all concerned," and his threat was
wildly cheered and largely quoted thereafter as the utterance of a man
not afraid of Congress or anybody else.

Seed-time came without any promise of change, and the white settlers on
the reservation went sullenly to their planting, and the cattlemen drove
their herds across the boundaries upon the Tetong range as they had been
doing for many years. "We are in for another season of it," they said,
with the air of being martyrs in the cause of civilization.

Curtis immediately sent warning commands to all the outside ranchers to
keep clear of the reservation, and also notified Streeter, Johnson, and
others of the settlers on the Elk and the Willow that their cattle must
not be allowed to stray beyond certain lines, which he indicated. These
orders, according to Calvin, made the settlers "red-headed as
wood-peckers. They think you're drawin' the lines down pretty fine."

"I mean to," replied Curtis. "You original settlers are here by right
and shall have full opportunity to graze your stock, but those on the
outside must keep out. I will seize and impound all stock that does not
belong on this land."

Calvin reported this statement to the outside men, and its audacity
provoked the most violent threats against the agent, but he rode about
unaccompanied and unarmed; but not without defence, for Calvin said to
one of the loudest of the boasters, "The man who jerks a gun on Curtis
runs a good chance of losing a lung or two," and the remark took effect,
for Calvin had somehow acquired a reputation for being "plumb sassy when
attack-ted."

Curtis had the army officer's contempt of personal injury, and, in
pursuance of his campaign against the invading stockmen, did not
hesitate to ride into their round-up camps alone, or accompanied only by
Crow Wing, and no blusterer could sustain his reputation in the face of
the agent's calm sense of command.

"I am not speaking personally," he said once, to an angry camp of a
dozen armed men. "I am here as an officer of the United States army,
detailed to special duty as an Indian agent, and I am in command of
this reservation. It is of no use to bluster. Your cattle _must_ be kept
from the Tetong range."

"The grass is going to waste there," the boss argued.

"That does not concern you. It is not the fault of the Tetongs that they
have not cattle enough to fill the range."

In the end he had his way, and though the settlers and ranchers hated