fringe of shrubbery the latter stripped
of its leaves, its scant beauty gone and bending its bare branches
stubbornly to the early winds.

With the last day of the month came a rain--a cold, bitter, driving
storm that raged for three days and started a drift that the cattlemen
could not stop. Arrayed in tarpaulins the cowboys went forth, suffering,
cursing, laboring heroically to stem the tide. The cattle retreated
steadily before the storm--no human agency could halt them. On the
second day Norton came into the Circle Bar ranchhouse, wet, disgusted,
but fighting mad.

"If this damn rain don't stop pretty soon," he told Hollis as he dried
himself before the open fireplace, "we'll have cattle down here from
over the Colorado line. An' then there'll be hell to pay!"

But on the third day the rain ceased and the sun came out. The country
lay smiling in the sunshine, mellow, glistening, inviting. But the
damage had been wrought. From Lemuel Train of the Pig Pen outfit, came
word that fifty per cent of his cattle were missing. Truxton of the
Diamond Dot, Henningson of the Three Bar, and nearly all of the other
small owners, reported losses. Of course the cattle would be recovered
during the fall round up, but they were now scattered and fair prey for
cattle thieves, and with the round up still two weeks away it seemed
that many must be stolen.

Yet there was nothing that could be done; it is folly to attempt to "cut
out" cattle on the open range.

From the editorial columns of the _Kicker_ might be gleaned the
fact that the Law had come into Union County. Many men of Dry Bottom
entered the _Kicker_ office to thank Hollis; others boldly draped
their houses with flags and bunting.

Dunlavey had visited Dry Bottom twice since the incident of the primary.
He had said nothing concerning the incident to anyone save possibly his
intimates, but from the sneer that appeared on his face when approached
by those whom he considered friendly to Hollis it was plain that he
intended continuing the fight.

Hollis had been compelled to record in the _Kicker_ the unpleasant
news that Dunlavey had refused to comply with the new law regulating
brands and the submitting of lists for taxation, and also that he had
threatened to shoot the first officer trespassed on his land. Dunlavey
had not complied with the law, but he had failed to carry out his threat
to "shoot the first officer that trespassed on his land," for Allen had
trespassed