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diff --git a/38309.txt b/38309.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b04572 --- /dev/null +++ b/38309.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7042 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Texas Cow Boy, by Chas. A. Siringo + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Texas Cow Boy + or, fifteen years on the hurricane deck of a Spanish pony, + taken from real life + +Author: Chas. A. Siringo + +Release Date: December 15, 2011 [EBook #38309] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TEXAS COW BOY *** + + + + +Produced by Dianna Adair, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + A TEXAS COW BOY + + OR + + FIFTEEN YEARS ON THE HURRICANE + DECK OF A SPANISH PONY. + + TAKEN FROM REAL LIFE BY + + Chas. A. Siringo. + + AN OLD STOVE UP COW PUNCHER WHO + HAS SPENT NEARLY A LIFE TIME ON THE + GREAT WESTERN + CATTLE RANGES. + + GLOBE LITHOGRAPHING & PRINTING CO. CHICAGO + + Illustration: REPRESENTATION OF LIFE IN A COW CAMP. + + Illustration: THE AUTHOR, IN COW BOY UNIFORM. + + + + + A TEXAS COW BOY + + OR, + + FIFTEEN YEARS + + ON THE + + Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony. + + TAKEN FROM REAL LIFE + + BY + + CHAS. A. SIRINGO, + + AN OLD STOVE UP "COW PUNCHER," WHO HAS SPENT + NEARLY TWENTY YEARS ON THE GREAT + WESTERN CATTLE RANGES. + + M. UMBDENSTOCK & CO., Publishers, + CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. + 1885. + + Illustration: THE AUTHOR + after he became stove-up--financially, as well as otherwise. + + + + +INDEX. + + + CHAPTER. PAGE. + + I. My Boyhood Days 13 + + II. My Introduction to the late war 20 + + III. My First Lesson in Cow Punching 31 + + IV. My second experience in St. Louis 43 + + V. A New experience 53 + + VI. Adopted and sent to school 61 + + VII. Back at last to the Lone Star State 68 + + VIII. Learning to rope wild steers 75 + + IX. Owning my first cattle 84 + + X. A start up the Chisholm trail 95 + + XI. Buys a boat and becomes a sailor 103 + + XII. Back to my favorite occupation, that of + a wild and woolly Cow Boy 112 + + XIII. Mother and I meet at last 119 + + XIV. On a tare in Wichita, Kansas 129 + + XV. A lonely trip down the Cimeron 141 + + XVI. My first experience roping a Buffalo 150 + + XVII. An exciting trip after thieves 158 + + XVIII. Seven weeks among Indians 164 + + XIX. A lonely ride of eleven hundred miles 176 + + XX. Another start up the Chisholm trail 186 + + XXI. A trip which terminated in the capture + of "Billy the Kid" 196 + + XXII. Billy the Kid's capture 215 + + XXIII. A trip to the Rio Grande on a mule 223 + + XXIV. Waylaid by unknown parties 231 + + XXV. Lost on the Staked Plains 239 + + XXVI. A trip down the Reo Pecos 255 + + XXVII. A true sketch of "Billy the Kid's" life 269 + + XXVIII. Wrestling with a dose of Small Pox on + the Llano Esticado 285 + + XXIX. In love with a Mexican girl 299 + + XXX. A sudden leap from Cow Boy to Merchant 309 + + + + +Copyrighted by CHAS. A. SIRINGO, Caldwell, Kans. + +All rights reserved. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +My excuse for writing this book is money--and lots of it. + +I suppose the above would suffice, but as time is not very precious I +will continue and tell how the idea of writing a book first got into my +head: + +While ranching on the Indian Territory line, close to Caldwell, Kansas, +in the winter of '82 and '83, we boys--there being nine of us--made an +iron-clad rule that whoever was heard swearing or caught picking grey +backs off and throwing them on the floor without first killing them, +should pay a fine of ten cents for each and every offense. The proceeds +to be used for buying choice literature--something that would have a +tendency to raise us above the average cow-puncher. Just twenty-four +hours after making this rule we had three dollars in the pot--or at +least in my pocket, I having been appointed treasurer. + +As I was going to town that night to see my Sunday girl, I proposed to +the boys that, while up there, I send the money off for a years +subscription to some good newspaper. The question then came up, what +paper shall it be? We finally agreed to leave it to a vote--each man to +write the one of his choice on a slip of paper and drop it in a hat. +There being two young Texans present who could neither read nor write, +we let them _speak_ their choice after the rest of us got our votes +deposited. At the word given them to cut loose they both yelled "Police +Gazette", and on asking why they voted for that wicked Sheet, they both +replied as though with one voice: "Cause we can read the pictures." We +found, on counting the votes that the Police Gazette had won, so it was +subscribed for. + +With the first copy that arrived was the beginning of a continued story, +entitled "Potts turning Paris inside out." Mr. Potts, the hero, was an +old stove-up New York preacher, who had made a raise of several hundred +thousand dollars and was over in Paris blowing it in. I became +interested in the story, and envied Mr. Potts very much. I wished for a +few hundred thousand so I could do likewise; I lay awake one whole night +trying to study up a plan by which I could make the desired amount. But, +thinks I, what can an uneducated cow puncher do now-a-days to make such +a vast sum? In trying to solve the question my mind darted back a few +years, when, if I had taken time by the forelock, I might have now been +wallowing in wealth with the rest of the big cattle kings--or to use a +more appropriate name, cattle thieves. But alas! thought I, the days of +honorable cattle stealing is past, and I must turn my mind into a +healthier channel. + +The next morning while awaiting breakfast I happened to pick up a small +scrap of paper and read: "To the young man of high aims literature +offers big inducements, providing he gets into an untrodden field." + +That night I lay awake again, trying to locate some "cussed" untrodden +field, where, as an author, I might soar on high--to the extent of a few +hundred thousand at least. + +At last, just as our pet rooster, "Deacon Bates" was crowing for day, I +found a field that I had never heard of any one trampling over--a +"nigger" love story. So that night I launched out on my new novel, the +title of which was, "A pair of two-legged coons." My heroine, Miss Patsy +Washington was one shade darker than the ace of spades, while her lover, +Mr. Andrew Jackson, was three colors darker than herself. My plot was +laid in African Bend on the Colorado river in Southern Texas. + +Everything went on nicely, until about half way through the first +chapter, when Mr. Jackson was convicted and sent to Huntsville for +stealing a neighbors hog; and while I was trying to find a substitute +for him, old Patsy flew the track and eloped with a Yankee +carpet-bagger. That was more than I could endure, so picking up the +manuscript I threw it into the fire. Thus ended my first attempt at +Authorship. + +I then began figuring up an easier field for my inexperienced pen, and +finally hit upon the idea of writing a history of my own short, but +rugged life, which dear reader you have before you. But whether it will +bring me in "shekels" enough to capsize Paris remains yet to be +"disskivered" as the Negro says. + + + + +A TEXAS COW BOY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MY BOYHOOD DAYS. + + +It was a bright morning, on the 7th day of February 1856, as near as I +can remember, that your humble Servant came prancing into this wide and +wicked world. + +By glancing over the map you will find his birthplace, at the extreme +southern part of the Lone Star State, on the Peninsula of Matagorda, a +narrow strip of land bordered by the Gulf of Mexico on the south and +Matagorda Bay on the north. + +This Peninsula is from one to two miles wide and seventy five miles +long. It connects the mainland at Caney and comes to a focus at Deskrows +Point or "Salura Pass." About midway between the two was situated the +"Dutch Settlement," and in the centre of that Settlement, which +contained only a dozen houses, stood the little frame cottage that first +gave me shelter. + +My father who died when I was only a year old, came from the sunny clime +of Italy, while my dear old mother drifted from the Boggs of good "ould" +Ireland. Am I not a queer conglomerate--a sweet-scented mixture indeed! + +Our nearest neighbor was a kind old soul by the name of John Williams, +whose family consisted of his wife and eleven children. + +In the fall of 1859 I took my first lessons in school, my teacher being +a Mr. Hale from Illinois. + +The school house, a little old frame building, stood off by itself, +about a mile from the Settlement, and we little tow-heads, sister and I, +had to hoof it up there every morning, through the grassburrs, +barefooted; our little sunbrowned feet had never been incased in +shoe-leather up to that time. + +To avoid the grassburrs, sometimes on getting an early start we would go +around by the Gulf beach which was quite a distance out of our way. In +taking this route though, I would generally be late at school, for there +were so many little things to detain me--such as trying to catch the +shadow of a flying sea gull, or trying to lasso sand crabs on my stick +horse. + +Crowds of Cow Boys used to come over to the Peninsula from the mainland +and sometimes have occasion to rope wild steers in my presence--hence me +trying to imitate them. + +I remember getting into a scrape once by taking the beach route to +school; sister who was a year older than I, was walking along the water +edge picking up pretty shells while I was riding along on my stick horse +taking the kinks out of my rope--a piece of fishline--so as to be ready +to take in the first crab that showed himself. Those crabs went in large +droves and sometimes ventured quite a distance out from the Gulf, but on +seeing a person would break for the water. + +It was not long before I spied a large drove on ahead, pulling their +freight for the water. I put spurs to my pony and dashed after them. I +managed to get one old fat fellow headed off and turned towards the +prairie. I threw at him several times but he would always go through the +loop before I could pull it up. He finally struck a hole and +disappeared. + +I was determined to get him out and take another whirl at him, so +dropping my horse and getting down on all fours I began digging the +sand away with my hands, dog fashion. + +About that time sister came up and told me to come on as I would be late +at school, etc. + +I think I told her to please go to Halifax, as I was going to rope that +crab before I quit or "bust." At any rate she went off, leaving me +digging with all my might. + +Every now and then I would play dog by sticking my snoot down in the +hole to smell. But I rammed it down once too often. Mr. Crab was nearer +the surface than I thought for. He was laying for me. I gave a comanche +yell, jumped ten feet in the air and lit out for home at a 2:40 gait. +One of his claws was fastened to my upper lip while the other clamped my +nose with an iron-like grip. + +I met Mr. William Berge coming out to the beach after a load of wood, +and he relieved me of my uncomfortable burden. He had to break the crabs +claws off to get him loose. + +I arrived at school just as Mr. Hale was ringing the bell after recess. +He called me up and wanted to know what was the matter with my face, it +was so bloody. Being a little George W., minus the hatchet, I told him +the truth. Suffice to say he laid me across his knee and made me think +a nest of bumble bees were having a dance in the seat of my breeches--or +at least where the seat should have been. I never had a pair of pants on +up to that time. Had worn nothing but a long white shirt made of a flour +sack after some of the "big bugs" in Matagorda had eaten the flour out. + +The fall of 1861 Mr. Hale broke up school and left for Yankeedom to join +the blue coats. And from that time on I had a regular picnic, doing +nothing and studying mischief. Billy Williams was my particular chum; we +were constantly together doing some kind of devilment. The old women +used to say we were the meanest little imps in the Settlement, and that +we would be hung before we were twenty-one. Our three favorite passtimes +were, riding the milk calves, coon hunting and sailing play-boats down +on the bay shore. + +Shortly after school broke up I wore my first pair of breeches. Uncle +"Nick" and aunt "Mary," mothers' brother and sister, who lived in +Galveston, sent us a trunk full of clothes and among them was a pair of +white canvas breeches for me. + +The first Sunday after the goods arrived mother made me scour myself all +over and try my new pants on. They were large enough for two kids of my +size, but mother said I could wear them that day if I would be a good +boy, and that she would take a few tucks in them before the next Sunday. +So after getting me fixed up she told me not to leave the yard or she +would skin me alive, etc. + +Of course I should have been proud of the new addition to my wardrobe +and like a good little boy obeyed my mother; but I wasn't a good little +boy and besides the glory of wearing white pants was insignificant +compared to that of an exciting coon hunt with dogs through brush, +bramble and rushes. You see I had promised Billy the evening before to +go coon hunting with him that day. + +I watched my chance and while mother was dressing sister in her new +frock I tiptoed out of the house and skipped. + +Billy was waiting for me with the four dogs and off we went for the Bay +shore. + +Arriving there the dogs disappeared in the tall rushes barking at every +jump; we jumped right in after them, up to our waists in the mud. We had +a genuine good all-day coon hunt, killing several coons and one wild +cat. + +We gave up the hunt about sundown, and I started for home, the glory of +my new pants having departed. I was indeed a sorry looking sight, +covered with mud from head to foot. + +I entered the house with some fear and trembling, and well I might, for +mother was "laying" for me with the old black strap. The result was I +slept sound that night, but couldn't sit down without pain for a week +afterwards. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MY INTRODUCTION TO THE LATE WAR. + + +It was Monday morning--a day that I despised. Need you wonder, for it +was mother's wash day and I had to carry wood from the Gulf beach to +keep the "pot boiling." + +I tried to play off sick that morning but it would not work, for mother +had noticed that I got away with two plates of mush besides three hard +boiled eggs for breakfast. + +Before starting out after my first load of wood, I hid the big old strap +which hung by the door, for I felt it in my bones there was war in the +air. I always did have a tough time of it on wash days, and I knew this +Monday would bring the same old story. + +At last mother got the fire started under the wash-pot which stood out +in the yard and told me for about the twentieth time to go after an +armful of wood. I hesitated, in hopes that she would take a notion to go +herself, but when she stamped her foot and picked up a barrel stave I +knew I had better be going, for when she got her Irish blood up it was +dangerous to linger. + +When I got out among the drift wood on the beach, I treed a cotton-tail +rabbit up a hollow log, and I made up my mind to get Mr. cotton-tail +out, wood or no wood. + +I began digging the sand away from the log as fast as I could so as to +be able to roll it down into the Gulf and drown the rabbit out. + +It was a very hot day and digging the heavy sand with only my hands and +a stick was slow, tiresome work. The result was I fell asleep with my +head under the log and my bare legs sticking out in the hot June sun. I +dreamt I died and went to a dreadful hot country and Satan was there +piling hot coals on me. + +Finally the sun went under a cloud, or at least I suppose it did, for +the burning pain left me and I began to dream of Heaven; I thought the +Lord was there sitting upon His throne of gold in the midst of scores of +happy children. Calling me up to him he pointed to a large pile of fence +rails down in a beautiful valley and said: "my boy you go down and carry +every one of those rails up here to me before you stop." + +His words landed up against my happy thoughts like a thunderbolt from a +clear sky. I had been thinking of what a picnic I would have with the +other children. + +A walk of about one mile brought me to the pile of rails; there were +more in the pile than I could count, I shouldered one of the lightest +and struck out up the steep hill, thinking how I would like to be back +with mother, even if I had to carry an armful of wood from the beach now +and then. + +When about half way up the hill I heard a terrible noise such as I had +never heard before, it awakened me, and in trying to jump up I bumped my +head against the log, and also filled my eyes full of sand. + +When I got onto my feet and the sand out of my eyes, I discovered the +whole beach, east of me, thronged with men carrying guns, and marching +right towards me. The head ones were not over a hundred yards off, +beating drums and blowing their horns. + +It is needless to say I was scared and that I ran as fast as my legs +could carry me, looking back every minute to see if they were after me. +It was in this way that I ran or sprang right into the midst of Mrs. +Zipprian's drove of geese, before I knew it. There were several old +ganders in the drove which used to chase me every chance they got. I +generally took particular pains to go around them; but this time my mind +was in a different channel from what it had ever been in before, hence +my not looking out for them. + +As I flew past, two of the old ganders made a dive at me, but only one +succeeded in catching on; he grabbed the tail of my shirt, which stuck +straight out behind, in his mouth and hung on with blood in his eyes. My +speed seemed to increase instead of slacken, every time the old gander +would bounce up and come down, his claws would rake the skin from the +calves of my legs. His death-like grip finally broke loose and I felt +considerable lighter. My mind also, felt somewhat relieved. + +Mother was out in the yard washing, she had picked up chips enough to +boil the water; the tub was sitting upon a box and she was rubbing away +with all her might, her back towards me. As I was looking over my +shoulder I ran against her, knocking her, tub and all over in a pile, +myself with them. + +Mother got up first with her right hand in my shirt collar, I plead +manfully, and tried to tell her about the scores of men, but she was +too mad to listen, she dragged me to where the big black strap should +have hung, I knew she couldn't find it, therefore hoped to get off with +a few slaps, but alas, no she spied the mush stick and the way she gave +it to me with that was a caution! + +The crowd I saw proved to be Dr. Pierceson's company of rebels, who had +been sent over from Matagorda to drill and be ready to fight the blue +coats when they came. It was then the summer of 1862. They located their +camp on the beach, about a mile from our house, and I used to march with +them all day long sometimes. The captain, Dr. Pierceson, gave me an +umbrella stick which I used for a gun. + +That coming fall about five thousand Yankees landed at Deckrows Point on +the Peninsula and marched by our ranch on their way to the rebel camp +which was stationed forty miles above, at the mouth of Caney Creek. + +They camped one night close to our house and filled me up with +hard-tack, which was quite a treat to a fellow living on mush and milk. + +They had a five or six day fight with the rebels, neither of them coming +off victorious. We could hear the guns plainly from the "Settlement." +Many dead men were washed ashore on the beach. My sister and I stumbled +onto one poor fellow one day, shot through the heart. His clothes were +gone and his wrist was marked "J. T." in India ink. + +After the battle the Yankees marched back to Deckrows Point where they +remained to the end of the war; the rebels still held their ground at +the mouth of Caney. Every now and then a squad from each side would meet +at the "Settlement" and have a skirmish. I remember once after one of +those skirmishes a crowd of Yankees rounded Mr. Williams up on the +prairie--Billy and I being with him--and throwing their pistols in his +face told him if they ever found him so far from home again they would +kill him. + +Their threats didn't scare Mr. Williams the least bit, for he afterwards +slipped into their camp after dark and stole eleven head of their best +horses and gave them to the rebels. But on his way back from the rebel +ramp, where he went to take the horses they caught him and took him +aboard of a Yankee man-of-war to hang him. They had the rope around his +neck ready to swing him when the General turned him loose, on account of +his old age and bravery, telling him never to be caught from home +again. + +Fighting was going on nearly every day in sight of us; sometimes the +Yankee gun boats would get into the Bay among the rebel boats, and at +other times they would fight across the narrow strip of land, shooting +right over the houses at one another. Many of the cannon balls dropped +on the prairie; one of them at one time struck within a few feet of Mr. +Williams, almost burying him in the sand as it plowed along on the +ground. Poor fellow, he was afterwards killed by one, he carried one +home and taking all the powder out of it, as he supposed, set it out in +the yard with the hole up, and then told Billy to get him a coal of fire +in the tongs. He thought it would just flash a little. + +I was present, and not liking the looks of it, crept out behind the +picket gate, a few yards away, and peeped between the pickets. + +The whole family was looking on to see the fun, Mattie, one of the +little girls, was sitting with her arms around a dog's neck, within a +few feet of it. + +Billy, arriving with the coal, handed it to his father who reached over +and let it drop down into the hole--where he had taken out the lead +screw. + +It seemed to me that the coal hadn't reached the hole when the thing +exploded. For a few seconds everything was enveloped in smoke; when the +smoke disappeared sufficiently for me to see, the whole sky seemed to be +a blaze of fire, and finally Mr. Williams emerged out of the heavy cloud +of smoke hopping on one leg. + +A piece of the bomb-shell had taken off part of one foot on the left leg +and another piece had plowed through the calf of his right leg; part of +one ear was also gone. He only lived a few days. + +A piece of the shell took off one of the dog's legs without even +touching Mattie, the little girl who had her arms around his neck. + +Several pieces went through the house, and one piece went through the +picket gate right over my head. The next day Billy and I found a large +piece sticking in the wall of an old vacant house a mile from where it +exploded. + +During the war several ships were driven ashore on the beach by the +Yankee gun boats. The folks at the "Settlement" would get all the +plunder. One ship was loaded with dry goods and from that time on I wore +breeches. + +About a year after the war broke out the rebels gathered up all the +cattle on the Peninsula and drove them to the mainland, where they were +turned loose with the thousands upon thousands of wild cattle already +over there. Their idea in doing so was to keep the Yankees--whom they +knew would hold the lower part of the Peninsula, they having the best +gunboats--from getting fresh beef to eat. There was only one cow left in +the whole "Settlement" and that was our old "Browny;" mother had begged +manfully for them to leave her, for she knew we children would starve to +death living on mush straight. + +When the war broke up everybody was happy. We cheered for joy when Mr. +Joe Yeamans brought the good news from town. + +Shortly after this all of the men and boys that were large enough, went +over to the mainland to gather up the Peninsula cattle. On their arrival +they found it a bigger job than they had figured on, for they were +scattered over two or three hundred miles of country and as wild as +deer. + +Billy and I thought it very hard that we could not go and be Cow Boys +too; but we had lots of fun all by ourselves, for we had an old mule and +two or three ponies to ride, so you see we practiced riding in +anticipation of the near future, when we would be large enough to be Cow +Boys. + +After being gone about three months the crowd came back, bringing with +them several hundred head of cattle, which they had succeeded in +gathering. Among them were about twenty head belonging to mother. + +The crowd went right back after more. This stimulated Billy and I to +become a crowd of Cow Boys all by ourselves, therefore we put in most of +our time lassoing and riding wild yearlings, etc. We hardly stayed at +home long enough to get our meals. Mother had to get her own wood in +those days, for sister had gone to school in Galveston. Of course I +always had to come home at night, therefore mother would get +satisfaction out of me with the black strap or mush stick, after I was +snugly settled in bed, for my waywardness and trifling habits. + +In the spring of 1867, a cattle man by the name of Faldien brought his +family over to the Peninsula for their health and rented part of our +house to live in. + +After getting his wife and babies located in their new quarters, he +started back home, in Matagorda, to make preparations for spring work, +he having to rig up new outfits, etc. He persuaded mother to let me go +with him, and learn to run cattle. When she consented I was the happiest +boy in the "Settlement," for my life long wish was about to be +gratified. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MY FIRST LESSON IN COW PUNCHING. + + +The next day after arriving in town, Mr. Faldien sent me out to his +ranch, twenty miles, on Big Boggy. I rode out on the "grub" wagon with +the colored cook. That night, after arriving at the ranch, there being +several men already there, we went out wild boar hunting. We got back +about midnight very tired and almost used up. Such a hunt was very +different from the coon hunts Billy and I used to have at the +"Settlement." Our dogs were badly gashed up by the boars, and it was a +wonder some of us hadn't been served the same way. + +In a few days Mr. Faldien came out to the ranch, bringing with him +several men. After spending a few days gathering up the cow-ponies, +which hadn't been used since the fall before, we started for Lake +Austin--a place noted for wild cattle. + +During the summer I was taken sick and had to go home. I was laid up for +two months with typhoid fever. Every one thought I would die. + +That fall, about October, mother married a man by the name of Carrier, +who hailed from Yankeedom. He claimed that he owned a farm in Michigan, +besides lots of other property. + +He was very anxious to get back to his farm, so persuaded mother to sell +out lock, stock and barrel and go with him. + +She had hard work to find a buyer as money was very scarce, but finally +she got Mr. George Burkheart, a merchant in Matagorda, to set his own +price on things and take them. + +The house and one hundred and seventy-five acres of land only brought +one hundred and seventy-five dollars. The sixty head of cattle that we +had succeeded in getting back from the mainland went at one dollar a +head and all others that still remained on the mainland--thrown in for +good measure. + +At last everything for sale was disposed of and we got "Chris" Zipprian +to take us to Indianola in his schooner. We bade farewell to the old +homestead with tears in our eyes. I hated more than anything else to +leave old "Browny" behind for she had been a friend in need as well as a +friend indeed. Often when I would be hungry and afraid to go home for +fear of mother and the mush stick, she would let me go up to her on the +prairie calf fashion and get my milk. She was nearly as old as myself. + +At Indianola we took the Steamship "Crescent City" for New Orleans. The +first night out we ran into a large Brig and came very near going under. +The folks on the Brig were nearly starved to death, having been drifting +about for thirty days without a rudder. We took them in tow, after +getting our ship in trim again, and landed them safely in Galveston. + +There was a bar-room on our ship, and our new lord and master, Mr. +Carrier, put in his spare time drinking whisky and gambling; I do not +think he drew a sober breath from the time we left Indianola until we +landed in New Orleans, by that time he had squandered every cent +received for the homestead and cattle, so mother had to go down into her +stocking and bring out the little pile of gold which she had saved up +before the war for "hard times," as she used to say. With this money she +now bought our tickets to Saint Louis. We took passage, I think, on the +"Grand Republic." There was also a bar-room on this boat, and after +wheedling mother out of the remainder of her funds, he drank whisky and +gambled as before, so we landed in Saint Louis without a cent. + +Mother had to pawn her feather mattress and pillows for a month's rent +in an old delapidated frame building on one of the back streets. It +contained only four rooms, two up stairs and two down; the lower rooms +were occupied by the stingy old landlord and family; we lived in one of +the upper rooms, while a Mr. Socks, whose wife was an invalid, occupied +the other. + +The next day after getting established in our new quarters, the "old +man," as I called him, struck out to find a job; he found one at a +dollar a day shoveling coal. + +At first he brought home a dollar every night, then a half and finally a +quarter. At last he got to coming home drunk without a nickel in his +pocket. He finally came up missing; we didn't know what had become of +him. Mother was sick in bed at the time from worrying. I went out +several times hunting work but no one would even give me a word of +encouragement, with the exception of an old Jew who said he was sorry +for me. + +A little circumstance happened, shortly after the "old man" pulled his +trifling carcass for parts unknown, which made me a better boy and no +doubt a better man than I should have been had it never happened. + +Everything was white without, for it had been snowing for the past two +days. It was about five o'clock in the evening and the cold piercing +north wind was whistling through the unceiled walls of our room. Mother +was sound asleep, while sister and I sat shivering over an old, broken +stove, which was almost cold, there being no fuel in the house. + +Sister began crying and wondered why the Lord let us suffer so? I +answered that may be it was because we quit saying our prayers. Up to +the time we left Texas mother used to make us kneel down by the bed-side +and repeat the Lord's prayer every night before retiring. Since then she +had, from worrying, lost all interest in Heavenly affairs. + +"Let us say our prayers now, then, brother!" said sister drying the +tears from her eyes. + +We both knelt down against the old, rusty stove and commenced. About the +time we had finished the door opened and in stepped Mr. Socks with a +bundle under his arm. "Here children, is a loaf of bread and some +butter and I will bring you up a bucket of coal in a few moments, for I +suppose from the looks of the stove you are cold," said the good man, +who had just returned from his day's work. + +Was ever a prayer so quickly heard? We enjoyed the bread and butter, for +we hadn't tasted food since the morning before. + +The next day was a nice sunny one, and I struck out up town to try and +get a job shoveling snow from the sidewalks. + +The first place I tackled was a large stone front on Pine street. The +kind lady of the establishment said she would give me twenty-five cents +if I would do a good job cleaning the sidewalk in front of the house. + +After an hour's hard work I finished, and, after paying me, the lady +told me to call next day and she would give me a job shoveling coal down +in the cellar, as I had done an extra good job on the sidewalk. This was +encouraging and I put in the whole day shoveling snow, but never found +any more twenty-five cent jobs; most I received for one whole hour's +work was ten cents, and then the old fat fellow kicked like a bay steer, +about the d----d snow being such an expense, etc. + +From that time on I made a few dimes each day sawing wood or shoveling +coal and therefore got along splendid. + +I forgot to mention my first evening in Saint Louis. I was going home +from the bakery when I noticed a large crowd gathered in front of a +corner grocery; I went up to see what they were doing. Two of the boys +had just gotten through fighting when I got there; the store-keeper and +four or five other men were standing in the door looking on at the crowd +of boys who were trying to cap another fight. + +As I walked up, hands shoved clear to the bottom of my pockets, the +store-keeper called out, pointing at me, "there's a country Jake that +I'll bet can lick any two boys of his size in the crowd." + +Of course all eyes were then turned onto me, which, no doubt, made me +look sheepish. One of the men asked me where I was from; when I told +him, the store-keeper exclaimed, "by gum, if he is from Texas I'll bet +two to one that he can clean out any two boys of his size in the crowd." + +One of the other men took him up and they made a sham bet of ten +dollars, just to get me to fight. The two boys were then picked out; +one was just about my size and the other considerably smaller. They +never asked me if I would take a hand in the fight until everything was +ready. Of course I hated to crawl out, for fear they might think I was a +coward. + +Everything being ready the store-keeper called out, "dive in boys!" + +We had it up and down for quite a while, finally I got the largest one +down, and was putting it to him in good shape, when the other one picked +up a piece of brick-bat and began pounding me on the back of the head +with it. I looked up to see what he was doing and he struck me over one +eye with the bat. I jumped up and the little fellow took to his heels, +but I soon overtook him and blackened both of his eyes up in good shape, +before the other boy, who was coming at full tilt could get there to +help him. I then chased the other boy back to the crowd. That ended the +fight and I received two ginger-snaps, from the big hearted storekeeper, +for my trouble. I wore the nick-name of "Tex" from that time on, during +my stay in that neighborhood; and also wore a black eye, where the +little fellow struck me with the bat, for several days afterwards. + +About the middle of January mother received a letter from the "old man," +with ten dollars enclosed, and begging her to come right on without +delay as he had a good job and was doing well, etc. He was at Lebanon, +Ill., twenty-five miles from the city. The sight of ten dollars and the +inducements he held out made us hope that we would meet with better luck +there, so we packed up our few traps and started on the Ohio and +Mississippi railroad. + +On arriving in Lebanon about nine o'clock at night we found the "old +man" there waiting for us. + +The next morning we all struck out on foot, through the deep snow, for +Moore's ranch where the "old man" had a job chopping cord wood. A tramp +of seven miles brought us to the little old log cabin which was to be +our future home. A few rods from our cabin stood a white frame house in +which lived Mr. Moore and family. + +Everything went on lovely for the first week, notwithstanding that the +cold winds whistled through the cracks in our little cabin, and we had +nothing to eat but corn bread, black coffee and old salt pork that Moore +could not find a market for. + +The first Saturday after getting established in our new home the "old +man" went to town and got on a glorious drunk, squandered every nickel +he could rake and scrape; from that time on his visits to town were more +frequent than his trips to the woods, to work. At last I was compelled +to go to work for Moore at eight dollars a month, to help keep the wolf +from our door, and don't you forget it, I earned eight dollars a month, +working out in the cold without gloves and only half clothed. + +Towards spring the "old man" got so mean and good-for-nothing that the +neighbors had to run him out of the country. A crowd of them surrounded +the house one night, took the old fellow out and preached him a sermon; +then they gave him until morning to either skip or be hung. You bet he +didn't wait until morning. + +A short while afterwards mother took sister and went to town to hunt +work. She left her household goods with one of the near neighbors, a Mr. +Muck, where they still remain I suppose, if not worn out. But there was +nothing worth hauling off except the dishes. I must say the table ware +was good; we had gotten them from a Spanish vessel wrecked on the Gulf +beach during the war. + +Mother found work in a private boarding house, and sister with a Mrs. +Bell, a miller's wife, while I still remained with Moore at the same +old wages. + +Along in June sometime I quit Moore on account of having the ague. I +thought I should have money enough to take a rest until I got well, but +bless you I only had ninety cents to my credit, Moore had deducted +thirty-five dollars the "old man" owed him out of my earnings. I pulled +for town as mad as an old setting hen. But I soon found work again, with +an old fellow by the name of John Sargent, who was to give me eight +dollars a month, board and clothes and pay my doctor bills. + +About the first of September mother and sister went to Saint Louis where +they thought wages would be higher. They bade me good bye, promising to +find me a place in the city, so I could be with them; also promised to +write. + +Shortly afterwards I quit Mr. Sargent with only one dollar to my credit; +and that I havn't got yet. He charged me up with everything I got in the +shape of clothes, doctor bills, medicine, etc. + +I then went to work for a carpenter, to learn the trade, for my board, +clothes, etc. I was to remain with him three years. My first day's work +was turning a big heavy stone for him to grind a lot of old, rusty tools +on. That night after supper I broke my contract, as I concluded that I +knew just as much about the carpenter's trade as I wished to know, and +skipped for the country, by moonlight. + +I landed up at a Mr. Jacobs' farm twelve miles from town and got a job +of work at twelve dollars a month. I didn't remain there long though, as +I had a chill every other day regular, and therefore couldn't work much. + +I made up my mind then to pull for Saint Louis and hunt mother and +sister. I had never heard a word from them since they left. After buying +a small satchel to put my clothes in and paying for a ticket to the +city, I had only twenty-five cents left and part of that I spent for +dinner that day. + +I arrived in East Saint Louis about midnight with only ten cents left. I +wanted to buy a ginger-cake or something, as I was very hungry, but +hated to as I needed the dime to pay my way across the river next +morning. I wasn't very well posted then, in regard to the ways of +getting on in the world, or I would have spent the dime for something to +eat, and then beat my way across the river. