neither wore as much beard as he. Both
had long hair, pushed behind their ears, while Jim displayed a luxuriant
tawny mustache and goatee, had fine blue eyes, and was thin almost to
emaciation. Garrison was short and stockily built, with a powerful
physique. His hair, eyes and mustache were as black as coal. He had a
fine set of even white teeth, and was so full of jest and humor that it
was safe to conclude it was something said by him that had caused Jim to
break into laughter.

The structure, as has been said, was a low, flat building, similar to
the majority found in that part of the country. It was made wholly of
wood, with only a single door at the front, where was a shaded porch,
provided with seats, most of which were occupied at times by the cowmen
through the day and late into the night.

There were five men employed at the ranch in looking after the immense
herd of cattle grazing over the surrounding country and acquiring the
plumpness and physical condition which fitted them for the Eastern
market. Hank Hazletine was in charge of the four men, and would so
remain until the task was finished and the stock disposed of. Barton
Coinjock and Morton Blair were absent looking after the animals, whose
wanderings in quest of food sometimes took them fifteen or twenty miles
from the house. Most of the time, however, the cattle obtained their
grazing on the ranch, a half of which belonged to Mr. Dudley, and which
extended into the foot-hills of the Wind River Mountains.

It has already been made clear that little was to be apprehended from
the hostility of the red men in Wyoming. Rarely is anything of the kind
known north of Arizona and New Mexico, and in those Territories it
seldom manifests itself since the conquest of the Apaches. There have
been fierce collisions of late years between the cowmen and rustlers of
the West, and at one time there was considerable bloodshed, but the
quarrel seems to have been adjusted.

The reader need hardly be told that in the new States, where grazing has
become so important an industry, a perfect system prevails among the
cattlemen. Large associations, with their enormous herds of cattle, have
their own peculiar brands by which their stock is stamped with their
sign of ownership. All these brands are registered, and the cattleman
who uses the same, or is found in possession of cattle with the brand of
another, is subject to a severe penalty.

Comparatively slight friction, ther