imply coppered the play
to win, and the cards came his way."

"Bully for Curly!" said Uncle Lance, arising and fixing the fire, as the
rest of us unrolled our blankets. "If some of my rascals could make
a ten strike like that it would break a streak of bad luck which has
overshadowed Las Palomas for over thirty years. Great Scott!--but those
gobblers smell good. I can hear them blubbering and sizzling in their
shells. It will surely take an axe to crack that clay in the morning.
But get under your blankets, lads, for I'll call you for a turkey
breakfast about dawn."

CHAPTER XII

SUMMER OF '77

During our trip into Mexico the fall before, Deweese contracted for
three thousand cows at two haciendas on the Rio San Juan. Early in the
spring June and I returned to receive the cattle. The ranch outfit
under Uncle Lance was to follow some three weeks later and camp on the
American side at Roma, Texas. We made arrangements as we crossed into
Mexico with a mercantile house in Mier to act as our bankers, depositing
our own drafts and taking letters of credit to the interior. In buying
the cows we had designated Mier, which was just opposite Roma, as the
place for settlement and Uncle Lance on his arrival brought drafts
to cover our purchases, depositing them with the same merchant. On
receiving, we used a tally mark which served as a road brand, thus
preventing a second branding, and throughout--much to the disgust of the
Mexican vaqueros--Deweese enforced every humane idea which Nancrede had
practiced the spring before in accepting the trail herd at Las Palomas.
There were endless quantities of stock cattle to select from on the two
haciendas, and when ready to start, under the specifications, a finer
lot of cows would have been hard to find. The worst drawback was that
they were constantly dropping calves on the road, and before we reached
the river we had a calf-wagon in regular use. On arriving at the Rio
Grande, the then stage of water was fortunately low and we crossed
the herd without a halt, the import papers having been attended to in
advance.

Uncle Lance believed in plenty of help, and had brought down from Las
Palomas an ample outfit of men and horses. He had also anticipated the
dropping of calves and had rigged up a carrier, the box of which was
open framework. Thus until a calf was strong enough to follow, the
mother, as she trailed along beside the wagon, could keep an eye on her
offspring. We made