hobble on them. At every noon and night camp we strung a rope from the
hind wheel of our wagon and another from the end of the wagon tongue
back to stakes driven in the ground or held by a man, forming a
triangular corral. Thus in a few minutes, under any conditions, we
could construct a temporary corral for catching a change of mounts, or
for the wrangler to hobble untrustworthy horses. On the trail all
horses are free at night, except the regular night ones, which are
used constantly during the entire trip, and under ordinary conditions
keep strong and improve in flesh.

Before the herd was brought in for the night, and during the supper
hour, Flood announced the guards for the trip. As the men usually
bunked in pairs, the foreman chose them as they slept, but was under
the necessity of splitting two berths of bedfellows. "Rod" Wheat, Joe
Stallings, and Ash Borrowstone were assigned to the first guard, from
eight to ten thirty P.M. Bob Blades, "Bull" Durham, and Fox
Quarternight were given second guard, from ten thirty to one. Paul
Priest, John Officer, and myself made up the third watch, from one to
three thirty. The Rebel and I were bunkies, and this choice of guards,
while not ideal, was much better than splitting bedfellows and having
them annoy each other by going out and returning from guard
separately. The only fault I ever found with Priest was that he could
use the poorest judgment in selecting a bed ground for our blankets,
and always talked and told stories to me until I fell asleep. He was a
light sleeper himself, while I, being much younger, was the reverse.
The fourth and last guard, from three thirty until relieved after
daybreak, fell to Wyatt Roundtree, Quince Forrest, and "Moss"
Strayhorn. Thus the only men in the outfit not on night duty were
Honeyman, our horse wrangler, Barney McCann, our cook, and Flood, the
foreman. The latter, however, made up by riding almost double as much