Chapter Twenty-one

Too Much Action

For a moment sickening panic gripped Jane. Then she remembered that Charlie had insisted that she wear a parachute and there was plenty of time for her to bail out of the falling plane.

Jane looked back. Charlie's ship sped out of the trail of smoke and she saw his tense face peering over the cockpit. Behind him boomed the camera ship, recording every movement of the planes.

The flames, whipped by the wind, mounted and Jane knew there was little time to lose. They were down to 1,200 feet and she steeled herself for the leap from the plane.

It was her first jump and she hesitated for a moment. Desperately she tried the controls again but there was no hope there. The plane was falling at an alarming rate of speed.

Jane crouched in the seat, making sure that the chute was clear of any obstructions. It took nerve and a cool head to do what was ahead. At 1,000 feet she shot out of the plane, doubling over twice as she tumbled through the air.

The blazing biplane roared past her and she pulled the chute ring, using both hands. Behind her the pilot chute cracked out and then the great silken umbrella filled with air. Her plunge downward was stopped suddenly and she found herself drifting 800 feet above the ground.

The leap from the plane had been so sudden Jane had no time to analyze her feelings while she fell, but now, swinging below the parachute, she felt weak and sick.

The biplane spun downward, smoke and flame shooting from the fuselage. Close behind it followed Charlie, riding it to the ground, while above hovered the camera ship.

Jane was swinging under the chute in a wide arc. That would never do for she would be slapped hard against the ground. Pulling on the lines above, she checked the swinging. There was a slight wind from the north that would take her down on the Cheyenne airport.

Jane watched the biplane closely as it neared the ground. It struck, nose first and then disappeared in a volcano of smoke and flame.

Jane closed her eyes and when she opened them she had drifted past the scene of the wrecked plane and was coming down over the north boundary of the airport. A car from the main building was racing toward her. Jane recognized the ambulance trailing after it. They were taking no chances.

She tried to relax as the chute neared the ground. She knew that tense muscles might result in a broken bone for landing in a parachute was anything but a lark.

Three field mechanics jumped from the car and ran to catch Jane as she landed. One of them managed to reach her in time to ease the shock of the fall, but she got a severe jar.

They helped Jane out of the chute harness and she stepped clear just as Miss Comstock arrived aboard the ambulance.

"Are you hurt, Jane?" she asked anxiously.

"Just scared a little," confessed Jane, who now felt trembly all over.

"I was so afraid you weren't going to jump in time," said the chief stewardess. "I'm about ready to go to the hospital myself."

Just then Charlie Fischer pan-caked in for a quick landing, leaped from his plane and ran toward them.

"All right, Jane?" he asked.

"Yes, but your plane's a wreck," she replied, pointing beyond the north boundary of the field where flames were licking around the remains of the biplane.

"Forget about the plane," growled Charlie, "just as long as you came out all right."

Jane entered the field car and Miss Comstock accompanied her, the mechanics remaining to fold up the parachute. While on their way back to the administration building, the camera plane landed. As soon as it reached the hangar, the director leaped out and hurried toward Jane.

Before he could reach her, Charlie, who had taxied his plane across the field, cut in. He was raging mad at the slip-shod work of the movie men who had made the installation of the smoke pot in the ship Jane had flown.

"You ought to be kicked clear off the field," he shouted at the director. "There wasn't any danger in the stunt until we had to depend on the work of some of your men and then everything went wrong. I've a good notion to sock somebody."

"It was a regrettable accident," admitted the director, attempting to placate the angry Charlie, "and the company is willing to pay Miss Cameron handsomely for her work."

"Fat lot of good that would have done her if she hadn't got down all right," snorted Charlie.

"I'm very sorry the smoke pot set the plane on fire," said the director turning to Jane. "As you know I was hesitant about having you fly at all."

"I don't blame you for the accident," replied Jane. "We did so much twisting and turning up there that the smoke pot was probably dislodged. I hope it didn't spoil your film."

The director smiled. "I think we've probably the best airplane shots ever made for the cameramen were able to follow your ship until it crashed. Of course we'll have to cut a few feet where you jumped, but that can be done very easily."

Jane's work was over and she wanted to get away and be alone for a time. Perhaps she'd even cry a little for the tension had been terrific. She slipped away and went to Mrs. Murphy's where she undressed, took a refreshing bath, and went to bed. It was early evening when she wakened and went down stairs.

Mrs. Murphy emerged from the kitchen.

"A gentleman called a time ago and left this letter for you. I think he was from the film company."

Jane looked at the letter. The return address was that of the leading hotel in the city. She opened the envelope and drew out a crisp check. It was made payable to Jane Cameron in the amount of $250 and was signed by Roscoe James for the Mammoth Film Company.

Jane's eyes blurred. Why that check would more than equal all of the money she had spent learning how to fly, but she decided that she wouldn't want to do film stunts for a living.

There was a note with the check and Jane read it eagerly.

"Dear Miss Cameron: We are showing early shots of the film tonight at the hotel at eight. The scenes taken this morning will be included and we would like to have you present. The check is in appreciation of your fine work. Cordially, Roscoe James."

