Radio City is over," put in Helen. "I wonder how it +will seem to be before a microphone?" + +"Not any worse than before a camera," said Janet. + +They talked on at length of plans for their college days and although it +was late when they went to bed, Janet was up early and working at her +typewriter. The final two chapters of her story unrolled easily and +rapidly and at eleven o'clock she leaned back in her chair. The job was +done. + +Helen had gone on to the studio to talk with Roddy and Janet was to join +her after lunch. Janet stood up and stretched. Her back ached from the +strain of bending over her typewriter and she went into the house and +changed into her trim swimming suit. Fifteen minutes in the pool washed +away the aches and when she emerged she felt greatly refreshed. + +Janet dressed carefully for she wanted to look well when she talked to +Roddy. Mrs. Thorne was the only other one at home for lunch and they +enjoyed a pleasant meal. + +Janet picked up the finished manuscript and took it with her to the +studio. She left it at Billy Fenstow's office and went on to the +building where Roddy had his office and where the wizard of design +created the gorgeous fashions that were worn by the stars in the big +productions at the Ace studio. + +Helen was in Roddy's own fitting room and Janet joined her there. Roddy +appeared in a few minutes and after greeting her warmly, set about the +task of providing her with a new outfit. + +"Tell me just what you want," he smiled. + +"Honestly, I don't know. I'm going to college," said Janet. + +"Then let me decide," he begged and Janet agreed. + +The next hours passed in a swirl of fittings and cloth which was draped +this way and that around them, and when they were through neither girl +knew exactly what had happened. + +"That's all," said the little designer. "I'll send them to your home. It +will be a week before they're ready." + +"Thanks so much," said the girls as Roddy waved them out of the office. + +"What do you suppose he's going to make?" asked Janet. + +"Well, I know there'll be a sport outfit and an afternoon dress; perhaps +something for the classroom; about three apiece." + +"But how will we ever pay for them? The materials alone will be more +than we can afford." + +"Let's not worry about that. I have a hunch that there will never be a +bill for them." + +They met Helen's father near the studio entrance and they all drove home +together. + +"I've had a long talk with the general manager," he said. "You've got to +be in Radio City in about ten days." + +"That won't mean much time at home," said Janet. + +"Nor much to get to Corn Belt U. and get our late registrations fixed +up," added Helen. + +"Don't worry about that. All those details can be taken care of," said +her father. "Just plan to have a good time in Radio City when you get +there." + +Both girls knew that they would enjoy their broadcasting experience in +New York to the utmost. There might be a little fear of the microphone +but they knew that facing a camera couldn't be any harder than one of +the silent "Mikes." + +At dinner that night they told of their hours with Roddy and speculated +again at the creations which his fertile mind would turn out for them. + +"No use to try and guess," warned Helen's father. "You never can predict +what Roddy will do." + +On the following day Janet received a telephone call from Billy Fenstow. + +"Can you come over to the studio?" he asked. + +"Just as soon as a taxi can get me there," she promised. + +Helen and her mother were down town shopping and Janet phoned for a +taxi. She slipped into a fresh dress while she was waiting and then was +whirled away to the studio. Envious eyes watched her go through the +gates which were shut to so many. + +Janet found the little director in his office back at stage nine, her +pile of manuscript in front of him. + +"I've finished the story and Mr. Rexler has gone over it," said the +director, after greeting Janet and waving her toward a chair. + +She waited breathlessly for his next words. + +"We both think it will do. Mind, it isn't anything sensational, but it +does have a new twist or two and can be made into a Curt Newsom feature +very well." + +He paused and picked up a check which was on his desk. + +"There will have to be a great deal done to the story by our own writing +staff, so we felt seven hundred and fifty dollars would be a fair price +to offer for the story," he said handing the check to Janet. + +She took it mechanically and turned it over. Then looked at the name on +the face of the check. It was payable to Janet Hardy. + +"Thanks so much, Mr. Fenstow. It's very satisfactory." + +"Too bad you won't stay on. I'd give you the lead," he urged. + +"I'm sorry, but I've made up my mind. Perhaps when college days are +over, I'll come back and apply for a job." + +"You'll get one if I'm still on the lot grinding out westerns," he +promised. + +Janet left the little office and walked across the sprawling motion +picture plant. It was probably her last visit for the hours left before +their departure would be filled with thoughts of packing. It was a dull +time at the studio, with only one or two pictures in production, but +with the coming weeks every sound stage would be humming with activity +as new celluloid dramas were rushed to completion for the entertainment +of millions of movie fans. Janet knew that she would not be a part of +it, but there was a tremendous satisfaction in recalling the experiences +of the past weeks and looking forward to the new ones that were bound to +come at Radio City. + + + + +Chapter Fifteen + +HOMEWARD BOUND + + +Hours filled with packing and last minute details took their time up +almost until the actual hour of the departure of their plane. They +finished finally at midnight and they were to take the four o'clock +eastbound plane for the midwest. New schedules had been inaugurated +since they had come west and they would be home in time for dinner that +night. + +Helen's mother came in. + +"You girls must get some sleep, or you'll look pretty much worn out when +you reach Clarion." + +"I'm too excited to sleep," confessed Janet. + +"Then let's take a swim in the pool. That ought to relax us," urged +Helen. + +They slipped into their suits and for nearly half an hour enjoyed the +pool. The moon was well up in the cloudless sky and it was an ideal +night. Neither girl said very much, just floated on the pool, wondering +what the coming weeks would have in store for them. + +When they finally emerged from the water they were ready to call it a +day and they were sound asleep by one o'clock. + +Mrs. Thorne called them at three. It was still dark, but a hot breakfast +was ready for them in the dining room. Even up to the last minute it +seemed as though there were a host of things to do and they took a final +survey of the house before they closed their bags. Two cabs were +waiting; one for them and the other to take their bags. + +It was exactly three-thirty when they started for the airport. The +streets were deserted and lights were on in only a few of the homes. +Their cab swung on to a boulevard and flashed past the entrance of the +Ace studio. Janet caught only a glimpse of the plant, but she felt a +queer tightening of her heart, and she wondered if she had been wise in +deciding to leave Hollywood. But it was too late now. She had made her +decision. + +At the airport the big twin-motored transport was on the ramp, its +motors idling and flickers of blue flame coming out of the exhaust under +the wing. + +An attendant at the gate checked the tickets Henry Thorne held in his +hand and they were escorted to the plane where their stewardess assigned +their seats. The cabin of this ship was even more luxuriously furnished +than the one in which they had flown west and Janet settled herself +comfortably into the thickly upholstered chair. Their baggage was stowed +in the tail of the plane and then she saw the pilots come out of the +office. + +They stepped into the cabin and walked up the narrow aisle to their own +compartment. Both of them were youthful and Janet wondered that they had +the marvelous skill in their hands necessary to guide the huge plane on +its flight. + +Two more passengers hastened up to the gate and were escorted to the +cabin. Then the stewardess checked the list of reservations. In addition +to Henry Thorne and his party, there were only the two late-comers, both +of whom were men. + +The motors roared and the plane rolled ahead, gaining speed rapidly. +Before Janet knew it they were off the ground and soaring into a half +light of the early day. A blanket of lights unfolded beneath them, but +the lights were strangely dim and the plane headed away for the +mountains, climbing steadily to have safety in crossing the dangerous +peaks. + +Night faded rapidly now and they were well into the mountains at +sunrise. They were heading northeast, flying now over great stretches of +desolate land where there was nothing but sand and sagebrush, and +sometimes precious little sagebrush. + +Salt Lake City was beneath them almost before they knew it and when the +plane landed there Janet and Helen got out to stretch their legs while +the crews were changed and the plane refuelled. Then they were in the +air again, climbing once more to get above the continental divide and +after that came the descent to Cheyenne. Lunch was served aboard the +plane with Omaha the next stop and they roared on east as the sun rolled +westward. + +Janet was watching the landscape below closely now for this was her home +state--a land dotted with many farms and huddles of houses that were the +villages, tied together by strips of white highway and an occasional +train that seemed to be puffing along a ladder which had been laid on +the ground. + +Almost before she knew it the motors of the plane lessened their roar +and a town appeared underneath. It was Rubio, the nearest regular stop +on the transcontinental line. + +The giant transport settled down easily. Janet felt the wheels touch and +she looked eagerly through the heavy glass of the window for the first +glimpse of her father and mother. + +She saw them on the ramp, gazing anxiously at the plane as it wheeled up +to the concrete slab. + +Janet, the first out of the plane, ran to greet them. Her mother +embraced her affectionately and her father gave her a hearty hug. + +"My, but it's good to see you!" he declared. "We've missed you so much." + +"And I've missed you, but I've had a grand time," replied Janet, locking +her arms in theirs. + +The Thornes came up and there were greetings all around. Then Henry +Thorne and Janet's father supervised the loading of the luggage into the +Hardy sedan. + +The car was crowded, but they had so much to talk about and were so +eager to say it that the inconvenience of short space mattered little. + +Taking turns, Janet and Helen, rather breathlessly, told the story of +their summer in Hollywood while John Hardy whirled them smoothly and +safely along the ribbon of concrete that led from Rubio to Clarion. + +They stopped at the Thorne home and unloaded most of the luggage there. + +"You're coming over to dinner," Mrs. Hardy told them. "Is six-thirty all +right?" + +"We'll be there," promised Mrs. Thorne, who was anxious for all of the +news of her friends in Clarion. + +When they were home, Janet and her father and mother sat down in the +comfortable living room and she told them more in detail of her +adventures in the west, of the making of the western films and of their +narrow escape from death in the fire. + +"We were greatly worried by the radio report," said her father, "but the +call from the Thornes reassured us." + +Janet's mother spoke up. + +"Are you going on to New York City?" + +"Yes, mother. We'll only have a few days at home. Then Helen and I are +to go on to New York for a few days for a promotional broadcast on Mr. +Thorne's new picture, 'Kings of the Air.' You know, we had minor rôles +in it and some members of the cast are being sent east to take part in +this promotion work. I think it will be great fun." + +"But how about college?" her father wanted to know. + +"That's one of the things I'll have to see about while I'm home this +time. Maybe you would drive Helen and me over to Corn Belt U. some time +tomorrow or the next day so we could see about registration? We'll have +to arrange to enter classes late." + +"We can go tomorrow," nodded her father. "I've arranged to spend most of +the rest of the week at home. Mother and I want to hear _all_ about +Hollywood." + +"I didn't see it all," smiled Janet. "But it's a grand place, at least +in which to spend one summer." + +The Thornes arrived promptly at the dinner hour and they visited at +length over a leisurely meal. At eight o'clock Henry Thorne glanced at +his watch. + +"The manager of the Pastime telephoned just before dinner to say that he +had received a print of 'Water Hole,' a new western, and would add it to +his regular program tonight. Think you'd like to go?" + +"Why, Janet, isn't that the picture you and Helen were in?" asked her +mother. + +Janet nodded and turned to Henry Thorne, who was smiling. + +"I believe you had that print of the film shipped east on the plane with +us," she accused. + +"What of it?" he parried. + +"Of course we'll go," said Janet's mother. "We'll leave the dishes right +on the table. It isn't every day that I get such an opportunity." + +Helen slipped away from the table and Janet could hear her at the phone +calling for Pete Benda, the city editor of the _Times_. + +"Pete? This is Helen Thorne. Yes, I'm back in town. Drop in at the +Pastime this evening if you'd like to see the parts that Cora Dean and +Margie Blake took in that western picture they wrote you about. No, +never mind a story about us now. We've had plenty of publicity." + +Helen hung up the receiver and turned to face Janet. + +"Do you think that was nice?" asked Janet, but there was an upward twist +of her lips. + +"Maybe it wasn't exactly nice, but it was a lot of fun," conceded Helen. + +There was just a tang of fall in the air and they slipped on light +jackets, deciding to walk to the theater, which was less than half a +dozen blocks away. + +Janet's father insisted on buying the tickets for the party and they had +excellent seats well down in the front of the theater. Janet thought she +saw Pete Benda slide into a seat ahead of them, but she couldn't be +sure. + +The regular feature came to an end and the western, which had been +added, flashed on the screen. Janet felt her pulse quicken as the title +and the cast of characters, with her own name under Curt