e April, we worked every
_manada_ which we expected to keep, cutting out all the two-year-old
fillies. To these were added every mongrel-colored band to the number of
twenty odd, and when ready to start the herd numbered a few over twelve
hundred of all ages from yearlings up. A _remuda_ of fifty saddle
horses, broken in the spring of '76, were allotted to our use, and our
_segundo_, myself, and five Mexican vaqueros were detailed to drive
the herd. We were allowed two pack mules for our commissary, which was
driven with the _remuda_. With instructions to sell and hurry home, we
left our horse camp on the river, and started on the morning of the last
day of March.

Live-stock commission firms in San Antonio were notified of our coming,
and with six men to the herd and the seventh driving the _remuda_, we
put twenty miles behind us the first day. With the exception of water
for saddle stock, which we hoisted from a well, there was no hope of
watering the herd before reaching Mr. Booth's ranch on the Frio. He
had been husbanding his water supply, and early the second evening we
watered the herd to its contentment from a single shaded pool. From the
Frio we could not follow any road, but were compelled to direct our
course wherever there was a prospect of water. By hobbling the bell mare
of the _remuda_ at evening, and making two watches of the night-herding,
we easily systematized our work. Until we reached the San Antonio River,
about twenty miles below the city, not over two days passed without
water for all the stock, though, on account of the variations from our
course, we were over a week in reaching San Antonio. Having moved the
herd up near some old missions within five or six miles of the city,
with an abundance of water and some grass, Deweese went into town,
visiting the commission firms and looking for a buyer. Fortunately a
firm, which was expecting our arrival, had a prospective purchaser from
Fort Worth for about our number. Making a date with the firm to show our
horses the next morning, our _segundo_ returned to the herd, elated over
the prospect of a sale.

On their arrival the next morning, we had the horses already watered and
were grazing them along an abrupt slope between the first and second
bottoms of the river. The salesman understood his business, and drove
the conveyance back and forth on the down hill side, below the herd,
and the rise in the ground made our range stock look as big as American