smiled and asked for a bill of sale so
that he could sell the hide at the agency. I shook my head, and the
cook told him in Spanish that no one but the owner could give a hill
of sale, when he looked reproachfully at me and said, "Mebby so you
steal him."

I caught a stage at Camp Supply and reached Dodge a week in advance
of the herds. Major Hunter was awaiting me with the report that our
application for an extra lease in the Cherokee Strip had been refused.
Those already holding cattle in the Outlet were to retain their old
grazing grounds, and as we had no more range than we needed for the
firm's holding of stock, we must look elsewhere to secure one for the
new company. A movement was being furthered in Washington, however, to
secure a lease from the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes, blanket Indians,
whose reservation lay just south of the Strip, near the centre of the
Territory and between the Chisholm and Western trails. George Edwards
knew the country, having issued cows at those agencies for several
summers, and reported the country well adapted for ranging cattle. We
had a number of congressmen and several distinguished senators in our
company, and if there was such a thing as pulling the wires with the
new administration, there was little doubt but it would be done.
Kirkwood of Iowa had succeeded Schurz in the Interior Department,
and our information was that he would at least approve of any lease
secured. We were urged at the earliest opportunity to visit the
Cheyenne and Arapahoe agency, and open negotiations with the ruling
chiefs of those tribes. This was impossible just at present, for with
forty herds, numbering one hundred and twenty-six thousand cattle, on
the trail and for our beef ranch, a busy summer lay before us. Edwards
was dispatched to meet and turn off the herds intended for our range
in the Outlet, Major Hunter proceeded on to Ogalalla, while I remained
at Dodge until the last cattle arrived or passed that point.

The summer of 1881 proved a splendid market for the drover. Demand far
exceeded supply and prices soared upward, while she stuff commanded a
premium of three to five dollars a head over steers of the same age.
Pan-Handle and north Texas cattle topped the market, their quality
easily classifying them above Mexican, coast, and southern breeding.
Herds were sold and cleared out for their destination almost as fast
as they arrived; the Old West wanted the cattle and had the range and
to