nails thoughtfully before he glanced up. "It's a pity, but I'm afraid
that cannot be managed, Mr. Lindsay. The boys in my Western company have
been with me, some of them, since the Independent Sales Company was
organized. They worked for next to nothing till I got things started. Two
or three are under contracts. You will understand me when I say that my
boys must stay where they are." He waited for a minute, and watched
Luck's face grow sober. "I have heard about your Happy Family," he added.
"There has been a good deal of discussion, I imagine, among the studios
about them. Ordinarily I should be glad to have you bring those boys with
you; but as matters stand, it is impossible. Our Western Company is full,
and I could not let these boys go to make room for strangers,--however
good those strangers might be. You understand?"
"Certainly I understand." But Luck's face did not brighten.
"Can't they stay on with the Acme? From what I hear, the Acme's Western
Company is not large at best."
"They can stay, yes. But they won't. The whole bunch gave in their
two weeks' notice this morning." There was a grim satisfaction in
Luck's tone.
"Left when you did, I suppose?"
"That's just exactly what they did. I told them they better stay, and
they nearly lynched me for it."
"Have you made any agreement with them in regard to placing them with
another company--for instance?"
"Certainly not. Some things don't have to be set down in black and
white."
"I--see." Dewitt did see. What he saw worried him, even though it
increased his respect for Luck Lindsay. He studied his nails more
critically than before.
"These boys--have they any resources at all, other than their work in
pictures? Did they burn their bridges when they came with you?"
"Oh, far as that goes, they've all got ranches. They wouldn't starve."
Luck's voice was inclined to gruffness under quizzing.
"As I see the situation," Dewitt went on evenly and with a logic that
made Luck squirm with its very truthfulness, "they left their ranches and
came with you to work in pictures in a spirit of adventure, we might say.
There is a glamour; and your personal influence, your enthusiasm, had its
effect. Should they go back to their ranches now, they would carry back a
fresh outlook and a fund of experiences that would season conversation
agreeably for months to come. They will not have lost financially, I take
it. They will have had a vacation which has in many ways been a
profitable one. Should the question be laid before them, I venture the
assertion that they would urge you to take this position with us.
"They would feel some disappointment of course--just as you would feel
sorry not to be able to bring them with you. But no reasonable man would
blame you or expect you to bear the handicap of six or seven
inexperienced young fellows. You must see that your only hope of placing
them would be with some new company just starting up. And this is not the
season for young companies. Next spring you might stand a better chance."
"Yes, that's all true enough," Luck admitted, since Dewitt plainly
expected some reply. "At the same time--"
"There is no immediate need of a decision," Dewitt hastily completed
Luck's sentence. "From all weather reports, this storm is going to be a
long one. I doubt very much if you could get to work for several days.
I wish you would think it over from all sides before you accept or
refuse the proposition, Mr. Lindsay. Lay the matter before your boys;
tell them frankly just how things stand. I'll guarantee they will
insist upon your accepting the position. I know, and you know, that it
will give you a better opportunity than you have had in some time. And
I am going to say candidly that I believe you need only the opportunity
to make your work stand out above all the others. That is why I sent
for you this morning. I believe you have big possibilities, and I want
you with the Great Western."
There was that instant of silence which terminates all conferences. Then
Luck rose, and Dewitt tilted back his office chair and swung it away from
the desk so that he was still facing Luck. So the two looked at each
other measuringly for a moment.
"I certainly appreciate your good opinion of me, Mr. Dewitt," Luck said.
"Whether I take the place or not, I want to thank you for offering it to
me. It all looks fine--the chance of my life; but I can't--"
"No, don't say any more." Dewitt raised his hand. "You do as I
suggest; tell the boys just what has passed, if you like. Let them
decide for you."
"No, that wouldn't be fair. They'd decide for my interests and forget
about their own. I know that."
"Well, let's just wait a day or two. You think it over. Think what you
could do with Jean Douglas, for instance. I'll try and get her back; I
think perhaps I can. She's married, but I think they'll both come if I
make it worth their while. Come and see me day after to-morrow, will you?
We'll say four o'clock again. Good-by."
So Luck went away with temptation whispering in his ear.
CHAPTER NINE
LEAVE IT TO THE BUNCH
Not a word did Luck say to the Happy Family about his big opportunity.
