commissary moved forward as if drawn by a fresh team. There was no
attempt to hold the herd compactly, and within an hour after starting
on our last lap the herd was strung out three miles. The rear was
finally abandoned, and when half the distance was covered, the drag
cattle to the number of fully five hundred turned out of the trail
and struck direct for the river. They had scented the water over five
miles, and as far as control was concerned the herd was as good as
abandoned, except that the water would hold them.

Horsehead Crossing was named by General Pope. There is a difference of
opinion as to the origin of the name, some contending that it was due
to the meanderings of the river, forming a horse's head, and others
that the surveying party was surprised by Indians and lost their
stock. None of us had slept for three nights, and the feeling of
relief on reaching the Pecos, shared alike by man and beast, is
indescribable. Unless one has endured such a trial, only a faint idea
of its hardships can be fully imagined--the long hours of patient
travel at a snail's pace, enveloped by clouds of dust by day, and at
night watching every shadow for a lurking savage. I have since slept
many a time in the saddle, but in crossing that arid belt the one
consuming desire to reach the water ahead benumbed every sense save
watchfulness.

All the cattle reached the river before the middle of the afternoon,
covering a front of five or six miles. The banks of the Pecos were
abrupt, there being fully one hundred and twenty-five feet of deep
water in the channel at the stage crossing. Entrance to the ford
consisted of a wagon-way, cut through the banks, and the cattle
crowded into the river above and below, there being but one exit
on either side. Some miles above, the beeves had found several