Beaver, Jim and I rode for the ranch about a mile distant.The doctor was a genial host, and prescribed a series of mint-juleps, after which he proposed that we ride out and meet the cattle gathered during the day.The outfit had been working a section of country around some lagoons, south of the ranch, and it was fully six o'clock when we met them, heading homeward.The cattle were fully up to the standard of the first bunch, and halting the herd we trimmed them down and passed on them.After Flood rode out of this second contingent, I culled back about a dozen light weights.On finishing, Jim gave me a quiet wink, and said something to Dr.Beaver about a new broom.But I paid no attention to these remarks; in a country simply teeming with prime beeves, I was determined to get a herd to my liking.Dr.
Beaver had assured Lovell that he and his neighbors would throw together over four thousand beeves in making up the herd, and now I was perfectly willing that they should.It would take two days longer to gather the cattle on the Los Lobos range, and then there were the outside offerings, which were supposed to number fully two thousand.There was no excuse for not being choice.
On returning to Los Lobos about dusk, rather than offend its owner, Flood consented to remain at the ranch overnight, but Irode for camp.Darkness had fallen on my reaching the wagon, the herd had been bedded down, and Levering felt so confident that the remuda was contented that he had concluded to night-herd them himself until midnight, and then turn them loose until dawn.He had belled a couple of the leaders, and assured me that he would have them in hand before sun-up.The cook was urging me to supper, but before unsaddling, I rode around both herd and remuda.The cattle were sleeping nicely, and the boys assured me that they had got a splendid fill on them before bedding down.
That was the only safe thing to do, and after circling the saddle stock on the opposite side of camp, I returned to find that a stranger had arrived during my brief absence.Parent had fully enlightened him as to who he was, who the outfit were, the destination of the herd, the names of both buyer and seller, and, on my riding in, was delivering a voluble dissertation on the tariff and the possible effect on the state of putting hides on the free list.And although in cow-camps a soldier's introduction is usually sufficient, the cook inquired the stranger's name and presented me to our guest with due formality.Supper being waiting, the stranger was invited to take pot-luck with us, and before the meal was over recognized me.He was a deputy cattle inspector for Dimmit County, and had issued the certificate for Flood's herd the year before.He had an eye for the main chance, and informed me that fully one half the cattle making up our herd belonged to Dimmit; that the county line was only a mile up the river, and that if I would allow the herd to drift over into his territory, he would shade the legal rate.The law compelling the inspection of herds before they could be moved out of the county, like the rain, fell upon the just and the unjust.It was not the intent of the law to impose a burden on an honest drover.Yet he was classed with the rustler, and must have in his possession a certificate of inspection before he could move out a purchased herd, or be subject to arrest.A list of brands was recorded, at the county seat, of every herd leaving, and if occasion required could be referred to in future years.No railroad would receive any consignment of hides or live stock, unless accompanied by a certificate from the county inspector.The legal rate was ten cents on the first hundred, and three cents on all over that number, frequently making the office a lucrative one.
Once the object of his call was made clear, I warmed to our guest.If the rate allowed by law was enforced, it meant an expense of over a hundred dollars for a certificate of inspection covering both herd and saddle stock.We did not take out certificates in Medina on the remudas as a matter of economy.By waiting until the herd was ready, the two would be inspected as one, and the lower rate apply.So I urged the deputy to make himself at home and share my blankets.Pretending that Iremembered him well, I made numerous inquiries about the ranch where we received our herd the year before, and by the time to turn in, we were on the most friendly terms.The next morning Ioffered him a horse from our extras, assuring him that Flood would be delighted to renew his acquaintance, and invited him to go with us for the day.Turning his horse among ours, he accepted and rode away with us.The cattle passed on the evening before had camped out several miles from the corrals and were grazing in when we met them.Flood and the Doctor joined us shortly afterward, and I had a quiet word with Jim before he and the inspector met.After the count was over, Flood made a great ado over my guest and gave him the glad hand as if he had been a long-lost brother.We were a trifle short-handed the second day, and on my guest volunteering to help, I assigned him to Runt Pickett's place at the fire, where he shortly developed a healthy sweat.As we did not have a large bunch of beeves to brand that day, the wagon did not come over and we branded them at a single shift.It was nearly one o'clock when we finished, and instead of going in to Los Lobos, we left the third guard, Wayne Outcault, "Dorg" Seay, and Owen Ubery, to graze the cattle over to our camp.
