d Juan,--our half-blood trailer,--pointing to
the slightest sag in a low range of hills distant twenty miles.

We were Texas Rangers. It was nearly noon of a spring day, and we
had halted on sighting our destination,--Comanche Ford on the Concho
River. Less than three days before, we had been lounging around camp,
near Tepee City, one hundred and seventy-five miles northeast of our
present destination. A courier had reached us with an emergency order,
which put every man in the saddle within an hour after its receipt.

An outfit with eight hundred cattle had started west up the Concho.
Their destination was believed to be New Mexico. Suspicion rested on
them, as they had failed to take out inspection papers for moving the
cattle, and what few people had seen them declared that one half the
cattle were brand burnt or blotched beyond recognition. Besides, they
had an outfit of twenty heavily armed men, or twice as many as were
required to manage a herd of that size.

Our instructions were to make this crossing with all possible haste,
and if our numbers were too few, there to await assistance before
dropping down the river to meet the herd. When these courier orders
reached us at Tepee, they found only twelve men in camp, with not an
officer above a corporal. Fortunately we had Dad Root with us, a man
whom every man in our company would follow as though he had been
our captain. He had not the advantage in years that his name would
indicate, but he was an exceedingly useful man in the service. He
could resight a gun, shoe a horse, or empty a six-shooter into a tree
from the back of a running horse with admirable accuracy. In dressing
a gun-shot wound, he had the delicate touch of a woman. Every man
in the company went to him with his petty troubles, and came away
delighted. Therefore there was no question as to who should be our
leader on this raid; no one but Dad was even considered.

Sending a brief note to the adjutant-general by this same courier,
stating that we had started with twelve men, we broke camp, and in
less than an hour were riding southwest. One thing which played into
our hands in making this forced ride was the fact that we had a number
of extra horses on hand. For a few months previous we had captured
quite a number of stolen horses, and having no chance to send into the
settlements where they belonged, we used them as extra riding horses.
With our pack mules light and these extra saddlers for a chang