Newsom's. The +action started and she glanced at her father and mother. They were +completely absorbed in the picture. + +Janet enjoyed it thoroughly. After all, it _was_ a pretty good picture +for a western and the clothes Roddy had designed for Helen and her added +just the right touch of smartness. + +The action came to a driving climax and then the picture was over and +people around them started to leave. As they walked down the aisle Pete +Benda joined them. + +"Congratulations, girls. That was a nice show. Say, where were Cora and +Margie?" + +"Didn't you see them?" asked Helen naively. + +"Don't kid me," growled Pete. "Where were they?" + +"If you had been looking closely at the crowd in one of the scenes in +the town you would have seen them," smiled Helen. "Better come tomorrow +night and look again." + +"Maybe I will," admitted Pete, "but if I do it will be to look at Janet +and you. Say, what's this I hear about you going on to Radio City?" + +"That's something that will keep," said Helen. "See you later." + +On the way home Janet's father and mother told her how proud they were +of her work and she felt a real sense of elation, for compliments from +them meant more than from anyone else. + +It was well after midnight when she finally went to sleep in the bed in +her own attractive room. Tomorrow there would be the trip to Corn Belt +U. and then on to New York in a few days. + + + + +Chapter Sixteen + +GORGEOUS GOWNS + + +The next morning both the Hardy and the Thorne households were up early +for it had been decided to make the trip to Newton, the seat of Corn +Belt U., during the morning. The girls could complete their plans for +registration during the afternoon and in the evening they could return +home in good time. + +Janet was nearly through breakfast when an express messenger called at +the door. + +"Package for Miss Janet Hardy," he announced. "Air express, too." + +Janet signed for the package. It was long and unusually well wrapped and +when she saw the return address, "Ace Motion Picture Corp., Costume +Department," she tingled all over, for she knew that inside were the +dresses George Roddy, or Adoree as he was know professionally, had +created for her. + +Janet's mother helped her rip aside the heavy brown paper with which the +cardboard box was wrapped. Inside were layers of tissue and then they +gazed upon the first dress, a sport outfit of green wool in lines so +plain that its daring was startling. The jacket fitted snugly with a tie +about the throat and the ends extended over Janet's shoulders. + +After that came an afternoon dress, a rich brown velvet that caught and +threw back at them the morning light. The skirt was plain with the upper +half of the dress in a Russian blouse design with the plain roll collar +of cloth of gold. + +"Why, it's the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen," exclaimed Janet's +mother. "How did this all happen?" + +Briefly, Janet told how Roddy had taken an interest in them and in +seeing that they had attractive and striking clothes. + +There was one more dress, a garment designed for classroom wear. This +was a corduroy--a deep blue that was dazzling in its intensity. + +Before Janet could get it completely out of its heavy tissue wrappings +the telephone rang and when she answered Helen's excited voice came +tumbling over the wire. She, too, had received her box from Roddy--a +sports outfit, an afternoon dress and another dress for classroom wear. + +"Let's wear one of our new dresses when we go to the university to +register," said Helen, and Janet agreed. Each of them had corduroys and +they decided to wear these. + +Janet took the last garment, the corduroy one, from its wrappings and +hurried upstairs to try it on. Her mother hastened after her, as eager +as Janet to see how the new dress fitted and looked. + +Janet wriggled into the cool, smooth garment and whirled to face her +mother. Her hair was a bit touseled and her cheeks flushed from the +excitement and the vivid blue of the dress only heightened her youthful +charm. + +"You look beautiful, dear," breathed her mother. "I've never seen +anything more lovely." + +Janet turned back to her mirror and gazed at the dress Roddy's agile +mind had conceived for her. It _was_ striking. + +The blue corduroy hung well, fitting closely around her slim hips and +opening at the throat with a semi-military cut. A neat little pocket was +placed just above her heart. The sleeves were wrist length, rather full +at the shoulders and tapering to a close fit just above her hands where +they were caught and tied with two silver bands. + +Someone came pounding up the stairs. It was Helen, who burst into the +room like a young hurricane. Like Janet, she was attired in one of her +new dresses. It was corduroy, but of an umber hue that was set off to +perfection by Helen's dark hair and the olive coloring of her face. +There was just enough difference in the two dresses to make them varied, +yet at a glance an observer could tell that they had been created by the +same master hand. + +Helen even had on brown hose and shoes that matched her dress. + +"Where are your new shoes?" she demanded. + +Janet delved further into the box. At the bottom was a shoe box and she +opened it with shaking fingers. This was more than she had ever dared +imagine. She drew forth a pair of blue kid slippers and tucked in them +were three pairs of blue hose to match her dress and shoes. She changed +shoes and hose and stood up again, whirling in front of the mirror. The +costume now was perfection itself. She ran a comb through her golden +hair and knew the thrill that comes from knowing a costume is perfect. + +"Do you suppose we'll be asked to join a sorority at school?" asked +Helen. + +"If they see you in these dresses I imagine you can join any or all of +them," smiled Mrs. Hardy. "Come now, we must be ready when the men want +to start." + +On the echo of her words a horn sounded below. Janet dabbed a little +powder on her face and joined Helen as they hurried down stairs. Even +their fathers were elated over the new dresses and both girls felt that +their cups of happiness were filled to overflowing. + +"Honestly," confided Helen, "I hate to wear this in the car. I'd like to +take it off and then put it on when we get near school." + +"I suppose you'd like to ride all of the way wrapped up in a blanket or +something," chided Janet. "But I'll admit that I hate to sit down in +this dress." + +It was a beautifully clear morning and John Hardy sent his big car +speeding over the paved road at a fast pace. They were in Newton in +ample time to drive around the university grounds and have a leisurely +lunch before going to the office of the dean of women to take the first +steps in registering. + +The campus of Corn Belt U. was lined with stately elms that had watched +over the destiny of the school for more than three quarters of a +century. The main buildings were of Indiana limestone with a few of the +older ones of red-faced brick, now well covered with a rich growth of +English ivy. + +Janet knew that she would enjoy going to school here. There was a spirit +of calm and dignity about the campus that appealed to her. + +At lunch they talked of plans for school and of what they would take. + +"I'm going to get all of the dramatics and English I can absorb," +declared Helen. "Perhaps a little history, too." + +"How about you, Janet?" + +"I think my major courses will be journalism, and perhaps just a little +in the way of dramatics." + +"Not thinking about going back to Hollywood and joining Billy Fenstow's +company when you're through, are you?" chided the director. + +"Well, I might have that idea in mind if no newspaper will take me on as +a reporter," conceded Janet. + +Luncheon over they went directly to the administration building where, +after a short wait, they were ushered into the office of the dean of +women. + +Mrs. Laird was a pleasant woman of about fifty and Janet saw her keen +eyes take in every inch of their costumes in a glance and she thought +she saw just a trace of suspicion arise in the dean's eyes. + +Janet's father explained their mission, pointing out that because of +their coming trip to Radio City they would be late in taking up class +work. + +"It's a little unusual to arrange registration in this way," said the +dean, "but I believe you can be accommodated." + +For an hour they went over class schedules, the dean advising them on +the courses best suited to what they had in mind. She assisted them in +filling out the final registration cards and paused at one question. + +"Do you hope to join a sorority?" she asked. + +"We won't be here in time for the rushing parties," replied Janet. +"Perhaps that had better wait until another semester, that is, if any of +the groups should want us for membership." + +The dean's cool eyes surveyed the fashionably dressed girls. + +"I rather imagine you could take your pick of the sororities right now +if the girls were here," she said. + +The registration was over. The girls were to have rooms in Currier Hall, +an old but comfortable dormitory. + +"The dean seemed a little cool," said Helen. + +"I noticed that, too," Janet said. "Evidently she doesn't think much of +the plans which call for us hurrying away to New York." + +"Can't be helped; we're going," said Helen. + +When they returned home a telegram was waiting for Henry Thorne. + +"This interests you girls more than it does me," he said, handing the +message to his daughter. + +Helen read it eagerly. + +"Have Janet and Helen report next Monday morning at Radio City at ten +o'clock," she said. + +"That means we'll have to leave here Saturday night. Why, that's only +tomorrow night!" gasped Janet. + + + + +Chapter Seventeen + +HELLO, NEW YORK + + +They were so busy until after dinner that night that Janet had no time +to scan the evening paper. When she picked up the _Times_ it was with +pleasant surprise for in the middle of the front page was a story by +Pete Benda, reviewing "Water Hole" and describing the rôles Janet and +Helen played. + +"Miss Hardy gave a most pleasing portrayal in the rôle of the heroine," +Pete had written, "and a good many local people will enjoy this picture +to the utmost. It is far above the average western." + +Near the end was a line. "Cora Dean and Margie Blake, local girls who +were also in the picture, may be seen in a crowd scene at the village." +Janet smiled as she thought of the humiliation that Cora would feel. +Well, it had been a mean trick of Cora's to write Pete Benda that she +and Margie had leading rôles. + +Helen's father made complete plans for their trip to New York for the +Ace company was paying all expenses as well as salaries to Janet and +Helen while they were in the east. + +Both Janet and Helen packed the new dresses Roddy had sent them in the +large bags which they were taking with them. There might be little +actual opportunity to wear them, but they wanted to be prepared. + +Their train for Chicago left at ten o'clock and they arrived at the +station in ample time, Janet's father conveying them there. He had +reserved a drawing room for them and they felt elated over that. + +The _Chicago Limited_ was on time to the minute, the puffing locomotive +drawing its long string of Pullmans to an easy stop. The girls had +drawing room A in car fifty-seven. The porter took their bags as they +turned to say good-bye to their parents. + +"Got plenty of money?" Janet's father asked in a whisper. + +"Plenty, Dad. And I'll get paid while I'm in New York." + +But he slipped her a small, black book that resembled a check book. + +"Put this in your purse. It will come in handy if you have an +emergency," he said. + +Calls of "Bo-o-oard," rang along the train. Final good-byes were said +and the girls stepped into the vestibule of their car. The train started +easily and they waved to their parents. Then they were out of the train +shed, picking up speed rapidly for the remainder of the night run to +Chicago. + +They retired to their drawing-room, finished in restful tones of rose +and gray, and slipped into pajamas. Both being tired, they went to bed +at once, Janet in the upper berth and Helen in the lower. + +The car was air conditioned and they slept restfully, neither one of +them awakening until they were in the outskirts of Chicago. + +"What are you going to wear today?" asked Helen, stretching luxuriously +between the crisp, cool sheets. + +"My corduroy dress," said Janet. "It's excellent for travel; comfortable +and it won't muss easily." + +"That appeals to me," replied Helen, slipping out of bed and starting to +dress while Janet lowered herself out of the upper. + +The train was past Englewood by the time they were dressed and their +porter came in to take their bags. + +"Going to wear a hat?" asked Janet. + +"Not with this dress; I haven't anything that goes well with it." + +Janet tipped the porter and a red cap, waiting on the platform, took +their bags. Their New York train was only four tracks away and would +depart within an hour so their bags were taken directly to the Pullman, +where another drawing room had been reserved for the Chicago-New York +trip. + +After making sure that their bags were in the drawing room, Janet and +Helen went into the great, high ceilinged dining room in the station. +They enjoyed a hearty breakfast of delicious country ham and eggs with +crisp toast and a cool glass of milk. + +Janet bought several morning papers and they returned to the train shed. +Trains which had been rushing across the plains all night in their dash +for Chicago were still arriving, while on other tracks long strings of +coaches, ready to start carrying passengers away from the city, were +being backed down the tracks. + +Re-entering their New York train, they found seats in the luxurious +limousine-lounge car at the rear of the train where the observation +platform was enclosed in glass. A radio was tuned softly and all of the +latest magazines were available. + +Travel was light that day and at the start of the trip they were the +only ones in the lounge car as the train rolled smoothly out of the +station. + +There was a brief pause at Englewood, then they were off again, picking +up speed as the train skirted the southern edge of Lake Michigan where +great industrial plants were perched along the shore and lake freighters +seemed to spring out of the prairie as the rails crossed canals. + +At lunch time they were well into Indiana. Only a few more passengers +had boarded the train and they had the dining car practically to +themselves. + +As the afternoon advanced they dipped into Ohio and stops were