me overalls for temporary use. The men in this camp on
hearing about the missing oxen said the fellows in the forward train
went over and got them, for, as they said there were no wagons in sight
and they must be strays. He said the forward train was from Tennessee,
and that they had some occasion to doubt their honesty and had refused
to travel with them any further. They said they were all old
Missourians, and did not want other people's property and if the boys
found their cattle with the Tenneseans, and wanted any help to get them
back again to call on them, and putting in some good strong swear words
for emphasis.

The boys, barefooted and with only overalls and shirts, started after
the moving train which they called to a halt when overtaken. The coarse
grass was pretty hard to hurry through, clothed as they were. The train
men were pretty gruff and wanted to know what was wanted. Capt. Doty
very emphatically told them he could see some of his oxen in their
train, and others in the herd, and he proposed to have them all back
again. The Jayhawker boys were unarmed but were in a fighting mood and
determined to have the stock at all hazards, and if not peaceably, war
might commence. The boys saw that the two trains were of about equal
strength, and if worse came to worst they could go back and get their
guns and men and come over in full force after their property, and they
were assured the Missourians would help them and a combination of forces
would give them a majority and they could not be beaten by the Tennessee
crowd. There was a good deal of talk, but finally when Doty demanded
that their cattle be unyoked and the others separated from the herd,
they yielded and gave them all their stock, some seventy head.

The Missourians had come up and heard the talk, and some of them went
back and helped drive the cattle to the river, and deal out some double
shotted thunder against the biggest scamps they had come across. It was
quite a job to get the cattle across the river. They would go in a
little way and then circle round and round like a circus, making no
progress. They finally put a rope on one of them and a man led him as
far as he could, which was more than half way, and although they landed
a good ways down stream, they got them all across safely, left their
borrowed overalls in the hands of their friends, with a thousand thanks
for valuable assistance, and plunged into the swift running Platte, and
swam back