range in the reservation,â Dan explained. âWithout the North Fork water I canât keep âem up here no longer. Course Iâm better off than some folks. I had some water rights of my own that the Bar S couldnât grab. But you know how range cattle are, Jim. They get used to waterinâ in one place and theyâll go back to it in spite of hell. Thatâs where the rub is goinâ to come. I suggested to Reb that we put up a line fence and each pay half of the cost.â
âI donât suppose that interested him,â Montana volunteered. âThatâs not the Bar S game.â
âNo, he wouldnât lissen at all. Said heâd keep his stuff on his own range and weâd have to do the same.â
âDarinâ us, thatâs all!â Gene Crockett muttered bitterly. He was the younger of the two boys. âItâs a fine law that lets an outfit rob you like that! That water was ourân. Mebbe old man Stall saw it âfore Pap did. That didnât make it his if he didnât use it. We ainât no better off than we was âfore they opened up the reservation. Now we got water in one place and range in another, and nothinâ short oâ God aâmighty can make a steer eat one place and drink another.â
âNo use los inâ your haid about it,â his father protested. âWe got to go easy and figure this thing out.â
âItâs all right to talk about takinâ things easy, Pap,â the other boy declared soberly, âbut Geneâs right; you canât swallow every thinâ they hand you and pretend to like it. I hazed a cow and her calf out of the North Fork bottoms for over an hour this morning. Like as not sheâs back there right now. Thatâs what the Bar S wants. Theyâll catch our stuff trespassing and using their water. Lawsuits will be slapped on us till weâre busted. Then we can git out.â
âYou said it!â Gene agreed. âClay Quantrellâs got the right idea. If weâre goinâ to git licked anyhow, letâs git licked fightinâ! Why wait âtil weâre helpless?â
Montana had known the boys for years. Their bitterness was no surprise, but he had expected them to be long-suffering rather than rash under the first prod of the Bar S. Their talk sounded reckless. Since Quantrellâs name had come into the conversation, Montana thought he had the explanation.
âThatâs brave talk, Gene,â he said, âbut Iâm afraid it wonât get us anywhere. We canât shoot this thing out and win. If we want to beat that bunch weâve got to outsmart them.â
The boys were not impressed with his logic, but their father agreed with him.
âThere canât be any doubt of it,â he said with great deliberation. âSpillinâ a lot of blood wonât settle this at all. The first thing we got to do is get organized. Weâre goinâ to have a meetinâ here towards eveninâ. I reckon most of the folks will come.â He glanced at the westering sun. âGene will take you over to the house and show you where to drop your war-bag, Weâll have supper before the crowd comes.â
C HAPTER VI TRAGEDY RIDES THE RANGE
I N ADDITION to his sons, Dan had two men on the ranch,âRomero, the Mexican, and Ben Vining, an old-time buckaroo from Nevada. They ate together in the ranch kitchen, Mrs. Crockett doing the cooking.
Eating was a solemn rite that seemed to dry up the wells of conversation.
Before they had finished, people began to arrive. With one or two exceptions they were all related in some way to the Crocketts.
âOne or two others to come yet,â Dan told them. âWeâll wait a few minutes.â
Quantrell was the last to arrive. He gave Jim a curt nod. His displeasure was evident on learning that Montana had injected himself into the fight and was now riding for the Box C.