as an air of confident assurance in the young fellow; and the fact
that he was the trusted foreman of Lum Slaughter, in charge of a
valuable herd of cattle, carried weight with those who knew that
drover. The most unwelcome thought in the project was that it required
the swinging of an axe to fell trees and to cut them into the
necessary lengths, and, as I have said before, the Texan never took
kindly to manual labor. But Priest looked favorably on the suggestion,
and so enlisted my support, and even pointed out a spot where timber
was most abundant as a suitable place to build the bridge.

"Hell's fire," said Joe Stallings, with infinite contempt, "there's
thousands of places to build a bridge, and the timber's there, but the
idea is to cut it." And his sentiments found a hearty approval in the
majority of the outfit.

Flood returned late that evening, having ridden as far down the creek
as the first settlement. The Rebel, somewhat antagonized by the
attitude of the majority, reported the visit and message left for him
by young Slaughter. Our foreman knew him by general reputation amongst
trail bosses, and when Priest vouched for him as the builder of the
Rush Creek bridge on the Chisholm trail, Flood said, "Why, I crossed
my herd four years ago on that Rush Creek bridge within a week after
it was built, and wondered who it could be that had the nerve to
undertake that task. Rush isn't over half as wide a bayou as Boggy,
but she's a true little sister to this miry slough. So he's going to
build a bridge anyhow, is he?"

The next morning young Slaughter was at our camp before sunrise, and
never once mentioning his business or waiting for the formality of an
invitation, proceeded to pour out a tin cup of coffee and otherwise
provide himself with a substantial breakfast. There was something
amusing in the audacity of the fellow which all of us liked, though he
was fifteen years the junior of our foreman. McCann pointed out Flood
to him, and taking his well-loaded plate, he went over and sat down by
our foreman, and while he ate talked rapidly, to enlist our outfit in
the building of the bridge. During breakfast, the outfit listened to
the two bosses as they discussed the feasibility of the
project,--Slaughter enthusiastic, Flood reserved, and asking all sorts
of questions as to the mode of procedure. Young Pete met every
question with promptness, and assured our foreman that the building of
bridges was his long suit. A