ter the patent had been granted the homesteader (for the
contestant always won, in that country) the Sawtooth, would pay him for
the land. Frequently a Sawtooth man would file upon land before any
other man had claimed it. Sometimes a Sawtooth man would purchase a
relinquishment from some poor devil of a claim-holder who seemed always
to have bad luck, and so became discouraged and ready to sell. An
intelligent man like Bill Warfield could acquire much land in this
manner, give him time enough.

In much the same manner his herds increased. He bought out small
ranchers who were crowded to the selling point in one way or another.
They would find themselves fenced off from water, the Sawtooth having
acquired the water rights to creek or spring. Or they would be hemmed in
with fenced fields and would find it next to impossible to make use of
the law which gave them the right to "condemn" a road through. They
would not be openly assailed,--Bill Warfield was an intelligent man. A
dozen brands were recorded in the name of the Sawtooth Cattle Company,
and if a small rancher found his calf crop shorter than it should be, he
might think as he pleased, but he would have no tangible proof that his
calves wore a Sawtooth brand.

Inevitably it became necessary now and then to stop a mouth that was
ready to speak unwelcome truths. But if a Sawtooth man were known to
have committed violence, the Sawtooth itself was the first to put the
sheriff on his trail. If the man successfully dodged the sheriff and
made his way to parts unknown, the Sawtooth could shrug its shoulders
and wash its hands of him.

Then whispers were heard that the Sawtooth had on its pay roll men who
were paid to kill and to leave no trace. So many heedless ones crossed
the Sawtooth's path to riches! Fred Thurman had been one; a "bull-headed
cuss" who had the temerity to fight back when the Sawtooth calmly laid
claim to the first water rights to Granite Creek, having bought it, they
said, with the placer claim of an old miner who had prospected along the
headwaters of Granite at the base of Bear Top.

By that time the Sawtooth had grown to a power no poor man could hope to
defeat. Bill Warfield was Senator Warfield, and Senator Warfield was a
power in the political world that immediately surrounded him. Since his
neighboring ranchmen had not been able to prevent his steady climbing to
the position he now held, they had small hope of pulling him down. Brit
was rig