jectedly. "It was a kind of compromise trade;
they raised the cash payment to thirty thousand dollars, and I split the
difference in price. The herd goes at $29 a head all round. So from now
on, Mac, you're subject to these gentlemen's orders."

Mr. Field, the elder of the two buyers, suggested that if a convenient
camp could be found, we should lie over a few days, when final
instructions would be given me. He made a memorandum of the number of
head that I claimed in our road brand, and asked me if we could hold
up the herd for a closer inspection. The lead cattle were then nearly
a mile away, and galloping off to overtake the point, I left the party
watching the saddle horses, which were then fording in our rear. But
no sooner had I reached the lead and held up the herd, than I noticed
Siringo on the wrangler's horse, coming up on the opposite side of
the column of cattle from the vehicle. Supposing he had something of a
private nature to communicate, I leisurely rode down the line and met
him.

"Did you send that man in this morning?" he sternly demanded. I
explained that my brother had done, properly coached, and that Seay
would go in with me in the course of an hour.

"Give him any money you have and send him at once," commanded the
detective. "Tolleston was due on the ten o'clock train, but it was
an hour late. Those buyers wanted me to wait for it, so he could come
along, but I urged the importance of catching you at the ford. Now, send
your man Seay at once, get Tolleston beastly drunk, and quarter him in
some crib until night."

Unobserved by the buyers, I signaled Seay, and gave him the particulars
and what money I had. He rode back through the saddle stock, recrossed
the river, and after rounding the bend, galloped away. Siringo
continued: "You see, after we traded, they inquired if you were a safe
man, saying if you didn't know the Yellowstone country, they had a man
in sight who did. That was last night, and it seems that this morning
they got a letter from Tolleston, saying he would be there on the next
train. They're either struck on him, or else he's in their employ. Mark
my words."

When we had showed the herd to the satisfaction of the purchasers, they
expressed themselves as anxious to return to town; but the fiscal agent
of the Marshall estate wished to look over the saddle horses first.
Since they were unsold, and amounted to quite an item, he begged for
just a few minutes' time to look them o