ville last night and will meet
us above at the twin buttes this morning with every cowman in town. All
the other outfits have been sent for, and we'll have enough men to make
our bluff stand up, never fear. From what I learn, these herds belong to
a lot of Yankee speculators, and they don't give a tinker's dam if all
the cattle in Montana die from fever. They're no better than anybody
else, and if we allow them to go through, they'll leave a trail of dead
natives that will stink us out of this valley. Make haste, everybody."

I could see at a glance that the young Texan had touched their pride.
The foreman detailed three men to look after the herd, and the balance
made hasty preparations to accompany the quarantine guards. A relief was
rushed away for the herders; and when the latter came in, they reported
having sighted the posse from Powderville, heading across country for
the twin buttes. Meanwhile a breakfast had been bolted by the guards,
Sponsilier, and myself, and swinging into our saddles, we rounded a
bluff bend of the creek and rode for the rendezvous, some three miles
distant. I noticed by the brands that nearly every horse in that country
had been born in Texas, and the short time in which we covered the
intervening miles proved that the change of climate had added to their
stability and bottom. Our first glimpse of the meeting-point revealed
the summit of the buttes fairly covered with horsemen. From their
numbers it was evident that ours was the last contingent to arrive; but
before we reached the twin mounds, the posse rode down from the lookout
and a courier met and turned us from our course. The lead herd had been
sighted in trail formation but a few miles distant, heading north, and
it was the intention to head them at the earliest moment. The messenger
inquired our numbers, and reported those arrived at forty-five, making
the posse when united a few over sixty men.

A juncture of forces was effected within a mile of the lead herd. It was
a unique posse. Old frontiersmen, with patriarchal beards and sawed-off
shotguns, chewed their tobacco complacently as they rode forward at a
swinging gallop. Beardless youths, armed with the old buffalo guns of
their fathers, led the way as if an Indian invasion had called them
forth. Soldiers of fortune, with Southern accents, who were assisting in
the conquest of a new empire, intermingled with the hurrying throng, and
two men whose home was in Medina County, Texas