om Butte to-day. I suppose
the herders brought them out where the feed was best; they did if
they're worth their wages."

"They happened to strike some feed that was pretty expensive. And,"
he smiled down at Whittaker misleadingly, "you ought to keep an eye
on those herders, or they might let you in for another grass bill. The
Flying U has got quite a lot of range, right around here, you recollect.
And we've got plenty of cattle to eat it. We don't need any help to keep
the grass down so we can ride through it."

"Now, look here," began the lank man with that sort of persuasiveness
which can turn instantly into bluster, "all this is pure foolishness,
you know. We're here to stay. We've bought this place, and some other
land to go with it, and we expect to stay right here and make a living.
It happens that we expect to make a living off of sheep. Now, we don't
want to start in by quarreling with our neighbors, and we don't want our
neighbors to start any quarrel with us. All we want--"

"Mamma! You're taking a fine way to make us love yuh," Weary cut in
ironically. "I know what you want. You want the same as every other meek
and lovely sheepman wants. You want it all--core, seeds and peeling.
Dunk," he said with a more impatient disgust than he was in the habit
of showing for his fellowmen, "this man's a stranger; but I should think
you'd know better than to come in here with sheep."

"I don't know why a sheep outfit isn't exactly as good as a cow outfit,
and I don't know why they haven't as much right here. You're welcome to
what land you own, but it always seemed to me that public land is open
to the use of the public. Now, as Oleson says, we expect to raise sheep
here, and we expect your outfit to leave us alone. As far as our sheep
crossing your coulee is concerned--I don't know that they did. But, if
they did, and, if they did any damage, let J. G. do the talking about
that. I deal with the owners--not with the hired men."

Weary, you must understand, was never a bellicose young man. But, for
all that, he leaned over and gave Dunk a slap on the jaw which must have
stung considerably--and the full reason for his violence lay four years
behind the two, when Dunk was part owner of the Flying U, and when his
sneering arrogance had been very hard to endure.

"Are you going to swallow that--from a hired man?" Weary inquired,
after a minute during which nothing whatever occurred beyond the slow
reddening of Dunk's fa