“Why, Mr. Seigerman, when I was skinning mules for Creech & Lee, contractors on the Rock Island, one fall, they gave me my orders, which was to get every man on the works ready to ballot.  I lined them up and voted them like running cattle through a branding-chute to put on a tally-mark or vent a brand.  There were a hundred and seventy-five of those dagoes from the rock-cut; I handled them like dipping sheep for the scab.  My friends here can tell you how I managed voting the bonds at a little town east of here.  I had my orders from the same people I’m working for now, to get out the cow-puncher element in the Strip for the bonds.  The bosses simply told me that what they wanted was a competing line of railroad.  And as they didn’t expect to pay the obligations, only authorize them,—­the next generation could attend to the paying of them,—­we got out a full vote.  Well, we ran in from four to five hundred men from the Strip, and out of over seven hundred ballots cast, only one against the bonds.  We hunted the town all over to find the man that voted against us; we wanted to hang him!  The only trouble I had was to make the boys think it was a straight up Democratic play, as they were nearly all originally from Texas.  Now, my friends here have told me that they are urging you to accept the nomination for sheriff.  I can only add that in case you consent, my people stand ready to give their every energy to this coming campaign.  As far as funds are concerned to prosecute the election of an acceptable sheriff to the cattle interests, we would simply be flooded with it.  It would be impossible to use one half of what would be forced on us.  One thing I can say positively, Mr. Seigerman:  they wouldn’t permit you to contribute one cent to the expense of your election.  Cattle-men are big-hearted fellows—­they are friends worth having, Mr. Seigerman.”

Louie drew a long breath, and it seemed that a load had been lifted from his mind by these last remarks of Arab’s.

“How many men are there in the Strip?” asked Arab of the others.

“On all three divisions of the last round-up there were something like two thousand,” replied Baugh.  “And this county adjoins the Cattle Country for sixty miles on the north,” said Arab, still continuing his musing, “or one third of the Strip.  Well, gentlemen,” he went on, waking out of his mental reverie and striking the table with his fist, “if there’s that many men in the country below, I’ll agree to vote one half of them in this county this fall.”

“Hold on a minute, aren’t you a trifle high on your estimate?” asked Stubb, the conservative, protestingly.

“Not a man too high.  Give them a week’s lay-off, with plenty to drink at this end of the string, and every man will come in for fifty miles either way.  The time we voted the bonds won’t be a marker to this election.”

“He’s not far wrong,” said Baugh to Stubb.  “Give the rascals a chance for a holiday like that, and they will come from the south line of the Strip.”