cutting out commenced, every mother's son, including Don Lovell,
arrived at the round-up. There were no corrals on the ranch which
would accommodate such a body of animals, and thus the work had
to be done in the open; but with the force at hand we threw a
cordon around them, equal to a corral, and the cutting out to the
four quarters commenced.

The horses were gentle and handled easily. Forrest and I turned
to and helped our old foreman cut out his remuda of the year
before. There were several horses in my old mount that I would
have liked to have again, but I knew it was useless to try and
trade Jim out of them, as he knew their qualities and would have
robbed me in demanding their equivalent. When the old remudas
were again separated, they were counted and carefully looked over
by both foremen and men, and were open to the inspection of all
who cared to look. Everything was passing very pleasantly, and
the cutting of the extra twenty-five began. Then my selfishness
was weighed in the balance and found to be full weight. I had
ridden over a hundred of the best of them, but when any one
appealed to me, even my own dear brother, I was as dumb as an
oyster about a horse. Tolleston, especially, cursed, raved, and
importuned me to help him get a good private mount, but I was as
innocent as I was immovable. The trip home from Dodge was no
pleasure jaunt, and now I was determined to draw extra pay in
getting the cream of that horse herd. There were other features
governing my actions: Flood was indifferent; Forrest, at times,
was cruel to horses, and had I helped my brother, I might have
been charged with favoritism. Dave Sponsilier was a good
horseman, as his selections proved, and I was not wasting any
love and affection on Archie Tolleston that day, anyhow.