our stock,” he went on; and Mariel breathed a sigh of relief.

“We both believe the Radley boys over in Jackson’s Hole are the ones responsible for all this rustling, but so far, we haven’t been able to prove a thing. If the boys ever catch them at it—well, it’s going to be pretty tough on the Radley brothers.”

“But isn’t cattle—er—rustling just plain stealing?”

“Some say it’s worse than that, Miss Mariel.”

“Well, then, why don’t the police, or whoever enforces the laws, arrest these people and bring them to trial?”

Jess laughed good-naturedly.

“Well, there’s several reasons for that. The penalty provided by the law isn’t stiff enough to worry the rustlers much. So the cattle men sort of figure that they can attend to the situation without bothering the Sheriff about it. And they can, usually— if they’re smart enough. But it seems that none of us hereabouts is quite smart enough to catch them in the act. They do say that sooner or later they all get caught. But as long as these rustlers don’t overplay their hand, they may continue to get by almost indefinitely.

“They say that a good many of the ranches in this country were built up by the—er—foresight of their owners in keeping a keen eye on mavericks, and in not being too particular as to what stock they placed their brands on.

“Now, maybe these rustlers are just following their example. Maybe they intend to build up a herd the way the others have done, and then quit rustling and operate—er—legitimately.

“In the second place, the Sheriff can’t go out and arrest Soggy Radley or his brother just because Otis Carr or I or anyone else happens to entertain a suspicion that they’re cattle rustlers. Remember, such a charge would have to be tried before a jury, and so the Sheriff would have to have something more than suspicion before he made an arrest. And maybe the jury would include one or two cow-men who hadn’t been so particular themselves in slapping their brands on stray stock. So, even if you’ve got pretty conclusive evidence, that doesn’t necessarily mean a conviction.

“No, the boys figure on handling the situation themselves, and I guess it’s just as well. Sooner or later Otis or I or some one else is going to get something on these Radley boys. And then they’ll decide to drift along through the Tetons to Idaho or somewhere where the 

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