dark mesquit spread from horizon to horizon. there was no house or horseman from which a mind could evolve a city or a crowd. the world was declared to be a desert and unpeopled. sometimes, however, on days when no heat-mist arose, a blue shape, dim, of the substance of a spectre's veil, appeared in the south-west, and a pondering sheep-herder might remember that there were mountains.

in the silence of these plains the sudden and childish banging of a tin pan could have made an iron-nerved man leap into the air. the sky was ever flawless; the manoeuvring of clouds was an unknown pageant; but at times a sheep-herder could see, miles away, the long, white streamers of dust rising from the feet of another's flock, and the interest became intense.

bill was arduously cooking his dinner, bending over the fire, and toiling like a blacksmith. a movement, a flash of strange colour, perhaps, off in the bushes, caused him suddenly to turn his head. presently he arose, and, shading his eyes with his hand, stood motionless and gazing. he perceived at last a mexican sheep-herder winding through the brush toward his camp.

"hello!" shouted bill.

the mexican made no answer, but came steadily forward until he was within some twenty yards. there he paused, and, folding his arms, drew himself up in the manner affected by the villain in the play. his serape muffled the lower part of his face, and his great sombrero shaded his brow. being unexpected and also silent, he had something of the quality of an apparition; moreover, it was clearly his intention to be mysterious and devilish.

the american's pipe, sticking carelessly in the corner of his mouth, was twisted until the wrong side was uppermost, and he held his frying-pan poised in the air. he surveyed with evident surprise this apparition in the mesquit. "hello, josé!" he said; "what's the matter?"

the mexican spoke with the solemnity of funeral tollings: "beel, you mus' geet off range. we want you geet off range. we no like. un'erstan'? we no like."

"what you talking about?" said bill. "no like what?"

"we no like you here. un'erstan'? too mooch. you mus' geet out. we no like. un'erstan'?"

"understand? no; i don't know what the blazes you're gittin' at." bill's eyes wavered in bewilderment, and his jaw fell. "i must git out? i must git off the range? what you givin' us?"

the mexican unfolded his serape with his small yellow hand. upon his face was then to be seen a smile that was gently, almost caressingly murderous. "beel," he said, "geet out!"

bill's arm dropped until the frying-pan was at his knee. finally he turned again toward the fire. "go on, you dog-gone little yaller rat!" he said over his shoulder. "you fellers can't chase me off this range. i got as much right here as anybody."

"beel," answered the other in a vibrant tone, thrusting his head forward and moving one foot, "you geet out or we keel you."

"who will?" said bill.

"i—and the others." the mexican tapped his breast gracefully.

bill reflected for a time, and then he said: "you ain't got no manner of license to warn me off'n this range, and i won't move a rod. understand? i've got rights, and i suppose if i don't see 'em through, no one is likely to give me a good hand and help me lick you fellers, since i'm the only white man in half a day's ride. now, look; if you fellers try to rush this camp, i'm goin' to plug about fifty per cent. of the gentlemen present, sure. i'm goin' in for trouble, an' i'll git a lot of you. 'nuther thing: if i was a fine valuable caballero like you, i'd stay in the rear till the shootin' was done, because i'm goin' to make a particular p'int of shootin' you through the chest." he grinned affably, and made a gesture of dismissal.

as for the mexican, he waved his hands in a consummate expression of indifference. "oh, all right," he said. then, in a tone of deep menace and glee, he added: "we will keel you eef you no geet. they have decide'."

"they have, have they?" said bill. "well, you tell them to go to the devil!"