.

I spent three weeks riding the range on the Medicine. The cattle had
been carefully selected, now four and five years old, and if the
season was favorable they would be ready for shipment early in the
fall. The lower camp was abandoned in order to enlarge the range
nearly one third, and after providing for the wants of the men, I rode
away to the southeast to intercept the Chisholm trail where it crossed
the Kansas line south of Wichita. The town of Caldwell afterward
sprang up on the border, but at this time among drovers it was known
as Stone's Store, a trading-post conducted by Captain Stone, afterward
a cowman, and already mentioned in these memoirs. Several herds had
already passed on my arrival; I watched the trail, meeting every
outfit for nearly a week, and finally George Edwards came snailing
along. He reported our other cattle from seven to ten days behind,
but was not aware that I had an individual herd on the trail. Edwards
moved on to Wichita, and I awaited the arrival of our second outfit.
A brisk rivalry existed between the solicitors for Ellsworth and
Wichita, every man working faithfully for his railroad or town, and at
night they generally met in social session over a poker game. I never
played a card for money now, not that my morals were any too good, but
I was married and had partners, and business generally absorbed me to
such an extent that I neglected the game.

I met the second herd at Pond Creek, south in the Cherokee Outlet, and
after spending a night with them rode through to Wichita in a day and
night. We went into camp that year well up the Arkansas River, as two
outfits would again hold the four herds. Our second outfit arrived at
the chosen grazing grounds on time, the men were instantly relieved,
and after a good carouse in town they started home. The two other
herds came in without delay, the beeves arriving on the last of the
month. Barely half as many cattle would arrive from Texas that summer,
as many former drovers from that section were bankrupt on account of
the panic of the year before. Yet the market was fairly well supplied
with offerings of wintered Texans, the two classes being so distinct
that there was very little competition between them. My active partner
was on hand early, reporting a healthy inquiry among former customers,
all of whom were more than pleased with the cattle supplied them the
year before. By being in a position to extend a credit to reliable
men, we