with some of the best horses or the choicest cattle, and by the time we
missed them the thieves would have such a start that it was impossible
to overtake them, but if they were overtaken, vengeance was swift and
sure.

CHAPTER XIII.

ON THE TRAIL WITH THREE THOUSAND HEAD OF TEXAS STEERS. RUMORS OF TROUBLE
WITH THE INDIANS AT DEADWOOD. THE ROPING CONTEST. I WIN THE NAME OF
DEADWOOD DICK. THE SHOOTING MATCH. THE CUSTER MASSACRE. THE VIEW OF THE
BATTLE FIELD. GOVERNMENT SCOUTS. AT HOME AGAIN.

In the spring of 1876 orders were received at the home ranch for three
thousand head of three-year-old steers to be delivered near Deadwood,
South Dakota. This being one of the largest orders we had ever received
at one time, every man around the ranch was placed on his mettle to
execute the order in record time.

Cow boys mounted on swift horses were dispatched to the farthest limits
of the ranch with orders to round up and run in all the three-year-olds
on the place, and it was not long before the ranch corrals began to fill
up with the long horns as they were driven by the several parties of cow
boys; as fast as they came in we would cut out, under the bosses' orders
such cattle as were to make up our herd.

[Illustration: The Roping Contests at Deadwood, S. D.]

In the course of three days we had our herd ready for the trail and we
made our preparations to start on our long journey north. Our route lay
through New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, and as we had heard rumors
that the Indians were on the war path and were kicking up something of a
rumpus in Wyoming, Indian Territory and Kansas, we expected trouble
before we again had the pleasure of sitting around our fire at the home
ranch. Quite a large party was selected for this trip owing to the size
of the herd and the possibility of trouble on the trail from the
Indians. We, as usual, were all well armed and had as mounts the best
horses our ranch produced, and in taking the trail we were perfectly
confident that we could take care of our herd and ourselves through
anything we were liable to meet. We had not been on the trail long
before we met other outfits who told us that General Custer was out
after the Indians and that a big fight was expected when the Seventh U.
S. Cavalry, General Custer's command, met the Crow tribe and other
Indians under the leadership of Sitting Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, Old
Chief Joseph, and other chiefs of lesser prominence, who had fo