old boy,
and another man were left in charge of the herd when the rest of us
struck out to hunt the missing cattle. An hour after sunrise the boy
was seen to ride deliberately away from his charge, without cause or
excuse, and had not returned. Desertion was the general supposition.
Had he not been mounted on one of the firm's horses the offense might
have been overlooked. But the delivery of the herd depended on the
saddle stock, and two men were sent on his trail. The rain had
freshened the ground, and after trailing the horse for fifteen miles
the boy was overtaken while following cattle tracks towards the herd.
He had simply fallen asleep in the saddle, and the horse had wandered
away. Yankee Bill had made the trip to Sumner with us the fall before,
and stood well with his employers, so the incident was forgiven and
forgotten.

From Elm Creek to the beginning of the dry drive was one continual
struggle with stampeding cattle or warding off Indians. In spite of
careful handling, the herd became spoiled, and would run from the
howl of a wolf or the snort of a horse. The dark hour before dawn was
usually the crucial period, and until the arid belt was reached all
hands were aroused at two o'clock in the morning. The start was timed
so as to reach the dry drive during the full of the moon, and although
it was a test of endurance for man and beast, there was relief in
the desert waste--from the lurking savage--which recompensed for its
severity. Three sleepless nights were borne without a murmur, and on
our reaching Horsehead Crossing and watering the cattle they were
turned back on the mesa and freed for the time being. The presence of
Indian sign around the ford was the reason for turning loose, but at
the round-up the next morning the experiment proved a costly one, as
three hundred and sixty-three beeves were missing. The cattle were
nervous and feverish through suffering from thirst, and had they been
bedded closely, stampeding would have resulted, the foreman choosing
the least of two alternatives in scattering the herd. That night we
slept the sleep of exhausted men, and the next morning even awaited
the sun on the cattle before throwing them together, giving the Indian
thieves full ten hours the start. The stealing of cattle by the
Comanches was something unusual, and there was just reason for
believing that the present theft was instigated by renegade Mexicans,
allies in the war of '36. Three distinct trails le