第53章 JUSTICE IN THE SADDLE(1)

It was an hour after the usual time when we bedded down the cattle.The wagon had overtaken us about sunset, and the cook's fire piloted us into a camp fully two miles to the right of the trail.A change of horses was awaiting us, and after a hasty supper Tupps detailed two young fellows to visit Ogalalla.It required no urging; I outlined clearly what was expected of their mission, requesting them to return by the way of Flood's wagon, and to receive any orders which my employer might see fit to send.The horse-wrangler was pressed in to stand the guard of one of the absent lads on the second watch, and I agreed to take the other, which fell in the third.The boys had not yet returned when our guard was called, but did so shortly afterward, one of them hunting me up on night-herd.

"Well," said he, turning his horse and circling with me, "we caught onto everything that was adrift.The Rebel and Sponsilier were both in town, in charge of two deputies.Flood and your brother went in with us, and with the lads from the other outfits, including those across the river, there must have been twenty-five of Lovell's men in town.I noticed that Dave and The Rebel were still wearing their six-shooters, while among the boys the arrests were looked upon as quite a joke.The two deputies had all kinds of money, and wouldn't allow no one but themselves to spend a cent.The biggest one of the two--the one who gave you the cigar--would say to my boss: 'Sponsilier, you're a trail foreman from Texas--one of Don Lovell's boss men--but you're under arrest; your cattle are in my possession this very minute.

You understand that, don't you? Very well, then; everybody come up and have a drink on the sheriff's office.' That was about the talk in every saloon and dance-hall visited.But when we proposed starting back to camp, about midnight, the big deputy said to Flood: 'I want you to tell Colonel Lovell that I hold a warrant for his arrest; urge him not to put me to the trouble of coming out after him.If he had identified himself to me this afternoon, he could have slept on a goose-hair bed to-night instead of out there on the mesa, on the cold ground.His reputation in this town would entitle him to three meals a day, even if he was under arrest.Now, we'll have one more, and tell the damned old rascal that I'll expect him in the morning.'"We rode out the watch together.On returning to Flood's camp, they had found Don Lovell awake.the old man was pleased with the report, but sent me no special word except to exercise my own judgment.The cattle were tired after their long tramp of the day before, the outfit were saddle weary, and the first rays of the rising sun flooded the mesa before men or animals offered to arise.But the duties of another day commanded us anew, and with the cook calling us, we rose to meet them.I was favorably impressed with Tupps as a segundo, and after breakfast suggested that he graze the cattle over to the North Platte, cross it, and make a permanent camp.This was agreed to, half the men were excused for the day, and after designating, beyond the river, a clump of cottonwoods where the wagon would be found, seven of us turned and rode back for Ogalalla.With picked mounts under us, we avoided the other cattle which could be seen grazing northward, and when fully halfway to town, there before us on the brink of the mesa loomed up the lead of a herd.I soon recognized Jack Splann on the point, and taking a wide circle, dropped in behind him, the column stretching back a mile and coining up the bluffs, forty abreast like an army in loose marching order.I was proud of those "Open A's;" they were my first herd, and though in a hurry to reach town, I turned and rode back with them for fully a mile.

Splann was acting under orders from Flood, who had met him at the ford that morning.If the cattle were in the possession of any deputy sheriff, they had failed to notify Jack, and the latter had already started for the North Platte of his own accord.The "Drooping T" cattle were in the immediate rear under Forrest's segundo, and Splann urged me to accompany him that forenoon, saying: "From what the boys said this morning, Dave and Paul will not be given a hearing until two o'clock this afternoon.I can graze beyond the North Fork by that time, and then we'll all go back together.Flood's right behind here with the 'drooping T's,'

and I think it's his intention to go all the way to the river.

Drop back and see him."

The boys who were with me never halted, but had ridden on towards town.When the second herd began the ascent of the mesa, I left Splann and turned back, waiting on the brink for its arrival.As it would take the lead cattle some time to reach me, Idismounted, resting in the shade of my horse.But my rest was brief, for the clattering hoofs of a cavalcade of horsemen were approaching, and as I arose, Quince Forrest and Bob Quirk with a dozen or more men dashed up and halted.As their herds were intended for the Crow and Fort Washakie agencies, they would naturally follow up the south side of the North Platte, and an hour or two of grazing would put them in camp.The Buford cattle, as well as Flood's herd, were due to cross this North Fork of the mother Platte within ten miles of Ogalalla, their respective routes thenceforth being north and northeast.Forrest, like myself, was somewhat leary of entering the town, and my brother and the boys passed on shortly, leaving Quince behind.We discussed every possible phase of what might happen in case we were recognized, which was almost certain if Tolleston or the Dodge buyers were encountered.But an overweening hunger to get into Ogalalla was dominant in us, and under the excuse of settling for our supplies, after the herd passed, we remounted our horses, Flood joining us, and rode for the hamlet.

There was little external and no moral change in the town.