With
three old trail foremen on the alert for good hands while the
gathering and receiving was going on, the help would be ready in
ample time to receive the herds. Gathering the beeves was in active
operation on our arrival, a branding chute had been built to
facilitate the work, and all five of us took to the saddle in
assisting ranchmen in holding under herd, as we permitted nothing to
be corralled night or day. The first herd was completed on the 14th,
and the second a day later, both moving out without an hour's delay,
the only instructions being to touch at Great Bend, Kansas, for final
orders. The cattle more than came up to expectations, three fourths of
them being six and seven years old, and as heavy as oxen. There was
something about the days of the open range that left its impression on
animals, as these two herds were as uniform in build as deer, and I
question if the same country to-day has as heavy beeves.

Three days were lost in reaching Coryell County, where our outfits
were in waiting and twenty others were at work gathering cattle. The
herds were made up and started without a hitch, and we passed on to
Hood County, meeting every date promptly and again finding the trail
outfits awaiting us. Leaving my active partner and George Edwards to
receive the two herds, I rode through to the Clear Fork in a single
day. A double outfit had been at work for the past two weeks gathering
outside cattle and had over a thousand under herd on my arrival.
Everything had worked out so nicely in receiving the purchased herds
that I finally concluded to send out my steers, and we began gathering
on the home range. By making small round-ups, we disturbed the young
calves as little as possible. I took charge of the extra outfit and my
ranch foreman of his own, one beginning on the west end of my range,
the other going north and coming down the Brazos. At the end of a week
the two crews came together with nearly eight thousand cattle under
herd. The next day we cut out thirty-five hundred cows and started
them on the trail, turning free the remnant of she stuff, and began
shaping up the steers, using only the oldest in making up thirty-two
hundred head. There were fully two thousand threes, the remainder
being nearly equally divided between twos and fours. No road branding
was necessary; the only delay in moving out was in provisioning a
wagon and securing a foreman. Failing in two or three quarters, I
at last decided on a