, and securing our
borrowed horses, my partner and I bade our friends farewell and set out
on our return for the Yellowstone. Merely touching at Powderville for
a hasty supper, we held a northwest, cross-country course, far into
the night, when we unsaddled to rest our horses and catch a few hours'
sleep. But sunrise found us again in our saddles, and by the middle of
the forenoon we were breakfasting with our friends in Miles City.

Fort Keogh was but a short distance up the river. That military
interference had been secured through fraud and deception, there was not
the shadow of a doubt. During the few hours which we spent in Miles,
the cattle interests were duly aroused, and a committee of cowmen were
appointed to call on the post commander at Keogh with a formidable
protest, which would no doubt be supplemented later, on the return of
the young lieutenant and his troopers. During our ride the night
before, Sponsilier and I had discussed the possibility of arousing the
authorities at Glendive. Since it was in the neighborhood of one hundred
miles from Powderville to the former point on the railroad, the herds
would consume nearly a week in reaching there. A freight train was
caught that afternoon, and within twenty-four hours after leaving the
quarantine camp on the Powder River, we had opened headquarters at the
Stock Exchange Saloon in Glendive. On arriving, I deposited one hundred
dollars with the proprietor of that bar-room, with the understanding
that it was to be used in getting an expression from the public in
regard to the question of Texas fever. Before noon the next day, Dave
Sponsilier and Tom Quirk were not only the two most popular men in
Glendive, but quarantine had been decided on with ringing resolutions.

Our standing was soon of the best. Horses were tendered us, and saddling
one I crossed the Yellowstone and started down the river to arouse
outlying ranches, while Sponsilier and a number of local cowmen rode
south to locate a camp and a deadline. I was absent two days, having
gone north as far as Wolf Island, where I recrossed the river, returning
on the eastern side of the valley. At no ranch which was visited did my
mission fail of meeting hearty approval, especially on the western side
of the river, where severe losses from fever had been sustained the fall
before. One ranch on Thirteen Mile offered, if necessary, to send every
man in its employ, with their own wagon and outfit of horses, free