, and that he would let us have it if we asked him for
it only to be thrown away, he made himself scarce, and he kept out of
our sight until we cooled off. For my part I would not spend all my
money. I would draw about fifty dollars, then I would get what things I
wanted and then would let the other go free, but while our money lasted
we would certainly enjoy ourselves, in dancing, drinking and shooting
up the town. It was our delight to give exhibitions of rough riding
roping and everything else we could think of to make things go fast
enough to suit our ideas of speed. After several days spent in this
manner we would begin to make ready to start on the return journey home
to Texas. We left Dodge City on the first of July and on the fifteenth
of August we were back on the old home ranch, where we rested up a few
days before again starting out to ride the range after the long horns
again. As I was a brand reader I had little time to rest as my services
were in demand from many of the large cattle kings of Texas and Arizona,
and when ever a dispute arose over brands, I was generally sent for to
straighten matters out. This with the numerous round ups which I had to
attend and the many transfers of cattle throughout the pan handle
country kept me continually on the go. When my services were not needed
as a brand reader I rode the range along with the other cow boys. This
kept us almost continually in the saddle, and away from the home ranch
for days at a time; when this was the case our food consisted of biscuit
and cakes which we made ourselves from meal which we carried with us,
and such meat and game as we could knock over with our guns. We camped
wherever it suited and where there was feed for our horses. A cow boy's
first care is always after his gun and his horse, that animal often
meaning life and liberty to the cow boy in a tight place and the cow boy
without a horse is like a chicken without its head, completely lost. My
faithful horse has times without number carried me out of danger and
preserved my life. We were not destined to have much rest this season as
shortly after we returned from the trip to Dodge City, the boss bought a
large herd of cattle down on the Rio Grande, just over the line in
Mexico, which we had orders for, so we had to start out and round them
up. This was no easy matter as they were scattered over a large range of
territory and many strays had to be rounded up and got with the main
herd. Th