Saltpeter is not harmful to cattle but it is death
to sheep, and the only way we could keep Loustalot off our range
without resorting to firearms was to make his visits unprofitable.
They were. That made Loustalot hate us, and one day, over in the Agua
Caliente basin, when Pablo and his riders found Loustalot and his sheep
there, they rushed about five hundred of his sheep over a rocky bench
and dropped them a sheer two hundred feet into a canon. That started
some shooting, and Pablo's brother and my first cousin, Juan Galvez,
were killed. Loustalot, wounded, escaped on the pack-mule belonging to
his sheep outfit, and after that he and my father didn't speak."
Kay turned in her seat and looked at Farrel curiously.
"If you were not so desperately situated financially," she wanted to
know, "would you continue to pursue this man?"
He smiled grimly.
"Certainly. My father's honor, the blood of my kinsman, and the blood
of a faithful servant call for justice, however long delayed. Also,
the honor of my state demands it now. I am prepared to make any
sacrifice, even of my life, and grasp eagerly at all legal means--to
prevent your father putting through tins monstrous deal with Okada."
She was troubled of soul.
"Of course," she pleaded presently, "you'll play the game with dad as
fairly as he plays it with you."
"I shall play the game with him as fairly as he plays it with this land
to which he owes allegiance," he corrected her sternly.
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