sly he contemplated the matter, dwelling now upon the
rough good nature of the sheepmen and this almost miraculous
demonstration of their good will; then remembered with vague
misgivings their protestations against the unlawful violence which
presumed to deny them what was their legal right--free grazing on all
government lands. And in the end he wrote a brief note to Judge Ware,
telling him that while the sheepmen had accepted his hospitality in a
most friendly spirit and had respected the upper range, it was in his
opinion only a question of time until they would take the whole
country, unless they were restrained by law. He therefore recommended
that the judge look up the status of the bill to set aside the
watershed of the Salagua as a National Forest Reserve, and in case the
opposition to it indicated any long delay it would be well either to
sell out or reduce his stock. This note he sent out by Rafael, the
Mexican roustabout, who was still hauling in supplies from Bender, and
then with a glad heart he saddled up his horse, left a bait of meat on
the floor for Tommy, and struck out over the mesa for Carrizo Creek.

After his long confinement in the pasture the sorrel galloped along
the rocky trail with the grace and swiftness of an antelope, the warm
dry wind puffed little whirls of dust before them, and once more Hardy
felt like a man. If for the best interests of his employer it was
desirable that he cook beef and bread for sheepmen, he could do so
with good grace, but his spirit was not that of a man who serves.
Since he had left home he had taken a great deal from the world,
patiently accepting her arrogance while he learned her ways, but his
soul had never been humbled and he rode forth now like a king.

Upon that great mesa where the bronco mustangs from the Peaks still
defied the impetuosity of men, the giant _sahuaros_ towered in a
mighty forest as far as the eye could see, yet between each stalk
there lay a wide space, studded here and there with niggerheads of
bristling spines, and fuzzy _chollas_, white as the backs of sheep and
thorny beyond reason. Nor was this all: in the immensity of distance
there was room for _sahuaros_ and niggerheads and _chollas_, and much
besides. In every gulch and sandy draw the _palo verdes_, their yellow
flowers gleaming in the sun, stood out like lines of fire; the bottoms
of the steep ravines which gashed the mesa were illuminated with the
gaudy tassels of mesquite blos