've cut the ditches so they won't carry. We've come to tell you that
this has got to stop."

"That's kind of you, anyway," Casey observed quietly. He and Dade eyed
each other appraisingly.

"What I want to make plumb clear," said the latter, "is that this don't
go no more. It's no good. You'll leave the ditches alone, or else----"

"Or else?" Casey suggested.

"Or else we'll make you," said Dade grimly. "We want water, and we'll
have it."

"I wonder," said Casey, "if you are trying to hang a nice little bluff
on me, Mr. Dade? Suppose, for instance, you have no land, and don't
need any water."

"I can show you my deed."

"That's quite possible. All right, Mr. Dade. Is there anything more you
want to say?"

"I reckon that's all," said Dade. "If you'll say that the ditches will
be let alone there'll be no trouble; if not, there will be."

"What kind of trouble, Mr. Dade?"

"You'll see when it comes."

"Very well," said Casey. "Now, listen to me, Mr. Dade. You and your
friend there and your whole outfit can go plumb. Get that? Every ranch
here has water, and we're going to keep it. How we keep it is our own
business. If you've bought land you may look to the company for water,
and not to us. If you haven't bought land--if you're hired to come here
to start something--why, let it start!"

He and Dade looked straight into each other's eyes in the silence that
followed. Cross made a sudden movement.

"Be careful, partner!" McHale warned him in hard tones.

Once more Clyde, an involuntary listener, felt the presence of a
crisis, the chill of fate impending. But, as before, it passed.

"You're barking up the wrong tree," said Dade. "Nothing starts--now.
Better remember what I told you. Come on, Sam, we'll get going."

Clyde heard the trample of hoofs dying in the distance, and then
McHale's voice:

"You run the bluff, but you took an awful chance. That there Cross come
mighty close to making a break."

"Nervous kind?"

"Yep. He's apt to be too blamed soon. T'other one, Dade, is cold-drawn.
I judge he's bad. Ever hear of him?"

"No."

"Nor me," said McHale; "but he has the earmarks."

Casey's reply was lost as they turned away. Clyde waited until they
were out of sight, and then descended. The morning adventure had given
her food for thought. Until then she had been deceived by the smooth
current of life at Chakchak. It had seemed an idyllic, carefree
existence. Although she had known of the trouble,