ours in
advance of the herds. The horse wranglers were detailed by Priest, and
fitting an axle to the spool of wire, by the aid of ropes attached to
the pommels of two saddles, it was rolled up to the scene of its use at
an easy canter. The stretching of the wire was less than an hour's work,
the slack being taken up by the wranglers, ever upholding Texas
methods, from the pommels of saddles, while Priest clinched the strands
with staples at the proper tension. The gates were merely a pliable
extension of the fence, the flexible character requiring no hinges.
"Now, when the stays are interwoven through the wire, and fastened in
place with staples, there's a corral that will hold a thousand cattle,"
said one of the wranglers admiringly.

It was after sunset when the herd was penned. Forrest, after counting
the round-up to his satisfaction, detailed Dell and Joel to graze the
herd in a bend of the Beaver, out of sight and fully a mile above, and
taking the extra men returned to the homestead. The trail herds had
purposely arrived late, expecting to camp on the Beaver that night, and
were met by their respective foremen while watering for the day. In
receiving, at Dodge, two large herds of one-aged cattle, both foremen,
but more particularly Forrest, in the extra time at his command, had
levied on the flotsam of the herds from which his employer was buying,
until he had accumulated over one hundred cattle. Priest had secured,
among a few friends and the few herds with which he came in contact,
scarcely half that number, and still the two contingents made a very
material increase to the new ranch.

The addition of these extra cattle was the surprise in reserve. Joel and
Dell had never dreamed of a further increase to the ranch stock, and
Forrest had timed the corralling of the original and late contingents as
the climax of the day's work. Detailing both of the boys on the point,
as the upper herd was nearing the corral, it was suddenly confronted by
another contingent, rounding a bend of the creek from the opposite
quarter. Priest had purposely detailed strange men, coached to the point
of blindness, in charge of the new addition, and when the two bunches
threatened to mix, every horseman present except the boys seemed blind
to the situation.

Dell and Joel struggled in vain--the cattle mixed. "Well, well," said
Forrest, galloping up, "here's a nice come-off! Trust my own boys to
point a little herd into a corral, and th