This rider was a messenger from the border, bringing disturbing news. He reported a big herd of Texas cattle not more than three days' drive from the line, the owner pushing along on forced marches, evidently with the design of getting across before the quarantine guard could be reënforced sufficiently to stop him. He had a big gang of men, and was driving the largest herd that had come over the Texas trails in many a day.
Moore was up on edge at this news, for the first cattle over the Texas trails were not expected quite so soon. He prepared to set off at once to collect his forces and hold up the herd at the line. His two boys, the elder about twelve, the other a year or two younger, came out of the house with molasses around their gills, clamoring to go with their father on the expedition against the Texas drover.
The cattleman was very proud of their desire to begin mixing in the affairs of that rough life at an early age, but told them it was strictly men's business, and to run along and hunt coyotes of another kind. Moore was a rough specimen, and the boys were a true pattern. A tall man, broad in the shoulders and flat, one of those enduring kind that defies wind and weather, let the elements pelt as they may. He was a bigboned fellow, uncouth in his movements, set with that
