The cattle were looking as fine as silk.  The lay-overs had rested them.  The horses were in good trim, considering the amount of wet weather we had had.  Here and there was a nigger brand, but these saddle galls were unavoidable when using wet blankets.  The cattle were twos and threes.  We had left western Texas with a few over thirty-two hundred head and were none shy.  We could have counted out more, but on some of them the Hat brand had possibly faded out.  We went into a cosy camp early in the evening.  Everything needful was at hand, wood, water, and grass.  Cowmen in those days prided themselves on their outfits, and Carter was a trifle gone on his men.

With the cattle on hand, drinking was out of the question, so the only way to show us any regard was to bring us a box of cigars.  He must have brought those cigars from Texas, for they were wrapped in a copy of the Fort Worth “Gazette.”  It was a month old and full of news.  Every man in the outfit read and reread it.  There were several train robberies reported in it, but that was common in those days.  They had nominated for Governor “The Little Cavalryman,” Sol Ross, and this paper estimated that his majority would be at least two hundred thousand.  We were all anxious to get home in time to vote for him.

Theodore Baughman was foreman of our outfit.  Baugh was a typical trail-boss.  He had learned to take things as they came, play the cards as they fell, and not fret himself about little things that could not be helped.  If we had been a month behind he would never have thought to explain the why or wherefore to old man Carter.  Several years after this, when he was scouting for the army, he rode up to a herd over on the Chisholm trail and asked one of the tail men:  “Son, have you seen anything of about three hundred nigger soldiers?” “No,” said the cowboy.  “Well,” said Baugh, “I’ve lost about that many.”

That night around camp the smoke was curling upward from those cigars in clouds.  When supper was over and the guards arranged for the night, story-telling was in order.  This cattle-buyer with us lived in Kansas City and gave us several good ones.  He told us of an attempted robbery of a bank which had occurred a few days before in a western town.  As a prelude to the tale, he gave us the history of the robbers.

“Cow Springs, Kansas,” said he, “earned the reputation honestly of being a hard cow-town.  When it became the terminus of one of the many eastern trails, it was at its worst.  The death-rate amongst its city marshals—­always due to a six-shooter in the hands of some man who never hesitated to use it—­made the office not over desirable.  The office was vacated so frequently in this manner that at last no local man could be found who would have it.  Then the city fathers sent to Texas for a man who had the reputation of being a killer.  He kept his record a vivid green by shooting first and asking questions afterward.