Fifteen minutes later Helen drew up at the line corner. "We'll
part company here, Mr. Bannister. I don't think there is any more
danger from my men."

"Before we part there is something I want to say. I hold that a
man has as much right to run sheep on these hills as cows. It's
government land, and neither one of us owns it. It's bound to be
a case of the survival of the fittest. If sheep are hardier and
more adapted to the country, then cows have got to vamos. That's
nature, as it looks to me. The buffalo and the antelope have
gone, and I guess cows have got to take their turn."

Her scornful eyes burned him. "You came to tell me that, did you?
Well, I don't believe a word of it. I'll not yield my rights
without a fight. You may depend on that."

"Here, too," nodded her foreman. "I'm with my boss clear down the
line. And as soon as she lets me turn loose my six-gun, you'll
hear it pop, seh."

"I have not a doubt of it, Mr. McWilliams," returned the sheepman
blithely. "In the meantime I was going to say that though most of
my interests are in sheep instead of cattle--"

"I thought most of your interests were in other people's
property," interrupted the young woman.

"It goes into sheep ultimately," he smiled. "Now, what I am
trying to get at is this: I'm in debt to you a heap, Miss
Messiter, and since I'm not all yellow cur, I intend to play fair