Let's go
out," he said, "and bring them up slowly in a solid body, and when we
get them opposite the bridge, round them in gradually as if we were
going to bed them down. I'll take a long lariat to my white wheeler,
and when they have quieted down perfectly, I'll lead old Blanco
through them and across the bridge, and possibly they'll follow.
There's no use crowding them, for that only excites them, and if you
ever start them milling, the jig's up. They're nice, gentle cattle,
but they've been balked once and they haven't forgotten it."

What we needed right then was a leader, for we were all ready to catch
at a straw, and Slaughter's suggestion was welcome, for he had
established himself in our good graces until we preferred him to
either of the other foremen as a leader. Riding out to the herd, which
were lying down, we roused and started them back towards Boggy. While
drifting them back, we covered a front a quarter of a mile in width,
and as we neared the bridge we gave them perfect freedom. Slaughter
had caught out his white ox, and we gradually worked them into a body,
covering perhaps ten acres, in front of the bridge. Several small
bunches attempted to mill, but some of us rode in and split them up,
and after about half an hour's wait, they quieted down. Then Slaughter
rode in whistling and leading his white ox at the end of a thirty-five
foot lariat, and as he rode through them they were so logy that he had
to quirt them out of the way. When he came to the bridge, he stopped
the white wheeler until everything had quieted down; then he led old
Blanco on again, but giving him all the time he needed and stopping
every few feet. We held our breath, as one or two of the herd started
to follow him, but they shied and turned back, and our hopes of the
moment were crushed. Slaughter detained the ox on the bridge for
several minutes, but seeing it was useless, he dismounted and drove
him back into the herd. Again and again he tried the same ruse, but it
was of no avail. Then we threw the herd back about half a mile, and on
Flood's suggestion cut off possibly two hundred head, a bunch which
with our numbers we ought to handle readily in spite of their will,
and by putting their _remuda_ of over a hundred saddle horses in the
immediate lead, made the experiment of forcing them. We took the
saddle horses down and crossed and recrossed the bridge several times
with them, and as the cattle came up turned the horses into the