you to smell this posy, Quirk, and tell me on the
dead thieving, do you ever expect to see your sunny southern home
again? And did you notice the pock-marked colonel, baring his brisket
to the morning breeze?"

Two hours after the sun came out, the snow had disappeared, and the
cattle fell to and grazed until long after the noon hour. Our pilot
led us up the divide between the Missouri and the headwaters of the
Musselshell during the afternoon, weaving in and out around the heads
of creeks putting into either river; and towards evening we crossed
quite a creek running towards the Missouri, where we secured ample
water for the herd. We made a late camp that night, and our guide
assured us that another half day's drive would put us on the Judith
River, where we would intercept the Fort Benton road.

The following morning our guide led us for several hours up a gradual
ascent to the plateau, till we reached the tableland, when he left us
to return to his own camp. Flood again took the lead, and within a
mile we turned on our regular course, which by early noon had
descended into the valley of the Judith River, and entered the Fort
Maginnis and Benton military road. Our route was now clearly defined,
and about noon on the last day of the month we sighted, beyond the
Missouri River, the flag floating over Fort Benton. We made a crossing
that afternoon below the Fort, and Flood went into the post, expecting
either to meet Lovell or to receive our final instructions regarding
the delivery.

After crossing the Missouri, we grazed the herd over to the Teton
River, a stream which paralleled the former watercourse,--the military
post being located between the two. We had encamped for the night when
Flood returned with word of a letter he had received from our employer
and an interview he had had with the commanding officer of Fort
Benton, who, it seemed, was to have a hand in the delivery of the
herd. Lovell had been detained in the final settlement of my brother
Bob's herd at the Crow Agency by some differences regarding weights.
Under our present instructions, we were to proceed slowly to the
Blackfoot Agency, and immediately on the arrival of Lovell at Benton,
he and the commandant would follow by ambulance and overtake us. The
distance from Fort Benton to the agency was variously reported to be
from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty miles, six or
seven days' travel for the herd at the farthest, and then good-