第85章 ON THE JUST AND THE UNJUST(4)

"Well, if that's what they rely on," said Captain Retallac, "then they're as good as in quarantine this minute.If you feel certain they can't get help from Fort Keogh a second time, those herds will be our guests until further orders.What we want to do now is to spike every possible chance for their getting any help, and the matter will pass over like a summer picnic.If you boys think there's any danger of an appeal to Fort Buford, the military authorities want to be notified that the Yellowstone Valley has quarantined against Texas fever and asks their cooperation in enforcing the same.""I can fix that," replied Sponsilier."We have lawyers at Buford right now, and I can wire them the situation fully in the morning.If they rely on the military, they will naturally appeal to the nearest post, and if Keogh and Buford turn them down, the next ones are on the Missouri River, and at that distance cavalry couldn't reach here within ten days.Oh, I think we've got a grapevine twist on them this time."Sponsilier sat up half the night wording a message to our attorneys at Fort Buford.The next morning found me bright and early on the road to Glendive with the dispatch, the sending of which would deplete my cash on hand by several dollars, but what did we care for expense when we had the money and orders -to spend it? I regretted my absence from the quarantine camp, as Iwas anxious to be present on the arrival of the herds, and again watch the "major-domo" run on the rope and fume and charge in vain.But the importance of blocking assistance was so urgent that I would gladly have ridden to Buford if necessary.In that bracing atmosphere it was a fine morning for the ride, and I was rapidly crossing the country, when a vehicle, in the dip of the plain, was sighted several miles ahead.I was following no road, but when the driver of the conveyance saw me he turned across my front and signaled.On meeting the rig, I could hardly control myself from laughing outright, for there on the rear seat sat Field and Radcliff, extremely gruff and uncongenial.Common courtesies were exchanged between the driver and myself, and Iwas able to answer clearly his leading questions: Yes; the herds would reach Cabin Creek before noon; the old eagle tree, which could be seen from the first swell of the plain beyond, marked the quarantine camp, and it was the intention to isolate the herds on the South Fork of Cabin."Drive on," said a voice, and, in the absence of any gratitude expressed, I inwardly smiled in reward.

I was detained in Glendive until late in the day, waiting for an acknowledgment of the message.Sheriff Wherry informed me that the only move attempted on the part of the shorthorn drovers was the arrest of Sponsilier and myself, on the charge of being accomplices in the shooting of one of their men on the North Platte.But the sheriff had assured the gentlemen that our detention would have no effect on quarantining their cattle, and the matter was taken under advisement and dropped.It was late when I started for camp that evening.The drovers had returned, accompanied by their superintendent, and were occupying the depot, burning the wires in every direction.I was risking no chances, and cultivated the company of Sheriff Wherry until the acknowledgment arrived, when he urged me to ride One of his horses in returning to camp, and insisted on my taking a carbine.

Possibly this was fortunate, for before I had ridden one third the distance to the quarantine camp, I met a cavalcade of nearly a dozen men from the isolated herds.When they halted and inquired the distance to Glendive, one of their number recognized me as having been among the quarantine guards at Powderville.Iadmitted that I was there, turning my horse so that the carbine fell to my hand, and politely asked if any one had any objections.It seems that no one had, and after a few commonplace inquiries were exchanged, we passed on our way.

There was great rejoicing on Cabin Creek that night.Songs were sung, and white navy beans passed current in numerous poker-games until the small hours of morning.There had been nothing dramatic in the meeting between the herds and the quarantine guards, the latter force having been augmented by visiting ranchmen and their help, until protest would have been useless.A routine of work had been outlined, much stricter than at Powderville, and a surveillance of the camps was constantly maintained.Not that there was any danger of escape, but to see that the herds occupied the country allotted to them, and did not pollute any more territory than was necessary.The Sponsilier Guards were given an easy day shift, and held a circle of admirers at night, recounting and living over again "the good old days." Visitors from either side of the Yellowstone were early callers, and during the afternoon the sheriff from Glendive arrived.I did not know until then that Mr.Wherry was a candidate for reelection that fall, but the manner in which he mixed with the boys was enough to warrant his election for life.What endeared him to Sponsilier and myself was the fund of information he had collected, and the close tab he had kept on every movement of the opposition drovers.He told us that their appeal to Fort Keogh for assistance had been refused with a stinging rebuke; that a courier had started the evening before down the river for Fort Buford, and that Mr.Radcliff had personally gone to Fort Abraham Lincoln to solicit help.The latter post was fully one hundred and fifty miles away, but that distance could be easily covered by a special train in case of government interference.

It rained on the afternoon of the 9th.The courier had returned from Fort Buford on the north, unsuccessful, as had also Mr.

Radcliff from Fort Lincoln on the Missouri River to the eastward.

The latter post had referred the request to Keogh, and washed its hands of intermeddling in a country not tributary to its territory.The last hope of interference was gone, and the rigors of quarantine closed in like a siege with every gun of the enemy spiked.Let it be a week or a month before the quarantine was lifted, the citizens of Montana had so willed it, and their wish was law.Evening fell, and the men drew round the fires.The guards buttoned their coats as they rode away, and the tired ones drew their blankets around them as they lay down to sleep.

Scarcely a star could be seen in the sky overhead, but before my partner or myself sought our bed, a great calm had fallen, the stars were shining, and the night had grown chilly.

The old buffalo hunters predicted a change in the weather, but beyond that they were reticent.As Sponsilier and I lay down to sleep, we agreed that if three days, even two days, were spared us, those cattle in quarantine could never be tendered at Fort Buford on the appointed day of delivery.But during the early hours of morning we were aroused by the returning guards, one of whom halted his horse near our blankets and shouted, "Hey, there, you Texans; get up--a frost has fallen!"Sure enough, it had frosted during the night, and the quarantine was lifted.When day broke, every twig and blade of grass glistened in silver sheen, and the horses on picket stood humped and shivering.The sun arose upon the herds moving, with no excuse to say them nay, and orders were issued to the guards to break camp and disperse to their homes.As we rode into Glendive that morning, sullen and defeated by a power beyond our control, in speaking of the peculiarity of the intervention, Sponsilier said: "Well, if it rains on the just and the unjust alike, why shouldn't it frost the same."