gar." He pushed a box of
an excellent brand toward his visitor and waved him to a chair. His
greeting was noisy rather than cordial.

Wade declined both the chair and the cigar.

"I dropped in to find out why you told Jensen to run his sheep in on my
range," he began bluntly.

"Let me see--" The agent very deliberately lifted a large, white hand
and took the cigar out of his mouth. "Just what range is that?"

"The upper valley range which I have under lease."

"Which you have under lease?" Moran affected sarcastic surprise. "I
wasn't aware that you had any legal right to that part of the valley.
It's government land, ain't it?"

"You seem to have forgotten that you once tried to buy the lease from
me." The rancher bared his teeth in a grim smile. "We'll not quibble
over that, however. We've got our legal rights, all of us; but we're a
long distance from the courts here. What I want to know in plain English
is, will you order Jensen to trail those sheep? Now, wait a moment!"

Moran subsided with a show of tolerance he did not feel.

"Think well before you answer," Wade went on. "I'm not here to threaten
you, but there are desperate men in this valley who will take matters
into their own hands, if this business is not stopped. There's plenty of
grass on the other side of the mountains and your sheep are welcome to
it. Why don't you make use of it?"

"Why should I? The sheep have a right to be where they are and there
they'll stay until I get ready to move 'em. You cattlemen think you own
this country, but when it comes to the show down, you're a bunch of
bluffers. Now, Wade, I made you an offer once,--I'll admit it, and I'll
make it again for the last time. Sell me your homestead and lease rights
at the price I offered you--ten thousand dollars, and get out smiling.
There isn't room for the two of us in the valley."

"Ten thousand for the homestead and the lease combined!" Wade laughed
mirthlessly. "You're crazy, man. Why, you offered me that much for the
lease alone a few weeks ago."

"Did I? I'd forgotten it. Anyway, it's a fair offer. The land is still
owned by Uncle Sam, you know. You haven't proved up on your claims, and
you never will if I can help it. We are spending lots of money here, and
the government will see that our interests are protected. You cattlemen
can't hog the whole of Crawling Water Valley. Times have changed. Well,
what do you say?"

The ranchman dismissed the proposition with a gestu