d fail to notice the signs of careful
management and prosperity. Corrals, barns, and stables were the best of
their kind; and, though the character of all of them was not beyond
exception, in physique and fitness for their work it would have been hard
to match the sinewy men in blue shirts, wide hats, and long boots, then
watering their horses at the ford. They were as daring and irresponsible
swashbucklers as ever rode out on mediaeval foray, and, having once sold
their allegiance to Torrance of Cedar, and recognized that he was not to
be trifled with, were ready to do without compunction anything he bade
them.

In the meanwhile Torrance sat at the head of the long table, with
Clavering of Beauregard at his right hand. His face was bronzed and
resolute, and the stamp of command sat plainly upon him. There was grey in
his dark hair, and his eyes were keen and black, with a little glint in
them; but, vigorous as he still seemed, the hand on the table was smooth
and but slightly tinted by the sun, for Torrance was one who, in the
language of that country, did his work, which was usually arduous, with
his gloves on. He was dressed in white shirt and broadcloth, and a diamond
of price gleamed in the front of the former.

His guests were for the most part younger, and Clavering was scarcely half
his age: but when they met in conclave something usually happened, for the
seat of the legislature was far away, and their will considerably more
potent thereabouts than the law of the land. Sheriff, postmaster, railroad
agent, and petty politician carried out their wishes, and as yet no man
had succeeded in living in that region unless he did homage to the
cattle-barons. They were Republicans, admitting in the abstract the rights
of man, so long as no venturesome citizen demanded too much of them; but
they had discovered that in practice liberty is usually the prerogative of
the strong. Still, they had done their nation good service, for they had
found the land a wilderness and covered it with cattle, so that its
commerce fed the railroads and supported busy wooden towns. Some of the
older men had disputed possession with the Indian, and most of them in the
early days, enduring thirst and loneliness and unwearying toil, had held
on stubbornly in the face of ruin by frost and drought and hail. It was
not astonishing that as they had made that land--so they phrased it--they
regarded it as theirs.

There were eight of them present, a