of the two previous years, during the former of which the trail
afforded an outlet for nearly seven hundred thousand Texas
cattle.

In regard to horses we were well outfitted. During the summer of
'83, Don Lovell had driven four herds, two on Indian contract and
two of younger cattle on speculation. Of the latter, one was sold
in Dodge for delivery on the Purgatory River in southern
Colorado, while the other went to Ogalalla, and was disposed of
and received at that point. In both cases there was no chance to
sell the saddle horses, and they returned to Dodge and were sent
to pasture down the river in the settlements. My brother, Bob
Quirk, had driven one of the other herds to an agency in the
Indian Territory. After making the delivery, early in August, on
his employer's orders, he had brought his remuda and outfit into
Dodge, the horses being also sent to pasture and the men home to
Texas. I had made the trip that year to the Pine Ridge Agency in
Dakota with thirty-five hundred beeves, under Flood as foreman.
Don Lovell was present at the delivery, and as there was no hope
of effecting a sale of the saddle stock among the Indians, after
delivering the outfit at the nearest railroad, I was given two
men and the cook, and started back over the trail for Dodge with
the remuda. The wagon was a drawback, but on reaching Ogalalla,
an emigrant outfit offered me a fair price for the mules and
commissary, and I sold them. Lashing our rations and blankets on
two pack-horses, we turned our backs on the Platte and crossed
the Arkansaw at Dodge on the seventh day.

But instead of the remainder of the trip home by rail, as we
fondly expected, the programme had changed. Lovell and Flood had