oriously not always what
they seemed. Most of the horse-thieves posed as "nesters," hiding in
underground stables by day the horses they stole by night. Each
registered his own brand and sometimes more than one; but the brands
were carefully contrived. If you intended, for instance, to prey on
the great herds of the "Long X outfit," thus [X brand], you called
your brand "Four Diamonds," marking it thus [diamond brand]. A
quick fire and a running iron did the trick. It was all very simple
and very profitable and if you were caught there was always a Certain
Person (to whom you were accustomed to give an accounting), and beyond
him a vague but powerful Somebody Else to stand between you and the
law. There would be no trial, or, if there were a trial, there would
be no witnesses, or, if there were witnesses, there would be a lenient
judge and a skeptical jury. The methods of Flopping Bill's party were
no doubt reprehensible, but in attacking some of the little "nesters"
the raiders came close to the heart of many troubles.

But indiscriminate terrorizing by any one in any cause was not to the
taste of the ranchmen up and down the Little Missouri who happened to
be law-abiding. The raiders were starting prairie fires, moreover,
with the purpose evidently of destroying the pasture of the small
stockmen, and were in consequence vitally affecting the interests of
every man who owned cattle anywhere in the valley. That these acts of
vandalism were the work of a body from another Territory, invading the
Bad Lands for purposes of reform, did not add greatly to their
popularity. The ranchmen set about to organize a vigilance committee
of their own to repel the invaders, if necessary, by force.

Whether the raiders got wind of this purpose is not known, but they
evidently decided that they had overplayed their hand, for they
suddenly veered in their course and troubled the Bad Lands no more.
But before they went they dropped a bomb which did more than many
conflagrations to carry out their ostensible mission as discouragers
of evil-doing.

It happened that not far from Elkhorn Bottom the vigilantes came upon
Pierce Bolan, who, it will be remembered, had some time previous
discoursed to Fisher on the merits of the "considerate treatment" in
relations with horse-thieves. He was himself as honest as daylight,
but, as ill-luck would have it, the raiders found him afoot, and,
assuming that he was about to steal a horse, called on him