more +frequent. By late afternoon the train was well filled and space in the +lounge car was almost at a premium. + +Janet and Helen went to bed early that night for the coming day promised +to be an unusually busy and exciting one for them--they would have their +first glimpse of New York, visit Radio City, and receive their +assignments for the radio play they were to be in. + +"What are you going to wear tomorrow?" asked Helen as she snuggled down +between the crisp sheets. + +"I don't know, perhaps the corduroy dress I had on today," replied +Janet. "It's so comfortable and I think it's becoming." + +"I guess I'll vote that way, too," said Helen, and a minute later both +girls were asleep. + +They were up early the next morning, breakfasting as the train sped out +of the Jersey hills and straightened out for its dash across the +tidewater flats to Jersey City. They shot past commuter trains at almost +regular intervals for their limited had the right of way. + +As they neared the terminal, the porter took their bags and Helen handed +him a tip. Her father had deliberately routed them over a line which +ended in Jersey City so that they might have their first real glimpse of +the towering New York skyline from a ferryboat. + +The passengers poured off the train and onto the nearby ferry. Bells +clanged, smoke rolled from the twin stacks, and the bulky boat nosed out +into the river. + +Helen crowded close to Janet as the full majesty of the skyline was +unfolded. To their right was the lower city with its cluster of +skyscrapers while to their left was mid-town with the Empire State +towering almost into the clouds. A little beyond that the sharp spire of +the Chrysler building rose skyward. + +On the New York side of the Hudson liners were sandwiched into the docks +and Janet grabbed Helen's arm and pointed to one. It was the _Europa_, +famed speed liner. A little further along was the _Rex_, pride of the +Italian merchant marine. + +Then the ferry was nosing into its pier. Gates clanged, their baggage +was loaded aboard a taxi, and almost before they knew it they were +whirling away toward the heart of the city. Helen had given their hotel +address. + +Up onto an elevated roadway sped their cab where it rocketed along at +forty-five miles an hour. Then they shot onto an incline and eased down +into a street below. Traffic lights slowed them up now, but in less than +ten minutes after leaving the ferry they were in Times Square, the very +heart of the throbbing city, where Broadway and Seventh Avenue cross to +form a great triangular opening. + +At the hotel desk Janet registered for both of them. + +"We were to have reservations," she said. + +The clerk checked the registration list and marked their names off. Then +they were whisked away to their rooms, high up and on the inside, where +they could sleep in something like quiet. They had two rooms with a +connecting bath. + +"Well, what do you think of the city?" asked Helen. + +"I'm still a little breathless," admitted Janet. "Los Angeles was +large--but New York--it just seems to swallow you up." + +They dressed carefully in preparation for their trip to Radio City and +at nine-thirty o'clock went down stairs and inquired the best way to +reach their destination. The clerk on duty suggested that they walk. + +"It's only a short distance. Go one block to Sixth Avenue, turn to the +left, and continue six blocks to Radio City." + +The morning air was clear and cool as they set forth, walking briskly +and taking in everything about them. On Sixth Avenue elevated trains +rumbled overhead, but up the street they could see the towering building +which housed Radio City and their steps quickened. + +They reached their destination in a few minutes and turned to the right +to the entrance which led to the offices of the World Broadcasting +Company, the chain which was to put their program on the air. The lobby +was of chromium and black and they stepped into a modernistic elevator +that whisked them upward so rapidly they were breathless. + +They stepped out at the twenty-seventh floor and into a luxuriously +furnished lobby where there were comfortable chairs and restful lights. +A young woman at the reception desk looked up as the girls advanced. + +"We're to join the company from the Ace studios," Janet explained. + +"Your names?" The inquiry was purely impersonal. + +"Janet Hardy and Helen Thorne." + +The young woman checked their names and called a page. + +"Take them to studio K," she directed. + +Janet and Helen turned and followed the page, who was leading them to a +new chapter of their lives--one more thrilling than they could have +imagined even in their deepest dreams. + + + + +Chapter Eighteen + +IN RADIO CITY + + +The page ushered them into the studio and the first person they saw was +Curt Newsom, the tall cowboy star who had also had a part in "Kings of +the Air." + +Curt hastened to greet them. + +"When did you get in?" he asked. + +"This morning," replied Janet. "My, but it's good to see you again. I +didn't know you were going to be in this promotional unit." + +The cowboy flushed and grinned somewhat sheepishly. + +"Well, to tell the truth, I've always wanted to try broadcasting a +little and I finally pestered the general manager out on the coast until +he sent me along and ordered them to give me a part. Come on and meet +the director of this unit." + +Curt led them over to a small group where a rather slender, dark-haired +man was speaking. He turned to face them as they approached and Janet +noted that he wore unusually thick glasses, indicating that his eyes +were in need of heavy correction. + +"This is Mr. Ben Adolphi," said Curt, by way of introduction. "Mr. +Adolphi has been assigned by the World Broadcasting Company to handle +this promotion work." + +He introduced each of the girls to the radio director and Mr. Adolphi +smiled pleasantly. + +"I shall get at your parts presently," he said. "Please be seated." + +They found comfortable chairs at one side of the studio and Janet +enjoyed the opportunity to look around the room for it was here that +they would put on their radio show. The ceiling was high and evidently +covered with a cloth which absorbed sound readily. The walls were also +covered with a cloth of heavy texture and the carpet on the floor felt +an inch thick. + +At the rear of the room was a low platform which might be used for an +orchestra and to the left, through a heavy plate glass window, was the +control room where the engineers regulated the volume of the program and +fed it out on the air. Near the door was a desk with a microphone on it +for the announcer, and beyond that was a tall steel stand with several +microphones, attached to adjustable arms, on it. These could be placed +in any portion of the room to pick up the program to the best advantage. + +Mr. Adolphi joined them within a few minutes. He carried a handful of +script with him and handed one section to Janet and another to Helen. + +"You understand that this company is comparatively small when you think +of the one used in the production of the picture?" he reminded them. "It +will be necessary for you to take several parts, but all of them will be +minor rôles since I understand neither of you have had any experience +in broadcasting." + +The girls nodded their understanding, and the director plunged on. + +"We are going to give only the high spots of the film story over the +air, but in addition we are going to weave in some of the actual drama +and the thrills attached to the shooting of the picture--some of the +behind-the-scenes incidents. Understand?" + +Again they nodded. + +"We have not been able to get all of this material that we desired and +Mr. Newsom has informed me that you have a fair ability at writing." + +This was aimed at Janet and she replied promptly. + +"I enjoy writing," she said, "but the question of ability hasn't been +very well determined yet." + +"But you sold a script for film purposes only recently," pressed the +director. + +"Yes, that's true, but I think it was more luck than anything else." + +"Be that as it may, I'd like you to write some of the intimate and +unusual things that go on in the production of such a picture. Get in +all of the thrilling material possible. Get me?" + +"I think so," replied Janet, recalling the vivid hours that had marked +the production work on "Kings of the Air" when the company was out in +the desert and she had been kidnaped. + +"Then take the rest of the day off and try to get some of the material +into my hands tomorrow morning. We'll have it whipped into shape by the +studio continuity writers, for this program goes on the air day after +tomorrow." + +"I'll do my best, Mr. Adolphi," promised Janet, and the director hurried +away to give further instructions to others in the company. + +Helen looked at Janet admiringly. + +"Well, you certainly get yourself into all kinds of work," she smiled. +"Now you'll have to go back to the hotel room and pound away on a rented +typewriter while I go down and see a show in the Music Hall." + +"Oh, don't do that," begged Janet, who was anxious to see the interior +of the world's largest theater. "Wait another day until I can go with +you. There'll be plenty for you to see in New York beside the Music +Hall." + +"All right," agreed Helen. "We'll plan on that for tomorrow afternoon." + +As they left the studio they bumped into a slender, dark-haired girl who +was hurrying in. + +"Clumsy fools," Janet heard the other girl murmur as she went on and +Janet's face flushed for it had been as much the other's fault as their +own. + +They dropped down to the street level in the elevator and Janet started +back for the hotel while Helen walked toward Fifth avenue to enjoy a +window shopping tour along the exclusive shops that had made the avenue +famous throughout the world. + + + + +Chapter Nineteen + +A MANUSCRIPT VANISHES + + +Janet went directly to their hotel and asked at the desk about renting a +typewriter. Arrangements were made to have one delivered at her room +within half an hour and she went to change into an older dress, +something that wouldn't be hurt by wrinkles that were bound to come as +she labored over the typewriter. + +The machine was delivered promptly and Janet used a supply of the hotel +stationary for her writing material. At first the idea of setting down +intimate little things about the filming of the picture had appeared +easy, but now that the task was before her, the words and ideas did not +come freely. + +Janet wondered if she dared to record the story of the sabotage when the +company was on desert location. She could imagine that it would make +grand material for broadcasting purposes and so she set resolutely about +the task. The worst that could happen would be for Mr. Adolphi to reject +it entirely. Janet finally got started and once under way the flow of +words came smoothly and her fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard. + +She worked steadily for more than an hour, got up, stretched, walked +around the room and returned to the writing. She wasn't attempting to +make it a complete story, just giving the sequences as they had happened +during the filming of "Kings of the Air" and the mysterious events which +had taken place out on the desert. It was natural that Janet should hint +that the plotting was the work of another concern for it had been common +talk in their own company later that Premier Films, also producing an +air story, had attempted to keep their own film from a successful +conclusion. But it had only been talk for there was no definite proof. + +Helen came hurrying in just as Janet finished her work. + +"How is it going?" she asked. + +"All through," replied her companion. "Have a good time?" + +"Grand. I never knew there could be so many beautiful shops in such a +small area. Come on now. I want to ride a subway." + +"I'll have to change clothes," said Janet. + +"Never mind changing for a subway trip. We'll go down to the Battery. I +inquired the way at the desk." + +Janet slipped on a light brown coat and followed Helen down and across +to the Times Square subway station where they found themselves engulfed +in the crowd and the noise. Helen dropped two nickels in the turnstile +and they went through the gate, Helen still in the lead and striding +along as though she were the veteran of many a ride in the subway +instead of a rank beginner. + +A train roared out of the darkness of the tube and Janet saw a sign, +"South Ferry," on the windows. + +"This is our train," cried Helen, shoving her companion ahead of her and +into one of the seats. Other passengers piled in, the doors clanged and +they were roaring through the tunnel far under the street level. Their +train was an express and occasionally they shot past a slower local. The +air was close with an odor that is peculiar to a subway, but Janet +enjoyed the ride, watching the crowd in the car. It was evident that +most of them were accustomed to using the subway several times a day and +they were either visiting or reading evening papers, which they had +folded so they would take up the least possible room. + +At the South Ferry station they walked up to the street levels and +entered Battery park. Janet paused a moment, struck by the beauty of the +harbor in the late afternoon. Beyond the Battery was the Statue of +Liberty and even further the tidewater flats of Jersey. + +Several freighters, which had cleared their docks a few minutes before, +were going down the harbor and Janet and Helen, standing along the +Battery wondered for what distant port they might be bound. + +They walked past the Aquarium. On another afternoon they would come back +and spend several hours going through that fascinating building. + +"I'm tired," confessed Janet. "Let's get back to the hotel now, clean +up, and have dinner. Perhaps we'll go to a show after that." + +Helen readily agreed to the suggestion and they returned to the South +Ferry station where they caught an uptown express that took them to +Times Square at a dizzy pace. + +When they emerged from the tube, the shadows were lengthening in the +heart of the city. Sidewalks were crowded with hundreds of men and women +on their way home after a day's work in the city. They paused for +several minutes to watch the teeming mass of humanity and then turned +and entered their hotel. + +Janet was the first to step into their rooms and the instant she passed +the threshold a feeling of foreboding gripped her and she stopped so +suddenly that Helen bumped into her. + +"What's the matter?" asked Helen, looking up quickly. + +Janet looked a little sheepish. "I