of the lateness of the hour was Bull Durham
calling to us from the game, "One of you fellows can have my place,
just as soon as we play this jack pot. I've got to saddle my horse and
get ready for our guard. Oh, I'm on velvet, anyhow, and before this
game ends, I'll make old Quince curl his tail; I've got him going
south now."

It took me only a few minutes to lose my chance at the turkey egg, and
I sought my blankets. At one A.M., when our guard was called, the
beans were almost equally divided among Priest, Stallings, and Durham;
and in view of the fact that Forrest, whom we all wanted to see
beaten, had met defeat, they agreed to cut the cards for the egg,
Stallings winning. We mounted our horses and rode out into the night,
and the second guard rode back to our camp-fire, singing:--

"Two little niggers upstairs in bed,
One turned ober to de oder an' said,
'How 'bout dat short'nin' bread,
How 'bout dat short'nin' bread?'"

CHAPTER XIII

DODGE

At Camp Supply, Flood received a letter from Lovell, requesting him to
come on into Dodge ahead of the cattle. So after the first night's
camp above the Cimarron, Flood caught up a favorite horse, informed
the outfit that he was going to quit us for a few days, and designated
Quince Forrest as the _segundo_ during his absence.

"You have a wide, open country from here into Dodge," said he, when
ready to start, "and I'll make inquiry for you daily from men coming
in, or from the buckboard which carries the mail to Supply. I'll try
to meet you at Mulberry Creek, which is about ten miles south of
Dodge. I'll make that town to-night, and you ought to make the
Mulberry in two days. You will see the smoke of passing trains to the
north of the Arkansaw, from the first divide south of Mulberry. When
you reach that creek, in case I don't meet you, hold the herd there
and three or four of you can come on into town. But I'm almost certain
to meet you," he called back as he rode away.

"Priest," said Quince, when our foreman had gone, "I reckon you didn't
handle your herd to suit the old man when he left us that time at
Buffalo Gap. But I think he used rare judgment this time in selecting
a _segundo_. The only thing that frets me is, I'm afraid he'll meet us
before we reach the Mulberry, and that won't give me any chance to go
in ahead like a sure enough foreman. Fact is I have business there; I
deposited a few months' wages at the Long Branch gambling ho