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MY SECOND EXPERIENCE IN ST. LOUIS. + + +Bright and early next morning I gave my dime to the ferryman and pulled +out for the bustling city, where I was soon lost in the large crowd +which thronged the levee. + +I left my satchel in a saloon and struck out to find Mr. Socks, hoping +he could give me some information as to mother and sister's whereabouts, +but I was sadly disappointed, he had left that part of the city in which +he lived when I knew him. + +I put in the rest of the day gazing through the show windows, especially +of the bakeries, at the fat pies, cakes, etc., for I was getting very +hungry, my last meal being dinner the day before. + +About dark I strolled up to a second-hand book store and asked how much +a bible, nearly new, would bring? The man behind the counter told me to +bring it around and he would give whatever it was worth. So I struck out +after my satchel; I hated the idea of parting with the book for it had +been presented to me by my late employer's mother Mrs. Moore, a nice +old lady who had taken a liking to me. But you know how it is when a +fellow is hungry, or would have known had you been in my shoes. + +I got twenty-five cents for the bible and immediately invested fifteen +cents of it in a mince pie. + +That night I stowed myself away in an empty dry goods box. I did not +sleep well, and when I did sleep it was to dream of snakes and other +venomous reptiles. + +I put in the whole of the next day hunting work, but failed to find it. +I had bought a five cent ginger-cake for my dinner and now I got a five +cent pie for my supper; this broke me flat and I had nothing else that I +could sell; so I put up for the night in a pile of bailed hay, which was +stacked up behind a store. + +The next morning I struck out again hunting work, but this time on an +empty stomach. About two o'clock in the afternoon I found a hack driver +who said he wanted to hire a boy to take care of his horses; he said he +would not be going home until about one o'clock that night and for me to +wait for him in front of the Court house on Fourth street. + +Just as soon as dark came, I went to the appointed place and staid there +for fear my man would conclude to go home earlier than he expected. I +was exceedingly happy when the long-looked for hour drew near, for I +thought it wouldn't be long until I would have a good square meal and a +warm bed to sleep in. + +About two o'clock, while leaning against a lamppost gazing up and down +Fourth street, a policeman punched me in the ribs and told me to "hunt +my hole" and that if he caught me out again so late at night he would +put me in the cooler. + +I pulled out across the street and waited until he got out of sight, +then I went back to my same old stand, thinking that my man would +certainly be along in a few moments at the outside. Every hack that +drove by would cause me to have a spell of the blues, until another hove +in sight--soon to disappear again. Finally about three o'clock my +courage and what few sparks of hopes that still remained, wilted, for, +an empty stomach and sitting up so late had given me a terrible +headache, which was almost past endurance. + +I was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, with my face buried in both +hands, crying, when someone touched me on the shoulder. I was scared at +first for I thought it was a "peeler;" but my fears vanished when I +looked up into the gleaming countenance of a small, red complexioned +man, who said in a pleasant tone:--"Is there anything I can do for you +my little man?" + +His kindness proved too much for me, I burst out crying and it was quite +awhile before I could tell him my trouble. He was terribly mad when I +told him how the hack man had served me; he told me to watch for the +hard-hearted wretch next day and if I saw him to point him out and he +would teach him how to play jokes on innocent children. + +He took me to his boarding place, a fancy restaurant, right across the +street; he said he was just fixing to go to bed when he spied me across +the street, acting as though in trouble. + +When he found out that I hadn't had a square meal for three days he +remarked that it was a d--d shame and then told the night clerk, who +appeared to be half asleep, to have me a good supper fixed up and to +give me a good room. He then bid me good night and started to bed, +telling me to remain there until I found work, if it was a month, that +he would arrange everything with the proprietor in the morning before +he went to work. I thanked him with tears in my eyes, for his kindness. + +I was so tired and sleepy that I never woke up until nearly noon next +day. After eating breakfast, I struck out to hunt a job, but failed as +usual. + +Three days after, while out hunting work, I stopped an old man and asked +him if he knew where I could find a job? He smiled and said: "My boy +this is the fourth time you have asked me that same question in the last +three days. You must like my looks, for I have noticed you pass scores +of men without stopping them." + +I told him I never tackled a man unless he had a pleasing countenance, +for I had been snapped up short by so many; I also told him that I did +not remember asking him before. + +He finally, after asking me a few questions, said: "Follow me and I will +find you work before I stop." + +The first place we went into was the Planters' House, on Fourth street, +between Pine and Chestnut, and he asked the clerk if they needed a bell +boy. "No," was the short answer he received. + +He then asked where he could find the proprietor. "Up in his room, +No.--. on first floor," was the answer. + +We found the "boss" busily writing. My new friend plead my case like a +dutch uncle and told him if I didn't prove to be just what he +recommended me to be--a wide-awake, get-up-and-get, honest boy, that he +would pay all damages, etc. + +That seemed to settle it, for I was told to go down to the office and +wait for orders. + +I was too happy to live. I thanked the kind old gentleman from the +bottom of my heart and offered to pay him for his trouble as soon as I +earned some money. He told me I could pay him for his trouble by being a +good boy. + +After waiting a few minutes in the office, the proprietor came down and +made a bargain with me. My wages were to be ten dollars a month. He gave +me one month's wages in advance, to buy clean clothes with. + +I was put on the forenoon watch which went on duty at eight in the +morning and came off at one in the afternoon. There were five of us on +at a time. + +We would always make from twenty-five cents to five dollars a day while +on duty, for we hardly ever went to wait on a person but what they would +give us something in the shape of money. Gamblers generally gave us the +most; sometimes a lot of them would get together in a room to play +cards and send down to the bar after their drinks and may be send a ten +or twenty dollar bill and tell the bell boy to keep the change. With +this money we used to have some gay old times taking in the city after +coming off guard. + +The next fall, nearly one year after landing at the "Planters," I had a +fight with one of the bell boys, Jimmie Byron. He called me a liar and I +jumped aboard of him. When it was over with, the clerk, Mr. Cunningham, +called me up to the counter and slapped me without saying a word. + +I went right straight to my room, packed up my "gripsack" and went to +the proprietor for a settlement. + +He was surprised and wanted to know what in the world had gotten into +me. + +I told him the whole thing, just as it happened. He tried to get me to +stay but I was still mad and wouldn't listen to him. I had made up my +mind to buy a pistol, come back and get square with Mr. Cunningham for +slapping me. + +I left the house with eighteen dollars in my pocket; jumped aboard of a +street car and rode down to the levee. I left my valise at a saloon and +then started back to find a gun store. I finally found one and gave ten +dollars for a fancy little ivory handled five-shooter. + +I then started for the "Planters" still as mad as an old setting hen. I +had not gone far when I came across a large crowd gathered around one of +those knife rackets, where you pay a quarter for five rings and try to +"ring" a knife. + +I watched the thing awhile and finally invested a quarter. I got a +little "Jim Crow" barlow the first throw. That made it interesting, so I +bought another quarters worth, and another until five dollars was gone. +This did not satisfy me, so I kept on until I didn't have a nickel left. + +But wasn't I mad when I realized what I had done! I forgot all about my +other troubles and felt like breaking my own head instead of +Cunningham's. + +I went to the levee and found out that the "Bart Able" would start for +New Orleans in a few minutes, so I ran to get my satchel, not far off, +determined on boarding the steamer and remaining there until kicked off. +Anything to get nearer the land of my birth, I thought, even if I had to +break the rules of a gentleman in doing so. + +When the Purser came around collecting fares, I laid my case before him +with tears in my eyes; I told him I was willing to work--and hard, too, +to pay my fare. He finally, after studying awhile, said, "Well go ahead, +I'll find something for you to do." + +Everything went on lovely with me until one evening when we stopped at a +landing to take on some freight, mostly grain. We pulled up by the side +of an old disabled steamer which was being used for a wharf-boat and +went to work loading. The job given to me was sewing sacks when ever one +was found out of order. + +There were two sets of men loading, one in the stern and the other in +the bow, and I was supposed to do the sewing at both ends. When they +came across a holey sack, if I happened to be at the other end they +would holloa for me and I would go running through the narrow passage +way, leading from one end to the other. + +I was in the stern when the sound of my name came from the other end; I +grabbed my ball of twine and struck out in a dog trot through the +passage the sides of which were formed of grain piled to the ceiling. +When about half way through I thought I heard my name called from the +end I had just left; I stopped to listen and while waiting, being tired, +I went to lean over against the wall of sacked grain, but instead of a +wall there was an old vacated hatchway and over into that I went. There +being no flooring in the boat, there was nothing but the naked timbers +for my weary bones to alight upon. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A NEW EXPERIENCE. + + +The next day about noon I came to my senses. I found myself all alone in +a nice little room on a soft bed. I tried to get up but it was useless; +my back felt as if it was broken. I couldn't think what had happened to +me. But finally the door opened and in stepped a doctor, who explained +the whole matter. He said the captain, just as the boat was fixing to +pull out, was walking through the passage way when he heard my groans +down in the hold and getting a lantern, ladder and help, fished me out +almost lifeless. I was in the captain's private room and having the best +of care. The back of my head was swollen out of shape, it having struck +on one of the cross timbers, while my back landed across another. The +doctor said I owed my life to the captain for finding me, "for," said +he, "if you had remained in there twenty minutes longer your case would +have been hopeless." + +At last we arrived in Memphis, Tenn. We had been traveling very slowly +on account of having to stop at all the small landings and unload +freight or take on more. + +After landing at Memphis I took a notion that a little walk would help +my lame back, so I struck out along the river bank, very slowly. + +During my walk I came across a drove of small snipe, and having my +pistol with me, I shot at them. The pistol report attracted the +attention of two boys who were standing not far off. They came over to +me, and one of them, the oldest, who was on crutches, having only one +leg, asked how much I would take for my "shooter?" I told him I would +take ten dollars for it, as I was in need of money. He examined it +carefully and then said: "It's a trade buddy, but you will have to go up +to that little house yonder, to get the money, as I havn't got that much +with me." + +The house he pointed out stood off by itself to the right of the town, +which was situated about a mile from the river. The house in question +being half a mile off, I told him that I was too weak to walk that far, +on account of my back being out of whack. "Well," said he, "you go with +us as far as that big sand hill yonder," pointing to a large red sand +hill a few hundred yards from where we stood, "and my chum here, who has +got two good legs, will run on and get the money while we wait." + +I agreed, not suspecting anything wrong and when behind the sand hill, +out of sight of the steamboat landing, Mr. one-leg threw down on me with +my own "shooter" and ordered me to throw up my hands. I obeyed and held +mighty still while the other young ruffian went through my pockets. They +walked off with everything I had in my pockets, even took my valise key. +I felt considerably relieved, I can assure you, when the cocked revolver +was taken down from within a few inches of my nose. I was in dread for +fear his trembling finger might accidently touch the trigger. + +As soon as I was released I went right back to the landing and notified +a policeman who struck out after them. But whether he caught them or not +I never knew, as the "Bart Able" steamed down the river shortly +afterwards. + +The same evening after arriving in New Orleans the "Bart Able" pulled +back, for Saint Louis, leaving me there flat broke and among strangers. + +I looked terribly blue late that evening as I walked up and down the +crowded levee studying what to do. I had already been to the Morgan +steamship landing and begged for a chance to work my way to Texas, but +met with poor success. I could not hire out even if I had applied and +got a job, for my back was still stiff, so much so that I couldn't stoop +down without terrible pain. + +That night I laid down under an old tarpaulin which was spread over a +lot of sugar. + +After getting up and shaking the dust off next morning, I went down the +river about a mile where scores of small boats were being unloaded. + +Among them were several boat loads of oranges, bananas, etc., which were +being unloaded. In carrying the bananas on shore the over ripe ones +would drop off. On those I made my breakfast, but I wished a thousand +times before night that I had not eaten them, for Oh Lord, how my head +did ache! + +That night I went to sleep on a pile of cotton bales--that is I tried to +sleep, but my headache was terrible, I could get but little repose. + +The next morning I found there was a Morgan steamship in from Texas, and +I struck out to interview the captain in regard to a free ride to +Texas. But the old pot-bellied sinner wouldn't talk to me. + +In the afternoon I began to grow weak from hunger and my back ached +badly. I sat down on an old stove at the foot of Canal street and never +moved for three long hours. + +Finally a well dressed old man about fifty years of age, with an +umbrella over his head, came out of Couens' office, a small building a +short distance from where I sat, and walking up to me said, in a gruff +voice, "young man what are you sitting out here in the sun for, so +upright and stiff, as if nailed to that old stove?" + +I told him I was compelled to sit upright on account of a lame back. In +fact I laid my case before him in full. He then said in a much more +pleasant voice: "My boy I'm going to make you an offer, and you can take +it or let it alone--just as you like. I will give you four dollars a +month to help my wife around the house and at the end of four months +will give you a free pass to Texas. You see I am agent for Couens' Red +River line of boats and, therefore, can get a pass cheap." + +I accepted his offer at once and thanked him with all my heart for his +kindness. Being on his way home, we boarded a Canal street car. It was +then almost sundown. + +About a half hour's ride brought us within half a block of our +destination. + +Walking up a pair of nicely finished steps at No. 18 Derbigny street, he +rang a bell. A negro servant whom he called "Ann," answered the call. +Everything sparkled within, for the house was furnished in grand style. +The old gentleman introduced me to his wife as a little Texas hoosier +that had strayed off from home and was about to starve. + +After supper "Miss Mary," as the servants called Mrs. Myers and as I +afterwards called her showed me to the bath house and told me to give +myself an extraordinary good scrubbing. + +I do not know as this improved my looks any, as I hadn't any clean +clothes to put on, my valise having been stolen during my illness coming +down the river. + +The next day Miss Mary took me to a clothing house and fitted me out in +fine style. I admired all but the narrow brimmed hat and peaked toed +gaiters. I wanted a broad brimmed hat and star top boots, but she said I +would look too much like a hoosier with them on. + +That evening I got a black eye. After Mr. Myers came home from his work +about four o'clock, we all went out on the front steps to breathe the +fresh air. There being a crowd of boys playing at the corner I asked Mr. +and Mrs. Myers if I could go over and watch them awhile. Both consented, +but told me not to stay long as they didn't want me to get into the +habit of mixing with the street loafers. + +On arriving there all eyes were turned towards me. One fellow yelled +out, "Hello dandy, when did you arrive!" and another one remarked, "He +is a stiff cuss--aint he?" + +I concluded there was nothing to be seen and turned back; just as I +turned around a yellow negro boy slipped up behind me and pulled my +hair. The white boys had put him up to it, no doubt. + +I jumped aboard of him quicker than a flash and forgot all about my sore +back. It was nip and tuck for awhile--we both being about the same size, +but I finally got him down and blooded his nose in good shape. As I went +to get up he kicked me over one eye with his heavy boot. Hence the black +eye, which was swollen up in a few minutes to an enormous size. + +I expected to get a scolding from Mr. and Mrs. Myers, but they both +gloried in my spunk for taking my own part. They had witnessed the whole +thing. + +Somehow or another that fight took the kink out of my back for from that +time on it began to get well. I am bothered with it though, to this day, +when I take cold or do a hard day's work. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ADOPTED AND SENT TO SCHOOL. + + +Mr. and Mrs. Myers had no children and after I had been with them about +a month, they proposed to adopt me, or at least they made me promise to +stay with them until I was twenty-one years of age. + +They were to send me to school until I was seventeen and then start me +in business. They also promised to give me everything they had at their +death. + +So they prepared me for school right away. As I was not very far +advanced in book learning, having forgotten nearly all that Mr. Hale +taught me, they thought I had better go to Fisk's public school until I +got a start. + +I had not been going to this school long when I had trouble with the +lady teacher, Miss Finnely. It happened thus: A boy sitting behind me, +struck me on the neck with a slate pencil, and when I turned around and +accused him of it he whispered, "you lie." I gave him a lick on the nose +that made him bawl like a calf. + +Of course the teacher heard it and called us up to take our medicine. + +She made the other boy hold out his hand first and after giving him five +raps told him to take his seat. + +It was then my time, and I stuck out my hand like a little man. She gave +me five licks and was raising the rule to strike again when I jerked my +hand away, at the same time telling her that it wasn't fair to punish me +the most when the other boy caused the fuss. She insisted on giving me a +little more so finally I held out my hand and received five more licks +and still she was not satisfied; but I was and went to my seat. She told +me two or three times to come back but I would not do it, so she sent a +boy upstairs after Mr. Dyer, the gentleman who taught the large boys. + +I had seen Mr. Dyer try his hand on boys, at several different times, +therefore didn't intend to let him get hold of me if I could help it. +She saw me looking towards the door, so she came over and stood between +me and it. + +I heard Mr. Dyer coming down the stairs; that was enough; I flew for the +door. I remember running against something soft and knocking it over and +suppose it must have been Miss Finnely. When I got to the street I +pulled straight for home. + +About a week afterwards Mr. Myers sent me to pay school, where I was +taught German, French and English. My teacher was an old gentleman who +only took a few select scholars. + +Everything went on fine until the following spring, in May or June, when +I got into a fuss with one of the scholars and skipped the country. + +The way it happened: One day when school let out for dinner we all, +after emptying our dinner baskets, struck out for the "green" to play +"foot and a half." + +There was one boy in the crowd by the name of Stemcamp who was always +trying to pick a fuss with me. He was twice as large as I was, therefore +I tried to avoid him, but this time he called me a liar and I made for +him. + +During the scuffle which followed, I got out my little pearl handled +knife, one "Miss Mary" had given me just a few days before and was +determined to use it the first opportunity. + +I was down on all fours and he astride of my back putting it to me in +the face, underhanded. The only place I could get at with the knife was +his legs, so I stuck it in up to the handle, on the inside of one leg, +just below the groin and ripped down. + +He jumped ten feet in the air and roared out "Holy Moses!" + +As soon as I regained my feet he took to his heels, but I soon overtook +him and got another dig at his back. I thought sure I had done him up +for good this time but found out afterwards that I had done no harm, +with the exception of ripping his clothes down the back. + +The next day at that time I was on my way to Saint Louis. I had stowed +myself away on board of the "Mollie Able" among the cotton bales. + +The second night out we had a blow up. One of the cylinder-heads blew +out of the engine. It nearly killed the engineer and fireman, also +several other persons. + +A little negro boy--who was stealing his passage--and I were sleeping on +a pile of lumber close to the engine when she went off. We both got +pretty badly scalded. + +The steamer ran ashore and laid there until morning and then went the +balance of the way on one wheel. It took us just eight days from that +time to get to Saint Louis. + +I remained in Saint Louis one day without food--not caring to visit the +"Planters" or any of my acquaintances--and then walked to Lebanon, Ill., +twenty-five miles. I thought may be I might find out through some of my +Lebanon friends where mother and sister were. + +It was nearly noon when I struck out on my journey and nine o'clock at +night when I arrived at my destination. I went straight to Mrs. Bell's, +where sister had worked, but failed to hear a word of mother and +sister's whereabouts. + +Mrs. Bell gave me a good bed that night and next morning I struck out to +hunt a job. + +After considerable tramping around I found work with one of my old +employers, a Mr. Jacobs, who lived twelve miles from town. + +I only worked a short while when I began to wish I was back under "Miss +Mary's" wing. So one morning I quit and pulled for Saint Louis. + +I had money enough to pay my fare to Saint Louis and I arrived there +just as the "Robert E. Lee" and "Natchez" were fixing to pull out on +their big race for New Orleans. + +The "Robert E. Lee" being my favorite boat, I jumped aboard just as she +was shoving off. Of course I had to keep hidden most of the time, +especially when the captain or purser were around. I used to get my +chuck from the cook who thought I was a bully boy. + +The "Natchez" would have beaten, no doubt, but she got too smart by +trying to make a cut-off through an old canal opposite Memphis and got +stuck in the mud. + +The first thing after landing in New Orleans, I hunted up one of my boy +friends and found out by him how my victim was getting on. He informed +me that he was up and hobbling about on crutches. He also stated that +the poor fellow came very near losing his leg. I concluded if they did +have me arrested that Mr. Myers was able to help me out, so I braced up +and struck out for home. + +Mr. and Mrs. Myers were terribly tickled over my return. They had an +awful time though getting me scrubbed up again, as I was very black and +dirty. + +A few days after my return Mr. Myers went to see my same old teacher to +find out whether he would take me back or not. At first he said that no +money could induce him to be bothered with me again, but finally Mr. +Myers talked him into the notion of trying me once more. + +So the next morning I shouldered my books and struck out for school to +take up my same old studies, German, French and English. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +BACK AT LAST TO THE LONE STAR STATE. + + +Everything went on lovely until the coming fall, about the latter part +of November when I skipped the country for good. I will tell you how it +happened. + +One afternoon a fire broke out close to the school house and as +everybody was rushing by, I became excited and wanted to go too, to see +the fun. I asked the teacher if I could go, but he refused in a gruff +voice. This did not keep me, I made a break for the door and was soon +lost among the surging mass of people. + +The next heard of me was on the "rolling deep." I had boarded a Morgan +steamship and stowed myself away until the vessel was at sea, where I +knew they wouldn't land to put me ashore. + +"St. Mary" was the name of the ship. She lost one of her wheel houses +and was considerably out of shape when we landed in Galveston, Texas. It +had stormed terribly during the whole trip. + +During the few hours that the ship remained in Galveston, I put in my +time hunting an old uncle of mine by the name of "Nick" White, whom I +had never seen. He had been living there seventeen years, therefore I +experienced but little difficulty in finding his place; but after +finding it I didn't have courage enough to go in and make myself known. +One reason was, I thought he might think I was beholden to him, or in +other words, trying to get his sympathy. I just stood at the gate a few +minutes viewing the beautiful shrubbery, which filled the spacious yard +and went back to the boat which by that time, was just fixing to pull +out. + +We arrived in Indianola one morning about sun-up. I recognized several +of my old acquaintances standing on the wharf before the ship landed; +among them was my old God-father Mr. Hagerty, who stood for me when I +was being christened by the Catholic priest. + +They were all surprised to see me back. Mr. Hagerty took me home with +him and told me to content myself until I could find work. + +In about a week I went to work for Mr. H. Selickson, who ran a packing +house five miles below town. He gave me fifteen dollars a month all +winter. + +The first month's wages went for a fancy pistol, the next, or at least +part of it, for a pair of star topped boots and all the balance on +"monte," a mexican game. There were lots of mexicans working there and +after working hours some of them would "deal" monte while the rest of us +"bucked." + +About the first of February I quit the packing house and went to +Matagorda where I was welcomed by all my old acquaintances. From there I +took a trip over to the "Settlement," on the Peninsula, to see the old +homestead. Everything looked natural; the cedar and fig trees were +covered with little red winged black birds, seemingly the same ones that +were there when I left, nearly three years before. + +After a week's stay in the Settlement, I went back to Matagorda and went +to work for Mr. Joseph Yeamans, a Baptist preacher. My work was farming +and my wages part of the crop. + +Mr. Yeamans' farm was a thirty acre sand patch on the Peninsula, about +forty miles above the Settlement. Our aim was to raise a big crop of +water melons and sweet potatoes, but when I left everything pointed to a +big crop of grass burrs and a very slim lay out of sweet potatoes and +water melons. + +The old gentleman and I lived all alone in a little delapidated shanty +with a dirt floor. Our chuck consisted of black coffee, hard-tack and +coon or 'possum meat. We had three good coon dogs, therefore had plenty +of fresh meat such as it was. + +There being plenty "Mavricks" close at hand, and being tired of coon +meat, I used to try and get the old man to let me butcher one now and +then for a change, but he thought it wicked to kill cattle not our own. + +As some of you may not know what a "Mavrick" is, I will try and explain. + +In early days, a man by the name of Mavrick settled on the Lavaca river +and started a cow ranch. He being a chicken-hearted old rooster, +wouldn't brand nor ear-mark any of his cattle. All his neighbors branded +theirs, therefore Mr. Mavrick claimed everything that wore long ears. + +When the war broke out Mr. Mavrick had to bid adieu to wife and babies +and go far away to fight for his country's good. + +When the cruel war was ended, he went home and found his cattle roaming +over a thousand hills. Everywhere he went he could see thousands upon +thousands of his long-eared cattle. + +But when his neighbors and all the men in the surrounding country came +home and went to branding their five years increase, Mr. Mavrick did not +feel so rich. He made a terrible fuss about it, but it did no good, as +in a very few years his cattle wore some enterprising man's brand and he +was left out in the cold. + +Hence the term "Mavrick." At first people used to say: "Yonder goes one +of Mr. Mavrick's animals!" Now they say: "Yonder goes a Mavrick!" + +About the time we got our crops, sweet potatoes, melons, etc., in the +ground, I swore off farming and skipped out for town, leaving Mr. +Yeamans my share of the "crop" free _gratis_. + +After arriving in Matagorda I hired out to a Mr. Tom Nie, who was over +there, from Rancho Grande, hiring some Cow Boys. + +"Rancho Grande" was owned by "Shanghai" Pierce and Allen and at that +time was considered one of the largest ranches in the whole state of +Texas. To give you an idea of its size, will state, that the next year +after I went to work we branded twenty-five thousand calves--that is, +just in one season. + +Altogether there were five of us started to Rancho Grande to work--all +boys about my own age; we went in a sail boat to Palacious Point, where +the firm had an outside ranch and where they were feeding a large lot of +cow ponies for spring work. + +It was about the middle of April, 1871, that we all, about twenty of us, +pulled out for the headquarter ranch at the head of Tresspalacious +creek. It took us several days to make the trip as we had to brand +calves and Mavricks on the way up. + +A few days after arriving at the ranch Mr. or "Old Shang" Pierce as he +was commonly called, arrived from Old Mexico with about three hundred +head of wild spanish ponies, therefore we kids had a high old time +learning the art of riding a "pitching" horse. + +We put in several days at the ranch making preparations to start out on +a two months trip. Being a store there we rigged up in good shape; I +spent two or three months' wages for an outfit, spurs, etc., trying to +make myself look like a thoroughbred Cow Boy from Bitter creek. + +There were three crowds of us started at the same time; one to work up +the Colorado river, the other around home and the third which was ours, +to work west in Jackson and Lavaca counties. + +Our crowd consisted of fifteen men, one hundred head of ponies--mostly +wild ones--and a chuck wagon loaded down with coffee, flour, molasses +and salt. Tom Nie was our boss. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LEARNING TO ROPE WILD STEERS. + + +Arriving on the Navadad river, we went to work gathering a herd of +"trail" beeves and also branding Mavricks at the same time. Some days we +would brand as high as three or four hundred Mavricks--none under two +years old. + +After about a month's hard work we had the herd of eleven hundred ready +to turn over to Mr. Black who had bought them, delivered to him at the +Snodgrass ranch. They were all old mossy horn fellows, from seven to +twenty-seven years old. + +Mr. Black was a Kansas "short horn" and he had brought his outfit of +"short horn" men and horses, to drive the herd "up the trail." + +Some of the men had never seen a Texas steer, consequently they crossed +Red river into the Indian territory with nothing left but the "grub" +wagon and horses. They had lost every steer and Mr. Black landed in +Kansas flat broke. + +Lots of the steers came back to their old ranges and Mr. "Shanghai" had +the fun of selling them over again, to some other greeny, may be. + +"Shanghai" Pierce went to Kansas the next year and when he returned he +told of having met Mr. Black up there, working at his old +trade--blacksmithing. He said Mr. Black cursed Texas shamefully and +swore that he never would, even if he should live to be as old as Isaac, +son of Jacob, dabble in long horns again. + +After getting rid of Mr. Black's herd we turned our whole attention to +branding Mavricks. + +About the first of August we went back to the ranch and found that it +had changed hands in our absence. "Shanghai" Pierce and his brother +Jonathan had sold out their interests to Allen, Pool & Co. for the snug +little sum of one hundred and ten thousand dollars. + +That shows what could be done in those days, with no capital, but lots +of cheek and a branding iron. The two Pierce's had come out there from +Yankeedom a few years before poorer than skimmed milk. + +Everything had taken a change--even to the ranch. It had been moved down +the river four miles to Mr. John Moore's place. Mr. Moore had been +appointed "big chief," hence the ranch being moved to his place. + +About the middle of August we pulled out again with a fresh supply of +horses, six to the man and a bran new boss, Mr. Wiley Kuykendall. + +Some of the boys hated to part with Mr. Nie, but I was glad of the +change, for he wouldn't allow me to rope large steers nor fight when I +got on the war-path. I remember one time he gave me fits for laying a +negro out with a four-year old club; and another time he laid me out +with his open hand for trying to carve one of the boys up with a butcher +knife. + +We commenced work about the first of September on "Big Sandy" in Lavaca +county, a place noted for wild "brush" cattle. Very few people lived in +that section, hence so many wild unbranded cattle. + +To illustrate the class of people who lived on Big Sandy, will relate a +little picnic a negro and I had a few days after our arrival there. + +While herding a bunch of cattle, gathered the day before, on a small +prairie, we noticed a footman emerge from the thick timber on the +opposite side from where we were and make straight for a spotted pony +that was "hobbled" and grazing out in the open space. + +He was indeed a rough looking customer, being half naked. He had nothing +on his head but a thick mat of almost gray hair; and his feet and legs +were bare. + +We concluded to "rope" him and take him to camp, so taking down our +ropes and putting spurs to our tired horses we struck out. + +He saw us coming and only being about a hundred yards from the spotted +pony, he ran to him and cutting the "hobbles," which held his two front +legs together, jumped aboard of him and was off in the direction he had +just come, like a flash. The pony must have been well trained for he had +nothing to guide him with. + +A four hundred yard race for dear life brought him to the "brush"--that +is timber, thickly covered with an underbrush of live-oak "runners." He +shot out of sight like an arrow. He was not a minute too soon, for we +were right at his heels. + +We gave up the chase after losing sight of him, for we couldn't handle +our ropes in the "brush." + +The next day the camp was located close to the spot where he disappeared +at, and several of us followed up his trail. We found him and his three +grown daughters, his wife having died a short while before, occupying a +little one room log shanty in a lonely spot about two miles from the +little prairie in which we first saw him. The whole outfit were tough +looking citizens. The girls had never seen a town, so they said. They +had about two acres in cultivation and from that they made their living. +Their nearest neighbor was a Mr. Penny, who lived ten miles west and the +nearest town was Columbus, on the Colorado river, fifty miles east. + +As the cattle remained hidden out in the "brush" during the day-time, +only venturing out on the small prairies at night, we had to do most of +our work early in the morning, commencing an hour or two before +daylight. As you might wish to know exactly how we did, will try and +explain:--About two hours before daylight the cook would holloa "chuck," +and then Mr. Wiley would go around and yell "breakfast, boys; d----n you +get up!" two or three times in our ears. + +Breakfast being over we would saddle up our ponies, which had been +staked out the night before, and strike out for a certain prairie may be +three or four miles off--that is all but two or three men, just enough +to bring the herd, previously gathered, on as soon as it became light +enough to see. + +Arriving at the edge of the prairie we would dismount and wait for +daylight. + +At the first peep of day the cattle, which would be out in the prairie, +quite a distance from the timber, would all turn their heads and +commence grazing at a lively rate towards the nearest point of timber. +Then we would ride around through the brush, so as not to be seen, until +we got to the point of timber that they were steering for. + +When it became light enough to see good, we would ride out, rope in +hand, to meet them and apt as not one of the old-timers, may be a +fifteen or twenty-year old steer, which were continuously on the +lookout, would spy us before we got twenty yards from the timber. Then +the fun would begin--the whole bunch, may be a thousand head, would +stampede and come right towards us. They never were known to run in the +opposite direction from the nearest point of timber. But with cattle +raised on the prairies, it's the reverse, they will always leave the +timber. + +After coming in contact, every man would rope and tie down one of the +finest animals in the bunch. Once in awhile some fellow would get more +beef than he could manage; under those circumstances he would have to +worry along until some other fellow got through with his job and came to +his rescue. + +If there was another prairie close by we would go to it and tie down a +few more, but we would have to get there before sunup or they would all +be in the brush. It was their habit to graze out into the little +prairies at night-fall and go back to the brush by sunrise next morning. + +Finally the herd which we had gathered before and which was already +"broke in," would arrive from camp, where we had been night-herding them +and then we would drive it around to each one of the tied-down animals, +letting him up so he couldn't help from running right into the herd, +where he would generally stay contented. Once in awhile though, we would +strike an old steer that couldn't be made to stay in the herd. Just as +soon as he was untied and let up he would go right through the herd and +strike for the brush, fighting his way. Under those circumstances we +would have to sew up their eyes with a needle and thread. That would +bring them to their milk, as they couldn't see the timber. + +I got into several scrapes on this trip, by being a new hand at the +business. One time I was going at full speed and threw my rope onto a +steer just as he got to the edge of the timber; I couldn't stop my horse +in time, therefore the steer went on one side of a tree and my horse on +the other and the consequence was, my rope being tied hard and fast to +the saddle-horn, we all landed up against the tree in a heap. + +At another time, on the same day, I roped a large animal and got my +horse jerked over backwards on top of me and in the horse getting up he +got me all wound up in the rope, so that I couldn't free myself until +relieved by "Jack" a negro man who was near at hand. I was certainly in +a ticklish predicament that time; the pony was wild and there I hung +fast to his side with my head down while the steer, which was still +fastened to the rope, was making every effort to gore us. + +Just before Christmas Moore selected our outfit to do the shipping at +Palacious Point, where a Morgan steamship landed twice a week to take on +cattle for the New Orleans market. + +We used to ship about five hundred head at each shipping. After getting +rid of one bunch we would strike right back, to meet one of the +gathering outfits, after another herd. There were three different +outfits to do the gathering for us. + +We kept that up all winter and had a tough time of it, too, as it +happened to be an unusually cold and wet winter. + +Towards spring the cattle began to get terribly poor, so that during the +cold nights while night-herding them a great many would get down in the +mud and freeze to death. Have seen as high as fifty head of dead ones +scattered over the ground where the herd had drifted during the night. +It's a pity if such nights as those didn't try our nerves. + +Sometimes it would be twelve o'clock at night before we would get the +cattle loaded aboard of the ship. But when we did get through we would +surely have a picnic--filling up on Mr. Geo. Burkheart's red eye. Mr. +Burkheart kept a store at the "Point" well filled with Cow Boys +delight--in fact he made a specialty of the stuff. + +Our camping ground was three miles from the Point, and some mornings the +cook would get up and find several saddled horses standing around camp +waiting for their corn--their riders having fallen by the wayside. