k Robinson, our dogies
had vamoosed the ranch and were running in half a dozen different
directions. We rounded them up the best we could in the dark, and then
I took a couple of men and came back down the trail about twenty miles
to catch any drift when day dawned. But you see there's nothing like
being lucky and having good neighbors,--cattle caught, fresh horses,
and a warm breakfast all waiting for you. I'm such a lucky dog, it's a
wonder some one didn't steal me when I was little. I can't help it,
but some day I'll marry a banker's daughter, or fall heir to a ranch
as big as old McCulloch County."

Before meeting us, Straw had confided to our foreman that he could
assign no other plausible excuse for the stampede than that it was the
work of cattle rustlers. He claimed to know the country along the
Colorado, and unless it had changed recently, those hills to the
westward harbored a good many of the worst rustlers in the State. He
admitted it might have been wolves chasing the range cattle, but
thought it had the earmarks of being done by human wolves. He
maintained that few herds had ever passed that river without loss of
cattle, unless the rustlers were too busy elsewhere to give the
passing herd their attention. Straw had ordered his herd to drop back
down the trail about ten miles from their camp of the night previous,
and about noon the two herds met on a branch of Brady Creek. By that
time our herd had nearly three hundred head of the Ellison cattle, so
we held it up and cut theirs out. Straw urged our foreman, whatever he
did, not to make camp in the Colorado bottoms or anywhere near the
river, if he didn't want a repetition of his experience. After
starting our herd in the afternoon, about half a dozen of us turned
back and lent a hand in counting Straw's herd, which proved to be over
a hundred head short, and nearly half his outfit were still out
hunting cattle. Acting on Straw's advice, we camped that night some
five or six miles back from the river on the last divide. From the
time the second guard went on until the third was relieved, we took
the precaution of keeping a scout outriding from a half to three
quarters of a mile distant from the herd, Flood and Honeyman serving
in that capacity. Every precaution was taken to prevent a surprise;
and in case anything did happen, our night horses tied to the wagon
wheels stood ready saddled and bridled for any emergency. But the
night passed without incident.