Chapter Nineteen

Needed--One Pilot

Jane and Sue looked at Alice incredulously.

"Do you mean to stand there and tell me that Roscoe James and the Mammoth Film Company are going to make a motion picture here at the Cheyenne field?" demanded Sue.

"I'm not going to stand and tell you," sighed Alice, dropping into a chair. "I'm going to ease my weary legs, but at the same time, I'll repeat that the local field is going to be used for the background of the next Roscoe James feature production."

"Maybe we'll get a chance to work as extras," gasped Sue.

"About all we can hope to do is to be on the sidelines looking on," said Alice. "Mr. James was talking to the operations manager when I left the field. The company will be here next week to start work on the outdoor scenes, all of which will be filmed here."

"What luck for me," put in Jane. "I've only one round trip to Chicago scheduled. That means I'll have most of the week here, where I can watch the company at work."

"And if they need a cook, maybe it will be my chance to get in the movies," added Mrs. Murphy as she hurried in from the kitchen. Little of the girls' conversation escaped Mrs. Murphy and she had kept an ear finely tuned to their talk about the coming of the film company.

Jane was scheduled east the next morning on the _Coast to Coast_. Just before the ship came in from Salt Lake City, she saw the famous film director in conference with the operations manager. With them was Charlie Fischer. After a time he ambled over to talk with Jane.

"Going to be great doings here," grinned Charlie. "I'm in the movies already."

"What are you going to do?"

"They've got to have some stunt flying and they can't afford to have the leading man risk his neck. I'm elected to pilot the ship. Means a lot of fun and quite a few extra shekels."

"Try and get me a job as an extra," urged Jane.

"I'll do my best, but the star might object."

When Jane returned from Chicago a part of the technical crew had arrived and equipment was being set up at the field. Every girl in the stewardess corps was hopeful that she might be selected for some extra role for all of them secretly cherished the desire to be a film star.

Grace, coming in from the west on a late plane, rushed in and woke them.

"Who do you suppose came in with me?" she gasped.

"Probably Gary Macklin," said Sue, naming the latest Hollywood favorite.

"Good guess," said Grace.

"Do you mean Gary Macklin is going to have the leading role in the picture here?" demanded Alice, now thoroughly awake.

"That's just what I mean, and his leading lady is going to be Claudette Barrett. She came in on the same plane."

"My favorite combination," breathed Sue. "I think I'll ask for a leave of absence."

"Not much chance of your getting that, for business on the line is picking up every day," said Jane.

"You should comment, with only one trip scheduled next week. How about trading schedules?"

"I should say not. I'm just as anxious as you are to see how a film is made," smiled Jane.

"Does anyone know what the story is about?" Alice asked.

"I heard Mr. Macklin and Miss Barrett talking about it when we stopped at Rock Springs. Miss Barrett is going to have the role of a stewardess and Mr. Macklin plays the part of the ace pilot of the line."

"Charlie Fischer should have that role," put in Sue.

"Charlie's going to do the stunt flying," said Jane.

"If Miss Barrett's going to be a stewardess, we ought to see quite a bit of her," Alice said hopefully. "If there's anything dangerous to be done, we might even get a chance to double for her."

More members of the cast of "The Sky Riders," as the film was tentatively titled, arrived over the week-end and on Monday morning the company was ready to start shooting the scenes.

The Cheyenne airport had been given a thorough cleaning and everything from fences and lights around the border to the wind sock on the beacon tower had been touched up.

Jane, due out on the _Coast to Coast_, watched the company assembling. Roscoe James, the director, was a giant of a man, well over six feet in height and broad of shoulder.

A taxi rolled up and Claudette Barrett, the leading woman, stepped out. She was a trifle taller than Jane, with brown hair and brown eyes, and Jane was surprised to see the film star wearing the uniform of a Federated Airways stewardess. It was perfectly tailored and Miss Barrett even had the jaunty little beret fitted snugly over her carefully marcelled hair. She had a pleasant smile and spoke to several members of the company.

Another cab arrived and Gary Macklin, tall, dark and strikingly handsome, jumped out. He gave Jane the impression of always being in a hurry and of having an abundance of energy.

A camera crew had its equipment ready and when the _Coast to Coast_ came into view, started grinding away. The big plane landed smoothly and rolled into the hangar.

