Mob law reigned supreme, and there was little effort on the part of the village authorities to punish offenders. Sometimes Judge Lynch's court was convened on short notice, and someone who had committed an unusually flagrant violation of the "law of honor" and had killed a man without due provocation, was hurriedly tried and strung up to the nearest tree.
One evening in the month of November, the excitement was varied by the arrival of a "bull-train"[A] of ten wagons loaded with buffalo skins. They drove to the warehouse of the largest trader in the place to unload, and were quickly surrounded by a crowd of eager inquirers who sought for news from the front.
[A] What is known on the frontier as a "bull-train" is a number of ponderous wagons, drawn by from six to ten yoke of oxen each, used for hauling heavy freight across the plains.
Some inquired as to the nature of the country, some as to the progress of settlements, some as to friends who were at the front, and many as to the buffalo herd from which the five thousand skins brought in by this train had been taken.
"The main herd," said the wagon boss, "is two hundred miles west on the headwaters of the Brazos river."
"How large a herd is it?"
"Nobody knows that, for none of 'em has took time to ride to the west end of it."
"Are there many hunters there?" inquired a young St. Louis lawyer.
"Wall, you'd reckon," said the boss. "Tha's 'bout a hundred and fifty white hunters, and more'n a thousand red-skins."
"When do you start back?"