into town on your way back from the Saw Log to-morrow."

That evening my brother Bob rode into camp. He had seen our
employer at Supply, and accordingly understood the situation. The
courier had returned from Fort Elliott and reported his mission
successful; he had met both Forrest and Sponsilier. The latter
had had a slight run in the Panhandle during a storm, losing a
few cattle, which he recovered the next day. For fear of a
repetition, Forrest had taken the lead thereafter, and was due at
Supply within a day or two. Flood and Priest had passed Abilene,
Texas, in safety, but no word had reached our employer since, and
it was believed that they had turned eastward and would come up
the Chisholm Trail. Bob reported the country between Abilene and
Doan's Crossing as cut into dust and barren of sustenance, many
weak cattle having died in crossing the dry belt. But the most
startling news, seriously disturbing us both, was that Archie
Tolleston was stationed at Doan's Crossing on Red River as a
trail-cutter. He had come up from the south to Wichita Falls by
train with trail cattle, and finding no opening as a foreman, had
accepted the position of inspector for some Panhandle cattle
companies. He and Bob had had a friendly chat, and Archie
admitted that it was purely his own hot-headedness which
prevented his being one of Lovell's foremen on the present drive.
The disturbing feature was, that after leaving headquarters in
Medina County, he had gone into San Antonio, where he met a
couple of strangers who partially promised him a job as trail
boss, in case he presented himself in Dodge about June 15. They
had intimated to him that it was possible they would need a
foreman or two who knew the trail from the Arkansaw to the
Yellowstone and Missouri River country. Putting this and that