the rear. By noon
there was a solid column of cattle ten miles long, and two hours later
the drag and point men had trouble in keeping the different herds from
mixing. Without a halt, by three o'clock the lead foremen were turning
their charges right and left, and shortly afterward the lead cattle
were plunging into the purling waters of the South Llano. The rear
herds turned off above and below, filling the river for five miles,
while the hollow-eyed animals gorged themselves until a half dozen
died that evening and night.

Leaving orders with the foremen to rest their herds well and move out
half a day apart, I rode night and day returning to Uvalde. Catching
the first stage out, I reached San Antonio in time to overtake Major
Hunter, who was awaiting the arrival of the last beef herd from the
lower country, the three lead ones having already passed that point.
All trail outfits from the south then touched at San Antonio to
provision the wagons, and on the approach of our last herd I met it
and spent half a day with it,--my first, last, and only glimpse of our
heavy beeves. They were big rangy fellows many of them six and seven
years old, and from the general uniformity of the herd, I felt proud
of the cowman that my protege and active partner had developed into.
Major Hunter was anxious to reach home as soon as possible, in order
to buy in our complement of northern wintered cattle; so, settling
our business affairs in southern Texas, the day after the rear beeves
passed we took train north. I stopped in the central part of
the State, joining Edwards riding night and day in covering his
appointments to receive cattle; and when the last trail herd moved out
from the Colorado River there were no regrets.

Hastening on home, on my arrival I was assured by my ranch foreman
that he could gather a trail herd in less than a week. My saddle stock
now numbered over a thousand head, one hundred of which were on the
Double Mountain ranch, seven remudas on the trail, leaving available
over two hundred on the Clear Fork. I had the horses and cattle, and
on the word being given my ranch foreman began gathering our oldest
steers, while I outfitted and provisioned a commissary and secured
half a dozen men. On the morning of the seventh day after my arrival,
an individual herd, numbering thirty-five hundred, moved out from the
Clear Fork, every animal in the straight ranch brand. An old trail
foreman was given charge, Dodge City wa