Instead, he avoided them half guiltily, and he filled the next day and
the one after that by seeing, or trying to see, the head of every motion
picture company in that part of the State. He even sent a night letter to
a big company at Santa Barbara. Always he stipulated that he must take
his own cowboys with him and have a free hand in the production of
Western pictures--since he did not mean to risk having another irate
author descend upon him with threats of a lawsuit.
By three o'clock of the day when he was to give Dewitt his decision,
Luck was convinced that the two conditions he never failed to mention
were as two iron bars across every trail that might otherwise have been
open to him. No motion picture company seemed to feel that it needed
seven inexperienced men on its payroll. A few general managers
suggested letting them work as extras, but the majority could not see
the proposition at all. They were more willing to give Luck the free
hand which he demanded, had negotiations ever reached that far, which
they did not.
The Happy Family, Luck was forced to admit to himself, was a very serious
handicap for an out-of-work director to carry at the beginning of the
rainy season. He did his best, and he spent two sleepless nights over the
doing, but he simply could not land them anywhere. He talked himself
hoarse for them, he painted them geniuses all; he declared that they
would make themselves and their company--supposing they were
accepted--famous for Western pictures. He worked harder to place them in
the business than he would ever work to find himself a job, and he failed
absolutely.
Dewitt's eyes questioned him the moment he stood inside the office.
Dewitt had heard something of Luck's efforts since their last meeting;
and although he admired Luck the more for his loyalty, he felt quite
certain that now he was convinced of his defeat, Luck would hesitate no
longer over stepping into the official shoes of Robert Grant Burns, who
was lying on his broad back, and shouting pitifully futile commands to
his company and asking an imaginary camera-man questions which were as
Greek to the soft-footed nurse. Dewitt, having just come from a visit to
Burns, had a vivid mental picture of that ward in the Sister's hospital.
But alongside that picture was another, quite as vivid, of Luck Lindsay
standing beside Pete Lowry's camera with a script in his hand, explaining
to Jean Douglas the business of some particular scene.
"Well?" queried Dewitt, and motioned Luck to a chair.
"Well," Luck echoed, and stopped for a breath. "No use wasting time, Mr.
Dewitt. I can't take any position that doesn't include the Flying U boys.
I'm certainly sorry that prevents my accepting your offer. I appreciate
all it would mean for me and for my Big Picture to be with you. But--some
things mean more--"
"You're under no obligations to tie your own hands just because theirs
are not free," Dewitt reminded him sharply.
"I know I'm not."
"Can you figure where it will be to their advantage for you to refuse a
good position just because they happen to be out of work?"
"I'm not trying to figure anything like that. Some things don't have to
be figured. Some things just are! Do you see what I mean? Those boys
didn't wait to do any figuring. When I quit the Acme, they quit--just as
a matter of course. If I were as loyal to them as they have been to me,
Mr. Dewitt, I wouldn't have taken two days to give you my answer. I'd
have told you day before yesterday what I'm telling you now."
Dewitt did not reply at once. When he did speak he seemed to be answering
an argument within himself.
"I can't let my own boys go to make room for yours. That is absolutely
out of the question. There is a little matter of loyalty there, also."
"I know there is. I don't know that I should want you to let them go.
We're both in the same position almost. And we're at a deadlock, Mr.
Dewitt. I'm certainly sorry that I can't sign up with you."
"So am I, young man. So am I. Come back if things shape themselves so you
can see your way clear to directing my Western company. I've an idea your
boys will be going back to their ranches before the holidays. In case
they do, let me hear from you."
That was more than Luck had any right to expect, and he had the sense to
realize it. He thanked Dewitt and promised, and went away with something
of a load off his mind. He could go now and face the Happy Family without
feeling himself another Judas.
He found them sitting around waiting for their supper and trying to
invent new words to fit their disgust with the Acme Film Company. They
greeted Luck as though they had not seen him for a month.
"Bully for you, Luck!" Andy shouted, and gave him an approving slap on
the shoulder that sent him skating dangerously toward the table. "Best
job in town just came a-running up to you and says, 'Please take me!'--so
they say. That right?"
"Yeah--what about this here Great Western gitting its loop on you first
thing?" bawled Big Medicine gleefully. "By cripes, that's sure one on the
Acme bunch! They'll wisht they wasn't quite so fresh, givin' that little
tin imitation of an author so much rope. Me 'n' Pink was over to the
studio to-day; honest to grandma, they was a sick lookin' bunch around
there. Me 'n' Pink sure throwed it into 'em too, about letting the only
real man they had git away from 'em the way they done."
