We wanted to move
one brand to another range as soon as the grass would permit, and we
were gathering them for that purpose. We had some ninety saddle horses
with us to do the work,--sufficient to mount fifteen men. One night we
camped in a favorite spot, and as we had no cattle to hold that night,
all the horses were thrown loose, with the usual precaution of hobbling,
except two or three on picket. All but about ten head wore the
bracelets, and those ten were pals, their pardners wearing the hemp.
Early in the evening, probably nine o'clock, with a bright fire burning,
and the boys spreading down their beds for the night, suddenly the
horses were heard running, and the next moment they hobbled into camp
like a school of porpoise, trampling over the beds and crowding up to
the fire and the wagon. They almost knocked down some of the boys, so
sudden was their entrance. Then they set up a terrible nickering for
mates. The boys went amongst them, and horses that were timid and shy
almost caressed their riders, trembling in limb and muscle the while
through fear, like a leaf. We concluded a bear had scented the camp, and
in approaching it had circled round, and run amuck our saddle horses.
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