"Did you invent that?" asked Ruth, who had not heard all that was said.
"Oh, no, some fellow did, and the city authorities are going to give him a chance to demonstrate it before they will recommend it to hotel proprietors. And I'm to be the 'goat,' if you will allow me to say so."
"I'm to come down on the rope from the tenth story of some building. This will serve as the city test, and at the same time Mr. Pertell has fixed up a story in which the fire escape scene figures. I've got to study up a little bit before to-morrow."
"It—it isn't dangerous; is it?" asked Alice, and she rather faltered over the words.
"Not if the thing works," replied Paul, with a shrug of his shoulders. "That is, if the rope doesn't break, or pay out so fast that I hit the pavement with a bump."
"Oh, is it as dangerous as that?" exclaimed Alice, looking at Paul intently.
"Don't worry," and he smiled. "I guess the apparatus has been tested before. I'm getting used to risks in this business."
"What time to-morrow is it?" queried Ruth.
"Right after lunch," Russ responded. "I've got to film him."