"Never mind," he muttered. "I've made four hundred dollars in the time I've been out for myself, and I shall look out for the boys. We'll all go over to Blueburg."
He looked up the railroad time-table, and found he could reach the place by taking a train at one o'clock. So he told Ephraim and Hans to pack up and get ready to leave right after dinner.
Of course they wondered where he was going, but his manner betrayed no intention of saying anything about that, and so even Hans had sense enough not to ask questions.
That afternoon they took the train, which was an accommodation and stopped at every little shanty station.
The monotonous scenery of that portion of the country did not interest Merriwell, so he busied himself with paper and pencil as the train crept snaillike along.
"Whut be yeou doin' of, Frank?" asked Ephraim, curiously.
"Whut's that? Plottin' a play? Whut kind of a play?"
The Vermonter gazed at Merry in astonishment.
"Yeou don't mean that yeou're goin' to write a play, do ye?"
"Waal, I be darned! When will yeou git time to do it?"
"I dunno whut yeou won't try next. Do yeou s'pose yeou kin write a good play?"
"Well, that is something I don't know," laughed Merry. "Not even an experienced playwright can tell if his piece will be good or bad till after it is written and tried on the dog. Even then it is sometimes difficult to tell what there is in it, and many failures have been rewritten and become successes. There is nothing more uncertain in the world than the fate of an untried play. The very pieces that managers are most sanguine about often prove the greatest fizzles, while those pieces that do not promise very much, and are rushed on as 'stop-gaps,' often prove winners from the word go. Some playwriters produce one or two great successes, and are never again able to construct anything that will go. It is a great gamble, with the chances mainly in the favor of losing."
"By observation, by reading, and by the aid of books."
"Is there any books whut will help a feller abaout writin' plays?"
"Yes, several. I have one called 'The Art of Playwriting,' and it has been a wonderful aid to me. Of course experience is what a fellow needs in writing good plays, like anything else, although it is said that some persons have made successes out of their very first pieces."