se an ordinance compelling
such resorts to close on the stroke of twelve. Lovell had been there
before, and led the way to a well-known hostelry. The house was crowded,
and the best the night clerk could do was to give us a room with two
beds. This was perfectly satisfactory, as it was a large apartment
and fronted out on an open gallery. Old man Don suggested we take the
mattresses outside, but as this was my first chance to sleep in a bed
since leaving the ranch in March, I wanted all the comforts that were
due me. Sponsilier likewise favored the idea of sleeping inside, and our
employer yielded, taking the single bed on retiring. The night was warm,
and after thrashing around for nearly an hour, supposing that Dave and I
were asleep, old man Don arose and quietly dragged his mattress outside.
Our bed was soft and downy, but in spite of the lateness of the hour and
having been in our saddles at dawn, we tossed about, unable to sleep.
After agreeing that it was the mattress, we took the covering and
pillows and lay down on the floor, falling into a deep slumber almost
instantly. "Well, wouldn't that jar your eccentric," said Dave to me the
next morning, speaking of our inability to sleep in a bed. "I slept in
one in Ogalalla, and I wasn't over-full either."

Lovell remained with us all the next day. He was well known in Miles
City, having in other years sold cattle to resident cowmen. The day was
spent in hunting up former acquaintances, getting the lay of the land,
and feeling the public pulse on the matter of quarantine on Southern
cattle. The outlook was to our liking, as heavy losses had been
sustained from fever the year before, and steps had already been taken
to isolate all through animals until frost fell. Report was abroad that
there were already within the jurisdiction of Montana over one hundred
and fifty thousand through Texas cattle, with a possibility of one
third that number more being added before the close of the season. That
territory had established a quarantine camp on the Wyoming line, forcing
all Texas stock to follow down the eastern side of the Powder River.
Fully one hundred miles on the north, a dead-line was drawn from
Powderville on that watercourse eastward to a spur of the Powder River
Mountains, thus setting aside a quarantine ground ample to accommodate
half a million cattle. Local range-riders kept all the native and
wintered Texas cattle to the westward of the river and away from the
t