isp fragment of biscuit, crunched it between his teeth, and chewed
it slowly. "Can't be anything serious--and if it is, why--I'm here. A
lawyer right on the spot may save a lot of trouble. The main thing is,
let's not get excited and do something rash. Those boys--"

"Not excited?--and somebody jumping--our--ranch?" Phoebe's soft eyes
gleamed at him. She was pale, so that her face had a peculiar, ivory
tint.

"Now, now!" Baumberger put out a puffy hand admonishingly. "Let's keep
cool--that's half the battle won. Keep cool." He reached for his pipe,
got out his twisted leather tobacco pouch, and opened it with a twirl of
his thumb and finger.

"You're a lawyer, Mr. Baumberger," Peaceful turned to him, still
helpless in his manner. "What's the best thing to be done?"

"Don't--get--excited." Baumberger nodded his head for every word.
"That's what I always say when a client comes to me all worked up. We'll
go down there and see just how much there is to this, and--order 'em
off. Calmly, calmly! No violence--no threats--just tell 'em firmly and
quietly to leave." He stuffed his pipe carefully, pressing down the
tobacco with the tip of a finger. "Then," he added with slow emphasis,
"if they don't go, after--say twenty-four hours' notice--why, we'll
proceed to serve an injunction." He drew a match along the back of his
chair, and lighted his pipe.

"I reckon we'd better go and look after those boys of yours," he
suggested, moving toward the door rather quickly, for all his apparent
deliberation. "They're inclined to be hot-headed, and we must have no
violence, above all things. Keep it a civil matter right through. Much
easier to handle in court, if there's no violence to complicate the
case."

"They're looking for it," Phoebe reminded him bluntly. "The man had a
gun, and threw down on Vadnie."

"He only pointed it at me, auntie," Evadna corrected, ignorant of the
Western phrase.

The two women followed the men outside and into the shady yard, where
the trees hid completely what lay across the road and beyond the double
row of poplars. Donny, leaning far forward and digging his bare toes
into the loose soil for more speed, raced on ahead, anxious to see and
hear all that took place.

"If the boys don't stir up a lot of antagonism," Baumberger kept urging
Peaceful and Phoebe, as they hurried into the garden, "the matter ought
to be settled without much trouble. You can get an injunction, and--"

"The idea of anybod