The Project Gutenberg EBook of Merton of the Movies, by Harry Leon Wilson

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Title: Merton of the Movies

Author: Harry Leon Wilson

Posting Date: February 12, 2009 [EBook #3472]
Release Date: October, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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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