Sanford's wishes being my own in the matter, of course, I did as I
was told, closed out the cattle stock and set the sheep grazing on the
range. The cattlemen were angry and sent me an ultimatum to the effect
that if the sheep were not at once taken off the grass there would be
"trouble." I told them that Sanford was my boss, not them; that I would
take his orders and nobody else's, and that until he told me to take the
sheep off the range they'd stay precisely where they were.

My reply angered the cattlemen more and before long I became subject to
many annoyances. Sheep were found dead, stock was driven off, my ranch
hands were shot at, and several times I myself narrowly escaped death at
the hands of the enraged cattlemen. I determined not to give in until I
received orders to that effect from Mr. Sanford, but I will admit that
it was with a feeling of distinct relief that I hailed those orders when
they came three years later. For one thing, before the sheep business
came up, most of the cattlemen who were now my enemies had been my close
friends, and it hurt me to lose their esteem. I am glad to say, however,
that most of these cattlemen and cowboys, who, when I ran sheep, would
cheerfully have been responsible for my funeral, are my very good
friends at the present time; and I trust they will always remain so.
Most of them are good fellows and I have always admitted that their side
had the best argument.

In spite of the opposition of the cattlemen I made the sheep business a
paying one for Mr. Sanford, clearing about $17,000 at the end of three
years. When that period had elapsed I had brought shearers to Sanford
Station to shear the sheep, but was stopped in my intention with the
news that Sanford had sold the lot to Pusch and Zellweger of Tucson. I
paid off the men I had hired, satisfied them, and thus closed my last
deal in the sheep business. One of the men, Jesus Mabot, I hired to go
to the Rodeo with me, while the Chinese gardener hired another named
Fernando.

Then occurred that curious succession of fatalities among the Chinamen
in the neighborhood that puzzled us all for years and ended by its being
impossible to obtain a Chinaman to fill the last man's place.

DEPUTY SHERIFF, CATTLEMAN AND FARMER

_You kin have yore Turner sunsets,--he never painted one
Like th' Santa Rita Mountains at th' settin' o' th' sun!
You kin have yore Eastern cornfields, with th' crops that never change,
Me-