134 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



pursuers as they tried to i head them off.' That night 

 half the steers escaped and were probably ' rounded 

 up ' with the next lot the following year, Those that 

 were headed and driven back, stampeded again and 

 again, till horses and cattle and men were thoroughly 

 tired out. At times a heavy storm or an unusual noise 

 will have the same effect ; but once shipped on the 

 ' cars,' these Western cattle become quite tame. Dur- 

 ing the journey to Chicago from Wyoming or Montana 

 they suffer from thirst, but do not eat much. It is 

 well known that advantage has actually been taken of 

 this fact to increase their weight by giving them salt, 

 and thus causing them to drink more greedily. 



Though the c round up ' departed, the King and I 

 were obliged to wait, with Boler (the cook), for Bron- 

 cho Bill, whom the King had engaged as his hunter. 

 (He turned up in a very lucky manner just as we were 

 ' pulling out ' from our next camp, we having given 

 him up.) Shortly after the departure of ' the boys,' a 

 well-known Westerner camped near us, known as 

 Missouri John, with four hundred and thirty horses 

 and two 'boys,' who had brought the i outfit ' from 

 Oregon. One of these ' hands ' came and sat down by 

 our tent, and informed us that the boss was going to 

 pasture the horses here for the winter. When he had 

 departed, Boler said, in a mysterious manner, that he 

 was " the bad man wot come from Texas," because 

 the ' round up ' cook had told him that one of Missouri 

 John's ' boys ' had " shot four or five men 'way south." 

 Still, we found " the bad man wot come from Texas " 



