X cattle do you think are in the herd?" he asked.

"Mebbe a hundred--mebbe more."

"How long will it take you to get Bill Lester here to prove his stock?"

The big man laughed. "That's a question. Bill left last night for
Frisco; I reckon mebbe he'll be gone a month--mebbe more."

The color surged back into Sanderson's face. He stiffened.

"An' you expect to hold my herd here until Lester gets back?" he said,
slowly.

"Yep," said the other, shortly.

"You can't do it!" declared Sanderson. "I know the law, an' you can't
hold a man's cattle that long without becomin' liable for damages."

"We'll be liable," grinned the sheriff. "Before Bill left last night
he made out a bond for ninety thousand dollars--just what your cattle
are worth at the market price. If there's any damages comin' to you
you'll get them out of that."

"It's a frame-up," growled Carter, at Sanderson's side. "It proves
itself. This guy, Lester, makes out a bond before we're within two
days' drive of his bailiwick. He's had information about us, an' is
plannin' to hold us up. You know what for. Silverthorn an' the bunch
has got a finger in the pie."

That suspicion had also become a conviction to Sanderson. And yet, in
the person of the sheriff and his men, there was the law blocking his
progress toward the money he needed for the irrigation project.

"Do you think one hundred and fifty heads will cover the suspected
stock?" he questioned.

"I'd put it at two hundred," returned the sheriff.

"All right, then," said Sanderson slowly; "take your men an' cut out
the two hundred you think belong to Lester. I'll stop on the way back
an' have it out with you."

The sheriff grinned. "That'll be square enough," he agreed. He turned
to the men who had come with him. "You boys cut out them cattle that
we looked at, an' head them toward the Bar X." When the men had gone
he turned to Sanderson.

"I want you men to know that I'm actin' under orders. I don't know
what's eatin' Bill Lester--that ain't my business. But when I'm
ordered to do anything in my line of duty, why, it's got to be done.
Your friend has gassed some about a man named Silverthorn bein' at the
bottom of this thing. Mebbe he is--I ain't got no means of knowin'.
It appears to me that Bill ain't got no call to hog your whole bunch,
though, for I've never knowed Bill to raise more than fifteen hundred
head of cattle in one season. I'm takin' a chance on two hundre