The point
men had orders to let them go, and as fast as the rear herds came up
and struck this imaginary line or air current, a single moan would
surge back through the herd until it died out at the rear. By noon
there was a solid column of cattle ten miles long, and two hours later
the drag and point men had trouble in keeping the different herds from
mixing. Without a halt, by three o'clock the lead foremen were turning
their charges right and left, and shortly afterward the lead cattle
were plunging into the purling waters of the South Llano. The rear
herds turned off above and below, filling the river for five miles,
while the hollow-eyed animals gorged themselves until a half dozen
died that evening and night.
Leaving orders with the foremen to rest their herds well and move out
half a day apart, I rode night and day returning to Uvalde. Catching
the first stage out, I reached San Antonio in time to overtake Major
Hunter, who was awaiting the arrival of the last beef herd from the
lower country, the three lead ones having already passed that point.
All trail outfits from the south then touched at San Antonio to
provision the wagons, and on the approach of our last herd I met it
and spent half a day with it,--my first, last, and only glimpse of our
heavy beeves. They were big rangy fellows many of them six and seven
years old, and from the general uniformity of the herd, I felt proud
of the cowman that my protege and active partner had developed into.
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