It's hell, I tell you, when a man can't set foot on his own
land!"

"Are they all rustlers up there in the settlement? are there no honest
homesteaders among them who would combine with you against this wild
man and his unlawful followers?" the colonel wanted to know.

"Not a man amongst 'em that ain't cut the brand out of a hide,"
Chadron declared. "They've been nestin' up there under that man
Macdonald for the last two years, and he's the brains of the pack. He
gits his rake-off out of all they run off and sell. Me and the other
cattlemen we've been feedin' and supportin' 'em till the drain's
gittin' more'n we can stand. We've got to put 'em out, like a fire, or
be eat up. We've got to hit 'em, and hit 'em hard."

"It would seem so," the colonel agreed.

"It's a state of war, I tell you, colonel; you're free to use your
troops in a state of war, ain't you? Twenty-five troopers, with a
little small cannon"--Chadron made illustration of the caliber that he
considered adequate for the business with his hands--"to knock 'em out
of their ditches so we could pick 'em off as they scatter, would be
enough; we can handle the rest."

"If there is anything that I can do for you in my private capacity, I
am at your command," offered Colonel Landcraft, with official
emptiness, "but I regret that I am powerless to grant your request for
troops. I couldn't lift a finger in a matter like this without a
department order; you ought to understand that, Chadron."

"Oh, if that's all that's bitin' you, go ahead--I'll take care of the
department," Chadron told him, with the relieved manner of one who had
seen a light.

"Sir!"

If Chadron had proposed treason the colonel could not have compressed
more censure into that word.

"That's all right," Chadron assured him, comfortably; "I've got two
senators and five congressmen back there in Washington that jigger
when I jerk the gee-string. You can cut loose and come into this thing
with a free hand, and go the limit, the department be damned if they
don't like it!"

Colonel Landcraft's face was flaming angrily. He snapped his dry old
eyelids like flints over the steel of his eyes, and stood as straight
as the human body could be drawn, one hand on his sword hilt, the
other pointing a trembling finger at Chadron's face.

"You cattlemen run this state, and one or two others here in the
Northwest, I'm aware of that, Chadron. But there's one thing that you
don't run, and that's the U