Produced by Charles Franks, Ralph Zimmermann and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team MERTON OF THE MOVIES By Harry Leon Wilson To George Ade CONTENTS I. DIRTY WORK AT THE BORDER II. THAT NIGHT--THE APARTMENTS OF CLIFFORD ARMYTAGE III. WESTERN STUFF IV. THE WATCHER AT THE GATE V. A BREACH IN THE CITY WALLS VI. UNDER THE GLASS TOPS VII. “NOTHING TO-DAY, DEAR!” VIII. CLIFFORD ARMYTAGE, THE OUTLAW IX. MORE WAYS THAN ONE X. OF SHATTERED ILLUSIONS XI. THE MONTAGUE GIRL INTERVENES XII. ALIAS HAROLD PARMALEE XIII. GENIUS COMES INTO ITS OWN XIV. OUT THERE WHERE MEN ARE MEN XV. A NEW TRAIL XVI. OF SARAH NEVADA MONTAGUE XVII. MISS MONTAGUE USES HER OWN FACE XVIII. “FIVE REELS--500 LAUGHS” XIX. THE TRAGIC COMEDIAN XX. ONWARD AND UPWARD CHAPTER I. DIRTY WORK AT THE BORDER At the very beginning of the tale there comes a moment of puzzled hesitation. One way of approach is set beside another for choice, and a third contrived for better choice. Still the puzzle persists, all because the one precisely right way might seem--shall we say intense, high keyed, clamorous? Yet if one way is the only right way, why pause? Courage! Slightly dazed, though certain, let us be on, into the shrill thick of it. So, then-- Out there in the great open spaces where men are men, a clash of primitive hearts and the coming of young love into its own! Well had it been for Estelle St. Clair if she had not wandered from the Fordyce ranch. A moment’s delay in the arrival of Buck Benson, a second of fear in that brave heart, and hers would have been a fate worse than death. Had she not been warned of Snake le Vasquez, the outlaw--his base threat to win her by fair means or foul? Had not Buck Benson himself, that strong, silent man of the open, begged her to beware of the half-breed? Perhaps she had resented the hint of mastery in Benson’s cool, quiet tones as he said, “Miss St. Clair, ma’am, I beg you not to endanger your welfare by permitting the advances of this viper. He bodes no good to such as you.” Perhaps--who knows?--Estelle St. Clair had even thought to trifle with the feelings of Snake le Vasquez, then to scorn him for his presumption. Although the beautiful New York society girl had remained unsullied in the midst of a city’s profligacy, she still liked “to play with fire,” as she laughingly said, and at the quiet words of Benson--Two-Gun Benson his comrades of the border called him--she had drawn herself to her full height, facing him in all her blond young beauty, and pouted adorably as she replied, “Thank you! But I can look out for myself.”