l bolted than the
cook was ordered back to camp with his wagon, the branded contingent of
cattle following in charge of the first guard. Less than half an hour
was lost in refreshing the inner man, and ordering "G--G" Cederdall, Tim
Stanley, and Jack Splann of the second guard into their saddles to take
the place of the relieved men, we resumed our task. The dust of the
corrals settled on us unheeded, the smoke of the fire mingled with that
of the singeing hair and its offensive odors, bringing tears to our
eyes, but the work never abated until the last steer had passed the
chute and bore the "Open A."

The work over, a pretense was made at washing the dust and grime from
our faces. It was still early in the day, and starting the cattle for
camp, I instructed the boys to water and graze them as long as they
would stand up. The men all knew their places on guard, this having
been previously arranged; and joining Dr. Beaver, Jim and I rode for the
ranch about a mile distant. The doctor was a genial host, and prescribed
a series of mint-juleps, after which he proposed that we ride out and
meet the cattle gathered during the day. The outfit had been working a
section of country around some lagoons, south of the ranch, and it was
fully six o'clock when we met them, heading homeward. The cattle were
fully up to the standard of the first bunch, and halting the herd we
trimmed them down and passed on them. After Flood rode out of this
second contingent, I culled back about a dozen light weights. On
finishing, Jim gave me a quiet wink, and said something to Dr. Beaver
about a new broom. But I paid no attention to these remarks; in a
country simply teeming with prime beeves, I was determined to get a herd
to my liking. Dr. Beaver had assured Lovell that he and his neighbors
would throw together over four thousand beeves in making up the herd,
and now I was perfectly willing that they should. It would take two days
longer to gather the cattle on the Los Lobos range, and then there were
the outside offerings, which were supposed to number fully two thousand.
There was no excuse for not being choice.

On returning to Los Lobos about dusk, rather than offend its owner,
Flood consented to remain at the ranch overnight, but I rode for camp.
Darkness had fallen on my reaching the wagon, the herd had been bedded
down, and Levering felt so confident that the remuda was contented that
he had concluded to night-herd them himself until midn