e Edwards, where a herd of
wintered beeves was already made up to start for the upper Missouri
River. Major Hunter followed a week later with the second relieved
outfit, and our cattle were all moving for their destinations. The
through beef herds from the upper Nueces River had orders to touch
at old Fort Larned to the eastward, Edwards drifted on to the Indian
agencies, and I bestirred myself to the task of selling six herds of
young cattle at Dodge. Once more I was back in my old element, except
that every feature of the latter market was on an enlarged scale.
Two herds were sold to one man in Colorado, three others went under
contract to the Republican River in Nebraska, and the last one was cut
into blocks and found a market with feeders in Kansas. Long before
deliveries were concluded to the War or Interior departments,
headquarters were moved back to The Grove, my work being done. In
the interim of waiting for the close of the year's business, our
bookkeeper looked after two shipments of a thousand head each from the
beef ranch, while I visited my brother in Missouri and surprised him
by buying a carload of thoroughbred bulls. Arrangements were made for
shipping them to Fort Worth during the last week in November, and
promising to call for them, I returned to The Grove to meet my
partners and adjust all accounts for the year.

CHAPTER XV

HARVEST HOME

The firm's profits for the summer of '77 footed up over two hundred
thousand dollars. The government herds from the Cherokee Outlet
paid the best, those sent to market next, while the through cattle
remunerated us in the order of beeves, young steers, and lastly cows.
There was a satisfactory profit even in the latter, yet the same
investment in other classes paid a better per cent profit, and the
banking instincts of my partners could be relied on to seek the
best market for our capital. There was nothing haphazard about our
business; separate accounts were kept on every herd, and at the end
of the season the percentage profit on each told their own story. For
instance, in the above year it cost us more to deliver a cow at an
agency in the Indian Territory than a steer at Dodge City, Kansas. The
herds sold in Colorado had been driven at an expense of eighty-five
cents a head, those delivered on the Republican River ninety, and
every cow driven that year cost us over one dollar a head in general
expense. The necessity of holding the latter for a period