Power turned back to McBride, looking him up and down as if seeing if he were worth bothering with or maybe seeing if he could take him if he needed to. “They'll get on it. One of these days. Maybe not soon enough for your liking, but they'll get on it. We got gold to dig.”

“It's not my liking you need to worry about, Power. It's the federal government's liking that counts here. Things are going hard on boys who don't register. There are mobs beating them up back east, killing them, even. I don't want to have to rescue your boys when they come downtown and get set on by a mob that thinks they're slackers, whether they are or not.”

“First of all, my boys ain't slacked on anything. Second, God help the mob that sets on a Power. If the boys don't handle the situation, and that ain't likely, I will. Third, what my boys do is their business and my business. It's not any of yours. You got any paper that says my boys broke any laws here in Graham County, show it to me. If they have, I'll take care of it. We're running a gold operation up there, and we don't need disruptions. We work, and we work hard. We don't bother folk, and we expect not to be bothered.”

“It's the law, Power. The law says they have to register for the draft and serve if called. That's federal law.”

“I say they got to bust rock up to the mine. That's Power law.”

“They have to serve their country. That's the supreme law here. They must defend their country.”

“Their country. I presume that's the United States of America?”

“Yes, sir.”

“That ain't our country. That's New York and Pennsylvania and Kansas and whatever the hell other states they got now, including this one. That ain't my country. You can have the whole damned bunch of it for all I care. I wouldn't lift a finger to stop you if you was to burn it to the ground, because I don't give a damn. Rattlesnake Canyon. That's my country. Bought and paid for. And I will defend that. You send someone up to take what we got up there, and you will see some defending. And you won't want a lot of it.”

“Mr. Power. I'm doing you a kindness here, warning you that those boys need to get registered for the draft, like all the fine young men in this country are doing. If they do that, there's no trouble as far as I can see. But if they don't, there's going to be a warrant on them, and the next time they come to town, they'll be arrested and sent to the deputy US marshal in Globe for trial. You don't want that, and neither do I, particularly. You can save us a lot of trouble, you, me, and the boys, everyone, if you'll get them down to register.”