Ruth Fielding in Alaska

by Alice B. Emerson

Although Chess and Tom had thoroughly searched the settlement and its vicinity, had faithfully followed up the slightest clew, there was still no trace of the missing film magazines.

Without them the picture as a whole was ruined. They contained the best, the most powerful scenes of the play. Edith Lang’s big scene, reënacted after the first failure, was one of them. Several scenes with Carlton Brewer, the man who had taken the place of the dwarf, Joe Rumph, were also among those missing.

Brewer had been fine in those scenes, too. Neither Ruth’s confidence in the cleverness of her make-up man, Abe Levy, nor in the ability of the actor had been misplaced.

Brewer had acted the part of the cripple powerfully and well. Where Joe Rumph had over-emphasized the part, he emphasized it just enough. In fact, he fitted in so admirably with her conception of the part as it should be played that Ruth was delighted and more than ever confident of the wisdom of her choice.

Now these scenes were gone! The thief with wicked and unerring cunning had taken the very heart of the play. And the worst of it was that there was no time for a retake, even if it were possible to do the scene as well a second time.

The Yukon’s open season was wearing on. Only in summer, when the ice in the river disappears for a few short weeks, is the river navigable. Winter comes suddenly and soon in Alaska, and those who linger too long are apt to wake up some morning to find the river blocked with ice and themselves marooned for no one knows how long.

None of the actors cared to remain in Alaska over the severe winter. And besides, Alice Lytelly was wanted in Hollywood.

No, there would be no time for the refilming of those important scenes. That, Ruth knew, was definitely out of the question. Her one chance lay in finding the lost films—and that chance, even Tom and the optimistic Chess, began to think was exceedingly slim.

And to fail here meant only one thing, that for the first time in her film career Ruth must face defeat!

Knowing this, Ruth wondered how she found the courage to go on at all. But on she did go, just the same, automatically directing the last few scenes on Snow Mountain until all were at last complete.