don't know. For some reason I thought +there was something wrong in here." + +"Want me to scream?" smiled Helen. "I can do a good job of that and I +guarantee to get someone here in less than a minute with one scream." + +In spite of the banter Janet was far from reassured for a feeling of +unrest had settled down upon her. She snapped on the lights in the room +and looked around. + +Apparently nothing had been disturbed and Helen walked past her and went +on into her own room. A puff of wind stirred the curtains at the +half-opened window and Janet walked over and looked out. There was no +fire escape nearby and it would have been impossible for anyone to have +gained access to their room in that manner. But then, she asked herself, +why would anyone want to enter their room. They carried no personal +jewelry of any value and the money they had left in the room was of such +a small amount that it would not make robbery worth while. + +In the next room Helen was humming to herself as she undressed and +prepared to take a shower. Janet dropped down on the bed to rest a +moment. It had been a hectic day and she was tired. Her eyes dropped and +she fell into a deep sleep. + +Helen finished her shower, looked in at Janet, then returned to her own +room, where she partially dressed, put on a dressing gown, and sat down +to write a letter home chronicling the events of her first day in New +York. + +Janet awoke as suddenly as she had fallen asleep. Helen had turned out +the light in her room and it was quite dark now, the only light coming +through the half-opened door that led to the bathroom and on to Helen's +room. + +Janet turned on the light over the desk where she had been writing and +glanced down at the manuscript she had been working on. She turned and +called sharply to Helen. + +"Did you pick up the manuscript I finished this afternoon?" she asked. + +"Haven't seen it since we left for the Battery," replied Helen. "The +last I knew it was right beside your typewriter. Maybe you're too sleepy +to see it." + +"I'm not that sleepy," retorted Janet. + +Perhaps she had put it on the dresser and she turned toward that article +of furniture but there was no sign of the manuscript there. She pulled +open the drawers, but the manuscript was not there and Helen joined her +in the hunt. + +"Sure you haven't taken it to your room and mislaid it?" asked Janet, a +deep pucker of worry lining her forehead. + +"We'll look to make sure," said Helen and they hastened to her room, but +the search there was just as fruitless as the one in Janet's room. Janet +even looked in the closets, but there was no encouragement there. In a +last hope, she went through the wastepaper basket, but she was doomed to +disappointment and turned to Helen, her voice shaking with emotion. + +"There's no doubt about it now," she declared. "Someone entered our +rooms while we were away and stole the manuscript I had been working +on!" + + + + +Chapter Twenty + +THE MYSTERY DEEPENS + + +The girls stared helplessly at each other and Helen was finally the +first to speak. + +"But Janet, that can't be possible. It must be here somewhere." + +Janet shook her head firmly. "It isn't here and we both know it. My +premonition when we entered the room was right. Something is decidedly +wrong." + +"But what can we do about it?" asked Helen. + +"I'm going to call the clerk," said Janet, picking up the telephone. She +explained briefly what had happened. "The assistant manager is here. +He's coming up in five minutes," she said when she replaced the +instrument on the stand. + +Helen rushed back to her own room to finish dressing and was fully +clothed when the assistant manager arrived. He made a careful +examination of the door and the lock and then went all over the rooms +with the girls, but as Janet had felt convinced, there was no further +trace of the missing papers. + +"I regret this deeply," said the hotel official, "and can only promise +that every effort will be made to see that the papers are returned if +they are still in the building." He excused himself to question the +housekeeper about any maid who might have been working in the room while +the girls were away. + +In less than five minutes he returned, a maid following close behind +him. + +"I think the mystery is solved," he explained. "The maid says she came +in to put fresh towels in the bathroom and someone knocked at the door. +She answered and a man from the World Broadcasting Company said he had +come to get your manuscript. He came right on in and picked up the +papers beside the typewriter. Of course she should not have admitted +him, but he appeared to know just what he wanted." + +"What did he look like?" Janet asked the maid. + +"Well, I didn't pay particular attention, but he was small and I guess +you would call him dark. He had on a hat and it was pulled down over his +forehead. He took the papers and went on out. Said they'd be waiting for +you at the broadcasting office tomorrow." + +"I believe this solves the mystery," said the assistant manager. + +"I hope so," agreed Janet. "We're sorry to have caused you so much +trouble." + +When the hotel official and the maid had taken their departure, Helen +turned to her companion. + +"I didn't know the radio people were in such a hurry for the material +you were working on," she said. + +"Neither did I," replied Janet, "but I guess it is all right. Let's have +dinner now and then perhaps a show. I feel tremendously relieved about +the manuscript." + +They added a dab of powder and a touch of rouge to their faces and went +downstairs. Further down the block they had noticed an attractive Old +English Inn and they walked there where they enjoyed a leisurely dinner. + +"What shall we do now?" asked Helen as she finished the dish of ice +cream which was their dessert. + +"Shall we go back to Radio City and see the Music Hall?" asked Janet. + +"I'd like nothing better. We're on our way." + +They strolled along at a leisurely pace, turned into Sixth Avenue and +headed north toward the great mass of gray limestone which was Radio +City. Overhead the trains rumbled along the elevated, but Janet and +Helen had eyes only for Radio City. + +Ahead of them opened the doors of the world's largest theater and with +their hearts beating faster than usual they purchased their tickets and +walked into the grand foyer, the most majestic, breath-taking enclosure +either of them had ever been in. Their feet sank into the heavy pile of +the great carpet and their eyes feasted on the beauty of the towering +bronze doors which led into the theater itself. + +Then they went on into the Music Hall, which with its sixty-two hundred +seats, was the largest of the world's modern theaters. A great expanse +of space greeted their eyes, the theater sloping gently forward to the +huge stage. An orchestra, in full dress, was rising from the depths of +its pit as though lifted by the hand of some unseen giant. The orchestra +broke into a full swell of music and Janet and Helen, sinking into deep, +comfortable seats, were enraptured. Above them hidden lights changed the +color effect of the ceiling continuously. Then the overture was over and +the curtains of the stage parted and for half an hour they enjoyed a +musical entertainment based on Coney Island, the famed fun center of the +city. After that came the feature picture, and they enjoyed every moment +of the nearly three hours of entertainment. + +When it was over they walked out slowly, for the Music Hall was one +great part of Radio City. Tomorrow, across the street and up on the +twenty-seventh floor, they would be in another but very vital part of +Radio City, in the broadcasting studios of the World Broadcasting +Company. As they walked down Sixth Avenue they glanced aloft and far up +in the building a blaze of light shone from windows. Some company was +busy up there tonight, providing thousands of radio fans with drama or +music for their entertainment and they thrilled at the thought that +within a very short time, they, too, would be a part of the radio world. + +Back in their rooms that night Janet glanced at the place beside the +typewriter where the manuscript had disappeared. She would have liked to +have telephoned Curt Newsom and told the lanky cowboy about the incident +but he had not mentioned where he was staying. She thought of +telephoning Mr. Adolphi, their radio director, but dismissed that for +she felt that he might think her foolish. Undoubtedly he had sent for +the manuscript. + +They were up early the next morning, refreshed after a night of sound +sleep. A quick shower was followed by a rapid but thorough toilet and +they were ready for what they might have in store for them. They had +breakfast in the grill room which opened off the main lobby of their +hotel and then started for Radio City. + +There was a touch of fall in the air and they walked briskly, pushing +through other hurrying throngs of men and women who were on their way to +work. + +The elevator shot them up to the twenty-seventh floor in a dizzy, +breathless rush and they stepped out into the reception room. A page +took them to studio K and there were only two others there when they +entered--Ben Adolphi, their director, and Curt Newsom. The cowboy star +looked a little pale. + +"Sick?" asked Janet. + +Curt shook his head. "Not exactly, but I didn't sleep very well last +night. Too much noise here in the city. I'm going to move. My hotel's +right on Times Square." + +"Why, we're staying there too," said Helen. "Our hotel is the +Dorchester. We slept fine." + +"I'm staying there," replied Curt, "but I don't see how you slept. I +heard fire engines and police patrols and street cars and newsboys all +night. I might as well have been down in the subway trying to sleep on +an express train." + +The radio director looked at Janet. + +"Manuscript ready?" he asked. + +Janet stared at him and he repeated the question. + +"Haven't you got it?" she asked. + +"Certainly not," he snapped, evidently a little provoked at what he +considered dull wits. + +"But the maid at the hotel said someone from the studio called yesterday +afternoon for it. It's gone!" + +"Certainly I didn't send for it," he retorted. "Evidently it was some +one's idea of a practical joke." + +"I don't think it was much of a joke," said Curt quietly. "If the +manuscript Janet was working on has disappeared, it vanished because +someone was afraid of what she might write." + + + + +Chapter Twenty-one + +INSINUATIONS + + +At the cool words of the cowboy star, the radio director whirled to face +him. + +"Just what do you mean by that," he demanded, his face flushing. + +"I mean just this," retorted Curt. "There was a very real attempt made +on the coast to stop the filming of 'Kings of the Air' and it begins to +look like that attempt is being carried on even in New York in an effort +to stop the promotion of the picture. All I've got to say is that +someone had better be careful." + +"Are you insinuating anything?" demanded the radio director. + +"I'm not insinuating; I'm just saying," said the cowboy star firmly. + +The director turned back to Janet. + +"You're sure the manuscript was stolen?" + +"It was unless someone in the studio here has it," she replied. + +"I'll make inquiries," he promised, "but I am sure no one in the studio +would have sent for it." + +Mr. Adolphi left studio K and Janet, Helen and Curt Newsom were alone. + +"You're not kidding about the manuscript being missing?" Curt asked. + +"No, Curt, I'm terribly serious. We went out for a time yesterday +afternoon. While we were gone the maid came in to leave clean towels and +while she was in the room a man came in. He said he was from the studio +here and had come for the manuscript. Naturally the girl didn't object +and he walked out with the papers." + +"What did you have in the story?" + +"Oh, a lot about the final days in the desert. How the attempts were +made to stop the picture, the bombing from the sky and my own +kidnaping." + +"Did you hint that some other company was responsible for this?" The +question was snapped at Janet. + +"Come to think of it, I did, but of course I didn't mention any company +by name." + +Curt scratched his head in frank worry. + +"You know," he confessed, "this thing has got me puzzled. There is some +powerful agency at work to stop the picture Helen's father made and I +believe its influence must extend right here into this studio. You girls +be sure and watch your step and especially at night." + +"But nothing will happen to us," protested Helen. + +"No, I don't suppose there will, but you keep on the alert just the +same," Curt warned them. + +Mr. Adolphi returned and shook his head in response to Janet's inquiring +gaze. + +"I've checked everyone in the studio," he said, "and no one knows +anything about it. Can you do the manuscript over?" + +"Probably," assented Janet, "but I'd prefer not to under the +circumstances." + +The director did not insist and Janet thought perhaps he even seemed a +little relieved. + +Other members of the company arrived. Several of them had been in the +film company on the coast but most of them were from the regular stock +company which the studio maintained for its dramatic needs. Most of them +were pleasant enough. Only one of them turned Janet against her and that +was the small, dark-haired actress who had bumped into her the day +before and called her a "clumsy fool." That was Rachel Nesbit and Janet +thought her eyes a trifle too close together and her mouth too hard. It +looked as though it was difficult for Rachel to look pleasant and there +was a sulky twist to her lips. + +Janet soon found that Rachel was the pampered member of the studio's +stock company. She was considered an actress of ability and she arrived +late and left early during rehearsals. Her one redeeming grace was that +she came through when she was before a microphone. Janet also learned +that Rachel was writing in addition to her acting and that she had had +several of her skits produced on the air. + +As soon as the company was assembled, Director Adolphi plunged into the +task of rehearsing. Sound men brought in the necessary paraphernalia and +through the hours of the morning they went over the first scene which +was to be presented in their radio show. The program was to be unusual, +running half an hour for five consecutive nights, each of them +increasing the tempo and mystery of the action. Janet, reading the +script, could feel the thing getting into her blood and she was anxious +for the hour to come when they would actually go on the air. + +She had no fear of the microphone, now, for that had vanished while she +was working for Billy Fenstow in the westerns with Curt Newsom and +Helen. + +The trio had lunch together that noon, and returned immediately to the +studio, where rehearsals continued into the afternoon and at the close +of the day the director rather grudgingly conceded that the company had +made excellent progress. + +"Be here tomorrow sharply at nine," he cautioned as he dismissed them +for the day. + +Members of the company scattered quickly, some of them hurrying away to +catch trains for their suburban homes. + +Janet, Helen, and Curt Newsom walked slowly toward the elevators. The +corridor down which they walked was practically deserted for none of the +studios flanking it were in use. They entered the main lobby of the +World Broadcasting Company office. From a loudspeaker on the reception +desk came the voice of a world-famous crooner which Helen recognized +instantly. + +"That's a program I'd like to see," she told Curt. + +"Come on, then. Now that we are members of a radio company, we ought to +be able to crash the gates." + +The cowboy star inquired the way to the proper studio and they turned +and walked down a long corridor to Studio A, the largest and most costly +of all of the broadcasting rooms of the World Company. It was like a +little theater, with sloping seats and a stage upon which the performers +worked before the microphone. At the back was a large orchestra, while +up to the front of the stage the famous crooner was singing into a +"mike." + +"Why, he doesn't look at all like I thought he would," exclaimed Helen +as they peered through the plate glass windows which flanked one wall of +the studio. "He's much older." + +"Many of us are disillusioned about our heroes and heroines," said Curt +quietly. "Let's eat. I'd like a steak." + +"Sounds good to me," agreed Janet, and even Helen was willing to leave +the studio after another minute or two of gazing at the crooner. + +They ate in a small but attractive restaurant off Sixth Avenue and after +a leisurely meal Curt hurried away to keep an appointment and Janet and +Helen, though tired from the long day's grind of rehearsals, strolled +over to Fifth Avenue to look into shop windows. After half an hour on +the avenue, they started back to their Times Square hotel, heading west +on one of New York's dark and little-frequented cross streets. + +They were halfway down the long, dimly lit block when Helen seized +Janet's arm. + +"Someone's following us!" she whispered. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-two + +SHADOWED! + + +Despite Helen's whisper of warning, Janet never missed a stride. If +anything, she quickened her pace. + +"Keep up with me," she replied, "and don't look around." + +From somewhere behind Janet could hear steady footfalls that quickened +as they walked faster. + +"Are you sure someone is following us?" asked Janet. + +"Positive," replied Helen. "There was someone back of us on the avenue +and he turned onto this street right after we did." + +"But it must be coincidence," insisted Janet. + +"But remember what Curt said about our knowing too much of the +mysterious events that went on during the last days of the filming of +'Kings of the Air,'" said Helen. "He warned us to watch out." + +There was no answer to that for Curt had warned them and Janet was glad +that they were near the bright lights of Broadway. She felt safer now. +As the noise of that great artery of traffic deepened, they slowed their +pace and Janet turned and looked around. + +There was no one on the street behind them. She grasped Helen's arm and +both girls stopped. + +"There's no one following us," smiled Janet. "It was just imagination." + +"It wasn't imagination and you know it," declared Helen. "Whoever it was +could easily have slipped into a doorway. Maybe he's watching us this +very moment." + +Janet felt a shiver of nervousness race along her spine. It was not +pleasant to think of being shadowed, especially in New York where there +were so many people and so few friends. + +They turned into Times Square and entered the lobby of their hotel. At +the desk they inquired for mail and each received letters from home. + +Once up in the privacy of their rooms, they undressed, slipped into +comfortable pajamas and dressing gowns, and read their letters. There +was little actual news from Clarion, but just hearing from their fathers +and mothers was nice. + +"Dad is anxious to hear the first part of the program," said Helen as +she finished her letter. "He says they'll all be over at our house +grouped around the radio when we go on." + +"Nervous about it?" asked Janet. + +"Not particularly about the program, but there's something about the +whole thing that has me uncertain. The company seems to be on edge as +though there was some danger hanging over the heads of everyone." + +"Perhaps talk about the trouble on the coast has reached them," +suggested Janet. + +"That may be. But I'm so anxious for the program to be a success. This +picture has meant so much to Dad; it's the air epic that he has wanted +to do for years. If it goes over in a big way, the Ace Company will +renew his contract for a substantial time and give him a big increase in +salary." + +Shortly after that they retired and both girls slept soundly. + +Next day at the studio the pressure was on again and Director Adolphi +whipped them through the rehearsals at a terrific pace. Several changes +in script were necessary and the director sent a page to the scenario +department on the run. He returned in a few minutes with Jim Hill, the +writer who had handled the continuity for the radio play. + +"Listen, Jim," he snapped. "This sequence is punk. It will fall flat on +the air and too much money is being spent on this program. Get some +punch into this or I'll see that another writer gets the job." + +Jim Hill was tall, lean and pleasant, with dark eyes that shot back +sparks at the director's criticism. + +"You okayed this script once," he reminded Adolphi, "but I'll see what I +can do about it." + +Dark, pretty Rachel Nesbit stepped forward. + +"I'm pretty good at that sort of thing," she declared, flashing a +winning smile at Jim Hill. "Perhaps I could help on the rewriting." + +The continuity writer looked at her glumly. + +"Your stuff is all right for lighter things, but this is straight action +drama," he said shaking his head. + +"But I can at least try," insisted Rachel, and the worried continuity +writer finally acceded to her insistent requests. He left the studio +with Rachel accompanying him. + +Janet turned to Curt Newsom. + +"I thought all of the work on this script was being handled with the +utmost precaution and that no one outside was to do anything on it?" + +"I guess that's right, but Rachel can hardly be called an outsider since +she belongs to the studio's stock company." + +"But she sells some of her radio skits free lance," insisted Janet. + +"That's right," agreed Curt. "I hadn't thought of that." + +He hastened over to Director Adolphi. + +"No one with any outside contacts is supposed to work on this script or +in the company," he told the director. + +"That's right," replied Mr. Adolphi. "There's an iron-clad contract with +the Ace Motion Picture Corporation to that effect." + +"Then you'd better get Rachel back here. She'll read the rest of the +script and know what the final broadcast will be." + +"Oh, but Rachel's all right. Of course she does a little free lance +stuff, but she can be depended upon." + +"I'm not arguing that point," said Curt firmly. "I'm just telling you to +get Rachel back here unless you want a violation of your contract +reported to the Ace Company." + +"I didn't think you'd stoop to such a dirty trick," sneered the radio +director. + +"You don't even need to think," snapped Curt, his eyes flashing. "You +just live up to the agreements of that contract and you'll have no more +trouble." + +With his temper considerably ruffled, Mr. Adolphi left the studio and +other members of the company stared wide-eyed at the husky cowboy star +for most of them held their director in awe, but Curt had spoken firmly +and there had been nothing else for Adolphi to do unless he violated the +contract. + +He returned to the studio in less than five minutes with Rachel Nesbit +at his heels. The minute she entered the room, she rushed toward Janet, +her hands clenched and her eyes snapping sparks of anger. + +"You're responsible for this insult," she stormed at Janet. "I'd like to +step on you." + +"Oh, calm down, Rachel," said the director. "It was this skinny cowboy +who started the trouble." + +The radio actress and continuity writer whirled toward Curt Newsom. + +"Go ahead and step on me," he grinned, and a titter of giggles ran +through the rest of the company. + +Rachel's dark cheeks flamed anew with anger, but she kept her tongue and +turned away in silence. + +The rehearsal continued. They were getting well along in the production +and Janet felt that it was going smoothly. It was a condensed version of +the real story of "Kings of the Air" and so to Janet and Helen it was +familiar material. + +Promptly at noon the director stopped the rehearsal. + +"Half an hour for lunch," he announced and the company scattered at +once. + +Janet and Helen walked down the long corridor to the reception room +where a hurrying figure almost bumped into them. + +It was Jim Hill, the continuity writer. He stopped suddenly and his face +lighted up as he recognized them. + +"Just the girls I'm looking for!" he exclaimed. "Lunch time?" + +Janet nodded. + +"Then have lunch with me," and before they could remonstrate, he hurried +them toward the elevator and they dropped downward with a suddenness +that always unnerved Janet. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-three + +JANET PINCH HITS + + +Janet and Helen found that Jim Hill was extremely pleasant and likeable, +but he appeared to be laboring under some severe nervous strain and +Janet noticed that his hands shook when he picked up a glass of milk. + +"This script for your broadcast has about got me down," he confessed. +"I've got to keep lots of punch in the action and yet I can't give away +the actual plot of the film. On top of that old Adolphi is a regular +crab and it doesn't seem like anything will suit him. This whole show of +yours has to be okayed Saturday night by the Ace film people and if they +don't like it they can cancel out and give it to another company." + +"Is there any danger of that?" asked Janet. + +"I'll say there is. This is a juicy contract and two other chains would +like to get it on their networks. Believe me, there is some intense +rivalry in getting big contracts like this. Why the Acme and the Sky +High chains would be willing to pay a large sum just to see us fizzle +the rehearsal Saturday night." + +Janet was silent for a time. She had sensed the tension in the studio +without knowing exactly what was behind it. Now she knew what was wrong. + +Jim Hill was speaking again. + +"Both of you girls are from the original film company on the coast, +aren't you?" he asked. + +Helen nodded in agreement. + +"Then perhaps you would have some suggestions that might help me out of +this tangle," suggested the continuity writer. + +"Mr. Adolphi suggested that several days ago and I worked one whole +afternoon on it, but someone stole the manuscript I had finished out of +my room," explained Janet. + +Jim whistled softly to himself. + +"So that's how it stands." Janet and Helen weren't sure whether he was +talking to them or to himself. + +The continuity writer pushed back his chair and stared at them +appraisingly. + +"I wish you'd help me and I'll promise that your script won't be stolen +from your hotel room. What do you say?" + +Janet looked at Helen, and her companion nodded approvingly. The +decision was easy to make for Jim was likeable and both of the girls +wanted the broadcast to be a success. + +"All right, we'll do it," said Janet. + +"You mean you'll do it," Helen corrected her. "I'm not good as a writer +and you can fairly make a typewriter talk. I'll just hang around and +give you whatever advice I can and try not to be a nuisance." + +"Say, that's great," said the continuity writer. "When can you begin?" + +"As soon as we are through rehearsing this afternoon," promised Janet. + +"How long will it take?" + +"I don't know," she confessed. "Radio continuity is something new for +me. I'll simply do the rough stuff and you'll have to smooth it over." + +"Then suppose you come to my office as soon as you're through and you +can work right on into the evening. Helen and I will see that you are +well supplied with coffee, sandwiches and whatever you want in the way +of eats." + +"I'll be there," promised Janet. "Now we've got to get back to the +studio." + +At rehearsal that afternoon neither their director nor Rachel Nesbit +were in a good mood and Rachel made it obvious that despite Curt's +explanation she still blamed Janet and Helen for being taken off the +continuity work on the script. + +"It was the chance of a lifetime," Janet overheard her telling another +girl in the company. "What if there is a clause about keeping the script +secret. I'd know it as soon as the final chapter is placed in the hands +of the company for rehearsal." + +"But we won't get the final chapter until Saturday afternoon," replied +the other. "They're taking no chances about any leaks on this program so +any of the other companies can interfere with their contract for this +big film broadcast." + +Janet had no idea just how much the broadcast of their program would +mean to the World Broadcasting Company, but from all the talk in the +studio, she knew that it must be an exceedingly large sum. The vice +president in charge of programs dropped into the studio that afternoon +and watched them work for over an hour. At the end of that time, when +the director called a brief recess, Janet saw him conferring with Mr. +Adolphi. Whatever passed between them evidently was not pleasant to the +director for he called them back at once and they started all over +again, the director driving them with an intensity that approached a +white-hot fury. + +At last the rehearsal was over and most of them were completely worn +out. Janet, fortunately, had been spared most of the director's +criticism while poor Helen had come in for several bitter attacks from +him. + +"I'm going on to the hotel, take a shower and crawl into bed," said +Helen. "Another day like this will put me in bed for a week." + +"I'll be along later," said Janet. "Get the mail at the desk and if +there are any letters for me, leave them on my bed." + +They parted, Helen taking the elevator down and Janet turning toward the +suite of rooms where the continuity writers worked. At the end of a long +corridor, she found Jim Hill's office, a tiny cubby that contained only +a desk, chair and typewriter stand. + +"I thought you'd forgotten all about this writing date," said Jim, +looking up. "I've patched up the sequence that Adolphi objected to this +afternoon, but I'm still in a mess over the last episode. It's got to +carry a lot of punch and this is the chapter we've got to guard until +the last afternoon of rehearsal. There are more leaks in a big studio +like this than you can shake a fist at." + +"But who would give away this information?" asked Janet. + +"That's not hard to guess," replied Jim. "It could be someone jealous of +another member of the company, or someone who wanted a job with another +broadcasting outfit and who figured that by double crossing his or her +present employer, a better job could be obtained." + +Jim stood up and motioned for Janet to take his place at the typewriter. +Briefly he explained what he had been trying to work out and Janet +thought his ideas sounded good. But somewhere the winning punch was +lacking. + +She scanned the last pages of script which he had written. Then she +rolled a fresh sheet of copy paper into the typewriter and started work. +A new interest took possession of her and the fatigue of the day dropped +away as she got into the swing of the writing. