reluctant to
leave. Finally Honeyman and I prevailed on him to go to the wagon, but
before leaving us he said, "Why, I've been in sight of the herd for
the last day and night, but I'm getting a little tired of lying out
with the dry cattle these cool nights, and living on huckleberries and
grouse, so I thought I'd just ride in and get a fresh horse and a
square meal once more. But if Flood says stay, you'll see me at my old
place on the point to-morrow."

Had the owner of the herd suddenly appeared in camp, he could not have
received such an ovation as was extended Priest the next morning when
his presence became known. From the cook to the foreman, they gathered
around our bed, where The Rebel sat up in the blankets and held an
informal reception; and two hours afterward he was riding on the right
point of the herd as if nothing had happened. We had a fair trail up
Big Box Elder, and for the following few days, or until the source of
that creek was reached, met nothing to check our course. Our foreman
had been riding in advance of the herd, and after returning to us at
noon one day, reported that the trail turned a due northward course
towards the Missouri, and all herds had seemingly taken it. As we had
to touch at Fort Benton, which was almost due westward, he had
concluded to quit the trail and try to intercept the military road
running from Fort Maginnis to Benton. Maginnis lay to the south of us,
and our foreman hoped to strike the military road at an angle on as
near a westward course as possible.

Accordingly after dinner he set out to look out the country, and took
me with him. We bore off toward the Missouri, and within half an
hour's ride after leaving the trail we saw some loose horses about
three miles distant, down in a little valley through which flowed a
creek towards the Musselshell. We reined in and watched the horses
several minutes, when we both agreed from their movements that they
were hobbled. We scouted out some five or six miles, finding the
country somewhat rough, but passable for a herd and wagon. Flood was
anxious to investigate those hobbled horses, for it bespoke the camp
of some one in the immediate vicinity. On our return, the horses were
still in view, and with no little difficulty, we descended from the
mesa into the valley and reached them. To our agreeable surprise, one
of them was wearing a bell, while nearly half of them were hobbled,
there being twelve head, the greater portion o