74 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



jects common to all such camps ; the antics 

 of some particularly vicious bucking bronco, 

 how the different brands of cattle were show- 

 ing up, the smallness of the calf drop, the 

 respective merits of rawhide lariats and grass 

 ropes, and bits of rather startling and violent 

 news concerning the fates of certain neigh- 

 bors. Then one by one we began to turn in 

 under our blankets. 



Our wagon was to furnish the night guards 

 for the cattle ; and each of us had his gentlest 

 horse tied ready to hand. The night guards 

 went on duty two at a time for two-hour 

 watches. By good luck my watch came last. 

 My comrade was a happy-go-lucky young 

 Texan who for some inscrutable reason was 

 known as " Latigo Strap " ; he had just come 

 from the south with a big drove of trail cattle. 



A few minutes before two one of the guards 

 who had gone on duty at midnight rode into 

 camp and wakened us by shaking our shoul- 

 ders. Fumbling in the dark I speedily 

 saddled my horse ; Latigo had left his saddled, 

 and he started ahead of me. One of the an- 

 noyances of night guarding, at least in thick 

 weather, is the occasional difficulty of finding 

 the herd after leaving camp, or in returning 

 to camp after the watch is over ; there are 

 few things more exasperating than to be help- 

 lessly wandering about in the dark under such 

 circumstances. However, on this occasion 

 there was no such trouble ; for it was a bril- 

 liant starlight night and the herd had beerj 

 bedded down by a sugar-loaf butte which 

 made a good landmark. As we reached the 

 spot we could make out the loom of the cattle 



