He had felt the shadow of an unseen hand; he had watched till he saw its dim outline, and then he had traced it to a man's hate, to the rivalry of a Mormon Elder, to the power of a Bishop, to the long, far-reaching arm of a terrible creed.

That unseen hand had made its first move against Jane Withersteen.

Her riders had been called in, leaving her without help to drive seven thousand head of cattle.

But to Venters it seemed extraordinary that the power which had called in these riders had left so many cattle to be driven by rustlers and harried by wolves.

For hand in glove with that power was an insatiate greed; they were one and the same.
"What can Oldring do with twenty-five hundred head of cattle ?" muttered Venters.