I was impatiently watching the boys, as Dorg and Wayne cautiously
herded Tolleston around to a livery stable, when my brother Bob rode
up. He informed me that he had moved his camp that day across to the
Saw Log; that he had done so to accommodate Jim Flood and The Rebel
with a camp; their herds were due on the Mulberry that evening. The
former had stayed all night at Bob’s wagon, and reported his cattle,
considering the dry season, in good condition. As my brother expected
to remain in town overnight, I proposed starting for my camp as soon as
Seay and his ward drove out of sight. They parleyed enough before going
to unnerve a saint, but finally, with the little toy wagon on
Tolleston’s knee and the other driving, they started. Hurrahing my lads
to saddle up, we rode past the stable where Seay had secured the
conveyance; and while I was posting the stable-keeper not to be uneasy
if the rig was gone a week, Siringo and the buyers drove past the barn
with a flourish. Taking a back street, we avoided meeting them, and
just as darkness was falling, rode into our camp some twelve miles
distant.
My brother Bob’s camp was just above us on the creek, and a few miles
nearer town. As his wagon expected to go in after supplies the next
morning, a cavalcade of fifteen men from the two outfits preceded it.
My horse-wrangler had made arrangements with the cook to look after his
charges, and in anticipation of the day before him, had our mounts
corralled before sun-up. Bob’s wrangler was also with us, and he and
Levering quarreled all the way in about the respective merits of each
one’s remuda. A match was arranged between the two horses which they
were riding, and on reaching a straight piece of road, my man won it
and also considerable money. But no matter how much we differed among
ourselves, when the interests of our employer were at stake, we were a
unit. On reaching town, our numbers were augmented by fully twenty more
from the other Lovell outfits, including the three foremen. My old
bunkie, The Rebel, nearly dragged me from my horse, while Forrest and I
forgot past differences over a social glass. And then there was Flood,
my first foreman, under whom I served my apprenticeship on the trail,
the same quiet, languid old Jim. The various foremen and their outfits
were aware of the impending trouble over the Buford delivery, and
quietly expressed their contempt for such underhand dealings. Quince
Forrest had spent the evening before in town, and about midnight his
herd of “Drooping T’s” were sold at about the same figures as mine,
except five thousand more earnest-money, and the privilege of the
buyers placing their own foreman in charge thereafter. Forrest further
reported that the fiscal agent and the strangers had started to meet
Sponsilier early that morning, and that the probability of all the
herds moving out in a few days was good.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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