But she would have died rather than let them know how
she felt.
Perhaps Bannister understood, however, for he remarked casually:
"I wouldn't be ambling past so leisurely if I was riding alone.
It makes a heap of difference who your company is, too. Those
punchers wouldn't take a chance at me now for a million dollars."
"No, they're some haidstrong, but they ain't plumb locoed,"
agreed Mac.
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.
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