This saddling scene will have to wait till I send for a wig.You can change clothes with Miss Gay and get by all right at a distance,just as you are.A little make-up,maybe;she'll fix that.Come on,let's get to work.And don't worry about the salary;I'll tell you to-night what it'll be,after I see you work."When he was in that mood,Robert Grant Burns swept everything before him.He swept Jean into his plans before she had really made up her mind whether to accept his offer or stick to her literary efforts.He had Muriel Gay up at the house and preparing to change clothes with Jean,and he had Lee Milligan started for town in the machine with the key to Burns'emergency wardrobe trunk,before Jean realized that she was actually going to do things for the camera to make into a picture.
"I'm glad you are going to double in that ride down the bluff,anyway,"Muriel declared,while she blacked Jean's brows and put shadows around her eyes."I could have done it,of course;but mamma is so nervous about my getting hurt that I hate to do anything risky like that.It upsets her for days.""There isn't much risk in riding down the bluff,"said Jean carelessly."Not if you've got a good horse.
I wonder if that sorrel is rope broke.Have you ever roped off him?""No,"said Muriel,"I haven't."She might have added that she never roped off any horse,but she did not.
"I'll have to try him out and see what he's like,before I try to rope for a picture.I wonder if there'll be time now?"Jean was pleasantly excited over this new turn of events.She had dreamed of doing many things,but never of helping to make moving pictures.
She was eager and full of curiosity,like a child invited to play a new and fascinating game,and she kept wondering what Lite would have to say about her posing for moving pictures.Try to stop her,probably,--and fail,as usual!
When she went out to where the others were grouped in the shade,she gave no sign of any inner excitement or perturbation.She went straight up to Burns and waited for his verdict.
"Do I look like Miss Gay?"she drawled.
The keen eyes of Burns half closed while he studied her.
"No,I can't say that you do,"he said after a moment."Walk off toward the corrals,--and,say!
Mount the sorrel and start off like you were in a deuce of a hurry.That'll be one scene,and I'd like to see how you do it when you can have your own way about it,and how close up we can make it and have you pass for Gay.""How far shall I ride?"Jean's eyes had a betraying light of interest.
"Oh--to the gate,maybe.Can you get a long shot down the trail to the gate,Pete,and keep skyline in the scene?"Pete moved the camera,fussed and squinted,and then nodded his head."Sure,I can.But you'll have to make it right away,or else wait till to-morrow.The sun's getting around pretty well in front.""We'll take it right after this rehearsal,if the girl can put the stuff over right,"Burns muttered."And she can,or I'm badly mistaken.Pete,that girl's--"He stopped short,because the shadow of Lee Milligan was moving up to them."All right,Miss--say,what's your name,anyway?"He was told,and went on briskly."Miss Douglas,just start from off that way,--about where that round rock is.You'll come into the scene a little beyond.Hurry straight up to the sorrel and mount and ride off.Your lover is going to be trapped by the bandits,and you've just heard it and are hurrying to save him.Get the idea?Now let's see you do it.""You don't want me to sob,do you?"Jean looked over her shoulder to inquire."Because if I were going to save my lover,I don't believe I'd want to waste time weeping around all over the place."Burns chuckled."You can cut out the sob,"he permitted."Just go ahead like it was real stuff."Jean was standing by the rock,ready to start.She looked at Burns speculatively."Oh,well,if it were real,I'd run!""Go ahead and run then!"Burns commanded.
Run she did,and startled the sorrel so that it took quick work to catch him.
"Camera!She might not do it like that again,ever!"cried Burns.
She was up in the saddle and gone in a flurry of dusts while Robert Grant Burns stood with his hands on his hips and watched her gloatingly.
"Lord!But that girl's a find!"he ejaculated,and this time he did not seem to care who heard him.He cut the scene just as Jean pulled up at the gate."See how she set that sorrel down on his haunches?"he chuckled to Pete."Talk about feature-stuff;that girl will jump our releases up ten per cent.Pete,with the punches I can put into Gay's parts now.How many feet was that scene,twenty-five?""Fifteen,"corrected Pete."And every foot with a punch in it.Too bad she's got to double for Gay.
She's got the face for close-up work,believe me!"To this tentative remark Robert Grant Burns made no reply whatever.He went off down the path to meet Jean,critically watching her approach to see how nearly she resembled Muriel Gay,and how close she could come to the camera without having the substitution betrayed upon the screen.Muriel Gay was a leading woman with a certain assured following among movie audiences.Daring horsewomanship would greatly increase that following,and therefore the financial returns of these Western pictures.Burns was her director,and it was to his interest to build up her popularity.Since the idea first occurred to him,therefore,of using Jean as a substitute for Muriel in all the scenes that required nerve and skill in riding,he looked upon her as a double for Muriel rather than from the viewpoint of her own individual possibilities on the screen.