"My gorry, son, I sure am tickled to see yuh light with both feet
under yuh, like they say you done. I heard tell the Great Western's
going to let yuh put on your own pitcher; I guess them Acme folks'll
feel kinda foolish when they see it," declared the dried little man,
grinning over his pipe.
Luck was fighting his bewilderment and framing a demand for explanations
when Rosemary bustled in from the kitchen.
"Oh, but we're glad, Luck Lindsay!" she began in her quick, emphatic way.
"We all feel like a million dollars over your good luck. We're going to
have fried chicken and strawberry shortcake for supper, too, just for a
celebration. I knew you'd come out and tell us all about it. So sit right
down, everybody, and keep still so Luck can tell us just what everybody
said to the other fellow, and how Dewitt happened to get hold of him so
quickly. Is it true? The boys heard you were going to get two hundred
dollars a week!"
"Not get it--no." Luck unfolded his napkin with fingers that shook a
little. "I was offered it, but I'm not going to take it."
"Not--why, Luck Lindsay!" Rosemary very nearly dropped her new
percolator.
"_Y' ain't_?"
"Aw, gwan! Only reason I wouldn't take two hundred a week would be
because I'd drop dead at the chance and couldn't."
"Well, listen. There's one point that hasn't spilled into studio gossip
yet," Luck managed to slip into the uproar. "I didn't take the place.
There were some details we couldn't get together on, so I thanked him and
turned it down."
There was silence, while the Happy Family stared at him.
"What dee-tails was them?" Big Medicine demanded belligerently. "Way I
heard it--"
"Studio gossip," Luck interrupted hastily. "You can't depend on anything
you hear passed around amongst the extras. We failed to agree on certain
technical details. I haven't any more job than a jack rabbit; let it go
at that. What have you fellows been doing?"
"Us? Why, the Acme's goin' to give us absent, treatment from now on,"
Andy stated cheerfully. "They're paying us thirty a week apiece to stay
away from 'em--and I sure never earned money easier than that. Clements
is going to take orders from that so-called author, and he told me
straight out that they'll be using actors in those stories."
"They'll need 'em," Luck commented drily. "You're in luck that they don't
want you to work. Any other news?"
"You bet they's other news!" roared Big Medicine, goggling across the
table at Luck. "I rustled me a job, by cripes! Soon as this rain's
over, I'm goin' to cash in my face fer two dollars a day with the
Sunset. Feller over there wants me bad fer atmosphere in a pitcher he's
goin' to make of the Figy Islands. Feller claims he can clothe me in a
nigger wig and a handful of grass and get more atmosphere, by cripes,
to the square inch--"
Rosemary gasped and bolted for the kitchen. When she came back, red-faced
and still gurgling spasmodically, Pink was relating his experiences with
another company. He and the Native Son and Weary, it transpired, were
duly enrolled upon the extra list and were reasonably sure of a day's
work now and then. Rosemary had paid her Japanese maid and let her go,
and Andy was going to help her with the housework until the industrial
problem was solved. She listened for a minute and then made a suggestion
of her own.
"We're all in the same boat," she said, "and by just sticking together, I
know we'll come out swimmingly. Why don't you leave the hotel, and come
out here and batch with us, Luck? It would be so much cheaper; and I can
turn that couch in the kitchen into a bed, easy as anything. I'd like to
shake that Great Western Company for acting the way they have with you.
Think of offering a man a two-hundred-a-week position and then
haggling--"
"Say, Luck," the dried little man spoke up suddenly, "how much does one
of them there camaries cost? I'd be willin' to chip in and help buy one;
and, by gorry, we could make some movin' pitchers of our own and sell
'em, if we caji't do no better." He craned his neck and peered the length
of the table at Luck. "Ain't no law ag'in it, is there?" he challenged.
"No, there's no law against it." Luck closed his lips against further
comment. The idea was like a sudden blow upon the door of his
imagination.
The Happy Family looked at one another inquiringly. They had never
thought of doing anything like that. The dried little man may have
meditated much upon the subject, but he certainly had not given a hint of
it to any of them.
"Oh, why couldn't you boys do that?" Rosemary exclaimed breathlessly.