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +OWNING MY FIRST CATTLE. + + +When spring opened, our outfit, under the leadership of Mr. Robert +Partin, Mr. Wiley having quit, struck out up the Colorado river in +Whorton and Colorado counties to brand Mavricks. + +About the last of July we went to the "home" ranch, where Mr. Wiley was +put in charge of us again. We were sent right out on another trip, west, +to Jackson county. + +It was on this trip that I owned my first cattle. Mr. Wiley concluded it +would look more business like if he would brand a few Mavricks for +himself instead of branding them all for Allen, Pool & Co., so he began +putting his own brand on all the finest looking ones. To keep us boys +from giving him away, he gave us a nest egg apiece--that is a few head +to draw to. My nest eggs were a couple of two-year olds, and my brand +was A. T. connected--the T. on top of the A. Of course after that I +always carried a piece of iron tied to my saddle so in case I got off +on the prairie by myself I could brand a few Mavricks for myself, +without Mr. Wiley being any the wiser of it. The way I would go about it +would be to rope and tie down one of the long-eared fellows and after +heating the straight piece of round, iron bolt, in the brush or +"cow-chip" fire, "run" my brand on his hip or ribs. He was then my +property. + +Everything ran along as smooth as if on greased wheels for about two +months, when somehow or another, Mr. Moore, our big chief, heard of our +little private racket and sent for us to come home. + +Mr. Wiley got the "G. B." at once and a Mr. Logan was put in his place. +Now this man Logan was a very good man but he was out of his latitude, +he should have been a second mate on a Mississippi steamboat. + +I worked with Logan one trip, until we got back to the ranch and then I +settled up for the first time since going to work, nearly two years +before. + +An old irishman by the name of "Hunky-dorey" Brown kept the store and +did the settling up with the men. When he settled with me he laid all +the money, in silver dollars, that I had earned since commencing work, +which amounted to a few hundred dollars, out on the counter and then +after eyeing me awhile, said: "Allen, Pool & Co. owe you three hundred +dollars," or whatever the amount was, "and you owe Allen, Pool & Co. two +hundred ninety-nine dollars and a quarter, which leaves you seventy-five +cents." He then raked all but six bits into the money drawer. + +To say that I felt mortified wouldn't near express my feelings. I +thought the whole pile was mine and therefore had been figuring on the +many purchases that I intended making. My intentions were to buy a herd +of ponies and go to speculating. I had a dozen or two ponies, that I +knew were for sale, already picked out in my mind. But my fond +expectations were soon trampled under foot. You see I had never kept an +account, consequently never knew how I stood with the company. + +After pocketing my six bits, I mounted "Fannie" a little mare that I had +bought not long before and struck out for W. B. Grimes' ranch, a few +miles up the river. I succeeded in getting a job from the old gentleman +at fifteen dollars per month. + +Mr. Grimes had a slaughter house on his ranch where he killed cattle for +their hides and tallow--the meat he threw to the hogs. About two +hundred head per day was an average killing. Did you ask kind reader, +if those were all his own cattle that he butchered? If so, will have to +say that I never tell tales out of school. + +After working around the ranch a short while Mr. Grimes gave me the job +of taking care of his "stock horses," that is mares, colts and horses +that wern't in use. There were about two hundred head of those and they +were scattered in two hundred and fifty different places--over fifty +square miles of territory and of course before I could take care of them +I had to go to work and gather them up into one bunch. + +A little circumstance happened shortly after going to work at the "W. B. +G." ranch which I am going to relate. + +An old gentleman by the name of Kinchlow, who owned a large horse ranch +up on the Colorado river in Whorton county, came down and told Mr. +Grimes that his outfit was fixing to start on a horse "hunt" and for him +to send a man along, as there were quite a number of "W. B. G." horses +in that country. + +As I had the job taking care of the horses, it fell to my lot to +accompany the old gentleman, Mr. Kinchlow, to his ranch fifty miles +distant. + +It was bright and early one morning when we pulled out, aiming to ride +the fifty miles by ten o'clock that night. Mr. Kinchlow was mounted on +"old Beauregard," a large chestnut sorrel, while I rode a fiery little +bay. + +Our journey was over a bald, wet prairie; night overtook us at the head +of Blue creek, still twenty miles from our destination. + +A few minutes after crossing Blue creek, just about dusk, we ran across +a large panther, which jumped up out of the tall grass in front of us. +It was a savage looking beast and appeared to be on the war-path. After +jumping to one side it just sat still, growling and showing its ugly +teeth. I started to shoot it but Mr. Kinchlow begged me not to as it +would frighten his horse, who was then almost beyond control, from +seeing the panther. + +We rode on and a few minutes afterwards discovered the panther sneaking +along after us through the tall grass. I begged Mr. Kinchlow to let me +kill it, but he wouldn't agree, as, he said, a pistol shot would cause +old Beauregard to jump out of his hide. + +It finally became very dark; our guide was a certain bright little star. +We had forgotten all about the panther as it had been over half an hour +since we had seen it. The old man was relating an indian tale, which +made my hair almost stand on end, as I imagined that I was right in the +midst of a wild band of reds, when all at once old Beauregard gave a +tremendous loud snort and dashed straight ahead at a break-neck speed. +Mr. Kinchlow yelled "whoa," every jump; finally his voice died out and I +could hear nothing but the sound of his horse's hoofs, and finally the +sound of them too, died out. + +Of course I socked spurs to my pony and tried to keep up, for I imagined +there were a thousand and one indians and panthers right at my heels. + +After running about a quarter of a mile I heard something like a faint, +human groan, off to my right about fifty yards. I stopped and listened, +but could not hear anything more, except now and then the lonely howl of +a coyote off in the distance. I finally began to feel lonesome, so I put +spurs to my pony again. But I hadn't gone only a few jumps when I +checked up and argued with myself thusly:--Now suppose that groan came +from the lips of Mr. Kinchlow, who may-be fell from his horse and is +badly hurt; then wouldn't it be a shame to run off and leave him there +to die when may be a little aid from me would save him? + +I finally spunked up and drawing my pistol started in the direction from +whence came the groan. My idea in drawing the pistol was, for fear the +panther, who I felt satisfied had been the cause of the whole trouble, +might tackle me. Suffice it to say that I found the old gentleman +stretched out on the ground apparently lifeless and that a half hour's +nursing brought him to. He finally after several trials, got so he could +stand up, with my aid. I then helped him into my saddle, while I rode +behind and held him on and we continued our journey both on one horse. +He informed me after he came to his right senses, that old Beauregard +had fallen and rolled over him. + +We landed at our destination about ten o'clock next morning; but the +good old man only lived about two weeks afterwards. He died from the +effects of the fall, so I heard. + +About Christmas I quit Mr. Grimes and went to work on my own hook, +skinning "dead" cattle and adding to the nest egg Mr. Wiley gave me. I +put my own brand on quite a number of Mavricks while taking care of Mr. +Grimes' horses, which began to make me feel like a young cattle king. +The only trouble was they were scattered over too much wild territory +and mixed up with so many other cattle. When a fellow branded a Mavrick +in those days it was a question whether he would ever see or realize a +nickel for it. For just think, one, or even a hundred head mixed up with +over a million of cattle, and those million head scattered over a +territory one hundred miles square and continually drifting around from +one place to another. + +After leaving Daddy Grimes I made my home at Mr. Horace Yeamans', an old +mexican war veteran, who lived five miles from Grimes'. His family +consisted of two daughters and two sons, all grown but the youngest +daughter, Sally, who was only fourteen, and who I was casting sheeps +eyes at. The old gentleman had brought his children up very pious, which +was a glorious thing for me as, during the two years that I made my home +there, I got broke of swearing--a dirty, mean habit which had fastened +itself upon me, and which I thought was impossible to get rid of. I had +become so that it was almost an impossibility for me to utter a sentence +without using an oath to introduce it and another to end it. To show how +the habit was fastened upon me: Mr. Parten, one of my former bosses, +made me an offer of three dollars more wages, on the month, if I would +quit cursing but I wouldn't do it. + +Horace Yeamans, who was about my own age and I went into partnership in +the skinning business. Cattle died by the thousands that winter, on +account of the country being overstocked, therefore Horace and I had a +regular picnic skinning, and branding Mavricks--only those that looked +as if they might pull through the winter. + +To give you an idea how badly cattle died that winter will state that, +at times, right after a sleet, a man could walk on dead animals for +miles without stepping on the ground. This, of course, would be along +the Bay shore, where they would pile up on top of one another, not being +able to go further, on account of the water. + +About five miles east of Mr. Yeamans' was a slough or creek called +"Turtle bayou" which lay east and west a distance of several miles, and +which I have seen bridged over with dead cattle, from one end to the +other. You see the solid mass of half starved animals, in drifting ahead +of a severe "Norther," would undertake to cross the bayou, which was +very boggy and consequently the weakest ones would form a bridge for the +others to cross on. + +My share of the first hides we shipped to Indianola amounted to one +hundred and fourteen dollars. You bet I felt rich. I never had so much +money in all my life. I went at once and bought me a twenty-seven dollar +saddle and sent mother twenty-five dollars. I had found out mother's +address, in Saint Louis, by one of my old Peninsula friends getting a +letter from sister. + +Our next sale amounted to more than the first. That time Horace and I +went to Indianola with the hides for we wanted to blow in some of our +surplus wealth; we were getting too rich. + +When spring opened I bought five head of horses and thought I would try +my hand at trading horses. The first trade I made, I cleared twenty-five +dollars. I gave an old mare which cost me twenty dollars, for a pony +which I sold a few days afterwards for forty-five. + +Along in May I fell head over heels in love, for the first time in my +life. A pretty little fourteen year old Miss, cousin to Horace and the +girls, came over on a month's visit and when she left I was completely +rattled--couldn't think of anything but her; her beautiful image was +continually before my eyes. + +Her father, who was Sheriff of Matagorda county lived on the road to +Matagorda, fifteen miles from Mr. Yeamans', therefore, during the coming +summer I went to town pretty often; to get a new brand recorded was +generally my excuse. You see, as she lived about half way between the +Yeamans' ranch and town, I could be near her two nights each trip, one +going and one returning. + +I had very poor success that summer in my new enterprise, horse trading. +I was too badly "locoed" to tell a good horse from a bad one; in fact I +wasn't fit for anything, unless it would have been a Mail carrier +between "Denning's Bridge" and Matagorda. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A START UP THE CHISHOLM TRAIL. + + +I put in the following winter branding Mavricks, skinning cattle and +making regular trips to Matagorda; I still remained in partnership with +Horace Yeamans in the skinning business. I made considerable money that +winter as I sold a greater number of Mavricks than ever before. But the +money did me no good as I spent it freely. + +That coming spring, it being 1874, I hired to Leander Ward of Jackson +county to help gather a herd of steers for the Muckleroy Bros., who were +going to drive them to Kansas. I had also made a contract with +Muckleroy's boss, Tom Merril, to go up the trail with him, therefore I +bid my friends good-bye, not expecting to see them again until the +coming fall. My wages were thirty-five dollars per month and all +expenses, including railroad fare back home. + +After a month's hard work we had the eleven hundred head of wild and +woolly steers ready to turn over to the Muckleroy outfit at Thirteen +mile point on the Mustang, where they were camped, ready to receive +them. Their outfit consisted mostly of Kansas "short horns" which they +had brought back with them the year before. + +It was a cold, rainy evening when the cattle were counted and turned +over to Tom Merril. Henry Coats, Geo. Gifford and myself were the only +boys who were turned over with the herd--that is kept right on. We were +almost worn out standing night guard half of every night for the past +month and then starting in with a fresh outfit made it appear tough to +us. + +That night it began to storm terribly. The herd began to drift early and +by midnight we were five or six miles from camp. The steers showed a +disposition to stampede but we handled them easy and sang melodious +songs which kept them quieted. But about one o'clock they stampeded in +grand shape. One of the "short horns," a long legged fellow by the name +of Saint Clair got lost from the herd and finally when he heard the +singing came dashing through the herd at full speed yelling "let 'em +slide, we'll stay with'em!" at every jump. + +They did slide sure enough, but he failed to "stay with 'em." For +towards morning one of the boys came across him lying in the grass sound +asleep. When he came dashing through the herd a stampede followed; the +herd split up into a dozen different bunches--each bunch going in a +different direction. I found myself all alone with about three hundred +of the frightened steers. Of course all I could do was to keep in front +or in the lead and try to check them up. I finally about three o'clock +got them stopped and after singing a few "lullaby" songs they all lay +down and went to snoring. + +After the last steer dropped down I concluded I would take a little nap +too, so locking both legs around the saddle-horn and lying over on the +tired pony's rump, with my left arm for a pillow, while the other still +held the bridle-reins, I fell asleep. I hadn't slept long though when, +from some unaccountable reason, every steer jumped to his feet at the +same instant and was off like a flash. My pony which was sound asleep +too, I suppose, became frightened and dashed off at full speed in the +opposite direction. Of course I was also frightened and hung to the +saddle with a death grip. I was unable to raise myself up as the pony +was going so fast, therefore had to remain as I was, until after about +a mile's run I got him checked up. + +Just as soon as I got over my scare I struck out in a gallop in the +direction I thought the cattle had gone, but failed to overtake them. I +landed in camp almost peetered out about nine o'clock next morning. The +rest of the boys were all there, just eating their breakfast. Tom Merril +and Henry Coats had managed to hold about half of the herd, while the +balance were scattered and mixed up with "range" cattle for twenty miles +around. + +After eating our breakfast and mounting fresh horses we struck out to +gather up the lost steers. We could tell them from the range cattle by +the fresh "road" brand--a brand that had been put on a few days +before--therefore, by four o'clock that evening we had all but about one +hundred head back to camp and those Leander Ward bought back at half +price--that is he just bought the road brand or all cattle that happened +to be left behind. + +On arriving at camp, we all caught fresh horses before stopping to eat +dinner or supper, whichever you like to call it, it being then nearly +night. The pony I caught was a wild one and after riding up to camp and +dismounting to eat dinner, he jerked loose from me and went a flying +with my star-spangled saddle. + +I mounted a pony belonging to one of the other boys and went in hot +pursuit. I got near enough once to throw my rope over his rump and that +was all. After a run of fifteen miles I gave it up as a bad job and left +him still headed for the Rio Grande. + +I got back to camp just at dark and caught a fresh horse before stopping +to eat my supper. It was still raining and had kept it up all day long. +Mr. "Jim" Muckleroy had an extra saddle along therefore I borrowed it +until I could get a chance to buy me another one. + +After eating a cold supper, the rain having put the fire out, I mounted +and went on "guard," the first part of the night, until one o'clock, +being my regular time to stay with the herd, while the last "guard" +remained in camp and slept. + +About ten o'clock it began to thunder and lightning, which caused the +herd to become unruly. Every time a keen clash of thunder would come the +herd would stampede and run for a mile or two before we could get them +to stop. It continued in that way all night so that we lost another +night's rest; but we managed to "stay with 'em" this time; didn't even +loose a steer. + +That morning we struck out on the trail for Kansas. Everything went on +smoothly with the exception of a stampede now and then and a fuss with +Jim Muckleroy, who was a regular old sore-head. Charlie, his brother was +a white man. Where the trouble began, he wanted Coats and I, we being +the only ones in the crowd who could ride wild horses--or at least who +were willing to do so, to do the wild horse riding for nothing. We +finally bolted and told him that we wouldn't ride another wild horse +except our regular "mount," unless he gave us extra pay. You see he +expected us to ride a horse a few times until he began to get docile and +then turn him over to one of his muley pets while we caught up a fresh +one. + +At High Hill in Fayette county I got the bounce from old Jim and a +little further on Coats got the same kind of a dose; while nearing the +northern state-line Geo. Gifford and Tom Merril, the boss, were fired; +so that left old Jim in full charge. He hired other men in our places. +He arrived in Wichita, Kansas with eight hundred steers, out of the +eleven hundred we started with. + +After leaving the outfit I rode to the Sunset railroad at Shusenburg and +boarded a train for Columbus on the Colorado river. "Pat" Muckleroy, +Charlie's son, who was about eighteen years old, quit and went with me. +His home was in Columbus and he persuaded me to accompany him and have a +good time. + +On arriving in Columbus I went with Pat to his home where I remained +during my stay in that place. I found Mrs. M., Pat's mother, to be a +kind-hearted old lady, and I never shall forget the big, fat apple +cobblers she used to make; she could beat the world making them. There +were also two young Misses in the family, Nannie and Mary, who made time +pass off pleasantly with me. + +It being seventy-five miles to Tresspalacious and there being no +railroad nearer than that, I had to wait for a chance to get home. I +could have bought a horse and saddle when I first struck town but after +remaining there a week I began to get light in the pocket, for it +required quite a lot of money to keep up my end with the crowd that Pat +associated with. + +At last after about a three weeks stay, I struck Asa Dawdy, an old +friend from Tresspalacious. He was there with a load of stock and was +just fixing to load them on the cars to ship them to Galveston when I +ran afoul of him. He had sold his saddle and was going to put his pet +pony, one that he wouldn't sell, into a pasture until some other time +when he happened up there. So you see I was in luck, he turned the pony +over to me to ride home on. + +After buying and rigging up a saddle I left town flat broke. I spent my +last dime for a glass of lemonade just before leaving. Thus ended my +first experience on the "trail." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +BUYS A BOAT AND BECOMES A SAILOR. + + +A three days' ride brought me to Grimes' ranch where I hoped to strike a +job, but the old gent' informed me that he was full handed--had more men +than he really needed. But he offered me a job cutting cord wood at a +dollar a cord until there should be an opening for me, which he thought +would be when the branding outfit arrived from Jackson county where it +had gone quite a while before. + +"Cutting cord wood" sounded tough to me, but I finally agreed to try it +a round or two, for I hated the idea of being "busted." Mr. Grimes was +to advance me about two weeks provisions on "tick," so I concluded I +couldn't lose anything--unless it was a few pounds of muscle and I had +grave doubts about that, for I knew my failing when it came to dabbling +in wood. + +Before launching out into the wood business I borrowed a horse and +struck out to hunt up old Satan so that I could ride around and find +easy trees to cut down; I found him about thirty miles from Grimes' +ranch; he was fat and wild; I had to get help to put him in a corral and +when I mounted him he pitched like a wolf. He had forgotten that he had +ever been ridden. + +The "wood camp" was three miles from the ranch in a thinly timbered +bottom. I had to camp all by myself, which made it a disagreeable job. + +The first day, after locating camp, was spent in building a kind of Jim +Crow shanty out of rotten logs--was saving my muscle to cut cord wood. + +Next morning bright and early I mounted Satan and rode around hunting +some easy trees--ones that I thought would cut nicely. I marked about a +dozen and went back to camp, it being noon by that time. + +After dinner I lay down to take a nap until evening when it would be +cooler. About five o'clock I rolled up my sleeves and waded into a +small, sickly pin-oak tree and the way chips flew for half an hour was a +caution. I then put in the balance of the evening cording it up--that is +what I had cut. It lacked considerable of being half a cord, but I +filled in a lot of rotten chunks to make it pan out fifty cents worth. +I slept sound that night for I was tired. + +Bright and early next morning I shouldered my axe and struck out to +tackle another sickly pin-oak tree. While spitting on my hands and +figuring on how many licks it would take to down the little sapling, I +spied a large coon in a neighboring live-oak. Now catching coons, you +all know by this time was a favorite passtime with me, so dropping the +axe I went for him. By the time I got part of him cooked it was noon; +and after dinner I fell asleep and dreamt happy dreams until after +sundown. After supper I went turkey hunting and killed a fat gobbler. +Thus ended my third day in a wood camp. + +I became tired of the cord wood business after two weeks time. It was +too lonesome a work for a boy of my restless disposition. I mounted +Satan one morning after devouring the last speck of grub in camp and +struck out for the ranch. On my arrival there Mr. Grimes asked me how +much wood I had? I told him I thought there was enough to balance my +grub bill. He said all right, he would send a man up there with me next +morning to measure it. I finally informed him that it wasn't in shape +for measuring, with the exception of half a cord that I cut the first +day, as it was scattered over a vast territory, two or three sticks in a +place. + +I suppose he balanced my grub bill as he has never presented it yet. + +Just then I came across a factory hand, John Collier by name, who had a +boat for sale. He had bought it for a pleasure boat but found he +couldn't support such a useless piece of furniture. He offered it to me +for forty dollars and he had paid one hundred for it. I tried to sell +Satan so as to buy it, but no one would have him as a gift, as they said +they would have to get their lives insured before mounting him. + +I wanted the boat, but how to get her I did not know. I finally studied +up a scheme: Mr. Collier wanted to buy a horse in case he sold the boat, +so I began talking horse trade. Nothing but a gentle animal would suit +he said. I then described one to him and asked how much he would take +to-boot if the pony proved to be as I represented? "Ten dollars" said +he; "she pops" continued I. So I started over to Cashe's creek to trade +Horace Yeamans out of an old crippled pony that he couldn't get rid of. +He was a nice looking horse and apparently as sound as a dollar; but on +trotting him around a short while he would become suddenly lame in both +of his front legs. + +Before starting to Cashe's creek next morning Mr. Collier told me to try +and get the horse there that night as, in case we made the trade, he and +Mr. Murphy would start next morning on a pleasure trip to Columbia, a +town forty miles east. I assured him that I would be back by dark. You +see, that was a point gained, making the trade after dark. + +I succeeded in making the trade with Horace; he gave me "old gray" as he +called him and fourteen dollars in money for my interest in three +different brands of cattle. He afterwards sold the cattle for enough to +buy a whole herd of crippled ponies. + +I rode back to Grimes' ranch very slowly so as not to cause old gray to +become lame. + +I arrived there about sundown, but remained out in the brush until after +dark. + +Mr. Collier, on being notified of my arrival, came out, lantern in hand, +bringing his friend Murphy along to do the judging for him. He confessed +that he was a very poor judge of a spanish pony, not having been long in +America. He was from "Hengland." + +After examining old gray all over they both pronounced him a model of +beauty--an honor to the mustang race. You see, he was hog fat, not +having been used for so long. + +The trade was sealed that night and next morning Mr. Collier and Murphy, +who already had a pony of his own, started on their forty mile journey. +When within five miles of Elliott's ferry on the Colorado river, which +was fifteen miles from Grimes' old gray gave out entirely, so that poor +Collier had to hoof it to the ferry where he secured another horse. + +Now kind reader you no doubt think that a shabby trick. If so, all I can +say is "such is life in the far west." + +Now that I was owner of a ship I concluded it policy to have a partner +for company if nothing more, so I persuaded a young factory hand by the +name of Sheiseinhamer or some such name to go in with me in my new +enterprise. He only had ten dollars to invest, therefore I held the +controlling interest. + +Our ship was schooner-rigged and would carry about three tons. Her name +was "Great Eastern" but we changed it to "The Blood Hound." + +I turned Satan loose to rustle for himself (I afterwards sold him to a +_stranger_ for thirty dollars) and then pulled down the river for +Matagorda Bay, a distance of fifteen miles. + +I concluded to go to the Peninsula and buy a load of melons that trip, +as there were none on Tresspalacious. + +We struck the Bay just at dark; the water was terribly rough and the +wind was so strong that it made the Blood Hound dip water and slide +along as though it was fun. My young pard, who had never been on salt +water before, having been raised in Saint Louis, turned pale behind the +gills and wanted to turn back when the low streak of land behind us +began to grow dim. But as I owned the controlling interest in the ship, +I told him he would have to grin and bear it. He swore that would be his +last trip and it was. He sold me his interest on the way back for eight +dollars; he lost just two dollars besides his time in the speculation. + +Finally we hove in sight of the light house at Salura Pass. Then we were +all right for I could tell just where to head for, although I hadn't +been on the Bay much since leaving there in '67. But I had learned it +thoroughly before then. + +It was fifteen miles across the Bay to Fred Vogg's landing, where I had +concluded to land. We arrived there about midnight and next morning +walked up to Mr. Vogg's house, about half a mile for breakfast. The +whole family were glad to see me--for the first time in eight years. + +I bought a load of melons delivered at the landing for five cents a +head--or piece I should have said. + +The next evening we started back home, and arrived at Grimes' just as +the whistle was tooting for dinner, next day. The whole crowd of factory +hands, there being about seventy-five, made a break for the boat to fill +up on melons. The largest I sold at fifty cents and the smallest at +twenty-five. By night I had sold entirely out and started back after +another load, all by myself this time, with the exception of a dog, a +stray that I had picked up. + +I bought my melons at a different place this time, from a Mr. Joe Berge +who lived a few miles above Mr. Vogg. I got them for two and a half +cents a piece, therefore made a better "speck" than before. I struck a +terrible storm on my return trip and came very near swamping. + +I made my next trip to Indianola as I had four passengers to take down, +at two dollars and a half a head. + +Shortly after landing in Indianola I got two passengers, one of them a +pretty young lady, Miss Ruthie Ward, to take to Sand Point in Lavaca +county, just across the Bay from Indianola. + +I remained in Indianola two days "bucking" monte. I left there broke +after paying for a load of melons. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BACK TO MY FAVORITE OCCUPATION, THAT OF A WILD AND WOOLLY COW BOY. + + +When the oyster season began, I abandoned the melon trade in favor of +the former. + +I would load up at one of the many oyster reefs in the Bay and take them +either to the factory or Indianola where they sold for one dollar a +barrel, in the shell. + +Along in October sometime, I worked up a scheme by which I thought I +could make a stake. My scheme was to get into the Colorado river where +there were no boats and speculate among the africans that lined the +river banks on both sides just as far up as it was navigable, which was +fifty miles or more. + +The worst job was to get the boat into the river, the mouth of it being +stopped up with a raft, or "drift" about eighteen miles long. + +My only show was to snake her across the prairie from the head of +Willson's creek, a distance of five miles--and that I concluded to do +if it took all the oxen in Matagorda county. + +As I needed a partner in my new enterprise, I managed to find one in the +person of an old irishman by the name of "Big Jack." He only had a +capital of eighteen dollars but I agreed to give him half of the +profits--which I figured on being very large. You see my intentions were +to swap for hides, pecans, etc., which I would have hauled overland to +Willson's creek and from there to Indianola by sail boat. + +Our plans being laid we struck out for Indianola to buy our goods--all +kinds of articles that we thought would catch the negro's eye, including +a good supply of tanglefoot--which I am sorry to say cost me dear, +besides being the cause of smashing my little scheme into a thousand +fragments. + +We finally started back from Indianola with our load of goods; and Jack +being an irishman, couldn't resist the temptation of taking a "wee drop +of the critter" every fifteen or twenty minutes. The consequences were +everything but edifying. + +I hired Anthony Moore, a gentleman of color to haul the Blood Hound and +all of our traps to the river. + +We fixed rollers under the boat and after getting her out high and dry +on the ball prairie, found that we didn't have oxen enough to carry out +the job. + +While Anthony Moore was off rustling for a couple more yoke of cattle, I +hired a horse to ride up to the Post Office after my mail, but before +starting I gave Jack a raking over for remaining drunk so long. He +hadn't drawn a sober breath since leaving town. + +When I returned next evening Jack was gone--no one there but my faithful +dog, Ranger. + +I found Jack had taken a negro's skiff and pulled down Willson's creek, +taking all of my snide jewelry, tobacco, etc. along. I traced him up to +where he had sold a lot of the stuff. He sold an old englishman a lot of +tobacco for seven dollars that didn't cost less than twenty. Being +discouraged I sold the Blood Hound to Anthony Moore for twenty-five +dollars, right where she lay, on the open prairie. + +I then hired to Wiley Kuykendall, who was buying and shipping beeves at +Houston, at twenty-five dollars per month. I left my companion, Ranger, +with Anthony, paying him two dollars and a half a month for his board. +But poor dog he met a sad fate the next winter during one of my rash +moments. + +I was out after a wild bunch of horses one day and while trying to slip +up on them unobserved Ranger and three others belonging to a neighbor +made a break after a little calf that jumped up out of the tall grass, +which of course scared the horses. I wanted to run after them as that +was my best and only chance, but I hated to go off and let the dogs kill +the poor little calf which they all four had hold of by that time. + +I finally galloped back and yelled myself hoarse trying to get them off; +but no use, so drawing my pistol I began firing right and left. + +When the smoke cleared away I discovered two of the dogs lifeless and +poor Ranger crawling up towards me howling with pain. He was shot +through both shoulders. No, no! I didn't feel bad; it was some other +youngster about my size. I dismounted and caressed the poor dumb brute, +with tears in my eyes. It was ten miles to camp or the nearest ranch, +therefore I had no alternative but to kill him--or leave him there to +suffer and finally die. I had tried to lift him on my horse so as to +take him to camp and try and doctor him up, but he was too heavy--being +a large, powerful brute. + +I made several attempts to kill him, but every time I would raise the +pistol to shoot he would look up into my eyes so pitifully as much as to +say please don't kill me. I at last mounted my horse and after starting +off wheeled around in my saddle and put a bullet between his eyes. Thus +ended the life of as faithful a dog as ever lived. + +After New Year's I quit Mr. Wiley and went to work again on my own hook, +skinning cattle and branding Mavricks. I had bought me a twenty-five +dollar horse for the occasion. + +I established my camp at the head of Cashe's creek, three miles above +Mr. Yeamans.' The only company I had was Ranger and I didn't have him +but a short while, as you already know. + +Cattle died pretty badly that winter and therefore I made quite a pile +of money, besides branding a great many Mavricks. + +About the middle of April I met with a painful and almost fatal +accident--got shot through the knee with one of those old time dragoon +pistols, which carry a very large ball. + +The bullet entered the top of my knee and came out--or at least was cut +out--on the opposite side; went right through the knee-cap. The doctor +who waited on me said I would be a cripple for life, but he missed his +guess, although I have received another bullet hole through the same +knee since then. + +After getting wounded I remained at Mr. Yeamans' awhile and then went +down to Mr. Morris' on Tresspalacious Bay to board. + +When I got so that I could move around on crutches I went up to Mr. John +Pierce's ranch to live. Mr. Pierce had persuaded me to put in my time +going to school while unable to work. He gave me my board and washing +free and all I had to do was to take care of the "children," little +Johnny Pierce, eight years old, Mamie Pierce, "Shang's" only child, +twelve years old and a Miss Fannie Elliott, sweet sixteen. The school +house being two miles off, we had to ride on horseback. + +I would have had a soft time of it all summer, but before two weeks +rolled around I had a fuss with the red complexioned school master. I +then mounted "Boney-part" and struck out for Houston, ninety miles east. + +I arrived in Houston during the State Fair. Everything was lively +there--in fact too lively for me. The first thing I did was to strike a +monte game and the second thing was lose nearly all the money I had. + +After quitting the monte game I struck out to hunt aunt "Mary" whom I +heard had moved to Houston from Galveston. I had never seen her that I +remembered of, but held her in high esteem for her kindness in sending +me the white canvas breeches during the war. + +I found her after hunting all day; she kept a private boarding house +close to the Union depot. She appeared to be glad to see me. + +The next day aunt Mary's husband, Mr. James McClain, took me out to the +Fair ground to see the sights. The biggest sight to me was Jeff. Davis, +although I was deceived as to his makeup; I expected to see a portly +looking man on a gray horse. + +May be the following song that I used to sing during the war had +something to do with that, for it ran thus: + + Jeff Davis is our President, + And Lincoln is a fool, + Jeff Davis rides a big gray horse + While Lincoln rides a mule. