of times during the afternoon we attempted to graze them, but not
until the twilight of evening was it possible.

After the fourth change of horses was made, Honeyman pushed on ahead
with the saddle stock and overtook the wagon. Under Flood's orders he
was to tie up all the night horses, for if the cattle could be induced
to graze, we would not bed them down before ten that night, and all
hands would be required with the herd. McCann had instructions to make
camp on the divide, which was known to be twenty-five miles from our
camp of the night before, or forty miles from the Indian Lakes. As we
expected, the cattle grazed willingly after nightfall, and with a fair
moon, we allowed them to scatter freely while grazing forward. The
beacon of McCann's fire on the divide was in sight over an hour before
the herd grazed up to camp, all hands remaining to bed the thirsty
cattle. The herd was given triple the amount of space usually required
for bedding, and even then for nearly an hour scarcely half of them
lay down.

We were handling the cattle as humanely as possible under the
circumstances. The guards for the night were doubled, six men on the
first half and the same on the latter, Bob Blades being detailed to
assist Honeyman in night-herding the saddle horses. If any of us got
more than an hour's sleep that night, he was lucky. Flood, McCann, and
the horse wranglers did not even try to rest. To those of us who could
find time to eat, our cook kept open house. Our foreman knew that a
well-fed man can stand an incredible amount of hardship, and
appreciated the fact that on the trail a good cook is a valuable
asset. Our outfit therefore was cheerful to a man, and jokes and songs
helped to while away the weary hours of the night.