. It runs in the blood, I guess. I'll see
what I can do in the way of a horse. Ole Yellowjacket used to be a real
rim-rider, but he's gitting old; gitting old--same as me."

"You're not! You're just letting yourself _feel_ old. And am I one of
the outfit, dad?"

"I guess so--only there ain't going to be any of this hell-whoopin'
stuff, Raine. You can't travel these trails at a long lope with yore
hair flyin' out behind and--and all that damn foolishness. I've saw 'em
in the movin' pitchers----"

Lorraine blushed, and was thankful that her dad had not watched her work
in that serial. For that matter, she hoped that Lone Morgan would never
stray into a movie where any of her pictures were being shown.

"I'm serious, dad. I don't want to make a show of myself. But if you'll
feel that I can be a help instead of a handicap, that's what I want. And
if it comes to fighting----"

Brit pushed her from him impatiently. "There yuh go--fight--fight--and I
told yuh there ain't any fighting going on. Nothing more'n a fight to
hang on and make a living. That means straight, hard work and mindin'
your own business. If you want to help at that----"

"I do," said Raine quietly, getting to her feet. Her legacy of
stubbornness set her lips firmly together. "That's exactly what I mean.
Good night, dad."

Brit answered her noncommittally, apparently sunk already in his own
musings. But his lips drew in to suppress a smile when he saw, from the
corner of his eyes, that Lorraine was winding the alarm on the cheap
kitchen clock, and that she set the hand carefully and took the clock
with her to bed.

CHAPTER NINE

THE EVIL EYE OF THE SAWTOOTH

Oppression is a growth that flourishes best in the soil of opportunity.
It seldom springs into full power at once. The Sawtooth Cattle Company
had begun much as its neighbors had begun: with a tract of land, cattle,
and the ambition for prospering. Senator Warfield had then been plain
Bill Warfield, manager of the outfit, who rode with his men and saw how
his herds increased,--saw too how they might increase faster under
certain conditions. At the outset he was not, perhaps, more unscrupulous
than some of his neighbors. True, if a homesteader left his claim for a
longer time than the law allowed him, Bill Warfield would choose one of
his own men to file a contest on that claim. The man's wages would be
paid. Witnesses were never lacking to swear to the improvements he had
made, and af