It was agreed to, and Clavering said, It seems to me, sir, that the first question is, Could we depend upon the boys if we wanted them?
Torrance strode to an open window and blew a silver whistle. Its shrill note had scarcely died away when a mounted man came up at a gallop, and a band of others in haste on foot. They stopped in front of the window, picturesque in blue shirts and long boots, sinewy, generously fed, and irresponsibly daring.
Boys, he said, youve been told theres a change coming, and by and by this country will have no more use for you. Now, if any folks came here and pulled our boundaries up to let the mean whites from back east in, what are you going to do?
There was a burst of hoarse laughter. Ride them down, said one retainer, with the soft blue eyes of a girl and a figure of almost matchless symmetry.
Grow feathers on them, said another. Ride them back to the railroad on a rail.
I scarcely think that would be necessary, said Torrance quietly. Still, youd stand behind the men who pay you?
There was a murmur that expressed a good deal, though it was inarticulate, and a man stood forward.
Youve heard them, sir, he said. Well, well do just what you want us to. This is the cattle-barons country, and were here. Its good enough for us, and if it means lots of trouble were going to stay here.
Torrance raised his hand, and when the men moved away turned with a little grim smile to his guests. Theyll be quite as good as their word, he said.
Then he led them back to the table, and when the decanter had gone round, one of the younger men stood up.
We want a constitution, gentlemen, and Ill give you one, he said. The Cedar District Stockraisers Committee incorporated to-day with for sole object the defence of our rights as American citizens!
Clavering rose with the others, but there was a little ironical smile in his eyes as he said, If necessary against any unlawful encroachments made by the legislature!
Torrance turned upon him sternly. No, sir! he said. By whatever means may appear expedient!
The glasses were lifted high, and when they had laid them down the men rode away, though only one or two of them realized the momentous issues which they and others had raised at about much the same time. They had not, however, met in conclave too soon, for any step that man makes forward towards a wider life is usually marked by strife, and the shadow of coming trouble was already upon the land. It had deepened little by little, and the cattle-barons had closed their eyes, as other men who have held the reins have done since the beginning, until the lean hands of the toilers fastened upon them, and fresh horrors added to an ancient wrong were the price of liberty that was lost again. They had done good service to their nation, with profit to themselves, and would not see that the times were changing and that the nation had no longer need of them.
Other men, however, at least suspected it, and there was an expectant gathering one hot afternoon in the railroad depot of a little wooden town where Grant stood waiting for the west-bound train. There was little to please the eye about the station,
and still less about the town. Straight out of the great white levels ran the glistening track, and an unsightly building of wood and iron rose from the side of it, flanked by a towering water-tank. A pump rattled under it, and the smell of creosote was everywhere. Cattle corrals ran back from the track, and beyond them sun-rent frame houses roofed with cedar shingles straggled away on the one hand, paintless, crude, and square. On the other, a smear of trail led the dazzled vision back across the parched levels to the glancing refraction on the horizon, and the figure of a single horseman showing dimly through a dust cloud emphasized their loneliness. The town was hot and dusty, its one green fringe of willows defiled by the garbage the citizens deposited there, and the most lenient stranger could have seen no grace or beauty in it. Yet, like many another place of the kind, it was destined to rise to prosperity and fame.
The depot was thronged that afternoon. Store and hotel keeper, citizens in white shirts and broadcloth, jostled blue-shirted cattle men, while here and there a petty politician consulted with the representative of a Western paper. The smoke of cigars drifted everywhere, and the listless heat was stirred by the hum of voices eager and strident. It was evident that the assembly was in an expectant mood, and there was a murmur of approbation when one newspaper man laid hold of Grant.
I couldnt light on you earlier, but ten minutes will see us through, he said. Well make a half-page of it if youll let me have your views. New epoch in the countrys history! The small farmer the coming king! A wood-cut of the man who brought the first plough in.
Larry Grant laughed a little. There are quite a few ahead of me, and if you spread my views the barons would put their thumb on you and squeeze you flat, he said. On the other hand, it wouldnt suit me if you sent them anything I told you to publish.