"I hope so, too," and the lieutenant bowed. But, judging from his face, Alice thought, it was plain that he was sure he had already found the young lady in question. At that moment Mr. Pertell came out on the porch and saw the lieutenant. "Ah, I'm glad you are here," observed the manager. "I want to ask you a great many things. This staging of sham battles is not as easy as I thought it would be." "We can have the sham battles all right," answered the officer, with a smile. "But I can imagine it is not easy to get good moving pictures of them. We have to operate over a large area, and we can't always tell what the next move will be. Though, of course, for the purpose of making views we can ignore military regulations and strain a point or two." "That's just what I want to talk about," remarked Mr. Pertell. "In the attack, for instance, the way the plans have been made the sun is wrong for getting good views. Can't we switch the two armies around?" "Well, I suppose we can. I'll speak to the colonel about it," and then the two went inside, where Mr. Pertell had his office in the parlor of the farmhouse. "What do you think of him, Estelle?" asked Alice. "Why, I think he's very nice, but he's altogether wrong about me." "And yet he seemed so positive." "Yes, that is what makes it strange. But I never saw him before--that is, as far as I know; and I'm certain I was never in Portland. He must be mistaken, but it was nice of him to admit it. I thought at first he was using the old method to get acquainted." "So did I. But he isn't that kind." "He doesn't seem to be." Russ Dalwood came around the corner of the porch with Paul Ardite and Hal Watson, a young man lately engaged to play juvenile roles. Hal had become very friendly with the little group that circled around Ruth and Alice. "You girls have an hour yet before you go on," Russ informed them. "We haven't anything to do until then, either. Want to take a run in to town? I've got to call at the express office for some extra film, and the auto is ready. Where's Ruth?" "Up in her room. I'll go for her," offered Alice. "Shall we have time?" "Plenty. You can even buy yourself some candy--or let us do it for you," laughed Paul. "We'll let you do it!" said Estelle, as Alice hastened to summon her sister. "Ruth! Ruth! where are you?" called Alice, as she ran upstairs--Alice seldom walked. "Here, just reading over my new part. What's the matter?" "We're going for an auto ride with the boys. Come along. You can study in the car." "Yes, a lot of studying I could do under those circumstances. But I'll come--I want a bit of diversion. Who else is going?" Alice told her, and then spoke about the young lieutenant. "Wasn't it queer he should be mistaken?" she asked. Ruth did not reply for a moment. "Wasn't it?" repeated her sister. "I was just wondering," said Ruth, slowly. "Was it?" CHAPTER XII AN INTERRUPTION