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-four + +NIGHT ON THE TWENTY-SEVENTH FLOOR + + +Jim Hill peered over her shoulder for a time. Then satisfied at the work +she was doing, he slipped away and went in quest of a basket of lunch. +It was nearly half an hour before he returned and by that time Janet had +completed two pages of manuscript. + +Jim laid the lunch out on his desk and while Janet munched a thick, cold +meat sandwich and quaffed a glass of cold milk, he read the pages with +real care. + +"Say, this is just the stuff my script lacked," enthused the continuity +writer. "My gosh, Janet, you ought to be on the staff here. We pay money +for fresh ideas like these." + +Janet stopped munching the sandwich and looked at Jim Hill with real +interest. + +"You actually think it is good?" she asked. + +"I'll say it's good. Of course a lot of work has to be done to put it in +finished form, but you've got the meat of it here. I'm going to take +this down to McGregor. He's still in his office." + +Before Janet could ask about McGregor and who he was, Jim Hill picked up +the manuscript and his own work and fled down the hall. + +When he returned ten minutes later a square hulk of a man, who had thick +pompadour hair and peered through thick lensed glasses, followed him +into his office. + +"Janet," said the younger writer, "I want you to know Mr. McGregor, who +is head of our continuity department. I showed him your manuscript and +he agrees with me that it is just what we want for the final episode in +the program for Ace Pictures. Can you go on working tonight? We've got +to have the finished draft in the morning." + +There was a dire appeal in young Jim Hill's eyes. Janet couldn't have +ignored that and then Mr. McGregor spoke. + +"It is extremely important that we have the Ace contract," he said in +his slow, precise way. "Other companies are also anxious for it and if +our dress rehearsal Saturday night fails to meet the approval of the Ace +officials, we may lose the contract, which would then go to one of our +rivals. We are none too sure but what they have certain people within +our own staff who might sell them some of our secrets about this +program." + +"I know the situation," said Janet. "I'm tired, but I'll keep on until I +either go to sleep or am through." + +Mr. McGregor smiled approvingly and Jim Hill felt like shouting. + +"That's splendid," said the continuity chief. "I'm going to send Jim +along to bed. He's to report here early tomorrow morning to start the +rewriting of your story. You keep on as long as you can. When you are +through you can lock the script in the right hand drawer of Jim's desk. +Here is a key for you and Jim has one already." + +The head of the continuity department departed and Jim Hill lingered on +for a minute or two. + +"Want some more lunch?" he asked. + +Janet, who had turned back to her typewriter, shook her head. + +"How about a cup of coffee to keep you awake a while longer? I don't +want you to go to sleep before you get this material hashed out for me." + +"Go on, Jim. I'll get along all right. It won't take long now if I'm not +interrupted." + +Jim Hill took the hint and departed quietly and Janet continued with her +work. It was something she thoroughly enjoyed doing. This writing was +creating something out of whole cloth. Of course it would have to have a +special revision by Jim tomorrow to work it into the script, but when it +finally went on the air there would still be a lot of her material in +the radio play. + +Janet worked for more than half an hour and then leaned back in her +chair for her arms ached and her eyes were blurred. + +The studio was strangely silent. From somewhere at a distance came the +soft strains of an orchestra but there was no sound in the corridor +where the writer's offices were located. + +Janet picked up the sheets of copy she had written and scanned the +material. She smiled a bit as she read it and admitted that it did real +well. + +Placing the sheets back on the desk, she inserted a fresh page of copy +paper into the typewriter. She would be through in a few more minutes. +She glanced at her wrist watch before she started in again. It was +eleven-forty. By midnight she would be through. + +Janet was about to resume her work when a queer sensation started at the +base of her spine and shot up her back. It was a feeling she couldn't +quite describe and she sat perfectly motionless for several seconds. + +Through her mind shot the thought that someone was watching her, peering +at her from the darkness of the long corridor. + +Janet turned suddenly, but there was no one behind her. She got up and +went to the door where she could look down the corridor, but there was +no one in sight. The office across the corridor from Jim's was dark and +the windows only mirrored the shadowy depths. + +Despite the fact that she saw no one, Janet was not wholly reassured and +she looked about Jim's office. There were shades at the windows and the +door which could be pulled down and she closed the door and drew all of +the curtains. Before returning to the desk, she snapped the spring lock +on the door. That done, she went back to the typewriter, but it was hard +to concentrate now. + +Janet forced herself to the task. She knew she must finish and at last +got into the mood of her script again, working now at high speed and +wholly forgetful of the strange feeling which had alarmed her. + +Somewhere in the distance a bell tolled midnight as she finished the +last page and pulled it triumphantly from the typewriter. The job was +done and she felt that it was well done. + +The pages she had written were scattered over the top of the desk and as +she reached out to pick them up, one of them floated to the floor. Janet +half turned to pick it up. As she did so, her eyes fell on a small gap +in the curtains she had drawn on the windows along the corridor. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-five + +JANET OPENS A DOOR + + +A half stifled scream escaped from her lips. Someone was staring at her +intently through the small opening. The light from the desk lamp was +just strong enough to reveal two eyes. That was all, but Janet saw the +desperate intentness with which they were focused upon her. + +Then the eyes vanished and there was no sound from the corridor. +Involuntarily Janet leaped to her feet, her trembling hands seeking the +curtain and closing the gap. She wanted to cry out, but the words stuck +in her throat and she realized that to scream would be useless for there +was no one along the corridor at this hour of the night who could help +her. + +Stepping back from the curtained window, Janet listened intently for the +sound of footfalls in the corridor. Then she remembered that it was +heavily carpeted and one could move along it without making a noise. + +Visibly shaken, she finally rallied her nerves and stooped down to pick +up the sheet of copy which had fallen from the desk. Almost mechanically +she placed the sheets in order and stacked them neatly. That done she +sat down at the desk to decide what to do. + +There was no question in her own mind but what someone was after the +manuscript she had finished and someone outside the studio. The +disappearance of the manuscript from her hotel room tied up with this +latest event and Janet knew that some agency was determined that the +story of the last eventful days of the filming of "Kings of the Air" +should never be told as a part of the radio play they were to present. +Whether the unknown force was the Premier Film Company or a radio rival +of the World Broadcasting Company, she couldn't even guess, but in +either case she knew that she was in a particularly unpleasant position, +and wished that Jim was with her. + +Janet unlocked the right hand drawer of Jim's desk and pulled it out. +For ordinary purposes it was strong enough, but to place a valuable +manuscript in it was something that made her hesitate. + +She turned around and stared at the curtains at the windows and the door +along the corridor. They were drawn tightly now. It would be impossible +for anyone to see in the office. + +What should she do with the manuscript? Would it be safe in her own +hands when she walked down the long corridor she must traverse before +she reached the reception lobby and the battery of elevators? + +Janet didn't feel she wanted to risk that, yet she knew it would be +unsafe in the drawer of Jim's desk. + +Suddenly her gaze fell upon the telephone and she smiled a little +foolishly. She picked up the instrument and waited for the operator in +the main office to answer. + +There was no response. + +Janet jiggled the hook several times, but still there was no answer. She +did not know that the particular branch exchange on that floor which +served the publicity department did not have an operator on duty after +midnight. + +Janet's spirits drooped when she failed to get a response through the +telephone and once more she looked about the room for some place to hide +the manuscript. + +Suddenly she hit upon a plan of action. Seizing the manuscript she +hastened over near the outside window, reached down and pulled up the +heavy carpet which covered the floor. Working swiftly she placed the +manuscript under the carpet, spreading the sheets out so there would be +no noticeable bulge in the floor covering. + +That done Janet returned to the desk, picked up a handful of blank copy +paper, folded it quickly, and stuffed it into a large envelope. Taking +up a pen she scrawled these words on the envelope: "Jim Hill--Here is +the manuscript you wanted. Hope it is something that will fit into your +program. Janet Hardy." + +Janet didn't even stop to blot the wet ink, dropping the envelope into +the drawer, and closing and locking the receptacle. + +She felt better after that. At least she felt she had done her best to +save the manuscript. Now the problem was to get up enough courage to +attempt the walk down the long, darkened corridor. + +Janet slipped the key to the drawer of Jim's desk into her left shoe, +mechanically patted her hair, and decided that she might just as well be +on her way. + +It took nerve to open that door, and to step out into the hall from +which someone had been staring at her only several minutes before. But +somehow Janet managed it. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-six + +IN THE HALL + + +From a distance came the soft strains of an orchestra playing in one of +the more distant studios on the same floor, but there was no movement in +the corridor. + +Janet paused at the door. Should she snap out the lights? If no one came +along they would burn all night, yet if she turned them off, she would +be in utter darkness. + +Then she realized that she was silhouetted in the light. Anyone who +might trouble her would be even more handicapped than she in the +darkness and her fingers pressed the switch. + +As the lights went out, Janet stepped quickly away from the door, her +feet treading silently on the heavy carpet which covered the floor of +the hall. + +Janet pressed close against the wall, listening for some sound which +would indicate that someone was lurking in the corridor. There was only +the far away music of the orchestra as it played a dreamy waltz. From +outside a clock boomed, but Janet couldn't remember whether it was a +half after midnight or a quarter to one. It didn't matter much, she +decided. + +Convinced at last there was no one moving along the corridor, she +started feeling her own way along. The end of the corridor was marked by +a very dim light that failed to penetrate more than a dozen feet in any +direction. It was toward this glow that Janet started. + +It was a ghostly and unnerving business, but she couldn't spend the +whole night in Jim's office. It just wasn't possible. She had to get +out. + +Fighting to keep down a mounting fear, Janet quickened her steps. Then +she stopped abruptly. Just why she did that, she would never know, but +her instinct warned her that someone was near. + +She turned toward an office door she had just passed. It was open and a +flood of light poured out to blind Janet's tired eyes. The beam from the +electric torch was so bright it fairly seared its way into her fatigued +mind. + +Then the stabbing light vanished and Janet heard a swift movement. A +hard hand was clapped over her mouth and she felt an arm slide around +her neck. + +Before she could scream or move, a soft cloth, which reminded her of a +hospital, was slapped against her face and the fumes of ether penetrated +her nose and throat. Janet attempted to struggle but two capable arms +held her fast. + +She felt herself losing consciousness. She felt delightfully tired and +dreamy. Once she rallied her senses, but the next time she slipped away +into unconsciousness and her captor, satisfied that she would cause no +trouble for some time, let her fall into a heap on the floor. + +While Janet remained unconscious, a lithe figure darted into Jim Hill's +office and the flash sought the drawer into which she had dropped the +manuscript. + +A small steel instrument, expertly inserted, forced the drawer open and +the beam of light fell upon the