"I'm going to use all these fellows in a couple of scenes,"he told her."Can't you practice on a post?""_I_don't have to practice.It's the sorrel Iwant to try out."Jean's voice lost a little of its habitual,soft drawl.Really,these picture-people did seem very dense upon some subjects!
"Well,now look here."Robert Grant Burns caught at the shreds of his domineering manner."My part of this business is producing the scenes.You'll have to attend to the getting-ready part.You--you wouldn't expect me to help you put on your make-up,would you?""No,now that I recognize your limitations,I shall not ask any help which none of you are able or have the nerve to give,"she returned coolly."I wish I had Lite here;but I guess Pard and I can handle the sorrel ourselves.Sorry to have disturbed you."Robert Grant Burns,his leading man and all his villains stood and watched her walk away from them to the stable.They watched her lead Pard out and turn him loose in the biggest corral.When they saw her take her coiled rope,mount the sorrel and ride in,they went,in a hurried group,to where they might look into that corral.They watched her pull the gate shut after her,lean from the saddle,and fasten the chain hook in its accustomed link.By the time she had widened her loop and turned to charge down upon unsuspecting Pard,Robert Grant Burns,his leading man and all his villains were lined up along the widest space between the corral rails,and Pete Lowry was running over so as to miss none of the show.
"Oh,I thought you were all so terribly busy!"taunted Jean,while her loop was circling over her head.
Pard wheeled just then upon his hind feet,but the loop settled true over his head and drew tight against his shoulders.
The sorrel lunged and fought the rope,and snorted and reared.It took fully two minutes for Jean to force him close enough to Pard so that she might flip off the loop.Pard himself caught the excitement and snorted and galloped wildly round and round the enclosure,but Jean did not mind that;what brought her lips so tightly together was the performance of the sorrel.While she was coiling her rope,he was making half-hearted buck jumps across the corral.When she swished the rope through the air to widen her loop,he reared and whirled.She jabbed him smartly with the spurs,and he kicked forward at her feet.
"Say,"she drawled to Burns,"I don't know what sort of a picture you're going to make,but if you want any roping done from this horse,you'll have to furnish meals and beds for your audiences."With that she was off across the corral at a tearing pace that made the watchers gasp.The sorrel swung clear of the fence.
He came near going down in a heap,but recovered himself after scrambling along on his knees.Jean brought him to a stand before Burns.
"I'll have to ask you to raise your price,Mr.Burns,if you want me to run this animal down the bluff,"she stated firmly."He's just what I thought he was all along:a ride-around-the-block horse from some livery stable.When it comes to range work,he doesn't know as much as--""Some people.I get you,"Burns cut in drily.
"How about that horse of yours?Would you be willing to let me have the use of him--at so much per?""If I do the riding,yes.Now,since you're here,and don't seem as busy as you thought you were,I'll show you the difference between this livery-stable beast and a real rope-horse."She dismounted and called to Pard,and Pard came to her,stepping warily because of the sorrel and the rope."Just to save time,will one of you boys go and bring my riding outfit from the stable?"she asked the line at the fence,whereupon the leading man and all the villains started unanimously to perform that slight service,which shows pretty well how Jean stood in their estimation.
"Now,that's a real,typical,livery-stable saddle and bridle,"she observed to Burns,pointing scornfully at the sorrel."I was going to tell you that I'd hate to be seen in a picture riding that outfit,anyway.Now,you watch how differently Pard behaves with a rope and everything.And you watch the sorrel get what's coming to him.Shall I `bust'him?""You mean throw him?"Burns,in his eagerness,began to climb the corral fence,--until he heard a rail crack under his weight."Yes,BUST him,if you want to.John Jimpson!if you can rope and throw that sorrel--"Jean did not reply to that half-finished sentence.
She was busy saddling Pard;now she mounted and widened her loop with a sureness of the result that flashed a thrill of expectation to her audience.Twice the loop circled over her head before she flipped it out straight and true toward the frantic sorrel as he surged by.She caught him fairly by both front feet and swung Pard half away from him.Pard's muscles stiffened against the jerk of the rope,and the sorrel went down with a bump.Pard backed knowingly and braced himself like the trained rope-horse he was,and Jean looked at Robert Grant Burns and laughed.
"I didn't bust him,"she disclaimed whimsically.
"He done busted himself!"She touched Pard with her heel and rode up so that the rope slackened,and she could throw off the loop."Did you see how Pard set himself?"she questioned eagerly."I could have gotten off and gone clear away,and Pard would have kept that horse from getting on his feet.Now you see the difference,don't you?Pard never would have gone down like that.""Oh,you'll do,"chuckled Robert Grant Burns,"I'll pay you a little more and use you and your horse together.Call that settled.Come on,boys,let's get to work."