employees of Fort Buford whose duties were to look after the government
beeves. The foreman of these unenlisted attaches, a Texan named Sanders,
had casually ridden past his camp the day before, looking over the
cattle, and had pronounced them the finest lot of beeves tendered the
government since his connection with that post.

"That's good news," said Lovell, as he threw his saddle astride the
front wheel of the wagon; "that's the way I like to hear my cattle
spoken about. Now, you boys want to make friends with all those
civilians, and my attorneys and Bob and I will hobnob around with the
officers, and try and win the good will of the entire post. You want to
change your camp every few days and give your cattle good grazing and
let them speak for themselves. Better kill a beef among the outfits, and
insist on all callers staying for meals. We're strangers here, and we
want to make a good impression, and show the public that we were born
white, even if we do handle cattle for a living. Quince, tie up the
horses for us, and after breakfast Bob and I will look over the herds
and then ride into Fort Buford.--Trout for breakfast? You don't mean
it!"

It was true, however, and our appetites did them justice. Forrest
reported Splann as having arrived a day late, and now encamped the last
herd up the valley. Taking our horses with us, Dave and I set out
to look up our herds and resume our former positions. I rode through
Sponsilier's cattle while en route to my own, and remembered the first
impression they had made on my mind,--their uniformity in size and
smoothness of build,--and now found them fatted into finished form, the
herd being a credit to any drover. Continuing on my way, I intercepted
my own cattle, lying down over hundreds of acres, and so contented
that I refused to disturb them. Splann reported not over half a dozen
sore-footed ones among them, having grazed the entire distance from
Little Missouri, giving the tender cattle a good chance to recover. I
held a circle of listeners for several hours, in recounting Sponsilier's
and my own experiences in the quarantine camps, and our utter final
failure, except that the opposition herds had been detained, which would
force them to drive over twenty miles a day in order to reach Buford on
time. On the other hand, an incident of more than ordinary moment had
occurred with the cattle some ten days previous. The slow movement of
the grazing herds allowed a great amo