It was certainly an education for Hugh.  He had never dreamed that such a splendid chance would come his way, allowing him to learn just how motion pictures were made.  Truly, the wonderful good luck that had been the portion of himself and comrades for so long a period seemed to still follow their footsteps, as one of the boys had only recently declared.

And just then the shrill voice of Monkey Stallings rang out again, this time with a note of genuine alarm pervading its tones.

“Look, oh, look!” was what he shrieked, excitedly; “that wall is sure going to collapse right down on those men!  That’s real, not make-believe!  Oh, Hugh, can’t something be done to warn the poor fel—–­there, it’s coming now!”

And right through it all the imperturbable operator kept grinding away.  It was a part of his business to get everything down, real or imitation; and even an accident that imperiled human life might make good “stuff.”

CHAPTER XI

IMITATION AND REALITY

Perhaps it was almost mechanically that Alec pressed the bulb of his camera at just the very second when that wall was toppling over.  He had a faint recollection afterwards of doing so, though only filled with horror at the moment itself.

There was a sudden cessation to all the clamor as the accident happened.  Indeed, the three quick reports from the director’s revolver hardly seemed needed to bring a halt to the proceedings.  As the door was about burst in, anyway, and some of the men could not longer be restrained from clambering over the top of the walls, it would answer just as well as though things had proceeded in their regular routine.

Immediately afterwards a new kind of noise burst forth.  Women shrieked, and men shouted.  There were also cries of pain intermingled with the rest, Hugh noticed.

Before the scout master could even give an order he missed one of his companions.  Of course, this was Arthur Cameron.  The sight of that mass of rock toppling over upon several of the motion-picture actors, and carrying others down amidst a perfect jumble of heaped up stones, acted on Arthur as a red flag does upon the angry bull in the ring.

Nothing could have kept him back, for his ears would have been deaf even to an order from the leader, whom he delighted to obey.  Arthur’s surgical instincts were aroused, and he saw the path of duty before him.  And Arthur never shirked his duty.

Hugh waited not upon the order of his going, but immediately chased after the other.  Monkey Stallings was not far behind him, with Billy tagging along of necessity.  As for Alec, he only waited to gather up his beloved camera, even neglecting to turn the last exposure down as a completed roll.

In fact everyone seemed to be trying to converge upon the spot where the wall had collapsed.  The manager was pushing his way through the crowd, waving his megaphone, and looking somewhat alarmed, for he felt dismayed at the idea of having so many of his supers being injured more or less seriously.  It would mean not only pain and suffering for the poor fellows but a pretty heavy bill of damages to pay by the company.