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +MOTHER AND I MEET AT LAST. + + +After spending a week with aunt Mary, I grew restless and pulled for +Galveston to visit my uncle "Nick." I went by way of steamboat down +Buffalo bayou, leaving my horse and saddle in Houston. + +I landed in the "Island City" one evening about dark. The first man I +met, I inquired of him, if he knew where Mr. Nicholas White lived? "Why +of course," was his quick answer, "I have known him for seventeen +years." He then gave me the directions how to find him. + +His wife, whom he had just married a short while before, she being his +second wife, met me at the door and escorted me to the bed room where I +found the old fellow three sheets in the wind. He soon braced up though +and tendered me a hearty welcome. + +The next day he spent in showing me around the city and introducing me +to his friends as his little nephew who had to "skip" from western Texas +for stealing cattle. I remember there were several high toned officials +among the ones he introduced me to; one of them I think was Tom +Ochiltree--a red-headed Congressman or Senator, I forget which. + +The old gentleman had a horse and buggy, consequently I had a regular +picnic, during my stay, driving up and down the beach watching the +pretty girls go in bathing. + +I remained there two weeks and on taking my departure uncle "Nick" +presented me with a Spencer Carbine--one he had captured from a yankee +while out scouting during the war. I was very proud of the gift for I +had never owned a repeating rifle before. + +I landed in Houston flat broke, but wasn't long in making a raise of ten +dollars from aunt Mary. Boney-part had been taken good care of during my +absence, which made him feel too rollicky--he tried to pitch me off when +I got on him. + +After bidding aunt Mary and uncle "Jim" good-bye I struck out for Allen, +Pool & Co.'s ranch on Simms' bayou. There I hired to a Mr. Joe Davis of +Clear creek, who had the contract furnishing beef to the Gulf, Colorado +and Santa Fe R. R. which was just building out from Galveston. + +About the first of September I mounted Ranger, a pony I swapped +Boney-part for and lit out for Tresspalacious. My wound by that time was +about well. + +On arriving at Mr. "Tom" Kuykendall's at the head of Tresspalacious +river, I learned that mother was at Mr. Morris', at the mouth of Cashe's +creek, waiting for me. She had arrived there just a few days after my +departure--for parts unknown, as no one knew where I was going. + +You see after getting shot I wrote to mother telling her of the accident +and also sending her some money, as I was in the habit of doing when +flush. Hence, like a kind mother, she came out to be of service to me, +but arrived too late. + +It is needless to say we were glad to meet, for the first time in +several long years. + +I went right to work trying to rig up a home for her. She had brought +some money with her and I sold a lot of Mavricks--some of those I +branded the winter previous--for two dollars a head, therefore we both +together had money enough to build and furnish a shanty. + +As Mr. Morris was just going to Indianola in his schooner we sent by him +after our lumber, etc. But before he got there the "big" storm, which +swept nearly every soul from the Peninsula and nearly wiped Indianola +out of existence, struck him and scattered his boat, money and +everything he had aboard to the four winds of Heaven. He and his son +"Tom" barely escaped with their own lives. + +Mother and I experienced a share of the same storm too; we were still at +Mr. Morris.' The storm came about ten o'clock at night and blew the +Morris mansion down, leaving us, Mrs. Morris, her three children and a +step-son, "Jim," mother and myself to paddle around in water up to our +waists until morning. + +When daylight came the Bay shore was lined with dead cattle just as far +as the eye could reach; cattle that had blown into the water and +drowned. + +When Mr. Morris got back he started a new ranch up at the head of +Cashe's creek, where I had camped the winter before and I built mother a +shanty a few hundred yards from his, so she wouldn't get lonesome while +I was away. + +I built it out of an old torn down house that I bought from Mr. John +Pierce on "tick" for I was then financially "busted." + +Cattle didn't die very badly that coming winter, therefore I did not +make much money. But towards spring I got my work in branding Mavricks. +Some days I would brand as high as fifteen or twenty head. + +That spring there was a law passed prohibiting the carrying of pistols +and I was the first man to break the law, for which they socked a +heavier fine to me than I was able to pay; but I found a good friend in +the person of Mr. John Pierce who loaned me the desired amount without +asking for it. + +The first of April I hired to W. B. Grimes to go "up the trail" at +thirty dollars per month. I bade mother good bye, promising to return, +sure, that coming fall. + +Our outfit consisted of twenty-five hundred head of old mossy-horn +steers, a cook and twenty-five riders, including the boss, Asa Dawdy, +with six head of good horses to the man. + +Everything went on lovely with the exception of swimming swollen +streams, fighting now and then among ourselves and a stampede every +stormy night, until we arrived on the Canadian river in the Indian +territory; there we had a little indian scare. When within a few miles +of the river, Dawdy went on ahead to look up a good crossing; it wasn't +long until we discovered a terrible dust on the trail between us and the +river; it looked like it might be a cyclone coming, but instead of that +it was our boss returning. He galloped up almost out of wind telling us +to stop the herd and make preparations for war, as the woods along the +river were covered with indians on the war path. + +After getting everything in shape for war, he selected two of his best +armed men, which happened to be Otto Draub and myself, to go back with +him and try to make peace with the red devils. We scoured the woods out +thoroughly, but only succeeded in finding one old, blind "buck." Asa +had, no doubt, seen him and imagined the rest. From that time on though +we were among indians all the time; and they used to try and scare Asa +into giving them "wo-ha's," (cattle) but he wasn't one of the scaring +kind--except when taken by surprise. + +Everything went on smoothly again until we arrived at "Salt Fork" close +to the Kansas line. It was raining and storming terribly when we hove in +sight of the above named river. Asa went on ahead with the wagons--we +having an extra one along then to haul wood and water in--to find a +crossing, but on arriving there he found it very high, almost swimming; +he succeeded in getting both wagons over though. He then galloped back +to hurry the herd up. + +We were just about a mile from the river when he came dashing up saying: +"Whoop 'em up boys! for she's rising a foot every second." + +When we got there she was "bank full" and still rising. It was at least +half a mile to the opposite side and drift wood was coming down at a +terrible rate, which made it dangerous to cross. But the wagons being +over made it a ground hog case--or at least we thought so. + +The old lead steers went right into the foaming water without a bit of +trouble and of course the balance followed. + +Henry Coats was in the lead of the herd, Asa Dawdy and Otto Draub on the +left point, while negro "Gabe" and I kept them from turning to the +right. + +We were all--that is we fellows on the points--out in swimming water +when Henry Coats' horse went under, which scared the leaders, causing +the whole herd to turn back amidst terrible confusion. Coats came very +near drowning. We worked for half an hour or more trying to get the +herd to take water again, but failed. The river continued to rise until +she was over a mile wide. + +Suffice it to say, we remained there seven days without anything to eat +except fresh meat without salt. It rained during the whole time nearly, +so that we didn't get much sleep on account of having to stay with the +cattle night and day. + +The first grub we got was from a lot of soldiers camped on the opposite +side of the wicked little stream "Wild Horse." They were waiting for it +to go down so they could proceed to Wichita, Kansas, their destination. + +The boss, Dawdy, a fellow by the name of Hastings and myself found the +"blue coats" while out hunting a lot of steers lost the night before +during a severe storm. We had spied the white tents off to the southward +and pulled out for them, in a gallop. + +On arriving within a few hundred yards we found out that a swift stream +of muddy water laid between us. + +They were camped right on the opposite bank from where we stood. Dawdy +yelled over asking if they could spare some chuck? "Yes" was the quick +response, "If you will come over after it." + +Dawdy and Hastings both looked at me, as much as to say: "Charlie it all +depends on you." I was considered an extra good swimmer. + +After shedding my heaviest clothes--there being officers' wives in camp, +so that I couldn't undress altogether--I put spurs to "Yankee-doodle" +and went into her. It was at least two hundred yards across, but I made +it all O. K. + +When the captain found out how long we had been without grub he ordered +the cook to bring out some cold biscuits. He brought out a large pan +full, and after I got my fists full, a lot of the soldiers took the +balance and selecting a narrow place, threw them over one by one to +Dawdy and Hastings. + +After hiding a dozen or two fat Government biscuits under my belt, I +began studying up a plan by which I could get some flour and salt, also +coffee, over. At last I hit upon a plan: I got a wash-tub from the +captain's wife and filling it full of such stuff as we needed, launched +her out into the water; I swam by the side of it and landed on the +opposite side about half a mile below where I started in at. I then took +the tub back thanked our benefactors, mounted Yankee-doodle and pulled +for the other shore feeling a thousand per cent. better. + +We arrived at camp about sundown and the boys went to work baking bread +by rolling the dough around a stick and holding it over the fire. Some +of them sat up all night eating, trying to make up for lost time. + +The sun came out next morning for the first time in eight long days and +towards evening we made it across the river. The wagons we found at the +"Pond Creek" ranch on the Kansas line. The cooks had been having a soft +time. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +ON A TARE IN WICHITA, KANSAS. + + +On the fourth day of July, after being on the trail just three months, +we landed on the "Ninnasquaw" river, thirty miles west of Wichita, +Kansas. + +Nearly all the boys, the boss included, struck out for Wichita right +away to take the train for Houston, Texas, the nearest railroad point to +their respective homes. Mr. Grimes paid their railroad fares according +to custom in those days. I concluded I would remain until fall. + +Mr. Grimes had come around by rail, consequently he was on hand to +receive us. He already had several thousand steers--besides our herd--on +hand; some that he drove up the year before and others he bought around +there. He had them divided up into several different herds--about eight +hundred to the herd--and scattered out into different places, that is +each camp off by itself, from five to ten miles from any other. With +each herd or bunch would be a cook and "chuck" wagon, four riders, a +"boss" included--and five horses to the rider. During the day two men +would "herd" or watch the cattle until noon and the other two until time +to "bed" them, which would be about dark. By "bedding" we mean take them +to camp, to a certain high piece of ground suitable for a "bed ground" +where they would all lie down until morning, unless disturbed by a storm +or otherwise. The nights would be divided up into four equal parts--one +man "on" at a time, unless storming, tormented with mosquitos or +something of the kind, when every one except the cook would have to be +"out" singing to them. + +The herd I came up the trail with was split into three bunches and I was +put with one of them under a man by the name of Phillups, but shortly +afterwards changed and put with a Mr. Taylor. + +I spent all my extra time when not on duty, visiting a couple of New +York damsels, who lived with their parents five miles east of our camp. +They were the only young ladies in the neighborhood, the country being +very thinly settled then, therefore the boys thought I was very +"cheeky"--getting on courting terms with them so quick. One of them +finally "put a head on me"--or in grammatical words, gave me a black +eye--which chopped my visits short off; she didn't understand the Texas +way of proposing for one's hand in marriage, was what caused the fracas. +She was cleaning roasting-ears for dinner when I asked her how she would +like to jump into double harness and trot through life with me? The air +was full of flying roasting-ears for a few seconds--one of them striking +me over the left eye--and shortly afterwards a young Cow Puncher rode +into camp with one eye in a sling. You can imagine the boys giving it to +me about monkeying with civilized girls, etc. + +After that I became very lonesome; had nothing to think of but my little +Texas girl--the only one on earth I loved. While sitting "on herd" in +the hot sun, or lounging around camp in the shade of the wagon--there +being no trees in that country to supply us with shade--my mind would be +on nothing but her. I finally concluded to write to her and find out +just how I stood. As often as I had been with her I had never let her +know my thoughts. She being only fourteen years of age, I thought there +was plenty time. I wrote a long letter explaining everything and then +waited patiently for an answer. I felt sure she would give me +encouragement, if nothing more. + +A month passed by and still no answer. Can it be possible that she don't +think enough of me to answer my letter? thought I. "No," I would finally +decide, "she is too much of an angel to be guilty of such." + +At last the supply wagon arrived from Wichita and among the mail was a +letter for me. I was on herd that forenoon and when the other boys came +out to relieve Collier and I, they told me about there being a letter in +camp for me, written by a female, judging from the fine hand-writing on +the envelope. + +I was happy until I opened the letter and read a few lines. It then +dropped from my fingers and I turned deathly pale. Mr. Collier wanted to +know if some of my relations wasn't dead? Suffice it to say that the +object of my heart was married to my old playmate Billy Williams. The +letter went on to state that she had given her love to another and that +she never thought I loved her only as a friend, etc. She furthermore +went on advising me to grin and bear it, as there were just as good fish +in the sea as ever was caught etc. + +I wanted some one to kill me, so concluded to go to the Black hills--as +everyone was flocking there then. Mr. Collier, the same man I traded +the crippled horse to--agreed to go with me. So we both struck out for +Wichita to settle up with daddy Grimes. Mr. Collier had a good horse of +his own and so did I; mine was a California pony that I had given +fifty-five dollars for quite awhile before. My intention was to take him +home and make a race horse of him; he was only three years old and +according to my views a "lightning striker." + +After settling up, we, like other "locoed" Cow Punchers proceeded to +take in the town, and the result was, after two or three days carousing +around, we left there "busted" with the exception of a few dollars. + +As we didn't have money enough to take us to the Black hills, we +concluded to pull for the Medicine river, one hundred miles west. + +We arrived in Kiowa, a little one-horse town on the Medicine, about dark +one cold and disagreeable evening. + +We put up at the Davis House, which was kept by a man named Davis--by +the way one of the whitest men that ever wore shoes. Collier made +arrangements that night with Mr. Davis to board us on "tick" until we +could get work. But I wouldn't agree to that. + +The next morning after paying my night's lodging I had just one dollar +left and I gave that to Mr. Collier as I bade him adieu. I then headed +southwest across the hills, not having any destination in view; I wanted +to go somewhere but didn't care where. To tell the truth I was still +somewhat rattled over my recent bad luck. + +That night I lay out in the brush by myself and next morning changed my +course to southeast, down a creek called Driftwood. About noon I +accidently landed in Gus Johnson's Cow camp at the forks of Driftwood +and "Little Mule" creeks. + +I remained there all night and next morning when I was fixing to pull +out--God only knows where, the boss, Bill Hudson, asked me if I wouldn't +stay and work in his place until he went to Hutchison, Kansas and back? +I agreed to do so finally if he would furnish "Whisky-peat," my pony, +all the corn he could eat--over and above my wages, which were to be +twenty-five dollars a month. The outfit consisted of only about +twenty-five hundred Texas steers, a chuck wagon, cook and five riders +besides the boss. + +A few days after Mr. Hudson left we experienced a terrible severe snow +storm. We had to stay with the drifting herd night and day, therefore it +went rough with us--myself especially, being from a warm climate and +only clad in common garments, while the other boys were fixed for +winter. + +When Mr. Hudson came back from Hutchison he pulled up stakes and drifted +south down into the Indian territory--our camp was then on the territory +and Kansas line--in search of good winter quarters. + +We located on the "Eagle Chief" river, a place where cattle had never +been held before. Cattlemen in that section of country considered it +better policy to hug the Kansas line on account of indians. + +About the time we became settled in our new quarters, my month was up +and Mr. Hudson paid me twenty-five dollars, telling me to make that my +home all winter if I wished. + +My "pile" now amounted to forty-five dollars, having won twenty dollars +from one of the boys, Ike Berry, on a horse race. They had a race horse +in camp called "Gray-dog," who had never been beaten, so they said, but +I and Whisky-peat done him up, to the extent of twenty dollars, in fine +shape. + +I made up my mind that I would build me a "dug-out" somewhere close to +the Johnson camp and put in the winter hunting and trapping. Therefore +as Hudson was going to Kiowa, with the wagon, after a load of +provisions, etc., I went along to lay me in a supply also. + +On arriving at Kiowa I found that my old "pard" Mr. Collier had struck a +job with a cattleman whose ranch was close to town. But before spring he +left for good "Hold Hengland" where a large pile of money was awaiting +him; one of his rich relations had died and willed him everything he +had. We suppose he is now putting on lots of "agony," if not dead, and +telling his green countrymen of his hair-breadth escapes on the wild +Texas plains. + +We often wonder if he forgets to tell of his experience with "old gray," +the pony I traded to him for the boat. + +After sending mother twenty dollars by registered mail and laying in a +supply of corn, provisions, ammunition, etc., I pulled back to Eagle +Chief, to make war with wild animals--especially those that their hides +would bring me in some money, such as gray wolves, coyotes, wild cats, +buffaloes and bears. I left Kiowa with just three dollars in money. + +The next morning after arriving in camp I took my stuff and moved down +the river about a mile to where I had already selected a spot for my +winter quarters. + +I worked like a turk all day long building me a house out of dry +poles--covered with grass. In the north end I built a "sod" chimney and +in the south end, left an opening for a door. When finished it lacked +about two feet of being high enough for me to stand up straight. + +It was almost dark and snowing terribly when I got it finished and a +fire burning in the low, Jim Crow fire-place. I then fed Whisky-peat +some corn and stepped out a few yards after an armful of good solid wood +for morning. On getting about half an armful of wood gathered I heard +something crackling and looking over my shoulder discovered my mansion +in flames. I got there in time to save nearly everything in the shape of +bedding, etc. Some of the grub, being next to the fire-place, was lost. +I slept at Johnson's camp that night. + +The next morning I went about two miles down the river and located +another camp. This time I built a dug-out right on the bank of the +stream, in a thick bunch of timber. + +I made the dug-out in a curious shape; started in at the edge of the +steep bank and dug a place six feet long, three deep and three wide, +leaving the end next to the creek open for a door. I then commenced at +the further end and dug another place same size in an opposite +direction, which formed an "L." I then dug still another place, same +size, straight out from the river which made the whole concern almost in +the shape of a "Z." In the end furthest from the stream I made a +fire-place by digging the earth away--in the shape of a regular +fire-place. And then to make a chimney I dug a round hole, with the aid +of a butcher knife, straight up as far as I could reach; then commencing +at the top and connecting the two holes. The next thing was to make it +"draw," and I did that by cutting and piling sods of dirt around the +hole, until about two feet above the level. + +I then proceeded to build a roof over my 3 x 18 mansion. To do that I +cut green poles four feet long and laid them across the top, two or +three inches apart. Then a layer of grass and finally, to finish it off, +a foot of solid earth. She was then ready for business. My idea in +making it so crooked was, to keep the indians, should any happen along +at night, from seeing my fire. After getting established in my new +quarters I put out quite a number of wolf baits and next morning in +going to look at them found several dead wolves besides scores of +skunks, etc. But they were frozen too stiff to skin, therefore I left +them until a warmer day. + +The next morning on crawling out to feed my horse I discovered it +snowing terribly, accompanied with a piercing cold norther. I crawled +back into my hole after making Whisky-peat as comfortable as possible +and remained there until late in the evening, when suddenly disturbed by +a horny visitor. + +It was three or four o'clock in the evening, while humped up before a +blazing fire, thinking of days gone by, that all at once, before I had +time to think, a large red steer came tumbling down head first, just +missing me by a few inches. In traveling ahead of the storm the whole +Johnson herd had passed right over me, but luckily only one broke +through. + +Talk about your ticklish places! That was truly one of them; a steer +jammed in between me and daylight, and a hot fire roasting me by +inches. + +I tried to get up through the roof--it being only a foot above my +head--but failed. Finally the old steer made a terrible struggle, just +about the time I was fixing to turn my wicked soul over to the Lord, and +I got a glimpse of daylight under his flanks. I made a dive for it and +by tight squeezing I saved my life. + +After getting out and shaking myself I made a vow that I would leave +that God-forsaken country in less than twenty-four hours; and I did so. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A LONELY TRIP DOWN THE CIMERON. + + +The next morning after the steer racket I pulled out for Kiowa, Kansas. +It was then sleeting from the north, consequently I had to face it. + +About three o'clock in the evening I changed my notion and concluded to +head for Texas. So I turned east, down the Eagle Chief, to where it +emptied into the Cimeron, and thence down that stream; knowing that I +was bound to strike the Chisholm trail--the one I came up on, the spring +before. + +I camped that night at the mouth of Eagle Chief, and went to roost on an +empty stomach, not having brought any grub with me. I was then in the +western edge of what is known as the Black-jack country, which extends +east far beyond the Chisholm trail. + +The next morning I continued down the Cimeron, through Black-jack timber +and sand hills. To avoid the sand hills, which appeared fewer on the +opposite side, I undertook to cross the river, but bogged down in the +quicksand and had to turn back. + +That night I camped between two large sand hills and made my bed in a +tall bunch of blue-stem grass. I went to bed as full as a tick, as I had +just eaten a mule-eared rabbit, one I had slipped up onto and killed +with a club. I was afraid to shoot at the large droves of deer and +turkeys, on account of the country being full of fresh indian signs. + +I crawled out of my nest next morning almost frozen. I built a roaring +big fire on the _south_ edge of the bunch of tall grass so as to check +the cold piercing norther. After enjoying the warm fire a few moments, I +began to get thirsty and there being no water near at hand, I took my +tin cup and walked over to a large snow-drift a short distance off, to +get it full of clean snow, which I intended melting by the fire to +quench my burning thirst. + +While filling the cup I heard a crackling noise behind me and looking +over my shoulder discovered a blaze of fire twenty feet in the air and +spreading at a terrible rate. I arrived on the scene just in time to +save Whisky-peat from a horrible death. He was tied to a tree, the top +limbs of which were already in a blaze. I also managed to save my +saddle and an old piece of saddle blanket, they being out under the tree +that Whisky-peat was tied to. I didn't mind losing my leather leggins, +saddle blankets, etc., so much as I did the old delapidated overcoat +that contained a little silver-plated match box in one of the pockets. + +That day I traveled steady, but not making very rapid progress, on +account of winding around sand hills, watching for indians and going +around the heads of boggy sloughs. I was certain of striking the +Chisholm trail before night, but was doomed to disappointment. + +I pitched camp about nine o'clock that night and played a single-handed +game of freeze-out until morning, not having any matches to make a fire +with. + +I hadn't gone more than two miles next morning when I came across a +camp-fire, which looked as though it had been used a few hours before; +on examination I found it had been an indian camp, just vacated that +morning. The trail, which contained the tracks of forty or fifty head of +horses, led down the river. After warming myself I struck right out on +their trail, being very cautious not to run onto them. Every now and +then I would dismount and crawl to the top of a tall sand hill to see +that the road was clear ahead. + +About noon I came to a large creek, which proved to be "Turkey Creek." +The reds had made a good crossing by digging the banks down and breaking +the ice. + +After crossing, I hadn't gone but a short distance when I came in sight +of the Chisholm trail. I never was so glad to see anything +before--unless it was the little streak of daylight under the steer's +flanks. + +The indians on striking the trail had struck south on it; and after +crossing the Cimeron I came in sight of them, about five miles ahead of +me. I rode slow so as to let them get out of sight. I didn't care to +come in contact with them for fear they might want my horse and possibly +my scalp. + +About dark that evening I rode into a large camp of Government +freighters, who informed me that the fifty indians who had just +passed--being on their way back to the reservation--were Kiowas who had +been on a hunting expedition. + +I fared well that night, got a good supper and a warm bed to sleep +in--besides a good square meal of corn and oats for my horse. + +The next morning before starting on my journey, an old irish teamster by +the name of "Long Mike" presented me with a pair of pants--mine being +almost in rags--and a blue soldier coat, which I can assure you I +appreciated very much. + +About dusk that evening, I rode into Cheyenne Agency and that night +slept in a house for the first time since leaving Kiowa--in fact I +hadn't seen a house since leaving Kiowa. + +The next morning I continued south and that night put up at "Bill" +Williams' ranch on the "South Canadian" river. + +Shortly after leaving the Williams ranch next morning I met a crowd of +Chickasaw indians who bantered me for a horse race. As Whisky-peat was +tired and foot-sore, I refused; but they kept after me until finally I +took them up. I put up my saddle and pistol against one of their ponies. +The pistol I kept buckled around me for fear they might try to swindle +me. The saddle I put up and rode the race bare-back. I came out ahead, +but not enough to brag about. They gave up the pony without a murmer, +but tried to persuade me to run against one of their other ponies, a +much larger and finer looking one. I rode off thanking them very kindly +for what they had already done for me. + +That night I put up at a ranch on the Washita river and next morning +before leaving swapped my indian pony off for another one and got ten +dollars to-boot. + +That morning I left the Chisholm trail and struck down the Washita +river, in search of a good, lively place where I might put in the +balance of the winter. + +I landed in Erin Springs late that evening and found a grand ball in +full bloom at Frank Murry's mansion. The dancers were a mixed crowd, the +ladies being half-breeds and the men, mostly americans and very tough +citizens. + +Of course I joined the mob, being in search of excitement and had a gay +old time drinking kill-me-quick whisky and swinging the pretty indian +maidens. + +After breakfast next morning the whole crowd, ladies and all, went down +the river five miles to witness a "big" horse race at "Kickapoo" flat. + +After the "big" race--which was for several thousand dollars--was over +the day was spent in running pony races and drinking whisky. By night +the whole mob were gloriously drunk, your humble servant included. There +were several fights and fusses took place during the day, but no one +seriously hurt. + +It being against the laws of the United States to sell, or have whisky +in the Indian territory, you might wonder where it came from: A man by +the name of Bill Anderson--said to have been one of Quantrell's men +during the war--did the selling. + +He defied the United States marshalls and it was said that he had over a +hundred indictments against him. He sold it at ten dollars a gallon, +therefore you see he could afford to run quite a risk. + +The next day on my way down the river to Paul's valley I got rid of my +extra pony; I came across two apple peddlers who were on their way to +Fort Sill with a load of apples and who had had the misfortune of losing +one of their horses by death, the night before, thereby leaving them on +the prairie helpless, unable to move on. They had no money to buy +another horse with, having spent all their surplus wealth in Arkansas +for the load of apples. When I gave them the pony, they felt very happy +judging from their actions. On taking my departure one of them insisted +on my taking his silver watch as a token of friendship. I afterwards had +the watch stolen from me. + +Well, patient reader, I will now drop the curtain for awhile. Just +suffice it to say I had a tough time of it during the rest of the winter +and came out carrying two bullet wounds. But I had some gay times as +well as tough and won considerable money running Whisky-peat. + +The following May I landed in Gainesville, Texas, "right side up with +care" and from there went to Saint Joe on the Chisholm trail, where I +succeeded in getting a job with a passing herd belonging to Capt. +Littlefield of Gonzales. The boss' name was "Jim" Wells and the herd +contained thirty-five hundred head of stock cattle. It being a terribly +wet season we experienced considerable hardships, swimming swollen +streams, etc. We also had some trouble with indians. + +We arrived in Dodge City, Kansas on the third day of July and that night +I quit and went to town to "whoop 'em up Liza Jane." + +I met an old friend that night by the name of "Wess" Adams and we both +had a gay time, until towards morning when he got severely stabbed in a +free-to-all fight. + +On the morning of July fifth I hired to David T. Beals--or the firm of +Bates & Beals, as the outfit was commonly called--to help drive a herd +of steers, twenty-five hundred head, to the Panhandle of Texas, where he +intended starting a new ranch. + +The next morning we struck out on the "Old Fort Bascom" trail, in a +southwesterly direction. + +The outfit consisted of eight men besides the boss, Bill Allen and +"Deacon" Bates, one of Mr. Beals' silent partners, who was going along +to locate the new range and O. M. Johnson, the whole-souled ex-rebel +cook. We had six extra good horses apiece, my six being named as +follows: Comanche, Allisan, Last Chance, Creeping Moses, Damfido and +Beat-and-be-damned. The last named was afterwards shot full of arrows +because he wouldn't hurry while being driven off by a band of indians +who had made a raid on the camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +MY FIRST EXPERIENCE ROPING A BUFFALO. + + +About the sixth day out from Dodge we crossed the Cimeron and that +evening I had a little excitement chasing a herd of buffaloes. + +After crossing the river about noon, we drove out to the divide, five or +six miles and made a "dry" camp. It was my evening to lay in camp, or do +anything else I wished. Therefore concluded I would saddle my little +indian mare--one I had traded for from an indian--and take a hunt. + +About the time I was nearly ready to go Mr. Bates, seeing some of the +cattle slipping off into a bunch of sand hills which were near the herd, +asked me if I wouldn't ride out and turn them back. I went, leaving my +pistol and gun in camp, thinking of course that I would be back in a few +minutes. But instead of that I didn't get back until after dinner the +next day. + +Just as I was starting back to camp, after turning the cattle, a large +herd of buffaloes dashed by camp headed west. The boys all ran out with +their guns and began firing. I became excited and putting spurs to my +pony, struck out to overtake and kill a few of them, forgetting that I +didn't have anything to shoot with. As they had over a mile the start it +wasn't an easy matter to overtake them. It was about four o'clock in the +afternoon and terribly hot; which of course cut off my pony's wind and +checked her speed to a great extent. + +About sundown I overtook them. Their tongues were sticking out a yard. I +took down my rope from the saddle-horn, having just missed my shooting +irons a few minutes before, and threw it onto a yearling heifer. When +the rope tightened the yearling began to bleat and its mammy broke back +out of the herd and took after me. I tried to turn the rope loose so as +to get out of the way, but couldn't, as it was drawn very tight around +the saddle-horn. To my great delight, after raking some of the surplus +hair from my pony's hind quarters, she turned and struck out after the +still fleeing herd. + +Now the question arose in my mind, "how are you going to kill your +buffalo?" Break her neck was the only way I could think of; after +trying it several times by running "against" the rope at full speed, I +gave it up as a failure. I then concluded to cut the rope and let her +go, so getting out my old frog-sticker--an old pocket knife I had picked +up a few days before and which I used to clean my pipe--I went to work +trying to open the little blade it being the only one that would cut hot +butter. The big blade was open when I found it, consequently it was +nothing but a sheet of rust. The little blade had become rusted +considerably, which made it hard to open. Previous to that I always used +my bowie knife, which at that time was hanging to my pistol belt, in +camp, to open it with. After working a few minutes I gave up the notion +of opening the little blade and went to work sawing at the rope with the +big one. But I soon gave that up also, as I could have made just as much +headway by cutting with my finger. At last I dismounted and went to him, +or at least her, with nothing but my muscle for a weapon. + +I finally managed to get her down by getting one hand fastened to her +under jaw and the other hold of one horn and then twisting her neck. As +some of you might wonder why I had so much trouble with this little +animal, when it is a known fact that one man by himself can tie down the +largest domestic bull that ever lived, I will say that the difference +between a buffalo and a domestic bull is, that the latter when you throw +him hard against the ground two or three times, will lie still long +enough to give you a chance to jump aboard of him, while the former will +raise to his feet, instantly, just as long as there's a bit of life +left. + +After getting her tied down with my "sash," a silk concern that I kept +my breeches up with, I went to work opening the little blade of my +knife. I broke the big one off and then used it for a pry to open the +other with. + +When I got her throat cut I concluded it a good idea to take the hide +along, to show the boys that I didn't have my run for nothing, so went +to work skinning, which I found to be a tedious job with such a small +knife-blade. + +It was pitch dark when I started towards camp with the hide and a small +chunk of meat tied behind my saddle. + +After riding east about a mile, I abandoned the idea of going to camp +and turned south facing the cool breeze in hopes of finding water, my +pony and I both being nearly dead for a drink. + +It was at least twenty miles to camp over a level, dry plain, therefore +I imagined it an impossibility to go that distance without water. As the +streams all lay east and west in that country, I knew by going south I +was bound to strike one sooner or later. + +About midnight I began to get sleepy, so, pulling the bridle off my pony +so she could graze, I spread the buffalo hide down, hair up, and after +wrapping the end of the rope, that my pony was fastened to around my +body once or twice so she couldn't get loose without me knowing it, fell +asleep. + +I hadn't slept long when I awoke, covered from head to foot with ants. +The fresh hide had attracted them. + +After freeing myself of most of the little pests I continued my journey +in search of water. + +About three o'clock in the morning I lay down again, but this time left +the hide on my saddle. + +I think I must have been asleep about an hour when all at once my pony +gave a tremendous snort and struck out at full speed, dragging me after +her. + +You see I had wrapped the rope around my body as before and it held me +fast some way or another; I suppose by getting tangled. Luckily for me +though it came loose after dragging me about a hundred yards. + +You can imagine my feelings on gaining my feet, and finding myself +standing on the broad prairie afoot. I felt just like a little boy does +when he lets a bird slip out of his hand accidently--that +is--exceedingly foolish. + +The earth was still shaking and I could hear a roaring noise like that +of distant thunder. A large herd of buffaloes had just passed. + +While standing scratching my head a faint noise greeted my ear; it was +my pony snorting. A tramp of about three hundred yards brought me to +her. She was shaking as though she had a chill. I mounted and continued +my journey south, determined on not stopping any more that night. + +About ten o'clock next morning I struck water on the head of Sharp's +creek, a tributary to "Beaver" or head of North Canadian. + +When I got to camp--it having been moved south about twenty miles from +where I left it--the boys had just eaten dinner and two of them were +fixing to go back and hunt me up, thinking some sad misfortune had +befallen me. + +When we got to Blue Creek, a tributary to South Canadian, camp was +located for awhile, until a suitable location could be found for a +permanent ranch. + +Mr. Bates struck out across the country to the Canadian river, taking me +along, to hunt the range--one large enough for at least fifty thousand +cattle. + +After being out three days we landed in Tascosa, a little mexican town +on the Canadian. There were only two americans there, Howard & +Reinheart, who kept the only store in town. Their stock of goods +consisted of three barrels of whisky and half a dozen boxes of soda +crackers. + +From there we went down the river twenty-five miles where we found a +little trading point, consisting of one store and two mexican families. +The store, which was kept by a man named Pitcher, had nothing in it but +whisky and tobacco. His customers were mostly transient buffalo hunters, +they being mostly indians and mexicans. He also made a business of +dealing in robes, furs, etc., which he shipped to Fort Lyons, Colorado, +where his partner, an officer in the United States Army lived. There +were three hundred Apache indians camped right across the river from +"Cold Springs," as Pitcher called his ranch. + +A few miles below where the little store stood Mr. Bates decided on +being the center of the "L. X." range; and right there, Wheeler +post-office now stands. And that same range, which was then black with +buffaloes, is now stocked with seventy-five thousand fine blooded +cattle, and all fenced in. So you see time makes changes, even out here +in the "western wilds." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +AN EXCITING TRIP AFTER THIEVES. + + +After arriving on our newly located ranch we counted the cattle and +found the herd three hundred head short. + +Bill Allen, the boss, struck back to try and find their trail. He found +it leading south from the "rifle pits." The cattle had stolen out of the +herd without anyone finding it out; and of course finding themselves +free, they having come from southern Texas, they headed south across the +Plains. + +Allen came back to camp and taking me and two horses apiece, struck down +the river to head them off. We made our headquarters at Fort Elliott and +scoured the country out for a hundred miles square. + +We succeeded in getting about two hundred head of them; some had become +wild and were mixed up with large herds of buffalo, while others had +been taken up by ranchmen around the Fort and the brands disfigured. We +got back to camp after being absent a month. + +About the first of October four more herds arrived; three from Dodge and +one from Grenada, Colorado, where Bates & Beals formerly had a large +ranch. We then turned them all loose on the river and established "Sign" +camps around the entire range, which was about forty miles square. The +camps were stationed from twenty-five to thirty miles apart. There were +two men to the camp and their duty was to see that no cattle drifted +outside of the line--on their "ride," which was half way to the next +camp on each side, or in plainer words one man would ride south towards +the camp in that direction, while his pard would go north until he met +the man from the next camp, which would generally be on a hill, as near +half way as possible. If any cattle had crossed over the line during the +night they would leave a trail of course, and this the rider would +follow up until he overtook them. He would then bring them back inside +of the line; sometimes though they would come out so thick that half a +dozen men couldn't keep them back, for instance, during a bad storm. +Under such circumstances he would have to do the best he could until he +got a chance to send to the "home ranch" for help. + +A young man by the name of John Robinson and myself were put in a Sign +camp ten miles south of the river, at the foot of the Staked Plains. It +was the worst camp in the whole business, for three different reasons, +the first one being, cattle naturally want to drift south in the winter, +and secondly, the cold storms always came from the north, and the third +and most objectionable cause was, if any happened to get over the line +onto the Staked plains during a bad snow storm they were considered +gone, as there were no "breaks" or anything to check them for quite a +distance. For instance, drifting southwest they would have nothing but a +level plain to travel over for a distance of three hundred miles to the +Pecos river near the old Mexico line. + +John and I built a small stone house on the head of "Bonetta" Canyon and +had a hog killing time all by ourselves. Hunting was our delight at +first, until it became old. We always had four or five different kinds +of meat in camp. Buffalo meat was way below par with us, for we could go +a few hundred yards from camp any time of day and kill any number of the +woolly brutes. To give you an idea how thick buffaloes were around there +that fall will say, at one time when we first located our camp on the +Bonetta, there was a solid string of them, from one to three miles wide, +going south, which took three days and nights to cross the Canadian +river. And at other times I have seen them so thick on the plains that +the country would look black just as far as the eye could reach. + +Late that fall we had a change in bosses. Mr. Allen went home to Corpus +Christi, Texas, and a man by the name of Moore came down from Colorado +and took his place. + +About Christmas we had a little excitement, chasing some mexican +thieves, who robbed Mr. Pitcher of everything he had in his little Jim +Crow store. John and I were absent from our camp, six days on this trip. +There were nine of us in the persuing party, headed by Mr. Moore, our +boss. We caught the outfit, which consisted of five men, all well armed +and three women, two of them being pretty maidens, on the staked plains, +headed for Mexico. It was on this trip that I swore off getting drunk, +and I have stuck to it--with the exception of once and that was over the +election of President Cleveland--It happened thus: + +We rode into Tascosa about an hour after dark, having been in the saddle +and on a hot trail all day without food or water. Supper being ordered +we passed off the time waiting, by sampling Howard and Reinheart's bug +juice. + +Supper was called and the boys all rushed to the table--a few sheepskins +spread on the dirt floor. When about through they missed one of their +crowd--a fellow about my size. On searching far and near he was found +lying helplessly drunk under his horse, Whisky-peet--who was tied to a +rack in front of the store. A few glasses of salty water administered by +Mr. Moore brought me to my right mind. Moore then after advising me to +remain until morning, not being able to endure an all night ride as he +thought, called, "come on, fellers!" And mounting their tired horses +they dashed off at almost full speed. + +There I stood leaning against the rack not feeling able to move. +Whisky-peet was rearing and prancing in his great anxiety to follow the +crowd. I finally climbed into the saddle, the pony still tied to the +rack. I had sense enough left to know that I couldn't get on him if +loose, in the fix I was in. Then pulling out my bowie knife I cut the +rope and hugged the saddle-horn with both hands. I overtook and stayed +with the crowd all night, but if ever a mortal suffered it was me. My +stomach felt as though it was filled with scorpions, wild cats and +lizards. I swore if God would forgive me for geting on that drunk I +would never do so again. But the promise was broken, as I stated before, +when I received the glorious news of Cleveland's election. + +After New Year's, Moore took Jack Ryan, Vandozen and myself and went on +an exploring expedition south, across the Staked plains, with a view of +learning the country. + +The first place we struck was Canyon Paladuro, head of Red river. The +whole country over there was full of indians and mexicans. We laid over +two days in one of their camps, watching them lance buffaloes. From +there we went to Mulberry where we put in three or four days hunting. +When we pulled out again our pack-pony was loaded down with fat bear +meat. