"Well, I'll be jiggered!" he cried. "'Tain't a well at all! Only an imitation!"
And that was what it was. Some canvas had been stretched in a circle about a framework, and painted to represent stones. The well itself stood on top of the ground, not being dug out at all. It made a perfectly good water-scene, with a sweep, a chain, a bucket and all.
"I'm supposed to stand there and draw water for the thirsty soldiers," explained Ruth, coming up at this point.
"Huh! How are you goin' to git water out of there?" demanded Sandy. "It's as dry as a bone. Why, I've got a good well over there," and he pointed to a real one, under an apple tree.
"That's in the shade—couldn't get any pictures there," explained Russ. "The well has to be out in the open."
"But what about water?" asked Sandy. "Hang me if I ever heard of a well without water!"
"We'll run a hose up to this one," explained Pop Snooks. "A man will lie down behind the well-curb, where he won't show in the camera. As fast as Ruth lowers her bucket into the well the man'll fill the pail with water for the soldiers to drink. It'll be quicker than a real well, and if we find we don't like it in one place we can move it to another. This is a movable well."
"Well, I'll be——" began Sandy, but words failed him. "This is sure a queer business," he murmured as he strode off.
The hard work of preparation continued. All about the farm queer parts of buildings were being erected, extra barns, out-houses, bits of fence, and the like.
In what are called close-up scenes only a small part of an object shows in the camera, and often when a magnificent entrance to a marble house is shown, it is only a plaster-of-Paris imitation of a door with a little frame around it.