"To hear you talk, anybody'd think you was a Angel of Peace," Hopalong retorted. "One's as bad as th' other, so shut up," Skinny remarked, going into the house for a drink. CHAPTER X BUCK VISITS MEEKER As Buck rode south he went over the boundary trouble in all its phases, and the more he thought about it the firmer his resolution grew to hold the line at any cost. He had gone to great expense and labor to improve the water supply in the valley and he saw no reason why the H2 could not do the same; and to him an agreement was an agreement, and ran with the land. What Meeker thought about it was not the question--the point at issue was whether or not the H2 could take the line and use the valley, and if they could they were welcome to it. But while there was any possibility for a peaceable settlement it would be foolish to start fighting, for one range war had spread to alarming proportions and had been costly to life and property. Then there was the certainty that once war had begun, rustling would develop. But, be the consequences what they might, he would fight to the last to hold that which was rightfully his. He was not going to Meeker to beg a compromise, or to beg him to let the valley alone; he was riding to tell the H2 foreman what he could expect if he forced matters. When he rode past the H2 corrals he was curiously regarded by a group of punchers who lounged near them, and he went straight up to them without heeding their frowns. "Is Meeker here?" "No, he ain't here," replied Curley, who was regarded by his companions as being something of a humorist. "Where is he?" "Since you asks, I reckon he's in th' bunk house," Curley replied. "Where he ought to be," he added, pointedly, while his companions grinned. "That's wise," responded Buck. "He ought to stay there more often. I hope his cows will take after him. Much obliged for th' information," he finished, riding on. "His cows an' his punchers'll do as they wants," asserted Curley, frowning. "Excuse me. I reckoned _he_ was boss around here," Buck apologized, a grim smile playing about his lips. "But you better change that 'will' to 'won't' when you mean th' valley." "I mean _will_!" Curley retorted, leaping to his feet. "An' what's more, I ain't through with that game laig puncher of yourn, neither." Buck laughed and rode forward again. "You have my sympathy, then," he called over his shoulder. Buck stopped before the bunk house and called out, and in response to his hail Jim Meeker came and stood in the door.