herd around where
there was quite a bluff bank of the river. The herd handled well, and
for a quarter of an hour we lined them between our four mounted
counters. The only difference in the manner of counting between Flood
and the Mexican corporal was that the American used a tally string
tied to the pommel of his saddle, on which were ten knots, keeping
count by slipping a knot on each even hundred, while the Mexican used
ten small pebbles, shifting a pebble from one hand to the other on
hundreds. "Just a mere difference in nationality," Lovell had me
interpret to the selling dons.

When the count ended only two of the men agreed on numbers, The Rebel
and the corporal making the same thirty-one hundred and five,--Flood
being one under and the Custom House man one over. Lovell at once
accepted the count of Priest and the corporal; and the delivery,
which, as I learned during the interpreting that followed, was to be
sealed with a supper that night in Brownsville, was consummated.
Lovell was compelled to leave us, to make the final payment for the
herd, and we would not see him again for some time. They were all
seated in the vehicle ready to start for town, when the cowman said to
his foreman,--

"Now, Jim, I can't give you any pointers on handling a herd, but you
have until the 10th day of September to reach the Blackfoot Agency. An
average of fifteen miles a day will put you there on time, so don't
hurry. I'll try and see you at Dodge and Ogalalla on the way. Now,
live well, for I like your outfit of men. Your credit letter is good
anywhere you need supplies, and if you want more horses on the trail,
buy them and draft on me through your letter of credit. If any of your
men meet with accident or get sick, look out for them the same as you
would for yourself, and I'll honor all bills. And don't be stingy over
your expense account, for if that herd don't make money, you and I had
better quit cows."

I had been detained to do any interpreting needful, and at parting
Lovell beckoned to me. When I rode alongside the carriage, he gave me
his hand and said,--

"Flood tells me to-day that you're a brother of Bob Quirk. Bob is to
be foreman of my herd that I'm putting up in Nueces County. I'm glad
you're here with Jim, though, for it's a longer trip. Yes, you'll get
all the circus there is, and stay for the concert besides. They say
God is good to the poor and the Irish; and if that's so, you'll pull
through all right. Go