happened to be in the lead, and Forrest and myself
held back to await the decision of the veteran foreman. The river ran
on a northwest angle where we encountered it, and Dave followed down it
some distance looking for a crossing. The herds were only three or four
miles apart, and assistance could have been rendered each other, but it
was hardly to be expected that an older foreman would ask either advice
or help from younger ones. Hence Quince and myself were in no hurry,
nor did we intrude ourselves on David the pathfinder, but sought out a
crossing up the river and on our course. A convenient riffle was soon
found in the river which would admit the passage of the wagons without
rafting, if a cut-bank on the south side could be overcome. There was
an abrupt drop of about ten feet to the water level, and I argued that
a wagon-way could be easily cut in the bank and the commissaries lowered
to the river's edge with a rope to the rear axle. Forrest also favored
the idea, and I was authorized to cross the wagons in case a suitable
ford could be found for the cattle. My aversion to manual labor was
quite pronounced, yet John Q. Forrest wheedled me into accepting the
task of making a wagon-road. About a mile above the riffle, a dry wash
cut a gash in the bluff bank on the opposite side, which promised the
necessary passageway for the herds out of the river. The slope on the
south side was gradual, affording an easy inlet to the water, the only
danger being on the other bank, the dry wash not being over thirty feet
wide. But we both agreed that by putting the cattle in well above the
passageway, even if the current was swift, an easy and successful ford
would result. Forrest volunteered to cross the cattle, and together we
returned to the herds for dinner.

Quince allowed me one of his men besides the cook, and detailed Clay
Zilligan to assist with the wagons. We took my remuda, the spades and
axes, and started for the riffle. The commissaries had orders to follow
up, and Forrest rode away with a supercilious air, as if the crossing of
wagons was beneath the attention of a foreman of his standing. Several
hours of hard work were spent with the implements at hand in cutting the
wagon-way through the bank, after which my saddle horses were driven
up and down; and when it was pronounced finished, it looked more like a
beaver-slide than a roadway. But a strong stake was cut and driven
into the ground, and a corral-rope taken from