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 homesteaders—every one of whom is a cattle thief, remember, Blunt—the available range for our people's stock is less than half what it was ten years ago. Absolute ruin stares us all in the face."

"Well, what can one man do about it?" Original was quick to resent the innuendo of responsibility the other had pushed upon him. "I 've had twenty-two men before the grand jury on charges of brand smoking this past year; indictments were found against just five of 'em, an' on trial only one of those five got a conviction. One man outa twenty-two! I deal myself nothin' but trouble when I go up against a sheriff who's against the cattle outfits, a district attorney who 's elected by sheep money an' grand juries the sheriff manages to have drawn exclusive from the town."

"Just so—just so," the visitor from Cheyenne soothed. "Don't think for a minute, Blunt, our people have any fault to find with what you 've done. Perhaps they are inclined to wonder if you 've done all that can be done under the circumstances; that 's all—all that possibly could be done. When the courts fail to give justice, you know" He finished with a spreading of the hands and a sage smile.