the back seat, puffing splendid cigars. We met the relieved men
coming in, who informed us that the herd was just over the hill
on the south side of the creek. On reaching the gentle rise,
there below us grazed the logy, lazy beeves, while the boys
quietly rode round, silently moving them together as instructed.
Siringo drove to their lead, and halting, we allowed the cattle
to loiter past us on either side of the conveyance. It was an
easy herd to show, for the pounds avoirdupois were there.
Numerous big steers, out of pure curiosity, came up near the
vehicle and innocently looked at us as if expecting a dole or
sweetmeat. A snap of the finger would turn them, showing their
rounded buttocks, and they would rejoin the guard of honor. If
eyes could speak, the invitation was timidly extended, "Look at
me, Mr. Buyer." We allowed the herd to pass by us, then slowly
circled entirely around them, and finally drove back and forth
through them for nearly two hours, when the prospective buyers
expressed themselves as satisfied.

But the fiscal agent was not. Calling two of the boys, he asked
for the loan of their horses and insisted that the buyers ride
the cattle over and thoroughly satisfy themselves on the brands.
The boys gladly yielded, and as Mr. Field and Mr. Radcliff
mounted to ride away, the detective halted them long enough to
say: "Now, gentlemen, I wish to call your attention to the fact
that over one half the herd are in the single Marshall ranch
brand. There are also some five hundred head in the '8=8,' that
being an outside ranch, but belonging to the estate. I am
informed that the remainder of nearly a thousand were turned in
by neighboring ranchmen in making up the herd, and you'll find
those in various mixed brands. If there's a hoof among them not