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SEVEN WEEKS AMONG INDIANS. + + +On our arrival back to the ranch, Moore rigged up a scouting outfit to +do nothing but drift over the Plains in search of strayed cattle. + +The outfit consisted of a well-filled chuck-wagon, a number one good +cook, Mr. O. M. Johnson, and three warriors, Jack Ryan, Vanduzen and +myself. We had two good horses apiece, that is, all but myself, I had +three counting Whisky-peet. + +About the sixth day out we struck three thousand Comanche Indians and +became pretty badly scared up. We had camped for the night on the +plains, at the forks of Mulberry and Canyon Paladuro; a point from +whence could be seen one of the roughest and most picturesque scopes of +country in the west. + +The next morning Jack Ryan went with the wagon to pilot it across +Mulberry Canyon, while "Van" and I branched off down into Canyon +Paladuro to look for cattle signs. We succeeded in finding two little +knotty-headed two-year old steers with a bunch of buffalo. They were +almost as wild as their woolly associates, but we managed to get them +cut out and headed in the direction the wagon had gone. + +About noon, on turning a sharp curve in the canyon, we suddenly came in +full view of our wagon surrounded with a couple of thousand red skins, +on horse back, and others still pouring down from the hills, on the +east. + +It was too late to figure on what to do, for they had already seen us, +only being about half a mile off. You see the two wild steers had turned +the curve ahead of us and attracted the indians attention in that +direction. We couldn't see anything but the white top of our wagon, on +account of the solid mass of reds, hence couldn't tell whether our boys +were still among the living or not. We thought of running once, but +finally concluded to go up and take our medicine like little men, in +case they were on the war-path. Leaving Whisky-peet, who was tied behind +the wagon, kept me from running more than anything else. + +On pushing our way through the mass we found the boys, winchesters in +hand, telling the old chiefs where to find plenty of buffalo. There were +three thousand in the band, and they had just come from Ft. Sill, +Indian Territory, on a hunting expedition. They wanted to get where +buffaloes were plentiful before locating winter quarters. + +From that time on we were among indians all the time. The Pawnee tribe +was the next we came in contact with. Close to the Indian Territory line +we run afoul of the whole Cheyenne tribe. They were half starved, all +the buffalo having drifted south, and their ponies being too poor and +weak to follow them up. We traded them out of lots of blankets, +trinkets, etc. For a pint of flour or coffee they would give their whole +soul--and body thrown in for good measure. We soon ran out of chuck too, +having swapped it all off to the hungry devils. + +We then circled around by Ft. Elliott, and up the Canadian river to the +ranch, arriving there with eighteen head of our steers, after an absence +of seven weeks. + +We only got to remain at the ranch long enough to get a new supply of +chuck, etc., and a fresh lot of horses, as Moore sent us right back to +the Plains. In a south westerly direction this time. + +We remained on the Plains scouting around during the rest of the winter, +only making short trips to the ranch after fresh horses and grub. We +experienced some tough times too, especially during severe snow storms +when our only fuel, "buffalo-chips," would be covered up in the deep +snow. Even after the snow melted off, for several days afterwards, we +couldn't get much warmth out of the buffalo-chips, on account of them +being wet. + +About the first of April, Moore called us in from the Plains to go up +the river to Ft. Bascom, New Mexico, on a rounding-up expedition. We +were gone on that trip over a month. + +On our arrival back, Moore went right to work gathering up everything on +the range in the shape of cattle, so as to "close-herd" them during the +summer. His idea in doing that was to keep them tame. During the winter +they had become almost beyond control. The range was too large for so +few cattle. And another thing buffalo being so plentiful had a tendency +to making them wild. + +About the first of June Moore put me in charge of an outfit, which +consisted of twenty-five hundred steers, a wagon and cook, four riders, +and five horses to the man or rider. He told me to drift over the Plains +wherever I felt like, just so I brought the cattle in fat by the time +cold weather set in. + +It being an unusually wet summer the scores of basins, or "dry lakes," +as we called them, contained an abundance of nice fresh water, therefore +we would make a fresh camp every few days. The grass was also fine, +being mostly buffalo-grass and nearly a foot high. If ever I enjoyed +life it was that summer. No flies or mosquitoes to bother, lots of game +and a palmy atmosphere. + +Towards the latter part of July about ten thousand head of "through" +cattle arrived from southern Texas. To keep the "wintered" ones from +catching the "Texas fever," Mr. Moore put them all on the Plains, +leaving the new arrivals on the north side of the river. There was three +herds besides mine. And I was put in charge of the whole outfit, that +is, the four herds; although they were held separate as before, with the +regular number of men, horses, etc. to each herd. + +I then put one of my men in charge of the herd I had been holding, and +from that time on until late in the fall I had nothing to do but ride +from one herd to the other and see how they were getting along. Some +times the camps would be twenty miles apart. I generally counted each +bunch once a week, to be certain they were all there. + +About the first of October, Moore came out and picked eight hundred of +the fattest steers out of the four herds and sent them to Dodge to be +shipped to Chicago. He then took everything to the river, to be turned +loose onto the winter range until the next spring. + +When the hardest work was over--winter camps established, etc., I +secured Moore's consent to let me try and overtake the shipping steers, +and accompany them to Chicago. So mounted on Whisky-peet I struck out, +accompanied by one of the boys, John Farris. It was doubtful whether we +would overtake the herd before being shipped, as they had already been +on the road about fifteen days, long enough to have gotten there. + +The night after crossing the Cimeron river we had a little indian scare. +About three o'clock that afternoon we noticed two or three hundred +mounted reds, off to one side of the road, marching up a ravine in +single file. Being only a mile off, John proposed to me that we go over +and tackle them for something to eat. We were terribly hungry, as well +as thirsty. + +I agreed, so we turned and rode towards them. On discovering us they all +bunched up, as though parleying. We didn't like such maneuvering, being +afraid maybe they were on the war-path, so turned and continued our +journey along the road, keeping a close watch behind for fear they might +conclude to follow us. + +We arrived on Crooked Creek, where there was a store and several +ranches, just about dark. On riding up to the store, where we intended +stopping all night, we found it vacated, and everything turned up-side +down as though the occupants had just left in a terrible hurry. Hearing +some ox bells down the creek we turned in that direction, in hopes of +finding something to eat. + +About a mile's ride brought us to a ranch where several yoke of oxen +stood grazing, near the door. Finding a sack of corn in a wagon we fed +our horses and then burst open the door of the log house, which was +locked. Out jumped a little playful puppy, who had been asleep, his +master having locked him up in there, no doubt, in his anxiety to pull +for Dodge. + +Hanging over the still warm ashes was a pot of nice beef soup which had +never been touched. And in the old box cupboard was a lot of cold +biscuits and a jar of nice preserves, besides a jug of molasses, etc. + +After filling up we struck out for Dodge, still a distance of +twenty-five miles. We arrived there a short while after sun-up next +morning; and the first man we met--an old friend by the name of +Willingham--informed us of the indian outbreak. There had been several +men killed on Crooked Creek the evening before--hence John and I finding +the ranches deserted. + +On riding through the streets that morning, crowds of women, some of +them crying, seeing we were just in from the South, flocked around us +inquiring for their absent ones, fathers, brothers, lovers and sons, +some of whom had already been killed, no doubt; there having been +hundreds of men killed in the past few days. + +John and I of course laughed in our boots to think that we turned back, +instead of going on to the band of blood-thirsty devils that we had +started to go to. + +The first thing after putting our horses up at the livery stable, we +went to Wright & Beverly's store and deposited our "wealth." John had a +draft for one hundred and fourteen dollars, while I had about three +hundred and fifty dollars. We then shed our old clothes and crawled +into a bran new rig out and out. Erskine Clement, one of Mr. Beal's +partners, was in town waiting to ship the herd which should have been +there by that time. But he hadn't heard a word from it, since getting +Moore's letter--which, by the way, had to go around through Las Vegas, +New Mexico, and down through the southern part of Colorado--stating +about what time it would arrive in Dodge. He was terribly worried when I +informed him that John and I had neither seen nor heard anything of the +outfit since it left the ranch. + +That night about ten o'clock John, who had struck a lot of his old +chums, came and borrowed twenty-five dollars from me, having already +spent his one hundred and fourteen dollars that he had when he struck +town. + +I went to bed early that night, as I had promised to go with Clement +early next morning to make a search for the missing herd. + +The next morning when Clement and I were fixing to strike out, John came +to me, looking bad after his all night rampage, to get his horse and +saddle out of "soak." I done so, which cost me thirty-five dollars, and +never seen the poor boy afterwards. Shortly after that he went to Ft. +Sumner and was killed by one of "Billy the Kid's" men, a fellow by the +name of Barney Mason. Thus ended the life of a good man who, like scores +of others, let the greatest curse ever known to mankind, whisky, get the +upper hand of him. + +Clement and I pulled south, our ponies loaded down with ammunition so in +case the indians got us corralled we could stand them off a few days, at +least. We were well armed, both having a good winchester and a couple of +colts' pistols apiece. + +We found the outfit coming down Crooked Creek; they having left the main +trail, or road, on the Cimeron, and came over a much longer route, to +avoid driving over a dry stretch of country, forty miles between water. +Hence John and I missing them. No doubt but that it was a lucky move in +them taking that route, for, on the other, they would have just about +come in contact with the three or four hundred Cheyenne reds, whose +bloody deeds are still remembered in that country. + +On arriving in town with the herd we split it in two, making four +hundred head in each bunch, and put one half on the cars to be shipped +to Chicago. I accompanied the first lot, while Clement remained to come +on with the next. + +In Burlington, Iowa, I met Mr. Beals. We lay there all day feeding and +watering the cattle. + +On arriving in Chicago, I went right to the Palmer house, but after +paying one dollar for dinner I concluded its price too high for a common +clod-hopper like myself. So I moved to the Ervin House, close to the +Washington Street tunnel, a two dollar a day house. + +That night I turned myself loose taking in the town, or at least a +little corner of it. I squandered about fifteen dollars that night on +boot-blacks alone. Every one of the little imps I met struck me for a +dime, or something to eat. They knew, at a glance, from the cut of my +jib, that they had struck a bonanza. They continued to "work" me too, +during my whole stay in the city. At one time, while walking with Mr. +Beals and another gentleman, a crowd of them who had spied me from +across the street, yelled "Yonder goes our Texas Ranger! Lets tackle him +for some stuff!" + +About the third day I went broke, and from that time on I had to borrow +from Mr. Beals. I left there about a hundred dollars in his debt. + +After spending six days in the city I left for Dodge City, Kansas, in +company with Mr. Beals and Erskine Clement, who, instead of stopping at +Dodge, continued on to Grenada, Colorado, where the "Beals Cattle Co." +still held their headquarters. + +Arriving in Dodge City, I found Whiskey-peet, whom I had left in +Anderson's stable, all O. K., and mounting him I struck out all alone +for the "L. X." ranch, two hundred and twenty-five miles. + +Arriving at the ranch I found the noted "Billy the Kid" and his gang +there. Among his daring followers were the afterwards noted Tom +O'Phalliard, and Henry Brown, leader of the Medicine Lodge Bank tragedy +which happened in 1884, who was shot in trying to escape, while his +three companions were hung. "The Kid" was there trying to dispose of a +herd of ponies he had stolen from the "Seven River warriors" in Lincoln +County, New Mexico--his bitter enemies whom he had fought so hard +against, that past summer, in what is known as the "bloody Lincoln +County war of '78." During his stay at the ranch and around Tascosa, I +became intimately acquainted with him and his jovial crowd. I mention +these facts because I intend to give you a brief sketch of Billy's +doings, in the closing pages of this book. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A LONELY RIDE OF ELEVEN HUNDRED MILES. + + +After laying around the ranch a couple of weeks, Mr. Moore put me in +charge of a scouting outfit and sent me out on the South Plains to drift +about all winter, watching for cattle thieves, etc.; also to turn back +any cattle that might slip by the "sign riders" and drift across the +Plains. + +During that winter we, that is my crowd, went to church several times. A +little Colony of Christians headed by the Rev. Cahart, had settled on +the head of Salt Fork, a tributary of Red river, and built a church +house in which the little crowd, numbering less than fifty souls would +congregate every Sunday and pray. + +That same little church house now ornaments the thriving little city of +Clarendon, County seat of Donley County. The old inhabitants point to it +with pride when telling of how it once stood solitary and alone out on +the great buffalo range two hundred miles from nowhere. + +The Colony had come from Illinois and drifted away out there beyond the +outskirts of civilization to get loose from that demon whisky. And early +that coming spring a lot of ruffians started a saloon in their midst. A +meeting was called in the little church house and resolutions passed to +drive them out, if in no other way, with powder and lead. They pulled +their freight and I am proud to state that I had a hand in making them +pull it; for the simple reason that they had no business encroaching +upon those good people's rights. + +When spring opened Mr. Moore called me in from the Plains and put me in +charge of a rounding-up outfit, which consisted of twelve riders and a +cook. + +To begin rounding-up, we went over to Canyon Paladuro, where Chas. +Goodnight had a ranch, and where a great many of the river cattle had +drifted during the winter. There was about a hundred men and seven or +eight wagons in the outfit that went over. We stopped over Sunday in the +little Christian Colony and went to church. The Rev. Cahart preached +about the wild and woolly Cow Boy of the west; how the eastern people +had him pictured off as a kind of animal with horns, etc. While to him, +looking down from his dry goods box pulpit into the manly faces of +nearly a hundred of them, they looked just like human beings, minus the +standing collar, etc. + +About the first of July, Moore sent me to Nickerson, Kansas, with a herd +of eight hundred shipping steers. My outfit consisted of five men, a +chuck wagon, etc. Our route lay over a wild strip of country where there +was no trails nor scarcely any ranches--that is, until reaching the +southern line of Kansas. + +We arrived at Nickerson after being on the road two months. "Deacon" +Bates, Mr. Beals partner, was there waiting for us. He had come through +with several herds that had left the ranch a month ahead of us. He was +still holding some of the poorest ones, south of town, where he had a +camp established. + +After loading my wagon with a fresh supply of grub, Mr. Bates, or the +"Deacon" as he was more commonly called, sent me back over the trail he +and his outfits had come, to gather lost steers--some they had lost +coming through. + +I was gone about a month and came back with eighteen head. We had a soft +trip of it, as most of our hard work was such as buying butter, eggs, +etc., from the scattering grangers along the Kansas border. We never +missed a meal on the trip, and always had the best the country afforded, +regardless of cost. Deacon Bates was always bragging on some of his +bosses, how cheap they could live, etc. I just thought I would try him +this time, being in a country where luxuries were plentiful, and see if +he wouldn't blow on me as being a person with good horse sense. An +animal of course, as we all know, will eat the choicest grub he can get; +and why not man, when he is credited with having more sense than the +horse, one of the most intellectual animals that exists? + +On our return to Nickerson, I concluded to quit and spend the winter +with mother, whom I received letters from every now and then begging me +to come home. As I wasn't certain of coming back, I thought it best to +go overland and take Whisky-peet along, for I couldn't even bear the +_thought_ of parting with him; and to hire a car to take him around by +rail would be too costly. + +I got all ready to start and then went to Deacon Bates for a settlement. +He took my account book and, after looking it over, said: "Why, Dum-it +to h--l, I can't pay no such bills as those! Why, Dum-it all, old Jay +Gould would groan under the weight of these bills!" He then went on to +read some of the items aloud. They ran as follows: Cod-fish $10; eggs +$40; butter $70; milk $5; bacon $150; flour $200; canned fruits $400; +sundries $600, etc., etc. Suffice it to say, the old gent told me in +plain Yankee English that I would have to go to Chicago and settle with +Mr. Beals. I hated the idea of going to Chicago, for I knew my +failings--I was afraid I wouldn't have money enough left when I got back +to pay my expenses home. + +That same evening a letter came from Mr. Beals stating that he had just +received a letter from Moore, at the ranch, in which he informed him +that there were two more herds on the trail for Nickerson, and, as it +was getting so near winter, for Joe Hargraves, better known as +"Jinglebob Joe," and I to go and turn them to Dodge City, the nearest +shipping point. + +After putting Whisky-peet and my "Missouri" mare, one I had bought to +use as a pack-horse going home, in care of an old granger to be fed and +taken good care of until my return, Joe and I struck out with only one +horse apiece--just the ones we were riding. + +On our arrival in Dodge I pulled out for Chicago, to get a settlement, +with the first train load we shipped. I took my saddle, bridle, spurs, +etc. along and left them in Atchison, Mo., the first point we stopped to +feed at, until my return. + +Arriving in Chicago, I told Mr. Beals that I was going home to spend the +winter, and therefore wanted to settle up. + +He set 'em up to a fine Havana and then proceeded. Every time he came to +one of those big bills, which caused the Deacon's eyes to bulge out, he +would grunt and crack about a forty-cent smile, but never kicked. + +When he had finished there was a few hundred dollars to my credit. He +then asked me if I could think of anything else that I had forgotten to +charge the "company" with? Of course I couldn't, because I didn't have +time; his question was put to me too sudden. If I could have had a few +hours to myself, to figure the thing up just right, I think I could have +satisfied the old Gent. + +I remained in the city three days taking in the sights and feeding the +hungry little boot blacks. When leaving, Mr. Beals informed me that he +was going to buy a lot of southern Texas cattle, to put on his Panhandle +ranch, the coming spring, and if I wanted a job, to hold myself in +readiness to boss one of the herds up the trail for him. Of course that +just suited me, providing I couldn't make up my mind to remain at home. + +Landing in Nickerson I hired a horse and went out to the old granger's +ranch where I had left my two ponies. They were both fat and feeling +good. + +Before starting out on my little journey of only eleven hundred miles, I +bought a pack-saddle and cooking outfit--that is, just a frying pan, +small coffee pot, etc. I used the mare for a pack animal and rode +Whisky-peet. I had just six dollars left when I rode out of Nickerson. + +I went through Fort Reno and Fort Sill, Indian territory and crossed Red +river into Texas on the old military road, opposite Henrietta. + +When within ten miles of Denton, Texas, on Pecan creek, Whisky-peet +became lame--so much so that he could scarcely walk. I was stopping over +night with a Mr. Cobb, and next morning I first noticed his lameness. + +I lacked about twenty-five cents of having enough to pay Mr. Cobb for my +night's lodging that morning. I had sold my watch for five dollars a +short while before and now that was spent. + +Whisky-peet being too lame to travel, I left him with Mr. Cobb while I +rode into Denton to try and make a raise of some money. + +I tried to swap my mare off for a smaller animal and get some boot, but +every one seemed to think that she had been stolen; I being so anxious +to swap. + +I rode back to Mr. Cobb's that night in the same fix, financially, as +when I left that morning. + +The next day I made a raise of some money. Mr. Cobb and I made a saddle +swap, he giving me twenty dollars to boot. He and I also swapped +bridles, I getting four dollars and a half to boot. One of his little +boys then gave me his saddle and one dollar and a half for my +pack-saddle, which had cost me ten dollars in Nickerson. I then had lots +of money. + +Whisky-peet soon got over his lameness, having just stuck a little snag +into the frog of his foot, which I succeeded in finding and pulling out +before it had time to do serious damage, and I started on my journey +again. + +On arriving in Denton that time, a negro struck me for a horse swap +right away. I got a three year old pony and six dollars in money for my +mare; the pony suited just as well for a pack animal as the mare. + +The next day after leaving Denton, I stopped in a negro settlement and +won a fifty-dollar horse, running Whisky-peet against a sleepy looking +grey. I had up twenty dollars in money and my Winchester, a fine silver +mounted gun. I won the race by at least ten open feet, but the negroes +tried to swindle me out of it. + +While riding along that evening three negroes rode up and claimed the +horse I had won. They claimed that the parties who bet him off had no +right to him, as they just had borrowed him from one of them to ride to +the Settlement that morning. I finally let them have him for twenty +dollars. + +I went through the following towns after leaving Denton: Ft. Worth, +Clenborn, Hillsborough, Waco, Herrene, Bryant, Brenham and Columbus; +besides scores of smaller places. + +I rode up to mother's little shanty on Cashe's creek after being on the +road just a month and twelve days. + +To say that mother was glad to see me would only half express it. She +bounced me the first thing about not coming back the next fall after +leaving as I had promised. I had been gone nearly four years. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ANOTHER START UP THE CHISHOLM TRAIL. + + +I hadn't been at home but a few days when I came very near getting +killed by a falling house. + +Mother had become tired of the neighborhood she lived in and wanted me +to move her and her shanty down the creek about a mile, to Mr. +Cornelius's. So hiring a yoke of oxen--although a pair of goats would +have answered the purpose--I hauled her household goods down to the spot +selected. I then went to work tearing the shanty down. + +In building it I had set eight pine posts two feet in the ground, and +then nailed the sidings, etc., to them. There was only one room and it +was eight feet wide and fourteen long. The roof had been made of heavy +pine boards. After tearing both ends out, I climbed onto the roof to +undo that. + +I was a-straddle of the sharp roof, about midway, axe in one hand and a +large chisel in the other, when all at once the sides began spreading +out at the top. Of course I began sinking slowly but surely, until +everything went down with a crash. The pine posts had become rotten from +the top of the ground down; and just as soon as the roof and I had +struck bottom the sides flopped over onto us. + +A neighbor's little boy by the name of Benny Williams, had been +monkeying around watching me work, and unluckily he was inside of the +shanty when the collapse came. + +I was sensible, but unable to move, there being so much weight on me. + +Finally little Benny who was one thickness of boards under me woke up +and began squalling like a six months old calf being put through the +process of branding. + +After squalling himself hoarse he began to moan most pitiously. That was +too much for me. I could stand his bleating but his moaning for help put +new life into my lazy muscles, causing me to exert every nerve in my +body, so as to get out and render the poor boy assistance. I had, before +the boy's cries disturbed me, made up my mind to lie still and wait for +something to turn up. + +In exerting myself I found that I could move my body down towards my +feet, an inch at a time. The weight was all on my left shoulder. But it +soon came in contact with something else, which relieved my bruised +shoulder of most of the weight. + +I got out finally after a long and painful struggle; and securing help +from the Morris ranch, fished Benny out. He had one leg broken below the +knee, besides other bruises. I was slightly disfigured, but still in the +ring. + +I put in the winter visiting friends, hunting, etc. I had sold my +cattle--the mavricks branded nearly four years before--to Mr. Geo. +Hamilton, at the market price, from five to ten dollars a head, +according to quality, to be paid for when he got his own brand put on to +them. Every now and then he would brand a few, and with the money +received for them I would buy grub and keep up my dignity. + +About the first of March I received a letter from Mr. Rosencrans, one of +D. T. Beals' partners, stating that Mr. Beals had bought his cattle in +middle Texas instead of southern as he had expected, and as he had told +me in Chicago. "But," continued the letter, "we have bought a herd from +Charles Word of Goliad, on the San Antonia River, to be delivered at our +Panhandle ranch and have secured you the job of bossing it. Now should +you wish to come back and work for us, go out and report to Mr. Word at +once." + +The next day I kissed mother good-bye, gave Whisky peet a hug, patted +Chief--a large white dog that I had picked up in the Indian Territory on +my way through--a few farewell pats on the head, mounted "Gotch"--a pony +I had swapped my star-spangled winchester for--and struck out for +Goliad, ninety miles west. Leaving Whisky-peet behind was almost as +severe on me as having sixteen jaw-teeth pulled. I left him, in Horace +Yeamans' care, so that I could come back by rail the coming fall. I +failed to come back though that fall as I expected, therefore never got +to see the faithful animal again; he died the following spring. + +A three days' ride brought me to Goliad, the place where Fannin and his +brave followers met their sad fate during the Mexican war. It was dark +when I arrived there. After putting up my horse, I learned from the old +gent Mr. Word, who was a saddler, and whom I found at work in his shop, +that his son Charlie was out at Beeville, gathering a bunch of cattle. + +Next morning I struck out for Beeville, thirty miles west, arriving +there about four o'clock in the afternoon. + +About sun-down I found Charles Word, and his crowd of muddy +cow-punchers, five miles west of town. They were almost up to their ears +in mud, (it having been raining all day,) trying to finish "road +branding" that lot of steers before dark. The corral having no "chute" +the boys had to rope and wrestle with the wild brutes until the hot iron +could be applied to their wet and muddy sides. + +When I rode up to the corral, Charlie came out, and I introduced myself. +He shook my hand with a look of astonishment on his brow, as much as to +say, I'll be----if Beals mustn't be crazy, sending this smooth-faced kid +here to take charge of a herd for me! He finally after talking awhile +told me that I would have to work under Mr. Stephens, until we got ready +to put up the Beals herd--or at least the one I was to accompany. He +also told me to keep the boys from knowing that I was going to boss the +next herd, as several of them were fishing for the job, and might +become stubborn should they know the truth. + +I went on "night-guard" after supper and it continued to rain all night, +so that I failed to get any sleep; but then I didn't mind it, as I was +well rested. + +The next day after going to work, was when I caught fits though, working +in a muddy pen all day. When night came I didn't feel as much like going +on guard as I did the night before. A laughable circumstance happened +that morning after going into the branding-pen. + +As the pen had no "chute" we had to rope and tie down, while applying +the brand. The men working in pairs, one, which ever happened to get a +good chance, to catch the animal by both fore feet as he run by which +would "bump" him, that is, capsize him. The other fellow would then be +ready to jump aboard and hold him until securely fastened. There being +only seven of us to do the roping that morning, it of course left one +man without a "pard," and that one was me. Each one you see is always +anxious to get a good roper for a "pard," as then everything works +smoothly. Mr. Word told me to sit on the fence and rest until Ike Word, +an old negro who used to belong to the Word family, and who was the best +roper in the crowd, returned from town where he had been sent with a +message. + +It wasn't long till old Ike galloped up, wearing a broad grin. He was +very anxious to get in the pen and show "dem fellers de art of cotching +um by boaf front feet." But when his boss told him he would have to take +me for a "pard" his broad grin vanished. Calling Mr. Word to one side he +told him that he didn't want that yankee for a "pard," as he would have +to do all the work, etc. He was told to try me one round and if I didn't +suit he could take some one else. Shortly afterwards while passing Mr. +Word old Ike whispered and said: "Dogon me if dat yankee don't surprise +de natives!" When night came, and while I was on herd, old Ike sat +around the camp fire wondering to the other boys "whar dat yankee +learned to rope so well." You see Mr. Word had told the boys that I was +from the Panhandle, and old Ike thought the Panhandle was way up in +Yankeedom somewhere, hence he thinking I was a yankee. A few days after +that though, I satisfied old Ike that I was a thoroughbred. + +Mr. Word bought a bunch of ponies, new arrivals from Mexico, and among +them was a large iron-grey, which the mexicans had pointed out as being +"Muncho Deablo." None of the boys, not even old Ike, cared to tackle +him. So one morning I caught and saddled him. He fought like a tiger +while being saddled; and after getting it securely fastened he threw it +off and stamped it into a hundred pieces, with his front feet, which +caused me to have to buy a new one next day. I then borrowed Mr. +Stephens' saddle, and after getting securely seated in it, raised the +blinds and gave him the full benefit of spurs and quirt. After pitching +about half a mile, me, saddle and all went up in the air, the girths +having broken. But having the "hackimore" rope fastened to my belt I +held to him until help arrived. I then borrowed another saddle, and this +time stayed with him. From that on, old Ike recognized me as a genuine +cow-puncher. + +We finally got that herd, of thirty-seven hundred steers, ready for the +trail; but the very night after getting them counted and ready to turn +over to Mr. Stephens the next morning, they stampeded, half of them +getting away and mixing up with thousands of other cattle. + +Mr. Stephens thought he would try a new scheme that trip up the trail, +so he bought a lot of new bulls-eye lanterns to be used around the herd +on dark, stormy nights, so that each man could tell just where the other +was stationed by the reflection of his light. + +This night in question being very dark and stormy, Stephens thought he +would christen his new lamps. He gave me one, although I protested +against such nonsense. + +About ten o'clock some one suddenly flashed his bulls-eye towards the +herd, and off they went, as though shot out of a gun. + +In running my horse at full speed in trying to get to the lead, or in +front of them, me, horse, bulls-eye and all went over an old rail +fence--where there had once been a ranch--in a pile. I put the entire +blame onto the lamp, the light of which had blinded my horse so that he +didn't see the fence. + +I wasn't long in picking myself up and mounting my horse who was +standing close by, still trembling from the shock he received. I left +the lamp where it lay, swearing vengeance against the use of them, +around cattle, and dashed off after the flying herd. + +When daylight came I and a fellow by the name of Glass, found ourselves +with about half of the herd, at least ten miles from camp. The rest of +the herd was scattered all over the country, badly mixed up with other +cattle. It took us several days to get the lost ones gathered, and the +herd in shape again. + +After bidding Stephens and the boys who were to accompany him, adieu, to +meet again on Red River where he was to wait for us, we pulled for +Goliad to rig up a new outfit, horses, wagon, etc. + +The horses, Word bought out of a mexican herd which had just arrived +from Old Mexico. He gave eighteen dollars a head for the choice, out of +several hundred head. + +Being all ready to start for Kimble County, two hundred miles northwest, +where the herd was to be gathered, Mr. Word turned the outfit over to +me, while he went around by stage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +A TRIP WHICH TERMINATED IN THE CAPTURE OF "BILLY THE KID." + + +We went through San Antonio and lay there long enough to have all of our +horses shod, as we were going into a mountainous country where they +couldn't stand it without shoes. While there I visited the Almo building +where poor Davy Crocket and his brave companions bit the dust. + +We arrived at our destination, Joe Taylor's ranch, on Paint creek a +small tributary to the Llano, at last; and it was one of the roughest, +rockiest, God-forsaken countries I ever put foot on. + +We finally, after three weeks hard work, got the herd of twenty-five +hundred head started towards the north star. We were awful glad to get +out of there too, for our horses were all nearly peetered out, and the +men on the war-path, from having to work twenty-six hours a day. + +At Red river we overtook Stephens and changed herds with him, his being +the ones to go to Beal's ranch, while the others were for the Wyoming +market. + +After parting with Stephens again we turned in a northwesterly direction +and arrived at the "L. X." ranch on the first day of July. + +Moore sent me right out on the Plains to hold the herd I came up with, +until fall. That just suited me as I needed a rest. + +After turning the herd loose on the range about the first of September, +I was put in charge of a branding outfit. Our work then was drifting +over the range branding calves. + +Late in the fall when all the branding was done, Moore put me in charge +of a scouting outfit and sent me out on the Plains to drift around, the +same as previous winters. + +I hadn't been there long, though, when he sent word for me to turn my +outfit over to James McClaughety and come in to the ranch; and to bring +three of my picked men along. + +On arriving at the ranch I found that he wanted me to take an outfit and +go to New Mexico after a lot of cattle that "Billy the Kid" had stolen +and run over there. + +The cattlemen along the Canadian river had hired a fellow by the name of +Frank Stuart to keep a lookout for stolen cattle in New Mexico; and +along in the summer he came to the Panhandle and notified the different +cattlemen who had him employed that "Billy the Kid" and his gang were +making a regular business of stealing Panhandle cattle and selling them +to an old fellow named Pat Cohglin who had a large ranch on Three +rivers, close to Ft. Stanton. + +The outfits then made up a crowd between them, and sent with Stuart, +giving him orders to go right to the Cohglin ranch and take all the +cattle found there, in their brands. + +But Mr. Stuart failed to go nearer than forty miles from where the +cattle were reported to be. He claimed that Cohglin, who had a +blood-thirsty crowd around him, sent him word that if he got the cattle +he would have to take some hot lead with them, or something to that +effect. So Stuart came back, claiming he didn't have men enough. + +This made Moore mad, so he concluded to rig up an outfit of his own and +send them over after the cattle, hence he sending out after me. + +My outfit, after getting it rigged up, consisted of a chuck wagon with +four good mules to pull it, a cook and five picked men, named as +follows: James East, Lee Hall, Lon Chambers, Cal Pope and last but not +by any means least "Big-foot Wallace." They all, except me, had one +extra good horse apiece; I had two. Moore thought it best not to have +many horses to feed, as corn would be scarce and high. He thought it +best to buy more if we needed them. + +On starting, Moore gave me these orders: "Stay over there until you get +those cattle or bust the "L. X." company. I will keep you supplied in +money just as long as they have got a nickel left, that I can get hold +of. And when you get the cattle if you think you can succeed in +capturing "Billy the Kid" do so. You can hire all the men you need; but +don't undertake his capture until you have first secured the cattle." + +At Tascosa we met Stuart who had succeeded in raising a little crowd to +join us. Mr. McCarty, boss of the "L. I. T." ranch had furnished five +men, a cook and chuck wagon; and Torry, whose ranch was further up the +river, a wagon and two men, while a man by the name of Johnson furnished +a man and wagon. The "L. I. T." outfit was in charge