"Do it over again!" ordered the manager. "Some of you fellows ride your horses as if you were going to a croquet game. Get some action into it!" Once more the battery thundered its harmless shots and the men charged. This time the scene was satisfactory, and preparations were made to film it. Again the men thundered down the slope, and when they were almost at the battery a single rider--a girl--dashed out toward the approaching Union soldiers. "Oh, she'll be killed!" cried Ruth. "They'll ride right over her!" It did seem so, for she was headed straight toward the approaching horsemen. "She's all right," said Paul. "She's quite a rider, I believe. Her part, as a Union sympathizer, is to rush out and warn them of the hidden battery, but she is delayed by a Southerner until it is too late, and she takes a desperate chance. There go the guns!" Horses and riders were lost in a cloud of smoke. This time the film was being taken. When that charge was over, and men and horses, some limping, had gone back to their quarters, Mr. Pertell signaled to the daring woman rider to come to him. "That was very well done, Miss Brown," he said. "You certainly showed nerve." "I am glad you liked it," was the answer in a quiet, well-bred voice. "Shall you want me again to-day?" "Not until later, and it will be an interior. Is your horse all right?" "Oh, yes. I am in love with him!" and she patted the arching neck of the handsome creature. "He is so speedy." "He sure is speedy, all right," agreed Paul, and the girl--she was scarcely more than that--who had been addressed as Miss Brown by the director smiled at the young actor. Then she let her friendly gaze rest on Ruth and Alice. "Isn't she fine!" murmured Alice. "Like to meet her?" whispered Paul. "Yes!" exclaimed Alice eagerly, paying no attention to Ruth's plucking of her sleeve. "Miss Brown, allow me to present----" and Paul introduced the two DeVere girls. "That was a daring ride of yours!" remarked Alice, with enthusiasm. "Indeed it was," agreed Ruth, more quietly. "Do you think so? I'm glad you like it. I have been riding ever since I was a little girl." "Did you learn in the West?" asked Alice. "Why, yes--that is I--I really--oh, there goes that wild black horse again!" and Miss Brown turned to point to an animal ridden by one of the Confederate soldiers. The horse seemed unmanageable, and dashed some distance across the field before it was brought under control. Then the talk turned to moving picture work, though Ruth could not help wondering, even in the midst of it, why Miss Brown had not been more certain of where she had learned to ride. "It isn't something one would forget," mused Ruth. CHAPTER VI A NEEDED LESSON