Luck stirred his coffee carefully and did not look up. "Don't run away
with the idea that you can buy a camera for twenty or thirty dollars," he
quelled. "A camera, complete with tripod, lenses, magazines, and cases,
would cost about fourteen hundred dollars--at least."
That, as he had expected it to do, rather feazed the Happy Family for a
few minutes. They became interested in the food they were eating, and
their eyes did not stray far from their plates.
"I can ante two hundred," Weary remarked at last with elaborate
carelessness, reaching for more butter.
"See yuh and raise yuh fifty," Andy Green retorted briskly. "I've got a
wife that's learning me to save money."
"You can count my chips for all I got." Pink's dimples showed briefly.
"I'll go through my pockets when I get filled up, and see how rich I am.
But, anyway, there's a couple of hundred I know I've got,--counting Acme
handouts and all."
"We-ell--" the dried little man laid down his fork to rub his chin
thoughtfully, "I never had much call to spend money in Sioux,
North-Dakoty. I batched and lived savin'. I can put in half of that
fourteen hundred--mebby a little mite more."
"Well, by cripes, I got a boy t' look out fer, and I ain't rich as some,
but all I got goes in the pot!" cried Big Medicine impulsively.
Luck leaned back in his chair and regarded the flushed faces
enigmatically. "This is all good material for an argument on our
financial standing," he said, "but if you're taking yourselves seriously,
let me tell you something before you go any farther. Buying a camera is
only a starter. Besides, I wouldn't play with little stuff and compete
with these big, established companies releasing on regular programs. Say,
for the sake of argument, that we cooperate and go into this; all I'd
handle would be features,--State's rights stuff. (Make big four-or-five
reelers, and sell the rights in as many States as possible; that's what
it amounts to.) But it isn't a thing to play with, boys. Let's do our
joking about something else."
Rosemary set her two elbows upon the table, clasped her hands together,
and dropped her chin upon them so that she was looking at Luck from under
her eyebrows. That pose meant determination and an argumentative mood.
"I've been doing a little mental arithmetic," she began. "Also I've done
a little thinking. I know now what spoiled that Great Western offer for
you, Luck Lindsay. It was because they wouldn't take the boys too. And
you turned it down because you--oh, they're the 'technical details,'
young man! You see? Your eyes give you away. I knew it, once the idea
popped into my head. What do you think of a fellow like that, boys?
Refused a two-hundred-a-week position because he couldn't get you fellows
a job too."
"That two hundred seems to worry you a good deal," Luck muttered, crimson
to his collar.
"Now don't interrupt, because I shall keep right on talking just the
same. I've a lot more to say. Do you realize that the donations these
boys have made already amounts to over fifteen hundred dollars? And that
does not include Happy Jack or Miguel, because they haven't--"
"Aw, gwan! I never had a chanct to git a word in edgeways," Happy
hurriedly defended his seeming parsimony. "I'm willin' to chip in."
"Well, the point is this: Why not all put in what you can, and just go
out where there are cattle, and make your Big Picture, Luck Lindsay? We
could live in the country cheaper than we can here: and there wouldn't be
anything to buy but grub,--just a bag of beans and some flour and coffee.
I'd be willing to starve for the sake of making that Big Picture!"
"By gracious, there's our transportation money, too!" Andy broke another
short silence. "Three hundred and fifty, right there in a lump."
"Let it stay transportation money, too!" Rosemary advised quickly. "It
can transport you fellows to where Luck wants to make his picture."
They waited then for Luck to speak, but he was too busy thinking. On his
shoulders would rest the responsibility of the outfit. On his word they
would rely absolutely and without question. It was no light matter to
lead these men into a venture which would take their time, more hard,
heart-breaking work than they could possibly foresee, and the last dollar
they possessed. He was sorely tempted to try it, but for their sakes he
knew he must not let their enthusiasm sweep away his sober judgment. Had
they owned but half his experience it would be different; but their very
ignorance of the game hampered his decision.
"Well, boss, how about it?" Andy urged. "Are yuh game to try her a whirl?
We haven't got much, but what we've got is yours if you want to tackle
it. We'll be right with you--till hell's no bigger than a bullet ladle."
