r restocking the range had
arrived early and were held separate until the first frost, when
everything would be turned loose on the Eagle Chief. Trouble was still
brewing between the Cherokee Nation and the government on the one side
and those holding cattle in the Strip, and a clash occurred that fall
between a lieutenant of cavalry and our half-breed foreman LaFlors.
The troops had been burning hay and destroying improvements belonging
to cattle outfits, and had paid our range a visit and mixed things
with our foreman. The latter stood firm on his rights as a Cherokee
citizen and cited his employers as government beef contractors, but
the young lieutenant haughtily ignored all statements and ordered the
hay, stabling, and dug-outs burned. Like a flash of light, LaFlors
aimed a six-shooter at the officer's breast, and was instantly covered
by a dozen carbines in the hands of troopers.

"Order them to shoot if you dare," smilingly said the Cherokee to the
young lieutenant, a cocked pistol leveled at the latter's heart,
"and she goes double. There isn't a man under you can pull a trigger
quicker than I can." The hay was not burned, and the stabling and
dug-outs housed our men and horses for several winters to come.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOM

The great boom in cattle which began in 1880 and lasted nearly five
years was the beginning of a ruinous end. The frenzy swept all over
the northern and western half of the United States, extended into the
British possessions in western Canada, and in the receding wave the
Texan forgot the pit from which he was lifted and bowed down and
worshiped the living calf. During this brief period the great breeding
grounds of Texas were tested to their utmost capacity to supply the
demand, the canebrakes of Arkansas and Louisiana were called upon for
their knotty specimens of the bovine race, even Mexico responded, and
still the insatiable maw of the early West called for more cattle. The
whirlpool of speculation and investment in ranches and range stock
defied the deserts on the west, sweeping across into New Mexico and
Arizona, where it met a counter wave pushing inland from California
to possess the new and inviting pastures. Naturally the Texan was the
last to catch the enthusiasm, but when he found his herds depleted to
a remnant of their former numbers, he lost his head and plunged into
the vortex with the impetuosity of a gambler. Pasture lands that he
had