oosevelt, it appears, asked his uncle,
James Roosevelt, his father's elder brother and head of the banking
firm of Roosevelt and Son, whether he would advise him to invest a
further sum of five thousand dollars in cattle in Dakota.

Uncle James, to whom, as investments, cattle ranches were in a class
with gold mines, emphatically informed Theodore that he would not at
all advise him to do anything of the kind. How deeply Roosevelt was
impressed by this information subsequent events clearly indicate.

Roosevelt and Lang sat at the table long after Lincoln had cleared it
that night. Joe and the Highlander were asleep, but Lincoln heard the
two men talking and, years after, remembered the conversation of that
momentous September night.

"Mr. Lang," said Roosevelt abruptly, "I have definitely decided to go
into the cattle business. I want somebody to run cattle for me on
shares or to take the management of my cattle under some arrangement
to be worked out. Will you take charge of my cattle?"

The Scotchman, who was naturally deliberate, was not prepared to meet
such precipitancy. He told Roosevelt that he appreciated his offer.
"Unfortunately," he added reluctantly, "I am tied up with the other
people."

Roosevelt's regret was evident. He asked Lang whether there was any
one he would recommend. Without hesitation, Lang suggested Sylvane
Ferris and Bill Merrifield. Early the next morning Lincoln Lang was
dispatched to the Maltese Cross.

Meanwhile Roosevelt and Joe continued the pursuit of the elusive
buffalo. But again luck was far from them. For two days they hunted in
vain. When they returned to Lang's the second dusk, Sylvane and
Merrifield were there waiting for them.

That evening, after supper, Roosevelt sat on a log outside Lang's
cabin with the two ranchmen and asked them how much in their opinion
it would cost adequately to stock a cattle-ranch.

"Depends what you want to do," answered Sylvane. "But my guess is, if
you want to do it right, that it'll spoil the looks of forty thousand
dollars."

"How much would you need right off?" Roosevelt went on.

"Oh, a third would make a start."

"Could you boys handle the cattle for me?"

"Why, yes," said Sylvane in his pleasant, quiet drawl, "I guess we
could take care of 'em 'bout as well as the next man."

"Why, I guess _so_!" ejaculated Merrifield.

"Well, will you do it?"

"Now, that's another story," said Sylvane. "Merrifield here and me is
under con