r. We were a glum outfit that afternoon, but after
a good night's rest were again as fresh as daisies. When McCann
started to get breakfast, he hung his coat on the end of the wagon
rod, while he went for a bucket of water. During his absence, John
Officer was noticed slipping something into Barney's coat pocket, and
after breakfast when our cook went to his coat for his tobacco, he
unearthed a lady's cambric handkerchief, nicely embroidered, and a
silver mounted garter. He looked at the articles a moment, and,
grasping the situation at a glance, ran his eye over the outfit for
the culprit. But there was not a word or a smile. He walked over and
threw the articles into the fire, remarking, "Good whiskey and bad
women will be the ruin of you varmints yet."

CHAPTER XIV

SLAUGHTER'S BRIDGE

Herds bound for points beyond the Yellowstone, in Montana, always
considered Dodge as the halfway landmark on the trail, though we had
hardly covered half the distance to the destination of our Circle
Dots. But with Dodge in our rear, all felt that the backbone of the
drive was broken, and it was only the middle of June. In order to
divide the night work more equitably, for the remainder of the trip
the first and fourth guards changed, the second and third remaining as
they were. We had begun to feel the scarcity of wood for cooking
purposes some time past, and while crossing the plains of western
Kansas, we were frequently forced to resort to the old bed grounds of
a year or two previous for cattle chips. These chips were a poor
substitute, and we swung a cowskin under the reach of the wagon, so
that when we encountered wood on creeks and rivers we could lay in a
supply. Whenever our wagon was in the rear, the riders on either side
of the herd were always on the skirmish for fuel, which they left
alongside the wagon track, and our cook was sure to stow it away
underneath on the cowskin.

In spite of any effort on our part, the length of the days made long
drives the rule. The cattle could be depended on to leave the bed
ground at dawn, and before the outfit could breakfast, secure mounts,
and overtake the herd, they would often have grazed forward two or
three miles. Often we never threw them on the trail at all, yet when
it came time to bed them at night, we had covered twenty miles. They
were long, monotonous days; for we were always sixteen to eighteen
hours in the saddle, while in emergencies we got the benefit of the
li