he river, three separate lines during the present summer. He also
informed us that the other two preliminary surveys would be run farther
west, and there was a possibility that the Las Palomas lands would be
missed entirely, a prospect that was very gratifying to Uncle Lance.

"Tom," said he, as we rode away, "I've been dreading this very thing for
years. It was my wish that I would never live to see the necessity of
fencing our lands, and to-day a railroad survey is being run across Las
Palomas. I had hoped that when I died, this valley would be an open
range and as primitive as the day of my coming to it. Here a railroad
threatens our peace, and the signs are on every hand that we'll have to
fence to protect ourselves. But let it come, for we can't stop it. If
I'm spared, within the next year, I'll secure every tract of land for
sale adjoining the ranch if it costs me a dollar an acre. Then if it
comes to the pinch, Las Palomas will have, for all time, land and to
spare. You haven't noticed the changes in the country, but nearly all
this chaparral has grown up, and the timber is twice as heavy along the
river as when I first settled here. I hate the sight even of a necessity
like a windmill, and God knows we have no need of a railroad. To a ranch
that doesn't sell fat beeves over once in ten years, transportation is
the least of its troubles."

About dusk on the evening of the day preceding the trial, June Deweese
and I rode into Shepherd's, expecting to remain overnight. Shortly after
our arrival, Tony Hunter hastily came in and informed us that he had
been unable to get hotel accommodations for his wife and Esther in
Oakville, and had it not been that they had old friends in the village,
all of them would have had to return to the ferry for the night. These
friends of the McLeod family told Hunter that the stage people had
coerced the two hotels into refusing them, and had otherwise prejudiced
the community in Oxenford's favor. Hunter had learned also that the
junior member of the stage firm had collected a crowd of hangers-on,
and being liberal in the use of money, had convinced the rabble of the
village that he was an innocent and injured party. The attorney for
Esther had arrived, and had cautioned every one interested on their side
of the case to be reserved and careful under every circumstance, as they
had a bitter fight on their hands.

The next morning all three of us rode into the village. Court had been
i