The report fell among us like
a flash of lightning. Ample time had elapsed for a messenger to
ride to the Yellowstone, and, returning with troops, pilot them
to the camps of Field, Radcliff & Co. A consultation was
immediately held, but no definite line of action had been arrived
at when a horseman from one of the lower camps dashed up and
informed us that the three herds were already trailing out for
the dead-line, under an escort of cavalry. Saddling up, we
rallied what few men were available, determined to make a
protest, at least, in the interest of humanity to dumb brutes.
We dispatched couriers to the nearest camps and the outer
quarantine station; but before a posse of twenty men arrived, the
lead herd was within a mile of the dead-line, and we rode out and
met them. Fully eighty troopers, half of which rode in column
formation in front, halted us as we approached. Terse and to the
point were the questions and answers exchanged between the
military arm of the government and the quarantine authorities of
Montana. When the question arose of indemnity to citizens, in
case of death to native cattle, a humane chord was touched in the
young lieutenant in command, resulting in his asking several
questions, to which the "major-domo" protested. Once satisfied of
the justice of quarantine, the officer, in defense of his action,
said:
"Gentlemen, I am under instructions to give these herds, intended
for use at Fort Buford, a three days' escort beyond this
quarantine line.
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