st watch, and
after returning to the wagon, he and McNulta, to our great interest,
argued the merits of the different trails until near midnight. McNulta
had two herds coming in on the Chisholm trail, while Lovell had two
herds on the Western and only one on the Chisholm.

The next morning Forrest, who was again in charge, received orders to
cross the Arkansaw River shortly after noon, and then let half the
outfit come into town. The old trail crossed the river about a mile
above the present town of Dodge City, Kansas, so when we changed
horses at noon, the first and second guards caught up their top
horses, ransacked their war bags, and donned their best toggery. We
crossed the river about one o'clock in order to give the boys a good
holiday, the stage of water making the river easily fordable. McCann,
after dinner was over, drove down on the south side for the benefit of
a bridge which spanned the river opposite the town. It was the first
bridge he had been able to take advantage of in over a thousand miles
of travel, and to-day he spurned the cattle ford as though he had
never crossed at one. Once safely over the river, and with the
understanding that the herd would camp for the night about six miles
north on Duck Creek, six of our men quit us and rode for the town in a
long gallop. Before the rig left us in the morning, McNulta, who was
thoroughly familiar with Dodge, and an older man than Lovell, in a
friendly and fatherly spirit, seeing that many of us were youngsters,
had given us an earnest talk and plenty of good advice.

"I've been in Dodge every summer since '77," said the old cowman, "and
I can give you boys some points. Dodge is one town where the average
bad man of the West not only finds his equal, but finds himself badly
handicapped. The buffalo hunters and range men have protested against
the iron rule of Dodge's peace officers, and nearly every protest has
cost human life. Don't ever get the impression that you can ride your
horses into a saloon, or shoot out the lights in Dodge; it may go
somewhere else, but it don't go there. So I want to warn you to behave
yourselves. You can wear your six-shooters into town, but you'd better
leave them at the first place you stop, hotel, livery, or business
house. And when you leave town, call for your pistols, but don't ride
out shooting; omit that. Most cowboys think it's an infringement on
their rights to give up shooting in town, and if it is, it stands, for