of cattle in their first mad rush.

The wagon was camped about two hundred yards from the bed ground, and
the herd had given ample warning to the boys asleep, so that if we
three could hold our position in the lead, help would come to us as
soon as the men in camp could reach their horses. Realizing the wide
front of the running cattle, Priest sent Officer to the left and
myself to the right, to point in the leaders in order to keep the herd
from splitting or scattering, while he remained in the centre and led
the herd. I soon gained the outside of the leaders, and by dropping
back and coming up the line, pointed them in to the best of my
ability. I had repeated this a number of times, even quirting some
cattle along the outside, or burning a little powder in the face of
some obstinate leader, when across the herd and to the rear I saw a
succession of flashes like fireflies, which told me the boys were
coming to our assistance.

Running is not a natural gait with cattle, and if we could only hold
them together and prevent splitting up, in time they would tire, while
the rear cattle could be depended on to follow the leaders. All we
could hope to do was to force them to run straight, and in this
respect we were succeeding splendidly, though to a certain extent it
was a guess in the dark. When they had run possibly a mile, I noticed
a horseman overtake Priest. After they had ridden together a moment,
one of them came over to my point, and the next minute our foreman was
racing along by my side. In his impatience to check the run, he took
me with him, and circling the leaders we reached the left point, by
which time the remainder of the outfit had come up. Now massing our
numbers, we fell on the left point, and amid the flash of guns
deflected their course for a few moments. A dozen men, however, can
cover but a small space, and we soon realized that we had turned only
a few hundred head, for the momentum of the main body bore steadily
ahead. Abandoning what few cattle we had turned, which, owing to their
running ability, soon resumed their places in the lead, we attempted
to turn them to the left. Stretching out our line until there was a
man about every twenty feet, we threw our force against the right
point and lead in the hope of gradually deviating their course. For a
few minutes the attempt promised to be successful, but our cordon was
too weak and the cattle went through between the riders, and we soon
found a po