had to take a big risk
to help my father. But he had to take a bigger risk to fight alone.
Still he fought. And he fought alone. He was almost ruined. And now you
men are facing ruin. And you have come to Jim Hollis's son to help you.
Do you think he ought?"

The men sat silent; the spokesman was without words.

"How many men can the six of you muster--in case Dunlavey should try to
carry out his decision to drive your cattle from the Rabbit-Ear--or
shoot them?"

"Eighteen, I reckon," returned Train, looking at the others, who nodded
affirmatively to his question.

Hollis turned to Norton. "How many men does Dunlavey employ?" he
questioned.

"Thirty," snapped Norton. "But in case he needed them he c'n get a
hundred."

"Big odds," smiled Hollis. "Why should I volunteer to help you fight
Dunlavey? My cattle are certain of getting enough water. Why should I
not be selfish, as you men were when my father went to you for
assistance?"

There was no answer. The faces that surrounded Hollis in the
semi-darkness showed plainly that their owners had given up thoughts of
assistance. Grim, hard lines came into them; two or three sneered. Of
course they would fight Dunlavey; there was no alternative, for they
could not stand idly by and see their cattle slain--Dunlavey could not
drive them from water, they would have to be shot. They had reckoned on
securing help from Hollis; he held one side of the Rabbit-Ear and with
his support they were in a position to make things very unpleasant for
any of Dunlavey's men who might, from the opposite side of the river,
attempt to shoot their cattle. But with Hollis against them they would
be powerless; with Hollis against them Dunlavey's men could swarm both
sides of the river and the destruction of their cattle would be certain.

All of the men knew this. Yet they did not answer Hollis's question.
They had not come to plead with him; they knew that the situation had
narrowed down to a point where they could depend only on their own
resources. They would not plead, yet as they silently started to file
off the gallery there were bitter smiles on several of their faces.
There were no threats; perhaps Hollis had succeeded in showing them the
similarity between his conduct and their own in the long ago, when his
father had gone to them for assistance. At least this was what he had
tried to show them.

Lemuel Train was the last man down the gallery. He turned as he reached
the ground an