Jane's heart leaped. She wouldn't have to wait until the picture was completed and released. She could see the pictures of the airplane action that night.

"Mrs. Murphy," she called, "we're going to the hotel at eight o'clock. They're showing scenes of the picture which have been taken at Cheyenne."

"What a pity the other girls aren't here," said Mrs. Murphy. "I'm all in a bustle I'm that excited. Do you suppose I took well?"

"I'm sure you did."

"But did they invite me to see the pictures?" asked Mrs. Murphy anxiously.

"Well, they didn't exactly mention you by name, but I know they won't object. You get your hat and we'll go along. We've only a little more than time enough to get there now."

"But you've had no supper, Jane."

"I'm not hungry. I'm too excited."

"Well, you're going to eat," said Mrs. Murphy firmly, who believed that food was necessary at regular intervals. "There's several sandwiches and a glass of milk in the ice box. You eat that while I'm fixing my hair."

When they reached the hotel, Charlie Fischer and Miss Comstock were waiting in the lobby.

"This is going to be a real treat," smiled Miss Comstock. "I never thought I'd be in a movie, even as an extra in a crowd scene."

"And I never dreamed that I would pilot a plane with cameras recording the scene," admitted Jane.

"You might add that you never dreamed you would have to take to a chute to get down," put in Charlie.

"You're right and once is enough," said Jane firmly.

The pictures were to be shown in the ballroom. While they waited, Miss Barrett and Gary Macklin came out of the dining room. They paused to visit, awaiting the arrival of the director.

"I hear I missed some unusual action by staying in bed this morning," smiled Miss Barrett.

"It was too much action," said Charlie.

"How did you ever have the nerve to jump?" the film star asked Jane.

"It wasn't nerve," replied Jane, "it was just a case of necessity."

The director arrived and they went into the ballroom where a screen had been erected at one end and a portable projector placed at the other.

"We're going to run through everything we've taken," explained the director as the company, including cameramen and technicians, gathered. Turning to the Federated Airways people, he explained, "Of course there is no sound on the print we're running tonight. The noise of the airplane engines will be produced in the home studio and worked into the sound track later."

They found seats and the lights were turned off. There was no title to precede the start of the actual picture, the first scene being of the Cheyenne airport with the _Coast to Coast Limited_ coming in from the west. Jane started as she recognized the familiar action which had taken place only that Monday morning. She saw herself walking across the concrete floor to speak to the incoming stewardess. Then she entered the cabin and a few seconds later another stewardess walked across the hangar.

Jane smiled for the second girl was Claudette Barrett, looking exceedingly attractive in the uniform of a Federated Airways stewardess. Then there was a shot of the plane taking off, and, after that, pictures of Miss Barrett and Gary Macklin talking in the shadows of one of the great tri-motors, several shots showing the leading man at the controls of one of the big planes, and a number showing him in the cockpit of the army plane which Charlie had flown that morning.

Pictures of the planes coming in at night, especially, thrilled Jane. In the crowd scenes she saw Sue, Alice, Grace and Miss Comstock. Then came the unforgettable scene, with Mrs. Murphy trying to make up her mind about getting aboard the plane, and the efforts of Miss Barrett and Gary Macklin to convince her that flying was safe. The entire group burst into hearty laughter and the director leaned back to speak to Miss Barrett.

"That's one of the best bits of natural comedy I've seen in years," Jane heard him say.

The picture swung into the air action which had been taken that morning, showing the departure of the tri-motor. Then Jane saw the black plane which she had piloted bearing down on the transport and she leaned forward in her chair. This was her part of the picture. Her mouth felt dry and her brow was hot as she watched the black plane dart toward the unsuspecting tri-motor.

Smoke and flame shot from the gun on her plane as she maneuvered to force the transport down. The camera range had been too long to get a glimpse of Jane's face and reveal that a girl was flying the plane, but her scarf, which had been wound around her head, trailed over the edge of the cockpit, whipping in the wind.

The director turned to an assistant. "Make a note that when we take the close-up shots in the studio there must be a scarf tied to the helmet of the pilot of the bandit plane."

Out of the clouds dropped Charlie Fischer in the army plane, roaring down upon Jane and the black ship. For the next few minutes Jane was almost breathless as she watched the maneuvers in the air. It was more thrilling than she had dared to imagine, and the cameras had caught every twist and turn of the plane. Then came the last dive by Charlie and the puff of smoke from the black biplane, which fell away in a twisting dive.

Jane, watching intently, saw flames lick out of the fuselage and seconds later she catapulted from the burning plane. The cameras, following the blazing ship, failed to show her chute open, but they kept the focus on the plane until it smashed into the ground, a flaming mass of wreckage.

The film sputtered out of the projector and the lights in the ballroom came on. Director James turned to Jane and Charlie.

"Congratulations on some exceptionally fine flying," he said. Then, aiming his question at Jane, he asked, "How would you like to come to Hollywood? I'm sure we could find some small roles for a girl who has your coolness and nerve."

Jane shook her head firmly.

"Once was enough. I've had all of the movie experience I want."