of a fellow by the +name of "Bob" Roberson, whose orders were to get the stolen cattle +before trying to capture the Kid, but in the meantime, to be governed by +Stuart's orders. This placed "Bob" in bad shape, as you will see later. + +Stuart, after we all got strung out, took the "buck-board" on the mail +line, and went on ahead to Las Vegas to put in a week or so with his +solid girl. + +On arriving at San Lorenzo, New Mexico, I mounted a buck-board and +struck out ahead, to Las Vegas, to buy a lot of corn, grub, ammunition, +etc., to be delivered at Anton Chico, twenty-five miles south of +"Vegas," by the time the crowd got there, so as not to cause any delay. +"Bob" Roberson also gave me money to buy a lot of stuff for his outfit. + +Arriving in Vegas, during a severe snow storm, I found there wasn't +fifty bushels of corn in town, the snow storm having delayed the freight +trains. One merchant had just got a bill of several car loads which he +expected to arrive any minute. So I concluded I would wait--and help +Stuart hold the town down. + +I wrote a letter to Anton Chico, telling the boys to lay there and take +it easy, as I might be detained several days waiting for corn. + +Every morning I would go to the grain merchant, and receive this reply: +"Am looking for it every minute; t'will certainly be here by night." + +Not being acquainted in town, time passed off very slowly, so I finally +got to "bucking" at my old favorite game--monte. I won for a while, but +finally my luck took a turn and I lost nearly every dollar I had in my +possession, most of which belonged to my employers. The one hundred +dollars that "Bob" Roberson gave to buy stuff for his outfit, also went. + +While standing over the exciting game, after my pile had dwindled down +to an even seventy dollars, I put just half of it, thirty-five dollars, +on the Queen, or "horse," as it is called, being the picture of a woman +on horseback, and made a vow, if I lost that bet that I never would as +long as I lived, "buck" at monte again. I lost, and my vow has been +sacredly kept. + +The corn finally arrived, but having no money, I had to run my face by +giving an order on the "L. X." company, payable on demand. The other +stuff, ammunition, etc., also things "Bob" had sent for, I had to buy in +the same manner. Of course I hated to give orders so soon after leaving +the ranch with a pocketfull of money, but then that was the best I +could do under existing circumstances. + +After getting the goods started for Anton Chico, Stuart and I hired a +rig and followed. + +Arriving in "Chico" we found Barney Mason, (an ex-chum of the "Kid's," +but now a deputy sheriff under Pat Garrett) there, with a message from +Garrett telling Stuart to meet him in Vegas at a certain date, on +important business. So Stuart struck right back to Vegas, accompanied by +Mason, as the date fixed was only a few days off. + +I found the boys all well and having a fat time. The only thing that +bothered me they had run in debt head over heels on the strength of me +having lots of money. The merchants expected their pay according to +contract, immediately after my arrival. I had to satisfy them with +orders on the "L. X." firm. + +The boys had lots of news to relate, things that had happened after I +left: One of "Bob's" men had had a shooting scrape with some mexicans; +and "Billy the Kid" and his crowd had been in town, they having come in +afoot, and went out well mounted. He and his five men having hoofed it +through deep snow from the Greathouse ranch, over a hundred miles +southwest of there. + +After getting everything in shape we pulled out for White Oaks, one +hundred and fifty miles southwest. + +The second night out we camped at the Lewelling Wells, where bright and +early next morning Stuart overtook us; accompanied by Pat Garrett and +Barney Mason. They came with a scheme all cut and dried, by which they +could get the big reward offered for the "Kid." Garrett knew the Kid and +his few remaining followers had been to Chico and left for Fort Sumner a +few days before; and that they were wore out from having been chased all +over the country by a gang of ninety men from White Oaks and vicinity. +Now was his time to strike, if he could just get Stuart to go in cahoots +with him. That was soon accomplished; a promise of half of the reward, I +suppose, done the work. Hence he sending for Stuart to come and see him +in "Vegas" on important business. + +After eating breakfast Stuart broke the ice by telling a lie. He knew +our orders were strictly to get the cattle first, and then if we could +assist in the capture of the "Kid" to do so. Therefore he branched out +thus: "Well boys, we have got a job on our hands: 'Kid' is on his way to +Old Mexico with a bunch of Panhandle cattle; and we want every man in +the outfit, except just enough to accompany the wagons to White Oaks, to +go with Garrett and I to overtake them." + +"How can that be," someone asked "when Kid and his men just left Anton +Chico a few days ago?" + +"Don't know," was the quick answer, unless some of his outfit had the +cattle under herd somewhere down the river waiting for him. If you doubt +my word about it, just ask Mr. Garrett, there. + +Of course we all did doubt his word, and were well satisfied that it was +a put up job, to gain the reward. + +"Bob" Roberson and I went to one side and talked the matter over, while +Stuart and his little party remained at camp wondering whether their +little scheme would have strength to hold out, on its weak legs or not. + +"Bob" was in favor, after we had talked the thing over, of going right +back and telling Stuart in plain English that he lied. But I wouldn't +agree to that for fear it might accidently be true. I thought it strange +that Garrett, who had the reputation of being a model of a man, would +sit by with his mouth shut and listen to such a falsehood. Of course +Garrett couldn't be blamed very much for he, being Sheriff, was +interested in the "Kid's" capture, no matter what became of the cattle +we had come after. + +"Bob" and I finally concluded, for fear the statement might be true, to +let them have a few men, but not enough to completely cripple us so that +we couldn't go on after the cattle should we think it best, after +getting to White Oaks. + +I let them take three out of my crowd: "Jim" East, "Lon" Chambers and +"Lee" Hall. While "Bob" gave up two, "Tom" Emory and Louis Bozman. +Stuart wasn't satisfied, he wanted more. But not being successful in +getting his whole wants supplied, they all rode off down the Pecos +valley. + +Shortly after they left we pulled out on the White Oaks road. That night +it began to snow, and kept it up for several days until the whole ground +was covered to the depth of from two to three feet; so that it was slow +work getting our wagons along through it. + +A few days afterwards we came to the Greathouse ranch, or at least to +the hot ashes where it once stood, where "Kid" and six of his daring +followers were surrounded by ninety men one whole night and day. It was +as follows: + +A squad of men left White Oaks to hunt the "Kid" who was lurking in the +neighborhood. They suddenly came upon him and Bill Willson cooking their +breakfasts, one morning. + +On discovering their enemies they both, after firing a shot apiece, sped +through the mountains like deer, leaving their horses, saddles, coats +and breakfast behind. + +One of the shots fired at the White Oaks party took effect in the brain +of a good horse that a young man by the name of Johnny Hudgens was +riding, while the other, went through a hat, on the head of a young man. + +After following the trail through the deep snow awhile, and after +satisfying themselves that the two young outlaws couldn't hide their +tracks, the party struck back to White Oaks after something to eat, and +more men. + +When they returned, that same evening, there was ninety men in the +crowd. They got on the trail and followed it, until shortly after dark, +when it brought them to within a few hundred yards of the Greathouse +ranch, on the "Vegas" and White Oaks road. + +To satisfy themselves that the game was bagged, they circled around the +ranch to see that no trails were leading out from it. + +They then stationed themselves in a circle around the house and, +dismounting, began to make breast-works out of pine logs--the ranch +being in the midst of a large pine grove. + +When day-light came Greathouse sent a negro, who was stopping with him, +out after the horses which had been hobbled the night before. + +Mr. "Nig" hadn't gone but a few hundred yards when he was captured by +the White Oaks boys. + +After learning from him that the "Kid" and five of his men were in the +house they sent him back with a note to the "Kid," telling him if he and +his party would come out with their hands up they would be treated as +prisoners of war; if not they would have to stand the consequences, etc. + +In a few minutes the negro returned with a note from the "Kid," stating: +"You fellers go to h--l!" or something to that effect. + +A consultation was then held, and finally decided to give the boys one +more chance for their lives, before storming the house. So they sent +Mr. Coon back with another note stating, that that would be their last +chance, etc. + +In a short while a new messenger came forward. It was "Jim" Greathouse, +proprietor of the ranch. He stated that the "Kid" desired to have a talk +with their leader. On asking him what assurance he could give that their +leader wouldn't be harmed, he replied, "myself." He told them that they +could hold him a prisoner, and if anything happened to Carlyle, he was +willing to stand the consequences. + +So Mr. "Jim" Carlyle, he being the leader, marched forward--never more +to return--to have a talk with the "Kid". + +Arriving in the house where there was also a saloon, kept there to +accommodate the thirsty traveler, he was made to go up to the bar and +drink "health to Billy the Kid." This of course went against the grain +with "Jim," but then what else could he do now, being at their mercy? + +Finally the Kid spied one of the gloves he had left behind in his +retreat the day before, sticking out of "Jim's" coat pocket. + +This revived the hardships he and Billy Willson were compelled to +endure, nearly all day the day before, traveling through snow up to +their knees. So pulling the glove out of "Jim's" pocket and holding it +up at arms length, he asked: "Jim, was you with that mob yesterday who +caused me such a tramp through the snow?" + +"Yes," was the answer. + +"Well then, come up and take your last drink on this earth, for I am +going to blow your light out." + +"Jim" of course didn't relish the half pint of rotgut that he was forced +to drink at the point of a colts "45." + +After drinking a full glass himself the "Kid" threw his pistol down in +"Jim's" face, full cocked, telling him at the same time to say his +prayers while he slowly counted "three." + +The "one, two, three!" was uttered, and then a pistol shot rang out upon +the still air, re-echoing from the mountain sides, in every direction. + +The bullet had struck its mark, a tin can hanging on the wall a few +inches above "Jim's" head. + +"Well, Jim," was the first words that broke the death-like silence +within, "you are worth several dead men yet, ain't you?" Said "Kid" +grabbing "Jim's" trembling hand and leading him up to the bar, over +which Billy Willson handed the fiery bug-juice. + +"You didn't think I would be brute enough to shoot you in _such_ a +cowardly manner, did you, Jim?" continued the "Kid" setting his empty +glass down on the counter. + +The shot from within had excited the crowd outside almost to fever heat; +they thinking that it meant their leaders' death. One fellow during the +exciting moment scribbled off a note which read thus: "If Carlyle ain't +out here in ten minutes by the watch, your friend Greathouse will be a +corpse," and sent it to the "Kid" by the negro, who had returned after +delivering the last message which brought Greathouse out. + +The note was read in the presence of Carlyle, so that he heard every +word it contained. + +"Kid" then answered it by stating: "Carlyle is safe, but we can't give +him up just yet. Now remember, if we hear a shot from the outside we +will take it for granted that you have carried out your threats by +killing Greathouse, and will have to pay you back by killing our +prisoner," etc. + +"Jim" knew the substance of the note and trembled in his boots at the +thoughts of an accident shot being fired by his party. He was satisfied +that his men wouldn't do as they threatened in the note after hearing, +from the negro's own lips, that he was still alive. It was the +_accident_ shot that disturbed his mind. + +The negro hadn't more than got behind the breastworks with the note when +a man, stationed behind another breastwork, who knew nothing of the +threat having been made, fired a shot at the house "just for fun." + +Carlyle, on hearing the shot, made a leap at the only glass window in +the house, taking sash and all with him. But before striking the ground +several bullets from the "Kids" well aimed "45" had pierced his body. He +crawled a few yards and then fell over dead, in plain view of his eighty +odd companions. + +"Kid" claimed afterwards that he was sorry for having had to kill "Jim." +Their intentions were to hold him prisoner until dark, when they would +tie him down, so he couldn't give the alarm, and then make their +escape. + +From that on, the mad crowd outside kept up a continued firing at the +log house until dark. But doing no damage, as the boys had breast-works +built of sacks of flour, boxes, bedding, etc. + +Jim Greathouse during the excitement gave his guards the slip and pulled +for "tall timber" up in the mountains where it was almost impossible for +a mounted man to follow. I have often afterwards heard Greathouse laugh +over the matter and tell how he "just hit the high places," and beat +Goldsmith Maid's fastest time, for the first half mile. + +About ten o'clock that night the White Oaker's began to get tired and +hungry, so concluded they would go back to town, forty miles, fill up, +get a fresh mount and return by daylight, without the "Kid" and his men +knowing anything of it. They stole off very slyly, without making any +noise, and when they got about a mile, put their horses down to their +best licks. + +About midnight the little party inside made a bold break for liberty. +They headed north-east, with cocked winchesters, determined on fighting +their way out. But they were happily disappointed. + +A ten-mile tramp through snow brought them to the Spencer ranch, which +was kept by a kind old man by the name of Spencer, who lived there all +alone, and was trying to establish a shorter route from "Vegas" to the +"Oaks" by turning the road by his place, where there was a fine spring +of water, a luxury the Greathouse ranch lacked, they having to haul +water a distance of several miles from up in the rough mountains. + +Just as day was breaking the crowd returned from the "Oaks," and finding +their game had fled they set fire to the house and struck out on the +newly made foot prints. + +Arriving at the Spencer ranch they learned, from the old gentleman, that +the "Kid" and his little party of five had been gone about two hours, +and that they had eaten breakfast with him. + +After continuing on the trail about an hour longer, until it brought +them to a rough strip of country where they would be compelled to take +it afoot, they gave up the chase, and turned back to take their spite +out on poor old Spencer for feeding the "Kid" and his crowd. + +They took the poor old harmless fellow out to a neighboring tree, after +setting fire to his ranch, and put a rope around his neck; but before +they had time to swing him up, a few of the men, who had been opposed +from the start, interfered in the old man's behalf. Thus his neck was +saved, and he is to-day a highly respected citizen in that community, +which has since that time become a rich mining district. + +The "Kid" and his men made it into Anton Chico, where, as I stated +before, they stole a good horse and saddle apiece, while the boys were +there waiting for me to arrive from "Vegas," and pulled down the Reo +Pecos. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +BILLY THE KID'S CAPTURE + + +We arrived in the beautifully located town of White Oaks on the 23d day +of December, (1880). The town, which consisted of 1000 inhabitants, +mostly American miners, was then not quite two years old and pretty +lively for its age. It contained eight saloons; and Saturday nights when +the boys would come in from the surrounding mountains, to spend the +Sabbath, is when the little burg would put on city airs. + +We rented a large log house in the lower end of town and went to living +like white folks. We had no money, but we struck two of the merchants +who gave us an unlimited credit until we could make a raise. Our +greatest expense was feeding the horses corn which cost five cents a +pound and hay, two cents a pound. The grub we ate wasn't very expensive +as we stole all of our meat, and shared with our honest neighbors who +thought it a great sin to kill other people's cattle. You see "Bob" and +I still clung to the old Texas style which is, never kill one of your +own beeves when you can get somebody else's. + +We had concluded not to go after the stolen cattle until the rest of the +boys got there, by which time the deep snow would be melted, maybe, so +that we could scour the White Mountains, where the cattle were reported +to be, out thoroughly. + +New-Year's night we had a bushel of fun making the citizens think that +"Billy the Kid" had taken the town. Billy was in the habit of "shooting +the town up a lot" every now and then, hence, every time a few dozen +shots were fired at an unusually late hour, they putting it down as +being some of his devilment. + +We first sent one of our crowd up-town to the billiard hall, where most +of the men generally congregated, and especially "Pinto Tom," the +marshal, whose maneuvers we were anxious to learn, to watch and see what +kind of an effect our shooting had on the people. + +At precisely twelve o'clock we got out with winchesters and +six-shooters, cooks and all, and turned ourselves loose. About one +hundred shots were fired in quick succession. We then went up town to +note the effect. + +Arriving at the billiard hall we found old "Uncle Jimmie," our man, +standing in the door laughing fit to kill himself. The hall was empty, +with the exception of a few who were still hid under tables, chairs, +etc. Most of them had gone out of the back door, there being a rough +canyon within a few yards of it leading to the mountains, right at the +marshal's heels. It was said that "Pinto Tom" didn't get in from the +mountains for two days, and when he did come, he swore he had been off +prospecting. + +Shortly after New-Years some of our men arrived, bringing the news of +the "Kid's" capture, while the rest, Jim East and Tom Emory had +accompanied Garrett and Stuart to "Vegas" with the prisoners. + +Stuart sent a letter by one of the boys, stating that he, East and +Emory, would be in the "Oaks" just as quick as they could get there, +after turning the prisoners over to the authorities in "Vegas." + +So, knowing that we were destined to remain around the "Oaks" a week or +two at least, we pulled out in the mountains and camped, so as to save +expenses by letting our horses eat grass instead of hay. + +That night, after the boys arrived and after we had moved camp out in +the timber, while seated around a blazing pinyon fire, Lon Chambers who +was a splendid single-handed talker, began relating how they captured +the "Kid," etc., which ran about this way, as near as I can remember: + + "After leaving you fellers we caught----. It began snowing that + night, and kept it up for two or three days and nights. + + Arriving in Ft. Sumner, Garrett got word that the Kid and outfit + would be in town that night from Los Potales, where the 'Kid's' + ranch or cave was situated, so he secured a house near the road + leading to 'Potales,' to secret his men in. He then kept a man out + doors, on guard, watching the road. + + About ten o'clock that night, while we were all inside playing a + five-cent game of poker, the guard opened the door and said, + 'Garrett, here comes a crowd down the road!' We all dashed out, + winchesters in hand, and hid behind an adobe fence, close by, which + they would be compelled to pass. + + The moon was shining and we could tell who it was, or at least + Garrett and Mason could; they being well acquainted with them. + There was six in the approaching crowd, and thirteen of us. + + When they rode up within speaking distance Garrett yelled, 'throw + up your hands!' His voice had hardly died out when thirteen shots + from our nervously gripped winchesters were fired into their midst. + + When the smoke cleared off we found that they had all vanished, + with the exception of Tom Ophalliard who was mortally wounded, and + died shortly after. He had several bullet holes through his body. + 'These,' pointing down to his feet, 'are his over shoes, and this' + pulling off a finely finished mexican sombraro and displaying it, + "is the hat I pulled from his head before he had quit kicking." + + The next morning we struck out on the trail which led back towards + Los Potales. The white snow along the trail was red with blood, + having flowed from the wounds in Rudabaugh's horse. The poor animal + died though after carrying his heavy master through twelve miles of + deep snow. + + About midnight we hove in sight of a little rock house standing on + the banks of a small arroyo. The trail led right up to the door + which faced the south. Right near the door stood four shivering + horses. + + Knowing we had the little band trapped, we took things cool until + daylight, when we stationed ourselves around the house. + + There being no opening in the building except the door, Garrett and + Lee Hall crawled up to the end wall so they could watch the door + from around the corner, while the rest of us concealed ourselves + behind knolls, etc. + + We had left our horses behind a hill quite a distance from the + house. + + When it became light enough to see, Charlie Bowdre stepped out + doors to see about his horse, but he hadn't more than hit the + ground when two bullets, fired by Garrett and Hall, who were still + at the corner not a dozen feet from the door, sent him to his long + home. He only uttered a few words, which were: 'I wish, I wish,' + before his last breath left him. + + Of course that caused a stirring around inside; they knew what it + meant and began making preparations for an escape. The 'Kid' had + his pony inside, out of the cold and the other four--Rudabaugh + having secured another one--were tied to the door frame so that + they could reach the ropes without exposing their bodies. Now + thought they if we can pull three of the horses inside we will + mount and make a bold dash out of the door. But when they got the + first animal about half way into the house Garrett sent a bullet + through its heart. The dead animal of course blocked the way so + that they had to give up that scheme. + + They then tried picking port holes through the thick rock walls, + but had to give it up also, as they had nothing to do it with but + their knives and firearms. + + The 'Kid' and Garrett finally opened up a conversation. The former + seemed to be in fine humor. Every now and then he would crack some + kind of a joke and then laugh, so that every one of us could hear + him. At one time he asked in a jovial way: 'Garrett, have you got a + fire out there?' 'Yes, a good one!' was the answer. 'Can we come + out and warm if we behave ourselves?' 'Yes,' replied Garrett, 'but + come with your hands up.' 'Oh, you go to h--l, won't you? You old + long-legged s--n of a b----h!' + + You see they were without fire, water or provisions, consequently + we had the advantage. We had a good fire out behind one of the + knolls and would take turns about, during the day and coming + night, going to warm. + + They held out until next day, when they surrendered, after being + promised protection from mob violence. Kid was the last man to come + out with his hands up. He said he would have starved to death + before surrendering if the rest had stayed with him." + +Chambers, after finishing gave a heavy sigh and wondered whether Garrett +and Stuart would act white and whack up the reward evenly among the +whole outfit, or not. + +"Bob" and I made arrangements with the boys to loan us their part of the +reward, which would amount to considerable over a hundred dollars +apiece, until we got back to the ranch, to pay our debts with. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +A TRIP TO THE RIO GRANDE ON A MULE. + + +About the time we were getting out of patience waiting, the two boys, +East and Emory, arrived with the good news that Stuart would be along in +a few days, he having to remain over to get their part of the reward, +etc. + +Stuart arrived finally; he came in a buggy with a gentleman from +"Vegas." His orders to Roberson and Torry's men were: "Boys, you fellows +pull right back to the ranch, as I have got some important business to +look after in 'Vegas.' We can come back after those cattle in the +spring," etc. + +The boys who had helped capture the "Kid" and outfit rounded him up for +their part of the reward, but he said it was already spent. Oh no, they +wasn't mad! Some of them swore that he would be a corpse before morning. +But luckily for him he pulled for "Vegas" that night. I am not certain +whether he was aware of his danger or not, but there is one thing I am +certain of and that is, it wouldn't have been healthy for him to remain +in that locality very long. "Bob" had even consented to the crowd +hanging him. I was the only one who protested, for the simple reason +that I do not believe in mob law. Of course I thought it very wrong in +swindling the boys out of equal share of the reward, after they had +shared equally in the danger and hardships. + +"Bob" was in a bad fix, in debt, no money and ordered home, by one whose +orders his boss had told him to obey. The question was, how to stand his +creditors off and get grub, corn, etc. enough to last him home. + +I finally came to his rescue. As I intended remaining, I went to the +merchants and told them his fix and guaranteed that he would send the +money he owed as soon as he got home, or else I would let them take it +out of my four mules and wagon, which were worth a thousand dollars at +least. + +They let him off; also let him have grub, corn, etc. enough to last him +home, which would take fifteen days to make the trip. + +As some of my boys became homesick, on seeing Roberson's outfit getting +ready to pull back and as I was anxious to cut down expenses, knowing +that I would have to lay there the rest of the winter, waiting for +money to pay up my bills before the merchants would let me move my +wagon, I let three of them go along with "Bob." Those three were James +East, Cal. Pope and Lee Hall. "Bob" let Tom Emory, one of his men, who +was stuck on the light mountain air of New Mexico remain with me. This +left me there with a cook and three warriors, Emory, Chambers and +"Big-foot" Wallace. + +Just as soon as "Bob" had pulled out, I moved into town and rented a +house, so that we could put on style, while waiting for the money I had +written to the ranch for. + +The mails were so irregular, on account of the deep snow which lay on +the ground up there in the mountains nearly all winter, that I didn't +get a letter from Moore for three weeks. In the letter were drafts for +three hundred dollars; and Moore stated that I had done just right by +not taking Stuart's advice and coming home. He also reminded me that I +mustn't come back until I got the cattle, if it took two years; and also +that I must scour out the Sand hills on the Plains around Las Potales, +"Kid's" den, on my return. I distributed the three hundred dollars among +my creditors and then wrote back to the ranch for some more, as that was +already gone, etc. + +We found the citizens of White Oaks to be sociable and kind; and +everything went on lovely with the exception of a shooting scrape +between a School teacher and "Big foot." + +About the last of February I received another three hundred dollars and +I then struck out, accompanied by Tom Emory, to hunt the noted Pat +Cohglin and find out if he would let us have the cattle without +bloodshed or not. As he had a slaughter house in Fort Stanton I struck +out for there first. + +We left the "Oaks" one morning early, Emory mounted on his pet "Grey" +and I on one of the fat work mules and arrived in "Stanton" about +sundown. + +We rode up to Cohglin's slaughter pen the first thing and found a man by +the name of Peppen in charge. On examining the hides which hung on the +fence we found five bearing the "L. X." brand. I laid them to one side +and next morning brought two men Crawford and Hurly, down from the Post +to witness the brands. I then told Mr. Peppen, or "Old Pap" as he was +called, not to butcher any more of those cattle sold by "Billy the Kid." +He promised he wouldn't unless he got new orders from Cohglin. + +From there we pulled for Tulerosa where Cohglin lived. The first night +out we stopped at the Mescalero Apache Indian Agency, which is known as +South Fork. There I learned from the storekeeper of a bunch of eight +hundred cattle having passed there in a terrible hurry, about three +weeks before, going west. He said that they were undoubtedly stolen +cattle, for they drove night and day through the deep snow. I came to +the conclusion that maybe it was Tom Cooper, one of "Kid's" right-hand +bowers with a stolen herd of Panhandle cattle, so made up my mind to +keep on his trail. + +We rode into Tulerosa the next evening about sundown. A young man from +the Panhandle, by the name of Sam Coleman, who was on his way to +Willcox, Arizona, was with us. We found the town to be a genuine mexican +"Plaza" of about one thousand souls. We put up for the night at +Cohglin's store and learned from the clerk, Morris, that the "King of +Tulerosa," as Cohglin was called, was down on the Rio Grande on trail of +a bunch of cattle stolen from him by Tom Cooper. I put that down as a +very thin yarn, having reasons to believe that he and Cooper stood in +with one another. I made up my mind that it was our cattle he was +trying to get away with, after hearing of us being in the "Oaks." + +The clerk had told the truth though, for he was after Cooper. The way it +happened, Cohglin had only paid Cooper and the "Kid" half down on the +last bunch of Panhandle cattle he bought from them and Cooper hearing of +"Kid's" capture and of us being in the "Oaks" on our way after the +cattle, came onto Cohglin for the rest of the money so he could leave +the country. On being refused he got his crowd together and stole three +hundred head of the latter's best cattle and pulled for Arizona with +them. + +After supper Emory and Coleman went to bed while I struck out to a +mexican dance, at the outskirts of town, to keep my ears open for news +connected with Panhandle cattle, etc. + +There being plenty of wine, or "mescal," on the ground the "Greasers" +began feeling pretty good about midnight. Of course I had to join in +their sports, so as to keep on the good side of them. There was only one +American in the crowd, besides myself. + +I became pretty intimate with one old fellow of whom I made scores of +inquiries in regard to Mr. Cohglin and the herd--the one I heard about +at South Fork--that had passed there a few weeks before. + +He knew nothing of the herd, no further than having seen it, but he +pointed out a long-haired "Greaser," who was three sheets in the wind +and swinging his pistol around on his fore-finger, who could tell me all +about it, as he had piloted it through San Augustine Pass. + +I learned that the herd was owned by Charlie Slaughter and that their +destination was the Heeley River, near Tombstone, Arizona. + +Marking out a lot of brands which I had never heard of on a piece of +paper, I asked the long-haired fellow if he noticed any of them on the +cattle. He did not. So I then marked off a lot of Panhandle brands. He +picked out several, the "L X." among them, this time, that he remembered +of seeing in the herd. This satisfied me that the herd would bear +inspection. + +The next morning I told Emory what the old mexican had said and that my +intentions were to kill two birds with one stone; find Cohglin and then +follow the herd. + +This didn't impress Emory very favorably. He advised me to return and +get the wagon and outfit. I couldn't see the point, for we would lose +at least a week by the operation. He took the back track while I +continued single handed, accompanied by Sam Coleman, whose route was the +same as mine until arriving on the Rio Grande, where he would change his +course to southward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +WAYLAID BY UNKNOWN PARTIES. + + +After leaving Tulerosa our route lay across a young desert, called the +"White Sands," a distance of sixty miles. That night Sam and I camped at +a lonely spot called "White Water," where there wasn't a stick of wood +in sight. We had to make a fire out of a bush called the "oil weed" to +keep warm by. + +The next night we put up with an old man by the name of Shedd, who kept +a ranch on the east side of Osscuro mountains, near San Augustine Pass. + +On arriving in the Pass next morning, on our way to Las Cruces, we could +see the whole Rio Grande valley, dotted with green fields, for at least +a hundred miles up and down. And by looking over our shoulder, in the +direction we had come, we could see the white looking plain or desert, +which extends for two hundred miles north and south. It was indeed a +beautiful sight, to one who had just come from a snowy country, and we +were loath to leave the spot. + +Arriving in Las Cruces, (City of the Crosses) on the Rio Grande, +twenty-five miles from Shedd's where we had left that morning, I went to +making inquiries about Mr. Pat Cohglin's whereabouts. I found out by the +Postmaster, Cunnifee, who was an intimate friend of his that he was in +El Paso, Texas, fifty miles below, and would be up to "Cruces" the next +day. + +That night Sam and I proceeded to take in the town, which was booming, +on account of the A. T. and S. F. R. R. being only forty miles above, +and on its way down the river to El Paso. + +The next morning Sam bid me adieu and struck out on his journey for +Willcox, Arizona, about two hundred miles distant. + +That evening Mr. Cohglin, whom I found to be a large, portly looking +half-breed Irishman, drove up to Mr. Cunnifee's store in a buggy drawn +by a fine pair of black horses. + +I introduced myself as having been sent from the Panhandle after the +cattle he had purchased from the "Kid." He at first said I couldn't have +them, but finally changed his tone, when I told him that I had a crowd +at White Oaks, and that my instructions were to take them by force if I +couldn't secure them in any other way. + +He then began giving me "taffy," as I learned afterwards. He promised +faithfully that, as he didn't like to have his whole herd, which was +scattered through the whole White Mountain district, disturbed at that +season of the year, if I would wait until the first of April, at which +time the new grass would be up, he would help me round-up every hoof of +Panhandle cattle on his range. I agreed to do so providing he would +promise not to have any more of them butchered at "Stanton." + +The old fellow was worried considerably about the three hundred head of +cattle Cooper had stolen from him. He told me about having followed him +with a crowd of mexicans into the Black Range, near the Arizona line, +where he succeeded in getting back a few of the broken-down ones. + +There being a fellow by the name of "Hurricane Bill," of Ft. Griffin, +Texas notoriety, in town, direct from Tombstone, Arizona, I concluded to +lay over a few days and "play in" with him and his gang of four or five, +in hopes of learning something about Slaughter and his herd, the one I +was on trail of. + +I went under an assumed name and told them that I was on the "dodge" for +a crime committed in Southern Texas. + +I found out all about their future plans from one of the gang, by the +name of Johnson, who seemed to be more talkative than the rest. He said +they were waiting for the railroad to get to El Paso; and then they were +going into the butchering business on a large scale. He wanted me to +join them; and said the danger wouldn't be very great, as they intended +stealing the cattle mostly from ignorant mexicans. + +One morning while Johnson and I were eating breakfast at a restaurant a +man sat down at the same table and, recognizing me, said: "Hello," +calling me by name; "where did you come from?" He then continued; +although I winked at him several times to keep still, "So you fellows +succeeded in capturing Billy the Kid, did you?" etc. + +Johnson gave a savage glance at me as much as to say: d----m you, you +have been trying to work us, have you? I kept my hand near old colts +"45" for I expected, from his nervous actions, for him to make a break +of some kind. He finally got up and walked out without saying a word. +This man who had so suddenly bursted our friendship was a friend of +Frank Stuart's and had met me in Las Vegas, with his chum, Stuart. + +I concluded it wouldn't be healthy for me to remain there till after +dark, nor to undertake the trip to Tombstone, for I had manifested such +an interest in the Slaughter herd, etc., that they might follow me up, +on hearing that I had left town. So I wrote a letter to Mr. Moore, +telling him of the whole circumstances, and asking him if I had better +take my men and follow the herd to the jumping-off place or not? I then +struck back to White Oaks over the same route I had come. + +That night I stopped at Shedd's ranch; and so did Cohglin, he being on +his way back to Tulerosa. + +The next day I rode the entire sixty miles, across the "white sands," +and landed in Tulerosa about a half hour behind Cohglin and his fast +steppers. I was tired though, and swore off ever riding another mule on +a long trip. I had figured on being in mountains all the time, where I +would have lots of climbing to do, is why I rode the mule instead of a +horse. + +The next morning I made up my mind that I would take a new route to the +"Oaks" by going around the mountains through Mr. Cohglin's range which +was on Three Rivers, twenty odd miles north. So before starting I +inquired of Cohglin's clerk as to the best route, etc. + +I stopped at the Cohglin ranch that night and was treated like a white +head by Mr. Nesbeth and wife who took care of the ranch, that is, done +the cooking, gardening, milking, etc. The herders, or cowboys, were all +mexicans, with the exception of Bill Gentry, the boss, who was away at +the time. + +While getting ready to start for White Oaks next morning one of the +eight or ten, mexicans, who were sitting on the fence sunning +themselves, came to me, and told me of a near cut to the "Oaks," by +taking an old Indian trail over the White Mountains, and advised me to +take that route as I could save at least twenty miles, it being forty +around by the road. + +Mr. Nesbeth spoke up and said it would be better for me to travel on the +road, even if it was further, as I might experience some difficulty in +finding the old Indian trail, etc. + +The "Greaser" then offered me his service, saying that he would go and +put me on the trail so that it would be impossible for me to miss my +way. I agreed, so he mounted a pony and we rode east up a rough canyon. + +A ride of about five miles brought us to the almost obliterated trail. +It lead up an awful brushy and rocky canyon towards the snowy crags of +the White Mountain range. + +About an hour after bidding the "Greaser" adieu, I came to where the +trail made a short curve to the left, but I could tell from the lay of +the ground that, by keeping straight ahead, I would strike it again. So +I left it, and luckily for me that I did, for there was some one laying +for me not far from there. + +I hadn't gone but a rod or two when bang! bang! bang! went three shots +in quick succession, not over fifty yards to the left; and at the same +time my mule gave a lunge forward, on the ice-covered stones, and fell +broad-side, throwing me over a precipice about eight feet to the bottom. +My winchester and pistol both were hanging to the saddle-horn, but I +managed to grab and pull the latter out of the scabbard as I went off, +and took it with me. + +The first thing I done on striking bottom was to hunt a hole. I found a +nice little nook between two boulders and lay there with cocked pistol, +expecting every second to see three Indians or "Greasers" peep over the +ledge on the hunt for a dead "Gringo"--as the mexicans call an American. + +After waiting a few minutes I became impatient and crawled on top of a +small knoll and, on looking in the direction the shooting had come from, +I got a faint glimpse of what I took to be two half-stooped human forms +retreating, through the pinyon brush, at a lively gait. Suffice it to +say I found my mule standing in a grove of trees, with his front feet +fastened in the bridle-reins, about two hundred yards from where he +fell. And between his forelegs, on the ground was a small pool of +sparkling red blood, which had dripped from a slight bullet wound in his +breast. + +On examination I found that one bullet had cut a groove in the hind tree +of my saddle, and another had plowed through a pair of blankets tied +behind the saddle. I arrived in the Oaks, on my almost broken-down mule +about dark that night, after an absence of nearly two weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +LOST ON THE STAKED PLAINS. + + +About a week after my return to White Oaks, I received a letter from Mr. +Moore stating that I need not go to Arizona to look after the Slaughter +herd as he had hired a United States Deputy Marshal by the name of John +W. Poe, now Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, to go around by rail +and tend to the matter. But when Poe arrived there the herd had been +sold and driven to Old Mexico, so that we never knew whether there were +any Panhandle cattle in it or not, except what I learned from the +mexican, which appeared to me very good evidence, that there were. + +On the tenth day of March, while taking it easy waiting for the first of +April to arrive so that we could round up the Cohglin range according to +agreement, I received a confidential letter from Mr. Geo. Nesbeth of the +Cohglin ranch, giving me a broad hint that Mr. Cohglin was getting rid +of our cattle as fast as possible, before the first of April should +arrive. + +The letter arrived in the evening and next morning I took "Big foot" +along and struck out for "Stanton"--after giving Chambers and Emory +orders to load up the wagon with grub and corn, and follow. + +"Big-foot" and I arrived in the Post about three o'clock in the +afternoon and went through the Cohglin slaughter pens, finding several +freshly butchered "L. X." hides, which went to show that I had been +duped, and that the hint from Nesbeth was true. We then rode down the +"Bonetta" River nine miles to Lincoln, to go through the hides there and +to look for a herd we expected the old fellow had hidden out somewhere +along the river. + +We stopped in "Stanton" that night and next morning struck out on the +White Oaks road to meet the wagon and turn it towards Three Rivers. + +We met the outfit at the mouth of Nogal canyon and camped for dinner. + +It was sixty miles around by the road to Cohglin's ranch, the route the +wagon would have to go and about twenty-five or thirty on a straight +line over the White Mountains. + +After dinner "Big-foot" and I struck out over the mountains, while Emory +and Chambers went around by the road to pilot the cook, etc. + +About twelve o'clock that night, after a very hard ride over one of the +roughest strips of snow covered countries a man ever saw, we arrived at +the Cohglin ranch. + +We found the corral full of cattle, but, being very dark, couldn't tell +whose they were. + +Mr. and Mrs. Nesbeth got up out of bed and gave us a cold supper; and he +also gave us a few pointers in regard to his employer's doings, etc. He +informed me that Bill Gentry, the boss, had just began, that day, +gathering the remaining Panhandle cattle, that might still be left on +the range, to take to the "Stanton" slaughter pens. Hence those cattle +in the corral. + +After breakfast Gentry and his seven "Greasers" turned the herd out of +the corral with the intention of keeping right on with his work. There +was only five head of "L. X.'s," all large steers, in the bunch and I +told Gentry that I would have to take charge of those and also gather up +the rest that were on his range. He couldn't agree to that, he said, for +his orders from Cohglin were, not to give up any of the Panhandle +cattle, etc. I told him that I didn't care what his orders were, as I +was bound to have the cattle. + +Just about the time we were arguing the case the rest of my outfit hove +in sight; they had been traveling all night. + +After camping the wagon we all went out to the herd, which the mexicans +were guarding and proceeded to cutting our five head out. Gentry tried +to get me to wait until he could send for Cohglin, he having already +dispatched a mexican to Tulerosa after him, but I wouldn't reason the +matter at all, as I was mad about the way I had been served. + +We went right to work after cutting out the five head, rounding up the +whole range in search of more, but after three days hard work we only +succeeded in finding three head more. But we left there with nine head, +the ninth one being one of Cohglin's own steers which we butchered in +the Oaks on our arrival back there, for the benefit of our many friends +whom had been depending on us all winter for their fresh beef. Thus I +had the satisfaction of getting even with the old fellow to the extent +of one steer and a fat hog which we had butchered and stowed away in +the wagon the night before leaving. + +The mexican that Gentry sent to Tulerosa with the dispatch had to go on +down to Las Cruces, on the Rio Grande, Cohglin having started down there +the day before; hence we not having the old fellow to contend with. + +After looking over the "Carezo" range, which was owned by Catron and +Waltz and several small mexican ranges, we pulled into White Oaks with +lots of experience but very few cattle. + +On arriving in the "Oaks" I wrote to Mr. Moore telling him all about the +way in which Cohglin had taken advantage of me, etc. Also advised him to +have the old fellow prosecuted as I had sufficient evidence to send him +to the "Pen," etc. + +Mr. Moore on getting my letter, sent John Poe, the United States Deputy +Marshal that he had sent to Tombstone, Arizona, over to have Cohglin +arrested and put through the mill. + +On leaving the "Oaks" for good, I bought a wagon load of corn, chuck, +etc. for which I gave orders on the "L. X." company, not having any +money left. The merchants had by this time, become acquainted with me, +so that my name to an order was just the same as cash to them. + +From the "Oaks" I pulled due east, around the "Capitan" mountains to +Roswell on the Pecos River. I overhauled scores of little mexican +ranches scattered through the mountains on my route, but failed to find +any of our stock. At Roswell though we found two large steers which +swelled our little herd to ten head. + +From Roswell we went to John Chisholm's ranch on the head of South +Spring River; and got there just in time as he was rigging up his outfit +for spring work. They were going to start down the Reo Pecos to the +Texas line, next day, to begin work and I concluded we had better work +with them, in search of Panhandle cattle which might have drifted across +the Plains. + +I took my outfit back to Roswell, five miles, where I made arrangements +with Capt. J. C. Lea, who kept a store, to board one of my men whom I +wanted to leave there to take care of the ten head of steers until my +return, not caring to drive them two hundred miles down the river and +then back again. + +Not having grub enough to last on the trip I bought a supply from the +accommodating Capt. Lea, who took my note for pay. He also sold me two +horses on the same terms. + +We were absent two weeks on this trip, but failed to find any of our +cattle. We came back with the satisfaction though of knowing that there +wasn't any in that part of the world. + +On our arrival back to Roswell we learned of the "Kid's" escape from +Lincoln after having killed his two guards. That night Lon Chambers wore +a different hat; he had swapped his star-spangled mexican sombraro off +to one of Chisholm's men. This hat had been presented to Tom O'Phalliard +by the "Kid," hence Chambers not wanting it in his possession for fear +he might run across the "Kid." Chambers of course denied the above, +saying that he never thought of such a thing, but traded it off just +because it, being so heavy, made his head ache. But that was too thin we +thought under the circumstances. Any of us would have done the same +though, no doubt, knowing that the "Kid" had sworn vengeance against all +of O'Phalliard's "murderers" as he termed them. + +We found Emory and the ten steers doing finely. Tom hated to see us back +for he was having such a soft time. All he had to do was turn the +steers out of the corral, mornings, and then round-up and pen them at +night again. + +After drawing on the whole-souled Capt. Lea again for more grub, etc., +we pulled up the Reo Pecos--looking through all the cattle on our +route--to Ft. Sumner, a distance of one hundred miles. + +We laid over in Sumner two days and went to a mexican fandango both +nights, at the Maxwell mansion in which the "Kid" was killed shortly +afterwards. The "Kid" was in the building while the dance was going on +but we didn't know it at the time. The way I found it out, I had +escorted a young woman, after the dance, one night, to her room, which +was in the same building as the dance, and she bid me good night without +asking me in. I thought it strange but never said anything. That fall +when I came back there she explained matters, by saying that the "Kid" +was in her room at the time, reading. I had noticed that she stood +outside of the door until I had turned the corner out of sight. She also +explained that: The "Kid" had the door locked and she had to give a +private rap to get him to open it. + +From Ft. Sumner we pulled due east on the Los Potales road, on our way +to scour out the "Sand Hills" according to Moore's instruction in one +of his letters to me at White Oaks. Before leaving the Post, the last +settlement or store that we would come to before reaching the Canadian +River, I sold one of the horses bought from Capt. Lea, for thirty-five +dollars and laid in a small supply of grub with the money. Not being +acquainted there my credit wasn't good, hence having to sell the horse. + +Two days out from Ft. Sumner we came to the little rock house, at +Stinking Springs, where the "Kid" and his companions held out so long +without fire, food or water. Chambers and Emory of course had to explain +and point out every place of interest, to "Big-foot Wallace," the +mexican cook, Frank, or Francisco, and myself. + +The second day after leaving Stinking Springs, we came to the "Kid's" +noted "Castle" at Los Potales, on the western edge of the great "Llano +Estacado." + +Los Potales is a large alkali Lake, the water of which is unfit for man +or beast. But on the north side of the lake is two nice, cool springs +which gurgle forth from a bed of rock, near the foot of "Kid's" +Castle--a small cave in the cliff. In front of the cave is a stone +corral about fifty feet square; and above the cave on the level plain +is several hitching posts. Outside of those things mentioned there is +nothing but a level prairie just as far as the eye can reach. + +We found about one hundred head of cattle, mostly from the Canadian +River, but a few from as far north as Denver Col., at "Potales," which +improved the appearance of our little herd considerably. + +From there we went to the Coyote lake, twelve miles further east, where +we found about fifty head more cattle, a mixed lot like the first. They +were almost as wild as deer. + +We then pulled into the Sand Hills, which extend over a scope of country +from ten to fifty miles wide, and two hundred long--that is, two hundred +miles north and south. + +After about ten days hard work we came out onto the Plains again, our +herd having increased to about twenty-five hundred head. We were +undoubtedly a worn out crowd--horses and all. To do that amount of work +we should have had at least five more men, and three or four more horses +apiece. We only had one horse apiece, besides one extra, and the four +work mules, which we had to press into double duty by using them to +guard the cattle at night. + +The next day about noon, after getting out of the Sand Hills, we came to +a buffalo-hunter's camp on the head of Yellow-house canyon, a tributary +to the Brazos River. There was one man in camp, the other one being away +on a hunt. Our cattle being nearly dead for water, there being none +there, with the exception of a small spring, just large enough to allow +one animal to drink at a time, I asked the hunter to give me directions +to the nearest water from there, on our route. + +Pointing to a cluster of sand hills about fifteen miles to the east, he +said: "You will find Running Water, the head of Canyon Blanco, just +eight miles east of those sand hills." As we learned, after it was too +late, he should have said; eight miles _north_ of the sand hills, +instead of _east_. We were all acquainted with the country from Running +Water north, but had never been south of it; hence us having to depend +on the "locoed" buffalo-hunter's directions. + +We camped for the night within a few miles of the sand hills. The cattle +were restless all night, on account of being thirsty, which caused us +all to lose sleep and rest. + +The next morning, after eating a hasty breakfast, we let the moaning +herd string out towards the big red sun which was just making its +appearance. + +Giving the boys orders to keep headed east, and telling the cook to +follow behind the herd with his wagon, I struck out ahead on my tired +and weak pony, Croppy, to find the water, which was "so near, and yet so +far." + +I rode about fifteen miles, and still no water. I then dismounted to +wait for the herd to come in sight, but changed my notion and galloped +on five miles further, thinking maybe the hunter might have meant +eighteen miles instead of eight. The five miles was reached and still +nothing but a dry, level plain, with no indications of water ahead, as +far as I could see. + +Thinking maybe I had bore too far to the south, I then rode five or six +miles to the north, but with the same result. I then, after letting +Croppy blow awhile started back towards the herd at a slow gait. + +Finally a cloud of dust appeared, and shortly after, the herd hove in +sight. The poor cattle were coming in a trot, their tongues hanging out +a foot. + +The way the boys cursed and abused that poor old hunter, at a distance, +was a sin, after I had told them of our luck. Chambers wanted to go +right back and eat the poor "locoed" human up alive without salt or +pepper. But I pacified him by saying that maybe he had made a mistake of +a few miles, meant eighty instead of eight. At any rate we continued +right on, east. + +About noon our ten-gallon keg run dry, and then we began to feel +ticklish, scared, or whatever you wish to call it. But about three +o'clock, we spied a bunch of mustangs off to the right, about five +miles, and on galloping over to where they had been, before seeing me, I +found a small pool of muddy rain water, which they had been wallowing +in. + +After letting Croppy fill up, and eating a drink of the muddy stuff +myself, I struck back to let the other boys come on and fill up; also +sent the cook to fill the keg, and to water his mules, I kept the herd, +they being anxious to travel in search of water, pointed east, by +myself, while the rest of the boys were absent. + +We traveled till midnight and then pitched camp to get something to eat. +After getting supper cooked, it was almost an impossibility to find +time to eat it, as the herd kept milling and trotting around like so +many crazy animals. + +We remained there all night, and next morning used the last drop of +water to make coffee. We found the keg, after draining it, to be about +half full of solid mud. + +I concluded that we had gone far enough east, so, that morning changed +our course to north. + +About eleven o'clock, while the hot June sun was coming down with +vengeance, we struck a large lake about a mile wide. If ever a crowd was +happy it was us. The poor cattle drank till some of them fell down and +was unable to move. + +We laid there resting up until the next day after dinner. Our grub had +given out by this time, therefore we had nothing to eat but coffee and +beef "straight." + +When we left the lake our course was due north. + +About noon the next day we came to the head of Canyon Blanco, twelve +miles below Running Water, consequently we turned west, and traveled +twelve miles up the dry canyon before pitching camp. + +From there we turned due north again and traveled two days before +striking any more water. + +On arriving at Terra Blanco, fifty miles south of the Canadian river we +struck Mr. Summerfield, and his outfit, from whom we borrowed grub +enough to last us home. There were also two "L. X." boys in the +Summerfield camp, and they, having five good horses apiece, divided with +us. Our ponies were just about completely peetered out. + +We landed at the "L. X." ranch on the 22nd day of June, with the herd of +twenty-five hundred head of cattle, after having been absent just seven +months, to a day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +A TRIP DOWN THE REO PECOS. + + +On my return I found that the "L. X." ranch had changed bosses. Moore +had quit and bought a ranch of his own, while John Hollicott, one of the +old hands had been put in his place. Hence in the future I had to be +governed by Mr. Hollicott's orders--that is while working around the +ranch. One of the firm, Erskine Clement, had charge of outside matters, +now, since Moore had left. + +I put in the summer running a branding outfit, loafing around Tascosa, +working up a cattle stealing case, etc., until the middle of October, +when Clement received a letter from John Poe, who was prosecuting +Cohglin, stating for Chambers and I to come over to Lincoln as witnesses +in the Cohglin case. The time set for us to be there, was on the 7th day +of November, therefore we had no time to lose, it being five hundred +miles over there, by the shortest route. + +Hollicott and Clement talked the matter over and concluded that I had +better not come back until the next spring--"just put in the winter +drifting over the country, wherever you can do the most good," was my +orders. + +Chambers and I struck out from Tascosa on the 22nd of October. He had +only one horse, while I had two of the best animals on the ranch, Croppy +and Buckshot. + +We traveled up the river to Liberty, New Mexico, and from there cut +across the Staked Plains to Ft. Sumner, on the Reo Pecos. + +The distance from "Sumner" to the "Oaks" was about one hundred miles on +a bee line across the country, while it was one hundred and fifty around +by the road. We chose the former route, although we were told that there +wasn't any water until reaching the Capitan mountains within thirty +miles of the "Oaks." We both wished though, that we had followed the +road, for, our progress being very slow on account of the loose dirt +which would give away under a horse, allowing him to sink almost to his +knees, we came very near perishing from thirst; and so did our poor +horses. + +We landed in White Oaks about noon of the fourth day out from Ft. +Sumner; and had been on the road twelve days from Tascosa. We were +welcomed back to the "Oaks" by all of our old acquaintances, especially +those whom we had furnished with stolen beef all winter. + +As we had five days to loaf in, before court set in, we went to work +prospecting for gold, every body in the town being at fever heat over +recent rich strikes. + +The first day was spent in climbing to the top of Baxter mountain, where +most of the rich mines were located, and back. The only thing we found +of interest was a lot of genuine oyster shells imbedded in a large rock +on the extreme top of the mountain. Of course this brought up a +discussion as to how they came there. Chambers contended that they grew +there during the flood, and I argued that they were there before God +made the earth. We both finally got mad, each one, over the other's weak +argument, and began to slide down hill towards town, which looked +something like a checkerboard from where we were. + +The next day we tied the pick and shovel behind our saddles and struck +out on horseback to prospect in the valleys. At last we struck it, a +fine gold bearing lead. It cropped out of the ground about a foot. I +told Chambers to go to work and dig the prospect-hole, while I wrote out +the location notices. + +Finally an old miner by the name of Stone came to us. I was sitting +under the shade of a pinyon tree writing, while Chambers was sweating +like a "Nigger at election." "What are you fellows trying to do?" spoke +up Mr. Stone, after grinning a few moments. We told him. He then said: +"Why neither one of you fellows has got as much sense as a last year's +bird's nest; that's nothing but a very common ledge of rock." We took +him at his word and went back to town. + +That night Mr. Stone gave us one of his mines, if we would sink a twenty +foot shaft on it. We done so; that is, Chambers did, while I carried +water, and rode into town every day at noon to bring him out his dinner. + +Finally our time was out and we had to pull for Lincoln, a distance of +thirty-five miles. Poe had written to me to come in after night, and on +the sly, as he wanted to make Cohglin believe that we wouldn't be there +to appear against him, so he would let his trial come off, instead of +taking a change of venue. I left Croppy in a feed stable to be taken +care of until my return. + +Arriving in Lincoln, Poe sent us down the Reo Bonetta, twelve miles, to +stop with a Mr. Cline, with whom he had made arrangements, until sent +for. + +Mr. Cline was a Dutchman who had married a mexican wife and had a house +full of little half-breeds around him. + +Time passed off very slowly to Chambers and I, although our host tried +to amuse us by telling his hairbreadth escapes from wild indians and +grizzly-bears. + +We were indeed glad when Mr. Poe rode up, after we had been at the Cline +ranch twelve days, and told us that we were free. Cohglin had "smelled a +mice" and taken a change of venue to Mesilla, in Dona Anna County. + +Before leaving Lincoln I had to sign a five hundred dollar bond for my +appearance in Mesilla, as a witness against Cohglin, on the first Monday +in April, 1882, which was the following spring. Mr. Chambers being sworn +and not knowing anything of importance, was allowed to return home. We +both received ninety dollars apiece, for mileage and witness fees. + +Returning to White Oaks, Chambers remained there a week, making love to +his mexican widow, and then struck for the "L. X." ranch, by way of +Anton Chico, and down the Canadian River. The route he and I had come +was too far between ranches for him, traveling alone. + +I remained in the "Oaks" about a week after my "pard" had left, waiting +for some more money which I had written for. + +From the "Oaks" I went to Roswell on the Reo Pecos, a distance of one +hundred and twenty-five miles, by the route I took. There I struck +company, a jovial old soul by the name of "Ash" Upson, who was just +starting to the Texas Pacific Railroad, two hundred miles down the +river, to meet Pat. Garrett, who had written to come there after him, in +a buggy. Ash was making his home at Garrett's ranch, a few miles from +Roswell. + +We laid over Christmas day at the mouth of Seven Rivers and helped kind +Mrs. Jones, one of Mr. Upson's old-time friends, get away with a nice +turkey dinner. + +While sitting around our camp-fire at nights "Old" Ash would amuse me by +relating circumstances connected with the "bloody Lincoln County war." +He also gave me a full sketch of "Billy the Kid's" life, a subject +which I am going to devote the next chapter to, as I imagine it will be +interesting reading to some. + +We arrived at Pecos Station, on the T. P. R. R., one afternoon about +three o'clock. And it being a terribly lonesome place, we, after leaving +our horses and things in care of an old wolf hunter who promised to see +that the horses were well fed, boarded the west bound passenger train +for Toyah, a distance of twenty-two miles. + +We put up at the Alverado House, in Toyah. It was kept by a man named +Newell, who had a pretty little fifteen-year old daughter, whose +sparkling eyes were too much for me; to use a western phrase, she broke +me all up on the first round. + +After supper Ash went out to take in the town, while I remained in the +office exchanging glances with Miss Bulah. + +It was New Year's eve and Mr. and Mrs. Newell were making preparations +for a ball to be given New Year's night. + +Toyah was then one of those terrible wicked infant towns, it being only +a few months old and contained over a dozen saloons and gambling halls. + +About midnight Ash got through taking in the town and came back to the +hotel. He was three sheets in the wind, but swore he hadn't drank +anything but "Tom and Jerry." + +The next morning the town was full of railroaders, they having come in +to spend New Years. A grand shooting match for turkeys was advertised to +come off at ten o'clock, and everybody, railroaders and all, were +cleaning up their pistols, when Ash and I got up, we having slept till +about nine o'clock. + +Miss Bulah made a remark, in my presence, that she wished someone would +win a fat turkey and give it to her. Now was my time to make a "mash," +so I assured her that I would bring in a dozen or two and lay them at +her feet. + +When the shooting commenced I was on hand and secured the ticket which +was marked number eleven. The tickets were sold at twenty-five cents +apiece, and if you killed the bird, you were entitled to a free shot +until you missed. + +Mr. Miller, the Justice, was running the business for what money there +was in it. He had sent to Dallas, six hundred miles east, after the +turkeys, which had cost him three dollars apiece. Hence he had to +regulate the distance and everything so that there would be considerable +missing done. + +Everything being ready, he placed the turkey in an iron box, with +nothing but its head visible and then set the box thirty-five yards from +the line. The shooting to be done with pistols "off hand." + +Ten shots were fired and still Mr. turkey was casting shy glances +towards the large crowd of several hundred men. Mr. Miller wore a +pleasant smile, when he shouted number eleven. + +I stepped forward trembling like an aspen leaf, for fear I would miss +and thereby fail to win Miss Bulah's admiration. I was afraid, should +the bullet miss its mark, that the few dozen birds would be all killed +before my time would come around again, there being so many men waiting +for a shot. At last I cut loose and off went the turkey's head, also Mr. +Miller's happy smile. You see he lacked "two bits" of getting cost for +the bird. + +Another one was put up, and off went his head. This was too much for Mr. +Miller, two birds already gone and only two dollars and "six bits" in +the pot. He finally after humming and hawing awhile, said: + +"Gentlemen, I don't like to weaken this early in the game, but you all +know I have got a large family to support and consequently I will have +to rule this young man out of the ring. He's too slick with a pistol to +have around a game of this kind anyway." + +I hated to quit of course, but it was best, for I might have missed the +very next time, and as it was Bulah would think that I would have +carried out my promise if I had been allowed to keep on. + +After that, during my stay on the T. P. R. R., I was called the "Turkey +shooter." Often while riding near the railroad track, maybe four or five +hundred miles from Toyah, some one would hail me from a passing train by +that name; and whenever I would ride into a town there was sure to be +some fellow on hand to point me out. They all knew me so well by my +horse, Croppy, he being milk white and both ears being off close up to +his head. He was indeed a notable animal, as well as a long, keen, good +one. + +That night nearly everybody got drunk, old Ash excepted of course, as he +was already full. The ball was a grand success. The dancers on the +womens' side, were all married ladies, with the exception of Miss Bulah +and a Miss Lee; and those on the opposite side were a terribly mixed +mob, but mostly gamblers, horse thieves and cow boys. The railroaders +didn't take any stock in the ball. Maybe it was because there were so +many on the floor wearing six-shooters and bowie knives around their +waists. + +It was indeed a grand sight next morning looking at black eyes and +swollen heads. Every Chinaman, there being a dozen or two living in +town, skipped for parts unknown that night. There was too many loose +bullets flying through the air to suit them; and it is said that the +"Pig-tails" have shunned Toyah ever since that New Year's night. + +A few days after New Years a telegram came to Ash, from Garrett who had +arrived at Pecos Station stating: "Come on the first train as I am in a +hurry to get home." Ash got me to answer it as he, having drank too much +Tom and Jerry, was unable to walk to the Telegraph office. I sent the +following message: "Can't leave here; owe every man in town." + +In a few minutes another one came, an answer to the one just sent, +stating: "If you don't come down on the morning train I will strike out +and leave you." + +This one raised Ash's spunk, so he told me to write down just what he +told me, and then give it to the operator. I done as requested, which +ran thus: "Go to, hic, h--l, d---- you!" + +The next evening, Garrett arrived on the west bound passenger, and next +morning, after paying a lot of saloon bills, etc., took old Ash back +with him. + +I had, the day after New Year's, went down to the Pecos and brought my +ponies up to Toyah, therefore I took a little spin out into the country +to pass off the time, every now and then, or at least to look through a +few herds of cattle in that vicinity. + +After spending about two weeks around Toyah, I struck out for Colorado +City, two hundred miles east. Of course I hated to part with Miss Bulah; +and so did Mr. Newell hate to part with me, for he was losing a good +cash boarder. + +Illustration: "BILLY THE KID." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A TRUE SKETCH OF "BILLY THE KID'S" LIFE. + + +The cut on opposite page was taken from a photograph and represents the +"Kid" as he appeared before the artist after having just returned from a +long, tiresome raid; and the following sketch of his short but eventful +life was gleaned from himself, Ash Upson and others. The circumstance +connected with his death I got from the lips of John W. Poe, who was +with Garrett when he fired the fatal shot. + +Billy Bonney, alias the "Kid" was born in New York City, November the +23rd, 1859; and at the age of ten he, in company with his mother and +step-father, Antrim, landed in the Territory of New Mexico. + +Mr. Antrim, shortly after his arrival in the Territory, opened up a +restaurant in Santa Fe, the Capitol, and one of his boarders was the +jovial old Ash Upson, my informant, who was then interested in a +newspaper at that place. + +Often when Ash was too busily engaged about his office to go to dinner, +Mrs. Antrim would send it by her little merry-eyed boy, Billy, who was +the pride of her life. + +Finally Ash sold out and moved to Silver City, which was then booming on +account of its rich mines. And it wasn't long until Mr. Antrim followed +and opened up another eating house there, with Ash as a boarder again. +Thus it will be seen that my informant was just the same as one of the +family for quite a while. + +The "Kid's" first man, as told to me by himself, was a negro soldier in +Ft. Union, whom he shot in self-defence. + +His next killing was a young blacksmith in Silver City whom he killed in +a personal encounter, but not according to law, hence it was this scrape +that first caused him to become an outcast; driven from pillar to post, +out of reach of a kind mother's influence. + +It was a cold stormy night when he, after kissing his mother's pale +cheeks for the last time on this earth, rode out into the darkness, +headed west for the wilds of Arizona, where he soon became an adept at +cards and horse stealing. + +He finally landed in the City of Chihuahua, Old Mexico, with a pocket +full of Arizona gold. Here he led a gay life until one night when a +bullet from his trusty revolver sent a rich mexican monte-dealer to his +long and happy home. + +The next we hear of him is in the friendly land of Texas, where he +remained in retirement until the spring of 1876, when he drifted across +the lonely Gandalupe mountains into Lincoln County, New Mexico, then the +outlaw's Paradise. + +At Lincoln, the county seat, he hired out as a cow boy to a young +Englishman by the name of Tunstall. + +In the spring of '78 Mr. Tunstall was killed by a mob, headed by a +fellow named Morton, from the Reo Pecos. + +The "Kid" hearing of his employer's foul murder, rode into Lincoln from +the Tunstall ranch to learn the full particulars concerning the killing. +He and the young Englishman were warm friends and before leaving the +ranch he swore vengeance against every one of the murderers. + +Arriving in the mexican Plaza of Lincoln the "Kid" learned that Morton +and crowd had pulled back to the Reo Pecos. So he joined a crowd +composed of the following named parties: R. M. Bruer, J. G. Skurlock, +Charlie Bowder, Henry Brown, Frank McNab, Fred Wayt, Sam Smith, Jim +French, McClosky and Johnny Middleton, and started in pursuit. This was +just the beginning of the "bloody Lincoln County war" which you have all +read so much about. But it is said that the "Kid" killed every man +connected with the murder of his friend before the war ended. + +Billy was caught in a great many close places during the six month's +bloody encounter, but always managed to escape, as though possessed of a +charmed life. There is one of his hair-breadth escapes I wish to relate, +just to show how cool he was in time of danger. + +He and about a dozen of his men were housed up at lawyer McSween's in +Lincoln, when thirty-five of the Seven River "warriors" and two +companies of United States Soldiers under command of Col. Dudly of the +Ninth Cavalry, surrounded and set the large two-story building on fire, +determined to capture or kill the young outlaw. + +The house was burning on the south side from whence the wind came, and +as the fire advanced the little crowd would move further north, into an +adjoining room. There was a fine piano in the parlor, the property of +Mrs. McSween, who was absent, and on this the "Kid" played during the +whole time, "just to amuse the crowd outside" he said. + +Finally everything was wrapped in flames but the little kitchen which +stood adjoining the main building on the north, but still the coarse +music continued to sail forth out onto the night air. + +At last the blaze began to stick its firey tongues into the kitchen. +Then the music ceased, and the little band, headed by the "Kid" made a +bold dash for liberty, amidst the thick shower of hot lead. The balance +can be described best by quoting a negro soldier's words, he being +nearest the kitchen door when the dash was made: "I jes' tell you white +folkses dis nigger was for getting away from dah, kase dat Billy-goat +was shooten wid a gun and two six-pistols all bofe at de same time." + +The "Kid" and Tom O'Phalliard were the only ones who came out of this +scrape unhurt. Mr. McSween, owner of the burned building was among the +killed. He had nine bullets in his body. + +Late that fall when the war had ended, "Kid" and the remainder of his +little gang stole a bunch of horses from the Seven River warriors, whom +they had just got through fighting with and drove them across the Plains +to the Texas Panhandle, at Tascosa on the Canadian, where they were soon +disposed of at good figures. + +After lying around the little town of Tascosa for nearly a month, +squandering their surplus wealth on poor whisky and mexican woman, they, +with the exception of Fred Wayt and Henry Brown who struck east for the +Chickisaw nation where the former's mother and two half-breed sisters +lived, pulled back to Lincoln County, New Mexico, to continue their +lawlessness. + +From that time on, the "Kid" made a specialty of stealing cattle and +horses, although he would kill a man now and then, for what he supposed +to be a just cause. Let it be said right here that the "Kid" was not the +cruel hearted wretch that he was pictured out to be in the scores of +yellow-back novels, written about him. He was an outlaw and maybe a very +wicked youth, but then he had some good qualities which, now that he is +no more, he should be credited with. It has been said and written that +he would just as soon shoot an innocent child as a mule-eared rabbit. +Now this is all wrong, for he was noted as being kind to the weak and +helpless; there is one case in particular which I can prove: + +A man, now a highly respected citizen of White Oaks, was lying at the +point of death in Ft. Sumner, without friends or money, and a stranger, +when the "Kid," who had just come into town from one of his raids, went +to his rescue, on hearing of his helpless condition; the sick man had +been placed in an old out-house on a pile of sheep skins. The "Kid" +hired a team and hauled him to Las Vegas, a distance of over a hundred +miles, himself, where he could receive care and medical aid. He also +paid the doctor and board bills for a month, besides putting a few +dollars in money in the sick man's hand as he bid him good bye. + +This circumstance was told to me by the sick man himself, who at the +time was hale and hearty, on hearing of the "Kid's" death. While +relating it the tears chased one another down his manly cheeks, to the +end, at which time he pulled out a large red handkerchief and wiped them +away. + +After the "Kid's" capture at Stinking Springs, he was lodged in jail at +Santa Fe, and the following spring taken to Mesilla, county seat of +Dona Ana county, and tried before Judge Bristol for the murder of +Sheriff Brady, during the Lincoln county war. + +He was sentenced to be taken to Lincoln, and hung on the 13th day of +May. On the 21st day of April he was turned over to Pat. Garrett, who, +being sheriff, was to see that the law was carried out. + +There being no jail in Lincoln, Garrett used his office, which was +up-stairs in the two-story court house, to guard the prisoner in. Robert +Ollinger and J. W. Bell, two men who should have been hung before +William Bonney was born--judging from reliable reports, were secured to +do the guarding. + +The morning of April, 28th, Garrett was making preparations to go to +White Oaks, when he told the guards to be very watchful as the prisoner, +not having but a few more days to live, might make a desperate effort to +escape. + +Ollinger who hated the "Kid," they having fought against one another in +the Lincoln County war, spoke up and said: "Don't worry Pat, we'll watch +him like a goat." So saying he unlocked the armory, a small closet in +the wall, and getting out his double-barrel shot gun, put eighteen +buck-shot in each barrel. Then setting it back, remarked, at the same +time glancing over in the opposite corner at the "Kid" who was sitting +on a stool, shackled and hand-cuffed: "I bet the man that gets them will +feel it!" The "Kid" gave one of his hopeful smiles and said: "You might +be the one to get them yourself." + +After Garrett left, the two guards had five more prisoners to look +after. But they were allowed to wear their pistols, for fear of being +mobbed by a crowd of Tulerosa mexicans who had chased them into Lincoln. +They had given themselves up to Garrett more for protection than +anything else. They had killed four Tulerosa mexicans, in a hand to hand +fight, the day before, hence the mob being after them. One of those +prisoners was a young Texan by the name of Chas. Wall, who had received +two almost fatal bullet wounds in the fracas of the day before. It was +from this young man, Mr. Wall, whom I became personally acquainted with +afterwards, that I received my information from, in regard to the +"Kid's" escape, etc. + +About five o'clock, that evening, Ollinger took the armed prisoners +across the street, to the hotel, to supper, leaving Bell to guard the +"Kid." + +According to what the "Kid" told after his escape, Bell became +interested in a newspaper, and while thus engaged, he slipped one of his +hand-cuffs, which he could have done long before if the right chance had +been presented, and made a leap towards his guard, using the hand-cuff +as a weapon. + +Bell almost fainted on looking up from his paper. He broke for the door +after receiving a stunning lick over the head with the hand-cuff. But +the "Kid" was right at his heels; and when he got to the door and +started down stairs the "Kid" reached forward and jerked the frightened +man's pistol which still hung at his side, he having never made an +effort to pull it. Bell fell dead out in the back yard, near the foot of +the stairs, with a bullet hole through his body. + +"Kid" then hobbled, or jumped, his legs being still shackled, to the +armory and kicking the door open secured Ollinger's shot-gun, which +contained the eighteen buck-shot in each barrel. Then springing to an +open window, in an adjoining room, under which the other guard would +have to come to get up stairs, he waited patiently for his "meat," as +he termed it. + +He hadn't waited long though when Ollinger, who had started on hearing +the shooting, came trotting under the window. "Kid" called in a pleasant +voice: "Hello, Bob!" Robert looked up, but just in time to receive +eighteen buck-shot in his breast. The "Kid" then walked out onto the +balcony, fronting on Main street, and emptied the other barrel into the +dead body of Ollinger. Then breaking the gun in two over the balcony +railing he threw the pieces at the corpse, saying: "Take that you s---- +of a b----h! You will never follow me with that gun again!" + +This proceeding was witnessed by nearly a hundred citizens, nearly all +of whom sympathized with the "Kid," although they didn't approve of his +law-breaking. There was a few of his bitter enemies in town, though, but +they soon hunted their holes, each one trying to pull the hole in after +him, so as to be hid from the outside world. + +After being supplied from the armory with a good winchester, two colts +"45" pistols and four belts of cartridges, he ordered a file thrown up +to him, which was done without ceremony; he also ordered the deputy +County Clerk's pony and saddle brought out into the street, which was +also done in double quick time. + +The shackles being filed in two he danced around on the balcony quite a +while, as though he was the happiest mortal on earth. + +As he went to mount, the firey pony, which was being held out in the +street, and which had once belonged to him, broke loose and ran back to +the stable. But he was soon brought back, and this time held until the +"Kid" was securely seated in the saddle. + +After bidding everybody in sight adieu he rode slowly towards the +setting sun, the winchester still gripped in his right hand. But when he +arrived at the end of Main street he pulled off his hat, and waving it +over his head, yelled at the top of his voice: "Three cheers for Billy +the Kid!" Then putting spurs to the pony he dashed out of sight. + +After traveling about four miles west he turned north-east, across the +Capitan mountains, towards Ft. Sumner. + +About the first of July, Garrett, who hadn't hunted much for the "Kid" +since his escape, received a letter from a Mr. Brazil, who lived near +Ft. Sumner, informing him of the "Kid's" presence in that vicinity. + +Garrett after answering the letter, asking Mr. Brazil to meet him at a +certain spot on a certain night, secured the services of John W. Poe, +one of the whitest and bravest men in the Territory, and taking his +Deputy, "Kip" McKinnie along, struck out for "Sumner" to capture the Kid +if possible. + +The little party of three arrived at the mouth of Tayban Arroyo, on the +Reo Pecos, where Garrett had written Brazil to meet him, about dark on +the night of July 13th. They waited there all night and Mr. Brazil +failed to show up. + +Mr. Poe being a stranger in that country, and not known in the Post, +Garrett sent him to the town, a distance of five miles, to try and +learn, by keeping his ears open and mouth shut, of the "Kid's" +whereabouts, while he and "Kip" would meet him at "Sunny-side" a ranch +seven miles above "Sumner." + +About sundown Poe met his two companions, at Sunny-side, but was no +wiser than when he had left them. Garrett then concluded that they would +all ride into the town and if Peet Maxwell was at home he could maybe +get some information from him. + +Arriving in an old orchard back of the Maxwell mansion about ten o'clock +that night, they tied their horses and crawled around to the front of +the building. + +There was a long porch on the south side of the house and about midway +was Peet's room, the door of which opened onto the porch. Garrett knew +where the room was, and there they headed for. + +On arriving in the front yard opposite the door of Peet's room, which +was wide open, the night being very hot, Garrett told his companions to +lie flat down in the grass while he slipped into the room. + +He found Peet asleep, but awakened him. He then laid down by the side of +Peet, and they began talking. + +Back of the Maxwell house was an adobe cabin in which lived an old +mexican Peon. The mexican had gone to bed, and by a greasy looking table +sat the "Kid," who had just come in from the hills. He had pulled off +his boots to rest his tired feet, and was glancing over a newspaper. + +Throwing down the paper he told the Peon to get up and cook him some +supper, as he was very hungry. Being told that there was no meat in the +house he picked up a butcher-knife which was lying on the table, and +said: "I will go and get Peet to rustle me a piece." He started without +either hat or boots. + +While walking along on the porch, butcher-knife in hand, he discovered +the two men out in the grass, and, drawing his pistol, asked in mexican: +Quien es? Quien es? (Who's there? Who's there?) Not getting an answer, +the boys thinking he was one of the Peons, he backed into the door of +Peet's room, and then turning towards the bed, which was to the left of +the door, he asked: "Peet, who is that out there?" Not receiving an +answer again, and being suspicious of some one being in bed with Peet, +he began backing towards the opposite side of the room, at the same time +asking: "Who in the h--l is in here? Who in the h--l is in here?" + +Peet whispered to Garrett: "That's him Pat." And by that time the "Kid" +had backed until the light shone full upon him, through one of the south +windows, giving Garrett a good chance to make a center shot. + +Bang! Bang! went Garrett's pistol. The first bullet took effect in the +"Kid's" heart, while the next one struck the ceiling. + +The remains of what was once a fond mother's darling were buried next +day in the old dilapidated Military Cemetery, without a murmer, except +from one, a pretty young half-breed mexican damsel, whose tears, no +doubt, has dampened the lonely grave more than once. + +Thus ended the life of William H. Bonney, one of the coolest-headed, and +most daring young outlaws that ever lived. He had dwelt upon this earth +just 21 years, seven months and 21 days. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +WRESTLING WITH A DOSE OF SMALL POX ON THE LLANO ESTICADO. + + +After leaving Toyah I followed the railroad east cross the Reo Pecos, +out onto the Llano Esticado and through the sixty mile stretch of Sand +Hills. + +At Sand Hill Station, about midway through the sand hills, I left the +railroad and branched off in a north-easterly direction in search of +buffalo-hunter's camps. Knowing buffalo were getting scarce, and having +heard of a great many hunters being in the vicinity of Ceader Lake, I +thought it a good idea to go out there and see what kind of game they +were killing. Being nearly south of the Canadian River country, I +thought maybe they were killing cattle which had drifted down in there +during the winters. But I was mistaken. I found their camps black with +genuine buffalo hides. There being no ranches in that wild scope of +country the buffalo, what few there were left, had nearly all +congregated in there. + +I played a single-handed game of freeze-out the first two nights after +leaving the railroad, for there came a terrible snow storm, which +covered up the buffalo-chips, there being no wood in that whole country, +so that I couldn't make a fire to warm by. + +After striking the first buffalo-camp, then I was all right, for I could +get directions how to find the next one, etc. + +I finally, by circling around to the east, and then south, struck the +railroad again, and landed in the town of Big Springs; where I was +mistaken for a horse-thief, whom I answered the description of, and told +to "skip" by one of my friends, a stranger who recognized me as the +turkey shooter from Toyah. I didn't skip; and the thing was finally +straightened up to their entire satisfaction. + +I was out of money by this time, but found a draft in the express office +awaiting me. Not having any particular use for the draft I swapped it +off for a hundred dollars in money, to the express manager. + +After looking through a few herds around the Springs I pulled north-east +for the head of Colorado River, to take a look over the Lum Slaughter +range, which extended from the head of Colorado River down to Colorado +City on the railroad, a distance of about sixty miles. I went to all the +sign camps, and also the head-quarter ranch, but didn't let my business, +residence or name be known, which caused the boys to believe I was "on +the dodge." + +I rode into the lively little town of Colorado City one afternoon about +four o'clock, and imagine my surprise at meeting Miss Bulah Newell on +her way home from school. She and Mrs. Newell had left Toyah shortly +after I did. They had left Mr. Newell at home to run the Hotel. And Mrs. +Newell had accompanied Bulah to Colorado City, the nearest place where +there was a school, so as to keep "the wild rattled-brain girl," as she +called her, under her wing. They had rented a little cottage and were +keeping house. + +I ran out of money shortly after striking Colorado City, my expenses +being high, having to pay three dollars a day to keep my two horses at a +feed stable, and one dollar and a half per day for my own board, +lodging, etc., but found a good friend, Mr. Snyder, a merchant, who let +me have all I wanted on my good looks until I could write to the ranch +for some. + +While waiting for an answer to my letter I would put in my spare time +taking little spins out into the country, looking through herds of +cattle, etc. The longest trip I made was three days, down on the Concho +River, and that was just two days and a half longer than I cared to be +away from Miss Bulah. + +The mail finally brought two hundred dollars worth of "L. X." drafts, +wrapped up in a letter from Mr. Erskine Clement, reminding me of the +fact that his company wasn't a First National Bank. This of course was a +hint for me to be more economical. + +Having to be in Mesilla, New Mexico, a distance of five hundred and +fifty miles, by the last of March, and wanting to look over some small +cattle ranges on the route, I struck out. I hated to leave Colorado City +on account of Bulah, but was anxious to leave on account of the +small-pox beginning to spread there. + +A forty-mile ride brought me to Big Springs, where I lay two days with a +burning fever. The morning of the third day I pulled out, across the +Staked Plains for the Reo Pecos, still feeling sick. + +That night I stopped at one of the section houses, which were located +every ten miles along the railroad. And the next morning after riding +about five miles I became so sick that I had to dismount and lie down +in the grass. After groaning and tumbling around about two hours I fell +asleep. + +About sundown an east bound freight train came along, which scared my +ponies and awakened me. I felt terribly; my lips were parched, my bones +ached and my tongue felt as though it was swollen out of shape. I +started to lie down again, after the noise from the passing train had +died out, but there being an ugly looking black cloud in the north, +which indicated a norther, I concluded to brace up and ride to the next +section house, a distance of about five miles. + +Arriving there, just as a cold norther was springing up, and riding up +to the fence I called: "Hello!" in a feeble voice. A gentleman came out, +and on informing him that I was sick, he told me to go in the house, +that he would unsaddle and take care of my horses. + +I walked into a large room where a nice blazing fire greeted my eyes. +There was a lady sitting by the fire sewing. On looking up at me, as I +stepped into the door, she gave a scream, which brought her husband in +on the double quick. "Small-pox, small-pox," was all she could say. The +gentleman looked at me and asked: "Are you from Colorado City?" "Yes," +was my answer. "Well, you have got it, and I am sorry we can't keep you +here to-night. I hate to turn a sick man out such a night as this, but I +have got a wife and three little children here whose lives are at +stake." + +I had never thought of small-pox since leaving Colorado City, until the +good lady put me in mind of it. + +Oh, how my heart did ache at the thoughts of that dreadful disease, and +having to go out into the cold night air. It was pitch dark and +beginning to sleet when I mounted and struck out, west, aiming to go on +to the next section house, ten miles, and try my luck there. + +About half an hour after the light over my shoulder had disappeared I +began to grow weaker, so much so that I could hardly sit on my saddle. +So finally, dismounting, I unsaddled and staking the two hungry ponies +out to a telegraph pole, rolled myself up in my blankets, my saddle for +a pillow, and went to sleep. + +I awakened just as day was breaking. The ground was covered with snow, +and I was almost frozen. I felt as though I had been sent for and +couldn't go. My mouth, I could tell by feeling it, was covered with +sores, in fact it was one solid scab, and so were my shoulders and back. +Strange to say there wasn't a sore on any other part of my body. Those +sores on my mouth was what attracted the lady's attention the evening +before, although they had just began to show themselves then. + +With great difficulty I saddled up and continued on towards the section +house. This time I made up my mind not to let the folks know where I was +from, and if they had cheek enough to ask I intended to say Ft. Concho. +To avoid the sores on my mouth being seen I tied a silk handkerchief +around it. And should they ask any questions about that, I intended +telling them I had some fever blisters on my mouth, etc. + +I found only one man, the cook, at the Section house this time, the +section hands having gone to work. I was treated like a white head by +the cook, who no doubt took me for a desperado or horse-thief, by my +looks. He thought no doubt the handkerchief was tied over my face to +keep from being recognized. + +I informed him that I was feeling bad and would like to lie down a few +moments, etc. He led the way up stairs where the section hands slept +and told me to occupy any of the dirty looking beds there. I laid down +and told him to bring me up a cup of coffee. He brought up a good +breakfast and after he left I undone the handkerchief and tried to eat, +but couldn't, on account of my tongue being so badly swollen. + +I found a looking glass in the room and took a squint at myself, and +must say that I was indeed a frightful looking aspect, my face from nose +to chin being a solid scab and terribly swollen. No wonder I frightened +the lady so badly, I thought. + +After drinking the hot cup of coffee I went down stairs, gave the cook a +silver dollar for his kindness and pulled out. I was very anxious to get +to a doctor, and Toyah was the nearest place to find one unless I turned +back to Colorado City, which I hated to do on account of having to +attend court in Mesilla, soon. + +I arrived in Toyah about noon of the sixth day out from Big Springs. I +headed straight for the Alverado House and who do you suppose was +standing in the door when I rode up? Miss Bulah. The small pox had +scared her and her mother away from Colorado City. The first thing she +said was: "Hello, what's the matter with your face?" "Nothing but fever +blisters." was my answer. + +I didn't dismount, for fear of giving the pretty little miss the small +pox, but rode a few blocks to Doctor Roberson's office, telling her that +I was going after some fever medicine and would be back in a few +minutes, etc. + +The Doctor informed me that the danger was all over with, and that, if I +hadn't been made of good stuff, I would have surely died, being exposed +to bad weather, etc. He gave me some salve to dry up the sores, that +being all there was to do at that stage of the disease, he said, and +advised me to leave town, for said he: "If the citizens discover that +you have had the small pox, they will have you taken to the pest house, +where there are already three occupants, although the danger of it being +catching from you is past." I assured him that I would fix it so they +wouldn't find it out. + +On arriving back to the Alverado House, my face still tied up, I hired a +boy to take care of my ponies and then telling Miss Bulah that I wanted +a room to myself, I went to bed. + +Bulah would bring my meals into the room and sometimes sit down to wait +until I got through eating, but I would never commence until she left. +I would generally let her stay until she got ready to go, telling her +that I wasn't hungry just then, but would try and eat it after awhile, +etc. She would finally get tired and go, then I would lock the door and +undo the handkerchief from my face. I kept this up a week, before eating +my meals at the table with the rest of the boarders. + +I finally struck out for El Paso, two hundred miles over a dry, +waterless plain, and another hundred up the Rio Grande valley, making +three hundred miles in all. + +I hove in sight of the Rio Grande River one morning, but never got there +until sundown. + +When I arrived within a few miles of the river I noticed a covered wagon +and what I supposed to be a camp, down the valley, about three miles out +of my way. I finally concluded to turn off and go and stop with whoever +they were for the night. + +I found it to be a mexican camp, an old man, two boys and a grown girl. +They had come from Larado and were on their way to El Paso. They gave me +a hearty welcome. + +Next morning about daylight I got up and went out to change Croppy, he +having been staked and Buckshot hobbled the evening before, in a fresh +place, but lo, and behold! there was nothing there but the stake. + +I circled around and found both of the ponies tracks leading towards the +river, a few hundred yards west, I followed, and found they had crossed +over. After standing on the bank a few seconds, dreading to get wet, I +went over too. The water was only about waist deep. + +Near the water's edge on the other side I found some mocassin tracks in +the soft sand. I could see through the whole thing then, from +indications, etc: two footmen, who wore mocassins, had stolen my horses +and pulled into Old Mexico for safety. Where the tracks were visible in +the sand, there was no doubt, they had dismounted and taken a farewell +drink, or maybe filled a canteen, before leaving the river. + +After following the trail, there being just the tracks of two horses, a +few hundred yards out from the river I turned and went back to camp, to +try and hire the old mexican's horse to follow them on. + +The old fellow only had one pony, his team being oxen and I had to talk +like a Dutch uncle to get it, as he argued that I was liable to get +killed and he lose the pony by the operation. I finally though put up +the price of the horse as security and promised the old fellow ten +dollars a day for the use of him, when I returned. This seemed to give +satisfaction, even with the two boys who would have to hoof it after the +oxen every morning, in case the pony never returned. + +Just about sundown as I turned a sharp curve, near the top of the long +chain of high mountains which run parallel with the river, I came in +sight of both of my ponies staked to a pinyon tree, grazing. + +I immediately rode out of sight, dismounted, tied my tired pony to a +tree and crawled to the top of a knoll, where I could see the +surrounding country for half a mile around. But I couldn't see a living +thing except the two horses, and the one I had just left. + +Finally, bang! went a shot, which sounded to be at least half a mile +away, on the opposite side of the mountains. + +Thinks I now there's either a ranch over there and the two thieves have +walked to it, to keep from being seen with the horses, or else they have +gone out hunting to kill something for supper. At any rate I took +advantage of their absence and stole my ponies back. Near where they +were tied was a small spring of cool water; the first water I had seen +since leaving the river. + +After taking a hasty drink myself, and letting the pony I was on, fill +up, the other two not being dry, I took a straight shoot down grade, for +the "eastern shores of the Rio Grande," a distance of about thirty-five +miles. It was then nearly dark. + +I arrived in camp next morning just as the big yellow sun was peeping +over the top of the Sierra Blanco mountains; and the old mexican, who +was awaiting my return, was glad to see me back. + +That night I stopped with an old fat fellow by the name of Chas. +Willson, in the little town of Camp Rice, and the next night I put up in +the beautiful town of San Elizario, which is situated in the centre of +the garden spot of the whole Rio Grande valley. + +The next morning I crossed the river into Old Mexico and took a three +day's hunt through the mountains in search of a herd which had come from +the north, and had crossed the river at San Elizario about a week +before. I found it, but was unacquainted with any of the brands that the +cattle wore. The herd had been stolen though, I think, from the way the +men acted. + +I finally landed in El Paso and found a letter in the Post Office from +John Poe, written at Lincoln, New Mexico, advising me not to go to +Mesilla until the day that Court set, as Cohglin, who was out on bond, +was there and might have my light blown out, I being one of the main +witnesses against him. Also, it had been reported that he had said he +would give five thousand dollars to get me out of the way. He +furthermore advised me in the letter to take the train from El Paso, as +the old fellow might have some mexicans watching along the road for me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +IN LOVE WITH A MEXICAN GIRL. + + +I found El Paso, to be a red-hot town of about three thousand +inhabitants. There were also about that number of people in Paso Del +Norte, across the river in Old Mexico. I spent several days in each +place. + +I finally, after leaving my ponies in good hands, boarded one of the +Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe trains for Las Cruces, two and a half +miles from Mesilla, the county seat. + +There being better accommodations, in the way of Hotels, in "Cruces," +nearly every one who was attending court would stop there and ride to +the county seat in one of the "hacks" which made hourly trips between +the two places. Consequently I put up at the Montezuma House, in Las +Cruces. + +There were several Lincoln County boys there when I arrived. Poe and +Garrett came down next day. Mr. and Mrs. Nesbeth also came as witnesses +against Cohglin. Mrs. Nesbeth had heard Mr. Cohglin make the contract +with, "Billy the Kid," to buy all the stolen cattle he would bring to +his ranch. But the good lady didn't live long afterwards, for she, her +husband, a stranger, who was going from "Cruces" to Tulerosa with them, +and a little girl whom they had adopted were all murdered by unknown +parties. Cohglin was accused of having the crime committed, but after +fighting the case through the courts, he finally came clear. + +A few days after my arrival in Las Cruces I went back to El Paso after +my ponies. I ate dinner there and rode into Las Cruces about sundown. A +pretty quick fifty-five mile ride, considering part of it being over a +rough mountain road. The cause of my hurry was, we couldn't tell what +minute the Cohglin case would be called up for trial. + +I had a little love scrape while loafing in Las Cruces. I don't mention +it because my love scrapes were so scarce, but because it was with a +Mexican girl, and under curious circumstances, that is, the +circumstances were curious from the fact that we became personally +acquainted and never spoke to one another, except by signs, and through +letters. + +Her name was Magdalena Ochoa, niece to the rich Bankers Ochoa's in El +Paso, Tucson, Arizona, and Chihuahua, Old Mexico, and she was sweet +sixteen. She lived with her grandmother, whose residence was right +straight across the street from the Montezuma Hotel, and who wouldn't +let a young man, unless he was a Peon, come inside of her house. And she +wouldn't let Magdalena go out of her sight, for fear she would let some +of the young "Gringoes" make love to her. + +I first saw her one Sunday morning when she and her grandmother were +going to church. I was standing out in front of the Hotel hugging an +awning post, and wishing that I had something more human-like to hug, +when they passed within a few feet of me. The girl looked up, our eyes +met, and such a pair of eyes I had never seen. They sparkled like +diamonds, and were imbedded in as pretty a face as was ever moulded. Her +form was perfection itself; she had only one drawback that I didn't like +and that was her grandmother. I immediately unwound my arms from around +the post and started to church too. + +The church house was a very large building, and the altar was in one +end. The couple I was following walked up near the altar and took a seat +on the right hand side--on the dirt floor, there being no such thing as +seats in the building--which was reserved for ladies, while the left +hand side, of the narrow passage way, was for the men. I squatted myself +down opposite the two, and every now and then the pretty little miss +would cast sparks from her coal black eyes over towards me which would +chill my very soul with delight. + +When church was over I followed, to find out where she lived. I was +exceedingly happy when I found she was a near neighbor to me, being only +a few steps across the street. + +I spent the rest of that day setting out under the awning in front of +the Hotel, straining my eyes in hopes of getting a glimpse of her +beautiful form through the large bay window which opened out from the +nicely furnished parlor onto the street. But not a glimpse did I get. I +retired that night with the vision of a lovely sunburnt angel floating +before my eyes. + +The next morning I went to Mesilla and answered to my name when it was +called, by the Judge, and then told Poe that I had some very important +business to attend to in "Cruces" and for him, in case the Cohglin case +was called, to hire a man at my expense and send him after me. + +On arriving back to the Hotel I took a seat in an old arm-chair under +the awning. I was all alone, nearly every one being in Mesilla. + +Finally Magdalena brought her sewing and sat down among the flowers in +the bay window. It was indeed a lovely picture, and would have been a +case of "love among the roses" if it hadn't been for her old +grandparent, who every now and then appeared in the parlor. + +At last I, having a good chance, no one being in sight but her and I, +threw a kiss, to see how I stood in her estimation. She immediately +darted out of sight, but soon re-appeared and peeping around a cluster +of roses, returned the compliment. She then left the room and I never +seen her again till after dinner. + +I then started into the Hotel, but was detained by a voice calling, +through the closed blinds of a window near by: "Me ketch you! Me ketch +you!" Come to find out it was the proprietor's wife, Mrs. Duper, an old +mexican lady, who had been watching our maneuvers. She then opened the +blinds and asked me in broken English, what I was trying to do? + +"Oh, nothing, much, just trying to catch on, is all;" was my answer. + +The old lady then broke out in one of her jovial fits and said: "You +ketch on? Me bet you ten tousand dollars you no ketch him!" She then +went on and told me how closely the old lady "Grandma Ochoa" watched her +young niece. In fact, she gave me the girl's history from the time of +her birth: Her father and mother were both dead and she, being the only +child, was worth over a million dollars, all in her own name. This of +course was good news to me, as it gave my love a solid foundation, and +spread a kind of gold-like lining over the young lady's beauty. + +Finally, after court had been in session two weeks the Cohglin case was +called up. His lawyers were Col. Rynerson and Thornton, while the +Territory was represented by Newcomb, District Attorney, and A. J. +Fountain whose services Poe had secured. + +Mr. Cohglin began to grow restless, for the "Pen" stared him in the +face. There were eight indictments against him, but the worst one was +where he had butchered the cattle after being notified by me not to. + +His only hopes now was to "sugar" the prosecuting Attorney, and that no +doubt was easily done, or at least it would have looked easy to a man up +a tree. You see Cohglin was worth at least a hundred thousand dollars, +and therefore could well afford to do a little sugaring, especially to +keep out of the Penitentiary. At any rate whether the Attorney was +bought off or not, the trial was put off, on account of illness on said +Attorney's part, until the last days of court. + +When the case came up again Mr. Prosecuting Attorney was confined to his +room on account of a severe attack of cramp-colic. Judge Bristol was +mad, and so was Poe. They could see through the whole thing now. + +That night Cohglin made a proposition that he would plead guilty to +buying stolen cattle knowing they were stolen, if the one case in which +he had killed cattle after being notified not to, would be dismissed, or +thrown entirely out of court. + +It was finally decided to do that, as then he could be sued for damages, +so the next day he plead guilty to the above charge, and was fined one +hundred and fifty dollars besides costs. + +Fountain, our lawyer then entered suit against him for ten thousand +dollars damage. + +I was then relieved. My mileage and witness fees amounted to something +over a hundred dollars, this time. Of course that was appreciated as it +was my own, over and above my wages. It came handy too as I was almost +broke and needed it to take me home. I had spent all of my own money, +besides nearly one hundred and fifty dollars borrowed from Poe. + +It was the first day of May, I think, when I mounted Croppy in front of +the Hotel, threw a farewell kiss at Miss Magdalena, who was standing in +the bay-window, and started east, in company with Chas. Wall--the young +man I mentioned as being a prisoner in Lincoln at the time of "Kid's" +escape. I hated to part with the pleasant smiles of my little mexican +sweetheart, but then it had to be done. I still hold a rose and a bundle +of beautifully written letters to remember her by. + +We stopped at San Augustine the first night out from "Cruces," and from +there we struck south-east across the white sands for the mouth of Dog +canyon--the noted rendezvous of old Victoria and his band of +blood-thirsty Apache's. + +I had heard so much about this beautiful Dog canyon that I concluded to +see it before going home, so that if it proved to be as represented I +could secure it for a cattle ranch. + +It was a ticklish job going there by ourselves, as a telegram was +received in Las Cruces, the morning we left, that a band of Apache's had +crossed the Rio Grande at Colorow, killing three men there, and were +headed toward Dog canyon. But I had faith in Croppy and Buckshot, they +being well rested and hog fat, carrying us out of danger should we come +in contact with them. + +We arrived at the noted canyon after being away from water nearly two +days. It was a lovely place, at the foot of Gandalupe mountains. + +After leaving there we went through the following towns: La Luz, +Tulerosa, South Fork and Ft. Stanton. + +At the last named place Charlie Wall left me, and I continued on alone. + +I remained in White Oaks a few days, looking over my town property, I +having bought some lots and built cabins thereon, and examining the 'Old +Panhandle Tiger' gold mine, the one Stone, Chambers and I owned. I had +some of the rock assayed and it run twelve dollars in gold to the ton, +besides a few ounces in silver and about two million dollars worth of +hopes. + +From White Oaks I went through Anton Chico, San Lorenzo, Liberty and +Tascosa, and arrived at the "L. X." ranch after an absence of nearly +eight months, and about a three thousand mile ride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +A SUDDEN LEAP FROM COW BOY TO MERCHANT. + + +About the first of July, shortly after my return, Hollicott sent me to +Kansas with a herd of eight hundred fat steers. My outfit consisted of a +cook, chuck wagon, five riders, and six horses to the rider. + +We arrived in Caldwell, Kansas, near the northern line of the Indian +Territory, about September the first. + +After putting the cattle aboard of the cars, and giving them a send-off +towards Chicago, we all proceeded to take in the "Queen City of the +Border," as Caldwell is called. I immediately fell in love with the +town, also with a couple of young ladies, and therefore concluded to +locate. I bought some lots and contracted a house built, with a view of +going after mother. + +I then struck out with my outfit to attend the fall round-ups in the +vicinity of Camp Supply, Indian Territory. Returning to Caldwell the +latter part of November, I boarded a train for Southern Texas, after +mother, by way of Saint Louis to visit my sister whom I hadn't seen for +thirteen long years. + +I arrived in Saint Louis one evening--just in time to let an old +flop-eared Jew take me in to the extent of a hundred dollars for a lot +of snide jewelry and a Jim-Crow suit of clothes. + +Not caring to hunt sister until morning I went to the Planter's House to +put up for the night, and to note the change of twelve years. + +After taking a bath and getting into my new rigging, I took a straight +shoot for the office to make inquiries about the old boys. I found a +long-legged youth behind the counter who, on asking how many of the old +hands of twelve years ago were still there, pointed out Jimmy Byron, the +kid I had the fight with, behind the cigar and news stand, across the +hall. He was very busy at the time dishing out cigars, etc. to the +scores of old fat roosters and lean dudes who were hurrying out after +having eaten their supper. + +The rush was finally over and then I made myself known. He was terribly +glad, as well as surprised to see me. We had parted as enemies but now +met as friends. He informed me that there wasn't but three, besides +himself, of the old outfit left, and those were the old steward, who was +now proprietor, "Old" Mike, who was still acting as night watchman, and +Cunningham, the fellow who had slapped me and who was still clerk. The +latter gentleman I didn't get to shake hands with as he failed to put in +an appearance during my stay. + +The next morning I struck out to hunt sister. I was armed with an old +letter which gave the address, therefore had no trouble in finding her. + +She was alone with her three pretty little girls, her husband having +gone up town to his place of business--a drug store--when I found her. + +The first thing she asked after kissing me, was, where I got my new +suit? + +Of course I had to acknowledge that I bought them from a Jew on Fourth +street. + +She then became frantic and wanted to know why in the world I didn't go +to Humphry's and get them? + +"Who in the dickens is Humphry?" I asked. + +"Why, I thought everybody knew Mr. Humphry," she continued. + +She took me up town to this great establishment of Humphry's that +evening and there I learnt how badly I had been bitten by the Jew. + +I remained in the city about a week and my brother-in-law spent most of +his time showing me the sights. + +Before taking the train for Texas I bought mother a trunk full of +clothes, knowing that she would be in need of them after having "roughed +it" for nearly eight years. + +I stopped in Houston one day looking for Aunt Mary, but learnt finally +that she had moved to the country. + +I then took in Galveston and spent two days visiting Uncle Nick and Aunt +Julia. From there I went to Indianola on a Morgan Steamship and became +sea sick; Oh, Lord! I concluded I would prefer the hurricane deck of a +Spanish pony to that of a ship, every time. + +In the town of Indianola I met a lot of my old Peninsula playmates, who +were there from Matagorda, in their sail boats, with freight. + +There being no boats down from Tresspalacious, I left my trunk to be +shipped up the first chance and went to Matagorda with the two Williams' +boys, Johnny and Jimmy. Nearly all the Peninsula folks lived in the +vicinity of Matagorda now since the great storm of 1875, washed +everything they had out into the Gulf, besides drowning about half of +their number. Hence me going to Matagorda to visit them. + +There were three Tresspalacious boys in Matagorda, and one of them, Jim +Keller, loaned me his horse and saddle to ride home on. + +Mother was happy when I told her to get ready and go to Kansas with me. +There was only one thing she hated to leave behind, and that was her +wood pile. She had spent the past two years lugging wood from along the +creek and piling it up against her old shanty for "old age," she said. I +suppose her idea in piling it against the house, on all sides, was to +keep it from blowing over, should some kind of an animal accidently blow +its breath against it. + +After spending about a week, visiting friends and waiting for my trunk +to arrive from Indianola, I struck out with mother for the enterprising +State of Kansas. + +I hired a neighbor, Mr. Cornelious, to take us to the Railroad, fifty +miles north. He hauled us in an old go cart--one that had been sent +from Germany in 1712--drawn by two brindle oxen. + +We arrived in Caldwell a few days before Christmas and after getting +mother established in her new house, I went to work for the "L. X." +company again. + +I had secured a winter's job from Mr. Beals before leaving therefore it +was all ready for me to take charge of on my return. The job was feeding +and taking care of about two hundred head of horses, at the company's +ranch on the Territory line, near Caldwell. + +Having lots of fat ponies to ride, I used to take a dash up town nearly +every night to see how mother was getting along and to see my +sweethearts. Thus the winter passed off pleasantly. + +About the first of March I received orders from Mr. Beals, who was then +at his home in Boston, Mass. to get everything in shape to start for the +Panhandle at a moment's notice. + +That very night, after those orders were received, I fell head over +heels in love with a pretty little fifteen-year old, black-eyed miss, +whom I accidently met. It was a genuine case of love at first sight. I +wanted her, and wanted her badly, therefore I went to work with a brave +heart and my face lined with brass. It required lots of brass too, as I +had to do considerable figuring with the old gent, she being his only +daughter. + +Just three days after meeting we were engaged and at the end of the next +three days we were made one. And three days later I was on my way to the +Panhandle with an outfit of twenty-five men, one hundred horses and six +wagons. + +An eighteen day's drive, southwest, brought us to the "L. X." ranch. +After laying there about a week, resting up, Hollicott sent me and my +outfit south to attend the round ups in the Red River country. + +We arrived back at the ranch about July the first, with three thousand +head of "L. X." cattle which had drifted south during the past winter. + +As I was anxious to get back to Kansas to see my wife and mother, +Hollicott immediately gathered eight hundred fat shipping steers and +started me. + +I arrived in Caldwell September the first, and after shipping the herd, +Mr. Beals ordered me to take the outfit back to the Panhandle and get +another drove. This of course didn't suit, as I had only been at home a +few days. But then what could I do? I hated to give up a good job, with +no prospects of making a living by remaining in town. + +I finally concluded to obey orders, so started the men and horses up the +Territory line, while I and Sprague went to town with the wagon to load +it with chuck. Mr. Beals had taken the train the day before to be absent +quite a while. After getting the wagon loaded and ready to start, I +suddenly swore off cow-punching and turned everything over to Mr. +Sprague, who bossed the outfit back to the Panhandle. + +The next day I rented a vacant room on Main street and, rolling up my +sleeves and putting on a pair of suspenders, the first I had ever worn, +started out as a merchant--on a six-bit scale. Thus one cow-puncher +takes a sensible tumble and drops out of the ranks. + +Now, dear reader in bidding you adieu, will say: should you not be +pleased with the substance of this _book_, I've got nothing to say in +defence, as I gave you the best I had in my little shop, but before you +criticise it from a literary standpoint, bear in mind that the writer +had fits until he was ten years of age, and hasn't fully recovered from +the effects. + +FINIS. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber Notes + + Minor obvious spelling and punctuation errors + have been corrected. + + Words with various spellings interchangeably used in + the book have been retained as written. + + Whisky-peet, Whisky peet, Whiskey-peet, and Whisky-peat + sunup; sun-up + breastworks; breast-works + may be; may-be + daylight; day-light + hairbreadth; hair-breadth + headquarter; head-quarter + storekeeper; store-keeper + sundown; sun-down + southeast; south-east + upstairs; up-stairs + daylight; day-light + + page 292: made up my mind not to let the folk's know where ... + author perhaps intended folks? left as written. + + page 271, 307 the spelling Gandalupe mountains is used in this + book twice and is found in few other sources at the time. Although + spelled Guadalupe mountains in most other sources, it is left as + written: Gandalupe mountains. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Texas Cow Boy, by Chas. A. Siringo + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TEXAS COW BOY *** + +***** This file should be named 38309.txt or 38309.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/3/0/38309/ + +Produced by Dianna Adair, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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