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Page 46
Benbow Camp lay well up behind Hubbell Ranch, yet in a well sheltered
valley where scarcely a threat of winter had yet appeared. A big crew of
lumbermen was at work on the site, and many of these men Mr. Hammond
used as extras in the scenes indicated in Ruth's script.
Ruth had now gained so much experience in the shooting of outdoor scenes
that her descriptions in this story of "Brighteyes," the Indian maid,
were easily visualized by the director. Besides, she stood practically
at Jim Hooley's elbow when the story was being filmed. So, with the
author working with the director, the picture was almost sure to be a
success. At least, the hopes of all--including those of Mr. Hammond, who
had already put much money into the venture--began to rise like the
quicksilver in a thermometer on a hot day.
The small river on which locations had been arranged for was both a
boisterous and a picturesque stream. There were swift rapids ("white
water" the woodsmen called it) with outthrust boulders and many snags
and shallows where a canoe had to be very carefully handled. Several
scenes as Ruth had written them were of the Indian girl in a canoe.
Wonota handled a paddle with the best of the rivermen at Benbow Camp.
There was no failure to be feared as to the picture's requirements
regarding the Indian star, at least.
Having seen the scenes of the prologue shot and got the company on
location at Benbow Camp, Mr. Hammond went back to the railroad to get
into communication with the East. He had other business to attend to
besides the activities of this one company.
Scenes along the bank and at an Indian camp set up in a very beautiful
spot were shot while preparations for one of the big scenes on the
stream itself were being made.
The text called for a freshet on the river, in which the Indian maid is
caught in her canoe. The disturbed water and the trash being borne down
by the current was an effect arranged by Jim Hooley's workmen. The
timbermen working for the Benbow Company helped.
A boom of logs was chained across the river at a narrow gorge. This held
back for two nights and a day the heavy cultch floating down stream, and
piled up a good deal of water, too, for the boom soon became a regular
dam. Below the dam thus made the level of the stream dropped
perceptibly.
"I am going to put Wonota in her canoe into the stream above the boom,"
Hooley explained. "When the boom is cut the whole mass will shoot down
ahead of the girl. But the effect, as it comes past the spot where the
cameras are being cranked, will be as though Wonota was in the very
midst of the freshet. She handles her paddle so well that I do not think
she will be in any danger."
"But you will safeguard her, won't you, Mr. Hooley?" asked Ruth, who was
always more or less nervous when these "stunt pictures" were being
taken.
"There will be two canoes--and two good paddlers in each--on either side
of Wonota's craft, but out of the camera focus of course. Then, we will
line up a lot of the boys along the shore on either side. If she gets a
ducking she won't mind. She understands. That Indian girl has some
pluck, all right," concluded the director with much satisfaction.
"Yes, Wonota's courageous," agreed Ruth quietly.
Arrangements were made for the next morning. Ruth went with Mr. Hooley
to the bunkhouse to hear him instruct the timbermen hired from the
Benbow Company and who were much interested in this "movie stuff."
The girl of the Red Mill had already made some acquaintances among the
rough but kindly fellows. She stepped into the long, shed-like
bunkhouse to speak to one of her acquaintances, and there, at the end of
the plank table, partaking of a late supper that the cook had just
served him, was no other than Dakota Joe Fenbrook, the erstwhile
proprietor of the Wild West and Frontier Round-Up.
CHAPTER XVIII
AN ACCIDENT THREATENING
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