inscription Janet had placed on the +envelope. The intruder's breath was drawn in sharply and it was evident +that this was the property sought. + +Removing the envelope and placing it in his pocket, the unknown closed +the drawer and slipped out into the corridor. Bending down over Janet, +the figure vanished. Someone watching closely could have seen it dodge +into the main reception room, but there was no one there to watch--only +Janet unconscious on the floor. + +Just how long she remained slumped on the floor she would never know +exactly; probably it was not more than half an hour at the most. + +Finally lights penetrated her tired mind and the sweetish smell of the +ether assailed her returning consciousness. Someone was shaking her +gently and someone else was rubbing her arms. + +"Wake up, Janet, wake up!" a voice kept repeating. + +It sounded strangely like Helen's voice, but Helen, she realized, had +gone home hours before. + +"Take a drink of this," another voice commanded and Janet obeyed almost +automatically for she was far from being in full command of her senses. + +The cool water, flowing down her aching throat, helped and she tried to +sit up. + +"Take it easy," a voice cautioned and she let her head drop back against +someone's knees. + +Lights were on now in the corridor and as consciousness returned Janet +recognized Helen leaning over her. Curt Newsom was massaging her arms +and grumbling to himself in anger. + +"Feeling better?" Helen asked as Janet's eyes opened wide. + +"I'll be all right, soon. I'd like another drink of water," said Janet. + +A second glass of water followed the first and she felt stronger as her +head cleared. + +"What happened?" she asked. + +"That's what we'd like to know," said Curt. "We found you unconscious on +the floor a few minutes ago and the place smelled like a hospital." + +"Look at Jim Hill's desk and see if the right hand drawer has anything +in it," Janet whispered to Curt and the tall cowboy hurried away to do +her bidding. + +He returned almost instantly, shaking his head. + +"Someone's pried the drawer open with a jimmy," he declared. "There +isn't a thing in the drawer." + +Helen looked stricken. + +"Don't tell me that manuscript you worked on all evening was in that +drawer," she said. + +Janet looked beyond Helen and Curt to where half a dozen studio +employees, most of them from the engineering department, were clustered +looking at her and wondering what it was all about. + +"I put the manuscript there just before I started down the hall," nodded +Janet. "It looks like it's gone." + +There was a flicker of her right eyelid, barely visible to Helen and +Curt, and they caught its meaning and played the parts Janet wanted. + +"Then that means they won't be able to bolster up the program for Ace +Pictures," wailed Helen. "The World Broadcasting Company will probably +lose its contract." + +"Yep, and we'll all lose our jobs," groaned Curt. "Well, there's nothing +we can do about it now. We might as well go back to the hotel. We'll +report to Director Adolphi in the morning. Think you can walk if I +steady you?" The question was aimed at Janet. + +"I'll make it all right," she said, but the steadying influence of +Curt's arm was welcome, + +They walked down the corridor, across the reception lobby, and then sped +downward in an elevator. + +When they were outside and comfortably ensconced in a taxi, Helen faced +her companion. + +"Is the manuscript safe?" she asked. + +"Unless Radio City burns down," replied Janet. + +"Well, for goodness sake, where is it?" + +"I slipped it under the rug in Jim's office and spread the sheets out so +there won't be a hump which would attract attention. I'll have to get up +early and phone him at the studio for he's coming down to start the +revision of my material." + +"You'll do no such thing," cut in the cowboy. "You've earned a morning +of sleep. I'll phone Jim Hill myself and explain where the manuscript is +hidden." + +"Now I want to know just what happened." It was Helen speaking. + +Janet shook her head. + +"I don't know. I knew someone was prowling in the corridor, but I +couldn't stay there in the office all night and I couldn't get a phone +connection out. After I'd hidden the manuscript I turned out the light +in the office and started down the hall. Someone turned a flashlight +into my face, then I was grabbed around the neck and finally a cloth +filled with ether was smashed against my face. About that time I forgot +to remember and the next thing I knew you two were with me." + +"How many jumped on you?" asked the cowboy. + +"I can't be sure, but I'd say that it was one man who was capable of +moving very rapidly." + +"One man could do it all right," nodded Curt. "I wish I could get my +hands on him and I'd teach him a thing or two." + +"How did you two happen to get into the corridor? That's a question I'd +like to have answered," said Janet. + +"I became worried when you didn't get back to the hotel at midnight and +I phoned Curt. He agreed to meet me at Radio City and we came up +together. It was as simple as that," explained Helen. + +"Well, for once I'm glad someone worried about me," confessed Janet. +"And, oh what a headache that ether gave me. The water tasted good, but +I feel queer inside now. Bed is going to seem like heaven." + + + + +Chapter Twenty-seven + +SUSPICIONS + + +When she was alone in her room, Janet fairly tumbled into bed but not +until she had picked up a letter Helen had brought up from the desk and +placed on the bedside table. When she was stretched out comfortably in +bed, Janet opened the letter. It was from home, her mother telling of +news of the neighborhood and of interesting little things about the +house. + +Janet finished the letter, tucked it under her pillow, and snapped out +the light. She was glad that her mother did not know of the stirring +events of that night. + +Janet slept late the next morning, for her fatigue had been heavier than +she had imagined. After an invigorating shower, she returned to her own +room and there found a note propped on the writing table. + +"Have gone on to Radio City," wrote Helen. "Will meet you there for +lunch if you're awake." + +Janet partially dressed and pulled on her dressing gown. Then she called +the World Broadcasting Company and got a connection with Jim Hill's +office. The young continuity writer answered at once. + +"This is Janet Hardy. I just wanted to know if you were able to dig the +copy out from under your carpet." + +"I'll say I was," replied Jim. "It's good stuff, Janet. Say, what under +the sun went on here last night?" + +"I'd like to really know," she replied. + +"Well, the studio officials are all upset about it. They were worried +enough trying to land the big contract with the Ace Motion Picture +Corporation and now they fairly have the jitters. The studio is being +gone over with a fine-toothed comb to see if some clue can be unearthed. +Have you thought of anything that would help?" + +"To tell the truth, I've just gotten up and I don't think well without +any breakfast," confessed Janet. "Maybe I'll have an idea or two by the +time I reach the studio." + +"It's almost time for lunch," Jim reminded her. + +"I'm to meet Helen for lunch at the studio," replied Janet. + +"Then count me in on that and maybe we can get a line on who this was +chasing around the studio last night." + +Janet completed dressing and started for the studio. The morning was +clear and cool and it seemed impossible now that such events could have +happened the night before in the studio. She swung into Sixth Avenue, +walking briskly, and headed for Radio City. + +When Janet arrived at the studio, the rehearsal in studio K was at an +end for the morning and members of the company were hurrying out for +lunch. Rachel Nesbit, her dark eyes flashing, pushed past Janet with +little ceremony and Janet thought that the director looked away and +flushed. But then, she might have been imagining that for Director +Adolphi and Rachel were known to be close friends. + +Helen came hurrying up, followed by Curt Newsom. + +"How are you feeling now?" she asked. + +"Hungry," confessed Janet. "What's the news around the studio?" + +"Oh, everybody is looking at everybody else and wondering who did it. +They all seem to think it was an inside job for outsiders couldn't have +known that you were working on that script, much less where you were +working. I guess suspicion centers pretty strongly right on this +company." + +"That would mean someone in our own unit has sold out to a rival company +and is doing everything in their power to keep this broadcast from being +a success," mused Janet. + +"That's putting it politely," put in Curt. "I'd say that someone is a +skunk, and I hate skunks." + +Jim Hill joined them just then. He looked tired and worried. + +"Let's eat," he said, and the others agreed, the group adjourning to a +nearby restaurant. They obtained a secluded table where they could talk +with little risk of being overheard by prying ears. + +After giving their orders, Jim turned to Janet. + +"Been able to think up any clues?" he asked. + +She shook her head. + +"I've tried to think of every event that took place, but I can't +remember any special smell, or noise, and I didn't even feel the +garments of my assailant. I'm afraid I'm of no help." + +"Not much," conceded Jim, running his fingers through his hair. + +"What have you found out, Curt?" + +The cowboy star likewise had nothing to contribute. + +"I've got plenty of suspicions, but not a grain of proof," he grumbled. + +"That's just it. We all have suspicions but no proof and this program +must be in dress rehearsal tomorrow night and there can't be any boners +pulled then. We've simply got to solve this mystery before then. Until +this is cleared up the script won't be safe for a minute unless someone +is with it all of the time." + +"Where is it now?" demanded Janet. + +"In my office with the door locked and an office boy standing guard in +front of the door." + +"That doesn't sound very safe to me. Suppose someone well known should +come along and send the boy on an errand. He'd leave the door and there +your manuscript would be unprotected." + +"Oh, it's safe enough," smiled Jim. Then he paused suddenly. + +"Say, maybe you're right. That could happen, especially if one of the +program directors or other officials happened along. I told the boy to +be sure and stay on the job, but he'd run an errand for any one of +them." + +Jim stood up. + +"Go ahead with your lunches. I'll skip up and get the script and rejoin +you. It won't take five minutes." + + + + +Chapter Twenty-eight + +REHEARSALS AGAIN + + +Jim Hill hastened away, but it was fifteen minutes before he returned +with a large envelope with the manuscript. When he arrived his face was +flushed and he was breathing rapidly. + +"What's the matter?" asked Helen, who sensed that Jim was greatly upset. + +"Plenty. It was a good thing I got there when I did." + +"You mean someone was after the manuscript?" demanded Janet. + +"I mean someone had it," retorted Jim. "But I got it back and without +much trouble." + +"Who was in your office?" It was Curt who fired that question. + +Jim looked at them steadily. + +"It was Adolphi." + +He waited for the significance of his words to sink in and smiled a +little grimly at the bewilderment which was reflected on their faces. + +"Surprised? Say, maybe you think I wasn't. And now I don't know what to +think." + +"Tell us everything that happened after you reached the studio floor," +urged Janet. + +Jim took out his handkerchief and wiped his forehead, where glistening +beads of perspiration had gathered. + +"When I swung down the corridor I saw the boy had left my door so I ran +the rest of the way," he said. "The carpet's thick and I made little if +any noise. The door of my office was open and Adolphi was thumbing +through the pile of script I had been working on. When I came up behind +him he jumped almost across the desk." + +"What did he say?" asked Helen. + +"Said he'd found the door of my office open and since he knew I was +working on the script thought he would look it over while I was out at +lunch." + +"What did you do?" It was Curt speaking. + +"I picked up the script, stuffed it into an envelope, and told Adolphi +he could see it when McGregor, my continuity chief, put his okay on it. +I asked Adolphi if he was sure my office was open and he got sore. +Wanted to know what I was trying to insinuate and all that sort of +thing. But I think he felt guilty as thunder. Gosh, but I'd like to know +how he got in there after all my precautions." + +"I can tell you," said Curt. "He simply walked down the hall, told the +boy to go on an errand, and then used a skeleton key on your door." + +"It couldn't have been as easy as that," protested Helen. + +"Things like that are done easily," smiled Curt. "Mark my words, you +watch our director closely. He isn't putting his best foot forward in +getting us in shape. I wouldn't be surprised if he has sold out to some +other company." + +"That's a terrible thing to say about anyone," said Janet. + +"It's worse to do it," Curt insisted. + +They finished their lunch and returned to Radio City where they were +whisked up to the twenty-seventh floor in one of the express elevators. + +"Stop in after the rehearsal this afternoon," Jim told them. "I'll have +the final script in shape by then." + +The afternoon was a fatiguing one, for Adolphi, as though possessed of a +demon, found fault with everything and almost everyone. The only one who +noticeably escaped his ire was Rachel Nesbit, and Janet had to admit +that Rachel handled her work in a way that defied criticism. Curt Newsom +came in for some especially bitter comments. + +"Too bad we can't get a horse in here so you'd feel at home," snapped +the director after Curt had bungled one bit of action. + +"I don't like skunks," shot back Curt and turned away. + +The director, his face flaming, grabbed Curt's arm. + +"You've got to explain that," he cried. + +"Do you want me to?" asked Curt, looking straight into the face of the +incensed director. + +Adolphi dropped his arm and turned away, and in that action he stirred +Janet's suspicions anew. If he were without guilt, she felt he would +have forced Curt to a showdown. But he had turned away and Janet thought +she caught just a flicker of Rachel Nesbit's eyes. + +Then they were back at work, rehearsing until well after the usual +dinner hour. When the director finally released them, most of the +company was dizzy with fatigue, + +"He's trying to wear us out so we won't be able to put on a good show +tomorrow night," muttered Curt. "I've a good notion to drop him down an +elevator shaft and see if he'll bounce." + +Jim Hill was waiting for them. + +"I thought you'd never come," he said. "Adolphi been pretty tough?" + +Janet nodded. "He couldn't have been much worse." + +"He's got a reputation for driving his casts just before the final show. +Sometimes he gets marvelous results; then, again, the thing will fall +flat with everyone all worn out." + +"He's trying to break us in two," grumbled Curt, whose feet were +hurting. + +Jim Hill took them down to his office and they ordered sandwiches sent +in while they went over the manuscript. It had been given the approval +of the continuity chief and was to be incorporated into the program. + +"I think it's good stuff," said Janet as she laid down the script. +"You've caught the spirit of the picture at last. If this doesn't boom +public interest in 'Kings of the Air' to a high pitch, I'll be a very +mistaken young lady." + +The others agreed with her that Jim had struck the right note. + +"Now the thing to do is to get Adolphi to swing it through for me +tomorrow night. He can if he wants to." + +"That's a real question, too," said Curt. "I suspect he's the guy behind +all of the trouble and we'll find Rachel Nesbit right in with him." + +They left a few minutes later, Jim Hill taking the precious manuscript +with him. + +Parting on Sixth Avenue, Jim signalled for a cab. + +"I'm not taking any chances tonight," he said. + +They watched him get into the cab and he waved as the taxi shot away and +swung onto a side street. But before it disappeared Janet saw something +that caused a wave of apprehension to sweep over her. + +A long, rakish sedan, which had been parked further along the street, +leaped ahead, and swung around the corner behind the taxi which was +carrying Jim Hill and the final draft of their radio script. