He had fenced his run, and dispensed with shepherds and shepherding as old-fashioned and unprofitable.

He had two mounted men, whom he called boundary riders, one an Irishman and the other a German--and them he trusted fully, the German altogether, and the Irishman equally as regarded his honesty.

But he could not explain to them the thoughts that loaded his brain.

He could instigate them to eagerness; but he could not condescend to tell Karl Bender, the German, that if his fences were destroyed neither his means nor his credit would be sufficient to put them up again, and that if the scanty herbage were burned off any large proportion of his run, he must sell his flocks at a great sacrifice.
Nor could he explain to Mickey O'Dowd, the Irishman, that his peace of mind was destroyed by his fear of one man.

He had to bear it all alone.