Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/137

 greasers only kill for beef. Some one's running them off."

Ben's face was a mixture of many emotions.

"Who do you think it is?"

"Who do you think it would be?" demanded Edith bitterly. "There's only one person that wants to break us."

"Look here, Edie," he caught her arm and demanded angrily: "You don't think I've had any hand in it or knew anything about it?"

She looked at him squarely.

"No, Ben, not a minute. You know too well what this little bunch of cattle means to us. You've seen me ridin' these mesas and arroyos summer and winter, just like a boy. Doin' anything to help dad, now he's got a little start.

"You know what it is to ride with the wind scorching you, blowing red-hot like it came out of a furnace, the sun fair dryin' up the blood in your veins, and your eyes half-blind and bloodshot from the glare.

"And you know what it is to ride in winter