"If the soil is
too hard, then the action will drag. And quick action and a brisk finish
always make for a better picture."
"Hey, you!" commanded the Captain. "Go get another shovel and help dig."
While two soldiers stood digging in a rectangular plot in the
market-place, the camera-men had set up and were adjusting a motion
picture apparatus. Twenty-five feet away stood six soldiers leaning on
their rifles talking and laughing.
"Enough digging!" shouted the Captain. "Turn the loose earth back into
the pit." The soldiers obeyed.
"Are you ready?" he said as he turned to the camera-men.
"All ready," came the reply.
"Now," said the Captain winking maliciously to two of his men. "You run
around and pick me up a beggar."
The soldiers started off, pushing their way through the sheepish crowd
and into a side street. After walking a few hundred paces one remarked
to the other: "When you don't need them, a hundred are upon you. When
you want them--the devil take it."
At last they came upon Silly Peter and decided that he would answer.
"Come along, boy; the Captain wants you," they said, taking hold of his
arms.
"Let me go!" The boy struggled. "I did nothing."
"Come along, you fool!"
They brought Silly Peter to the square, placed him on the spot that
smelled fresh with upturned earth, placed a shovel in his hands and told
him to dig his grave.
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