weren't going to be in that marine drama."




CHAPTER II

JACK JEPSON


Hosmer DeVere's words and manner alike were alarming to his daughters.
Seldom had they seen him so moved, especially over such a seemingly
simple matter as the announcement of a new moving picture drama. He and
the girls, in common with the other members of the Comet Film Company,
had to portray many different scenes in the course of a season's work,
and though some of it was distasteful, it was seldom objected to by
anyone, unless perhaps by Pepper Sneed, the "grouch," or perhaps by Mr.
Wellington Bunn, an actor of the old school, who could not reconcile
himself to the silent drama.

"Why, Daddy, what is the matter?" asked Alice. "I think it will be
perfectly fine to have a little trip out to sea, especially now that
Summer is coming on."

"But not if the damp salty air is going to irritate his throat,"
declared Ruth.

"Oh, it isn't so much that," Mr. DeVere said, "but you girls evidently
don't know that the big scene in this drama is a shipwreck, and what
follows. I am to be 'cast' in that, and so are you."