“Well, he’s got a bunch uh men camped up the creek and the Pilgrim to close-herd ’em—­and I’m busy wondering what he’s going to do with that ditch.  Brown don’t do things just to amuse himself; yuh can gamble he aims to make that ditch pack dollars into his jeans—­and if yuh can tell me how, I’ll be a whole lot obliged.”  Dill shook his head, and Billy went on.  “Did yuh happen to find out, when yuh was bargaining for the Double-Crank, how much land Brown’s got held out?”

“No-o—­I can’t say I did.  From certain remarks he made, I was under the impression that he owns quite a tract.  I asked about getting all the land he had, and he said he preferred not to put a price on it, but that it would add considerably to the sum total.  He said I would not need it, anyhow, as there is plenty of open range for the stock.  He was holding it, he told me, for speculation and had never made any use of it in running his stock, except as they grazed upon it.”

“Uh-huh.  That don’t sound to me like any forty-acre field; does it to you?”

“As I said,” responded Dill, “I arrived at the conclusion that he owns a good deal of land.”

“And I’ll bet yuh the old skunk is going to start up a cow-outfit right under our noses—­though why the dickens the Double-Crank wasn’t good enough for him gets me.”

“If he does,” Dill observed calmly, “the man has a perfect right to do so, William.  We must guard against that greed which would crowd out every one but ourselves—­like pigs around a trough of sour milk!  I will own, however—­”

“Say, Dilly!  On the dead, are yuh religious?”

“No, William, I am not, in the sense you mean.  I hope, however, that I am honest.  If Mr. Brown intends to raise cattle again I shall be glad to see him succeed.”

Charming Billy sat down suddenly, as though his legs would no longer support him, and looked queerly at Dill.  “Hell!” he said meditatively, and sought with his fingers for his smoking material.

Dill showed symptoms of going back to “The Essays of Elia,” so that Billy was stirred to speech.

“Now, looky here, Dilly.  You’re all right, as far as yuh go—­but this range is carrying just about all the stock it needs right at present.  I don’t reckon yuh realize that all the good bottoms and big coulees are getting filled up with nesters; one here and one there, and every year a few more.  It ain’t much, uh course, but every man that comes is cutting down the range just that much.  And I know one thing:  when Brown had this outfit himself he was mighty jealous uh the range, and he didn’t take none to the idea of anybody else shoving stock onto it more than naturally drifted on in the course uh the season.  If he’s going to start another cow-outfit, I’ll bet yuh he’s going to gobble land—­and that’s what we better do, and do it sudden.”

“Since I have never had much personal experience in the ‘gobbling’ line, I’m afraid you’ll have to explain,” said Dill dryly.