Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-11-13
copyrisht: 1872: BY News Syndicate Co. Inc
An Old-Timer's Laugh
Changes the Course
OF a Girls Romance

Changes the Course
OF a Girls Romance
IN TWO PARTs-PART ONE
Wen be on location at st. Adams.
That's in Utah, honey. You know
Brigham Young and the Lake"
Il know. But where is st. Albans?"
Nobody knows. We've wired all map
publishers to find out
BE serious, Terry"
II don't know. 1t doesn't say on my
ticket. Anyway. there's a lot of hot
rock and sand out there and I've got
to go out and count the coyotes for
Sokkie. And, look, Kid. Stay away from
Garth Wyman. They haven't renewed
his contract and this is the kiss-off
You are on the way up and he's on
his way out. You can't afford to be
pally. Now mind me, chicken little
I'll see you a week from Monday"
This was a week from Monday, and
when Martha climbed down from one
of the two special Atlas Pictures pull
mans, she had forgotten Terry's advice
about Garth Wyman. She was just
that kind of a girl, maybe because her
mouth was little too wide for an am
bilious persons mouth, her green eyes
little too friendly to be calculating,
and her present curiousity little too
overpowering to remember it, any,
way.
She stood ankle deep in the sand of
the siding in the bright Utah desert
afternoon, a slim-legged, auburn
haired girl, and blinked at what she
saw, which was three school buses and
a half dozen cars pulled up alongside
a paint peeled shack of station, and
behind 1t more desert country than
she ever knew existed.
Terry fought his way through the
crowd of extras, kissed her quickly,
and before she could Straighten her
hat, said, I've got to get Sokkie off
and the crowd loaded in buses, honey.
Stick around till I'm through and we'll
ride over to st. Adams together"
He lodged away because someone
was calling him, and she scarcely had
time to get look at his face, except to
see that it was excited. 1t couldn't
help be, because this was his big
chance. AS one of Mr. Sokolnitch's as
sistants, Terry had been sent ahead
with the crew to make over st. Al
bans into a frontier town of the lS7Os
fit for the filming of Garth Wyman
and Revelie Raynes in Man of the
Desert" which everybody, including
the front office, knew was going to
be a Grade B and one-half horse
opera.
Everyone was crowding toward the
buses and the shade they afforded, and
Martha moved over toward the shack
of a station to get out of the sun dur
ing the wait Terry, sleek and dark,
was standing beside the best car,
which, of course, held Mr.. Sokolnitch,
the director producer. Martha saw
Terry laugh step away, smile and
wave, and the car, with its precious
cargo, pulled out on the single-track
rutted road for St. Adams, somewhere
to the south.
Terry turned to bawling at the
the crowd, and Martha found herself
standing in the blessed shade of the
station. She looked about her, and
saw a man beside her. He'd been there
all the time, she supposed, only he
was so quiet that she hadn't noticed
him. He was forty, maybe. with long
horse face that was tanned the color
of tobacco and held several hundred
tiny squirt wrinkles around the eyes,
which were as sunbleached and pale
as flour sacking. He wore a greasy
Stetson, a checked shirt with sleeves
rolled down and collar buttoned, pair
of Lewis that were gray at the worn
places, and scuffed boots that looked as
soft as rag.
"It's warm, isn't it?" Martha said
feelingly.
"Hotter'n a pair of two dollar boots"
the man drawled. you with this
crew."
YES"
Then you nights we'll come and
sit down. I'm truckin' the last of 'em,
when Fancy Pants gets through
Fancy pants?"
The real Mccoy cowboy pointed with
his chin to Terry who was yelling
where's Wyman?"
"That-there pretty fella," he said
without rancor.
Without waiting for her to answer,
he led the way around the corner Of
lllt SldllOll, I1d1 elio
followed, smiling a little. He stopped
beside an old car whose windshield
was pitted with sand holes and whose
paint job was as flaky as kalsomine.
He opened the door, Martha stepped
inside, and was face to face with
Garth Wyman.
Reckon you folks know each other"
the cowboy said, by way OF introduc-
ton. It was then that Martha re-
and dismissed what Terry
had told her about Garth Wyman. She
sat down and said, Hello"
Garth Wyman said hello. He had
flask of brandy between his knees and
he held it out to the cowboy. Another
Joe?"
Sure" Joe said gravely. winters
comm, and remember the ant"
He took it, tilted it for perhaps Is