"A prairie fire!" gasped the Shakespearean actor. "I refuse to take that chance." "Don't worry," said the manager. "It will only be a small, imitation blaze. I want to get some scenes of that," he went on to explain to the cowboys. "In the early days of the West prairie fires were one of the terrible features. I realize that now, of course, with the West so much more built up, they are not so common. But I think we could arrange for a small one, and burn the grass over a limited area. It would look big in a picture." "Yes, it could be done," admitted Baldy. "We'll help you." Two or three more days were spent in the open, traveling over the prairie, making various films. Then a suitable location for the "prairie fire" was found and a little rehearsal held. "That will do very well," said Mr. Pertell at the conclusion. "We'll film the scene to-morrow." The arrangements were carefully made, and in a big open place the tall dry grass was set on fire. The flames crackled, and great clouds of black smoke rolled upward. "Go ahead now, Russ!" called the manager. "That ought to make a fine film! Come on, you people--Mr. DeVere, Ruth, Alice--get in the picture. Register fear!" CHAPTER XXII HEMMED IN Elaborate preparations had been made for this prairie fire picture. In fact, in a way, the whole story of the drama "East and West" hinged on this scene. It was the climax, so to speak--the "big act" if the play had been on the real stage. Naturally Mr. Pertell was anxious to have everything right. And so it seemed to be going. The flames crackled menacingly, and the black smoke rolled up in great clouds that would show well on the film. In brief, this action of the play was to depict the hardships of one of the early Western settlers. He had taken up a section of land, built himself a rude house, and was living there with his family when the prairie fire came, and he was forced to flee. Of course all this was "only make believe," as children say. But it was put on for the film in a very realistic manner. Pop Snooks had constructed a slab house, with the aid of the cowboys, who said it was as near the "real thing" as possible. Later on the house, which was but a shell, and intended only for the "movies," would be destroyed by fire. Scenes would be shown in which the settler (Mr. DeVere) and his helpers would try to extinguish the fire before they fled from it. The first scene showed the fire starting, with the plowmen (Mr. Bunn and Mr. Sneed) in the fields at work. They were seen to stop, to shade their eyes with their hands and look off toward the distant horizon, where a haze of smoke could be seen. The big distances which were available on the prairies of the West, made this particularly effective in a film picture. The taking of the film had so far advanced that the warning had come to those in the slab shanty. There were gathered Ruth, Alice, Miss Pennington, Miss Dixon, Paul and others.