the river on account of its abrupt banks. It was late in the day,
and in order to insure a quiet night with the cattle water became an
urgent necessity. Our young foreman rode ahead and found a dry, sandy
creek, its bed fully fifty yards wide, but no water, though the sand
was damp. The herd was held back until sunset, when the cattle were
turned into the creek bed and held as compactly as possible. The heavy
beeves naturally walked back and forth, up and down, the sand just
moist enough to aggravate them after a day's travel under a July sun.
But the tramping soon agitated the sands, and within half an hour
after the herd had entered the dry creek the water arose in pools,
and the cattle drank to their hearts' content. As dew falls at night,
moisture likewise rises in the earth, and with the twilight hour, the
agitation of the sands, and the weight of the cattle, a spring was
produced in the desert waste.

Fort Sumner was a six-company post and the agency of the Apaches and
Navajos. These two tribes numbered over nine thousand people, and our
herd was intended to supply the needs of the military post and these
Indians. The contract was held by Patterson & Roberts, eligible by
virtue of having cast their fortunes with the victor in "the late
unpleasantness," and otherwise fine men. We reached the post on the
20th of July. There was a delay of several days before the cattle were
accepted, but all passed the inspection with the exception of about
one hundred head. These were cattle which had not recuperated from the
dry drive. Some few were footsore or thin in flesh, but taken as a
whole the delivery had every earmark of an honest one. Fortunately
this remnant was sold a few days later to some Colorado men, and
we were foot-loose and free. Even the oxen had gone in on the main
delivery, and harnesses were accordingly bought, a light tongue
fitted to the wagon, and we were ready to start homeward. Mules were