My worst trouble was getting away from home on the morning of starting.  Mother and my sisters, of course, shed a few tears; but my father, stern and unbending in his manner, gave me his benediction in these words:  “Thomas Moore, you’re the third son to leave our roof, but your father’s blessing goes with you.  I left my own home beyond the sea before I was your age.”  And as they all stood at the gate, I climbed into my saddle and rode away, with a lump in my throat which left me speechless to reply.

CHAPTER II

RECEIVING

It was a nice ten days’ trip from the San Antonio to the Rio Grande River.  We made twenty-five to thirty miles a day, giving the saddle horses all the advantage of grazing on the way.  Rather than hobble, Forrest night-herded them, using five guards, two men to the watch of two hours each.  “As I have little hope of ever rising to the dignity of foreman,” said our segundo, while arranging the guards, “I’ll take this occasion to show you varmints what an iron will I possess.  With the amount of help I have, I don’t propose to even catch a night horse; and I’ll give the cook orders to bring me a cup of coffee and a cigarette before I arise in the morning.  I’ve been up the trail before and realize that this authority is short-lived, so I propose to make the most of it while it lasts.  Now you all know your places, and see you don’t incur your foreman’s displeasure.”

The outfit reached Brownsville on March 25th, where we picked up Flood and Lovell, and dropping down the river about six miles below Fort Brown, went into camp at a cattle ford known as Paso Ganado.  The Rio Grande was two hundred yards wide at this point, and at its then stage was almost swimming from bank to bank.  It had very little current, and when winds were favorable the tide from the Gulf ran in above the ford.  Flood had spent the past two weeks across the river, receiving and road-branding the herd, so when the cattle should reach the river on the Mexican side we were in honor bound to accept everything bearing the “circle dot” the left hip.  The contract called for a thousand she cattle, three and four years of age, and two thousand four and five year old beeves, estimated as sufficient to fill a million-pound beef contract.  For fear of losses on the trail, our foreman had accepted fifty extra head of each class, and our herd at starting would number thirty-one hundred head.  They were coming up from ranches in the interior, and we expected to cross them the first favorable day after their arrival.  A number of different rancheros had turned in cattle in making up the herd, and Flood reported them in good, strong condition.