the Drift Fence (1992) by Zane Grey

here, in the brakes under the Diamond. An' the Diamond, I should explain, is high country south of here. On three sides it sheers straight down an' cattle can't get off. But on the west, for forty miles or so, it slopes off into the roughest canyon country in Arizona. Thicker than the Tonto. These canyons head up high in the timber an' run down deep an' rough. All of them have fine grass an' water. Lots of deer, bear an' turkey, too, if you like to hunt. Wal, a good deal of stock, especially cows with unbranded calves, drift into these draws an' work down into the brakes. There the cows are killed an' the calves stolen. It used to be these thieves would take the meat an' bury or burn head an' hide. But lately they kill too many. They just down the cows in a thicket or drag them into one, an' leave them there for the varmints. Locke's last report shore riled me."
    "Then, Uncle, this tough job you're giving me has to do with the thieves," asserted Jim.
    "Wal, I should sort of smile it does," drawled Traft.
    "But why not entrust it to an experienced Westerner, like Locke?"
    "Locke can't bother with it, an' wouldn't if he could, at least the way I want to stop it. An' as I told you I want a Traft to do this. Son, it'll be a big thing for the range, if we succeed. I don't want one of these gun-packin' cowboys to have the credit, when I can throw it to you."
    "You're very kind, Uncle," said Jim, with a dry humour not lost upon Traft. "Are you sure anyone but a fool tenderfoot would tackle the job?"
    Trait laughed. He was growing more at ease with Jim. "Some of my boys are achin' to get the job. Jim, my Diamond outfit is the damnest bunch of cowpunchers in Arizona. An' it's this Diamond outfit you're to take charge of."
    "Damnest bunch! Doesn't sound very good, Uncle. Just what do you mean?" returned Jim, dubiously.
    "Huh! I'll leave that for you to find out... Now to come out with my plan.
    I want a drift fence built from my ranch here clear down across the Diamond to where it jumps off. A hundred-mile fence!"
    "What's a drift fence?"
    "It's just a fence along which cattle will drift south as far as they can go, then drift back. It'd have several good uses, but the main one is to keep the cows an' calves from driftin' down into the brakes."
    "Well, the building of a fence even a hundred miles long oughtn't to be so difficult."
    "Shore it won't. But keepin' it up after it's built is where the hell will come in."
    Jim grasped subtly that here was the crux of the whole matter.
    "There'll be opposition? Down on the Diamond," he rejoined.
    "Shore will. An' for that matter all over the range. Even Blodgett is oncertain about fencin' the range. You see, a barbed-wire fence in this country is nothin' short of murder. An' these nesters an' homesteaders an' backwoodsmen will lose by it. An' as for cowboys. Lord! how they hate any kind of a fence! I reckon I used to. But I'm ahead of my day. I can see what is needed an' what is comin'. So, Jim, you can trust me so far as the benefit to ranchers is concerned."
    "Uncle, have you an actual right to fence the range?"
    "Shore, but it's open to question. If it ever went to law I'd have to prove my contention. An' whoever sued me would have to show why he was bein' hurt. No honest cattleman will ever take such action. An' I'm shore doubtful about any of the homesteaders goin' so far."
    "Could you prove your contention, which of course is that you are being robbed?" queried Jim, earnestly.
    "Wal, I could, if Ring Locke an' some of my cowboys would testify. But they hate the idea like sixty. I'll expect you to find out what they know, an' then add evidence of your own."
    "I see. So far so good. How about your moral right?"
    "Jim, I'm glad you ask that. You're no fool, if you are a tenderfoot. The question of moral right is the most puzzlin' one--the most open to argument. My own conscience is clear on that. I know in the long run the range will benefit."
    "How do you know? Prove it to me."
    "Wal, you