well disguised with dust and dirt and a month's growth of beard.
As we pushed out of the river and were crossing the tracks below
the railroad yards, two other herds were sighted coming down to
the water, their remudas having forded above and below our
cattle. On scaling the bluffs, we could see the trail south of
the Platte on which arose a great column of dust. Lovell was
waiting with the saddle stock in the hills beyond the town, and
on striking the first good grass, the cattle fell to grazing
while we halted to await the arrival of the wagon. The sun was
still several hours high, and while waiting for our commissary to
come up, my employer and myself rode to the nearest point of
observation to reconnoitre the rear. Beneath us lay the hamlet;
but our eyes were concentrated beyond the narrow Platte valley on
a dust-cloud which hung midway down the farther slope. As we
watched, an occasional breeze wafted the dust aside, and the
sinuous outline of a herd creeping forward greeted our vision.
Below the town were two other herds, distinctly separate and
filling the river for over a mile with a surging mass of animals,
while in every direction cattle dotted the plain and valley.
Turning aside from the panorama before us, my employer said:

"Tom, you will have time to graze out a few miles and camp to the
left of the trail. I'll stay here and hurry your wagon forward,
and wait for Bob and Quince. That lead herd beyond the river is
bound to be Jim's, and he's due to camp on this mesa to-night, so
these outfits must give him room. If Dave and Paul are still free
to act, they'll know enough to water and camp on the south side
of the Platte. I'll stay at Flood's wagon to-night, and you had
better send a couple of your boys into town and let them nose
around. They'll meet lads from the 'Open A' and 'Drooping T'