en I started for camp that evening. The drovers
had returned, accompanied by their superintendent, and were occupying
the depot, burning the wires in every direction. I was risking no
chances, and cultivated the company of Sheriff Wherry until the
acknowledgment arrived, when he urged me to ride one of his horses in
returning to camp, and insisted on my taking a carbine. Possibly this
was fortunate, for before I had ridden one third the distance to the
quarantine camp, I met a cavalcade of nearly a dozen men from the
isolated herds. When they halted and inquired the distance to Glendive,
one of their number recognized me as having been among the quarantine
guards at Powderville. I admitted that I was there, turning my horse so
that the carbine fell to my hand, and politely asked if any one had
any objections. It seems that no one had, and after a few commonplace
inquiries were exchanged, we passed on our way.

There was great rejoicing on Cabin Creek that night. Songs were sung,
and white navy beans passed current in numerous poker-games until the
small hours of morning. There had been nothing dramatic in the meeting
between the herds and the quarantine guards, the latter force having
been augmented by visiting ranchmen and their help, until protest would
have been useless. A routine of work had been outlined, much stricter
than at Powderville, and a surveillance of the camps was constantly
maintained. Not that there was any danger of escape, but to see that
the herds occupied the country allotted to them, and did not pollute any
more territory than was necessary. The Sponsilier Guards were given an
easy day shift, and held a circle of admirers at night, recounting and
living over again "the good old days." Visitors from either side of the
Yellowstone were early callers, and during the afternoon the sheriff
from Glendive arrived. I did not know until then that Mr. Wherry was
a candidate for reelection that fall, but the manner in which he mixed
with the boys was enough to warrant his election for life. What
endeared him to Sponsilier and myself was the fund of information he
had collected, and the close tab he had kept on every movement of the
opposition drovers. He told us that their appeal to Fort Keogh for
assistance had been refused with a stinging rebuke; that a courier had
started the evening before down the river for Fort Buford, and that Mr.
Radcliff had personally gone to Fort Abraham Lincoln to solicit help.
T