id. How about
that charge of rustling against me, Mr. Weaver? Don't you want to hold
me while you investigate it?"

"No, I reckon not. Your lady friend gives you a clean bill of health.
She may or may not be lying. I'm not so sure myself. But without her the
case against you falls."

Keller knew himself dismissed cavalierly, and, much as he would have
liked to stay, he could find no further excuse to urge. He could hardly
invite himself to be either the guest or the prisoner of a man who did
not want him.

"Just as you say," he nodded, and turned carelessly to his pony.

Yet he was quite sure it would not be as Weaver said if he could help
it. He meant to take a hand in the game, no matter what the other might
decree. But for the present he acquiesced in the inevitable. Weaver was
technically within his rights in holding her until he had communicated
with the sheriff. A generous foe might not have stood out for his pound
of flesh, but Buck was as hard as nails. As for the reputation of the
girl, it was safe at the Twin Star ranch. Buck's sister, a maiden lady
of uncertain years, was on hand to play chaperone.

Larrabie swung to the saddle. His horse's hoofs were presently flinging
dirt toward the Twin Star as he loped up to the hills.

CHAPTER VIII

MISS-GOING-ON-EIGHTEEN

Time had been when the range was large enough for all, when every man's
cattle might graze at will from horizon to horizon. But with the push of
settlement to the frontier had come a change. The feeding ground became
overstocked. One outfit elbowed another, and lines began to be drawn
between the runs of different owners. Water holes were seized and
fenced, with or without due process of law.

With the establishment of forest reserves a new policy dominated the
government. Sanderson had been one of the first to avail himself of it
by leasing the public demesne for his stock. Later, learning that the
mountain parks were to be thrown open as a pasturage for sheep, he had
bought three thousand and driven them up, having first arranged terms
with the forestry service.

Buck Weaver, fighting the government reserve policy with all his might,
resented fiercely the attitude of Sanderson. A sharp, bitter quarrel had
resulted, and had left a smoldering bad feeling that flamed at times
into open warfare. Upon the wholesome Malpais country had fallen the
bitterness of a sheep and cattle feud.

The riders of the Twin Star outfit had thrice ra