The Log of a Cowboy | Page 4

I was
to meet them in the middle of March, and I felt as if I were made. I
remember my mother and sisters twitted me about the swagger that
came into my walk, after the receipt of Flood's letter, and even asserted
that I sat my horse as straight as a poker. Possibly! but wasn't I going
up the trail with Jim Flood, the boss foreman of Don Lovell, the
cowman and drover?
Our little ranch was near Cibollo Ford on the river, and as the outfit
passed down the country, they crossed at that ford and picked me up.
Flood was not with them, which was a disappointment to me, "Quince"
Forrest acting as segundo at the time. They had four mules to the
"chuck" wagon under Barney McCann as cook, while the remuda,
under Billy Honeyman as horse wrangler, numbered a hundred and
forty-two, ten horses to the man, with two extra for the foreman. Then,
for the first time, I learned that we were going down to the mouth of the
Rio Grande to receive the herd from across the river in Old Mexico;
and that they were contracted for delivery on the Blackfoot Indian
Reservation in the northwest corner of Montana. Lovell had several
contracts with the Indian Department of the government that year, and
had been granted the privilege of bringing in, free of duty, any cattle to
be used in filling Indian contracts.
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.
Lovell and Flood were a good team of cowmen. The former, as a youth,
had carried a musket in the ranks of the Union army, and at the end of
that struggle, cast his fortune with Texas, where others had seen
nothing but the desolation of war, Lovell saw opportunities of business,
and had yearly forged ahead as a drover and beef contractor. He was
well calculated to manage the cattle business, but