The Argosy, April 1916 — page 82: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

94 It was big enough for a dressing-room, and that’s what she used it for the few times that she had thus far been out with us. - “Tt was agreed that she and Jim should be on the river shore by eleven-thirty. At that time the sun would be just right, sprinkling ripples all over the surface of the Hudson and casting no awkward shadows. Also, it would give Connie Luft, my cam- era-man, and me time to go around by the top of the cliff and climb down to the shelf from which we were to shoot. _ “You know what the country is like over there. There are places where you could toss a cracker to some one down on the shore, but it would take a five-mile détour to get to where the other fellow is without breaking you neck. “Connie Luft and I were in the little run- about we use when we’re out on location. Lollie and Jim were in the big limousine. We parted at the Hoboken Ferry, for they were to take the shore road and we were to go up the hill. “T remember yet how Lollie looked, all dressed up as if she were going to a recep- tion, sort of grinning, her wicked eyes glit- tering. And I was mighty glad that I didn’t have Jim’s place there at the side of her. “But Jim didn’t seem to mind it. He was all dressed up too. That had become a habit of his since he got promoted to a full-blown directorship with a star on -his hands. He was leaning back in the up- holstry with one of his chins on his bosom and his small eyes closed. : “Tt seems now that I must have experi- enced some sort of a shiver when I saw them there together, that 1 must have had some premonition that the day wasn’t going to turn out according to schedule. I know this—that it did recall another time when I saw Jim sitting down with his eyes closed, comfortable, as if he had been asleep. -“T was only a boy then, and Jim was at the height of his horse-wrangling days. My father was on the road with a stock com- pany, and he had sent me to the ranch where Jim worked. That’s where we got acquainted. “On the very first day I had seen a big, dark man taking a nap in the horse-corral. There was only one horse in the corral, and it was showing the whites of its eyes. I found out afterward the horse was a man- killer—just naturally went out of its way to get hold of people. THE ARGOSY. “It came sneaking up on this man, more like a wolf than a bronk. It was almost on him, when the man opened his eyes. The man never budged, but the broncho gave a snicker and began to run. The man was Jim. ‘“* “Good-by, Jim,’ I called, as he sat there in the big auto. ‘‘T was feeling sorry for him. Afterward I was glad that I did. That little touch of sympathy was to wipe many a sharp word from my conscience, as I went over and over our long acquaintance in the days that followed. “But, as I said, Jim didn’t seem to think there was any occasion for sympathy. I © don’t believe he even opened his eyes. At any rate, he didn’t say anything. The big limousine was still standing there outside the ferry-house, as the runabout with Con- nie and me in it began to climb the hill. The road turned. The limousine was out of sight, and I was thinking of business again. ‘““A wild country it was, after a while— woods, wide pasture, rocks, hardly any houses. “Jim and Lollie had had plenty of time. So had Connie and I. We were in place and had the camera sighted by eleven. “Tt was a little pocket scooped right out of the face of the Palisades, and both Con- nie and I had almost broken our backs get- ting down to it. I still had both eyes so full of dust that I was half blind. But there was the camera, safe and sound, with a thousand feet of fresh film in its in’ards. The light was perfect. ‘So much, and then I was getting the surprise of my life. Was I seeing things? I gouged at my eyes, but what with tears and sand, that merely made matters worse. -“ Shoot! Shoot!’ I ordered, and Con- nie, with his head under the hood, began to turn the crank. “Lollie had come running into the loca- tion marks down on the shore as pretty and graceful as an escaped leopard. She was dressed for the part as I had dreamed of her being dressed—simple little frock, hair down her back, old shoes. “That was just the impression I got. But even with my eyes more or less out of commission it was the gracefulness of her and her real acting that was making ’em dizzy. “Connie tried to talk to me from under his black cloth. I told him that if he Co TOO im SS C©