"Reckon I want to be, Ellen," he returned, nodding his shaggy head. "It ain't easy to be fond of you as I am an' keep my mouth shet.... I'd like to know somethin'. Hev you any relatives away from hyar thet you could go to till this fight's over?"
"No. All I have, so far as I know, are right heah."
"How aboot friends?"
"Uncle John, I have none," she said, sadly, with bowed head.
"Wal, wal, I'm sorry. I was hopin' you might git away."
She lifted her face. "Shore y'u don't think I'd run off if my dad got in a fight?" she flashed.
"I hope you will."
"I'm a Jorth," she said, darkly, and dropped her head again.
Sprague nodded gloomily. Evidently he was perplexed and worried, and strongly swayed by affection for her.
"Would you go away with me?" he asked. "We could pack over to the Mazatzals an' live thar till this blows over."
"Thank y'u, Uncle John. Y'u're kind and good. But I'll stay with my father. His troubles are mine."
"Ahuh! ... Wal, I might hev reckoned so.... Ellen, how do you stand on this hyar sheep an' cattle question?"
"I think what's fair for one is fair for another. I don't like sheep as much as I like cattle. But that's not the point. The range is free. Suppose y'u had cattle and I had sheep. I'd feel as free to run my sheep anywhere as y'u were to ran your cattle."
"Right. But what if you throwed your sheep round my range an' sheeped off the grass so my cattle would hev to move or starve?"
"Shore I wouldn't throw my sheep round y'ur range," she declared, stoutly.
"Wal, you've answered half of the question. An' now supposin' a lot of my cattle was stolen by rustlers, but not a single one of your sheep. What 'd you think then?"
"I'd shore think rustlers chose to steal cattle because there was no profit in stealin' sheep."
"Egzactly. But wouldn't you hev a queer idee aboot it?"
"I don't know. Why queer? What 're y'u drivin' at, Uncle John?"
"Wal, wouldn't you git kind of a hunch thet the rustlers was--say a leetle friendly toward the sheepmen?"
Ellen felt a sudden vibrating shock. The blood rushed to her temples. Trembling all over, she rose.
"Uncle John!" she cried.