w North Dakota. The through heavy beeves from
Uvalde County were intended for Fort Randall and intermediate posts,
some of them for reissue to various Indian agencies. The reservations
of half a dozen tribes were tributary to the forts along the upper
Missouri, and the government was very liberal in supplying its wards
with fresh beef.

The Medicine River beeves were to be grazed up the country to Fort
Lincoln. We passed old Fort Larned within a week, and I left the
outfit there and returned to The Bend. The outfit in charge of the
wintered cattle had orders to touch at and cross the Missouri River at
Fort Randall, where I would meet them again near the middle of July.
The market had fairly opened at Great Bend, and I was kept busy
assisting Major Hunter until the arrival of the Uvalde beef herds.
Both came through in splendid condition, were admired by every buyer
in the market, and passed on north under orders to graze ten miles a
day until reaching their destination. By this time the whereabouts of
all the Indian herds were known, yet not a word had reached me from
the foreman of my individual cattle after crossing into the Nations.
It was now the middle of June, and there were several points en
route from which he might have mailed a letter, as did all the other
foremen. Herds, which crossed at Red River Station a week after my
steers, came into The Bend and reported having spoken no "44" cattle
en route. I became uneasy and sent a courier as far south as the state
line, who returned with a comfortless message. Finally a foreman in
the employ of Jess Evens came to me and reported having taken dinner
with a "44" outfit on the South Canadian; that the herd swam the river
that afternoon, after which he never hailed them again. They were my
own dear cattle, and I was worrying; I was overdue at Fort Randall,
and in duty bound to look after the interests of the firm. Major
Hunter came to the rescue, in his usual calm manner, and expressed his
confidence that all would come out right in the end; that when the
mystery was unraveled the foreman would be found blameless.

I took a night train for the north, connected with a boat on the
Missouri River, and by finally taking stage reached Fort Randall. The
mental worry of those four days would age an ordinary man, but on my
arrival at the post a message from my active partner informed me that
my cattle had reached Dodge City two weeks before my leaving. Then the
scales fell f