olossus; Wyndham, clean-bred, clean-built, an
English gentleman to his fingers' tips; old Ike James, whose tongue
carried the idiom and soft-slurring drawl of his native South; Eugene
Brule, three parts Quebec French and one part Cree; Carter, O'Gara,
Bullen, Westwick, and half a dozen others.

One and all they were wind-and-sun tanned, steady of eye, mostly quiet
and brief of speech. Life was a serious business with them just then.
Their ranches were their all. They had given hostages to competence. Up
to a year ago they had believed themselves lucky, independent, on the
way to modest fortune. Then came alarming rumours; next, construction
of works confirming the rumours. Now they were come to hear the worst
or best from the lips of their envoy, Casey Dunne.

They listened as he gave details of his interviews with York and Wade,
lips grimly wrapped around cigars and pipe stems, troubled eyes
straining through the blue smoke at the speaker.

"And you couldn't get an injunction?" said Wyndham.

"No. The judge said that the mere fact of building a dam did not show
an intention to interfere with anybody's rights."

"Didn't--eh?" snapped Carter, at high tension. "Then I'd like to know
what would show it!"

"So would I," said Dunne. "Anyway, what the judge said went. The long
and short of it is that we can't go to law till they actually take our
water. Wade advises us to sell out if we can get a fair price. And
that's all I have to report, gentlemen."

"A fair price!" exclaimed Carter. "That's all right to talk about--but
who'll give us one? The railway won't buy--it's cheaper to freeze us
out. Nobody else will. And, if it comes to that, what is a fair price?
Land is boosting everywhere. If we sold now we'd just be robbing
ourselves."

"S'pose they starts to rustle our water and we go to law," said old
James, "does this here lawsuit tangle up things so's't we get plenty of
water till the case is tried?"

"I'm afraid not," Casey replied. "That's the worst of it. Wade seemed
to think that once they got the water they could keep it until the case
was settled by the last court of appeal. And that would put us out of
business."

"It's sure a mean jack pot," said James. "It looks like they have it on
us every way. The prospects for our emergin' winners ain't cheerin'
none, but, gents, speakin' for myself alone, I wouldn't sell at no
price. I'm aimin' to live where I be till you-alls beds me down for
keeps. I reckon I'