"That's just what holds me back. I'd certainly hate to lead you up
against a losing proposition, boys. And if I went into it, I'd go in over
my eyebrows; if I didn't make good I wouldn't have the price of a tag on
a ten-cent sack of Bull Durham when I quit; so I couldn't pay you back--"
"Aw, thunder! Think we never set into a poker game in our lives? Think
we're in the habit of hollerin' for our chips back when we lose? What's
the matter with yuh, anyway?" cried Big Medicine wrathfully.
"Why, of course we share the risk of losing!" Rosemary scowled at him
indignantly. "We'll go in over our eyebrows, too,--and stand on our toes
long as we can, to keep our scalp locks showing above water!" Her brown
eyes twinkled a swift glance around the table. "If you think these boys
are quitters, Luck Lindsay, you just ought to have been around when they
were hanging on to their homesteads! I could tell you things--"
"You say buying a camera is just a starter. How much do you figure it
would cost to make our Big Picture? Cutting out salaries and all such
little luxuries, what would the actual expenses be--making a rough
guess?" Weary leaned forward over his plate and forgot all about his
tempting wedge of shortcake.
Luck pushed back his plate and smiled his smile. "For the Big Picture,"
he began, while the Happy Family leaned to listen, "there'd be the camera
and outfit,--I could pick up some things second hand,--we'll call that
fourteen hundred and fifty. Then there would be at least five thousand
feet of film: perforated raw stock I could get for about three and three
quarter cents a foot. Say a couple, of hundred dollars for that. We'd
need at least three dozen radium flares for our night scenes; they cost
close around twenty dollars a dozen. And one or two light
diffusers,--that's just to get us started with an outfit, remember. Then
there'd be our transportation to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I know that
country, and I know what I can do there. I'd hit straight for a ranch I
know between Bear Canyon and Rincon Arroyo--belongs to an old fellow that
sure is a character, too, in his way. Old bachelor, he is; got some
cattle and horses, and round-pole corrals and the like of that. I know
old Applehead Forrman like I know my right hand; we'd make Applehead's
place our headquarters--see? Exterior stuff we'd have right there, ready
to shoot without any expense. As for interiors,--say! any of you fellows
handy with hammer and saw?"
"By gracious, we all are!" Andy declared quickly. "We learned our little
lessons when we were building claim shacks for ourselves."
"Good enough! You boys could be stage mechanics as well as leading men,"
Luck grinned. "Add hammers and saws to the outfit. We'd have to build a
few interior sets."
Rosemary had her eyebrows tied in little knots, she was thinking so fast.
"I'll write the Little Doctor that she can have my silver teaset," she
informed Andy impulsively. "She offered me fifty dollars for it, you
know. That would buy lots of beans!"
Luck looked at her, but he did not say what was in his mind. Instead he
reached into an inner pocket and drew out his passbook, "I've got
eighteen hundred and ninety-five dollars in the bank," he announced,
reading the figures aloud. "And my car ought to bring three or four
thousand,--if I can find the man that tried to buy it a month or so
before I took the Injuns back. She's a pippin, boys!--"
"Oh, your lovely, big, white machine!" wailed Rosemary. "Would you have
to sell it, Luck? Couldn't we squeak along without that?"
"Aw, you don't want to sell your car!" Pink protested. "I know where I
can borrow two or three hundred. Maybe the Old Man--"
"We'll put this thing through alone, if we do it at all," Luck told him
bluntly. "Can't afford to work with borrowed capital; the risk is too
great. Sure, I'll sell the car. I was thinking of it, anyway," he
testified falsely but reassuringly. "We'll need every cent I can raise.
There's chemicals and Lord knows what all; and when we come to making our
prints and marketing, why--" he threw out both hands expressively. "If we
land in Albuquerque with five thousand dollars and our outfit, we won't
have a cent to throw away. At that, we'll have to squeeze every nickel
till it hollers, before we're through. Believe me, boys, this is going to
be some undertaking!"
"Nice, comfortable way you've got of painting things cheerful," the
Native Son drawled ironically.
"That's all right. I want you to realize what it's going to be like
before you get in so far you can't back out."
"Aw, who's said anything about backing out?" Happy Jack grumbled.
"Let's get right down to brass tacks and see how strong we can go on
money," Andy suggested, pulling a pencil out of an inner pocket. "Here,
girl, you do the bookkeeping while we call off the size of our pile. Put
'er down in this book till you can get another one. You can set me down
for two seventy-five--or make it three hundred. I can scrape it up, all
right. How about you, Pink? This is hard-boiled figures, now, and no
guess work."