g. To use a borrowed term, they were the
"velvet" of my trading operations. I hardly feel able to convey an
idea of the important role that the horses play in the operations of
a cowman. Whether on the trail or on the ranch, there is a complete
helplessness when the men are not properly mounted and able to cope
with any emergency that may arise. On the contrary, and especially
in trail work, when men are well mounted, there is no excuse for not
riding in the lead of any stampede, drifting with the herd on the
stormiest night, or trailing lost cattle until overtaken. Owing to
the nature of the occupation, a man may be frequently wet, cold, and
hungry, and entitled to little sympathy; but once he feels that he is
no longer mounted, his grievance becomes a real one. The cow-horse
subsisted on the range, and if ever used to exhaustion was worthless
for weeks afterward. Hence the value of a good mount in numbers, and
the importance of frequent changes when the duties were arduous. The
importance of good horses was first impressed on me during my trips to
Fort Sumner, and I then resolved that if fortune ever favored me to
reach the prominence of a cowman, the saddle stock would have my first
consideration.

On my return it was too early for the fall branding. I made a trip out
to the new ranch, taking along ample winter supplies, two extra lads,
and the old remuda of sixty horses. The men had located the new cattle
fairly well, the calf crop was abundant, and after spending a week I
returned home. I had previously settled my indebtedness in Comanche
County by remittances from Abilene, and early in the fall I made up an
outfit to go down and gather the remnant of "Lazy L" cattle. Taking
along the entire new remuda, we dropped down in advance of the
branding season, visited among the neighboring ranches, and offered a
dollar a head for solitary animals that had drifted any great distance
from the range of the brand. A camp was established at some corrals on
the original range, extra men were employed with the opening of the
branding season, and after twenty days' constant riding we started
home with a few over nine hundred head, not counting two hundred and
odd calves. Little wonder the trustee threatened to sue me; but then
it was his own proposition.

On arriving at the Edwards ranch, we halted a few days in order to
gather the fruits of my first mavericking. The fall work was nearly
finished, and having previously made arr