rds which was not lost upon the _mayordomo_, but Thomas let
the remark pass in silence.

"Perhaps his brother Jasper is along," ventured Hardy. "No? Well,
that's Jim's earmark on those sheep, and I know it. What's the
matter?"

"Matter with what?" growled Thomas morosely.

"Why, with Jim, of course. I thought after the pleasant times we had
together last Spring he'd be sure to come around. In fact," he added
meaningly, "I've been looking for him."

At this naive statement, the sheepman could not restrain a smile.

"You don't know Jim as well as I do," he said, and there was a
suggestion of bitterness in his voice which Hardy was not slow to
note.

"Well, perhaps not," he allowed; "but you know, and I know, that this
is no pleasure trip you're on--in fact, it's dangerous, and I never
thought that Jim Swope would send a man where he was afraid to go
himself. Now I've got nothing against you, Mr. Thomas, and of course
you're working for him; but I ask you, as a man, don't you think,
after what I've done for him, that Jim Swope ought to come along
himself if he wants to sheep me out?

"I've fed him, and I've fed all his herders and all his friends; I've
grained his horses when they were ga'nted down to a shadow because his
own sheep had cleaned up the feed; I've made him welcome to my house
and done everything I could for him; and all I asked in return was
that he would respect this upper range. He knows very well that if his
sheep go through here this Fall our cattle will die in the Winter, and
he knows that there is plenty of feed out on The Rolls where our cows
can't go, and yet he sends you in where he's scared to go himself,
just to hog our last piece of good feed and to put us out of business.
I asked him down in Moroni if he thought a cowman had a right to live,
and he dodged the question as if he was afraid he'd say something."

He stopped abruptly and looked out over the country toward Hidden
Water, while the Mexicans watched him furtively from beneath their
slouched hats.

"Expecting some friends?" inquired Thomas, with a saturnine grin.

Hardy shook his head. "No. I came out here alone, and I left my gun in
camp. I haven't got a friend within forty miles, if that's what you
mean. I suppose you've got your orders, Mr. Thomas, but I just want to
talk this matter over with you."

"All right," said the sheepman, suddenly thawing out at the good news.
"I don't have so much company as to make me refuse, e