How well one gets to know the stars and their positions! The poor night-herders know that a certain star will set or be in such and such a position at the time for the next relief.

Often when dead tired, sleepy and cold, how eagerly have I watched my own star's apparently very slow movement.

The standard watch is at the wagon, and must not be "monkeyed" with, a trick sometimes played on tenderfeet.

Immediately time for relief is up the next is called, and woe betide them if they delay complying with the summons.

Of course the owner or manager does not have to take part in night-herding, but the boys think more of him if he does, and certainly the man he relieves appreciates it.
In continued wet and cold weather such as we were liable to have late in October or November, when it might rain and drizzle for a week or two at a time, our beds would get very wet and there would be no sun to dry them.
Consequently we practically slept in wet, not damp, blankets for days at a time; and to return from your guard about two in the morning and get into such an uninviting couch was trying to one's temper, of course.
Even one's "goose haar piller," as the boys called their feather pillow, might be sodden.