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-nine + +JANET FINDS A CLUE + + +Janet's sharp cry halted Curt Newsom and Helen. They turned startled +faces toward her. + +"What's the matter? Someone try to run you down?" asked Helen. + +"It's Jim," replied Janet. "A car's following his taxi. It started up +from the curb and swung right behind his cab. Someone is after that +manuscript. We've got to follow them." + +Curt hailed a cruising taxi and they piled in, the cowboy giving the +driver sharp directions. + +"Step on it; we'll pay any fines," he said. + +The cab lurched away, gaining speed so rapidly they shot around the +corner in a dizzy skid. Turning onto Fifth Avenue they saw the long, +dark sedan and ahead of it the taxi in which Jim was riding. A stop +light blazed in their faces and their cab ground to a halt. + +"Go on, go on," urged Janet, leaning toward the driver. + +"Can't make it," he growled, pointing to the heavy stream of cross +traffic which was flowing ahead of them. + +When the light changed the taxi and its pursuing sedan had disappeared. + +"Pull over to the curb," Janet told their driver. "Now what shall we +do?" she asked her companions. + +"Anybody know where Jim lives?" asked Curt. + +"I do," replied Janet. + +"Then let's go there and wait for him. We'll be sure that he gets home +all right." + +Janet gave the driver Jim Hill's address and they raced up the avenue +once more. In less than fifteen minutes they pulled up before an +apartment house and Janet went into the small lobby and pressed the +buzzer that signalled Jim's apartment. There was no reply and she +returned to the cab, a mounting fear in her heart. + +She communicated the news to Curt and Helen and they fell silent, +waiting and hoping that Jim would arrive. + +Minutes ticked away and the taxi driver glanced uneasily at his meter +and wondered about his pay. + +"I'm going to call the studio and see if he returned there by any +chance," said Janet, driven to action in her desperation. + +She walked to a nearby drug store and from a pay station there +telephoned the World Broadcasting studio. It was as she had feared; Jim +had not returned. In fact, there was no one in the continuity +department. + +It was with a heavy heart that Janet returned to the cab. So much +depended upon the safeguarding of the script. There was their own radio +début for one thing. But that was comparatively minor. More than that +was the success of the broadcast which was to arouse public interest in +the film which Helen's father had created. This was what really counted. + +When she told Helen and Curt that Jim had not returned to the studio, +the cowboy sat silent for a time. + +"This isn't getting us anywhere," he said. "We may get in trouble, but +it's worth a try." + +Without explaining what he intended to do, he bolted toward the drug +store and returned a minute later with an address written on a slip of +paper. He gave this to their driver and ordered him to get there with +the least possible delay. + +"Where are we going?" asked Janet. + +"To pay a little call on Director Adolphi." + +"Then you think he's mixed up in this thing?" Helen asked. + +"I'm sure of it now. There's something about him that just doesn't ring +true." + +There was little conversation in the cab during their fast ride to the +director's apartment and they all went up together after Curt had paid +the taxi bill. + +Insistent ringing of the bell failed to bring an answer and at last they +turned away, their hearts heavy with despair. + +"I'm going to report this to the nearest police station," said Curt. +"You girls might just as well go back to your hotel. There's nothing +further you can do." + +"But we seem so helpless," groaned Helen. + +"We're just exactly that," growled Curt as he signalled two cabs, one +for the girls and the other for himself. "I'll phone you the minute I +get any word of good news." + +Janet and Helen said little on their way back to the hotel, for a +numbing sort of ache had taken possession of their bodies. After days of +fatiguing rehearsals, the broadcast appeared doomed. Helen cried a +little as their cab swung onto Broadway and the bright lights of the +Great White Way blazed in their faces. + +At the hotel Janet stopped at the desk to inquire about mail and the +clerk handed her a telegram. + +"It's for you," she said, handing the message to Helen, who tore it open +with fingers that were none too steady. + +"Oh, this is awful," she groaned. "Dad and Mother are coming to New York +for the first broadcast. What will I do?" + +"Don't answer the telegram tonight," Janet warned her. "Perhaps +something brighter will have taken place by tomorrow." + +Janet opened the door of her own room and snapped on the light. As she +did so a small envelope, which had been slipped under the door, drew her +attention and she reached down to pick it up. Helen came in the room +just then and looked at Janet curiously as she opened the envelope. + +Janet's face flushed as she read the message, which had been printed +crudely on a sheet of fine linen paper. + +"What is it?" asked Helen, alarmed at the expression on Janet's face. + +Janet handed her the sheet of paper. + +"Go back to the sticks where you belong or you'll get more of what +happened last night. This means both of you." + +"Why, the nerve of some people," stormed Helen. "I won't be threatened +into leaving." + +"Neither will I," said Janet firmly, "but this thing is getting terribly +serious. Last night I was made unconscious by some prowler and tonight +Jim has disappeared with the script of our radio show." + +Janet paused and looked at the sheet of stationery in her hand. Then she +lifted it to her nose and sniffed carefully. Helen looked on in +wonderment and Janet finally handed the sheet to her. + +"Smell anything?" she asked. + +"There's just a trace of perfume," agreed Helen. + +"Ever smell that before?" Janet was insistent. + +"It does seem kind of familiar, but I don't know where." + +"Wasn't it in the studio?" Janet was pressing hard for an answer. + +"Perhaps it was." + +"Someone in our company?" + +Helen looked frankly alarmed and finally a wave of comprehension swept +over her. + +"You mean Rachel Nesbit?" + +Janet nodded. "That's just who I mean. This sheet is scented with the +same perfume Rachel uses. Of course hundreds of others may use it, too, +but it at least gives us a clue. And this printing, disguised though it +is, is that of a woman." + +"Then if we can find Rachel, we may be able to solve this mystery," +burst out Helen. + +"If we can scare her into telling us something," agreed Janet. "I'll +phone the studio and get her home address. We'll go there at once." + +"What about Curt? He'll want to know what's going on." + +"This is a woman's job," replied Janet. "We'll let him try to find Jim. +You and I are going alone on this particular mission." + + + + +Chapter Thirty + +OPPORTUNITY AHEAD + + +They obtained Rachel's home address from the studio, slipped on their +coats, and after making sure that they had an ample supply of money in +their purses, hastened down and hailed a cab. + +Rachel lived in the Greenwich Village section and their driver swung +over to Fifth Avenue and raced south, green lights winking a clear path +ahead of them. + +There was little conversation in the cab as they sped toward the village +and when they drew up in front of the narrow building which housed +Rachel's apartment Janet paid the bill. + +"What are you going to say to her?" asked Helen. + +Janet shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted. "I suppose I'll +accuse her of writing this threatening note. That ought to be enough to +get us into her apartment and once we're there you look around for +anything suspicious." + +They were entering the apartment when a car drew up to the curb and +Janet seized her companion's arm. + +"Get out of sight, quick. That's the sedan which followed Jim's taxi." + +They slipped into the shadows to the right of the doorway and watched +the sedan. Rachel Nesbit stepped out and after her came John Adolphi, +director of their radio program. Janet could hear Helen's gasp for under +the director's arm was a familiar portfolio. It was the portfolio in +which Jim Hill had carried the manuscript. + +Rachel and the director disappeared into the apartment building and +Janet, without a word to Helen, ran toward the nearest shop, a little +fruit store in a half basement. + +"Where can I find a policeman?" she demanded. + +The shop keeper helped her phone in an alarm and in less than five +minutes a radio car pulled up in front of the store. + +Janet told her story quickly and when the officers looked doubtful, she +pleaded with them. + +"You've got to believe me. Every minute counts. If that script is +destroyed the company may lose thousands of dollars worth of business." + +Then she put through several calls and finally reached Mr. McGregor, +head of the continuity department. His words electrified the police and +they swept down the streets and stormed up into the apartment building +to the third floor where Rachel lived. In answer to their sharp knock, +Rachel opened the door and they shouldered their way in. + +Janet saw Rachel's face blanch as she saw her, but Janet's heart leaped +for on a table was the missing manuscript. Director Adolphi was pulled +out of a closet and from his ashen lips tumbled the sordid story. He was +really Rachel's brother and the two had conspired to steal the +manuscript and ruin the World Broadcasting Company's chances for the +contract with the motion picture company. Another broadcaster had +offered him a large sum, he said, and promised a job if he would steal +the script and ruin the program. + +They hastened back to the studio where a tense group awaited their +coming. Mr. McGregor was there and so was Curt. Janet started suddenly +when she saw Jim Hill with a bandage around his head. + +"What happened to you?" she asked anxiously. + +"Adolphi ran my cab into a curb and then pulled a gun on me and took the +script away. Of course he had a mask on, but I recognized his voice. He +clouted me over the head when I tried to resist and the next thing I +knew Curt had found me at the police station where I was being given +emergency treatment." + +Mr. McGregor spoke. "What about Adolphi and that precious sister of +his?" + +"They are in police custody awaiting whatever charges may be filed +against them," said Janet. + +Mr. McGregor nodded. "That can be done tomorrow. How about you girls?" + +"We're all right," replied Janet and Helen. + +"A little tired, maybe," added Helen, by way of an afterthought. + +The continuity chief looked at Jim Hill. + +"Think you can step in tomorrow and whip this company in to shape so +we'll be sure of the contract?" he asked. + +Jim's face lighted up. "I know I can." + +"Then get home and get some sleep. You're in charge of the program." + +He turned back to Janet and Helen. + +"Like New York?" the question was so sudden that it caught them +unawares. + +"It's exciting," gasped Helen. + +"It isn't always like this," smiled the continuity chief. He was looking +intently at Janet. + +"How would you like to join my staff as a writer?" + +Janet could hardly believe her ears. + +"Why, I think I'd like it," she managed to say. "Yes, I know I would." +She plunged in blindly. + +"Then if you girls want to stay on, there'll be a place for Helen in the +stock company and for you on my writing staff," he said. "Think it over +and let me know tomorrow." + +An hour later when they were alone in their rooms, Janet and Helen had +their first chances to talk uninterruptedly. + +Helen smiled contentedly. + +"It's such a relief to know that the program to boost Dad's picture is +going through all right," she said. After a pause she went on, "What +shall we do about the jobs in Radio City?" + +"I think I'll accept," said Janet. + +"But what about school back home; what about going to Corn Belt U.?" + +"I've thought of that, but an opportunity to work in Radio City doesn't +come every day. In six months we'll have had enough. Then we can go back +and start our university careers at Corn Belt U." + +"What will our folks think?" asked Helen. + +"I believe they'll agree with us that six months here in radio work can +be looked upon as a valuable part of our education." + +"Then we'll tell Mr. McGregor we'll stay?" + +"That's exactly what we'll tell him. Now I'm going to write the folks +and tell them all about it," said Janet, picking up a pen and sitting +down to the task of writing of the thrilling adventures which had +befallen them since their arrival in New York. + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Janet Hardy in Radio City, by Ruthe S. 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