noon
Had the owner of the herd suddenly appeared in camp , he could not have received such an ovation as was extended Priest the next morning when his presence became known . From the cook to the foreman , they gathered around our bed , where The Rebel sat up in the blankets and held an informal reception ; and two hours afterward he was riding on the right point of the herd as if nothing had happened . We had a fair trail up Big Box Elder , and for the following few days , or until the source of that creek was reached , met nothing to check our course . Our foreman had been riding in advance of the herd , and after returning to us at noon one day , reported that the trail turned a due northward course towards the Missouri , and all herds had seemingly taken it . As we had to touch at Fort Benton , which was almost due westward , he had concluded to quit the trail and try to intercept the military road running from Fort Maginnis to Benton . Maginnis lay to the south of us , and our foreman hoped to strike the military road at an angle on as near a westward course as possible . Accordingly after dinner he set out to look out the country , and took me with him .