d him I had come there to take possession of
M----- 's saddle horses, the whole "ramuda" in fact of nearly a hundred
head. Oh, no! he had no instructions to give them up; he did not know
anything of the matter and he certainly would not let me touch them! I
said I had come to carry out my orders and meant to do so; and mounting,
rode out to gather up the grazing ponies. At once they came after me,
not believing that anyone would dare do such a thing in their presence,
and began to jostle me, with more evil intentions in their eyes.
Desisting at once, and before they had gone too far, I told them that
that was all I wanted, said good-bye in as friendly a way as possible,
and went before a Justice of the Peace and made affidavit of having
attempted to take possession of the horses till resisted by force, in
fact, that physical violence had been used against me. This was sent to
Las Vegas, and in due course the lawyers advised me that it was
satisfactory and recommended me to adopt similar methods when attempting
to get possession of the ranches, cattle, stock horses, etc.

This was a funny position to be in! M----was a popular man; the other
cattlemen would certainly side with him and resent such novel and
apparently high-handed proceedings. Myself was an entire stranger in the
whole of that huge country, devoted solely to cattle interests, and of
course did not have a friend nor did expect to have any. In fact M----
's appellation of me as that "damned Scotsman" became disagreeably
familiar. The round-up was then a long way off down the river, some 100
miles, working up towards Fort Sumner; so I decided to visit the
ranches. We rode out to one where was a house (unoccupied) and a spring,
there stayed one night, and on departing left an old coffee-pot, some
flour, etc., as proof of habitation and so gave myself the right to
claim having taken possession. From there to the headquarters ranch was
some thirty-five miles. On our route we came across a number of M----'s
stock horses (he claimed about four to five hundred) and, taking the
opportunity, we got together some 200 head, inspected them, and in this
way, the only way open to me, claimed having taken possession. But now
with fear and trembling we approached the ranch where M---- and his
family, as I knew, were residing. A hundred yards from the house was the
main spring of water, to which and at which we went and camped for
dinner. Somehow or other M---- heard of our pr