rses,
"Reed, here, wins out, but we're just as much at sea as ever. I've
looked the situation over from a dozen different viewpoints, and the
only thing to do is graze across country and tender our cattle at Fort
Buford. It's my nature to look on the bright side of things, and yet I'm
old enough to know that justice, in a world so full of injustice, is a
rarity. By allowing the earnest-money paid at Dodge to apply, some kind
of a compromise might be effected, whereby I could get rid of two of
these herds, with three hundred saddle horses thrown back on my hands at
the Yellowstone River. I might dispose of the third herd here and give
the remuda away, but at a total loss of at least thirty thousand dollars
on the Buford cattle. But then there's my bond to The Western Supply
Company, and if this herd of Morris's fails to respond on the day of
delivery, I know who will have to make good. An Indian uprising, or the
enforcement of quarantine against Texas fever, or any one of a dozen
things might tie up the herd, and September the 15th come and go and no
beef offered on the contract. I've seen outfits start out and never
get through with the chuck-wagon, even. Sutton's advice is good; we'll
tender the cattle. There is a chance that we'll get turned down, but if
we do, I have enough indemnity money in my possession to temper the wind
if the day of delivery should prove a chilly one to us. I think you had
all better start in the morning."

The old man's review of the situation was a rational one, in which Jim
Reed and the rest of us concurred. Several of the foremen, among them
myself, were anxious to start at once, but Lovell urged that we kill
a beef before starting and divide it up among the six outfits. He also
proposed to Flood that they go into town during the afternoon and freely
announce our departure in the morning, hoping to force any issue that
might be smouldering in the enemy's camp. The outlook for an early
departure was hailed with delight by the older foremen, and we younger
and more impulsive ones yielded. The cook had orders to get up something
extra for dinner, and we played cards and otherwise lounged around until
the midday meal was announced as ready. A horse had been gotten up for
Lovell to ride and was on picket, all the relieved men from the attached
herd were at Bob's wagon for dinner, and jokes and jollity graced the
occasion. But near the middle of the noon repast, some one sighted
a mounted man com