Cattle Brands | Page 8

hours late. In the hotel office where the stage

stopped was the very man who had robbed us. He had got in an hour
ahead of us, and was a very much interested listener to the incident as
retold. There was an early train out of town that morning, and at a place
where they stopped for breakfast he sat at the table with several
drummers who were in the hold-up, a most attentive listener.
"He was captured the same day. He had hired a horse out of a livery
stable the day before, to ride out to look at a ranch he thought of buying.
The liveryman noticed that he limped slightly. He had collided with
lead in Texas, as was learned afterward. The horse which had been
hired to the ranch-buyer of the day before was returned to the corral of
the livery barn at an unknown hour during the night, and suspicion
settled on the lame man. When he got off the train at Pueblo, he walked
into the arms of officers. The limp had marked him clearly.
"In a grip which he carried were a number of sacks, which he supposed
contained gold dust, but held only taulk on its way to assayers in
Denver. These he had gotten out of the express the night before,
supposing they were valuable. We were all detained as witnesses. He
was tried for robbing the mails, and was the coolest man in the court
room. He was a tall, awkward-looking fellow, light complexioned, with
a mild blue eye. His voice, when not disguised, would mark him
amongst a thousand men. It was peculiarly mild and soft, and would
lure a babe from its mother's arms.
"At the trial he never tried to hide his past, and you couldn't help liking
the fellow for his frank answers.
"'Were you ever charged with any crime before?' asked the prosecution.
'If so, when and where?'
"'Yes,' said the prisoner, 'in Texas, for robbing the mails in '77.'
"'What was the result?' continued the prosecution.
"'They sent me over the road for ninety-nine years.'
"'Then how does it come that you are at liberty?' quizzed the attorney.
"'Well, you see the President of the United States at that time was a
warm personal friend of mine, though we had drifted apart somewhat.
When he learned that the Federal authorities had interfered with my
liberties, he pardoned me out instantly.'
"'What did you do then?' asked the attorney.
"'Well, I went back to Texas, and was attending to my own business,
when I got into a little trouble and had to kill a man. Lawyers down

there won't do anything for you without you have money, and as I
didn't have any for them, I came up to this country to try and make an
honest dollar.'
"He went over the road a second time, and wasn't in the Federal prison
a year before he was released through influence. Prison walls were
never made to hold as cool a rascal as he was. Have you a match?"
* * * * *
It was an ideal night. Millions of stars flecked the sky overhead. No
one seemed willing to sleep. We had heard the evening gun and the
trumpets sounding tattoo over at the fort, but their warnings of the
closing day were not for us. The guards changed, the cattle sleeping
like babes in a trundle-bed. Finally one by one the boys sought their
blankets, while sleep and night wrapped these children of the plains in
her arms.

II
SEIGERMAN'S PER CENT
Towards the wind-up of the Cherokee Strip Cattle Association it
became hard to ride a chuck-line in winter. Some of the cattle
companies on the range, whose headquarters were far removed from
the scene of active operations, saw fit to give orders that the common
custom of feeding all comers and letting them wear their own welcome
out must be stopped. This was hard on those that kept open house the
year round. There was always a surplus of men on the range in the
winter. Sometimes there might be ten men at a camp, and only two on
the pay-roll. These extra men were called "chuck-line riders." Probably
eight months in the year they all had employment. At many camps they
were welcome, as they would turn to and help do anything that was
wanted done.
After a hard freeze it would be necessary to cut the ice, so that the
cattle could water. A reasonable number of guests were no drawback at
a time like this, as the chuck-line men would be the most active in
opening the ice with axes. The cattle belonging to those who kept open
house never got so far away that some one didn't recognize