Jane forced herself to turn to her duties and she went forward to relieve the stewardess who had come in from Salt Lake City, taking over the passenger list and making sure that her own supplies were placed aboard the plane. She was stowing the lunch away in the pantry when someone spoke to her and she turned to face Claudette Barrett.

"I hope I won't bother you," said the film star, "but since I'm supposed to be a stewardess, I've got to learn something about the business." She had a pleasant smile and Jane felt an instant liking for this attractive girl of the films.

"I'll be glad to show you whatever I can. I'm Jane Cameron."

"Why, I've read lots about you. You were the stewardess who was with Mrs. Van Verity Vanness when bandits tried to abduct her. I was in New York at the time and read all about it in the _Globe_. What a thrilling experience that must have been."

"I wouldn't want very many of them," confessed Jane.

"Go ahead with your work. I'll just watch and ask questions." Jane stowed the contents of the large hamper away in the pantry and looked at her watch.

"We've only three more minutes here. It's time now to get the passengers back into the plane."

Jane led the way outside. Over in front of the commissary Sue, Alice and Grace were watching the proceedings enviously.

"My roommates are all anxious to meet you," Jane said, "and they'll be glad to give you any assistance possible."

"I'm going to need it," smiled the film star.

The girls were almost overwhelmed when Jane brought Miss Barrett to meet them, but they found her so natural and interested in their work that they were soon conversing with her freely.

The last Jane saw of them as the _Coast to Coast_ roared away, they were taking Miss Barrett into the stewardess headquarters.

When Jane returned on Wednesday, the film company was in the midst of active shooting. Two of the big tri-motored transports had been chartered for use and were landing and taking off for special shots of the field while camera crews on the ground photographed them.

At dinner that night, the girls told Jane how they had been drafted as extras for a crowd scene in the hangar.

"It was thrilling," said Alice. "Just think, actually in the movies."

"We even got paid just for standing around. I'd almost have been willing to pay them," put in Grace.

"The worst of it is," mourned Sue, "more crowd scenes are scheduled for shooting tomorrow and we're all scheduled out."

"All except lucky Jane, who's in for the rest of the week," said Grace.

"I'll try and skip around in the crowd scenes and take the places of all of you," Jane consoled them.

"Mrs. Murphy's going to be the Cheyenne star in the picture," chuckled Sue. "The director saw her at the field and he drafted her for a comedy role. It was taken this morning and was as funny as could be. They dressed Mrs. Murphy up in an old-fashioned outfit with a bonnet and a parrot in a cage. She was taking her first trip by plane and all she had to do was to look flustered and talk about her fear."

"Yes, and Mrs. Murphy's never been up," added Grace. "When she started toward the plane she forgot all about being in a movie and began to get scared. By the time she reached the steps, she wasn't acting and Miss Barrett and Mr. Macklin had to almost force her into the ship. Mrs. Murphy's brogue was so thick you could cut it and the whole film crew laughed until they were just about worn out. Mrs. Murphy got a hundred dollars for the scene and she's tickled to death."

All the girls were scheduled out on early ships the next morning and Jane went to the field with them. Even at that hour, Director James was on hand making plans for the day's schedule.

After the early planes had cleared the field, Jane saw him talking to Charlie Fischer, who had been given a leave of absence to do the stunt flying. A few minutes later Charlie came over and joined her.

"This is my big day," he said. "If I do all of the tricks they want me to, I'll go crazy."

"What do you have to do?"

"They're practically re-enacting the scene of the bandit plane attacking us, and I've got to fly the bandit ship. They had a chap from Denver slated to come up and do that while I flew the army plane which arrived just in time. Now I'll have to fly the bandit plane through a lot of maneuvers and then come down, get another ship which will be painted like an army plane, and do some more stunts all around one of the tri-motors."

"But that won't seem like an aerial battle."

"The director says they can cut the film in the laboratory so it will look all right. Of course he'd like to have both the bandit and the army ships up at the same time, but he's short a pilot and the scene must be filmed this morning. Hiring these big tri-motors is cutting heavily into his expense budget."

"Why not let me fly one of the ships?" suggested Jane. "If you were in the other one, I know I'd get along all right."

Charlie looked at her sharply.

"Golly, Jane, I never thought of that. Say, my ship is the one that's been painted up as the bandit plane. You could fly that with your eyes shut and I could take the army plane."

"I know we could do it," said Jane.

"Then here goes. We're on our way to see the director right now."