The night passed without incident, and the next morning in the division of the forces, Priest was again allowed the wagon to do the snaking out with, but only four men, counting McCann.  The remainder of the outfit was divided into several gangs, working near enough each other to lend a hand in case an extra horse was needed on a pull.  The third animal we struck in the river that morning was the black steer that had showed fight the day before.  Knowing his temper would not be improved by soaking in the quicksand overnight, we changed our tactics.  While we were tying up the steer’s tail and legs, McCann secreted his team at a safe distance.  Then he took a lariat, lashed the tongue of the wagon to a cottonwood tree, and jacking up a hind wheel, used it as a windlass.  When all was ready, we tied the loose end of our cable rope to a spoke, and allowing the rope to coil on the hub, manned the windlass and drew him ashore.  When the steer was freed, McCann, having no horse at hand, climbed into the wagon, while the rest of us sought safety in our saddles, and gave him a wide berth.  When he came to his feet he was sullen with rage and refused to move out of his tracks.  Priest rode out and baited him at a distance, and McCann, from his safe position, attempted to give him a scare, when he savagely charged the wagon.  McCann reached down, and securing a handful of flour, dashed it into his eyes, which made him back away; and, kneeling, he fell to cutting the sand with his horns.  Rising, he charged the wagon a second time, and catching the wagon sheet with his horns, tore two slits in it like slashes of a razor.  By this time The Rebel ventured a little nearer, and attracted the steer’s attention.  He started for Priest, who gave the quirt to his horse, and for the first quarter mile had a close race.  The steer, however, weakened by the severe treatment he had been subjected to, soon fell to the rear, and gave up the chase and continued on his way to the herd.

After this incident we worked down the river until the outfits met.  We finished the work before noon, having lost three full days by the quicksands of the Canadian.  As we pulled into the trail that afternoon near the first divide and looked back to take a parting glance at the river, we saw a dust cloud across the Canadian which we knew must he the Ellison herd under Nat Straw.  Quince Forrest, noticing it at the same time as I did, rode forward and said to me, “Well, old Nat will get it in the neck this time, if that old girl dallies with him as she did with us.  I don’t wish him any bad luck, but I do hope he’ll bog enough cattle to keep his hand in practice.  It will be just about his luck, though, to find it settled and solid enough to cross.”  And the next morning we saw his signal in the sky about the same distance behind us, and knew he had forded without any serious trouble.

CHAPTER XII

THE NORTH FORK