he story at my expense. He and the marshal gave it
to the papers, and the next morning it appeared in the form of a
sensational article. According to the report, a certain popular federal
officer had gone out to Ogalalla to take possession of two herds of
cattle intended for government purposes; he had met with resistance by
a lot of Texas roughs, who fatally shot one of his deputies, wounding
several others, and killing a number of horses during the assault; but
the intrepid officer had added to his laurels by arresting the owner of
the cattle and leader of the resisting mob, and had brought him back
to face the charge of contempt in resisting service. The papers freely
predicted that I would get the maximum fine, and one even went so far as
to suggest that imprisonment might teach certain arrogant cattle kings
a salutary lesson. But when the hearing came up, Sutton placed Jim Reed
and me in the witness-box, taking the stand later himself, and we
showed that federal court that it had been buncoed out of an order of
injunctive relief, in favor of the biggest set of ringsters that ever
missed stretching hemp. The result was, I walked out of that federal
court scot free. And Judge Dundy, when he realized the injustice that
he had inflicted, made all three of us take dinner with him, fully
explaining the pressure which had been brought to bear at the time the
order of relief was issued. Oh, that old judge was all right. I only
hope we'll have as square a man as Judge Dundy at the final hearing at
Fort Buford. Do you see that sign over there, where it says Barley Water
and Bad Cigars? Well, put your horses in some corral and meet me there."

There was a great deal of news to review. Lovell had returned to
Ogalalla; the body of Tolleston had been recovered and given decent
burial; delivery day of the three Indian herds was at hand, bringing
that branch of the season's drive to a close. But the main thing which
absorbed our employer was the quarantine that the upper Yellowstone
country proposed enforcing against through Texas cattle. He assured
us that had we gone by way of Wyoming and down the Powder River, the
chances were that the local authorities would have placed us under
quarantine until after the first frost. He assured us that the year
before, Texas fever had played sad havoc among the native and wintered
Southern cattle, and that Miles City and Glendive, live-stock centres on
the Yellowstone, were up in arms in favor