"That's it, yes. You see I can't tell when I'll have to shift, to make allowances for what the actors and actresses will do. There's no telling about these moving picture people," and Russ gave Ruth and Alice, as well as Paul, a laughing look as though to indicate that they were very temperamental, and hard to get along with.
"Are these some of the actor folks?" asked the mechanic who was laboring over the motor.
"That's what they are, and good ones, too!" cried Russ.
"Gee! They don't look it!" was the frank remark, and the two girls broke into peals of laughter.
Paul and Russ showed Ruth and Alice over the big motorboat, and then leaving the three to their own devices for a while, the young camera operator went into details of the work with the head mechanic. Russ was told that the _Ajax_ would be ready in plenty of time for him. He expressed himself as satisfied with the progress made, though he made one or two slight changes in the platform, built on the forward deck of the craft, where he was to stand when he took the pictures of the shipwreck.
"Well, how about those sodas now?" asked Russ of his companions when he had finished. "There's a nice place a few blocks up, and it's about warm enough for ice cream."
"Couldn't we take just a look at the _Mary Ellen_ while we are here?" asked Alice. "Isn't that she, over there?" and she pointed across the basin.
"You speak of that ship as if she were a person," objected Ruth.
"And so she is!" Alice exclaimed. "A ship is always a lady, isn't she, Paul?"
"She ought to try to be, at least," he laughed. "How about it, Russ? Shall we take the girls over to the schooner?"
"Might as well, I guess. It won't take long, and it isn't far."
A short time later the four of them stood at the gangplank of the _Mary Ellen_. They saw no signs of any men on deck, but they were doubtless below, making the repairs, which must be nearly finished.
"Come on," said Russ, leading the way. "We'll go aboard."
As they stood on deck, looking about them, they saw no one, but the companionway was in plain sight, and they started toward it, intending to go down into the main cabin.
The place was rather dimly lighted, but when their eyes had become used to the gloom, they caught sight of a solitary figure in the forward end of the main compartment.