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turned and rode along with our foreman, some distance apart from the
herd, for nearly an hour, and curiosity ran freely among us boys
around the herd as to who they might be. Finally Flood rode forward to
the point men and gave the order to throw off the trail and make a
short drive that afternoon. Then in company with the two strangers, he
rode forward to overtake our wagon, and we saw nothing more of him
until we reached camp that evening. This much, however, our point man
was able to get from our foreman: that the two men were members of a
detachment of Rangers who had been sent as a result of information
given by the first herd over the trail that year. This herd, which had
passed some twenty days ahead of us, had met with a stampede below the
river, and on reaching Abilene had reported the presence of rustlers
preying on through herds at the crossing of the Colorado.
On reaching camp that evening with the herd, we found ten of the
Rangers as our guests for the night. The detachment was under a
corporal named Joe Hames, who had detailed the two men we had met
during the afternoon to scout this crossing. Upon the information
afforded by our foreman about the would-be trail cutters, these
scouts, accompanied by Flood, had turned back to advise the Ranger
squad, encamped in a secluded spot about ten miles northeast of the
Colorado crossing. They had only arrived late the day before, and this
was their first meeting with any trail herd to secure any definite
information.
Hames at once assumed charge of the herd, Flood gladly rendering every
assistance possible. We night herded as usual, but during the two
middle guards, Hames sent out four of his Rangers to scout the
immediate outlying country, though, as we expected, they met with no
adventure. At daybreak the Bangers threw their packs into our wagon
and their loose stock into our _remuda_, and riding up the trail a
mile or more, left us, keeping well out of sight. We were all hopeful
now that the trail cutters of the day before would make good their
word and return. In this hope we killed time for several hours that
morning, grazing the cattle and holding the wagon in the rear. Sending
the wagon ahead of the herd had been agreed on as the signal between
our foreman and the Ranger corporal, at first sight of any posse
behind us. We were beginning to despair of their coming, when a dust
cloud appeared several miles back down the trail. We at once hurried
the wago
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