Excerpt: ...on when theres nothing else. Its a musty old tradition, a sort of a remnant of the old days, that present day newsmongers use as a yardstick for comparisons. If a modern domestic complication breaks out, the current gossip outmatches it by the entanglements in the Barrow family. If its murder, robbery, or arson, some of the Barrows did worse and got away with it. "Just now, some current chapters are being written. Mister Logan, the receiver of the bank of Adot, has foreclosed a mortgage on the real estate and seeks possession. Mister Finch, the grazing master, always lenient and forebearing, is seeking to recover past due payments. This may be the final chapter. Grim facts are taking the place of hearsay." "Well, just where is this land of romantic tragedy and domestic infelicity?" questioned Davy. "How come that the movie people havent taken it over to fit their verbiage: thrilling, stupendous, smashing, wondrous, and so forth?" "Well, if the movie people have as much trouble getting on the property as the sheriff and Mister Finch are having, they wouldnt get a very clear picture and the story would be limited to their own misfortunes. Up to now, old Hulls Barrow has stood em off with a gun. They dont want to kill him and they cant get possession. "Now this Bar-O ranch is just over the hogback, south of us. There is no road, just a trail over the ridge. The Barrows use the other road. I dont know how big it is. The surveys in these hills stay in the valleys; the lines run from point to promontory. The units are miles, not rods. Tranquil Meadows, a fine area of grassland, is just south of the Bar-O. Had the Silver Falls project been a success, the government would have done the same with the Meadows tract. A road blasted through the hills would have connected the two tracts. 104 "Old Matt Barrow was one of the early settlers. Grandfathers feud with him had early beginnings. I dont think it was personal, for they rarely met. Grandaddy was...