re ranch that
Wellesly was at his house and that some one might meet them at
Muletown that afternoon and carry him on to Las Plumas.

When the two men parted they looked each other in the eyes and shook
hands. Wellesly began to acknowledge his debt of gratitude. Mead cut
him short.

"That's all right, Mr. Wellesly," he said, "but I don't want you to
think for a minute that I expect this little affair to make any
difference in our relations. In the cattle business I still consider
you my enemy, and I propose to fight you as long as you try to prevent
what I hold to be just and fair dealing between the Fillmore Company
and the rest of us cattle raisers. We still stand exactly where we did
before."

Wellesly smiled admiringly. "Personally, I like your pluck, Mr. Mead,
but, if you will pardon my saying so, I think it is very ill-advised.
I'll frankly admit that you've beaten us this year at every turn. But
you can't keep up this sort of thing year after year, against the
resources and organization of a big company. The most distinctive
commercial feature of this period is the constant growth of big
interests at the expense of smaller ones. It is something that the
individual members of a big concern can't help, because it is bigger
than they are. Our stock-holders will undoubtedly wish to enlarge
their holdings and increase their profits, and I, being only one of a
number, can have no right to put my personal feelings above their
interests. You ought to see that the result is going to be inevitable
in your case, just as it is everywhere else. The little fellows can't
hold their own against the big ones. I am telling you all this in the
most friendly spirit, and I assure you it will be to your interest to
take my advice and compromise the whole matter. I'll guarantee that
the Fillmore people will meet you half way, and I am sure it will cost
you less in the long run."

As he listened to Wellesly the good-natured smile left Mead's face,
his lips shut in a hard line, and the defiant yellow flame, the light
of battle, which his friends knew to be the sign that he would fight
to the death, leaped into his eyes. He stared into Wellesly's face a
moment before he spoke.

"Compromise! I've got nothing to compromise! I reckon that means that
you want my two water holes and grazing land that join yours! Well,
you can't have them! But if you want any more fight over this cattle
business you can have all you want, and whenever yo