as to
be avoided. His herd reached the lakes during the middle of the
afternoon, and after watering, turned and went westward over the new
route taken by the two herds which preceded us. He had a herd of about
three thousand steers, and was driving to the Dodge market. After the
experience we had just gone through, his herd and outfit were a
welcome sight. Flood made inquiries after Lovell's second herd, under
my brother Bob as foreman, but Straw had seen or heard nothing of
them, having come from Goliad County with his cattle.

After the Ellison herd had passed on and out of sight, our squad which
had been working the country to the northward, over the route by which
the abandoned herd had returned, came in with the information that
that section was clear of cattle, and that they had only found three
head dead from thirst. On the fourth morning, as the herd left the bed
ground, a count was ordered, and to our surprise we counted out
twenty-six head more than we had received on the banks of the Rio
Grande a month before. As there had been but one previous occasion to
count, the number of strays absorbed into our herd was easily
accounted for by Priest: "If a steer herd could increase on the trail,
why shouldn't ours, that had over a thousand cows in it?" The
observation was hardly borne out when the ages of our herd were taken
into consideration. But 1882 in Texas was a liberal day and
generation, and "cattle stealing" was too drastic a term to use for
the chance gain of a few cattle, when the foundations of princely
fortunes were being laid with a rope and a branding iron.

In order to give the Ellison herd a good start of us, we only moved
our wagon to the farthest lake and went into camp for the day. The
herd had recovered its normal condition by this time, and of the
troubles of the past week not a trace remained. Instead, our herd
grazed in leisurely content over a thousand acres, while with the
exception of a few men on herd, the outfit lounged around the wagon
and beguiled the time with cards.

We had undergone an experience which my bunkie, The Rebel, termed "an
interesting incident in his checkered career," but which not even he
would have cared to repeat. That night while on night herd
together--the cattle resting in all contentment--we rode one round
together, and as he rolled a cigarette he gave me an old war story:--

"They used to tell the story in the army, that during one of the
winter retreats, a c