noon
The cattle were well shed and in good flesh for such an early season of the year , and in receiving , our foreman had been careful and had accepted only such as had strength for a long voyage . They were the long-legged , long-horned Southern cattle , pale-colored as a rule , possessed the running powers of a deer , and in an ordinary walk could travel with a horse . They had about thirty vaqueros under a corporal driving the herd , and the cattle were strung out in regular trailing manner . We rode with them until the noon hour , when , with the understanding that they were to bring the herd to Paso Ganado by ten o'clock the following day , we rode for Matamoros . Lovell had other herds to start on the trail that year , and was very anxious to cross the cattle the following day , so as to get the weekly steamer -- the only mode of travel -- which left Point Isabel for Galveston on the first of April . The next morning was bright and clear , with an east wind , which insured a flood tide in the river . On first sighting the herd that morning , we made ready to cross them as soon as they reached the river .