“I expect to,” replied her husband.
Meanwhile, the Curlytops and Trouble were having a great deal of fun on the farm. They were allowed to gather eggs and do some of the small chores about the place, such as feeding the chickens and taking salt to some sheep in a distant pasture.
Every day some moving pictures were taken, and when this happened not too far away the children were allowed to watch. Some of the scenes were filmed several miles distant from the farm, in rocky glens or in bits of woodland which were needed for the background. On such occasions the actors and actresses were piled into automobiles, or those who had horses rode them, and the whole company, cameras and all, would go to the spot picked out by Mr. Birch.
Once he filmed a fishing scene, and when Mr. Tizzy happened to mention the trick he had played on Ted, the director had a great idea.
“We’ll do that for the movies!” he cried. “It will be great. Will you children go through with it for us?”
“I guess so,” said Ted, “if my father thinks it’s all right.”
Mr. Martin gave his consent, and so, for the second time, the Curlytops faced the camera. Or, rather, they didn’t exactly face it, for if you will notice in moving pictures, the players hardly ever gaze directly at you, which means that they don’t peer straight at the lens of the camera.
But Ted threw in his baited hook and waited for a bite, while the flip-flop man, hidden in the grass around the bend in the bank, fastened on a rubber boot. Another camera took close-up views of this scene, while the first camera was picturing Ted’s surprise when he pulled up the rubber boot full of water which spurted from the hole in the toe.
The rest of the funny scene, with the shoe and the tin can, was also taken, and Trouble was even filmed catching a real fish, much to his delight. Then Mr. Tizzy did flip-flops while the children were shown laughing at him after they had discovered the trick. But the funny man did not again fall down the hole, as that was considered too dangerous.
The next day Mr. Martin received a letter from the movie actor in New York, saying how sorry Mr. Portnay was to learn that his helper had, by mistake, picked up the box of albums.