able cattle, owned a thirty-two-thousand-acre ranch,
saddle horses galore, and was in debt. My wife's trunk was half full
of land scrip, and to have admitted the fact would only have invited
ridicule. But my tuition was paid, and all I asked was a chance, for I
knew the ropes in handling range cattle. Yet this was the second time
that I had lost my money and I began to doubt myself. "You stick to
cows," said Charlie Goodnight to me that winter, "and they'll bring
you out on top some day. I thought I saw something in you when you
first went to work for Loving and me. Reed, if you'll just imbibe a
little caution with your energy, you'll make a fortune out of cattle
yet."

CHAPTER X

THE PANIC OF '73

I have never forgotten those encouraging words of my first employer.
Friends tided my finances over, and letters passed between my banker
friend and myself, resulting in an appointment to meet him at Fort
Worth early in February. There was no direct railroad at the time, the
route being by St. Louis and Texarkana, with a long trip by stage to
the meeting point. No definite agreement existed between us; he was
simply paying me a visit, with the view of looking into the cattle
trade then existing between our respective States. There was no
obligation whatever, yet I had hopes of interesting him sufficiently
to join issues with me in driving a herd of cattle. I wish I could
describe the actual feelings of a man who has had money and lost
it. Never in my life did such opportunities present themselves for
investment as were tendered to me that winter. No less than half a
dozen brands of cattle were offered to me at the former terms of half
cash and the balance to suit my own convenience. But I lacked the
means to even provision a wagon for a month's work, and I was
compelled to turn my back on all bargains, many of which were
duplicates of my former successes. I was humbled to the very dust; I
bowed my neck to the heel of circumstances, and looked forward to the
coming of my casual acquaintance.

I have read a few essays on the relation of money to a community. None
of our family were ever given to theorizing, yet I know how it feels
to be moneyless, my experience with Texas fever affording me a
post-graduate course. Born with a restless energy, I have lived in the
pit of despair for the want of money, and again, with the use of it,
have bent a legislature to my will and wish. All of which is foreign
to my tale, and