morning drive, rode around the outskirts and watched them.

"They're takin' a mighty good look," commented Carter at the end of the
two hours.

Sanderson's face was set in a frown; he saw that the men were working
very slowly, and were conferring together longer than seemed necessary.

At the end of three hours Carter spoke to Sanderson, his voice hoarse
with rage:

"They're holdin' us up purposely. I'll be damned if I'm goin' to stand
for it!"

"Easy there!" cautioned Sanderson. "I've never seen a sheriff that was
long on speed. They'll be showin' their hand pretty soon."

Half an hour later the sheriff spurred his horse out of the press and
approached Sanderson. His face was grave. His men rode up also, and
halted their horses near him. The Double A men had advanced and stood
behind Sanderson and Carter.

"There's somethin' wrong here!" he declared, scowling at Sanderson.
"It ain't the first time this dodge has been worked. A man gets up a
brand that's mighty like the brand on the range he's goin' to drive
through, an' he picks up cattle an' claims they're his. You claim your
brand is the Double A." He dismounted and with a branch of chaparral
drew a design in the sand.

"This is the way you make your brand," he said, and he pointed out the
Double A brand:

[Illustration: Double A and Bar X brands.]

"That's an 'A' lookin' at it straight up an' from the right side, like
this, just reversin' it. But when you turn it this way, it's the Bar X:

"An' there's a bunch of your steers with the brand on them that way.
I'll have to take charge of the herd until the thing is cleared up!"

Sanderson's lips took on a straight line; the color left his face.

Here was authority--that law with which he had unaccountably clashed on
several occasions during his stay at the Double A. Yet he knew
that--as on those other occasions--the law was operating to the benefit
of his enemies.

However, he did not now suspect Silverthorn and the others of setting
the law upon him. The Double A men might have been careless with their
branding, and it was unfortunate that he had been forced by the closing
of the Okar market to drive his cattle over a range upon which were
cattle bearing a brand so startlingly similar to his.

His men were silent, watching him with set faces. He knew they would
stand behind him in any trouble that might occur. And yet he
hesitated, for he did not wish to force trouble.

"How many Bar