settlement to the frontier had come a change. The feeding ground became
overstocked. One outfit elbowed another, and lines began to be drawn
between the runs of different owners. Water holes were seized and
fenced, with or without due process of law.

With the establishment of forest reserves a new policy dominated the
government. Sanderson had been one of the first to avail himself of it
by leasing the public demesne for his stock. Later, learning that the
mountain parks were to be thrown open as a pasturage for sheep, he had
bought three thousand and driven them up, having first arranged terms
with the forestry service.

Buck Weaver, fighting the government reserve policy with all his might,
resented fiercely the attitude of Sanderson. A sharp, bitter quarrel had
resulted, and had left a smoldering bad feeling that flamed at times
into open warfare. Upon the wholesome Malpais country had fallen the
bitterness of a sheep and cattle feud.

The riders of the Twin Star outfit had thrice raided the Sanderson
flocks. Lambing sheep had been run cruelly. One herd had been clubbed
over a precipice, another decimated with poison. In return, the herders
shot and hamstrung Twin Star cows. A herder was held up and beaten by
cowboys. Next week a vaquero galloped home to the Twin Star ranch with a
bullet through his leg. This was the situation at the time when the
owner of the big ranch brought Phyllis a prisoner to its hospitality.

Nothing could have been more pat to his liking. He was, in large
measure, the force behind the law in San Miguel county. The sheriff whom
he had elected to office would be conveniently deaf to any illegality
there might be in his holding the girl, would if necessary give him an