to last!"

"What sort of trouble?" inquired Nort.

"With sheep herders," answered Mr. Merkel.

"Sheep herders!" cried Bud, and if you know anything about the cattle
business you will realize his tone of voice. For, as I will explain
later, sheep herders are hated and despised by cattle men and horse
breeders alike, and with good reason, in spite of the rights the sheep
men have. "What do you mean?" asked Bud, fully alive to the danger
implied by his father's words. "There isn't a sheep within a hundred
miles of here, thank goodness!"

"No, but there soon will be," said Mr. Merkel grimly.

"What makes you say that?" and Bud clearly showed his fear and interest.

"Here's an official notice," his father said, waving the paper in his
hand. "It just came in the mail yon brought. The government announces
that it has thrown open to the public the old Indian lands bordering on
Spur Creek, and it won't be a month before the place is over-run with
Mexicans, Greasers, and worse, with their stinking sheep! Pah! It
makes me sick, after all the work we've done at Diamond X to have it
spoiled this way! But I'm not going to sit back and stand it! I'm
going to fight!"

"That's right, Dad! I'm with you! I'll fight, too! Won't we,
fellows?" he appealed to Nort and Dick.

"Sure we will!" was their answer. And it was, in a way, as much their
battle as it was that of Mr. Merkel and his son. For Bud, Nort and
Dick had a small ranch of their own in Happy Valley, not far from the
main holdings at Diamond X.

"But why do you think we'll be over-run with sheep just because they've
opened up the Indian lands?" asked Nort.

"It just naturally follows," his uncle answered. "Every low-down onery
sheep man for a hundred miles around has had his eyes on these lands
for the last five years, waiting for Uncle Sam to put 'em in the open
market. Now the government has finally paid the Indians' claims and
those fellows at Washington have decided to make it a
free-for-all-race."

"Well, in that case," said Bud, "can't you and the other cattlemen
around here jump in and claim the land so there won't be any danger of
the sheep men coming in?"

"Well, there's just one hitch," answered Mr. Merkel. "I said it was a
free and open race, but it isn't--exactly. Ranchmen who own more than
a certain amount of acreage, grazing ground and range, are barred from
taking any of this Indian land."

"But there may be enough good cattle men