She turned away with only a murmured reply, but, nothing daunted, the "pest" went on: "Estelle is certainly a fine rider. I think she must have been a cowgirl on a ranch at one time, though she won't admit it." "She wouldn't to you, at any rate," said Paul, significantly. "Why not?" "Oh, if you don't know it's of no use to tell you. Look! Now she goes into the water!" The action called for the halting at the top of the embankment of the Confederate riders, who dared not make the jump. They fired some futile shots at Estelle, then rode around to a less dangerous descent to try to catch her. But Estelle was to ford the stream and continue on to the Union lines with her message. Reaching the bottom of the slope, her horse gathered himself together for another bit of moving picture work. At the edge of the stream another camera man was stationed, for Estelle and her horse were by this time too far away from Russ and his helper to make good views possible. Into the water splashed the girl, urging on her spirited horse, that was none the worse for his jump and his long slide. "Good work! Good work!" cried an assistant director, who was stationed near the stream to see that all went according to the scenario. "Keep on, Miss Brown!" Estelle bent low over her horse's neck, to escape possible bullets from the Confederate guns, and on and on she raced until she pulled up at the tent of "General" DeVere. Here her mission ended, after the father of Alice and Ruth, in a dusty uniform of a Union officer, had come out in response to the summons from his orderly. Estelle slipped from her saddle, registered exhaustion, saluted and held out the paper she had brought through the Confederate lines at such risk. Nor was the risk wholly one of the play, for she might have been seriously hurt in her perilous leap. But, fortunately, everything came out properly and a fine series of pictures resulted. "I'm so glad!" Estelle exclaimed, when it was all over, and, divested of her padding, she sat in her room with Ruth and Alice. "I want to 'make good' in this business, and riding seems to be my forte." "Do you like it better than anything else?" asked Alice. "Yes, I do. And I just love moving pictures, don't you?" "Indeed we do," put in Ruth. "But we were never cut out for riders." "I'd like it!" exclaimed Alice. "I'd like to know how to ride a horse as well as you do." "I'll show you," offered Estelle. "I'll be very glad to, and it's easy. It's like swimming--all you need is confidence, and to learn not to be afraid of your horse but to trust him. Let me show you some day." "I believe I will!" decided Alice, with flashing eyes. "It will be great." "Better ask father," suggested Ruth.