'Ye-es — it is.' Engles was peering at it closely. 'What's he doing?' He pointed to one of the negatives with his finger.
Joe looked at it over his shoulder. 'Dunno,' he said. 'Seemed to be measuring something. Gives a bit of action to it. Matter of fact, that was why I went out.
ITS Wanted to get somebody moving around the place to give it a little life.'
'Did he know you were taking pictures?'
'Good Lord, no! Would have spoilt it. He wouldn't have moved naturally.'
'Good point.' Engles passed the film across to me. 'Nice shot there, Neil. Might give you an idea or two. Ought to have a moonlight episode in the script. Film very effectively.'
I took the length of film from his hands. His thumb was placed on one of the shots to indicate a figure bending down. I held the celluloid up to the light. It showed the whole front of the rifugio with its high snow-crusted gables, the great pine supports and, in the centre, the concrete housing of the slittovia machinery over which the hut had been built. The moonlight reflected white in the windows of the machine-room and outlined against them, was the figure of a man. It was not difficult to recognise that small, neat figure. It was Valdini.
I ran quickly down the strip of celluloid. He had his arms stretched out and made the motions of a man measuring the outside of the concrete housing. I could even see what appeared to be a measuring tape in his hands. Then he got to his feet and went round to the side of the building. The outside edge of the door suddenly appeared in the film and Valdini disappeared.
'Not bad, eh?' Engles said. 'Might run through the rest of it. There are one or two good skiing shots on that one.' He was looking through the third roll. I took the hint and ran through the rest of the film. Then I handed it back to Joe. 'You've got some nice shots there,' I said. 'Have you finished with the other one?' I asked Engles.
He handed it across to me. As he did so, he caught my eye. He was clearly excited. But he masked it by turning to Joe and beginning a long technical discussion on the merits of certain lighting and angles. And I was left wondering why a film shot of Valdini measuring a concrete wall should have aroused his interest.