. 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.

"I don't know about your hair," he told her, when she came up to him
and stopped. "We'll run the negative to-night and see how it shows up.
The rest of the scene was all right. I had Pete make it. I'm going to
take some scenes down here by the gate, now, with the boys. I won't
need you till after lunch, probably; then I'll have you make that ride
down off the bluff and some close-up rope work."

"I suppose I ought to ride over to the ranch," Jean said undecidedly.
"And I ought to try out this sorrel if you want me to use him. Would
some other day do just--"

"In the picture business," interrupted Robert Grant Burns
dictatorially, "the working-hours of an actor belong to the director
he's working for. If I use you in pictures, your time will belong to
me on the days when I use you. I'll expect you to be on hand when I
want you; get that?"

"My time," said Jean resolutely, "will belong to you if I consider it
worth my while to let you have it. Otherwise it will belong to me."

Burns chuckled. "Well, we might as well get down to brass tacks and
have things thoroughly understood," he decided. "I'll use you as an