hers suspected rustlers. But Buck's fiat had
not sufficed to keep them out. They had held stoutly to their own
and--he suspected--a good deal more than their own. Calves had been
branded secretly and cows killed or driven away.

"Go to it, Brill," Weaver jeered. "I'm wishing you all the luck in the
world."

He touched his pony with the spur and swept up the road in a cloud of
white dust.

Not till he had disappeared did conversation renew itself languidly, for
Seven Mile Ranch was lying under the lethargy of a summery sun.

"I expect Buck's got the right of it," volunteered a brawny youth known
as Slim. "All you got to do is to take up a claim near a couple of big
outfits with easy brands, then keep your iron hot and industrious.
There's sure money in being a nester."

Despite the soft drawl of his voice, he spoke with bitterness, as did
the others. Every day the feeling was growing stronger that the rustling
must be stopped if they were going to continue to run cattle. The
thieves had operated with a boldness and a shrewdness that fairly
outwitted the ranchers. Enough horses and cattle had been driven across
the line to stock a respectable ranch. Not one of the established
ranches had escaped heavy losses; so heavy, indeed, that the owners
faced the option of going broke or of exterminating the rustlers. Once
or twice the thieves had nearly been caught red-handed, but the leader
of the outlaws had saved the men by the most daring strategy.

Healy, until lately foreman of the Twin Star outfit, had organized the
ranchmen as a protective association. In this he had represented Weaver,
himself not popular enough to cooeperate with the other ranchmen. Once
Brill had led the pursuit of the rustlers and had come back furious from
a long futile chase. For among the cattle being driven across to Sonora
were five belonging to him.

Other charges also lay against the hill outlaws. A stage had been robbed
with a gold shipment from the Diamond Nugget mine. A cattleman had been
held up and relieved of two thousand dollars, just taken as part payment
for a sale of beef steers. The sheriff of Noches County, while trying
to arrest a rustler, had been shot dead in his tracks.

Brill Healy leaned forward, gathered the eyes of those present, and
lowered his voice to a whisper. "Boys, this thing has got to stop. I've
sent for Bucky O'Connor. If anybody can run the coyotes to earth he can.
Anyhow, that's the reputation he's got."