to Jeff.

The mesa was deserted of every living creature. There was not a snake
track in the dust or a raven in the sky, but as he topped the brow of
the hill and looked down into the canyon, Hardy saw a great herd of
cattle, and Creede in the midst of them still hacking away at the
thorny _palo verdes_. At the clatter of hoofs, the big man looked up
from his work, wiping the sweat and grime from his brow, and his face
was hard and drawn from working beyond his strength.

"Hello!" he called. "How's things down your way--water holdin' out?
Well, you're in luck, then; I've had to dig the spring out twice, and
you can see how many cows I'm feedin'. But say," he continued, "d'ye
think it's as hot as this down in hell? Well, if I thought for a
minute it'd be as dry I'd take a big drink and join the church, you
can bet money on that. What's the matter--have you got enough?"

"I've got enough of cutting _palo verdes_," replied Hardy, "but you
just lend me that axe for a minute and I'll show you something." He
stepped to the nearest _sahuaro_ and with a few strokes felled it down
the hill, and when Creede saw how the cattle crowded around the broken
trunk he threw down his hat and swore.

"Well--damn--me," he said, "for a pin-head! Here I've been cuttin'
these ornery _palo verdes_ until my hands are like a Gila monster's
back, and now look at them cows eat giant cactus! There's no use
talkin', Rufe, the feller that wears the number five hat and the
number forty jumper ain't worth hell-room when you're around--here,
gimme that axe!" He seized it in his thorn-scarred hands and whirled
into the surrounding giants like a fury; then when he had a dozen fat
_sahuaros_ laid open among the rocks he came back and sat down panting
in the scanty shade of an ironwood.

"I'm sore on myself," he said. "But that's the way it is! If I'd had
the brains of a rabbit I'd've stopped Jasp Swope last Spring--then I
wouldn't need to be cuttin' brush here all Summer like a Mexican
wood-chopper. That's where we fell down--lettin' them sheep in--and
now we've got to sweat for it. But lemme tell you, boy," he cried,
raising a mighty fist, "if I can keep jest one cow alive until Fall
I'm goin' to meet Mr. Swope on the edge of my range and shoot 'im full
of holes! Nothin' else will do, somebody has got to be _killed_ before
this monkey business will stop! I've been makin' faces and skinnin' my
teeth at that dastard long enough now, and I'm goin' to mak