Ruth and Alice, as well as the others, were told more in detail what action the play required, and the next day they were ready for their parts. They went to the factory accompanied by the two former vaudeville actresses, and by Russ and Paul. The latter was to take the part of one of the male employees of the concern. Ruth and Alice found themselves in a room filled with sewing machines, at which sat girls and women busily engaged in stitching on shirt waists. There was the hum of the small electric motors that operated the machines, and the click and hum of the machines themselves. A murmur ran around the room on the entrance of the players, but the operators had been told what to expect and what to do. They were to be in the pictures, too. Ruth and Alice, with Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, were given machines close to the camera, as they were the principal characters, and interest centered in them. "Just guide the cloth through under the needle," the forewoman explained, as she started the motors on the girls' machines. "Ready!" called Mr. Pertell to Russ, who stood beside the camera. The action of the play began, as Russ clicked away at the handle of his machine. Suddenly a girl screamed. "Oh, what is it?" demanded Miss Pennington, jumping up. "Sit down! You'll spoil the film!" cried Mr. Pertell. There was a little confusion for a moment. "It's only one of the girls who has run a needle into her finger," the forewoman explained. "It often happens. We take care of them right here." "All right--get that in, Russ," suggested Mr. Pertell. "It will make it seem much more natural." The girl's injury was a slight one, and Russ got on the film the action of her being attended in the room set aside for the treatment of injured employes. "I'll have something written in the script to fit to that," said Mr. Pertell, as the action of the play resumed. The plot of the little drama called upon Miss Pennington to write a note to Alice, pretending that it came from a young man, whose name the former vaudeville performer was supposed to forge. Alice was to "register" certain emotions, and to show the note to Ruth. Then Miss Dixon came into the scene, the sewing machines were deserted and, for a moment, there was an excited conference. Considerable dramatic action was called for, and this was well done by the girls, while the real operatives looked on in simulated surprise as they kept at their work. The play was almost over, when from a far corner of the room came a startled cry. "Someone else hurt with a needle, I wonder?" queried Paul, as he stood near Alice's machine. "I hope not," she answered. And then the whole room was thrown into panic as the cry broke out: "Fire! Fire! The building is on fire!" Shrill screams drowned out the rest of the alarm, but as Ruth, Alice and the others of the moving picture company looked around they saw a cloud of smoke at the rear of the big room. CHAPTER V A MIX-UP