Still, had Ruth known that at that very moment Joe Rumph was in converse with a deadly enemy of hers she might have thought a little more concerning Tom’s warning.
There were three of them in the private back room of The Big Chance—Sol Bloomberg, characteristically chewing on a great black cigar, a man named Max Lieberstein and Joe Rumph.
“We ought to be able to pull it off, the three of us together,” the latter was saying, heavy brows drawn down over smoldering eyes.
“Yeah! Kill two birds with one stone!” Bloomberg spoke with relish. “We’ll spoil Ruth Fielding’s picture for her and oust those Chase girls at the same time. Real gold in that mine, eh, Max?”
Lieberstein grinned evilly.
“So much gold there is there, Sol, you an’ me ain’t got no call to worry the rest of our lives yet. Easy, Sol, easy! Like taking candy from a baby!”
Which was exactly what it was!
Everybody was present to see Edith Lang in her big scene. Mary and Ellen Chase had left their cabin with Eddie Jones as guard long enough to come down and watch the work of picture taking.
There was another little romance in progress, too, that had nothing to do with the making of motion pictures, and both Ruth and Helen were watching it from one side with truly feminine pleasure and interest.
To-day Helen pressed her chum’s arm as Ruth was passing and said softly: