of yearlings during the last few days of the gathering.  It was absolutely necessary to hold the numbers down to five thousand head, or as near that number as possible, and by keeping the ranch outfit on herd and my men out on round-ups, it was managed quietly, though we let no steer cattle two years old or over escape.  When the gathering was finished, to the surprise of every one the herd counted out fifty-six hundred and odd cattle.  But the numbers were still within the limits of my capital, and at the final settlement I asked the privilege of cutting out and leaving on the range one hundred head of weak, thin stock and cows heavy in calf.  I offered to tally-mark and send after them during the fall branding, when the trustee begged me to make him an offer on any remnant of cattle, making me full owner of the brand.  I hesitated to involve myself deeper in debt, but when he finally offered me the “Lazy L” brand outright for the sum of one thousand dollars, and on a credit, I never stuttered in accepting his proposal.

I culled back one hundred before starting, there being no occasion now to tally-mark, as I was in full possession of the brand.  This amount of cattle in one herd was unwieldy to handle.  The first day’s drive we scarcely made ten miles, it being nearly impossible to water such an unmanageable body of animals, even from a running stream.  The second noon we cut separate all the steers two years old and upward, finding a few under twenty-three hundred in the latter class.  This left three thousand and odd hundred in the mixed herd, running from yearlings to old range bulls.  A few extra men were secured, and some progress was made for the next few days, the steers keeping well in the lead, the two herds using the same wagon, and camping within half a mile of each other at night.  It was fully ninety miles to the Edwards ranch; and when about two thirds the distance was covered, a messenger met us and reported the home cattle under herd and ready to start.  It still lacked two days of the appointed time for our return, but rather than disappoint any one, I took seven men and sixty horses with the lead herd and started in to the ranch, leaving the mixed cattle to follow with the wagon.  We took a day’s rations on a pack horse, touched at a ranch, and on the second evening reached home.  My contingent to the trail herd would have classified approximately seven hundred twos, six hundred threes, and one thousand four years old or over.

The next morning the herd started up the trail under George Edwards as foreman.  It numbered a few over thirty-three hundred head and had fourteen men, all told, and ninety-odd horses, with four good mules to a new wagon.  I promised to overtake them within a week, and the same evening rejoined the mixed herd some ten miles back down the country.  Calves were dropping at an alarming rate, fully twenty of them were in the wagon, their advent delaying the progress of the herd.  By dint of great exertion