"Fall down again! Never! I will resign first."

"Very well, I won't insist on it," replied the manager, for he felt that
it was rather hard on the actor.

But moving picture work is not at all easy, and actors and actresses have
to do more disagreeable and dangerous "stunts" than merely falling into a
muddy stream. The demand of the public for realism often goes to
extremes, and more than once performers have risked their lives at the
behest of some enthusiastic manager.

Mr. Pertell was not that sort, however, though he did insist on his
players doing a reasonable amount of hard work--and often disagreeable
work, as in this case.

But aside from getting wet and muddy, which conditions could be remedied
by a bath and dry clothes, the actor suffered no great hardship, except
to his pride, and perhaps he had too much of that, anyhow.

"Come on!" cried the manager. "Crawl out of that, and keep on with the
chase."

"Keep on--in this condition! Do you mean it?" Mr. Towne asked.

"Certainly I do. The play must go on. Just because you fell in the ditch
is no excuse for stopping it. Keep on! Right along the path. Crawl out
and run on."

"But--but look at my clothes!" complained Mr. Towne. "They are--they're
muddy!"